Red Ranger 1

Wow, was not expecting that at all.Great idea.Really interesting to see how it all turned out for them.

Joey too?My god, there really isn't anyone left alive, is there?So Martha's finally told Roman, what now?What's happening with Charlie?And Sarah?Looking forward to the next chapter.

Yeah, that was the "possibly".I also did it in Light and Shade and Family Matters.(Ahhh, Light and Shade, the only time I was threatened by a reader...although even then they apologised straightaway.)I really hope it's not become an obsession of mine, this one's my least favourite break-up because it does just seem to have come out of nothing.

I liked this because it made the scene between them in the last chapter seem less ridiculous, I found that scene between them to be quite laughable. For Aden to question her respect for him or even be bothered in the slightest by Belle not filling him in on the fact that Geoff was spending an evening with a friend is pretty unrealistic. This chapter helped that. Aden's 'over something that wasn't even important' comment made it like his reaction wasn't about caring about the Tam/Geoff situation but rather his own one with Belle. I liked his thoughts on their relationship. It's very true. It's good that Aden seems to realise how he behaves when it comes to their relationship. I hope this realisation of his leads somewhere. Hopefully Belle won't apologise and if she does then he snaps at her and lets all this out, I could see this happening. I'm sure he'd rather have a fiesty girlfriend who keeps him on his toes rather then one who acts like shes helpless around him. Glad you thought that because that was pretty much my thought.I kept thinking about that scene and couldn't get it to work and then I thought of that bit with Aden and Roman and it was like "Ding-that'd work."

The thing is Aden did commit crimes against innocent parties, namely Rachel and Belle.It wasn't just a case of him wanting to punish someone he thought was responsible for his abuse, he was prepared, if not exactly happy, to mistreat innocent bystanders in order to get what he wanted.I'm not entirely certain that Larry's crimes were more severe than Aden's, certainly from a moral standpoint.Larry might have acted in a cowardly manner but he never deliberately hurt anyone whilst Aden intended to deliberately kill someone.Again, I'm not sure what the court did to rehabilitate him.His counselling started before his crimes and ended before his court case.They just seemed to take the word of a discredited psychiatrist and a counsellor who didn't bother to turn up(what happened to cross-examination?)that he was no longer a threat to society.(On which subject, how exactly was Larry a threat to society?Unless he was planning on getting behind the wheel of a car while drunk again.)On the subject of Sean, it's not too big a leap to suggest that he felt protective towards Aden because they'd both been abused, which is why he beat up Ric for hurting him.Although I agree, that's not directly linked to his abuse.And at last someone admits he deserved to go to jail for what he did to Axel. Sorry, I'm just in an argumentative mood.

In case any Adelle fans are disappointed that I split them up again...sorry.Genuinely.I know it's no fun reading about your favourite couple splitting up.I wasn't even planning on doing it when I first had this idea but as it went on I realised I needed to.Given that this is the third, possibly fourth, fiction in which I've done it, I'm worried it's becoming a compulsion.

Oh...my...god.Was not expecting that ending.What's going to happen to Charlie now?What exactly happened to Angelo?Was that a moment between him and Rachel?And is there anyone left alive in Summer Bay these days?

Good that Aden knows about everything, I really liked that moment when he barged into the bathroom and Belle just freaked out.Things seem to be happy between them now...Waiting to see what happens next.

Ahhh!Glad they're all all right, looking forward to more.

Im getting sick of Geoffs behaviour at the moment. He is is soooo jelous he really needs to lighten up a bit! Well, I think the fact they're even bringing up the subject of Aden and Nicole suggests it's still a possibility.(Do I need to mention my Ric and Mattie analogy again?I think even I'm tired of hearing it.)

I disagree.What exactly did they do to rehabilitate him, get him to clean a couple of walls?There's no reason he couldn't be rehabilitated in prison:It might not work for everyone but then neither does giving him a slap on his wrist and sending him on his way.To my mind, the seriousness of his crimes warranted a custodial offence but apparently if you say you're sorry and make a big speech about your terrible childhood they'll let you off.The real problem with this argument is the complete inconsistency:His father and brother were both abused, which probably led to their crimes, but everyone seems quite happy to leave them to rot in jail.What Aden did to Axel was exactly the same as what his brother did to Ric, never mind what he did to his father and the others, but he's apparently still in prison four years on and Aden got off scot free.

Oh god!How could you leave it like that?Really want to know what happens next.

