Never Let You Go

[matticus01]

WOW . . .

3 chapters I had to catch up on, and I loved the all

ROMAN . . .

Miles . . .

Jack . . .

Hmmmmmmmmmmmm I hope Sam is a murder so then Jack and Martha can hook back up . . . .

Update soon

[jack+martha=trooluvv]

Chapter 16

Warning: this chappie contains a swear word. Not a bad one at all, but still a “word”. Just thought I’d warn you. Also contains adult themes (drug dealing, etc.) Oh and I really hate this chappie. It's terrible. Be warned

“Hey, I’m Belle Taylor, the sister of Julie-Ann Vale,” Belle said into the phone. She’d offered to be the one to call the adoption agency that Julie-Ann had gone to when she was a baby. “Is this Sydney Stork Children’s Adoption Agency?...Oh, good…Listen, I was wondering if you could tell me what family Julie-Ann Vale went to? She was given to you in 1995 by Amanda Vale, we were hoping to track her down…You’ll call me back? Great. Bye.” Belle hung up.

“They’ll call us back once they’ve checked their records,” Belle reported.

“Good,” Sally said, leaning her head against Miles’s shoulder. She turned to look at her twin brother. “You don’t happen to have any other shocking secrets do you??”

“Nope, I think that’s the lot,” Miles said with a laugh.

“That’s a relief,” Belle said, smiling. She felt in a better mood than she had done for a long time. Drew was not forgotten, but she had moved on. Now they needed to find Julie-Ann. Suddenly, an idea struck her.

“Hey!” she said.

“Is what horses eat,” Miles replied.

Belle ignored the joke and went on, “If Julie-Ann comes to live here…well I’d love to live with my sis! That’s if the house isn’t too crowded already,” she added hurriedly.

“We’d love you to!” cried Sally. “As long as Irene agrees.”

“Aaah she’s got Annie and Geoff,” belle said with a nonchalant wave of the hand. “And I’m sure she’ll understand. When and if Julie-Ann moves in, I’m joining her,” she said with a resolute nod.

“Awww, come here,” Sally said, and opened her arms for a hug. Belle relaxed into Sally’s warmth. She and Sally had never been close since she had pushed Flynn down the stairs, but now it really felt like they were connected. Thanks to Miles.

“Hey! I don’t want to be left out here!” complained Miles.

“Well come here then,” Belle said, and they had a three-way hug.

Suddenly the phone rang again. “I’LL GET IT!” Miles yelled and he dove for the phone.

“Whoa!” Belle said, falling backwards as Miles brushed past her.

Belle and Sally listened eagerly to Miles’s voice. “Hello…The Finnigins? Okay…I’ve got that…” he scribbled something on a piece of paper… “thank you SO much, bye.”

“So??” Belle and Sally said at the same time.

“Rachel and Seamus Finnigan, they adopted her in 1996…they gave me their address and phone number. I just hope they haven’t moved or something.”

“Wow, that’s great,” Sally said. “So…shall we try them?”

“I guess so,” Miles said. His face was lit up with a grin. “I don’t want to waste any time finding Julie-Ann.”

“I think it’s Sally’s turn to make the call,” Belle said, running a hand through her hair.

“Ooooh, yay!” Sally said. She stopped and turned around. “Hey – this Julie-Ann is my niece! I’m Aunt Sally.” She grinned at the thought of that.

“Sister Belle,” Belle said proudly. Then she realised. “Ewww, I sound like a nun.”

“Nothing wrong with nuns,” Miles said, biting into an apple.

“Yuck, have you got kids to them too?” Belle asked.

“No!” Miles protested.

Sally rolled her eyes. “You’d better not, this house can only fit so many people.”

Miles smiled. “I promise, it’s only Julie-Ann. I didn’t have very many relationships when I was on the road.”

“Whatever,” Belle said with a smile. “So, you looking for a girlfriend here Miles?”

Miles smiled and shook his head, but there was a shadow of pain on his face. “It’ll be kind of hard to forget my wife and daughter that I lost in Phuket.”

Belle nodded slowly. She and Sally knew of Miles’s tsunami experience in Phuket – five years in his life had been normal, he’d had a job, a wife, a daughter (not Julie-Ann), and then they’d all been ripped away, and he was back on the streets. It would have hurt anyone. “You’ll move on,” she said with a cheerful smile.

