Return to the Bay

[tasha7905]

Great Skykat. Poor Lucas trying to make everyone believe he likes Evil Cassie. Tell Matilda you like her. Cant wait for more.

[I love music]

“Kane’s sofa, it appears we slept together mate,” Sutty teased.

Ooh, I LOVED the last three quarters of that chapter!!! Well, not that the first two scenes weren't good, it's just I don't know the characters of Tony and Lucas, and I only ever found Robbie fairly interesting.

But I LOVE the Kane/Kirsty scenes and the Gus/Jesse scenes, you've got them down to a fine art. The conversations are so real I'm gonna take a swipe at Gus Phillips if he's not careful...

[Annette]

The conversations are so real I'm gonna take a swipe at Gus Phillips if he's not careful...

You'll have to get in line, ILM!

[I love music]

The conversations are so real I'm gonna take a swipe at Gus Phillips if he's not careful...

You'll have to get in line, ILM!

Excuse me, but I think you'll find I got my ticket before you did. Kindly get to the back of the queue!

[Skykat]

Okay I'm so sorry about the long delay in updating this. This chapter gave me more trouble than any other to write. That was mainly because there were some suggestions from other writers regarding structure and the structure of dialogue that I wanted to try and also because this is possibly the biggest storyline I've tackled in this fanfic and I've been building it up for ages so I really wanted to get it right. Your reviews, comments and criticisms would be very much appreciated for this chapter...that's if anyone is still reading after the long delay!

Just want to say a big thanks to Jess as always for proofing and for your idea with regards to the recollections.

I'm dedicating this and the next couple of chapters to I love Music as a thank you for your help, comments and suggestions on the other project I was working on. Also for the dialogue structure changes in this, (let me know if you think it's better) and also because I know that you've waited a long, long time for me to get round to this storyline. Well here it is, the next few chapters will see this storyline and aftermath play out, hope you enjoy.

Thanks for still reading and please review, Kat.xx

FIFTY EIGHT

Jesse paced the solitary cell angrily and hammered on the alarm bell.

“McGregor will you button it!” the Prison guard shouted from down the corridor.

“You have to let me out! I’ve got to make a phone call! It’s serious!”

“In case you’ve forgotten McGregor you’re in solitary, that means no phone calls!” came back the response.

“But you don’t understand!” He didn’t understand, Jesse had to make a phone call and he had to make it now. Peter Baker had to be warned, this was serious. Jesse felt as if he was going out of his mind. Gus was right, this was tormenting him to death. The conversation he had had with Gus was swirling round and round in his head. Jesse had called his bluff at first; ‘in three quarters of an hour you’re planning to have your son arrested, it’s not exactly news is it? You’ve been bragging about this money transfer in very public places.’ It had been a shot in the dark, Jesse had wanted to take the wind out of Gus’s sails, to tear him of his power but Gus had just laughed at him.

‘As nice as it would be to have Kane finish up in here with us, what I have in mind for him will be much more satisfying. Much more permanent.’ Simply recalling the words to his mind sent chilblains through the length of Jesse’s body. It was not what he said that had made Jesse’s blood run cold, but the way he had said it. That typical Gus sneer had been darker, menacing, colder and altogether more threatening than Jesse had ever heard it before. Gus had meant business. Furiously Jesse repeatedly hit the alarm bell and hammered against the cell door.

“You’ve got to listen to me!?” But that was the problem. Nobody was listening.

“Colleen can you stop your gassing and take these to table six please.” Leah was feeling completely on edge. She and Rachel had spent hours searching for Dan and Jamie but had not been able to find them anywhere and now she had to work. Angrily she slammed the knife into the chopping board, absorbed in her own world.

“Sounds like world war three in there!” Beth remarked to Colleen.

“Tell me about if, I feel like I’m in that Baggy daddy place with all them bombs falling around me!” Colleen threw her hands up in despair.

“I think you mean Baghdad Colleen,” Beth grinned.

“I’ll go see what’s up with her,” Irene offered, standing up and collecting some dishes as she did so.

“I thought you were on your break?”

“I am but it’s not very relaxing is it?” Irene made her way into the kitchen, pausing on her way to give Kirsty, who had just entered the Diner with Matthew, a brief hug.

“Ah Kirsty, how’s the baby?” Colleen bent over Matthew’s pram to look at him.

“He’s just beautiful thanks Colleen,” Kirsty managed a smile as she looked at her son.

“He looks just like my Lancie did when he was that age, gorgeous aren’t they? Lovely little angels…”

“Colleen will you get in here and do some work please!” Leah’s face appeared at the serving hatch, her mouth set thin with anger. Irene made her way into the kitchen.

