Learning To Breathe

[dolly-999]

Aww , love this fic. Just read the whole thing, well done it's brilliant!!!

Hope they get back together soon, Martha and Jack will always be the best couple from Home and away. Miss seeing them together.

[Nourtz]

please update this fic!! it is really good and i want to know more!! please pengzilla

[KaiyaBlake]

I'm nearly as bad as KaiyaBlake. Not AS bad though.

I think you just may be now

[Pengzilla]

Urgh. Don't remind people.

I've kind of written the next chapter. Kind of. But... meh, I should just post it. TODAY. I'll do it today. I... promise. Ish.

[Pengzilla]

Sorry! Again!

I'm not too keen. It was hard to write. It was written over the course of like.. a week, or two. Therefore, bad.

Oh, and it's shorter than usual because I had to end it somewhere... and it was either here and post tonight, or wait and have an epically long chapter and post... god knows when.

CHAPTER NINE – FIX YOU

Fix You by Coldplay

Jack looked at his watch for the third time that minute. He was still half an hour early.

He hadn’t meant to be so early. Martha had told him last night to meet her at this small café, just off one of the main roads that run through Sydney, at about 10am. He had offered her a lift, but when he found himself staring at the clock in his apartment ready and waiting for time to pass at 9am he was glad that she had declined. If she knew he had been so early then she would have definitely spent most of the day teasing him about it.

So he ordered a coffee and sat staring around the cheap café. The cream walls had yellowed and the windows were slightly opaque due to the cobwebs that were drawn across them. The rows of tables were lined up so close together in the tiny room that customers had to shuffle sideways to navigate through. The edges of the menus were so tattered that the menu itself could no longer be stood up without a rack. But it did have this odd friendly feel to it that was so rare in the boisterous, independent city. It seemed like a place that only Martha could find.

He looked back down at his watch. 5 more minutes before she was to arrive.

He sighed impatiently and leant back in his chair with his arms crossed. Usually he’d use this wasted time to think through the mental case notes in his head, or criticise something in his surroundings – but he wasn’t really in the mood for that. He found himself wanting to think about Martha instead.

He looked up when the worn bell rang above the door, and in came a sunny Martha. Her wavy hair was down, covering her otherwise bare shoulders from her pink singlet, and she was wearing a short denim skirt with sandals.

As soon as she entered she saw him. A smile appeared on her face as she moved over to him, guiding her hips in between the crowded tables.

“Someone’s eager.” She grinned.

“Shut up. I only just got here.” He lied with a small smile. He watched as she sat down opposite him, grinning from ear to ear.

“So what’s the big surprise?”

Martha straightened in her chair, her small hands tightened into fists that sat on the table between them. She had a familiar twinkle in her eye.

“We’re going to visit the bay.” She smiled. “Isn’t it great?”

Jack nearly choked on his coffee. He placed it down quickly, grabbing his serviette to dry his mouth. He was staring at her is if she was crazy.

“No.” He said. “I’m not going.”

She sighed, her shoulders sagging as her eyes rolled. “Come on. It’ll be good for you.”

Jack shook his head. “How on earth would it be good for me? I left that place for a good reason.”

“What reason was that?”

Jack quickly diverted his eyes to the serviette in his hands, suddenly studying the small coffee stain he’d made. “You know… Sam, and stuff. What she did.”

Martha audibly sighed, “See. You can’t even say what she did. You need to let go of it.”

“Exactly. So how will going back to the bay help me forget?”

“I didn’t say forget, Jack. I said let go of it. To move on, you need to make sure all your business is finished there. There’s clearly something about the Sam-thing that you don’t want to think about, that you don’t want to have to deal with it. If we go back, you can deal with it.” She said smartly. “Then you can go back to your drab, unsociable life.”

“Well… well I can’t get the time off. Not at this short-notice.” Jack told her.

“I’ve sorted that out for you. I spoke to your boss last night. Apparently he was all too glad to give you time off. He said he owed your lots of hours paid leave, and he had already insisted that you take them. Which hardly surprised me.” She smiled.

Jack grunted. Another reason to hate that guy.

“I’m not going. You can’t make me. So I’m sorry, but you can’t fix me this way.” He said, standing up to leave. He didn’t like this situation. He knew she was trying to be kind, but he didn’t like speaking of it, let alone going back to where she killed Rory. He had never wanted to see the sea or that house again.

“Wait.” Martha exclaimed, looking up at him meekly. Her grin had gone, and that glittery twinkle had dulled and left her eyes looking miserable. Desperate, even. There was something in her voice that made him stop to hear her out.

