Past, Present and Future

[Kellicopter]

Hope everyone's had a lovely weekend. It's been a very windy one here in Sydney's Northern Beaches! Didn't stop me going up to the lighthouse today though for a bit of exercise. It'll get to a point while I'm here that that walk will be easy peasy and I won't remember the time that I had to stop for a drink every 5 minutes. 

So the first interview, as some have been waiting for...As most of you know I tried to keep it true to the story that we do know, and I threw in a bit of extra made up information to make up for what we didn't. I wasn't sure which format to write it, so I wrote it up as I did my interviews for my dissertation. Hopefully you guys don't hate it 

Chapter 13 – Interview with Tori

Question: How did you react to being told you were going into witness protection?
Answer: It was definitely a surprise. I guess you don't really realise the severity of a situation until they take away your identity to protect you. We had to leave our whole lives behind, but obviously that was more of a problem for some than others. I was just glad we weren't alone.

Question: How much of the situation did you know about at the time?
Answer: Well obviously we knew mum and dad were gone. Justin's involvement was kept secret until more recently. Basically we knew they were killed for a reason, and that reason wasn't going to stop them coming for us.

Question: How did you find adjusting to your new name?
Answer: Hard! I spent 20 years known as Tess, and then it vanished! Tori is the name that's stuck the most since though. I've tried Tanya and Tegan, neither of which lasted more than 2 years. They stuck with the same letter thinking it would be slightly easier for us to latch on to. I don't think it made the situation any easier, but it became more normal as time went on.

Question: What other surnames have you gone by?
Answer: Well we were born Lee's. Then I was Tanya Clark, and Tegan Lane. Now we're Morgan's and I think that's how we'll stay.

Question: What was the hardest thing for you to leave?
Answer: At the time I had no idea how it all worked. I wasn't sure if I'd ever be able to practice medicine again. All certificates and degrees were in my birth name. But Decker, your dad, he did a pretty good job in keeping everything normal.

Question: When you were told you were coming back to NSW how did you feel?
Answer: Well it had been 7 years. We weren't sure they were even still after us. And Summer Bay is such a small town you'd definitely know if someone was sniffing around. Well, so we thought. It was hard knowing we were so close to “home”. I think coming here was hardest for Justin, just because Ava was the closest she'd been in years and he couldn't contact her.

Question: Where else have you lived?
Answer: Well we were originally from Sydney. First moved to Perth, then Brisbane and then here. There were two different houses and names in Brisbane, but we got so paranoid we had to change states, although when we moved here we kept the names.

Question: If it was so bad in Brisbane what made you think you'd be okay in Summer Bay?
Answer: Well we didn't think we'd be okay as such, just thought it would be easier to know if we were in danger. Brisbane was fine as far as every day life went, but I guess we were right to be paranoid

Question: What do you mean by that?
Answer: I'm sure you'll learn that information in Mason's interview.

Question: So how was being a doctor in different places?
Answer: Getting my records was the hardest. I couldn't say I'd worked in these different places when I turned up with a new name. Decker did all he could to make everything legit, but them getting references was difficult. You can't just ring up a hospital and ask for info on Tanya when you're now going by Tegan. That would not only cause concern for your new employers, but would give the old ones leverage if they were in any way involved in the syndicate. But the job itself is pretty much the same, just with different doctors and different patients.

Question: Did you ever come across anyone from your old life in a new life?
Answer: Well, you know about Riley. He was from Sydney. Decker was pretty sure that everyone I was to work with in new hospitals had no relation to any old hospitals. He did a lot of research and made it the safest he could.

Question: Which move was the hardest?
Answer: The first! We went from Sydney to Perth on our first new identities. No phones, no ID, no access to our money. All we had were plane tickets, a new name and a bag of clothes each. Decker had sent someone to meet us, pick us up from the airport and take us to a safe house. That was the last we saw of anyone until Decker turned up nearly a week later. Adjusting to acknowledging when your new name was said and not being able to contact anyone from home was the worst.

