Home & Away 1. Your not sorry

**Topic Title **– I Hope you dance**  
Topic Description **– Martha, Cam, Jack and others may appear, Rated T (SC) (VD)**  
Type of story: **undecided**  
Rating: **T (SC) (VD)**  
Main Characters: **Jack, Martha, Cam**  
Genre: **A mixture**  
Warnings: **May contain spoilers, May also contain Sexual content (SC) and Violence/Death (VD)**  
Is Story being proof read: **No**  
Summary: **Set a few weeks into the future, Jack closes down the rocket club because of illegal drug dealers. Can Martha learn to forgive Jack? Or will she stay under Cam's spell.

**I hope you dance**

**J/M fic, rated T (SC), (VD)**

Hey guys, yes I've got a new fic, but I won't be forgetting about my other ones, this is just to help me get back into writing, so it probably won't be all that long, but then again I can't promise that.

**I will warn you again just to be safe, this may contain spoilers.**

There's a few things you should note about this fic:

This is set a few weeks in the future

Cam and Martha live in the apartment above the dinner

Martha hasn't gotten into pole dancing

_Chapter number 1. Your not sorry_

Jack sat across the table as he staired at his hands completely lost in another world far away with the fairies, he'd really done it this time; she hated him, it was official. He didn't blame her ether, he was just trying to help, but if he had been in her shoes and had Jack Holden trying to change the new person he'd become, he'd probably hate himself too.

It had all happened so quickly in Jack's mind, one second he was being ordered by his boss to get his but over too the rocket club in Yabbie creek over some underage teenagers drinking outside that had been caught by Cam, and the next he was standing in front of some illegal druggies that had managed to sneak there way into the place. So without even thinking he did what any police officer would of done, he arrested the guys, and closed down the club from illegal business on the premises.

Most of it was a blur, just the usual interview, the druggies that claim to be completely innocent and really it wasn't what it looked like... honestly, 'I didn't do it, really, it wasn't drugs', huh, yeah right. Then their was the bar owner that claims that he had no idea, which he probably didn't, but it was beside the point it was still happening, and on his premises so really all the blame goes straight on him, which probably wasn't fair, but at that point Jack really couldn't care any less than he already did about Cam's problems... and then something out of the ordinary happened that completely shock him.

He'd been in the office that he had shared with Peter since he got back to work after his accident filling paperwork on the newly developed case that he had to send into HQ the next day, then the door opened and closed with force. Martha was in front of him, she looked angry and upset. "How could you do it Jack? It wasn't even Cam's fault!" she screamed, as soon as the door shut, she wasn't waisting any time in tearing into him.

"Look Martha-" he started, but nothing he said could change anything, she would side with him, as she always did these days, along with all her new friends that Jack hated so much. From the first time Jack met them, he knew they weren't the type of people that Martha would usually associate herself with.

Ever since Jack had found out what she was up to in the Rocket club, he'd been trying to get her out of there, but he had failed so many times that now she resented him completely, he should of gone to more extreme measures sooner, but he hadn't, and now he was paying the price for it. First he'd tried reminding her of how uncomplicated things had been back before she found out who Ash really was, he'd taken her out for the day and just helped her laugh again, just like she used too, but after that she only got in deeper, then he'd tried other things like trying to get her her job back at Noah's, but she'd refused to take it, he even tried to get his dad to patch things up with Martha, but that only came and spat back at his face, now closing the Rocket club had been his last straw, and he'd blown it again.

"That's what I thought" she answered, glaring at him after a few seconds of Jack being completely gob smacked. "Do you have any idea how hard Cam worked to get to where he is now, and you came in and completely ruined fifteen years of hard work for him. Look I know you're trying to help me, but I don't need help Jack, why can't you just get that" she yelled, she'd really had enough of him, and frankly she didn't know what had made her want to even date him in the first place, let alone Marry him.

"I'm sor-"

"Don't even say it Jack!" she snapped, "No your not sorry" she cried. If there was one sentence Jack Holden seemed to use the most it was definitely without any contest; 'I'm sorry'. The thing was, he never seemed to be able to keep himself out of situations that resulted in him saying just that.

"Just stay away from me Jack" she added, "and if your really sorry then you'll get Cam out of this mess, he didn't do it, he really didn't. If he'd known they were doing drugs then they would have been bared from the club in a flash, he'd never tolerate that" she explained, "he might not seem like that kind of person at first, but he is, he's so much better than you or Sally or Tony and any of the others make him out to be, I just with you could see that" she finished, by now she'd moved so that she was only about half a meter away from Jack, she could see that he was hurting, and probably trying to hide it to, but he was failing miserably "I also know you think he's not good for me".

"Which he's not" Jack argued.

"Jack" Martha snapped again, he really seemed to know just how to get to her really well. "He is good for me, he looks after me, and he makes me feel safe, so what it you don't like him, you might think the world revolves around you, but hate to break it to you, it doesn't, and I never asked for your approval".

"Martha what ever happened to you?" Jack asked softly, she'd changed so much, so much that he hardly knew her anymore, she might still be the same on the inside, but she didn't show it.

"Jack, I just changed a bit, I'm still the same person".

"No your not" Jack answered back bluntly, shaking his head slightly.

Martha just staired at him, maybe he was right, but she wasn't about to admit it. "Just make sure Cam doesn't go down for this ok?" and with that she left, closing the door hard behind her.

"Whatever princess" Jack muttered under his breath in the now silent office.

-

That was why she hated him, he'd ruined her new life, although most divorced couples generally hated each other, so really it wasn't that unusual. But they were different, even when they were both seeing different people, they still managed to be friends and be happy for each other.

He'd tried calling her to make things up to her, he'd left voice mail and sent her text messages, and still their had been no word from her since their argument earlier that day. He'd tried getting Cam out of the big mess he'd put him in, but his boss wouldn't have it, "Cam should of known what was going on in his own club" he had told him, "and if he tells us he didn't know, then he's probably lying".

Lying or not, it didn't matter to Jack, what mattered was getting Martha to trust him again, so he could bring her back out of the dangerous world she'd got herself into.

------------------------------------------------

"How are you feeling?" Cam asked softly as Martha came out from having a shower in the apartment above the dinner that he'd been living in with her for the past week.

"Not much better, what about you?" she answered taking in a deep breath. In some ways she felt responsible for all this, if Jack hadn't of been trying to 'make sure she was alright' even thought she was perfectly fine, then this probably wouldn't of happened, not that Cam would let her believe it, he'd kept telling her that Jack being there had nothing to do with her, he was there because of the underage drinkers, but she still couldn't help but feel bad.

"Not to good" he replied, holding her hand gently and guiding her to sit down next to her. "I just wish their was a way to prove that I had nothing to do with the drugs" he explained, still miserable, today had been a big loss, he'd worked so hard, and now it was over, and their was nothing he could do about it.

"Hey it's not over yet" Martha encouraged him, trying to sound positive, "the club's not officially closed down , and you still haven't got a criminal record, it still has to go to court first, and were going to prove it wasn't your fault, ok?"

Cam smiled slightly, he'd really been lucky with her, "Yeah, your right" he agreed, still sad, "but it's still hard to deal with".

"Yeah I know, it's hard for all of us" she sighed, before giving him a kiss. "How about I make us some dinner?"

"No remember I promised I was cooking tonight" Cam stopped her, "so you sit down and let me cook up a storm".

"Ok, on arguments from me".

"Good, because I wasn't about to take no for an answer" he told her. "Oh and before I forget, your mobile was ringing it's self off the hook while you were in the shower".

"Oh ok, thanks" she answered before reaching for it out of her bag, only too see that all the missed calls were from Jack. "Well that's just great, when is he going to get the message to stay out of my life" she muttered under her breath.

"What was that?" Cam asked, not understanding what she had just said.

"Oh nothing" Martha lied, "just talking to myself" she explained, chucking her phone back in her bag and sitting up in the couch.

"Aren't you going to call them back?"

"Nope" she shot out, she probably sounded like a snob at the moment, but she didn't care, there would have to be a cold day in hell before she talked to Jack after the stunt that he pulled that morning.

"Who was it?"

"Jack"

"Oh" Cam answered before stopping what he was doing and looking over at her from where he stood behind the kitchen bench, "Look Martha, maybe you should call him back" he suggested.

"No, not after today" she shot out.

"I know you think what happened today was his fault-"

"Maybe that might be because it was" she butted in bluntly, rolling her eyes, if she didn't know better she would of sworn he was about to stick up for Jack.

"No it wasn't" Cam answered calmly, taking Martha completely by surprise.

"But-" she started, losing her words, how could he not blame Jack, it was because of Jack that his business he'd worked for for so long now balance on a string. "But he..."

"If it wasn't him, then it would have been someone else" he shrugged simply before going back to cutting up some tomato's.

Completely dumbfounded, Martha didn't say a word, she blinked a few times trying to process what he'd just said... he was right, if it wasn't Jack it would have been someone else, but that didn't change the fact that she was really sick of him right now.

"Maybe you should give him a call" Cam suggested again, "just to make sure every thing's alright".

"Maybe later" Martha sighed before getting up, "Anyway, lets just forget about that for now, how about I go down stairs and get us some desert for later?" she suggested.

"Yeah sounds great".

_Please review, I'll to my best to update when I've got two or more._


	2. Finding peace

_Thanks for the reviews guys it's much apreciated. And that's a really good question Charsiye, I hadn't actually thought of any of that myself, but I'd say Martha's been at the rocket club for about four weeks and Jack's known for about one, maybe two weeks._

_Anyway here's the next chapter:_

_Chapter number 2. finding peace_

"Hey Irene could I please get a cheese cake" Martha asked happily as she came to the counter of the dinner.

"Yeah, you might have to wait for just a minute darl, Leah's just finishing one off" Irene explained. "So how are you finding it living back up stairs again, I haven't had a chance to talk to you in a couple of weeks".

"Yeah it's been great thanks, still settling in, but I'm sure it will feel more like home soon" Martha sighed, she didn't want to say to much. Lately the main reason for people she used to be close to talking to her was simply to try and talk her into moving back in with Sally, ditching the new boyfriend and going back to Noah's to work, it had really started to get to her too. They all just didn't get it, she had a life, and that life didn't revolve around them, why couldn't they just get that?

Then their was the way people talked about Cam behind her back when they thought she wasn't listening, but she could hear it all, every single lying word of it, and as far as she was concerned, they didn't know the first thing about him. Cam wasn't the kind of person people thought he was, they thought he was a sleaze bag only out to get a younger girl friend, but he wasn't, so what if she was younger, that didn't matter, well not to her anyway. He treated her with more respect than any of the backstabbing, so called family and friends of Summer bay that she'd once thought were good people, and he cared for her more than she could describe in words.

None of them knew him, none of them were right, none of them cared.

"Well that's good to hear then love" Irene smiled, breaking Martha away from her thoughts. "I hope it keeps going well for you, and that new boyfriend of yours, I'll have to meet him some time".

Martha just stood their in shock, didn't she listen to all of the other people of the town, yeah she'd been in Paris for a while, but, she worked inside the same four wall as flipping Colleen for goodness sakes, was she deaf?

Not that it was a bad thing that she didn't jump to believe all the rumors, but she'd gotten so used to the way everyone else talked that when Irene had said that it hit her in the face.

She smiled, happy that some one finally wasn't out to judge her decisions, "Yeah sure, I'll have to bring him down here later and introduce you two".

"Well whoever he is I'm sure he must be pretty special" Irene added reaching for a tray of food that Leah passed through the window and handed it to one of the waitresses.

"Yeah" Martha nodded, "he definitely is very special" she added as Leah brought out a cheese cake from the kitchen.

"Here we go, one cheese cake" Leah said placing it in a box and putting it on the counter for her before disappearing back into the kitchen.

"So how was Paris?" Martha asked, it was the first time that she'd actually talked to Irene since she got back.

"It was great, I caught up with Beth too, she should be back soon".

"Oh ok" Martha answered, trying to act like it was a good thing when really in her mind it wasn't, Beth was definitely on her list of people to avoid, due to the expected questions she'd been copping from everyone lately.

"Anyway" Martha started, "I better head off" she explained handing Irene fifteen dollars and picking up the box.

"Yeah, I'll have to catch up with you again soon then love".

"Yeah that would be great" she smiled before turning to leave, only to see Jack walking straight throught the door.

Imediently she could feel his eyes fixed on her, like he was watching every single breath she took to the point where she felt more then just uncomfortable, she felt sick. She looked at him where he had frozen in the door way with people walking around him, but they all seemed to fade away... and there was Jack, just standing there.

She chocked, waking back up to the usual sound of chatter in the background, and then she realized that she'd stopped breathing, she could feel herself breathing quickly to catch her breath.

"Martha" Jack started, finally moving towards her.

"Jack I don't have time" she lied, trying to get passed him and out the door.

"Martha" he tried again.

Martha gave in, stopping where she was and tapping one foot on the ground impatiently. "What?" she shot out, her tone clearly not impressed.

"I tried Martha, I really did" he tried to explain, "but I couldn't get Cam out of the drug scandal".

"Yeah sure you tried" Martha snapped sarcastically, once again trying to move around him to get out, but she couldn't seem too.

"Yes I did" Jack argued, "Look ok, your right, I don't like the guy, and I do think you could do much better-"

"What like you?" she scoffed.

Jack rolled his eyes, "Look my point is, whether I like him or not, that doesn't come into my work, and if I could get him out would, cause believe it or not I don't think he did it".

Martha froze for a minute, "Wh, wh, what?" she stuttered, still not believing what she heard.

"I don't think he did it" Jack repeated, still not letting himself fall apart to the fact that she would probably scream at him in a minute and tell him not to suck up to her, not that he was even trying to in the first place. "Look Martha my hands are tied, they only person that can prove him inocent now is a good lawyer".

"Yeah, thanks, I'm sure we'll find one" she said, pulling herself together and turning serious, "anyway I should probably get back upstairs" she told him, she had to get away from him now, if she didn't they'd probably end up turning this into a fight, or things would get mushy, ether way she'd regret it the next day and then she'd end up snapping at him more.

"Yeah, bye" Jack managed to get out before she walked out of the dinner.

_Please review, I'll update when I have at least two._


	3. Haunting past

**Warning, contains violence**

_Chapter number 3. Haunting past_

Cam sighed as he pushed a tray into the oven and closed it before stumbling over the the couch and lying himself down. Today had been a big day, so big he hadn't had much of a chance to sit down and think about it all until now.

If he lost the Rocket club he didn't know what he'd do, he'd worked so hard for it, and he'd proved his family back in Perth wrong too, especially his father, they all told him his whole life that he could never do something like that, that he wasn't smart enough and he wouldn't be able to handle a business. Let alone run one. In some ways it was probably what made him want to be a business manager, just to prove he could do it, just to prove that he wasn't his dad, and he never would be.

His dad never loved him, well he might of but he never showed it, he didn't show anyone he loved them, not even him mum. Sometimes when he was growing up he'd sit and wonder why his mum hadn't left his dad, it's not like she didn't have the chance, there were plenty of opportunities where she could of, and taken him and his two little sisters with her, they probably would of all been better off too.

See the thing about his dad was, not only was he a workaholic, but he was a womanizer, a cheat, a girl basher and a sleaze bag, when he wasn't working, he was 'supposedly' working. But he knew where he really was, his mum didn't half the time, but he did, he'd be off with some new fling, sleeping with an employee or drinking himself stupid and getting high off drugs.

Yet when his mum did find out she still didn't leave, whether it was out of fear or for other reasons Cam still didn't know, but he did know that he used to beat her, he'd think him and his sisters didn't hear it, but they did, they'd be in one of the bedrooms all crying together. Sometimes Cam would make sure that the two little girls Kelly and Anna didn't hear it, but other times they'd already noticed before he did. But the only thing he thought about when he was going through so much pain knowing what was happening, was one day standing up to him. He still remembered the day he finally did, it was still like it was yesterday, that had been the time he'd ended up in hospital from being knocked out.

It was the day after his seventeenth birthday, his mum had had a go at his dad for not coming home for two nights in a row, and she'd jumped to conclusion about where he'd been, well actually she was exactly right, but that was beside the point, he still denied it, and when he was in the house, things were always as he said so.

Cam couldn't take it any more, so he came out to the lounge room where his dad was now taking a swing at his mum, she tried to get away, but she still couldn't. Cam had come up behind him and pushed him to the floor, ready with his fist to punch him in the face, but his father had wbeen a lot more quick, as soon as Cam pushed him to the ground, he'd started kicking, getting Cam just under the knee so that his leg collapsed under himself and he went flying to the floor on his right hip. The next thing he remembered was the feel of his dad's fist in his back, then in his head, then in his ribs, after that he couldn't feel a thing, he could just hear the sound of the impact of hitting, and his mother's scream in the background, she would of done something if she could, but she was too weak to take him on.

He'd woken up in hospital just over a week later, his mum and two sisters by his side, and his dad in the corner, looking completely ashamed of himself and to scared to say anything. That was the last time he'd ever seen him, soon he'd fallen asleep, and when he woke up he was gone. Then as soon as Cam had gotten home a week after he'd packed up his things and left home, got a job and tackled his last year of school along with it.

He'd tried getting his mum to come away with him, but even after he'd finished school and had a job she still refused, she still believed the lies that her husband had told her, that all their kids were failures, and that they would never make it far in life, deep down she knew different, and she loved them all to death, but there was always this other voice inside her head telling her that he was right.

As soon as he had enough money he moved to Sydney, he wanted to take his family with him away from his dad, but they wouldn't come, they were all to frightened about what might happen, so he had to leave them, staying there and trying to make them see sense would only be a losing battle.

Now more than ever he wished his mother was their, she was always so loving and giving when his father wasn't their, he just wished he could know what she would say, would she be proud of him? Or happy that he'd grown up not to be his father? He wanted to know so badly.

"Baby I'm back" Martha's voice interrupted his thoughts and snapped him back to the reality he was living in. That's when he realized that he'd been crying, his face was covered in tears that ran down in sheets of rain.

Cam sat up quickly, facing his back to her and grabbing a tissue from the box on the coffee table in front of him. "What, did you get?" he asked as he whipped away his tears and tried to make his voice sound as clear as possible.

"Just some cheese cake"Martha told him putting the bag on the kitchen bench before looking over at him where he sat on the couch. "Cam what's wrong?" she asked, realizing that he was crying, it was a pretty big shock too, she'd never seen him cry before, not even at the station.

"Nothing" he lied "just thinking about everything that's happened today".

"Yeah, it's been pretty full on" she agreed.

------------------------------------------------

_The little girl made her way through the dark, feeling the walls as she stepped. It was dark and cold, and her jumper that was two sizes to small didn't cover enough to stop the passing winds through the broken window making her shiver even more._

------------------------------------------------

The next morning

Martha rolled over moaning with the realization that the sun was up, "It's to early" she grizzled. Stretching her arm out to realize that Cam's body wasn't next to her like it had been when she went to sleep.

Opening her eyes properly, she began to get out of bed, pushing the covers down so that she could place her feet on the carpet. "Cam?" she called out, but still got no answer, "Cam?" she tried again, but before she could wonder where he was any more she heard a knock at the door. "Who is it?" she asked as she began to walk out towards the door.

"It's Jack, can I come in for a minute?"

"Yeah sure" she answered opening the door to let him come in. "So what brings you here this early?"

"You obviously didn't hear" Jack started.

Martha paused for a moment, "hear what?"

"Cam got arrested this morning" he explained, "Harper came here, I thought you would of hear it".

_Author note: ok so if your wondering what was with the random few lines in the middle written in italics, I've decided to try something knew, every chapter or two contains one or more of them, their like puzzle pieces which will make more sense near the end of the fic._

_Please review, I'll write more when I have at least two._


	4. I didn't do it

Thanks for the reviews guys, here's the next chapter:

_Chapter number 4. I didn't do it_

"He got arrested?" Martha shot out in shock, she didn't believe what she just heard, "Oh my gosh, I can't believe I didn't even notice, I must have been sleeping like a brink" she freaked out.

"Well it was about five thirty so I wouldn't blame you" Jack tried to point out, but she was already off in her own world of questions so anything he said really wasn't going to make a difference no matter how important it was.

"What was he even arrested in the first place, he hasn't done anything and they can't prove it Jack" she went on in her own little fast ramble, before pausing for a moment to ask the question she normally would of asked first, "wait you didn't have anything to do with this did you?"

"No" Jack assured her, "It had already happened when I got to work".

"Good" Martha huffed, she didn't quite know what to say now, she'd been in such a fluster that she hadn't even realized that she'd actually let Jack into the house without her snapping at him, it actually felt nice being able to get along with him, even though she'd probably be sick of him in a few minutes, but for now she could handle him.

"So why did he get arrested?" Martha finally brought herself to ask again when she'd calmed down.

Jack bit his lip before beginning to explain, "Maybe you should sit down" he started.

"Ok" Martha said, walking towards the couch and pulling her dressing gown around her tighter as Jack sat next to her.

"You know those druggies that we were interviewing yesterday over the whole thing down at the rocket club" he began, still really not wanting to be the one to tell her all this, she'd freak, he knew she would, but someone had to tell her, and right now it was going to be him.

"Yeah how could I forget" she groaned, rolling her eyes.

"Well, you see, they... well they came and told the boss that..." he trailed off.

"That what?" she asked.

"That Cam was the one that originally sold them to them" he finished, holding his breath and waiting for the big explosion that was bound to happen.

And as usual it erupted, "They what?" she screamed standing up and placing one hand on the back of her head, running her fingers through her hair and scratching her scalp nervously, "But, but, he-" she stuttered, lost for words, he didn't, he wouldn't, he couldn't. Jack took her hand from where she stood in arms length from the couch, encouraging her to sit back down.

"He didn't do it Jack" she whispered finding her place on the couch next to him.

"I know" Jack told her, giving her a small smile and reaching for her hand that was placed on her lap, giving it a little squeeze, "I believe you" he said softly, promising her with the look in his eyes.

"Thanks" she smiled slightly, tears running from her eyes, and the next thing she noticed was Jack's thumb wiping them away, he was getting closer to her, and she felt safe and vonerable. "What if he goes down for this Jack?"

"He won't" Jack told her, "the only proof they have are some druggies high on god only knows what".

"Yeah but does it really make a difference if they were high or not?" Martha pointed out, "you know how it works Jack, it was just like when Johnny got that kid to tell the police that Brad sold him the drugs" she cried, the more she thought about it the more scared she became, and the more orquad she felt around Jack. Then he reached to wipe more of her tears away, she couldn't take it anymore, he was getting to close, this whole thing was getting really mushy. "Don't" she snapped.

"I'm sorry" Jack started.

"Yeah you always seem to be" she said sarcastically, there he went again, once again Jack Holden was apparently 'sorry'. "Look Jack I just need some space ok".

"Ok" Jack sighed, distancing himself from her and getting up, "just give me a ring if you want to talk, yeah?"

Martha just nodded, not even looking around at him. Realizing she wasn't going to budge anymore Jack left, leaving her by herself.

------------------------------------------------

_The phone rang, echoing through the big silent house, sighing the man walked over to where it was placed and answered._

"_Hello" his voice said, not happy to be woken up on his day off work. Listening to what the person on the other end had to say he groaned, this couldn't be happening now, not after all the effort he'd put in to get this far and make such progress, it was to much to say goodbye to. It was probably lucky that he was being told this on the phone or he would of probably ringed the guys neck already._

"_Look just fix it alright?" he ordered, hanging up the phone in on swing, slamming it onto the receiver where it sat._

------------------------------------------------

"How many times do I have to explain that I don't do drugs, I've never done drugs and I don't sell drugs!" Cam yelled for the millionth time where he sat across the table from Constable Harper in the interview room at the station. He'd really had more than enough, yesterday was already more than he could handle and today he was only going to lose the plot, all of this was like labeling him as the man he hated more than anything; his dad, if he'd been here right now he'd of told him that he was proud of him, even though Cam knew he didn't do it, his dad wouldn't of seen that, all he'd see was the fact that his son was doing what he would do, that would make him proud to say he was his son.

"When you decide to tell us the truth, we'll let you go" Harper told him, getting equally frustrated.

Cam leaned forward slightly, looking the cop straight dead in the eye, "I didn't do it, and you have not proof saying otherwise".

"Fine, you can go, but your not off yet" Harper explained, rolling his eyes, he wasn't getting anywhere with him, "You'll be expected to stay in town for further questioning, no runners or you'll only be making yourself look more guilty, got it?".

"Whatever" Cam shrugged getting up and walking out.

------------------------------------------------

_Hungry, thirsty, lost and tired the little girl with short shoulder length brown hair sat herself down on a park bench. She'd been like this for two days, not that her mind realized that, to her it felt like weeks. More than anything she just wanted to go home to her mum, back where she got everything she needed and most of what she wanted._

_-_

_Please review, I'll try and update when I've got at least two_


	5. Not quite right

_Chapter number 5. not quite right_

_Crying as she staired at a picture the lady with light brown long hair who looked to be in her mid thirties sat in the living room on the twenty second floor of the apartment building she lived in. In the picture was herself along with her six year old daughter Lucy, the photo was taken a year ago, although Kayla still looked almost the same now as she did then, she still had the same short brown hair, and the same blue eyes and the same nose. _

_Her little girl was gone, god only knew where she was now, she'd probably be hungry and wanting to know when she could go home by now._

------------------------------------------------

Running through the front door of the police station in a hurry Martha finally stopped when she saw Cam sitting on one of the chairs in the waiting room talking to Jack. As soon as Jack had left earlier she'd rushed to have a shower and get ready to make sure Cam was alright.

"Are you ok?" Martha asked worried, making her way across the room to give Cam a hug as he stood up when he realized that she'd come.

"Yeah, I am now" he told her.

"Good" Martha smiled before turning her head towards Jack, "Can I take him home yet?"

"Yeah, you just need to sign a few forms first, then he can go" Jack explained.

"Not so fast" McGrath stopped him, not looking at all pleased as he entered the room from his office.

"What's wrong boss?" Jack asked, looking a bit startled.

"We've got a few more questions for Cam" he said, not giving anything away and standing his ground as the big tough guy.

"But haven't you already hassled him enough in the last twenty four hours?" Martha butted in, not impressed at all.

