Love, Life and Lies

[dolly-999]

Chapter number 11. 2013

A year had passed in Summer bay and it was now the year 2013. Serena's Chemo had gone very well and Dr Simpson was very happy with her progress. Matt hadn't been seen or heard from since his appearance on the security cameras in the police station, he'd gone and done another runner after Jemma left him to make a fresh start. Dylan had turned four only a few weeks ago, and no longer visited his dad in jail, but Martha made sure that Jack received letters from her about Dylan, along with photo's of him. Rose had given birth to a baby girl called Isabel; Izzy for short, and she was now three and a half months old. Maddie and Lucas had gotten engaged six months ago and were planning their wedding for later that year.

*-*-*-*-*-*

“Dr Simpson will be in here to see you shortly” the nurse told her writing something on her clip board before clipping it back to the end of the bed, “so take it easy ok”.

“Ok, thanks” Serena smiled nervously.

*-*-*-*-*-*

At the police station in Yabbie Creek the officers were all being run off their feet, and in the corner of the room full of mayhem, one Peter Baker sat at his desk, puzzled by a document that sat in front of him.

“Usually work gets done a little quicker if you're not in your own little world Peter” Lara commented looking over his shoulder at what was on his desk.

“Huh?” Peter asked sleepily looking up at her.

“Look you need some sleep, go home, your shifts nearly over anyway”.

“I can't I've still got work to do” he told her focusing back on the document that was now sitting in his hands.

“And I can finish it, your no good to anyone here if your half asleep”.

“Alright” he gave in getting up, “but if I'm needed-”

“I know I'll call” Lara reassured him.

“Ok, thanks”.

“That's ok” she told him, sitting down at Peter's desk, “now go get some rest” she retold him, almost pushing him to leave.

“Alright already, see you later”.

*-*-*-*-*-*

Along the path at the edge of the beach Martha, Dylan, Rose, Boyd and little Izzy in her pram were strolling along.

“How cute were Maddie and Lucas last night, they couldn't keep smiling at each other” Rose smiled.

“Yeah, it's great news that their getting married” Boyd commented.

“It was about time it happened to, every one was literally dropping hints” Martha added.

Rose giggled, “especially Colleen”.

Martha started laughing at this too, “yeah, she likes to think that she had a way of controlling some things”.

“Mummy, can I go swim?” Dylan asked.

“Yes, but wait for me though, I don't want you going down there by yourself” she told him, “you guys going to come down too?” Martha asked Rose and Boyd.

“Nah, it'll be a bit hard to get the pram down there” Rose answered.

“We'll sit down and watch, Izzy was going to need a feed soon anyway” Boyd added.

“Come on Mum” Dylan called out from about ten meter's ahead of them.

“Alright I'm coming” Martha answered, running to keep up with him. She looked back for a minute at Rose and Boyd sitting down with Izzy, the way Boyd cared for Izzy was the way she wished Jack could care for Dylan, a fathers love was something he needed.

“Mum why are you always so slow” Dylan complained running back to his mum, interrupting her thoughts.

“Sorry sweety, I'm coming” Martha told him picking him up in her arms, trying to sound as cheerful as possible, covering up her misery.

*-*-*-*-*-*

“Hey Serena, how are you feeling today?” Dr Simpson asked cheerfully as she came in the room.

“Quite good actually”.

“Well that's fantastic, I've got some good news for you” Dr Simpson started.

“Really?” Serena asked nervously, she felt a lot better than she had since before she was diagnosed with Leukemia a year ago, but she still didn't know if it was really gone this time.

“There's no sign of any infected cells, so your in the all clear for now”.

“For now?”

“There are chances that it may come back, you'll need to come in once every couple of months for a check up to make sure it hasn't redeveloped, we can't officially say you're free from the disease unless it's been clear of your system for five years”.

“Ok, thank you so much, can I go home then?”

“We'll need to keep you in for observations for as long as we think is necessary, but if everything goes smoothly then you can definitely go home soon”.

“Thank you so much Dr Simpson, if it wasn't for you then I might not be here today” Serena told her.

“Your more than welcome Serena, I'm just glad I could help, anyway I've got some more patients to visit so I'll see you later”.

“Ok bye” she answered as Dr Simpson left the room.

After the door was closed Serena's smile grew bigger, “I'm going home!” she said excitedly to herself, “I'm not going to die”.

Please tell me what you think.

[dolly-999]

Thanks for the reviews guys, sorry I've been a bit slow in updating, our Internet has been stuffing up lately, and it's been really hard to get this chapter up. I've come to realize that this story is beginning to drag, I'm trying to move things along faster, but it's a bit difficult at the moment cause there's a few things I have to make happen before some major things become clear, but I'm doing my best to make it all fall into place.

Anyway I'll stop my blabbering, here's the next chapter, hope you like it even though it's short.

Chapter number 12. burdening lies

Lara staired at the file that sat on Peter's desk, the same puzzled look that had been on Peter's face earlier was now plastered all over her's, none of what was on the document made sense, feeling frustrated she put the file aside and got up to get a cup of coffee to clear her head.

----------

“Oh my gosh, so your really better this time?” Martha squealed with excitement after Serena told her the good news.

“Yeap” Serena smiled.

“That's fantastic news. As soon as you walk out the door of this hospital, we're going to have the biggest party ever for you. Well when your up to it anyway”.

“Sounds great, you know me, I love a good party” Serena beamed, “I just can't wait to get out of here, I've been here so long I actually don't mind the food here”.

“Ok now that is seriously weird, especially for someone who used to think hospital food was worse than dieing” Martha chuckled.

Serena laughed, “yeah, a lot of things have changed”.

“Well hopefully not to much, otherwise I'm going to have to force the old Serena back” she added with a smile. “Anyway I have to go, I promised mum I'd be home for dinner”.

“Ok, I'll see you later then”.

“Yeap, and I'll bring Dylan along next time, he's been itching to come and see you” Martha told her grabbing her hand bag off the floor next to her chair.

“Well I can't wait to see him ether” she smiled.

“Ok now you make sure you get some sleep, bye”.

“Ok, bye” Serena answered as Martha closed the door, the room was silent now, and the steady ticking of the clock could be hear almost echoing through the room and Serena's head till it drove her crazy.

As she continued to stair at the white rimmed circular clock on the wall it felt like ever second was a minute and every minute was an hour, the hands moved slower than she'd ever seen them move, and the ticking slowly made her feel tired until it sent her peacefully to sleep, but her dream wasn't quite as peaceful, it was more of a flash back of her life more than a dream.

DREAM

The ticking slow steady ticking of the clock continued to sound in her head, before her was a replay, except in this replay she could see herself like she wasn't there, like she was watching a movie. She could see herself walking slowly out of a tent, and as she came outside her eyes widened and then her imaginary self that was watching looked around to see what she was looking at, two bodies lying on the ground one was her boyfriend at the time, and the other was a stranger, they were drenched in their own blood, a knife lay carelessly on the ground. She reached for her phone and called triple zero.

The next few things in her dream were fairly quick, and the ticking of the clock seemed to be getting quicker gradually over time, and the sound became slightly more high pitched. A flash of hand cuffs around her own wrists and the sound of her boyfriend telling a police officer that she had tried to kill him could be heard and then she could see herself sitting in at the front of a court room full of people. The judges voice could be heard, “I find this woman guilty of murder”. As the judge spoke the ticking began to get so fast that it seemed like something was going to explode, the judges hammer banged three times and on the third bang everything, including the ticking stopped.

END OF DREAM

Serena woke up in a frightful panic sitting up straight in one motion, she was breathing quickly like she'd been short of air and she began to shiver with fear, tears rolling down her cheeks. “It's never going to stop haunting me is it” she whispered to herself, “I can't escape”, the lie was a burden on her.

[dolly-999]

Chapter number 13. Old idea's, old friends

“I don't know what to do” Serena spoke softly looking down at her hands that were neatly placed on her lap. The hospital room around her was fairly empty, except for Martha who was sitting in the chair next to her bed, “it was all so real, like part of my life was being replayed in front of me, everything was just like it was back then...... the murder... the court case.... my boyfriend lying to the police. I know Jack has a right to know, but, how am I supposed to tell him that I haven't always been completely honest with him” she continued looking up at Martha.

“Well if it's haunting you this much then you have to tell him” Martha persisted.

“I don't know if I can do that....... he'll hate me” she spoke with a chill in her voice.

“Don't be silly Serena, if I can't hate your for it when at the time I found out I already hated you then why would he hate you for it?”

“I guess, but that was different, we were both in a life and death situation, tied up in a cave and being threatened by Sean and his stupid clone”.

