One More Chance

[gawguss_tiff]

That was great huni i loved it damn martha she needs to get back with Jack poor guy hes sooooooo upset without her... its quite cute though lol well update ASAP i love this fic lol

xxox

<3 TIFF

[-ParaisGal-]

Chapter Twenty Nine.

"What, may I ask, are you doing here?" Martha said, grinning at the person at the door, a bemused smile on her face.

"Came to see my wife, and my daughters." He shrugged, letting himself into the apartment.

Martha smiled, closing the door behind her husband as she rolled her eyes "Fine, just rock up at my apartment." She muttered.

"I will." He answered simply, turning as a woman came out of a room "Hello." He nodded to her.

"Who are you?" She asked curiously.

"Jack Holden, Martha's husband." He offered his name forth.

"Louise Macklin, Brett's sister. Martha's aunt." She nodded to him.

"Nice to meet you." He said pleasantly.

"How did you get here, I didn't see you with Martha."

"My brother dropped me off." He grinned "Speaking of which, I'd better bring my stuff in." He said, hurrying out the front.

Martha groaned inwardly as someone knocked at the door again, this proving to be yet another person she didn't know "Hello." She said, desperate to lock the door and never open it again. Already she was sick of this, she didn't give a damn about knowing her father's family. She knew her mother's family, and she was content with that. She didn't need to know her father's side.

"Hello, I'm Tim Macklin, you're brother." The man nodded to her.

"Martha Holden." She said, smiling.

He nodded, then his face froze when he saw Jack, and looked rather coldly at Jack "Jack Holden, what do we owe the pleasure?" He said coldly.

"I'm here with my wife." He said calmly.

"Is Martha you're wife?" He asked in plain disbelief.

"Yes, she is." He said, standing tall.

"What's going on Timothy?" Louise asked her nephew.

"Remember all that drama a few years ago, with my girlfriend being murdered?" He asked.

"Yeah, poor Emily. What does this have to do with Jack?" She asked him.

"He's her murderer."

Louise turned on him "You murdered Emily Chambers?" She asked coldly.

Martha stood closer to Jack, wrapping an arm around him without thinking "If he did what does it matter, he was doing his job." She said quietly.

"He murdered my girlfriend!" He said angrily "She was 19 and she killed him! She had a little boy, my son, he's a eight year old boy who has to grow up without his mother! How do you think Emily's son feels about that? His mother got murdered by his uncle, how do you reckon he felt?"

"I wasn't his uncle back then, and I didn't mean to kill her, but she was about to shoot me!" He protested his innocence.

"Did Martha know you murdered when you married her? Surely Martha would have had enough sense not to marry a murderer." Tim said, stunned.

"And have children with a murderer." Louise said.

"What? She's got kids to him?" Timothy growled.

"Two daughters, two daughters who are obviously better off without their dad around." Louise said, looking to Martha "It would be admirable if you left him now, Martha. There is no need to associate yourself with people like him, he murdered a young mother and innocent girl."

"He was just doing his job." Martha spoke up "She was going to kill him!" She said loudly "What was she doing there in the first place, Jack was just doing his job. Why did she have a gun, why did she kill Ken Mathers?" She said loudly.

"Ken Mathers?" Tim asked.

"Jack's partner. She killed him, and his wife had three kids. Three kids!" She said "You think it's bad that your son lost his mother? Well, Ken's wife and three kids lost their husband and father!" She said angrily "He's one of the best cops I've ever met. He's an amazing father to my daughters, and he's stuck by me thick and thin. He saved my life when my ex boyfriend tried to kill me, he protected me even when we'd split. He's the kindest man anybody could ever ask for as a husband, and I'm real lucky to have him as my husband." She said angrily "If you can't support him or my marriage to him, I might as well leave now."

"I think." Came a voice from the doorway, and they turned and realised they had an audience "I think that we need to hear Jack's side of the story." Brett said.