“That’s not the only reason why I wanted you to go.” She said. She looked embarrassed. Needy. He couldn’t take his eyes off her. “I need to go. I want to make amends with Ric and Granddad. I want to deal with my unfinished business before… it’s too late.” If he didn’t know the strong, independent Martha better, he’d say she had tears in her eyes. “But I don’t think I can do it by myself. I know I can’t. I was hoping you’d come and help me.”

Jack sighed as he looked down on her. She glanced away from him as he studied her. She was being genuine. She was asking him for help. She was saying she needed him.

He sat down without a word and took one of her hands in his own. She didn’t say anything; she just looked at him with glassy eyes.

“I thought you were supposed to be fixing me?” He smiled softly, focussing on her hand that he was spreading out over his palm. He’d forgotten what this felt like. What she felt like. What it felt like to be needed. To be selfless for someone else. To be selfless for the woman he loved.

“Only if I drive.”

She looked up at him, a small smile on her face, and tears caught in her eyelashes.

“Thank you.” She managed to croak out as she leant across the table in a hug. “You never could say no to the waterworks.” She joked into his ear, though Jack knew it was her attempt of covering her embarrassment. She wasn’t one to bear her emotions.

“Well, I saw right through your little act. I only said yes because I thought your performance deserved it.” He smiled as he continued their banter. “’Before it’s too late?’” He mimicked. “Nice touch.”

“Thanks.” She struggled to get out as her throat closed up again. She closed her eyes, willing herself not to cry harder. Instead, she squeezed him harder, to bring him closer. He reciprocated, and she tried to forget everything else but this next week.

********************************************

“Three suitcases. Seriously? We’re only going for a week.” Jack complained.

“Well, you never can be too prepared.” She grinned as she skipped around to his side of the car. “Now hurry up!”

“You’re not the boss of me.” Jack objected, closing the boot over their luggage.

“Dance monkey dance!” She exclaimed playfully.

Jack rolled his eyes. “This is going to be a long journey.” He muttered as they both sat in the car.

“Fear not, Holden - I’ve made a CD for us! Five, actually. And I know all the words to each song. So I can teach you the words and we can sing along!” She grinned.

Jack dropped his head to the steering wheel, pounding the horn as he repeatedly thumped his head against the rubber. “Remind me again why I agreed to this?”

“Because you’re a brilliant person.”

“You might need to keep reminding me of that.” He said, releasing the hand break before pulling off from outside her apartment block. He still had that awful dread in his stomach at the idea of being in the bay again, but it seemed to dull when he looked at Martha and that smile of hers. He was beginning to believe that this trip could do good for them both.

Next Chapter: They arrive at the bay. How does it go?

[KaiyaBlake]

“I thought you were supposed to be fixing me?” He smiled softly, focussing on her hand that he was spreading out over his palm. He’d forgotten what this felt like. What she felt like. What it felt like to be needed. To be selfless for someone else. To be selfless for the woman he loved.

Jack is sweet

They're going back to the bay? Wow that should be good

Loved it. Can't wait for more

[Barbara]

They're still there for each other. And Jack still loves her. I'm pretty sure Martha still has feelings for him too.

Martha is sneaky, isn't she? Talking to Jack's boss behind his back was pretty sneaky.

“Well, I saw right through your little act. I only said yes because I thought your performance deserved it.” He smiled as he continued their banter. “’Before it’s too late?’” He mimicked. “Nice touch.”

“Thanks.” She struggled to get out as her throat closed up again. She closed her eyes, willing herself not to cry harder. Instead, she squeezed him harder, to bring him closer. He reciprocated, and she tried to forget everything else but this next week.

As English isn't my first language I could be wrong but it looks like Martha is hiding something, no? She's trying not to cry harder when Jack mimicked "Before it's too late", which could suggest there is something wrong with her or Ric or Alf.

Jack rolled his eyes. “This is going to be a long journey.” He muttered as they both sat in the car.

“Fear not, Holden - I’ve made a CD for us! Five, actually. And I know all the words to each song. So I can teach you the words and we can sing along!” She grinned.

Ooh that sounds like fun. Do we know if Martha is a good singer? I guess she isn't or we would have heard sing before, right? Poor Jack! The trip is going to seem even longer now.

Yay they're going back to the bay. It'll be interesting to see what happens.

More please.

[lino]

I just loved it. This story is fun and sweet. They both need each other, as friends and more. I can't wait to read more. I hope it is coming soon.

[dolly-999]

Aww, J&M are so cute

Hope the trip goes well and that Jack goes back to his normal self soon.

[Nourtz]

that was a fantastic chapter i love it!! its all sooo sweet and they so want to be with eachother!! please update again soon i really want to know what happens when hey BOTH return to Summer Bay together i wonder what the families will think and say???

great please keep going up-date again soon