Chapter Four Hundred and Twenty Eight

Neither Charlie nor Joey wanted to get up the following morning. It took every effort to force themselves out of bed. Charlie was off shift but Joey knew she'd have to work even harder at the restaurant now that she was a staff member down, thanks to Angelo's sudden ejection.

Charlie groaned when her mobile started to ring.

"If that's work calling me in I'm going to have a breakdown," she complained. "I was going to offer to help you out behind the bar today."

Joey smiled, touched that her partner was going to help her out on her day off. Charlie answered the phone.

"Morag?" Charlie asked, instantly concerned. "Is everything okay?"

"Morning, Charlie," her step-mother said. "Everything's fine. We were just wondering if you were free at all today."

"Um… sort of," Charlie said, sitting up. "Why?"

"Your father is tearing his hair out with boredom and he wanted to come and visit you," Morag explained. "Even if it was just a case of hanging around the restaurant and talking. He needs a change of scene."

"When can you get here?" Charlie asked with a smile.


Next door, Watson felt shy as she sat down to breakfast with Kerri and Danny. She'd never dated anyone with a child before. It wasn't a problem for her. In fact, she really liked the idea of having a ready-made family. But she was nervous about making a good impression. She was desperate for Danny to like her.

"So, are you and Mum in a proper relationship now?" Danny asked, spooning cereal into his mouth.

"Um…" Watson said, looking helplessly at Kerri, who smiled.

"Yes, we are," Kerri told her son. "If that's okay with you?"

"Yeah," Danny nodded. "I think Watson's awesome."

Watson couldn't help but grin.

"And you have a cool name," he added. "But it makes me want to call Charlie Sherlock."

"Don't tell her that," Watson begged. "She'll call me her sidekick for life. I'll never live it down!"

Danny laughed but declared her might have to hold it against her if he ever got into trouble now he was like her step-mother.


Charlie and Joey dropped Ruby off at school on the promise that Charlie would pick her up for her free period before lunch and bring her to the restaurant so she could spend as much time with Ross and Morag as possible.

Walking into the building, Ruby tried not to let herself react when she saw Liam ahead of her. She was trying to keep control of her feelings as much as possible these days and so far, it seemed to be working. However, she had been hoping to at least talk to him. They were waiting to hear back about the demo they had recorded recently.

"Liam," she called. "Um… Mr Murphy…"

He glanced at her and then hurried away. She was heartbroken.


Sid and Marilyn were sat at a table in the Diner having a coffee together before he was due to start his shift at the hospital. Their main subject of conversation was still Dex, who was still keeping a low profile after his embarrassing declaration of love.

"I keep trying to have a conversation with him but he just walks out on me," Sid said. "I don't know what to do with him or what to say. I mean, there's not exactly a handbook over how to handle a situation where your teenage son hits on your girlfriend. Or if there is, I don't know where to look to find it."

He sighed heavily and finished his drink. Reaching out, he held her hand.

"As long as you don't think my family are too crazy that you don't want to be with me," he said.

"I can do crazy," she promised. "And I very much want to be with you."

They kissed.


Ruby slumped into her seat in Miles's English lesson. Dex shuffled in beside her. Xavier and April joined them, looking more cheerful.

"What's wrong with you guys?" Xavier asked.

"Liam's avoiding me," Ruby said.

She immediately regretted it. She didn't want to talk about Liam to anyone but Dex, Charlie or Joey. Nobody else understood but them. They were the only people she trusted.

"Can't think why," Xavier remarked.

"It's not about that," Ruby snapped.

"Yeah, right," Xavier said.

He might be happy with April now but the way Ruby had treated him over the Liam fiasco still stung.

"Leave her alone, will you," Dex said, feeling protective.

Ruby managed a grateful smile.

"At least my life is going better than some people's," she mused.

"Who are you talking about?" April wondered.

"Well, I reckon Angelo must be having a nervous breakdown right about now," Ruby said.

"Angelo?" Xavier asked, immediately tense.

Ruby hesitated. She wondered whether she should keep it all to herself or not. But then, she was angry with him. She wanted the town to treat him badly after what he had down.

"My parents fired him yesterday," she declared.

"Why?" April wondered.

"Theft, deceit," Ruby said. "You name it, he's done it. All that crap about him being a good guy – it's a lie."


