All That You Can't Leave Behind

[Adia]

ChapterTwentyThree:

Johnny smiled as he watched Nina read the piece of paper.

“So are you in?” he asked her.

She looked over at her brother. “Well, what do you think?”

Jake rolled his eyes. “Whatever. It’s stupid anyway.”

“It’s not stupid!” Johnny yelled. “It’s an order from the boss, and you are going to do it!”

“You’re kidding right?” Jake said to him. “What the hell do you need that stuff for?”

He snatched the paper off Nina. “That doesn’t matter. What matters is whether or not you do the job right.”

“This is stupid. You came to me REMEMBER Johnny? I don’t see why I have to do whatever you say. I can easily walk.”

Johnny pulled out a small knife from out of his pocket and laughed. “No, Jake. I don’t think you will walk.” He said callously. “You see, I think I have you pretty much figured out…” he walked over to Nina and stood behind her.

“I need you and your lovely sister here for the big job that I have planned. And the fact of the matter is… now that you’re in with me, it’s going to be a lot harder to get out.”

He leaned into her and smelt her hair. As he inhaled he smiled and watched Jake squirming in his seat.

“Your sister is very beautiful Jakey,” he said quietly. “I’d hate to see anything happen to that pretty face of hers”. He put his arm around Nina’s neck and almost had her in a head lock. He brushed the knife against her cheek, but the blade was incredibly sharp and even the lightest touch drew some blood.

Nina closed her eyes and bit her lip. “Let’s just do this Jake.” She whispered. ‘It’s easy anyway. I’ll do it for you this one last time, and then I’m out.”

Jake nodded. “Alright. I’ll do it.” He said giving in.

“Good” Johnny said letting Nina go. “Tomorrow night it is then.”

“Tomorrow?” Jake exclaimed. “You’re pushing you’re luck mate.”

“Listen to me!” Johnny yelled. “You’ll do as I say. You were nothing before I came along, and you owe this to me Jake!”

Jake laughed. “Whatever. If this is some sort of test. I’ll pass with flying colours. You forget that I could do this stuff with my eyes closed.”

“I like you Jake,” said Johnny. “You remind me so much of myself.” He pulled out a pack of cigarettes and lit one. “Do this for me, and you’ll never have to worry about anything ever again.”

Jake sat in the car and just stared out the window.

“Aren’t you going to start the car?” Nina asked him.

“Listen kiddo, if you want out. Now’s the time to say it” he said solemly.

“Why would I want out?” she asked him. “I’ve come this far already, besides, it’s not over yet. I can’t just up and leave you.”

“Maybe it would be best. I can finish it on my own.” He shut his eyes because he knew that he could not look at her. “It’s just, I see the way you look at him you know…”

Nina frowned. “What? What are you talking about?”

“I know you kiddo, and I know that you have a soft spot for bad boys.”

“Don’t even go there” Nina said crossing her arms. “Whatever you think you see, you couldn’t be further from the truth.”

“I’ve seen you look that way before, and we all know how that turned out.”

She was angry and she shoved him hard. “Shut up!” she screamed. “I thought I was just doing what was part of the plan. You wouldn’t know the first thing about what I feel, or what I have ever FELT.”

“I don’t want you to get hurt again that’s all” he said softly. “Do you know how much it killed me to see you like that last time? I felt guilty because I couldn’t save you. Maybe if I had, I would have spared you all that pain.”

“Do you know how much it kills me to see you wasting your life trying to protect me all the time?” she said sadly. “I can fight my own battles. Put it this way. When it comes to the actual time that I need protection, you never seem to be around anyway.” A tear streamed down her cheek and the memory behind what they were talking about came flooding back to her in one big hit.

“I let you out my sight for two hours kiddo… and it’s left both of us with scars for life…”

She reached over and hugged him. He wrapped his arms around her and held her close to him. He wanted to keep her like this forever, because he knew it was the only way he would ever know she was safe.

[Adia]

ChapterTwentyFour:

Martha lay in her bed alone. If Jack had even come home, he had already left before she could notice. She got up and walked into the kitchen. Still no sign of Jack.

Jack woke up and rubbed his eyes. He cold not believe he had fallen asleep at his desk.

“You’re in early Jack” said Harper as he came in the doors.

“Umm, yeah.” Jack said tiredly. “I thought I might catch up on some paper work.”

“Oh good,” said Harper. “Any leads on the robbery case?”

“Not yet, but I think I might be pretty close. Lara seems to think that Rocco and Johnny Cooper are involved.”

“Well what do you think Holden?” Harper asked.

“I’m thinking that there might be few other people involved. I’m going into the hospital later to question Rocco again. There’s something he’s not telling us.”

“Well good luck with that. I guess now would be one of those times that we need a detective around here.”