“So, think about it Serena, the fact that I excepted you for it was that at the time I could relate to you, right now he's behind bars, the exact place you got sent when that idiotic boyfriend of yours that supposedly loved you got you done for attempted Murder, right now he can related to you. And how could he hate you?” Martha encouraged her, before going on to say the words that seemed hardest to get out of her mouth, almost like she had to force her tongue to move and her mouth to open to get them out, “he loves you” the words sent a chill down her spine, almost shocking her that she'd brought herself to say them, and her mind tried to forget them, block them in the darkness, and berry them like the dead, but they stayed in her mind, like a bad dream, a night mare, 'he loves her' she said again, and again, and again, over and over in her head, like every thing else was beginning to block out and her heart sank inside her, part of her always knew this, but she'd never brought herself to put it in those words, 'he loves her'.

“Martha are you ok?” Serena's voice echoed through her head, and she looked around to realize that she'd froze, stairing at the wall with her hands clutched on to the edge of the arm rests on the chair.

“Yeah, I'm, um, I'm just a little tired” Martha stumbled.

Serena chuckled slightly, “yeah, sorry, I know I'm boring to listen to. I'm surprised you haven't fallen asleep yet”.

Martha let out a quick breath that almost sounded like a laugh, and she gave an uneasy smile, “No your not boring, I was up late last night” she told her as the door opened and Dr Simpson came in”.

“Hope I'm not interrupting anything” Dr Simpson said, “but I've got some good news for you”. Both Martha and Serena were suddenly paying a lot more attention when she mentioned good news. “Your going home Serena” Dr Simpson told her.

“Really?” Serena asked excitedly.

“Yeap, I'm just going to get the deregestration papers and then you can go home”.

“Thank you”.

“Your welcome Serena” Dr Simpson said before leaving to go and fetch the deregestration papers for her.

“Oh my gosh, your coming home” Martha squealed.

“I know, I can't wait to get in my own bed, and go and see Jack again”.

“Do you miss him?” Martha asked, smiling at the fact that she'd seen more of him than Serena had.

“Are you kidding, what kind of a question is that, I'm missing him like crazy”.

“Well he's missing you too” Martha managed to get out.

Serena just smiled at that, stairing back down at her hands once again, and came to a sudden realization. “I'm going to have to tell him now, aren't I?”

Martha nodded, “He has a right to know, and like I said before, nows the best time” she explained, trying to sound supporting, the last few minutes had made her feel rather uncomfortable around Serena, it was her fault though, she'd been the one to mention that Jack loved Serena, it had hit her hard when the words had come out of her mouth. She loved Jack, just like Serena did, which was to problem, Serena loved him! Some one who was too nice to truly hate, even all the things she'd tried to make her out to be in the first place, she was too nice, even if she had her man, well technically he wasn't her man, he was Serena's, but as much as she tried to let go of what her and Jack had once shared, the longer she lived with out him, the harder it was. He was in her head, in her mind, in her heart, and he wasn't about to go away, her heart wouldn't let go.

Little did she know, Serena wasn't the only one Jack loved, what seemed like a life time away from summer bay in an old jail cell sat a very lost Jack, it was cold and the stone walls if the building only made things all the worse, the sun was only just shining through the metal grates in the walls, it's rays mostly blocked from the grey clouds that filled the sky. Jack held a box in his hands, his dad and Luc had given it to him a while ago, it was full of photo's and other things to try and make him feel closer to home, he'd gone through most of it now, as he made his way to the bottom of it he'd noticed that the photo's were getting older and older, putting down the one of him playing footy on the beach with Lucas, he put his hand back in the box and pulled out another one, he brought it into the light so it was visible and studied it closely, it was from about seven years ago, of him and Martha, they both looked so happy, so young, with not a care in the world except each other. “I love you Martha” he whispered, but things were more complicated now, much more complicated.

-*-*-*-*-*-*-

“Welcome home sweetheart” Beth greeted Serena running to give her a hug as she walked up the drive way after getting out of Martha's car.

“Hey”.

“Come on lets get you inside, Tony's cooking your favorite tonight”.

“I am?” Tony asked as he caught up with them after hearing a car drive in.

“Yeah, remember” Beth hinted as she stepped behind Serena to get her bag for her, giving Tony a death stair, her eyes making it clear to him that he was now in a life or death situation.

“Oh yeah of course” Tony replied, scratching his head. “Your welcome to stay too Martha”.

“Um, u, no thanks” Martha answered, trying to think of an excuse, “Dylan's still at home and I promised Rose that I'd look after Izzy for her tonight” she explained.

“Well why don't you bring them here then?” Serena asked, obviously wanting Martha to stay.

“Nah, that's probably not such a good idea, Izzy's got a few teeth coming through, she's in no mood for going anywhere”.

“Oh well maybe some other time then”.

“Yeah, anyway I better get going, I'll see you later” Martha told them opening the car door and getting in the car.

“Yeah, see you later” Serena called back.

-*-*-*-*-*-*-

“Lara” Peter called out to Lara who was down the hall way of the police station.

“Yeah” she called back, making her way towards him.

“What happened to that file that I was looking at on my desk the other day?”

“Um, I put it aside on your desk. That's the last I saw of it” she explained. “Look I'm sure it will turn up”.

“Well I hope it does cause I think I've figured it out” Peter told her opening another filling cabinet to look for the missing file.

“Really, what do you think it is then?”

“Well considering the document wasn't on record, I think some one's put it here, like some kind of mind game”.

“You think some one planted it here to mess with your head?” Lara sounded unconvinced, “Peter, it was in a file, it wasn't some letter that came in the mail”.

“Which is exactly why we need to at least take a proper look at the thing, if it didn't come in the mail and is mixed in with our reports, then how exactly did it get here? There's something more to this Lara, I can just tell”.

-*-*-*-*-*-*-

Martha sat in a both at the dinner when all of a sudden a familiar voice called out to her from the door “Martha?”

Martha looked up to see none other than an old friend, “Tash!” she squealed getting up and giving her a hug, “oh my gosh what are you doing here?”

“I was about to ask you the same thing, last time I saw you was before you took off, we all thought we were never going to see you again”.

“Well you were all wrong then”.

“So what did you get up too while you were gone then?” Tash asked.

“It's a long story”.

“Well looks like we'll need coffee then”.

“Ok, sound good”.

-*-*-*-*-*-*-

“Good morning, nice to see some familiar faces around here for a change” Jack greeted Serena as she came and sat down on the chair in front of the bars of his cell.

“Good to see you too babe” Serena answered leaning forward to give him a kiss. Inside she was frightened, he had to know, he needed to know.

“So how does it feel to be out of hospital, you sounded pretty down last time I talked to you on the phone” Jack asked trying to make conversation.

“Well I'm getting used to things again, I never thought home cooked food would taste so good”.

Jack laughed, “yeah I know what you mean, the food in here is dreadful too”. Serena just smiled weakly, she couldn't help noticing how happy he seemed, she could see him laugh, she could see him smile, and what haunted her most was that angry look on his face that she pictured in her mind of him after he knew that she'd once been in a place just like this too, and she'd never told him. Jack continued to talk, and Serena just sat and listened, throwing in a smile or two to make it look like everything was fine, but he didn't buy it.

“What's wrong?” Jack asked, “you've hardly said a word since just after you got here, have I done something?”.

“No, you've been great”.

“Then what is it?”

“Jack there's something I need to tell you”, she paused for a moment, “something you don't know about me” she started looking down at her hands, she'd planned to tell him about her past one day, but after the last few days events she'd come to realize that time was something she didn't have much of.

Seeing the look on Jack's face, he expected the worst, “Am I going to like it?”

She sighed, “probably not” there was no turning back now, he had to know.

-*-*-*-*-*-*-

“wait so your saying after everything you went through, this chick just waltzes in and stole Jack from you?” Tash exclaimed, with her jaw dropped, over the last hour she'd learned about everything Martha had to go through since she ran away, living on the streets, the slavery, being sold, watching Jack run away from her, the whole thing with Sean, finding out who she was switched with, Dylan coming into the picture, finding out that Dylan was Jack's, Jack being married to someone else, Jack going to jail and now she was reeling.

“Well technically she didn't steal him” she sighed, “I stuffed things up and he moved on, quite simple really” Martha explained stairing down at her coffee that had already gone cold.

“So, she stole your man, your man! And now your telling me it's the only thing you can hold against her because she's too damn nice?”

“Yeap, you'd have to meet her to know what I'm talking about”.

“Look Martha whether she's nice or not, that doesn't mean you have to like her, I don't like her already just hearing about her” Tash told her.