"Apparently not form what just came through, we've got more evidence" he explained, "Now move it back into the interview room before I have to get someone to handcuff you".

Cam doing what he was told started to walk towards him slowly with his head rested slightly lower than usual, "yes sir" he answered softly, wishing this endless maze of cops would come to an end.

Martha looked over at Jack as soon as McGrath closed the door and the room was left empty except for the two of them, great once again she was left alone with him, 'Just what I need' Martha told herself sarcastically. Sighing when she realized that she wasn't going to be going anywhere in a hurry, Martha sat herself down and placed her handbag on the floor next to her, rolling her eyes at the situation.

"Look Martha" Jack started, trying to break the orquad silence in the room, "I'm sorry about before, I didn't mean to-".

"It's fine" Martha cut him off bluntly, making things more weird than before. Then realizing how snappy she had sounded she huffed, looking back up at him where he still sat looking at her on his chair at his old desk, where he had been clearing some of his old stuff from. "I'm sorry for shoving you away like that earlier" she told him, clearing the air a little.

"You weren't really shoving me away, you just needed space, I can understand that" he smiled slightly at her.

"Thanks" she smiled back. Once again they had an understanding, not that it was going to last long, especially not while Martha still didn't have her head sorted out, at the moment it was all over the place, not knowing what move she was going to make next or how she was going to look back on it later.

"So how's things been for you?" Martha started, "I haven't really stopped and asked how things were".

"I'm alright" he told her, "still trying to get things back together but, I'll get there. I just wish Sam didn't have to take off like that".

"Yeah, it must have been a shock" Martha answered looking into Jack's eyes, for once in the last few weeks she wasn't thinking about herself or Cam, she was thinking about Jack and how hard things mus of been for him, which surprised her when she stopped to think about it, lately her life had had so much drama that she didn't realize what other people were thinking and going through.

"Yeah it was" Jack said softly, it was like seeing a glimpse of the old Martha back, the one that not only cared about other people, but showed it too, but it was soon interrupted by the phone. "I gotta get that" he explained, getting up and answering it.

"Hello Yabbie Creek police station, constable Jack Holden speaking" he said into the phone. "Yeah he is, but he's kind of busy at the mom-" he was cut off by the voice on the other end, "of course, I'll get him" Jack agreed reluctantly, "just hold on a second".

He didn't know who was on the other end of the phone, but something didn't sound right, "McGrath" Jack called as he opened the door of the interview, "There's someone on the phone for you, they said it's urgent".

"Well it better be" he answered in a huff, now was not the time to be messing with him. "Who ever this is it better be jolly well-" McGrath ranted on as he picked up the phone at the front desk, giving the guy on the other end an ear full, "oh, I see".

"What's that all about?" Martha asked Jack as he came over to her and sat down while his boss was still on the phone getting details from the mystery caller, she wasn't getting a good vibe from this at all.

"I'm not sure, but what ever it is it sounds pretty doggy".

------------------------------------------------

"_I've got the cash" the same guy who lived in the big empty house said in the back of a dark ally he was dressed differently to what he usually was, he was dressed in all black, and a beanie covering his blond hair, unlike the usual suits and ties, "It's all their, you can check"._

"_Yeap, I'll pass it on to the hit man, I promise you their won't be any stuff ups this time, you have my word, on that"._

"_There better not be" he warned, "or I promise I won't be responsible form my actions, don't make me do something I don't want to do, got it?"_

"_Yeah I got it, you don't need to worry about a thing, every thing's going to fall into place just the way you wanted it too" the other guy told him before disappearing into the darkness to carry out_

_his job._

------------------------------------------------

Martha looked up an hour later as she heard the door of the interview room open once again, and once again, it was just another police officer walking out to get something, and then walking back in. But then she realized what he'd gone out to get, it was a pair of hand cuffs, and before she knew it her boyfriend was being dragged out and through the front door to the cell. "Cam?" Martha tried to call out, but it was to late, he was already out of sight.

"What's going on?" Jack asked opening the door of his new office after hearing the whole little ordeal.

"Their locking him up" Martha cried, "their taking him away Jack, their taking him away".

_Please review, I'll write more when I've got two or more._


	6. Why?

Sorry for the wait guys, I've been pretty busy but I'm on holidays now so I've got more time for a couple of weeks.

Here's the next chapter, I hope you like it.

_Chapter number 6. Why?_

"Martha, look at me" Jack started, seeing Martha break down in front of him where they both still stood on the waiting room of the station, "he's not guilty yet, and were going to make sure he doesn't go down for this, ok?" he continued, moving towards her and holding her close.

"And what if it's not Jack!" she snapped, pulling away from him on one quick motion, "this morning you told me it was going to be fine and now look what's happened".

"Look-"

"Don't start Jack, I don't need you to tell me it's alright, cause it's not" she told him, starting to settle down a bit and crying less, stopping she wiped away a tear from on eye, taking a sniff through her nose and trying to hold herself together. "What I need is for this to be over, and to stop worrying about the whole thing every five seconds of my life".

"Yeah I know" Jack answered calmly, trying not to make her start crying again, "how about you go sit down in my office and I'll get you some more coffee and find out what's going on" he suggested, placing one hand on her shoulder to guide her to his office.

Martha nodded gently, letting him lead her through the door and pull out a chair for her to sit on. "Thanks".

"That's ok" he said softly, rubbing her shoulders quickly before starting to head for the door, "you just try and relax and let me take care of things" he told her before disappearing and closing the door.

Letting out one big huff before starting to cry again, Martha tipped her head back and closed her eyes, right now she felt like her whole world was crashing down around her, and all she could do was sit and watch. It wasn't fair, why Cam? Why her? It didn't make any sense.

------------------------------------------------

"_What do you mean you can't reach him?" The man's voice asked holding the telephone to his ear as he paced around one of the large living rooms of his mansion. He'd changed since this morning, he now wore his usual suit and tie instead of the black clothing and Bennie that covered his short blond hair._

"_I don't know, but his not answering his private line, and..." the voice on the other end paused._

"_And what?"_

"_And one of the other guys said that he saw him get arrested this morning" he forced himself to say, he knew he was going to cop it now, big time._

"_What!?" the man yelled, if this was right then things were on a very fine line, "do you realized what's at stake now?"._

"_Yes I do, I'm not stupid Trent!" he snapped back, lucky for him he was only telling him all this over the phone, if it had been face to face he would have been knocked out by now._

"_Good, now get him out of there or your life will be extremely short" Trent warned, hanging up without even waiting for a response or saying goodbye._

------------------------------------------------

Jack reentered his office where Martha sat, she wasn't going to like this, not one bit. She looked up at him, tears still slowly rolling from her eyes and down her cheeks, right now she was so lost that she couldn't see an end to all this.

"Here" Jack said softly passing her a warm mug of hot coffee.

"Thanks" she sobbed, taking it gratefully and having a sip of it, Jack always made the best coffee, probably cause he lived of the stuff like it was mothers milk or something. "Do you know anything about Cam yet?"

Jack nodded taking a set in front of her and taking in a deep breath, this wasn't going to be good, she knew that much already. "That phone call before" Jack began, Martha's eyes fixed intently upon him, "it was from the police station at Reeften lakes, some one their that they've just arrested claims to be working with Cam" Jack explained, "In a drug business".

"But, but-" Martha started, but no other words came out.

------------------------------------------------

"_Stacie" he called out, "Stacie" Brett continued, making his way down the hallway of the house to where he finally saw her, she was still sitting there, where she had been most of the time in the last few days, crying and waiting for her daughter Lucy to be returned to her._

"_Come on Stace, this isn't healthy, you've got to do something, anything, sitting here isn't going to help" he said, sitting down next to her._

_Stacie ignored the comment, changing the subject, she didn't want to do anything, she just wanted Lucy back. "What if she doesn't come back Brett, what if they've done something to her, what if they've killed her" she asked, not looking up._

"_That's not going to happen" Brett tried to reason with her, "the police are out there looking for her, and they're going to bring her back"._

"_And what if they don't" she cried losing the plot and crying into her brother's shoulder, it was times like these when the Macklin family wondered if they had more enemies then friends._

------------------------------------------------

Cam sat in the small cell at the police station, why did this have to happen to him? But then again, he knew he deserved it, not for the reasons that he'd been put here, he was innocent of that, but he'd done something a lot worse.

He'd been trying to deny what he was doing, and what he still had to do, but he couldn't anymore, and to think that he was actually capable of it made him sick, his father had always told him that he'd turn out exactly like him, and he was right about it too. In fact the way he was feeling at the moment, he was worse than his father.

It all started five years ago, he'd just finished a shift at the bar he worked at in Sydney, and gotten a taxi due to the fact that his car was still at the service station getting fixed.

_Five years earlier_

_When he'd gotten into the cab, he knew something wasn't right, but he'd brushed it off thinking he was just tired. About fifteen minutes later when they were halfway there the cab driver pulled around the wrong corner, not even stopping to turn around or notice his mistake._

"_Um Sir, we weren't supposed to turn there" Cam had told him, leaning forward only to notice that they were driving down an extremely long alley way. "Where are we going?"_

_But he got no answer, the driver just kept going like he hadn't heard a thing. "What's your name?" the driver finally asked, he knew he had the right guy, he just had to make sure._

"_Cam" he answered, slightly hesitant._

"_Cameron Roberts?"_

"_Y, y, yeah"._

"_Good, I thought it was you, your father told me you would be useful to us"._

"_How do you know my dad?" Cam snapped, getting angry._

"_Steady on, you don't need to be all defensive, I'm not going to hurt you" the driver informed him. "Me and your dad used to be mates back in Perth, along with Trent, he's been trying to find your for ages, just wait till he finds out I found you without even trying to, he's going to-"_

"_Look it's flipping one in the morning, could you just do your job and drive me home" Cam interrupted._

"_Yeah I will soon, first theirs someone that wants to see you" he told him, pulling up the car in the darkness as a light turned on and he now realized that they were outside a small apartment in the middle of all the big buildings that surrounded them._

"_What are you doing here at this hour" a man asked, coming out of the front door, then stopped when he saw Cam. "Oh my word" he started, looking back at the cab driver, "it isn't-"_

"_Yeap" he answered._

"_Could someone please tell me what's going on?" Cam asked, still trying to get his head around what was happening._

"_Of course how rude of me" the told him, "My names Trent Reynolds, and I'm guessing your Cameron Roberts" he explained, walking closer to Cam and holding his hand out to greet him._

_Cam hesitated before reaching out to shake it, this definitely wasn't something he was expecting to happen to him when he hopped out of bed this morning. "So why did you bring me here"._

"_I'll explain inside" Trent told him, stepping back towards the door of his house and opening it to welcome him in. _

"_This way" the taxi driver told him encouraging him to follow his lead, they had so much to talk about, so much they needed him to do, by what Cam's father had told them, he was the kind of person that could do pretty much anything._

_Cam took in a deep breath as he walked through the door, this wasn't good, and from what things looked like at the moment, it seemed pretty doggy. Something his father would of loved, that's the only reason Cam had believed that he was responsible for this. _

_**Author note: I'll do my best to update when I've got two or more reviews, so please do so if you can.**_


	7. Blackmail

_Chapter number 7. Blackmail_

_Continuation of five years ago:_

"_Please sit down, make yourself at home" Trent encouraged Cam as they came through the front door and into the lounge room of his flat. "Now you're probably wondering what all this is about?" he asked after the three of them were seated._

_Cam just nodded, it was to late at night for this, one moment he was living a normal life, well as normal as life could get supporting a three year old, it's mother, as well as himself, but now it was like that was worlds away from here, he was in a new dimension, a new race of people with doggy business, gosh he didn't even know what they wanted and already it looked doggy. "Look, just give me one good reason why I should help you with what ever your trying to get me roped into?" he snapped._

"_Hold it mate, we were just about to get to that, just give us time to explain" the cab driver told him, "I'm Greg by the way"._

"_Anyway enough with the chit chat, down to business, I'm going to tell you this straight and good, no dillydallying" Trent interrupted._

"_Good the sooner I get out of here the better" Cam muttered under his breath._

"_Now" Trent started, "you've probably heard of a man called Brett Macklin?"_

"_Yeah"._

"_Well, lets just say me and Mr Macklin aren't friends" he explained, "ok so we both completely hate each other" he huffed, breaking the civil talk._

"_Yeah well you wouldn't be the first to not take a liking to him" Cam commented, trying to keep calm as much as possible, he pretty much guessed what the rest of the conversation would be like, after all his years behind the bar he'd heard a lot of business men's hates and dislikes about the guy, it was always the same, ether they were frustrated over the fact that Macklin's business seemed to always be doing better than theirs, or they were hoping that he'd trip himself up somewhere and sent his business falling so there was a chance for the rest of them, then their was the occasional guy wanting to kill him and he could only guess that Trent was one of those few. Well he was about to get the answer._

"_True, but you see, he's done more than just threaten my business, that's why I need your help to get revenge" Trent told him, by now Cam could tell that the guy was a complete nut case. He had this freaky look he used that seem twisted and evil._

"_What makes you think I'd want to help you do something like that?" scoffed, "is this some kind of practical joke?"_

"_No it's not a joke at all, and if I was you I'd start taking this a lot more seriously Mr Roberts" Trent answered him, he wasn't impressed at all, "Your father told me that you were a useful asset, I thought we'd at least be getting someone who saw the importance of this situation"._

"_Look, I'm just a man trying to make my way in the world, I don't need any of your little games to make it more complicated" Cam told him, getting up from where he sat. "If you think I'm going to help you then your kidding yourself"._

"_What? Where are you going?" Trent piped up, in a rush._

"_Home" he replied bluntly opening the door and taking one last look at the two men._

"_Not so fast, if you don't help us we could make your life extremely difficult" Greg jumped in, standing up behind Trent and eying Cam like he was their last hope._

_Cam suddenly closed the door and stood where he was in front of the door, he wasn't going to sit down, that would only make them think they had him back in their trap, "and what makes you think I won't go down to the police station right now and report this?"_

"_Because, not only will they not believe you when we're gone with out a trace, but your little girl and her mum that you take such good care of will-" Trent paused to think,," well lets just say we can do anything to them" he continued, satisfied when he saw the look on Cam's face, they were reeling him back in. "So why don't you sit down and we can talk about this properly?"_

_Cam nodded, feeling the treat around him once again, he wasn't surprised that his father had friends like this, they were exactly like him, that's why he knew he had to do what he was told now, they weren't the kind of people that were all talk, if they said something or threatened you in anyway, they'd go through with their exact words. Crystal and Cindy's lives were to important to put on the line._

"_Good" Trent smiled as he saw Cam backing down and sitting back on the couch. "Now we understand your families financial situation at the moment, so to make things a little easier you'll have a big house with-"_

"_Do you really think bribing me is going to make me want to do this?" Cam butted in._

"_Well, not exactly, but if your going to be working for us you can't look like you need anything from Mr Macklin, so that's why you need to look rich" Trent explained._

"_Fine" Cam gave in, "Look I'm tired, you've told me the basics, so can't I just go home?"_

"_Ok" Trent agreed, "we can't have our newest apprentice tired now could we? Greg, take him home. Oh and Cam" he added as Cam was just getting up._

"_Yeah?"_

"_Talk it over with Cindy, not that she has a choice in whether you do it or not, but you guys will be moving round a bit so she should at least know what's going on. And what ever you do, don't tell anyone else, or-"._

"_You'll have to kill them?" Cam asked bluntly, he was so over this already, and he knew Cindy wasn't going to take it well at all._

"_Yeah something like that" Trent smirked. "See you again soon, it was a pleasure to meet you"._

"_Shame I couldn't say the same" he muttered under his breath as he turned around and walked out the door._

_-_

Since that day, Cam, Cindy and little Crystal had moved around a few times, on average they'd move once every year or two, depending how long each one of Trent's instructions took. First stop had been back to Perth, luckily for Cam it was on the other side of the city to where his folks lived, he'd had to meet up with another one of Trent's friends who went over all the plans with him for the next year until they were all completely flawless, every single move organized and every victim identified with ways to bring them down.

Next, they'd moved to Brisbane to find ways to bring Brett's business down there, since it was fairly new it hadn't been to hard, but it was slow so they'd been there for a year and a half. Then they'd done the same over two years in Melbourne, then a year in Canberra.

After that, Trent had decided to send them back to Sydney for the next move, this time make a more personal attack on Mr Macklin, not just his business, they'd kidnapped his sister Stacie, kept her locked up for a few days while Brett ran mad trying to find her, then after three days they returned her on the front door of the Macklin's mansion. Following that they'd lay low for a few months while Trent started setting up a business in Yabbie Creek for Cam to run, it was time to get Brett's daughter; Miss McKenzie.

Martha had been an easier target then he thought, they'd gotten lucky with the fact that she was in an extremely vonerable state and on the edge of pushing her family away from her slowly, then all Cam had to was reel her in and sweep her off her feet.

After a few weeks, Trent started to get bored, he'd been waiting for Brett to fall for too long and sitting and waiting for Brett to give a stuff about a daughter he hardly ever contacted was starting to send him crazy, so he set a mission for himself, he'd kidnap the little rug rat that he did give a stuff about; Brett's niece, Lucy.

Of course he had every intention of putting her back eventually, but right now the reaction he was seeing from both Brett and Stacie was too good to be true, and it had only been a few days, he could only imagine what things would be like if the police still hadn't found her in a week, and from where he was sitting it looked pretty good, this was definitely his time, Brett was going to pay, it wasn't the end yet.

_**Please review, I'll do my best to write more when I've got two or more, so please do so if you can.**_


	8. Dead line

Hey guys thanks for the reviews. Since the last chapter pretty much explained how all the different puzzle piece are linked, I've decided not to do anymore scenes in Italics, but there still will be some parts with Lucy, Stacie and all the others that were in the puzzle pieces.

Here's the next chapter:

_Chapter number 8. dead line_

Cam and Martha slowly made their way back into Martha's apartment both completely worn out and miserable, gosh it wasn't even lunch time yet and things had been worse than the day before. Martha sighed, collapsing on the couch, next Cam would be in jail, she couldn't handle that, not now, she didn't really have anyone besides him left, well there was her new friends from work, but she wasn't particularly close to any of them. Then there was Jack, before today she wouldn't of called him a friend, but seeing him comfort her the way he did, and how he genuinely wanted to help Cam out of this, well things had changed, but even still, she needed Cam with her.

"Babe" Cam spoke softly. Martha didn't say anything, she just looked up at him where he had just sat down on the arm rest of the couch, "their not going to take me away" he promised, moving closer to where she was curled up then placing one hand around her shoulders.

"But you don't know that for sure" Martha sobbed, she couldn't keep holding it all in, "everyone keeps saying that you'll be ok, but what if your not, what if they take you away from me Cam? I can't handle losing you".

"Your not going to lose me, ok?" he answered, trying to stay strong, the truth was that thinking of her was the only thing stopping him from breaking down, she ment so much to him, and that wasn't a lie, when Trent sent him to Yabbie Creek to try and bring her off the rails, he never thought he'd actually fall in love with her, but he had, now he just hoped that what ever Trent wanted him to do to her next that she'd be ok, cause he just couldn't hurt her, he wouldn't let himself.

If he had his way then Trent wouldn't exist, this mess wouldn't exist, but on the other hand, if this hadn't happened... he wouldn't of met her.

"Look I've got to go, Cindy's going to want me to explain what's going on and I need to get onto a lawyer, I'd stay if I could, but-"

"It's ok, you don't need to explain, I understand" Martha reassured him, giving a weak smile.

"I'll get back here as soon as I can" he promised, kissing her lightly on the head and getting up.

"Ok" she she said softly as he left.

------------------------------------------------

"So mate, I noticed you and Martha talking earlier, you too still at each other's throughts?" Peter asked before taking a bit of his sandwich, leaning back on his desk chair and swinging his legs up onto his desk.

"No" Jack answered from where he sat at his desk on the other side of their office "We're actually getting along quite well, she had a cry, I gave her a shoulder to lean on, she talked and that's about it really, but were getting along, so that's the main thing I guess" he sighed.

Since they'd moved Jack's stuff into Peter's office nearly a week ago, the two of them had started a tradition of spending their lunch break in their office to have a chat about life in general, as Lara had described it before, it was 'men's secret business', but Jack still thought it was an excuse so that she could go home and sleep in her lunch break instead of going to the dinner with Pete and making out with him like they were hormone driven teenagers, in the process of completely horrifying Colleen.

"Yeah true" Pete replied, he knew how worried Jack was about Martha, especially with that Cam guy around. "So do you think he did it?" Peter changed the subject.

"What do you mean?"

"Come on Jack you know exactly who I'm talking about".

"Yeah ok, I don't like the guy, cause-, well anyway-".

"Cause your still in love with Martha" Peter finished him off.

"No" Jack shot out defending himself.

"You sure about that, cause most divorced couples generally hate each other. But then again if you were still in love with her then I guess that would explain why your going to so much trouble to look after her from ever guy that comes along and sweeps her off her feet" Pete shrugged.

"Look mate, I'm only protecting her like any friend would if she was getting into the wrong crowd" Jack explained, he knew why Peter was doing this, and for while about a week ago he was starting to ask himself if he was actually in love with Martha, but he wasn't, they'd had something in the past, yes it had been hard to accept for a while, the past is where it was and was going to stay for now. "And just for the record I don't think he did it".

Peter looked up in shock, "You what?" he asked completely clueless with his jaw about to hit the floor, "y-y-y you don't think he did it?"

"Nope" Jack shrugged it off, it wasn't that big of a deal was it?

"Well" Peter started, sitting himself back up in his chair properly, "I didn't see that one coming".

------------------------------------------------

"I don't understand how this happened" Cindy said, lost in her own thoughts and stairing into mid air where she sat at the dinning room table of their large house at the edge of Yabbie Creek looking over the water. "How could someone set you up like that? Gosh what if it's Martha's ex husband, you know he hates you Cam-".

"No it wasn't him" Cam reassured her, "he was actually telling his boss it wasn't me".

"Your kidding right?"

"Nope".

"Right well then who did then?" she asked, getting frustrated.

"I really don't know, you don't think Macklin's getting on to us do you?" Cam suggested, it was a long shot, but if it was a possibility then it had to be looked into.

"No I don't think so, if he was he would of found out about Martha, and then we'd really know about it".

"True" he sighed, resting his head on the table, "maybe the guy just wanted to get back at me for kicking him out of the club?"

"Yeah, but that's a pretty big statement to make even just for revenge, the police would follow it up and if he was caught lying it would just get him in more trouble" Cindy answered, "but then again, the guy's high on drugs so anythings possible I guess" she huffed before another thought came to her head, "wait... you don't think..."

"Think what?"

"Cam, what if it's Trent".

"But he wouldn't, were doing his work for him".

"Yeah but, if he doesn't need us anymore then if just explains it all" she exclaimed, this was really starting to get to her, this shouldn't of even been happening, "you know how he's been doing more of himself lately, with kidnapping Lucy, what if he's gotten bored with just watching it happen".

"Cindy, I think your reading way to much into this" Cam spoke, trying to settle her.

"Maybe, but just hear me out".

"Fine".

"You know what guys like him are like, every job has to be more dangerous and have more risk, that's why his probably getting such a thrill out of the whole kidnapping Lucy and letting her run loose on the streets where know body knows where she is".

"I guess..." Cam agreed, still thinking it was a bit far for even Trent.

"And with things with Martha being fairly quiet from Brett, it just gives him more reason to not need us" she finished just as Cam's phone was ringing.

"It's Trent" Cam told her as he looked at the screen on his phone.

"What does he want?"

"I don't know, but I'm about to find out" he answered before pressing the yes button and putting the phone to his ear. "Hello. Yeah I was, but I can explain. Yeah ok, you what?" Cam asked surprised, "Trent come on that's a really long shot, can't we just forget about Martha, it's not like Brett's going to give a stuff about her so we're waisting our time" he explained. "Yeah ok, bye" he said hanging up after a few minutes of Trent going on and one, hardly letting him get a word in.

"What's going on?" Cindy asked, waiting to know what wold happen next.

------------------------------------------------

"Hello there little one" a police officer said softly as he approached a cold and lost Lucy huddling in a blanket by the side of a walk way against a brick wall. "What's your name?"

Lucy was to scared to answer, she didn't know what to think to the man in uniform standing in front of her.

"It's ok, we're here to help" he assured her, crouching down to her, "can you tell me your name?"

"Lucy" she cried, "my name's Lucy, I want to go home".

"Well were about to take you there, ok, just come and get in the car and well get this mess sorted out, ok?" he asked, helping her up.

"Ok" she answered, taking the man's hand.

------------------------------------------------

"Well?" Cindy asked again, still waiting for Cam to tell her what was going on.

"It wasn't him who set me up, but he's pretty sure he knows who did" Cam explained "He's going to take care of it right now".

"Well that's a relief" Cindy smiled, letting out a breath of air, that really was a close one. "And what about Martha?" she questioned, she'd heard her name mentioned, maybe they could finally leave her alone, she really hoped that she was right, Martha shouldn't of had to suffer cause of a man who she had nothing to do with her whole life except share the same gene pool.

"He's not giving up on her" Cam sighed.

"What, but, why?"

"He's bringing someone else into it that he's pretty sure will make Brett find out about Martha sooner" he told her. "Martha's mother, Ruth still keeps in touch with Brett, and Trent's been listening in on some of there phone calls, she's flying over from New York next week to see him and come here to see Martha".

Cindy shut her eyes for a second and sighed, this was just getting worse and worse.

"We have a dead line now, we have to have her further off the rails by the time he brings Ruth here".

------------------------------------------------

"Hey guys I got you two some coffee from the diner on the way here" Lara smiled as she walked into Peter and Jack's office.

"Thanks" Jack and Peter both said looking up at her as she cam in.

"Oh and Jack McGrath wants to see you, he said something about you and Harper needing to go somewhere?" Lara told him handing him the coffee as he got up.

"Ok, thanks, I'll see you two later" Jack answered leaving the office and closing the door.

"So looks like it's just you and me buddy" Lara smiled, placing her and Peter's coffee on his desk before sitting on his lap and giving him a kiss on the lips which he returned happily.

------------------------------------------------

"Boss you wanted to see me?" Jack asked, knocking on McGrath's door which was wide open with Harper standing inside.

