Young At Heart

Part IV

By

Muzza

DISCLAIMERS:- BEEN THERE, DONE THAT, SEE PART 1

Chapter 17

The clinic was pretty quiet when Tegan and Jamie arrived, which wasn't surprising really, with it being only 9.15 in the morning. Tegan had come totally prepared for this, so she was hoping it wouldn't take too long.

They sat quietly in the waiting room, just enjoying each other's company. The waiting room was colourful and cheerful for a clinic. The reception was on the one wall away from the waiting area and there was only three people waiting before Tegan. It wasn't long before Jamie recognized two familiar figures walking into the clinic.

Darren spotted her and smiled. Then when the man with him had finished at the reception desk, he and Darren walked over to sit with Jamie and Tegan.

Tegan got a good look at the man with Darren. He was a good looking fellow really. He had brown hair and blue eyes and he looked ill. He looked like he would be slightly shorter than Jamie when they were stood together.

"Good morning, Ladies." Darren greeted them, as they sat down.

"Morning, Darren," Jamie said. "Morning, S.C."

"Morning, J.P." The young man smiled, weakly. It had been a long time since he had seen Jamie, he'd spoken to her a few times on the phone, but he'd been hospital in Cardiff for three weeks and with Jamie's constant work load she had only been able to make the three hour journey twice. So they spoke on the phone when Jamie wanted to check on how he was.

"Tegan, this is another good friend of mine, Scott Calvin," Jamie introduced them. "Scott ,this is Tegan Rhys."

"Morning, Tegan." Scott said.

"So, how are you keeping, Scott?" Jamie asked.

"Same old, same old," Scott said. "You know how it is."

"Scott is the friend that we hold the fund-raisers for." Jamie explained, telling Tegan that Scott had AIDS.

"Oh." Tegan said, sadly. He didn't look much older than her and to have a life ruined that young was horrible. Just as Tegan was about to speak again the number on the board changed and Tegan's number came up. "Oh well I guess I'd better be going."

"Are you going to be ok?" Tegan stood to leave and looked into the concerned blue eyes.

"I should be." Tegan wished she could ask Jamie to come in with her but she needed to do this herself. "I shouldn't be long."

"Ok." Jamie said, as she watched Tegan's disappearing back. Before turning back to talk to Scott and Darren.

* * * * *

Inside the doctors office, Tegan spotted a female doctor looking at a computer. She knocked on the door and waited until the doctor lifted her head and smiled under a mop of brown hair.

"Good morning." She gave Tegan a warming smile, standing up and holding out a hand. "You must be Tegan Rhys?"

"Yes I am." Tegan agreed, reaching out to take the offered hand.

"Ok. I'm Dr. Kelly Andrews." The doctor introduced herself, before releasing Tegan's hand and motioning for her to sit down while she sat back at her pine desk. The room was pretty small really. You had the desk in one corner, the uncomfortable doctors bed in the other corner with the long blue curtain hanging from the rail. The weighing scales were right by the door as was the height ruler "Well I have to ask you a few questions before we start on what it is you came here for. Just so I can get to know about you, because you are not a registered patient here. Ok?"

Tegan nodded her head. "Ok."

"Great," Kelly said. "First of all what is your date of birth?"

"September 5th, 1982." Tegan answered.

"Ok," Kelly said, as she typed that into her computer. "Where were you born?"

"River's End General." Tegan answered.

"Ok," Kelly said, putting that into the computer, then bypassing some of the questions. "We'll sort all of that out in minute." She said to herself, looking over some more questions before settling on the ones she needed to ask. "Are you sexually active?"

"Um, well I uh... I guess you could say I am now." Tegan couldn't stop the sadness creep into her voice and her eyes at that.

Kelly heard it as well. "Ok," She said, typing that into the computer. "Do you want to talk about it?"

'Do I?' Tegan asked herself. 'She is a doctor. She has a right to know,' she decided finally.

"I was raped three weeks ago." She said, quietly, and she was relieved that it had come out easier this time than it did the first and second time.

"Oh," Kelly looked at the young woman in front of her her grey eyes full of sympathy. "Were you checked out after?"

Tegan looked at the hands that fidgeted in the lap. "No", she admitted quietly.

"You should have been Tegan, especially with all the sexually transmitted diseases that are going around today." Kelly told her.

"I know," Tegan said. "I was frightened though."

"I know," Kelly said. "But while you are here I would prefer it if you would let me take some blood, just to check."

"Ok sure." Tegan agreed. So Kelly took some blood and placed it on the desk beside her.

"Ok now what can I do for you? Before we check your height and weight and stuff." Kelly asked.

"Well I missed my period two weeks and I wanted to take a pregnancy test," Tegan said. "I don't trust those cheap tests you can buy from the pharmacy."

"Ok," Kelly said. "Did you bring a sample with you?"

Tegan took the plastic container out of her pocket and handed it to the doctor. "I figured you would want one."

"Good," Kelly said. "Let me just go and check this then. I'll be right back" With that she left.

She returned after about five minutes. "Ok while the sisters are sorting that out, let me just have your weight and height so I can finish this off."

So Tegan stood up and then went over to weighing scales. She typed the results into the computer, then stood Tegan against the large ruler on the wall. She took the height then added that into the computer. She looked at the questions she hadn't asked before turning back to Tegan.

"Ok just a couple more now." She hated all of these questions, some of them were so pointless, but these were the important. "Have you had all your injections?"

Tegan thought about that before answering. "Yeah I had them when I was five."

"Good," Kelly said. "Is there any heart disease in your family?"

"No." Tegan said.

"Diabetes?" Kelly asked.

"No." Tegan answered.

"Good," Kelly said. "Let me just check your blood pressure and your breathing." That done she looked at the notes again. "Well Tegan from the looks of this I say you sound extremely healthy. That is good sign. Let me just go and get the results of that test."

So she left Tegan again to get the results.

It wasn't long before she came back again. Tegan couldn't make out the look on her face "Well?" Tegan asked, impatiently.

"Do you want to be pregnant or not?" Kelly asked, she knew the results and she needed to know what Tegan wanted before she knew how to tell her one way or the other.

"At first I didn't think I did. But it's kind of exciting if I am." Tegan said ."If I'm not that that's ok because I have plenty of time for that later."

Kelly breathed a sigh of relieve at her words, then looked at the paper in her hand again. "Well it was positive."

She was surprised to see a smile on Tegan's face, that reached her eyes. "It did?" Tegan asked, she knew she looked stupid sat there with a grin on her face but she didn't care. She was going to be a mother and for the first time she was happy again. She knew that most probably when everything hit her she was going to start doubting whether to have the baby or not but at that moment, their was nothing more precious than what was growing inside her.

"Yeah you are one month pregnant," Kelly said. "Congratulations."

"Thanks." Tegan said.

