Possibly my last fanfiction update before Christmas so I wish you all a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. I hope you all enjoy the chapter (whoever is still reading this!) Love, IJKS xxx
Chapter Five Hundred And Thirty Two
"Are you ready?" Marilyn asked.
"As I'll ever be," Nicole said, taking a deep breath.
Marilyn led the way up to the front door of the farm. She too was not looking forward to arriving home. She and Nicole had a lot of explaining to do and she wasn't entirely sure that Sid was going to be sympathetic.
"Are you ready?" Joey asked.
"As I'll ever be," Charlie said, taking a deep breath.
She was in her uniform and about to leave for her back to work interview with Nick Parrish. It felt like she hadn't been at the station for ages. She wasn't sure how she was going to manage. But she knew that Watson would be there and also that Robertson wasn't at the station full time anymore since the Penn Graham case had been handed over to the prosecution service. He was still hanging around the Bay but Charlie suspected that was more to do with Leah than work.
"You'll be amazing," Joey said, kissing her softly on the lips. "You are always amazing."
"Thank you," Charlie said.
"Let me know when you're done, okay?"
Charlie nodded, promising that she would.
Sid didn't know what to say, confronted by his newly returned girlfriend and Nicole, who was quite obviously pregnant.
"And you didn't think to tell me any of what was going on?" he asked.
"Well, the idea was that I was going to terminate the pregnancy," Nicole explained. "But I wanted to do it away from the Bay, away from people watching me. Marilyn took me away to support me. But… when it came to it. I just… couldn't do it."
She sighed heavily. She still didn't know if she was doing the right thing. Her head was a mess.
"So, you're just going to raise Penn Graham's baby?" he demanded, obviously horrified by the idea.
"I don't know," she said.
"Well, you either are or you aren't!" he snapped.
"Sid!" Marilyn interjected.
"I'm sorry but…"
"I don't know what my plans are yet," Nicole explained. "Adoption or… I don't know. My head is still a mess and… I'm sorry."
"Right now, all we are here for is to support you," Marilyn said firmly. "Isn't that right, Sid?"
She looked sternly at her partner.
"Yeah," he said, nodding. "Of course. We'll always support you."
Joey arrived at the restaurant bright and early. She was worried about Charlie but she was actually happy to be returning to work herself. She had missed her colleagues and her customers as well as her structure. Everything seemed to have been in free flow since Ross had been unwell. Nobody had quite known what to do with themselves. It had been hard on the whole family, including Joey, although she had tried to be the strong one, showing support to those she loved. But now it was time for them to put themselves back together and do what they could to start again.
"Welcome back, Jo!" Angelo said cheerfully. "We've missed you!"
Joey beamed at him. It was nice to be thought of so highly.
"It's nice to be back," she replied. "How come you're in so early anyway?"
"I was um…"
He stretched out his arms, holding up a banner that read, 'Welcome Back Joey!'
She laughed and hugged him.
"I knew you'd be in well before we opened," he said.
"You're sweet," she said. "Thank you."
"I know things have been really tough," he said. "How's Charlie?"
"Struggling on," she said. "She has a back to work interview with Nick Parrish today. I'm sure it'll go well but she's pretty anxious. She's never taken time off work like this before; she's always just ploughed on regardless. This is all new territory for her."
"This Nick guy seems to have a bit of a soft spot for her by the sounds of it," Angelo remarked. "I'm sure he'll be kind and make the transition easy. But having had a significant amount of time off from the force, I know going back is hard."
He smiled sadly. Joey patted his shoulder. She remembered that time in his life very well. Angelo's return to Summer Bay had not been an easy time for anyone. He hadn't made it easy for himself and at that time, she could never ever have imagined that one day, the pair of them would have become friends.
"Hey, Charlie!" Watson said, catching up with her in the car park.
She fell into step beside her and they walked into the building together.
"How are you doing? It's great to see you back."
"I'm okay," Charlie said. "A bit nervous. How are you?"
"I'm good," Watson said.
She stopped.
"Hey," she said seriously, stopping Charlie too. "Don't be nervous, okay? We're all here to support you. You know that. We're a family. Everyone just loves you. We've missed you."
Charlie smiled and hugged her.
"Charlie!" another officer, Constable Metcalf said happily, approaching her. "Welcome back!"
Soon, every officer present wanted to welcome her back.
"Charlie Buckton," said a patient voice.
Charlie looked up to see Nick standing there.
