Two Hearts Tested..

[dee83]

hope this fan fic is going 2 continue cause its grt so far

[WYN100]

**PART FIVE**

The atmosphere inside the Holden kitchen-room was taut and compressed, almost as if it had been shrink-wrapped in time by some ethereal remote control.

The cloying and uncertain silence was finally broken by Jack, as if emerging from the haze to pull some quickly acquired cobwebs from the scene merging around them. Exchanging quick glances with his father, he volunteered , "Martha - are you all right...?"

Still framed in the slightly dappled glow around the doorway, her face remained 100 per cent implacable as she nodded almost imperceptibly and replied in a tone pitched only just somewhere above whisper "Yes Jack, perhaps a little more than alright...."

His brow still registered confusion..."So....?"

After another gap, and a diminutive cough came the response that would crank the already throbbing merry-go-round of Jack's mind into renewed and violent endeavour - - -

"So..? ..well, I guess the 'so' is...!

Another delicate cough..

"Ah, Jack,,,,,,I'm pregnant...."

Momentarily the global pause button seemed once again to have been pressed. Then - from Jack,

"PREGNANT !! - wow, ah - um - Awesome !- um - ah.."

And from Tony - "Um - ah, wow..pregnant..." - before the seemingly inevitable enquiry in these situations - "How did that happen....?"

That was enough to make Jack stop short, turn slowly towards his semi-shell-shocked father, raise his eyebrows to the due north position, breathe in and say to Tony "Well you see Dad, it's like this... when a girl and boy love each other very much..."

"Oh har-dee ha Jack, most amusing !..." His thoughts and emotions were churning round as much if not more than his son's as he tried with limited success to restore some internal calm "No, what I mean is...ah, well...what can I say....?"

"Ah - how about CONGRATULATIONS maybe...? Neither of you seem exactly overjoyed about this...?" she responded with quiet determination

That sent the other two into an urgent and over-elaborate mini-pantomime to portray a depth of joy that lacked a certain spontaneity and sincerity..

"No, no...don't be silly...."

"Noo, Martha of COURSE not..."

"How long have you known...."

"When's it due...? "

Suddenly though it was as if Jack had both phoned a friend and asked the audience over the crucial million dollar question of when to tell her about his imminent transfer.

Ignoring urgently negative and inexpertly disguised semaphore signals from his father, he extended the palm of his hand...he couldn't and shouldn't delay this any longer...Martha had to be told...

Johnny Cooper's voice was characteristically rusty, clipped and uncompromising. He was sitting in the front of the small van he'd temporarily 'acquired' for the duration of this current enterprise issuing short, staccato bursts of instruction and occasional brief general comment into his mobile phone.

"You see, I'm a no-nonsense kind of guy - I want to make an omelette I don't introduce the eggs one by one to the blender and discuss the weather first, it's just splat - get in there kind of thing, you hear what I'm saying ?"

As he spoke - and received his replies- Johnny's eyes were constant;y peering outwards and upwards from the van's front window up towards the dimly-lit window of Wayne Rogers' first-floor "office" - Cam Reynolds had exited the street level access door some ten minutes previously and headed off, but Johnny was a man on a mission - quite possibly a dual one from the look of it !

As the buzz of speech at the other end of the phone halted, Johnny continued "Yep, good stuff mate, I'd heard round and about that you were a bit of an 'enforcer' - and I'm sure you, ah..KNOW a few other guys who can be relied on too - ...if you know what I mean.....? Ha, cool, thought so - and remember if you do run into the guy I'm sorting this with - Reynolds he's called - you smile and nod politely, but unless I've ok'd it, you tell him absolutely DIDDLY, ok ?? "

Johnny's brow darkened slightly - this had a lot of baggage attatched to it, especially with Rocco and all, and whatever Cam might say, this was going to get done HIS way..

The voice crackled again "Yep mate, I'm still here..." A thought struck him..."One other thing mate, am I right in thinking I heard YOU had some trouble and issues with that septic Summer Bay place going back a bit too...?''

But before there was time for an answer, Johnny's rear-view mirror alerted him to the sight of Wayne who'd killed the light upstairs and was now starting to lock the access door.

