Welcome to the last chapter of this story. Thank you so much to everyone who has read and reviewed this one. I appreciate it so much and I hope you like the ending. I do have another Charlie/Joey, Willow/Alex story in the pipeline so watch this space. I am just waiting for it to be ready for public viewing. For now though, this is the end of this one. Enjoy. Love, IJKS xxx

Chapter Fourteen

It was three months later and Ruby had thrown herself back into work. Mason had confessed to his clumsy pass at Alex, unable to cope with the guilt. Ruby had angrily broken up with him and interrogated Alex over what had happened. Feeling terrible about it, Alex had apologised sincerely for not telling the truth but she hadn't wanted to cause problems over a drunken mistake. She had also made it very clear that nothing had actually happened.

She and Willow had been in a relationship for three months now and although it was still new, it was exciting and it felt special. It had been a little shaky to start with. Alex had been very nervous about getting hurt and Willow had been scared of labelling herself when she didn't know what she was or who she was supposed to be. But now, they were happy to be girlfriends. Willow had told her friends, including the people she referred to as her family and everything felt pretty smooth and easy.

"Hey, you," Willow greeted when Alex entered the gym for her training session.

"Hi," Alex said.

They kissed.

"Ready for your workout?"

"Kind of," Alex said, pulling a face. "I mean, I know you said I'd start to enjoy them soon but it's been months and I'm still not. Is there a refund option or…?"

"You know you love getting hot and sweaty with me!" Willow teased.

"I do," Alex agreed. "But not in the gym."

Willow laughed and directed her to the weights.

"Speaking of… are you free tonight?" Alex asked.

Willow stood behind her, placing her hands on her hips. Alex felt a tingle shoot up her spine, enjoying that Willow had such an effect on her.

"I might be," Willow teased.

She leant in and kissed Alex's shoulder.

"Well, if you are… you could always come over…?"

"I'm free," Willow said quickly. "I'm definitely free."

Alex smiled, leaning back against Willow and forgetting all about working out. They had taken their relationship as slowly as patience would allow. But it was definitely full on now. They saw each other every day and spent almost every night together. After their first night together, Willow had hardly been able to explain how she felt. Being with Alex was like nothing she had ever experienced before. In every single way.

"Excellent," Alex said. "Now, do I have to do this workout?"

"Well, you've paid for it now…"

Alex sighed dramatically.

"Thankfully this is the last time I'll be using physical exercise to pick up girls!"

Willow laughed. Alex put the weights down and turned around in her arms.

"I love you," Willow said, still laughing.

She froze. It wasn't something they had said to each other before.

"I mean… um… I love spending time with you? Oh…"

She pulled away, pressing her fingers to her temples, annoyed with herself for rushing things and therefore ruining them. Alex caught hold of her arm and pulled her closer.

"I love you too, Willow," she said sincerely.

"You do?"

"I do."

Having left her job, Joey had relocated to Summer Bay, easily finding a job at a local centre for victims of domestic violence. Initially, she had looked for an apartment but Charlie and Ruby had been bold and invited her to move in with them instead. After a little hesitation about rushing things, Joey had accepted and so far, things were going well. She and Charlie just seemed to fit together like they always had but without the angst and the stress their relationship had endured before.

"Look at you all dressed up," Joey remarked when Ruby appeared from her bedroom.

"Mason asked me out for dinner," Ruby explained.

"Oh! Is that on again?" Joey asked.

She hoped so. Mason did genuinely seem like a nice guy, despite his mistake.

"I don't know," Ruby said. "I mean, we've agreed to talk."

Joey sat down at the table with the woman who was essentially her step-daughter, although they were only nine years apart in age.

"I don't know Mason that well but I do know that Alex wouldn't be a character reference for him if she didn't believe it was a genuine error of judgement," she said. "And trust me, if he had succeeded in getting anywhere near her, you would have seen him the next day with a black eye!"

"Yeah, I can believe that!" Ruby laughed.

"Plus she would have told you, no matter how much he begged," Joey added. "She said it was just a drunk, clumsy pass because he was feeling sorry for himself. Which is not okay. Trust me. I know how it feels to be cheated on. But it's up to you to decide if it's worth throwing away your whole relationship over it."

"Yeah," Ruby sighed. "I just feel so hurt. But I also get that I haven't been prioritising him. I mean, put it this way, he's not the first guy I've stopped seeing because he's complained about my priorities."

"He's not?"

"No," Ruby said a little awkwardly. "In my life these past few years, since the shooting, my life has been: Mum, work or studying, relationship. That's just how it's been. And I'm not complaining. It's been my choice. I just… I worry about her. But now I feel like I can relax. She's happy for the first time in so long. And that's because of you, Joey. No pressure."

Joey smiled.

"I don't feel pressure," she said. "I feel happy."

Ruby smiled back.

"Ten years ago, Charlie was my hero," Joey explained.

"Hardly!" Ruby balked.

"You know what I mean," Joey continued.

Ruby nodded.

"I was so broken and Charlie saved me," Joey explained. "And despite how things turned out, she really did save me. Now, we're on equal footing and we can really make a go of things. If anything, she's actually more vulnerable than I am. Which is strange for us. But we're making it work. And if I can look after her and support her, that's all I want to do."

"I've noticed that she doesn't get up and go out early in the morning anymore," Ruby said. "She used to do that every morning."

"She's doing well."

"Does she still have the nightmares and the insomnia?"

"She's getting there," Joey assured her.

Ruby hugged her.

"Good luck tonight," Joey said.

"Thanks!" Ruby said, passing her mother on her way out.

"Where's she off to?" Charlie wondered.

"A date with Mason," Joey said, coming over to kiss her and welcome her home.

"Oh! Is that back on?"

"Not sure," Joey said. "But possibly. She's going to hear him out anyway."

"Is it wrong that I hope they fix things?" Charlie asked. "I know he hurt her but he's such a nice guy and he does love her."

"I agree," Joey said. "We'll just have to keep our fingers crossed."

"Well, maybe not all of them," Charlie said, wrapping her arms around her girlfriend. "Not if we have the house to ourselves…"

Joey giggled, telling her off for misbehaving. She ran her hands through Charlie's hair.

"You know, I really used to like you in uniform," she commented. "But in your power suits… Wow."

She licked her lips.

"I love you in your power suits."

They kissed.

"I just love you," Charlie replied, kissing her again.

"I love you too," Joey said. "And I know it took a decade but I feel like the luckiest girl alive to have found my way back to you."

THE END