A/N: It's been far too long since I updated this! But Em made me finish this chapter so this is her fault.

Thanks as always to all who read and review!

Sarah x


Jac sat on a table and tried to think what Serena and Hanssen could possibly have done to get back at her; they couldn't be that imaginative...could they? What were they capable of? She had a feeling Hanssen was more than capable of messing with anything she owned with any degree of technicality.

She glanced around to see Jonny tuning the guitar. He was speaking to the landlord of the pub, who nodded and went off to get him something. Jac noticed a lanky figure slipping out the door by the corner of her eye, and she followed him quietly. Why was he sneaking away every so often? It was nothing to do with Serena – she was currently inside arguing with Michael over his alcohol consumption. Jac didn't even know how he was still standing and speaking; it was a bloody miracle.

Hanssen, to Jac's surprise, didn't appear to be doing much. He was tapping away at his phone as he stood under the canopy and out of the torrential rain. The lack of obvious activity meant nothing, as subtlety was a mastered art of Hanssen's. He manipulated those around him generally without their knowledge until it was far too late to do anything about it.

But surely if he was up to something, they would have seen the consequences by now. Though subtle, he was ridiculously efficient. He would have terrorised her by now if he knew of her thievery and conspiracy. Giving up on catching him at anything she wandered back inside. She saw Jonny tuning the guitar and strapping it across his chest with a belt the landlord must have given him. Jac's head turned as Hanssen returned, obviously having not noticed her watching him.

She watched as his gaze met Serena's, who smirked slightly to him. OK. Maybe they were up to something, but she was damned if she could figure out what. Why did they have to be so freaking clever all the time?! She glared at Serena even though she knew it would do absolutely nothing to prevent the pair doing whatever they wanted.

"What are you and Serena going to do to me and Jonny?" Jac asked Hanssen quietly.

He looked slightly bewildered. "Why would we do anything at all to you and Jonny?" he replied, just as quietly as she had asked.

"Because I nicked your iPods to set you up with that song," she reminded him. He raised an eyebrow at her and she suddenly wished she could retract even asking. "You didn't know, did you?"

"No," he said, and she could have sworn he was smirking. "But thank you for letting me know."

"Oh, shit," she said under her breath as he walked away towards Serena, presumably to tell her of Jac and Jonny's treachery. If he wasn't plotting before then he had to be now. If she hadn't opened her big mouth they would have got off scot-free.

She stumbled up to Jonny and hissed, "We've got a problem!" He looked up at her and she continued, "They didn't know what we did with the iPods and I just let slip."

"We're dead," he announced cheerily. "Ah, well. What can they do to actually hurt us, really?" With that he walked away back to the stage and picked up the microphone, leaving Jac to wonder what was going to happen. Jac heard the babble of the pub pipe down and she found that people actually wanted to listen to him. "Who here went to primary school and liked it?" Serena, predictably, raised her hand and admitted to that particular sin, but she was the only one in the pub who did. "Of course you did, Ms. Campbell," Jonny grinned. He picked up his guitar and started playing to himself, obviously trying to find the right key. "Well...oor wee school's a guid wee school; it's made fae bricks and mortar; the only thing that's wrang wi' it's the baldy heided master," he cheerfully sang, causing Jac to smile to herself. "Aw, he goes tae the pub on a Saturday and he goes tae the Kirk on Sunday; tae pray to the Lord tae gie him strength; afore he murders the weans on Monday."

It garnered applause and laughter as Serena whispered into Hanssen's ear. Were they doing this on purpose? Were they baiting her now so that when whatever they've planned happened, Jac's reaction would be spectacular?

"Right, you lot go with me now," he smiled. Jac watched as Michael stood up and Serena pulled him back down before he could disturb the peace, and he could be heard above everyone else as he attempted a Scottish accent in a drunken American drawl. "Oor wee school's a guid wee school; it's made fae bricks and mortar; the only thing that's wrang wi' it's the baldy heided master; aw, he goes tae the pub on a Saturday and he goes tae the Kirk on Sunday; tae pray to the Lord tae gie him strength; afore he murders the weans on Monday."

"That is what you sang in the playground?" Hanssen asked him, and Jac could see the disbelief on the Swede's face.

"Well, what did you sing?" Jonny retorted.

"Nothing!" replied Hanssen.

"You're kidding."

"What makes you think I'm joking?"

Jonny turned to Jac who only laughed; she had never expected Hanssen to have grown up with playground chants and children's songs at school. She had always figured he would have gone to a rather uptight, fee-paying private school. Serena seemed to have lost the will to live with both Hanssen and Michael, leaning back with her hands over her face. She was stuck between two polar opposite men who were just as frustrating as each other. Jac thought she'd done quite well to keep her temper this long.

