'Someone needs to tell her' Phoebe exclaimed as Ash walked around frantically
Ash looked at Skye.
'Hey I didn't do this, it's all your doing'
'He wanted it to be kept secret'
'Well maybe you should have said something, save us from what happened' Skye yelled
It was quiet
'You're telling her' Skye said looking at Ash,'But you leave me out of it, I want nothing to do with any of it'
Skye walked out. Ash left not long after Skye, leaving Phoebe in the restaurant by herself.
Skye went back to Zac and Leah's wedding where Ricky and Nate were. Skye stood quietly in the corner.
'Skye' Ricky called as she walked up to her
'Hey mum'
'Is everything alright?'
'There's something I need to tell you' Skye said as she looked down.
Something caught her eye. Skye looked at Ricky's hand, then at her.
'Is that a ring?' Skye questioned
'Yeah' Ricky laughed
'Wow' Skye said shocked as she hugged Ricky
'What did you want to tell me?' Ricky asked
'It's not important, I can figure it out myself' Skye said walking off
'Is everything alright?" Nate asked catching up to her
'Yeah, its fine'
'You still alright with this?'
'You and Mum?' She questioned 'Yeah, it'll be great to have a stepdad and Casey needs someone'
'He's got you too'
'Not for much longer'
'What do you mean?' Nate asked suspicious
'Once I'm 18 I'm out of here. Start fresh somewhere else'
'Why?'
'I need to move on with my life'
'We'll always be here for you, you know that right?' Nate said putting his hand on Skye's shoulder
'Yeah I know' Skye replied
Skye and Nate hugged.
'I'm just gonna head home'
'Why'd you call me?' Ash questioned as he walked into the farmhouse
'I'm going to tell Ricky' Phoebe stated
'No, no-one will tell her'
'How can you be so sure of that'
'I've made sure of it'
'No Ash this has gone on for six months, and I can't do it for a second longer'
Ash and Phoebe walked up to the share house and knocked on Ricky's door
'Hey guys' Ricky said as she opened the door 'What are you doing here?'
Neither of them said anything, instead they both waked in.
'Where's Nate?" Phoebe asked
'He's at Irene's'
'Ric, there's something you need to know'
'What?' Ricky questioned
Phoebe looked at Ash, then back at Ricky
'Brax is alive' Phoebe explained
Ricky looked at her shocked, she didn't say anything
'Ric' Phoebe questioned
'Get out' She said quietly trying to comprehend it all
'Ricky' Ash said trying to reassure her
'GET OUT!' Ricky yelled
Phoebe and Ash walked out the door, leaving Ricky to comprehend everything she had just been told about Brax. Ricky let out a big sigh, she put her head in her hands and thought why did he have to do this, why did he have to go and ruin everything. Ricky couldn't contain her anger any longer. She slid her arms across the kitchen table and let everything fall and smash on the ground. Baby Casey started to scream as the noise from the lounge room woke him up in his room. Ricky curled up in a ball and collapsed to the ground in a sobbing mess.
Skye bumped into Ash and Phoebe as she walked to the front door of the house
'You did it, didn't you?' She asked Ash bluntly
'Yeah' He replied, quietly
'How'd she take it?'
'Lets just say your favorite bowl on the table is no more'
'Right' Skye said to herself quietly
'Hey guys, what's going on?' Kyle asked coming up to them
Phoebe looked at Ash
'Ash?' Kyle questioned
'We told her' Ash explained
'Told who what?' Kyle questioned
'Ricky, we told her Brax is alive'
'What' Kyle questioned 'What do you mean?'
'He didn't die in the accident, he ran away to try and clear his name' Ash explained
'How's Ricky?' He questioned
'How do you expect' Ash replied
'I need to see her' Kyle said walking up to the door.
