Hard Situations!

[Traceve]

They were meant to make up for killing off Tracey.

Well I still haven't forgiven either of you for killing her.

[swfc]

^ All my work was in vain. Lil.... She didn't appreciate it.

[Traceve]

I did appreciate it, but, it doesn't make up for killing my Tracey.

[swfc]

Here's the next chapter. Enjoy.

Flashback:

Peter came back to the office after his meeting with Drew but before he could even sit down and take a breather, he was called in to Murphy’s office. Inside, he was told that he was going undercover to bust a drug ring. Peter silently berated himself for this. For, he was just only starting to get to know Drew and now he was being sent off to goodness knew where. He was annoyed.

He went to his desk fuming and Tracey could tell something was up. She shot him an inquiring look but he shook it off. She knew then not to ask and that he would tell her later when he was in a much calmer mood.

She sat at her desk writing her first domestic violence reports and she became stuck with how to write it up. She thought this would be the best time to try and get Pete to talk. She looked over at Pete, who was looking at his wallet.

“Pete, can you help me with this?”He looked up, placing his wallet back in his drawer as a small smile grew on his face.

“Sure,” he said walking over to Tracey looking at the report in front of him.

“Erm… When I talked to the woman involved she kept on going on about how she didn’t dare open up to other people about what was going on. She felt like she could keep it bottled up. How should I write that in my report?”

Pete started to laugh as he smiled warmly towards her.

“Ok, I get the hint.”

“Well, you do know that you can talk to me about anything don’t you?” Tracey said smiling back at him.

Pete pulled a chair next to the desk,

“I’m sorry about earlier, I just….”

“What? You just?”

“I just didn’t want to talk to anyone. I shouldn’t have stormed back in the way I did.” he said apologetically.

She watched Pete look down at the table trying not to show his upset face. Tracey suddenly felt her body feel as if it was going to snap in half. She had never felt like that before. She just kept looking at Pete who was still looking down; she unexpectedly placed her hand on Pete’s cheek. She knew that she shouldn’t but she couldn’t control her actions.

Pete lifted his head as he felt Tracey’s hand on his face; he stared deeply into her eyes, slowly lifting his hand on top of Tracey’s.

“Pete, no matter what you do, you are always sorry even if you didn’t do anything wrong. That’s must be why I’m so attracted to you.”

They kept looking into each other’s eyes as they both leaned further towards each other. Pete’s lips were virtually touching Tracey’s when they suddenly pulled away as they heard the loud knock on the office door.

The door opened just as Pete sits back in his chair like he is getting on with his work.

“Tracey, there is someone in the front office for you.” Murphy said.

She smiled warmly at Pete as she heard him say, “I will see you later” with his warm sensitive voice. She just smiled back as she waked out of the office.

Pete watched her leave as Murphy shut the door after her.

“Pete, you are needed to go undercover today.”

Pete sat back in shock.

“I can’t just go now! I need to sort things out!” he said angrily.

“Look, you have no choice. It’s either this or I can see to you going back into uniform!” Murphy shot at him.

Pete didn’t know what to say. He had unfinished business but he knew he would never go back in uniform again.

“I will have you escorted home but then it’s no contact with anyone.”

“Can’t I even say bye to Tracey? She relies on me to help her with her work.” he said hoping.

“Pete, it’s the orders I have been given. Grab your stuff, there is a car out the back waiting for you.”

Pete looked up at him angrily as he said,

“Look, I have a 12 year old son. I at least need to tell him a reason to why I will not be around.”

“Ok, Ok but only him. Tell him you’re going overseas or something but nothing to do with undercover.”

“Whatever boss!” Pete replied sarcastically.

The anger Peter Baker felt was unbelievable. He had been given no choice, he had to go undercover. As he was shoved into the unmarked police car all he could think about was Drew. The car pulled out of the back of the station, driving round to the front, and that’s when he saw Tracey. The tears started to build up in his eyes; he turned round and kept looking at the woman he began to fall for. He knew that if he ever saw her again, nothing would happen because she might have moved on with her life.