“Tash, she's really nice, maybe you should just meet her first before you judge her, and anyway I'd rather try and get along with Dylan's step mum”.

“Well, if you play your cards right then you wouldn't need to see her as Dylan's step mum”.

“Tash” Martha grizzled.

“Look at thing from the way I see it for a minute, please. From where I'm sitting you'd like nothing more than to be Mrs Holden and the only thing standing in your way is that blond bimbo, who might I add, Jack would not really love in his right mind”.

“Yeah.... but-”

“No buts Martha, it's really simple, all you have to do is convince him that your the woman for him”.

“Look Tash-” Martha got cut off again.

“No Martha, I don't care how nice she might be, and you shouldn't ether, she's standing directly between you and Mr right, all we have to do is get her out of the way long enough for him to open his eyes” Tash told her, rambling on like a kid in a lolly shop, “anyway how about I go get you a coffee that's not cold” she said getting up before Martha could even raise a finger and taking her coffee to the counter.

“Tash, you don't see-” Martha started, but Tash couldn't hear her, Martha sighed, “you don't see how complicated that could be to get her out of the way” she said to herself, Tash was determined, and ready to do some Serena bashing, and all Martha could do was try and get a word in to try and stop it, not that she was listening.

[dolly-999]

Chapter number 14. Giving into fate

“Why didn't you just tell me in the first place?” Jack asked after hearing what Serena had been through years before. His face had little expression, he was shocked, not giving away whether he was angry or just needed time to let it sink in.

“I was scared Jack, I didn't want to lose you”.

“You wouldn't of lost me if you'd explained it wasn't your fault. None of it was your fault it's not like you asked to have your boyfriend accuse you of killing someone he killed” Jack told her, he looked cross now, wishing that he'd been told. “Did anyone else know?”

Serena began to feel scared now, a moment ago she'd thought he'd come around but now it seemed like he was slowly getting very angry, not cause she'd been sitting were he was once upon a time, but because she'd kept it from him. “Sean knew, I don't know how though, but that's why he was threatening me, cause he had something he was more than happy to tell the world if I didn't do what he said” she explained, trying to hold herself together.

“Wasn't Martha there too in that cave?”

Serena just nodded, “she knows too, she's the one who convinced me too tell you”.

Jack didn't say anything, he felt betrayed. On their wedding day she'd sworn in her vows that nothing about her would be kept from him and that her life would never be a secret to him, and there she was standing in front of him telling there him that there was in fact secrets he hadn't known.

“Jack please say something” she pleaded with him.

“You want to know what I think?”

“Yeah of course I do”.

“To be honest I haven't got a clue, I just need to be alone”.

“Ok” she said nervously, “I'll come see you later then?”

“I'll call you went it's all sunk in” he told her blankly.

Serena got up from the chair and picked up her handbag, getting ready to leave like he'd asked, “I love you”.

Jack just smiled weakly and nodded as Serena turned around to leave.

-*-*-*-*-*-*-

“So I'll catch you later ok” Tash told Martha as they both walked out of the dinner.

“Yeap, and tell Rob I said hi” Martha said cheerfully back to her.

“I will, we'll all have to catch ups some time, see you”.

“Yeah, bye” Martha called out before heading down the path to the beach to take a walk, she felt quite happy today, she'd thought a lot about her scare yesterday, she'd calmed herself down about it too when she came to the realization that Mr right was still waiting out there for her, it was like a teenage crush with Jack, right now she could say that no one but him was the right guy, and that she'd love him forever, but fate would figure it's self out one day, and she'd be with Mr right when he came along, who ever he was, where ever he was, she'd find him when she least expected. Well actually that's what her mum had told her last night to try and cheer her up, but some how, even though her heart didn't believe that Mr right wasn't Jack, she couldn't help but sense that today was going to be a beautiful day.

She continued walking along the beach, removing her flip flops from her feet to stop the sand dragging her as began to walk along the sand ash she came further she cm across a sad face, it was Serena, she was crying.

“Hey, what's wrong?” Martha asked sitting down next to her.

Serena turned around and looked at her, before looking back out at the ocean, “I told Jack”.

“How did he take it?”

“I don't know, I really don't know” she sighed, “first he looked shocked, and then I thought he looked a little angry, but......... it was like he felt nothing. And then he just said that he wanted time to be alone”.

“Look I'm sure he'll come round, it's just a big shock to him” Martha told her.

“And what i he doesn't come round, what if this is the start of the end of our marriage” Serena sobbed.

“Serena, you can't start thinking like that. Look if it's worrying you that much do you want me to go and talk to him later?”

Serena shock her head, “Nah, if you go in there it'll look like I sent you”.

“No it won't, I promised him that I'd go and see him to give him some photo's of Dylan at he's first mini soccer game, so I could do it this afternoon” Martha explained.

“Ok then” Serena replied giving a weak smile.

“Now come on, if you think I'm going to let you sit here and mope around feeling sorry for yourself then your about to be proved wrong” Martha demanded her standing up and reaching out a hand to help Serena up.

“Yes princess Martha” she answered back taking it as an order and letting Martha help her up.

The two girls wandered back up the beach and sat down at one of the out door tables of the surf club. “So how was settling in back home yesterday?” Martha asked, trying to make conversation.

“Good, Beth was making such a fuss, anyone would think I couldn't do a thing for myself” she laughed, and Martha laughed too.

“Well enjoy it while it lasts then, as soon as she figures out your fine she's have you back to helping with diner and all the house work” Martha warned her.

“Yeah well believe it or not, I actually miss having to do all that”.

“Really? That's something I don't think I can believe. Serena Holden actually misses house work”

“Yeah and I never realized how much I missed home cooked food until last night”.

“Who wouldn't miss home cooked food when they've been eating hospital food for the last year?” Martha commented.

“I didn't expect you to still be here” Tash interrupted, this time she had Robbie with her.

“Hello, don't I get a hug?” Robbie asked cheerfully.

“Of course you do” Martha told him, getting up and giving him a big bear hug.

“Now who's your friend here?” Robbie asked bringing Serena into the conversation.

“Oh, of course. Robbie and Tash, this is Serena, Serena, this is Robbie and Tash” Martha introduced them all.

Just the mention of the name Serena suddenly made Tash not so inviting, this was the girl who stole her best friends man, even if her best friend didn't want to admit it.

“Hey, nice to meet you” Serena greeted them getting up and reaching her hand out for a hand shake, first to Robbie, then to Tash. But when Tash took Serena's hand she pulled on it making Serena trip, and then when she let go she but one hand on her stomach and groaned like she was in pain. Martha went to help Serena up and Robbie went to help Tash who was still pretending to be in pain, behind her face that was distraught with hurt that her stomach was 'supposedly' causing, was one huge satisfied smile. Tash then slowly pretended that it was going away, letting Robbie help her sit down.

“Sorry, that was my fault, are you ok?” Tash asked apologetically, making the whole thing look like a total accident.

“I'll live, are you ok, you sounded like you were in a hell of a lot of pain”.

“I'm fine now, it's gone”.

“But I think we should still go and get you checked out at the doctors” Robbie told her concerned.

“No Rob, I'm fine” Tash told him.

“No your not” Robbie explained to her, “come on lets go and get you checked out”.

She couldn't argue with that face, so unwillingly, she agreed, “Ok”.

“We should probably get you home too, you've had a rough day” Martha said turning to Serena who was sitting up on the ground clutching her arm that she'd fell on.

“Yeah”, she managed to get out in pain.

“What's wrong?”

“My arm's killing me” she explained.

“Well maybe you took a nastier fall than we thought. Can you still move it?”

“Yeah, I think I just need to get home”.

“Ok, lets try getting you to the car then” Martha instructed leaning down to help Serena up by putting Serena's arm around her shoulders and helping her walk.

“Then will you go see Jack?” Serena asked as she hobbles.

“Yeah, then I'll go see Jack” she reassured her.

-*-*-*-*-*-*-

About an hour later Martha stood at the door that lead to where Jack was being held, she felt her heart skip a beat, still telling herself that Jack wasn't Mr right, but it seemed coming here and seeing him had taken any faith she had in that way of thinking, instead it made her want and miss him more. She opened the door slowly, listening to the creaking sound it made that sounded like a door in a ghost house, then she made her way through catching Jack's eye as she entered.

“Hey” was all she managed to get out while her mind was in a flutter.

“Hey” he smiled, which had been the first time he'd smiled a happy smile since Serena had dropped her bombshell this morning.

“Brought those photo's for you” she told him, returning to her usual state of mind and reaching into her bag.