------

"Well, my partner, Ken Mathers, and I got called out. There was a robbery, and the robbers were believed to be armed. It was a girl, just a girl, we had no idea how old she was or anything. So, we went and we chased the girl, until she realised there wasn't an exit anywhere near here. She turned, and fired at us. She hit Ken in the head with her first two bullets, and two bullet wounds to the head isn't good, and of course Ken died. You can't survive that. She turned her gun on me. I ask you, what would you do if you had a gun in your hand, and someone turned a gun on you, after killing your best mate? Would you fire, or would you let them murder you, when you were just doing your job, not breaking the law and the other person was? She didn't have a license to have that gun, and she didn't have any right to be there. I didn't mean to kill her, I just meant for her to drop that damn gun. If she hadn't of shot Ken, and hadn't turned her gun on me she'd still be here. She'd still be alive. But she did." Jack finished, feeling Martha's arm of comfort around him.

Tim just stared at Jack, unsure if he believed the man's story. His brother in law killed his girlfriend, and his young son's mother, but he was starting to believe him, and starting to realise that it was Emily's fault. She'd gone after the rails, after Tyler's birth, she hadn't been able to cope so she'd disappeared a lot. He remembered the night she never came home, he was up with a crying one month old baby, their baby, when the cops told him his girlfriend had been killed. By a cop. And that it wasn't the cops fault, but he'd blamed the Jack Holden he'd met in court, the Jack Holden who'd been let off for murdering Emily. Now, he was starting to believe Jack Holden, more than he was believing Emily Chambers.

Jack noticed Tim looked unsure of his answers, unsure of how he felt and he understood that. He'd just been told the real story of what happened the night his girlfriend died, and the reason that Tyler's mum wasn't here anymore was because she was breaking the law.

"I'm sorry mate." Tim said, looking Jack in the eye "I had no idea."

Brett, Roo and Martha's grandparents however, still looked at Jack coldly, and Martha caught this and sighed.

-----

"You did a good job today." Martha said, walking into the room after putting Isabel down for the night. She sat on the bed beside him, putting a comforting arm around him. She'd realised she had to throw her confused feelings towards Jack aside, and help him as the painful memories came up again. Not only that, she had to help him properly grieve for his deceased father, something she hadn't been doing.

"Thanks." He said, smiling at her as she wrapped her arms around him, comforting him. He knew she was doing her best to comfort him and he felt grateful for that.

"It's not your fault. Don't beat yourself up about it Jack. In the end, if they hate you, it doesn't matter. Tim apologised, that should be important to you."

"Yeah but I killed his girlfriend, who was a mother. I can only imagine how I'd be after someone murdered you and I had Isabel." He sighed.

"Remember Ken? Remember the man she murdered? His wife had three children under four to look after. She had a four year old, a two year old, and a newborn baby. That would be a lot harder than having a single baby!" She told him.

"I guess." He sighed.

NEXT UPDATE: Which three from Mac's family don't approve of Jack?

[Tasha]

Great chapter Paris. I like Tim. Louise, Brett and the grandparents are evil. I think maybe Brett will forgive Jack, but the others maybe not. Martha is nice though. Loved the beginning when Jack came, i had to read that part like 50x before i knew what was going on

More please

[xsianx]

Go Martha. She was really sweet talking about him.

Brilliant writing Paris.

P.s - Sorry, I wasn't ignoring you this morning, I was in school and I forgot to sign out before I left.

[Zetti]

I love this and the way you described the Emily Chambers case

More soon xxx

[vale4eva]

Great chapter, looking forward to the next one

[beckyboo]

Great chapter Paris but one thing

You said Jack's dad dropped him off yet his dads dead later on in the chapter :S lol

Amazing chapter though

It looks like our Martha is going to be ok with Jack again soon

Update like now

xxxxxxxx

[gawguss_tiff]

gosh what is with the others not believeing jack and still giving him dirty eyes stupid idiots lol ... well yay martha was hugging jack and supporting him i hope they get back together i would be soooo happy if they did hint hint nudge nudge lol

UPDATE ASAP

XOXO

[-ParaisGal-]

How come Becky always catches my slip ups LOL. He's dead. Lol, I wasn't thinking.

[-ParaisGal-]

Chapter Thirty.

