Hi, everyone. Sorry for the delay in updating. I have no excuse other than I have been on holiday. I hope you are all well and that you enjoy the next chapter of the story. Love, IJKS xxx

Chapter Five Hundred and Seventeen

"Help! Help! My baby!"

Charlie was alerted to the cried of a young woman, rushing desperately towards her, Joey and Sid. The three of them had come outside to look for Marilyn, worried about her state of mind. Sid felt guilty about his attitude towards his girlfriend. He truly hadn't meant to upset her.

"Help!" the woman cried, stumbling towards them, clutching a bundle in her arms.

Charlie, Joey and Sid rushed to meet her.

"My baby!"

Sid gathered the baby into his arms.

"What happened?"

"He… he… his pram fell into the water… he was under for… he was drowning…"

The woman could hardly breathe. Joey put a gentle arm around her.

"He'll be okay," she said, having no idea if it was true or not as Sid laid him gently on the ground and began administering CPR.
"A woman jumped in," the woman said. "She… she saved him."

Joey and Charlie exchanged looks.

"Where?" Charlie asked urgently.

"The… the wharf."

They both bolted.


Joey's heart was pounded as she skidded onto the wharf. Marilyn was nowhere to be seen. She looked frantically at Charlie who called her friend's name. Joey looked out at the water. Her breath caught as she saw a dark mass under the water. Without thinking, she jumped in. Cold water hit her as she became submerged in water. She kicked upwards, gasping for breath.

"Joey!" Charlie called.

"I'm fine," she managed, diving back under and swimming towards what she had seen.

Charlie remained on the wharf, holding her breath and waiting for Joey to reappear.

"What's going on?" Sid demanded, startling her.

Joey burst back through the water, Marilyn unconscious in her arms.

"I didn't realise…" said a quiet, desperate voice.

Charlie turned to see the young woman behind her, holding her baby who was breathing and had colour back in his cheeks. She could hear sirens in the distance.

"Marilyn…" Sid managed, his voice catching.

Charlie crouched forward and helped Joey and Sid pull Marilyn onto the wharf. Sid desperately tried to save her life. Charlie helped Joey out of the water, holding her tight and scolding her simultaneously.


Within five minutes both the young woman and her baby were on the way to the hospital, as was Marilyn, with Sid by her side. Charlie and Joey followed in their car. Charlie wanted to get Joey checked out just in case, even though her girlfriend insisted that she was fine. But more importantly than that, they both wanted to make sure their friend – and the baby – were alright. Today had been a rather scary day.

While the woman and her son went off with one Doctor, Marilyn was whisked off with another, Sid with them. Charlie insisted that Joey also be seen so they were escorted off to another room. Joey was immediately warmed up and given a cup of tea.

"Honestly, I'm fine," Joey said. "I just want to know how Marilyn and the baby are."

"I'll find out for you," the Doctor said, listening to Joey's chest. "Did you get into trouble in the water? Hit your head? Lose consciousness?"

"No, no," Joey said. "Nothing like that. I didn't even breathe in any water. I'm fine, honestly. Please don't waste time with me when you could be seeing other patients."

"Joey, let the Doctor decide, okay?" Charlie warned.

Joey mock glared at her but was touched by how much she cared.


In another room of the hospital, Sid sat in a chair beside Marilyn who was unconscious. She was wet and pale. He felt strangely shaken by the fact that he had genuinely never seen her look less than perfect. She woke up beautiful every morning. Now she was suddenly the frail shell of the person she had been. The Doctor was painfully aware of what day it was. He was also aware that he had had to restart her heart. He was aware that she was not out of the woods yet. And he was excruciatingly aware of the fact that he had dismissed her fears and the last thing they had done was argue. He couldn't lose her now. He just couldn't. He needed her to wake up. He needed to prove his love for her. He had messed up so many things in his life, especially relationships. He needed to make things work with Marilyn. He needed her to know that he believed in her.

"Knock, knock," said a gentle voice.

He looked up to see Charlie and Joey hovering in the doorway.

"Is it alright if we come in?" Joey asked.

"Of course," Sid said, welcoming them inside.

"How is she doing?" Charlie asked.

"Time will tell," Sid said worriedly. "But if it wasn't for you then she'd be gone."

He thanked Joey gratefully. She blushed and shrugged off the compliment shyly.

"You gave her CPR," she pointed out.

"You dived in and brought her out of the water," he said.

"I just got there first," Joey insisted. "Any of us would have done it."

