Authors Note: *dances* I'm 15 years old!! And since you have stuck by me while I've got through the past year and a bit I want to give a gift to you. I love you all so much. This is also my 40th fic :)
*dances more* I get to meet Helen in real life on the 20th February because one of my friends has organised a sleepover for the three of us! I cannot wait!! I just hope I live up to the expectations that she might have of me after all this time of talking about random stuff on all the different sites we've found each other on. This could be made into a Valentine's Day fic but I want another one for that ehich will be written but I have no idea when or what it's going to include; except that Bella will be part of it because I've missed her :)

Disclaimer: Own the OCs: Alexa, Christopher, Thomas, the other unfamiliar names and their story. I love them so much that they took up half this fic. Not the main characters because I didn't get them for my birthday or anything :(

***

Past, Present and Future

***

It had only been three hours since Jackie had last saw her friends at work but she needed to tell one of them in particular something surprising that she had found out about her family.

Jackie picked up her house phone and dialled the familiar number that belonged to Robbie. He answered after only one ring, as though he had been sitting next to his phone waiting for a call.

"Hello?" The thick Glaswegian drawl of Robbie's voice came down the line and Jackie felt herself getting more nervous about what she was going to tell him if he accepted to listen to her.

"Hi Robbie I was just wondering if you fancied coming over for dinner, that is if you aren't entertaining anyone already?" She winced at the thought of a young tart being next to him while they were having this conversation.

"Course, and you know I haven't had a woman over here in months!" Jackie couldn't resist smiling a little because she knew he had been by himself for a while and he was choosing her over going out – or staying in – getting himself blind drunk.

"By the way, I do know I'm being odd but I just could do with some company."

"You don't have to explain yourself to me. What time do you want me?" He hadn't meant for it too sound inappropriate but Jackie just laughed it off and told him any time before nine would be fine.

"You do realise 'dinner' is going to consist of either frozen lasagne or microwavable pasta-in-a-pot?"

"I wouldn't have it any other way." She could feel him smiling down the line as they said their goodbyes and hung up.

***

An hour later and Robbie had just sat down on Jackie's living room couch as she went to get them some drinks and put on some macaroni and from-a-packet cheese sauce. He looked down at the book lying open on the cushion next to him. As he picked it up he saw that it was actually a photo album, it was showing a picture that looked as though it was at least sixty years old and was of a young woman who looked remarkably like Jackie and a man of about the same age with his arm gently around her back.

Jackie came back into the room and saw him looking at the photograph and sat down next to him with her feet underneath her. She picked up the album and rested it on her lap whilst leaning against Robbie's side, "Do you recognize either of those two?"

He looked closely at the couple in the picture, especially the man. Robbie suddenly knew why he recognised him: if he imagined him a few decades older then he had the exact image of someone he knew very well,

"Is that...Is that my grandfather?" Jackie simply nodded while pointing to the young woman, silently asking him if he recognised her.

"I guess she kind of looks like you but that's too much of a coincidence."

Jackie felt like stringing this out a while longer, "What similarities are there?"

Robbie looked up at her with a confused smirk playing on his lips, "Well the eyes are a perfect match and obviously the amazing body and other little things that I thought only you had."

Jackie had no clue how to respond to his compliment so hastily moved on, "She looks like me because she is my grandmother."

"How did she know my grandfather?" Robbie was already far too intrigued by this story to let it go now.

"I found some of my dad's old things and amonst all of it I found his mother's diary from when she was in her mid-tweenties, just about to be married. While she – Alexandra - was engaged she went to one of the posh parties that my grandfather managed to get them into thanks to him being an upper class businessman and she saw one of her friends that she hadn't spoken to for a good few months who was Christopher, your grand-dad." Jackie opened the diary that had been lying on the coffee table and found the right page and started to tell Robbie about this couple's lives.

***

Alexandra watched as the dark haired man strolled across the room. She had no idea how a man that laid-back was allowed into a social situation like this; his hair was slightly messed up as though he had ran his fingers through it a few moments ago and his shirt was open enough so part of his chest was exposed. He noticed Alexandra sitting alone at the side of the dance-floor and went over to her, smiling as he started to speak,

"Alexa would you care for a dance?"

