Muffins of Love

[Nicom]

Story Title: Muffins of Love

Type of story: Oneshot

Main Characters: Colleen, Jack, Martha

BTTB rating: G

Genre: Romance

Does story include spoilers: For UKers, yes.

Any warnings: Nope.

Summary: Colleen's always been there for Jack for these past few months, for support, care, and breakfast. Is there more that lies in their beautiful friendship? Or has Colleen been giving her muffins to the wrong man?

NOTE: Well after Colleen's heart got broken in "A Modern Romance" by Drew, I thought that I owed it to her to give her another chance at happiness. So let's see if that fiesty young woman can get some lovin' this time!

Muffins of Love

She’d kill to know what he was thinking of as she watched him across the diner, near the window, with his back to the world. Mysteriously, peacefully and wondrously he stared out the partially blind covered window, peeking at the sea outside through each 2 cm slot as he daydreamed. She’d often wander over beside him, just to glimpse into those dark eyes in search of the subject of his thoughts. Unfortunately she never succeeded; his facial expressions always changed when she was around. As soon as he laid his eyes on her they’d change, his eyes and lips would form a polite smile, and he’d usually get out his wallet to pay for the coffee. But Colleen liked to think that this was just his way of telling her that he was in love with the woman that served him at the Summer Bay Diner.

Butterflies flew up her spine as the thought excited her and overwhelmed her with joy, just the idea of it made her happy. But it wasn’t just an idea to Colleen; no, it was much more than that. It had become her life, her thoughts and her passion. It was all she dreamt about; the day Jack Holden would declare his love for her.

It had been her dream for quite some time now; from the day that Martha moved out of their house, to be exact. The poor, heartbroken man began to make the Diner his home for his early morning meals, for eating in the house would bring him much sorrow. Well, that’s what Colleen had thought anyway. At first their relationship began with sympathy, she had fussed over him and given him the occasional free muffin out of the kindness of her heart. Though with every free muffin that was given, so was a piece of her heart. The compliments that he gave about the double chocolate muffins grew personal to Colleen, and each word of them made her heart flutter. They were words of love to her ears, and she memorised each one.

“That was really great Colleen.” She recited with a smile as she placed a muffin onto the plate. “I’d love to get fat on your muffins.” She added as she rubbed her hands clean onto her apron. She picked up his second order of coffee with his muffin from the counter, and looked up at the man in the corner. She gave a happy sigh. From where she was stood, she could still make out every curve of every muscle on his upper body. She swallowed down a giggle of delight that had formed in her throat, and began to walk from the kitchen area with an order in each hand.

She didn’t take her eyes off Jack, with every small step she took with her tired legs she thought of a reason for why she loved him. One was his hair, the way he wore it rugged and scruffy; like a real man. Every time she laid eyes on his dark matted head gear her fingers began to itch with curiosity, wondering what it would feel like to run her fingers through the jungle of hair.

“One day,” Colleen told her self, steadying her breathing, “one day you’ll know.” She smiled, swallowing her nerves again as she continued forward.

Jack was beginning to fidget, moving his gaze away from the window for a second to look down to his watch. He kept his eye on it for a moment, letting his mind think, and then resumed his thoughts to the outside world with a smile of happiness printed onto his lips.

Colleen sighed dreamily, reminiscing of their wild relationship. When that tart Martha Holden had heartlessly discarded Jack and moved into Sally’s he became a broken man. Each day Colleen tried to cheer him up, but to no avail. She could always see past his fake smile. Then the most crucial part of their relationship timeline occurred – Jack’s beating. It was then when she realised that her feelings went further than their beautiful friendship. Her heart had skipped a beat when she heard the news, and each time she visited him her body would want to lunge forward and hold his. In fact, she had planned to tell him of her feelings about three weeks after the incident but she had acted too late; that crow Sam had beaten her to it.

The poor man had been unaware of Colleen’s feelings, so had settled with that… that… creature without a name. Well she had a name, more than one actually, but Colleen never bothered to learn them all because she promised herself and Jack that Sam wouldn’t be around for too long. She didn’t tell Jack directly, as she knew he had a good heart and wouldn’t want to be selfish and hurt Sam, so Colleen took it upon herself to hatch a plan. Honestly at first she found it hard; but that was until she heard about Sam’s ex-husband. Using her gift of gossiping and clever detective skills, she hunted down one of her ex-husband’s men and told them all they needed to know. In a fortnight she was gone, leaving a single Jack. Just how Colleen liked him.