Angelo woke up on one end of the couch with an aching back and a sore head. Paulie was half on the other end and half on the floor in not much better a state. They'd both drunk themselves into oblivion after everything that had happened, as if that was going to make anything better.

Angelo groaned and rubbed his temple. He was furious with Paulie and blamed him for everything. He felt like he had been blaming him for everything for years. Ever since the fire that had almost ruined their family business. How different would his life have been if that had never happened? And how different had his life been only a couple of days ago, before he had made that stupid decision to try and steal from his best friends, just to try and help his stupid brother?


Romeo had reluctantly followed Indi to the hospital. They had ducked out of school that morning, when she had found him communicating via notepad, having lost his voice. Now, having been seen by Sid, they were sat with the prospect of him having some sort of allergy. The problem was that they couldn't figure out what it was.


"We're so happy to see you!" Joey enthused, hugging Ross and then Morag.

Charlie then took her turn to greet her father and step-mother, happy that they had made the trip to the Bay. The plan had been to go the city but with all the chaos that had happened with Angelo since they'd returned home.

"We're happy to see you too," Morag said.

"Will we get to see much of Ruby?" Ross asked.

"She's got a free period at half eleven," Charlie said. "So I'll pick her up then and bring her here for that and lunch and then drop her back. Then she'll come right back after school. She's really glad you're here and that she gets to spend time with you."

Ross looked thrilled.

"Thank you," he said. "I just had to get out of the house. I wanted to be with my girls."

"And we want to be with you," Charlie said.

"Now, have you eaten?" Joey asked.

"I tried to convince him to have breakfast but he wouldn't," Morag said.

"Then you need to sit down and pick something from the menu," Joey decided. "We haven't really eaten either and we're not open yet so the four of us can sit down together before anyone comes in."


Over in the Diner, Leah was in a particularly bubbly mood. Everyone could see the dramatic difference between how she was now and how she had been of late. And everyone was pleased to see her back to being the person they knew and loved, before Elijah had broken her heart.

"What's happened to put that smile on her face?" Irene wondered.

"I heard she's been talking to Elijah on the phone," Colleen confided. "I think they're going to get back together!"


"So, this Angelo stole money from you?" Ross asked incredulously. "And, remind me? He's the police officer that shot Jack?"

Charlie nodded.

"Joey employed him when he had to leave the police force after her let Hugo escape justice over the whole human trafficking thing," she explained. "He didn't have anyone or anything so Joey gave him a chance to rebuild himself but he's blown it now."

"Are you going to press charges against him?" Morag asked.

"No," Joey said quietly.

She and Charlie had discussed it until late last night but decided that there was no point making things even worse for anybody. They had fired him and that seemed enough. They just wanted him out of their lives.

"Well, if you do want to," Morag said. "I'm on your side. That's an atrocious thing to do, especially when you've offered him so much friendship. Friendship he's never deserved, as far as I'm concerned."


"Hey, you don't think he could be allergic to me, do you?" Indi joked, her arms around her boyfriend.

Sid and Romeo both chuckled.

"I don't think I've heard of a case where people are actually allergic to people," the Doctor assured her.

"That's a relief," Indi said.

She kissed Romeo on the cheek. It left a red mark and he looked like his throat was going to close up again. Sid paused and looked concerned.

"Hang on," he said.

"What?" Indi asked, freezing in panic. "I was joking about the allergy!"


Charlie took Ruby to the restaurant for lunch with her, Joey, Ross and Morag as planned. The teenager was particularly excited to see their guests. She was eager to spend as much time with her family as possible, although she was worried about leaving Dex on his own. He was struggling after everything that had happened with Sid and Marilyn lately.

"How are things without Angelo?" she asked.

"Well, we'll have to find a replacement pretty quickly," Joey said. "Charlie's been kind enough to help me out today."

She smiled at her partner, who smiled back.

"Xavier seemed pretty alarmed that he lost his job for some reason," Ruby remarked.

Charlie and Joey exchanged glances but didn't say anything.

"Do you have anyone in mind to replace him?" Morag asked.

"Nope," Joey said. "I'll just have to advertise. Alf has said he'll increase his hours for a bit though. He's a diamond."

She smiled affectionately, thinking of him. Morag smiled.

"He really thinks of you as a daughter, Joey," she said.

Joey blushed.

"As long as he doesn't mind sharing you with me," Ross put in.

Charlie squeezed her hand, knowing her girlfriend would be feeling rather overwhelmed by all the compliments, especially as she had never felt quite so belonging to a family before.


