All Is Not As It Seems

Disclaimer: I don't own these characters or their copyright; they belong to Hal McElroy & Channel 7 as far as I'm aware. I wish I owned the characters but I don't so I'm going to borrow them for a while. I'll return them at the end of my fic.

Part One: The Beginning

It was another ordinary day in Mount Thomas, until the morning was shattered by the arrival of a ghost from the past.

"So who's gonna get the lunches, I'm STARVING!" Nick yelled from the locker room, about 11 o'clock one morning.

"I'll go, I need to talk to Chris anyway," Maggie said coming out of PJ's office.

"Good on ya Doyley" was Nick's ever-sarcastic reply as Maggie picked up her jacket to leave the station on the short walk to the Imperial.

"Take the Portable with you" The Boss yelled from his office, "The way things have been going round here today, we may need you"

"Sure Boss" Maggie replied grabbing the portable radio on her way out of the door.

"Morning Chris" Maggie said cheerily as she breezed into the pub.

"You here for the lunches, Already" Chris greeted her "Bit early aren't you?"

"Yeah well Nick was moaning he was hungry and PJ wanted a hand with the paperwork so I said I'd pick them up as I needed to talk to you anyway and I'd get them while I was here."

"Anything to get out of the paperwork huh, your worse than Dash! I'll go get the lunches for you, they're out the back"

"Thanks Chris" Maggie said as Chris disappeared out to the kitchen.

"Well, Well what do we have here" came a growl from the doorway of the pub. "Why Hello Samantha, Mickey with you is he?"

With this Maggie turned and screamed, standing in the doorway pointing a handgun at her was a face she thought was in the past, a face she never wanted to see again.

"PHILIP!" Maggie gasped.

In two strides the figure in the doorway was by Maggie's side. Grabbing her by the hair he yanked her roughly towards him and held the gun to her head. Maggie stood there softly whimpering.

Chris, hearing the commotion raced into the bar, and stood in shock at the scene facing her.

"Maggie? Are you alright?"

"I'm fine, Chris" Maggie gasped as Philip pulled her hair even harder.

"So where is he then Samantha, or is it Maggie now? Is he at the station?"

"P p p p please Philip" was all Maggie could manage in response as her radio cackled into life.

"Mount Thomas Station to Mount Thomas Portable" came Dash's voice over the radio on the bar.

Nobody moved.

"Mount Thomas Station to Mount Thomas Portable",

Chris made towards the radio.

"LEAVE IT" Philip yelled.

"I'll have to answer it or they'll come looking for me," Maggie pleaded, "They know I'm here, in less than ten minutes this place will be swarming with coppers."

"Mount Thomas Station to Mount Thomas Portable, Maggie are you there?" came Dash's voice over the radio, now with a hint of urgency.

"Answer it and remember, I have no problem in shooting you if you step out of line. Get Mickey here now" Philip said releasing Maggie but keeping the gun trained on her.

Maggie moved slowly towards the radio and picked it up.

"Mount Thomas Portable to Mount Thomas Station, Go ahead Dash"

"Maggie, Where've you been the Boss is doing his nut here!"

"Dash can you get PJ for me please."

"Maggie just get back here with the lunches before the Boss really loses it"

"DASH JUST GET PJ NOW" Maggie yelled into the radio.

Back in the station PJ raced from the kitchen to the radio when he heard the yell of urgency on the radio.

"Mags it's PJ what's up?"

"Mickey, Philip's here! He's got a gun" was all Maggie muttered into the radio fearfully

"Sam, honey are you okay? Is anyone else there?" PJ asked trying desperately to stay calm.

"I'm fine, Chris is here but that's it, He wants you here, NOW!"

Philip grabbed the radio "Why hello Mickey, so you are here.........If you want to see your precious Sam alive I'd get down here pronto."

"IF YOU TOUCH HER I SWEAR I'LL KILL YOU" PJ yelled into the radio.

Everybody just stood in stunned silence as PJ turned from the Radio with tears in his eyes, "Damn you I thought we were safe, after 6 years he gets us now" he cried under his breath.

"PJ what's going on?" Was all a stunned Tom Croyden could ask.

"I'll explain everything later but first I gotta help Sam"

"Sam?" Dash asked

"Maggie!" PJ yelled. He pulled his gun out of it holster and checked it was loaded, and then grabbing a bulletproof vest he raced out of the station.

Nick, Ben, Adam and Dash quickly followed suit whilst Tom just stood and stared at the scene in front of him, trying desperately to figure out what was going on.

PJ raced into the Imperial and stopped at the door when he saw Maggie being held by the hair with a gun to her head.
"Glad you could join us" Philip said his voice dripping with sarcasm and contempt.