Gosh, what's happened to Angelo?And where's Charlie? Martha probably needs to tell Roman, although at least she's got Alf supporting her so she's not alone. Can't be easy without Jack. Looking forward to the next update.

That was a really good chapter.Liked Belle's fury at the opening and how it stopped when she saw how bad Aden looked.Liked Mattie consoling him as well.Wondering what the men want.

I'm finding it hard to think of another character who deliberately tried to kill someone and escaped jail. (Although there probably are some.)I get that they wanted him to stay in the show but he could have got six months, out in three without it affecting things too much.Instead, they basically said what he did didn't matter.

Gosh, that was good.Really exciting what's happening to Charlie, want to see what happens next.

I do think Aden and Nicole would work better with each other than Belle and Geoff but yeah, I doubt they'd split up Aden and Belle or Geoff and Nicole permanently, so I hope it is a load of nothing rather than a five minute relationship before they get back together with their "proper" partners.

I agree with a lot of what you say, Jody, if they really did know how long they had Celeste for it was handled appallingly.As I said earlier, the storyline might have worked if played out over months rather than days but for me it just didn't. I didn't enjoy those last few scenes, partly because Melody was leaving and I didn't want her to but partly because it felt like a completely faux happy ending and I just couldn't see it turning out well.It relied on Melody and Christine acting against every instinct they'd previously shown.I'd been worried right from the start that they were going to suddenly turn Christine nice because it would be a complete cop out.And they did and it was.When she said she'd always been proud of Melody, it was so obviously a lie I didn't know whether to laugh or throw something at the screen.(Even when she was calling her evil?Even when she dragged her up in front of the school meeting to tell them all how badly behaved she'd become?) Ever since she humiliated Melody at the school meeting and ranted almost incoherently at Miles, I've been convinced Christine isn't just a bad parent or overly strict, she's actually mentally unstable.The exorcism and kidnap attempt just proved it.Alf even said of Audrey "She's not well" and it's equally true of Christine.There's no sign she's had counselling or treatment so, however much she might want to change, I think she'd end up acting in exactly the same way sooner or later.People have suggested what Melody has been through has made her stronger and more able to stand up to her but it wouldn't work in my opinion.She tried standing up to her last time and she would have been in real trouble if Miles and Geoff hadn't been there.And now they aren't.

^I think we did know about Aden's abuse at that point, it was after Larry had told Rachel about it and after he'd started living at Roman's.It seemed to be one more step on the road to the kidnap incident, with Aden wanting to punish someone for his abuse, he seemed to beat up Axel as a substitute for his grandfather and then do the same with Larry once he discovered his true place in things. I do wish they hadn't killed Axel, it was a waste of a character who still had potential, although I think his friendship with Aden was pretty much dead in the water:I can only remember two scenes together after the beating, both of which involved Aden getting physical with him, and his reaction to his death was practically non-existent, he was, perhaps understandably, more bothered about Larry being involved.I agree I don't want to see Aden and Geoff become friends, it would be too out of character, keep them just being civil.The scene where Aden came to pick Belle up for the formal was pitched perfectly:Aden unable to resist the opportunity to wind him up and Geoff giving him a "Oh, I've got to deal with you again, have I?" look.

You've probably got a point, again, on at least two levels.Thinking about it, I do tend to get into Aden's head more than other characters, possibly because there's often more of a difference between what he's thinking and what he's doing.I tend to let character's words speak for themselves a bit but we do sometimes need the thoughts behind them so I'll do my best to remedy it a bit.

It's a shame you're not continuing with the collaboration but I look forward to your "alternate endings".

Good one-shot.It was sweet and romantic.

Oh my god!I did not see that ending coming at all.Really great twist.I loved the start, when Belle was willing to risk putting herself in pain to comfort Lizzie.Can't wait to read what happens next.

Oh crikey, let's see if I can remember this...They found out that one of the prison guards was working for Johnny so Mattie and Belle worked out this plan where Lucas posed as one of Johnny's gang and told the guard that the gang member who killed Rocco was getting jumpy, so he'd pass the message on to Johnny.And Ric paid one of the other prisoners to spy on Johnny so when he rang the gang member to find out what was going on they found out who it was.Then Peter and the boys descended on his house and found him burning blood-stained clothes or something.I think they got the guard to squeal as well.

Ohhh, I was worried she wasn't going to tell him and because they'd been arguing he's going to think that's why she's acting strangely.Looking forward to the next update.