'Kyle, stop' Skye said standing in the doorway
They could hear Ricky's faint crying from the other side of the door
'Let me look after her' Skye reassured
'You knew didn't you'
Skye didn't reply
'Kyle, we can sort this out tomorrow' Phoebe explained
Kyle looked at Phoebe then back at turned around and walked back into the flat, slamming the door behind him. Skye watched as Phoebe and Ash walked away, She turned around and went inside. It was dark. All she could see was Ricky huddled in the corner in the moonlight. Skye put her bag on the table near the door and went over to Ricky.
'Mum, mum it's OK' Skye said kneeling down next to Ricky trying to console her.
'He's alive' Ricky managed to say through the tears
Skye bit her lip and rested her chin on her mums head.
'I know' She felt like saying, but she knew how much pain that would cause her, or at least she thought she did.
Once Ricky calmed down Skye left her sitting on the couch and went into Casey's room to check on him. She didn't know why she really went into his room, she didn't know why she was picking him up, after all he had stopped crying ages ago. Maybe it was because she needed more reassurance than Casey, she needed someone to tell her everything was going to be OK, or at least be with her and make her feel safe. As Skye sat in the rocking chair she began to drift off. She was later woken by a knock at the door. She got up and walked up towards the lounge room, but stayed back in the hallway, with a sleeping Casey still in her arms. Ricky opened the door to see Phoebe and Ash on the other side. Ricky walked away leaving the door open.
'We just needed to check if you were OK' Phoebe explained as her and Ash walked in
'How long have you know?' Ricky asked
'From the get go' Ash explained
Ricky looked at him shocked
'I went back to the safe house, and he was there' Ash explained,'Until then I thought he was dead'
'So why didn't you pick up the phone and tell me' Ricky said through her teeth, trying to control her anger
'If Gunno knew Brax was alive, he'd keep coming after you and Skye and Case. But if Brax stayed dead, you'd be safe'
Ricky didn't know what to think, she wished she had of known Brax was alive sooner, she could have made it work. But to find out now - when she was ready to spend the rest of her life with Nate - made her re-think everything.
'And you' she said turning to Phoebe,'How long have you know?'
'A few weeks' Said Phoebe, 'It all started when I saw a weird email on Ash's phone'
'You've been emailing each other?' Ricky said to Ash
The look on Ash's face told her what she needed to know
'This whole time you've know Skye and Casey's dad is out there?' She said, breathing hard 'Casey's a baby! How could you do this? How could Brax?' Ricky yelled
Casey cooed as Ricky raised her voice, giving away the fact that Skye was in the hallway, listening in on Ricky and Ash.
'We had to keep you safe' Ash continued to explain, ignoring Casey
'You stood by and watched me grieve' she said' and you did nothing'
'Like I said, it was the only way to protect you form Gunno'
'Stop lying to me!' Ricky yelled
Casey began to cry and buried his head in Skyes chest
'I'm not' Ash said firmly 'He hasn't made contact in weeks, but for what its worth I told him about you and Nate and he said-'
'-Brax knows I'm with Nate' Ricky felt uneasy
'He wants you to move on' Ash explained 'He's trying to clear his mane but-'
'So then he can just show up when I'm finally happy with someone else?'
'I know it doesn't make a whole lot of sense'
'No, it doesn't make any sense'
Ricky glared at Ash who offered her nothing more
'Can you just...leave?'
'Are you sure?' Phoebe asked cautiously
'Go' She commanded
'Mum?' Skye said coming out of the darkness
'Did you know?' Ricky questioned
'Sort of' Skye replied
'When did you find out?'
'Tonight, just before you did'
'So when you saw us at the wedding, you knew'
'Yeah'
'And you didn't tell me'
'I wanted to, but you were happy and I didn't want to ruin that'
'Can you just leave me alone, all of you'
Skye walked back to her room with Casey
'Ricky' Ash said apologetically
'Get out!' Ricky yelled pointing at the door
Phoebe walked out the door with Ash following behind her, closing the door behind them.
