Release

[Ludub]

On 11/09/2017 at 1:13 AM, pembie said:

To be honest I didn't realise how dangerous this whole china prison slave camp thing was Sounds very nasty if they plan to sell the children Hopefully Déwei puts a plan into action to keep that from happening or maybe his message in a......I should say bottle here but message in a a strap-on dildo gets to someone in time..

On 11/09/2017 at 8:54 AM, Kristen said:

hope Dewei does something and they won't have to sell the babies.

Yeah, it's really not a nice place to be. And getting that message out was a very big risk to take but very very necessary. 

On 11/09/2017 at 6:51 AM, Red Ranger 1 said:

"Dewei" is/was/will have been still in a lot of trouble.Wonder what the police will/did/will have done about his note...

This made me laugh. Kinda reminds me of the bit in Bill and Ted where they play the 'time game'. They decide, in the present, to travel back to the past and plant keys that they can use in the future, which is now the present  I think they talked about something similar in The Big Bang Theory too? So, indeed, what will /did/ will have done the police? Hmm... tune in next time! 

On 11/09/2017 at 6:51 AM, Red Ranger 1 said:

Nice chat between Bianca and Heath.It's interesting the direction Heath has gone in and his reasons for disliking Darcy's boyfriend were amusing and insightful.

17 hours ago, Suzza101 said:

I found it quite nice the reason why Heath doesn't like Darcy's boyfriend. He knew that he was a better person now and the fact that he doesn't want Darcy to date, someone, likr the old him is quite a mature thing to admit. He has stepped up a lot as a  Dad.

 

18 hours ago, ~JarlieFanEver~ said:

Liked Heath and Bianca's chat

I think it's probably quite a common reaction for a dad to want someone better than themselves for their daughters, and I really felt in the last appearance Heath made in the show that he at least wanted to be a grown up and move on from his River Boy past (moderately successfully). In my version of events, his criminal background cost him his brother, and very nearly his own life, so I think it would have been the kick up the bum he needed to go straight completely. Having done so, he wouldn't want Darcy involved with someone he sees as heading in the opposite direction. He had to grow up sometime!

17 hours ago, Suzza101 said:

I still have a bad feeling about Cameron. Getting on the wrong side of Heath and Kyle is not a good idea. But maybe Biancas right he doesn't judge any of them. Not him, Not Kyle and not Josh

On 11/09/2017 at 6:51 AM, Red Ranger 1 said:

Bianca did a good job with him, hopefully his feelings about Cameron are just paranoia.

On 11/09/2017 at 1:13 AM, pembie said:

hopefully Cam will turn out to be a good guy for his own sake wouldn't want to get on the wrong side of Heath.

Yeah, it would be a tough family to marry into, and probably not that welcoming of a Fed. The question is, how much of this uneasiness is just the boy's being possessive of Ricky out of loyalty to Brax, and how much (if any) is warranted? You'll have to wait and see!

Thanks for reading everybody! I'll try to have a new chapter up by the weekend.

[Marls]

Great chapter.

Hopefully  Dewei and his family can escape before the babies are born. 

Update soon 

[Ludub]

Sorry for the big delay with this chapter! Hope you like it.

Chapter 6

 

“Hey Josh” said Cameron, when he opened the front door, “Come in, mate!” He held the dog back with his leg and stepped out of the way to let him come in. She was always over-excited when someone came to the door.

“Thanks” he answered, as he stepped in and gave Polly a pat on the head as he walked past, “Are you sure you really don’t mind doing this? I mean… It’s Saturday night… You sure you and Ricky don’t have stuff you’d rather be doing?”

“Nah, mate” he laughed, “Ricky’s out the back with Bianca… Girl talk… You’re doing me a favour!”

Josh gave an embarrassed little snort and nodded. He had a folder under his arm with the application forms and some of his older CVs from when he’d been job-hunting a few years ago, as well as some of his schematic drawings.

“You brought it, then?” asked Cameron, nodding at the folder with a little smile.

“Yeah… uh…” he said, “I uh… I brought everything I have… I didn’t know what we’d need.”