"You are going to have to make an apointment with the hospital in about three weeks time so you can go for an ultrasound just to make sure everything is developing as it should, and you have to go to relaxation classes. It is vital for someone of your age to get the proper care because you are at the age of a high risk pregnancy. Your condition will need to be monitored carefully. Just in case we need to warrant bed rest or anything like that. All of that is done here on any afternoon from three thirty to five thirty. You just pick a day when it is convenient for you." Kelly explained. "Are you going to tell your parents now or wait until later?"

"I'm not going to tell them." Tegan said.

Kelly looked at her with worried grey eyes. "They are going to find out sooner or later Tegan."

"No they won't. I don't live with my parents anymore. They are still in River's End. I'm here on my own." Tegan said, 'well not exactly on my own', she thought with a smile.

"Will you have anyone to come to these classes with you?" Kelly asked.

"I think I will but I'll have to ask her first." Tegan said.

"Ok good. Well I'll send the blood of to the lab and then if there is any problems I shall let you know." Kelly said. "And remember to make those appointments."

"I will. Thank you, Doctor Andrews." Tegan said, as she turned to leave.

"You're welcome and please, call me Kelly." Kelly said, 'another wasted youth,' she thought sadly as Tegan left.

Jamie was still talking to Darren, who was waiting for Scott to come out, when Tegan came out of the doctors room. Darren nodded towards Tegan and Jamie looked in her direction. She quietly got up and walked over to Tegan. "How did it go?"

"Ok." Tegan met the worried blue eyes with a smile.

Jamie was desperately trying not to ask what the test results were but it was killing her.

Tegan saw her struggle and smiled before letting her off the hook. "I'm pregnant."

Jamie looked into her green eyes, trying to see any reaction in them, wondering if she was happy or not. They hadn't really talk about whether Tegan wanted the baby or not. "Is that good news?"

Tegan thought about it for a miute before making her decision. "Yes it is."

With that Jamie smiled and released a breath, she didn't know she had been holding. "That's good. Come on let's go say bye to Darren and then let's get out of here. I hate clinics."

So they did just that, they said goodbye to Darren and told him they would see him at the club later, then the went to the office.

* * * * *

They arrived at the office in about half an hour, and got straight into work. Before long, though, they had to stop for lunch when Tegan's stomach made itself known.

"Come on let's go and get something to eat," Jamie said, after a while. "Mixed Blessings should be open now."

"Why do they call it Mixed Blessings anyway?" Tegan asked. She had been trying to figure that out since she had been there the first time. It was a fast food restaurant.

"Well when we asked Dean, the owner, he said it was because that's exactly what they served. The food is absolutely gorgeous but it isn't good for us. So while it is good for us, it isn't good for our bodies." Jamie explained to her.

"I never thought of that." Tegan said.

"Yeah, and don't forget no hamburgers or anything like that for you for a while." Jamie reminded her.

Tegan frowned. "Why not?"

"Greasy food isn't good for the baby. You have to remember there are two of you now," Jamie said. "I know all about babies because I helped my mother go through two pregnancies. I helped a lot more with Robin though."

"Well that's good, because I don't know anything about having a baby yet," Tegan admitted. "That part wasn't covered very well in school. They only gave you the information on what to do to stop yourself from getting pregnant."

"Didn't you think of taking the morning after pill?" Jamie asked. "I know it doesn't always work but it might have been better than this."

"No I didn't," Tegan admitted. "Beside my view on that, personally, is if you get pregnant, you get pregnant. I think the second that baby is conceived it becomes a person and I refuse to kill anyone."

"What are you going to do now?" Jamie asked. "You just said abortion was out of the window, so are you planning on keeping the baby, or putting the baby up for adoption?"

"I don't know what I want to do. I have a couple of months to decide yet, Jamie," She reminded her. "When does the morning sickness start?" That part of the pregnancy was going to kill her.

"Well if you're going to suffer from it, I would say it should start anytime soon," Jamie told her. "Maybe you'll be a lucky one who doesn't suffer."

"I hope so." Tegan said, then they arrived at the restaurant. Ordered their food and sat at a table near the back to eat it. The fast food restaurant was just like any other really. The floor was made up of square white tiles and there were tables and chairs scattered all over. There was quite a queue waiting for food by the time Tegan and Jamie sat down because it was lunch time and Mixed Blessings was one of the most popular fast food restaurants in Seaview.

As Tegan and Jamie both sat there, they were silently thinking about different things. Well, actually they were both thinking the same things. Tegan was thinking about how good it was to have Jamie there with her through this and Jamie was thinking how nice it was to be able to be there for Tegan.

Tegan knew that raising a child wouldn't be easy, if she decided to keep the child. She would have to miss college until she saved up enough money to go and still support the baby. She would definitely need to get a job because she wouldn't be able to live off the five hundred pounds her father gave her forever. But she had time to think of all that later. Right now all she wanted to do was enjoy Jamie's company and enjoy the fact that she was pregnant.

* * * * *

The rest of the day went pretty quickly and without an interesting event. So Jamie and Tegan just hung out in Fantasy Island until closing time, then as in every day before, they both went to Jamie's apartment. It was all quiet when they arrived at home, with everyone in bed. Which was pretty unusual, because there was usually someone up when Jamie came home from work, but not today.

So Jamie quietly opened the door to her apartment, because she didn't want to wake them downstairs if they were sleeping. Then she took Tegan's coat and then walked into her bedroom to put the kettle on.

They talked as they drank the tea and then both of them went to bed. And for the first time since her attack, Tegan didn't have a nightmare. That night's dreams with images of her and Jamie together, with a little baby between them.

* * * * *

"Come on Honey, you can't hog your daughter all the time. There are others who want to see her as well." Jamie said to her, as they sat quietly in the shade of a big oak tree. Tegan looked at Jamie and she was surprised to see her wearing a brown leather outfit that looked really wierd. The baby looked pretty young and was just adorable.

"Well she is my daughter." she reminded her.

"Well she is my daughter too," Jamie reminded her. "Just because you gave birth to her doesn't mean you can take all the credit."

"Well you'd better look after her. I need to go back to the house before I head up to the Inn." she said, as she handed her daughter to her lover.

"I'll look after her, just like I look after you," Jamie said, honestly "Won't I Oteri?"

"Mama." The little one said, poking Jamie on the nose.

"Well maybe I'd better not leave her with you then." She chuckled, earning a raised eyebrow from her partner, before she turned and walked away, chuckling all the way back to the inn. Oteri had been decided after their last adventure before she got pregnant and although she was a bit iffy on the name at first, she found by the time Oteri was born she really liked the name. Just as much as she liked seeing her usually warlord like partner relax and let everyone see who she really was.

It was lovely.

* * * * *

The next couple of days went past pretty quickly. Tegan had decided to go and talk to Jamie about going back to school until she had to leave. She had been thinking about it a lot since Jamie had suggested it and knowing that she wasn't going back to Seaview for a while made the possibility of going all the more interesting.