“I hope so,” Miles said sadly. “Anyway, wasn’t someone going to call the Finnigans?”

“Oh yeah, that was me,” Sally replied. She headed to the phone. Never had she wanted to find someone as much as she wanted to find Julie-Ann now.

***

Martha sat on the beach, the wind pulling her hair away from her face. She felt someone behind her and turned around. It was Jack. “Hey,” she said with a smile, and stood up to face him.

“Hey,” he said with a grin. “Listen, Martha, could you do me a favour?”

“Anything for you, Jack,” she said, tucking a piece of hair behind her ear.

“Well, Sam’s at work and I thought I’d give the place a clean-out, get rid of all our old crap, and I was wondering if you wanted to come over and help.”

“Uhh…sure,” Martha said, smoothing down her skirt. Cleaning was definitely not her favourite activity, but she was bored and it would be nice to spend time with Jack, no matter how many times she told herself that they weren’t going to bump heads and kiss like they do in the movies. “I’d love to.”

“Great,” Jack said with a cute smile. “So do you think you could come over now?”

“Sure, just let me drive home first and change into some more cleaning-type clothes.”

Jack raised his eyebrows. “Whatever. See you there.”

Martha smiled and waved as he walked off. “Goodbye!” she called. It came out strangely squeaky. She made a strangling noise to try and clear her voice and tried again. “See you there!” It came out deep and masculine. Martha blushed hoping he didn’t hear. He just turned around and waved. Martha turned her back to him and clenched her fists, trying to control the bubbly, warm happiness that was welling up inside her and threatening to spill out of somewhere, like her mouth, in the form of the words: “I LOVE YOU JACK! LEAVE SAM! BE WITH ME!”

TWENTY MINUTES LATER:

Martha knocked on Jack’s door, wearing a pair of jeans and a white button-up shirt rolled up to the elbows. “Hey,” Jack said. “Ready to search? We’ve got tons and tons of boxes and drawers to clean out so be warned.”

“Oh, don’t worry,” Martha said with a smile, “I like challenges.”

“Well that’s good, you’re going to love this one.” Jack let her in and Martha rubbed her hands. “So, where do we start?” The floor was littered with heavy cartons.

“Here, I guess…There’s tons of photo albums, old clothes that me and Sam and Rory forgot to chuck out…and you haven’t even seen the drawers yet.”

“Right, well, let’s start with this one,” Martha said, squatting down on the floor. She opened a random carton and pulled out a heavy photo album. “Why aren’t you keeping this with your family heirlooms or something?”

“Oh, well, those are fairly old ones, they’re too full anyway, I might chuck some out,” Jack said. “So, have a look.”

Martha opened the first page and gasped softly. The first picture she saw was her and Jack, obviously after they first got together, Jack’s ear still with that weird bandage around it. Jack was holding Martha and they were laughing at the camera.

“Wow,” Jack said, bending down. Martha looked up at him and smiled. She noticed his cheeks were turning red and she grinned. “You’ve got to keep some of these.” As she flicked the pages she saw pictures of them with Cassie, Ric, Robbie and Tasha. And there were heaps of Martha and Jack pictures. Jack smiled at some of them, others he just stared and looked a little wistful.

Finally Martha shut the book. “You’ve got to keep these.”

Jack smiled. It was obvious the great memories were hitting him. Suddenly his smile disappeared. “No…no I can’t.”

Martha sighed. “You’re afraid Sam won’t like it.”

“Martha, they’re from a time that ended ages ago,” Jack said, not meeting her eyes.

Martha rolled her eyes. “Whatever. I’m keeping it then.” She moved it closer to her.

“I…okay,” Jack said. He got up and checked the fridge. “Want a coffee?”

“Yeah, yeah,” Martha said, flicking through the book. It felt like a whole treasury of memories – all those good times with her and Jack, hanging out with Tasha, Robbie and Cassie came flooding back. This was before the wedding. She didn’t really care about coffee now.

“Uh-oh, we’re out of milk,” Jack said, scanning the fridge. “I’m going to head out and get some, okay, I’ll be back.”

“K. Bye,” Martha called, and he walked out.