"Mate, I'll call you back..." snapped Johnny, ending the call and levering himself out of the van door almost in one sequential movement. Within seconds he was moving down the pavement towards Wayne who half-turned in the act of double-locking the door bolt, noticed Johnny and observed almost routinely "Oh hi, thought you were long gone..."

He turned back to the lock, but felt his shoulder being pulled back round reasonably roughly. As an objection formed on his lips, he became intrusively aware of Johnny's hot and not altogether pleasant body perfume forcing their way up his nostrils as the elder Cooper's face was placed unsettlingly close to his own.

As stated earlier, there was rarely if ever any ceremony or build-up in Johnny's manner when he wanted to know something or get something done - now was one of those precise categories.

Leaving his hand on Wayne's shoulder in what could have been construed as either friendly or (as he intended here) more intimidating- fashion, his nose was merely millimetres away frm the other man's as he enquired huskily

"So then Wayne - how about you fill me in on this spot of sub-contracting you've been doing with our Mr Reynolds then....?"

[I love music]

I sometimes find your frequent use of metaphors (I don't think I'm using the right expression here, but I can't think what the right expression should be! ) can spoil the flow of your fics a little but then again they're often used well:

almost as if it had been shrink-wrapped in time by some ethereal remote control.

Suddenly though it was as if Jack had both phoned a friend and asked the audience over the crucial million dollar question

Nice contrast between the happy, light-hearted scene and the later dramatic scene.

[WYN100]

HEY - *TOTALLY* fair point about the analagies/ metaphors ILM and very well spotted - I'm like that with them ALL the time even in day-to-day conversations and at times hardly know I'm doing it !! - anyway thanks for reading it and hope it didn't spoil it TOO much for you..? - hopefully I haven't put too many in this one but would really love to maybe know what you thought as I've always really respected your stuff on this site ! Thanks again anyway !!

*PART SIX*

Jack ran a less than fascinated eye over the Eastlake High Street horizon, emitting as he did a deep and rueful sigh that spoke of someone with troubles too many to mention, levered himself up and out and locked the car. His appetite for seeing morning shoppers jostling for bargains was limited at the best of times, but the circumstances of what he viewed as this 'hostile exile' to Eastlake made him view this particular group with the kind of simmering disregard and suspicion he normally reserved for a group of crime suspects caught red -handed after a raid. It had now been a full two weeks since he'd had any meaningful communication with Martha - since the fateful day she'd arrived at his house with news of what should have been the final cherry on the cake of their reunion - her pregnancy, things had hurtled downhill at an alarming rate. His grand but ill-timed revelation of his imminent transfer had swept her into a cocktailed furore of accusation, indignation and outrage about how he'd always put his career first at her expense - how he was prepared to desert their baby - and how this indicated just how incompatible they really were. She'd then swept imperiously from the scene back to the flat that had become her effective bunker and to which he really had been barred all access - both in person, and even by phone.

Clearly Jack had been , and still was, acutely concerned about her physical situation, but the intervening 14 days or so had brewed his seething resentment at a 'career move' he'd neither asked for or desired to new heights. On more than one occasion too, Tony had courted a severe risk of a tap around the head from his son's police stick by hinting he should have delayed the news till Martha'd been a little more settled into the pregnancy, so it was scarcely with the glowing enthusiasm and keen desire for duty that Police higher command would have wished for that Jack arrived in the small town that was seemingly to be his base for the immediate future Inhaling deeply, Jack fingered his mobile phone - contemplated calling Martha - then changed his mind quickly and rammed the handset back in his hip pocket. He'd become so perfectly attuned to the "Hi, you've reached Martha McKenzie's phone...." voicemail message on such a sappingly regular basis that even though it was her voice, another dose of that unforgivingly constant refrain was not quite what he needed at that moment. Consulting once again the letter containing directions to the police HQ and his instructions to report to Inspector Hylton at 11-30, his lip curled slightly as he muttered dismissively "stupid one-horse town this looks anyway !.." to himself and strode away on what seemed to be no more than a five-minute walk at most.