"Yeah, I think you should both take a seat so I can explain the situation" he told them both waiting a second for both Jack and Harper to pull up a chair. "Well as you both know Cameron Roberts was charged with drug dealing this morning, but we've just got someone in the interview room right now who we think actually did it, so I need the two of you to get together a few more officers in the next ten minutes and be ready for when the drug squad gets here".

"So Cam's going to get of the charge then?" Jack smiled slightly.

"Well at this stage yes, but not officially until we check out the building that the squad will take you too, if we find the evidence of drug dealing and find some of the stuff from the same batch as what we found on the guy the other night then yes he will" McGrath answered him. "Ok if there's no more questions then you two are dismissed".

_**Please review, I'll try and update when I've got two or more.**_


	9. Wrapped around my little finger

Thanks for the reviews guys, It's much appreciated. Here's more:

_Chapter number 9. Wrapped around my little finger_

Two days. That was all it had taken.

She'd been putty in his hands, not even questioning anything, she was so gulable. Martha McKenzie, dancing around a pole, now that's a picture for you.

Right now, she was in the best possible place to have her head messed with, Cam had her right where he needed her. Her family and friends had backed off, they'd been convinced that Cameron Roberts was a decent bloke, ha, if only they knew. They didn't go out of their way to be nice to him, but they were fine with him when he was around.

Things couldn't really get more perfect for Cam right now, his charges had been lifted, and not only was he a free man, he had his club back up and running, and surprisingly, it was partly thanks to Jack.

Cam laughed at how stupid the copper boy had been, he'd completely backed off. He was still good friends with Martha, and even seemed to be going out of his way to say hi to Cam every once and a while, no arguments, no punches throught, not even the occasional sly remark.

Yeap that's right, Cam had everyone wrapped around his little finger.

------------------------------------------------

Ruth Stewart made her way off the plane as she arrived at the Sydney airport, removing her jacket as she walked, the warm air was beginning to make her feel at home already.

She could hear the voices around her, most of them speaking without American accents, it was an atmosphere she could actually breath in, no matter how long she stayed away from it, it would always feel better when she was there. Now she was wondering why she ever left in the first place.

She was supposed to be coming in a few more days, but she just couldn't wait any longer to get here, so she switched to an earlier flight, and the few extra hundred bucks was worth it.

She looked through the people around her, trying to spot out one person in particular; Brett. He'd probably changed a bit since she last saw him, these days they only talked on the phone, mainly cause they lived on other sides of the world.

Sighing as she sat down, her thoughts drifted back to when she was fifteen and he was seventeen, such a long time ago, but she could remember ever minute of it like it was yesterday.

They'd met on Ruth's first day at the boarding school her dad had sent her too when she'd started rebelling against her much hated step mother. Soon after they'd started going to parties together, nothing serious, just a bit of fun they'd have a dance of two, have a bit of a laugh together and that was it, well it had been until one night when they'd both gotten drunk and ended up on the back seat of Brett's new car. She'd been so scared that morning when she woke up, she'd been lying firmly on Brett's naked chest, and their close were all randomly scattered on the floor. So much had gone though her mind in the thirty seconds it had taken Brett to wake up, so much it was like one big blur that had hit her hard in the face.

Things had been a bit different after that morning, they'd talked over a lot, if anything they were even closer then before, it wasn't all just 'a bit of fun' the way it used to be.

Then the day they dreaded came; Ruth was pregnant. On her way to tell him, she'd at least thought he'd stay by her side through the whole thing. But instead, he simple offered her the easy way out, "you keep your mouth shut and I'll pay for the abortion" he'd told her. She couldn't do that to a child, whether they were born or not, so she ran back to Summer bay, promising that she'd stop mucking up if she could stay.

Things had only got more complicated after that, she'd started seeing her ex boyfriend Frank Morgan (Sally's adoptive big brother), making him think that her baby was his, and he fell for it too, soon they were engaged to be married and the whole town didn't have a clue what was really going on, not even Colleen surprisingly.

Then come the big day when she was to become Mrs Morgan, she was about to arrive at the church, she got a call from Brett, he wanted in on the baby, his father is convinced that it being a Macklin and all that it would be a boy and one day it would take over the company and keep it in the family.

She didn't know what do do, here she was, about to walk down the aisle and there he was offering her the world of opportunities, a place in the Macklin family. Next thing she knew her father was opening the car door, helping her out and taking her to the church door, the biggest smile not once leaving his face, she could only imagine how much happier he'd be if he found out she was carrying his grandchild, but that was a surprise her and Frank had decided to leave until after the wedding.

She felt her feet move under her as they walked towards the front of the church, there he was standing, smiling at her, his eyes focused only on her, she was lost in the moment, forgetting about her phone conversation just minutes ago.

Next thing she knew, he'd said I do, now all eyes were on her, it was her turn. That's when it all started going round and round her head. She' couldn't do it, so she ran back out of the church the way she came, leaving everybody, including Frank completely clueless. Now she had to tell him, she couldn't go back now.

He came up behind her where she stood outside the church in tears. She knew exactly what he was about to ask, so she beat him to it. "It's not your baby Frank" she'd sobbed. It had taken a few seconds for it to sink in, now it was his turn to run. He ran to his car, turning the key in the ignition and speeding away down the road.

"I'm guessing it's a yes to my offer then" Brett's voice said from behind her. She just nodded, falling into his arms. She didn't know why she'd chosen him, but she had and now she had to live with it.

Six mounts later the little rug rat came into the world, Brett and his dad both eager to see this little boy like it was the last thing they were ever going to do. But they were wrong, it was a girl, little Martha (after her mother that passed away when she was thirteen), Martha Jane.

Brett's father was furious, refusing to support the new born if it wasn't going to be able to take over the business, Brett on the other hand was showing his softer side, he couldn't believe that the little girl in front of him was actually his daughter, Ruth could still remember the smile on his face as he took Martha in his big strong arms and walked slowly around the room as he studied her little face. But the moment was quickly ruined by Brett's father re entering to fetch Bret and take him home back to the city.

A month passed after that day, Martha was getting bigger, and Ruth and Brett had only spoken once on the phone, he couldn't be there for her and Martha like he promised he would. That's why Ruth made the tough decision to give Martha up for adoption.

She didn't take to Brett till fifteen years after then, she didn't know what to think of him after he'd let her down like that, if she could of, she would of kept Martha, but she knew she'd be better off with a family that could support her needs. When Ruth did Peek to Brett again, she'd been in New York, having lunch with a friend, then out of no where he walked into the restaurant and was seated at the table next to her.

At first she'd wanted to leave, but then she realized that all the things she'd thought he was over the years wasn't true. They'd talked, swapped numbers and Brett returned to Australia, promising that one day they'd catch up again. Well today was that day.

-

Her thoughts were interrupted when she spotted him. "Brett" she called out, spotting his tall form in the distance, he had his back to her, but she'd know that body anywhere.

"Roo" he smiled, turning round to see her running towards him. He opened his arms and wrapped them around her as she stopped in front of him and placed her arms around his neck, resting her head on his shoulder as he lifted her feet off the ground and squeezed her tightly. "I missed you so much" he whispered, closing his eyes and taking in a calm and peaceful breath of air.

"I missed you too" she told him, placing her feet back on the ground as he lowered her back down, she was still significantly shorter than him, 'I guess some things never change' she smiled to herself.

"Come on lets get your stuff and get out of this place" Brett suggested.

"Yeah, sounds good to me".

"Oh and I was thinking" Brett started as they walked towards where the luggage was. "Maybe we could head to Summer Bay a bit sooner to see Martha".

Roo nodded, "I'm sure she'd like that".

"Yeah, I can't wait to see her, the last time I saw her she was only a few minutes old" Brett sighed. (_Author note: in this fic, Brett never met Martha when she came to summer bay and he didn't try to build a resort on the caravan park_).

"Well she's a lot bigger now" she laughed lifting her bag off the rotating black luggage holder and handing it to Brett for him to carry.

------------------------------------------------

"Yeah, ok, I'll let him know. Yeap, love you two Mum. Bye" Martha smiled before hanging up the phone in the kitchen of the apartment above the dinner.

"What was that about?" Cam asked from where he sat on the couch.

"Mum's coming tomorrow" Martha told, jumping along towards him, sitting down next to him. "I can't believe this time tomorrow I'm going to meet my dad" she continued of in her own little world, right now she was so happy.

"Well I'm sure he's going to love you" Cam faked a smile, trying to hide the major panic he was in, he couldn't come this soon, they hadn't gotten Martha far enough off the rails yet.

"Anyway, I promised Mum I'd let granddad know, so I'll be back soon" she said, kissing him on the cheek before getting up, grabbing her bag and leaving out the door behind the couch, so fast she didn't even realize Cam hadn't said goodbye.

Cam got up quickly, still in shock, he had to tell Cindy, they had to do something.

_**I'll write more when I've got two or more reviews.**_


	10. Couldn't resist

Thanks for the reviews guys, here's more:

**Warning, contains sexual scenes (SC)**

_Chapter number 10. Couldn't resist_

"Come on Cindy, pick up the phone" Cam ranted on out loud as he held his phone to his ear and waited for Cindy to pick up on the other end, why was it that she never seemed to answer when there was an emergency.

Still no answer. Looking around him, Cam reached for a piece of paper and a pen that was sitting on the coffee table.

_'Just going out for a bit, be back soon'._

He wrote before placing the piece of paper on the bench and taking off out the side door of the apartment. A thousand things were going through his head, he'd never forgive himself if Trent took Krystal away from him.

------------------------------------------------

Lara smiled at Peter before sitting down on his lap where he was sitting on the couch in the lounge room of his new apartment, she was wearing one of Peter's old shirts which she found was actually quite comfortable. She hadn't planned on staying over last night, but she was glad she did, Peter's bed was a lot more comfortable than her own, especially since he had been in it.

"Morning beautiful" Peter whispered before giving her a hot steaming kiss which definitely woke her up properly.

"Mmm, Good morning" she answered back before grabbing him by the shirt and pulling him back in for more, Peter was like a drug that she couldn't get enough of, he was something she'd never get bored of and words could never describe how good he made her feel.

Peter placed one hand on Lara's back, lowering her body slowly down till her back was laying against the couch and he could crawl on top of her before re joining their lips once again. Their bodies were in such close proximity and he could feel the heat radiation off her. He knew what he was doing, and he knew the reactions he wanted to get from her. Gently he slipped his tongue into her mouth, using it as a tool to stroke the roof of her mouth. He could hear Lara let off a slight moan and smiled to himself, only continuing to do what he was doing. He then moved his lips from hers, planting small tiny kisses in a line along her cheek and down her neck.

"Peter" Lara sighed in a quiet breathless whisper, she was walking on air at the moment, and every time she thought he couldn't make her feel any better, she was proven wrong, it was like he had such power over her, making a passion build up inside of her like no one else could possibly do. She could feel his finger tips moving up her thigh, each cell of her body he covered tingling with delight at his touch.

Peter moved his lips firmly up her skin till he reached her ear, muffling words into her curly hair, "How about we go back to my bed".

Lara couldn't say more than 'Mmmhum' his body against her's made her lose all self control. She moved her head sideways and met his lips with hers again, feeling her body move as Peter lifted her off the couch in on swift graceful movement. Her feet met the floor again, finding it hard to walk, her knees were beginning to go weak from him, if his arms weren't so tightly wrapped around her body she would of collapsed on he floor already.

Peter began to move them both around the couch and towards the door of his bedroom slowly, not letting his lips part from her's. Lara placed her hands on Peter's waist, fiddling with the edge of his shirt and beginning to pull it up, separating her lips from his only for a second to lift the grey pajama shirt over his head, leaving him now only clad in his boxer shorts. She ran her fingers over his bare chest, she could feel his muscles tensing under her touch, hearing him draw in a sharp quick breath before he cupped her face and pulled her back into him.

Pushing Lara against the closed door of the bedroom Peter let his fingers run down the front of her, undoing each button of his old white shirt as he went along. He thought she looked so sexy in it, but he liked what was underneath even more.

Removing the shirt and discarding it on the floor, Peter then moved his hands to her thigh, caressing the skin lightly. He moved his mouth back along her cheek and to her neck, kissing her roughly until he found a pulse point.

Lara ran her hands along the muscles of his back, she could feel Peter's mouth moving on her neck, it felt nice. Then she felt his teeth bite into her skin, opening her mouth a scream of pain and enjoyment came out as her nails dug into his back leaving scratches, not deep enough to draw blood, but enough for him to let out a deep moan.

Peter couldn't wait anymore, he had to have her now, so he lifted her legs around his body supporting her with one hand while using the other to open the door so they could go in before closing it again behind them.

------------------------------------------------

Cam barged through the front door of the house he lived in with Cindy and Crystal. "Cindy?" he called out, hoping and preying that she would be there. "Hello? Cindy, you there?"

"Shh" Cindy warned him coming down the hallway and out to where he now was in the front living room. "I only just got Crystal to sleep, you know how had that's been since she's been sick the last few days".

"Yeah i know, sorry" he sighed, taking off his jacket and chucking it on a chair before sitting down on the edge of the couch. "We need to talk".

"This doesn't sound good" Cindy answered, feeling herself tense up, she knew when something was wrong, and after the problems they'd had in the last couple of weeks she'd pretty much stopped trying to guess what the next day would hold for them.

"Ruth and Brett are coming tomorrow" he shot out.

"But they-" Cindy lost her words, this stuffed up everything, part of her was releaved cause it ment they wouldn't have to do all the stuff to Martha that they'd been planning, but the other half of her was in sudden fear of her life and little Crystal's. "They were supposed to-".

"Yeah I know".

"What are we going to do now?" she asked, shaking her head in dis belief.

"I don't know, but we're going to have to think fast, in less than twenty four hours there going to be here and Trent's going to be breathing down our necks to try and watch Macklin suffer" he told her, leaning forward on the edge of the lounge and looking at his hands that were folded out in front of him.

------------------------------------------------

"Hmm, mmm" Peter groaned as he opened his eyes to find Lara's naked body still partly tangled with his. He smiled at her sleeping body, she was beautiful, well in his eyes she was anyway. Reaching out his hand slowly he stroked her cheek lightly before brushing a stray piece of hair back in it's place behind her ear.

He looked over his shoulder to check the time, they'd have to get to work at about eleven am and-, "Heck" Peter cursed when he saw what time it was, it was eleven thirty.

"Lara" he said, turning back round to where she still lay, "Lara wake up".

Lara stirred a bit rubbing her eyes slightly, "Good morning again" she answered, opening her eyes properly and looking at him, "what time is it?"

"Were Late".

"What?" she shot out, sitting up properly with one sudden movement holding the covers up under her arm pits, in the ten years she'd been at that station she'd never been late, not once.

"It's eleven thirty" Peter groaned, getting up and picking his boxers up off the floor where they still lay from their earlier activities.

Lara then too got up, finding her clothes on the floor, luckily fro her when she came here last night it had been straight after work so her uniform was here. "So what's our story detective, the boss isn't going to be happy if the first day I've been late was cause of jumping into bed with you".

Peter let out a laugh, looking over his shoulder where Lara was doing up the clasp of her bra. "I don't have a problem with that one" he smirked walking over to her and wrapping his arms around her from behind, kissing her on the cheek, "I think it's an excellent reason for being late to work".

Lara just smiled as Peter's phone started ringing, "Yeah well I think it is too, but some how I think we'll be the only ones".

"I bet that's them right now" Peter grumbled walking over to where his phone was on the other side of the room, "Come on quick, what's our story?".

"Um, I don't know... Flat tire?"

"Hey Jack" Peter answered the phone.

"Yeah hey mate, where are you, the boss it pulling hairs out of his head" Jack explained.

"Yeah sorry" he apologized before looking at Lara who was looking back at him rather intensely mouthing the words flat tire. "I'd be there if I could, me and Lara got a flat tire".

"Oh, well why didn't you call then?" Jack asked puzzled, was it just him or was Peter lying to him.

"Um well" he started nervously, "Well you see there's a bit of a story to that". He looked back over at Lara, why the heck couldn't she be the one talking on the phone, she always came up with something.

"Well I'm listening".

"Well we left a bit early" he started, lying his way along, "and we decided to take the bush road, just for a change, and then there was no reception" he finished, well he thought he did alright, but some how by the laughing on the other end of the phone Jack obviously didn't think so.

"Do you really think I'm that stupid, you two haven't even left yet" Jack laughed.

"Wh- what?"

"I just drove past and both your's and Lara's cars are still there" he told him, completely amused at the situation. "Usually your supposed to set the alarm clock so you know when to get up".

"Yeah we did, but-" Peter chocked, "well it ain't my fault I couldn't resist my own girlfriend" he shot out, next thing he knew he'd had a pillow in his face and looked over to see Lara not to happy, but laughing at the same time.

"Mate, I don't want to know about your sex life" Jack gasped, pretending to be offended in his joking voice.

"Yeah what ever constable, look can you cover for us, we're literally about to walk out the door".

"Yeah alright, but you owe me big time".

"Yeah alright, see ya" Peter thanked him before hanging up. "Come on lets hurry up" he suggested throwing Lara her Police shirt from next to him.

_**Please review, I'll try and write more when I've got at least two.**_


	11. Empty world

_Sorry this one's short._

_Chapter number 11. Empty world_

_Crystal's point of view:_

I know their talking about me, I can hear it. There talking about Trent, Martha, Brett, everyone that complicates our family. As usual they think I'm asleep, they never talk about all this when they know I'm around, probably cause they think I don't know anything about the person Trent Reynolds really is, or the reason why we move so much, but I do.

I don't remember the first time I realized how different my family was, I guess it's just always been something I've known, but never really gotten my head around. Mum always told me that being different was what made our life more interesting, but as far as I'm concerned, being different is over rated. I've grown up being home schooled, moving state every few years and having an IQ higher than I'm supposed to even for an advanced student, now one really knows why I'm so far ahead, but that's cause they don't really know me well enough, no one does really, not even my mum.

Books have always been my best friends, they don't answer back, or tell everyone about you, they just speak a story, tell me what things mean and keep me occupied for hours on end. I've read the encyclopedia and dictionary from cover to cover, and read all dad's crime scene investigation books underneath my blankets with a torch in the middle of the night. Books know me better than anyone in the world.

Most of the time I keep to myself, probably cause my life is inside these four walls, everything's in here, the big tall corridors that I can run through without being noticed, the library with shelves that are antique and reach the roof, the gym, the swimming pool., the plasma screen tv, computers and so much more.

Not that it's ever a full house, most of the time it's just me, well it feels like that anyway, mum's usually home cleaning or cooking, maybe coming to check on me once or twice every few hours to make sure I haven't needed anything. Dad's sometimes here too, most of the time he's at his club. But when he is home, sometimes he'll go on adventures with me. We ride to far away places through books and swim to the darkest mysteries tat ly in our imagination at the bottom of the swimming pool. I wish he was here more, but I know why he has to stay away so much, it's cause of Trent, not that dad would ever tell me that, but deep down I know he would tell me if it wouldn't hurt me, that's why he lies to me, and keeps his other life of doing Trent's dirty work to himself.

If I could have one wish in the world, I'd wishe that Trent never existed. Everyone would be happy then. I could be normal.

I wouldn't have to live in the fear that my parents had tried to protect me from by not telling me. I could walk down the street without looking over my shoulder everytime I hear something, I could make real friends that weren't in books or made up, I could trust the people around me the way I never have. But most of all, if Trent never existed, I could go to sleep at night and not wonder if I was actually going to wake up in the morning, not having the thought that Trent might kill me cross my mind the way it has all my life before falling asleep. I wish I was normal, I wish it every night on the first star in the nights sky.

Sometimes there's this place in my head I go to escape, It's beautiful, like a fairy wonderland, there's magic in the air everywhere and smiles all around me. It's like one of the adventures me and my dad have, it's an underwater kindom, my dad's the king of course, and I'm his little princess. But no matter how hard I try to forget the real world, it always comes and hits me back in the face, like right then.

------------------------------------------------

"Cam just think straight would you, we're going round in circles" Cindy sighed, she'd really had enough.

"I would if I could but so much is going through my head right now, so If you've got any bright idea's I'd be more than happy to listen" he snapped back at her, he hated acting like this towards her, but right now he couldn't stop it from all coming out.

"Well I guess we've still got the work party tonight" she shrugged, knowing exactly why Cam was behaving the way he was.

"Yeah I guess you're right" he agreed, trying to calm back down, "but how the hell are we supposed to get her on drugs in one night?"

"We'll find a way" Cindy answered before getting up, "find Trent, he'll think of something, I'm just going to check on Crystal" she told him before walking out. Hearing this through the wall Crystal floppd back under her covers and closing her eyes, another thing nobody else knew about her was that she was extremely good at faking things. She felt the door open from the other side of the room, her mum stepping in for a minute before it closed again and footsteps could be heard walking away, opening her eyes, Crystal once again found her room empty, just the way it always was.

_Please review, I love seeing what people think, it doesn't matter if your logged in or not, I'll acept reviews from people who aren't members too._


	12. Daddy's little girl

_Chapter number 12. Daddy's little girl_

Brett sighed as he parked the car outside the large house he lived in with Stacie and her daughter, pulling the key out of the ignition he turned his head to Roo who was sitting happily in the passengers seat next to him. "So here we are" he told her getting out and making his way around the car to open her door for her, helping her out with and out reached hand that she accepted gratefully.

"It's just the way you described it" she smiled contently, stepping out of the car and getting her balance on her own two feet. "I love it, it's beautiful" she added, before seeing anouther familiar face coming out of the frount of the house. "Stacie?"

"Roo" a very excited Stacie squealed, running towards her and giving her a hug, "It's been so long".

"Too long as far as I'm concerned" Roo agreed.

"Alright ladies, lets take this inside before the mosies start biting" Brett suggested, "I'll send Roger down to get your stuff".

"Yeah, come one, you look like you could use a cup of coffee" Stacie said to Roo before they started moving into the house again.

------------------------------------------------

A few hours later, seven oclock

"Everything ready?" Cam asked as Cindy came out into the lounge room wearing a fomal black dress.

"Just as planed" she nodded, sitting down on another chair and chucking her hand back carelessly onto the coffe table, their plan for tonight was completely flawless, no one could stuff it up, she'd made sure of it, everything was in it's place, ready to play out the way it should when the time was right. "Now we just have to wait for this baby sitter to get here" she sighed.

"So is Crystal any better?" Cam asked, over the last week, Crystal had had one of the colds doing the rounds around Yabbie Creek.

"Yeah she is actually, she hasn't been coughing for a few hours, so that's a good sign I guess. She's picked out anouther one of your crime books from the library downstairs, hasn't said a word since she picked it up" she explained, "speaking of which, would you mind going and getting her before the baby sitter gets here?"

"Yeah sure" he agreed, getting up and stretching a bit before walking out of the room and down the stairs.

As soon as Cam was gone out of the room and she could hear his footsteps on the stairs she pulled out a small plastic sealed bag containing a few white coated pills from her handbag fiddling with it nerviously in her fingers, just the thought of what her and Cam were going to do to Martha tonight was making her feel sick to the very pit of her stomach, and she knew Cam felt the same, no matter how hard he tried to hide the hurt.

If it wasn't for Trent threatening Crystal, they wouldn't even think of doing this, but just the thought of their little girl being even touched the slightest by that sick pathetic creep made her skin crawl, and it was what kept them both going through this; the thought that their daughter could get hurt.

------------------------------------------------

"Hey Princess" Cam smiled as he walked into the library on the bottom floor of their house to find Crystal closing a book and tossing it aside.

"Hey" she grinned back, looking over to see him approaching her and sit down, giving her a bear hug before looking at the book she'd finished reading.

"Ahh, I see you found another one of my books missy" he chuckled, why an eight year old had such a fasination with them he didn't know or understand.

"Yeap" she exclaimed, getting up to put it back on a shelf that was about sholder height before turning back to look at him, "when's Debie coming?" she asked curiously, lifting her hand to move a piece of fallen hair back behind her ear so she could see properly again. Debie had baby sat her numerous times in the last six months they'd been living here, she was a pretty boring person, well to Crystal she was anyway, she always found it so unusual how an eight year old could love reading so much, always said that it made people less inteligent and less social. But secretly Crystal figure it was because Debie was dislexic.

"She should be here any minute" he answered her, standing back up and stepping across the small amount of floor to the shelf Crystal was standing in front of, "so how about you chose something to take back upstairs?"

Crystal shrugged before scaning her eyes across the wide selection of novels before her eyes, moving a few shelfs along before she came to her much beloved dictionary that was to far up fro her to reach, knowing exactly what Crystal was reaching for, Cam stepped over and pulled it out for her, placing it in her hands that were still out streched above her head. "Thanks" she said, before turning her feet around and holding the book against her, holding it in a tight embrace.

"Lets get you back upstairs" Cam suggested, leaning down to give the little girl a kiss on the fore head before taking her little hand in his and walking out of the room with her, reaching to swich the light of as they exited.

------------------------------------------------

Martha took the last sip of coffee from the mug in her hands before walking into the kitchen, opening the dishwasher and putting the mug in before closing it again. A loud knock could be heard from the door, 'must be Cam' she thought. "Come in".

"Hey" Jack spoke as he opened the door and popped his head in before stepping inside, "hope I haven't come at a bad time".

"Kinda" Martha shrugged, "but come in and make yourself at home. Cam could be a little while yet" she told him, walking out of the kitchen to give him a hug beore sitting down with him. "So what brings you here?"

"Just thought I should pop by to see how your doing" he told her, giving her a small smile, he was so proud of her, she'd come through so much and he finally had the old Martha back, they'd both been through a bit lately, with the whole Ash thing and the abortion, but at least the stuff they all thought about Cam weren't true, he was glad they figured it out when they did, he would of hated to think that he'd lose her as a best friend over it.

"Well I'm good" she explained, "we've got a work party on tonight, you doing anything?"

"Yeah, I told dad we'd have a few beers later and have a chat, things have been pretty full on at home" he sighed, things had gotten a little easier in the last few weeks since Beth's passing, they'd started doing things they used to do, not that it was easy, it was still hard.

"Yeah, it must be tough, how's everyone holding up there?"

"We're getting there" he assured her, "Dad's still bottling things up a bit tought, even if he won't admit it".