Question: How were you found each time?
Answer: I guess they learnt to look for patterns. Families who'd enrolled in university, working at a garage, a restaurant and hospital. We couldn't just change careers. Well, I suppose the boys could have temporarily. We spent 2 years in Perth before realising someone was on to us. They made it so subtle at first. But you've got to go with your gut in these situations, and if you think your family could be in danger, you had to ring Decker to check it out and he'd decide the next move. Normally it was nothing, but sometimes it's better to be safe than sorry.

Question: When it came to the end, how did you feel?
Answer: We were never going to go back to being Tess, Jack, Bart and Michael. They weren't who we were any more. And this place that we'd found to call home knew us as the Morgan's. It was such a relief to not have to look over our shoulder all the time. But everything with Ranae showed it wasn't over when we thought it was. So there's always that chance that it'll never really be over. But being able to tell people our secret, and not hold that massive lie over our heads any longer made life so much sweeter.

Question: If it could have been over in any of your previous “lives”, which would you chose?
Answer: If I could have chosen at all, it would have never happened. But Brisbane had the nice weather, here has the beautiful beaches. And I'm scared that if we never came here we never would have found you. I'm happy that this is now our forever life.

Interview terminated at 16:43pm.

[Guest]

Great chapter 

Oh the interview's have started my favourite part of this fan fiction.

I wonder who Raffy will interview next.

Update again soon  

[christine king]

Great interview with Tori.

[Inactive User]

Great chapter

Loved the interview with Tori

Update soon please xx

[Ludub]

Oh I loved that!! Such a good way to do the interview. I thought it was very true to character that Tori answered very factually and limited what she told her. I love all the extra little details that you put in here, of what their names were before in other cities, and how Decker worked things out for them. Very clever. Looking forward to the boys' interviews!

[pembie]

I'm happy that this is now our forever life.  Tori don't going saying things like that your jinks yourself

Spoiler

I have got my suspicions that these little harmless interviews could blow up in their faces So I am thinking they should be very careful

Sorry if I'm being a smarty pants here

[Kellicopter]

You guys  I'm glad you all liked the way I decided to write it. I'll stick with it for the next ones. My plan to write every night failed well and truly. I think I've written one chapter in the last week haha. Hope you're all having a fab week.

Chapter 14

On her way to Irene's, Tori text Mason. “How's the paperwork?” She wasn't expecting him to have stayed to finish it all after she left, but she'd like to think a big chunk of it won't be waiting for her when she goes in tomorrow.
“Three quarters done. Had other work come in.” said his reply. Phew, three quarters she could deal with. Hoping that work was going to come in tomorrow though so the day went a bit faster.

As Tori approached Irene's she put her phone in her pocket and was ready to knock the door. The only times she'd really been round to Irene's house before was when Nate lived there. Once again she didn't want these memories. He chose life without her and she's glad. Look at her now, nothing was going to bring her down. KNOCK KNOCK.
The door opened and she had a quick reality check. Maybe things could. Maybe this situation could be worse.

“Hey, here for Luc?” Kat said in her friendliest tone. As a fly on the wall nobody would have guessed that Tori was now with Kat's ex. I guess as a police constable she was used to playing 'good cop, bad cop'...Today she had no reason to be bad cop.
“Yeah, is she ready?” Tori answered. Kat opened the door wider and motioned for Tori to step inside. Kat made a swift beeline for her bedroom once she closed the door behind Tori.
“Heyyyy little Luc!” Tori said when she saw the adorable nearly 1 year old walking around the lounge.
“Fast on her feet isn't she?” Irene laughed. It was the first time she'd seen Luc since she started walking at the start of the week. She had somehow got really good really quickly. “Any news on VJ's first day?” It was nice that Irene showed some concern, but unfortunately Tori had forgotten to ask when she spoke to Ash earlier.
“No news yet. I'll see him when we get back.” Tori said.
“Well send him my well wishes won't you?” Irene seemed so sincere. There was a time not too long ago that she wouldn't have cared. Or maybe she would but would have been to afraid to ask. Now they're in a situation that's best for everybody. All parties work equally and see the little lady in their lives that they care so much about.
“Will do.” Tori walked towards Luc's changing bag. “You ready little Luc?” She asked in her sweetest baby voice. Irene picked her up and they both walked towards her pram outside. Tori loved Ash and she knew he came with Luc. She would never love her as her own, but she would promise to care for her for as long as she needed. They both said goodbye to Irene and left, Tori waving dramatically hoping Luc might copy.

