Neo stared up at the ceiling, his electric alarm clock providing the only light. Samira and the kids had returned two hours after his argument with Charlie. Thankfully, his ex wife hadn't remained long. He hadn't been in any sort of mood to deal with Samira on top of everything else.

Perhaps sensing his foul mood, Dante and Willow had disappeared upstairs not long after Samira left, both claiming to be tired, though Neo doubted their authenticity. More likely, they were just trying to avoid him until he'd calmed down.

His phone buzzed, and he contemplated ignoring it, but his better side won out.

'What the hell do you want now, Barry?' he snapped.

'Need a lift,' Barry slurred.

Neo ground his teeth together. 'You live in Shrewsbury I'm sure you can get yourself home.'

'No, 'snot for me. For Charlie.'

That gained Neo's attention. He sat up in bed and threw the covers off himself.

'What do you mean "for Charlie"?'

Barry giggled on the other end of the phone, and Neo sighed. It didn't take many drinks for Barry to become completely incomprehensible, and it looked like he'd already passed that limit a few drinks before he'd called Neo.

'We're at Travis'. Charlie sings real good, Neo. I can't believe you shouted at her. That was a dick move, man,' Barry rambled.

'Okay, stay there. I'll come and pick her up.' Neo would have rather not faced her for a few days, but it appeared fate didn't want to cut him a break.

Barry burped on the other end of the line. 'Sure thing, Chief. Besides, I'm on karaoke next. Ta ta.'

For a few seconds, Neo just stared at his blank screen, hearing the call cut out. How did he keep getting himself into these situations?

Throwing on his clothes, he scribbled a note to his kids and left the house.

The streets were quiet. Given the early hour, he wasn't surprised. He made it to Shrewsbury in under twenty minutes, parking in the cramped car park behind the notorious local known as Travis'.

It was a squat little building, its sides bulged out as if it could no longer contain the revelry that went on inside. A lone man stood just outside of the porch with a cigarette between his lips, watching as Neo left his car. The man checked his watch and smiled up at Neo.

'Just how many speed limits did you break to get here so fast?' Colin smirked.

Neo shook the CSI's hand. 'Didn't expect to see you here?'

Colin held out his packet of cigarettes, and despite his cravings, Neo shook them away. Shrugging, Colin placed the packet back in his pocket and blew out a large cloud of smoke.

'I was supposed to be having a few drinks with Barry, but then we came across Charlie. She seemed pretty upset, so we stayed with her, and well you can guess the rest.'

And Neo could. The rest would involve a large number of drinks and a few bits of gossiping, which, judging from Barry's abolishment of his behaviour, would have had something to do with him.

'I should probably warn you before we go in, they're both very drunk and royally pissed off with you.'

'Perfect,' Neo grumbled, making Colin laugh.

'We all make our own bed, mate. Now it's your turn to lie in it.'

'Or I could just leave you all here to deal with the mess you've got yourselves in?' suggested Neo.

Colin turned to look at him with a raised eyebrow and the beginnings of a smirk curling the corners of his mouth. 'Something tells me you won't leave that lovely young lady in there all alone while she's in that state.'

He didn't wait for Neo to respond as he turned and walked through the door.

The doormat was worn as Neo stepped inside behind Colin, no doubt a result of the many patrons that frequented the place.

The smell of stale beer and sweat hit Neo the moment he was inside. It was dimly lit and filled to the brim with people all jostling for space at the bar. On the far end, a small stage was set up and on it stood Charlie and Barry waiting for the music to start.

'You're going to want to hear this.' Colin dragged Neo closer, somehow getting the people to part for him, until they both collapsed at a table near the front.

Neo's eyes locked on Charlie's and for a moment the rest of the room melted away. She had on a pair of high waisted leather trousers with a white halter crop top. A pair of spiked high heels finished the look. Her blonde hair was lightly curled and hung in two curtains down the side of her neck. She was, without a doubt, the most beautiful woman in the room, and Neo caught more than one pair of eyes ogling her, but she only had eyes for him.

The music started, breaking their connection. One of Willow's favourite songs began playing, and Charlie and Barry shared a wide smile.

'I am not a stranger to the dark...' Charlie started, her voice smooth and crystal clear despite the wobble in her step from all the alcohol.

Neo sat captivated as she and Barry harmonised in a way he'd never seen at any karaoke party. It was like they'd rehearsed it, the way they belted out the song. The pub fell silent for the first few verses until they began to join in, ruining the perfect performance, in Neo's opinion.