"I just hope nobody is in any kind of trouble about the money," Xavier said fretfully. "Namely me."

He and April were waiting outside the Council for John to come out and deliver the news about the bottle ban campaign. Ruby's news about Angelo losing his job was weighing on his mind.

"It might not even be connected," April said.

Her boyfriend had awkwardly and rather reluctantly let her in on the full story and he had been relieved that she had been understanding.

"I hope not," Xavier said. "I'm going to have to find out though."

John appeared looking pleased.

"The motion's been passed!" he declared.

The teenagers were both thrilled.


Watson took Kerri to lunch at the restaurant. They both wanted to spend time together and also to see the two people who had been so eager to get them together, if they could.

"Hi!" Joey greeted warmly, as soon as she spotted the couple arrive.

She and Charlie excused themselves from the table and greeted Watson and Kerri at the entrance. They had to keep ducking away anyway in order to actually do some work but they were pleased to spend time with their friends.

"What a lovely sight," Joey remarked. "Looking all cute and happy together."

"We finally managed it," Kerri agreed.

"We thought we were going to have to lock you in a room together," Joey said, taking them to a table.

Kerri and Watson both laughed.

"I think she might actually have done it," Charlie said.

"That's why we're laughing," Watson replied. "Nerves!"

Charlie grinned, falling into step beside her colleague.

"I really am happy for you, Watson," she said quietly but sincerely.


Indi and Romeo had lunch together on the beach.

"I can't believe you're allergic to my lipstick," she mused.

"Well, at least it's just your lipstick and nothing else," he replied.

"I'll throw it out and never ever wear it again," she promised.

Lipstick free, they kissed. Things immediately got more heated.

"Romeo," she whispered.

"Mmm…?"

"I think I'm ready to take things to the next level."


That evening, Joey and Charlie were eager to escape the restaurant and actually give Ross and Morag a chance to get out of the room for a little while. Unfortunately, with things so busy and a staff member down, it didn't seem likely.

"I'm so sorry," Joey apologised.

"Honestly, it's fine," Ross said. "We've got all we need here. We've got our girls and it's so nice just to be in the Bay and out of our house for a while."

"Plus Alf is here so we've been chatting to him," Morag put in. "And half the town seem to be eating here tonight so we've got to catch up with people without needing to visit!"

Charlie and Joey both laughed.

"It's been a lovely visit," Ross assured them.

"Speaking of which," Morag said. "Here are more people we'd love to spend time with."

They nodded towards the door, where Leah and VJ had just arrived. Joey hurried over to greet them. VJ flung himself into her arms, the way he always did.

"Hey, Veej," she greeted. "How are you?"

"I'm great!" the ten year old said. "We both are, aren't we, Mum? Tell her!"

Leah couldn't help but smile.

"What's going on?" Joey wondered.

"We've been speaking to Elijah and it was so great that we've decided to go and visit him," she explained.


"I'm so pleased that the campaign worked," Gina said.

She and John were preparing dinner for themselves and Xavier and April, who were in Xavier's bedroom, pretending to study. Gina had opted to cut them some slack for the evening, being that it was a special day.

"Yeah," John replied.

"You don't sound as excited as I expected you to be," Gina commented.

"I didn't care that much about it," John admitted. "I only did it for them, to be honest. And now I've just been told that the funding is coming out of my Highway to Summer Bay project – something I actually do give a damn about. I feel like the whole thing was for nothing."

He didn't hear April creep back into Xavier's room, having appeared to get a glass of water. She had heard the whole thing and was devastated. For a moment there, she had actually believed in him and thought he cared about what was important to her.


"Well, I think it's time for us to be heading back, unfortunately," Morag said.

Night was drawing in and it was quite a drive back. But it had been a lovely day and they'd enjoyed spending time with their friends and especially their family.

"Next time, hopefully you'll actually get out of the restaurant," Joey said.

She grinned at Ross and promised a fishing trip.

"I look forward to that," he said.

"It's been so great to see you," Charlie said, hugging her father and then her step-mother.

"And you," Morag said. "All of you."

"We'll come and see you when we can, won't we?" Ruby said hopefully.

"Definitely," Charlie said.

The three of them headed down to the car to wave them off.


Next time… Charlie puts Xavier's mind at rest, Joey turns Angelo away and Liam breaks Ruby's heart…