A/N: Hey, I just want to say a big thank you to everyone who has reviewed so far. This is my first attempt at writing a Home & Away fanfic and I'm quite nervous about it, so I appreciate knowing what you people think.

Chapter 2: Meeting the Locals

Forty-three year old mother of three, Susan Alexander smiled as she began to prepare breakfast for her family. It was strange being in a new kitchen, but she was certain that she would get used to it in time. It was lovely, the whole house was lovely, and she was relieved to be able to get away from the old, stuffy, crowded town that they had used to live in and move to such a lovely place as Summer Bay. The house had belonged to Susan's grandfather, who had recently died and left it to her, and although she had never been to the Bay before, she had heard that it was a quiet, friendly place. Just the right place to start trying to rebuild their lives again…

Yes, Susan thought grimly, as she threw some bacon in the frying pan. The last four years hadn't been easy at all. First her son had been sentenced to a year in prison for assaulting a police officer, and then while he was inside, her husband had run off with another woman. Then Emma had been attacked and fallen pregnant with baby Jordan and then Lucy had started getting into trouble at school. Sometimes she had truly believed that their family was cursed.

As her three children and Jess hurried down the stairs with Jordan, followed by the two dogs, and quickly slid into the chairs, Susan put their plates in front of them and looked at them fondly. They weren't the easiest children to deal with, they never had been. Benny the oldest, who had left school at fourteen and spent four years following a life of crime before going to prison, had almost been the death of her many times. Even now that he was settled with Jess, he was still very short tempered and quick to lash out, especially if someone hurt his sisters, whom he was very protective of. Then there was Emma, the quiet, shy girl, who had never seemed to be able to come out of her shell. Years of bullying at school had made her very depressed and occasionally suicidal. She also had a tendency to hurt herself, which the whole family struggled to deal with. And of course being raped, splitting up with her long-term boyfriend and having a baby hadn't helped matters much. And finally Lucy, who had fallen in with a crowd of older kids and had started staying out late, getting into trouble and answering back when she was told off. Yes, she thought, as she watched them gobbling down their food, except Emma who was carefully feeding Jordan. They were difficult children indeed, but she loved them and she would do anything for them. All she wanted was for them to be safe and happy.

"So then," Lucy said as she finished her toast. "Now that we have done our rooms, can we please go exploring?"

"You have got to be joking." Benny shook his head. "You lot all went to sleep in the van, but I've been driving for most of the night. The only place I want to go is bed. Coming Jess?"

"Why not?" Jess pushed back her chair and laughed as her boyfriend took her hand and brought it to his lips. Lucy pretended to be sick, while Emma flashed them a small smile.

"I get the feeling that those two aren't actually going to get much sleep," Lucy scowled, as the two went up the stairs, hand in hand. "I want to go exploring."

"You can't go wandering around a strange place on your own." Susan said firmly. "Absolutely not."

"Emma…" Lucy looked at her sister. Emma looked at Jordan and gave a sigh.

"We can go for a short walk around, I suppose," she said after a moment. "Although Jordan is going to need a nap in about an hour, so we'll have to be back before then. Is that all right, mum?"

"Yes, go on then," Susan said as she gathered up the empty plates. "And maybe later we can all go exploring properly. As a family."

"Brilliant," Lucy jumped up from the table and ran up the stairs. "I'll just get ready."

Ten minutes later, the two girls and Jordan were finally ready to go. Lucy was pleased to be outside, although Emma was a little nervous, but nevertheless, the older girl kept her promise. As they walked along, quite a few people stopped and stared at them, while a couple of people came up and introduced themselves. One was a nice woman named Sally and she and Emma talked for several minutes. She asked about Jordan and was shocked when Emma revealed that he was her child, but she didn't probe any deeper and Emma liked her all the more for that. Another person they spoke to was an older man who called himself Donald Fisher and Lucy got excited when they bumped into a good-looking boy, just slightly older than Emma, who told them that his name was Alex. Everyone seemed very friendly and were anxious to make the newcomers feel at home.

Outside the beach diner, they bumped into a group of four young students, all of whom looked about fourteen or fifteen. There were two young girls with long, blond hair who looked like twins, a tall boy with blond hair and another boy who was slightly shorter, with dark hair.

"Hey!" one of the girls greeted. "You must be from the new family who have just moved in. I'm Kirsty Sutherland, this is my twin sister Jade, my boyfriend Seb and Jade's boyfriend, Nick."

"Nice to meet you." Emma replied and Lucy nodded. "I'm Emma Alexander, my younger sister Lucy and little Jordan."

"Aww," Jade bent down to look at the baby. "He's so sweet. How old is he?"

"He was a year old just a few weeks ago," Emma said proudly, reaching down and gently stroking his hair. "He's a lovely baby, but he's a bit of a handful."

"So what do you do around here?" Lucy asked, feeling excluded from the conversation. "Does anything good happen?"

"Sometimes," Kirsty told her and Emma gave a sigh of relief to see that the topic of conversation appeared to have changed. "We were going to hang out in the diner for a while. Would you like to join us?"

"Of course," Lucy said at once. "That would be great, right Em?"

"Well, I guess so." Emma said, a little more hesitant. "If you are sure that you don't mind."

"Of course we don't." Nick said at once, and Seb nodded his agreement. "It's nice to see some new faces around here."

After ordering drinks, the teenagers sat and talked for a while. Emma and Lucy spoke briefly about the rest of their family and the older sister was finally forced to reveal that Jordan was her son when Seb asked. They seemed quite shocked, but they were also curious and asked several questions about what it was like bringing up a baby. Emma was honest and told them that it was very hard work, not easy like some people seemed to think. Then the talk turned to their new-found friends. The Alexander girls discovered that Kirsty and Jade had an older sister, Dani, and that their parents ran the caravan park.

After a while, Emma had to go as Jordan was getting sleepy. But she and Lucy made plans to meet with the Sutherland family on the beach later that day. They were both pleased that they had made some new friends, Lucy especially, and that the locals all seemed very friendly. Emma was sure that her family would have no problem fitting in.