Red Ranger 1

Oh dear.It does look as though we're going to have to agree to disagree but, apologies, I'm still going to have my two pen'orth.Regarding the sociopath thing, I'm surprised to find that most if not all of those do actually apply to Aden to a certain degree.What I think it means is someone with different values:not only does he often see nothing wrong with the way he's acting, he expects no-one else to see anything wrong as well.It was interesting that even when Belle came to see him at the clinic, he still seemed to be expecting her to "see sense"(my phrase, not his)and agree with what he had done. Now, I don't know what constitutes a breakdown and I'm not sure if anyone else reading this does.But to say that he didn't know what he was doing or wasn't in control of his actions does seem to be going a bit far.It's not as though Aden was lashing out blindly, he was pursuing an agenda that was consistent with his earlier beliefs and attitudes.He also seemed to be capable of quite complex thoughts and of adapting to changes in his situation. When Rachel turned up, as she said at the time, he crossed a line, not just by targetting an innocent bystander who got in the way but by moving from passively refusing to help his father to actively preventing him from getting help.He had enough understanding of the situation to contact Belle(how we don't know)and tell her he was going to be out of town so no-one would come looking for him.(And was able to do so in a way that didn't cause her to suspect anything was wrong, although she did have other things on her mind at the time.)He was also able to see that people would be looking for Rachel and so had the foreknowledge to hide her car. The moment where he tries to inject his father is possibly the only moment when he seemed to be acting out of manic desperation, since it did seem to be a spur of the moment decision.It's telling that that was the only time Belle's words seemed to have any effect on him, suggesting it was the only time he wasn't certain of his actions.Would she have been able to talk him round completely if the police hadn't turned up?Maybe and that in itself suggests he was still capable of making considered decisions. But even when he was at the clinic and his behaviour had become more that which people would consider normal for him, he still believed what he did was right for an awfully long time. Sorry to bang on.

I'm sorry you saw it that way because, um, that was actually me trying to be reasonable.I wouldn't consider Aden evil but, without trying to labour the point or make extreme comparisons, I'm just using it as an example of someone committing a crime, murderers are often human as well.Slade just made a good point about the fact that everyone seems to think Aden's abuse lets him off the hook but no-one thinks the same about Larry. As I said before, my main problem with this argument is the length of time Aden's actions lasted.If he'd lashed out at his father in anger, even killed him, you could argue that was a moment of madness or a simple reflex.But spending two days sitting there watching him slowly die seems a bit of a long time not to have second thoughts.