Pete’s thoughts of Tracey came to a stop as he heard,

“This is what is going to happen. You are going to talk to your son. You will walk through the main entrance and come back out the same way. As you walk back out we will not be here. We will be parked somewhere else but don’t worry, Luke here will be standing by the tree over there.” the unknown office explained to Peter.

Pete took a deep breath, as he was about to get out the car but not before hearing,

“Don’t try anything stupid.”

Pete looked at him saying,

“Look, I don’t want to do this but I have no choice. I can’t exactly run away when there are unknown cops watching me inside. I’m a detective not some dumbass!” Peter shot back.

He stepped out of the car holding his head down as he tried to think of an excuse to tell Drew.

End of Flashback

“Pete?” Jack said as he brought Peter back to reality.

“What’s it mate?”

“It’s Drew. He is here to see you.”

Pete quickly rose from his bed, walking out of his cell to see his son.

“Dad!” Drew squealed happily, running towards his dad giving him a big hug.

“Son! It’s great to see you, it really is.”

Pete sat down on the chair as Drew sat opposite. Peter just stared at Drew as he heard Drew say,

“What?!”

“Mate… I am so sorry.”

“For what?” Drew replied confused to why his dad is sorry.

“For everything. I will never forgive myself.”

“Dad, what are you going on about?” Peter felt the guilt build up inside. He looked on at his son as the awkwardness slowly began to disappear.

“Drew, I’m sorry for the time I left you in boarding school. I am sorry for letting you think I never loved you. I’m sorry for making you think I was dead.”

“Dad, stop saying sorry. This is not your fault.”

“You do believe me though, don’t you?”

Drew stood up as he walked towards his dad.

“Dad, I love you. Forget about the past. Just concentrate on getting out of here.”

Pete smiled as he hugged his son goodbye before walking to the cell. He felt his eyes filling up with tears. He returned to his cell still feeling terrible. He just didn’t know how much longer he could take of this. He knew that even if he did get out, he couldn’t bear to stay in the Bay or be near his family and friends. He had hurt them too much. Because of him his mum was dead and he just couldn’t stay knowing he caused it.

He laid down on the bed in his cell as he started to remember waking up in Witness Protection.

Flashback:

Pete slowly raised his arms taking the oxygen mask from his mouth and his blurry eyes started to show his surroundings. The blurriness was making Pete angry as the pain started to sink in. His body tensed as the pain was too much for him to bare.

“Hello?” he wined as he tried to get attention.

He listened patiently waiting for a reply but it was like a graveyard. No noise could be heard. It was like he had been dumped in the middle of Australia, and to make things worse, the pain was getting more unbearable as he tried to get attention.

He didn’t have to wait long as he heard footsteps approaching the room.

Just as he watched the person enter the room, his eyes began to close again; the pain had caused him to faint.

Two days later:

Pete woke up slowly as he looked in shock at Tracey Thompson sitting beside his bed.

“Get away!” Pete yelled in disbelief.

“Pete, it’s ok. You have to let me explain.” she pleaded.

Pete slowly managed to move himself up off his bed. He was in shock but he wanted to hear what Tracey had to say. He couldn’t believe what was going on. After all she did tell him that she had been Zoë’s accomplice for all those months. He didn’t know whether she was here to finish him off; he began to shake in fear. The fear built up inside as he prepared himself to hear her explanation. He took a deep breath as he waited.

“I’m sorry Pete…”

“You’re sorry? You are working with a psychopath who blew up my friend’s wedding reception. And, you’re sorry?!” he yelled at her but not before screaming in pain.

Tracey placed her hand on Pete’s arm as she tried to comfort him; Pete reacted by throwing her arm off his as he shouted,

“Get out!”

“Pete, please just let me..”

“Just go now!” he yelled in anger as he clenched his fists.

A few hours had passed, he didn’t know what to do or think. He had just been within 1 meter of the person that could have killed his family and friends. He began to pull out the wires that were hooking him up to the machines. He gradually moved to the side of the bed where he got up and slowly limped towards the nearest door. He was in pain but he knew that he had to get out.

He only just held himself up by grabbing on to anything that would get him further towards the door; he bit his lip as he stopped himself screaming in pain. He slowly pushed the door open as he tried to look for an exit but it was quiet. He limped down the corridor towards the front door. Just as he was about to open the door, however, he fell over on an ornament which was knocked onto the floor.