“Cool, thanks” he said reaching out to Martha's hand that was holding out a pile of photo's.

“There's a few of him off the field in there too” she explained as Jack flicked through the photo's of his son.

“He's grown so much in the last year” Jack commented.

“Yeah he has, he's actually starting to look a lot like you”.

“Well he's still got his mothers eyes” he smiled, his famous Jack holden smile.

“I never noticed that” she smiled back, catching his eyes with her's and finding herself clutching the bars of the cell and moving to the edge of her seat.

Jack did the same in his chair that was opposite to her, he could feel her hands entwined with his and her gaze streaming through his eyes. “Well I have..... Dylan's like you in so many ways you haven't realized” he whispered in a hushed gently voice, reaching one hand through the bars to brush a stray strand of hair back behind her ear. “Your beautiful” he continued, not realizing how much of his heart he was revealing, but it was addictive and he wanted to keep talking, and looking deep into her eyes, like he was right then and now.

Martha could feel her heart racing, and the thought that Jack had a wife was wiped from her brain. A passion was running through her blood, a passion that he just wanted more and more of like it was an addiction. She could feel her face moving closer and closer to Jack's, and their bodies both rised so that they were on their feet, moving closer and closer till they could feel the bars that separated them.

He slipped both his arms through the bars, wrapping them around Martha, and her's also made their way through the bars, snaking around Jacks neck, suddenly, just as Martha was about to pull away, there lips met and they both gave in to there desires.

He pulled her closer against the bars that were in between them and gently rubbed his tongue along the roof of her mouth. Martha let out a moan of pleasure and pain, she could feel Jack's lips moving under hers his hands running vigorously up and down her back just like he did all hose years ago. Her chest was in pain from the bars that were pushing up on her skin, almost digging in like she was being stabbed, but it was an addictive pain, one she didn't want to pull away from. She was struggling for air, but she dared not breathe, she held on as long as her lungs would let her.

Their lips separated slightly, panting for air. There bodies were trembling and shaking in the shadows of the moonlight that shone through the metal grates on the opposite side of the room. Their arms stayed tightly wrapped around each other and they both continued to stair into each others eyes, looking into each others thoughts, wanting more and more of what the other had to offer. Once they began to catch up on their breath nether of them hesitated to go back for more and the only sound that could be hear was the sounds of their hearts, telling them that this was right, this was how it was all ment to be, it was fate.

There, are you happy now all you crazy Martha and Jack fans?

Anyway please review

[dolly-999]

Chapter number 15. Fading away

The clouds gathered in the afternoon sky, slightly grayish, and only the slightest ray of sunshine struggled it's way through shinning it's light. Through an open window of the Holden's mansion, Serena lay in the middle of the double king sized bed, she was tired and wondering what was taking Martha so long, she should have been back by now, 'maybe she'd been tired and gone home, but she would of called' Serena thought to herself. Then she had a terrible thought, 'what if she's had an accident?' she panicked.

But she was unaware of what was really going on, Martha was fine, well she was more than fine, she was excellent, and she hadn't been quite this happy since..... since.... way too long ago. But Serena didn't know that, so she picked up her phone that was in her handbag next to her, searching quickly through her contacts to get to Martha's.

Back where all the action was happening at the prison, Martha's phone began ringing. Jack and Martha both looked over at where her bag was sitting next to the chair where Martha had been sitting after she came in, “You going to pick it up?” Jack asked catching his breath.

“No, they can wait” Martha told him turning her full attention back to him, ready for more. In her twenty six years of life she'd never made out with anyone through bars, and now that she had, she quite liked it, even though she wished more than anything that the bars weren't there and she could take him home with her.

“So were were we then” Jack brought the subject back to them, raising his eyebrows at her.

“Well, I think it was something like this” she smiled, pulling Jack's head right up so that she could kiss him again through the fifteen centimeter gap between the poles that stood vertically from the floor to the roof.

“Mmm” he mumbled from the feel of her lips on his again. He ran his hands along her back softly, yet forcefully pushing her closer, getting the reaction he wanted from her; a groan that asked for more, teasing him, making him wish more than ever that the poles he could feel digging into him would magically disappear.

Serena gave up and put her phone down again, there had been no answer, it was humid and she felt dehydrated, knowing she needed to get up, and totally oblivious to the affair unfolding only half an our away she slowly hopped out of her bed.

She removed her jacket placing it down on the back of a chair and before leaving the room, took one glance at herself in the mirror. She was horrified, along her arm that she'd fallen on were hundreds of blue and purple bruises, even that fall wouldn't of caused that, she looked on the inside of her arm, it too had many bruises. She had a sudden moment of fear, what if........ she thought, but it couldn't be could it? She'd only just been given the all clear.

She made her way slowly down the stairs, using the hand rail as support, she felt so weak, and by the time she reached the bottom, she was short of air, and all of a sudden it hit her... she was right before ......... the Leukemia........ it was back.

She needed water, her body needed rest, and she found herself crawling long the floor to stop herself collapsing.

As she got to the kitchen she used the edge of the bench to help herself up and reach up to get a glass out of the top cupboard, she reached for the glass, holding it in one hand, it and it's surroundings slowly fading away, like the world was blacking out.

She lost her grip on the glass, it slipped out of her hand, gliding to the floor, and her body followed in one motion.

The world was black, pitch black...

Life was a blurry dream of nothing...

And there she lay, no one to help her...

Unable to give any sound that might draw attention to herself...

This was the Serena know one knew, helpless, unable to save herself, weak and struggling for life.

[dolly-999]

Chapter number 16. Love me the same again

“Aha” Lara called out pulling out a file from one of the cabinet's in the back room of the police station. “Peter I found it!” she yelled.

“Really!?” Peter asked getting excited rushing down to the back room.

“Yeap, it's here. I just don't know how it got from your desk to all the way out here” she told him when he came in and grabbed the file off her to see for himself, “I mean, it's not like the stupid thing walked it's self all the way out here”.

“Yeah, your right, I think were going to have to keep a closer eye on some of the juniors, there the only ones that would of made a mistake as big as that” he agreed still with his nose in the document reading through it as he talked.

“Peter!” Lara demanded his attention, pushing the top edge of the yellow folder down so that his face wasn't covered.

“What?” he asked looking up at her.

“I don't think the juniors did this”.

“What do you mean?”

“You even said yourself that it's a pretty big mistake, everyone in here knows that these cabinets aren't something anyone looks through without permission form you, me or Tracey, let alone use it to hide files in, and the juniors know that more than anyone cause it's one of the things there told everyday of there lives in here!”

“Are you trying to tell me that someone put this here on purpose?” Peter raised his voice.

“No, but I guess that's always a possibility” she raised her tone to match his to make him get the point that she was serious. “Peter, all I'm trying to say is that this place isn't exactly top security, it's quite possible that someone's been sneaking in here trying to play mind games with this file and who knows what else. You of all people should see it Peter, stuff has been going missing since this file first came into our hands.... you were right the other day when you said there was more to this case” she lowered her voice down, dead seriousness was in her eyes. “There's something fishy going on, for all we know it could be another Zoe on the lose”.

“Ok, look we've got work to do, I want a list of all the files that went missing, what they were about and any other information you can get you hands on, there's got to be some link to this” Peter told her closing the file and leaving to go and take another look at it in his office.

-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*

At the Yabbie creek hospital, the place was in it's busiest hour of the day and yet another ambulance pulled in to be emptied. The driver got out of the car and opened the back doors for the nurses to get the patient out. The wheeled her inside, being as quick as possible. “Serena Holden, twenty eight” one of them called out to doctor Simpson.

“Ok, get her into a room, and quickly” she ordered.

“Doc, is she going to be ok?” Tony asked concerned.

“I don't know. Were you there when it happened?”

“No, I just came home to her struggling for life on the kitchen floor, and there were some pretty serious bruises up her arm” he explained. Doctor Simpson's face looked more serious now, and Tony got more worried. “Look be honest with me....” he started, “the cancer's back isn't it?”

“Nothing's certain yet” she simply said before walking off to attend to Serena.

-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*

“So what do we do now?” Martha asked breaking the silence in the room. A few minutes ago they'd both pulled away, and now they both sat in their chairs looking at each other, not knowing what to think or do. But yet they still smiled at each other, there gaze fixed at meeting point, they knew what they'd done was wrong, Jack was a married man, but yet nether regretted a single moment of it, and they didn't even feel the slightest bit bad about it, which made Jack start to wonder if anything in his brain was actually wired properly.

“Well.....” Jack started, “I guess we have to start with what we both want, what we honestly want. Last time I rejected you when I honestly wanted you, I lost you”.

