Thank you to the lovely guest reviewer who left me a really lovely review on the last chapter. Love, IJKS xxx

Chapter Five Hundred and Ten

"Charlie Buckton," Charlie mumbled into her phone, thick with sleep.

Although as a police officer serving a small town, she was really on call all the time, off duty, she didn't expect calls in the middle of the night. If she did, she would never be able to relax. Once upon a time, she had lived her life like that and she had been an extremely tense and probably unhappy person. Now, she could genuinely say that she was the happiest she had ever been in her life.

"Charlie, it's Joel Donavan here," said her colleague. "I'm afraid I've had to arrest your daughter for theft of a vehicle."

Charlie sat up in bed.

"Excuse me?" she said quickly.

Joey, who had just been coming to beside her, also sat up, worried.

"My daughter is asleep in her room," Charlie insisted.

Joey felt her soul constrict.

"She isn't," Joel explained kindly. "She's been at a party with her friend… Dexter Walker?"

He sounded like he was reading the name.

"They took Dexter's father's car without permission to travel to and from the party," he told her. "Dexter's father… Sid Walker reported the car stolen in the early hours of this morning when he realised. Your daughter was driving."

"Is she at the station?" Charlie asked, leaping out of bed and storming into Ruby's room to check that she really wasn't there. "I can't believe she would do something like that!"

Joey was relieved to hear fury in her voice. That at least meant she wasn't hurt. She jumped out of bed and hurriedly got dressed. There would be no going back to sleep after this phone call she knew. Ruby had obviously been up to something very silly while her parents had been asleep.


Twenty minutes later, Charlie and Joey charged into the police station looking for Ruby. Thankfully, she was not being held in a cell.

"She's in interview room one, Charlie," Joel said. "You can both go in. Dexter's father is here and he doesn't want to press charges against either of them. I think it'll just be a case of paperwork and home."

Charlie and Joey were both relieved. They thanked him and Charlie led the way into the familiar room. Even after all this time, Joey hated being at the police station. Even just visiting Charlie and going into her office was a struggle. It all brought back too many painful memories for her. It made her fear that she had not moved on as far as she hoped she had.

Ruby looked up, her face full of stress and anxiety. Charlie wasn't sure if it was because of what she had done or because she had been caught. She and Joey sat down on the opposite side of the table. Joey felt strange. She had never been on the cop side before. She had always been the witness. The victim. Once, she had even been a possible suspect – when Grant Bledcoe had died.

"Well?" Charlie said.

Joey supressed a smile. Charlie was walking the line between cop and mother.

"I'm sorry," Ruby managed weakly.

"What on earth were you thinking? Stealing a car?" Charlie asked, sounding less furious than she felt.

"I didn't steal it!" Ruby burst out. "We borrowed it!"

"Without permission!" Charlie roared back. "How did Sid know that you had 'borrowed' it when he looked out onto his drive and found his car missing? Seriously, Ruby? You pass your test and the first thing you do is steal a car? What the hell?"

"We borrowed it," Ruby replied stubbornly, sitting back in her chair and folding her arms.

"But why did you need to?" Joey asked evening, cutting into the tension between mother and daughter. "You have access to a car whenever you need one."

"Very good question," Charlie said sourly.

"And would you have let me go to a party tonight?" Ruby asked. "Me and Dex, off to a party where there would be boys? Those creatures that you seem to always want me to stay away from? Especially when you've been panicking all day about my mood. Yeah, I've heard you both."

Charlie and Joey exchanged looks.

"We're your parents," Charlie eventually said. "We're allowed to worry about you."

"And I'm a teenager," Ruby replied. "I'm allowed to rebel sometimes."

"You're not allowed to steal cars," Charlie told her.

Ruby opened her mouth to respond but was interrupted by her mother warning her that if she said she had borrowed it one more time then she might be arrested. Ruby glared at her but Joey was sure she saw the hint of a grin.

"Ruby, can you just explain why you did it?" Joey asked, trying to calm things down.

"Because I wanted to go to the party and I knew you wouldn't let me go," the teenager replied.

"You don't know that," Joey said.

Ruby raised her eyebrows.

"Would you have let me go?"

"Well…"

Joey and Charlie looked guilty.

"We've just been worried about you these past couple of days," Joey said. "Your mood has been so low."

"So a party would have cheered me up," Ruby said. "It did cheer me up! Until Sid called the cops on us!"

"Did you meet someone?" Charlie asked.