Martha reached out for Jack's hand, giving it a little squeaze, she could see he was worried about his dad, and knowing the way Tony delt with things she knew he had goot reason to be. "I'm sure he'll find a way to deal with it, even if it does take a bit of time".

"Yeah I guess so" he smiled, squeazing her hand back.

Martha looked at Jack, he was happy, and so was she, something that hadn't been a very regular occasion in the past few weeks, if she wasn't upset about Cam being dragged through the mud by the cops, or the way people had been treating him; Jack was upset about Beth or something that had played out at home due to many morning faces, all overwelmed with grief.

She so badly wanted to tell him more about what was happening lately, she wanted him to hold her hand and drag her out of the mess she'd gotten herself into, she couldn't do it by herself. But then the thought of causing him more pain crossed her mind, it was a thought she couldn't bear right now. If he knew she was pole dancing, he'd be shattered.

_**Please review.**_


	13. Feel the preasure

Thanks for the reviews guys, their much appreciated. Sorry this ones fairly short.

_Chapter number 13. Feel the preasure_

Cam walked into the empty dressing room at the back of the Rocket club, in his hand was a small plastic sealed bag with a few pills in. Their plan for tonight was almost complete, the cops had been called to do a drug raid due to some so called 'drug dealers' on the premisis, now all that needed to be done was to plant the small quantity of drugs in the unsuspecting victims bag; that victim being Martha.

Walking across the room he breathed in and out quickly, still trying to convince himself that this was a good idea. Sitting himself down on the small bench against the wall he leaned back and closed his eyes, so far no one had suspected a thing, no one had even raised an eyebrow when the venue for the party 'got canceled' and they had to come here instead. Looking back down at his hands he studied the small white pills, before moving his attention to Martha's bag that was sitting in it's place beside him.

Unzipping the top of it he began to move his hand to put the plastic back inside, but he couldn't, he couldn't do this to her. His heart was racing, in his mind the could see a clear picture of both Crystal and Martha, his heart torn between the two of them.

Trying again, he moved the drugs closer to the opening of the bag, his hand shaking in mid air, right now was the most important part of the plan, it was all in his hands and he could feel the preasure that lay with him.

Then, in one clear movement, without thought he backed away, emptying the pills into the nearby sink and washing them down with the tap turned on full preasure. Turning the water off he backed himelf into the wall, spereading his arms out to touch the cold stone walls, he didn't blink once, his eyes were stone cold and he was breathing and panting uncontrolably, only then did he realize what he'd just done.

Sinking to the floor he covered his face with his hands, tears soaking into them, there was no way in hell those drugs were going to be any used now.

-------------------------------------------------

Thirty minutes later

The place was crowded, people were rushing around in a hurry, cops were everywhere and the once fairly quiet party had turned into caos. Stepping outside Martha could feel the cool air fill her lungs and the noise from inside slowly faiding as she closed the door behind her before walking out to the footpath to give herself some space.

She was completely unaware of what should have been happening right at this very second, just like she was clueless about the fact that her boyfriend had a dodgy past that she'd of kept away from if she knew what she was getting herslef into.

Twenty metres away, Cam looked around the corner of the building, seeing the back of Martha's figure in the distance. He stepped out coming towards her before speaking, hiding the stress he was under. "I've been looking for you" he said softly, wraping one arm around her waist and kissing her cheek.

"Well funny that, I was looking for you too" she grinned.

"Outside?" he asked, raising one eyebrow and faking a slight smile.

"Yeah well you were too by the looks of it" she chuckled, "anyway, I'm thinking of heading home, I need my bed".

"Fair enough" he nodded, "I can drive you if you like".

"No thanks, I've already called a cab" she told him, over her shoulder to see if it was coming yet.

"Martha" Cam started.

"Yeah?"

"You know I'd never purposely hurt you don't you?" he questioned, trying to get his head sorted.

"Yeah of course" she answered, slightly puzzled with his question. "Why do you ask?"

"Oh it's nothing" he lied, "just something I over heard some of the other's talking about. Nothing to worry about, just wanted to make sure you knew".

"Well I do, I always have" she spoke, moving her body around so that she was now facing Cam. She leaned forward, ready for a kiss, but stopped when she heard a car pull up. Her face was only centimeter's away from his and she could feel his hands as he placed them on her waist. "That's my ride" she whispered, "I better go". Then she hopped into the car, closing the door and driving off into the night, leaving Cam just as he had been most of the night; Miserable.

_**Please review.**_


	14. You deserve it

Sorry it's been a while guys. Here it is:

_Chapter number 14. you deserve it_

Martha opened the door of the cab, stepping out after it reached the destination of the diner. Thaking in a breath of the clean air and the smell of the ocean she putt her hands in the pockets of her trench coat and began to walk towards the stairs before making her way up and into her apartment.

In the distance from behind she could hear a laugh she'd know anywhere, turning around, sure enough at the bottom of the stairs chatting away to his father stood Jack as they'd just come out of the diner.

"Hey" Martha called down to them, both imediently looking up and smiling in her direction.

"Hey" Tony replied, waving slightly before stepping back, "See ya, I better be off".

"How are you going?" Jack asked, walking up towards her after his dad had walked off.

"Good, I thought you were having a boys night in?" she asked curiously, "doesn't that usually mean pizza and beer in front of the footy?"

Jack nodded, reaching the top of the stair case, "yeah, but we decided to get out of the house for a bit" he sighed, "the problem with living with two year twelve students is they generally need a lot of quiet to get everything done".

Martha chuckled slightly, "yeah I guess you forget how much work goes into that last year of school".

"Sure do, I just can't wait till their finished school, the house will definitely be less crowded" he answered, stepping inside after her as she opened the door and signaled for him to come in.

"Yeah, it must be fairly cosy with Kit and the baby there too now" she added, putting her bag down on the floor next to the bench and walking into the kitchen, opening the fridge and pulling out two beer's, "You want one?"

"Your seriously asking?" he smiled, raising an eyebrow, the answere was clearly yes.

Passing the can to him Martha plonked herself down on the couch next to where he now sat, opening the top of it and hearing the sound it made as the air entered it.

"So I thought you were off at a work party, don't they normaly drag on forever?" Jack asked, taking a mouthful of the liquid and leaning back into the back of the couch.

"Yeah, I managed to get away, it ended up being at the club and the cops decided to do a drug raid or something, not really sure why thought" she shrugged it off, if their was one thing she'd learned while working at the rocket club it was that their was no use questioning anything that went on in there, there was to much going on that had answeres she didn't understand.

"It was probably nothing" Jack sighed, "you know how much the other cops at the station want to pin something on Cam at the moment, their searching for answers that aren't there" he told her, "it's ridickulous really".

"Yeah, your right" she nodded, swallowing a mouthful before leaning forward to put her can on the table, "anyway" she grinned from ear to ear, "I'm finally meeting my dad tomorrow".

"Yeah, he's going to love you" Jack encouraged her, speaking warmly. He rested one arm around her shoulders, he knew how much this ment to her, in the time they'd been married, she'd often told him about how she was finally going to meet him. "I just hope he's everything you imagined, you deserve it".

"Thanks" she whispered back. There was one thing that never changed about Jack, and that was that he always made sure that the people he cared about knew they were special, even if he didn't show it through words, she loved that about him, and she knew it was one of the reason's she'd fell for him in the first place.

------------------------------------------------

Cam sat nervously in the library, flicking through pages of a book without even taking note of anything on them, the events of that night were still going over and over again in his head, and he knew that no matter what he'd decided to do it would have consiquences that would affect him, so really there was no way he could of won.

He couldn't help but feel guilty, all it took for him to put his daughter in danger was to through those pills down the sink, and that was exactly what he'd one.

Opening the door in one quick solid motion, Cindy stormed in, not at all happy, "what the hell did you do Cam? Is it really that hard to stick a few pills in a bag!" she yelled, grabbing the book from his hands, closing it and slambing it on a table behind her before glaring straight back at him. "Have you forgotten what's at stake here or something?"

"No" he shot out.

"Oh so, you just don't care about Crystal any more, is that it then?" she continued on the guilt trip.

"Of course I do" he defended himself, standing up, "I know I stuffed up, I get that" he told her firmly, "and don't you dare make it as though I had an easy job, you and I know exactly how hard it really was, it wasn't just anyone we were setting up, it just happens to be my girlfriend in case you've forgotten" he added, finnaly making her agree.

Cindy nodded slightly, looking down aimlessly before she stepped forward and took a seat, "Yeah I know, I'm just so scared".

"Yeah well your not the only one" Cam spoke slightly softer, sitting down next to her and looking around at all the many shelves that covered the walls in the large room. "We'll think of something, don't ask me what cause I don't have a clue right now, but there's got to be a way".

"I just hope your right" she whispered, getting up, and leaving quietly before making her way to check on Crystal.

"Me too" Cam sighed out loud to the empty room, resting his head back and taking in a deep breath, "me too".

_**Please review. Even if your anonomous I'd love to hear what you think.**_


	15. Just feels right

_Chapter number 15. Just feels right_

_The next day_

Cam walked into Martha's apartment, it was fairly quiet, which was unusual for nine o clock in the morning. Walking towards the couch he realized that it wasn't quite as empty as he thought, there fast asleep was Jack. Smilling Cam put his black squash bag next to the counter, it wasn't that unusual for Jack to sleep on the couch, it had happened a few times before over the last week or two since he and Martha were getting along a lot better, they'd stay up late having a beer, then Jack would stay over.

Cam didn't have a problem with it, he was glad that he was no longer the cause of her family and friends being distant, she was going to need her friends when he went through with what he now had planned. Last night after Cindy had gone off to bed he'd finally come up with a way to deal with the situation he was in, he was fairly sure it would work too, it was definitely the right thing to do, he was sure of it, now all he had to do was actually do it.

But never mind that, thinking about what he was going to do would have to wait, Martha's parent's would be here in an hour, so walking towards her room he disapeared to wake her up, leaving Jack still undesterbed where he slept peacefully.

------------------------------------------------

_An hour later:_

"Are you sure you have to go?" Martha sked Cam who had just received a phone call from the rocket club who needed him over an emergency. She really wanted him to stay, she was so nervous and she needed him to be there with her.

"Yeah sorry. You know I'd rather be here, but I really have to go" he appologized, true was it wasn't really from the rocket club, it was from Cindy, she needed to go over the new plan he'd come up with last night.

"Yeah, well just promise you'll get back as soon as you can, ok?"

"Ok I promise" he smiled, wrapping his arms around her and giving her a kiss on the fore head, "anyway, at least you'll have Jack here".

"Yeah I guess so" she agreed, as he began to walk to the door.

"Love you" Cam spoke back to her, trying to see a smile on her face.

"Love you too" she responded, giving him a small nervous smile before he left.

"So what did I miss?" Jack said enthusiastically as he came out of the bathroom from his shower.

"Not much, Cam got called out to work" she told him, walking into the middle of the lounge room where she started pacing.

"Come on no need to stress, it's going to be fine" Jack exclaimed, he knew what she was panicing about, she'd been freaking out all morning.

"What if he's the complete oposite to what I picture him to be?" Martha panicked, any minute now her mum would be here along with her dad, this was it, she was meeting him. Right now things were going through her head so quickly that she couldn't even think straight.

"Mac, he's you dad, whether he's exactly as you pictured him or not I'm sure you'll like him" Jack encouraged her, placing his hands on her shoulders to stop her in the middle of the room, "come on look at me" he told her, waiting till her face looked up to meet his before he continued. "Your going to be fine, I mean, who wouldn't love you?"

Martha smiled, taking in a quick breath before calming down a bit, "Yeah, I'm just so nervious" she explained, letting Jack lead her over to the couch as he guided her with one hand lightly on her back and the other rested on her shoulder from behind, he always seemed to know how to settle her, there was something about his presence that always made her feel that little more confident. "I wonder what he's like" she sighed, resting her head on Jack's shoulder as he sat next to her, "do you think he's anything like me?"

"I don't know, I guess you'll have to find out" Jack answered. He movied his hand down he back, rubbing the middle firmly to let her know it was going to be ok.

"Yeah" she sighed, she was starting to get excited again like a kid in a lolly shop. "Oh gosh what's taking them so long?"

Jack laughed, she was so amusing sometimes.

"What are you laughing at?" she pouted.

Letting out one last chuckle Jack stopped, "You" he simply answered. "You remind me of just before our wedding when you were having a last minute panick about the reception".

"Really, was I this freaked out?" she questioned, tilting her head to the side slightly.

"Yeap" he grinned. Moving his hand to rest freely over he shoulders, it was like all of a sudden they seemed to feel completely comfortable with each other, Martha's hands were now around his body and she gently moved her head to where it had been before on his shoulders.

"Well at least your here again this time to make me see sense" Martha commented, she smiled at how close his body was to her at that moment, for some reason she felt like it was just right. Looking up she meet her eyes with his, they seemed so loving and warm, smiles beeming in their brightness.

Jack could feel things heating up, her face had moved closer to his and he could feel her warm breath on his lips. Then, like something just clicked, they both moved in for the kiss, her mouth moving against his as they both gave into temptation.

_**Please review.**_


	16. Women are always right

**Warning: May contain scenes unsuitable for young readers.**

_Chapter number 16. Women are always right_

Cam focused his eyes on the road ahead of him, two hands firmly on the steering wheel and his body sitting upright inot the back of his seat. He couldn't feel anything at the moment; he didn't know whether to cry, laugh, be angry or happy, he just felt nothing, everything a complete blur that kept going round and round in his brain like the blood flowing in his veins.

Beside him, he could hear his phone beginning to ring, slowing down he picked it up and looked at the called ID; It was Trent. That was the moment when Cam suddenly started to feel something again, he felt hate, complete and utter hate that came right from the bottom of his heart and reached the ends of the earth, this was the guy that was making his life hard for him, he wasn't just going to get away with that. Furiously he pressed the accept button hard, moving the phone to his ear quickly as he stopped the car by the side of the road. "What do you want?" he shot out, almost yelling by his tone of voice.

"Well hello to you too sunshine" Trent's sarcastic anoying voice echoed through the ear piece, Cam rolled his eyes, that guy really knew how to get to him, even if he didn't know he was doing it. "But now that you brought that subject up I'd like to know how's our good friend Macklin?"

'Oh crap' Cam thought to himself, this was just going to be great...

------------------------------------------------

"Mmmhh" Martha groaned as she broke her lips away from Jack's, lifting her head slightly from above his where she lay ontop of him on the couch, "well that was unexpected" she said breathlessly.

Jack sighed, taking in a deep breath as he processed what had just happened, it had all happened so fast... it felt good, and he wanted more. "Martha-" he started, whispering her name in a husky tone that sent a shiver down her spine.

"Mmm" she mumbled, moving back down on him, her lips reaching his neck where she beggan planting tiny kisses on his skin, smilling to herself when she heard him moan under his breath. It was like someone else had taken over her body, she couldn't control herself, she couldn't even hear a little voice in the back of her head telling her this was wrong.

Moving his head to the side, Jack reconected his mouth with hers, moving his tounge into her mouth and exploring the inside of it. He ran his hands vigerously up the length of her back and back town again, using his fingers to fiddle with the edge of her shirt.

Martha was in heaven. He was making her feel weak, uncontrolably wanting more and more of the energy and feelings that only he could give her and make her feel.

Jack began to sit up, moving Martha's legs round gently so that she was sitting on his lap with her feet touching the floor. Martha let out a sigh as he broke his lips away from hers, "Martha" he managed to get out, panting for air.

"Shh" she whispered, placing her index finger on his soft lips, she had his full attention, his body trembling at her touch and his breathing that had slowed down began to get faster. Smirking to herself she moved her finger away immediently replacing it with her mouth that came crashing down onto his with a force that he could only give into.

Without a second thought, Jack wrapped his arms around her limp body that was as weak as a rag doll, lifting her up and wrapping her legs around his waist before carrying her past the kitchen and through her bedroom door.

------------------------------------------------

"Well I don't think were getting away from here any time soon" Ruth declaired looking down the long road in the middle of the bush before turning back to Brett who was studying the engine of their broken down car. They'd been stuck here for about three hours now, no reception and not the slightest clue of what was wrong with Brett's expensive piece of junk.

"I think your right" he grumbled, pushing the bonet back down and taking in a deep breath, tossing his head back carelessly. He pulled his phone again for the millionth time in the last hour, fliping it open and holding it up, moving it around in all dirrections; still there was no reception, "what's the point of technology when it doesn't work when you need it most?"

"I don't know, but I think if we're going to get out here soon were going to need to start walking" she sighed opening the door and reaching for her hand bag.

"But were miles from the nearest town".

"Yeah, we are, that's why our chances of anyone coming past are low" she pointed out.

Taking defeat, Brett nodded, "why do women always have to be right?"

"Cause it's just the way it works" she chuckled, studying the stressed look on his face, she loved how determined he was to meet Martha, it was a side of him she hadn't seen in a long time. The Brett Macklin she used to know all those years ago was in some ways the same as he was now, but in so many more ways, he was different, but it was for all the good reasons.

"Alright, if no one's come past in five minutes then we walk, deal?"

"Deal" she agreed, shaking her head slightly and looking away, crossing her arms in front of her to keep warm, no one was going to drive past, she was sure of it.

This was going to be a long day...

_**Please review, as usual, I'm not updating unless I've got two or more reviews, it's just so I know that people are still reading this story, I don't expect you to have to log in, I haven't blocked annonomous reviewers.**_


	17. Feeling guilty

Thanks for the reviews guys, it's much appreciated.

**Warning: may contain adult themes.**

_Chapter number 17.Feeling guilty_

"I was about to think you weren't coming" Trent's voice echoed through the darkness of the old shed in the middle of the bush, not far from the city. A few hours had passed since he and Cam had spoken on the phone and they needed to start getting to work on their plans.

"Sorry, got held up" Cam appologized, stepping forward. Placing one hand on his back pocket to make sure it still contained a certain object he'd picked up on the way, right here and right now his plan was going to unfold, and the best part was, Trent didn't even suspect a thing, he was to deep in thought about getting revenge on Brett to realize the reasons why not much had happened to Martha yet.

"Well at least you made it, that's all that matters" Trent smiled, "Now we better be quick, don't want anyone getting suspicious about where we both are" he added. "So Brett's with Martha now?"

"I guess so, he was due about ten minutes after I left" Cam shrugged.

"Good" he nodded, still very pleased with Cam's work. "He's not going to know what hit him when his little princess goes out of control, were going to be controlling her the whole time and he's going to suffer while he sits and watches it all happen" he exclaimed evilly, punching his fist into his other hand and bitting the side of his lip in deep thought.

Cam was just about ready to grab the guy by the neck, how dare he talk about Martha like she was his pupet! Reaching for his back pocket again, he pulled out newly bought gun which he'd carefully loaded bafore arriving. He held it with caution, his eyes norrowing at Trent who stood in front of him with his back turned towards him as he continued on his ramble.

"I know you'll do a good job Cam-" he started, not getting the chance to finish before Cam fired the gun, sending a bullet straight into the back of his head before he fell to the ground. "Don't you dare talk about her like that" he yelled, looking down at the lifeless body that lay on the floor at his feet, little did he know, the very girl he was defending was putty in the hands of her ex-husband, giving into him like he was the last person on the earth.

------------------------------------------------

"Come on, lets just go Brett" Roo grummbled, rolling her eyes. She was leaning back against the side of the car with her arms crossed, it had been an hour since he'd told her that they'd wait five minutes and she was beginning to get impacient.

"Alright" he sighed, giving in, she was right, no one was coming, they were in the middle of nowhere. "Just let me grab my phone incase we run into some reception on the way" he explained, opening the door and ducking his head in to reach for his mobile that was next to the drivers seat.

"Reception? Out here?" she laughed, "you've got to be kidding".

"Well, you never know" he shrugged, putting the object in his back pocket before closing the door, as he did so, he felt the light falling rain on his head, "Well looks like were not going anywhere".

"Great" Ruth muttered sarcastically, "what next". She'd really had enough of this and it wasn't even lunch time yet.

"Well don't just stand there" Brett told her as the rain quickly got hevier. He opened the door, encouraging her to get in the back seat.

Signing, Roo climbed in without arguing, pushing herself to the otherside so that Brett could also get in. "So what do we do now?" she asked.

"I have absolutaly no idea" Brett replied, sitting back in the seat and looking out the window as the water droplets ran down it.

------------------------------------------------

Martha opened her eyes slowly to the sound of rain lightly falling on the tin roof of her flat. She sat up, looking around and noticing her cloths, along with Jack's, scattered on the floor, that's when she remembered the events of the last hour or so. Looking down at Jack's naked body next to her she bit her bottom lip, trying to stop herself from crying, she couldn't believe how stupid she'd been this time. She was out of control, and she knew exactly why too, she'd been trying to block out all the pain, just like she had been when she started seeing Cam, and when she started pole dancing, and now she felt more guilty than ever, she'd made Jack suffer from her actions. It wasn't like he didn't try to stop, he'd tried to talk to her more than once, but she'd kept going, she'd been in control.

But no matter how many stuff ups she made, it still hadn't made the simple fact go away; she wanted be a mum, she wanted it so badly, and her chance had been ruined by her own stupid actions.

_**Please review, I'll update when I've got two or more.**_


	18. Priorities

Thanks for the reviewsguys, it's much appreciated. Here's more:

_Chapter number 18.Priorities_

"Cindy?" Cam called out as he opens the door of their house, "I'm home" he's voice echo'd through the house.

There was a moment of silence before he got any answer. "Just in the office" Cindy's calm voice answered, much unlike his that was shaky. "How did things with Trent go?" she asked poking her head out the door and looking out to where he stood in the front lounge room. "Cam what's wrong?" she started to get worried when she saw him, his eyes were stoned and he seemed on edge.

"Nothing" he lied, faking a slight smile, "everything's been taken care of" he ensured her, walking into the kitchen to get a drink.

Now she was really worried, "what do you mean everything's been taking care of?" she asked with caution, not getting an answer, "Cam, talk to me please".

Cam hesitated for a second, walking out of the kitchen to where she stood. Carefully he looked down the hall way, making sure Crystal wasn't around.

"Cam what's going on?" she tried again.

Leaning forward, Cam spoke softly, "Trent's dead... I killed him".

------------------------------------------------

"hmm, Martha" Jack sighed reaching on arm out that feel across the empty side of the bed where Martha had lay last time he'd opened his eyes, moving his hand around a bit he sat up when he realized she wasn't there. "Martha?" he repeated, this time more awake than before.

Moving quickly he got up reaching for his boxers that were discareted on the floor and putting them on before leaving the room. He stopped when he saw her sitting on the couch, tears running down her face as she sobbed uncontrolably. Without hesitating he raced to be by her side, taking her in his strong arms and letting her cry into his chest.

"I'm so sorry Jack" she managed to get out, "this is all my fault, I never wanted you to get hurt".

------------------------------------------------

"D... d-dead" Cindy's stuttered, completely in shock.

Cam nodded, studying her reaction. She didn't move or show much emotion, it was like she had just gone blank and nobody was in there.

"Y-you, killed him?" she exclaimed, she didn't really know what to think, it was so sudden.

"Shh, keep your voice down" he hissed through clenched teeth.

"If your worried about Crystal hearing she's in the library" Cindy snapped at him, giving him a glare before walking back towards the study door.

"Where are you going?"

"To make a phone call" Cindy yelled, right now she needed to get out of here, she turned her back, about to step through the door, but stopped herself, deciding to have a go at Cam instead. "Do you have any idea what you've just done? Do you have any idea at all Cam?"

Cam didn't say anything, he just took everything she had to through at him like a punching bag.

"Did you even thing about what this could lead to, you know very well the situation were in, and you just had to go an make it ten times worse didn't you?" she cried, it was like the more she talked, the angryer she got. "Are you even listening to me?"

"Of course I'm listening" he yelled, matching her tone of voice which made her stop.

She took in a short breath, drying her tears with the sides of her thumbs. "Look, you've got to see this from my perspective" she exclaimed, once again talking fairly normaly through her sobbs. "We don't know exactly how Trent's network of people runs, for all we know their could be people above him that will hunt us down, you know that, we already talked about it". Cam nodded in agreement and disapointment. She was right, it had been something both of them had been aware of since the day he met Trent and Greg in that small box house at the back of an ally way.

"Just promise me one thing"

"What's that?" Cam asked, looking straight into her blood shot, teary eyes.

"Next time" she started, shrugging, "well if there is a next time, make sure Crystal's your first priority".

Cam bit his lip knowing exactly what she was refuring to; Martha.

"Promise me?" she asked again softly.

Cam paused for a second, looking down to the floor before focusing his attention back on her once again. "I promise".

------------------------------------------------

"Sleeping with you was my wake up call Jack, and I'm so sorry you ended up involved in this, I didn't want to hurt you" Martha cried. She'd just told Jack about why she'd been acting the way she had been (including the pole dancing) and how she wanted her baby, in some ways it was good to get it off her chest.

"It's ok, I'm just glad you told me before you did anything else you'd regret" he comforted her, holding her close and rubbing her back to let her know he was there for her.

"So are we still friends?" Martha asked, not quite sure where they stood.

"Of course" Jack smiled down at her, "we'll always be friends, you should know that by now".

"Yeah, I know, just making sure" she smiled back. "Anyway where are my parent's, I thought they were supposed to be here ages ago?"

"Yeah so did I" Jack commented. "They probably just got held up".

"Maybe" she shrugged, not quite convinced.

"They'll be here don't you worry".

------------------------------------------------

"This is just like the time you got your first car from your dad" Ruth huffed, turning her attention from her window to Brett who was still sitting next to her on the back seat.

"Yeah" Brett nodded, smilling as he thought back to that day, "That was awsome".

Ruth laughed, "yeah, well look who's re'writting history now".

"Hey" Brett defended himself, "what's wrong with getting bogged?" he started, "ok so maybe it wasn't tha great" he changed his mind. The car went silent again, once again they'd brought up their teenage years and once again things had gotten weird. "We had some good times didn't we?"

"Yeah, yeah we did" she nodded. "And some bad ones too".

Brett just smiled slightly at her, and she did the same, everything had changed between them the day they made Martha, there was on denying it.

_**I'll update when I've got two or more reviews.**_


	19. Staying low

_Chapter number 19.Staying low_

"Do you think we should start walking again?" Ruth asked as the raim stopped, looking over at Brett.