So she sat downstairs in Jamie's parents living room, waiting for Jamie to come down, after Sophie had manipulated her for the last ten minutes. Robin was sat next to her on the white sofa, watching the tv. As Tegan actually looked around the living room for the first time since she had been to the house, she noticed it was a lot like the living room in Jamie's apartment. The fireplace in the wall was a real fireplace which was so rare now. On the mantelpiece were pictures of family get togethers and pictures of Jamie, Sophie and Robin as babies. Jamie was the easiest to tell because of the mop of black hair on her head. The other two didn't have that, they had really light brown hair, so light it could have been the same colour as her hair. She looked closer at the picture of Jamie with a smile, even as a baby she was pretty. Finally Tegan's eyes wandered around the room again, looking at all the family trinkets that were scattered around. The room was surprising clean. Not that it should have been dirty but the furniture and the walls were white with a dark blue carpet. White was always so hard to clean that Tegan was surprised to now even see a tiny stain on either of the chairs or the sofa. Her eyes drifted over to the pine bookshelves just as Anne walked in.

"Good afternoon," she looked tired as she removed her shoes and placed them in the shoe rack by the door. "How was school today, Robin?"

Robin rolled his eyes. "It was school," he moaned. "How do you expect it to be?" Anne flashed him a warm smile before he decided to answer probably. "It was good. We did a lot of stuff."

Anne looked around the room and frowned when she noticed there was no Jamie. She swore to herself. 'I'm going to kill that kid,' she thought as she turned to Robin again. "Robin take Tegan upstairs and remind your sister that I will not have guests left on their own in this house.

"But she isn't on her own, she's keeping me company." Robin pouted, he hated it when Anne told him to tell Jamie off because he was always afraid Jamie would have a go at him.

"That isn't the point. Now Robin." Anne insisted, watching as Robin stood up slowly.

Robin sighed. "Come on Tegan," he held his hand out to help her up. Tegan smiled and took the offered hand, pushing herself up. Robin never let go of Tegan's hand as he lead her up the stairs.

* * * * *

Meanwhile Jamie was sat on Sophie's double bed watching her pace infront of her. Sophie was worried and annoyed at her sister and she was trying to find a way of telling her that.

"You need to tell her, Jamie." She finally decided being blunt was the best way.

Jamie frowned, she figured Sophie was talking about Tegan again, but she wasn't going to give her the satisfaction of not explaining it. "Tell who what?"

Sophie glared at her. "You know exactly what I'm talking about. You need to tell Tegan how you feel about her. You know she's gay so you can't use that as an excuse anymore." She reminded her. Sophie was worried about her sister. 'This is so unlike her,' she thought for the fifth time that day.

"I have a better excuse now," Jamie admitted quietly. "She doesn't need this right now, Sophie. She is getting over being raped for gods sake. She doesn't need this."

"Has it ever occurred to you that maybe she wants this?" Sophie questioned. She was referring to the looks Tegan shot Jamie whenever she thought no-one was looking.

"Well I refuse to make the first move," Jamie said. "I will not attempt to push her into something she doesn't want."

"You are in love with her though, Jamie." Sophie reminded her, as if that made it all right. Jamie could be so pig-headed sometimes.

"So, I have more respect for her feelings than that, Sophie," Jamie snapped. "I will not tell her I am in love with her, unless I know she has some sort of those feelings for me. I can't just say, 'Hey T. I know you've had a really tough time lately but you see I am totally crazy about you,' I will not lower myself to that."

"Hi." Came a small voice from behind her and Jamie thought she was going to die, but she managed to stand up and turn around and Tegan was standing in the doorway.

'This is not good,' Jamie thought to herself. "Uh hi."

"Well," Sophie said. "I've got some stuff to do before I go out. I'll see you later Jamie, bye Tegan." And then she left.

'I'm gonna kill her,' Jamie thought to herself, as Sophie practically ran out of the room.

"Mom told me to bring Tegan up and to tell you once again that you know better than to leave your guests alone." Robin said, shyly. Silently praying Jamie won't have a go at him.

Jamie let her eyes drift to her smaller brother and she smiled. "That's ok." She told him. "Tell Mom I'm sorry." With that Robin breathed out in relief and ran down the stairs. "So... um... how long have you been standing there?" Jamie asked, finally getting the courage to ask her, even though she was sure she didn't want to know the answer.

Tegan confirmed what she was dreading. "Long enough."

Silently praying the Tegan wouldn't get mad or ran away from her, she looked into the green eyes and was surprised to see nothing but love in them. "Ok, what did you hear?" Jamie asked.

"Well not a lot really," Tegan said. "I came up just as Sophie was telling you, that you should tell me how you feel."

"Oh." Was all Jamie could say. Tegan had heard enough to know what she thought about her. 'I didn't want to do this,' she thought sadly.

"Can I come in?" Tegan asked.

"Of course," Jamie said, realising she had left Tegan standing in the doorway, then she thought of something. "Actually let's go up to my apartment, there's more privacy there."

Tegan smiled. "Ok."

Both of them were quiet going up to Jamie's apartment, both contemplating what to do next. Tegan wanted to come out and admit she was crazy about Jamie. Jamie was thinking of a way she could get out of the situation.

"I was worrying about how I could approach you with this but I can see it wasn't needed." Tegan said, as Jamie came into the apartment and shut the door behind her. Then she motioned for Tegan to sit down. Tegan sat on the sofa, Jamie sat in the chair opposite.

"What is it?" Jamie asked, dreading the answer she was expecting to hear.

"Well actually I was wondering, how you feel about me?" Tegan smiled, nervously. "But I already know that."

"Yeah, I guess you do." Jamie looked at the hands in her lap, not looking at Tegan, fearing the disgust she would see there.

'Why does this have to be so difficult,' Tegan thought to herself. She was shaking terribly and feeling really stupid but she had to say this now, or she wouldn't say at all. "Well you know that I'm gay." She watched as Jamie nodded her head. "Well um... see the thing is that I.... well..... I really........ oh God, why does this sound so stupid?"

Jamie listened and watched as Tegan struggled with what she was going to say and watched as the blush started rising up her neck. "Just take your time and spit it out T."

"Well what I'm trying to say is that I really, really like you, too." she managed to say the words she had wanted to say since she met her, in one breath and held her breath waiting for Jamie's reaction.

"You like me?" Jamie repeated, not believing she had heard those words come from Tegan's mouth.

"Yeah," Tegan looked at Jamie with worried eyes, trying to gouge her reaction. "I have since the minute I saw you."

Jamie just looked at her in shock. She knew that things had started to change between the two of them but she had no idea that Tegan felt this way about her. "Really?"

"Yeah." Tegan said, smiling at the look of disbelief on Jamie's face. Jamie looked like someone you expected to be in control of her feelings and someone who didn't worry about something someone else said. Seeing the unbelieving look on Jamie's face she felt better about telling her.

"Well I really like you too," Jamie said, feeling like an 12 year old with her first crush. "But then you know that already."

"Yeah." Tegan said and then an awkward silence feel in the room. Neither women knowing what to do now. "So what happens now?" Tegan asked finally, the silence had become deafening and they needed something to fill it.