"I did," Ruby declared. "His name is Jackson."

Charlie and Joey were even more worried. They did not want their daughter to become fixated on yet another guy.

"See!" Ruby accused. "You can never be happy for me!"

"We just don't want to see you hurt, Ruby, that's all," Charlie said.

"You don't want me to live my life," Ruby accused. "You want to suppress me. It's not fair. Even Claire is getting out there. Hooking up with that horrible girl. And I'm just all alone."

She looked miserable. Charlie and Joey felt so sad for her.

"Ruby, we will always support you in everything you do," Charlie said kindly. "We love you and we want the best for you. We're not trying to suppress you. Please don't think that. It breaks my heart that you think that."

Ruby looked down, regretful. She had been harsh, she knew.

"And if you like this Jackson guy, then see him again and get to know him," Charlie continued. "Just… don't jump in feet first, okay?"

"Okay," Ruby said.

"But…" Charlie said, glancing at Joey, who nodded.

"What?" Ruby said worriedly.

"You won't be able to see him until after you've finished being grounded."

Ruby looked murderous.


Sid had decided against pressing charges and had quietly brought his son home. Embarrassed in front of her colleagues, Charlie had taken Ruby home, Joey ever faithful beside her. It was a tense car journey to say the least. Charlie led the way into the house where the three of them sat awkwardly at the kitchen table together to continue their discussion.

"Look, I'm sorry, okay?" Ruby said, sounding more irritated and frustrated than regretful. "I shouldn't have borrow…"

She glanced at Charlie.

"I shouldn't have taken the car without permission. It was the wrong thing to do. I should have been up front with you both and asked you about attending the party," she continued. "I was wrong and I'm sorry. I've learned my lesson. Please can we drop this whole grounding thing?"

"If I thought you were being sincere, maybe," Charlie told her. "But I don't, so, no."

Ruby was livid. Joey thought Charlie was being remarkably reasonable.

"Why not?" Ruby demanded, standing up and nearly sending her chair flying. "You're being so unfair!"

Charlie stood up too. Joey accepted that she had been wrong.

"You sneaked out of the house without permission. You stole a car. You got arrested by my colleagues, therefore absolutely humiliating me at work. Do I need to go on?"

"You're being absolutely unreasonable, Charlie!" Ruby yelled.

"How am I being unreasonable?"

"Because I wouldn't have done any of that if you didn't keep such a tight leash on me!"

"I think you need to go to your room and have a bit of think about how damn lucky you are to have us as parents!"

"What, my mother who pretended to my sister for sixteen years?" Ruby snarled.

Charlie was wounded. It had been a long time since Ruby had hit her with something like that. She sat down heavily on her chair. Ruby knew she had gone too far but she didn't know how to take it back.

"Two weeks," Joey said quietly. "You're grounded for two weeks."

"But what about the Informal?" Ruby said, aghast. "Jackson and I were going to go together!"

"I don't give a shit," Joey said uncharacteristically coldly.

She stood up and put a hand on Charlie's shoulder.

"Now, why don't you go to your room and do what your mother says?" she suggested. "Think about how genuinely lucky you are to have her. Think about the freedom you have and the good things you have in your life. There was absolutely no need to behave the way you have, Ruby – no need."

Angry and guilty all the same time, Ruby stormed off to her room. As soon as they heard her slam the door, Charlie burst into tears.


"I just don't appreciate being put in that kind of situation," Liam objected.

Romeo and Indi had met up with Liam for breakfast that morning but he was still refusing to chaperone the Informal now that he knew it was because the kids wanted to set up and opportunity for him and Bianca to get them back together.

"Okay," Indi said. "Well, forget that then."

Romeo frowned.

"But what about us?" Indi asked. "We desperately need adults to chaperone. If we don't have enough people then the whole thing collapses."

Romeo nodded and took over.

"Come on," he begged. "We've all worked so hard this year. Indi has gone insane with studying. You know what it took for me to go to school. You also know what a tough year Nic has had too. And you! This is your first year of teaching. You should celebrate that. It's a massive achievement after everything you've been through in your life. Is all that worth giving up just because you don't want to spend an evening with Bianca?"

Liam sighed, glaring at both Romeo and Indi.

"Fine," he said. "I'll do it. But this had better be the night of your lives. You owe me."

Romeo and Indi looked very pleased with themselves.


Joey sat with her arms around Charlie.

"Charlie, she's angry," she tried. "She hardly even knows what she's saying. She certainly doesn't mean it."

