Hey guys, welcome to my new story Inevitable. I hope you guys like this one :) Disclaimer is on my profile, but I will say that I don't own Home and Away.

Charlie Buckton was home.

It had been four years since she was last in Summer Bay, the small town where everyone thought that she was dead.

But she wasn't. She had been put under witness protection after she was shot by Jake Pirovic.

And as she stood on Leah Patterson-Baker's porch, where Charlie formerly lived, she felt a surge of nervousness. What if, after all this time, they could never forgive Charlie for faking her death?

"Hi," Leah's eyes went wide when she realised who she had just greeted. "Charlie?"

"Yeah." Charlie replied.

"Who is it babe?" The voice hit Charlie like a ton of bricks. It had been four years since she heard Brax's voice.

"Not me." Charlie whispered as she tried to recover from the shock of seeing Brax with one of her best friends.

"Uh VJ's friends mother, um Leanne," Leah called back. "I will be in soon babe, we are just gonna chat out here," Leah closed the door and looked at Charlie. "Charlie is it really you?"

"The one and only." Charlie sighed.

"How?" Leah said.

"I survived after I got shot by Jake and I got put into witness protection, it was only safe to come back now. How's Ruby? Is she okay?" Charlie asked.

"Ruby's okay, yeah, it took a while for her to get over well losing you." Leah replied.

"And you're with Brax?" Charlie asked.

Leah nodded.

"How long?" Charlie asked.

"Not long, about two months."

"Really?"

"Yeah, Brax was heartbroken when he lost you Charlie."

"I can't imagine. Leah, how am I going to tell Ruby and Brax and everyone else that I didn't die?" Charlie asked.

"Start by telling Ruby, she is your daughter after all." Leah replied, still surprised to see her old flatmate and good friend show up on her doorstep after four years of her being supposedly dead. Leah and Brax had gotten together over three years after Charlie's "death".

Charlie sighed. "She'll never forgive me."

"She'll understand." Leah said.

"Where is she staying? Is she still living with you?" Charlie asked.

Leah shook her head and Charlie asked why.

"I was trying to be Brax's friend after you um well died. Charlie, he was a mess, and Ruby blamed him for Jake shooting you." Leah informed Charlie.

"What do you mean a mess?" Charlie asked.

"He started cage fighting." Leah said as Charlie sank down into a chair.

"Oh my god." Charlie said.

"Charlie, you need to go see Ruby, and then you can come back here. Do you have anywhere to stay?" Leah questioned.

"I'm staying at The Sands," Charlie replied. "Where's Ruby living?"

"With Roo and Alf at the house. She had a caravan but she wasn't looking after herself so Roo insisted on her staying at the house with them."

"Oh god."

"Charlie, it isn't your fault."

"I could've tried harder to make sure that Ruby and Brax knew that I was alive. They shouldn't have had to go through what they did, neither did anyone else, and I never made things right with Bianca."

"Charlie, you had no choice." Leah said.

Charlie stood up. "I'm going to go see Rubes now."

"Good luck?" Leah told her as she gave Charlie a hug.

"Goodnight Rubes." Roo said to Ruby as she stood at the foot of the stairs.

"Night Roo." Ruby answered from her position on the couch. She was reading a magazine and drinking a cup of tea.

The house was quiet. Ruby was enjoying her magazine, until the doorbell rang. She stood up, wrapped her blue mink blanket around herself and went to answer the door. When she saw who it was, she was in shock and couldn't believe her eyes.

"Charlie?"

I hope you liked the first chapter, reviews are love :)

-NZGirl25

xx.