TITLE: Homecoming
AUTHOR: Carly
RATING: PG
FEEDBACK: Yes please.
DISCLAIMER: I don't own any of these characters.
SUMMARY: She's back...
PAIRING/CHARACTERS: Toadie/Dee, Angie/Kev, Stu, Connor
YEAR: July 2004
UPDATED NOTES 29/12/04: This fic is one of my favourite Neighbours ones I've written. I had the idea in my head for a while before I wrote it and even did some research for it which will hopefully become evident towards the end!
DATE: 7/3/04 - 10/4/04

- - - -

Chapter One

- - - -

"Mr. Rebecchi. Mr. Rebecchi?"

Toadie looked up from his desk in a daze.

"Hmm? Oh, Sandra… sorry, I'm half-asleep here!"

Sandra gave him a smile. "That's okay Mr. Rebecchi, I've just got your tablets."

She handed him two cups, one with pills, and the other with water.

"Thank you. Are you about to head home?"

"I've just got a bit of paperwork to finish up and then I'm off. Did you need anything else?"

"No, I'm good. I'll see you tomorrow."

"Goodnight Mr. Rebecchi."

He watched his receptionist walk out then quickly gulped down the medication for his headache. Toadie leant back in his chair and rubbed his temples gently.

He hadn't been sleeping much lately. He'd been having the dreams again. The same dreams on a constant rotation.

Dreams about Dee.

He first began having them right after the accident. They invaded his precious REM time every night, making him wake up in a cold sweat. As the months passed they frequented his sleep less and less as he became more accustomed to life without her. But now they had started again, even more disturbing than before.

Toadie glanced at his desk calendar.

20th July 2004.

He sighed. It was one day before the anniversary of Dee's disappearance.

- - - -

The smell of the seawater hit him through the window. He snuck a glance over at his wife and smiled to himself in contentment. He loved that he could call her his 'wife' now. Her hair was blowing gently in the breeze, and she was gazing out the window with a hint of a smile on her face. God she's beautiful, he thought. They met each other's eyes and giggled like schoolkids. "Kiss me wife!" They leant in toward each other and met with their lips in the middle. He had only taken his eyes off the road for a second.

Only a second.

Their eyes widened in horror, as they broke apart and saw what was before them.

The cliff.

Brake! His mind screamed.

His foot fumbled for the pedal.

BRAKE!

The car glided off the edge of the cliff. The last thing he remembered seeing was the look of frozen terror on Dee's face.

Toadie's eyes snapped open as he awoke, gasping for breath. He lifted his hand up and wiped the beads of sweat off his forehead, his hands shaking with the effort.

He lay there for a while trying to control his breathing. Trying not to think about the dream he just had… but the scenes wouldn't stop playing out, even when he rubbed his face, as if to try and scour away the pain.

Toadie swung his legs over the side of the bed and got up to get a drink of water from the kitchen. He opened the door of his room. A strangled cry escaped from his throat.

Dee was standing before him in her wedding dress. Her hair stringy, skin drooping, and she had a haunted look in her eyes.

"I'm back," she whispered in a croaky tone. "Back where I belong."

She stepped forward, but as she did, her foot crumbled into dust. She fell forward into Toadie's arms.

"DEE!"

Toadie woke himself up with his own screaming. He sat up with a start. He knew he was awake for real this time because the ache in his heart was so severe.

The alarm clock beside him said 4:30.

It was now the day of his first wedding anniversary.

Toadie looked down at his ring finger with tears welling up in his eyes.

"I miss you babe, I miss you so much."

- - - -

He was sitting at his desk staring solemnly out of the window. Everyone had suggested he just rest today, but he felt it would be better if he kept himself busy. Now he wasn't so sure. All he had done since arriving at the office that morning was slouch in his chair and alternate his view from out the window to the picture he kept of Dee on his desk. He probably would have been better at home.

There was a knock at the door and Sandra walked in.

"I've got your tablets again Mr. Rebecchi," she said, smiling kindly.

He tried to smile back but it was more like a grimace, so he settled for a nod.

She placed the items on his desk and went to walk out, then changed her mind and turned to face him. "Are you okay, Mr. Rebecchi?"

Toadie lifted his head up to look at her. The dreaded 'are you okay?' question. He was wondering who was going to ask him first.

"I'm alright. It's just my headache, that's all."

Sandra knew he wasn't alright, but she also knew that he wasn't in the mood to talk about it either.

"Okay."

She walked out of the room making a mental note to check up on him again in an hour.

He picked up the tablets. Then threw them in the bin. He decided that the pain could stay with him today.

- - - -

Toadie went home early. He got back and headed straight for his room. Stu and Connor had come by to see how he was, but he made out he wanted to sleep because of his headache and they left him alone.

He sat in the middle of the bed and looked at all the photographs that he had strewn around him. Photographs of himself and Dee.

