DISCLAIMER: The characters herein are used without permission. No infringement intended.
AUTHOR'S NOTE: Okay, so I don't really actually watch Home and Away, but I was on YouTube browsing other videos when I came across the Charlie Joey Love Story, and got engrossed, and watched the whole thing. I literally lost my whole evening. Anyway I was so taken with the story I decided to write my own. As I say I don't really watch the show, so I have no idea what has happened since – well I know Joey didn't come back, and I know Charlie got hit by Brett's car, and possibly died later on at some point. But needless to say my story won't be following the reality of the show – because I really have no idea what that is!! Sooooo let me know what you think.
ARCHIVING: Only with the permission of the author.
FEEDBACK: To debrafitzakerley[at]yahoo.co.uk

One More Chance
By EdenAshley

 

Part 5

Charlie is still very much on a high from last night. Joey has given her a second chance, it's not something she's sure she deserves, but she is going to grab it with both hands. She practically floats into the police station; she really is walking on air. That is until she sees Angelo; she comes crashing straight back down to reality.

She heads directly over to him, he looks uncomfortable, and he can tell she is absolutely fuming.

"Angelo can I see you in my office right away please." She doesn't stick around to give him a chance to decline her invitation; she just heads straight into her office.

He follows slowly, tail well and truly between his legs. He closes the door behind him and slowly sinks into the chair opposite Charlie. She looks like a rocket that's about to go off. To be fair that precisely how she feels, just looking at him sitting there all pathetic is causing the rage to build within her.

Such is her fury she hasn't managed to formulate a sentence yet. Angelo decides to bite the bullet.

"I take it she told you then?" He seems annoyed as he says it, which does nothing for Charlie's temper.

"She has a name." He's taken aback by the level of venom in her voice. "What the hell were you thinking Angelo?"

He decides he's not going down without a fight. "It was hardly my fault. I just grabbed her and she went crazy." Well his candid approach was a big mistake, if Charlie looked like a rocket about to take off before; we've just had the explosion.

"You grabbed her with such a force you left a black handprint behind."

"It was only because she struggled so much . . ." He catches the look on Charlie's face and decides against arguing with her.

"She was raped four months ago Angelo. A strange man who she's never seen before grabs her on the arm. Off course she struggled. You idiot."

She's shouting now. She has also inadvertently risen out of her seat, so she's now towering above her ex boyfriend. In fairness to him, he does flinch when she mentions the rape, and looks absolutely mortified.

"I'm sorry Charlie. I didn't even think about that." She sees genuine remorse in his eyes and she softens a little.

"It's not me you should be apologising to."

He nods. "'I'll apologise to Joey as soon as I can."

"Good."

Charlie starts to fiddle with some paperwork, hoping that he will take the hint and leave. He doesn't. He needs to make absolutely sure that he and Charlie really don't have any hope.

"Charlie, this Joey thing you're going through?" She rolls her eyes as he continues. "Seriously, how long is this going to take you to get out of your system?"

"Truthfully?"

He eagerly nods his head. "The rest of my life I hope."

That was not the answer he wanted to hear, but he respects it. "Fair enough." He skulks out of her office.


Well Joey is due to start her new job in the morning. Her week off to adjust to life back in the bay has flown by. She's nervous but excited about tomorrow. Mitchell had taken her to the garage and introduced her to the existing staff, they seemed a nice bunch, to be honest if Mitchell employed them, she expected nothing less. He's most definitely one in a million.

The rest of the week she'd spent mostly with Lily and Aden. Charlie had been manic at work and had been working a lot of extra hours. She's been calling Joey at every opportunity, and sounds more upset than Joey feels when she has to cancel their plans. Joey decided against going to the station to see her, knowing that she also had to live up to her end of the bargain, and not push Charlie into revealing more than she wanted to, too quickly. She didn't want Charlie to have to answer any awkward questions.

The result unfortunately meant they haven't been alone together since the night they decided to try again. Joey knows she said she wanted to take things slowly, but this is a bit much. She's seen Charlie around Summer Bay, and it's taken all of her restraint not to grab her and give her a hug or a kiss. They'd spoken obviously, and they both had a look of longing in their eyes, and Charlie had been more than apologetic. But the black and white of it is, Joey hasn't seen Charlie properly in almost a week, and she hates it.

Charlie feels as awful as Joey. She spent three months waiting for her return, and now she's finally here and willing to give her another chance to boot, work explodes, and she hasn't seen her properly. Her heart actually aches.

She's seen her around the town, all she's wanted to do each time is grab her and hold her, and kiss her. But in the back of her mind she has Joey's speech about them taking it slowly. So she has held back. But it's killing her. Now she's just leaving the station. It's almost 10.30pm, she knows tomorrow is Joeys first day in her new job, and she wanted nothing more than to spend this evening with her. But now it's too late. She loves her job, but she's seriously starting to question that love now, one thing's for certain, she loves Joey more.