"Then why would she say it?" Charlie asked sadly. "I just… I thought we were past all of that. Like… way past it. We've been such a happy, united family for so long. I thought we'd worked through all of that. Why would she bring it all up now? What am I meant to do with all this?"

"Charlie, she's just hurting," Joey said. "She's jealous that Claire has moved onto another girl. She's feeling left out and lonely because she feels like the only person with nobody to love. She's utterly humiliated at getting caught out with the car. She probably feels really guilty about what she's done. And rather than just apologising, she's digging herself into an even deeper hole. She's hitting out at the person she loves most in the world – you."

Charlie sighed heavily, tears threatening to spill all over again. Whether she had meant it or not, Ruby had wounded her.

"I just… I don't know what to say to her now," she said. "I don't know what to do."

"We just need to give her some time to cool off," Joey decided. "She'll come back in and apologise. It might not be today. It might not even be tomorrow but it'll come."

"Do you think this punishment we've given is the right one?" Charlie asked.

"Yes," Joey said. "We need to stop this whole acting out thing before it starts. We don't want her to end up in the same mess that she did before. Last time, it happened under our nose without us realising. If last night was some sort of cry for help then we need to respond. We ground her for two weeks and we spend those two weeks trying to work out why she felt so desperate to escape last night."

Charlie nodded and wiped her eyes, desperately worried that it was all her fault.


In her room, Ruby sobbed into her pillow. She was overwhelmed with regret, frustration and anger and she didn't know what to do with any of those feelings. She cried until she got the hiccups. Then she sat up and furiously punched her pillow. Wiping her eyes, she took several breaths, interrupted only by her hiccups.

She was angry with Sid for overreacting and reporting the car missing. Why hadn't he just checked his children's rooms first? Surely that was the logical thing to do when you lived with teenagers? She was angry with Charlie and Joey for completely overreacting. They were the reason she had done it in the first place, with their helicopter parenting all the time. She was angry with Dex too. He hadn't exactly been fun.

But mostly, she was angry with herself. Once again, she had messed everything up. Once again, she had got everything wrong. She had hurt Charlie. She knew it. But she couldn't bring herself to take it back. She was too stubborn. And she knew where she got that streak from.

She picked up her phone and scrolled down to Claire's name. She wanted to call her. But then she thought of her on that date with that girl. She put her phone down again, pulling a face. Everything was different now. Claire was going to be busy all the time with her new girlfriend. She wasn't going to have time for her. Once again, Ruby was going to pushed out and let down. Sadness filled her. She felt so desperately alone.


At the farm, Dex was feeling ashamed of himself. He had known from the start that taking the car out was a bad idea, that it was the wrong thing to do. He even tried to tell Ruby no but he had let her beat him down and persuade him that it would be fun. But he had been absolutely right. And now his Dad was stressed out, upset and very disappointed in him.

He wasn't used to being in trouble. He was always the good one, the geek. He always kept his head down, did as he was told, got his grades and stayed out of trouble. He wasn't used to this.

Now, he was sat on the sofa, across from his Dad who was looking somewhere between stern and disappointed.

"I mean, well, what were you thinking?" Sid eventually asked.

It had been a quiet, tense journey home.

"I guess I wasn't really thinking," Dex admitted. "I was just feeling really lonely and so was Ruby. We thought if we went to this party we might meet people. We might have fun. But we shouldn't have taken the car, Dad. I am so sorry. I deserve whatever punishment you give me. I have absolutely no defence. I truly am sorry. There's nothing I can say."

Sid was somewhat taken aback. He wasn't used to telling Dex off. He was used to Indi getting into trouble and she had never really been sorry. She usually hurled attitude at him. He had been all set to tear strips off Dex but now he just felt sorry for him.

"Well… yes, you should be sorry, Dex," he said. "You took my car behind my back. It was so wrong of you to do that. But I really do respect and appreciate that you've apologised. Thank you."

"I really am sorry, Dad. Please let me make it up to you."

"Well, I'll have to ground you," Sid said.

Dex nodded.

"I understand," he said. "To be honest, I'll be glad of it. It'll give me a chance to just come home, get my homework done. Not have to socialise."

He let out a long breath.

"I'm concerned that you said you've been feeling lonely though," Sid ventured.

Dex shook his head and told him not to worry.

"But I am worried," his father said. "Please. Talk to me."

