Red Ranger 1

Yep, sounds exactly like what Aden did to me.I don't really see how Melody can be held legally responsible for the accident.Morally, maybe, but that's another matter entirely.

Liked the way Belle told Aden he was a father.Not so sure about Aden telling her she can't be friends with Angelo.

People want Melody to go to jail?What the f..?Aden deliberately tries to kill someone and takes hostages and apparently doesn't deserve to go to jail and you want to send Melody down for taking drugs?She deserves a warning at most.Yes, I agree there needs to be a scene of her facing up to the way her actions have affected people but putting her in the slammer is just crazy.I like the idea of her being sent to a retreat, that would probably work well for her.

Please, no, not Aden and Melody.When he was comforting her, I was practically throwing things at the set.The guy's the poster child for mental instability and he's the one coaxing Melody out of a panic attack?It was obviously just there to make the viewers and/or Belle like him again.Didn't work.

I'd definitely rather watch Melody than...certain other characters...I'm quite intrigued by what they're doing with her.It's seemed at times as though she's got lots of different personalities but now I'm beginning to think it's deliberate, she seems to be going through some sort of identity crisis.It's as if she's so desperate to be liked that she's willing to play any role and act in any way that'll make people like her.And as a result, like she said to Miles, she doesn't even know who the real her is anymore. Miles' parenting style is a bit relaxed and hands off but I think it's actually effective.Instead of giving people lectures that they're just going to ignore, he sits back and lets the situation play out while keeping the lines of communication open so they know they can come to him if they want to.It's led him to take his eyes off the ball a few times, there's been at least one occasion when Melody's been out late and no-one's bothered to check whether she's come home or not, but he knows more about what's going on than they think.It worked with Jai, who eventually opened up to him when he hit rock bottom, and hopefully Melody'll do the same. Not sure what I think about her recovery time.I usually complain about Home and Away's habit of making people magically better but in Melody's case I don't think there's any deep seated psychosis. She needs to start seeing a counsellor again but I think making that decision would be a big step.If not back to normal, I think she would become..."functional" for want of a better word very quickly.

Gosh, wasn't expecting that!Like Belle and Angelo as friends.Belle really needs to tell Aden about Sydney.

No, Sadie's still out there somewhere. I'm pretty sure Cain and Eli were around at the same time.I remember a scene, around the time Eli showed up, where Cain wasn't living with the Dingles and he turned up while Sam was there alone and tried to take the money from the pot.And Eli, who none of them liked either at the time except Sam, turned up and stopped him.That's the only time I can remember them being together which is odd because Cain must have been around for quite a while afterwards.

It's odd but I can't actually remember these two having a scene together until last year.And then in the opener you had him being her knight in shining armour after the latest time she was kidnapped and I thought "These two have got a really good chemistry.They're going to get together."And it just worked. I remember that first time they kissed and Irene was ringing them up and trying to find Rachel because Leah had just found out Dan was dead and I was just shouting "Don't answer your phone! Don't find them!I want to see Tony and Rachel together!I want them to kiss!" It's a shame they don't get any screen time but it does make the little moments all the more special.I liked when Tony went to the reunion with Jazz and even though she was doing him a favour(or so it seemed...)and they were getting on well, the minute she started badmouthing Rachel he was like "Don't talk about her like that."And that episode where Jack and Tony were at the hospital with Martha and the writer seemed to have forgotten Tony and Rachel were a couple:When Rachel leaves Jack with Martha, in the background she walks up to Tony in the corridor and puts her arms round him. It was probably completely improvised but it just kept the relationship alive. It's a shame that a lot of their conversations seem to happen off screen.I remember when they just casually dropped into conversation the fact that Tony had had a vasectomy and they'd been talking about having children and I was wondering when exactly that had all been established.And don't even start me on all that nonsense surrounding the Olympic Cliffhanger.First Rachel disappears and, on the strength of a couple of e-mails she didn't reply to, all her family and friends including Tony decided she'd run off with Hugh.I just didn't understand why they'd think so little of her.Even if Rachel had decided to leave Tony(and it's a big if), she'd have spoken to him about it or left a note, not just vanished.And then when it turned out she'd been kidnapped(for the fifth time...), no-one seemed to have any sort of reaction to it at all.Even Rachel just brushed it aside and started campaigning for Aden to be let out.I could understand her sympathising with him but you'd expect her to make sure he was put somewhere where he couldn't hurt anyone rather than being on his side.And as for Tony, I'm not even sure he had a reaction, bar the occasional half a line.There was no scene of his talking to Rachel about what happened or confronting Aden about the way he treated her.The fact that everyone just welcomed Aden back into the fold and, in a couple of cases, actually started treating him better just made it look as though they didn't care about Rachel. In a way, I'm actually glad they didn't get married because it does seem as though they've been moving a bit fast, getting engaged after only a few months because that's what older couples do.I hope they get married eventually but I want them to build up to it properly instead of it just being a throwaway obligation.

