Chapter number 40. Still daddy's little girl

"Hey" Brett greeted Rose and Martha as he entered Martha's room to see them packing some of Martha's stuff, she was really leaving. "Lunch is ready".

"Oh good I'm starving" Rose exclaimed, walking towards the door.

"Well how about you go on up there and leave me and Martha for a minute then?" Brett suggested.

"Alright" she agreed, exiting the room.

Martha folded up some clothes and placed them in her suit case before turning around to see Brett already sitting down on the edge of her bed, then stepping forward she sat down next to him.

"I'm so proud of you sweety" Brett started, "and I'm going to miss you".

"I'm going to miss you too" Martha smiled.

"I still remember that day when we found you again, I still remember you standing at the door of my office. I'll never forget that day" he said honestly.

"Me nether, that was the day I found who my dad really was. But this doesn't mean I'm leaving you, by the sounds of mum's sentence it looks like I'll still be here a lot".

Brett's eyes were watery and he felt like a lump was in his throught, "I just don't want to lose my little girl".

"And your not going to" Martha told him, falling into her fathers arms for a hug, "I'll always be your little girl, I promise" she whispered.

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Peter sat alone in the bedroom of his apartment, he couldn't cry, he was beyond crying, she was gone, he just wished he knew where. He took in a deep breath and prepared for the worst, 'ok Peter, so she left you, get over yourself' his mind told him, 'ok so maybe that's a little hard', he had to convince himself that he was better off, she probably was where ever she'd gone too, 'ok so she sent the email, she set you up, she knew all along that Loyd was alive' he tried to convince himself, but he knew none of that was true. Aimlessly he fell backwards onto his bed, his heart was shattered, he loved her so much that it hurt.

His eyes drifted into the ceiling, looking far beyond it and imagined the sky outside. He could imagine himself flying into space, so far that he couldn't see earth anymore, he could see the stars around him, drifting behind him as he passed them, up ahead was another planet, another world to explore and forget about his problems on earth, not that that was easy, subconsciously Lara was in the back of his mind, it was a little pain reminding him of his heart break.

He moved his hands in front of him, moving them outwards then back in again like he was doing breath stroke through the black empty space, moving towards the planet, which looked like pictures of mars he'd seen, 'perfect' he thought, the planet of men, no women to break his heart and shatter it into a million pieces.

But the closer he got to to the surface, the more thoughts of the real world came back to him, like there was no escape, they ran around his brain, circling around like children, making him feel dizzy. He was falling, falling back the way he came, back to earth, back to reality. The stars were whooshing past him, like they were shooting, they sky slowly turned from black to blue, and he found himself lying on his bed once again, panting in a rage to try and catch his breath.

When he was breathing normally again, he sat up and got up to get a drink from the kitchen, this was a really weird day, nothing seemed right, which make him start to thing he had gone loony. He reached out his hand to open the cupboard and take a glass out, then it hit him, 'what if...' he thought, 'what if she didn't choose to leave?'

Realizing this Peter stopped what he was doing and grabbed his keys, he had to find her, he didn't know where he was going to look, but he'd just have to try.

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"Lara!" Jemma shot out after lying on the ground in silence for the last hour.

"What?" Lara asked, seeming shocked at noise finally being present in the room.

"It came undone" she exclaimed, lifting up her hands that were untied.

"Oh my gosh, undo me" she begged, sitting up and turning her back to her so she could untie the hands from behind her back.

"Ouch, he's done yours tight... hang on... got it" she spoke loosening the rope so Lara's wrists could be releaved.

"Thanks".

"That's ok, now if only it was so easy to get these feet undone" she muttered, reaching down to try and unknot her feet, as Lara did the same. Before long they were free, leaving the building as carefully as possible, ready to face the bush, Lara just hoped Jemma knew what she was doing, cause she didn't have a clue where they were.

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Martha, Jack, Ruth, Brett and Rose all sat around the Macklin's dinning room, lunch was finished, finally, Ruth had cooked a lot, she wanted to make sure her daughter's last meal living under their roof was one to remember, and it was safe to say she wouldn't, they'd all been so full they swore they'd never eat another Italian meal or piece of chocolate cake again.

"So how does it feel to be free again?" Brett asked, trying to make conversation while the girls gossiped at the other end of the table about... well Brett wasn't quite sure really, he always found it hard to understand the way they carried on.

"Well I'll never take home cooked food for granted that's for sure" Jack joked.

Brett chuckled slightly, "so I'm guessing it's as bad as hospital food there?"

"Worse" Jack answered imediently, "half the stuff there made me want to spew".

"So how's everything else then, you must be happy to be back with your family again" Brett continued, he'd never really had time to get to know Jack, when ever he hadn't been in jail, he and Martha hadn't been in speaking terms, so the Holden's house had been a no go zone, but now it looked like he'd be spending a lot of time with him, not just because of Dylan, it was obvious that things were going well between his daughter and Jack.

"Yeah, it's been great, I just wish my brother would hurry up and get back from his honeymoon, he pretty much took off right after I got back. Seeing Dylan again has been great too".

"Yeah his a good kid" Brett smiled.

"Yeah, I just wish I'd had more chance to get to know him in the past. You know, the more I see of him the more I realize how much he's like his mother" Jack commented, looking in the direction of Dylan sitting at the table a few seats down from him.

"True, he is a lot like her" Brett admitted, "but some how I don't think he got his half crocked smile from her, it's always amazed me how he does that, what's the secret?".

Jack chuckled, "well that, is a secret not even all us crocked smiling Holden's know the answer too".

Brett and Jack grew silent again and the sound of the girls up the other end of the table could be heard, Brett looked around and watched his daughter, she was so happy, which made him smile, he just wished she wasn't leaving.