They took a slow walk on the beach towards the Pier together. Anyone that looked at her would have assumed she was this doting mother. It's not that she didn't like being around Luc, she was just in a position of wanting her own rather than somebody else's. Maybe Ash wouldn't want any more if he was caring for Luc. Maybe she was too scared to have this conversation with him in case it ended up the same way it did with Nate.
Tori assumed that when she got back to Ash's that he would be ready to head out. But he would also probably want to spend some time with the little lady before leaving her for the rest of the night. As long as they didn't spend too long watching her run around, Tori was happy. She hadn't seen Ash since Monday, and she was ready to spend some time with her man.
They rolled up to the Pier after a nice beach walk, and Tori took Luc's changing bag off the handle, and pulled her out of the seat. They walked up the stairs to the apartment and Tori briefly knocked the door, but let herself in.

“Helloooo!” She shouted so they knew she was there. She set Luc on the floor, instantly getting back up to walk to her favourite spot of the flat. Tori walked in and put Luc's changing bag on the sofa. “Anyone home?” She called out. Nobody called back, so she popped the kettle on and decided to sit and play with Luc, waiting for somebody to come home.
Twenty three minutes passed before Ash and VJ arrived home. “The door was unlocked” Tori told them, it was probably about time they gave her a key if she was doing Luc duties.
“Ah, there was me thinking you were some kind of secret criminal mastermind” VJ laughed. He scooped up his daughter and planted a big kiss on her cheek. Ash walked in and took the same approach, except with Tori instead.
“You know if you want to keep this place safe for Luc, you should lock the door when you go out.” Tori lectured as she first hand knows the dangers of strangers entering your home. Ash nodded and started to walk towards his room because he understands, but also because he wants her to stop talking about it as he was starting to feel guilty.
“So Veej, how was your first day?” Tori changed the subject with ease, as if it was planned.
“Yeah good,” VJ started in his reply “it'll be a lot to learn and take in though.” he smiled because he knew he was going to be providing the best life possible for his little girl. “Did Irene have a good day with little miss?” He was hoping that this arrangement would work out for her benefit as well as his own.
“Yeah she seemed like she had fun! Definitely enjoyed chasing her around” Tori laughed.

VJ started to think, “how long after walking would they normally start talking?” he asked Tori. She shrugged and started to stand up off the floor.
“It depends on the child.” She wasn't going to give him a definite answer, seeing as Luc was a little bit behind with the walking. It could take anywhere up to 3 years to get words out. “She's quite chatty when she's happy, so I'm sure she'll be around the average.” She wanted to assure VJ that the job he and Ash were doing as “co-parents” was working, and that Luc was a happy, bubbly baby.

Ash came out of his room and folded his jacket on the back of the chair, walking towards Tori and putting his arms from behind around her waist. She received his gesture and a genuine happy smile appeared on her face.
“Ready to go?” Ash asked. Tori nodded and picked up his hand, and took it towards her mouth for a peck. He turned her around and kissed her on the lips.
“Get a room, there's a child present...” VJ joked to them. Tori and Ash waved their goodbyes and headed out the door.

[Guest]

Great chapter 

I'm shocked you put Tori and Ash together but it works.

VJ joking to Ash and Tori there's a child around

Update again soon

[Kellicopter]

8 minutes ago, Kristen said:

Great chapter 

I'm shocked you put Tori and Ash together but it works.

VJ joking to Ash and Tori there's a child around

Update again soon

I was so keen for them when they first started filming together. Annoyed that so far all we've actually seen on screen is him going backwards and forwards to Kat and her just getting stuck in the middle. 

[christine king]

Didn't expect Tori and Ash to be together, I don't like them