Girl Next Door

[luckyrabbit]

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Any warnings: Sexual content, violence, language

summary: 5 lines max

Thanks, the Librarians.

Since the show won't be answering the questions about the Zoe/Tracey relationship. I decided to.

PART 1

When Eve had first moved next door, Tracey's father had taken one glimpse and announced that she was bad news. Trouble with a capital T. Tracey didn't know why. All she saw was a tall, skinny, slightly awkward looking young girl with an uncontrolled mane of curly blonde hair. In other words the polar opposite to herself, Tracey was short and slightly chubby and had dark hair that was straight as a pin.

Eve seemed friendly enough, smiling brightly and waving to her new neighbours as a man in a suit led her up the stairs to her new home. Tracey felt sorry for her. The family she was going to, the Owens, weren't the nicest people in the world, at least not to her. Tracey had begun to think that they hated kids but if that was the case why would they foster this one? What made her so special?

It was two days before Tracey saw Eve again. She had been trying to recreate a multiple vehicle accident ,with her brother's toy cars, for a school project, in her backyard when Eve's head had popped up over the fence making Tracey jump and squeal in surprise.

Eve laughed at the older girls' reaction. "Sorry, did I scare you?" She said, not looking very sorry at all.

"No!" Tracey protested, wiping her sweaty palms down the sides of her jeans as she watched Eve gracefully drop down off the top of the high fence.

"Oh." Eve pouted a little but her disappointment only lasted a moment. "I'm Eve." She said, sticking her hand out.

"I'm-" Tracey began enthusiastically reaching to shake Eve's hand, only remembering her father's warning at the very last second. "I'm not supposed to talk to you." She finished reluctantly, her hand only a few centimeters away from Eve's outstretched hand. "My Dad's forbidden me."

Eve quirked an eyebrow and looked thoughtful for a second. "Yeah, that's not going to work for me. See-" She paused, waiting for the older girl to supply a name.

"Tracey."

Eve nodded her thanks. "See Tracey, I've decided that I like you."

"You like…you have?" Tracey stuttered. Nobody had ever told her that they actually liked her before.

"Yes. And I want us to be friends and that might be hard if you can't talk to me, I mean, I could probably talk enough for the both of us but that would get a little boring after a while, don't you think?"

Tracey laughed, she liked this girl, Eve. She didn't understand what her father had against her. "I guess so, but my Dad…"

"Doesn't have to know." Tracey's face twisted in confusion at Eve's words. "We could keep it a secret, come on, it'll be fun." Eve urged.

Tracey was torn, Eve wasn't like any girl she'd ever met before and most importantly, she liked her! Tracey didn't want to reject Eve's offer of friendship but she didn't want to get into trouble with her father either.

"I don't know Eve…" She answered hesitantly.

Eve sighed heavily, eyes downcast, and turned to leave. "Look, if you don't want to be my friend you don't have to lie about it to get rid of me, I'll just go. Sorry for bothering you."

*But you weren't bothering me!* Tracey was instantly riddled with guilt, she shot out a hand, grabbing Eve's arm to keep her from leaving. "No! That's not it at all. I want to you to stay. I-I want to be your friend."

Eve turned, a grin spreading across her face. She held out a fist with only her pinkie finger sticking out. "Super secret friends?" She asked without a hint of uncertainty.

Wanting to make up for her earlier affront, Tracey responded without hesitation. "Super secret friends." She confirmed, wrapping her pinkie finger around Eve's and shaking it firmly.

After two months of working undercover the Martinez case had finally come to a close. Drug and firearm related charges were laid, not too mention that pesky charge of double homicide. Now it was just a matter of making the case stick. And for Senior Detective Tracey Thompson and her partner Detective Brendan Truscott, that meant paper work, hours and hours of paperwork. It was not something that Tracey was looking forward to as she entered her place of work for the first time in months to find a stack of files had been left on her desk.

"Great. Just great. We're going to be here all night." Brendan groaned when he saw that he too had his own pile to work through. "We've been gone for two months, we should have secretaries to handle this stuff." He grumbled.

"If we had secretaries you'd never get any work done." Paula Kelley, a senior constable who had recently been promoted to the department, teased. "Welcome back to civilization guys."

"Thanks." Brendan said before Tracey could get a word in. "I can't believe it took that long, I thought that it was going to be an easy case. So anyway what did I miss?" Tracey didn’t mind that Brendan constantly called all the attention to himself, she much preferred to sit back and observe rather than interact, that's what made them such a good team.

"Well, well, the triumphant hero returns, eh?" Announced a deep voice, it was a fellow detective, Sam Bagwell. Setting down the two coffees he'd been carrying Sam gave Brendan a friendly slap on the back.

"I'm just catching Bren up on what he's missed." Paula informed Sam, who'd taken up position leaning against the corner of Brendan's desk. Sam and Brendan had been best friends for years, Paula was a new addition to the group but she fit like she'd always been there. Tracey had to admit that she felt a little envious, she hadn't been part of a friendship like that since she'd been a teenager. Of late, Tracey had been feeling like a round peg that had been forced into a square hole, she fit but not quite. She never felt comfortable around these people and she'd definitely never call any of them friends.

"Did you tell him about the Summer Bay Stalker case yet?" Sam asked. That caught Tracey's interest, the case had still been in it’s infancy when she'd left and having worked with Peter Baker once before she was interested to hear how it turned out. In her experience, she'd found that Peter wouldn't be able to find his own ass with two hands. On the case they had worked on, she had done all the work and Peter was the one who'd got all the credit. How he'd made it to detective she'd never know.

"Did they catch him?" She asked casually, keeping her eyes on the open file in front of her.

"Oh, hey there T." Sam acknowledged her for the first time since his arrival. "They got him alright, only it wasn't a he."

"It was a woman?" Brendan's look of surprise was almost comical.

"Don't sound so surprised." Paula pretended to be offended. "You remember the girl who'd been stabbed. The only one to see the Stalker and live?"

Brendan scratched his head and tried to think. "Her last name was Mc-something, wasn't it?"

"McCallister." Tracey supplied, she'd always had an excellent memory. "Zoe McCallister."

Brendan snapped his fingers. "That's it! It was her?"