“What in the devil is up with you today lady?” Leah turned around, her eyes flashing angrily, the knife shaking in her hand.

“Is it too much to ask that people do some work around here?” Leah replied, waving the knife threateningly towards Irene.

“How about you stop looking like you’re trying to kill me and just tell me what in the blazes is going on! Is this about Dan?” Leah’s eyes began to fill with tears and she dropped the knife on the counter, slumping back against the wall as she crumpled into tears. “Oh Leah.” Irene pulled her into her arms and hugged her as Leah cried noisily on her shoulder.

“He didn’t come home last night,” Leah admitted.

“I’m sorry love, do you want to tell me what you fought about?”

“Peter. Dan overheard me talking to him, he knows Irene.” Leah sobbed even harder now that she had managed to admit it out loud.

“Oh love, I’m sorry,” Irene soothed.

“No it’s my fault, I was telling Peter I wanted to be with him but he said he didn’t want me and Dan overheard so now I’ve lost both of them,” Leah sobbed.

“If it’s Peter you want why are you upset over Dan?” Irene asked.

“Because I want him too and I’ve hurt him. Oh I don’t know Irene, it’s such a mess.”

“Yeah it is. What I think you need to do girlie, is take some time out. Before you attempt to sort things you need to figure out just which Baker brother you actually want. In the meantime you need to stop slamming things and snapping at Colleen, what d’ya reckon?”

“I’m sorry Irene, you’re right. I just don’t know what I want,” Leah told her.

“Only you can figure that out love. Now do you want me to take over for a bit?” Irene offered.

“No, you wanted to have lunch with Kirsty, I’m okay now. Thanks,” Leah replied, turning back to the chopping board with a much gentler touch than before. Irene watched her for a minute before heading back out of the kitchen. The girl had well and truly got herself into a mess this time.

“McGregor you’re on your final warning, shut the %&^$ up!” The Prison Officer was fast losing his temper.

“You’ve got to let me out!” Jesse hammered even harder on the door. He shut his eyes in desperation but the minute he did so, Gus was there, tormenting him. '‘What are you on about?’ Jesse had become pretty good at hiding the fear in his voice since he had been in here, but he had struggled then. He had been grateful for the thick metal door which prevented Gus from seeing his face.

‘I’m on about my great master plan. You were right of course, I have asked Kane to make a money transfer for me. Well, I say asked but he doesn’t really have a choice. You see McGregor that’s where that son of mine failed. He’s a strong lad is Kane, but he has got one chink in his armour. That’s that pretty little wife of his. She’s the reason he’ll do exactly what I say, jump through hoops if I begged, transfer money from safety deposit boxes. People who care about another person are weak and so easy to manipulate,’ Gus had explained.

‘So you used Kirsty to get at Kane, big deal. Hardly news is it?’ Jesse had still been hopeful at that point, still hopeful that Gus was just toying with him, leading him on, making him think that something big was going down when in fact it wasn’t. That would be just typical of Gus. Playing games and tricks was something he enjoyed, something he was good at and for once Jesse had hoped he was on the receiving end of a Gus Philips trick.

‘Maybe not,’ Gus had replied, ‘but the contents in that safety deposit box are going to be news, big news. Kane’s face is going to be on the front page of every newspaper,’ Gus had told him.

‘So you’re setting him up for something?’ Jesse had felt like a blind man being led into a trap. He had asked obvious questions, wanting answers but at the same time knowing that he did not want to hear them.

‘I guess you could call it that.’ Gus’s maniacal laugh had echoed through the cell door and just the thought of it caused Jesse to increase his hammering and screaming tenfold. He didn’t care if they beat him up or added extra days to his sentence, he just had to get somebody to listen to him. He had to make that phone call.

“Right Mark you say everything went to plan at the Philips?” Peter asked of PC Mark Townsend.

“Yes Sir, Kane is fully briefed and holding up pretty well,” Mark replied.

“And you looked pretty hot in that TV repair uniform,” Lara teased.

“PC Fitzpatrick that is enough please,” Peter warned.

“Sorry Sir.”

“Detective Baker we might have a minor problem,” PC Rice hung up the phone, “That was Mr Shaw the bank manager. It seems his assistant manager started a new boy in the back offices today without pre-warning him. They’ve told him that he’s not to talk to anybody in the back rooms due to the confidential nature of his job and that a worker from another branch will be coming in but that there is to be no communication.”