“Cool… well, you know where my study is” he said, nodding for him to go down the hallway, “I’m just gonna put Polly outside… and I’ll grab us a couple of coffees, if you like?”

“Uh… yeah” said Josh, “That’d be great.”

“You don’t take sugar, do you?” he said, as he dragged the over-excited dog across the wooden floor.

“No, thanks Cam” he said, “No sugar.” He began to walk down the hallway and wondered at the fact that the house seemed a little alien to him now. He’d lived here for nearly 2 and a half years, and yet it didn’t feel like his home anymore. The room that had been his was now a study / nursery, with a cot and a bunkbed for the kids, and a desk with all of Cameron’s work files. It felt strange to be here.

He opened the door and gave a little sigh. It looked so different from when he’d lived here, and that made him a little sad in a way. Part of him had always imagined that he could come back some day. As though living with Anna was just a temporary thing, and he’d be able to move back in with the family again at some stage. He knew that it was silly, but he’d had to tell himself that to be able to make the move in the first place. He wasn’t very good with change. But he could see now that that part of his life was over. There would be no going back! He walked to the window and looked outside, just like he’d done that first day that Kyle had brought him home. He’d been so full of fear and anxiety those first few days. So scared to mess things up! He remembered it like it was yesterday! That pressure in his chest that just kept building and building. The overwhelming sense of insecurity… He remembered lying awake here for hours on end as he ran conversations over and over in his head. Dissecting them for things that he might have said or done to get himself thrown out. He’d been so sure that one wrong step would see him cast out onto the streets and the thought of that had absolutely terrified him. It had always come back to that one terrible thought: What if they wouldn’t let him stay anymore? What would he do then?! This room had suddenly become the most important thing in his life, and he’d clung to it as though his life depended on it. For a long time, it had been the only place that gave him any sense of security. How many times had he closed that door and sat with his back to it? How many times had he run away and hid here? No-one could really understand how grateful he’d been to have a place to call home. A place with people that actually seemed to care about him, as hard as he’d found that to believe at the time. What a relief it had been! To be able to sleep without the fear of someone coming in and hurting him. To be able to leave his things around without worrying that someone would steal them. To be part of a family again. He’d felt almost ‘normal’ for the first time in years. This room. This place… It had been his little sanctuary.

He walked over and sat down at the desk chair. ‘Okay’ he said to himself, as he pulled the documents he’d brought out of his folder and laid them out on the table, ‘This is just another step along the path to recovery’. Ricky and Kyle, and even Ben, had basically rehabilitated him through sheer kindness. He knew that. They’d been the ones to chivvy him along, and encourage him when he doubted himself. They’d given him a healthy dose of tough love too, when he’d needed it! He knew that he wouldn’t be where he was now without them and he was very grateful for their help. ‘I owe it to Ricky and the others’ he told himself, ‘I have to at least try!’ He opened his bag and hunted for a pen but he couldn’t seem to find one. He looked around the top of the desk but there weren’t any pens around there either. Maybe in one of the drawers? He began to open the top drawer when he heard a ‘rat-a-tat-tat’ on the doorframe. He looked up in surprise.

“Hey Josh!” said Ricky, as she stood in the doorway. She’d just been to the bathroom and she was on her way back out to the garden where she’d left Bianca.

“Hey” he replied, looking a little guilty, “Cameron said to wait for him here...” For some reason, he felt a little awkward in the house, now that he didn’t live here. He didn’t want her to think that he was just wandering about without permission or even snooping.

“Yeah, I know!” she laughed, as she walked over to him and glanced at the papers he’d spread out on the table. She picked up his old CV and scan read it. “Do you remember you and me doing this?” she chuckled, “Y’know, when you first… when you came to live here?”

“Yeah” he smiled, “There wasn’t much to put in there, was there?”

She put her arm around his shoulder and set the CV back on the desk. “Well, you’ve made us all very proud” she said, “You’re doing so well! I mean… Look at you now! You’ve got a good job, a nice apartment… Anna loves living with you! … And Debs is a nice girl…”

He nodded and pulled away from her a little awkwardly. “It’s uh… It’s really good of Cam to help me like this.” he said.

