Arranged

[-Jade-]

PART 16

Jack felt awful and guilty. He really had only meant to have a few drinks with Julia and then leave, but neither of them had kept their hands to themselves. He had initiated it; he had grabbed her in his arms and kissed her. But she had led him to the bedroom.

But most of all he was angry. He was angry at having taken advantage of Julia. He hadn’t spent the night with her, he had stopped just in time, but he had nevertheless used her. But what made him really angry was the fact that he felt as if he had betrayed Martha.

PART 17

Jack was driving home from Julia’s still trying to sort through all the feelings and thoughts passing through his head. He had to admit that he wasn’t really paying attention to the road but he really didn’t think there would be anyone of the sleepy roads of summer Bay at this time, but he was wrong. It all happened in a few seconds. He just remembered suddenly noticing the headlights in front of him. He had swerved thinking he was about to have an accident, but in reality he had swerved into the opposite lane. The two cars impacted and they both went spinning in opposite directions. Jack had fortunately been trained to deal with cars going out of control. Martha, however, didn’t have that training and she struggled to gain any control. The other car had just driven at her and she hadn’t been expecting it to. Both cars eventually stopped. Martha just sat there speechless. Jack got out of his car. He ran over to the other car and leaned in to see if the other driver was OK.

“MARTHA????” he said when he saw who it was.

“Jack!” Martha said with relief.

PART 18

“What the hell are you doing here? Why aren’t you with your fiancé?” jack said spitefully. He was angry and he wasn’t about to hide it.

“Jack I’m sorry I just…” Martha started, but jack interrupted.

“Listen Martha I don’t want to here it.” And with that he turned around and started to go back to his car.

“No Jack wait…” Martha cried desperately. She got out of her car.

“Give me one good reason as to why I should wait for you Martha” replied Jack. Turning around.

“Because…because” said Martha struggling to find the right words. “Because I can’t live without you.” She finally said.

“Because I love you. Because I want to be with you always.” She continued.

“Listen, before you turn away again, I know I’ve made some huge mistakes, the moment you turned away I knew I had done the wrong thing. I never ever stopped loving you Jack. And I just want you to know that I only wanted to protect you. I’ve never been as happy in my life as I am when I’m with you and well I love you. I’ve never felt this way about anyone else before.”

[-Jade-]

PART 19

Jack wanted to say that he loved her too. He wanted to take her in his arms and say that they could work everything out; that they could get married like before but he didn’t.

Martha stared at him, waiting for an answer. She had never before spoken so honestly about her feelings like that and she felt vulnerable because of it.

Jack just stared back. He was really struggling to make a decision. He was annoyed because that he thought he’d gotten over, or at least he had been getting over her, but seeing her… in front him…it just brought up buried feelings. On the other hand, he had meant what he said before: if she told him she didn’t love him he wouldn’t take her back. Ever.

“Listen Martha were you not listening to me before?” he finally answered.

Martha nodded slightly, looking down at her feet.

“I told you,” he said “I told you if you walked away from us, I’d never take you back.”

“I know Jack…and I’m so sorry, I just wanted to protect you from all the hurt and…” Jack interrupted her.

“Martha we were supposed to be a couple. We were supposed to be getting married, so whatever you go through I’m supposed to go through it too. I can’t take you back if, when something goes wrong, you cut me off.”

“I’m sorry Jack; I promise I won’t ever do that to you again. Just give me another chance. Please.” pleaded Martha.

“I want to.” said Jack. Martha looked up hopefully.

“But I can’t.” he said and he turned away.

He got back into his car and drove off.

Martha started crying. Why had she been so stupid?

PART 20

Martha decided to get a hotel room. She couldn’t stand seeing and explaining everything to her family and friends just yet. She went up to the reception desk and asked for a room.

“Welcome to Summer Bay Hotel, We do have one double room but it’s one of those ones that has a door connecting it to the room next door. I’m afraid we don’t have any others, but you can lock the door. Do you mind?”

“No not really” said Martha vaguely. She wasn’t really paying much attention; her mind was focused on other things.

“Do you want to know who’s next door?” asked the receptionist.

“No, its fine thank you, I’m sure I’ll find out.” said Martha.

Martha then got to her room and lay down on her bed. She started crying again. She couldn’t believe that she had lost the most important person in her life. He had rejected her and she wasn’t surprised. She would have been angry if she’d been in his situation too. She had only just realised how much she loved him now that she didn’t have him. Usually when she was this upset he would hold her in his arms for hours and she would eventually feel better, because of him. But it was different now.

Jack drove to the hotel and entered the foyer. He went up to the receptionist.

“Hi,” he said “I want to check back in please I’m room 64.” The receptionist turned around and grabbed some keys.

“Did you just say room 64?” she asked.

“Yes…” said Jack, puzzled as to why this would have any significance.

“Ok, well you know the room that is connected to yours which was previously empty?”

“Yes” replies Jack.

“Well we’re really full at the moment so we’ve had to give it to someone, we hope you don’t mind, but as you know you can lock the doors in between the rooms if you want.”

“Oh OK, well that’s alright I guess.” said Jack.

