Summary: It's that time in one life when high school memories begin to flood back. But for two members of the Sydney Water Police, those memories are worth a lot more.
Disclaimer: Please don't be angry with me, Mr McElroy. I'm only borrrowing her for a tic. Yeah, yeah, you can sue me if I don't give Woodsie back but Hunter's MINE!
Author's notes: I haven't got any feedback from my pervious three fics yet. Don't you guys like Hunter??? Well, I don't know what this is gonna do to the "Hunter" series but hopefully it'll be a gateway to more fics! So please, please, PLEASE, give me some feedback! =============================================== The Reunion by Kimba
Hunter opened the envelope that had been sticking out of her letter-box. She wasn't too cautious about the contents of the envelope since it wasn't anywhere near parcel-shaped. So she was sure it couldn't have been a letter-bomb. In her line of work, she attracted a lot of enemies and she wasn't particularly at ease with some of their capabilities. This envelope, though, was flat. There was no way a bomb could fit into this. Tearing it open, she produced a small card with the words "An Invitation" printed on the front. 'Dear Ms Hunter Franklin,' it began, 'You have been cordially invited to attend our 10th annivesary High School Reunion on the 22nd May, 2000. Please inform us of your attandence ASAP.' Hunter smiled and sat down as memories of high school began flooding back. She'll have to refresh her memory of who's who, but she'd love to catch up with all her friends again to see what they've been up to all these years. Out of interest, she went to her room and pull out her high school yearbook from the bookshelf, which she had kept there just in case. She then sat back down on the couch and began flipping through the book. She came to the section 'Class of 1990' and skimmed through the photos of each of her former classmates. The photos were arranged in alphabetical order and her photo was placed under the letter 'F'. She went through each of the 27 students until she came to the letter 'W'. She stared at the name of a certain female student. She and her name looked so damn familiar....
Emma tore open the envelope once she had headed towards the kitchen to put away her grocceries. She was absolutely knackered. It had been a long day at work and the divers had virtually been called out on one dive to another. She looked down at the envelope. Who would be writing to her during this time of the year? She knew no one overseas or interstate and knew that if her friends wanted to communicate with her, all they had to do was ring her. Tearing it open, she found a rather small card. 'Dear Ms Emma Woods,' it began, 'You have been cordially invited to attend our 10th annivesary High School Reunion on the 22nd May, 2000. Please inform us of your attandence ASAP.' As Hunter had done before, Emma went to the couch and sat down thinking. Like Hunter, she too wanted to go to the reunion, but wasn't sure if her work schedule would permit it. She'd have to ask her new dive team leader, Senior Sergeant Lance Rorke, and Jeff for a day-off to attend it though. She looked up at the mantlepiece where she had placed a copy of her end-of-year high school photo. Taking it off, she smiled at the memories and went through each of the faces to see if she could still recognise them. Scanning across each row, she stopped at the middle row, third from the left, at a blonde female classmate and frowned. She was sure she had seen her fairly recently. Of course, she'd seen an older version of the girl in the photo but she knew her from somewhere. Where though?
Suddenly, it hit her. Emma Woods, the words under the photo said. Could it possibly be the same Emma Woods who was on the dive team? Hunter looked up thoughtfully. It must be. The face looked very similar to the one in the photo, just an older version. It had to be! How could she have not recognised her before, even after two months with the water police? She and Emma had been best mates at high school but somehow lost contact with each other when they'd graduated. Hunter glanced thoughtfully at the phone. Should she ring her up?
Meanwhile, Emma had followed the co-ordinates and read the names under the photo. Hunter Franklin... Wait a sec ... Hunter Franklin? Wasn't she-? At that moment, the phone rang. Emma didn't particularly want to answer it, having just discovered she had gone to the same school with Hunter. Actually, she'd known they had gone to the same school, she just didn't recognise Hunter or her name when she met her. She ignored the phone hoping the rings would go away. No such luck. Sighing, she picked up the receiver "Emma Woods," she greeted. "Emma?" Emma froze momentarily. It took her a while before she finally found her tongue. "Hunter. Hi." "Hi. Look, I'm not too sure how to put this but ... um ..." There was a short silence as Hunter decided how to tell Emma about the reunion. Hell, she didn't even know if she'd receive an invitation yet. "I got an invitation to my 10th annivesary high school reunion today," she replied, cutting to the chase. Emma sighed in relief. At least she now didn't have to sound like a bumbling idiot. "Yeah, so did I," she answered, felling much better about the situation. On the other end of the line, Hunter breathe a sigh of relief. "Are you going to it? "Dunno, I'll have to ask Lance and Hawker." There was a pause. "Hunter, what happened?" Hunter took a deep breath. She didn't really know. All she knew was that her job had taken control of her social life and she knew she had to talk to Emma personally about it. "Look, can we meet somewhere and talk about it?" she suggested, "I kinda feel strange discussing it over the phone."
Both officers had agreed to meet in a small cafe on Walsh Bay for a coffee. "I dunno," Hunter admitted, in reference to Emma's question as to what had happened."As soon as I left school, I went to the Academy and I guess things kinda got hectic from there." She blushed slightly. "And I think I must have lost your phone number in the process." Emma sighed and leaned back in her seat. After school, she'd moved out of home and become a life-guard briefly before entering the Academy herself. She'd tried to contact Hunter in the early years only to find out she'd left home and gone to the country. After several attempts to contact her, she finally gave up when she found out that Hunter wasn't answering any of her letters or her calls. In fact, she'd become rather pissed off because of it. "When did you come back to Sydney?" she asked. "About six years ago. After my probationary period, I was transferred to Orange for three years. Sorry, I didn't reply your letters or your calls. I was only one of two cops out there and flat out with work on most days. I promised myself that I'd write to you when I came back," Hunter apologised. "When I *did* come back, I wrote to you, only to have the letter returned back to me. Apparently, you'd left by then." "Yeah, sorry about that. I have a similar story to you there. I'd transferred up north for a while before taking the diver's training course." As the two chatted, they realised how much had missed each other's company. As teenagers, they had hung out together during recess and lunch breaks, after school and even school holidays. In fact, they had been so close, their classmates had nicknamed them the 'umbilical sisters'! Now, nearly ten years on, they were back together in the same line of work. "I can't believe it's been so long," Emma commented. "Yeah, but we can still make up for the time we've missed together." "That we can," her companion agreed with a smile. Yes, they certainly can
THE END
Okay, that's it. What did you think? PLEASE don't forget the feedback. I feel like I'm not writing to anyone :( kimba09@start.com.au