Ash and Phoebe both walked out to Phoebes car parked out the front
'Happy?' Ash questioned
Phoebe whipped around 'Excuse me?'
'You have no idea what you've done'
'What I've done?' Phoebe spat 'Are you kidding me, we agreed to tell her'
'You didn't give me much choice'
A car, neither of them recognised pulled up in the driveway next to them. They watched as a tall, dark-haired, well-built man leapt out, striding towards them, with a blonde woman looking out the passenger side, a frown on her face.
'You Ash?' The man demanded, his face thunderous
'Yeah' Ash replied unsure
The mans tightly clenched fist met with Ash's face
'Hey' The blonde woman shouted, getting out of the car and racing towards them
'Woah' Phoebe said before Ash hit back, finding himself locked into a scuffle
'Stop it!' The blonde woman said as she reached the men, and Ash glanced up to see Phoebe looking to find a way to get in between him and the other guy
'Ash!' Phoebe yelled 'Let go'
Ash stood back and shoved his opponent, who stood, his shoulders heaving, looking like he was ready to go again.
'Really?' The blonde woman said to the man 'Now?'
Ash looked at Phoebe, seeing she was less than impressed. Then he looked past her and saw Ricky and Kyle emerging from the house, walking towards them.
'Hi' Ricky said softly as she reached them, then the blonde woman had her in an embrace.
Looking back at the woman he assumed was Heath - and the woman Bianca - Ash was met with a glare.
Ricky paced up and down across the kitchen, making Ash feel uneasy.
'What the hell was he thinking?' Heath raged 'I can't believe he let us believe he was dead'
'But he did' Bianca said insistently 'Brax did. Not anyone else'
'What now?' He asked
'I don't know' Ricky responded
'We have to-'
'Heath, I called you because you needed to know - not so you could come here and pressure me'
Skye emerged from her bedroom, no one said anything
'But we need to-' Heath explained
'Enough!' Bianca said 'Stop!'
'He's my brother'
'I know who he is' Bianca explained
'And he's my dad' Skye said to Heath bluntly 'And Caseys. If he doesn't want to be found, just leave him, let him have what he wants'
'Skye' Bianca questioned
'No, this isn't fair, we have to sit here and suffer while he gets to galevant around with his 'new life' acting as though we don't exist'
'Skye this was the hardest thing he did, it broke him' Ash explained
'And you don't think it broke us too. You know what happened, you saw it break mum. And he doesn't deserve you defending him' Skye yelled walking back to her room, slamming the door shut behind her
'How do we find him?' Heath questioned
'I don't know, I haven't heard from him in days'
'Of course' Kyle said confused
'He was willing to let us think he was dead' Said Ricky, 'Willing to let us deal with everything that meant. The grief...maybe Skye's right. Maybe we shouldn't bother finding him'
Ricky breathed out slowly. She had to do what was right for her and Casey and Skye
'I need time' She said 'I can't'
She looked at Bianca, then at Heath and Kyle
'Can we talk in the morning? Please?' She said softly 'For now, lets just'
'Yeah' Heath said quietly 'Sure'
Ricky nodded slowly then walked down the hallway.
Ricky felt numb as she walked into Caseys room. This should have been the best day of her life. The day she started her new life with Nate. But then Ash decided to tell her that Brax was alive. Not yesterday, or the day before, now.
Ricky heard a gentle knock at the door. She turned around and saw Bianca standing there, looking tentature
'I'll leave if you want me to' Bianca said 'But-'
'It's OK' Ricky said, meaning it, 'It's good to see you'
'You too' Bianca said, walking into a room and opening her arms
'I haven't asked how you are yet'
'Hardly a priority, we're good' Bianca replied
'Darcey's doing good at school and Harley, he just keeps breaking stuff' Bianca laughed
Casey cooed in the background
'I can't imagine what you're going through right now'
'Just feels like some kind of hell' Ricky explained 'How do I do it B?'