"Hello, Sir," she said.
"Nick, please," he said. "Are you ready?"
"Yes," she said, actually meaning it.
She followed him upstairs to the meeting room he'd booked.
"Was that Charlie back?" Robertson asked Watson, arriving just as Charlie left the reception area.
"Yes," Watson said stiffly. "And it's her first day so give her a break, okay?"
Marilyn had brought Nicole back home, catching Alf, Morag and Romeo while they were all still at the house.
"Nicole!" Romeo said, thrilled to see her.
He was about to hug her when he noticed that she had put on some weight.
"You look… um… great…" he said, hugging her a little more awkward.
"I'm not fat, I'm pregnant," she informed him, not sure if that would make things worse or better.
He let her go carefully, looking awkward in a different way.
"You're uh… um… what?"
He looked helplessly at her, then Marilyn and then back at Alf, who looked shocked, as did Morag.
"You're pregnant?" Morag demanded. "Whose is it?"
"Penn Graham's," Nicole said quietly.
She knew this was going to be one of the worst conversations of her life. And she had had a few bad ones.
"Penn Graham's?" Morag exploded. "You stupid, stupid girl!"
"Calm down, Morag," Alf interjected quickly. "The poor love doesn't need people shouting at her. First thing's first, sit down, Nicole. Can we get you a drink?"
He guided her to the sofa. Marilyn smiled to herself. This man, this beautiful, kind hearted man who had somehow been accused of murder could only ever have responded to the situation with love and compassion.
"Yes please," Nicole said.
"Juice?" Romeo offered.
Nicole accepted and Romeo hurried towards the fridge. Within a few minutes, the group were all sat together, Marilyn taking the lead in explaining that they had gone away together to terminate the pregnancy in private, only for Nicole to change her mind.
"I got there and I just couldn't go through with it," Nicole said.
"Well, I'm sorry but that was a mistake," Morag said.
"You can't say that, Morag," Romeo snapped, holding Nicole's hand. "It's Nicole's baby. It's Nicole's choice."
"It's also the baby of a monster," Morag said. "And going through with this pregnancy could have all sorts of implications. For you. For Alf."
She shook her head in disbelief.
"I understand that," Nicole said. "I do. But it's not the baby's fault. And I also didn't know I was pregnant at the time that Penn died."
"Prove it," Morag snapped.
"Look, none of that matters," Alf said.
"The fact is that this baby could be seen as a motive for you murdering Penn Graham!" Morag said unkindly.
"Precisely," Alf said. "It's a separate issue. Right now, Nicole is pregnant and we just need to support her. The same way you supported Roo when she was pregnant with Martha."
Morag swallowed the aching lump in her throat.
"The prosecution can draw whatever conclusions they like and we'll deal with them," Alf said. "My amazing lawyer will deal with them."
He smiled at his sister and even managed to get a smile back.
"But come on, let's celebrate the new life that will be coming into the world in a few months," Alf said.
"Fine," Morag said grudgingly.
Nicole breathed a sigh of relief. She looked at Marilyn who smiled encouragingly at her.
"Great," Romeo said. "Congratulations, Nicole. And of course, you have my full support. I'm late to meet Indi and then I have a shift at work but I'll catch you later okay?"
He hugged her and left.
"Where's he working?" Nicole wondered.
"At Bucktons'," Alf said. "A summer job before he starts school again."
"I was very sorry to hear about your father," Nick said, sitting across the desk from Charlie.
"Thank you," Charlie said.
"He was a legend on the force," Nick said. "I've worked with him personally before and I've also spent my career hearing many, many stories about him."
Charlie smiled. It was nice to hear of her Dad that way.
"Hey," Nick said kindly. "You don't need to look so nervous. I just wanted to meet with you to make sure you were feeling okay and were ready to come back to work after your loss."
"And what do you think?" Charlie asked.
"What do you think?" Nick asked.
"I think if I don't come back now, I'll never come back," Charlie admitted.
"When you lost your mother, you didn't take compassionate leave," Nick noted. "Not more than a couple of days."
"I was a different person then," Charlie explained. "I didn't have much time for feelings. I just locked them all up in a box and threw away the key."
"And now?"
"Now I know it's okay to take time to process how I feel," Charlie told him. "And I understand that's a better way of doing things."
"And have you been doing that these past weeks?" Nick asked. "Since you lost your father?"