Since then Jack has returned to his every day routine of breakfast at the Diner; well when it was possible of course. That greedy cow Martha had recently soaked up his time, dramatizing every little detail of her life and doing all sorts of pathetic stunts to grab his attention. Shamefully, it worked; much to Colleen’s fury. Jack was like a lost puppy, running around after Martha and fighting her battles. Colleen had attempted many times to make Jack see what a lame character Martha was, but unfortunately all Jack did was defend her.

“That witch has him brain washed.” Colleen muttered angrily to herself, “But I won’t let him be stolen again.”

That last statement she was going to make sure stayed true. This time she wasn’t going to let him be stolen from her; not by any skinny little skank. She could never blame Jack; his heart had been broken so many times that he didn’t know what he wanted anymore. So it’s a good job Colleen knows for him.

He didn’t want one of those skinny, scrawny little women with no real shape or definition; he wanted someone he could sink his teeth into. Neither of those women were real women; they lacked the loyalty, dignity and respect that a real woman should have. Neither of them deserves to be with a man like Jack; not like she does. She’d treat him well; giving him excitement and pleasure, along with a true feeling of nurture and love. She’d care for him and put him first; unlike those other selfish skanks. She’d give him the love that he deserved.

Fortunately something made her withdraw from her angered thoughts; two beautiful brown eyes were gazing in her direction. Jack had turned around on his chair now, and was looking towards the door.

“Probably looking for me”, she thought as she blushed. That was when Jack saw her, giving her a heavenly flash of a smile.

Colleen’s heart stopped; the world began to turn fuzzy and warm, and fairies began to circulate around his sweet body. The room fell into a silence, tamed by the sound of violins and a gentle piano duet. The coffee aroma grew wild; wafting under her nose as she slowly began to stir from her daydream. Unfortunately, not in time to avoid the accident.

“Ahh!” Colleen screeched, falling back from the collision onto the hard floor. She threw her coffee in the air and shielded her face with her left arm; keeping a firm grip of the muffin in her right hand.

Her world turned black, her body lay limp and her heart beat began to slow down. The only thing that kept her connected to the world was the plate in her right hand, and her determination to stop his muffin touching the floor.

***********************************

“Colleen?” Jack repeated, squeezing both of her arms. “Colleen, can you hear me?” he asked, hovering over her as her eyes began to flicker open.

He may have been blurry and looking a little pale, but he still looked as handsome as ever.

“You walked into a chair and fell back to the floor. You hit your head and I think you may have passed out for a moment.” He informed her, “Do you think you could sit up?”

Colleen smiled dreamily up at the officer above her, watching as his strong arms wrapped around her and helped her to sit her upright. She felt her body loll backwards slightly, until he steadied her with his right arm.

“I see you saved my muffin,” Jack laughed, taking it from her and putting it on the table behind him. “Thank you Colleen.”

Colleen looked up at him, letting her head fall onto his shoulder with a smile. Maybe now was the time to tell him of her true feelings.

“You’re a very handsome man, Constable.” She slurred.

Jack laughed, “So they tell me.” He sighed, moving behind her. “Right, shall we try and stand you up now?” He asked.

Colleen nodded, allowing him to hook under her arms and assist her as she rose to her feet. As he did so, her vision cleared and she noticed the masses of people looking in her direction. All the customers in the diner had crowded around, watching Jack and Colleen in the middle.

She looked down to her feet, watching as they rested evenly on the floor and aided in her balance. She then glanced to Jack who stood beside her to her left, gently caring for her.

“Sorry I dropped your coffee.” She apologised as Jack guided her to a chair. He simply smiled, watching as she slowly sat down. “Irene will be back in a minute to get you a fresh one.” She told him.

Jack shook his head, “It’s not a problem. I was going to change my order anyway.” He told her.

Colleen looked at him curiously, “Why? You always have the same order.”

Jack nodded, “Yea, but I wanted to buy a certain special woman a drink this morning.” He told her with a happy grin.