“You okay?” she asked. It was a very obvious change of subject and he seemed more tense than usual.

“I’m fine” he said.

“Josh?! Come on?!” she coaxed, “I know you… You know I’m always here if you need to talk about stuff”

He glanced up at her in a shamefaced sort of way. “It’s fine…”

She sat on the corner of the desk and cocked her head to one side. “Come on? What’s up? I’m not leaving till you tell me.”

He gave a heavy sigh. “It’s over” he said, keeping his eyes fixed on the floor, “Debs and me… She dumped me.”

“Oh, God! Sorry, Josh!” she said, with a gasp of surprise, “What happened?!” Debbie had seemed like a nice woman and they’d all grown quite attached to her over the last few months. She’d come to a lot of their family barbecues and parties, and everyone had begun to hope that she and Josh might make a go of it. It wasn’t like he put himself out there that much, and this was the first ‘grown-up’ relationship that he’d had since he’d been out of prison. Everyone else had just been one night stands as far as they knew.

He shook his head and looked at the floor again a little glumly. “Same thing that always happens” he sighed, “It’s not a surprise… It just… It just didn’t work out.”

“Did you have a fight?” she asked, “I mean… maybe you can work things out?”

“I don’t think so” he said, “I don’t… I don’t think I can fix this… It wasn’t working for a long time…”

“You were fighting?” she asked.

“No… not fighting” he said, “Not exactly…. It just wasn’t working…”

“Do you want to talk about it… I mean, it might help?”

He glanced up at her for a moment and forced a little half-smile. He didn’t know how he would even begin to broach a subject like that with her, or with anyone else for that matter. He’d spent so long burying his feelings deep inside that he didn’t know how to find the words, and even if he did, it would be mortifying to have to say them out loud. It wasn’t an easy thing to talk about, and part of him was worried that she might laugh at him. He hadn’t even spoken to his counsellor about it because he was too embarrassed. If he couldn’t talk to a medical professional who’d heard this sort of thing all the time, then how could he even begin to talk to his friends about it? He didn’t know where to start. “I’m okay” he said, “Nothing for you to worry about, Ric.”

She gave a heavy sigh. “I wish you would talk a little more” she said, “There’s a lot of people here who care about you… We just want to see you happy… You know that, right?”

He nodded and looked at the floor again. “I know.”

“Maybe you could talk to Kyle?” she suggested, “I mean… if you don’t want to talk to me?”

He glanced up at her again for a second with a look of suspicion. There was something in her tone that told him that she knew. “Did Debbie say something to you?” he asked.

“No… I just meant, maybe you’d rather talk to another guy?” she said, trying to cover her tracks. He was right. Debbie had mentioned that they were having trouble in the bedroom. She’d been a little drunk and angry one evening when they were out, and she’d wanted to know what the problem was. Ricky had told her to go and talk to Josh but maybe she’d dropped a few too many hints and ended up painting a pretty clear picture anyway?

“You know, don’t you?” he said, flushing a little red in the face, “She told you?”

She paused for a moment. She wasn’t sure what to say.

“Debbie told you…” he said, frowning up at her, “She told you… about ‘us’?”

Ricky nodded and gave him a sympathetic little head tilt. “She just said you were having some problems” she admitted, “Nothing specific… She didn’t go into any details or anything.”

“Great!” he said in a sarcastic tone of voice, “So… What?! You all know?!”

“Josh, come on?!” she said, putting her hand on his shoulder, “What do you think I am?”

He shrugged her hand away and hugged his arms around his chest. “I just… It’s humiliating… Why would she tell you something like that?!”

“Girls talk” sighed Ricky, “And I don’t mean that in a bad way… It’s just what we do… When we’re upset about something we talk to one of our friends about it… we ask their advice…” She cocked her head to one side in sympathy. “She just wanted to know what was going on with you, so she’d know what to do.”

He gave a little snort. “Well, that worked out pretty well, didn’t it?”

“Did you try talking to her?” she asked, “I mean… Josh, you have to be honest with her if you want her to understand… It’ll never work if you don’t let her in.”

