Arranged

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Title: Arranged

Category: long fic

Genre: drama

Main Characters: Jack and Martha

Rating: G

Warnings: None

Summary: It's Jack and Martha's wedding day but Brett ruins it. The situation is bad and Martha pushes Jack away. Will Jack make a stupid mistake as he tries to deal with the rejection?

Hi! Me and 'cioabella' have decided to write a fan fic together as we are both quite busy and this way will mean that we can share out the work!! So there will be more regular posts- hopefully! Anyway this is my first fan fic so don't be too harsh!! But please review!!!!! OK well here are the first two parts, Part 1 is written by 'cioabella' and Part 2 is written by me. As I said before please review!

PART 1

Martha climbed into her elaborately beaded wedding dress. It looked fantastic on

her, even if she didnt think so. Today was probably the most important day in

Marthas life, if it wasnt ruined that is.

"Martha you look absolutely fantastic" a voice whispered in her ear.

"Jack! We're not supposed to see each other before the wedding!" she giggled

"I couldnt resist" jack smiled at her that smile he nearly always had on, the

smile she knew and loved. Martha kissed him passionately, and then suddenly she

stopped.

"Whats the matter sweetie?"

"Did you invite dad?"

"Yer I did, he is your dad"

"Oh no I wish you hadnt, I cant face seeing him"

"Im so sorry Mac but Im sure youll be ok with each other."

"Jack I hate my dad. Remember when we went to Alfs funeral all he said to me was I cant take you in, Ive got enough on my hands and then when I introduced him toyou and you held out your hand he didnt even shake it."

"He might of changed. Firstly, he's probably sorted his debts out and secondly if he

comes to this wedding he obviously cares about you."

"Mmm I dont know" Martha sounded unsure.

Tasha came in.

"Jack you're not supposed to be here!" she said disapprovingly

"You caught me red handed!" Jack laughed

"Bye sweetie" said Martha

"I love you" they kissed passionately

When jack had left Tasha said

"God you really are in love."

PART 2

The day was perfect, the sky was blue and the sun was shining as Martha walked up the aisle towards Jack. She knew she was doing the right thing, everything felt right, Jack was the one for her, her true love. All she could do was stare at him as she walked; seeing that trademark Jack Holden smile of his made her knees go weak.

To him, she looked beautiful, stunning in the dress she’d chosen. She was the one for him, he’d never met anyone else in his life who had made him feel the way she made him feel. He was so glad this day had finally come; now he could guarantee that he would hold her forever.

Martha finally reached Jack and turned to face him. They both looked into each others eyes and it was apparent to everyone watching them that they were madly and truly in love. It had been apparent since the first day that they had met; that is, to everyone except Jack and Martha. But they had finally come to realise it and they were here now. Unbreakable.

The celebrant started the ceremony.

“We are gathered here today to witness the marriage of Jack Holden and Martha McKenzie…”

But that was only as far as she got.

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Hi again! This is Part 3 and it is written by me again! Unfortunately cioabella is on holiday at the moment so I'll be writing most of the parts until the 8th when she gets back! As always please review!

PART 3

A car had just pulled up and a man had stepped out.

Brett Macklin walked up the aisle and placed a bunch of money in the celebrant’s hand.

“I’m sorry, there must have been a mistake, Martha’s not getting married today, sorry for taking up your time.”

Martha and Jack looked at him in amazement. They were both too shocked to say anything.

“Come on let’s go Martha.” And he grabbed her wrist and started dragging her to the car.

“Wait a minute.” said Martha “What the hell do you think your doing?”

“Look we’ll talk later but right now I’ve got a schedule to stick to.” said Brett briskly.

Martha was still looking at her father with her mouth open but Jack wasn’t having it.

“Umm excuse me, in case you hadn’t noticed we’re getting married. We invited you to attend the wedding not interrupt it!”

“I don’t really think you have a right to say what I can and can’t do; and as for Martha, she’s my daughter and I’m telling you now that under no circumstances do you have permission to marry her!”

“Dad!” Martha was getting angry now “How dare you? You’re lucky you got an invite in the first place; in fact Jack was the one who invited you, not me! I mean, you abandon me for the first 18 years of my life, and then you come here, ruin my wedding and tell me what to do. In fact I don’t think you’ve even earnt the right to call me your daughter! SO JUST LEAVE!”

“Right, well frankly Martha I thought you would have grown up by now but obviously you haven’t, you still seem to be having these tantrums; and in public as well! But I don’t seem to remember specifying that you have a choice; so you’re coming with me. Now.”

