Disclaimer: Nothing fancy this time, a huge (by my standards at least) chapter instead. So, I don't own, someone else does. I don't profit from this, you should be able to work that out by the pitiful amount in my bank account.
A/N: Well, seeing as how the Commander never took a large part in the show, I thought that I'd ad-lib a lot of him. So he's going to be a very conservative, religious man who is set in his ways and views of the world. Any objections feel free to flame away. I also can't remember when the Commander married Evan's mother, and so whether he is Commander Jones or Commander something else. For the purposes of this story, let's say that the Commander married Evan's mother after both sons were born, but young enough that they changed their last names. So the Commander has watched Evan grow up.
Jakc: Did I tell you that I loved your review to the last chap of Phonecall? Ok, Jonesy got stabbed (as in the real show) and he was under anesetic when he dreamed that Tess had been stabbed after all. Make Sense?
Brindabella: Oooh, read your TJ, tis good. Wish all the other fans would try their hand at writing.
Kat-Girl-1987: Ok, so read the bit for Jakc, plus add in the fact that this is from two seasons ago... I'm kinda a bit behind
Evan was shocked when the room replied: "You sound like you have something on your mind son." He glanced around, following the voice that sounded remarkably like his father. "Anything you need to share?"
"Dad? When did you get here?" Evan was overwhelmed to see his stepfather. They hadn't had too much contact since he left the Academy. (A/N: I'm not 100 sure about whether or not that's true. I think I might have read it somewhere but I can't be sure.) That was one reason he was uncertain as to how to tell his father about Tess and the baby. It seemed to him that it might open another rift in their already fragile relationship. The Commander had very strong views on what should and should not occur outside of not only work, but also marriage. Evan was certain that his father would not approve of his relationship (or lack-there-of) with his superior officer.
"With whom did you never have a first chance?" It was hard to throw the older man's train of inquiry. The Commander was a copper, after all.
"You've really gotta stop answering my questions to the walls dad." Evan knew he was only prolonging the inevitable. There had never been any escaping the questions from his stepfather. "It's a long story. Why don't you pull up a chair?" He suggested, motioning towards the rather uncomfortable chair that was still placed at his bedside from when Tess had joined him earlier.
As the Commander lowered himself into the plastic chair, he wondered who it was who had last sat here. He figured that what his son had to tell him had something to do with the currently leading lady in his life. Evan Jones had been fickle in some of his early relationships with members of the opposite sex. Recently (or at least since the younger man had left High School) he had become fiercely loyal to whomever he bestowed his affections upon. He turned his concentration from his inner ramblings and reminisces to the young man who lay beside him in a hospital bed, hooked up to the many machines in the room.
"I think that it is safe to assume that whatever I am about to tell you will come as a surprise to you. I haven't exactly been the dutiful son lately, and thus my affairs haven't been greatly related to you." Evan began his story not unlike a dying man may begin his reconciliation with feuding loved ones, which was understandable, given the fact that had the knife hit him slightly higher his father might be giving consideration to writing his eulogy at this very moment. "Have you been down to the station today?" He inquired of his father, not really knowing how to tell him what he had to say.
"No, I heard from Croydon and headed straight here, why?"
"It would be easier to explain had you met the rest of my colleagues." The picture of what was going on in his son's head had just begun to clear for the Commander. Evan paused for a few moments, still unsure as to how to continue. "Tess Gallagher…"
The Commander knew that name from somewhere… it dawned on him what this might be about.
"The woman who was with you on patrol. You're worried about her, aren't you?" He almost snorted at the irony of it. 'Trust my son to be the only bloody compassionate male copper on the force.'
"It's not as simple as that Dad." Evan decided it was time to take the plunge, cut loose all options, and throw the book out the proverbial window. "The truth is… in the short version at least, that I'm in love with her and she's pregnant with my child."
To say you could have heard a pin drop would have been an understatement. There was no sound, the steady hum of the machinery that assured the nurses that Evan Jones was still alive and kicking seemed to evaporate into thin air for a few moments. The laboured breathing behind an oxygen mask almost stopped as Evan watched his stepfather's face go through several emotion-charged expressions. Confusion, panic, disbelief, rage, an emotion that he couldn't account for and then blank. It became void of all expression.
The Commander stood and began pacing around the small area of floor that was bare. "That can't be true. This is just another joke you've decided to play on your dear old dad." He stared down at Evan, willing the younger man to answer in the affirmative.
"Believe me dad when I say that even I wouldn't find that a funny joke to play. Everything I just told you is 110 true." He watched as the Commander resumed his pacing, feeling a little panicky about the reaction that his tale had received.
"She's your superior officer. She's married to another bloke. And you go and get her pregnant?" The Commander accented his speech with his voice raising a little at the end of each word, going from a deathly silence to an almost all-out, one sided, shouting match.
Evan watched in horror as his stepfather returned to the demon that he always became when enraged. The Commander's normally well kept temper could become very intimidating when the fuse finally burnt to its inevitable conclusion. Although the older man had never physically hurt his mother, brother or himself, he had always been well aware of the physical strength contained within the large frame. Against his own will, and better judgement, he began to breath heavily, moving the oxygen mask from where it had rested around his neck to cover his nose and mouth once more.
The steady beeping of the alarm in Room 317 brought a stream of nurses from various places around the ward. The stream flowed into room, all following specific, possibly pre-arranged, tasks. As one nurse lowered the bed of the patient within, another herded his anxious looking father outside.
"Sir, you need to leave." Came through the haze that was Commander Jones' mind. A haze which had been created when the machines' in Evan's room had begun their panic signals.
The Commander had watched as his son began to gulp in air like when he did when he was ten and was competing with his mates to see who could remain under water for the longest. His face had gotten that look of panic that he had when he was eight and realised that he was stuck up the tree and he wouldn't be able to get down. He had that look of disbelief that he had got one morning when his mother told him how his birth father had died. He had the look of betrayal in his eyes that had also been there the day the Commander sided with someone else when he knew he was right during his time at the Academy.
Commander Jones found himself outside on another uncomfortable seat, staring down the hallway towards the door through which he had so recently entered, and abruptly been exited through.
He placed his head in his hands and for the first time since his wife had lost their last child, began to cry. His beliefs, and opinions, had almost cost him another child forever. He couldn't believe that he once had thought it was all worthwhile.
A/N: I'm sorry if you thought that any of the two characters were out of character. Stress can do that to you... (either that or a writer being on holidays and not able to check all the details. Either one works for me!). I'm sorry for another cliff-hanger, but if you check out the announcement at the beginning of last chapter, you should be able to deduce an answer to quell your fears... if that makes sense. Anyway, I'm very proud of myself, this chapter got written 11 days after the last one was written, so I'm going at a reasonably steady pace. As I said earlier, flame (or worship) away.
Another Question: Is Jonesy's mum still alive? It's really important that I know, because if she's not, then there are some problems in the upcoming chapters. It doesn't effect the next chapter but please tell me so I know, and then can take it into account in future chapters.