"To be honest I'm not sure," Jamie admitted. "This is the first time I've actually told someone before hand that I like them, usually it's ask a girl out, go out, kiss her goodnight at the end and then tell her you like her, kiss her again and usually leave, unless the two of you feel comfortable sleeping together then you stay." Jamie said bluntly. "So I guess I should ask you out on a date."

Tegan froze. She didn't know whether she was ready to go out on a date. She didn't know whether she could trust Jamie, her heart was telling her she could and her mind was telling her that she didn't know and she should wait until she was sure and it was that she was going to listen to.

Jamie saw the fear on Tegan's face and almost kicked herself, 'You can be so stupid sometimes Jamie,' she thought angrily. "Tegan listen," she moved over to the sofa and wrapped her arms around the smaller woman, pleased when she didn't tense. "If you are not ready for a relationship, I'll wait until you are. I want to be with you Tegan but I won't rush you." Jamie assured her, sitting back down and taking Tegan with her.

"I want to be with you as well," Tegan admitted. "That's what makes this so difficult. I have never felt this way about anyone before and I know that if that hadn't happened to me I'd be more than ready for this."

"Well why don't we just take things slowly. You aren't ready for dating. I understand that but there's nothing wrong with just sitting here like this, unless it makes you uncomfortable?" Jamie hadn't thought that holding Tegan like this would make her uncomfortable and she mentally slapped herself on the head.

"No this is fine." Tegan said, as she snuggled back into the arms that wrapped around her like a blanket. "This is nice."

"Yeah it is." Jamie agreed, and it was silent for a while.

Chapter 18

Jamie and Tegan sat there for a long time. Jamie because she wanted to allow Tegan to feel safe and comfortable in her arms. Tegan because she couldn't be bothered to move.

Tegan looked up at the clock and was surprised to see it was eight 'o' clock and it was getting pretty dark outside. "Do you fancy going for a walk?" She asked.

"Are you sure you want to?" Jamie asked, making sure Tegan was absolutely comfortable with this whole thing before she made a fool of herself.

"Yes I am." Tegan said, firmly, "I need to beat this Jamie and I trust you not to take advantage of me."

Jamie looked shocked that Tegan would even think that. "I would never do that to anyone. I swear."

"I know." Tegan stood up and grabbed Jamie's hand pulling her up with her. "Come on let's go. Do you know anywhere nice and peaceful?"

"I know just the place." Jamie told her, as she grabbed her coat and then took Tegan's hand and walked towards the door. "Do you have a coat or anything warm?"

Tegan shook her head. "No I didn't think to bring one with me."

"Hang on a minute." Jamie went into the bedroom and looked through her sweaters, she finally decided on a green sweater with The Legends Pass written in white letters on the front. It was one of her favourite sweaters and it was also one of the warmest.

So she went out and handed it to Tegan who was stood waiting by the door. Tegan put it on, breathing in Jamie's scent as she pulled it over her head and then Jamie took hold of Tegan's hand and they walked out of the door, down the steps and towards the sea.

* * * * *

It wasn't long before they reached a cliff that dropped down into the sea. It was a lovely scene. The tide was in and the moon was reflected in the water, if you beathed in deeply you could smell the clean sea from here. "Sitting here you have some of the best sights in Seaview," Jamie told Tegan, as she took off her coat and lay it on the floor then sat down and patted the spot next to her so Tegan sat down on the coat as well.

"You know I can't believe this is happening," Tegan said, as she leaned against Jamie. "I've finally found someone I like and who likes me back." She looked at Jamie for a minute. "Do you believe in love at first sight?"

Jamie thought about that for a minute before answering, "I never did before." She admitted.

"Me either." Tegan said, as she moved closer and took Jamie's hand in hers. Her heart pounding as she felt the electricity between the two of them. "Until I met you."

At that moment Jamie wanted to kiss Tegan so badly she thought it would kill her if she didn't, but she didn't anyway. She had promised to wait until Tegan was ready and she going too. No matter what.

"Jamie?" Tegan asked, startling her out of her thoughts.

Jamie started a bit before looking down at the woman. "Huh."

"You haven't been listening to a word I've been saying have you?" She accused her, smiling to take the sting out of her words.

Jamie looked down at their joined hands and shook her head. When she looked up again Tegan was smiling at her. "You look so cute when you're embarrassed." She said and Jamie could feel the heat rushing to her face. "Oh you're even cuter when you blush," then she started laughing at Jamie's embarrassment.

That seemed to release the tension between the two of them and they both started to relax.

"T. can I ask you something?" Jamie asked, as they looked out over the sea.

"Sure." Tegan said.

"Well, I was wondering if I....."

She was stopped by a hand covering her mouth. Before either of them really knew what was happening Tegan had replaced her hand with her mouth.

As their lips met, Tegan felt her world spinning out of control. She felt as if someone had turned her internal heater on. It was the best feeling she had ever experienced. She felt Jamie's arms come around her and pull her closer, until they were so close that the air couldn't even get between them.

By the time they broke apart they were both breathing heavy, "Wow", was all Tegan could say.

"That was amazing." Jamie breathed in deeply, trying to calm her pounding heart and slow her breathing down.

"I've never experienced anything like that before." Tegan admitted, as she leaned forward again. This time she pushed Jamie back onto the ground. Jamie wrapped her arms around her again, so they could feel each other with all of their bodies. For the two of them it was exquisite.

Finally Jamie broke away. "Tegan?" She said, breathlessly. "I thought you didn't want to rush into this?"

"I don't," Tegan said. "I just want to kiss you. I won't make you do anything you don't want to do. I promise."

At that moment both bodies were so aroused neither of them knew if they could stand much more and not go further. 'I still want to go slowly'. Jamie thought to herself, 'I want to.... wait a minute, she finally took in what Tegan had just said and she looked at the red haired girl lying on top of her, seeing the mischief in her green eyes both of them started to laugh.

'God I feel good!' Tegan thought to herself as they calmed down again. Tegan moved off Jamie and lay by her side.

Jamie turned onto her side and leaned on her elbow, looking down at the girl who had changed her life in such a short amount of time. "You are the most beautiful woman I have ever seen." She told her, running her fingers down the side of Tegan's face.

With that Tegan just started laughing again. She had never thought of herself as beautiful before and having someone as gorgeous as Jamie saying it just made her laugh. "Yeah right." She said, and carried on laughing.

"I'm telling you the truth, Tegan," Jamie said. "In the few weeks I've known you, I've discovered that not only are you beautiful on the outside but you are in here too." She put her hand over Tegan's heart. "That's so rare now. It's funny and I know it sounds cheesy but I feel like I've known you all my life. I once heard a story about two lovers who were blessed by some Greek God and he turned them into trees because they couldn't bare the thought of having to grieve for the other. Their branches intertwined and they stayed together forever. They also say that there's two halves to every whole, two souls who are always joined in here," she tapped the beating heart under her hand. "I always thought it was a load of nonsense but now I'm not so sure."