"I guess so" he grummbled, opening the door just as he heard a sound in the distance. Smilling with joy he looked over his shoulder at Ruth who was just as happy.

He looked up one end of the road, seeing nothing, then to the otherside. And there coming towards them was a red car just coming over the top of the hill through the trees. "Thankyou" he said out loud moving away from the door so Ruth could hop out.

"It's about time" she grinned, finding her balance on her feet before closing the door. As the car came closer Brett waved it down, and thankfully the car pulled over and the driver winded down his window.

"Hey sorry to stop you, but our car's broken down" Brett started.

"It's fine" the amn reasured him, "I'm a mechanic, I'll take a look at it for you" he said, getting out and coming closer to their car.

"Thanks, you have no idea how much of a releif that is" Brett thanked him.

------------------------------------------------

"Hello Cam Roberts speaking" Cam tried to sound calm as he answered his mobile that had rung about five times in the last two minutes.

"Cam, thankgoodness you answered" Greg's voice echoed through the ear piece. (Author note, for those that have forgotten, Greg was the Taxi driver who took Cam to Trent in the first place).

"Why, what's the problem?"

"Trent" Greg started, pannicking, "Trent, he's dead".

"What do you mean he's dead?" Cam strung him along, pretending this was the first he'd heard of it.

"I found him in the old shed" he explained, "he's been shot".

"Shot, but... why?" Cam asked.

"I don't know, how did he seem when you two met up earlier?" Greg questioned, trying to get to the bottom of who could possibly do this.

"We didn't meet" Cam lied, "he called and cancelled not long after he asked me to come".

"This isn't good" Greg told him.

"Surely Trent had people above him that could track this guy down wouldn't he?" he questioned, trying to find out what his chances of getting away with this were.

"No" Greg simply said, makin Cam smiled to himself, this was going to be easier than taking candy from a baby.

"Well maybe we should stay low for a while" he suggested, "whoever did this will probably be after us next".

Greg was falling for the whole thing, he was convinced. "I never thought of that, gosh what if they find me on my way out of here?" he freaked out.

"Just be careful" Cam warned him, "get away as soon as you can, make sure nobody's following you".

"Ok, well speak again soon" Greg told him before hanging up.

Cam put his phone down carelessly on the table smiling to himself for a moment.

"What was that about?" Cindy asked poking her head out form the office where she'd stayed since she found out he'd killed Trent.

"I've got some good news for you" he grinned.

------------------------------------------------

"There we go, all fixed" the mechanic told Brett, closing the bonnet of the car.

"Oh thankyou so much, how much to I owe you?" Brett asked.

"Nothing" the guy answered, stepping away, "just pass on the favor to someone else".

"I will then" Brett smiled as the guy got in his car and drove off, waving out the window before he got to far.

"You ready to hit the road too?" Ruth asked from behind.

"Definitely" he sighed, walking to the drivers side of the car and hopping in. "Lets go meet my daughter".

_**Please review.**_


	20. Missing you

Thanks for the reviews guys. Heres the next chapter, sorry it's short.

_Chapter number 20. Missing you_

Martha hung up the phone in the kitchen happily before coming back out to the lounge room where Jack still was. "Guess what".

"I don't know, but by the look on your face I'm guessing it's good" Jack replied, chuckling slightly.

"That was mum on the phone" she started, smilling from ear to ear. "The car broke down in the middle of nowhere where there was no reception" she explained, "but their on their way again and she said they should be here in half an hour or so".

"See I told you there'd be a perfectly good explaination" Jack told her, placing his arm around her shoulders as she plonked herself down on the couch next to him.

"Yeah you did" she sighed, resting her head on his shoulder. "Thankyou".

"For what?"

"Just being here" she whispered.

"That's ok, but really should be going" he explained, "I have to get home and got to work soon, sorry, I would stay but-".

"Jack it's ok" she giggled, "I understand, you've got to work. Besides, I'm a big girl, I'm sure being by myself for a little while won't kill me".

"Ok" Jack answered getting up onto his feet, "Well I best be off".

"Yeah see you" Martha called out as he left through the door.

------------------------------------------------

Jack left out the side door of the apartment, walking swiftly down the stairs and through the abled area outside the dinner. He needed to think, he needed space, so much had happened in the last two hours and his hear was beginning to spin from the affects of it. Slowing down as he reached the beach, Jack found a quiet place to sit in the grass at the edge of the beach where he could think about things properly.

He knew why he'd given into Martha, and it wasn't cause he was in love with her, he'd given up hope of them ever getting back together a long time ago. It was cause he missed Sam.

He'd only just gotten used to things without her and Rory, but he still missed them like crazy. He even missed having to watch his feet when leaving the house so he wouldn't end up sliding down the driveway on Rory's skate board, even thought he hated when that happened, it was one of the things that had made living with them a home, now it was just a house without them there in his life.

He'd slide down the driveway ond Rory's skateboard and land on his ass anyday if it ment having them both back.

_**Please review, I'll update when I've got two or more.**_


	21. Mothers love

_Chapter number 21. Mothers love_

"Knock knock" Ruth called out as she knocked on the front door of Martha's apartment with Brett close behind her.

"Come in" Martha called back getting up just as the door opened and her mum's head appeared.

"Hey" Ruth squealled running to hug her daughter.

"Hey mum" Martha grinned, hugging her back before looking to see who was behind her, she guessed he was her dad.

Without any hesistation, she fell into his arms that were wide open, "Hey dad" she whispered looking up at him.

Brett smiled it was the first time he'd heard someone call him dad before, and he liked it. "Hey princess" he beamed.

------------------------------------------------

_Later that night: 7:03 pm_

Ruth and Martha sat in the loungue room of the appartment above the diner, Brett had left a few minutes before to book a hotel room since there was only one spare room in the appartment and they'd agreed that Roo should have it.

"Mum can I ask you something?"

"Yeah of course you can sweety" Roo answered, ready to listen like she always had been when Martha needed her.

Martha hesitated for a minute, trying to find the right words, but then decided to say it how it was, "When you had me, did you... did you ever consider having an abortion?"

"Well not really, your father suggested it but-" she stopped to think. "not that he doesn't want you now, he-" she shot out, before Martha stopped her.

"Mum it's ok, I get it, he was younger then and had other priorities" she giggled.

"Yeah" she sighed. "Anyway, why do you ask?"

"Well... Mum, I've done something really stupid" she started.

------------------------------------------------

Jack walked into the front of the Hunter/Holden house sliding his feet along the ground as he walked and dragged his bag along the ground behind him.

"Hey mate how's it going?" Tony asked poking his head out of the kitchen and coming into the living room.

"Yeah real great" Jack started sarcastically, "I've had a mountain of paper work to do, I slept with my best friend, Sam's never coming back and my lifes a complete nightmare. Yeah dad things are real great" he finnished, walking straight past him into the kitchen and getting a beer out of the fridge.

"Jack-"

"You don't need to feel sorry for me dad" Jack shot out, before storming off to his room like a todler having a tantrum.

"God help me" Tony sighed to himself, this was just great.

------------------------------------------------

"I had no idea" Ruth said sympathetically, "you should of called me, you know I would have been over here on the next flight". She'd just heard everything, right from Ash, to sleeping with Jack.

"Yeah I know, I guess I was just bottling up, I wasn't admitting I needed help from anyone" Martha explained, her eyes starting to fill with tears. "And I still keep doing it too. After Jack came and found me crying to pulled myself together again and pretended I was fine, and then you and Dad came I guess I just blocked it all out again" she added, "I don't know what to do".

"Well I don't know eather" Roo told her calmly, "I wish I could tell you how to handle it but I can't". Martha just nodded as Ruth pulled her into a motherly hug. "Let it all out" she soothed rubbing her hand up and down her daughters back, "let it all out".

The two girls stayed like that for a few minutes, the only sounds were the ones coming from Martha as she sobbed. Slowly she started to calm down moving away from Ruth and sitting up again grabbing a tissue from the tissue box on the coffee table and blowing her nose.

"I know I said I couldn't fix anything for you, but there one thing I can fix for you" Ruth told her, digging for something in her handbag.

"What's that?"

"Well if you slept with this guy thismorning you've still got time..." she drifted off.

"Time for what?" Martha asked, puzzled at what her mum was trying to get at.

"Here we go" she said, pulling out a small bottle of pills, "morning after pill" she explained, opening it and getting one out, putting it in Martha's hand.

"Thanks" Martha smiled through her still slightly watery eyes, "so what are you doing with those then?"

"It's a long story" Ruth shot out, "but how about I go and get us some dinner from downstairs, your father should be back soon".

"Yeah, sounds good" she replied, getting up off the couch and walking to the kitchen to get a glass of water to take the pill with as Roo dissapeared out the door.

_**Please review, it would be much appreciated.**_


	22. Old friends

**Warning: Contains some Violence and/or death, (V/D).**

_Chapter number 22. Old friends_

"Hey Colleen" Ruth smiled when she got to the counter.

"Oh my born days" Colleen's eyes lighted up, "Ruth Stewart, fancy seeing you back in town" she smiled, coming round the counter to give her a hug. "Now what can I do for you love?"

"Oh just some take away thanks, um three fish burgers".

"It'll just be a minute pet" she told her before disappearing into the kitchen.

Ruth turned around, looking around the place, it hadn't changed much since she last remembered it, and it still had the same small town atmosphere about it, she like it. "Roo?" a familiar voice called out. She turned around towards the sound to see none other than Peter baker getting up from a table where he was sitting with a brown curly headed lady.

"Pete" she squealed, running over to him and leaping into his arms. He lifted her off the floor, spinning her round a few times before puttinf her back on her feet, still keeping his arms around her.

"What are you doing back in town?" he grinned.

"I was about to ask you the same question detective" she giggled. Looking up at him, she'd missed him so much.

"I don't think we've met" Lara interupted from behind.

"Ruth this is Lara, my girlfriend" Peter explained. "Lara this is Ruth".

"Hey nice to meet you" Roo smilled, following Peter and sitting next to him across the table from Lara.

"Yeah you too" she answered. "So how do you two know eachother then?".

"Well we've been best friends since we were born" Peter told her.

"Literally" Roo added.

"What do you mean?"

"Well" Roo started, "our mum's were good friends, and when Pete's mum when into labour it was in the middle of a pretty big storm where no one was alowed to leave their houses. And my mum got so stressed out that she went into Labour a month early".

"Well that's definitely one I haven't heard before" Lara laughed.

"Yeah well it doesn't end there either" Peter told her, chuckling slightly before carrying on. "A few hours later they managed to get to the hospital and when they got there there was so many people with injuries from the storm that our mothers ended up sharing a room".

"Narsty" Lara commented, "that's kinda creepy, so you two were born in the same room?".

"Yeah" Roo nodded, "As I remember being told we were two minutes and thirty five seconds apart". By now they'd all started laughing.

"Yeah not to mention I was the oldest" Peter bosted, sitting up tall and proud for a second.

"And you've had a big head ever since". Roo playfully his him on the arm.

"Hey look who's talking" he defended himself.

"Sorry I think she's right Pete" Lara agreed.

"Sorry to interupt" Colleen interupted their laughter. "But your dinner's ready Ruth".

"Oh thanks collee" Roo thanked her, "I'll catch you guys later".

"Yeah see you" Pete waved as she walked off.

------------------------------------------------

Cam sat in the Library of his house, Crystal asleep on his shoulder after the two of them had finnished reading a book together. So many things were going around his head at the moment, particularly the promise he'd made Cindy earlier.

He knew Martha had been taking over his heart, but it was going to stop, he couldn't risk his baby girls life again, she was too precious. But in some ways he still thought he would of shot Trent if it had been Crystal he was saying that stuff about, infact he was sure he would of done it quicker.

But Trent was gone now, regardless of who he'd shot him for, he'd still shot him and that was the part that mattered; he was a murderer, a murderer for love.

"Nothing's going to happen to you" he whispered softly, kissing Crystals fore head before picking her up and carrying her out and up to her bedroom to tuck her into her bed, she was going to come forst from now on. He had to get Martha out of his life.

------------------------------------------------

Cindy walked along through the darkness of the alley way in the city. She knew what she had to do and she wasn't going back now, she had to do this, if not for her then for her little girl. 'gosh how far is it to this stupid hut?' she screamed in her head, she was freezing her ass off out here.

It was another few minutes walk till she found what she was looking for, there in the middle of the clearing at the end of the long alley way was a box house, (the one Greg brought Cam to to meet Trent five years ago).

Running to the doorway to get inside, Cindy shoved the door open and stepped inside. "Glad you could make it" Greg smiled, "I was wondering if you were actually coming".

"Yeah sorry I got held up. Cam says he's sorry he couldn't make it" she lied, Cam didn't even know of this meeting.

"That's fine" he nodded, "come sit down" he invited her.

Imediently Cindy pulled out the gun she'd taken out of Cam's car, not hesitating to shoot Greg straight in the chest. "No thanks".

_**Please review, I'll update when I've got two or more.**_


	23. Drastic measures

Sorry this ones really short, only a page long, but I didn't want to mix it with anything else in the story even though nothing major is revealled. Sorry it's just Cindy in this chapter.

**Warning: May contain voilence and/or death (V/D). **

_Chapter number 23.Drastic measures_

Cindy stood still, her arms still outstretched with the gun still aimed where she'd shot, she'd done it, her baby was going to be safe.

Moving her arms down and resting her shoulders to relax she stepped forward and stopped when she reached the side of Greg's lifeless body limb and still where it lay on cold floor; he was definitely dead, but just to be sure she shot at him once more slightly higher than the first bullet wound and closer to his heart. The quick moving object peirced his skin so fast that she hardly saw it, blood seeping out of the newly formed hole.

Sure that she'd done the job properly, Cindy looked around the room as she placed the gun on a small table that was near by. There wasn't much in the room, a two seater lounge chair that was as ancient as Hitler, a chest of draws against a far wall a chair at the table and a large stone fire place facing the couch that was about two and a half meters wide and a meter and a half tall with a pile of wood next to it. Then she came up with an idea.

She'd origanaly thought she'd just6 come and shoot then leave, but now everything was falling into place more perfectly then she'd thought. Working quickly she grab held of some of the logs from the top of the pile of wood, moving them as fast as possible to form a heap in the middle of the fire place. She moved to the chest of draws, going through the draws one by one looking under ever old file and book she could till she came across a small box of matches.

Lighting onequickly she through it onto the logs along with two more to start a small fire putting more wood on it to feed it and make it grow. Then steppiong back over to Greg she grabed him by the arms, draging his body along the floor until he was lying in front of the fire place, crouching down on the other side of him she rolled his boddy into the fire, his clothes beginning to light as she stepped away and brushed her hands together swiftly before moving backwards and sitting anxiously on the couch, leaning back into it and watching the fire place as more and more of Gregs body caucht alight.

Stairing aimlessly and lossing herself in the flames she stayd there for what seemed, and probbably was hours until the fire dyed out and all that was left was black coated bones.

Waking herself up propperly Cindy collected the gun and mode her way out of the flat walking away just the way she had come earlier.

_**Please review.**_


	24. The same kind of gossip

Sorry it's been a while, I've made it a bit longer than usual, so I hope that makes up for it, ).

_Chapter number 24. The same kind of gosip_

Martha lay awake in her bed unable to sleep, so much was on her mind at the moment, after dinner her and her mum had had a long chat about Jack, Cam and Ash.

She'd come to a decision, she had to sort out her life, and to do that she needed to get Cam and Jack out of her life so she could think about things propperly, even though she loved both of them dearly, she needed to do this.

------------------------------------------------

_Next day:_

Cindy stood infront of the sink in the kitchen, a glass in her hand, frozen on the spot and completely lifeless. The sun had only just come up in the new day, not that she'd noticed, and birds were starting to be heard in the distance that were like a ringing sound on her ears.

"What time did you get in last night?" a voice made her jump, pulling her suddenly out of her ouw little world and making the glass in her fingertips slip, hitting the floor with one loud smash.

"Cam don't do that to me" she exclaimed, catching her breath from the scare.

"Sorry, didn't mean to give you such a fright" he appologised, moving into the kitchen and getting the broom out of a cupboard. "Are you alright?"

"Not really no" she sighed watching as he got down and swept the shattered glass off the cold tiles that covered the floor. "I went and saw Greg last night" she explained.

"Greg?" Cam questioned, he hated her going to see him, anything could happen with that kind of guy, "why were you seeing him by yourself?"

"You were busy, I didn't want to bother you".

"Yeah well you should of, no wonder your so on edge, did he do something to you, did he hurt you?" he asked worrying, putting the glass in the bin and placing a arm around her shoulder.

"No, he didn't" she reasured him.

"What then?"

"He's going overseas" she lied, "undercover".

"And?"

"He thinks we should do the same" she continued, he was buying her whole story hook line and sinker, "Well actually he pretty much told me we had to" she finnished, she couldn't tell him that she'd killed him, not after the way she'd got stuck into him fro killing Trent, she'd end up being the hipocryt.

"Well what's so bad about that then?" he smiled, for a minute there he thought it would be something much more serious with the way she was acting.

"I don't know, I guess the lack of sleep's just getting to me" she shrugged it off.

"Well, go back to bed then" he told her.

"Yes sir" she giggled, trying to act as normal as possible till she was around the corner and out of his sight where she started crying as she walked down the stairs and towards her bedroom.

------------------------------------------------

"Hey" Ruth smiled as she came into the dinner and sat oposite Pete who had been waiting for her.

"Hey" he grinned back at her, he was glad she was back in the bay things just hadn't been the same since the day when Roo left for New York and he left for the city to become a detective.

"So tell me what's changed around this place then?" she asked as she picked up a menu off the middle of the table.

"Oh well" he thought, "not much really, still a fairly sleepy old town with the local gosipers and rebelious teenagers" he chuckled, "not much as really changed".

"Yeah well that's good to heard, wouldn't be Summer bay if it was any different".

"True" Peter nodded, "One thing that has changed though is these menu's" he said as he picked up one.

"And thank God for that" Roo sighed, "Remember when Dad and Alisha owned this place?"

"Sadly yes" he answered remembering back to what the diner food was like when the two of them were growing up in their teen years, they'd spent a lot of time there and Roo's step mum had them both asigned as her taste testers. "I can still remember the taste of that stuff she made us try on Anzac day when we were fourteen" he chuckled slightly.

"Oh don't even remind me" she exclaimed, closing her eyes and shaking her head to try and erase the taste from her mind. "I can't believe she actually thought that stuff tasted alright. But then again me and her never really did agree on much".

"Aww isn't it nice to see the two of you in the one place" a voice interupted. Both looking around the found it was none other than Madge Wilkinson . Looking back at eachother Ruth and Peter both rolled their eyes.

"Well it's good to see you too madge" Roo lied.

"Yeah still alive and kicking I see" Peter added.

"Yes very much so" Madge went on, not noticing how unhappy the pair were to see her. "I presume the two of you are pretty close to getting married now afterall this time, and with the baby that's probably all grown up, it's about time-"

"No, no, no Madge I think your a bit mixed up" Roo stopped her, she could see what Pete ment by all the usual gosip queens still being around, she just didn't think he ment it as literally as Madge Wilkinson. When Roo and Pete were growing up a lot of the time people used to say how one day they would get married and be the perfect couple, but they both insisted that it would never happen, they were like brother and sister, not boyfriend and girlfriend.

The rumours never died down either, after the two of them finished school and moved out of home, they decided to rent a flat together which worked fine for them, it saved money and ment they could help eachother out with staying on task with Uni stuff. But the local's didn't see it that way, soon enough the new rumours were out without them even noticing and everyone was convinced that Roo was pregnant and that the two of them were engaged.

"What? Your not getting married?"

"No" Peter answered, "And we never had a baby ether" he added.

"I'm sure you two did, I remember Ruth being pregnant" she insisted.

"Madge, I had Brett's baby, not Pete's" Roo told her.

"Oh" she sighed, not seeming too happy, "you mean Brett Macklin".

"Yeah that's him".

"Yeah I saw him outside, I just hope his not staying in town for two long, Mr Stuart would have a fit if he knew the mungrel was in town" she trailed off as she walked over to talk to Colleen.

"Brett's in town hey?" Pete raised his eyebrows, not looking impressed.

"Yeah" Roo answered a little uneasily. "Pete don't start, please".

"Look I'm just worried, you know what happened last time he was in your life".

"He's changed" she argued.

"Yeah I've heard that one before" he scoffed.

"Look I know you don't like him, and I know who he used to be, ok. But just cause he's in my life again doesn't mean that I'm going to hop back into bed with the guy, he's just a friend".

Peter just bit his toungue and nodded, he wasn't convinced.

_**Please review, I won't update till I've got two or more.**_


	25. Affected by her?

_Chapter number 25. Affected by her?_

Tony stretched his arms out as he walked through the lounge room, yet another sunny morning in Summer bay and once again he'd slept through his alarm clock.

"Morning dad" Jack greeted him as he poked his head out from the kitchen as the smell of fresh coffee began wafting through the room.

"Hey" he replied making his way past the couch and into the kitchen to join him, you've cheered up since last night" he commented about his son's sudden change in behaviour, not that he was complaining about Jack being happier, but he didn't usually go from that sad to this happy overnight.

"Yeah, sorry about going off at you, you didn't desurve that" he appologised.

"Look it's fine, you obviously needed to blow some steam off, I can understand that".

"Yeah but I still shouldn't of taken it out on you like that".

"Jack it's fine, I'm just glad you've cheered up a bit" Tony reasured him. "So you slept with Martha then?"

"Yeap" Jack sighed, taking a sip of coffee, "Yeah I know it was stupid. She's going throught a hard time and I'm going through a hard time and it just kinda happened".

Tony just nodded, listening to his son's regrets. "Did it mean anything? Between you and Martha I mean?"

Jack shook his head, "no, we were both just a mess. Her with the..." he paused remembering that his dad never knew about the abortion, "just some stuff, and me with Sam and Rory. I guess we just didn't think. I wasn't anyones fault, it was just one of those things that happens and theirs nothing you can do about it" he sighed.

"Come on Jack, who are you trying to kid? You and me both know you've always been affected by Martha-".

"No dad, used to be affected by her" Jack corrected him, "When I was with Sam, I really ment it when I said I could see a future without Martha, it hasn't changed either. Yes we used to have something special, but that's all in the past".

"Fair enough" Tony nodded, not completely convinced, but then again it was probably cause he'd always seen Martha as a part of their family even after she'd split up with Jack.

"Anyway I better get to work" Jack told him, "I'll see you later".

"Yeah se you".

------------------------------------------------

Martha took in a deep breath as she reached the front door of the rocket club. She'd managed to avoid this place for a while, but she couldn't for much longer, she hasd to face things, and that ment coming here. Looking around from the spot she stood on she saw a group of men passing by the bouncers thst guarded the front door, they were regulars, ones she knew all to well, but then again their weren't really any regulars she didn't know.

Getting herself together again she walked th the door saying hey to David, (one of the bouncers) as she passed by. The place was pretty crouded for a morning, normally a croud this size would turn up at night.

"Is Cam in?" she asked Amy who was washing up some glasses behind the bar.

"I'm not sure" she shrugged, "he might be but I haven't seen him in the last hour" she explained. "So where have you been lately? Some of the guys have been asking when you were going to dance next".

'That's just great' Martha told herself sarcastically, she was starting to feel a little uneasy, people had been asking about her?

"My mum's been in town and she brought my dad with her, I've never met him before, so I've been spending some time with him" she told her.

"Oh ok, that must be exciting".

"Yeah it is" she smiled, trying not to sound like she didn't want to be here. Truth was if she wasn't here to quit then she would of run for the door already, actually she wouldn't of even been back here in the first place.

"Hey" Cam's voice grabbed her attention from behind, "I was just about to come and see you".

"Really?" she exclaimed, this was going to be harder than she origanally thought.

"Yeah I need to talk to you about something" he suddenly turned more serious.

"Well funny that cause theres something I need to talk to you about too" she nodded.

"Alright well how about we go up to my office then?"

"Yeah sounds good" she agreed grabbing his hand and following him throught the crowds and up the stairs that lead to the quieter part of the club.

Next time:

-Cam and Martha talk

-Pete has a 'chat' with Brett about Roo

_**I'll update when I get two or more reviews.**_


	26. Big brother

_Chapter number 26. Big brother_

Peter walked along the path overlooking the beach outside the dinner, coffe in one hand and his black Jacket of his uniform in the other. He was late to work already, Breakfast with Ruth had gone a bit longer than he thought it would, they'd had so mush to catch up on.

They'd been separated for fifteen years, something that hadn't been to easy to adapt to considering they spend their entire lives practically glued to eachother's side, Ruth wasn't just any friend, she was his best friend, his twin sister.

Over the years they growed up together they'd gotten to a point where they could read eachothers minds, they knew what the other was saying when they kept their mouth shut while someone was around and they knew what the other would say when they weren't there to help. It was a bond most of their frineds at school had envied, and what made the gossipers of the small town more convinced that Peter and Ruth were infact made for each other.

Taking the last mouthfull of coffee from the take-away cup, he tosed the paper object into a nearby trash can before continuing along the path as he put on his black jacket.

Up ahead he saw a sight thatsudenly ruined his happy state of mind, the man that had made Ruth's life hell for her to live all those years ago; Brett Macklin.

Peter's fists clenched at the sight of him, he wanted to give him a piece of his mind. How could the guy apandon Roo with his newborn baby like that? It was something that made Peter wonder what sick thoughts went through the guys messed up head. He'd only sticked around for two weeks after martha was born, which was the time Ruth was kept in hospital after ther premature labour, but as soon as she was deregistered he'd disapeared.

After that Ruth had had to make the tough decision to but her precious baby up for adoption, something he'd seen her cry about for hours, even after Martha was gone. And just when he thought she'd moved on she'd be in pain about it again, just by the mention of a single word or seeing a mother with their new baby, she'd remember it all again, and all he could do was watch and be a shoulder for her to cry on.

Watching her like that was one of the hardest things he'd had to do in his teenage years. Most things he'd been able to fix for her like any big brother would, if a guy at school was giving her a hard time, he'd bash them up, or if she was in trouble he'd find a way to get her out.

But this was something he'd been unable to fix, giving Brett a black eye or a broken leg wouldn't take away the fact that Martha was gone.