"It's nothing," Dex said dismissively. "I just… Sometimes… I look around me and I see everyone connecting with everybody else. You and Marilyn. Romeo and Indi. Xavier and April. Charlie and Joey. Do you know that Claire has a girlfriend now? Everyone has someone. I've never had a proper girlfriend. Ever. There were a few weeks when Annie and I liked each other. But apart from that, nobody has ever looked at me and thought yeah, you're amazing. I love you. Or even, I like you. Nobody has ever thought I was special. At least, not in a good way."

"Dex, the time will come when…"

"Everyone says that, Dad," Dex interrupted. "But I've tried. I've tried so hard to make connections. I've tried to meet people. I've tried to date. But nobody likes me. Not ever. And I just think… I'm always going to be alone."

He sighed heavily. Sid felt desperately sorry for him. He moved to sit beside him on the sofa and put his arm around him.

"I know my words are going to feel empty right now but you will meet someone, Dex," he said. "You are a wonderful young man. You are funny and clever and charming and you're not even bad to look at."

Dex laughed.

"You are going to meet someone absolutely amazing and she's going to love you for everything you are," Sid said. "The only reason you haven't met someone yet is because you haven't met her yet. But I'm sorry that you're feeling so lonely right now. And I do understand why you did what you did. I don't condone it. But I understand."

"Thanks."

"But you are still grounded."

"I understand," Dex said. "But um… would it be okay if I started the grounded after I popped over to see Ruby?"

Sid was sceptical.

"I just… I want to check that she's okay," Dex explained. "I think she's in a bit of a bad way at the moment. I'm worried about her."

"Sure," Sid agreed albeit reluctantly. "You can go round now for one hour only."

He impressed the words on him very firmly.

"Then you're grounded for one week. And I absolutely mean it."

"Deal," Dex said. "Thanks, Dad."

He hugged him and left the house.


Ruby had not emerged from her room. Still unhappy with the situation, Charlie had had no choice but to get ready and go to work. She was not looking forward to facing her colleagues, knowing that they would likely be talking about the fact that her daughter had been arrested the night before. Especially Robertson. He would be very annoying. He was always very annoying.

She kissed Joey goodbye and resisted knocking on Ruby's door. With a heavy heart, she left the house and drove to the station. She was partnered with Watson today and was at least relieved about that. She just suddenly felt like her relationship with Ruby had gone back ten paces. More, even. And it made her feel so sad. What had happened that Ruby was acting out like this? What was so bad that Ruby was stealing cars and partying all night? What was so bad that she had all of a sudden stopped communicating with them? She had promised never to stop.

Arriving at the station, she was aware that the small cluster of officers at the reception desk had stopped talking quickly. She ignored them and approached Watson, sitting quietly at a desk nearby. She tapped her and gestured for her to follow her into her office. Watson obeyed and Charlie closed the door behind her.

"Hey," Watson said. "Are you alright? I heard…"

"About Ruby," Charlie said grimly, sitting down heavily in her chair.

"Yeah," Watson said. "What happened?"

"She 'borrowed' Sid's car. With Dex."

She shook her head.

"I don't know what she was thinking," she said. "He isn't pressing charges, thank goodness. But she's grounded for a fortnight."

"Fair enough," Watson said, perching on the edge of the desk.

"She doesn't think so," Charlie complained. "For some reason, she's furious with me. I don't understand what I've done wrong."

Watson reached out and placed a gentle hand on her shoulder.

"You haven't done anything wrong," she assured her. "She's a teenager. She's genetically wired to be an absolute fucking nightmare."

Charlie snorted with laughed. Watson grinned, pleased to have relieved some of her friend's pain.

"Anyway," Charlie said more decisively. "Patrol?"

"Sounds good to me!"


Joey called Ruby in for lunch. She heard some shuffling and then the teenager appeared, messy hair and red rimmed eyes. She slumped into the chair in front of a sandwich, crisps on the side of the plate and a drink in a glass.

"Thanks," she said. "I assumed you'd be at the restaurant today."

"I changed my shift."

"What about Charlie?"

"She's at work," Joey said. "She's pretty upset about the things you said."

Ruby shrugged and started eating. She couldn't bring herself to apologise. Joey sighed and sat down in front of her own lunch.

"Ruby, I thought we'd got past all of this," Joey ventured.