If he'd only known it, Jack was making the cardinal error of allowing personal feelings to dilute his professional focus. Since his car had first wheeled slowly into the town square, his every movement and expression had been under close scrutiny. And that was a scrutiny which remained dogged and resolute - albeit from a safe distance - till he'd entered the police station and let the door close behind him. And - - even as he was settling down in a chair opposite the aforementioned inspector , what appeared to be a perfectly genuine emergency vehicle repair van was pulling up alongside his parked car in the town square and two men carrying an array of tools were dismounting. The car of course had developed no fault - and the very much unaware Constable Holden certainly hadn't reported one......

"Jack will you just give it a REST !!" - Martha's voice radiated exasperation, impatience and a degree of resentment as the firm and rapid volley of knocking drew her from the bathroom of her flat out towards the front door. Pausing to turn down the radio through which Bay FM had been directing the thunderous bass tones of Bon Jovi to its listenership, she continued to yell "Just how MANY times do I have to say I DON'T want..."

She paused as the slightly muffled tones of someone that definitely WASN'T Jack became audible through the door panels. Leaning back further to kill the radio signal completely, she recognized instead the voice of Rachel "Martha...?...are you ok in there...?..." Martha sighed inaudibly, rolled her eyes to the ceiling and shuffled slowly to the door, tweaking the handle open before pulling the large blue towel she was wearing tighter around her and heading for the sofa where she flopped. Rachel entered haltingly behind and traced her footsteps into the centre of the room, pausing only to set down her briefcase and perch on the end of the sofa cushion.

She examined Martha with a genuinely solicitous gaze before volunteering " Lady, if you shouting at that door is any example of how you're coping with this, then I'm here to tell you that you're NOT !! You're pregnant with all that involves, and that includes blood pressure levels that can rocket like an elevator hitting floor 100 if you're not Extremely careful - do you WANT that for yourself OR this little one ??"

Martha's face drew into a mini-scowl as she muttered back huffily "Well if the dear FATHER isn't bothered, then why should I be, eh ??"

A brief line of disquiet crossed Rachel's face, and she paused briefly before replying . "Is that what this is all about Martha ? We haven't seen you for nearly two weeks, your grandad's beside himself with worrying and Jack's been going about the place like a bad-tempered bull with a permanent migraine !!"

Martha didn't look overly impressed at this news on the emotional plight of assorted Bay residents, and seemed to be fighting a significant, prolonged and evenly-matched internal battle about whether or not to respond. Eventually, the cards fell on the side of communication, so with reddening face and a heart thumping so markedly she could feel it pounding in both ears she turned to Rachel and proceeded to unleash the mounting catalogue of inner frustrations and concerns that had been leashed up inside her since Jack's transfer bombshell.

"OK I'll tell you then - - after EVERYTHING I'd been through - all that garbage with Ash, and Cam, and Jack almost hooking right back up with Sam and Rory, WE were getting back together - it was GOOD - all boxes ticked - we were going to look for a place together - then I found out I was pregnant - and hey, that should have been IT ! - last piece of the jigsaw - happy ever after - HUH - how dumb was I ?? The Almighty WORK snaps its fingers and he goes running ! Eastlake - that's EIGHT HOURS DRIVE away Rachel - this baby would know the POSTMAN who delivers here better than it does its own FATHER - why should I just say that's ok ?? Because I DON'T think it is !!"

Rachel 's expression was growing increasingly concerned, but as she was about to intervene with another counsel of calm, another care-laden sigh exited Martha's mouth, and from an increasingly pale and tense face came " And if I'm HONEST , I'm not a HUNDRED per cent sure that everything's ok with this pregnancy either...."

As the first suggestion of tears moistened the outer rims of her eyes, a thick and tangible silence seemed to descend on the small living room area through which both women seemed to struggle to fashion a next move or statement. Eventually after 20 seconds or so that had borne all the characteristics of the longest and darkest winter month of the year, Rachel's expression grew increasingly serious - as she reached for and slowly opened her briefcase , "Now Martha, there's really no need to be overly concerned, but now you say that, part of the reason I came today is that there is something I've brought from the hospital that I need to show you..."

As Martha turned to look at her, it was as if the could hear the already shaky foundations of her current life situation beginning to topple around her...