Oh boy, what have we started?Okay, firstly my problem with the Tam incident, and I realise this is a result of me psychoanalysing it far far too much, is that in retrospect it pretty much looks like a substitute for sex.(And as for the drinking, no he didn't force her.But it was a kind of peer pressure. She looked surprised and uncertain when he gave her the drink but she went along with it because she liked him.) Axel.I would definitely call that pre-meditated.We don't know what happened when Aden found Axel, he might have confessed, he might have said something that made Aden realise he was lying, he had tried to force himself on Belle immediately beforehand and Aden pulled him off(but then people believed Annie's claims because he'd done something similar with Tam), some people have suggested Aden might have known something about Axel we didn't(although that raises the question of why he was friends with him).But the way he exited the Den, telling Belle "If you see Axel, tell me", he'd obviously already decided to do some damage.My main problems are firstly that Aden never showed any remorse and secondly that no-one in Summer Bay seemed particularly bothered about what he'd done.In fact, Belle actually seemed to soften towards him after that which raises a few questions. What he did to his father and Rachel I probably wouldn't call pre-meditated.He didn't go to the house with the intention of killing his father or allowing him to die and he neither planned nor wanted to kidnap Rachel, it was just a case of wrong place, wrong time.However, while he was(is?)undoubtedly troubled, I'm not entirely convinced about him suffering a breakdown or not being responsible for his actions.He found out his father could have stopped his abuse so he wanted him to die.That is a conscious choice.Despite claims he was a different person, his actions seemed consistent with his earlier attitudes, his beating of Axel and his statement a few weeks earlier that he wished his grandfather was still alive so he could make him pay.Let's not forget he kept Rachel and his father prisoner for nearly two days.That's not a moment of madness or a spur of the moment decision.He could have ended it at any time.Did he deserve to go to jail?Well, it's all right saying "It wouldn't have helped him" but since when was a sentence supposed to help the perpetrator?And I don't think having a reason for your actions automatically translates as being not guilty.If someone commits murder and they've got a motive, you don't say "Would going to jail help them?", you say "Does their crime justify this sentence?" Regarding the earlier comments about who knows what, I think people's attitude towards Aden pre- and post-trial has been very badly written.When Aden came out of the clinic, people like Alf and Irene, who didn't like Aden before he kidnapped their family and friends, pretty much welcomed him back with open arms.It was if no-one cared what he'd done or why he'd done it.I wanted to know how people reacted to him at school but we got about half a scene of Matthew taunting him at the surf club, causing him to skip school rather than put up with it.And then when he did go to school, we didn't get a single scene of him there.There was a very strange scene during the trial where Rachel was expressing her regret that she wasn't allowed to say anything to help Aden and Tony and Jack just sat there not saying anything.What exactly did they make of it?Did they know why Rachel was trying to help Aden after what he'd done to her or did they just accept it? And then Aden's speech at the trial was written as something major but nothing happened as a result. He said that if he told the court what happened to him everyone would know but no-one's said a word. The only person in court who didn't seem to know already was Nicole and she hasn't said a word either. Did the papers report what had happened?Are we supposed to assume everyone in Summer Bay knows and they're all too polite to say anything?"There's going to be consequences,"said Roman when he saw Aden at the police station.How I laugh at that line. Going completely off topic, those two incidents, the kidnap and Axel, seem to be part of a curious affliction going around at the moment, storylines being abandoned instead of resolved.When Irene and Geoff tried to split up Jai and Annie, there was no real pay-off, we just saw Geoff standing next to Jai at the surf carnival as if they're suddenly friends.Which is why, and people who've seen beyond UK pace might be laughing at me now, having just seen Nicole's revelation at the Halloween party, I'm not expecting it to be mentioned again.

Loved the opening scene and the sudden realisation that they were in the kitchen.Belle and Angelo's memorial was kinda sweet as well.

I actually quite like the fact that the threads have been combined.Before there was a feeling that if you saw something in the anti or appreciation thread that you disagreed with you weren't allowed to present an opposing opinion.At least here there's room for a proper discussion.

They've been using that word in Coronation Street for donkey's years.I remember Jim McDonald calling Liz that which must be about fifteen years ago now.I had to look it up...

Wow, that was a really powerful chapter.Well done.

Okay, here at UK pace we've just had Aden say he's only ever slept with one person(Belle).They're just making up his back story as they go along, aren't they? I'm opening up a can of worms, I know, but here goes.If he was telling the truth, and we've no reason to suppose he wasn't, then as I said before that gives a very unpleasant subtext to his encounter with Tam.In retrospect, it looks as though he arranged to take someone his own age to the formal, then panicked and realised he couldn't handle it.So this guy who's essentially impotent decides to satisfy his sexual urges by taking out an underage girl, getting her drunk(ie.providing her with alcohol and encouraging her to drink it)and then taking it as far as he could with her.(I checked out the clip on YouTube and I'll swear there was more to it than that but I'll leave off with specifics.)It's as if the writers are so determined to present him as this scarred little boy that we should feel sorry for(or possibly that Belle's "the one")that they haven't thought about the implications or how consistent it is with what's gone before. I wish they hadn't said it because I preferred it when it looked as though his intimacy problems were a recent development rather than something that's been an issue as long as we've known him.It just makes the speed of his recovery seem even more ridiculous.

Oh, good, this seems to have settled down a bit.I'm not going to ruin anyone's Christmas by starting another argument(I'll save that for another thread).Chelfso, you made a good case even if I don't agree with everything you said.I'd just like to say that, thinking about it, my arguments weren't as contradictory as they first appeared.Belle didn't help him immediately after the breakdown and she shouldn't have done without a fuller discussion of what happened.I can reconcile that. Anyway, best wishes to anyone who holds any opinion on the subject and see you after the break.