Sam nodded. "Yeah but no. Turns out that the Stalker killed the real Zoe and assumed her identity."

"So who was she really then?" Brendan asked, his forehead creasing in confusion.

"Some crazy bitch called Eve Jacobsen." Paula answered before Sam could butt in. Tracey's head shot up. Eve? Her Eve? No, it couldn't be. Could it?

"Wha- what happened to her?" Tracey stammered urgently. "How did she get caught?"

"She didn't get caught exactly."

"More like burnt to a crisp." Added Sam, taking over storyteller duties. "She been holding a woman in an abandoned tire factory and…" Paula continued to explain but Tracey couldn't hear it she was too lost in her own thoughts. It can't have been her, there had to be more than one Eve Jacobsen in the NSW. One minute and several missed keystrokes later, Tracey had brought up Eve's details on her computer. There was only one Eve Jacobsen in the state. Staring back at her was Eve. Her Eve. Twelve years older but it was unmistakably her. Underneath the picture were two words that made Tracey's heart leap up into the back of her throat. STATUS: DECEASED. Her friend, the best friend she ever had, was dead.

Closing the browser window and grabbing her bag from under her desk Tracey abruptly stood, sending her chair clattering to the floor and headed for the exit without a word.

"Tracey?" Brendan called out after her in concern. "Where are you going? We still have work to do!"

For Eve and Tracey, the summer holidays of 1993-94 were spent together. It wasn't that hard, hiding their friendship from Tracey's father. Sergeant David Thompson was a busy man and Tracey was home alone most of the time. Eve and Tracey spent the long, hot summer days hanging out together in the tree house at the back of Tracey's garden, talking about anything and everything, singing along to what ever was playing on the radio at the time.

It was during that time Tracey came to discover that Eve could never leave anything unfinished. Not a game, not a book, not a movie, not anything. This had caused a problem when Eve became determined to successfully build a house of cards. Everytime it collapsed Eve grew more and more frustrated until she finally flung the deck all across the room before picking them all up and starting again. It took her over three hours to do it but she eventually got it done. She'd then taken one look at the finished product and knocked it down with a sweep of her hand and dragged Tracey off to watch Neighbours with her.

And to her great relief, it turned out that Tracey had been wrong about the Owens. They were great foster parents to Eve. Mrs. Owen, a nurse at the local hospital, let Eve read all of her old textbooks from medical school and Mr. Owen would play chess with her every evening after dinner. He never won. When Tracey asked about it Eve promised to teach her to play like she did but Tracey could never get the hang of it.

On the drive home Tracey tried to figure out why the news was hitting her so hard. Yes, Eve Jacobsen had been her best friend for a very short period of her life and yes, if she was honest with herself, Tracey admitted that she may have had a small, okay maybe large, crush on her. But she hadn't seen or talked to her for years, not since…It didn't matter now, Eve was dead.

Soaked from the rain that had started pouring down the minute she set foot outside the doors to the police station, Tracey made the slow climb up the stairs to her small rent controlled apartment and wondered if that day could get any worse before it ended.

Stepping off on her level, Tracey was surprised to find someone sitting on her doorstep. She stood frozen as the figure unfolded their long limbs and stood, drawing back the hood that was hiding their face.

"Eve?"

One day, Tracey had been walking home from school when she had been confronted by her grade's lead bitch, Leslie Moran, and her gang of hangers on, a true group of mean girls. They yelled at her for something Tracey didn't even remember doing and almost made her cry. She was on the verge of tears when Eve had leaped down from a nearby wall and moved protectively in front of Tracey. Zeroing in on Leslie's insecurities, Eve went on the attack, reducing the other girl to a sobbing mess, using nothing more than words.

"Wow, I still can't believe that you made Leslie Moran cry! I've never seen anything like that. Nobody's ever stood up for me like that before." Tracey babbled excitedly, bouncing along happily beside Eve as they walked home after the encounter. "I'm so lucky that I'm your friend."

Eve stopped, putting a hand on Tracey's arm, stopping her in her tracks, and cocked her head to the side. "Yes, you are." She agreed after a moments thought. Grinning, she threw an arm around Tracey's shoulders. "You know something, Trace?"

"What?"

"I'm the best friend you'll ever have." Tracey agreed, she couldn't imagine liking anyone more than she did Eve.

"Eve?" Tracey gasped again. She couldn't believe her eyes, less than two hours ago she finds out that Eve is dead and then suddenly there she is, looking like a drowned rat. She had to be hallucinating, that was the only explanation. Then Eve spoke…

"Trace." It was her. She was real, she was alive, she was there. The sense of relief Tracey felt was overwhelming.

"Eve." Tracey dropped her bag and rushed forward, enveloping Eve in her arms. She could touch her, feel her and that meant that Eve was alive and real and very much not dead.

Withdrawing from the hug, Tracey let her hand trail across Eve's stomach and regretted it instantly when the younger woman let out a pained hiss and flinched away.

"Sorry!" Tracey apologized automatically. "I'm sorry, what did I do?"

Eve waved her off. "I'm fine. It's okay."

The euphoria of finding out her old friend was alive faded and Tracey started remembering why she had been so upset in the first place. "Eve, what are you doing here? I thought that you were dead. I've heard that you've done all these terrible things and…"

"Tracey." Eve cut her off gently. "I'll explain everything, I promise. But maybe would could do it inside, huh?"

"Yeah, of course." Tracey replied distractedly, scooping her bag up off the ground Tracey opened the door and stepped back to let Eve in ahead of her.

"Nice." Eve commented, her eyes wandering over the sparsely decorated apartment. "Very spartan, very you."

"Thanks. I, um, you're all wet." Tracey commented idiotically, her brain unable to fully process it all.

"So are you." Eve pointed out.

Tracey looked at her blankly, unable to come up with a reply as though it hadn't even occurred to her. "I've been away for months. How did you know that I was coming back tonight?"

"I didn't."

"So, if I hadn't shown up tonight, you would've just waited for me?" Tracey was stunned.

"Yes."

The response made her feel things that Tracey knew she had no right to be feeling, desperate to try and maintain some sense of composure Tracey asked the one question she knew she should've asked the second she saw Eve.

"Why are you here?"

TBC.