"Yes," Charlie said. "I mean, I'm still doing it. I'll probably always be doing it. I don't think you ever really recover from a loss that deep."
Nick nodded, thinking of his brother who he still missed terribly.
"But I think part of recovery is picking myself up and getting on with things again," Charlie said. "So that's what I'd like to do."
Nick smiled.
"Good," he said decisively. "Well, we'd love to have you back. Everyone I've spoken to has missed you terribly."
"Well, probably not everyone but… I've missed people here and I'm looking forward to getting stuck in again."
Nick lent forward and shook her hand.
"Good to have you back, Charlie," he said.
"Good to be back… Nick."
Nicole went for a walk, having changed into looser fitting clothes. It was nice being back in Summer Bay. She had missed it while she had been away, although Marilyn really had looked after her.
Before long, she found herself knocking on Ruby's door. She had worried about her the whole time she had been away. First there had been her behaviour around the time of the Informal. Then her Dad had been taken ill and then he had died. Nicole felt awful not to have been there for the funeral and to not have supported Ruby, Charlie and Joey. She knew they would always be there for her. But she just hadn't been ready to come home.
Charlie left the station and headed over to the restaurant to see Joey. Nick had suggested that she start her shift first thing the next morning. She was glad that he seemed happy with her return to work and she was also pleased that she had managed to have a civil conversation with Robertson. His sarcasm was not what she needed right now.
"Hey, how did it go?" Joey asked immediately when her girlfriend arrived.
"Yeah, it was good," Charlie said. "Really good. I start back tomorrow morning."
"I'm really pleased," Joey said, pulling her in for a kiss.
"Yeah, that's great, Charlie," Angelo said as he walked by.
Charlie thanked him.
"Hey, can I steal you for lunch?" she asked Joey. "Or is that not allowed on your first day back?"
"I'm the boss," Joey said, a naughty twinkle in her eye. "It's allowed."
She grabbed some menus that they both already knew by heart and sat down at their favourite table. They both looked up suddenly when an angry looking Alf burst through the doors. Their thoughts immediately rushed to Will Smith.
"Alf, what's happened?" Joey asked worriedly, standing up again.
Charlie followed suit.
"John flamin' Palmer!" Alf said crossly.
Joey and Charlie exchanged confused glances.
"John?" Charlie asked. "What's he done?"
"What hasn't he done? He changed everything bloody thing to do with the Surf Club while I've been away! There's nothing as I left it!"
Joey laughed. She didn't mean to. It just slipped out. He looked furious.
"Sorry, Alf," Joey said. "I just… I thought it was something to do with the case and… it's just John being John."
"But why can't the man leave anything alone?"
"Because he's John," Joey reminded him.
Alf sighed heavily and sank into a chair.
"Morag says I've got to stop getting so wound up about things," he said.
"I tend to agree," Charlie remarked. "Hey, come and have lunch with us. We're celebrating my return to work."
"Oh, I don't want to intrude," Alf said, waving his hand dismissively.
"You could never intrude," Charlie said, inviting him to pull up a chair.
He gratefully accepted. Those girls were definitely a tonic to John flamin' Palmer!
Ruby stared at Nicole, hardly able to believe what she was seeing and hearing. Her friend was pregnant with Penn Graham's baby.
"But… what are you going to do?" she asked.
"Well, I went away with Marilyn in order to…"
"Get rid of it?"
"Well, yeah but then I… I couldn't go through with it," Nicole explained.
"But how could you… go through with it?"
Nicole sighed. She was sick of people asking her that question.
"Ruby, it's not the baby's fault that Penn is its father," Nicole said. "It didn't ask to exist."
"But it's Penn's baby, Nicole! I mean… that monster…"
She shook her head, unable to comprehend what she was being told. Nicole stood up, suddenly annoyed.
"You know, I came here for support, Ruby," she said. "I thought of all my friends, you would be someone who'd be on my side."
She left without another word, passing Charlie on her way in as she did so.
"Why was Nic leaving in such a hurry?" the police officer wondered. "And did she look… different to you? I mean, apart from angry?"
"She's pregnant!" Ruby burst out, jumping up from the sofa.
Charlie took off her police belt and laid it down on the table. She sat down on the arm chair took her boots off.
"Pregnant? She hasn't even dated anyone since… Oh."
"Exactly!" Ruby said. "I mean, how can she even think about having Penn Graham's baby?"
"Well…" Charlie said slowly.
She looked meaningfully at Ruby who sat down heavily.