"Who used to sing 'Ye Cannae Shove Yer Granny Aff a Bus' at primary school?" Jonny asked them. Jac recalled something about pushing grandmothers off buses, though without the Scots dialect. "Oh, ye cannae shove yer Granny aff a bus," Jonny sang, obviously teasing Hanssen and probably making matters much worse for himself. "Naw, ye cannae shove yer Granny aff a bus; naw, ye cannae shove yer Granny; 'cause she's yer Mammy's Mammy; ye cannae shove yer Granny aff a bus."

"Nothing?" Serena asked impatiently. "Nope, didn't think so," she answered her own question when Hanssen turned to glare at her. His glare, however, was not steely; it was more playful, like he was finally succumbing to the festive air of the pub. But there was a warning in his face, an air of regret around him.

"Ye can shove yer other Granny aff a bus," sang Jonny, strumming along on the guitar.

"Push push," Serena called back.

"Ye can shove yer other Granny aff a bus."

This time everyone, including Jac and excluding Hanssen, replied, "Push push."

"Ye can shove yer other Granny; 'cause she's just yer Daddy's Mammy; ye can shove yer other Granny aff a bus."

"Push push!"

Jac watched Hanssen's reaction, which was practically non-existent. Mo seemed thoroughly amused by all of this, though with the amount she was drinking, it wasn't taking very much to make her giggle. It surprised Jac when Hanssen got up and strode out of the pub, and Serena ran after him. What had they done to offend him? Jonny looked around at Jac for help, but she could only shrug her shoulders because she really did not understand what had caused that look about him as he had left.

Jac followed where Serena had gone, out into the dark night and the heavy rain. From behind the front door she saw Hanssen and Serena standing under the canopy; she could see them but they could not see her, and it wasn't long before Serena broke the silence. "What on Earth did you storm out for?"

"It's nothing," he replied stonily, but even Jac could see it was something.

"Don't lie to me," Serena scolded him. "There's a reason for the way you reacted. Jonny was only joking, you know. He was only having a laugh. We all were."

"I know that."

"Then why?"

Hanssen didn't speak immediately and Jac had a feeling she knew exactly what nerve Jonny had touched with his teasing. "You all had idyllic childhoods," he began. "You all went to school and had fun there. You even said you liked school. You had parents who loved you, who still do love you."

"Not everyone," Serena amended for him. "Do you really think Jac Naylor would be the woman she is if she had played happy families her whole life? I don't see her going in a strop because someone made a crack about it," she pointed out. The comment didn't really hurt Jac, because she knew what Serena was trying to say. There was no doubt in Jac's mind she would have turned out very differently had she had a different woman for a mother. "I take it your childhood wasn't so idyllic?" she added. It made Hanssen look down at Serena, and it was obvious he wasn't used to someone caring about how he felt.

"Not really, no."

"Well, let me tell you something," Serena said. "You may have had a shit childhood, but you would be a different person now if you hadn't." The alcohol had obviously put some fire in Serena's resolve, because Jac had never heard her speak to Hanssen like that sober. "You've probably fucked up more times than you can count because of the way you were brought up and the ideas it put in your head, but who doesn't make mistakes? Your childhood isn't who you are. What you've built on those foundations, that's who you are."

Serena looked directly at Jac, and she realised too late Serena knew she was there the whole time she was speaking. What she had said wasn't just for Hanssen but for her as well. She smiled at Hanssen and touched his arm, walking away from him towards the door. Jac felt her stare as the older woman stopped in the doorway and gazed at her, her eyes boring into Jac's.

Jac allowed herself a little smile and walked back into the pub, knowing Hanssen would rejoin them soon enough, once he'd had a few minutes to gather himself together again. Jonny hopped over to her and said, "Everything OK?"

"Yeah," she said. "He just wasn't keen on remembering his childhood was a world away from yours." Jonny looked slightly guilty, but Jac knew he didn't mean to upset Hanssen, and that the man was going to get over it soon enough. He leaned in and kissed her forehead, leaving her to wonder in silence about all Serena had said. Was it obvious that she'd never had a decent mother? "I'm just going over to speak to Serena for a moment."

Jonny nodded and went over to see Mo, whose rational thinking appeared to be diminishing with every fresh drink she ordered. Jac sometimes envied Mo's ability to let the world just pass her by while she sat and laughed at the chaos. It was something Jac simply could not do.

She sat down next to Serena and said quietly, "How did you know? Nobody knows, apart from Jonny and two other people."

"It's easy for me to see," answered Serena. "You're not the way you are through choice, and as a mother I can see you never really had one yourself."

Jac looked around, trying to work out if Michael had said something, but she doubted it. She knew Michael wouldn't have done that to her. "I was put in care when my mother abandoned me," Jac admitted. "I was twelve. It screwed me up."

"I'm sorry," was Serena's answer, and it was very much sincere.

"So am I," Jac mused for a moment. She didn't like to dwell on it but sometimes, like just now, it could bubble to the surface. "But never mind her. I'm better off without her. Let's get some more drinks, hmm?"


Hope this is OK!
Please feel free to leave me a review and tell me your thoughts!
Sarah x