Raining

[I love music]

Story Title: Raining

Type Of Story: One-Shot.

BTTB Rating: G

Main Characters: Irene

Genre: Drama

Warnings:

Spoilers:

Summary: Irene thinks back.

Raining

The rain’s hammering against the window like it’s never gonna stop. Funny how most people only ever see the greyness. But not you, Kirst. If you were here now, soon as you heard me grumbling, you’d tell me again the roses are glistening with beautiful tears. You’d laugh at the way the little streams of raindrops are furiously racing each other down the glass. Say how the grass looks better when it’s a darker shade of green, smile at the birds sheltering under the eaves, point out how the trees in the garden sag only briefly under the weight and spring back again.

Always did see the good in everything and everyone, didn’t ya, dahl? I might never have given Kane a go if it hadn’t been for your trust in him.

‘Cos, you know something, Kane, matey, my little heart was thudding fit to burst, wondering if I’d done the right thing, that day in the Diner when I offered you a home, and both of you sitting there with grins bigger than Cheshire’s plastered all over your faces. Felt someone had to say thanks for what you did for Tasha even though Rhys did his block and the rest of Summer Bay said I’d gone doo-lally. They might’ve known none of that’d wash with me. Never did give two hoots what other folk think. Just like yourself, hey?

Jeez, though, let’s not kid ourselves here! We had our rocky moments in the early days. But you came through good. I got to be so proud of you. And I came to rely on you too. All those fix-it jobs round the house.

Remember that arvo, you fixing the leak in the roof, and Kirsty, not noticing she was drenched herself, worried to death about the soaking wet lost kitten she’d found? Said it was so cute it had to have a cute name so she’d named it Fluffy. So, Kane, you just had to go and keep calling it Mutley, didn’t ya, matey? Just to tease.

I loved watching your little pretend blues. Anyone’d have to have rocks in your head not to see how much you loved each other. And then the looks on your faces when Tash gets home and says Let’s call the kitten Clarence-the-Cross-Eyed-Lion-But-Not-the-Real-One because in that old, old movie I watched yesterday the lion was called Clarence-the-Cross-Eyed-Lion and I know she’s not a lion or even a lioness, but don’t you think her eyes looked a bit crossed, well, not really crossed, I mean...

For Gawd’s sake, why am I crying? We fell about laughing so why am I crying? Come on now, Irene Roberts, wipe your eyes, less of the waterworks!

But I can't help myself. I worry so much about you kids. Thinking you’re all grown up and, okay, you’ve been through more than most twice your age. But you ain’t so tough.

Didn’t I catch Kirsty, heaps of times when she thought no one was looking, having a quiet little cry over something on the telly or something she’d just read? And Kane, where the bloody hell do I start with you? All that bloody tough-guy swagger! And, like the rest of us, just needing love. Just wanting to be with Kirsty, be accepted in the Bay, put the past behind you.

Gotta hand it to you, matey, the way you won folk round in the end, even Dani. Kirst, lovey, you know, your family ring me regular, hoping I might’ve had news to say you and Kane are alright. I’ll never know how you guys managed to get everybody on your side, how you weathered every goddamn thing life threw at you and came out stronger. Tougher, you thought.

So what really hurts, what really tears me apart, is just when you kids were finally getting your lives together, you lost it all through being too soft-hearted.

I wish I could’ve knocked both your heads together. I wish I could’ve warned you how you can’t trust everyone in this world. There was a time, Kane, when you wouldn’t have trusted anyone. And then you had to go and learn it was okay to love! And, just this once, Kirst, just this one time, your seeing the good in everyone wasn’t the right thing to do.

Jeez, I gotta dry my eyes, gotta pull myself together, I just heard Tasha!

“Renee! Renee, what’s wrong?”

“I’m okay, Tash.”

“No, you’re not. You’re sad about Kane and Kirsty. Me too.”

You’d be so proud of Tash these days. How she’s all grown up and got her head screwed on. I got you two to thank for that, the way you brought her out of herself. You know, the boot’s well and truly on the other foot and she’s looking out for me the way I always used to look out for her. Oh, we have our moments though! She’s still the same old Tash, guys, comes out with the daftest ideas at times. I’m storing them all up in my mind, see, for when I see you again, and, Gawd, won’t we have a right old laugh then, all four of us?

But for now it’s just Tash and me. Holding each other so tight while the rain’s hammering against the window and little streams of raindrops are furiously racing each other down the glass. Funny how most people only ever see the greyness.

But I remember what you saw, Kirst. The grass looking better a darker shade of green, the smiles for the birds sheltering under the eaves, the way the trees in the garden sag only briefly under the weight and spring back again.

Maybe that’s a prophetic choice of words. Maybe Richie-bloody-Gus-Phillips’ll actually tell the truth one day and you’ll be able to come back home. Me and Tash, we keep hoping.

Kane, Kirsty wherever you are right now, I’m thinking of you. I just want you to know it’s raining here in Summer Bay and the roses are glistening with beautiful tears.

END

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