Yeah I am surprised to but I cant wait to see the King's reaction to his return after all he did fleece them before he left and kidnapped Tom!!It will be interesting to see how he gets on with Eli as well.

Ooh, definitely interesting.Really looking forward to reading more of this.

Interesting so far.Want to see where you go with it.

I'd hate for that to happen. I feel Belle and Aden have moved past all that highschool teen drama. They don't belong with the teen group anymore. But they don't belong with the adults either. They need to start forming friendships with the likes of Martha, Kirsty, and even Rachel, that age group. With the kind of issues they've dealt with last year, and are going to deal with this year, they have outgrown all those teenage stuff. I'm not saying the should act like adults, just not act like highschool kids either. For most part of Geoff's time on the show, Belle has looked at him as a nuisance, and I like that because thats how you look at an annoying little brother, and thats what I see their relationship like now. So I feel if she were to start hanging out with him and getting involved in his love life and stuff it would be horrible. And also a step back for her. She's moved past all this. Even when they were in school together you would never see her hanging out with him or even talking to him all that much. So if they do it now, it would just look like a desperate attempt, now that her friends are gone, to give her people to talk to. She needs to start building friendships with characters, like Rachel and Martha who have more life expierance and have been through just has difficult stuff as her. People on her level now. As for Nicole and Aden, while I don't care for this friendship, I don't find it weird. Because, unlike Belle and Geoff, they have had some kind of relationship since the time she arrived. But as long as it just stays Nicole and Aden and not Nicole, Aden, and Belle. Because if Belle and Nicole were to becomes friends then that would bring Geoff into it too. And Geoff and Belle becoming better friends then now would be cringeworthy, for me, to watch. I actually really like seeing Geoff and Belle together and wish it happened more often.(Frankly I'd rather see those two in a scene than seeing them with Aden and Nicole but maybe that's because of the scarcity.)When they were rubbing each other up the wrong way at the start, I think that was mainly because he was giving Lucas a hard time and Belle was sticking up for her friend.Last year, I really liked their interaction, they came across as two people who were pretty much exact opposites but were still incredibly fond of each other.I think it said a lot that he was the one who got her to go and see Aden in the clinic, even if it was just an excuse to have him bump into Melody.But I wouldn't like to see Aden and Geoff suddenly become friends given that they've always disliked each other.There'd have to be some sort of scene justifying it rather than going down the "Aden's a regular so everyone in Summer Bay's his friend now" route that seems to have become popular. I agree that Aden and Belle are getting a bit old to hang out with a bunch of school kids, they seem to be in an age group of their own.It would be nice to see Belle hang out a bit more with the likes of Kirsty, Martha and Rachel.At the beginning of last year they seemed to be building a friendship between her and Leah but then it just disappeared:Even though they work together I can't remember the last time they were in the same scene so it would be nice to get back to that.They really need some guys for Aden to hang about with.Roman's taken on more of a parental role towards him but maybe now that Aden's left school they could start to view each other more as equals.It's hard to imagine him being friends with Miles or Jack but maybe, if they actually made it a storyline point instead of it just happening, it could work.

Oh, that was lovely.Really sad but lovely.Great fic.

I agree that if Geoff and Melody got back together it wouldn't be the same as before.And yet...there's something there still.Even if they'd stayed together, they'd probably have become different people (Beginner's guide to soap characterisation:Introduce fun and interesting characters, then torture them until they're as miserable as everyone else)and I think it's only because they split up that there's a desire to keep their relationship in some sort of bubble rather than letting it be spoilt.But I agree they'd have to be very careful how they did it.If Melody's responsible for breaking up Geoff and Nicole, that could well be the final nail in her coffin as far as some people are concerned.

I agree that .I just wish they'd given them a break first:Since they've been back together, she's been pregnant with another man's child, then they gave her cancer and now this.Would it have hurt to let them be happy for just a little bit?

Off topic, I know, but please no more Aden/Melody scenes.It's even more contrived than Aden/ Belle.Just because they happened to go crazy at the same time, suddenly they're best friends?I understood them spending time together in the clinic, they were both looking for a connection to their normal lives, even if it was someone they'd never spoken to before.But trying to turn him into a cuddly big brother figure is a horrible "pat the dog" idea. Anyway...If they do split them up, then I agree they'll have to be very careful not to make anyone seem unlikeable as a result, which is why I think they're safe for a while and certainly that Geoff shouldn't go straight back to Melody if they do.It's a shame that there seems to be some contractual rule that characters have to appear every week because it often results in them being shoehorned into episodes that don't really need them.If Geoff and Nicole appear, it should be because there's a reason for them to do so, not so they can stand around in the background during someone else's storyline.It doesn't mean they have to have a big storyline or some sort of major drama but the relationship does need to be explored properly.

