Flight or fight

By Sonia

Disclaimer: These guys aren’t mine, wish they were but they’re not. I don’t wish to infringe any copyright on the characters but the plot line is definitely mine. I’m not making any money out of this either and writing these stories is simply for my amusement and that of my friends.

Author’s note: This is the next installment in my series "Two Hearts – Tommy Tavita and Emma Woods: A Modern Day Love Story

Summary: In order to put up a fight, sometimes you have to take flight.

Emma Woods paced near the doorway for what seemed like the thirtieth time that day.

She should stop being such a chicken. It wasn’t as if going through the doorway was going to kill her. It might cause her heart to shatter into a million pieces but it wouldn’t kill her.

Booking an international flight wasn’t that hard.

Emma still wasn’t completely sure that going to Samoa was wise but she needed to resolve her relationship with Tommy one way or the other.

Besides, in your late twenties all the good men were either married, taken, gay or too psychologically screwed up from previous relationships to be of any real use. When a halfway decent bloke landed in your life, a girl did have to see things through to their natural conclusion – whatever the hell that was meant to be.

Her hand rested on the glass doorway of the travel agency.

Could she do this?

Should she do this?

What the heck was she doing?

Reaching into her handbag Emma found the battered airmail envelope that had been giving her strength in the lonely weeks without Tommy. The letter was not from Tommy but his grandmother Ellie.

Emma recalled the elation she felt when she saw the red, blue and white envelope peeking out of her letterbox and the disappointment and then curiosity that overwhelmed her when she found out the letter wasn’t from Tommy.

~*~*~*~

Dear Emma,

Tommy would disown me if he knew I was writing to you. I asked him to come to Samoa as his cousin Ben had fallen victim to heroin and was turning to crime to feed his addiction.

Ben’s actions have caused much shame to the Tavita clan, which until now was highly regarded in our community.

He has told me about you and your relationship. Tommy loved Rhonda deeply but he is scared to give his heart wings. When he talks about you, there is a particular softness to his face that I have not seen since he was a boy. This is a good thing.

Tommy has praised your warrior like spirit and your woman’s heart. His admiration of these traits of yours became obvious to the entire family when he was telling us about that awful time in the bank.

What I do know for sure is that Tommy loves you but he is scared to fly again in the same way an injured bird is scared to leave its nest. If you are half the woman warrior I think you are then you will fight for your love. Come to him. He needs you.

Love,

Ellie

~*~*~*~

Lance Rorke moved around the divers’ area like a jungle cat surveying his own domain. Triple M and Matchbox 20 blared from the radio, the music wrapping itself around Rorke like a security blanket. Lance was so lost in his own world of regulators and oxygen tanks he didn’t hear Gavin creep up behind him.

"Shit Syksie! I know you’re keen to get your sergeant’s stripes but giving me a heart attack isn’t the way to do it!" Lance laughed

"You haven’t seen Woodsie on your travels have you?"

"Travels is quite an accurate way to put it Gav. By now she should have handed over part of her holiday pay to a travel agent and be on the first flight she can get to Samoa to catch up with Tommy."

"Tommy’s in Samoa?" Gavin was flabbergasted. He hadn’t seen Tommy in a while and Emma had always been in a foul mood whenever he asked how things were between her and Tommy these days.

"Ah, you didn’t know?" Lance knew he was stepping on some fragile ground and was a little surprised neither Emma or Tommy had told him.

"No. Which travel agent would she have gone to?" Gavin had to find Emma and find her fast. He needed a few answers to some questions himself. Shit, he thought he was Tommy’s best mate. Why didn’t Tommy tell him?

"Probably the one in the Broadway shopping complex." Lance turned back to the regulator he had been working on.

"Thanks mate – gotta run." Gavin walked out of the divers area and broke into a dead run until he collided with Helen, scattering her armload of files all over the reception area.

Gavin rushed out his apologies and told Helen he was going on sick report for the rest of the day. Must have been something he ate, he told her as Donna came over to help clean up the files.

In the middle of the day, the trip from the station to Broadway was mercifully quick with Sydney’s infamous stop-start traffic deciding to behave itself for a couple of hours.

Finding a parking spot was another matter entirely and Gavin was grinding his teeth in frustration after the third parking space was stolen from under his nose. Finally, he nosed the car into a space and began searching the shopping complex for a familiar blonde mane.