'You take it one step at a time, that's all you can do'
Casey began to stir louder
'I love you' Bianca reassured 'And I'll help you through this'
Ricky smiled and nodded her head
'Can I have a cuddle please?' Bianca questioned hearing Casey
Ricky giggled. Bianca walked over to Caseys cot
'Hello little man,' She giggled as she picked him up 'Look how big your getting'
Bianca sat Casey on her hip
'Want me to take him for the night?' She asked Ricky 'So you can sleep?'
'It's OK' Ricky replied 'He'll be alright. I'll be alright'
'You sure? It's not a problem' Bianca said looking at Casey
'I'm sure' Ricky said firmly
'Well we're staying at Kyles if you need us'
'Where's Kyle staying?' Ricky questioned
'In Skye or Josh's room, and either of them are sleeping on the couch'
'Thanks' Ricky said even though she had no intention on calling on Bianca
Bianca handed Casey back to Ricky. She closed the door behind her and joined the others in the lounge room.
'Kyle you can stay in my room' Skye said as she out her blanket and pillow on the couch
'You sure?' Heath asked
'Yeah' Said Kyle 'It's just for a couple of nights'
'We could always stay at Irene's' Bianca offered
'Bianca just take the flat OK' Said Kyle
'Alright then' Bianca laughed
'Hey, um, is mum still in Cases room?' Skye asked
'Yeah' Bianca replied
'OK, cool' Skye said quietly as she walked to Casey's room
Skye walked into her little brothers room. She knocked on the door and opened it.
'Mum' She said quietly
'Yeah' Ricky replied
Skye let out a sigh, 'I'm sorry'
'What for?'
'Not telling you about dad' Skye said sitting on Ricky's lap as she held Casey
'It's not your fault, it wasn't up to you to tell me'
'I just thought, if I didn't tell you, if I didn't say it out loud it wouldn't be true' Skye explained 'Why can't this just be a bad dream'
'I wish you were right, but I think we can avoid it for just one night' Ricky said kissing her daughter on the forehead. The three of them sat there quietly as they tried to understand everything that had just happened.
'Where's Ric?' Heath asked as Skye walked into the kitchen
'In her room' Skye explained
Kyle walked towards the hallway
'I wouldn't' Said Skye 'She's sleeping, Case too'
'Alright then' Kyle replied walking back
'I'm gonna go to sleep' Skye said sitting on the couch
'You sure you want to sleep on the couch?' Kyle asked
'I can't sleep anyway, so there's no point in both of us getting no sleep'
'Alright then, I'm gonna go to bed' Kyle said walking towards Skyes room
'Yeah we'll go to bed too' Heath said as he and Bianca walked towards the flat
'Goodnight' Bianca said walking out the door
Skye pulled her blanket up under her neck and turned on the TV. Making sure it was down low, she stared blankly at the TV thinking about how for the last six months she thought her family would be just her, Ricky and Casey.
Ricky took her phone out of her pocket and searched through her contacts. She sat there and stared at the same number. Her thumb hovered over the call button. It got the better of her and she decided to call them. She listened as the phone rang.
'Hey, iv'e got the champagne, I'll be over in 5' He said answering the phone
Ricky didn't reply
'Ric, you there?' Nate questioned
'Yeah, sorry I'm here' She replied
'You OK?' He asked
'I'm actually feeling really tired'
'But you still want me to come over yeah, I mean it's not everyday you get engaged'
'Would you hate me if I cancelled?'
"What, why?' He asked
'I'm just feeling really awful. I think it's a tummy bug'
'You sure you don't want me there'
'No, I don't want you seeing me like this, It's not exactly romantic'
'OK, we can celebrate tomorrow, look after yourself, OK'
'Yep, will do' Ricky replied 'Goodnight'
'Night' Nate replied
Ricky hung her mobile up and put it on her bedside table.