Tegan just sat there totally stunned. Nobody had ever said anything like that to her before. Not that she didn't agree though. She felt like she'd known Jamie all her life and the thing was, she wanted to know her for the rest of theirs. She was the first person Tegan had ever really loved and she wanted to be with her forever. "I love you, Jamie," she said, so quietly that Jamie had to struggle to hear her.

Jamie's breath caught in her throat as she heard the words, she had promised herself she would never let herself hear again. "I love you, too," Jamie said, surprising herself even more.

At that moment in time both of them realised they meant every word.

* * * * *

Jamie and Tegan spent the rest of the night talking and kissing, both of them keeping up the 'let's not rush it' thing, but barely.

Jamie wanted their first time to be special, not lying on the cold ground outside, wondering if they might get caught. Tegan deserved to be treated to something special after her first experience. Jamie wasn't going to be the one to make the first move. She wasn't going to go any further than that, until Tegan was ready.

About twenty to eleven it started to get chilly, so they started to make their way back to the house. The walk was pretty quiet because neither of them wanted to go home. Both women were tired, having not slept very well the night before. So when they got to the apartment Jamie made them a cup of tea which was drunk quickly and then she took Tegan to her room.

"Thank you for a wonderful evening, Jamie." Tegan stopped outside the door, reluctant to leave the wonderful woman in front of her.

"No, thank you," Jamie said. "I really enjoyed tonight."

"Me too," Tegan said. "We'll have to do it again soon."

"Yes we will," Jamie said. "So what are we going to do tomorrow?"

Tegan thought about that. She didn't care as long as she was with Jamie. "I don't care."

"Can I suggest something and not have you get mad at me." Jamie asked, not wanting to ruin a good night with an argument.

"Sure, do you want to come and sit down?" Tegan asked, seeing the worried frown on Jamie's face.

"I guess so," Jamie said, as Tegan took her hand and led her to the bed. Tegan got into the bed as Jamie sat on the edge.

"So what is it?" Tegan asked.

"Well I've been thinking I've got to go and see an old teacher tomorrow. Why don't you come with me. We could talk to him and then we could go and see the head. We could ask him if you could do your last year here. If you did go, you could leave when you start to show but like I said before, you have a right to finish your year and get your GCSEs, you can study with Sophie and me, if you have to drop out before your exams." Jamie said, hoping Tegan would take her advice.

"I have to think about it, Jamie." Tegan said, she wanted to go to school here, that was what she had planned on telling Jamie all day. Now though the thought of going to school while being pregnant was pretty scary.

"Oh of course," Jamie said. "I'm not trying to rush you. I was only making a suggestion. I'll be there with you whatever you decide."

"Thanks Jamie." Tegan lay down on the bed and got comfortable.

Jamie leaned down and kissed her gently. "Night T."

"I love that." Tegan said, quietly.

"What?" Jamie frowned, confused.

"The way T. sounds coming from you," Tegan said. "Goodnight Jamie."

And she fell asleep straight away. Jamie shook her head at how quickly Tegan could fall asleep. It seemed like as soon as her head touched the pillow she was asleep. So Jamie left quietly and went to her own room. Her thoughts a jumbled mess.

* * * * *

At ten 'o' clock the following morning Tegan squinted at the clock on the night stand, then moaned and pulled the covers over her head, because the sun was streaming in through the window. Tegan lay there thinking about what had happened between her and Jamie and her whole body started tingling again. Last night had been so wonderful that Tegan knew, if is died now, she would die happy. Not that she planned on dying just yet. She listened to the footsteps approaching the bedroom. Then the door opened and Tegan looked and saw a smiling Jamie looking down at her.

"Good morning," Jamie whispered, cheerfully. She had been up since 7 'o' clock and was now wide awake.

"Morning," Tegan groaned, as she rolled onto her back. Jamie sat on the bed. "Did you sleep well?"

"I lay there thinking about you," Jamie said, honestly. "It's definitely a tribute to me that I managed to behave myself, or maybe it's a sign of stupidity or old age." She took Tegan's hands in hers, and then without warning she pulled her up, and kissed her.

"I love you, Jamie." Tegan felt Jamie's arms come around her and pull her even closer. Tegan noticed how they seemed to fit together perfectly, before Tegan slyly fell back onto the bed, taking Jamie with her. When they were both confortable Tegan snuggled even closer, resting her head on Jamie's shoulder.

"That's good," Jamie tightened her hold. "I've never loved anyone so much in my life."

They lay there for a couple of minutes just enjoying the closeness. "Jamie?" Tegan finally said.

"Mmm?" Jamie asked.

"Weren't you suppose to go and see your old teacher today?" Tegan remembered Jamie was on about it.

"Yep," Jamie said. "But I'm not going to because that would mean I have to move and I'm comfy."

"I've been thinking about what you suggested last night, about going to school here." Tegan lifted her arm and placed it on Jamie's stomach. Letting it rest there and watching it rise and fall with every breath.

"Yeah?" Jamie said, shifting onto her side and looking down at the goddess next to her.

"Yeah, and I think it I would like to give it a go," Tegan said. "I don't know how long I'll be able to go, but I'd like to get as much school in as I can. I don't really fancy re-sitting the year if I can help it."

"Well if that's the case we'd better get changed and go to see Tony, then we can go and see Mr. Jones the head." Jamie said, as she managed to drag herself away from the warmth of Tegan. "Come on." She said, grabbing Tegan's arm and pulling her out of bed.

It wasn't long before they were dressed and drinking a cup of tea. Once they finished the tea, they made their way to the door. Tegan pulled Jamie to a stop. "Thank you, Jamie." she said.

Jamie's brows contracted. "For what?" she asked.

"For being so understanding," Tegan said. "After what happened with Scott I thought I would never have to ability to be so close to anyone again, and being like this with you came as a shock. I don't know how long it is going to be before I am ready for a physical relationship but I'm glad you are willing to wait until I'm ready. I know that you won't push me into anything."

"We'll be fine T. I really don't care about the physical part of our relationship. That isn't what we are about. I like being with you. The sex comes later. I don't care how much later, it could be twenty years and I'll still be there waiting." Jamie assured her. "Now come on."

Then they walked out the door.

Chapter 19

They stopped into club for Tegan to change before they headed out to get some lunch, then they headed to the school.

It was 1 'o' clock when they finally pulled into the school grounds. It was the start of a new class, so it was pretty busy. Jamie parked in the visitors car park, then made her way to one of the buildings, Tegan following quietly. The school was a typical British school, lots of floors and windows. There were about six different buildings altogether. Three main buildings and then three small buildings for classes like Home Ec. The building they went into was C block and it was the biggest one of all. There were about five floors and Tegan felt glad she didn't have to walk those steps every morning. 'Maybe you will now,' she told herself.

Once they were inside the building it didn't take Jamie long to find Tony, the teacher she was looking for. He was in the music room. The music room was just a typical class room. Everywhere you looked there were music books and music instruments. A piano and a row of keyboards lined the one wall. The blackboard which should have been replaced years ago was still on the wall behind Tony's desk and the chairs were still group in fours. 'It hasn't changed at all,' Jamie thought as she knocked on the door and waited until he called them in.