"Martha would be better off married to somebody else." Martha's grandmother, Lisa, complained to Brett "You'd really better talk to her, Brett. What if he murders again, what if this time he maybe turns the gun on your daughter and their children? A leopard can never change his spots."

"I agree." Her grandfather, Thomas, chimed in "See it from our side, he murdered my son, your brother, he murdered his girlfriend. Not to mentioned taking Tyler's mother from him. Tyler's 8 now, and he doesn't know his mother because she was murdered by your son-in-law. You mentioned Martha had trouble when she was pregnant with Isabel, she had trouble with him."

"She did." Brett sighed "They'd separated, apparently Martha wasn't happy with his work hours and other stuff. And he had a new girlfriend, and she was worried that Isabel would have to have a stepmother, and she didn't like that Sam girl."

"Understandably. She has every right to be upset over his work hours, if they take time away from her family time. Family is more important than work, if Jack Holden knew that then he wouldn't have murdered Emily." Lisa said firmly "Poor Tyler must grow up without his beloved mother, a mother that beautiful child deserved to have. Emily was going through an unhappy time, she didn't deserve her death!"

"Is everything alright?" Jack asked, walking in with Tim.

"No, everything's not alright you murderer. You married my granddaughter, and expect me to feel happy leaving her and her daughters' lives in your hands. Would you be happy if your granddaughter was married to and had children with a cold hearted murderer?" Lisa demanded.

"I wouldn't but you don't understand the full story." Jack stated, trying not to get angry "Tim holds no grudges against me, and it was his girlfriend!"

"Because he's a forgiving person. My granddaughter means too much to me for me to just let her go with you." She said firmly.

"Her father and mother agree. So, I'm just going to ask you to go home and divorce Martha. Don't go near those children and you'll be fine. We won't do anything else if you follow our rules." Thomas said, relatively calmly.

"I will not divorce Martha! I love her!" He said furiously "She's my wife, and she's my world. She's the mother of my children and I love my wife and daughters to pieces. Don't you dare stand there and criticise me!" He told him.

"What the hell is going on here?" Martha demanded furiously, looking coldly at her grandparents, father and mother.

"Sweetheart, we think that Jack isn't the man for you." Brett said simply, reaching for her hand to hold but she withdrew it.

"Jack is the man for me! I love him, and he's protected me through thick and thin. I mean, sure we're having serious issues but it's my fault! My fault! Not his! I will not divorce him like you all want me to, and I will not leave him. And he won't leave me!" She said "I thought I might be able to give you another chance, another chance at a relationship with me. But I was wrong. Whoever is against Jack has no chance of ever being in contact with me, and that's a promise." She said coldly, running back to her apartment and grabbing her bags, throwing her clothes in, and the kids. By the time Jack got to the apartment, Martha had already started on his clothes, her bags and the girls' bags packed messily in the tray.

"We're going?" He asked her, helping her pack his things.

"Yup." She nodded.

"Martha!" Ruth cried "Please don't go!" She pleaded with her.

"Why not?" She snapped.

"Because we all came together to be a family. A family, Martha, because that's what we are."

"You dumped me in a foster home and you expect me to give a damn about you? I hate you all!" She said, crying lightly with the anger and the hurt "You just put me up for adoption, how the hell do you think that made me feel?" She said, hurrying to her car.

"That wasn't my fault!" Roo said, tears cascading down her face "I was seventeen Martha! Seventeen! Imagine yourself with a baby at seventeen!" She pleaded.

"I had a baby when I was only just 19!" She snapped at her mother harshly "Yet I managed to cope just fine. And I was going through complications in my relationship with my husband then! But I managed to bring up a baby, whose now a healthy and happy four year old!" She said cruelly "But you couldn't. You are so hopeless I cannot believe it." She said coldly, getting into her ute and starting it up.

"Get out of her car!" Brett hissed, hurrying to the passenger seat where Jack was "Stay the hell away from my daughter and granddaughters."

"It's her own choice!" Jack said, nodding to Martha who drove off.

NEXT UPDATE: Which of the Macklin's decides to move to the bay?