Tony did yet another double-take at the document on his desk - exactly HOW many times had he now read that line about the 'importance of embracing the wider community' , he wondered ? Was it really any wonder though ? Life seemed to have had a complete air of surreality since Beth had gone - akk the problems with Lucas and Matty - the whole rather strange situation between him and Jas - who'd just sent him one of those strange but admittedly addictive text messages of hers - and now the WHOLE Jack and Martha thing had well and truly erupted into crisis - little wonder that 'embracing the wider community' once again slipped past his eyes while making little or no contact with his brain.

"Dammit.." he mouthed silently , breathing in for another attempt at it. With all the things in his personal life, the obvious and distinct intrigue that had been brewing in the office for a good few weeks now had simply been forced t o the back of his mind. Little or nothing of any significance had emerged from the big staff meeting a few weeks back, but it was clear to all and sundry that something was decidedly on the simmer if not yet on the boil. Tony breathed in deeply and psyched himself up to tackle " embracing the wider community" for a third and final time as if he were an army commando preparing to attack a particularly daunting mountain peak.

But - he was to be thwarted yet again, as into the office strode Roger Watson, his perpetually careworn-looking line manager who coughed briefly before announcing " Gents, I've got an announcement to make - we all know that - for whatever reason - things have been a little - er, turbulent- around here lately, and we all need to regain a bit of work focus, so for that reason with immediate effect I've appointed a head of the administration department, starting today..." Tony heard the news with little or no interest or enthusiasm. Some guy or other in a grey suit he supposed, - wouldn't affect him much either way, in all probability. He forced his mind back onto what Watson was saying - - just in time for it to absorb the full velocity of shock it carried with it ,

"Gentlemen, please give a big Council welcome to...Miss Naomi Preston...."

Tony could only gape.....

[I love music]

Only just read, hope to have time to review tomorrow.

[I love music]

Okay, your writing is really good and the dialogue is excellent but there are two things you can do that would help. One is paragraphs!!! It’s always a good idea to put a line space inbetween conversations.

The other thing is, sometimes you need to get inside a character’s head and let that person tell it exactly like it is. For instance, there’s nothing wrong with...

Martha didn't look overly impressed at this news on the emotional plight of assorted Bay residents, and seemed to be fighting a significant, prolonged and evenly-matched internal battle about whether or not to respond. Eventually, the cards fell on the side of communication, so with reddening face and a heart thumping so markedly she could feel it pounding in both ears she turned to Rachel and proceeded to unleash the mounting catalogue of inner frustrations and concerns that had been leashed up inside her since Jack's transfer bombshell.

....but it comes across as an observation by someone who just happened to be passing at the time! You only need to change it slightly but this is how it would sound from Martha’s viewpoint:

Martha tried desperately to remain unimpressed at the news of the emotional plight of assorted Bay residents, fighting an internal battle within herself on whether or not to respond. Eventually, despite her best efforts,the cards fell on the side of communication. Red-faced and heart thumping so markedly she could hear it pounding in both her ears, she turned to Rachel and finally unleashed the catalogue of inner frustrations and concerns that had been locked inside her ever since Jack’s transfer bombshell.

"OK I'll tell you then - - after EVERYTHING I'd been through - all that garbage with Ash, and Cam, and Jack almost hooking right back up with Sam and Rory, WE were getting back together - it was GOOD - all boxes ticked - we were going to look for a place together - then I found out I was pregnant - and hey, that should have been IT ! - last piece of the jigsaw - happy ever after - HUH - how dumb was I ?? The Almighty WORK snaps its fingers and he goes running ! Eastlake - that's EIGHT HOURS DRIVE away Rachel - this baby would know the POSTMAN who delivers here better than it does its own FATHER - why should I just say that's ok ?? Because I DON'T think it is !!"

See, Martha’s conversation when she finally lets off steam is really, really good so it’s only a small step away from getting inside her head.

Here’s another example:

As the first suggestion of tears moistened the outer rims of her eyes, a thick and tangible silence seemed to descend on the small living room area through which both women seemed to struggle to fashion a next move or statement. Eventually after 20 seconds or so that had borne all the characteristics of the longest and darkest winter month of the year, Rachel's expression grew increasingly serious - as she reached for and slowly opened her briefcase...

