Chapter Two Hundred and Sixty Six

Standing in front of the mirror at home, Martha's head was full of Hugo. So far, she had been doing what she believed was a wonderful job of forgetting about him but now, she realised that she had merely buried herself in denial. She was convinced that Xavier's stash of cash was left for him by Hugo. And that belief had brought all her old feelings to the surface. Now, she stood in front of the glass with Hugo's engagement ring on a chain around her neck. She wondered if she would ever manage to move on with her life.


Angelo presented Charlie with a coffee from the Diner. He'd even splashed out on a large in a desperate bid to make friends again. Caffeine was usually a successful way to the Sergeant's heart.

"It's a peace offering," he ventured, hovering in front of her desk.

Charlie looked at the cup and then up at him. She did not look happy. Angelo sighed, fully expecting her to berate him for not listening to her yesterday and warn him that she'd press charges if he wasn't careful. Instead of speaking though, Charlie stood up. Taking the cup with her, she crossed reception and entered the kitchen where she promptly tipped Angelo's peace offering away.

"Charlie, please..." Angelo tried.

Continuing to ignore him, she strode back to her office and slammed the door in his face. Angelo turned helplessly to Watson who was sorting some files out behind the reception desk.

"Don't look at me," she said. "I'm not standing up for you."

"But I said I was sorry!" Angelo tried.

"You might want to have thought of that before you started stalking her," Watson pointed out. "Generally, that's not the way to make friends."

"I thought she was..."

"Even if in some bizarro world, Charlie had been cheating on Joey, why would it ever have been your place to interfere?" Watson asked. "I know you're in love with her or whatever it is you think you feel but she's not interested. You seriously have to learn to take no for an answer."

He tried to speak but she interrupted.

"You've worked really hard to win your life back," she said. "Don't ruin it now. Live here, work here and try to make friends. But stay away from Charlie and Joey. They're not going to forgive you for this."

Taking her files, Watson headed into her office.


Aden felt frustrated. He knew there was something that Nicole was keeping from him. And it was making him concerned, not to mention a little paranoid. Had he done something wrong? Was she as fickle as he'd first perceived her to be? And was she planning on dumping him? Everything felt very confusing. He was desperate to get to the bottom of it but didn't seem to be asking the right questions.


Charlie had gone out on a coffee run to the Diner. She'd taken orders from most of the officers. Angelo had not been included. Sometimes she wondered if she was being a bit hard on him. Then she pictured everything he could have destroyed if Joey had believed his claims, and she didn't feel guilty at all. It was absurd to her that he could behave that way. The first time he had spied on them, she had accepted his excuses and explanations but now, there weren't any. He had got an affair into his head and, like a dog with a bone, he hadn't let go.

Spotting Martha ahead of her, sitting alone and a little sad on a bench by the beach, Charlie smiled and approached.

"Hey," she greeted. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah," Martha sighed, not sounding at all convincing.

Charlie studied her curiously.

"Martha?" she said, concerned.

Her friend sighed again and turned to look at her.

"If someone wore a piece of jewellery bought for them with illegally obtained money, would they be breaking the law?" she asked, studying Charlie's uniform.

Charlie chewed her lip as her eyes settled on an expensive looking ring, hanging a delicate chain around her neck.

"Not if they didn't talk to a police officer about it," she said.

Martha looked confused for a moment. Realising that Charlie understood exactly what she was talking about and clearly didn't want to make a fuss, she smiled.

"Thanks for clearing that up," she said, squeezing Charlie's arm gently.

Charlie smiled and sat back against the bench.

"No problem," she said. "I just hope that the person wearing the illegal jewellery is okay and not hurting too much. I hope they know they've got friends who are more than willing to listen to their pain."

Martha smiled at her.

"They know," she said. "Thank you."


Justin had visited Joey again, although he sensed that she was unsure of him. They were in the middle of debating the joy of fishing when Aden stormed into the shop.

"Where's the fire?" Joey asked, noting her friend's expression.

"Fucking Nicole!" he complained.

"I don't really need to know about that," Joey smirked, using the same joke he had about Angelo a couple of says before.

He was about to explain when he realised she was teasing. He laughed and shook his head.

"How do you always do that?" he wondered.

Joey looked blank.

"Make me laugh, no matter what mood I'm in?" he explained.

She grinned.

"I clearly missed my calling as a stand up," she said. "And a counsellor. So, young man, tell me your woes."


Charlie arrived at the Diner for lunch, where she had arranged to meet Joey. Looking around, she didn't see her girlfriend. Instead, she saw Romeo sitting alone and miserable in one corner and Annie looking cranky as she followed Irene around the kitchen.