[luckyrabbit]

I actually had an idea for a Zoe and Tracey fic, but I only have the middle and ending. I'm sure how to start it. luckyrabbit you did a great job with the intro and everything so I've gotta think of something as good as that. For now I'm just gonna write out the rest of it and think of a start later.

You should do what I do and just write whatever scene that pops into your head and link them all together later. It makes things much easier. Can't wait to read your fic.

PART 2

Eve's thirteenth birthday was the best one she'd ever had. The Owens had taken her out to a special lunch and bought her lots of gifts. It was like they were a real family. But the real highlight came later that night, after Tracey's father had left for work, and the girls met in the treehouse.

"Check it out." Eve grinned, pulling two bottles of beer from behind her back.

"Eve! How did you…did you steal these?"

"No." Eve corrected her. "I liberated them."

"Yeah, that makes it so much better." Tracey said in a way which, had there been a sarcasm meter in the room, would have buried the needle.

"Hey, if you don't want it." Eve reached for the bottle she'd placed in front of Tracey.

"Didn't say that." Tracey mumbled, grabbing the bottle and popping the cap before Eve could get to it.

"What time is your Dad going to be home?" Eve asked, more out of self preservation than curiosity. She knew if Sergeant Thompson caught her corrupting his eldest child there would be hell to pay.

"Don't know. Late. He's hardly ever home anymore." Tracey shrugged. "He wants me to be a cop too, you know?"

"Really?"

"Yeah. Personally, I'd rather die." Tracey said, fiddling with the loose corner of the label on her bottle. "If my brother was still around it wouldn't be a problem."

"Where is your brother anyway? Did he die or something?"

Tracey laughed. "No. Mum and Dad got divorced a few years back."

"That mustn't have been much fun for you." Eve commented sympathetically.

Tracey shook her head. "Anyway, Mum took Felix-"

"Felix? Like the cat?"

"Yeah. Stupid name. She took him and I got stuck with Dad. So, yeah...Sometimes I wish he was never born, that way Mum would've taken me with her. Dad doesn't care about me." Tracey said bitterly.

"I care about you, Trace." Eve said slowly, rolling on her side to watch Tracey's reaction.

Tracey stared at Eve, unsure if she should say what she wanted to say next. "Sometimes I think that you're the only one."

"Is that so bad?"

Tracey turned away, unable to look at Eve in case she noticed her furious blushing and shook her head. "Enough about my screwed up family, what about you? How did you end up in foster care?"

Eve looked away. "Eve?" Tracey asked cautiously when the other girl didn't answer, she hadn't meant to upset her.

"My granddad killed my grandma." Eve admitted quietly, causing Tracey to choke on her beer.

"What?" She sputtered, wiping the liquid of her chin.

"There was a problem with the car." Eve replied blankly, her gaze never wavering from the candle's flame. "With the fuel line or something...I can't remember. But granddad said he'd fix it. Grandma wanted to take it to a proper mechanic but grandpa was stubborn and he said he'd do it, I remember that they got it a fight about it, there was a lot of yelling but eventually grandpa got his way. Gran was on her way to her knitting club and when she started the car...it just exploded, I saw the whole thing from my bedroom window...It was so loud, she was screaming and I was screaming and there was nothing that I could do. She died. A few months later he died too, he fell asleep with some candles burning when I wasn't home. The whole house burnt down with him inside it."

"That's awful." Tracey said, her voice thick with emotion.

"He got what he deserved." Snapping out of her daze, Eve shook her head. "Anyway, it's not important now."

"What about your parents?"

"They're dead too. I guess you could say that I kinda killed my mum. It was a difficult birth and she lost too much blood. She died a few hours after I was born. My Dad blamed me, one day he couldn't deal with it anymore and he hung himself." Eve said, completely devoid of emotion.

"Oh God, Eve." Tracey choked out, reaching out and capturing the birthday girl in a tight hug. "I'm so sorry."

"So you want me to help you get revenge on an entire town?" Tracey asked, unable to comprehend what she was hearing.

"Not the whole town, really. Just one group who seem to think that they represent the whole town, you know, they're constantly having town meetings that they're the only ones who go to and act like they speak for everyone in the community, like theirs are the only opinions that matter."

"I still don't understand..."

"I don't blame you, even I didn't really get it when Sarah first told me but once I got there I could see. That town is full of liars and thieves and murderers, people who pretend to be your friend and then sleep with your boyfriend behind your back." Eve ranted, her voice getting louder with every word that fell from her lips. "And they all act like they're so righteous, like they've never done anything wrong and pass judgment on everyone else. They need to pay for what they did. Don't you see, Trace? This isn't about revenge, it's about justice. And believe me, these people deserve everything that they get."

"Eve-"

"That's not...It's Zoe now, Eve is...I'm not that person anymore." Zoe corrected her.

"Zoe, do you really expect me to help you with this? I would lose my job."

"The job that you never wanted to have in the first place? Remember when you told me that you would rather die than become a cop?"

"Yes. But that was a long time ago, Eve."

"Call me Zoe." Zoe reminded her.

"Right, sorry. Zoe. Do you really think that I'm going to help you get justice for a girl I never even knew?"

Zoe shook her head. "No, I think that you're going to help me get justice for what they did to me." She said, pulling up the bottom of her shirt and showing off her still healing burns. Tracey couldn't bare to look at the bright red marks burning brightly against the pale backdrop of Zoe's skin and had to look away. "I know that if our positions were reversed, if you were the one who came to me. I would do what ever you asked me too. Because that's what friends do Tracey. They help each other, they care about each other. You care about me, don't you Trace?"

"You know that I do."

Zoe knelt down next to Tracey and put a hand on her leg. "So you'll help me? Please, I can't do this without you. Tracey, I need you."

Hearing Zoe say those words to her were like music to Tracey's ears, it was something she'd been wanting, yearning, to hear since she was fifteen years old. Stuck in a job and a life she hated, Tracey had no compelling reason to say no and looking into the pleading eyes of the girl she loved, every reason say yes.

"Besides you owe me, remember?"

"What is that?" Eve asked, wrinkling her nose in distaste, having come into Tracey's yard to find her best friend sitting on the garden bench watching a black and white ball of fluff nose it's way around the geraniums.

"It's a rabbit." Tracey replied dryly.