"Oh," Ruby said. "That's what she meant."
"What did she mean?"
"When she said she'd expected support from me of all people."
"Right," Charlie said.
She moved to sit beside her daughter.
"It was the hardest thing I ever did, to come to terms with what happened to me," Charlie told her. "I don't think I have even now. And I'm not sure I ever will. And when I realised I was pregnant, especially so young, I genuinely panicked. I had no idea what to do."
Ruby nodded.
"Did you want to get rid of me?"
"I thought about it," Charlie admitted. "But I couldn't. I just couldn't. For all the reasons I'm sure Nicole has. It wasn't your fault that you existed. And I wanted to love you. I wanted something good to come from what happened to me. And I know it didn't exactly happen the way I wanted but we had our chance eventually."
Ruby smiled and leant against her.
"Yeah, we did."
"So, maybe you could be a little more supportive of Nicole's choices?"
Ruby nodded, feeling bad for her response to her friend and feeling eager to turn things around.
"What about a party?" Joey mused.
"A party?" Alf queried.
"To welcome you home," Joey said.
The pair of them were behind the bar together. It felt like the old days, before he had gone to jail and Ross had died. Things felt back to normal.
"Oh, I think that's a bit much," Alf said bashfully. "I mean, I'm not out of the woods yet."
"But you will be," Joey said confidently. "Morag is totally on the case. And it doesn't need to be anything lavish. Just a little get together. You know, close friends."
"Okay," Alf agreed, seeing her eager look of pleading. "Just a handful of people. Nothing fancy."
"Excellent! Oh, here's Morag now!"
Alf's sister walked through the doors.
"You'll come to the party, won't you?" Joey asked.
"What party?"
"A Welcome Home, Alf Party," Joey said.
"Do you think that's appropriate, Joey?" Morag asked tiredly.
"Yes, I do," Joey replied.
Their eyes met. Morag gave in.
"Fine, keep it small," Morag said. "We don't want Alf looking arrogant."
"Great. Here. Tomorrow."
She bustled off to serve another customer while Morag requested that Alf join her at a table.
"What's wrong?" Alf asked worriedly.
"I need to discuss a defence strategy with you," she said.
"Okay…"
"I think we need to look at putting together another theory as to who killed Penn," Morag said. "Put a convincing argument to the jury that they can believe that you couldn't have done it because 'this person', whoever it may be, did it instead."
"Who do you have in mind?"
Ruby found Nicole on the beach.
"Hey," she said, sitting down beside her. "I went to your house but nobody was home so I thought I'd probably find you here."
"Please don't go for me again," Nicole said tiredly.
"I won't," Ruby said. "I promise. In fact… this is for the baby."
She pulled a small teddy bear out of her bag, slightly worn and most definitely loved.
"I've had him since I was a baby," Ruby explained. "A gift from Charlie when I was born. And now a gift from me to your baby."
"I can't take this," Nicole protested. "He's way too precious!"
"I want you to have him," Ruby said. "I'm a grown up now. I don't need him. But your baby needs something to cuddle when he or she is small and needs to feel safe."
Nicole accepted him, hugging Ruby and feeling tearful.
"Thank you," she said.
"I'm sorry I reacted badly," Ruby said. "I was shocked but it doesn't excuse it. Especially considering if my Mum hadn't been brave like you're being now, I wouldn't exist."
Nicole wiped her eyes.
"I don't know how brave I'm being," she said. "I don't know if I can even keep the baby. If I'm going to have him or her adopted."
"That's fine, Nicole," Ruby said. "Charlie had me adopted. And that's okay. But she was still brave enough to have me at all. How hellish was her pregnancy? She was only a few years younger than you. Whatever you decide, you're brave. And you have mine and Charlie's and I know Joey's full support. No matter what. Okay?"
"Thank you," Nicole said gratefully.
She sighed heavily.
"I just feel so confused right now. I mean I had all these plans. University and everything, which I'm still planning to do. But being pregnant while I was doing my first year there just… wasn't part of my plan, you know?"
"Yeah, I know," Ruby said. "But I also know that you can do absolutely anything you put your mind to. You're amazing, Nicole and you have achieved so much already through so much adversity. I know you can do this."
Nicole smiled, leaning against her friend.
"Thank you for believing in me," she said.
Next time… Joey throws Alf at Welcome Home Party, Morag has plans for Alf's defence and Marilyn has plans for Nicole's baby…