I'm tempted to opt out of this conversation because it is going round and round in circles and making me behave in a way I don't like and say things I don't really mean to score cheap points.I apologise to anyone who's been annoyed or upset by my posts. Aden, for whatever reason, felt able to confide in Belle.Fine.That's good.He needed someone supporting him and it probably helped him.However, I don't see why that meant they needed to go back to being a couple again.He needed a friend and, although Belle handled the situation sensitively and didn't push him, trying to have something romantic possibly wasn't what he needed at the time. Since Aden came out of the clinic, I can only think of two occasions when Belle has genuinely helped him.The first was when she talked him into speaking out in court(Roman tried and so did Morag to an extent but it was Belle he listened to).The second was when she went with him to see his father.(Which was a bit random in itself since nothing was really resolved and he hasn't been mentioned since but I digress.)Aside from that, up until the point they got back together, the conversations mainly consisted of them arguing about their relationship and making each other miserable or her trying to involve him in her development investigation, encouraging him to break the law and risk his job and his liberty.I personally would consider bringing him along for a spot of breaking and entering far more irresponsible than playing truant with him.I think Nicole giving him a dose of normality and Roman providing him with a family situation is a lot more likely to help his recovery.Maybe Nicole does spend a lot of time talking about her and Geoff but listening to other people's problems can be quite therapeutic.That's probably why he likes hanging around with Melody. The way they got back together...Well, I'll say it again even though no-one really disagrees with me.If Aden and Belle love each other and want to be together, that's fair enough.But there are right ways and wrong ways to go about it and they definitely chose the wrong way.It's all right feeling guilty but if it's not going to stop you doing the wrong thing and if you're not going to learn from it then it's not really to your credit that much. Oddly, given that they seem incapable of being friends, I can actually see them going that way a lot more easily than I can see them getting married and living happily ever after.I can see them with other people but still fond of each other and aware that their time together was special to both of them. I guess we'll have to wait and see what happens.

I was actually impressed with the way Nicole handled things with Aden.She liked him but she wasn't prepared to just be a drunken fling, she had more self-respect than that.Okay, calling him disgusting wasn't very nice but she was still willing to be there for him and instead he turned on her and called her a tease.Compare that with Belle:Some guy she hardly knows comes staggering into her room drunk and crawls into bed with her and she doesn't seem to mind that much.Hardly what I'd call self-respect.Maybe she did it in a jokey way but Nicole did seem to be trying to get him and Belle back together.And yes, I agree helping him skip school was a bad idea and I'm disappointed that that was one of many occasions when the consequences of Aden's actions were just ignored. Maybe Morag and Roman weren't helping Aden much prior to the kidnapping but then he'd pretty much removed himself from them and spent all his time hanging out in Belle's room.Like I said before, there was a lot more going on than we saw.Roman and Morag kept saying they were going to visit Aden at the clinic but did we see those scenes?No, because it wasn't about him and Belle.For that matter, he and Nicole went away together after the trial and her finding out about his abuse but do we get to see what they discussed?Of course not. Maybe I overstepped the mark by accusing Belle of walking away from Aden but one of the things I really hated about that storyline was that the whole thing was never resolved.Belle had every reason not to stand by Aden, I agree, but then she went and did exactly that without anything happening to make her change her mind.There was no scene of them discussing what had happened and the effect it had on her.The closest we got was a bland scene of him apologising to her.Her attitude pretty much seemed to be "I still fancy you so let's forget about the whole kidnapping me and trying to kill your father and just get down to it."It reached ridiculous heights when she was sitting there in the court saying Aden would never hurt her.She tried that at the time and look how far it got her.And then she tells him she always knew this was the person he was deep down which was obviously a lie-six months previous she hated him just as much as everyone else.

Um, no we haven't.We're watching at UK pace, got about four weeks to go.And, hey, maybe there's something in those four weeks that's going to convince me what a really great couple Aden and Belle are but given that all the other episodes that everyone raved about went shooting over my head I doubt it.