"I can see that. Why is it here?"

"It's my new pet. Dad thought that I was lonely and needed to learn some responsibility so…"

"So he got you a rabbit?" Eve asked slowly, sitting next to Tracey and throwing an arm across the back of the bench.

Tracey shrugged. "He's allergic to cats, thinks dogs are too loud and I'm scared of birds."

"Don't make fun." Tracey added before Eve could say a word.

"Wasn't going to. I'm afraid of jockeys."

"Jockeys? Why?"

"They're so short and have pointy ears, like elves! Not to mention that they have those high-pitched, squeaky voices."

"They have high-pitched, squeaky voices?" Tracey said in a tone that clearly implied that Eve, herself, had a squeaky voice.

Eve slapped Tracey's arm hard enough to leave a red mark. "I do not have a squeaky voice!"

"Ow." Tracey whined, rubbing her arm.

"Awww, poor baby. Want me to kiss it better?" Eve asked sarcastically.

"Shut up."

"Okay, thanks Joe. I will. Bye." Tracey said before hanging up the phone. She turned a piece of paper over in her fingers thoughtfully. "I got Peter's number."

"That was easy." Zoe commented, leaning against the doorway.

"For you. I was the one who did all the work." Tracey leaned back in her chair. "I had to call an old boyfriend to get him to call Claire Brody to get Peter's number from her."

"Old boyfriend?" Out all the words for Zoe to choose to pick up on.

Tracey shook her head. "A mistake on my part. A very huge mistake."

Pushing off from the door frame Zoe sat opposite Tracey. "So…" She said, obviously trying to prompt Tracey into making the call.

Tracey was silent for a moment. "Are you sure about this? I mean, right now, you could get away with it, I'm the only person who knows that you're still alive. You can start a whole new life."

"You think I don't know that." Zoe snapped followed by an apologetic look. "I've thought about this…for so long. After everything that's happened, I can't just let it go. I need to finish this, Tracey. They need to pay so that Sarah can rest in peace and I can finally move on with my life."

"And you can't do that now because?"

Zoe looked at her sullenly. "Sarah deserves justice and I'm the only one who can get it for her, I'm the only one who cares enough to do this for her."

Tracey put her head in her hands and groaned in frustration. "I just don't…why? Why do you care so much about this girl? She's dead, Zoe!"

"Sarah loved me!" Tracey rolled her eyes. "Don't do that, you don't know…"

Tracey finally lost her cool. "I know that Sarah Lewis isn't the only one who ever loved you, Eve!" She shouted, slamming her hands down onto the counter.

"What are you saying Trace?"

In an effort to regain her composure, Tracey got up and turned her back on Zoe. "I'm saying that I…" She said haltingly, stopping to run her hands through her hair. "I love you."

Tracey felt Zoe's presence behind her and flinched when Zoe put a hand on her shoulder to turn her around.

"Tracey, I love you too." Zoe said slowly.

"But I can't be with you until this is finished. I've tried before and it didn't work. And I want us to work, Trace." Zoe whispered, maintaining eye contact with Tracey the whole time, not even looking away when she reached a hand back, retrieving Tracey's phone and held it between them. "So, that's why I need you to call Peter, okay?" She finished softly, tracing a single finger gently down Tracey's cheek.

Tracey swallowed hard, barely restraining herself from leaning into the touch like she so very much wanted to. "Okay. I'll do it." She reached for the phone with shaky fingers.

It was only two weeks after Tracey had gotten him when Thor, as David Thompson had affectionately named the rabbit, died. Eve had been relaxing in her bedroom, listening to her Nirvana cassette in her new Walkman, the Owens had got her for her birthday, and reading about how to treat compound fractures, when Tracey had come banging on her window.

Pulling off her headphones, Eve opened the window and was immediately confronted by a hysterical Tracey.

"Eve, you have to come now!" Tracey cried, grabbing Eve's hand urgently. "It's Thor! I think I killed him! Dad's going to be so pissed at me."

"What? Tracey, calm down and tell me what happened." Eve said, slipping out of her bedroom window and taking her friend by the shoulders.

"Thor was annoying me, he kept chewing on the wall, you know, and he was making so much noise that I put him outside and he's not allowed outside when nobody's around to watch him but I thought that it would be okay just this once. But I sort of forgot about him and then when I went outside to check on him, he'd been eating the plants! The ones Dad specifically said to keep him away from and now he's dead and Dad is going to blame me and I'll never be able to get another pet again!" It was strange for Eve to see the normally placid Tracey so upset. Tracey talked so fast, Eve could barely understand what the older girl was trying to say, but eventually she got the gist of it.

"Are you sure he's dead?"

"Well, no…" Tracey admitted, calming a little. "I just saw him laying there, he wasn't moving. But I didn't get too close."

Eve quirked her eyebrow. "We should make sure that he's actually dead before you get too upset, Trace. Come on."

Thor was dead, at least that was the conclusion Eve came to after poking him with a sharp stick a few times without a response.

"What am I going to do with him, Eve? Dad gave him to me to prove I was responsible and if he finds out about this…"

"He doesn't have to know." Eve suggested.

"What do you mean?"

"Well, I read a book once about how in Viking funerals they burned their dead and Thor was named after one of their gods."

"You think that we should burn him?" Tracey asked, biting her lip. "Actually, that's not a bad idea. It'll get rid of the evidence. No evidence, no crime. That's what Dad always says."

Eve nodded. "That way you can just say he ran away."

"Yeah! Okay, we need matches."

"Don't look at me, I'm not allowed to have them, you know that."

"Okay, I'll take care of the matches, you just go and pick some flowers for the funeral." Tracey said calmly, now that she had a plan of action she felt much better.

"Funeral?"

Twenty minutes later, Thor was laying in the fire pit, surrounded by a collection of flowers and dried leaves, with Eve and Tracey looking down on him.

"So…you going to say something?" Eve asked curiously.

"I don't know what to say, I didn't really like him that much." Tracey shrugged, she felt bad that he died but that didn't change the fact that she never really wanted him in the first place.

"Oh...I didn't either."

"So, I guess this is goodbye, Thor." Tracey said, lighting the match and igniting the leaves Thor's body was laying on. The girls watched as the flames licked at the rabbit's body and wrinkled their noses at the highly unpleasant smell of burning fur. But what happened next left them both shocked.