She knows what will happen now, she'll go home, not eat, go straight to bed, call Joey, have five minutes of happiness listening to the love of her life talking to her, and then she'll cry herself to sleep again. Although there does seem to be a light at the end of the tunnel, this particular investigation looks to be coming to an end. Thank God. As soon as it does Charlie's decided she's going to spend every moment she can with Joey, to make up for this week of hell.

Joey decides that she can't bear another night away from Charlie; she guesses she probably won't sleep to well tonight anyway, due to 'first day on the job nerves' so she figures a late night won't do too much harm. It's around 9.30pm when she has her bright idea.

She waltzes downstairs into the living room, where together Mitchell and Lily are watching TV, they both notice she's dressed and looks like she about to head out.

"You going somewhere Jo?" Mitchell is intrigued.

"I just, I need to see Charlie." She's not sure how her boss will feel about her heading out this late the night before her first shift.

Apparently he's not bothered. "Do you want a lift?"

Joey smiles at his offer. "No, its okay it's still light out, I'll walk. It'll only take ten minutes."

"Alright cool, be careful and I'll see you bright and early tomorrow."

She smiles and moves to head out. Lily can't help herself she has to give her some gentle ribbing. "Don't do anything I wouldn't do."

"Well now that doesn't leave me much does it?" Joey winks, and Lily just smiles as Joey exits the house.

She gets about five minutes into her journey, when she sees a now familiar figure in the distance. Angelo. At least he's wearing his uniform; she hopes he would refrain from assaulting a woman when he's in full police attire. She's stops as he reaches her; it appears he wants to talk.

"Hi Joey." She stuffs her hands in her pockets and looks around awkwardly, she'd rather be anywhere but here. Angelo can certainly understand her apprehension.

"How's your eye?" The bruise is still there but it's hardly noticeable, definitely a lot better than it was.

"It's good thanks."

"Look Joey, I just want you to know how sorry I am." Joey wasn't expecting him to apologise.

"It's just I was crazy jealous. But Charlie's made it clear you're the only one she wants." Joey can't help but smile. Angelo can't help it, he finds himself smiling back. The smile on Joey's face is the same one on Charlie's face whenever she talks about her. He can tell despite their problems these too obviously make each other insanely happy. He can't help but be happy for them.

"How about you let me shout you lunch one day. As an apology?"

Joey decides to give him the benefit of the doubt. "Yeah okay."

Angelo is relieved. "That's great. Where are you heading, to Charlie's?"

"Yeah, thought I'd surprise her when she gets in from work."

"I'll keep shtum then." Joey smiles again as a thank you. Maybe he's not that bad after all. "I'll try and push her out of the door at a reasonable hour."

"Thanks Angelo."

"No worries. Well I better get back anyway"

Angelo makes his way back to the station, and Joey continues on her mission to Charlie's.


Joey arrived at Charlie's and was greeted by Leah and Ruby, VJ was already in bed. She wasn't sure how they would take her turning up at this hour unannounced and knowing Charlie isn't in. But they made her feel more than welcome, they had a coffee and chatted for around half an hour before Leah and Ruby both decided it was bed time. Joey had hoped Charlie would be back by now, she wasn't sure she should be sitting around in the house while everyone else is in bed.

But Leah and Ruby both insisted she stay. They have both seen how miserable Charlie has been this week, having Joey so close, and yet so far away. They know how much it will mean for her to get home and have Joey there waiting for her. Ruby tells her to crash in Charlie's bed. Joey decides this is probably the best course of action. She's not sure how long Charlie's going to be, she may as well try and get some sleep.

Charlie had huffed out of the station around ten minutes ago; she has just pulled up outside her home. Angelo has been acting weird with her. Well maybe not weird, but overly nice, she hopes he's not trying to worm his way back in, because it won't work. He was trying to get her to leave early, she wishes she could have, but being the senior officer in charge she just couldn't.

She trudges through the back door, and takes her belt off immediately. Not for the first time this week it seems the rest of the household is already in bed. She sighs as she wanders through the house. Another full day without seeing Joey. She smiles as she realises that she gets to call her, and even if it's just a minute she gets to talk to her for, she knows that it will be the best minute of her day.

She walks into her bedroom with a renewed vigour. She is slightly scared when she realises that there's someone in her bed. But her fear turns into utter joy when she realises its Joey gently snoozing away. This is a sight she's missed over the last three months.

She quickly removes her uniform, and jumps straight into bed and puts her arms around Joey, spooning her from behind. Joey awakens slightly from the contact; she entwines her fingers with Charlie's and smiles.

"Hey, how was work?"

"Awful" Charlie snuggles into Joey's neck as she speaks. "This is literally the best ending to the day ever."

"No argument here."

They are both absolutely exhausted, and fall into a deep sleep pretty much immediately, entangled in each other, happy.

Part 6

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