She hadn't thought he would still call her Alexa after all this time and she couldn't help but go weak at the knees over his deep yet brilliant voice,"Why thank you, and yes I would."

Alexa had forgot why she had lost touch with Christopher until they touched their hands together. The last time she had spoke to Christopher was the night she had got engaged to her fiancé, Thomas. It had broke her heart to watch how Christopher's jaw dropped open when she had told him; they had never so much as kissed but they had always felt the electrical charge surging between them and it killed her every time she thought of the pain in his eyes on that night.

As the song and dance progressed Christopher built up the courage to ask her what he had wanted to for as long as he could remember, "Alexa, come away with me."

"What, where to?"

"I don't know. Anywhere we want. I just want to be with you forever."

She could feel tears begin to build up in her eyes as she realised that no matter how much she wanted to accept his proposal, the ring on her finger was preventing her from it. "I can't Christopher, I'm getting married in three months."

"But he doesn't love you half as much as I do. He just wants someone that he can show off at all these snobby parties!"

"If these parties are so below you Christopher then why are you even here?!"

"In the hope of seeing my best friend; to wish her good luck if she ends up going through with this marriage."

A few tears ran down Alexandra's cheeks, "You do know I love you but my family can't stand you, and we wouldn't work as anything more than the greatest friends."

He dropped a gentle kiss to her slightly parted lips before letting go off her body and turning away, walking in the direction of the exit door as Alexandra's heart shattered.

***

A month later Alexa was getting the replies to the wedding invites that she and Thomas had sent out. There was only one she was searching for but after two full raids of the pile she couldn't see any which were written in Christopher's familiar slanted style. She had sent one to him with only the smallest amount of hope that he would accept it, but to not even get a letter refusing to come almost destroyed her.

She had to move the letters out of the way as she covered her mouth with the palm of her hand. She ran to the bathroom and vomited into the toilet. She had been doing the same thing for the past couple of weeks and had a rather strong prediction that she might be pregnant. At least she could pass it off as a wedding night conception since it wasn't too far away. She could just imagine how pleased Thomas would be with this news but all she could think about, before telling her fiancé, was how the man she did truly love - no matter how much she denied it - would react.

***

"Christopher! Christopher, please calm down." Alexandra was holding desperately on to his wrist. She had finally built up enough courage to visit him and ask for his reason for not being at the wedding four months previous. By this time she was about seven months gone with her pregnancy so there was no way to hide it from Christopher and as she had already guessed he had noticed the large bump as soon as he opened his front door to her.

"No I won't! I tell you I love you and then you go and get yourself pregnant to Thomas bloody Reid!"

"Well it was to be expected. We are married!"

"Yeah but that baby bump is never only for a five month old child! You were pregnant when you sent that stupid wedding invitation to me."

"I wasn't sure! And it doesn't matter because I sent that invitation because I wanted one of my own friends to see me get married because when I was walking down that aisle I looked around and saw my family, they were the only people I knew, the rest were all Thomas' friends and families! I wanted my Christopher to be there!"

"I'm not your Christopher any more. I've met someone new, her name is Sandra and we love each other."

Alexa had never imagined how much pain she felt in the pit of her stomach and it had nothing to do with the little person growing inside her.. Christopher was in love again? It was hard enough for her to imagine herself as a mother never mind the man who she had been crazy enough to let away with a new woman. But as she had learnt to do when faced with something unpleasant she put a fake smile across her lips and said,

"Congratulations. She's lucky to have you."

"Thanks," he gave her his classic lopsided grin but for the first time in as long as she could recall it didn't light up his eyes. He sighed before continuing,"Well we've probably wrecked the idea of a perfect friendship so if I don't see you again Alexandra, I love you, I always will, you're the best girl a guy could hope for. Good luck with this baby, truly, I hope he or she realises what a great mum it has."

