You can't go back
Disclaimer:- Don't own them just borrowing!
Episode:- None
Pairing:- James/Jean
Rating:- M
Achieve:- http(:/) . /group/rebeccafrontlewisffarchive/
Summary:- Logically she knew he was right a place was just a place and it help no mystical significance, no power over them and their happiness yet as sleep finally claimed her she could still feel that seed of doubt planting itself firmly in her head ready to grow into a fully-fledged tree of concern at a moment's notice.
Author's Note:- In answer to the reunion challenge. To write a story where the lead characters meet up again in 2023 enjoy and reviews would be lovely.
Jean Hathaway looked in the mirror on her dressing table pulling a brush through her hair the small on the corner of the table making her smile again just as it had when James opened it that morning. After a decade their best friends were finally taking the plunge and to do it meant they were all taking a step back to their past, back to where it all began not just between Robbie and Laura but between her and James too. That was the one fly in the ointment as far as she was concerned but it was a small fly and she could live with it, at least she hoped she could.
"Robbie says to tell you hello and he's looking forward to seeing you, seeing us." James smiled snapping her from her contemplation as he stood behind her letting his hands rest on her shoulders and kissing his way down here neck. "he says they're only getting married because Laura says it's the only way to get the four of us together in the same room again."
"Well then why didn't they just get married in Newcastle what's with dragging us all back to Oxford?" She sighed finally prepared to discuss her concerns now that the day was over and they were heading to bed. When their relationship had started after James's resignation they'd quickly decided that for it to work and for them to be able to have the life they wanted to would mean saying goodbye to Oxford. At the time she'd found the decision remarkably easy, she'd put in for a transfer to the MET in London and James had got a job he loved and was still doing helping kids from troubled backgrounds find jobs and homes and turn their lives around. They'd left Oxford almost ten years to the day of the date of the wedding date their friends had picked and she hadn't set foot in the city since. With Chris working for the Cambridgeshire police force and the idea of going back to where some of the worst days of her life had taken place toward the end of her marriage there hadn't seemed like any point. She had James, they'd married a year after the night they'd been celebrating Robbie's retirement and his leaving and she'd realised she had to tell him how she felt only to discover that he felt the same way, and a home and job she loved and she didn't believe in looking back. Until that day she'd always assumed that Robbie and Laura felt the same.
Not long after she and James moved they'd announced that Laura had got a job at Queen Mary's teaching hospital in Newcastle and they were returning to Robbie's roots. With both his son and daughter and grandson living up there it had seemed perfect. So for the better part of a decade both couples had been living ridiculously happy, settled lives keeping in regular contact by phone, text and email and getting together now and they for a proper catch up. Those catch ups though had always been in Newcastle or London and once a few years back they'd spent Christmas and New Year's together in the highlands of Scotland. Never once in all those years had the idea of going back to Oxford ben broached and she's been perfectly happy with that. Now she couldn't understand what had changed and why they wanted to drag them back there. It wasn't as if it wasn't going to be a huge wedding she and James were to be witnesses just like Laura and Robbie had been for them and the only other guest were Robbie's kids and his grandson.
"Robbie says they thought it might be nice to all go back to where it all began and the reception place or where we're going for the meal or whatever is somewhere Laura really loved. I did say would it not be easier to just have it up there but he said Laura was making the arrangements and she has her heart set on Oxford." James explained pulling her into his arms as they got into bed and she rested her head on his chest. He knew she was dreading the idea of going back she could feel it in the way he held her but then she'd never had to tell him things, he's always known what she was thinking sometimes even before she knew herself.
"I'm not sure I can do it James, I mean I will of course I will but I don't know how I'll cope with going back after all this time. Since we got in the car and drove away from there everything has been perfect what if just going back there makes it all…I don't know fall apart or something."
"Honey you don't believe the fact we're so happy had anything to do with not having gone back there any more than I do. We're happy because we're together, because we both have jobs we love and a home we've built together. Leaving Oxford when we did was exactly the right thing to do it always will have been the right thing to do but going back there for a couple of nights won't change what we have nor how happy we are. You know that it's just the thought of it that's freaked you out you've had a long week at work the case your guys have had to deal with had been getting to you and you're tired. It'll all seem better in the morning and it's the weekend so we cab spend some quality time together starting with a long lie in."
"You're right, I know you're right and I love you."
"As much as you loved me 10 years ago?"
"Even more than I did then." She smiled as he reached over her turning off the bedside lamp before wrapping his arms around her again as she tried to put the doubts out of her mind and focus on what he'd said. Logically she knew he was right a place was just a place and it help no mystical significance, no power over them and their happiness yet as sleep finally claimed her she could still feel that seed of doubt planting itself firmly in her head ready to grow into a fully-fledged tree of concern at a moment's notice.