"Let her go" PJ said raising his gun and taking a step forward, entering the pub. A few seconds later the others entered the pub, a little more cautiously than PJ had. The stood in stunned silence watching the scene unfold in front of them.

"Sam, you okay" PJ asked looking at Maggie

"I'm fine" Maggie responded quietly looking at PJ with tears in her eyes.

PJ took a step closer to Maggie and Philip. "It's over Philip, Let her go" PJ said glaring at Philip "Look if you shoot her your not gonna get out of here alive, I promise you"

"But If I die, she dies too" Philip said gesturing to Maggie.

"What's this gonna achieve hey Philip? You've done your time. We're still doing ours!"

"Yeah right you've been here together quite cosily, I've spent the last six years behind bars."

"COSILY!" PJ almost yelled, "Cosily, We've been looking over our shoulders for the last six and a half years, we've not seen our kids or families for nearly seven years and you think we've been sitting here COSILY!" PJ by now was pretty close to losing it. The others had never seen him this worked up before, but none of them could say anything. They were still coming to terms with what PJ had been saying.

With this outburst from PJ, Philip lost his concentration momentarily and this was all Maggie needed. She twisted free from Philip's grasp and hurled herself sideways; PJ took the opportunity and fired three shots at Philip. The first two rounds hit him in the chest and the final missed him completely as he fell.

PJ completely ignored the fallen Philip who was now lying in a pool of blood and raced to Maggie and taking her in his arms he sank to the floor.

"It's over baby, It's over" PJ whispered as they rocked back and forth in each other's arms.

"He's dead" was all Dash could mutter after checking Philip, whilst the others just stood staring at the sight of PJ and Maggie sobbing in each other's arms.

PJ stood up still holding Maggie and sat her on a chair away from Philip's lifeless body. "Nick can you look after her for a minute please" PJ pleaded looking at his best friend.

"Sure Mate" Nick replied

"I won't be a minute baby" was all PJ could mange as he slowly stood up and walked over to the bar where Chris stood just staring.

"Are you all right Chris?" PJ asked

"I'm fine" was all Chris managed before sinking to the floor in shocked heap.

"Ben look after Chris and get the Boss here" PJ said turning to the Senior Constable

PJ walked to the phone and picked it up dialling a number he had obviously dialled many times before. It took a while for the phone to be answered.

"Witness Protection, Officer Davies speaking"

"This is Senior Detective Michael Stevens can you put Inspector Clarke on the line please"

"I'm sorry Inspector Clark can not be disturbed at the moment, he's in a meeting with the Commissioner"

"I don't care if he's in with the President of The United States, Tell him It's Mickey Stevens and it's urgent!"

"I'm sorry Sir, I'm afraid he said he wasn't to be disturbed"

"JUST DO IT CONSTABLE" PJ yelled into the phone.

"Yes Sir, Right away sir" the constable on the other end of the phone said.

"Mickey it's Jonathon, What's wrong?"

"Philip turned up, he had Sam at gunpoint, I shot him. He's dead Jonathon" was all PJ could manage before collapsing to the floor Dash raced to PJ's side and gently took the phone out of his hand.

"Hello this is Constable McKinley, I'm afraid PJ's in no state to talk to you at the moment but you may want to get here as we have a dead man on our hands and two officers in a state of shock" Dash said calmly into the receiver.

"Thanks I'll be there in an hour, look after them for me and don't move the body"

"Fine, see you shortly" Dash replied before hanging up the phone.

Ten minutes or so later the Boss walked into the Imperial and surveying the scene before him knew something serious was going on. The sight of PJ and Maggie in each others arms and the shock on their faces told it's own story, he decided to wait for explanations from them he walked up to Nick to find out what had been going on.

"So what happened then, Schultz" Tom asked his Senior Constable"

"Well when we arrived that maniac over there had Maggie at gunpoint, He was threatening her and PJ. Called them Sam and Mickey or something, but the three of them obviously knew each other, PJ said something to that guy over there" pointing to Philip "about not seeing his kids and family for the last six or seven years and looking over his shoulder. Maggie managed to get out of his grasp and PJ fired three shots at him, then they collapsed in a heap over there. After he shot him, PJ made a call and there's a guy on his way here, Other than that I know nothing Boss"

"Thanks" Tom said and walked slowly over to where Maggie and PJ were sitting on the floor wrapped in each other arms.

"Are you two okay?" Tom asked

"Yeah we're fine Boss" Maggie managed in Barely more than a whisper.

"Do you think it's finally over Mickey?" Maggie asked turning to PJ

"Yeah Baby I do." Was PJ's response with the start of a smile beginning to appear? "I think we owe these guys an explanation though Sam"

"Yeah, we do." Maggie said starting to get to her feet.

PJ stood up and turning to face the others he said "Okay, explanation time! Dash how long till Jonathon gets here?"