“That’s all good and well but it’s another civilian in the back offices who doesn’t really need to be there,” Peter took a deep breath and shut his eyes in an attempt to get rid of the stress headache that was currently building behind his eyes.

“Shall we just get them to move him? I doubt he’ll suspect anything on his first day,” PC Rice suggested.

“I know but the other employees might and the last thing we want is to alarm them. No, if he knows to keep his mouth shut, let him stay in there. Holden you’ll need to make sure there’s no communication though,” Peter looked around the room for Jack and quickly realised that he was not present. “Where the hell is Holden!?” Peter was furious.

“I’ll go and look for him,” Lara offered, exiting the room quickly before Peter could stop her. Racing towards the door where she had seen Jack enter earlier Lara pulled it open and found him fast asleep. “Jack?” she nudged him, “Jack?” Her second nudge was harder and woke him up.

“Whassamatter?” Jack’s voice was confused and disorientated as he yawned and stretched.

“You idiot Jack! We’re in the middle of an undercover operation, Peter’s giving us our brief and you’re asleep in a cupboard! He’s livid with you!”

“Damn, how long have I been asleep for?”

“Too long, you better get in there now and have a good excuse ready.” Lara helped Jack to his feet and after rubbing his eyes and smoothing down his clothes Jack hurriedly followed her back to the briefing room.

“Where the hell have you been?!” Peter’s tirade had been launched before Jack even entered the room and it was clear to everyone just how livid he was.

“Sorry Sir I was doing paperwork, I must have been in the loo when you called us in here,” Jack lied.

“You should have been more alert Holden! I give you a key role in a major operation, a chance to prove yourself and you miss the bloody briefing! Not a good start is it? Now buck your ideas up Holden! Okay the rest of you can go, we’re pretty much done here, get yourselves set up. We leave in two minutes.” The police officers including Jack began to exit the room and Peter took a deep breath. The hard work was about to begin, he could only hope that Jack wouldn’t stuff it up.

“Right that’s it McGregor you’re for it now!” the cell door was opened.

“Please Sir you’ve got to listen to me, something big’s going down. I’ve been helping with a police investigation and I have news for them, it’s serious, please you’ve gotta let me phone Detective Baker!” Jesse begged.

“Enough bulls#^t McGregor, you’re going the Governor’s office now, explain your fantasy story to him.” Jesse was dragged forcibly from his cell, his sense of despair increasing, and Gus’s voice ever loud in his mind. ‘Kane’s face will be on every newspaper in town, you’ll have to get a copy McGregor because I doubt you’ll ever see it again after he opens that box.’ The sneer had made Jesse feel physically sick. The confidence in the horrible, snarling voice had made Jesse want to ensure his face was never seen again but a door was separating them. ‘What do you mean?’ Jesse had kept his voice calm and even but he had been shaking. He knew instinctively that this time Gus wasn’t playing, this time he did have something planned for Kane. Something big, something terrible and he had been right. As he was pulled and pushed along the corridors Jesse knew his only hope was to have the Governor believe him but that was increasingly unlikely. The Governor was renowned for his tough approach and his hatred of prisoners, Jesse knew that in all probability he did not stand a chance.

Kane curled his fingers into a fist and hit them against his other hand. He was wary of being too aggressive and alarming the occupants of the crowded bus but at the same time he was desperate to stop his hand from shaking. Kane’s hands had always shook. The merest sign of danger, the smallest hint of fear and his hands had imitated that of a drug user in rehab. Shaking hands were a weakness and Kane’s hands had always shook. But then Kane was weak, always had been. Gus and Scotty had drummed that into his head so many times during his childhood that Kane had wholeheartedly believed it. But not any more, not since Kirsty. She had changed everything. Loving her, loving someone so beautiful, so innocent and untouched by the hatred and violence he had grown up in and having her love him back, that had changed him. She had proved to him that families didn’t have to hit each other, she had proved to him that he was capable of love and more importantly that he deserved to be loved back. Kane didn’t care anymore that he was considered weak. If being weak was caring about someone else then that was the person Kane wanted to be. If being weak was reporting his own father to the police and working with them against him, then that was who Kane wanted to be. If being weak meant sitting on a bus with a shaking hand in order to get his father out of his and Kirsty’s life for good, then weak was what Kane wanted to be. Except he wasn’t weak. A weak person wasn’t somebody who cared and did the right thing because Kane knew from experience that doing the right thing was not easy. The easy thing to do was the bad one. It was easier to eat chocolate cake and watch tv than to eat salad and go the gym. It was easier to take money from someone else than to work for it, easier to hate somebody and shut them out than to love someone and let them in. His father and Scott had always taken the easy route, they had always taken or stolen, they had never worked or given anything out. That was weakness and Kane knew that now. His father hitting his wife and sons in a drunken rage, that hadn’t been strength, it had been weakness. Kane would never do that to Kirsty. He almost had once but he had stopped himself and he had felt so ashamed. That was when he had known he was different. It had taken so much more power to stop that punch than it had to let it go, Kane had taken the difficult option, Gus the easy one. So who did that make weak? Who did that make the coward? Kane managed a smile to himself. At the end of the day he was the one with everything going for him. He had the beautiful wife, the gorgeous baby, the nice house. What did Gus have? Ten sweaty other men, metal bars and a strict routine, he had no freedom but Kane did and that meant Kane was a million times more powerful than Gus could ever be. Looking down Kane realised with a start that his hand was no longer shaking, he was in control and as the bus headed further towards it’s destination Kane knew it was time to finish this off for good.