Narrowing his eyes Peter stormed up the hill to where Brett sat on a wooden seat under a large tree looking out to the ocean, his arms were stretched out along the top of the back rest and he seemed pretty peaceful which made Peter even more angry at the fact that the mand could be so relaxed and think that after twenty years he could just come back and have the perfect family he'd thrown away just with the click of a finger.

"Macklin" Pete called out.

"Oh if it isn't Ruth's body guard Mr Baker" Brett looked up at the sight of Peter coming towards him. "So what can I do for you then?"

"You can promise me that your not going to lay a finger on Roo again" Pete started, not seeming to impressed at all, "wait no, I wouldn't trust a single word that came out of your mouth" he chuckled slightly before grabbing Brett by the collar until he was standing up infront of him. Looking him dead in the eye Peter warned him, "If you hurt Ruth in any way shape of form, you'll have me to answere to, and I can promise you I'm not going to be happy at all" he finished before walking away to his car and driving off, he was really late now, but it was all worth it.

**------------------------------------------------**

"So" Cam started as he sat down in his office on an old lounge chair he'd moved in here for him to sleep on when ever he was working late after midnight.

"What did you want to talk about?" Martha asked, sitting down next to him, "is something wrong?"

Cam nodded, "it's my mum" he lied, he couldn't tell her the truth, she couldn't know what was really going on. "She's really sick".

"Oh I'm sorry"

"No, I'm sorry" Cam corrected her.

"Why? You don't have anything to be sorry about" she told him.

'If only she knew' Cam told himself, 'if only she knew'. "I have to go back to Perth, to look after her" he explained, "and... and I'm sorry but we an't keep seeing eachother".

Martha suddenly felt relieved, for a minute she was feeling that she shouldn't tell him now and that he'd need her suport, but now she wouldn't even need to explain her reasons for quitting and ending things with them.

"I don't want to leave you" he continued, "but I need to be there for my mum, and I can't just expect you to pack up and come with me, now while things are going to well for you with your parents.

Nodding Martha opened her mouth to speak, trying to find the right words, "I understand, she's your mum".

"Thankyou" Cam smiled, he'd thought about what he was going to tell her all morning, ever possible story crossing his mind. "So what did you want to talk about then?"

"Oh nothing much, just thinking of quitting dancing and stuff" she explained, "it just feels like the right time to stop".

"Fair enough" he nodded, "well I'm putting the club on the market first thing tomorrow so I guess it saves me from firing you" he commented.

Martha just laughed, she was happy now, coming here she'd thought he'd get angry, but this was definitely a much better way for them to part. "Well good luck, I hope things go well in Perth".

"Yeah, I hope things go well for you too" he smiled at her, it wasn't easy letting her go, but it was something that had to be done.

------------------------------------------------

Pete walked through the door of the station, just as Jack was putting a piece of paper on the notice board. "Glad I wasn't the only person late this morning" Jack spoke up when he noticed Peter strolling in the door.

"Yeah sorry i got held up" Peter explained.

"No need to appologise to me, I think you should be doing that to your girlfriend that's just gone home after a night shift hopping she'd get a cuddle from you before she left" Jack told him, stepping backwards and looking at the poster he'd just put up.

"Oh crap, I should probably go see her in my lunch break" he made a mental note. "So anything new this morning?"

"Yeah" Jack answered, pointing to the poster he was looking at, "this guy was eported missing last night in the city by his girlfriend, aparently he comes down this way a lot to catch up with some mates" he explained.

"Greg Sheldon" Pete read aloud as he skimed the information on the missing notice, "I've got a feeling I've seen him around town a few times".

**Author note: Yeap that's right guys, Greg Sheldon is the one Cindy killed. More will be up pretty soon but I won't be putting it up till I've got two or more reviews.**

Next time:

-Jack and Martha talk, (yeap that's right guys theirs finally going to be a Jack and Martha scene)

-Martha learns about how her parents met, and it's not exactly the story she'd imagined when she was a kid.

Coming Soon:

-Cam, Cindy and Crystal leave the bay for good, but will they get out of the country safely?


	27. Keeping distance

**Warning contains some sexual content (SC)**

_Chapter number 27. Keeping distance_

Strolling along the beach Jack took in a deep reath of the fresh air and the smell of the ocean. He loved coming down here, it always helpt him think about things properly, and boy did he need to think at the moment.

He couldn't seem to get the events of yesterday morning out of his head, he could remember everything so clearly, even though it seemed at the time that he had no control over what he was doing.

He remembered how she made him feel, every sound of want she made and every time he'd stoped and she'd made him forget about things all over again just by a single touch or word. Maybe he was affected by her still, maybe his dad was right, but how could he feel so strongly about wanting Sam back if he was? It was all so confusing in Jack's mind, none of it made sense.

Up ahead he spotted her sitting at the edge of the beach, looking out at the horison, her hair blowing behind her in the wind and her face with not a single strand of hair covering it was beautiful in his mind, she seemed so calm just sitting there.

He kept his eyes focused on her as he came closer and sat down next to her, not saying a word as she turned her face to look at him. "Hey" she smiled, she was thinking of seeing him today, they had to talk.

"Hey" he smiled back, sudenly looking at her a little more seriously. "Martha... about the other day-".

"Jack" she stopped him, sighing she looked back out to the ocean, gathering her thoughts, she couldn't look at him while she processed things, he had this way of making her melt just by looking at her, it was like his eyes had a way of hipmotising her, she could spend hours just stairing into them and completely losing herself. But she had to focus right now so looking back at him she tried her hardest not to look him in the eye, and within seconds she failed.

"Look I know things are probably still a little weird" he started.

"Just a little weird?"

"Ok so very weird" he corrected himself.

"We can't just keep ignoring it Jack" Martha started, she knew in her mind that she shouldn't be saying this, but her heart wanted him so badly. "It's still their isn't it?" she whispered, she didn't know what to feel, she was over-run by emotions, she wanted to reach out and touch him, she wanted to run away and hide, she just didn't know what to do.

"I don't know Martha" he spoke gently, just as emotional as she was, "I don't know what to thing" he repeated, stairing infront of him at nothing in particular. "It was only a few weeks ago that Sam was still here and things were all so easy, and now I really don't know what's even going on in my head" he explained.

Martha nodded, she'd forgotten about Sam, 'poor guy must really be confused' she thought to herself. "Maybe we should keep some distance for a little while" she suggested, trying her hardest to keep herself together.

She knew the only thing stopping them being together was Sam, gosh the girl was more anoying gone than she was when she had been in the bay, atleast while she was here it gave Martha a proper reason to stay away from Jack and not throw herself at him. Now it just seemed like he was holding onto a past that was never going to come back to him, Sam put her son first, she wouldn't be coming back to the bay, it would be to dangerous.

"Just so we can think things through properly" she added to explain where she was coming from.

"Yeah" Jack agreed, "I better go" he continued getting up, he knew he couldn't stay any longer, he'd start to cry if he did.

"Bye" Martha spoke before he walked away, she watched him till he was out of sight, keeping her eyes directy on him, hoping with every second that went past that he'd change his mind and come back to her, but he never did.

Picking herself up Martha walked aimlessly in the other direction till she reached the clifs, climbing up to the top she found a place to sit herself down away from the eyes of anyone else. Then letting herself fall apart she cried her heart out.

Just like Sam was never coming back to Jack, she knew Jack was never coming back to her.

------------------------------------------------

"Hey gorgeous" Peter smiled as he poked his head through Lara's bedroom door.

Lara rolled over, opening her eyes emediently at the sound of his voice, "hey" she sighed, still half asleep, but happy that he'd come, "Is it Lunch time already?"

"Mhm" he nodded, crawling into her bed to cuddle up to her, planting a few fresh kisses on her neck. "Sorry I didn't get to work intime to see you this morning".

"It's ok, I know you and Roo probably had a lot to catch up on" she answered, she knew Ruth bein here ment a lot to Peter, she'd seen photo's of the two of them when they were growing up in his parent's photo albums, and she had to say after seeing the amount of apperances she'd made in it, she only guessed that Roo was like the extra child they'd never had.

"Yeah we did. But right now, I believe we have a lot to catch up on" he smirked, berrying his head back into her neck and wrapping his arms around her. The last week at work had been pretty hectic, not a night had gone past when one of them hadn't been on night shift due to the shortage of staff.

"Pete it's your lunch break, we don't have time for sex right now" she told him moving over to un atatch his teeth from her neck and looking over at her alarm clock, "it's only twenty minutes till you have to be back at work. Remember what happened last time we decided to have sex when we had to be on our way to the station?" she reminded him, repositioning herself on her side so that she was facing him.

"We could so do it in twenty minutes" he spoke in a husky voice, moving in closer to re join his lips with hers. Tempting her he moved his hands under the covers, roming his fingertips across her body and down the back of her legs.

"Mmm" she mumbled under her breath, she could feel him taking over her again, it was a feeling she loved. Being with him was like a dream come true, most of her life she'd never found someone who she was happy to let into her life, but Peter wasn't like any of the other men she'd dated, he was different, no one could compare to how amazing he was and how beautiful he made her feel.

Separating her lips from her she gasped for air, muttering a few words under her breath that made Peter's smiled all the wider, "If your late I had nothing to do with it". And with that she threw herself at him, both of them giving into the temptation that they'd been without for the last week.

------------------------------------------------

It was another hour before Martha managed to pull herself together again, everytime she thought she'd stopped, she started again. But deep down she knew her mothers words last night were right, staying away from Jack and Cam was what she needed, she needed to find herself again, no matter how hard it was to resist the two men in her life.

Sighing Martha picked herself up, finding her balance on her feet and stumbling her way long slowly as she prepaired herself to be around other people, she needed to forget about Jack, how she was going to do that she didn't know, but she had to find a way.

"Hey princess" a voice called out as she reached the bottom and was back on the beach, looking around to where it came from Martha saw her dad.

"Hey" she smiled, maybe it wouldn't be that hard to stop thinking about Jack, "Do you wanta go grab something from the diner?"

"Yeah sounds great" Brett agreed, the two of them then walking along the beach and up to path at lead to the diner. "So are you alright, you seem a little quiet" he asked as the reached the grass away from the beach.

"Not really, haven't had the best day".

"You feel like talking about it?"

Martha thought for a second, "Not really" she came to the conclusion, "Anyway, lets talk about something else" she changed the subject from anyconversation that could lead to having Jack's name mentioned in it "Like... like how you and mum met" she started, "and please don't give me the two sentence answere I get from mum everytime I ask".

Her mum's short answere usualy consisted of a few diferent ways of telling the story, like 'oh well we went to boarding school together, liked what we saw and had sex' which usually was followed by her mum quickly trying to change the subject to stop her asking any more questions about it, she knew their had to be more to the story than that.

"You really want to know?" Brett questioned, not sure he should be telling his daughter who he'd only known for twenty four hours about how much of a jerk he'd been before she was born. But then again, knowing how angry Ruth had been at him up until a few years ago, he was pretty sure she'd probably used the word jerk, ass hole or tosser in those two sentences.

"I really want to know" she answered as they entered the diner.

"Alright, but you've got to remember we were both very young back then".

"Yeah I know" Martha nodded.

"Alright well..." he started as they sat down.

------------------------------------------------

Jack wondered his way back into the station, still with his head in the clouds, Martha's words still stuck in his mind 'we can't just keep ignoring it Jack. It's still their isn't it?'

She was right, it was still there, it had always been there. He loved Martha... but he loved Sam, was it really possible to be in love with two women?

------------------------------------------------

"Wow" Martha started amazed at how much scandal the beginning of her life had had in it, and she had to admit, after hearing what her mum had been through, sudenly her problems seemed so far behind her, almost like listening to someone lses life was some sort of distraction.

"You don't hate me?" Brett asked causiously.

"No of course not" Martha exclaimed, "why would I ever hate you? Yeah you made a few bad choices, but that's just life" she trailed off, suddenly realising that she sould be taking some of her own words for advice, smiling to herself she looked back up to her dad.

"You alright?"

"Yeah", she grinned, "Yeah I am". Jack, Cam and Ash, they were all just bad choices, and it was just life, if it wasn't them, it would be someone else. That's why she knew, right then that she was making the right choice, she had to let them go, it wasn't going to be easy, but right then at that second she felt on top of the world like a kid at christmas. She knew that she was strong enough to get over Jack, just knowing that she believed in herself made her happy.

------------------------------------------------

Cindy ziped up Crystal's suit case as she put the last of her daughters cloths in it, in some ways she was excited, she'd always wanted to go overseas, but the firthest she'd gone was Tasmania, which as much as it seemed like another country, it was still in Australia.

"I'm home" Cam's voice calld out from the door.

"It's about time what took you so long?" Cindy asked as she poked her head out of Crystal's room and spotted him down the hall way.

"Just some stuff, I'll tell you later" he explained.

Cindy nodded, taking the hint that Crystal wasn't supposed to over hear it, "so then, I've packed most of our clothes, now all we need to do is back anything else we need and decide where were going" she huffed.

"We haven't decided yet?" Crystal piped up, "Oh, can we please go to France".

"I don't know sweety" Cindy started, sounding doubtful.

"Actually that's not such a bad idea" Cam agreed.

"Yeah it's not a bad idea, but how are we going to aford to go to Europe?" Cindy asked, thinking logically.

"Well, once we sell this place and the club, we'll be able to aford to go just about anywhere" Cam shrugged, and he was right, they'd get a good price for this house, it was huge, and definitely not cheep, just like the club.

"Well I guess were going to France then" Cindy smiled, it would be a nice change for all of them she thought.

_**Please review**_

Next time:

-Cindy, Cam and Crystal say goodbye to the bay.

-Martha breaks down

-Things get steamy between Brett and Roo.


	28. Old feelings

_Chapter number 28. Old feelings_

A week later:

Martha drove her ute along the road as she made her way home from Yabbie Creek. The last week had been a lot easier than she expected, most of her time was spent ether at work or with her dad, they'd been growing pretty close as they got to know each other, it was the kind of bond she'd wanted with a father since her adoptive father had passed away along with her adoptive mother a few years back.

But there was something special about having a real dad that had a part of him in her DNA, it was like it was a part of her that had been missing all her life that she never knew about. Even the little things about him she'd notice, like how they'd both laugh at the same things when her mother would just roll her eyes, or how they both seemed to have the same eyes, they were things that they both shared that made them so alike, it was special.

There were moments where she thought of Jack, only few a few of them, along with wondering how Cam and his sick mother were and her dead unborn baby she wanted so badly. They were all still there in her mind, not always noticed by her, but they were still there hidden away, ready to be remembered and thought about.

Huffing as she pulled up in the carpark outside the diner Martha tossed her head back on the head rest of the seat. Her eyes roamed out the car window, on the far end of the beach she could see kids running around with what looked like their dad and other family members throwing a foot ball around near the shore, surfers were in the water, some in the shallow end just coming off a wave, some further out, paddling and watching for the right wave to take them all the way into shore.

Then their was a mother with her todler, helping him tip a bucket of sand upside down to build a sand castle. Near by a happy young couple sad enjoying the veiw, relaxing in each others company as were others around them.

Every one around was so happy, it made her want to run down their and join in with them, they were all so care free and layed back. Smiling as she spotten someone she knew down throwing a frisby to a friend, she got out of the car, it was one of the other guys at the bar. She walked along quickly watching as he continued to throw the flat circular object around the circle, it looked like fun and she wanted to join in.

As she came closer to the sandy path that lead down to the beach Martha paused for a second, noticing something that wasn't quite as pleasing as the rest of the beach. There in the grass near the fence that cut off the beach from the rest of Summer bay sat Jack with his tounge down another girls throught, but not just anyone's, no she knew this girl, she'd know that red curly hair anywhere.

Sam was back, and Martha could truthfully say she wasn't happy about it.

She stood rooted in the spot, not knowing what to do or how to react, she knew Jack would eventually find someone else, but she'd never really prepared herself to have it flaunted before her face like this, it was like her heart was being ripped out.

Turning around she ran in the oposite direction towards the dinner, sprinting up the side stairs and opening the door quickly, slambing it shut and sliding her back along the wall till she curled up in a little ball on the floor, crying in her pain.

------------------------------------------------

Crystal sat in silence on the back seat of her parents car, yet again they were moving, this time hopefully it would be a better change. This move had happened a lot quickler than any of the others, most of the time they's taken about a month to get the house sold and pack everything away, but this time they'd sold the house and the club in a matter of a week, it was all so fast.

The car came to a hault as they reached the edge of town. "So this is it" she could hear her dad sigh.

"Yeah I guess so" her mum nodded.

"So when are we going to get to France?" Crystal asked excitedly, poking her head into the front between Cindy and Cam's seats who both chuckled at their daughters amount of energy.

"In a few weeks sweet heart" Cam told her, "we'll be in the city for a little while ok?"

"Yeah I guess that's alright" she shrugged, leaning back and sitting properly back on her seat, it was going to be a long drive to the city yet.

------------------------------------------------

Later that evening:

Roo sat on the couch in Martha's appartment above the diner, Martha asleep on her lap, the poor girl was exhausted, it had been a tough afternoon of moping around feeling sorry for herself.

"Knock knock" a sound came from the door.

"Come in" Roo called out. "Hey I wasn't expecting you" she smiled when she saw Brett's head poke around the door before he stepped in.

"Yeah sorry I should of called, I can go if it's a bad time..." he trailed off seeming a little aquad.

"No it's fine" Roo assured him, seeming her usual bubbly self, "you can't run away that easily, I've hardly seen you since we got to town, come sit down" she encouraged him.

"Alright" he gave in walking around to the other side of the couch and sitting on the arm so he was next to her, "How have you been?"

"Yeah I've been alright, mostly catching up with dad and Pete" she answered.

"You and your dad getting along?" he aske raising an eyebrow.

"Surprisingly yes" she giggled.

Silence then came upon the room, both looking down at Martha who was still peacefully asleep, it was kind of peacefull just the three of them there, it was the first time since the first night they'd got to Summer bay that they'd all been together, most of the days Brett spent with Martha Roo was doing something else with ether her dad or Pete, and the way Pete seemed to have some sort of protection over Ruth made him feel like a third wheel, so he'd stayed clear of them.

"We did alright with her did we?" Brett whispered softly, both their eyes still fixated on their sleeping baby girl.

"Yeah we did" she sighed happily, "I can't believe she's all grown up".

"Mmm" Brett nodded, "it feels like just yesterday I was at the hospital with both of you".

They both looked up at eachother some kin of connection coming over them. Brett so desparately wanted to reach out and touch her, but he knew he couldn't, as much as he wanted to, and he knew deep down Ruth wanted it too.

"Um" Roo tried to tear her eyes away from him and change the subject, it was happening again; he was affecting her, just like he always did. He had a way of getting under her skin with just a look of want and desire, he didn't have to touch her and already she was falling for him over again. 'think Roo think' she told herself, trying to find anything to say, "Um, I, um. I should probably put this one to bed".

"I can help" Brett offered, standing up before reaching down and lifting Martha up and out of Roo's arms. He could sence her trying to get away from him again, she was flipping out as usual, they were getting to close for her comfort. Now he was starting to remember why they'd lived on oposite sides of the worl for so long.

"Thanks" She smiled orquadly, getting up she walked towards Martha's room and opened to door with Brett behind her, she tried to walk quickly ahead of him, knowing that he was trying to hold onto the moment they'd had before.

She lifted the covers and Brett placed Martha down gently before she tucked her in and stepped away as she watched Brett lean down and kiss their daughter on the cheek.

"Nu-nite Princess" he whispered, bringing a smile to Roo's face. She still remembered how he used to say that every night before Martha feel asleep at the hospital after she was born. It was one of the things she'd loved about him, he'd always been caring in that way, well most of the time. There were times when he'd been a typical careless seventeen year old boy that she'd still always remember.

But right now all she could see was the Brett who cared, he was growing on her, and though he wasn't even looking at her at that present second, she knew she was on the verge of letting him close again, but she had to stay in control.

Following Brett's lead she left the room behind him so they were back out to the small hall way next to the kitchen, the two of them face to face where the stood on silence until one foud something to say.

"Why don't you come back to the hotel room so we can talk without waking Martha up?" Brett suggested, trying to stay as cool and calm as possible.

Roo knew she shouldn't, but something deep inside of her was itching to get out of here with him and just forget about everything else and all the complications around them and all the memories that loomed in the back of her mind. Since she'd gotten back to Australia, there had been rare ocasions where to two of them had been alone; at the airport, on the way to Summerbay, and now. All the orquadness and lust had been building gradually over those few occasions, and now it was uncontrolable.

'No Ruth no' she could hear her concious tell her, it was the worst possible idea to think of; her and Bret alone in a hotel room.

But then she gave in, he had that irisistable smile she'd fallen for every time, he was pleading with her, and it was working. "Um, yeah sure why not" she grinned. Grabbing her hand bag and leaving out the door with him.


	29. Questions

_Chapter number 29. Questions_

In the middle of the city, Cindy and Cam sat on the couch of their hotel room on the fifteenth floor. The sun had gone down ages ago, but the city lights kept things that were as far as the next building clearly visible.

"Cam" Cindy spoke up, thaking even herself by surprise at the fact that the silence that had been kept for over an hour now had been broken.

"Yeah?"

"Do you ever wonder what would of happened it we'd played our cards differently" she asked, stairing aimlessly at nothing in particular. "I mean like it we'd never be in Sydney or if we'd gotten the cops involved as soon as Trent threatened you?"

"Only everyday" Cam answered, looking over at Cindy and wrapping one arm around her shoulders so that her head rested on his shoulder. "But you know what? It doesn't matter any more, were free now, we didn't have the easiest time getting here, but we've got through all of it now" he told her warmly, he had a good feeling about this trip, it was the trip to end all trips, this time they weren't going to work for Trent, they'd be normal parents, well as normal as they could be raising a child when they weren't even in love or married like most parents were that lived under the same roof, but even that would feel normal compaired to how they'd been living for the past five years. "Just think, in two weeks we'll be sitting on that plane to go to our new life".

"Yeah" she sighed, "I know it's over and all, but I keep thinking that somethings going to happen and that maybe it's not over" she explained, swallowing hard to try and keep her emotions contained, she didn't really know what she was exactly feeling, it was a mix of happyness, guilt, excitement, fear and uncertanty.

"It's over Cindy" he assured her, sqeazing her arm slightly, "Trust me, it's over".

------------------------------------------------

_Fifteen seconds earlier:_

In the next room of the hotel Crystal sat on her bed with her back against the wall reading a book that she'd been alowed to pack, if she could, she would of brought the whole library with her, but her dad had told her it wouldn't fit on the plane, so she'd settled for a suitcase full of them.

At the sudden sound of words coming from the lounge room, Crystal grabbed her book mark, putting it inbetween the two pages and closing the book, it was another one of her dad's crime books. She loved crime books, they always seemed to make her life look that little bit more close to normal.

Her parents thought she'd been asleep for the last hour, but she'd stayed up, just like she always did, she'd wait till they'd gone to bed before she then too fell asleep. It was the only way she could make sure she wasn't kept in the dark about the truth. Cindy and Cam had always hept her room right next to the lounge room where ever they moved, they liked to keep her close where they could keep and eye on her,. Their only mistake however was being nieve enough to think she didn't know what was going on, they always knew she was a bright girl, but in their minds they still thought they'd mnaged to keep the cotton wool tightly over her eyes.

"But you know what? It doesn't matter any more, were free now, we didn't have the easiest time getting here, but we've got through all of it now" her father's voice traveled through the wall. Suddenly questions started to fill Crystal's head, he was talking about them being free and starting a new life, she didn't get it, how were they free? Trent was watching practically their every move, she'd heard him threaten her dad before, more than once, they'd never be free while he was alive.

You see, as much as Crystal tried listened to every converstation she could that her parents had involving Trent, theer were converstations she hadn't heard, like Trent's death, and when they realised that the only people that were any harm to them was infact only Trent and Greg. Which in some ways was probably a good thing, if she'd know that her beloved father had actually killed someone it would of probably turned her whole world upside down.

_**Please review.**_

Next time:

-Uh Oh Ruth, don't play with fire, it'll hurt.


	30. Falling appart

_Chapter number 30. Falling apart_

Brett opened the door to his hotel room at the resort, letting Roo in and closing it again, there was an orquad silence between them, nether of them knew what to say, it was like it was eatting away at them. Feeling the need to make things a bit more comfortable, Roo searched her mind for something to say, "Nice place" she stuttered, imediently kicking herself inside for coming up with suck a stupid comment.

But to Brett just the sound of something other than the air passing his ears was a relief ."Yeah it is isn't it" he smiled, "Wine?"

"Yes please" she agreed, sitting herself down on the couch, maybe a few glasses would help them both lighten up a bit.

------------------------------------------------

Lara nussled herself into Peter's chest where they were both curled up together in the hamach on the balcany of Peter's flat. It was so peacefull, from where they were they could see out into the dark sky crowded with tiny shinning lights that twinkled and the full moon that had come out an hour ago. But nomatter how peaceful their suroundings seemed, Lara knew something wasn't quite right.

Pete hadn't been himself all afternoon, he'd been quiet and it seemed like his mind was off in another world. She didn't know what was going on with him, it wasn't just his strange behaviour that day, he'd been a little distant all week. Usually when she spoke to him she knew he was really listening to her, but the last week it was like she'd been talking to a brick wall, yes he'd nodd and say something every now and then, but she knew deep down that she wasn't what his mind was focusing on, there was something else, and so far she'd been completely clueless about what or who it might be.

Sighing Lara couldn't take to much more of this. She looked up at him, his eyes off into the nights sky and lost in space. He was right next to her, but yet he seemed so far away, she could feel him driffing away, she was losing him.

Looking down, Peter noticed how sad Lara looked, she was watching him, she was gloomy and anxious, her eyes were what made him worry, she was sad, she didn't need to tell him that, he just knew. He'd been neglecting her, but he couldn't help it, his mind was with someone else he was so worried about; Ruth. He knew as much as she denyed it that Brett had the power to draw her in and hurt her again. He couldn't bare not being able to do anything to stop her from making the same mistake again. Part of him wanted to believe that she'd resist the temptation when and if it arrived, but her knew it wasn't going to happen.