Thor started to move.

Tracey's mouth dropped open when the rabbit started writhing in agony. "I thought you said he was dead!"

"…Oops." Was all Eve could say, catching Tracey's slumping body as she almost collapsed in shock.

"WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING?" A voice bellowed from the back porch of the house. "GET AWAY FROM MY DAUGHTER!"

"Oh, crap."

Careful not to spill her coffee, Tracey set her mug and newspaper down on the coffee table.

"Okay, you ready?" She heard Zoe call out from the other in which she was busy trying on her disguise.

"Yeah, I'm ready." Tracey called back, folding her legs up underneath each other as she sat down on the couch.

"Ta-Da." Zoe emerged from the room, wearing a wig of flippy brunette hair and a pair of glasses with thick tortoiseshell frames.

Tracey raised an eyebrow. "That's it? I mean, you look good but do you really think that having different hair and glasses are going to keep people from realizing it's you?"

"Hey, if it's good enough for Superman it's good enough for me. Okay?" Zoe said, playfully tossing a cushion at Tracey who caught it easily.

"You seriously think this going be enough to keep your identity secret?"

"You know what, screw you Trace, I'm a master of disguise. Or should that be mistress?" Zoe pondered for a moment before waving it off. "Doesn't matter. All that matters, is that this is going to work. After all, nobody's going to be looking for a dead girl."

"Except Peter." Tracey reminded her.

Zoe nodded. "Except Peter. That's what makes it so fun."

Tracey raised her eyebrows and flipped over her newspaper to start on the crossword.

"Ballerina." Zoe said randomly.

Tracey looked up from her paper. "What?"

"That's what that scrambled up word is." Zoe explained. "Ballerina."

Tracey checked for herself. "How did you do that? You barely had a chance to even see it."

Zoe shrugged with faux modesty. "I'm good with word puzzles." She tapped her head. "Super smart, remember?"

"If your so smart, you can get over here and help me with this crossword."

TBC

[luckyrabbit]

Okay this is it, the last part. First of all I want to say a big thank you to everyone who's commented and left feedback. And secondly this part is dedicated to nachocheeez and Oxidising_Angel, I couldn't have done it without you guys .

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Zoe could feel their eyes on her, even if she couldn't see them she knew that Peter was watching her and Tracey was probably right beside him. She restlessly scratched at her hair and waited. How could it have all gone so wrong? Everything had been going so well, with Tracey's help she was successfully, slowly driving Peter insane. When he finally figured out her little anagram, Tracey had been the one to call her and warn her of the surprise waiting for her in her apartment. Tracey had been the one to detonate the car bomb, at exactly the right time, when Peter had been assuring the town that there was no danger. So what had happened for Jack to turn up and ruin everything and force Tracey into having to capture her?

Zoe looked up when she heard the door open and watched the reflection in the window as Peter walked in, leaving up to Tracey to close the door behind him, like she was just a lowly constable.

"Is this part of your plan? Being locked up in here and watched like a circus freak?" He mocked her, making Tracey wish that she could jump to Zoe's defense.

"I'm only asking because I, I know how proud you were of your plans and I'm just interested to see how that's going for you Zoe. I mean you've achieved so much. All that planning, you are so very clever. I particularly like how you planned to get burnt at that tire factory and the way that you planned to get cornered on the roof by Jack and I today." Tracey gritted her teeth to stop herself from blowing her cover, she didn't know why she was surprised at Peter taking all of the credit for Zoe's capture. From what she had seen herself that day and then heard from Jack, Zoe had both of them by the balls by the time she'd shown up.

"That was a masterstroke." Peter said with a smug smile that Zoe would like nothing more than to wipe of his face then and there. "And I want to tell you, Zoe, that I've learnt a lot. And now I have a plan of my own. I'm going to make sure that this brief against you is air tight and I'm going to sit back and watch a judge sentence you to life in prison without the possibility of parole. And then you know what I'm going to do? I'm going to take a holiday, somewhere nice, you know, one of those places where the waiters bring the drinks down to you by the water. And I'm even going to send you a postcard every single day so that you will never forget the most important thing here Zoe. I won. And I am going to see you rot in hell."

Zoe was seething, she couldn't let him walk away thinking that he'd won, that he'd beaten her. "I was wrong before. It's not the twist in the sequel that counts, it's the way in which they leave the story open. The way that people start to relax thinking it's over, right before they get hit with the big finish."

Peter shook his head condescendingly. "What are you talking about? What else have you got planned Zoe?"

"Peter." Tracey warned softly.

"What else? Tell me." Peter demanded.

"Stop!" Tracey said firmly, while it was amusing to see him getting so worked up, she was afraid if he pushed Zoe too far she'd end up saying something that she'd regret. "The only big finish here involves a long jail sentence. Let it go Peter, it's over." Tracey grabbed Peter's shoulders and dragged him from the room, leaving Zoe to smirk to herself. All Peter was doing was pushing Tracey even more to her side.

The last time Tracey saw Eve she was on her way to the courthouse. She was being led down her front steps, dressed in a demure navy dress with her hair pulled back in a tight braid, flanked on either side by Mr. and Mrs. Owen, who couldn't even bring themselves to look at her.

Tracey had tried to tell her father the truth about what happened that day but he wouldn't believe it. She begged and pleaded and cried and it hadn't done any good, all it had gotten her was a lecture on how she was too old to be throwing tantrums. As far as Tracey's father was concerned Eve was an evil little girl who needed to be punished for her actions, even if she claimed not to remember what she had done.

Tracey pressed a hand against the cold window pane, she wished that she could say a proper goodbye, she wished that she didn't have to say goodbye at all.

Once Eve was inside the car she looked out the window and locked eyes with Tracey, waving sadly as the station wagon pulled away from the curb. Tracey was convinced that she felt her heart break that day.

Zoe leaned back, feeling the rumbling vibrations of the van against the back of her head, going over and over in her mind what could have possibly gone wrong. She hadn't gotten a chance to speak to Tracey, the detective had kept her distance in case anyone picked up anything suss in their interactions. Zoe wasn't mad at Tracey. She was mad at Peter, for breaking the rules of their little game and letting Jack know about the abattoir, he must've, how else would Jack know to go there? It wasn't like he was smart enough to figure it out by himself.