"Jamie." He smiled, as she entered. it had been nearly 4 years since he had taught her but she had dropped in a couple of times to see him. She hadn't changed much in the years he had taught her. She was still the tall, dark and handsome thing she had always been.

"Hey Tony." Jamie said, as she came to a stop in front of him. Tony was a tall man. He was even taller than Jamie and that was saying something. He had brown hair and looked about thirty. He wore gold rimmed glasses that seemed to set off his brown eyes.

"I wasn't sure if you'd remember to come and see me." Tony admitted, as he motioned for her to sit down.

"Hang on a second," Jamie said, then she went to the door where Tegan was still hiding. "Come in here you." She grabbed Tegan's hand and had to practically pull her into the room behind her. She introduced Tegan and Tony then sat down and Tegan did the same.

"Ok so did you bring in that assignment in?" Jamie had been one of his best students when she was there, she used to be an A average student and she was always on time, polite and mature. It was something you wouldn't really expect from someone like her. She looked like the type that wouldn't be that bothered about school, or anything except whatever she has into at the time. She had had to live with a load of rumours about her sleeping with anyone and everything in school while she was here. That was before she had come out to everyone. 'She picked a good way of doing that too.' Tony remembered as he thought back to that day at the school fare.

It had been a quiet day really and it really needed something to perk it up a little. What that was, nobody knew. That was until Jamie decided to pull up on the bike of a local biker. Emily had been a known lesbian for a long time. She was also a member of the Seaview Bikers. They were known world wide and feared by a lot of people. They weren't like the bikers who would just attack people on the streets for nothing. Most of the time the Seaview Bikers were known as vigilantes. But they were respected by everyone. So, naturally, when even one of them on their own showed up everyone paid attention. Well everyone watched as Jamie got off the back of the bike and she was about to make her way from Emily, when Emily pulled her back and kissed her right in front of the many stunned people. There were gasped from all round them and Jamie had just smirked.

Then when Jamie had been given an award for outstanding student in year 10, she had told everyone that she owed the award to her family and her lover Emily.

It was quite a sight.

'She never had any trouble after that though,' Tony remembered.

"Yeah here it is," Jamie said, handing over the assignment and bringing Tony back from his trip down memory lane. The folder Jamie gave him contained most of her GCSE course work. "I thought you might be able to find some use for the rest as well."

"You kept all your course work?" Tony asked, surprised.

"Yeah I figured it might come in handy to show to Sophie and Robin if they took the same courses as me. It would show them what was expected of them. But I figured why show two, when I could give them to you and you could show them to whoever." Jamie told him.

"Thanks." Tony quickly skimmed through the folder before turning back to Jamie. "Now I was wondering if I could ask you to do a favour?"

"What's up?" Jamie asked. Tony had been one of her favourite teachers and if there was anything she could do for him, she would.

"Well see there's this girl in my first year group, she's a lot like you, she very talented but very shy. If I remember correctly you where shy when you started here." Tony said.

"Yeah I guess I was." Jamie agreed.

"Well she has to start her assignment in the theater on her own soon and I was wondering if you could help her out?" Tony admitted. "She's doing the assignment in the same theater you did. You know what to look for, who to talk to and everyone likes you there. I don't want you to help her do the assignment, just be there for moral support."

"Well if she wants me to help I wil.l" Jamie said. She knew how hard that assignment was to do. Especially when you were shy and didn't like going out of your way to talk to people you don't know.

"Great," Tony said. "I wanted to ask you personally because Natalie would rather people not know you were helping her."

"No problem. It's just between us three, Natalie and these walls." Jamie told him.

"I'll talk to her on Monday and I'll let you know," Tony rold her.

"Ok," Jamie agreed. "I'll be here all next week helping out Sarah Jenkins so just let me know."

"Thanks Jamie." Tony wanted to hug her. He hated to see any of his students struggle because they were shy. Jamie had overcome that and he knew if anyone could get Natalie to come out of her shell Jamie was that person.

"You're welcome," Jamie assured him. "Is Mr. Jones about?"

"Yeah, he should be in his office." Tony told her.

"Great," Jamie said and then she turned and left. She led Tegan up to the head office and then she knocked on the door.

"Will you do the talking?" Tegan asked, as they heard the shouted, 'Come in,' through the door.

"Sure." Jamie told her, as she opened the door and entered.

"Jamie Phillips," Mr. Jones greeted her warmly as she entered. "It's good to see you."

"It's good to see you too, Sir." Jamie walked further into the room and let Tegan enter after her.

"So what can I do for you?" Mr. Jones noticed the young woman stood behind Jamie and wondered if this was the woman in her life at the moment. Jamie had never been secretive about her sexuality and a lot of the teachers had respected that, including him. Jamie made sure never to make a scene in school with her girlfriend and that was another thing he was pleased about.

"Well this is Tegan Rhys, she just moved to Seaview and she wants to do the rest of her final year here." Jamie introduced them.

"Ok." The head said. "Tegan, I'm the head of the school Mr. Jones."

"Nice to meet you." Tegan said, shyly.

"Why don't you two sit down?" Mr. Jones said, motioning to the chairs in front of his desk. Then he returned to his own seat after they were seated. "Have you ever moved schools before?"

Tegan shook her head. "No." She told him.

"Ok," Mr. Jones said. "There are a few questions I need to ask. Ok?"

Tegan nodded her head. "Ok."

"Ok. First what was your previous school?" Mr. Jones asked, needing that so he could check on Tegan's background.

"River's End Comp." Tegan told him.

He nodded and wrote that down "What form were you in?"

"D," Tegan answered.

"And your form tutor was?" He asked.

"Miss Davies." Tegan thought sadly of her teacher. She had had Miss Davies since year 7 and she had been a really nice teacher. She had been only twenty three when she started teaching and Tegan's form had been her first form class. She was now twenty eight and she didn't look any different. She always tried to act like one of the students and most of the time, she was.

"Ok," Mr. Jones said. "Why don't you two wait outside while I phone and check all your details?"

"Ok," Jamie and Tegan said, together. "I'll just show Tegan around the grounds." Jamie continued on.

"Ok," Mr. Jones said. "Be back in about half an hour then."

So Tegan and Jamie walked out of the room. And started walking down a long corridor.

"Well that was easy enough." Tegan said, after a while.

"That was the easy bit," Jamie pointed out. "You've got about a million more questions to answer once he's checked up on you."

"Great." Tegan sighed, she hated answering questions.

Jamie chuckled. "Come on." She opened the door and took Tegan into another part of C block "This is the science block."

"Is that all they teach here?" Tegan asked, knowing it sounded stupid, Jamie had just told her what they teach there.

"In this block yeah. You've got the chemistry labs on one side, the physics labs on the other side and the biology labs are in the middle." Jamie explained.

"Oh. So what lessons are taught in what buildings?" Tegan asked, she wanted to learn the layout and everything before she started here if she was accepted. The only problem she could see was her father, but he was most probably too embarrassed to object.