He reached on hand out to cup Lara's cheek, using his thumb to stroke her cheek bone, he wanted to tell her so many things, like why he'd been the way he'd been lately, that he still loved her and that he wanted to mke her feel better than she was right now, but he couldn't, as easy as speaking words seemed, he just couldn't do it.

Lara closed her eyes as she felt his fingers touching her face, it sent tingles down her spine and made her begin to relax slightly.

"Lara" Pete's voice finally spoke softly.

Imediently her eyes shot open, a wait had been lifted off her shoulders.

"I'm sorry" he managed to bring himself to say, it was the only way he could sum up exactly how he was feeling.

Lara nodded slightly, he didn't need to tell her what he ment, she already knew, they both did. "I love you" she whispered, hoping to get the response she needed to hear, she needed to hear him say it.

"I love you too" he answered, "I love you too".

Not another word was spoken, they lay in silence till they fell asleep out on the balcony. Neither of them knew what else to say. They were falling apart, a week ago they were closer than anything, but now things were changing, both of them trying to hold on without adressing the proplem.

------------------------------------------------

"Oh come on admit it, it was pretty funny" Roo laughed after taking a sip of wine and putting her glass back on the coffee table before putting her legs up over Brett's lap.

"Nope, can't say being drentched in beer was all that great" Brett answered, "but me daxing that losser afterwars was a sight worth seeing", in the eleventh grade at boarding school one of the nerds who had a crush on Roo took to pouring a whole bucket of beer on Brett infront of her, his name was Ruben. He'd spent the whole time Ruth was at boarding school trying to impress her, if another guy looked like they were trying to chat her up then he'd do something to them like sneak a cocroach into their lunch at the cafateria when they weren't looking, but Ruben's main rival was Brett, he was jealous of him, mainly because he had the girl he wanted, but also because everyone liked him, he was from a rich family, he could score any girl he wanted and he had looks that could turn a guy gay if he tried hitting on them.

"Yeah wish I'd seen that, the guy was obsessed, I don't think there was a single day at that school where he didn't try to approach me for any reason" she groaned.

"Yeap, can't say any of the girls wanted to be you when he was around" he commented, "but hey I've got a pretty good idea why the guy liked you so much" he added, suddenly seeming a little more serious.

Ruth suddenly felt uncomfortable again, what had happened back at Martha's appartment only two hours ago was happening again. But this time however Brett moved in for the kill. His eyes were fixed on her, not even looking once as he placed his glass on the table. One hand reached out to touch the side of her face, making her feel weak.

His lips brushed up against hers softly, making her lose control, suddenly she fell the need for more. Her arms flung around his neck, one hand pushing the back of his head towards her to get him closer.

He lowered her down on the couch, hovering over her where she then lay vonerably, one of his hands ran along the side of her body till he reached her thigh where he drew tiny circles gently along the back of her leg, making her moan with pleasure. He smirked to himself, happy with how he was making her feel. Being with her was something he'd wanted for a long time.

Bringing them both back up Brett lifted her off the couch, her legs wrapping arownd his waist. Breaking his lips away from her's he moved his mouth down to her neck, kissing her skind until her found just the right spot, skinking his teath in he waited till her heard her scream his name before stopping and bringing her lips back to his before he carried her away down the small ahllway of the hotle room.

_**Please review, it would be much appreciated.**_

**Next time:**

-Sam settles in.


	31. Regret

_Chapter number 31. Regret_

_The next morning:_

Roo opened her eyes slowly, taking in a deap breath of air before noticing her souroundings, she panicked with the realisation of where she really was, beside her lay Brett sound asleep. The sheets of the bed covered the lower part of his body so that his bare chest could been seen.

Kicking the covers away she got up, pacing a bit before finding her jeans, top and underwear that were scattered on the floor along with Brett's clothes. 'I'm such an idiot' Roo told herself, she'd let her gard down, and now she was paying for it, how come someone she'd swarn she'd never be with again could make her give in like that? It just wasn't fair. The last tweny years she'd convinced herself that if she was ever in a situation with Brett like that that she had the will power to leave him, and now tweny years of building that up had been waisted.

Dressing herself, she searched around for her bag, leaving Brett's room and making her way out to the lounge room where her hand bag was sitting on the table. Then taking it she rummaged around it until she found what she was looking for, her bottle of morning after pills. In some ways she'd seen this coming, maybe that's why she'd given in so easily, cause she'd planned what to do if it happened. Would she of resisted if she hadn't? When she'd first come back to Australia for her visit she'd snuck out to the chemist to get some pills, she knew there was still chemestry between her and Brett, and she could bare being a mother of yet another Macklin baby, not that she didn't love Martha, she really did, but she couldn't put herself in a situation where she was left with the bagage and Brett had the option of cutting ties with her and yet again leaving her to deal with things.

She walked quietly into the kitchen, finding a glass and filling it with water before putting the small pill in her mouth and swallowing it down with water. She tipped the rest of the water down the sink, leaving the glass on the bench.

No words could describe how stupid she felt right then, she felt stupid for giving in, she felt stupid for coming to the hotel room in the first place the night before, but most of all she felt stupid because she actually thought over the last few years that her and Brett could just be friends, well obviously she was wrong.

Nummly she made her way back down the short hallway to Brett's room, moving towards the bed and sitting on the edge. Brett was still asleep, his chest rising and falling slowly with each breath. She knew why she fell for him, he was a ladies man, good looks, charming, and knew exactly how to get a girl into bed.

"Brett" she spoke, her eyes fixed on his body. "Brett?" she tried again, this time louder. She got no answer, after all these years he still slept like a brick, a train could run throught the room and he wouldn't notice.

Standing up she took a pillow in her hand and through it at him, "gosh why do you get to sleep while I'm stressing?" she yelled, still not getting any response. Sighing, she turned towards the door, she had to get out of there.

Brett's eyes suddenly flickered, his arm reached out to the empty space next to him and then he realised she was gone again. He sat up quickly, looking around the room, and then he spotted her, he could see her through the door she was walking through the lounge room; leaving.

His heart sank as he watched her walk out of the hotel, not once looking back at him.

------------------------------------------------

"Morning beautiful" Jack smiled as he came into the kitchen to see Sam already up and making breakfast. When she'd gotten back yesterday, Jack had insisted that she and Rory stayed with him again, and she couldn't refuse.

"Morning you" she grinned as she felt two strong arms wrap around her and a light kiss being placed on her cheek. She'd missed so many little things like that when she was away, things that she'd started to take for granted when she thought that Shane wouldn't find her easily in Summer bay. But now she'd promised herself that she would appreciate the small things, everyday was a gift.

"How'd you sleep?" Jack asked, taking a coffee mug out of the cupboard and putting a teaspoon of coffee in it before pouring some of the jug of hotwater that was already out alon with some milk.

"Really well, it's so good to be back here with you" she sighed.

"I'm glad your back too" he whispered in her ear. He placed his cup of coffe back on the bench and moved his hands so thy were back on her waist, kissing her lightly on the head.

Sam closed her eyes, resting her head on Jack's chest, it was good to be home at last, she'd missed this place like crazy.

To be honest, when she left Summer bay she thought she'd never get the chance to come back, but it was all ok now, everything was as it should have been long ago. Shane was dead, she didn't really care how it happened, all that mattered was that he was and she'd seen his body herself to make sure the police were telling the truth.

"Promise me you won't take off like that again" Jack said. He knew she had nothing to run from now, but it was something he needed to say anyway.

"I promise".

------------------------------------------------

As Roo entered Martha's appartment she held her head in shame, making sure to keep quiet. When it was clear that the place was still as silent as she'd left it the night before she poked her head in Martha's room.

Roo sighed in relief when she found Martha still sleeping like a baby, the less people she had to explain last night to the better, right then all she wanted to do was forget it, so taking the oportunity she grabbed her towel and headed to the bathroom, maybe a long hot shower would clear her head.

_**Please review**_

_Next time:_

-Jack finally cracks

-Lara and Pete get a few things straight.


	32. Solomon

Hey guys sorry it's been so long since I last updated, I've been pretty busy, and unmotivated. But hopefully I'll get the chance to write more soon.

**Warning: May contain sexual references and/or course language.**

_Chapter number 32. Solomon_

Lara woke the next morning to find herself in Peter's arms, still in the hamock they'd fallen asleep in the previous night, she sighed as she looked up to find him already awake and watching her. "Morning sleepy head" he grinned at her.

"Morning". She was so happy right then, the distance between them in the last week had been torcher.

"How'd you sleep?" Pete asked, running the back of his fingers along her soft cheek and looking down at the woman who lay on his bare chest.

"Pretty good considering you were snoring half the night" she teased.

"Hey come on I don't really snore" Pete defended himself. "Anyway, we better get up and moving".

"But it's our day off" she winged.

"Exactly, no point spending it here doing nothing, what do you say we go for a picnic?" Pete suggested, it was a beautiful day for it.

"I'd say, it's the best thing you've said all morning".

Sam strolled her way into the diner dragging her feet one after the other, unable to remove the permanent smile plastered on her face, right now nothing could bring her down. She had the perfect man back in her life, he ex-husband was dead and her and Rory were finally safe.

She'd missed this place so much, there was something different about Summer bay that made her feel a peace with her past.

"Morning love" Irene smiled when she noticed a familiar face standing at the counter, "when did you get back?"

"Oh just yesterday" Sam told her, "I still can't believe I'm really here".

"Yeah well it's good to see you back around, I bet Jack's happy about that" Irene rambled on, not noticing Martha stumbling down the stairs listening to the whole thing. "I remember how cut up he was just after you left, poor guy couldn't seem to come to terms with the whole thing" she sighed, "not that you did have a good reason for taking off, we all know little Rory's safety was important".

"Yeah, but Shane's dead now so we won't be going anywhere any time soon" Sam explained.

"Well that's good to hear, just sad someone had to die for that to happen" .

"Yeah I guess so" Sam nodded, she hated it when people came up with lines like that in her mind Shane desurved to be dead, there was nothing sad about him dieing. But then again they didn't have the kind of hate for him that she did, they didn't have a son to watch out for the way she had.

"Anyway, don't mind my rambling, what can i get for you dear?"

"Um just some bread rolls thanks".

Martha sighed before stepping out from the stair case that lead from her apartment to the kitchen of the diner, she'd waited till Sam had gone before doing so, she couldn't even bare the thought of being in the same room as the woman at the moment. After the conversation she'd just hear Irene having with Sam she needed air all of a sudden, it was like just hearing about ack being happy with another woman at the moment was to much to take.

Quickly she made her way past Irene and out the door before anyone could stop her to say hi. All she needed right now was a good walk up the beach.

Brett finally managed to lift himself out of bed. It had been an hour since she left him lying there, but it felt like forever.

He'd wished he'd gone after her when he'd woken up, tried to talk her round, but he couldn't force her to stay, it was her choice to leave, and that's what she'd done. His mind was numb, things were going around his head like circles, nothing made sense right then. He didn't understand how someone he loved and cared about so much could use him for casual sex and then just leave. He was sure he'd heard her cry as she left out the door, but now he didn't know if that crying was reality or what he wanted to hear, he wanted to hear that she hadn't wanted to leave, that he ment more to her than just a hook up buddy.

Still half in another world, Brett looked into the mirror as he walked into the bathroom, and all that looked back at him was a lonely man.

"How did you amnage to get yourself into this mess mate" Jack sighed, taking yet another step up the hill as he made his way thought the long grass, "Two women, I mean is it really posible to be really in love with more than one person" he continued out loud to himself as he made his way along.

"Or is there no such thing as love, I mean Solomon had sevenhundred wives and he was a happy king, I mean maybe he figured it out, God made him the wisest man on earth, so maybe he was smart enough to realise that Love was a cleshe that ment 'marry me and have sex'" he shrugged as he came to his destination on the top of the cliffs that looked out over the ocean.

"Then really that would mean that really I don't love Sam, and I don't love Martha" He came to the conclusion, but he knew they were only words.

"Or maybe, he did love all seven hundred of his wives". Taking a seat on a rock Jack took in a breath of the salty air. He was slowly sending himself insane, and talking to himself sudenly seemed so natural, almost like he was the only person on earth and he was his only company.

"I mean that would explain why so many people have affairs, cause they love more than one person and can't make up their bloody minds!" he yelled, throwing a shell as hard as he could over the edge and straight into the water.

"Mate what are you talking about it's not like you can make up your mind either, I meen you might as well be having an affair" Jack sighed, like he hadn't even yelled at himself two seconds earlier. "I mean, what's the point ofloving two people and only ever thinking about it?" But now Jack really had confused himself, he might as well have been drunk cause he was sure acting like it.

_An hour later:_

Jack downed the last few mouthfulls of beer left in the last bottle of the stuff a random drunk had with him when he'd come across Jack on top of the cliffs. Wife troubles; that's all the guy had told him before offering him a beer and making himself comfortable next to Jack.

"So" Jack finally spoke once he'd carelessly tossed the glass bottle aside with a few others. "What'd your wife say you did?"

"Everything" the guy chuckeled, he was well and truly pissed. "Aparently I'm posessive".

"She nagging a lot?" Jack nodded along.

"Yeah, when she's around and when she's not doing one of her run aways. You seen he round?"

"What's she she look like".

"Well... she's..." the guy puzzled, before shrugging it off, "Who gives a stuff".

"That memorable hey?" Jack laughed.

"Yeah chicks mate, who really guets anything about them" the guy commented before picking himself up, looking at all the empty battles of beer and making his way back to where ever he cmae from.

Net time:

-Jack's drunk, who does he come across that's just a tad worried about him?

-How does Peter and Lara's picknic go?

Please review.


	33. Pink Elephants

**Warning: may contain some sexula references.**

_Chapter number 33. Pink Elephants_

Jack stumbled his way along back towards civilisation, down the hill and back onto a concrete path, he felt so light and dissy, and the world circled around in the sky, yeap this was the life, no thoughts, no momories, just Jack and everything as far as they eye could see and imagine, he was ontop of the world, and nobody, not even mother nature it's self, could bring him down from where he was right then.

"Rory, come on" Sam yelled from in the kitchen as she grabbed her bag ready to leave, "Rory if you don't hurry up we'll never make it down to the school before lunch".

"Yeah mum I'm coming" Rory groaned, (the old rory, not the new one). "Anyway what's the rush to get re-enrolled anyway, we've only been here for a day" he winged as he come into the lounge room, "besides if we do that it'll be one step closer to us moving again".

"Rory, I already told you, we're not going anywhere this time" Sam re asured her son, sitting down so that she was down to his level. "We're here for good" she smiled.

"Yeah but how do you know that for sure, I mean since when have we ever been able to stay anywhere for long?"

"This time it's different sweety, you just have to trust me ok?" she told him, getting back up and grabbing his hand.

"Ok" Rory nodded, still not completely convinved, but if staying in summer bay ment living with Jack, he was prepaired to try and believe what his mum had just said.

"How about here?" Pete suggested as they came to a spot next to a river under some trees.

"Perfect" Lara smiled, it was such a beautiful day today, and unlike the majority of Summer bay's residents, she was extremely happy today.

Taking the blanket that was folded in her arms Lara placed it on the ground and spread it out before Pete placed the picknic basket on it.

"So chef what's on the menu today?" Lara asked cheekily.

By the time Brett finally got the courage to leave the hotel room it was one in the afternoon. He didn't quite know what happened to all the hours that had gone past, all that had been in his mind was the same questions. 'Did she really want last night to hppen?' 'Was she after meaningless sex?' He didn't really know the answer to any of these questions, he wish he did.

He now found himself climbing up the stairs beside the diner to the side door of his daughter's apartment, he didn't know what he was going to say yet, if he was going to cry or wheather anyone else was home, but he had to do this, if not to settle things then to give him some of his sanity back.

He only hoped that Peter wasn't there with her, he could only imagine how fast the guy would bash him into the wall. By now Roo had probably already told the guy about last night and made him out to be the same guy he was when they were teenagers, surely she wouldn't of left it she didn't thinkg that.

Nock, nock. He waited for an answer, "Hello?" Brett called out, "Roo?"

Still no answer.

"Come on Roo, if your in there could we please talk".

A creaking noise could be heard and the door opend slightly, Ruth standing there in fromt of him. "What do you want Brett" she asked, tears running down her face, which only lead to him starting to cry again.

"I want to talk" he told her, "I want to know what's going on between us".

Nodding slightly she let him in.

"I'm stuffed" Lara sighed, flopping over so she was rested on Pete's stomatch.

"But we haven't even had desert yet".

Lara didn't answer, she just closed her eyes and enjoyed the peace that was between them, she was in her mind the luckiest woman alive.

"Lara" Pete whispered.

Looking up slowly, Lara opened her eyes, "Yes?"

"You know I love you right?"

"Of course I do" she smiled, "And I love you too".

Jack sat on a park bench at the bottom of the hill that lead up to the cliffs, it was a quiet spot with nobody around, perfect for Jack, right then he was too drunk to really regester if anyone was around.

"One pink elephant balancing, step by step on a piece of string" he sang out lound, it was a song he'd learned back when he was in pre-school. "And oh he thought it was such a wonderful thing so he called for another, ele-ph-ant". Thw whole world was a blurr, infact, he didn't quite know if he was still on earth anymore, he fell as light as a feather, everything continued to fade away.

"Two pink elephants balancing, step by step on a piece of string, and oh he thought it was such a wonderful thing so he called for another, ele-ph-ant!"

"Why did you leave this morning Roo?" Brett begged to know the answer, "I thought last night ment something".

Silently, Roo sat down, not looking back at Brett, she couldn't believe he was turning this on her.

"Say something... please".

It was a few seconds before Roo got the right words together to say, to be honest she really didn't want to say anything to him, but she knew she had to. "When I woke up this morning Brett, and I found you next to me... I- I panicked, and all I could think about was that day we both got hammered and ended up in the back seat of your car".

"Roo-".

"No Brett, let me talk" she persisted as he took a seat next to her. "I know that you've changed, I really do know that so please don't tell me it again. But I can't let myself go back there, regardless of if you've changed or not".

Brett again when to say something, but Roo stopped him.

"I can't go back there, not for you, not for anyone".

With that Brett stood back up, placed a kiss on the top of Ruth's head and walked out.

"Eleven pink elephant's balancing, step by step on a piece of string, and oh he thought it was such a wonderful thing so he called for another, ele-ph-ant!"

"Ring, Ring"

"Hello Peter baker speaking" Pete answered his mobile. He ran his fingers throught Lara's hair who was asleep on his chest. She was so beautiful laying there, well he thought so anyway.

"But boss it's my day off and-" Pete protested, the McGarph was presuring him to crack a major case at the moment and now they'd supposedly had new evidence. "Can't you get someone rostered on to check it out?... Yeah I know things are tight, but".

"Alright, alraight I'll be there" he groaned, hanging up before even saying goodbye.

Looking down ar Lara he kissed her on the cheek o wake her up, "Sorry did I fall asleep?"

"Yeah... your going to hate me".

"huh?"

"The boss called"

Sitting up Lara rolled her eyes, he'd already said enough for her to get the idea, she really couldn't wait till jolly old McGraph retired, he was really starting to get on her nerves.

"Twenty-nine pink elephant's balancing, step by step on a piece of string, and oh they thought it was such a wonderful thing so they called for another, ele-ph-ant!"

"Alright I want you to send back those files to the city, If Greg Sheldon had been around here we would of found him already, and then I want somebody to check out the complaints on the main street" McGraph finished telling a junior constable before walking into his office and closing the door before anyone else could bother him. His office, for the past few weeks had been a place where nobody except him and a few other officers had been alowed, they were working on a big case, so big that the majority of the station wasn't to know about it.

Summer bay was in trouble, and they didn't even know what from just yet.

"Fouty-five pink elephant's balancing, step by step on a piece of string and oh they thought it was such a wonderful thing so they called for another, ele-ph-ant!"

Lara walked passed the diner and further along to where not many people usually when. After Pete got called back to work she'd decided she needed a walk by herself.

About a minute went passed until she hear a voice in the distance that she recognised, "Fourty-eight pink elephant's balancing, step by step on a piece of string" the voice sang.

She couldn't help but laugh, she hadn't heard that song since she was in preschool.

"And oh they thought it was such a wonderful thing so they called for another, ele-phant!"

By now Lara could hear the voice more clearly, they sounded as if they were almost losing the plot, or drunk, or maybe ever both.

"Fourty-nine pink elephants balancing, step by step on a piece of string, and oh he thought it was such a wonderful thing so he called for another, ele-ph-ant!"

"Jack?" Lara called out, it sounded so muh like him, well she thought it did anyway, maybe a bit more unstable than he usually did, but none or the less, it sounded like him.

Still no answer.

"Fifty pink elephant balancing, step by step on a piece of string".

"Jack" Lara gasped then she layed her eyes on a park bench with Jack lying down on the top of it singing as loud as he posibly could, running over to him she stood on the seat so that her shadow blocked the sun out of his face.

"Hey!" he pouted, "you blocked the elephants out of the sky!"

"Oh Jack, what on earth has the world done to you" she sighed, reaching over to help him sit up properly, she knew Jack was having a tought time, but she never thought he'd lose all his sanity over it.

_Next time:_

-Pete becomes worried about a seriously confused Ruth

-Tony and Alf begin to worry aboutJack, Martha and Roo.

-What's McGraph working on?

**Note: I'll be going away camping tomorrow (October 4) till the 14th of october so there won't be any updates till then.**

_**Please review.**_


	34. I miss you

**Warning, may contain some course language and/or sexual references.**

**Note:**

**-The hospital attacks have happened even thought this fic is set a few months back.**

**-Beth isn't dead, she's not in this chapter but I thought I should mention it now that i think of it.**

**-Frank was the guy Roo almost married, but ran out on cause she couldn't keep lying about Martha not being his baby.**

_Chapter number 34. Missing you_

"You wanted to see me?" Peter asked bluntly as he entered McGraph's office giving him a fright that woke him from his dozing.

"Baker, it's about time" McGraph yawned, sitting up properly in his seat and beginning to sort throught some papers on his desk in front of him. "Now your probably wondering what on earth I was blabering on about on the phone".

"Yeah just a bit" Pete laughted sarcastically.

McGraph chose to ignore the senior detective's mood, he was pretty sure once he knew what had just come up he'd show a bit more interest. "Five missing people Peter, five" he started.

"People go missing all the time, what's this got to do with our case?" Peter shot out, still not catching on to where the boss was leading him with this one.

"What makes you think we have a case yet?" McGraph shrugged, "all we know is that there's to much going on in summer bay at the moment for it to all be coincidence".

"Good point" he nodded, not that it wasn't something he already knew.

"Here's the most recent photo's of the people" McGraph spoke sternly, handing Peter a file over the desk. "Each of them were supposed to be meeting friends last night at the re-opening of the rocket club".

"Re-opening?"

"Yeah Cam had a quick sale" the elderly man noted before continuing.

"Three cases of bashing in the hospital car park, two car fires, two dead unidentified bodies found in the bush, a bomb threat in a restrant in town, five people missing and fifteen different houses complaining of hearing footsteps more than once a week around there houses for the last mounth" McGaph aised his voice, "The media's going to have a field day if they get their hands on the half of this stuff they haven't already".

And he was right, so far the onlythings that the newspaper had managed to get their hands on was the hospital attacks, one of the car fires and the bomb threat. The rest, thank goodness had been managed under wraps, normally the police handed this kind of information over to the newspapers, but this was different, if it got out people would panick, and that was the last thing they needed. Most of it was stuff they usualy found from time to time, but two inidentified bodies randomly in the bush, that was something that didn't happen every day, which was something that made this whole situation all so weird.

"What I want to know" Peter started as he looked throught each photo, "is why who ever this prankster is left the same mark at each crime scene" he sighed in confusement. "I mean it's like this guy wants us to track him down... but why?"

"That's what I'm worried about".

By the time Lara managed to get Jack into her car and back to his place nobody was home, thankfully. She got him inside, practically carrying him and sat him down on the couch.

"You know what I love about the elephant's most" Jack rambled, how he managed to still be consious when he could hardly walk more than two steps without falling over, she was clueless, but as usual Jack holden was full of surprised.

"What?" Lara played along, she'd never let him live his sudden obsesion with elephants down, not while they still worked in the same station.

"There pink" he grinned, "Mum always told me they didn't exist, said they were only ever grey" he slurred slightly.

"How about i get you some water" Lara changed the subject, try to resist the urge to laugh.

"The first Elephant's name was freddy" Jack exclaimed, completely ignoring her question. "He liked cricket".

"I'll take that as a yes to the water" she rolled her eyes.

"Then there was Gorgia, just between you and me, i think she had a cruch on Freddy" he chuckle in a childish voice.

Lara stepped into the kitchen finding the cupboard with the glasses and filling it up with water as jack rambled on about god only knows what. "Come on drink this" she ordered, shoving the glass into his hand.

"Aww, is Lara having a bad day? She's little miss grumpy now" Jack cooed.

"Oh dear" Lara muttered under her breath, some how she figured this was going to be a long afternoon.

Jack sipped from the glass, holding it with two hands like a child who was used to drinking from a sippy cup. When he was done Lara took the glass imediently, putting it on the table and grabbing his arms. "Come on, you need a cold shower" she told him, pushing him down the hall way towards the bathroom.

"But-"

"No but's Jack" Lara shot out.

"Yes mum" Jack giggled as she finally managed to ger him into the bathroom. He imediently took of his shirt and hopped into the shower, thankfully he didn't take off his board shorts.

Reaching into the shower Lara placed her hand on the cold tap.

"See I knew you had a thing for me" Jack smiled, not knowing what on earth he was saying, "not that ther would be any girl that wouldn't want to hop into the shower with Jack holden".

"What ever Jack" she mumbled as she turned on the cold water , getting a scream from Jack.

"Ahhh. That's cold" he winged.

"To bad, you brought it on yourself" Lara told him, closing the shower curtain and sighing to herself, she just hoped Tony or someone would get home soon, she didn't know what was wrong with Jack, but what ever it was it must have been pretty big for Jack to go and get himself plastered.

"No fingerprints?" Peter asked one of the senior constables who had just handed him new evidence on yet another fire, this time in somebody's house.

"Nope, except for the people who live there" he replied.

"Ok I want a background check on them then" Pete told him.