As their song ended, the pub erupted into an ear-splitting applause. Fists pounded tables and cheers rang out as Barry and Charlie descended the stage.

'How about another round of drinks for our singers?' The barman called, smiling from ear to ear.

Barry was about to accept when Colin caught his hand. 'Sorry, but our lift is here, maybe another time.'

Barry pouted a little, but was secretly pleased to feel Colin's hand in his.

Charlie's gaze flashed to Neo. 'I'd rather walk.' And she stormed away before anyone could stop her.

Neo shrugged through the crowd after her, whilst Colin towed a deliriously happy Barry after him.

The fresh air hit Charlie like a brick to the face, all her drinks affecting her at once as her knees buckled underneath her. She tried to remember how much she'd had to drink but kept coming up blank after her seventh.

A pair of strong, callous hands caught her, and her body tingled in awareness.

'Let me go, Neo,' she mumbled weakly, hoping that her rolling stomach would seize soon.

'If I thought you could walk to my car by yourself, I would,' he replied.

'I'm not going with you.' She tried to strengthen her voice, but failed.

'Yes, you are.' He held the car door open for her and ushered her inside. On impulse, he took off his jacket and wrapped it around her body before buckling her up.

'I'm not dying,' she snapped, but did little to stop him.

'Hmm,' he replied, not believing her. She already looked a little green to him.

He looked behind him, seeing a pale Barry being supported by Colin.

'Do you two need a lift as well?' If he was going to be a taxi service, then he might as well accept it.

'No, I only live around the corner. He can crash at mine.' Colin pulled on Barry's arm, so they started walking. He waved at Neo as they rounded the corner.

At least Neo was only making one journey now. He climbed into his car and switched the engine on, making Charlie crack open an eye.

'You don't have to take care of me, you know. I'm a big girl, I can take care of myself.'

'I know you can, but now is as good a time as ever to apologise for the way I handled things earlier. It was wrong of me to accuse you. And maybe you were a little right.'

Charlie turned her head and gazed at him with unfocused eyes.

'I guess we both said a lot of things.' She closed her eyes, suddenly feeling tired. 'I'm still not convinced that Barry wasn't wrong about Lucy. It's just not possible.'

'Why is it so hard to believe? She was young, her and George were in love by all accounts. Sounds completely plausible to me.'

Charlie frowned. 'If Lucy was pregnant, then George wasn't the father.'

She sounded so sure that Neo glanced at her from the corner of his eye. Her eyes were still closed, but her face was pained.

'You seem to know that as fact?'

'I should. George was gay, Neo. There's no way he would have knocked up Lucy.'

Neo pulled the car over so he could concentrate. 'What do you mean, George was gay? None of the reports say that.'

Charlie groaned as the car jerked to a stop, the sudden movement not doing anything for her churning stomach.

'George's parents are very religious. They started noticing how he didn't have a girlfriend and were putting two and two together. Lucy agreed to be his pretend girlfriend. They were planning to break up before he left for college. He had a scholarship lined up just like me.'

'And you didn't think to tell the police about this arrangement?'

Charlie blinked up at him as if he was crazy. 'People weren't good with homosexuals at this point. The last thing I wanted was to make his parents hate him. They deserved to remember him the way he wanted them to. Besides, the relationship between George and Lucy had nothing to do with anything.'

But Neo doubted that. 'Did anyone else know about George?'

'Just Jack,' Charlie responded.

'Not Jane?' Neo wondered.

Charlie shook her head and then regretted it, the movement making her vision swim. She closed her eyes again, not able to answer until the nauseous feeling abated.

'Jane liked to gossip. Though she loved George, we were worried she wouldn't be able to help herself.'

Neo leaned back in his chair. Jack Teece's motive just went up in smoke. The original investigation had believed there was a love quarrel between the three of them until Jack had lost it and killed his two friends.

'If George wasn't the father, then who could have been?'

Charlie sighed. 'I honestly don't know. Lucy wasn't exactly an angel, but as far as I knew, she stopped messing around with guys when she made the deal with George.'

Which obviously hadn't been the case, Neo thought, but kept it to himself.

'Hey, Neo, think we could start driving again. I really don't feel too good,' Charlie whispered, laying her head against the cold window.

'You're staying at my place, no arguments.' He added when she went to speak.

'Just drive, please,' she answered weakly, feeling too sick to argue as much as she would have liked to.

Neo started the car again and pulled away from the curb. The quiet of the car gave him plenty of time to think. To wonder what had happened at Felton Pond twenty years ago.