With very few changes to what you’ve already written, you can move away from being a neutral observer and make it more personal...

To her consternation, a lump came to her throat and the first suggestion of tears moistened the outer rims of her eyes. With the heaviness of a long, dark winter, a thick and tangible silence descended on the small living room and for a while neither could move nor speak. Twenty seconds that seemed like twenty years frozen in time had passed before Rachel gravely reached for and slowly opened her briefcase.

Hope that helped! It’s really well written.

[dee83]

like the story hope u update soon

[WYN100]

**PART SEVEN**

Jack's truculent frame of mind had improved little after his lengthy and rather less than inspiring introductory meeting with the earnest-looking Inspector Hylton. That had kept him planted and shifting restlessly on a rather hard office chair for the better part of two hours before he'd made a grateful escape to head for his temporary police-owned accommodation on the eastern side of the town near to where the sea crept in past the cove and joined hands with a series of small bays favoured mainly by hardcore surfers and out of town day-trippers.

Hylton had held forth in ringing tones on the policing challenges of the Eastlake region, which to Jack's jaundiced ear seemed to consist largely of shadowing and apprehending interstate gangs of pick-pockets who apparently swept in to exploit the crowds at the weekend markets before melting away and disappearing like the morning mist - hardly CSI , was it ? he reflected t grudgingly to himself, then...."Whoooa !! you stupid....!!" as a car not so much cut the sharp corner ahead coming towards him, but sliced it into thin ribbons and left it spreadeagled on the road behind him. As the Schumacher wannabee rapidly folded into a disappearing dot in his rear-view mirror, Jack straightened himself from where he'd had to jab the palm of his left hand onto the passenger seat for support as he'd steered out of the other driver's path, knocking his mobile phone amd a file of criminal profiles Hylton had presented him with away to one side.

His eyes lingered briefly on the phone, contemplating whether another call to Martha would be worthwhile. That idea was dismissed almost as abruptly as it had been born, swept away by a combination of disappointment and annoyance - qualities which figured heavily as he steered the car onto a spectacular-looking but seemingly isolated stretch of coast road. As his mind queried the apparent lack of any population hub in a region where the views alone would surely have commanded telephone-number style property prices, he failed to immediately notice tongues of smoke licking around the corners of the car bonnet.

That momentary lack of observation was to prove critical as an ugly-sounding explosive noise from within the engine rent the air of the sleepy cosatal hamlet- and as Constable Holden's attention and eyes were forcibly wrenched from their momentary state of inattention, a horror of apprehension seemed to both instantly chill the blood in his veins and ignite a furnace of tense horror behind his forehead - sheets of flame were now beginning to cascade through the cracks and across the front of his car - - the engine was effectively well ablaze - with the petrol tank and the inevitable threat that posed just a foot or two away.......

Tony had waited only the bare discreet minute or two before sizing up the situation of who was doing what and where before aiming himself directly at the office where Naomi was to be stationed and slipping inside.

Her head was bent over a file of some sort, making what looked like introductory entries - "Won't keep you a minute, Mr ah, um...." - she waved her left hand absently in the air, but still didn't look up. Mr ah..um's mounting and barely suppressed fury wasn't eased by her detatched aqnd clearly offhand approach. He advanced a few steps before planting his hands on the edge of the desk, and- looking down, growled through firmly clenched teeth "HOLDEN... remember, that family you gave it your best shot at completely ruining a short while back..??" The red rag to the Holden bull was fluttered further as she continued to write for a further ten seconds or so before finally looking up. She scanned his face with a neutral expression before saying "Ah yes- Holden... you're 'embracing the wider community', right......?"

Tony felt his hackles visibly rising - if he heard that wretched phrase ONE more time.......

He thumped the table with a clenched fist. "To HELL with embracing the wider community ..!!" he snarled, patience tottering on a feather-thin tightrope.."What I'm FAR more interested in is why are YOU back in OUR community, eh ??"