“You don’t think I’ve tried?!” he snapped, “It’s just… It’s not that easy!”

“Do you want me to try talking to her?” she asked.

He gave an exasperated little laugh. “Yeah, that’d be a good look! Getting you to go and beg for me! …Like I’m not pathetic enough!”

“Josh, stop saying stuff like that!”

“It’s true…” he said, “I am pathetic…”

“No, you’re not!” she scolded him, “You’re not! Do you understand me?!”

“Yeah… whatever” he replied, with a shrug, “Anyway… It doesn’t matter now… It’s over… She made that abundantly clear”

“Why don’t you try talking to her again?” she asked, “I mean, maybe she’s calmed down now?”

“Here” he said, pulling his phone from his pocket and scrolling to her text message. He handed it to her and gave a little nod for her to read it. “Does it sound like she wants to hear from me again?”

Ricky read the text message and gave a little sigh. “She said that she cares about you?” she said, with a hopeful tone of voice.

“And she also implied that I’m mentally ill” he replied, with a nervous little laugh.

“Yeah… I guess” she said, biting her bottom lip. “Sorry, Josh, I know it’s not funny…”

“But it kinda is…” he said, with a little smirk, “It’s not exactly the best basis for a relationship, is it?!”

“Come here?” she said, holding her arms out to him for a hug.

He didn’t normally like physical contact but right now he really needed a hug. He leaned forward and let her put her arms around him. “You come to me if you need to talk… about anything…” she said, “I mean it, Josh… Stop bottling everything up!”

He looked up at her and smiled. “Thanks Ric.”

“Okay… well, I’d better go…” she said, stroking his hair back in a motherly sort of way,” I told Bianca I was just nipping inside to go to the loo. She’ll think I fell in!”

Out in the kitchen, Cameron was busy making two cups of coffee, when Ricky walked back in and opened the fridge to get the white wine out. She poured two glasses for herself and Bianca.  “Hey baby” she said, placing the glasses on the countertop and slipping her arms around his waist from behind. She leaned her head against his back and hugged him tight. “Y’know, I really appreciate this…” she said, “You helping Josh… You’re a really good man, Cameron Walsh! A really good man!”

“I know” he said, with a little laugh. He turned around and put his arms around her waist. “What did you ever do to deserve me?” he asked, teasingly, “I mean, you must just count your lucky stars every day, huh?!”

“Hey!” she complained, playing along with the joke and smacking him on the shoulder, “Who’s got tickets on himself?!”

“You love it!” he said with a little wink.

“I do” she admitted, as she leaned in for a proper kiss. When they pulled apart, she looked up at him with a big smile. “I do though…” she said, “…Appreciate it, I mean…”

“He’s a good kid” he said, “Despite… everything”

“He’s 30 years old” she said, with a little laugh, “He’s not exactly a kid!”

“Yeah, and I’m 49” he said, with a shrug, “I’m old enough to be his dad…”

She gave a sad little smile. He was great with Casey, and he was good with Kyle and Ben’s kids. He was also a football coach for an under 18s team and spent a lot of time mentoring young cadets. He was a natural born father, even if he’d never had any kids of his own. It made her sad that she couldn’t give him a child, although it would have been very late in life for her to be having any more children anyway. “He’d have been lucky to have you as a dad” she said, “Things might have been very different.”

He nodded and gave her a little kiss. “Poor kid could have done with someone in his life… You can see that… It’s written all over him.”

“Well… he’s got us now” she said, glancing out towards the hallway. She hoped that he hadn’t overheard them talking. There was no sign of him though. She nodded at the patio doors and rolled her eyes. “I’d better get back out there…” she said, as she turned to pick up the wine glasses, “I left Bianca out there ages ago!”

He gave her a little peck on the lips and let her go. “I’d better get back to Josh too” he said, as he picked up the coffee cups and headed towards the hallway. “Hope you’re ready to knuckle down?” he called out to Josh as he turned the corner into the room.

Josh looked up at him with a startled expression. “Uhhhhh… I have to go!” he blurted out. He began gathering all his stuff together and threw it in the folder that he’d brought with him.