“Get off me!” Martha struggled against her father’s grip but unfortunately he was much stronger than she was. “Jack help me!”

“Listen mate, let go of her now, she’s my fiancée and we’re getting married…” but he was interrupted.

“Just shut it!” said Brett as he was pushing Martha into his car.

“Martha!” Jack cried out as he ran towards Brett. “Let go of her now!” he said threateningly.

“Make me.” replied Brett coolly.

And that was when Jack punched him. Brett stumbled back a few metres and in that time Jack grasped the handle of the car door, but he wasn’t quick enough. Brett regained his composure and slammed the door before Jack could get it open even five centimetres. Then the driver immediately locked all the back doors. Brett jumped in and the car sped off.

“YOU’RE NOT GOING TO GET AWAY WITH THIS! MARTHA, I’LL FIND YOU!” Jack shouted as he ran towards his car.

"OK, Dad explain for what possible reason would you want to ruin the happiest day of my life, because i think you kinda owe me a HUGE explanation NOW! And then I want to make it very clear that you are turning this car around and taking me back to my fiance so I can get married!"

"Oh don't worry sweetheart, you are getting married, just not to, what's his name, oh yeah Jack. Your husband to be has already been arranged."

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OK here is Part 4!

PART 4

“WHAT?” Martha cried. “You’re going to make me have an arranged marriage????”

“It’s for the best, your husband is called Eric and he’s from Sydney, in fact he’s visiting for the weekend so you’ll meet him some time today. He’ll be just perfect for you: he’s rich and he takes no nonsense so you won’t be able to manipulate him with your tantrums.”

“Dad, I swear if you don’t let me out of this car right now so I can get back to Jack I’ll…”

“Oh, and just what are you going to do? I have arranged this especially for you, you should be grateful…”

“GRATEFUL? GRATEFUL?” Martha interrupted “You’ve have just taken me away from the love of my life, how exactly am I supposed to be grateful?”

Martha started crying, this was all turning out wrong, she should have been married to Jack right now and instead she was separated from him. She needed his arms around her; she needed him to comfort her.

“Oh Martha shut up will you.” Brett complained.

But this only got Martha fired up. She started banging at the doors of the car, desperately trying to unlock but it was of no use. All she wanted was Jack, she had finally found the right guy and she as being taken away from him. This was so unfair.

Jack jumped into his car and started driving. He couldn’t see Brett’s car as he had been driving fast, but he had seen the direction in which they were moving, and he had made a mental note of the number plate. In this case, being a cop had really come in handy. He immediately got on to the police station and informed them of the incident; technically Martha had just been kidnapped.

He was driving at full speed with his police alarm on; he was squinting, desperately trying to catch up with the car he knew was ahead of him. Then he saw it. The car was quite far in front but he could see it and that was the main thing, now all he had to do was keep a certain amount of distance between the cars. He was relieved that he hadn’t lost the car but he didn’t allow himself to relax too much. If he had got the right impression, Brett was used to dealing with people who got in his way, so getting Martha back definitely wasn’t going to be easy.

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Actually i'd forgotten that i had already written the nest part so here it is!

PART 5

The car turned onto a track and then came up to some gates.

“Well here we are,” said Brett “Are you ready to see your new husband?”

Martha just ignored him, she hated him, as far as she was concerned he was not worth acknowledging.

But her father just rolled his eyes and laughed. This just aggravated Martha even more. The gates clanged behind them as the car drove up the drive. That’s it, she thought, I’m in prison now and there‘s no way out…

But she wasn’t aware that Jack had been following the car that she was in and he in turn had just gotten off the main road and onto the track. He decided to leave his car hidden among the bushes and trees and walk so that he wouldn’t draw attention to himself. But it was too late, Brett had seen him following and the security cameras had caught him sneaking around. But Brett had decided to leave him to his snooping for a while; he wanted Jack and Martha’s separation to be as painful as possible for both of them. Plans had already started to form in his mind as to how he would go about this.

Martha entered the large house that had been at the end of the drive. She had been stubborn and had had to be dragged from the car but now she was walking in by herself. The house was big, huge even and it had dark mahogany wood adorning the walls. She found it depressing, it was an ugly house in her opinion, but it was just to her father’s taste. God, we really are totally different she thought to herself. At that moment a man walked into the room. He had blonde hair, was tallish and was smiling at her.

“You must be Martha.” He said.

She just started at him.

“I’m Eric, your fiance.” and with that he grabbed her and pulled her into a hug. She struggled, what was he doing? He loosened his grip a bit and looked deep into her eyes.