Gotcha Woodsie, Gavin thought as he saw Emma loitering near Traveland looking more than perplexed. There was one lady who had a lot on her mind, Gavin added silently.

"Overseas holiday Woodsie? Tayler said you were planning to spend most of your holidays in town."

Emma looked at Gavin. There were just some things that were better discussed over coffee.

~*~*~*~

"Why did Tommy piss off to Samoa?"

Gavin held his colleague’s gaze. It was a pretty sad day when a bloke told his girlfriend something ahead of his best mate.

Emma sighed and started toying with the froth on her cappuccino.

"It’s okay – Rorkie told me, only after I threatened to put him in a wrist lock."

Woodsie giggled at Gavin’s lousy sense of humour. He deserved an explanation and had probably been just as wounded by Tommy’s departure as she had. She reached into her handbag and pulled out Ellie’s letter.

"He didn’t tell me anything."

Waiting until she saw Gavin’s eyes reach the bottom of the page, Emma looked across at her lover’s best friend.

"Well I can see why you’ve been a bit tetchy lately." Emma knew that Gavin’s remark was meant without malice.

"Gavin, you’ve known him longer than I have – why didn’t he tell one of us about his cousin?"

"Woodsie, I really feel for you as you copped a double whammy when you needed or expected it least. I know Tommy was a damn good youth liaison officer before he came to the station. From what he’s told me about the pair of you, I thought he had a lot of that stuff about Rhonda sorted."

"Whoa Gav! Press pause and rewind the tape a few feet here thanks, " Emma yelped in surprise.

Gavin’s jaw started to flap like a fish out of water as he realised what he had just done. Reaching across the table he took Emma’s hand and squeezed it, telling her that he thought she had a right to know but he still felt like he was betraying Tommy’s confidence.

"You’re good for him Emma – the best thing to happen to him in a long time. He has always had a soft spot for kids and would bed over backwards to help if they were in trouble."

"Okay, as far as Ben is concerned I can understand where he wanted to be and where he needed to be being two different things. All this stuff about Rhonda still sticks in my craw though."

Gavin wanted to hug Emma and absorb some of the pain she was feeling. If only Tommy could see the damage he had done. He’d acted in the name of family, which was all very honorable, but what if he destroyed a chance of creating a new life for himself with Emma?

When Woodsie clapped eyes on Tommy again, he deserved whatever she dished out and then some. As long as they remembered to kiss and make up afterwards, Gavin smiled to himself.

"Okay Syksie, you’ve explained why Tommy flew the coop over Ben. As for all that crap over Rhonda, I am really feeling more than a tad confused here. It was almost as if the time we had together meant nothing. Why did he run Gav?" Emma bit her lip to try and stop the tears that seemed to come all too easily these days.

She hated herself for feeling so vulnerable but Tommy had gotten under her skin at a time when she thought no one else could have. Emma dithered between wanting to hug Tommy or slug him one. At times both were serious options. Gavin handed her a serviette and Emma dabbed at her eyes.

"You really love him don’t you?"

"Shit, is it that obvious?" Emma started to laugh through her tears and could see why Tayler had fallen for him so long ago. When he wasn’t being such a prize clown, Gavin could really be quite an endearing bloke.

"Rhonda’s death and the freakish way it happened really shook Tommy up. He knew the risks he faced being a cop and that someone could always take him out in the blink of an eye. I guess he never really got his head around the concept of chance taking someone he loved from him as quickly. "

Emma nodded and she could see where Gavin was coming from. Woodsie thought back to the number of times she had dealt with victims or their relatives.

There was a part of every police officer tucked away behind that protective shell, they began developing in the Academy to shield them from the horrors of the job, that acknowledged the random nature of fate, death and the criminal mind.

"Well Emma, you know there is only one thing left to do."

"Yeah, what’s that Gav?"

"Get your butt back to that travel agent and book your ticket to Samoa."

~*~*~*~

Long haul flights had never really appealed to Woodsie – particularly when there was no one on the flight to talk to. Well, there were people on the flight to talk to but the overweight man who left his deodorant at home or the basketball team on their end of season trip didn’t really prompt her to make idle chit chat.

Emma’s hotel room was in darkness when she arrived. Putting her bag down she could see the man’s form highlighted by the sliver of light coming through the curtains. She couldn’t stifle a surprised gasp.

"Hey Woodsie."

"Hey yourself – What are you doing in my hotel room?"

~Finis~