Ruby looked down. The truth was, she didn't know why she had attacked Charlie for lying to her about being her mother. She had forgiven her. She did understand. She thought of her as her mother now. She thought that of her and Joey both now. It was still a little confusing in some ways because she had thought of the mother who had brought her up as her Mum as well. And then there was her Dad who was actually her grandfather. But Charlie was her parent. Charlie and Joey both. They provided her with a stable and happy home. And that meant the world to her.

"Ruby, would you please talk to me?" Joey begged.

"I don't want to talk to you," Ruby snapped. "Not unless you stop this stupid grounding thing."

"I'm not going to cancel your grounding," Joey replied.

"You can't hold me hostage here."

"You did the wrong thing last night, Ruby," Joey said. "And together, we need to work out why."

"I told you why."

"No, we need to work out why really," Joey said. "Something is going on with you and we need to get to the bottom of it."

Ruby just glared at her. Joey sighed helplessly.

"I just don't understand what's got into you," she said. "This isn't you, Ruby. Lashing out at Charlie. Taking a car without permission. Staying out all night. When did you stop talking to us?"

"When did you stop listening?" Ruby snapped.

"Okay… so we've stopped listening? I'm listening now. Talk. Please. Talk."

Ruby was caught off guard. She didn't know what to say.

"Oh, what's the point?" she eventually snapped.

"The point is so that I can hear you," Joey said sincerely. "So I can help you. Please, Ruby."

Ruby opened her mouth but no sound came out. They were interrupted by a knock on the door. Joey crossed the lounge and opened up, surprised the find Dex standing there looking sheepish.

"Hi, Joey," he said. "Um… I'm sorry about last night. I uh… I'm grounded. But um… my Dad said I could come over and just make sure that Ruby is okay before my grounding begins. If… if you don't mind."

He shoved his hands anxiously in his pocket.

"Sure," Joey said. "There's a sandwich on the table that I haven't touched if you're hungry."

"Oh! Thanks!" he said, his eyes lighting up.

She headed to her room to give them some privacy.


Charlie and Watson stopped at the Diner for a coffee.

"How's VJ doing?" Watson asked Leah while she and Charlie were waiting for their drinks.

"Yeah, he's doing better," Leah said. "We're talking more and things are feeling a lot better. Thank you both again for everything you did."

"Of course," Charlie said. "That's what we're here for. And not just as police officers."

"Thank you," Leah said.

Charlie smiled, her attention caught by Roo nursing a coffee in the corner. She left her friends and walked over to her, politely saying hello.

"Oh, hi, Charlie," Roo replied. "How are you?"

"Yeah, I'm okay," Charlie said. "Pretty tired. Teenage daughter problems."

"Oh, I know about those. Well, from being one. Not from having one."

Charlie smiled and sat down.

"Listen, can I ask…? I don't want to interfere…"

Roo looked anxious. She put her coffee cup down.

"I just… I heard on the grapevine that you were starting some sort of business venture with John?" Charlie said.

It had been on her mind. On top of everything with Ruby.

"Yes…" Roo said carefully.

"Just… you know it would be a very serious, criminal matter if you were using this business venture as a way to… fund other projects?"

She had thought long and hard as to how to phrase things. She hoped that that was the right way to warn her of the seriousness of handing money over to Hugo and Martha. She didn't know Roo. She wasn't entirely sure if she liked her or not. She thought she did but she wasn't sure. But more than that, she didn't want innocent people, such as Gina and John and also Xavier to be incriminated in anything to do with that thug, Hugo. She was still broken hearted over how her friend, Martha's life had turned out thanks to him. She didn't want the rest of his family to suffer by trying to help him.

"Yes…" Roo said slowly, thoughtfully.

Charlie knew she had caught on.

"I understand. And I appreciate your concern."

"Great," Charlie said brightly, standing up. "Well, I'll catch you later. Maybe you, me, Alf and Joey could have dinner again sometime."

"Great," Roo agreed. "That sounds great."


"So, you're grounded?" Ruby asked gruffly, as Dex came to sit with her at the table.

He eyed the sandwich eagerly. Ruby had taken a couple of bites of hers already.

"Yeah," he said. "A week."

"You got off lightly," she almost accused. "I'm grounded for two weeks and I'm banned from the Informal. I was supposed to be going with Jackson."

"Who's Jackson?" he asked.

"The guy I met last night," she said as if he was stupid.

"Oh," he replied. "Sorry."

He picked up Joey's sandwich and took a bite. It was delicious.

"Why did you have to be so dumb and get us into trouble?" Ruby snapped.