Jack noticed this, seeing where Brett was looking, "your going to miss her aren't you?"

"Yeah I am" he admitted, "take care of her".

"I will" Jack promised, "I promise I won't let anything happen to her".

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Boyd sat out the front of one of the coffee shops in Sydney, across the round mettle table was his daughter. He lifted his mug up and took another sip if the warm coffee, he didn't really know what to say, he hardly knew her, so he thought of the first thing that came to mind, "so I forgot to ask how your mum was going, how is she?"

"She's ok I guess, I haven't actually spoken to her since I left".

"Left as in moved out of home?" Boyd seemed shocked, he'd just presumed that Janae had come down with her and was staying with her.

"Well... yeah" Danielle managed to get out, she knew how bad it looked, like a complete rebel, not exactly the impression she had dreamed of giving her father when she finally met him, the truth was she'd already tried ever way to still stay with her mum and find her dad, but her mum wouldn't have a bar of it, she'd just say the same old line she always used, 'if he wasn't prepared to stick around then he's not worth looking for after all these years'.

"Why didn't you say so, we could of let you stay with us, we've got plenty of room" Boyd offered, luckily he hadn't given any impression of thinking of her differently, that would of left Danielle with a lot of explaining to do, and she didn't really want to bring up all her problems with her mum.

"I don't think that's really the best idea dad, I mean, Rose didn't seem to happy when I turned up" she said nervously.

"She was shocked, you have to realize it's a big thing for her too" Boyd told her.

"Yeah I know, which is why I don't think I should rush in".

"fair enough, so where are you staying then?"

"Just down at one of the hotels around the corner".

"Well, if your not going to move in then at least come and meet your little step sister".

"I've got a step sister?" she smiled with excitement.

"Yeah only just, she's not that old yet".

"Well I can't wait to meet her then".

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"Where the hell are we Jem?" Lara asked, so far they'd been trudging through the bush for about an hour, and every tree seemed to look the same as the last.

"Not to far now" she told her, "don't worry we'll get there" she smiled looking around at Lara behind her. "So does any of this look familiar to you?" she asked when they came to a clearing and found the old shed that her and Peter had been led to in the first clue.

"Yeah it does" Lara smiled looking around the area, then she came cross something, it ... it was Peter's car. "Oh my gosh".

"What?"

"Peter" Lara gasped, running over to the empty car and looking inside, he wasn't there, "where is he?"

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Jack walked into the spare room of the Holden's house, well it was Martha's room now. He placed her suit case down next to her bed and sat down next to her, "thanks" she smiled.

"For what?"

"For everything, I'm glad were doing this" she said lovingly.

"Good, cause so am I, I wouldn't want you to be anywhere else... unless of course you get lonely and decide to bunk in with me" he tease, wrapping on arm around her and kissed her om the cheek.

"What are you trying to say?" she flirted back, also wrapping an arm around him, "Are you saying this confused relationship is... well... flexible?"

"Maybe" he answered, raising his eyebrows quickly, "well just have to wait and see".

"Are you trying to seduce me constable?" she asked, looking right into his eyes, she didn't know what had gotten into her, but Jack didn't seem to mind.

"And why do you ask that?" he asked cheekily, moving closer to her, he couldn't help himself and he found himself moving his hand to move a piece of stray hair behind her ear where it belonged.

There eyes locked and the harmless flirting stopped, Martha found herself pulling him in, her arms were around his neck, giving easy access for her hands to push the back of his head so he was closer.

Jack cupped her face, he needed her, he needed her now. His heart raced and he had an urge to pull her right into it, but he held onto the moment of there gaze fixed and there faces in such a close proximity that he could feel her warm breath on his face.

Martha captured Jacks lips with hers, kissing him tender and sweet. But this didn't stop her from pulling him in more and more, there body's getting firmer and firmer against each other. Her heart was jumping inside, last night she thought she couldn't be happier when Jack asked her to move in, but she was wrong; now she couldn't be happier.

Jack reacted to her kiss imediently, running his hands up and down her back, drawing her in. He could feel her lips moving under his and her hands running through his hair, this only proceeded to turn him on even more, and before he realized what he was doing, he was on top of her and he could feel her hands on his chest, beginning to undo the buttons on his shirt. He pulled away slowly, looking at her beautiful face that lay under him, her hair fell loosely around her face and he could see her eyes sparkling back at his. "I should probably let you unpack" he whispered. He wasn't rejecting her, his voice made sure of that, he wasn't unsure ether, but now probably wasn't the time, for all they knew Dylan could come racing in any minute.

"Yeah, you probably should" she agreed, still smiling uncontrollably as Jack sat up before he grabbed her hand to help her sit up too.

He held her in his arms for a second, lowering his mouth to her ear, "are you sure you don't want to stay in my room?" he whispered before lowering further to plant tiny kisses on her neck.

"No I'm not sure" she admitted, moving her neck away slightly, "but it's the way it's going to have to be for the moment".

"Aww" Jack complained, putting on a pleading face.

"No" she giggled, rubbing her nose against his, "but I still love you".

"Good, cause I still love you too" he smiled, "well I should leave you to it then".

"Ok, see you later" she said before he left the room, still with his shirt half unbuttoned and his hair messed up.

Jack closed the door, turning to walk down the hall way to his room, down the end of the hallway at the top of the stairs was Tony, who took one look at Jack and was completely shocked, he just come out of Martha's room looking like that? "I should of guessed" he mumbled to himself, shaking his head to try to get rid of the thought before walking back down the stairs.

Ok, I hope all thoughts who were itching to see more J&M are happy now. Please review, I won't continue till I've got 2 or more.