“You’re even more beautiful than in the pictures.” he said and then he leaned in for a kiss.

“Get away from me!” screamed Martha as she pushed Eric away from her with all the strength she had.

“OK mate, let me just get one thing VERY clear - I’m getting married to Jack, he is my fiance and my husband to be so just don’t touch me, is that clear?”

“Martha, I’m your fiance now, forget Jack Holden, he’s a murderer anyway.” he started to move towards her again but she took a step back.

“You really have been doing your homework haven’t you?” she said sarcastically.

“Well,” Eric said “It’s good to know what the competition is but I can’t say there is much competition really, I mean, he hasn‘t got a lot of money and well, compared to me, he‘s pretty average looking and well just a bit of a loser in general. What has he really got to offer you?”

Martha slapped him round the face. “A hell of a lot more than you have” she replied and with that she walked out of the house. She knew she wouldn’t be able to get out, she had seen the gates being locked, but she had to give herself time to think and the grounds of the house were as big as the house itself.

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Ok here's part 6!

PART 6

Martha walked around the edge of the grounds. She was worried. She couldn’t deny it, she was in the middle of nowhere, no-one knew where she was and she was stuck with her father and Eric. She couldn’t stop thinking about Jack. She tried to get him out of her mind so that it would hurt less but she couldn’t. She was missing him; she wondered whether she would ever be allowed to see him again. She knew that her life was in no danger, after all her own father wouldn’t kill her, but she didn’t know whether she would ever be set free…Everything seemed so surreal, it seemed to her that this was the most unlikely thing that could happen to anyone and yet it was happening to her. On her wedding day. Because of her father. All because of Brett: her egotistical, businessman father who only cared for himself. I mean he couldn’t have just brought me here for nothing, she thought, there has to be something in it for him. Unless he was playing power games. She just didn’t know.

Jack was slowly creeping around the property, getting glimpses of the house. He didn’t know what Martha was doing, let alone whether she was OK, but he knew that she was in there. Somewhere. He was having to control his anger which he had got skilled at, working as a policeman, but he was fighting against his heart. He knew he was close to losing it-he wanted so badly to run in and grab Martha in his arms. If anyone did anything to hurt Martha he would…well, he didn’t know what he would do but it would sure be something bad. Jack was a pretty controlled guy, but when it came to Martha, for reasons of protection or pleasure, all self control went out of the window. He just loved her too much to let her go.

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Here's Part 7!!!!!Please read and review!

PART 7

Jack was still walking around the property when suddenly through the railings he caught sight of a women with long dark hair. Martha he thought with total relief. He ran immediately up to the railing and whispered her name.

Martha was taken out of her thoughts by a noise. She turned around quickly but everything was still. After a few seconds she turned back and started walking again. Then she heard it again. It sounded like her name and it was definitely coming from the direction of the railings. She started walking to the railings on the outskirts of the grounds. As she moved the braches of the trees that had been obstructing her view she saw Jack there. Standing; a look of relief on his face.

“Jack” she cried with relief and happiness.

“Shhh…”said Jack as he put his finger to his lips.

But she wasn’t really paying attention all she knew was that she was running right up the railings, getting her wedding dress, which she still had on, dirty on the ground. But she really couldn’t care less about the dress. She reached the railing and grabbed Jack through them.

“I don’t think I have ever been more relieved to see you in my life” she sighed.

“Me neither” replied Jack “don’t worry Martha, we’re going to get out of here and then we’re going to get married and be happy”

Then Martha started crying, all her feelings pouring out with her tears. Jack held her as close to him as the railings in between them would allow him to.

“Martha, what’s the matter? What’s happened” Jack asked, concern clearly in his voice.

“I’m getting married to another guy Jack” she said. In that split second she had decided that it would be better to spare jack the hurt and trouble by letting him go, and after all, what she was saying was partly true, she was getting married to another man, even if it was by force.

“WHAT?” asked Jack, suddenly very alert.

“You heard me” said Martha as she broke away from Jack. “I’m breaking up with you, I was lying to you, I was having an affair and Eric just asked me to marry him.” And she started to walk away from him.

“No Martha wait!” cried Jack “that doesn’t make sense why would you be marrying me if you loved someone else? Why would you be upset about your dad taking you if you didn’t love me?”

“Jack just stop asking so many questions,” she replied desperately, “I had my reasons, now just believe what I say.”

Then she just walked off.

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OK, here's part 8, hope you like!

