Somewhere A Clock Is Ticking

[-ParaisGal-]

You're so cruel to Jack! It wasn't his fault he had an accident. Anyway, since Mac's dead feel free to kill him. If this is the same fic. I dunno.

[luckyrabbit]

You're so cruel to Jack! It wasn't his fault he had an accident. Anyway, since Mac's dead feel free to kill him. If this is the same fic. I dunno.

Martha's still alive in this fic, although she hasn't been seen for a while, Macca's the one I killed. Don't worry, there'll be a few Jack/Martha scenes with Lucas' funeral coming up

PART 19

"He looks friendly." Eve commented on the picture of the bald, fierce looking man that accompanied the rap sheet.

"The guy's got rap sheet a mile long; numerous drug convictions, assault, arson. Three years ago he was charged with manslaughter but was never convicted due to insufficient evidence." Tracey informed her.

"So, in short, he's not a nice guy?"

"No."

"Okay," Eve tapped her fingers against the desk as she thought about their next move. "Get Harper to put an APB out on him. Anyone spots this guy, I want to know about it."

"Hey Fitzy?" Jack asked the young constable who was checking the duty rosters. "I'm not rostered on tomorrow, am I?"

"Ah, no." Lara said, double checking to make sure. "Any particular reason you should be?"

"No, I just wanted to check that McGarth remembered that I needed the day off." Jack explained.

Lara put the clipboard down on the counter and looked at him sympathetically. "That's right, it's Lucas' funeral, isn't it."

"Yeah." Jack sighed wearily. He'd been burying himself in his work to try and avoid thinking about it but that wasn't cutting it anymore. Tomorrow he was going to have to face the fact that his baby brother was dead

"How are you holding up?"

"As well as can be expected, I suppose. Better than Dad."

"Well, I'm sorry." And she wasn't just talking about being sorry for his loss. She was apologizing for her attitude over the past few days. She'd been so caught up in the excitement of the case and having a boss that actually went to her with the important work instead of Jack had given her a bit of a big head.

"Hey guys," Cassie greeted, looking up from the latest issue of Dolly when she heard the knock on the door. "Come on in."

"Cassie, oh my god, you look so pale!" gasped Matilda, making Henry frown in confusion, Cassie didn't look any different to him. "How are you doing?" she asked, leaning down to give Cassie a hug.

"A lot better than I was yesterday." Cassie smiled as Matilda took the seat next to her bed.

"So any idea of when you're going to be busting out of here?" Henry asked, drumming is fingers on the end of the bed.

"Tomorrow, maybe, if my condition keeps on improving. At least that's what Rachel said this morning."

"So soon?" he asked in surprise. "Wow, you know you were lucky you weren't more seriously hurt."

"I was lucky I wasn't killed!" Cassie exclaimed. "When they find whoever's responsible for this, I hope they lock them up and throw away the key."

"Killed?" Matilda asked in concern. "Was it really that serious?"

Cassie nodded. "A few more minutes and…you know what, I don't even want to think about it. What have you been up to? I haven't seen you wear that shirt before."

"Oh, it's new. Henry bought it for me." Matilda said.

"Oh my god, I love it!"

Henry leaned back and started banging the back his head against the wall as the two girls settled in for a marathon gossip session. This was going to be a very long day. Or maybe not. The girls babblefest was interrupted by a knock on the door.

"Hi, I hope I'm not interrupting." the curly haired boy greeted. "Uh, you don't really know me, my name's Jon Whelan, I work at the Sands. I was the one who pulled you out of the sauna. I just wanted to drop by and see how you were doing." he explained, showing off the five dollar bunch of flowers he'd picked up from the hospital gift shop.

"That's so sweet." Cassie smiled. "You didn't have to do that. Come in."

"Yeah, well it's not everyday I get to save a persons life, I figure I have to bask in the glory while I can." Jon joked. "Thing is, I'm not exactly sure how to go about it."

"Well, it's not everyday I get my life saved, so I guess we're both in new territory." Cassie said in a vaguely flirty manner, making Henry and Matilda exchange curious looks as both of them wondered where this was going.

"Hey guys," Lara said, knocking on the door to Eve's office. "I've got Jason Maddox's employment records here and you're not going to believe this."

"What is it?"

"He's currently employed by the same courier company that Stuart Wilkins worked for." explained Lara excitedly. She knew that this could be the break in the case they had all been waiting for.

Tracey took the papers from Lara's outstretched hand and looked them over. "Speed Freaks? Oh, that's cute." she commented dryly.

"Yeah," Lara agreed. "So I was thinking, do you think that the company could be a front?"

"It's a definite possibility." Eve finally spoke up.

"Run a background check on the company and see if you can dig anything up." instructed Tracey. "If you find anything call me on the mobile."

"Where are you going?" Lara asked as Eve yawned.

"I'm taking her home." the detective replied, taking Eve by her good arm and pulling her up. "She's taking the rest of the day off."