She decided to put down the album and keep looking through some of the boxes. A lot of it was Sam’s stuff, photos and certificates that Rory had won. At the bottom of a box Martha felt a piece of paper beneath her fingertips. She scrabbled around to pull it up between her fingertips, and finally got hold of it. It had been underneath a whole heap of Sam’s crud that Martha was most definitely not interested in. It seemed to be a note. Martha wasn’t sure whether she should read it or not but she went ahead since she was already holding it. It was a simple piece of notepaper, dated for about five months ago, and as she read her heart beat fast and she felt the blood rush to her cheeks.

Hey Kylie,

Thanks heaps for bumping off that guy for me. He was standing in my way too much. And thanks so much for the weed. It’s really appreciated. The police are after me and if they find the drugs that you’ve been sending me and if they find out about the people we’ve killed, then we’re both goners. So good luck.

Dez.

“Oh my god,” Martha whispered. Staring at the fragile piece of paper she tried to take it in, feeling as though the world had disappeared from around her. “OH MY GOD!” she yelled again, feeling dizzy and almost sick from the shock. If this was true…then Sam was a murderer…and a drug dealer…

Chapter 17: Someone gets carried off in handcuffs...Julie-Ann has been located but will she want to come??

[h&a-girl]

Wow I started reading the story and haven't been able to stop, there's just so much going on I love it! It's so good I can't wait to read more! xxx

[defying_gravity]

awesome!!!! that was a great chapter!

[matticus01]

Oh my . . . . . . . . . . .god!

SAMS A MURDER *dances around the room*

And Martha knows . . . . . .

I hope Julie-Ann will want to come, its her family . . .

Update soon hun

[Red Ranger 1]

Wow, Belle living with Sally and Miles, that's interesting.I never did like the way Sally effectively kicked Belle out onto the street when she first appeared.Sorry, that's just a minor detail I've been obsessing about.

I'm finding this whole story very interesting and I'm looking forward to seeing what happens next.

[jack+martha=trooluvv]

Thanks for all your comments.

There will be an update soon

[rachel&kim]

Sam??!! So exciting, had four chapters to catch up on. Thank you, looking forward to an update!!

[jack+martha=trooluvv]

Chapter 17

NOTE: The italic bits are parts coming over the phone

Martha read the fragile note over and over again, taking it in. Wondering if she was hallucinating she shook her head, closed her eyes for two seconds then opened them again, re-reading it. Welling up inside her came a feeling that she was not proud of. A hopeful feeling that this was actually true, that Sam was a murderer. Then she realised how much pain this would cause Jack, and felt disgusted with herself. She cast all the feelings away and continued to stare at the page. If this was true, then this would change her life, Jack’s life, Rory’s life…Martha winced as she remembered Rory. Much as she found him annoying she couldn’t believe that a kid would be dragged along in this ride.

Suddenly the door swung open and Martha yelped, quickly putting the piece of paper into her pocket. Jack looked down at her, crouched on the floor and looking up in fear. Martha didn’t know whether to tell Jack or not. In a split second decision she made the choice not to tell him – she’d tell the police and then gently break it to Jack. She wondered why she wasn’t trying to protect Sam, but she knew from Sam’s threatenings that she was a bad person and deserved to be in jail.

She realised that Jack was still looking at her. “What’s wrong, Mac?”

“Oh,” Martha said, trying to be airy, “you scared me when you opened the door.” She hoped and prayed to God, her family and everything that she held sacred that he hadn’t noticed her quickly shove the piece of paper inside her pocket.

“Well, sorry,” he said with a smile. Martha let out a breath of relief. He hadn’t noticed – or if he did, he wasn’t following it up. “Anyway, want that coffee now?”

Martha stood up quickly. “Uhm…I’m not feeling very well, I’m sorry to abandon you on the job, but I had a bit of queasiness this morning and it’s come back.” She put her hand over her stomach.

“This morning?” Jack questioned her.

“Yeah,” Martha said, looking pointedly towards the door. She felt Jack’s eyes on her and whipped around. “I’m not pregnant, if that’s what your thinking.” It sounded like she was lying, but for once she wasn’t.

“Ohhh,” Jack said, looking disbelieving. “Martha, if you’re pregnant you can tell me, you know.”

“Of course I’m not!” Martha protested. “Who would I be pregnant to, anyway??”

“Michael, maybe?” Jack sat down and crossed his arms.

“Oh don’t be ridiculous Jack!” Martha snapped. “I am not pregnant. I just said I was feeling sick and wanted to go home.”