"Well T block houses the Arts department, Art and Design, Music and Drama. It also houses the RS, history and Geography departments." Jamie explained. "C block houses the languages. French, German, Spanish, English and Welsh. And finally M block houses the Maths and business departments. The outer buildings house the woodwork, mechanical shops and home ec. departments. It's pretty simple."

"Are there a lot of pupils here?" Tegan asked.

"Well when I was here there was just over a thousand pupils here. It's the most popular school in the area. There's even a dorm here for the out of town pupils." Jamie pointed to a big building just around the corner from the school. "This is suppose to be the best school in Wales."

"Yeah, I wanted to come here but my father said no chance. He didn't believe in a good education for girls really. He still believes a woman's place is in the kitchen with the children," Tegan told her. "I think if my father wasn't in the public eye Jenny and me would have been pulled out of school as soon as we were old enough to get married."

"No offense T., but your father sounds like a right pig." Jamie told her, honestly.

"He is," Tegan admitted. "Everyone is always saying they can't believe we're related."

"Well to be honest neither can I." Jamie admitted sadly. It was really annoying to see how someone who was supposed to be a family man treating his family like this. "Come on let's walk around the campus."

So Jamie showed Tegan around the campus, pointing out which building was which and where she was likely to be for registration. Then she took Tegan back to the main to finish the discussion with Mr. Jones.

Mr. Jones was waiting by the door when they arrived and he smiled. "Come in," he said, holding the door for them to enter. Which they did and Tegan actually looked around the office this time. It was a small office about the same size as the study in her apartment. The walls were painted the same creamy colour as the rest of the school halls. Along the wall which was nearest the door, there was a few bookshelves. Along the wall opposite were a row of filing cabinets. 'That must be where they keep the school records,' Tegan thought to herself.

Mr. Jones' desk was basically in the middle of the room. Along the back wall were the comfortable chairs. Not like the chairs they  sat on now. The really uncomfortable plastic things that dug into your back. Tegan had always thought that this was so people wouldn't stay long. Which was a good thing sometimes.

Mr. Jones sat behind his desk and looked over the file that had just been faxed to him. He couldn't see anything wrong with the file. Tegan Rhys seemed like the perfect student. The only thing he didn't understand was the note attached to the file.

Unable to finish the year due to illness.

He looked across at her and studied her for a minute. 'She doesn't look sick,' he thought to himself. "Tegan, do you mind me asking why you wish to attend this school and not finish the year at River's End?" He asked.

"I moved out of my parents house, Sir" Tegan told him. "We had a slight disagreement and I couldn't stay there anymore." The next bit she had to lie about and she hoped Jamie didn't mind. "Jamie and I were friends and I knew she would help me out."

Understanding seemed to dawn on Mr. Jones' face as he looked between the two. "Am I to understand you two are lovers?" he asked.

"Yes." Tegan said, she had nothing to hide anymore. She didn't care if they papers found out and ruined her father's reputation. She was in love with the woman sat next to her and that was all that mattered to her now, so she moved her hand in a possessive manner over to Jamie and took her hand. "Is that a problem?"

Mr. Jones noticed this and surprised her by laughing. "Oh please," he said, when he had calmed down. "I've had more than my share of homosexuals go through my school. Jamie was one of them. As long as it is kept out of school, like any other relationship, it's fine with me."

"Oh." Tegan said, sheepishly. She had expected him to turn her down for that but she was glad he didn't.

"There is one other question I would like to ask you though." He asked, handing over the note in her file. "Could you please explain that?"

Tegan looked at the note and frowned. 'I should have figured he'd do something like this,' she thought to herself with disgust. 'Now what am I going to tell him.' She was surprised to feel Jamie's hand that was in her own, give hers a gentle squeeze.

Mr. Jones noticed and smiled inwardly. He enjoyed seeing people happy together. He like it even more when they were former students.

Jamie looked into Tegan's worried eyes and a quiet question was asked and answered before Jamie turned back to Mr. Jones. "I'd like to explain if I may." She said.

"Feel free," Mr. Jones said, sitting back in his chair. "Everything you say in this room will stay in this room."

"A couple of weeks ago, Tegan was a victim of date rape. He didn't use protection, which resulted in her being pregnant," Jamie explained, she saw the head frown at the 'he' in that statement. "Her father is Mayor Thomas Rhys of River's End and if it was found out that she was gay or pregnant it would ruin his chances of reelection, so she never told anyone except her sister about the gay part and he sent her away because she might be pregnant. Well she is and she is now staying above my father's club and it hadn't even occurred to her to try and finish the year here. That was my idea. This is her final year, she deserves the chance to get as much of it done as possible. She is the same age as my sister, so if at anytime it is inconvenient for her to be here she can study at home. Sophie can pick up her work or I could drop in and pick them up. If she felt ready to sit her exams at the end, the pregnancy should be over by then."

"I see you've thought this all out." Tegan said, smiling to take the sting out of her words.

Jamie smiled sheepishly and then looked at their joined hands. She knew she should have discussed that with Tegan but it was just coming out as she was saying it.

Tegan was surprised at how much thought Jamie had put into all off this. All she had thought about was trying to get as much time in school in as possible.

"Well personally, I can't see anything wrong with this," Mr. Jones said. "Your grade average is as good as Jamie's and that's saying a lot. She was the head girl in her final year. All your course work is done and graded. Your attendance is excellent, as is your punctuality. I have a couple of forms for you to fill in before you start and then I don't see why you can't start on Monday. That will give us a chance to arrange a form and your teachers." Mr. Jones told her. "Jamie why don't you take her down to the library and help her fill these forms in."

"Sure." Jamie said, as Mr. Jones handed Tegan the forms and a pen and then walked to the door and let them out.

"Just bring them to me when you're done." He told Tegan.

"I will." Tegan smiled and then her and Jamie left.

Chapter 20

It took Tegan a while but she finally finished filling out the forms. Most of the questions were personal questions like her age, date of birth, address and stuff like that. She surprised Jamie by putting her down as the emergency contact, not that Jamie minded though. 'Oh no, not at all,' she thought with a smile. It made her feel important.

When the forms were filled in, Tegan and Jamie took them back to Mr. Jones' office. They were waiting outside when Jamie spotted a familiar figure walking towards them.

"Hey Jamie." Sophie said, as she came to a stop beside her sister.

"Hi." Jamie smiled at her sister, then at Sophie's friends.

Sophie frowned at her sister. "What are you doing outside Mr. Jones' office?"

"Tegan is going to do her last year here," Jamie explained. "So we were just sorting it out with Mr. Jones."

"Cool, he might put you in my form." Sophie smiled, she liked Tegan and she could see that Jamie and her had sorted out any problems they might have had yesterday. "What subjects are you doing?"

"Maths, English and science obviously and media studies, history, business studies and French." Tegan told her.

"Cool, I take media, history and French," Sophie said. "We might be in the same group."

Tegan smiled at her, as Mr. Jones came out of his office. "Maybe."