“Oh-kay?” said Cameron, with a look of confusion on his face, “How come?”

“I just have to go!” he said, as he got to his feet and pushed out past him with the folder under his arm, “Thanks... but… I have to!”

Cameron followed him out into the hallway and stood there looking surprised and confused when he heard the door slam shut. He was gone! “What the…?” he mumbled to himself. He stood there for a moment more, but then a thought crossed his mind, and he felt his stomach give a terrible lurch. ‘God, I hope not!’ he thought to himself, as he ran back to the office and threw himself to his knees in front of the desk. ‘Oh God, please no!’ he said to himself when he saw that the bottom drawer had been opened, ‘No, no, no, no, no, no!’ There was paper stuck in the jamb because Josh had obviously had to slam it closed in a hurry. He pulled it open and saw that one of the folders was missing! “****!” he said out loud, as he took his phone out of his pocket and dialled Josh as quickly as he could. “Come on, answer!” he pleaded with him as it began to ring, “**** sake, Josh! Answer your phone!” Then it clicked off and went to voicemail. Had he cancelled the call?! “****, ****, **** ****!” he repeated over and over, as his heart hammered in his chest, “How could I have been so stupid?!” He redialled, but this time it went straight to voicemail. “Josh, mate?” he said, a little breathlessly, “You need to call me back! That folder, the one you found in my desk… I can explain! I need to explain!”

[Inactive User]

Great chapter

Liked the chat between Ricky and Josh

I wonder what was inside the folder that had freaked Josh out or somehow...?

Update soon please xx

[pembie]

Did Ricky just imply that Debbie told her that Josh was crap in bed? Blimey these drunken women and their gossiping Thank goodness Josh's ears weren't burning to hear that haha

Cameron, Cameron, Cameron too busy playing tea's maid and good role model to make sure that he locked that draw. Kyle's living the the life of  riley while Josh is up the creek without a paddle. And yet again his going to have to keep whatever he found in that draw a  secret I think he anyways. When Josh checks his voicemail he won't half have a few **** **** ****s from   Cameron whats he found his porn stash haha

Another good release of a chapter

 

Oh and Bianca she must be freezing her chestnuts off Ricky's left her outside of at least 15 minutes I would say She might as well tell she had fallen down the toilet haha Loved that line by the way

 

[Ludub]

42 minutes ago, pembie said:

Did Ricky just imply that Debbie told her that Josh was crap in bed?

Haha! I suppose she did  Although, I suppose it was less a question of him being crap, and more of him being a 'no show'. Not really what you want your girlfriend going round telling people though!

42 minutes ago, pembie said:

Cameron, Cameron, Cameron too busy playing tea's maid and good role model to make sure that he locked that drawer.... whats he found his porn stash haha

1 hour ago, ~JarlieFanEver~ said:

I wonder what was inside the folder that had freaked Josh out or somehow...?

Indeed. It's worrying isn't it? Mr Perfect with something hidden in his bottom drawer. You'll have to wait and see what it was.

42 minutes ago, pembie said:

Oh and Bianca she must be freezing her chestnuts off Ricky's left her outside of at least 15 minutes I would say She might as well tell she had fallen down the toilet haha Loved that line by the way

Haha! I did put that line in there as a little joke. Poor Bianca! She was waiting a long time for that glass of wine! 

 

[pembie]

Lets hope after all this waiting the wine's not corked

[Guest]

Great chapter 

Liked Ricky and Josh's talk.

I wonder what Josh found in that folder.

Poor Bianca getting left outside for ages.

Update again soon

[Red Ranger 1]

Well, it's good that Josh had a reasonably honest chat with Ricky, although maybe he needs to see a professional? I thought at first that it was the embarrassment that caused him to leave suddenly but then we find out Cameron (Walsh!) is hiding something...Hopefully he's right that there's a reasonable explanation for it!

[Ludub]

16 minutes ago, Red Ranger 1 said:

Cameron (Walsh!)

Oh! That wasn't intended at all! I just randomly picked a surname!  I did think it sounded a little familiar though. Oops!