"What's up, Juliet?" she asked cheerfully, approaching the teenage boy who looked like he had the weight of the world on his shoulders.

"That's not my name anymore," he sighed.

Charlie sat down.

"Please tell me you didn't quit," she said.

"Okay," he said weakly.

"Romeo!" Charlie exclaimed. "I thought you were getting your head around it all?"

"I was," he replied. "Until I had to put the dress back on in public."

"So, Annie gets some other guy to play her romantic lead then..." Charlie mused.

Romeo looked horrified. Charlie shrugged.

"It's a really horrible feeling," she said. "I thought I was going to throw up when some other girl gleefully took my place as Romeo last year. The thought of my Joey kissing someone else..."

She shook her head.

"Is that right?" said a voice behind her.

Charlie jumped and coloured as she realised Joey had arrived and heard her talking. Romeo laughed as Joey took a seat beside her girlfriend.

"So, tell me more," Joey said. "How upset were you?"

"Very upset," Charlie said. "It was painful just thinking about it. I feel for you, Romeo. I mean, you'll actually have to watch!"

"Alright!" Romeo said desperately.

"Alright, what?" Charlie queried.

"I'll wear the stupid dress," he frowned.

Thanking them for interfering, Romeo marched towards Annie on the other side of the room. Charlie and Joey looked on in amusement at how thrilled Annie looked to have him back.

"You know, I think we make a damn good team," Charlie said.

"I didn't really do anything," Joey said.

"You help even when you don't realise you're doing it," Charlie said, placing a gentle kiss on her cheek. "So, how has your day been?"


Justin and Aden arrived home. Joey had informed her friend that he needed to talk things through properly with Nicole. Encouraged, Aden had arranged to have dinner with her later that evening and he was hopeful that they would sort everything out. He finally felt like things were working out for him and he wanted to keep it that way.

"Maybe you're handling this all wrong," Justin ventured as Aden made them lunch.

"What do you mean?" Aden asked.

"You and Nicole have been together for what, two months?"

Aden nodded.

"And you're already having this many problems," Justin said. "I mean, she's a nice girl and everything but maybe you just don't belong together."

"No, we don't," Aden snapped.

He fixed his brother with his iciest glare.

"The person I was meant to be with was Belle," he said. "And she died. So I'm trying desperately to rebuild my life again. And I can do without all your judgements and criticisms."

"Look, I know what you've been through..." Justin tried.

"No, you don't!" Aden snapped. "You don't know what it's like to have the shitty childhood I had! And you don't know what it's like to fall in love with someone, trust her with all your baggage and then lose her to cancer before she was even twenty! And you don't know what it's like to try and recover from all of that."

"I know what the first part is like," Justin said bitterly.

"And how the hell would you know that? You escaped the first chance you got."

"And why do you think that was?" Justin asked.

Aden made cautious eye contact with him.

"What are you talking about?" he asked. "And be aware of what happened to Dad when he tried to get the sympathy vote from me."

"I didn't know that our grandfather was going to start on you," Justin said. "He abused me. I told Dad and I left. I assumed he would have done the right thing. I had no idea that he was just going to let you bear the brunt of it all. I had no idea."

"Well you should have," Aden snapped.

Then he stormed out of the house, slamming the door behind him.


"Okay but I really don't know how to do this girlie stuff!" Joey protested.

Having both finished work, she and Charlie were helping a very excited Leah get ready for her date.

"Really?" Charlie smirked. "You're awesome at girlie stuff."

Joey turned pink.

"I don't need to know about the joy of lesbian sex!" Leah said, clapping her hands over her ears.

She was wearing a face mask and had applied wax to her legs.

"Everyone needs to know about that," Charlie smirked.

"Stop giggling and help me!" Leah begged.

"Okay," Charlie said. "If that's what you really want."

Leah nodded. Charlie knelt down and prepared to remove the wax strips from her friend's legs.

"Wait, what am I doing?" Joey asked.

"You're picking an outfit," Leah said.

"And why am I doing that?"

"Because you know what girls look hot in and I really need to look hot."

"Okay," Joey said with a nod as she began to rummage in Leah's wardrobe.

The Diner owner screamed as Charlie peeled a wax strip off. All three women jumped as they heard someone burst into the house.

"Leah?" Elijah called up the stairs. "Are you okay?"

"Stop him!" Leah begged.

Joey legged it down the stairs to send Elijah away before he caught sight of Leah in transition.


Next time... Charlie gives Annie and Ruby an idea about Romeo, Joey looks after Aden and Leah enjoys her date with Elijah...