Zoe frowned when she felt the van begin to slow down, they couldn't be in the city yet and they wouldn't be stopping unless…Tracey. Oh. The van came to complete stop and then there was silence. Until two muffled pops could be faintly heard through the solid walls. A grin spread across Zoe's face. Oh Tracey.

The door swung open to reveal Tracey Thompson, in all her glory, holstering her gun.

"So this your idea of a rescue?"

"Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't have a white horse to ride in on." Tracey snarked.

Zoe laughingly shook her head and held out her cuffed hands for Tracey to help her down. Tracey pulled the key for the handcuffs from her pocket and unlocked the cuffs.

Zoe rubbed her wrists and went to throw the empty cuffs back into the van but stopped halfway. "On second thought. These might come in handy." She said, winking at Tracey and pocketing the handcuffs. "Nice shot." She commented rounding the front of the van to find the two bodies of the unfortunate police officers who'd been charged with her transfer.

Tracey looked away, feeling guilty and ashamed about what she had done, she never imagined a day where she'd be in a position where she'd have to take a fellow officers life, let alone two of them. But it was Zoe and she couldn't let her be locked away for the rest of her life.

"Where's Peter?" Zoe asked, slipping a gun she had taken from one of the fallen policemen into the back of her belt.

"At Martha and Jack's wedding." Tracey informed her, checking her watch, more to avoid looking at the bodies than an actual desire to know the time. "But I think that it's a bit late for the ceremony to still be going."

Zoe raised an eyebrow. "They move fast, hasn't anyone in this town heard of a long engagement?"

All Tracey could do was shrug. "I honestly don't know. The car's just up here." She said, gesturing to the small dirt road that began only a few metres from where the van was forced to a stop.

"You planned this." Zoe was obviously impressed. "You criminal mastermind, you."

"Shut up." Tracey mumbled, giving Zoe a small shove in the back.

Zoe feigned outrage. "Hey! Police brutality much?"

Tracey didn't know how she could laugh after what she had done, but she did. "You think I'm bad, I don't want to know what would happen if Peter got his hands on you."

"Uh, I'd kick his ass, thank you very much." Zoe joked before getting serious. "You know where the reception is being held?"

Tracey nodded. "I memorized the address from Peter's day planner."

"Then let's go." Zoe headed for the car. "Come on, Trace. We have a party to crash." She called back when she noticed that Tracey wasn't behind her.

"Do you really think that's a good idea?" Tracey asked, jogging to catch up with Zoe's long strides.

"Tracey, we have to act quickly now that you're cover has been blown. We need to do this before they can realize that you were the one who helped me escape, granted with the geniuses we're dealing with here, that could take the better part of a week but we can't take that chance, this is the perfect opportunity, everyone gathered together like that." Zoe explained, impatiently waiting for Tracey to unlock the car doors.

"Okay," Tracey reluctantly relented. "But please tell me that you at least have a plan and we're not just going to rush in there and end up getting caught."

"I have a plan!" Zoe exclaimed defensively. "Or at least, I will by the time we get there."

"That's comforting." Tracey said sarcastically as Zoe glared at her. "Look, are you mad at me?" She asked, starting up the car and doing a U-turn, sending up a cloud of dust from the road.

"For what?"

"Catching you. I didn't want to but Jack kept calling me and when I talked to him he said that he was on his way out there. And I knew that where you're concerned he and Peter are more likely to shoot first ask questions later. I thought it would be safer this way, I just didn't want you to get hurt." Tracey explained.

Zoe smiled. "I'm not mad at you for catching me. I mean even if you didn't break me out today, if this case went to trail, I'd never be convicted. I'm practically a textbook case for MPD, without actually having it, of course."

"MPD?"

"Multiple Personality Disorder. Any halfway decent psychiatrist would pick up on it. The usually dormant, more psychotic personality would have been created by the trauma I went through when I saw my grandmother burned to death, went back into submission for most of my life until the stress of finding out Sarah died made her come out, she killed Zoe McCallister and assumed her identity. That's why I didn't mind that everyone kept calling me Zoe, it just works in my favour. And poor, quiet, polite Eve Jacobsen is just as much of a victim as anyone, betrayed by her own mind and body." Zoe explained. "That's why I put on the full strength crazy when I'm around Peter, to create more of a distinction but the two personalities."

"You've put a lot of thought into this." Tracey observed.

"Of course, I have back up plans for my back up plans." Zoe revealed before continuing her explanation. "I'd be sent to the nearest psychiatric institution where…"

"Where you used to work." Tracey finished for her.

"Exactly. I'd be out of there in less than a week." Zoe smirked. "But this way is much easier. Thanks Trace." Zoe leaned over and kissed Tracey's cheek.

Tracey ducked her head modestly. "It's no big deal."

Zoe looked at her out of the corner of her eye but decided that it would not be a good time to press the issue.

"Have you got any food?" She asked restlessly.

"Uh, there should be some M&M's in the glove box."

Zoe opened the glove box and rooted around until she found a half full bag of candy. "SCORE!" She cried victoriously.

"Not that you need the sugar." Tracey added. Watching Zoe bounce in her seat and wolf down handfuls of chocolate.

"God, I'm starving. Prison food sucks! It's like you kill a couple of people and suddenly you don't deserve food that has a taste anymore." Zoe remarked. "Hey, you remember that time when we were throwing the peanut M&M's at each other and trying to catch them in our mouths and you fell off your chair and broke your tooth? That was fun." Realizing that that sounded a little insensitive, Zoe clarified. "The M&M throwing, not the teeth breaking."

Running her tongue over the gap in her front teeth that still existed, Tracey reached over and flicked on the radio. "Yeah."

Surfing through the channels until she could find a song she liked was a nervous habit Tracey had had since she'd been young. Missy Higgins, Madonna, Foo Fighters and Rouge Traders were all briefly heard before Zoe had finally had enough.

"Okay, keep that up and I might just snap and kill you." Zoe giggled and Tracey laughed with along with her. "No, seriously, I'll murder you in your sleep." She added, her tone switching to deadly serious.

Tracey turned to her, her eyes as wide as saucers.