His voice had risen steadily in pitch and intensity, drawing forth a few glances and nudged shoulders, as is always the case in seemingly busy but always with ample time to betray their perennially inquisitive heartbeat. She calmly rose and closed the French blinds to the barely concealed disappointment of three or four faces, but though Tony didn't altogether register it, her face had a harder, less engaging look as she turned back in his direction.

"I DON'T appreciate you drawing attention to me like this on my first day ..!"..she said icily, through firmly compressed lips.

"Oh you don't ??" he jeered in response.. " well let ME tell YOU that I don't appreciate seeing YOU back round these parts after all that other garbage...quite APART from getting Brad thrown out of a job he STILL hasn't got back - you move in on my teenage son, and - Naomi, please get the MESSAGE - I'm with someone ELSE now, and even if I WASN'T and you were the last woman on EARTH...!!".

He broke off, aware of being measured by a steady stare from two powerfully Arctic blue eyes. Naomi had sat down again by now and - placing her pen on the desk in front of her, asked in a voice that reflected the uncomfortably low temperature displayed by the eyes "You finished ? Right, well - reality check MR Holden - firstly from this minute on I'm your line manager in this office, so I'll expect the respect that goes with that. Secondly - - you clearly have MAJOR ego proportion problems if you think that one..." she paused , shaking her head dismissively..."NIGHT I spent with you would make me pine away until I could bear it no longer and returned here heartbroken to be swept into your manly and forgiving arms. And THIRDLY..." her tone lowered still further, and Tony seemed to feel the room grow perceptibly colder around him.

"thirdly, I didn't MOVE IN your teenage son - it was a mutual , unique and one-off encounter at a camp. When I returned to the Bay I didn't KNOW he was there, and IMMEDIATELY backed right away from him - I was a TEACHER..." Her eyes narrowed. "But I'm NOT now - AND, MR Holden, I'm happy to make this clear from the outset - I'm not back in the Bay to chase after a middle-aged Romeo with delusions - - but to re-connect with someone very genuine and extremely sincere - - yes, MR Holden, I'm back for your son Lucas... and whether you, Brad Armstrong, Alf Stewart or Colleen Smart says or thinks any different, THIS time, I'm going to GET him....!!" A thunderstruck Tony could find no immediate reply....

Rachel lifted the X-Ray down and placed it slowly on the table in the examination room. She'd eventually succeeded in persuading Martha to come to the hospital after hearing her own secret misgivings about how the pregnancy had ben progressing and running past her the content of the preliminary scan and the problems it had shown . It had been a tough job, as Martha's outlook on life was still being driven more or less solely by resentment at Jack, with as yet relatively minor incursions of real concern over this steadily looming potential problem with the baby.

"You see Martha, those exessive cramps you've been feeling - the increased temperature and water intake - - we believe your baby could be suffering from congenital heart disease - I don't know whether your grandad will have mentioned Shauna, but he's certainly had experience of this in the family. Now it's not certain - - but having a possible warning early can only be good - - not the least so that we can give you some very firm advice about how to proceed from here..."

Martha was just finishing dressing, and didn't give any impression of being someone who'd care to hear advice about how to proceed from here..!

"Martha...?" volunteered Rachel a little hesitantly..."What do you think..?"

A few seconds elapsed before Martha turned, replying " What do I think ? Well - I think that if the FATHER of this baby cares so little about it - then why should I have to put MY life on hold for something that may or may NOT happen to it ??"

"But..."

"So what I think Rachel is that I'm going to go to work - - and then I may well go for a little drink - or two - - this evening ! And who knows - maybe I'll meet a nice gy who'll sweep me off my feet while I'm at it !!"

Rachel's concern was growing..."but Martha..."

Martha though was set on an unchangeable adrenaline-driven course to who knew where. She swung her thin jacket over her shoulders and swept out of the examination room towards the top of the adjacent staircase. As she descended the first two stairs, her face shot into an accompanying wince at a sudden burst of pain from her midriff....

[dee83]

I think she needs 2 listen rachel and think about her babies health not wether jack wants it she needs 2 put herself and her baby 1st

Update Soon

[WYN100]

**PART EIGHT**

"So you see where I'm coming from with this Luke, right ?"

