Title: Hidden Message
Author: bubbles799
Show: Packed to the Rafters
Characters: Jake/Rachel, with reference to Melissa and her death.
Summary: If there was only one positive message to come from Melissa's death, than Rachel was going to take it.
Disclaimer: If I owned PTTR, Melissa would NOT have died last night.

Another thought that came to me after last night's episode. Just decided to write it down and here we are.

It was no secret that the death of Melissa had hit the Rafter family hard. No secret at all. Ben had reached shut down point, unsure of where his life was headed now. And the remaining family members were watching as the eldest Rafter son worked his way through the messes life had presented him, whilst trying to be strong and look after their own lives.

But the death of Melissa had left a message, a message that reminded everyone. Especially Rachel.

Rachel had been outside with Jake on one of the mornings after the tragic night that had sealed Melissa's fate. Whilst Jake was glancing over the sports section of the newspaper at the table, Rachel was staring out into space. Melissa had been her ally, on several occasions. Through the mess with Daniel, and when she just needed advice in general, the friendly nurse next door, who had later become her sister-in-law, was always there.

Jake had looked up, noting her blank, expressionless face and closed the paper before him, before reaching out to touch her thigh. She jumped at the touch, broken out of the trance she had been in.

"Sorry. I'm going to head home," Jake told her as she turned around to face him. "Have a shower, get some new clothes. I'll come back later though. Unless you want me to stay…"

"No, it's okay. I'll see you later," Rachel told him, giving him a small smile and bending over to kiss him gently. Jake gave her another smile, before standing up to head back through the shed and out to the front of the Rafter house.

And that's when it dawned on Rachel.

"Jake, wait!" she called out desperately, standing up quickly from her chair as he disappeared out of sight. "Jake!"

She caught him in the driveway, the sun shining down over the house.

"What's wrong?" he asked as he took in her worried expression.

"You're not driving," Rachel told him. Jake turned back to where his car was parked on the edge of the road outside the Rafter's, where it had been left after Coby went home the previous night.

"Rach, I'm…" Jake began, before she cut in.

"No, you're not driving!" Rachel could feel the tears brewing as she said it in a slightly louder tone. "You're not supposed to drive. Everything that's happened, losing Mel. That's a message." Jake simply watched as Rachel spoke, the tears that had previously been threatening to spill finally doing so, leaving tracks down her face. "That could have been you."

"Oh Rach…" Jake stepped forward immediately at this point and wrapped her in a tight hug as she cried.

"I can't lose you," she continued. "I'm watching the pain Ben is going through and I can't do it." Jake continued to hold her tightly. "I can't lose you."

"You're not," Jake tried reassuring her. "I'm not going anywhere."

"You can't say that!" Rachel told him, looking up at him, though his arms were still encircling her waist. "You think Melissa thought she would die? Do you think she would know that she was going to crash her car? You can't keep risking it and thinking it won't happen to you. Melissa did and look what happened to her."

"The police said she was looking at her phone and went through a stop sign," Jake told her.

"I know. And in your case, you could have a fit and kill someone. Or you could kill yourself," Rachel's tears had subsided; now she just had determination on her face at getting her point across. "If the only thing good to come from this is a message, then take it. Jake, it's not worth your life."

"I'm not going to Rach," Jake told her comfortingly. "I was never going to drive home now. As you said, it's a message through all this mess. I've only got a month to go and I'm not going to attempt driving until then."

Rachel looked up at him, before hugging him tightly again, relief running through her body.

"Come on, I'll drive you home than."

Rachel had no idea how her brother could get through the tragedy and pain of losing his wife, and Rachel was going to make it her point to try and never have to endure that pain of losing Jake.

The pain of losing a loved one…

Read and review, would love to know what you think…