Zoe threw her head back and laughed at her reaction. "I'm kidding! Oh my goodness, Tracey, you need to lighten up."

Tracey laughed uneasily and turned her eyes back to the road. "Lighten up, right." She trusted Zoe and she knew that she would never hurt her but the fact that she knew Zoe was a killer still made it a little unsettling.

Zoe eyed Tracey curiously before shaking her head and tilting the rear view mirror so she could get a good look at her reflection. "Ugh, would you look at this." She groaned, running a hand through her lifeless, tangled curls. "Being in captivity does nothing for my hair."

"You're worrying about your hair now?" Tracey asked, her voice tinged with disbelief. "I highly doubt anyone there is going to care what you look like."

"But you care what I look like, don't you Trace? Maybe I just want to look pretty for you." Zoe smirked.

Against her will, blush started to rise on Tracey's cheeks. "I always think you're pretty." She mumbled, keeping her eyes firmly fixed on the road ahead. "So what's the plan? You do have a plan, don't you?"

Zoe bit her lip. "Almost."

"I mean, what are we going to do? Blow up the wedding reception?" Tracey pressed.

"Do I look like I have any spare bombs on me, Trace?" Zoe snapped in annoyance. "And I highly doubt you have any lying around in the boot."

"So...what's the plan then?"

"You still got your gun?"

"Of course."

"Okay, here's what we do. We crash the party, do our little reveal. Can you picture Peter's face when he realizes you've been playing him for a fool?" Tracey smirked at the thought. "We're not going to be able to kill them all so...we take out Peter first, then Jack, Alf and Sally. Between the two of us we'd be able to do it less than a minute."

"Why them? I get Peter but the others...?"

"They're the ones who'll make the most impact, cause the most pain. Everyone loves Sally, Alf is the pillar of the community and Jack, well he's the reason I got caught in the first place, isn't he. Plus, the groom getting killed at his own wedding reception? Tragedy!" Zoe explained gleefully. "And then...we escape in the confusion and disappear. Go on holiday. How does Malaysia sound to you?" Zoe asked, reaching across and tenderly tucking Tracey's hair back behind her ear. "You and me, sipping Mai-Tais on the beach and getting tans."

Tracey smiled to herself and quietly agreed. "Malaysia sounds good."

It was dark by the time they arrived at the party, the sun just finishing it's decent over the horizon. There were a few assorted randoms hanging around outside the barn but none that either Zoe or Tracey recognized.

"They're having their wedding reception in a shed?" Zoe said in disbelief.

"I know." Tracey agreed with Zoe's distaste.

Zoe shifted in her seat so she could see Tracey's face better. "You know, I was thinking that I don't have to take you in there with me, I could just…"

"No, you couldn't. If you don't have a hostage they'll just rush you before you can do anything. You're seriously outnumbered here. Half the town's police force is inside that shed." Tracey reminded her. She knew that if Zoe went in there by herself she'd just end up getting hurt, maybe even killed and she couldn't let that happen. Before Zoe could stop her Tracey was up and out of the car.

Sighing in frustration Zoe followed suit, leaning next to Tracey against the hood of the car, watching another group of stragglers make their way into the party. "You sure?"

"Yes, I'm sure. For the hundredth time, I'm sure."

"Okay. I'm going to have to gag you. Make things more dramatic." Zoe said, looking around for something that would make a sufficient gag. Coming up empty, she decided to tear a shred off of the bottom of her black tanktop.

"You're all about the drama, you should've been an actress."

"Mmmm." Zoe replied non-commitally, holding up the black fabric. Tracey moved to let Zoe tie it loosely around her neck. "There, it's not too tight is it?" She asked once it was done.

"It's fine."

"Good because…" Sensing that Zoe was about to get her babble on, Tracey touched her arm to stop her.

"I know. It's fine." Tracey placated her, Tracey had always been good at picking up on other people's nervousness and Zoe's anxiety was practically radiating off her. "You're nervous, why?"

"Because, this is it, after we're done here it'll finally be over. Two years of my life have been… after this, after I get justice for Sarah, closure for Sarah. I don't know what I'm going to do. I won't have any purpose….I guess maybe I'm a little scared." Zoe admitted in a small voice.

For once it was Tracey's turn to comfort Zoe. "You don't have to be scared." Tracey assured her, taking Zoe by the shoulders. "I'll tell you what we are going to do. We're going to go in there, get justice and then we are going to go on holiday and after that we are going to get on with our lives. Together. You have me to take care of now, me to protect. That's your purpose, right there."

Tracey's words seemed to renew Zoe's confidence. "You're right. You're absolutely right. Once this is over then finally Sarah can rest in peace. And I can move on." Zoe smiled brilliantly.

"That's right."

"Oh, I could totally kiss you right now." Zoe blurted out impulsively.

Tracey's reaction was equally as impulsive. "I wish you would."

Zoe looked away. "I can't, not yet. Soon." Zoe had learnt her lesson. She had betrayed Sarah's memory once by allowing herself to fall in love with Kim and look where that had gotten her. She wasn't going to let that happen between her and Tracey.

"It's okay. I get it." Tracey covered her disappointment with understanding. "We aren't going to get anything by standing out here all night. Let's do this." She said, pulling the gag up around her mouth capturing it with her teeth and putting her arms behind her back, crossing them at the wrists for Zoe to get a hold of.

Zoe moved into position one hand holding Tracey's wrists loosely behind her back, the other rested on the older woman's shoulder, two fingers looped through the loose gag, pulling it create the illusion that it was tighter than it really was.

When the coast was clear Zoe lead Tracey out of there concealed position, making the short walk to the entrance of the barn.

"I don't want to hurt you." She reminded Tracey, giving the detective's hand a squeeze before pushing her forward through the open doorway.

"GET!" Zoe screamed, pushing Tracey along in front of her. "IN!"

"SURPRISE DETECTIVE!" Delighting in the terrified screams Zoe pulled Tracey to a stop once they were in an optimal position, blocking the only exit but far enough into the room to have a visual on all of their targets. Zoe tugged on Tracey's gag, prompting her to let out a pained scream that was muffled by her gag when Peter and others tried to rush them. "STAY WHERE YOU ARE!"

