As Long As I Have You

[soph1303]

Great update,

Yay, Charlie is pregnant! Hope it's Brax's!

Omg!! Charlie and Sally found each other!! Hope everything goes alright with the Ruby part of Charlie's life now!

More soon please

[cb2180]

Great chapter hope the baby is brax's

[Charlie&Brax_lover]

Hope Brax is the father of the baby and that he pulls through ok.

Wow, Charlie and Sally meet again!

Please update soon

[callyha]

Thank guys for the lovely comments!

I hope this chapter is okay, I'm not liking it too much

writing in this font is flashback

Chapter 27

Time had stood still.

Clocks had stopped ticked and the hands remained frozen on a number. Water droplets froze on the mouth of the tap. Fridges and freezers stopped making the irritating brrrrrrring sound. Hospital noises had ceased to exist as Sally locked eyes with the woman who had handed over a small baby to her nearly fourteen years ago.

Tears welled up in both women's eyes as they looked closey at each other for the first time. Charlie had last seen Sally and Paul take Ruby away and place her in the back of the family's car. Neither woman changing much over the last thirteen years, a little taller perhaps, but nothing much else.

"Charlotte" Sally said once more, her voice a soft tone as she opened her arms out to the young woman "My god" Sally said as she pulled away from Charlie and took a good look at her

"Sally" Charlie spluttered out once more, looking in bewildered awe at the woman who had adopted the baby she never wanted to part with "How...a...erm, how you are? I mean, How are you?" Charlie shook her head after she muddled her words up

"I'm good thank you" Sally smiled as she put the handle of her bag back onto her shoulder "You?"

"Shocked. I think" Charile replied "Not that its not nice to see you, but. Summer Bay? I thought you and Paul moved to the city?" Charlie sat on the chair close by her, followed by Sally who sat opposite her

"We did, we did" Sally nodded her head "But to be honest, Issy, Dan and Ruby all hated the school there, so Paul and I looked further out of the city and they liked the

school here" Sally looked just passed Charlie and noticed Ruby looking at the cakes and biscuits on the trolley

"You called her Ruby" Charile smiled as a tear formed in her eye "I thought you didn't hear me say that"

"Paul was the one who heard it" Sally replied "And after he told me, I thought it was the least we could do"

Charlie sat in the bed. Numb as she looked to the nurses on the other side of her door, holding a baby wrapped in a pink blanket. Tears fell freely from her eyes as she desperately wanted the nurses to wlak into her room and hand the baby to her; seeing her baby but not been able to hold her was more painful than the contractions had been. At fourteen years old, Charlie was never able to be told about her medical status or anything to to with her baby without the presence of her dad. But Ross was still in the waiting room, trying to call Michelle and so Charlie had to sit and wait.

It seemed hours before Charlie had company in the room. It wasn't who she truly wanted with her in the room, but he came a very close second. Ross let the door close on its own, never noticing that it didn't close properly.

"How's my baby girl?" Ross asked as he perched on the bed beside his washed-out daughter

"I'd be a lot better if I could hold my baby" Charlie cried

"You can't" Ross shook his head, pained at seeing his daughter so distraught "She's baby girl Young now" Ross placed a kiss on Charlie's head as he hugged her, trying to calm her down

"She should be baby girl Buckton" Charlie sobbed "I don't to give her up dad, I want to keep her"

"I know you do sweetheart" Ross had tears in his eyes "But you can't"

"I had a name picked out for her and everything" Charlie monotoneously said as she moved away from her dad and placed her hand on her now empty stomach "I never thought of one when she was in me. But when I saw her after they took her out of me, I knew what I wanted to call her" Charlie smiled, unaware that her conversation with her dad was been listened in on via the slightly a-jar door "The glimpses of her I saw were just, gorgeous, precious to me and it came to me. Ruby"

"That's a lovely name darling" Ross smiled

"Did you see her eyes?" Charlie asked as she looked to her dad "I'll never forget them" Charlie brokedown as the volume of tears overwhelmed her; Ross was unsure of how he was going to help Charlie heal over the next few months, but for now, hugs and lots of love would have to do

"Thank-you" Charlie smiled as she went to place her hand on top of Sally's. but pulled back at the last moment "Sorry"

"Its fine" Sally smiled awkwardly. Silence fell between the two women "I -erm, Ruby told me that you and her spoke before the fight at the club"

Charlie's eyes widened and she felt sick at the mention of the word 'fight' Charlie nodded "Yea. Erm, we both just couldn't watch the fight and we just, we started talking"

"She has alot of questions you know" Sally said as she looked to Charlie before glancing over her shoulder to see what Ruby was up to "Paul and I have never kept anything away from her"

Charlie nodded her head in agreement "I understand all that, and if I were Ruby, I'd want to know, but now isn't the best of times for me" Charlie replied, thinking about Angelo and Brax fighting for their lives and the baby she was carrying

"I think Ruby has waited long enough Charlotte. Don't you?" Sally said back just as Ruby walked over to the table

"I didn't know which one to get, you like them both so I just got both" Ruby smiled as she placed the coffee and the two biscuits down infront of Sally "I see you found