"But sir-"

"No but's just do it, I don't care if they live there, just do it" Pete fired back at him, he was really tired of people questioning his methods of covering all grounds.

"But there not a suspect".

"Yeah and incase you haven't noticed" Pete pointed out, "we don't have any suspects at all yet".

Giving in the constable did as he was told and left Peter's office.

"Another bloody fire" Pete muttered to himself, he wouldn't be quite this frustrated if he actually had any idea who he was looking for to pin this all on.

Taking in a deep breath, he looked down at the photo that was sitting on his desk, this was from one of the car fires, a five pointed star spray painted toone of the wheels, the same mark that had been left at every single crime scene that didn't add up in the bay, including that day's house fire.

Martha walked along the streets of Yabbie creek, not knowing where her feet were taking her, they had a mind of there own and Martha was to proccupied to question if they were getting her lost or not.

Suddenly coming to a halt she realised where she was, she was outside Cam's old house, and even thought she tried to take her eyes off it and keep walking, she couldn't. It had only been a few days, but she wished he'd never left.

Looking in the drive way she noticed that Cam's car still sat in it's usual place, taking Martha completely by surprise. "What on earth" she gasped, not knowing what to think.

A smile came to her face, her feet ran along the path to the front door which just so happened to be wide open. "Cam?" she called out taking a step into the front room of the house, "Cam?"

"If this is about the contract's, I fou-" Cam paused as he came out of the hallway and saw Martha standing there, "Martha".

"I thought you left" Martha smiled, moving closer, she didn't really care why he was back, she doubted he was staying since word had spread that the rocket club had been sold within two hours of being on the market.

"Yeah, I just came to do a few things so the house could go on the market" he explained.

Martha nodded, locking her eyes with his. "I've missed you" she whispered.

"I've missed you too" he spoke honestly, taking her small body in her arms. They stayed like that for a few minutes, neither of them said a word.

Martha didn't know what had come over her, she knew why she'd decided to leave Cam, but in a way she wished she could still be with him, back befire things had gotten messy, back before she slept with Jack...

But she knew why she couldn't go back, she couldn't go back cause she couldn't change the fact that yes in fact her and Jack had had sex and now he was with his ex who seemed to have a way of unintentionally rubbing the fact that she had Jack, right in Martha's face. 'God life's so complicated' Martha sighed to herself.

Taking a step backards, Martha let herself fall out of Cam's arms, "I should probably go before things get messy" she spoke quietly.

Noddling with regret, Cam placed a small kiss on her forehead. "I'm not going to forget you".

"I'm not going to forget you either".

Roo had only been left alone in the flat above the dinner for two hours since Brett left, but it felt a lot longer. Tears were still streaming down her eyes, she didn't care that her mascara and eyeliner were going with them.

"Just dropping off some fish" Alf spoke up as he came straight throught the door with his bucket of fish that he'd cought.

Roo looked round with a fright to find her dad standing there.

"Love what's wrong?" Alf panicked, the last time he'd seen her in a state like this was after she'd run out of her own wedding to Frank.

Ruth didn't say a word, she just welcomed her dad's open arms when he rushed to put down his bucket and sit with her, holding her tight like when she was a little girl. "shh" he hushed her, "shh, it's alright love, it's going to be ok".

"Gosh, I hope his head kills him when he wakes up" Lara growned as she plonked herself down on the lounge chair at the Holden/hunter house. And hour, ah whole bloody hour of Jack vomitting, that's how long it had taken, thank goodness he was asleep now.

Looking around Lara reached for a magazine on the coffee table, she wasn't going to leave Jack here on his own, not after the way he was today, nodoubt he'd wake up and be more miserable than he was before he got himself so drunk.

All of a sudden the sound of jangling keys could be heard from outside the front door and Tony apeared. "Hey Lara, what are you doing here?"

"Jack got himself plastered, I found him" she explained.

"Great just what I need", Tony groaned. "Where is he?"

"He's asleep, thank goodness, he was in the mind space of a crazy three-year-old".

"Sorry you ened up dealing with it" Tony apologised.

"It's fine" Lara assured him, putting down the magazine in her hands, "I'll have plenty of embarising stories to tell now" she laughed.

Tony laughed with her, "So what did he do this time then?"

"He sang" she sighed, "about pink elephants".

Tony's eyebrows raised in curiosity.

"Don't ask" she giggled, before turning more serious, "I don't see what made him do this thought, I mean I thought he was happy that Sam was back in town".

"Yeah me too, look I'll take care of Jack, you've probably got better things to do than be here" Tony told her, "I'll just give Martha a ring and see if she can cover for me".

"It's alright, you go to work, I can stay longer" she offered, "I've honestly got nothing better to do with my day".

"You sure?"

"Yes, now go" she laughed.

"Alright, thank you, you just make yourself at home then" he thanked her before going back out the door, grabbing his phone which he'd come back for on the way out.

_Next time:_

-lol Jack, hangovers are fun! Not.

-Pete takes on Brett, and he's not happy.

-Another summer bay crime.


	35. Wrong story

Ok since it's been so long since I've updated, and cause the last five or so chapters have been all about the same day, I've written up a short summary of the last few chapters just to remind anyone who's forgotten most of it:

-Sam's back.

-Roo slept with Brett after drinking a lot and then woke up the next morning, not to happy with herself.

-Brett tried to talk Roo round but failed.

-Jack got himself drunk ith some random guy who brought some beer along with him on the cliffs at the beach. Lara found him at the bottom of the cliff latern singing about elephants.

-Cam came back to put the house on the market, Martha was happy to see him, he's going back to the city again.

-McGraph and Peter have a big case they are keeping underwraps, a series of crimes have occurred that they are trying to find links between.

**Warning, may contain some course language.**

_Chapter number 35. Wrong story_

God he couldn't believe it, he was going to kill the bloody bastered. He couldn't believe someone as smart as Brett Macklin was stupid enough to ignore his warnings.

Peter was furious. His best friend was in tears, and there was absolutely nothing he could do about it, he was right to be worried about her, she'd fell for the bastered again, despite how much she'd denied it since she got back to the bay.

He walked along the path away from the dinner where he'd spent the last hour with Roo in the appartment, she didn't say much, she just cried, occasionally telling him how much of an idiot she was and how she couldn't understand how she'd let her guard down.

One thing was for sure, if he came across the guy he wouldn't be responsible for his actions.

The next day:

Stirring, Jack opened his eyes with a heavy groan and the sound of his own head thumping. He lay flat on his back, stairing into the celling and using one hand to rub his sore head. "How much did I drink?" Jack mumbled to himself, yesterday was a blurr.

Taking minutes to think about it, Jack tried to piece the previous day together, cliff... beer...

He still didn't remember much else.

Rolling to one side with a sigh, he noticed the time; Eight thirty. Gosh, where's Sam? He thought, surely she hadn't been to bed and up again without him even noticing, come to think of he didn't think he'd even seen her at all since yesterday morning, unless of course it was part of the enormous blurr he was trying to figure out.

"Beer" Jack thought out loud, "... Elephants... huh?"

"Oh god no... Lara, Elephants" Jack came to the relisation, "I'm never going to live this one down" he groaned to himself.

"Morning sunshine" Tony cooed in a cheerful voice as he entered Jack's room.

"Morning" Jack huffed, "Where's Sam?" he asked as his dad handed him a glass of water and some panadol, "Thanks".

"She came in late last night while Rory was vomitting, she stayed in his room to keep an eye on him" he explained.

"Poor kid".

"Yeah but he's not the only one who's going to be vomitting up his guts this morning" Tony pointed out, sitting on the side of Jack's bed. "Jack, what made you get that hammered?"

Jack sighed, he wasn't really up for the set of twenty questions he was about to get, the onlything he could think about right then was when the stupid panadol he'd just swallowed would stop his head from feeling like it was about to explode.

"Come one, you can't just give me nothing and pretend nothing's wrong Jack".

"Dad can we talk later?" Jack shrugged him off.

Giving in Tony agreed, "Alright, but don't think this conversation isn't going to happen" he warned him, "Now I haven't told Sam about you getting yourself drunk, I didn't think it was what she needed with only bein here for five minutes, so it might be a good idea if you waited till she left to take Rory to the doctors in an hour till you came out looking like you've been hit by a truck" Tony told him before leaving.

"Whatever" he mumbled, Sam had been back in town for a day and already he was keeping things from her, 'this is just perfect' he rolled his eyes.

"Oy, Macklin" Peter yelled, stopping Brett in his tracks not far from the diner.

"Baker" Brett acnoledge Peter's presence, turning around to look at the very unimpressed detective Baker who was moving rapidly towards him, 'oh great just what I need' he gummbled to himself, "what can I do for you?"

"You can start by telling me what the hell you were thinking" Peter death staired him, grabbing him by the collar, "I warned you".

"Yeah you warned me not to hurt her" Brett snapped, "and I didn't hurt her mate, she walked out on me, not the other way around"

"I'm not your mate" he muttered before letting Brett go and walking away.

Straightening up his jacket Brett took one look at Peter who was going as fast as he'd come, "what crawled up his ass" he mummbled before going off the other way.

_Please review._

_I know I said that there would be another summer bay crime in this chapter but this one was taking so long to write that I decided to leave it out till later, it might be in the next chapter or two, maybe three, sorry._

_Next time:_

-Haven't decide yet.


	36. The end of the road

_Chapter number 36.The end of the road_

_The next day:_

Cindy made her way as swiftly as she could down the city streets of Sydney, keeping as low of profile as possible.

Cam would wonder where she was soon, that's why she had to be quick. Turning into a dark ally way she moved quickly into the shadows to keep out of veiw as she moved further along to the end of the long abandoned street.

"You took your time" a voice spoke from behind her, stepping out where the talk figure could come into view.

"I got held up" she simply explained, she didn't need to answer to him, after all she was the one with the upper hand in the situation, not that she let to many people know that. "Anyway, lets just get to the point".

"And that is?"

"Our dealings are over, no one's to know about this, we've worked to hard to cover everything up" she told him, taking a seat on an old abandoned chair, which the man then did also. "I've put your money in the acount you told me, it's all there".

"I know, I checked" he said bluntly.

"Just out of curiosity, why pull out now?" he changed the subject, studying her face with question, she'd worked so hard to fool Cam, had she given up? Had he found out?

"I've got what I wanted, and have had for a few years now, I just needed to wait for the right curcumstances to end this all" she explained, turning to face him, he had dark hair and stood about six-foot-two, his eyes were peircing blue and his voice was the voice of an Italian.

"Does Cam know?"

"No" she simply said, "And he never will, he'll never know I set him up with Trent, and he'll never know you were involved".

Sitting in arquad silence they looked at eachother, not knowing how to say good-bye, they'd grown closer working together over the years, and now it was all ending.

Leaning into her he capture her lips with his, cupping her face with one hand. Cindy's eyelids fell shut, if she could she would of held onto that moment forever, but reality came back when he pulled away from her.

"I know I said I'd never tell you, but my name's Ian" he whispered, receiving a small smile from her.

Then she stood up without another word and walked away, her shoes tapping on the ground with every step until the noise was so dim that he could no longer hear her.

_Next time:_

-Find out why Cindy set up Cam.

-Someone gets attacked, but who?

_**Please review.**_


	37. Giving into fate

**Warning: May contain some violence.**

_Chapter number 37. Giving into fate_

Cindy paced along the footpath throught the crowds, her mind was in so many places.

Ian? She'd never of picked that as his name, then again up until then she didn't really know what she'd pick to be his name. And now he was no longer going to be a part of her life, did she really want that? No she didn't.

All her hard work still hadn't gotten her what she wanted. Originally she wanted to make sure that Cam would be there for her and Crystal, to support them both, that's why she started all this, by getting Trent to threated Crystal's welbeing and make Cam think that he'd actually do something if he didn't do what he wanted, and it had worked, but now she still wanted more.

Ian had something so enchanting about him, he had a way of drawing her in and making her want more; and she certainly wanted more. But she couldn't, she knew this is what she'd chosen the day she hired Ian, she had to stick to her plans, she would move to France and her, Cam and Crystal would all be happy, it had to be that simple right?

In what seemed like worlds away, Martha stumbled along the far end of the beach, nothing was on her mind, and she didn't seem to be going anywhere in particular. She'd been in this same state of mind the whole morning, it was peaceful, she didn't say anything, she didn't think anything, her mind was clear, and it was a nice change.

Breaking this state of mind her body colided with someone, she crashed to the ground, feeling trapped by... Jack?

She recognised him straght away, he was breathing heavily, he'd obviously been on his morning run. "Sorry" he appologised, pulling himself up on his elbows so that his weight was no longer on her, he just hovered above her.

Martha didn't say anything, she just nodded as their eyes locked.

It had been so long since they'd been like this, both knew they should get up and walk away, but they didn't.

Jack smiled slightly, studying her calm face. For some reason he felt the need to touch her, he missed her so badly, so without thinking, he kissed her.

Walking along Sam sighed as she fiddled with her car keys and attempted to unlock the car, she'd just finished seeing patients for the morning and she was definitely looking forward to getting home and relaxing.

She could hear footsteps from behind her, they were creeping lightly, then turning around she came face to face with a body dressed from head to toe. "Don't hurt me please" Sam pleaded, her back right up against her car.

The guy ignored her cries, grabbing her he brought her to the ground and attempted to cover her mouth before she could scream.

Next time:

-Will Sam be saved?

-Jack and Martha, on or off?

_**Please review**_


	38. In broad daylight

**Warning: May contain some course language.**

_Chapter number 38.In broad daylight_

Martha couldn't help herself, there she was lying on her back in the sand and with Jack's toungue down her throught, she couldn't imagine anything more perfect, well actually she could; all of which, involved Jack in some way or another.

Kissing him back she let out a small moan, she couldn't stop it, right then she was on top of the world, he made her feel so alive, more alive than she'd felt in days.

Lowering his body down on top of her Jack ran his hand down her side until it rested on her thigh, running his fingertips in tiny circles.

Responding to his touch Martha moved her hands down the length of Jack's back, fiddling with the hem of his shirt before running her hands under the material and roaming her hands around the soft skin of the small of his back.

Breaking the kiss, Jack kept his face within inches of hers, panting heavily. It was amazing after so much time apart, she could still affect him like this. Rolling them over, he held Martha on top of him, fiddling with a stray piece of hair.

"I've missed you" she whispered, moving her head so it rested on his shoulder.

"I've missed you too" he smiled, fir the first time in a long time he was truly happy.

Rushing into the hospital, Racheal ran as fast as she possibly could, "Could we get some help please" she called out, searching for a nurse or someone.

"Racheal, what's going on?" Julie asked, coming out from the back room with a few pacient files on her hands.

"Sam's been attacked" Racheal panicked, "she's out the front in the carpark. We need a bed or something, she's not looking good".

"Ok I'll get a team out there" Julie rushed off down the hallway.

"In broad daylight!" Peter yelled, slambing a pile of files on the front desk of the police station, "he attacked some one in the friggen middle of the day and managed get away with it!".

Everyone else in the room was perfectly silent, all to scared to make a sound, they were security around the bay and it just so happened that the five minutes it took for the attacker to take his next victum and get away that it had been the same time all three officers rostered on were so 'conveniently' on their break.

"How on earth are we supposed to make people believe that we're trying to look after them when something like this happens and I had three bloody officers supposed to be in the area!"

"I expect better from all of you, if I so happen to see anything like this happening again, I'll be firing people faster that someone can be this jokers next victum, is that understood" Peter made himself clear, what he hated more than the fact that they had another stalker on their hands was the fact that even when they had the most officers they'd had in the last five years, they still managed to screw up.

"Yes detective" they all muttered in almost perfect unison. From now on they were going to have too keep their heads down and focus.

Next time:

-How bad is Sam injured?

-the affair continues, will Jack and Martha get caught out?

_**Please review.**_


	39. Oh crap

**Warning: May contain some course language**

_Chapter number 39. Oh crap_

Waking up slowly, Jack found his body side by side to Martha, who still lay asleep in the bed of her apartment above the diner. The white linen sheets loosely crinkled over her beautiful body frame, covering her naked skin modestly.

He watched her, smiling to himself as he remembered the last few hours. It was perfect being with her again, he could never have dreamt of this, there was no way to just imagine how happy being with her made him feel.

He remembered the first time he saw her, she was wearing a black dress that complimented her body perfectly, her hair was partly up, still showing it's beautiful length and her smile was the main feature of her amazing complexion. She'd been furious with him, throwing back smart alic remarks at him to whatever he said, the girl definitely had some attitude, he like it.

She was a challenge to start with, yet another girl for Jack Holden to bed. She was different to the other girls he'd dated, the others would of ignored the speeding fine along with the warning to turn down the music, just to be with him, But Martha was stubborn, she made him work hard to get into bed with her, and before long he was addicted to her, she was like a drug he couldn't live without. And to this day that still hadn't changed, she was still his drug, one he was rediscovering, and now he wondered how he managed to go so long without her.

Reaching out to touch her, Jack ran his fingers through her soft dark hair that sat lightly around her face and down her chest. She let out a soft moan, before opening her eyes to see Jack smiling down at her.

"Hey beautiful" Jack spoke huskily, leaning down to kiss her lightly and cup her cheek.

"Mmm. Am I dreaming?" she sighed, she was finally waking up in Jack's arms again, it felt amazing. Her smile couldn't be taken off her face; she was over the moon, full of joy.

"No" he whispered, leaning back in to place his lips back on hers. He could see her eyelids closing back over slowly before she captured his lips with hers. That moment was precious, it was filled with passion and emotion, along with the longingness for more.

They both wanted to hold onto that moment for the rest of their lives, but deep down they knew that that couldn't happen, Jack still had a girlfriend and they still had a complicated life that had so many other things going on.

They could only pretend that this was all there was to it; their love.

As fast as possible, Tony along with Rory ran into the hospital. "Rach, is she ok?" Tony managed to get out while trying to catch his breath, he'd been trying to call Jack on the way to let him know what was going on, but he couldn't reach him on his phone.

"We don't know much yet" she explained, "come through here". She lead them down the corridor a few doors until they came to room ten.

Entering the room, Tony noted how many computer monitors there were along with all the tubes coming in and out of her. She was so still and helpless, not exactly the site he'd been hoping to see. Jack would be devastated, Sam had just come back into his life and now this was happening.

"Mum" Rory cried, racing to Sam's bedside, he hated this so much, he couldn't lose his Mum, he didn't know what he'd do if she wasn't around.

"She's had some internal bleeding" Rachael explained, "We don't know how bad it is at this point, but we're going to have to operate as soon as Dr Sullivan gets here.

"When will that be?" Rory interrupted her, "shouldn't you be doing something now?"

"Rory, he'll be in any minute now, we're doing the best we can" Rachael tried to reassure him as Julie and a few other nurses entered the room in a hurry.

"Dr Sullivan's here" Julie told them, "we need to get her in to surgery".

"Mmm" Martha moaned as Jack planted tiny kisses down her neck and onto her shoulder. It was amazing how he could make her feel like this. It was like they'd never been apart.

Jack moved his body up slightly moving his mouth close to her ear to whisper something to her, however the sudden sound of a door opening stopped him.

"Martha?" a voice called out.

"Oh crap it's my mum" Martha whispered. "Stay in here".

Martha crawled out of bed quickly getting dressed quicker than she had in her entire life before coming out of her room and shutting the door behind her. "Hey mum" she said trying to hide how panicked she was.

"Oh there you are" Roo smiled. "I thought you weren't home for a minute", reaching into a shopping bag and pulling out a black dress that she'd just bought, "anyway I need to get you opinion on a few things.

Maratha smiled with relief, she didn't suspect a thing.

Lara walked into Pete's office and closed the door quietly behind her, Peter still hadn't noticed her there, and he was off in a world of his own.

She snuck up behind him, where he sat at his desk, then leaning down she kissed his neck.

Peter snapped out of his chain of thought at the feeling of Lara's mouth on his neck, he didn't even remember hearing her come in. "hey you".

"Hey" Lara spoke, removing her lips from his skin and moving round to sit on Peter's lap, wrapping her arms around his neck. "Jackie told me what happened this morning, I thought you might need some cheeking up". She knew he hated it when there were major stuff ups like this especially seeing as he was the one who had to explain what happened to the boss, along with filling out an incident report.

Pete didn't say anything, and he didn't need to either, he just smiled, running his fingers through her hair before capturing her lips with his.

"Detective" McGrath interrupted, opening the office door to find both Peter with his tongue down Lara's throat.

"McGrath" Peter acknowledged his presence, pulling away from Lara quickly.

"I need you to fill out that incident report and have it on my desk in an hour" he told him, then looked at Lara. "Fitzgerald, your coming with me, there's been another noise complaint".

"Bugger" Lara sighed as McGrath walked away.

"I'll make it up to you tonight" Pete whispered into her ear, giving her another kiss before she got up.

Turning his attention back to his desk he looked down at the file on his desk before pulling an incident report out of his draw and unwillingly filling it out.

_Next time:_

-Who gets kidnapped?

-Jack's still stuck in Martha's room.


	40. Just a hoax?

**Warning: may contain sexual references and/or course language**

_Chapter number 40. Just a hoax?_

"Oh crap" Lara muttered as she stepped out of the passengers side of the police car with McGrath, "It's probably a hoax" she spoke up, noting that everything seemed in order. They'd been called out to an old house in Yabbie creek, someone had told them that there'd been to much noise coming from the house, but nothing what so ever could be heard apart from the sound of the occasional bird singing as it flew by.

"Yeah probably, but we still have to check the place out properly" he explained, taking a good look at the old house, it was moderately isolated from the other houses around it, it wasn't a farm, but it certainly had room for a couple of paddocks. It was double storied, and still in fairly good condition, the owners had obviously re-painted it not too long ago.

Walking to the door Fitzy followed her boss, he didn't normally come on complaint notifications like this, but with security around the hospital in such high demand very few officers were available to do such small tasks while on duty.

"Knock, knock" McGrath knocked on the wooden door, the sound echoing from the strong door.

"Come in it's unlocked" a voice called out from inside.

Cautiously McGrath opened the door, grinding his teeth as it screeched from the rusty hinges. Stepping inside he walked a few steps before stopping and turning around to see Lara closing the door carefully behind her.

The next thing he knew he could see someone jump out from the first room in the house and grab Lara, one hand round her mouth and another round her body. Before he could react in any way he sensed another figure from behind him, holding a gun to his head, clicking it to get ready to shoot if necessary.

"Now you listen to exactly what I say and no body gets hurt", the figure warned.

Jack rested his head back onto a pillow on Martha's bed, it was 1:30, exactly an hour and a half since Martha's mum had gotten home, and yet he was still stuck in her room.

In that time he's managed to keep as quiet as possible, he'd gotten dressed, made Martha's bed and even managed to clean up her room a bit, but he was rapidly running out of things to do, and now his mind had began to wander. He couldn't believe he was doing this, he had a girlfriend waiting for him at home and he was sleeping with his ex-wife, kind of ironic really, he'd divorced Martha and he still hadn't managed to keep away.

He'd always been disgusted by men who cheated on the women they were supposed to be devoted to, but now that he was doing just the same thing as they were, it suddenly didn't feel the way he thought it would if he was cheating on someone.

He was starting to understand why people did it, and just like them he couldn't make up his mind what he wanted.

One minute he was in bed with Martha with nothing more to think about than having round two and how great life was with her, then the next he was wondering What Sam was doing. It was like he wanted two different lives.

Lara Fitzgerald and Darren McGrath both sat on chairs in the attic room of the old house in Yabbie creek, tied with rope around their wrists, waist and feet. The room was bare except for the two chairs they sat on in the centre, it had wooden floorboards; old and unpolished, the walls were plain and old, the creamy off-white colour beginning to peal off the wall.

Only one window could bee seen in the room, from there you could see out the back of the house, no roads, just green grass and trees as far as the eye could see right into the national park on the mountains.

Lara stood up, her two feet tied together and the chair lifting from the rope that tied her back to it, scuffling along she placed herself back onto the chair when she reached the window. "Boss", she started staring out into the distance, "What do you think they want from us?"

Darren thought for a moment, the last time he'd been in a situation like this he'd been a constable, about the same age as Lara was, there'd been a shooting and a teenage boy had been killed, the father blamed the police for not doing enough to stop it, so he captured a bunch of officers as revenge, one of them being him, it made sense that time, the man told them exactly why he was doing this, but in this situation, there was nothing to tell him why these people were keeping them there.

"I don't know" Darren sighed, "I really don't know". He'd become a police chief so he didn't have to do all this kind of fieldwork, now look where he was.

Jack looked up twenty minutes later to see Martha standing in the doorway and the sound of the shower running, "It's safe" she announced, noticing the smile of relief plastered on Jack's face.

"Thank god she didn't come in here" Jack commented, getting up and making his way towards her where she still stood with her hip rested against the doorframe.

"Yeah thank god, she's in the shower now so we better get you out of here pretty soon before she gets out" she explained as Jack cupped her cheek and drew her face towards his with one gentle movement.

She kissed him lightly for a moment, before he then began kissing her rougher, pinning her against the doorframe.

Martha moaned, feeling his body pressed right against hers, it felt like heaven.

Jack was getting carried away again, once again he could think nothing more than sex, he was loosing the plot, not that he was complaining, or Martha for that matter.

Martha moved her hands up under the hem of Jack's shirt, roaming her hands against the skin of his toned muscular back. Remembering that her mother was still in the flat, Martha pulled away, keeping her face within centimetres of his, both of them panting to catch their breath. "We better not get to carried away".

"Yeah your right".

Neither of them could bring themselves to break their eye lock, their faces stayed in such close proximity that Jack felt like taking her back into her bedroom right then, she made him feel so much energy.

"Will you be back?" Martha finally asked the question.

"just try stopping me" he grinned. "Plus you've got to admit sneaking around is a bit of a turn on" he spoke huskily, moving his mouth to the side of her face and nibbling her ear slightly.

"Mmm" she groaned, he was doing it to her again, he was driving her crazy, she wanted him so badly, but she knew they shouldn't give in, they'd get caught for sure.

"Jack" she stopped him.

"I know, I'm going".

Next time:

-It's getting late and Pete's worried about Lara

-Jack finds out about Sam's attack.

-How does Sam's operation go?

_**Please review.**_


End file.

Home & Away, Drama, Romance