“Hey do you mind covering for me?” said Jack. “I just want to head down to the diner and grab something to eat.”

As Jack made his way to the diner he saw Martha standing near the lookout. He desperately wanted to talk to her, but he knew that she’d be angry with him. He turned to walk away, but Martha called out to him.

“Were you even going to say hello to me?” she said sadly.

Jack turned around and walked towards her. “I wasn’t sure if you’d be glad to see me that’s all.” He stroked her hair as she closed her eyes, feeling glad that she was close to him again.

“What happened to us Jack?” she asked him. “Where and when did we lose each other?”

Jack sighed and held her closer to him. “I didn’t think that I could ever lose you. I love you Martha, and that’s the most important thing. This whole time I have never stopped loving you, not one bit.”

“I love you too Jack.” She said starting to cry. “But I miss you more than anything else. I can’t love someone that’s practically invisible.”

“I’ve been caught up at work. First with the pyro thing, and now the gang. I do what I do because I want you to be safe. When I think about trying to catch these criminals, I think of you. I think that I’m keeping one bad guy off the street that can never hurt you.”

“I understand” she said quietly. “But please come home.”

Jack smiled and looked deep into her eyes. “Tonight. Tonight I promise I will make everything up to you. Let’s not fight anymore okay?”

“Alright.” She smiled and kissed him gently. They held each others hands tightly as they made their way to the diner.

[xsianx]

All the recent chapters have been great

Yay! Jack and Martha are happy for now...

Great writing.

[SfanS]

Awww, how sweet....

Nina and _____ sitting in a treee...that's the thing, who DOES she like...have I missed something?

Ohhh, I wonder what they have to do...?

[Adia]

^^Thank you guys! I'm glad that people are enjoying it!

Nina's crush will be explained in a bit more detail later on... it's definitley someone that she should not be getting involved with...

[Adia]

ChapterTwentyFive:

Nina sat next to Rocco’s bed patiently waiting for him to wake up. She flicked through a magazine and looked around the room. She was incredibly bored.

Matilda knocked softly on the door before she entered. She was quite surprised to see Nina siting there.

“Hey” she whispered. I just heard about Rocco.”

“Yeah me too” Nina lied. “I just thought that I’d see how he was.”

“It’s awful isn’t it?” said Matilda. “I mean, who could have done something like this.”

“I think he’s going to be okay” Nina told her. “I heard the doctors saying that he could be discharged as early as tomorrow.”

“That’s great”.

“What made you come down here anyway” Nina asked.

“I guess I thought that he might need a friend or something? I know what it’s like to be in here and not have anyone to talk to.”

“Are you feeling better after yesterday?”

Matilda nodded. “Yeah, a lot better. I wrote some stuff in my journal this morning and I realised that Cassie was probably just lashing out at me because she’s angry. I’m totally over it.”

Nina smiled politely.

“How do you know Macca?” Matilda asked her.

Nina frowned and looked puzzled. “Macca?”

“Yesterday at the surf club… you guys had a weird moment. Like you two knew each other.”

“Oh, umm, he looked like someone I know, but it turns out I’ve never met him before in my life.”

“What happened to your face?” Matilda asked pointing to the cut on her cheek.

Nina rubbed it and shrugged her shoulders. ‘It was nothing. I didn’t even realise that I’d scratched myself.”

“Nina, is everything okay with you? I mean you haven’t really said much about yourself and whenever we talk about your brother you get a little uneasy. Is everything okay?”

“Everything is fine.” Nina insisted. “I’m just not used to telling people stuff about me. I’m usually a loner type person. Look, I’ll tell you whatever you want to know. But maybe later, I better get going.” She looked at her watch and grabbed her bag off the floor.

“Maybe I’ll see you later?” she said to Matilda.

Matilda nodded and watched as Nina left. She knew that something wasn’t right.

Rocco rubbed his eyes and started waking up. He saw Matilda sitting next to him and he ginned at her.

“Hi” he said adjusting his drip cord.

“Hi” she replied. “I thought that I might come and see how you were doing.

“Thanks” he croaked. Matilda poured him some water.

“Here,” she said handing him the glass. “Your throat can get really dry in here.”

He skulled down the water. “Has Nina been in today?” he asked.

“Yeah she just left” Matilda told him. “She had somewhere to go. Do really know much about her?”

Rocco turned away from her. “Not a lot. But she might be in a bit of trouble.”

“How do you mean?” Matilda asked.

“Her brother is friends with my brother. They run in the same circles if you get my drift.”

Nina walked outside and down the road. As she sat waiting for the bus she called her brother.

“Everything is set for tonight. I have a pretty good idea about where everything is, and I checked their security. It should be smooth sailing. If we do it tonight, I don’t think that we’ll get caught.”