Knowing that Tracey could handle her end of things playing the terrified hostage, Zoe focused all of her attention on Peter. "Thought you'd seen the last of me. But it looks like my final act gets to play out after all." Albeit not exactly the way she had originally planned.

"Let her go Zoe." Peter tried to reason with her.

Zoe turned her attention back to Tracey. "I can't do that." There was no way that she was letting her go, not after what these people did to Sarah. She wasn't letting Tracey out of her sight. "She's my insurance policy."

"Take me instead!"

"Always the hero." Speaking of heroes, Zoe noticed Kim move protectively in front of his new girlfriend and her mother. Nice to see that some things never change. "I'll tell you what, I will take you. But you won't be alone."

"How did you get away?" Tracey could barely restrain herself from rolling her eyes. Still the same clueless idiot.

"You're the detective, you work it out."

"You couldn't have done without someone else's help."

"You were right in the beginning, you know, I did have an accomplice." Hinted Zoe, because let's face it, he wasn't going to figure it out on his own.

"Who?"

"The persons right here in this room." Zoe said with a mocking gasp. She couldn’t believe the shocked gasp that echoed around the room when she pulled the gag from Tracey's mouth. How obvious did they have to make it?

"You really are a fool, aren't you Peter. How did you think I knew she was alive to being with. Did you ever think to ask yourself?" Tracey spat at him.

"I couldn't go without finishing what I started. I always said that Summer Pay will pay." Zoe explained, reaching for the gun she had tucked in the back of her pants.

"Peter, is that gas?" Sally asked urgently, Tracey and Zoe's heads turned in unison towards the hissing gas bottle, sitting only a few feet away. How the hell did that happen?

Then in came the caterer carrying the wedding cake. Complete with sparklers. Zoe let out a laugh. Unbelievable, after all of this, everything was going to be ruined be a cake.

"EVERYONE GET DOWN!" Peter shouted diving to the floor. Zoe grabbed Tracey's arm and followed suit. The hot rush of ignited gas exploding above their heads.

Zoe's first thought upon regaining consciousness was *What the hell was that?* The second was *I can't believe this happened again! Tracey was right, we should've just left it. Wait! Trace!*

Opening her eyes, Zoe resisted the urge to groan, there was fire all around, smoke filling the air and her lungs every time she took a breath. Across the room she could make out the figures of Alf and that orange girl, whose grandmother died, bending over someone trapped under a fallen beam. Careful not to draw any attention to herself, Zoe raised herself up on her elbows and turned her head to find Tracey laying face down next to her, completely still. Zoe closed her eyes, feeling like an icy dagger had lodged itself in her stomach, she almost didn't want to turn Tracey over, she was too afraid of what she'd find but she did it anyway, she had to.

The feeling of relief that washed over her came as a shock, when rolled Tracey over to find her relatively unharmed except for a small cut to the side of her head. Still Tracey was unconscious and Zoe could hear the sirens getting closer. All her medical training was screaming at her not to move Tracey but she couldn't just leave her there.

The adrenaline surging through her veins helping her to ignore her own injuries for the time being, Zoe slowly climbed to her feet and scooped Tracey's prone body up in her arms. The fire that was raging around them helped give them cover as Zoe made her way out of the building.

Outside it was chaos, all Zoe could see were silhouetted figures moving around in the smoke. Colleen wandered past, looking completely disoriented, muttering something about cake to herself. Screams of the injured ripped through the air, almost drowning out the sounds of the sirens from the approaching emergency vehicles.

What came as the biggest surprise to Zoe was that she wanted to help. She had spent the last two years tormenting these people, wanting them to suffer and now they were, thanks to a catastrophe not of her making. And she wanted to help them. Pushing down her nurses instincts, Zoe moved as quickly as she could with Tracey in her arms to where the car was parked.

Zoe shoulders slumped in relief when she heard Tracey let out a groan when she dropped her as gently as she could into the passenger seat. Slipping behind the steering wheel Zoe slowly started to become aware of her own injuries, a large gash along her side, that was most likely caused by a piece of flying shrapnel, a few minor burns to her right shoulder and upper arm. She knew she got off lightly, especially after the last time.

Starting up the car, Zoe slowly drove away from the burning building, not wanting to attract any attention to the vehicle by peeling out of there like she desperately wanted to, she wanted to get as far away from Summer Bay as possible, the town was cursed.

"Was…was that part of the plan?" Tracey asked drowsily, finally regaining consciousness.

"Yeah, Trace, that was part of the plan. Because getting blown up the first time was just so much fun, I wanted to do it again!" Zoe spat out before realizing that she was being far too harsh on the wrong person. "Sorry, I shouldn't of said it like that. Are you okay?"

Tracey shifted uncomfortably in her seat. "I…I think so. My head hurts."

Zoe nodded. "Not surprising, you've got a nasty bump, you probably have a concussion at the very least. What about burns? Have you got any burns?" She asked, mentally going through potential treatments she'd need to administer.

"Don't think so."

"So that's a no, then." Zoe swallowed hard. "I can't believe that just happened. A cake! With sparklers! Who has sparklers on their wedding cake? What kind of person does that? What am I saying, it's the same person who had their wedding reception in a freaking barn! Of course there'd be sparklers on the cake. And how could nobody pick up on that much gas? There was what, fifty, sixty people in that room and nobody smelt anything? This town is full of idiots!" She ranted. "Why do they always have to ruin everything? They killed Sarah, they killed Laura, not that I wasn't going to kill her eventually but that's not the point. They almost kill you. It's not fair!" Zoe slammed her hands down on the steering wheel in anger.

Zoe ran a shaky hand through her hair and made a disgusted noise when it got tangled in something sticky, at first she thought it was blood. "What the hell?" She licked her fingers, wrinkling her nose up at the taste of sugar and vanilla. "Is that...icing? You've got to be kidding me! I have icing in my f*cking hair. It's going to take for ever to get out."

Tracey let out a laugh and instantly regretted it when her head throbbed painfully in response. "What are we going to do now?"

"We're leaving Trace and we're never coming back." Zoe said, flooring the accelerator as the car sped past the Welcome To Summer Bay sign.

"But what about…?"

"Revenge? I think that they've suffered enough." Zoe responded. "For now."

END

That's all folks! until the sequel, maybe

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