“Good, well, here are you keys then!” and the receptionist handed them to him.

PART 21

Jack got to his room and lay down on his bed. His mind kept running through what had just happened. Had he made the right choice? The whole situation had taken him by surprise; he hadn’t expected to see Martha again. At least not so soon. Now his head was in a mess. His heart knew what it wanted, but his head was completely confused.

Martha lay on her bed still crying. She just couldn’t stop she just hoped the walls in the hotel were thick enough to muffle the sound. She just didn’t know what to do.

Jack was lying looking at the ceiling his thoughts still all muddles up when he heard a noise coming from the room next door. He was sure it sounded like crying. In fact, he was sure it was crying. In the end he decided to see what was wrong, after all, he was kind of sharing a suit with them. So he went up to the dividing door and knocked.

Martha looked up. Oh no, she thought to herself; it’s the person next door. She groaned and quickly started to wipe away the tears on her face. She then slowly got up and opened the door.

“Hi” said Jack quickly “I heard crying and was just wondering….MARTHA???”

“JACK??” replied Martha.

“What are you doing here?” they both said in unison.

PART 22

Jack started to close the door but Martha stopped him with her hand.

“Jack I love you, please don’t do this.” she pleaded.

“Just don’t Martha, just forget about me and I’ll do the same.”

“I would, but I can’t, I can’t let you go.” replied Martha, tears starting to run down her face again “If I could take what I did back I would; I realised it was the wrong thing to do as soon as you turned away but when I called you you didn’t hear me…”

“I’m sorry…” said Jack regretfully, and again he started to close the door, but again Martha stopped him and stepped over into his room. She grabbed him around the neck and kissed him.

Please tell me what you think! every review is really appreciated!

[-Jade-]

PART 23

Jack gave in and kissed her back, wrapping his arms around her waist. He had really missed her and it felt so good to have her in his arms again. But then he realised what he was doing and he pushed Martha off him.

Martha had been so happy until the moment that he had pushed her away.

"I'm sorry" Jack said "That was really unfair, to use you like that."

"You weren't using me Jack, you wanted it just like I did" replied Martha.

"No. I didn't."

"Look Jack I'll do anything; anything that you want me to do but please don't leave me." said Martha desperately.

Jack couldn't stand to see her this upset and he was using a lot of self control to stop himself from grabbing her again. He just didn't want to get hurt again.

In the end, he took a step forward. Martha closed the distance between them and put her arms around him. They hadn't seen each other in so long and it felt completely right. They kissed and Martha led Jack into her room...

The next morning Jack woke up and turned around to see Martha sleeping peacefully next to him. At first he smiled, thinking how beautiful she was and then he realised what had happened.

"No, this is all wrong" he muttered and he got out of bed and started putting on his clothes in a hurry. Martha started to stir. She slowly opened her eyes and saw Jack. She smiled at him but then realised what he was doing.

"What are you doing Jack???" she asked concerned.

"I'm leaving; I'll probably go to Sydney or something and stay with some friends. I'm sorry I led you to believe that we could ever be together again."

With that Jack went into his room and started to pack.

PART 24

Martha jumped out of bed and tried to open the door seperating her from jack but it was locked.

"Jack! Jack, let me in" she cried through the door, but Jack ignored her. so she decided to go out into the corridor and wait for to come out. After a couple of minutes he opened the door.

"Martha, what are you....? Just leave me alone OK?" said Jack as he hurriedly tried to push past her.

"Well tough cos I'll follow you wherever you go..." Martha cried down the hallway after him.

"Oh yeah!" said Jack laughing slightly, “Are you really going to follow in your pyjamas!"

Martha looked down, and true enough, she found out she was standing in the corridor with nothing on apart from a vest and some pants. She hurried back into her room and started to change at high speed. She grabbed her car keys from the desk and rushed out of the door.

She ran down the steps that Jack had gone down and rushed out to her car. She just saw Jack's car leave the car park.

She jumped in her car and sped off after him. All she knew was she wasn't going to lose him.

Jack saw Martha's car behind him but he was a policeman and was used to losing a following car. But no matter how hard he tried to lose her he couldn't. Considering she wasn't trained she was very good at staying behind him. Jack sighed in frustration and stopped the car. Martha pulled up next to him.

"Do you mind not following me?"asked Jack.

"I'm not going to lose you again. Do you remember when we first broke up and you apologised and I said no? Well don't let this be like that. We're both a lot happier when we're together so don't make it harder than it has to be..."

"Martha, I just need some time on my own ok? When I get back I want to sort this out between us and hopefully we can be friends but for now just give me some space. Please."

"Ok" said Martha regretfully but before she left she hugged him.

"I'm not giving up." she whispered in his ear.

Please Review!!!! (even if you think that it's bad!)

[-Jade-]

OK!

PART 25

Jack was away for a few weeks and Martha missed him. Jack spent his time trying to work out what to do, should he take Martha back or not? He loved her but…well he just didn’t want to get hurt…again. One day Jack decided he was ready to come home and he phoned Martha.