He brushed his fingers lightly over the ones closest to him, smiling fondly at the memories. He picked up one of his favourite ones. It was of the two of them at a charity function. Dee had been hit in the face by a cricket ball and had a black eye and a bandage on her nose, so Toadie had made her feel better by drawing a black eye on himself and sticking on a bandage of his own. Someone had taken it when they were dancing and weren't looking directly at the camera. It was a beautiful unguarded moment.

He put it back down and picked up the one that he kept by his bedside. Dee had hated this photo and didn't know why he liked it so much. It was a picture of her lounging on the couch, wearing one of Toadie's tacky Hawaiian shirts, and giving Bob a cuddle. She thought she looked like a slob, but Toadie thought she had never looked more gorgeous. He loved the fact that she was wearing something of his – That someone this special wanted to be with him.

Toadie could hear familiar voices in the hallway. He scooped all of the pictures back into the box he kept them in and slid them back under the bed.

"Toadie?"

His bedroom door opened and his mum and dad appeared.

"Mum! Dad! What are you guys doing here?"

Angie and Kev came in. His dad clapped him on the shoulder, giving him a one-arm embrace, and his mum swooped over to engulf him in a bear hug.

"Whoa, steady on there mum! You'll bowl me over next time!"

Angie smiled. "I'm just really happy to see you sweetheart, is all."

"It's good to see you guys, too. Shouldn't you be at the roadhouse though?"

"Mate, don't you remember us calling the other day?" Kev asked.

Toadie looked at them blankly.

"You do know what day it is, don't you Toad?" his mum said gently. "We came here so we could go with you to Dee's… resting place."

It all rushed back to him like blow to the head.

"Oh… that," he replied, swallowing hard. "I didn't remember."

Angie sat next to him and rubbed his back. "I think it'll be good for you son, it might give you some closure."

"Stop telling him what's best for him, Angie! Let the boy make a decision on his own." Kev glared at her.

She looked fiercely at her husband then trained her eyes back on Toadie. "Fine. Toadie, we don't have to go if you don't want to… but I really think it would do you the world of good."

Kev sighed in exasperation. "Couldn't help yourself could you, Ang, he…"

"I'll go," Toadie cut in quietly.

He got up to grab a jacket. Putting it on he looked back at his parents. "But I don't want to stay very long."

They nodded and gave him strained smiles.

Toadie walked ahead of them up the hallway.

"Stuart and Connor say he's been having the dreams again," Angie whispered to Kev.

Kev frowned. "I thought he'd gotten over them?"

Angie's eyes started to glisten. "It's obviously been playing on his mind again. My poor baby," she sighed sadly.

- - - -

The Rebecchi's car crunched over the gravel of the car park. Toadie finally lifted his head when he felt the vehicle come to a stop. He had kept his head down the entire trip there, just focusing on his wedding band, twirling it around from time to time. He hadn't taken it off since she placed it on his finger a year ago to that day.

"We're here, son," he heard Kev say.

He nodded and got out of the car.

At first he was too anxious to even move. The sight of Dee's memorial place brought back a lot of painful thoughts. Angie lightly held his arm.

"Let's take some steps."

She coaxed him gently into walking and they made their way to the side of the cliff where they had thrown roses off the side. Dee's favourite flower.

Toadie was going okay until he started to have the flashbacks.

The car going off the cliff.

The water rushing around his head.

Him yelling out for Dee.

The rescue helicopters buzzing overhead.

The emergency crew calling off the search.

"No, no, no, no," he called out, getting louder and louder each time.

"Shh, Toadie, it'll be alright. It'll be alright!"

He wouldn't listen though. "NO!" He broke free from his mum's arm and stormed back to the car. "Take me back!" he ordered sternly, his voice slightly breaking.

Angie and Kev watched helplessly as their son completely broke down.

"Take me back," he sobbed. "Please, take me back. I can't be here anymore."

They walked silently to the car and crouched beside him. Kev held on to his arm and Angie tenderly wiped the tears away from his face.

"Okay, sweetheart. We'll go."

- - - -

His parents stayed with him awhile when they arrived back home, but he wasn't really in the mood for talking anymore, so they said goodbye and promised to come back the next day. Susan had offered to put them up for a few days seeing as she had so much room in her house now.

He lay on his bed with his arms folded behind his head. The moon was cascading in from the window. He hadn't bothered to close the curtains tonight. Eventually he drifted off into a listless sleep.

- - - -

Toadie could hear knocking coming from somewhere. He sat up and looked at the clock. It said 22:30. He slowly got up and went to investigate.

It was coming from the door.

He reached out his hand to open it.

His body constricted in shock when he saw who it was.

Dee.

She was in black pants and a cream jumper. Her hair was a brunette colour, cut into a shoulder length style.

She looked at him, her face twisting as she burst into tears.

"Jarrod…" she whispered. "I'm home."

Toadie knew he was awake because his heart ached… with happiness.

"Dee?"

Continued…