“Come in.”

“McGregor for you Sir.” Jesse was pushed into the room and the stone faced governor looked at him as if he were something the cat had vomited up.

“What’s all this commotion about McGregor?”

“Sir I need to make a phone call. I’ve been helping Detective Baker with an investigation and I’ve got news for him. You have to let me speak to him…”

“I don’t have to let you do anything McGregor. The Governor’s face was like a stonewall, his voice cold and Jesse suspected he had already lost this battle. He was too slow just as Gus had said. ‘How slow you are McGregor. I’ve been giving you the answers for days now, I’ve been warning you all week. The alarm clock, the messages, even when I came down the block today. You are very slow,’ Gus had tormented. Sitting in the governor’s office now Jesse felt the same feeling he had had then, as if a knife had been inserted between the blades of his spine and was being twisted around. Deeper and deeper, causing more and more pain as realisation dawned on him.

‘Tick tock?’ It had hit him like a shooting pain between the eyes.

‘Bingo and what happens when a ticker gets down to zero?’ Gus had slowed down his words as if he was addressing a small child.

“Please Sir I’m begging you, there’s lives at sake!” Jesse protested again.

“How exactly are lives at stake McGregor? Why don’t you tell me exactly what you’re going on about?”

“There’s a police operation going down in about half an hour, a money transfer from a safety deposit box, I've been helping the cops with it except I've just found out that the box doesn’t contain money,” Jesse explained, frantically. The Governor was watching him now, curiously, but all Jesse could think about was that stupid song Gus had been singing as he’d waltzed off down the corridor. From the movie ‘Kill Bill’ where she had killed her lover, except Gus was planning to kill his son. ‘Bang, bang, I shot you down. Bang, bang, I hit the ground. Bang, bang, my daddy shot me down, down, down, da down…’

“McGregor what’s in the box?” the Governor demanded, Jesse took a deep breath and looked him square in the eyes.

“A bomb Sir and in exactly thirty minutes it’s going to go off and kill an awful lot of people so will you please, please help me?” Jesse knew he was begging but he was desperate, what choice did he have? He looked up at the Governor’s still shut down face and felt his heart sink to his stomach.

[Gypsy & Will Fan]

This is brilliant, more soon please!

[Annette]

Obviously ILM didn't hit Gus hard enough, because he's still out there making trouble, the evil man! Great chapter, loved the part with Kane telling himself how he wasn't weak, it really felt realistic. Although I now feel guilty re the whole chocolate cake/ salad part. I need to work on getting some willpower. *sigh*

[I love music]

‘As nice as it would be to have Kane finish up in here with us, what I have in mind for him will be much more satisfying. Much more permanent.’

Not many stories can make me say Omigod out loud when I’m reading them, but this one does. Even I didn’t think Gus could be so cruel.

I feel like I’m in that Baggy daddy place with all them bombs falling around me!

“And you looked pretty hot in that TV repair uniform,” Lara teased.

I LOVE these flashes of humour!

Loving her, loving someone so beautiful, so innocent and untouched by the hatred and violence he had grown up in and having her love him back, that had changed him.

That’s beautiful. I had a lump in my throat when I read it.

Kat, this is not just a great fic, it’s a brilliant one and I’m v.v.flattered to have chapters dedicated to me. Yes, the dialogue structure is much, much better - the dialogue itself has always been excellent of course but it’s even better without the series of he snapped/she demanded/he replied... etc

Update soon! I'm hardly ever watching H&A these days, but I wouldn't dream of missing any of this story!

[Sunny Girl]

Loving the new layout SKYKAT, it makes a wondeful story even better ...

[ldscott]

Fantastic Chapter!

Please update soon, I'm on the edge of my seat now!