Chapter 33

She found herself walking up a sandy path, heading for the familiar cliff that she used to spend much of her time on. It was the cliff where her and Jack had shared their first kiss, and for her it had the best scenery in the whole of Australia. Not just because of the view of the gorgeous sandy beach, and the clear, beautiful blue sea crashing into the rocky cliffs, it was because of the memories that came flooding back as soon as she stepped onto the hard rock. She carried on walking up the path, across the bumpy ground, when something shiny blinded her as she reached the top. She made her way towards it and sat beside it, trying to figure out what it was. The gold, glowing object was red hot as she touched it, causing her to whip away her hand almost instantly. She moved a little away, blocking the suns light and stopping the glow, allowing her to see the actual object. It was a plaque. Her plaque; and engraved was her favourite poem. 'So this is where he put it' she thought, smiling at his choice of location. But the smile soon turned into a frown as she thought of him dropping off her things at her apartment, right now. She sat staring at the plaque, instead of the beautiful scenery behind her. Whenever she saw the edge of that cliff, she reminisced the good time she shared with Jack, when he forgave her. She didn't want to think about that now, so she chose not to suffer the pain and didn't look.

Jack sat, his legs dangling over the edge of the cliff. His navy sports bag was sat beside him, and Martha's journal on his lap. He hadn't been able to take Martha's possessions back to her apartment, not without having a last look anyway. He'd been searching through the bag, briefly looking at the memorabilia's that it contained, when he came across the journal. He had toyed with the idea of reading the remaining pages, but wasn't completely sure if he should, seen as though he knew that she was alive. After a little while of staring at the tattered front cover of the journal, he flicked through the pages, looking for the point he'd left the reading at, when Martha left the bay. His reading was interrupted by a short cry from behind him. He spun around, to find Martha facing the opposite way.

"Martha?" Jack asked. She turned around to the familiar voice, quickly wiping away her tears.

"Jack." She smiled. They sat there for a moment, staring at one another. Jack didn't like to see her crying, it made himself feel sad watching the tears roll down her cheek. He wanted to comfort her, make her feel better, but the feeling of betrayal kept him from doing so.

"We need to talk." He said. Martha nodded slowly and walked up near the edge of the cliff. "You sure? We don't have to stay near the edge." Jack asked, surprised at how far Martha had actually come.

"I'm…fine.." She said, her voice trembling with the fear. She put her hand on his shoulder as she slowly lowered herself and sat down on the edge, also dangling her feet over the waves. Jack let out a light chuckle, as he watched Martha stare below them, she was clearly petrified. She looked up. "What are you laughing at?" She asked. Jack shook his head.

"Nothing.." He lied. They both sat in silence, waiting for the other to start to speak. "Why were you crying?" Jack asked, concerned. Martha looked up at him, she'd stopped crying now, but her eyes will still red and sore from her sobs.

"Stubbed my toe…" They laughed, he knew that it wasn't the truth, but he wasn't going to push it. Martha's eyes drifted to the journal on Jack's lap, he saw her look at it.

"Erm, I'm sorry. I know I shouldn't-" He began.

"It's okay." She smiled. "I don't mind." Jack was taken aback by Martha's calm mood, he thought that she'd kill him for reading it. "What point did you get up to?" She enquired.

"Well, the night before your ceremony I read up to… when you left to go to Sydney." Jack answered. Martha nodded.

"Hmm, well, that's a good topic actually." She said. Jack looked confused. She wasn't going to start arguing with him again, was she? She took the diary from his hands and opened to the page, then returned it and gently patted the page. "Go on." She smiled. Jack hesitated at first, but he really wanted to read it, so he did as he was told. It only took him a few lines until he stopped.

"I heard you say this, when we were in Sydney. You said it to Callum, Ryan and Christie." Jack said. "I didn't know you were leaving the bay!" Jack protested. "I ignored the text because I was trying to get over you, not that I didn't care you were leaving. I'd avoided the Diner because I was trying to forget about you, so I never heard about you going to the city, well that was until that night at Noah's." Jack's voice trailed off. "I couldn't believe you'd left without saying goodbye. I thought we meant more than that."

"So you cared?" Martha asked, hopeful. Jack smiled.

"Yes, I did."