“Hey Martha it’s me, Jack”

“Jack!!” said Martha excitedly. “How are you?”

“I’m fine thanks, umm I’ve decided to come home and I was wondering if you would meet me at the Italian restaurant, you know by the beach, at 8o’clock tonight?” he asked.

“Yeah, I’d love to!” replied Martha getting her hopes up. Maybe he wanted to get back together she thought.

That evening Martha made a real effort to look good for Jack, she wore a floaty, emerald green dress over jeans with some emerald silk shoes to go with it.

“You look great!” said Tasha, who had helped her. “Jack will be blown away!”

“I hope so!” said Martha eagerly; she couldn’t wait to see him again. She just hoped he had changed his mind and that he would take her back.

Martha got to the restaurant but Jack wasn’t there yet. She chose a table on the veranda on the beach with views of the sea.

Jack finally arrived.

“Hi!” he said. Martha smiled and stood up. Jack kissed her on the cheek and she felt a tingle. He then looked her up and down.

“You look great!” he said

“Thank you! So do you!” she said. “So how boring was the city without me to liven up your life then?” she said jokingly.

Jack laughed.

“You’d just love me to say that it was boring without you wouldn’t you?” he asked.

“Well you know it’s true!” Martha answered back.

“You wish!” Jack replied.

For the rest of the evening they talked and laughed and generally caught up. They enjoyed each others company and the chemistry was obviously still there.

“Hey, so do you want to do this again sometime soon?” asked Martha eagerly.

“Yeah, I’d love to!” replied Jack smiling. “As friends” he added quickly.

Martha’s smile dropped momentarily but she regained her composure.

“Oh yea, of course…”she said but she couldn’t hide the disappointment in her voice.

“I just think it would be best for the moment. Is that OK?”

Martha felt like screaming at him that it wasn’t OK and that she wanted him to say that he loved her and that they could make it work but instead she just said:

“Yeah of course, it’s fine”

[-Jade-]

PART 26

Martha was stressing about what to wear. It was week since Jack had returned and they had been getting on really well. As friends. Tonight he was taking her to a club, so that they could have some fun and relax.

He picked her up in the car and they drove in relative silence.

“Did I say that you look stunning tonight Ms McKenzie?” said Jack as they got out of the car.

“No,” said Martha “And I was wondering when you were going to!”

“You’re so full of it, you know that” said Jack laughing.

“Well you can’t really talk” said Martha indignantly.

They both laughed and went inside the club where the music was on at full volume.

“Hey!” said Jack “Maybe you could find yourself a new boyfriend tonight?”

Martha looked at him shocked. She looked at his face to see any indication that what he had just said was a joke but he looked totally serious.

“Ummm, I’m already after someone….”she said “Do you want to dance?” she asked him, changing the subject.

“Yeah sure” Jack conceded.

For the rest of the evening Jack and Martha, danced, drank a bit and generally had a good time. At 2 o’clock they decided to head home.

They drove back talking about what a good night they had had. But Martha was secretly disappointed that nothing had happened between them.

Jack got out of the car when they arrived at Martha’s new apartment that she had just moved into. He walked her to her door.

“Well I’ll probably see you tomorrow then” he said and he started walking away.

“Jack wait” said Martha. He turned around.

“Yeah?” he asked. But Martha ran up to him and said:

“I love you.” Jack looked at her for a few seconds and then he replied:

“I love you too” Martha smiled and kissed him. She then led him into her apartment.

PART 27

Martha woke up and turned around to find Jack next to her awake and looking at her.

“So you haven’t run away this time?” she asked jokingly.

“How could I?” Jack said softly

Martha smiled and lifted her head to kiss him. She broke away.

“You know I really do love you don’t you?” she asked looking into Jack’s eyes.

“I love you too. Really” he said. “Now, do you want pancakes?” he asked whilst getting out of bed.

“Wow, I’m so lucky to have a boyfriend who can cook…”she stopped.

Jack realised why she had stopped.

Martha was just cursing herself in her head. Technically she didn’t know whether they were an item yet or not. But Jack replied:

“And I’m so lucky to have a girlfriend as beautiful as you” he said.

Martha smiled and looked at him. He’s so gorgeous and cute, she thought to herself. Jack went into the kitchen and soon the smell of pancakes came wafting through the door. Martha thought that she should probably get up so she got up and walked into the kitchen and put her arms around Jack from behind.

He turned around and they started kissing again but then the pancakes burnt and started the fire alarm.

“Oh no! We’ll have the whole building evacuated if we don’t get it to stop. Quick turn off the stove.” Martha said, frantically grabbing a tea towel and blowing away the smoke. Eventually the alarm stopped and Jack and Martha fell about laughing.

“I’m so glad we worked everything out” Martha said once they had finished laughing “I’ve missed this”

“Trust me so have I.” said Jack.

OK that's it, finished! Please tell me what you think! I've really enjoyed writing it and I hope you've all enjoyed reading it. And Thank You to all the people who have fed back with positive comments as they have kept me writing! My sequel will start in a new thread in a day or two and is called "Split". It is set six months on from this fic. I hope you like it!

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