So, ah, two years, eh? Possibly. It's a long time. Anything could happen...
Rated: Fiction T - English - Angst/Romance - Chapters: 18 - Words: 34,646 - Reviews: 10 - Favs: 1 - Updated: Oct 21, 2001 - Published: Nov 26, 2000 - Status: Complete - id: 123411
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The Journey: Chapter TwoSONG LYRIC CREDITS: It Must Have
Been Love (Roxette), Love Walks In (Van Halen)
Chapter Two
Jack Christey strode into the offices of the New South
Wales Water Police, with an unshakeable smile on his face. Twenty
minutes later, it was gone. He wondered if Rachel had that effect
on every man she met. Oh, she acted friendly enough, but her coldness
wasn't exactly subtle.
Perhaps he should have taken the hint when she sent all
his letters back, but he knew Rachel--avoidance was her favourite game.
He'd hoped that confronting her would end it, but it hadn't.
He figured he'd give her some time to get used to the
idea of working with him again, so he went to their office to settle in.
The desk was still full of Frank's things--a tie, a belt,
sunglasses, some photos. Jack glanced at them half interested.
She was in a lot of them. Others were of both of them. There
was even one of her and her son.
He threw the photos down in disgust, and made a little
pile of all Frank's things. He couldn't possibly have left in such
a hurry that he couldn't have cleaned out his desk first, Jack thought
rudely.
He was pinning one of *his* pictures on the wall when
she walked in. He looked up, expecting her to comment, but she ignored
him.
"Listen," he told her. "I found this shit, it's
Frank's, it was in the bottom drawer--"
"I'll take it, I'll take it," she interrupted, taking
the pile from his desk and transferring it to hers. She then went
back to ignoring him.
"So, is that it? Is that all you're gonna say?"
he challenged.
She looked at him blankly. "Well, what do you want
me to say?"
"I dunno. I mean, anything's better than being ignored,
I guess."
"Well, we can talk about the sergeant's job then, since
we both applied for it. Why did you apply?" she asked.
"Well, I have worked here before, if you remember, you
know; and it's a good section, good people..."
She nodded sedately. Jack was starting to envision
a nightmarish future of her resenting him for forcing his way back into
her life.
"You know, I'm not sorry I got this job," he told her
defensively, "But I am sorry I got it over you."
"I don't care!" she protested.
Yeah, right, Jack thought. Just at that moment,
Helen appeared in the doorway, telling them to go to the hospital to interview
a witness.
"You all right?" she asked Rachel, as she was leaving.
"Yeah, I'll be fine," Rachel told her softly. Helen
looked from one to the other of them and then left. Rachel glanced
at him briefly before looking back at her desk.
It must have been love but it's over now, It was all that I wanted, now I'm living without. It must have been love but it's over now, It's where the water flows, it's where the wind
blows.
Jack narrowed his eyes, wondering what message he was
missing here. Well, she wasn't likely to tell him in a hurry.
"It's not gonna be a problem, me working here, is it?" he asked.
"Not if you don't make it a problem," she told him.
"I don't think it's a problem."
"No problem," she shrugged.
Just dandy.
~~ * ~~
Rachel sat at her desk, idly wrapping Frank's tie around
her hands. He'd only been gone a week, but she felt his absence even
more now Jack had taken his place.
Truth be told, she could have cleaned out his desk for
him, but somewhere deep down she wanted to convince herself he was just
on a short holiday. That he was coming back soon.
Jack's arrival had shattered the illusion, and she hated
him for that. She knew she'd been horrible to him all day, but she
couldn't help herself--he reminded her too much of what she had lost, or
rather, what she had thrown away.
She loved him. She realised that; now it was too
late to do anything about it.
She felt her eyes sting with tears, and she wiped them
away. No use feeling sorry for myself now, she thought.
Rachel dropped the tie guiltily when Jack walked into
the office. Tucking the photographs into her jacket, she threw the
tie and belt into the bin, and headed for the door.
"Hey Rach," Jack began, before she made her escape.
He'd intended to ask her down to the pub for a drink, but when she looked
at him, he saw her eyes were red and blotchy. "Never mind," he told
her.
She nodded thankfully and left.
He thought she'd gone home, but when he returned to their
office after getting himself a cup of coffee, he happened to glance at
Rachel's bin.
The tie and the belt were gone.
~~ * ~~
SIX WEEKS LATER
"I'm what?" Rachel asked, staring at the doctor
in shock.
"You're pregnant," she repeated patiently.
Rachel took a deep breath, trying to assimilate the information.
This was big.
"I take it this wasn't planned?" the doctor inquired
carefully.
She shook her head. "Not exactly," Rachel told her.
She nodded, sympathetically. Rachel wanted to slap
her.
She drove home in a daze. When she pulled into her
driveway, she checked her mail before going inside. There was a postcard
from Frank.
How ironic, she thought dryly.
She flopped down on the couch to read it--avoiding her
more immediate problem for the moment.
Dear Rachel, I'm not much of a writer, but I promised you a
postcard, so here it is. What to say? Well, the sky is blue,
and I'm out on the open sea. Not much else to tell you really.
How are you? Well, you can't answer me, but I hope you're ok.
I miss you heaps. I'll send this off next time I go near a post office. Love Frank
She couldn't help but smile. Frank, the master of
understatement. She dropped the postcard on the coffee table, and
put her hand on her still-flat stomach, considering the implications of
the diagnosis.
She couldn't contact Frank; there was no return address
on the postcard. And what would she tell him anyway? She wasn't
sure exactly what she was going to do, but she knew she couldn't get rid
of it. That pretty much left only one option.
It would mean huge changes to her life, obviously.
She was looking at least six months maternity leave, and finding some good
day-care after that.
It had been so long since she had been a full time mother,
and even then she hadn't been single. It was going to be hard, she
thought, but it would be worth it.
And then you sense a change Nothing feels the same All your dreams are strange Love comes walking in Some kind of alien Waits for the opening Then simply pulls a string Love comes walking in
She would be fine, and Frank... well. She'd have
to cross that bridge when she got to it.
She fell asleep that night with a smile on her face.
~~ * ~~