Charlotte" Ruby smiled as she pulled a chair from a spare table across to the occupied one

"Hi" Charlie smiled "Ruby" a tear fell form Charlie's cheek

"Hi" Ruby replied "I thought you were able to go home ages ago"

"Erm, I was but, I ahve a friend who is still in so, I'm waiting for him" Charlie replied with as close to the truth as she could

"I hope your friend gets better" Ruby replied as she looked to Charlie

"Thanks. So do I" Charlie smiled

"So" Ruby looked to Sally and Charlie, trying to get a conversation going

"So Charlo-" Sally began

"Charlie" Charlie butted in "Call me Charlie"

"Okay" Sally replied "Charlie. What do you do with your life"

Charlie closed her eyes and bit her lip; one question she didn't want to answer had just been asked. Two people who she wanted to impress if she ever met them, and she couldn't even do that "Erm well, I don't work as such. My boyfriend owns the club where the fight was and he doesn't like me working"

"Why not? do he preffer you to stay at home with the kids?" Ruby asked, trying to find out if she had any biological brothers or sisters

"No. I don't have any other children. And Angelo just, he likes to provide for me" Charlie tried to make her life seem better than it was, she didn't want to tell them the truth; that he life was pointless and she had no job, not furture prospects, her lover was in a coma and her boyfriend was someone she wished was dead

"Sounds like a nice man" Sally smiled

"Sounds it" Charlie replied, holding back tears "So what about you Ruby? How's school and everything?" Charlie tried to change the subject

"Schools fine" Ruby took the bait "I don't want this to sound rude" Ruby began as she looked to Sally "But, I have to know: Why did you give me up if you wanted to keep me?"

Charlie sighed heavily. If Charlie was honest, she couldn't deal with these questions right now. But she knew Ruby was entitled to knowing why "I was fourteen when I had you. I couldn't give you everything that you needed, I wasn't in the best of places when you were born. And if I had kept you, you'd have been taken from me by social services. My dad died a few months after Sally and Paul took you home; I was a mess after that, I could barely take care of myself" Charlie swallowed back tears, seeing Charlie cry would probably be the last thing Ruby and Sally would want

"What about my biological dad? Is your boyfriend Angelo my dad?" Ruby asked

"No" Charlie said quickly "I met Angelo when I was seventeen" Charlie looked to the table, mustering the strength she needed to tell Ruby the truth "I haven't heard or seen your dad since a few weeks after I got pregnant with you" Charlie wiped her face and felt uncomfortable in telling a thirteen year old about her conception; Charlie had never fully recovered from the experience and telling a young girl -close to her own age when it happened to her- was difficult to do.

"Ruby, can you just go and see if I locked to car doors please" Sally said as she saw how uneasy Charlie was

"Mum-"

"Please Ruby" Sally said more forcefully as she handed Ruby the keys

"Fine" Ruby replied, sulking off as sally leaned in closer to Charlie and placed her hand on top of Charlie's

"I think you should tell me and then I'll tell Ruby" Sally said "I think you just want to be by his side more than anything at the moment; not answering diffcult questions"

"They're not difficult, she has a right to know about me and about how she was concieved and everything to do with that, its just-"

"Come at a bad time" Sally finished Charlie's sentence off "I understand"

Charlie nodded thankfully as she watched Sally place her handbag on the ground "I can't do this now though" Charlie spoke softly "I just can't" Charlie was teary-eyed when she rose to her feet and fleed from sight. Bianca had seen Charlie in a teary mess and walked over to Sally, ready to tear a stripe off her

"Why did you do that?" Bianca raised her voice

"I beg your pardon" Sally retorted, shocked and miffed by the young womans outburst

"Charlie; I've been sitting over there, watching you and now you've made her cry? It took me ages to get her to clam down. There are two people close to death upstairs and she is really worried about both of them; you have no right to make her upset like that!" Bianca stared at the woman in the eye

"Firstly: How DARE you talk to me like that? secondly, Charlie and I have a lot to discuss regarding Ruby, and thirdly It has nothing to do with you so kindly keep your nose out of my business and pry into someone else's" Sally retorted as she rose to her feet, never noticing Ruby stood by a vending machine, who had witness Charlie running out and Sally's tiff with Bianca.

[Danni02]

Aww that was great Cally! The flashback was so sad. Poor Charlie. And they called her Ruby because its what Charlie wanted, that was sweet of them. Loved Bianca stepping in for her friend at the end, but not sure said it the right way. Oh dear.

Looking forward to more

[cb2180]

Great chapter! Looking forward to the next update!

[Inactive User]

Fab chapter

Aww the flashback is so sad!

Update soon xx

[Charlie&Brax_lover]

Great chapter!

Poor Charlie, so much going on, hope Brax will wake up soon

Please update soon x

[Samantha28]

Lovely chapter! Brilliantly written.

Great convo between Charlie/Sally/Ruby

Maybe you could have only Brax tested, to see if he's the father, if not she'll know it's Angelo's (hope it isn't Angelo's)

Looking forward to more!

[HighwayUnicorn]

Deleted.