PART 8

Jack was shocked and upset. He was confused more than anything. He just couldn’t understand what had just happened. Did Martha really not love him? The idea was too hurtful to even think about because he loved her, more than any other woman he had ever gone out with and he couldn’t just let her go like that.

There had to be a reason. But then again she had cheated on him. It was all too much and Jack leaned against a tree and slid down it until he was sitting. And then he started to cry, tears of frustration and hurt running down his face. It was unlike him, he’d only ever cried like this when his mother had died.

Martha heard him and she couldn’t bear it. She had hid herself behind a tree, hoping that he would give up and leave, but this was so much worse than she had imagined. She had been preparing for him walking out of her life but not to see him like this. She ran to the railings.

“Jack” she said “please don’t so this” tears were now streaming down her face too.

“Listen Martha” said Jack as he slowly got up. “I’ll leave; walk out your life forever, but first you have to look me in the eye and tell me that you don’t love me. But let me make it clear that once you’ve said no to being with me, no matter what the situation I will never take you back. If you don’t love me like I love you I will accept that, but don’t cut me out if you do love me, because I love you more than anything in the world and whatever trouble you’re in I will stand by you.”

Please review!

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Ok it's not very long!

PART 9

Martha had an undoubtedly hard decision to make and she didn’t know what to do. She loved Jack and she knew that in her heart, the idea of losing him was unbearable, but she didn’t want to bring him down with her. I mean after all, she thought to herself, why does he want to be with me?? Jack broke through her thoughts again.

“Hello? Martha?” he said waving his hands in front of her face. She quickly returned to reality. “So?” he asked, worry etched on his face. He didn’t want to be rejected; not by Martha.

Her mind was working at 100mph, she couldn’t think of what to do.

“Martha, I kinda need you to answer me here!” said Jack. He was getting frustrated at waiting, but then again, he thought to himself, she wouldn’t be spending this long deciding if she did not love me. His hopes lifted.

Martha looked deep into his eyes.

“I don’t love you” she said and turned away.

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Here are parts 10 and 11 (cos 10 is very short!)

PART 10

“Fine” said Jack and he turned around and walked back to his car. He was heartbroken; he knew he’d never meet someone like Martha again in his life. He thought that she loved him but he was wrong, she had cheated on him and spelt out the fact that she didn’t. But what eh didn’t know that as soon as Martha had walked a few metres away she had realised that she had done the wrong thing. She had turned back. She had called Jack’s name, but he didn’t hear her or he ignored her, she wasn’t sure. All she knew was that she had lost her best friend, her lover, her soul mate, forever…

PART 11

Jack drove home, he looked at his phone and there were hundreds of texts telling him to meet his father and brother at home when he got back, but he couldn’t stand the questions so he decided to book into a hotel for the night. He sent his father a message informing him of his plans and then headed to the nearest hotel.

Martha cried for what felt like hours, she had never felt so hurt in her life, and the tears would not stop coming. She tried to choke them back but she couldn’t. It literally felt as if someone had torn her heart away from her. And she only had herself to blame. She hated herself for being stupid, for letting him go, she knew that she had just mad eth biggest mistake in her life, but what made it so much worse was the fact that it was irreversible. Jack’s words just kept replaying in her head: “once you’ve said no to being with me, no matter what the situation I will never take you back”. Just thinking back to those words made her cry fresh tears. She was never going to get him back. It was well and truly over.

And that’s the end! Joking – I could never leave it like that!

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Ok, I've been busy so here are the next few parts!

PART 12

Jack woke the next morning, and for a split second everything was OK, then he turned around and the other part of his bed was empty. Where’s Martha? he thought to himself and then it all came back. Jack groaned, yesterday had been the worst day of his life. He just didn’t know if he could go through today, all the explanations, all the sympathetic looks it would all be too much. But he decided to go for surf to clear his head. So he changed and went to get his board from his house. He drove and arrived outside the house, he really didn’t want to talk to either his dad or brother so he tried to grab his board and load it into his car as quietly as possible, but he was about to get in the car when his dad opened the front door.

“Jack!” said Tony “What happened? You know that you have to talk about what’s happened.”

“Dad just leave it right now, OK?” replied Jack, and with that he jumped into his car and sped off to the beach.

Martha woke up. She turned around and was faced with Eric, sleeping. Martha was shocked, and she jumped out of bed. What the hell was she doing in bed with Eric? Surely they hadn’t…no she would never have done that to Jack. But he was in her bed…Martha was starting to panic. Just then Eric started to stir and groggily sat up and opened his eyes.