"What? No, I'm not." Eve protested.

"Yes, you are." Tracey said firmly, making it clear that there was no room for argument. "You need to take your meds and get some rest. You're practically falling asleep at your desk."

Eve sighed and took in Tracey's determined expression, she was very familiar with that look. It was Tracey's 'if you argue with me, I will cut you and don't even think I'm joking' look. "There's really no point in trying to argue with you, is there." she said as Lara hid her amused smile behind her papers, it was strange to see Eve being the one bossed around for a change.

"You know there isn't."

The house hadn't changed much since Charlie had last been home, in fact it hadn't changed at all. Nobody had visited, nobody had bothered to clean up in preparation for Charlie's homecoming, that much was exhibited by the fact that every surface was covered by a thick layer of dust. Nobody had done anything because nobody cared. Not even Kim. No, that's not true. Charlie thought, lovingly wiping dust off the framed photo of the two of them. He cares, it's Rachel's fault, she's the one keeping him away.

The vibration of the mobile phone in his pocket, startled Charlie. "Hello," he answered breathlessly. He knew who was calling, it was Him, he was the only one who ever called. "Yeah, yeah. It went good, just like you said it would. No, they're clueless, they don't suspect a thing. I really think that Kim has forgiven me for what I did…" Charlie cringed at the angry interjection. "I know! I know what I have to do, I haven't forgotten what I owe you. I promise I won't be distracted…I will."

Charlie clicked the phone off and frowned hard at it. As much as he wanted to just get Kim and leave Summer Bay and start a new life together, he knew that he had to do this first. If it hadn't been for Him, Charlie knew that he never would've been able to get out of that place that Rachel's lies had trapped him in. He was Charlie's friend and he wasn't going to let him down. Now, Charlie rubbed his hands together, he had a lot of work to do.

Rachel had left soon after Charlie; Kim knew that his reappearance had left her shaken, not that she'd ever admit it and he didn't blame her, after everything that Charlie had put her through. And the worst part was that they had resolved nothing. He still loved Rachel and he still loved Kit (albeit in a very different way) and she was still having his child. Whatever he decided now, someone was going to get hurt and that someone was more than likely to be him. Frustrated with the whole situation, Kim threw the used towel he'd been using as a pseudo stressball against the wall.

"Now what did that towel ever do to you?"

Kim spun around. "Eve?"

"Hey."

Kim sniffed and focused on wiping down the counter. He found it hard to look at her without being reminded of how much she had hurt him. "I don't think you're gonna be lifting any weights with your arm like that."

"No kidding." Eve laughed. "Actually, I'm here because I think that we should talk, there's a lot of things that need to be said." She'd managed to convince Tracey to drop by the Surf Club on the way back to their apartment, agreed to pick up some food from the bar while Eve went to talk to Kim. Since he was only in town for the day, Eve wanted to get things cleared up between them as soon as possible.

"Oh yeah? Like what?"

"Like, I'm sorry about switching the test results. I never meant to hurt you," Kim looked at her incredulously. "Well, yeah, I did but that not that much. I never intended for it to go on for as long as it did."

Kim folded his arms across his chest. "And what exactly did you intend to happen, Zoe?" he said, the old name spilling off his tongue before he could stop himself.

"It was only supposed to go on for a couple of weeks." Eve revealed. "The plan was to stick by you, play the supportive girlfriend, make Zoe look like a saint. Then when the time was right, she was going supposedly stumble across the real results while at work. Crisis over. But then Peter ruined everything with his stupid hypnosis idea." she said, her tone suddenly turning bitter. "I couldn't just play along with it, there was too much of a risk that my cover could be blown, so-"

"You faked your death."

"Yeah, and then there was the explosion. I never got a chance to switch the results back. But when I heard about you taking that job with the Macklin Corporation and their plans for the caravan park, I had the results left in the bush where I knew they'd be found. Way I hear it, they sat in that office for months."

Kim groaned as he remember the cardboard box he'd spent hours staring at but not really seeing as he wondered what the hell he was doing there.

"Josie found them eventually," Eve continued her explanation. "She tried to tell Scott, she wrote him a letter that the idiot ripped up before even reading. Then Doctor Free found out and died in a car crash like two seconds later," she shook her head at the unbelievable circumstances. "Things just got completely out of hand."

"Why did you do it?"

"You cheated on me…her. How suss would it have looked once Zoe was revealed as the stalker if she'd just let you get away with that. It was either that or beating the crap out of you."

Kim nodded, he understood her reasoning, when he'd first found out about Zoe being the stalker all he could think about how lucky he'd been. "All things considered, I think I would've preferred the beating."

"No kidding." Eve agreed uncomfortably. "Look, Kim, I really did like you…I do like you. You really are an awesome guy and I know that this is a lot to ask, but I was wondering maybe if we could be friends again?"

Kim stared at her, despite everything she had done to him, he wasn't angry at her, he'd never been angry at her; not even when everyone thought that she a just a mass murdering whack-job.