Tony had decided to grasp the nettle on the Naomi situation with his youngest son as quickly as possible, without any trips round houses and beating around bushes. Well - part of the nettle if the precise truth be known - he knew that to conceal the fact she was now his line manager at the council could only have a very limited shelf-life anyway, particularly living in a human acquarium such as Summer Bay. But - to follow that up with news of her stated intention to "win Luke back" or whatever it was she'd said, well that seemed to have "Don't go there - at least not yet !" written all over it.

He was finding it hard to gauge his son's reaction with 100 per cent clarity - when Naomi had originally - and temporarily ! - moved away from the Bay, there had of course been much talk from him of "closure, - moving on - and new beginnings", so with that in mind to inspire him, Tony ploughed on "So I wouldn't imagine you'll be thinking about seeing her at all, will you, mate ? I mean look at the train wreck the whole thing became last time ! And I mean you've got your writing, and..." his tone became a fraction more cautious , " ...there's the whole situation with Charlotte too, isn't there..."

Tony halted a moment as his mind conducted a quick audit of that "situation". Charlotte was the sister of Lisa who'd died so tragically after the drag race involving Drew and Denny. She was away at boarding school and few of the Summer Bay crowd had been even more than barely aware of her existence. She'd come back to the area for Lisa's funeral and had subsequently decided to enrol at Summer Bay High.

They'd been twin sisters, and though Charlotte wasn't an identical twin to Lisa, there was certainly enough of a distinct resemblance to make people stop and do a double or even triple take if they didn't kow her particulatly well. AND - it was that aspect that had most concerned the likes of Matilda and Cassie as Lucas and Charlotte had steadily moved closer and closer - almost as if he was attempting subsonsciously to repay the debt he wrongly imagined he owed Lisa over her death by moving closer to her sister - even though Charlotte did display the odd trait of being what the likes of Colleen Smart would have called a 'minx' !

Taking his courage in his hands, Tony pressed on despite his son's still-perplexed-looking face "So you see Luke, it's just a kinda 'for info' thing, you know ?" He gave a short forced, false laugh "After all mate, I don't imagine for a MINUTE you'll be wanting to see her, will you ? Or indeed, her to see you ?"

Luke's face remained a study in somewhat surprised concentration. Eventually he responded "Dad, can you SEE that happening ?" Tony summoned a hopeful smile at that pronouncement - tapped his son on the shoulder and left the room. But even as he left, a quiet text alert on the mobile phone in Luke's jacket pocket was indicating that somebody very close to the situation was only just BEGINNING to see a period of FAR greater contact between the two starting to get underway.........

Jack heaved his car into an extravagant turn towards the grass verge that ran parallel to the long straight road he'd driven onto -all the time aware that the clock was ticking rapidly on any margin for error he had available. His car bonnet was already licked on three of its four sides with significant sheets of flame and the fourth one was smoking ominously in preparation to do the same. Slewing the car up onto the grass verge, skidding it along 20 yards or so and hurling his drivers' door open, Jack twisted his way out of the car, dragged the key from the ignition and pounded round to the boot.

Protecting his fingers gingerly from the car paint which was already starting to blister amidst the heat from the front, he inserted the key in the lock, tweaked the boot door upwards, coughed as the advancing smoke began to probe abrasively at his throat, then "...Damn....!!"..he could have SWORN he'd checked and seen the fire extinguisher there on the left as recently as this morning - - such routines were drilled into them day on day at police college - frequently to weary yawns from the students -but that strict repetition allowed Constable Holden to be certain his car had been properly equipped just hours previously.

For all the good that did him now ! He was standing on an exposed piece of grass pavement -that ran as far as the eye could see in both directions, next to a steadily burning car that was all but certain to ignite within minutes when the flames met the fuel tank. Grasping automatically for his phone, he realized with a hurtling descent of his heart that he'd left it on the passenger seat next to those document files he'd brought from Hylton's office ...curse followed curse as Jack struggled unsuccessfully to recall some other gem of wisdom from the college that dealt with such imminently life-threatening situations. He teetered from one thought to another - and one foot to another as the darkly threatening cloud of risk seemed to descend further over the spitting albatross at his side with every second that elapsed... until......He spun round in a mixture of relief and instinct at the sound of wheels on the road behind him....and how TRULY amazing was THIS, he thought,,,a Roadside assistance club van !!