"What?" Dex asked, completely confused. "How did I get us into trouble? It was your idea to take the car. I didn't want to."

"But if your Dad hadn't reported us…"

"He thought it had been stolen!" Dex protested. "I did say…"

"Well, aren't you a fucking saint and a genius!" she snapped.

He put the sandwich down, hurt.

"I only came over to see if you were okay, Ruby," he said sadly. "I don't know what's up with you lately but if you don't turn things around then you're going to end up pushing people away. Even really patient people like me and Claire."

He reluctantly left the sandwich and his friend and left, ready to begin a week of being grounded.


Roo went home and was relieved to find her father in the back garden.

"Dad?" she said.

The urgency in her voice immediately caught his attention.

"What's wrong, love?" he asked.

"I think Charlie knows what I'm doing with John," she said, sitting down beside him.

"For Hugo and Martha?" he said worriedly. "What do you mean? What did she say?"

She relayed the conversation as word for word as far she could remember. He sighed heavily, looking stressed. She knew. She definitely knew. And he told her so.

"What now?" she asked.

"She's trying to warn you how dangerous this is," Alf said. "She's trying to be a friend to you. To John and Gina. To all of you. Us."

"But I need to help my daughter!" Roo said desperately.

"I know that love but this is a criminal offence," Alf said. "You're risking everything to do this."

"But John said…"

"John is a good but arrogant man," Alf said. "He might think his idea is fool proof but that in itself is foolish. Charlie has worked the whole thing out in seconds. How easy is it going to be for another cop to become interested in you? Robertson for example? And you've seen the lengths he'll go to when he gets an idea in his head."

Roo sighed and rubbed her temples. She didn't know what to do.


April, Bianca, Vittorio, Irene, Will and Lily sat round the dinner table together that evening.

"Oh, guess what!" April said. "Liam is back on the chaperone list."

Bianca briefly froze, her fork halfway between her plate and her lips. She recovered quickly, resisting glaring at her sister. She knew that she had made the announcement deliberately in front of her and Vittorio.

"You know, for the Informal?" April added.

"Yeah, we understand what for, love," Irene said, also aware that the teenager was trying to wind things up.

"So, have you got enough people now?" Bianca said.

"I think so," April said, smiling a little too much. "So that's really good, isn't it?"

"Yeah," Bianca lied. "That's really good news."

She had many, many reservations about spending the evening with Liam while Vittorio was celebrating his last night of freedom. In fact, she had many reservations about Vittorio celebrating his last night of freedom. But mostly, she was worried about being stuck in such close quarters with Liam. She had done her best to avoid him since his return.


"How did it go with Ruby?" Sid asked when Dex arrived home.

"Not great," his son replied, throwing himself down onto the sofa. "She's upset with me."

"Upset with you?" Marilyn asked curiously. "Why?"

Dex shrugged. He genuinely didn't know. They were both guilty. And although he wasn't prepared to admit it to an adult, he felt she was guiltier than him. It had been her idea, after all. He had objected. She had all but forced him to go along with her stupid plan.

"I don't know," he said. "Maybe she's trying to get out of trouble or she feels guilty or something. I don't know. But she was really rude to me."

"I'm sorry, Dex," Marilyn said kindly. "It sounds like she's being unfair to you."

"Yeah, well it sucks," he said glumly. "I'm not exactly overwhelmed with friends so to lose one really doesn't help matters."

"I'm sure when things have calmed down you'll make up," Sid said, trying to be optimistic.

His son had never been a social butterfly like his daughter. He had never found it easy to make friends.

"And you must never forget what a good person you are, Dex. You're a kind and clever boy and Ruby is your friend. She thinks a lot of you. She'll calm down and apologise. She knows who you are how wonderful you are, the same as we all do," Marilyn told him.

Dex thanked her, grateful for her kindness, especially considering how badly he had behaved. Sid smiled affectionately at his girlfriend, touched at how much she cared for his son.


Things were very tense across town at the Buckton/Collins household. Ruby was in a foul mood still and couldn't bring herself to apologise to anybody, even though she knew it was warranted. She felt guilty for laying into Dex and she felt absolutely awful about the things she had said to Charlie. Her mother had been very quiet all evening, suddenly having found the ability to lose herself in the novel she had been completely unable to pick up for about a month. Joey just felt sad for them both.


Next time… Charlie and Joey continue to struggle with Ruby, Jackson tries to tempt Ruby and Ruby is banned from the Informal…