“Martha, you’re a terrible liar,” Jack replied.

“I’m not lying!” Martha yelled.

“So you don’t want any coffee?” Jack said craftily.

Martha growled and ran out.

Once she was safely home she leaned against the wall in despair. Jack was now convinced she was going to have a baby and Sam was a mass murder. Calm year, Martha? she thought sarcastically. Nice try. Before she went to the police Martha decided to make herself some coffee without being accused of pregnancy. As the kettle boiled she reached into her pocket and pulled out the piece of the paper. This paper held her, Jack’s, Sam’s and Rory’s future. Taking a deep breath she looked at the ceiling. “Should I do it?” she said aloud. She realised that she’d left the photo album at Jack’s. She knew she’d made the right decision.

***

“WE’VE FOUND HER!!!” Belle screamed. A very loud scream. Sally came rushing from the bathroom, still holding a mascara brush in one hand.

“WHAT?” Sally yelled back.

“WE’VE FOUND HER!!!” Miles and Belle yelled in unison.

“Oh my god!” Sally said, sitting down.

“We’ve found her!” Miles said excitedly. “We called the Finnigans and she was at a friend’s place, but they’d call us back.”

Sallylooked a little concerned. “I wonder what it must be like for the Finnigans – they’d think of this girl as their daughter, and they may not want to give her up.”

“She might not want to go,” Belle replied.

“We’re her family,” Miles said.

“How did the Finnigans sound?” Sally asked. “It must be a huge shock for them.”

“The lady…Rachel…was on the phone, she sounded shocked and maybe a little wistful.” Miles scratched his head. “I know she’s got a home, that’s her life, the Finnigans adopted her because they wanted a child…but I really want her to come here, even if it’s just for a few weeks.”

“We could work out a custody arrangement,” Sally commented.

“Oh, I really don’t want to talk about it now,” Miles replied. There was a very stressed look in his face. “Let’s just wait till they call back.”

For half an hour there was almost complete silence. Suddenly the phone rang and Miles leapt for it. Holding the phone to his ear and trying to calm his breathing he replied, “Hello, Summer Bay Caravan Park.”

“Hey, is that Miles?”

Miles recognized the Irish tilt of Rachel Finnigan, and felt his palms grow sweaty. “Y – yeah, that’s me.”

“Well, Julie-Ann’s come home, would…would you like to speak to her?”

“Yes, absolutely, thanks so much.”

He thought he detected a sob from the other end. “Here she is.”

A soft voice came through the phone, with just the hint of an Irish accent. “Dad?”

There was a feeling in Miles’s chest, threatening to explode. He wasn’t sure what it was – just the most powerful feeling he had ever felt. Being called Dad again. It was almost like he was back on the sunny beach in Phuket, with his little daughter and his wife. Grabbing on the coffee table to steady himself, he tried out her name, tried out the feel of it under his tongue.

“Julie – Julie-Ann?”

“Yeah…that’s me.” The soft emotion in her voice when she had said Dad previously had disappeared. She sounded a little icy.

“I know this must be a huge shock but – ”

She cut him off.“Well yeah it is. I’ve grown up all my life calling Seamus ‘Dad’ and suddenly you rock up...You made Mum – I mean Rachel – cry, you know.”

“I…did I?”

“Yeah, you did. She doesn’t want me to leave.”

“You’re not necessarily going to have to – ”

Again, she cut him off. “Why didn’t you come for me earlier, Miles? I’ve known I was adopted for ages, as long as I can remember, and every night I used to pray that maybe you’d find me, or my mother, maybe. When you didn’t come, I stopped praying, and now you’ve come and…and I just want to continue my life.” The iciness had disappeared a little and he could hear the emotion.

“I’m so sorry, my life was messed up…have Rachel and Seamus told you anything about me?”

”No.”

“Then let me tell you…I have been living on the road for years, my dad was a drunkard…when I was about sixteen we finally found a job and a place to stay, I was young and vulnerable, I met your mother and…well…you can imagine what happened, she got me drunk, etc. Then me and my Dad got kicked out of our flat, Dad was buying booze again, we couldn’t pay the rent, and we were on the road again. Months later I got a call from your mum, Amanda, telling me that she’d had you, she didn’t want you to have anything to do with her, you were at an adoption agency, and I never found you.”

