"Right, I'm finished for the day." Ryan said relieved to have finally be leaving work.
"Lucky for some!" Aaron sighed from underneath a ford fiesta as he muddled with the breaks.
"I know, going to go see If Katie wants to go for a meal tonight." Ryan told him as he took his overalls off and flung them on one of the pegs inside the garage.
"Have fun." Aaron said sarcastically as he tried to tighten a bolt up even harder with as much strength he could muster.
Ryan laughed. "See you tomorrow mate."
"See you." Aaron said before he was left on.
Ryan's retreating footsteps on the gravel were replaced with approaching footsteps, thinking it was the customer who was coming to pick up his car, Aaron pulled himself out from underneath the car.
"Oh it's you." Aaron said when he saw it wasn't the customer but Jackson.
"Nice to see you to." Jackson said following Aaron into the garage where the young mechanic was pulling off his plastic gloves and tying his overalls round his waist.
"I'm busy what do you want." Aaron said to him being his usual self.
"Charming." Jackson exclaimed. "Just wanted to come see my boyfriend after work."
"Well, some of us have real work to do. We don't all stand around all day drinking cups of tea and whistling at anything that goes past."
"No, you don't. Instead you sit around eating bacon rolls and ripping customers off." Jackson joked as he plonked himself down a car seat abandoned at the back of the garage.
"What do you want? I've got to finish this car and sort out the paper work before the customer gets back." Aaron sighed taking up the seat behind the untidy desk, piled high with paper work and car parts. He began to search around for the papers he needed knocking a few things on the floor by accident.
"Clumsy."
"Shut up."
"I'll make us a brew shall I?" Jackson said getting to his feet and walking over to the kettle and mugs balanced on top of a filing cabinet on the other side of the garage.
The radio was playing in the background like usual, whenever it was just Aaron working, he had on loud and on his favourite station to keep him company. Even though he loved working with cars, there did come a point when he needed something else to occupy him to prevent him from getting too bored. It was six a clock so the radio Dj switched to the six a clock news on time going on about traffic jams, the lastest news on the troops in Afghanistan and a missing child that had disappeared on a school field trip. None of it really caught either of the men's attention, to busy carrying out their activities. Aaron still couldn't find the right paper work. Surely, they should have some sort of filing system figured out? It wasn't until the news reporter reached the last story did Aaron perk up a little, Jackson too.
". . . It was yesterday evening when twenty nine year old Darrel Kendall was arrested for the third time in less than two years. Kendall is now waiting to be sentenced in the upcoming few days after his fatal attack of a twenty two year old man." The news reporter read.
"Aaron-."
"Shh!"
"- It is believed to be known that this isn't the first time that Kendall has carried out an attack against a young male. At the end of last year he was facing court after allegedly sexually attacking a teenage boy numerous times and leaving him to die in his own home in Emmerdale. Even before that he had left another young male in a critical condition." The news reporter continued. "The true facts about what happened yesterday evening are still unclear, but it is believed to be known that Kendall approached the twenty two year old, who is yet to be named, outside his home in robblesfield, before repeatedly hit the young man with a heavy object causing many injuries to the abdomen and torso that caused his death. Apparently the two had been seeing each other for a few months, it is unclear as to what caused the attack. More will be announced when we hear further details. . . ."
"Aaron . . ." Jackson called out, just as shocked as what Aaron was about the news that had been heard over the radio. They had heard nothing about the older man for month. They had finally put it all behind them. Since January Aaron had been going to counselling sessions helping him put it all behind them. They had all moved on and left the horrible man in the past. They had expected to have dragged up after all these years. "Are you okay?"
Aaron nodded his head and swallowed. "Yeah, I'm fine."
"Are you sure, this is such a big thing?" Jackson told him. He wanted Aaron to be honest with him.
"I'm little shaken if I'm honest." Aaron shrugged. "I didn't think- . . . I thought I'd put it all behind us. This. . . it's just a bit . . . weird?"
"It's understandable Aaron." Jackson assured him. "After all that he put you through, you have a right to feel a little shaken when his name is brought up."
"Yeah?"
"Of course, and what he'd done, what the news reporter said. It's bound to have brought it all back to you." Jackson said as he made his way over to the young mechanic and pulled him into his arms. "But you're safe, I promise."
They were both silent for a while, both concentrating on the rhythmic pattern of each other's breathing, until Aaron spoke up every so quietly a few short minutes later.
"That could have been me. . ."
"But it wasn't." Jackson said quickly. The mere thought of it being the young teen caused his stomach churn and his heart to ache. He had been so close to losing Aaron that time.
"But It could have been, if Rhona hadn't found me. . ."
"Shh, don't think about that. You're here and you're alive and you're safe, that's all that matters right now." Jackson hushed, pulling his arms tighter around the teen and squeezing his eyes shut to block out the what if's running through his mind.
"But he's not. That man, he's dead." Aaron stated almost coldly. "If I had pushed that little bit harder, been more convincing in court, then Darrel would have been thrown in prison and that man would still be alive. He would never of met him."
"-Please, Aaron don't think like that." Jackson pleaded. "You tried your hardest, your absolute hardest those days in court, you done everyone proud. You were so, so, so brave. It's not your fault that that stupid during didn't listen to you, that they couldn't see to do the right thing when it was slapping them right in the face. It's not your fault the Darrel squirmed his way free out of there. You done your best okay? It's not your fault."
"But I could-."
"No. You couldn't have. You done everything you could have done. So don't you ever blame yourself. You hear me?" Jackson said firmly pulling out of the embrace and holding Aaron at arms length to look at him directly in the eye to show that he wasn't taking no nonsense and that he was speaking the truth. "This time round, he won't get away with it. He'll go down. Just you wait and see."
"Excuse me? I've come to pick my car?" A voice just a few metres away from the spoke up like she was intruding on something.
"Oh right, just bare with me a sec. I just need to finish the paper work and it's all yours." Aaron said jumping to his feet and turning his back to the customer to not only continue his search for the papers but to also pull himself together a little.
Jackson gave him a reassuring rub on the arm before going back over to the kettle to finish making their tea.
"Right here we are!" Aaron said triumphantly as he plucked up a piece of paper covered in smears of grease and oil. "Replaced the two back tires because of the lack of tread on the old ones, passenger wing mirror fixed and the brake cables have been tightened." Aaron ran off to the customer as he filled out boxes on the paper in his messy writing. "Should be as good as new." He smiled at her handing her the keys and paper work. "Come back and let me know if you're having any more problems with it."
"Thank you." She said taking the keys and papers from Aaron.
"See you later, have a nice evening." Aaron called back to her as she retreated to her car and he backed back into the garage to clear up.
"Cuppa." Jackson said, handing Aaron a cup of tea.
"Thanks." Aaron sighed taking the offered cup and a running a hand down his face in a tired manor.
A/N – Okay guys this is it. The end of this little fanfic. I'm sad that it is the end of this one as I have thoroughly enjoyed writing this one as much as some of you have enjoyed reading it. The reviews and feedback have been such a great help towards me improving my writing skills and developing my ideas. So thank you once again. Watch this space for some time in the future for maybe a sequel to Terrified. But first I must concentrate on finishing off my other started fanfic's and letting this one have a break.