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Part 8

She tried to stop her shaking hands as she walked towards the demolished car under the trees. She kept telling herself that everything was alright, but she didnt believe what she was saying was true.

She walked slowly towards the car and then stopped. 'What if she is dead,' she thought to herself. Her eyes clouded and she thought she was going to break down and cry. She turned around and headed back towards her ute and then stopped and moved towards Tess's car again. 'You have to face this, Claire!' she thought, and took a few more steps. She froze when she realised it was Alex in the car.

"OH GOD!" was all she could say. She repeated the words over and over again as she stood clutching her hands to her chest.

She hesitated for a moment then finally found enough courage to approach the car. she stood near the door and noticed the red drops of blood that covered the cars interior. She knelt down and moved her shaky hand towards Alex's limp body, hesitating, but finally she could find his pulse.

"Thank you," she whispered as she felt his weak heart beats under her hand.

"Alex, Alex! Can you hear me?" she called, trying to wake him up but he would not stir.

'God, what am I gonna do now?' she wondered. She was faced with a painful choice would she leave him and go find some help or would she stay here until someone eventually drove past and found her. 'What if he needs me when I'm not here? Or what if he dies because I don't leave him?' She was at her wits' end.

Finally, she held his hand and looked at his blood-covered face.

"I'm sorry Alex but I have to leave you here for a while. I cant get you out of this car by myself," she said, explaining it as if he could hear her, and waited for a reply, but it didnt come. She stood up, shook her head to clear her mind, put on a brave face and headed towards her ute to go get help.

o"o"o"o"o"o"o"o"o"o"o"o

"Maude!" Harry said. "That's a perfect name for your little girl, Claire."

"Oh yeah," Claire answered with a puzzled face. "That is nice. I'll think about it Harry, thank you."

After watching Harry ride off into the distance, Tess asked Claire what she thouht was a very important question.

"Who the hell is Maude?" she asked as she burst out laughing.

"Stop laughing, Tess. She was Harry's mother," Claire explained with a slightly somber face. She'd never been a major Maude fan after listening to the stories people had told about her but her death was still horrible. Anyone's death was.

"Oh, what happened to her?" Tess asked again. She was still chuckling.

"She died in a car accident so many years ago. When none of us was even born," Claire explained.

"An accident?" Tess asked, curiously. "How?"

"Well, I dont know. I think her car's brake rod was broken. And it didnt work when she wanted to stop the car. You know, sabotage. Something like that," Claire answered.

"Brake rod?" Tess exclaimed, remembering Liz's phone call that she heard by chance in Kilarney.

"Yeah," Claire nodded. Sometime she had no idea about Tess. "What's wrong with that?"

"Oh nothing," Tess replied, distractedly. "Nothing's wrong..."

o"o"o"o"o"o"o"o"o"o"o"o

"Wilgul, Nick Ryan speaking," a male voice said, answering the phone.

"Nick!" Tess exclaimed in a worried tone.

"Oh, hey honey. I miss you. Are you coming home?" he asked, a huge grin appearing on his face as he heard Tess's sweet voice.

"Nick," she repeated, her voice was more serious.

"Tess?" Nick said, noticing that something was wrong. "What is it?"

"Nick, I'm at the hospital," she sighed.

"What happened?" he asked panicking. "Is... is there something wrong with the baby?"

"No, Nick. It's not the baby," she said softly."It's Alex."

"What?" he asked. "Tell me Tess, what happened to Alex?"

"He had an accident on the road. Claire found him. And..."

"How bad is he?" he whispered, as he rested his head against the cool white fridge, trying to gather his wits.

"I dont know Nick. We are still waiting for the doctor to finish with him and then we will find out how bad it is. But Nick," she said back.

"Yeah?" he replied.

"Maybe you should come down here," she said as she barely managed to stop the tears from rolling down her face.

"Yeah, okay.. I'm coming" Nick said. He heard Tess's voice breaking as she whispered 'bye' and then hung up the phone as, he could only imagine, she finally broke down in sobs. Hearing her cry made him cry and before her could find his keys, he sat down at the kitchen table and cried.