As if I would...Although that incident did prove one thing to me:Belle and Aden are stupid and not just about leaving money lying around while they nip upstairs.Let's leave aside Belle's curious decision to hand over her life savings to a guy she's been dating a month and skip forward to her insane plan to pay off the mortgage on a house Aden doesn't own so he can sell it, despite not owning it.(Did I mention it's not Aden's house?)It never got mentioned again, presumably because someone else noticed it didn't make sense. Having said that, I'd like to apologise for some of my comments in that post.I tried going away for five minutes and trying to think of something reasonable to say but it didn't work.Yes, Belle supports Aden and(much as it pains me to type this)she does it because she loves him.But when people say "Belle's the only one supporting Aden", what they mean is "Belle's the only one we see supporting Aden."Does his interaction with Roman and Nicole really consist of a two minute conversation every now and then when Belle's busy elsewhere?For that matter, does Belle really manage to go weeks without talking to Geoff or Annie?Of course not but we don't get to see those conversations because Aden and Belle's relationship has pretty much taken over their characters(and, indeed, the show with at least one, usually two or three Aden/Belle heavy episodes a week)to the detriment of other character pairings. One last thing.There's been some comments on the Melody thread about her being unable to make decisions for herself and becoming reliant on Geoff.Well, there are times when Aden seems to be the same.If he's incapable of facing up to his problems or even saving himself from jail without Belle telling him to, then what exactly does that say about him and their relationship?

Okay, I'm going to come out and say it even though people are going to hate it.Belle prostituted herself to Angelo so that he'd help her.The guy obviously cared about her and worried about her and she was stringing him along and using him while sneaking off to be with Aden behind his back.It's all right saying "People were dying" but were they?!The waste had been there for decades and, okay, people had died because of it but it's not as though the entire Bay was being wiped out or the cases were severe enough for anyone to notice the connection.I get that Belle's young and that explains why she felt so strongly about it but what was with the urgency?Half the time it just seemed to be an excuse to spend time with Aden.He didn't behave any better, turning up in her room, kissing her and seducing her while she tried to point out she was with Angelo.After that, any moral stance feels like hypocrisy. As for Belle supporting Aden, well, yeah in the sense that she seemed to be in every scene he was in. It's not as though she was being altruistic, she got copious amounts of sex out of it.Seriously, these two are incapable of being friends and it's friends who offer genuine unconditional support.Roman was the one that offered him a place to stay, twice, after he fell out with his dad.He was the one who went to the police station and the clinic to support him and asked Belle to visit him when she seemed quite ready to wash her hands of him.Nicole's the one who stood by him through it all without asking him to explain anything.Before Morag left, Aden thanked her for being the one person to have faith in him when the rest of the town(including Belle)felt he wasn't worth knowing.To me, that meant a lot more than any of his childish "We're meant to be together, you're the best thing that's ever happened to me" speechs to Belle.I get that she's his first love so it's understandable he'd feel that intensely about it, but that doesn't seem like the kind of attachment that's going to develop into a healthy adult relationship in the long run.

I actually agree with the earlier comment that Aden and Belle are more interesting and likeable when they're apart.Aden works a lot better in scenes with Roman and Nicole than when he's mouthing empty platitudes at Belle.I can't remember the last time Belle had a scene when she wasn't pining after Aden, mistreating Angelo or hassling the developers but when Aden was in the clinic and they gave her a couple of scenes with Geoff and some stuff with Irene I thought those were much better relationships. I'm not sure that "they'd do anything to be together" is a particularly healthy way to live, a life needs more in it than just one other person.

Well, the Kings are definitely cursed since they moved to Emmerdale, that's three of them have met violent deaths now. Finding it very hard to warm to Aaron, especially when he was threatening to beat up a fourteen-year-old girl.Wish they'd let the mob take him out now.