[tasha7905]

Just caught up, and the last chapters have been great, I like the strange friendship between Nina and Matilda. Cant wait to find out what Nina and her brother are going to do.

[Adia]

Thanks for your comments Tasha! I'm honestly addicted to writing this fic. lol.

ChapterTwentySix:

Jack and Martha sat cuddling in one of the booths at the diner. They were both glad that they were back to some form of normality.

“Once we’ve gotten to the bottom of the diner case, I’ll put in some leave and we can go where ever you want” Jack told her.

“Are you sure about that Mr Holden?” Martha smiled. “I wouldn’t want you to make promises that you can’t keep.”

Jack beamed back at her. “Who said that was a promise?” he laughed.

Tony and Beth came into the diner and saw the smiling couple.

“I take it that you’re out of the dog box then mate?” Tony said cheerfully.

“For now…” said Martha. “He has to make it up to me first, and I have extremely high expectations.”

Irene was outside the diner clearing some tables when Matilda rushed up to her.

“Have you seen Nina today?” she asked her.

“No love? Is everything okay?” Irene said concerned.

“I just have to talk to her. It’s really important. If you see her, can you tell her that I’m looking for her?”

“Sure darl,” said Irene.

Matilda rushed off without saying anything else, leaving Irene a little dazed and confused.

Colleen was extremely sad when she came to their table to take their order. “Cheer up Colleen,” said Tony. “I’m sure Madge will be okay.”

“Well she’s started to gain conciousness again.” Colleen replied sullenly. “But who in their right minds would run over an old women. It just goes to show that you can never be safe, even in a small community like this. It’s when you get those outsiders is when you get the trouble.”

“Everyone starts of here as an outsider” said Martha. “That’s the point of making friends…”

“Yes, but who wants to make friends with someone who runs over old women?” said Colleen.

As she walked back into the diner carrying some plates, Irene saw Beth and decided to tell her about her encounter with Matilda.

“Is everything alright with Maddie?” Irene asked Beth.

“Everything seems to be fine” said Beth. “Why? Has something happened?”

“Well she was all frantic looking for Nina.” Irene told her.

Jack’s ears pricked up. “Hang on? Matilda was looking for Nina? Nina Rogers?” he asked Tony and Beth.

“She’s the only Nina I know” said Beth. “Why? Do you know her?”

“I know ABOUT her” Jack told them. “And I don’t think that you would want Matilda hanging out with her.”

“Why’s that?” Tony asked. “She seemed really nice. I really liked her.”

“She seemed to be a bit edgy though” Beth added. “Every time we talked about her brother she seemed to clam up a bit.”

Jack screwed up his face. “Her brother is on parole. He was involved in armed robbery and drug dealing. But he’s committed way more crimes.”

“Well what about Nina?” asked Beth. “What happened to her?”

Jack sighed and took a deep breath. “Nina’s been pretty much involved wherever her brother has. She’s got a pretty long record too… she hasn’t been in trouble for a while, but she was arrested last year.”

“Well what for?” Tony asked concerned.

“She was at a high school in the city. I’m not sure about the full details, but the police report said that she pulled a gun on another student.”

“WHAT!!!” exclaimed Tony, Beth and Irene.

“There wasn’t much in the report, but as far as I knew she got arrested but never charged. It seemed really weird to me. But I mean that’s not all. Nina and Jake Rogers are really dangerous.”

“This is what I told you about outsiders” Colleen warned. ‘They’re nothing but trouble.”

“Well surely they can’t let her go to the school here if she’s done something like that?” Beth said, still in shock. “Wouldn’t that be putting the students lives in danger or something?”

“It’s a free country Beth” said Tony. “Schools can turn away students, but she could be trying to change you know? Like Jack said, there wasn’t much in the report so there might be a perfectly reasonable explanation for all of this.”

“You do realise that Lucas is in her class. Not to mention the fact that Matilda has started to become friends with her.”

Tony sighed. “I’m going on facts here Beth. Nina was arrested but she was never CHARGED. So she must have had good reason to do something like that.”

“I can’t believe that you’re defending her Dad” said Jack. “She’s not exactly a saint.”

“Like I said, I was just going on facts.” Tony said rolling his eyes.

“There must be something that we can do!” exclaimed Beth. “Protest or something? If we stick together maybe we can drive her and her brother out of town.”

“That’s going a bit far isn’t it?” said Tony.

“Tony Holden, you know me better than anyone” said Beth sternly. “When it comes to protecting my children, I will do whatever it takes!”

[SfanS]

Adia, yet another great chapter....hmm....I think Nina likes Rocco, but why would HE be bad to get involved with?? I hope she likes Rocco

[Tasha]

Hehe, liking Beth's protest idea Glad Jack and Martha are happy again

Please update soon