He raised an eyebrow when he spotted the girls talking to Jamie and Tegan. "Excuse me ladies, aren't you suppose to be on your way to your next lesson?"

"Yes Sir," Sophie said. "We're on our way." With that they left and Tegan and Jamie turned back to Mr. Jones.

"All done?" he asked.

"Yes Sir." Tegan handed him the forms.

"Ok," He said. "Can you come in on Friday? We can introduce you to the teachers, you'll be having then."

"Ok thank you." Tegan said.

"I'll see you Friday about 9 am then?" He said.

Tegan nodded her head, smiling. "Ok."

Then Jamie and Tegan turned and left.

* * * * *

On the way home Jamie and Tegan stopped to pick up Robin and then headed back to the house.

"So what subjects did you take in school?" Tegan realised that everyone was telling her how brainy Jamie was, but she didn't know what subjects she had studied.

"You don't want to ask her that, she's a brain box." Robin chuckled, opening the door of the Rover and then bolting to the house.

Jamie smiled as Robin darted away from her before she could get hold of her. "I took Maths, English and science."

"Obviously." They both said together and then they started chuckling.

"Then my options were music, history, business studies, French and woodwork. I took Spanish and German night classes later on. My parents thought that I needed other languages, being the owner of a nightclub." Jamie told her.

"Really, you did woodwork?" Tegan asked, surprised. In River's End any girl who did woodwork or metalwork were seen as freaks, because it was a man's job, it was the same with the boys. If a boy wanted to be a chef and decided to take cooking, they would have been laughed out of town. That was the one thing she hated most about River's End, it's narrow-mindedness. In River's End there was one way of life, if you didn't comply to that, you were ridiculed and laughed at until you felt you had to leave town. That was one of the reason there was hardly any variety in skin colour there because if you weren't white, you were different and treated the way anyone who was different was treated.

"Tegan?" Jamie said, snapping Tegan out of her thoughts.

"Oh sorry." She smiled. "I was miles away then. What did you say?"

"I said that I took woodwork, because I always like to work with me hands," Jamie explained

"Well you are good with them." Tegan said, the slapped a hand over her mouth and blushed right to her roots.

Jamie just raised an eyebrow and started laughing. "You look soooo cute when you blush."

"I can't believe I said that." Tegan finally said, silently praying her face would cool down and that it wasn't as red as it felt.

"Come on." Jamie chuckled leading, the still flushed, Tegan into the house. "Hi Dad, what are you doing home this early?" She asked, when she saw her father sitting in the living room.

"There was a bomb scare in the club. So we had to shut it down," John admitted.

"Really?" Jamie said.

"Yeah. It was a false alarm though so you can still open up tonight." He told her. "But it makes you wonder just what this world is coming to. I mean if you want the day off school now all you have to do is phone the school and tell them there's a bomb in the school and bam no school."

"I know what you mean," Jamie said. This was the third bomb scare in Seaview in as many weeks. First it had been Comprehensive school, then the mall, now the club. 'Where next?' Jamie thought. There had not been a bomb in any of the buildings but that wasn't really the point. It was going to start looking like the boy who called wolf soon. Everyone was getting tired of the scares, so one time nobody was going to take any notice and there would be a bomb. Jamie closed her eyes against the image of the destruction and death that would bring.

"Jamie are you ok?" Tegan asked, noticing the colour drain from her lover's face.

"Uh yeah," Jamie lied. "I'm fine."

"Good." Tegan smiled and patted her on the knee.

John noticed this with a smile but didn't say anything. He had sensed the connection between Jamie and Tegan before and now it seemed even stronger.

"Do you want anything to eat before you go into work?" He asked.

" I had to help Tegan sort out some stuff before we came home from the school," Jamie explained "She's going to finish her final year here, so we went to see Mr. Jones."

"Oh well that's good. You deserve a proper education," John nodded his head in agreement. "I always told my children that. We wanted Jamie to go to university, but she decided to wait for a while. She already has 4 GCSE and two a levels. She could have got a degree in Music or Business Studies, but no she decides to go and work for her father."

"Dad I only said I wanted a break from school. I said I'll go to Uni if I can get in and I wil.l" Jamie said, she was getting fed up with her parents keeping on about it, she would have said more to him if she hadn't noticed the mischievous smile on his face. "I'm going to get ready for work. I'll be back in a minute."

So she left the room leaving Tegan and her Dad alone.

"So you're going back to school then." John said, trying to fill the silence that had filled the room with Jamie's exit.

"Yeah, you gave me the idea when I arrived and Jamie brought it up again. I'd really like to get my GCSEs done if I can." Tegan told him. "It'll be something nice to take home with me." Her heart sank at the thought of going home and leaving Jamie.

John noticed the sadness fill Tegan's eyes and figured she might be thinking about going home. In the few weeks she had been in Seaview she had been made to feel at home. Jamie loved her, Robin adored her and Sophie liked her a lot, as did him and his wife. Going home to the father that sent her away was going to be like losing her family all over again.

"Well like I said earlier that's good. Your GCSEs are important. Have you thought about what you want to do when you leave school?" John asked.

"Well I figured I would stay at home for a while, if I decide to keep the baby and then hopefully I'll be accepted into Uni and I'd like to be a journalist or an author. I've always been good at writing stories and stuff and I guess that's the only thing you need to be good at if you want to be a tabloid journalist. Make up anything and then get it printed." Tegan said. "I know I can do that."

John looked at her. "You're pregnant." He had at first figured that was why she moved to Seaview but Jamie had told him it was because of the rape.

"Yeah I had the test yesterday," Tegan said. "Jamie didn't tell you?"

"No she didn't," John was shaking his head. "She didn't need to. It's between you and her, nobody else." He looked at her for a minute before continuing. "Jamie wanted to be a performer when she left school. She has a wonderful talent and she should have carried on with it?" John surprised her by saying that. She hadn't had the chance to delve into Jamie's past yet or really into her thoughts.

"Does she play any instruments or anything?" Tegan asked, getting more information out of John than she ever would have got out of Jamie.

"She plays everything. The guitar is her main instrument but she plays the piano and drums and she has one of the best voices I have evered heard. If you can get her to sing for you, it is totally beautiful." John said, with tremendous pride in his voice.

"Are you two talking about me again?" Jamie asked, as she came into the room. "Can't leave you alone for five minutes."

"I was just about to tell Tegan here about the band that you are in." John smiled sweetly at his daughter. Being in the band was one thing Jamie was incredibly shy about.

"You're in a band?" Tegan asked, wondering when they practiced. Jamie had been with her practically every day of the week "What's the name?"

"Plain Lazy," Jamie admitted. "Do you want me to take you home Tegan, before my father embarrasses me anymore?"

"Yeah sure." Tegan said, standing up. "Bye Mr. Phillips."

"Good-bye Tegan," John said ."I'll most probably see you tomorrow and we can share some more Jamie secrets."

"Bye Father." Jamie growled and walked out the door, leaving two chuckling humans behind her.

Continued in Part V