Aden apologists usually claim that Aden reacted the way he did, and treated her a lot worse than he did Nicole, because he cared about her.It's another example of him making bad choices in order to be with her, she'd discussed it with him maturely and wasn't pressuring him but he ended up forcing the issue and getting into a situation that neither of them could handle. And I'm not sure why it was Angelo's responsibility to stop Belle cheating on him, he was always fair and honest with her.Even when Aden turned up at Belle's house in the middle of the night demanding to see her when she was asleep and Angelo chased him off, he told Belle about it in the morning instead of trying to keep them apart.

Oh, that was really good.I like how you've made what's happened to Nicole something random and arbitrary.

I'm not entirely sure about Belle and Aden having a positive effect on each other.Aden had already begun to improve before Belle took an interest in him, if he hadn't she wouldn't have looked twice at him(and didn't).They actually seem to bring out the worst in each other(ie.the skank incident, their treatment of Angelo).They're both guilty of tunnel vision at times, not caring how anyone else is affected as long as they're together.

Oh dear...Want to see their reactions when they find out what's happened.

Oh my...Looking forward to reading more.

Loved the Aden/Nicole material.And everything Belle said was absolutely spot on.They really do need to be a proper couple before taking things further.

I too was impressed by the ending and must add by heartfelt thanks to those already proffered for keeping us suitably entertained.

Once again, thanks to everyone who's been commenting on this fic and reading it.I started it in a rush before I could think about it hard enough to stop myself and expected it to have at best a niche readership so the response has been overwhelming.And I probably overstepped the mark for a T-rating on at least three counts but I was fed up of giving all my fics As. And having refuted one count of plagiarism, I should probably confess that one scene was heavily "inspired by" an earlier HA storyline.But thankfully no-one seems to have noticed that.

Ooh, it's been a while since I've looked at this page, things have hotted up a bit.Still don't like them, in case anyone's in any doubt.Two characters who only know each other to scowl at fall in love in the space of a couple of days?Yeah, right. Two of the more curious comments I've seen from the pro camp:If Belle had rejected Aden after he'd confessed his abuse(and, you know, called her a skank), he would have been sent on a downward spiral.Well, leaving aside the fact that he pretty much went on one anyway, is that really a good enough reason for going out with someone?I always thought she should have supported him and been a friend to him but not suddenly decided it made him decent boyfriend material.Did Aden really kidnap Belle?Well, he locked her in a shed and wouldn't let her out.He might not have tied her up but I've a feeling he did shove her.I remember her going to open the door, saying "I know you won't hurt me" and he physically prevented her from unlocking it.And she did seem to forgive him very quickly.She was still angry with him at the police station but by the time she saw him at the clinic she was unambigiously on his side. I'm not convinced either by the argument that "Yeah, Aden's counselling didn't last long but it would be really dull if he was having months of counselling and couldn't sleep with Belle."Why would that be dull? Why do Aden and Belle have to sleep together?It's as if either society or the mechanics of television mean a relationship somehow isn't valid if they don't have sex.I'd actually respect them more if they were capable of having a loving relationship without it. Belle being with Angelo.Aden's behaviour during the whole thing seemed to be a bit erratic.(Which is, I suppose, in character.)In some episodes, he seemed to have accepted he and Belle were over.But in others...I remember him coming on pretty strongly with Belle before the trial and acting as though he wanted to kiss her, then storming off in a huff when she didn't respond.And then he wandered into the Diner kitchen, straight past Irene and Roman(who for some reason didn't object to him going in there even though he didn't work there), and invaded Belle's personal space in a way that was frankly worthy of a restraining order.And then in their so-called reunion scene he has the gall to say "I let you walk away once."When did he do that?Even in that scene, Belle's telling him she's made her choice and she's with Angelo and he is clearly not going to take no for an answer.If it wasn't for the fact that Belle supposedly felt the same way, his behaviour would be downright creepy.Okay, I'll accept that, for whatever reason, Aden and Belle want to be together.But what they did to Angelo was wrong and whatever happened subsequently does not change that fact at all. I'm sorry, Adelle fans.I like to think I gave them a chance.But there didn't seem to be any thought put into this relationship and I long ago added them to the list of Pairings I Think Don't Work.It wouldn't be so bad if they weren't suddenly supposed to be the show's golden couple.Meant to be together?I hope not.