"About half an hour" Dash said looking at her watch.

PJ and Maggie headed towards a table where the others slowly started to join them, Chris, Ben, Dash, Nick and the Boss. Soon they were all seated together with PJ standing behind Maggie's chair, his hands resting on her shoulders.

"So what's going on then?" Nick asked looking straight at PJ and Maggie.

"Here goes" PJ muttered reaching for Maggie's hand which she took and held protectively.

"Well we're not who you think we are, well we are sort of, I suppose, Oh I don't know how to explain this" PJ started.

"Mickey honey, you're rambling" Maggie said, almost laughing. "You'll have to excuse him" she said, "He gets like this when he's nervous"

"Thanks Sam," PJ responded sarcastically with a smile forming.

Now the shock of the last hour was beginning to fade and the realism that Philip was dead had started to sink in Maggie and PJ were beginning to return to normality and as a result the lively banter between the two was beginning to return.

"Hey guys I hate to interrupt but does someone want to tell us what's going on?" Adam asked

"Sorry Adso" Maggie responded. "Mickey, go call your brother and I'll explain it to this lot"

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah and call Alec for me to would you"

"Sure thing" PJ said as he leant over and kissed Maggie.

"You mean you turned me down for PJ?" a stunned Ben asked Maggie

"No, I turned you down cause I was married to him!!" Maggie said letting this sink in as PJ headed towards the phone on the bar.

"Okay, now that's out of the way, what's going on Maggie?" Tom Croyden asked the officer sitting across the table from him.

"Well, My real name is Samantha Margaret Stevens and PJ's Real name is Michael Patrick Stevens. Mickey's a Senior Detective and I was a Detective Constable. We were working together in CI in Adelaide when we were assigned a case of a family that had been murdered. The house had been set alight while they slept. All the evidence pointed to Philip O'Shea. We finally arrested him and during the trial he threatened to kill us and the twins"

"TWINS?" Dash almost exploded at this revelation.

"Yeah, Liam and Sasha, They'd be almost 10 now."

"We get threatened all the time in court what made this so different?" Adam asked

"Philip O'Shea's a nasty piece of work, Check his form. He's got previous for armed robbery, attempted murder, intimidation, you name it. So our Inspector put us on Witness Protection, The twins were sent to Melbourne, I think, Mickey was sent here and I was sent to Sydney, but I couldn't hack it without Mickey, and from what I heard Mickey wasn't doing too well either, so Jonathon sent me here and well you pretty much know the rest."

"What's that?" PJ said returning the table "Alec, Sean, and Danny are on their way up, they said they'll be here tonight"

"Who are they?" Ben asked.

"Alec's Sam's cousin, Sean's my baby brother and Danny's his partner." PJ replied

Dash finally exploded. "But you two were seeing people...Maggie you had a mystery boyfriend!"

"And you were seeing someone PJ, don't tell me you weren't 'cause you kept disappearing!" Ben exclaimed

PJ & Maggie erupted into fits of laughter at this point "And they call themselves coppers!" PJ laughed. "We were seeing each other you fools!"

Whilst they were laughing a tall dark-haired man walked into the pub and seeing the group at the table cleared his throat to alert them of his presence.

"Jonathon!" PJ said jumping up from his chair

"Hi Mickey, Samantha" Jonathon replied shaking PJ's hand and kissing Maggie on the cheek.

"Listen I know you've had a hard time, but when you said you'd shot Philip, I figured you'd want to return to normality so I brought a couple of people to see you!"

"Who?" Maggie exclaimed.

"The Twins, they've been asking when they can see you. They've got pictures of you everywhere!"

Maggie grabbed PJ's hand and just stood staring at Jonathon not quite believing what she was hearing.

"They're outside with Joanna and Scott"

"I'm not sure I can do this" PJ said turning to Maggie, "What if they don't remember us, they were only three"

"It's okay, they remember you I promise" Jonathon replied, "They know everything about you, Joanna and Scott told them and we've been keeping them updated"

Maggie and PJ took a deep breath and looked at each other. Slowly, they turned and started for the door but before they could get very far it burst open and two fair-haired children came charging in

"Can we come in yet Uncle Jonathon?" Liam yelled as he tumbled headlong into the room almost knocking Tom of his feet.

"Liam!?! Sasha!?!" PJ gasped as he turned to face the whirlwind heading towards him.

Maggie just stood in stunned silence clinging fiercely to PJ's hand

"Dad!!!!," Liam yelled running up to PJ and throwing his arms around him

"Mum!!!" Sasha yelled charging headlong into Maggie and almost knocking her to the ground.

PJ & Maggie stood together hugging their children like they'd never let go. The other officers, Chris and Jonathon slowly headed outside leaving the family alone together.