“What are you trying to say?” she asked softly.

“I'm saying that I.............. I, um, I-”

Martha had an amused smile on her face, the look of confusion on Jack's face was priceless. “You what?”

“I, um, I lo-” Jack blabbered, “What the hell, I'm just going to say it! I love you”.

All Martha's amusement on her face suddenly disappeared, 'he loves me?' she thought to herself, then lips began to smile, 'he loves me!'.

Jack was itching to know what she thought, and her not saying anything wasn't helping one single bit. “What's that smile for?” he asked soothingly.

“I love you too” she whispered, “I love you too”.

Jack was delighted by hearing those words, 'she loves me!' he could hear his mind screaming. He looked into her eyes for a moment, “you've got doubts haven't you?”

“Just a few” she said honestly.

“Martha talk to me, tell me what your thinking” he pleaded with her.

“I hate to be to one to bring you back to reality Jack, but... you have a wife, a wife who loves you very much. And also happens to be one of my best friends”.

“Yeah I know that, that's the only reason I've held back for so long” he told her looking at the girl of his dreams sitting in front of him stairing at her hands.

Martha looked up at him, giving him a curious look, “what?”

“Martha we're ment to be together, you are the most amazing, strongest, most loving girl I know, and getting to know you again, it's..... it's made me realize what an idiot I was to you all those years ago-”

“Jack”.

“Martha, just hear me out please” he begged her. “What I'm trying to say is, being in here, I've had a lot of time to think about what is really important to me, and I've had a lot of time to think about all the things I would of done different in my life” he told her getting off his chair and getting down on his knees, placing his hands through the bars and holding Martha's hands in his that were neatly placed on her lap. “Remember what things were like........ there was just us.... our dreams ........our love” he whispered, looking her dead in the eye. “I know things are different now, and I know, I know I'm asking a lot, especially when I'm in prison, but we can make it work can't we?” he asked, pouring his heart out to her right before her, a twinkly in his eyes, promising he would love her forever.

Martha nodded quickly, she was crying, crying with all the happiness in her heart, “yes” she cried, sliding off the edge of her seat like she was falling, “yes, yes, we can. I love you so much” she continued getting down on the floor so she was level with Jack. He reached his hand out and stroked her cheek, wiping away her tears, wrapping his strong steady arm around her, holding her as close as he could, gazing into her eyes, where they both huddled together on the floor.

“Baby please don't cry” she told her lovingly.

“I'm just so happy” she whispered, not even noticing how orquad there position on the floor was with them both tangled around the bars to stay together.

“Me too, me too” she said in a hushed voice in the last few seconds before he was silenced by a kiss, that was so tender and sweet, one that could only come from Martha. Only she could make him feel the way he was feeling right now.

[dolly-999]

Ok so lately I've had a few people asking me, 'what the hell is with this file that doesn't make any sense?', well hopefully this chapter will help a little, and if it doesn't then it will probably make it seem even more confusing, anyway here's the next chapter.

Chapter number 17. It's just bad timing

“Hello” Martha said into her phone that had interrupted her and Jack five times in the last ten minutes.

“Hey Martha, it's Tony” Tony's voice replied, not sounding that great.

“Oh, hi, what's up?”

“It's Serena, I came home and found her unconscious on the kitchen floor.

“Oh, my gosh, is she ok?” Martha asked, this grabbed Jacks attention and he knew something was wrong.

“Not really, she's awake know, but they've done some tests and the Leukemia's back”.

Martha let out a stressful sigh, “Is she up for visitors?”

“Well not at the moment, she should be later”.

“Well I'll come round later then, thanks for letting me know”.

“No problem”.

“Bye”

“Bye”.

Martha hung up the phone and slowly turned around to look at Jack. “What's going on?” Jack asked, he had a look of fear in his eyes, and Martha took in a deep breath before talking.

“It's Serena” she started.

-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*

At the police station Peter sat in his office with the door closed. The only sound that could be heard in the back ground was phone's ringing people talking in the distance. He clutched on to the edges of the paper in front of him, the mind game going round and round in his head, driving him crazy, teasing him, pushing his limit's.

“Peter, I got that list” Lara told him after she opened the door and walked in.

Peter didn't even take his eye off the file, “yeah, thanks”.

Sensing how absorbed he was into this case, Lara decided she was getting in the way, “well I'll leave you too it then” she told him closing the door.

-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*

“I just feel so bad about it” Tash said stairing off into the middle of nowhere. She was sitting on the couch at Irene's next to Robbie.

“Well I would too if I were you, you tripped her over on purpose”.

“Oh thanks for the support Rob” Tash said sarcastically.

“Sorry, it's just not like you Tash” he apologized.

“Yeah I know” she sighed, “I don't know what came over me, it's just.... When I first saw Martha at the dinner yesterday, I had this picture in my mind of how things had turned out, and...”

“And what?”

“And, I mean, I don't know. When Martha was telling me about everything that happened to her, before she got to the end, it's just, hearing about everything she's been through, I just thought that she deserved some happiness, and I thought that happiness would be with Jack” she paused and started shaking her head slightly as Robbie put his arm around her, pulling her head on her shoulder. “Then she got closer to the end, and she was telling me about how Sean took Dylan just after he was born, and then when she came home she was introduced to Serena....... Jack's new wife”.

“Look Tash, I'm sure Martha's happy, I mean, she must be happy if not only she can just bee friends with Jack but can also be best friends with his new wife” Robbie told her.

“Yeah I know” she sighed, “I know. I just didn't want to accept it that way at the time”.

“Well I guess there's one good thing that's come out of this” Robbie started, hoping to cheer her up.

“What's that?”

“Well the bruising that came up on her arm showed one of the symptoms so the Leukemia could be identified”.

“Yeah, but still, I still can't help but feel terrible, I mean, I was the start of her being put in hospital”.

“Yeah and if it wasn't your fault it would have been someone else's. She's got Leukemia Tash, being in hospital sooner only helps her”.

“Ok, you win. But-”

“Why is there always a but?” Robbie complained.

“Oh shut up!” she screeched, playfully hitting him on the arm. “I was about to say it would at least be nice if I went and apologized to her myself”.

“Yeah, I'm sure she'd like that. How about we go later when she's had some rest?”

“Sounds good”.

-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*

Peter scanned his eyes across the information Lara had handed him about the missing files, and one thing caught his attention; the document numbers that contained six digest, they were the same random numbers that were scattered in various places in the file that was causing all this chaos. Making this realization he imediently grabbed the scrambled document and began scanning his way through it.

Missing person 132637. All matter was hidden, police tried to find evidence of the crime, failing to find anything and letting down the innocent people of this world.

257935, at the cross, turn right, walk ten meters, turn left, cross road, walk for a kilometer. Find what you want detective, some how I think it will fascinate you.

667728, death, death, death.

357294, 135291, 192034.

bang, bang, bang, find the clues, or it could cost you your life, someone is watching you, it's not me, I can only hint who it is. Bang, bang, bang, if anyone asks I never helped you.

Peter stopped reading for a minute this was about the spot he always stopped when reading this, it scared him in some ways, it mentioned a person as 'detective', but he had no way of figuring out if it ment him, or some one else, and he also had no way of knowing if who ever had planed this here was for real or just playing games.

The next bit was what was the strangest of the whole thing.

Tick, tock............ 138666.

ding dong, anything clicking now?

234024, 550285, 273677, 092678...........................

maybe you need some more clues...........................

405295, 594735, 503829,489204............

tick, tock, tick, tock, tick, tick, tick, tock...........................................

Still not knowing what all this ment, Peter stood up and walked over to the white board, he presumed that the numbers of the files had to mean something, 'maybe', he thought, 'maybe the numbers are like a blank spot....... and I just have to fill them in'.

-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*

“This can't be happening again” Jack said out loud after hearing the news.

Martha had started crying again, it was a shock, a real shock, and it couldn't of happened at a worse time, “what if..... what if she's not as lucky this time” she whispered.

“Yeah, and what if she is?” he changed it around.

Martha let out a loud breath of air, trying to calm herself down, she looked in his eyes, they seemed as confused as her's, “What does this mean for us?”

“I don't know, I don't know”.

“I mean, I can't share you Jack, I know before you said we could make it work, but I'm making myself clear now, I'm not sneaking around behind her ba-”

“And I'm not asking you to ether” Jack reassured her. “But....”

“But what?”

“But we can't break the news to her yet, not while she's in her condition”.

“Yeah, that would just be too cruel”

“So what are we going to do then?” Jack asked.

“Nothing” she simply said.