Charlie stepped closer and held Marilyn's hand gently, willing her to wake up. She too knew what day it was. She was desperate for her to overcome her prediction. She was desperate for her to win, to live and be happy.

"Do you know if there is any news on the baby?" Sid asked.

"He's fine," Joey said. "Thanks to Marilyn he wasn't in the water very long. She saved his life."

"Of course she did," he replied with a soft chuckle. "Always putting others before herself."


Claire and Ruby were in the Diner sipping coffee.

"So, Joey's booked you an appointment?" Claire asked.

"Yes, for next week," Ruby said.

"How do you feel about it?"

"Nervous," Ruby said. "I mean, do you think I'm relapsing?"

"I think you're preventing a relapse," Claire said firmly. "And I think you need to explore what's triggered it all."

Ruby sighed and sipped her drink.

"Anyway, enough about me," she said brightly. "Boring. How are you? I feel like I haven't been a very good friend lately."

"You're always a good friend," Claire said, although it wasn't entirely true.

Ruby smiled weakly. She knew Claire was being kind. She knew she was self absorbed. She was well meaning but she was thoughtless. She was loving but she got carried away.

"How are things going with… Emma?"

Claire blushed. Ruby tried not to wince. She tried not to be jealous.

"Hannah," she corrected. "And yes, they're really good," Claire said. "She's nice. We're getting along well. Just… taking it slowly."

"I'm happy for you," Ruby said.

And she was. She was happy for her. She wanted Claire to have love and joy. She had just been taking her for granted all this time, she knew. She had got used to being her one and only. She had never really considered what it would be like to have to share her.


Sid, Charlie and Joey were relieved to know that Marilyn would be alright. She was currently sat up and awake, although weak and rather shaken. She was terribly grateful to Joey for jumping into the water and saving her and to Sid for being there to bring her back to life. She was also very relieved to hear that the little boy she had jumped in to save was just fine.

"We'll leave you to it, okay?" Charlie said.

She leant over and gently hugged Marilyn goodbye, kissing her cheek.

"You be careful, Marilyn," she said softly. "Take care."

She turned to Sid.

"Look after her, please," she said gently. "We love this one."

"I love her too," he said, emotion in his voice as he held his girlfriend's hand.

Joey said her own goodbye to Marilyn and the couple left their friend's hospital room. Both of them were overwhelmed at what had transpired these past few days.

"I'm so sorry that I didn't believe you," Sid said, still holding Marilyn's hand.

"There is no need to say sorry for anything," Marilyn assured him.

"But if I'd have just believed then you wouldn't have left and…"

Marilyn squeezed his hand as strongly as possible in her weakened state.

"Sid, there is no room for apologies," she said firmly. "We've been through hell today and come through the other side. You saved my life and I will forever be grateful for that. Now I just want to forget all about this prediction and this awful shadow that has been hanging over me these past months. Now, I just want to be happy and look to the future. Because I actually do have a future. And I am so, so happy. Because that future is with you."

Sid leant closer and kissed her.


Charlie and Joey had not been home long when there was a knock at the door. But Joey had at least had time to get showered and changed. It was Bianca. She had brought wine. They were pleased to see both her and the bottle.

"How is your Dad, Charlie?" the teacher asked. "Everyone has been worried."

"He's doing okay," Charlie said as Joey took the bottle into the kitchen to pour it into three glasses. "He's home at least and Morag is looking after him. We're going to head back in a few days. Things are pretty heavy. We need to get a little more involved in his care now."

"That's understandable," Bianca said.

She and Charlie sat down together. Joey brought in the drinks.

"Oh um… is Ruby here?" Bianca asked, suddenly hesitant.

"No, I don't think so," Joey said. "She said she was going to meet Claire for a coffee. Oh, speaking of which…"

She turned to Charlie.

"I've booked Ruby a counselling appointment for next week," she told her.

"You have?"

"Yeah, she came to me just before everything that happened with Marilyn," Joey explained. "She said she was concerned about a relapse. Said she wanted to stop any issues before they started. So I went through the list the clinic gave us and booked an appointment."

"Good," Charlie said. "Good."

She squeezed Joey's hand gratefully.

"So, what happened with Marilyn?" Bianca asked curiously.


Sid stayed with Marilyn for as long as he could but finally he decided that she needed a proper rest. Kissing her goodbye and making sure that she had absolutely everything she needed, he left, promising to be back first thing in the morning.


Next time… Marilyn's Goodbye DVDs are unveiled, Charlie and Joey fret about Ross and Morag and Robertson closes in on Alf…