“Hey beautiful.” he said.

“No no no no no, this can’t be happening.” muttered Martha.

“What’s the matter babe?”

“DON’T call me ‘babe’ OK?” said Martha forcefully.

“OK, OK” conceded Eric.

“And may I also ask WHAT you are doing in my bed? We didn’t….did we?” Martha was very afraid of the answer.

Eric started laughing.

“Listen, this is really not funny” said Martha angrily.

“Don’t worry! No, we didn’t, your dad locked my room and paid me to come in here. I didn’t really have any complaints but I know you love Jack and I don’t wanna make things hard for you.

“But…I’m confused…you tried to kiss me yesterday…” Martha said.

“Yeah but it was all an act, I’m a paid actor and I’m on your side, honestly I am, but the pay’s just too good to refuse.”

Martha wasn’t sure whether to hate or love him. She thought it selfish of him to destroy someone’s life just for money, but she was so happy that he wasn’t the creepy guy she had thought he was.

PART 13

“OK so here’s what we’re going to do” said Eric and he told her his plan.

Martha was hopeful, because Eric had agreed to help her, after much begging from Martha. They were walking through the grounds of the property and Eric was explaining to her how she was going to escape. They had agreed that Eric would let Martha have his keys to get out of the property and escape to Summer Bay. Then Eric would tell Brett that she had left the country to go to New York, so Brett would presumably follow. Eric said that he would then call in a favor from some of his friends in the police force. He was pretty sure that they would have enough reasons to stop him from re-entering Australia. Martha hugged Eric; she was so happy that she would get to see Jack again.

Jack walked up the beach. Surfing had helped a lot, he could think straight now and he knew that he would be able to get over Martha; after all, he thought, there are were other girls in the world, all he had to do was meet them. So he decided that he would go to a nightclub that night and see who he could find…

PART 14

Martha was wide awake even though it was midnight. She was finally going to get away and when she got back she was going to beg jack to take her back. She just hoped that he loved her enough to forgive her. Eric disturbed her thoughts.

“Ok, your father is definitely out of the way for the moment so you should go now.”

“Thanks you for everything Eric, you’ve been a great friend and I will always remember what you’ve done for me.” Martha couldn’t believe that she was actually going to miss him. The two hugged before Martha stepped outside and walked towards the car that was waiting for her. The keys were in the ignition. Finally she was on her way back to Jack; she’d already been away from him too long.

Jack arrived at the club and went to sit down at the bar. He had barely been there five minutes when a pretty blonde haired woman approached him.

“You alone?” she said smiling at him. Jack returned the smile.

“Yeah, I sure am! I’m just here for some fun.”

“Me too! My name’s Julia. Umm maybe we could have fun together? Do you wanna dance?” she asked tentatively.

“Sure” replied Jack. Well that didn’t take long, he thought. But Jack had never really had problems attracting women; he was kind and sensitive, funny and not mentions good looking so this was hardly surprising.

Julia led Jack onto the dance floor and they started to move there bodies in time with the music and each other. Their bodies moved in perfect unison, like it was meant to be.

Jack felt lucky, Julia seemed nice, she looked great and she appeared to like him too. He had never realised that were actually plenty of girls like Martha, and actually, it wasn’t going be hard to get over her after all. In fact, he thought, I already have, and with that he turned Julia around to face him and kissed her.

PART 15

The kiss lasted until they were both out of breath. Julia pulled away first smiling.

“Well I really can’t complain…”she said and she put her arms around his neck and continued dancing.

Martha sped along the open road, she could just about see where she was and she knew that she would soon be approaching the sign “Welcome to Summer Bay”. She was so excited that she was practically jumping up and down in her seat. She just hoped that Jack would take her back. And then she saw it, just about, with the use of her headlights. She was back in summer Bay at last.

It was now 2 in the morning and knew that he sould probably get back to his hotel room.

“Hey, I better be going as I’m getting a bit tired. Do you want a lift?” he shouted over the loud music.

“Yeah that would be great thanks!” replied Julia. So the two moved off the dance floor and headed to jack’s car. They drove all the way to Julia’s apartment and Jack walked her to her door.

“Well aren’t you just the perfect gentleman” she said smiling.

Jack rolled his eyes.

“I know I’m perfect, you don’t; have to tell me!” he replied laughing,

“Whatever, you just keep kidding yourself” Julia said. “Umm do you wanna come in for a night cap? You can say no...”

But Jack interrupted her.

“That’d be great.” He said and he followed her inside.

Please tell me what you think!