“What do you mean nothing?”

“I mean, we pretend like none of this happened-”

“No Martha” he cut her off.

“Jack let me finish, please”.

“Martha, I love you I'm not going to pretend that this never happened” he told her.

“Jack, what I ment was, we wait for a while”.

“A while?”

“Yeah” Martha restated her opinion. “Look Jack, I know it's hard, but, it's just bad timing”.

Jack just nodded, “I guess so”.

[dolly-999]

Chapter number 18. Greensville

“Well this looks like hard work” Lara commented as she walked into Peter's office to see him with a white board marker in one hand along with a file and about five other files in the other hand.

“No not really” he told her with out even looking up at her.

“Men” she mumbled to herself shaking her head. “So detective since this all one big blur to me, could you kindly explain?”

“Well” he started putting the lid back on the marker and pilling the files on the edge of his desk, he was definitely getting right into this case, “I figured out that the random numbers are the numbers on the files that went missing”.

“So the numbers are like blanks to do with the files?”

“I think so”.

“Well lets get started on it then”

“Ok”.

“Ok lets rewrite the thing and leave blanks where the numbers are, then we can figure out from the files what is supposed to go in the blank” Lara suggested.

“Yeah sounds good” he answered getting up and grabbing the white board marker to get back into full swing.

-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*

“Hey, just coming to see how your doing” Tash said cheerfully making her way into Serena's hospital room.

“I've been better” she sighed.

“Yeah, must have been a shock”.

“Not really, to be honest the fact I was better hadn't really sunk in yet, maybe this was why”.

“Look sorry again about this morning” Tash apologized.

“Hey it wasn't your fault”.

“Yeah, actually, it was” Tash started, beginning to feel a little uncomfortable.

“What do you mean?”

“Ok, I've got a lot of explaining to do haven't I?”

“Yeah, starting with how it could possibly be your fault”.

“Ok, I'll start at the beginning”.

-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*

“Ok so how are we supposed to figure out what part of each document to put in the blank?” Lara asked, half an hour had passed since she'd come in and at the moment they'd gotten no where.

“Well” Peter sighed.

“You don't know?” she finished him off.

“Yeah” she paused for a minute. “Wait a minute”.

“What?”

“All the grouped ones here, have they got a link?”

“Hang on I'll check” Lara told him reaching out for the pile of documents, while Peter read through the nonsense again.

“Actually they do have a link” Lara told him.

“Really?”

“Yeah, there all crimes in a town called Greensville” she explained.

“All eleven of them?”

“Yeap. I guess we should start there, maybe it will be easier to figure out what the other four files have to do with this when we get there”.

“Yeap, ok, lets go” he concluded grabbing the files and a few other necessary things like his gun and hand cuffs on the way out.

-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*

“Like I said, I am so sorry, I wasn't thinking straight” Tash explained to Serena who had been listening to her story for the last five minutes.

“Look it's ok, if it wasn't for that they might not of been able to get me back in chemotherapy before it was too late”.

“When are they starting that again?”

“Today”

“Well that was quick”.

“Yeah, Dr Simpson said it was better to start as soon as possible”.

“Well I hope you get better soon then”

“Sorry to do this to you Serena, but were going to have to get you into chemo now while the doctor's got time, she some how managed to double book herself for later” a nurse explained, ducking her head through the door. “She'll be here in a few minutes”.

“Ok thanks” Serena answered.

“Well I better get going then” Tash told her.

“Ok see you later then”

“Yeap bye”.

-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*

“So how did it go?” Robbie asked, getting out of the blue hospital chair he was sitting on in the waiting room.

“Good, she was actually really nice about it” Tash told him, feeling rather proud of herself.

“Well thats great”.

“Achoo” Tash sneezed.

“You ok?”

“Yeah, I think I'm coming down with the flew, I was my nose was a bit stuffy this morning and I had a bit of a cough”.

“Well how about we get you home before you give it to anyone else then” Robbie suggested.

“Yeah, ok”.

-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*

Peter sat in the passengers seat of the police car, in his hands was the pile of documents that had been making his mind spin all day. He'd filled in the gaps that revolved around Greensville and now it looked like this:

-

Missing person 132637. All matter was hidden, police tried to find evidence of the crime, failing to find anything and letting down the innocent people of this world.

257935, at the cross, turn right, walk ten meters, turn left, cross road, walk for a kilometer. Find what you want detective, some how I think it will fascinate you.

667728, death, death, death.

Greensville, Greensville, Greensville.

bang, bang, bang, find the clues, or it could cost you your life, someone is watching you, it's not me, I can only hint who it is. Bang, bang, bang, if anyone asks I never helped you.

Tick, tock............ 138666.

ding dong, anything clicking now?

Greensville, Greensville, Greensville, Greensville...........................

maybe you need some more clues...........................

Greensville, Greensville, Greensville, Greensville............

tick, tock, tick, tock, tick, tick, tick, tock...........................................

-

“Well here we are” Lara broke the silence as she stopped the car.

They both looked around, Greensville looked a lot like an incredibly small cowboy town out of a movie, the ground was dry and the place looked like it hadn't had rain in quite some time. “So” Peter puffed, “this is Greensville”.

“I would of expected something a little more........”

“Greener?” Peter finished her off.

“Yeah. Anyway, now that were here, where the heck to we start?”

“Well.................... I guess it's got something to do with this line here” Peter said pointing to the line that said '257935, at the cross, turn right, walk ten meters, turn left, cross road, walk for a kilometer. Find what you want detective, some how I think it will fascinate you.'

“Ok so 257935.......” Lara said out loud flicking through the information on the missing files, “here we go”.

Peter skimmed through the page, “Ahh, another crime of this town”.

“What?”

“It's a bombing of a church in the area”.

“Well I guess that's where our cross will be then”.

“Yeah, but the question is, how do we find it, this place is so far off the radar that all it is on the map is a dot”.

“Well we'll ask for directions then” Lara told him.

“No we don't need directions, I'm sure we'll find it”.

“Why is it that men have a problem with asking for directions?” Lara complained.

“We don't” Peter defended himself.

“Well if you don't have a problem with asking for directions then why don't you just ask?”

“Alright you win” Peter gave in opening the door of the car and getting out.

Author note: Just so everyone knows, Greensville is just a place I made up, if there is a place with that name, I'm sure it's not anything like the one I've made up. Anyway, please review.

[dolly-999]

Chapter number 19. Loyd's quest

The sun rose across the crystal blue water, catching it's light in the tiny ripples of the waves, it was the start of another beautiful sunny day in Summer bay, and two local residence sat on the sand enjoying every minute of it, and every minute of their company in each other's arms.

“It's so beautiful out here at this time of morning” Martha spoke softly from where her head was rested on Jack's shoulder.

“Not nearly as beautiful as you” Jack whispered, kissing her on the head.

“I thought I knocked out your hearing, not your eye sight” Martha laughed sarcastically before playfully kissing Jack on the cheek.

“Hey, there's nothing wrong with my eye sight” Jack defended himself, “you just don't want to admit that your a total hottie” Jack smirked, giving her a cheeky wink.

Martha pulled away from Jack, pretending to be offended, “is that your way of telling me you want to get me back into bed constable?” she asked innocently teasing him, enjoying every minute of it.

“Mmm, absolutely” Jack nodded smartly with a huge grin on his face. He then got up and lifted Martha over his shoulders.

“Put me down Jack!” Martha screamed between giggles.

After about ten seconds of Martha's carrying on, Jack stopped and put Martha back on her feet. “Fine reject me”.

“Aww, you know I love you” Martha told him sweetly.

“Of course. And I love you too” he whispered in her hear, leaning forward and sweeping her off her feet with a kiss.

“Martha, earth to Martha” Rose called out waving a hand in front of Martha's face. Martha looked around the room, she was still at home in the lounge room, not on the beach with Jack, for the last few minutes, her mind had been with him, back when they were still young, still together and still free from the world. But she couldn't hide her smile that was plastered across her face like her mind was still partly with Jack.

“Yeah, what?” she asked, still smiling.

“What's up with you? Ever since you got home you've been off with the fairies, with one huge smile” she said.

“Nothing” she shot out straight away.

“Yeah, and you could of convinced me” she said sarcastically.

“Alright so, I've got my eye on someone” Martha told her, tipping her head back on the arm rest and sighing contently..

“Really? Looks more like your head over heals for the guy” she laughed, “wait let me guess........... is it the new chief down the road, now he's a hottie”.

“Nope”.

“Hmm” she puffed, taking another guess, “is it..... is it that guy who couldn't stop drooling over you last week at the beach”.