Can actually see both sides of this argument.If Geoff and Melody do get back together, which seems more possible than it used to, then like I said earlier I wouldn't want it to happen straightaway.They should probably have a go at being friends first and build up to it.Is Melody interested in being friends with Geoff?Perhaps not at the moment, which is unfortunate because before they got together she did seem quite happy with it.And I certainly wouldn't want Geoff to cheat on Nicole with her, that'd pretty much be the end of both of them. Is Geoff considered a "hot, popular guy"?Could go either way.Girls did seem to be interested in him at the start of the year but the fact that his idea of a good time seemed to involve taking them to prayer meetings put them off a bit.Then when he and Melody broke up, he did notice he was receiving more female attention and Nicole told him it was because the word was out he was single again and she ended up pretending to be his girlfriend in order to put off suitors. Even though this isn't her thread, I feel the need to defend Nicole here a bit.Certainly at the start, she didn't seem particularly interested in Geoff(or anyone else)as a person but after it came out about the bet she did actually seem to be genuinely trying to help Geoff and Melody when Christine had banned them from seeing each other(which is a bit surprising given that now she seems determined to keep them apart).And then there was that bonding scene on the beach after she'd been rejected by Aden and he'd been rejected by Melody and they did actually seem to be becoming friends, even though she was still hung up on Aden(even though, at the time, he seemed to treat her as at best a poor substitute for Belle).I remember that scene where they saw Ruby and Pat kissing in the surf club and Geoff told her he saw it as a private expression of affection rather than showing off in public and even though she didn't exactly agree she saw his point of view(although again, they do that sort of thing all the time now).But then there was the incident at the camp where, with the best of intentions, Geoff got her into trouble and she decided that he wasn't her friend(it was interesting that even Ruby, who was hardly Nicole's biggest fan, thought Geoff should have minded his own business), which I think pretty much pushed her into Elliot's arms.When he told her on the beach that he liked her, her reaction was broadly the same as Belle's when Aden told her he still liked her, as if he was the one she really wanted to be with but she(still)thought he wasn't interested.Even when he made a fool of himself blurting out how he felt in the corridor, she seemed more pleased than embarassed.I think it was knowing that Geoff would be there for her that gave her the courage to stand up to Elliot and finish things.

I think Belle is one of those characters whose background I never paid much attention to.I remember we met her adoptive father in one episode but I don't remember that many details.I seem to recall that her adoptive parents had had her handed to them illegally by Kitty(since Amanda thought she was dead)and that they didn't really seem to have much interest in her, her father only turned up because Amanda had come into money and having looked after her for years he thought they were entitled to some of it.They reported her missing to the police but when Peter tracked her down they weren't actually interested in having her back.She had a sister?Don't remember that at all.It's probably one of those details that disappeared into the ether.I think Ric was meant to have a sister too at one point.

^No, you're not missing anything.The Guv is/was/would have been Ric's grandmother.I forget not everyone's a continuity nut like I am. Sorry I haven't updated in a while, I'll try and get a chapter posted over the weekend.

Despite being very much on the opposite side of the fence, I agree with a lot of what's been said.Given the number of loose ends lying around the show, I don't think we'll ever get any proper resolution for the way they treated Geoff and/or Angelo, although if anything happens to Angelo as a result of it'll be nice to see a bit of guilt from Belle(and possibly also Aden, although he doesn't seem to do guilt very well)over what's happened. One of the problems with this couple is that we very rarely get to see them actually be a couple. They just seem to get plunged into crisis after crisis.It would be good if we can have a bit of a quiet period for them, without any major storylines, so we can see what they're like under "normal" conditions. I don't know if it's a recent thing or if I've only just noticed it but it seems like there's this rule that every single character is in two or three episodes a week, no more no less, whether they're in the middle of an important storyline or just popping up to say two lines.Which means that we never see all the characters together and they all seem to end up split into little groups that never interact with anyone else.That's probably a large part of the reason why Aden and Belle hardly ever seem to have scenes with anyone but each other.

I think I could have accepted Geoff and Nicole sleeping together in principle but the problem was it was really badly done.There was no build-up, they shared their first kiss and suddenly they were having sex like Geoff had been doing it all his life.That was even more abrupt and out of character than Aden sleeping with Belle.There is a feeling that having got them together they don't really know what to do with them but we'll see how it pans out next year.

From what I've heard, it sounds as though .I just hope that we get a proper scene dealing with all that's happened instead of her just slotting back into the Bay with it all forgotten about.I think people will feel short-changed if that happens.

I'm not really sure what's going to happen to these two.It seemed as though Geoff and Nicole were going to stay together and he and Melody were just going to be friends.But the way he talked about her and Matthew("He's not right for you")was pretty much the same way she talked about him and Nicole and indeed the way Nicole talked about them, which does suggest he's a bit jealous.Maybe there is unfinished business there.

Really hate what they've done to Donna, they've completely ruined her for me.I used to adore her but for the first time in living memory I'm finding myself not really liking her at all.