”Miles, I’m sorry that you didn’t have a proper life, but…but couldn’t you have found me? It was all I dreamt of when I was little…you or Mum coming to find me. Speaking of which, how come Amanda never came for me?”

“You’ll have to ask her about that one. I really couldn’t. There was one point in life where I had a wife, and a little child, and I was starting to consider looking for you. Then…then they got killed in the Boxing Day tsunami, and I was left with nothing again. I couldn’t handle finding you. I felt like I had nothing to offer you, I didn’t have a job, a home, anything secure, my dad had died…Then I came to Summer Bay and I found my twin, your Aunt Sally, and now I’ve got a life, now I’ve got something to offer you…”

Her voice softened again. The Irish in her accent that she had obviously picked up from her foster parents sounded fluid, so beautiful, unlike Miles’s Aussie twang. He hoped she didn’t lose it. ”Dad…dad…I’m so sorry.”

Miles smiled. The explosive feeling had melted into sheer happiness. God, it felt so good to be called that again! “I really want you to come and visit, Julie-Ann. You’d love Summer Bay. There’s your half-sister, Belle…she’s your mum’s daughter. There’s my twin, Sally, we live in a big house near a caravan park…”

He thought he detected tears on the other side. “What’s wrong?” he asked.

”I’d love to come…I’d love to come, Miles, but it would hurt my foster parents too much…they can’t have children of their own and they desperately want me to stay, I don’t mind talking to you and Mum over the phone but I don’t want to visit…it would make me want to stay…and…and I can’t do that to Rachel and Seamus!”

“I…Julie-Ann!”

Beep.

***

Martha walked into the police station, looking edgy. She walked up to Lara. “Um…I’ve found something that you might be interested in.” She silently handed over the note.

“Martha, what’s this – ” Lara gasped in shock as she saw the note.

“Oh my god…it’s what we’ve been looking for!” she said loudly. “OI!” she yelled to another police officer. “Get me the Dez Martin evidence.”

The police officer went inside a room and brought out a zip-lock bag containing a few pieces of paper, and handed it to Fitzy. She carefully opened it and took them out, then had a look at the piece of paper.

“That’s it. They match,” she said quickly.

The other police officer took it off her and examined it. “Oh my God…it’s her…we were suspicious for so long, we should have followed it up earlier, poor Jack,” cried Lara, hitting her head with her hand.

“What’s going on?” Martha cried, placing a hand on a desk to steady herself.

The police officer came up to her. “Thanks so much Miss McKenzie for giving us this piece of evidence…when we arrested Dez Martin we found in his personal belongings several letters that he had received from some-one, but we couldn’t find out who, she never left any identity. After doing some tests we thought it might have been Kylie Deeks, now known as Samantha Holden, but we never followed it up. Mainly for Jack. We should have done…to save him the pain now.”

“So you’re sure it is Sam?” Martha asked, dazed.

“Well…pretty sure. If this is true she’s a murderer and very dangerous,” Fitz put in. “We’re going to arrest her now, and then give her a trial in court once we’ve looked over all the evidence.”

“But…Jack’s there…you can’t just rock up and arrest her…”

“Well we have to,” said the police officer. “Let’s go, Constable Fitzgerald.”

***

At Jack’s place Sam sat quietly reading a book and Jack was flicking through some of his old albums. Suddenly the door broke open and in came two police officers.

“Constables? What’s up?” Jack asked, smiling casually.

Sam looked up and waved.

They remained serious. “I’m afraid we’re here to arrest Kylie Deeks.”

Sam gasped and Jack stood, shocked. “What…what for?” he asked faintly.

Fitzy silently handed the note to Jack. He read it and his world whirled, growing dizzy and faint. He spun around on Sam. “Is this true…is this true?”

Sam jumped up, and quickly two police officers jumped to restrain her. “It…it is, but please Jack, I’m begging you…”

“You’re a murderer!” yelled Jack. “A murderer! I can’t believe I ever married you…I…I…GET HER OUT OF MY HOUSE!” he bellowed at the police officers.

Chapter 18: Who is it that can convince Julie-Ann to come and stay with her family? Who will Matilda choose – Geoff or Ric? Martha helps Jack deal with the whole Sam mess.

[matticus01]

OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG

That was sooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo COOL

Awwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww I hope Mattie choose Geoff . . .

Update soon