Suddenly all was a blur ...a young guy...who later introduced himself as Brett..was leaping from the van, extinguisher in hand...and efficiently, competently, dousing the patrol car. An explanation of how he'd been en route to a call in the district...the car then hooked to the back of the van...and the two men were at the workshop garage where Brett estimated a 3 day gap before it could resume some working order for pickup, but promised Jack he'd check on how the blaze may have started- and also the use of a courtesy car in the meantime.

"Just for our records Constable Holden, where exactly will you be staying in Eastlake ?"

Noting down the address and promising Jack he'd return to show him the courtesy car, he disappeared, holding his customer's detail sheet, down a passage housing a clutch of offices. Entering one of the nearest doors he paused, sharing a silent high five with a beaming Johnny Cooper....

"Flamin' hoons" muttered a frowning Alf, not all that far under his breath. In fairness, the way he was currently feeling about Martha, if she'd been sharing a cheese and sherry evening with a group of trainee vicars, the dark doubts and surly disapproval wouldn't have been too far from the surface of 'Stewie' as he'd been so famously known by Vinnie Patterson - unarguably the one Bay resident ever able to pay the town's most eminent figure less than total outward respect - and remain intact to tell the tale.

And - truth to tell, neither Martha's life nor slightly chequered reputation were in significant peril from members of the touring Mangrove River rugby team - but nonetheless, even the V-man's strong spirit would have quailed at the pitch of disquiet that was threatening to build within Alf. All that while all the Mangrove mob were truly guilty of were some over-boisterous singing and predictable flirting with a girl of undoubted good looks in Martha, who seemed to carry the added dividend of no obvious male companion - nor seemingly the inhibitions of having an invisible one likely to suddenly materialize from thin air at short notice.

Despite being wholly unaware of Rachel's recent revelation to Martha, Alf was unsurprisingly quick to voice his concerns when his grand-daughter appeared before him at the bar, smilingly ordering six more lagers and a cranberry juice for herself. Alf immediately launched into a barely suppressed cross-questioning session.

"Martha you've hardly seen the light of flamin' day for three weeks, your other half''s away hours up the coast, and you're here playing footsie with this bunch of galahs ! - what's going on ??"

Now Martha was feeling very much less than great - the earlier cringe-inducing jolt of pain had occured once more already, and she was beginnig to feel some very unwelcome side effects from the regular shots of vodka she'd been emptying into her cranberry juices from a small flask secreted in her handbag. But - Martha was nothing if not an impressive actress-cum-performer. She 'd frequently had to be in her days at the Rocket Club and was fiercely determined not to let her guard slip in front of her grandfather.

Her smile widening still further , she responded "Then you should be pleased to see me out having fun - - as you can see Grandad, I'm not even drinking !!" They exchanged unblinking and meaningful glances , before in an unwise burst of generosity, AND knowing Alf had an early eye specialist appointment in the city the following day, she added "And I'll even close up for you later, what do you say ? !!"

After some demurring, Alf finally agreed . It was a decision both he-and Martha- were to regret at differing time-points over the next few hours. After another hour or so in the rugby team's company - and two more vodka shots (she DESERVED them, and they weren't THAT much, she simultaneously told and deceived herself) - Martha saw them off the premises - but found herself bottling and cashing up in the grip of one of those creepingly unpleasant and indefineable surges of 'ill-health', and as she locked the final door and killed the final light, her head seemed to be hosting a recruiting conference for demons of all and every description. And, as she stepped out into the darkened car -park, her fevered brow was indeed soom feeling some neccessary but incongruously applied dampness- as it subsided helplessly into an overlow pud dle at the foot of the external drainpipe. She'd lain there in silence for some 20 minutes before her fea tt ures a nd clothing colours were picked out by the dipped head lights of a slow ly apprpaching car.

With the 2-pronged Cooper/Reynolds campaign on Jack beginning to take its contrasting shape eight hours away in Eastlake, it was to be hoped Martha's evening wasn't about to get decidedly worse....