She blushed, “You did?” She asked him with a shy smile. “And who would that special woman be?”

Jack looked up to the newest customer, strolling through the door and giving him a smile. He returned the smile and stood up, watching as she walked over in his direction.

“Martha,” He sighed, meeting her in the centre of the breaking crowd with a quick kiss.

Colleen looked at them in horror, feeling her heart shatter underneath her favourite patterned top.

“But… I thought that she was stripping in that disgusting club that her boyfriend owns?”

Jack shook his head, putting his arm around Martha’s waist. “Not anymore.” He smiled. “We’ve decided to get back together, but we’re taking it slower this time.” He told her.

“And it wasn’t stripping, it was dancing.” Martha corrected Colleen. But Colleen didn’t care about the details; she was still finding it difficult to believe what was going on in front of her. Jack was stood with his arm around her, that filthy skank that would only break his heart again. Colleen had lost him, yet again.

“So, how long will it be this time?” Snapped Colleen.

The couple looked confused. “Sorry?”

“How long do you think you two will last this time, before Martha decides she’s bored again?”

Martha shook her head, “That’s not what happened-”

“Well, a life of a police officer is a busy one. You have to understand that he’s not always going to be there with you.” She lectured.

Martha nodded, “I know. I understand now. We’ll just have to make the most of the time we do have together.” She said as she looked up to a smiling Jack.

“Sounds good to me.” Jack grinned, leaning down and kissing her softly.

Colleen gawped up at them, her eyes squinting with anger and frustration. What happened to the man that she loved? All she saw now was a pathetic, spine-less man; a man without a memory, so it seemed. Did he not remember what Martha had put him through? Clearly he had no self respect and some issues. He wasn’t the same strong, mistreated man she’d thought he was. If he forgave Martha for all the things she’d done to him, then he deserved what he got.

Unable to handle watching the love-sick couple in front of her, she stood up, shaking her head to the floor with her lips held together tightly in frustration.

Jack looked at Colleen curiously, “Colleen, I think its best you stay sat down for a while. You took a pretty nasty fall.” He advised.

Colleen shook her head at him, straightening out her top. “I’m fine,” She dismissed, picking up the muffin from the table beside her.

“That’s my muffin, Colleen.” Jack reminded her.

Colleen looked down to the muffin, then back to her old love. “Did you order it?” She asked him.

Jack shook his head with a laugh, “No, but you gave-” But his sentence went wasted, Colleen had already started waddling off, flustered and seething from the cheek of the man behind her.

Martha looked to Jack and snorted, putting her head on his shoulder.

“What did I do?” He whispered through his laughs.

*****************************************

Colleen poddled behind the counter, tutting and shaking her head every time she glanced back to Jack and Martha.

She placed the plate holding the muffin on the counter, looking down to it with a sigh, before being distracted by a man in front.

“One coffee please, Colleen.” Peter requested sadly, taking his wallet from his pocket.

Colleen frowned, “How are you after the ordeal at your wedding?” She asked him friendlily.

“Fine, thanks-”

“That woman had us all fooled that she’d changed, didn’t she? Except for me, of course. I’d told Madge just the other week that I knew she was still trouble. Not that I knew that man would turn up like he did. The cheek of him showing up and showing everyone a picture of Amanda and him in bed, clearly after sleeping together-”

“Thanks, Colleen.” Peter raised his voice above her ramble, signalling to the coffee machine. “Just one coffee please.”

Colleen nodded, shuffling over to the machine as she spoke, “All I’m saying is that a leopard can’t change its spots.” She finished, picking up the freshly made coffee and turning around to her customer. He hadn’t been listening much though; he was clearly wrapped up in his own thoughts. He was staring absently down to his wallet, which when Colleen moved closer she could see displayed a picture of him and Amanda.

Colleen frowned sympathetically, before getting an idea.

“Peter,” She began softly, gaining his attention. “Would you like a muffin on the house?” She asked with a smile.

Peter forced a smile, putting his money onto the counter and accepting the coffee and complimentary muffin. “Thanks Colleen.” He said, before turning around and sitting at the nearest table.

Colleen sighed dreamily, watching the blonde haired man stare deep into his coffee.

She’d kill to know what he was thinking.

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