“What guy?” Martha asked, taking her smile away for a second.

“Never mind, I'll take that as a no” she told her, studying her face for a moment, Martha's smile had returned, it was so full of joy, she'd seen it before, she just couldn't think where........ “Oh I see”.

“You see what?”

“That look could only mean one person”.

Martha looked at her strangely for a second.

“Jack”.

“What?”

“It's Jack isn't it?” Rose demanded, she knew the answer to that one, she could read Martha like a book, and right now Martha's face had turned to a, still happy, yet guilty look. “You don't need to answer that one, just tell me all the goss” she said, pulling up a pillow making it clear that Martha was not about to get out of this.

-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*

Back at Greensville, Peter and Lara were walking into a bar in search of some directions. “I'll go talk to the guy at the counter, see if he can help”.

“Alright, I'll go sit down then”.

“So what brings you hear officer?” the guy at the counter asked.

“Well I was hoping that you could help me with something” Lara explained.

“Really and what might that be?” he asked raising one eyebrow in curiosity.

“Well I'm looking for a church that got bombed out about five years ago”.

“And is there anything significant about this church may I ask?” he asked with a curious look on his face.

Lara looked at him for a moment, he didn't look like the type that could be trusted, just about everyone in the room looked as if they'd been a criminal, including the guy at the counter. He had a bald head, muscley arms, a black leather jacket and tattoo's all the way up the length of his arms. Thinking of the smallest detail she lowered her voice and spoke, “a cross”.

“A cross you say, hey?”

“Yeah”.

“Don't let anyone hear you say that too loud. There very protective about the quest” he whispered .

“What?”

“The quest, please don't tell me you haven't heard of the quest?”

“Sorry” she shrugged.

The guy then looked cautiously around and then leaned forward, talking in a whisper, “the quest to.....” he started, before looking around again, then whispered even softer, “Loyd”.

Lara's eyes widened, “Sean Loyd?”

“Shh, keep your voice down”.

“But were not looking for him, he died years ago” Lara whispered.

“I ment the quest to ind his secrets, his work, what made him so damn good at being bad. This town is full of wanna be Loyd's, I see tones of them coming in here and asking about the cross that leads to the quest” he explained, still keeping his voice right down and his.

“Well looks like I'm the first who's not loony to ask about it then, anyway can you give me directions to the church or not?” she asked getting a little impatient.

“Yeah of course I can” the guy told her leaning back from her and returning to normal pitch. “Turn left at the intersection just down there” he told her pointing down the road, “ and then go right two streets down”.

“Thanks” the said before walking back to Peter. “You ready to go?”

“Yeap” he replied getting up and following her out the door. “Lara?”

“Yeah”.

“I think I've figured it out” he told her as they got out the door, he handed her a piece of paper that's he'd been writing on. He'd figured out that the person or place the case was revolved around went in the gaps. 132637 had been the missing person's case on Matt, 257935 was the case on the burned out church they were looking for, 667728 had been the case about Sean Loyd's murder by Jack and 138666 was Jack's court case.

-

Missing person Matt Wilson. All matter was hidden, police tried to find evidence of the crime, failing to find anything and letting down the innocent people of this world.

Greensville town church, at the cross, turn right, walk ten meters, turn left, cross road, walk for a kilometer. Find what you want detective, some how I think it will fascinate you.

Sean Loyd / Jack Holden (ether one), death, death, death.

Greensville, Greensville, Greensville.

bang, bang, bang, find the clues, or it could cost you your life, someone is watching you, it's not me, I can only hint who it is. Bang, bang, bang, if anyone asks I never helped you.

Tick, tock............ Jack Holden.

ding dong, anything clicking now?

Greensville, Greensville, Greensville, Greensville...........................

maybe you need some more clues...........................

Greensville, Greensville, Greensville, Greensville............

tick, tock, tick, tock, tick, tick, tick, tock...........................................

-

“Oh my gosh” Lara said in amazement, “It can't be, what's this got to do with Jack?”

-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*

“So your saying he cheated on Serena for you?” Rose asked after Martha had explained.

“Well I guess you could say that”

“You guess?”

“Well I hadn't really thought of it that way”.

“So what are you going to do about the major problem, being his wife!?”

“Look were taking it as it comes, and for now were waiting for the right moment till were actually together” Martha explained, “so you never heard this ok?”

“Yeah, like I'd tell, you know me I never liked that bimbo anyway”.

“Rose”.

“What, I'm just being honest, maybe you should try it”.

“Sorry?”

“Martha, one minute your best friends with the girl and the next your hooking up with her husband, make up your mind would you woman!”

“Well it's not my fault she's in love with the same guy as me” Martha exclaimed, “I certainly don't blame her ether”.

“Yeah but Martha think about it, for the last three years she's been married to him and do you really think it's going to go down well when she finds out he's been unfaithful with her best friend? Martha, I'm on your side, I really am, but I'm just trying to make you think about it” she pressured her.

“Yeah I know” she sighed, why did life have to be so darn complicated!

-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*

“Well that's our cross” Lara stopped the car, letting the headlights shine on the tall white cross that stood in the middle of a round about outside an old burned church. It was getting dark, and soon there would be no light except the moon.

“Ok lets take a look” Peter said getting out and grabbing two long black torches, handing one to Lara.

“Thanks” she replied, also getting out and taking a look at the cross. “The question is which left to we go? For all we know who ever wrote this could have been meaning from the other side”.

“Yeah and I think they were too” Peter told her.

“What makes you think that?”

“Have a look at this” Peter told her who was standing on the other side of the cross.

Lara made her way around and looked at what Peter's torch was shinning on, it was a gold piece of metal that had written in black letter's, 'the cross, the way'.

“Well I guess they were then” she agreed, “come on, lets make a move”.

-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*

“How are you feeling now Serena?” Dr Simpson asked after bringing her out of chemotherapy.

“Alright, it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be this time”.

“Well that's good, I'll come in tomorrow just to do a routine checkup like we did this morning, just to make sure your still healthy”.

“Ok, thank you” Serena said.

“You welcome, anyway I'll see you later, I've got plenty of other patients to see”.

-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*

“Ouch” Lara cried, tripping over a log, they'd been walking for half an hour now and it was pitch black.

“You right there?” Peter asked reaching out a hand to help her.

“Yeah, I just hope we get there soon” she told him picking up her torch that she'd dropped.

“Well I think your in luck then cause we've been walking for about a kilometer now and I think that's what were looking for” Peter explained, shining his flash light at a old wooden shed.

“You sure?”

“Well there's nothing else out here”.

“What do you think is in there?”

“I don't know, but whatever it is, it better be good, and it better be fast, It's getting late” Peter grumbled.

“You first” Lara said nervously as they got to the door.

“No, ladies first” Peter told her opening the door out for her.

She took in a deep breath and swallowed hard, making her way in. “Well looks like we've got a lot of work on our hands” Lara said in surprise when she shined her light on the masses of files and boxes crowded in the room.

Peter sighed when he saw what she ment, “I don't believe this”.

“Peter come on, lets get started, complaining will only make both of us hate this even more”.

-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*

“This is a waist of time, come on Lara, let's just admit it, this was a.............” Peter paused when he saw what he'd just picked up.

“What?”

“I think you should take a look at this”.

Lara came from behind Peter and reached over to take the file, skimming through it, “oh my gosh” she said in astonishment. “It couldn't be could it?”

Peter nodded, “Loyd” he simply replied, “this was his plan”.

[dolly-999]

Chapter number 20. It's ok, it's ok

“I don't believe it” Lara continued in shock.

“Well all the evidence is there” Peter pointed out.

“Yeah, but-” she was lost for words, “this is huge Peter, I mean, Loyd wanted Jack dead” she exclaimed, taking another look at the file, it was a document on an order for the murder of Jack Holden, and instead, Sean Loyd himself had been the one who ended up dead.

“Well the guy was pretty twisted, you know that, and his signature is down the bottom”.

“Yeah, still why couldn't this of come out before Jack went and killed him?”

“I don't know, but it would have been nice if it did, then we would still have him at the station. Did you see anything else interesting?”

“Nope” she puffed, beginning to search where Peter had been. “Peter” she started looking at what had been under Jack's death order.

Peter looked where she was looking then picked up another piece of paper studying it.

“And there's another one” Lara spotted, then picked up the whole pile.

“He wanted Martha dead?” Peter said aloud putting the piece of paper on top of the pile in Lara's hands.

“He wanted a lot of people dead by the looks of it” she told him beginning to flick through each piece of paper, “Serena Holden, Rose Hoyland, Boyd Hoyland, Brett Macklin, Ruth Macklin, Dylan Loyd-”

“This guy's more twisted than we thought, he wanted his own son murdered?”