Tracey raced into the corridor as she saw Pete trying to get away.

“Pete, you can’t do that!”

He turned as he looked at Tracey.

“Why? Why can’t I just get the hell out of here huh?” he demanded to know.

She slowly walked towards him.

“You’re in Witness Protection.”

“I’m what?!” he shouted in shock.

He couldn’t believe what he had just heard. He fell back as he started to slide down the wall behind him. Tracey ran over helping him and as she walked him back into the living room where he laid on the sofa.

Tracey started to explain to Pete…

“Are you ok?”

“Yeah… it’s just a lot to take in.”

“I know. I don’t like being here any much as you. But, they thought it was best because people might not believe me that I was working against Zoe after they saw me at the Barn.”

“Is that all that happened?”

“Yes.”

“What about Drew?”

“Drew is staying with Dan and Leah. Murphy saw him with Dan.”

Pete smiled in relief, as he felt a bit better.

“Now, you have to get some rest.” Tracey insisted as she placed a blanket over Peter.

End of flashback

Peter had no idea when he came out of his reminiscing. By the time he realized that, he had already been crying. He had never cried so hard before in his life than he did now. The pain that he was feeling was consuming him. He cried for hurting Tracey; for hurting his family; for hurting Sally; for hurting Clare; for hurting his son. He cried for all the mistakes that he had made. Never in his life had all the things he had done come rushing out as though wanting to escape the prison in which he had kept them.

How long he sat on his bed and cried he had no idea. Minutes past. Hours past. Yet, still he sat there crying. Crying until he could cry no more. And even then, he still forced himself to cry. ‘Mom, had mentioned a few times before how crying always makes you feel better,’ he thought to himself. ‘And she was right,’ he thought as the tears began to well up again at the mere thought of his mother.

“I’m so sorry. I really am. Please forgive me.” Peter wept and cried out.

“It isn’t your fault, Peter. You’re not to blame for this.”

“Mom? Is that you?”

“It isn’t your fault, Peter. You’re not to blame for this.” And the voice vanished.

“No! Come back!”

However, Peter heard nothing more for he had collapsed down onto his bed. Tired and worn out from all the crying.

That night at the Patterson-Baker house:

Drew Curtis couldn’t sleep. Lately, he had been having trouble sleeping. More like, he hadn’t been sleeping well from the moment he found out his dad was in jail. Drew wanted so badly to help his father but couldn’t think of what to do. He was restless and kept on tossing and turning. He soon gave up and went outside to grab a glass of milk to help him sleep.

Drew got a glass of milk and a packet of Oreos and sat down at the dining table to eat them. He couldn’t help but think back to the time that he had caught Peter sitting in this very dining table drinking a glass of milk and eating Oreos. He had been shocked at that time to find out about the many other things that they had in common with each other. Yet, this only served to make him upset.

He was going through his second packet of Oreos when he heard the sound of tires screeching and a car coming to a halt. He stayed quiet. He heard a door open and close and the car driving off in a flash. He walked towards the window cautiously and peeped out. He saw something through the glass but wasn’t sure if he should go out and inspect. Naturally, curiosity got the better of him and he opened the door slightly to make sure the coast was clear. When he surmised that it was clear, he opened the door fully only to find something that shocked him to the very core.

Preview: What does Drew find that shocks him? Will Clare and Jack finally have the evidence to exonerate Peter?

[Oxidizer]

Finally caught up on this. Whoa, that was intense!

I love the storylines you guys come up with. Can't wait for more!

[Sarah_Lewis]

I just read the last update and it was awesome cant believe i havent read any of it till now!! you two are great writers =] Cant wait for the next update

[swfc]

Thanks heaps guys. Lil and I really appreciate your comments.

Next update should be up sometime this week or next.

[*~Abi~*]

this is so good, poor pete *gives him a hug*

more soon hun

xxx

[allibaz91]

Love the latest chapter!!

Can't think of what Drew could find though ..... And they had better find the evidence or you both know I'll hunt you down

[ldscott]

Great chapters, Please update again soon!