"Come on Kim, we had fun together right?" she urged when he didn't answer. She was right, they did have fun together, hanging out with Robbie and Tasha or Hayley and Scott, no pressure, no expectations, it was a time when things were so much simpler. Kim missed that.

"You're not asking to get back together are you?" Kim asked slowly, he didn't think she was but he had to make sure. "Because-"

"No." Eve smirked. "Although, if I didn't already have a totally hot girlfriend that I happen to be completely in love with, then it might be a different story. I don't know if you realize this, Kimmy, but you're quite the catch."

"Yeah, that's the problem."

"Ah, right. Rachel filled me in on the whole Kit thing. Can I just ask what the hell were you thinking?"

"We we're thinking that we were going to die."

"So you had sex in a dirty creek bed, while Kit had a broken ankle? That could not have been comfortable." Eve said, shaking her head and trying to figure out the logistics of the scenario. "You couldn't have just held each other?"

Kim shrugged. "Yeah, well, I'm paying for it now. Kit's my friend, she's like my sister-"

"So you had sex with her?" she exclaimed, making Kim glare at her. "Shutting up now."

"But I'm not in love with her. I love Rachel, you know. But I can't leave Kit and still expect to be part of my kid's life."

"Why not?" Eve questioned curiously. "I mean, Rachel told me that Kit was okay with you two being together."

"Yeah, well that was before I moved to the city-"

"Oh Kim, you didn't." Eve groaned.

"I did." he said, he knew exactly how boneheaded it was. "It's actually a relief to have someone to talk to about this stuff. I mean Robbie's Kit's brother, I can't talk to Rachel and Jack's-"

"An idiot."

"-dealing with his own problems." Kim finished slowly.

"Oh, right."

"Anyway, what you think I should do?"

"What do you want to do?"

"I want to be with Rachel but I don't want to screw up my one chance to be a father either."

"Well, the longer you draw it out the harder it's going to be for everyone. And trying to force yourself to keep up the whole 'love the one your with' thing is not going to help matters. I think that the best thing to do would be to sit down with both of them and be honest." said Eve. "Trust me, anything else is going to end in badness."

Kim grimaced, he knew that she was right. It should've felt strange, awkward even, to be talking this easily with her but it wasn't. It was comfortable, it felt kind of right. Kim groaned and rubbed a hand across his face. "Why does it all have to be so complicated?"

"Well, you have to look on the bright side, Kimothy," Eve said, slapping Kim lightly on the arm. "At least this time you actually know that the kid's yours." Kim shot her an unamused look. "It's too soon make jokes about that, huh? Yeah."

Next time on Somewhere A Clock Is Ticking: Lara stumbles across some surprising new evidence and Amanda's got exciting news for Belle.

[-ParaisGal-]

Sorry, Luckyrabbit lol. I was thinking somewhere else. Just don't kill Jack or Mac. lol. Good fic!

[Oxidizer]

"Cassie, oh my god, you look so pale!" gasped Matilda

That cracked me up so bad!

I actually felt sorry for Jack which was really disturbing. Don't toy with my emotions like that again!

Can I just say how much I loved the Eve/Kim talk? That seemed so real and they work really well together.

Now Charlie, my little Charlie, why do I have a feeling the poor sweet, naive lunatic has gotten himself into a bit of trouble? I hope he'll be okay after all of this. And kills Rachel. Stab!Stab!Stab!

Most excellent work Rabsey!

[-ParaisGal-]

That's true, she's so full of fake tan.

[Cerise]

Yay! Finally Great Chapter! Loved the E/K talk aswell, I'm glad they 'sorted things out'. Whens the next update up? Soon? *hopes*

[swfc]

First off, Rabs, it was worth the wait for this chapter.

I loved the Tracey/Eve and Eve/Kim scenes best of all. Geez, what is it with Cassie? Oh wait, too much tan so she can't get a guy. Oh wait, forgot, Macca's dead now so she's desperate.

Fantastic chapter. I wonder what Charlie's up to.

The E/K scenes brought back heaps and heaps of memories. Those were the good times. Him and Rachel... Sigh....

Go Fitzy!

[~Rosey~]

That cracked me up so bad!

I actually felt sorry for Jack which was really disturbing. Don't toy with my emotions like that again!

Can I just say how much I loved the Eve/Kim talk? That seemed so real and they work really well together.

Now Charlie, my little Charlie, why do I have a feeling the poor sweet, naive lunatic has gotten himself into a bit of trouble? I hope he'll be okay after all of this. And kills Rachel. Stab!Stab!Stab!

Most excellent work Rabsey!

You did NOT just say that.

*looks at your profile*

Ahh. I know you! The evil one who killed my Rachie in SSOAS

Ahhhhhh

Great Chapter Worth the wait

[Oxidizer]

LOL I'm so sorry! I didn't mean it! much

[~Rosey~]

*grits teeth at you*