“Well who he thought was his son” Lara replied shaking her head in disbelief, “there's more here too, Kylie Green, Jemma Wilson, Peter Bake-”

“It's me isn't it?” Peter asked, not really needing an answer, he was pretty much convinced that the guy hatted him.

“Yeah” she answered uncomfortably.

“Well at least they guy isn't still alive, there's a stack of pages here. Look lets get these back to the station, well send more officers here tomorrow” Peter yawned.

“Yeah it's getting late, and I think we've had enough adventures for one day”.

-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*

The next day Dr Simpson was doing her normal check up on Serena. “I'm a bit worried about this temperature of your's Serena, it's not looking too good”. The doctor told her.

“What is it a bug or something?”

“I don't know, it could be the Leukemia getting worse, but we can't be sure just yet, I'll have another doctor come and check on you later”.

-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*

“I want as many officers down there that we can get, who knows what else could be in that shed” Peter ordered at the meeting of officers at the station. “Ok, now the direction's are fixed into the computer directory in all the police car's, so there should be no problem with getting there, so you all better start making a move” he told them. The officers made there way out, leaving Lara and Peter alone in the office.

“So are we going to head down there later then?” Lara asked.

“Yeah, maybe this afternoon, we can't leave this place unattended”.

“Yeah” she sighed.

“So how are you holding up then?”

“Ok, I guess, that stuff in the shed last night freaked me out a little though”.

“Yeah me too, even though the guy is dead” Peter comforted her, bringing her into a hug and holding her close, “It's going to be ok” he whispered, and without thinking he gave her a light kiss on top of her head.

-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*

“Hello, Yabbie Creek police station” Peter answered the phone, it was two o'clock in the afternoon now and the station had been pretty silent all day, most of the staff were in Greensville and now the only people left at the station other than him was Lara and three of the juniors.

“Hey Boss” one of the other officers said. “We've found something”.

“What is it?”

“We've found a record of the hit man Loyd used for all his work”.

“Who?” Peter asked in anticipation.

“Matt Wilson” the words rang through the phone.

“But how, I mean, he was one of the people Loyd wanted dead” Peter told him.

“Yeah were aware of that, we've just found Loyd's diary, were trying to find something in there”.

“Ok, I'll come down with Lara soon, keep me posted in the meantime”.

“Ok, will do” he answered before hanging up.

-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*

“Mummy look” Dylan exclaimed from where he sat in the middle of the lounge room floor, holding his Lego car high up in the air with pride.

“Wow sweety” Martha replied, talking down to his level, “how did you get so smart, hey?” she smiled running her fingers through his hair. Today had been a much better day than yesterday, it was three o'clock in the afternoon, and already today, she'd gone to Luna park with Dylan, Rose, Boyd and Izzy, she'd also taken Dylan to his swimming lesson's, not that he liked that much, but it was for his own good.

“Maybe a magic fairy gave me super powers” he said excitedly, jumping up in the air.

Martha giggled happily at this, she loved watching Dylan grow, he was so happy and full of life, and so much like his dad.

“Ringggggg.............” the phone sounded and Rose rushed to pick it up.

“Hello. Um yeah she's here, I'll get her” Rose talked into the phone. “It's Beth for you Martha” she explained handing the cordless phone to Martha.

“Thanks” she replied taking the phone and holding it to her ear. “Hello”.

“Hey Martha” Beth started, not sounding to good.

“Beth what's wrong?”

“It's Serena, the doctor did another check up on her this afternoon after her chemotherapy and.......” she trailered off.

“And what?”

“And, she's caught something” Beth's voice managed to get out. “They think it's the flew, it's been going around town”.

“But, how, I mean, why wasn't that checked before they sent her into chemo?”

“They did, where ever she got if from, it must have been between the check up and the chemo” Beth explained.

“Oh my gosh, this can't be happening, she could die” Martha whispered as she walked into another room so Dylan wouldn't hear, “the chemo took away her cells to fight it”.

“I know” Beth sobbed.

“Look I'm coming down there now ok”.

“No, you stay home, there's nothing you can do”

“No, Beth, I'm coming, I'll see you soon” Martha told her hanging up and rushing to leave. “Rose” she called out down the hall.

“Yeah” she called back coming towards her.

“Do you think you could look after Dylan for me?”

“Yeah, sure, what's all the rush for?”

“Serena's getting worse, I have to go” she simply said before leaving.

-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*

“Were is she?” Martha asked in a panic, catching up on her breath after running through the hospital to where Tony and Beth were.

“She's resting love” Beth told her, trying to sound calm about the situation, but it wasn't convincing to anyone.

“I need to see her” Martha screeched.

“Look, if you be quiet I'm sure it won't be a problem” Tony told her patting her on the shoulder, trying to sound strong.

“Thanks Tony” Martha thanked him softly before walking into Serena's room.

-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*

“Hey” Serena said weakly as Martha entered the room.

“Hey how are you feeling?” Martha asked softly sitting down slowly next to her.

“Not too good”.

Martha just nodded, bitting her bottom lip to try and stop herself from bursting into tears, 'I have to stay strong' she told herself, 'I have to stay strong'.

“I'm not going to make it this time am I” Serena whispered.

“Please don't say that Serena” Martha begged, bursting into tears. “Please, you have to stay strong” she encouraged her, taking Serena's hand in her's.

“I don't know if I can do that, I've tried to stay strong, I really have” she sobbed, “but I can't, I just can't”.

“No, please no, there are lots of people who love you and need you, Serena your my best friend”.

“I know, but this has been a long battle, and now, it's taking over” she managed to get out, starting to struggle with her words.

“No, it can't end like that, no”.

“Martha, please I need to go, I can't keep living like this, I've never felt so weak as I have in the last year, It's over Martha, it's over” she spoke softly.

Martha didn't know what to say, Serena was ready to die, she'd given up.

“I've got a confession to make”.

“What's that?”

“Well actually there's a few” she sniffed, trying to smile. “That lip gloss that went missing a while ago, I borrowed it and lost it”.

“Serena, it doesn't matter now”.

“I know, I'm just trying to think of everything I've never admitted before, get it all out in the open” She smiled weakly, she was getting weaker, she didn't have much time left.

“Yeah, I've got something to admit. Back when we didn't get along, I was a little, well, jealous”.

“No kidding” she said sarcastically.

“Was it really that obvious?”

“Yeah, just a little. I was a little unreasonable too” she admitted, “When Dylan was sick with the vomit bug, I gave him chocolate” Serena told her, continuing to admit all the things she'd done. “Oh and, remember that guy who kept hitting on you at Beth's party not long after you came back from having Dylan?”

“Yeah”.

“I set that up, I was trying to make you fall for someone other than Jack” she explained.

“Really, so the truth all comes out now” Martha commented.

“Yeah, there's tones of other things, but I just can't think of them now”.

The room went silent for a moment, Martha was feeling guilty inside, here she was hearing all these things that Serena was admitting to her and she was keeping the biggest secret of all bottled up. Then for some reason, something just forced the words out of her mouth. “I kissed Jack” she whispered, imediently slapping her hand across her mouth after it all came out.

Serena's face was in shock and her strength suddenly regained back in her arms, forcing herself to sit up and rest her back on the pillows. “You what?..... When?”

Martha looked down at her hands, she felt even more guilty now. “Yesterday” she swallowed hard, waiting for her reaction. “Look Serena I am so sorry, I don't know what happened but it just-”

“Look, it's ok” Serena nodded slightly, giving her approval.

Martha's jaw dropped, “wow, did you you just say what I thought you said?”

Serena nodded, “Look, Martha, some how, I just knew this would happen one day. I'll let you in on a little secret about me and Jack” she paused for a moment, “When we first meet, we were both a real mess, and I guess that just made us both vonerable” she sighed, “then things got more and more intense, being around each other was like an escape from what ever it was we were both trying to get away from, and then I guess we both got attached to each other. When we got back, about a month later you came into the picture, and right from the first time I met you, I saw you as a treat, and that's what i held against you, then slowly I tried to wedge my way between you two, I just wanted to try and make things last I guess” she explained, fixing her eyes on the blank wall across the room. “And, not that I ever admitted it, but I just knew, I knew that you two were made for each other. I'm not going to make it Martha, and I want you both to be happy” she told her looking back at her, “I don't want you to hold back, or feel guilty about it”.

“I don't know what to say” Martha spoke softly, tears streaming down her face.

“Well don't say anything then” she said weakly trying to smile.