"Thanks and promise me you'll make a good life for yourself with me out of the picture." He nodded as she wrapped him up in an awkward hug.

One and a half months later a little boy named William Christopher Reid was born. Alexandra had sent Christopher a letter to tell him the news and he had replied with a congratulations and a letter saying that he and Sandra were now engaged and that Alexa (he was still calling her it although no one else considered it to be right to shorten a first name) and her family were more than welcome to attend the wedding.

Alexandra held her little baby in her arms and let some tears run down her cheeks as she tried to come up with a polite way to refuse his invitation. She would never be able to make it through the ceremony without breaking down and she knew she could not allow herself to do that. It was better to cut all ties from Christopher now rather than later or else she would become dependant on him again.

***

"William Christopher Reid was my dad and Sandra went on to become Mrs. Ross and had a baby called Samuel Alex Ross who if I'm correct in saying is your dad?" Robbie looked at her, stunned at these revelations, and nodded. Nobody had ever mentioned the origin of his father's middle name, for all Robbie knew not even his grandmother knew it.

Jackie got up from the couch to get their meal off the heat and into some bowls. She had dwelt on the story of their grandparents. Robbie didn't know but she had actually found the photograph and diary two evenings before and had been thinking it all over since then.

She took the bowls of macaroni back through and handed one to Robbie. They were slightly more reserved now that they knew their direct family members had once been in love but they avoided the subject and moved onto a safe conversation about the case they were working on at the moment whilst eating.

***

"I'll help you clean up." They had just finished eating and Jackie was making a small pile of used dishes and things to take through to her kitchen.

"Robbie, there's two bowls, two glasses and some cutlery: really not that much to tidy up!"

"I don't care. I'm going to help either way." She rolled her eyes but didn't stop him from standing up from the couch.

Jackie went though to the kitchen and turned on the sink taps so she could wash her hands, while Robbie gathered up the dirty things and followed her through. He couldn't help think back to the story Jackie had told him, as she had told him he hadn't believed that anyone could feel so strongly about someone and let them get away, but then he realised that he had done the exact same years previous with Jackie. He watched her walking around the small room, finally admitting to himself after all these years that he really did love this woman in front of him.

He didn't want to tell her though, he was too afraid that she wouldn't take him seriously or that she would refuse to answer him with her own feelings.

Robbie walked over and turned the water on but instead on using soap and actually washing his hands he looked over to see where Jackie was at that moment and cupped his hands together to make a little bucket-like thing for the water. He made sure Jackie was looking the other way and then went up behind her and emptied the content of his hands over the top of her head.

Jackie screamed and turned around as the ice cold water made contact with her deep brown hair. She wiped the water off her face and removed the strand of hair from sticking to her cheeks as Robbie stood there, hysterically laughing.

"What the hell was that for?"

He attempted to control his breathing, "Sorry Jacks but I just couldn't resist it." She glared at him before squeezing past his body and turning on the water again and while he was wiping tears from his eyes she threw as much water as she could hold in her hands, all down the front of his shirt.

"You bitch," he said while giggling along with her. Robbie ran a hand through his hair to make sure it wasn't ruined by water then went closer to Jackie. He placed his hands on her hips and lifted her up on to the kitchen surfaces behind her. She halted her laughter as she looked at him in the eyes, her heart was now racing far beyond anything she had ever experienced before this moment.

One of his hands travelled up to her face as his other one wrapped around her back. The pad of his thumb brushed across Jackie's bottom lip and she couldn't stop her lips from parting just a little. They couldn't break their eye contact no matter how much they knew they should, Jackie had no idea why her body was ignoring her brainwaves but she could feel herself leaning towards him and putting the palms of her hands on his chest, ignoring the dampness of his shirt.

Robbie brought her closer to his body, causing Jackie to wrap her legs around the bottom half of his torso. He gently pressed their lips together as his fingers explored the thick hair on the back of her head. When they broke their lips apart she rested her forehead on his as they gradually got their breath back.

Robbie let their lips touch again for a fraction of a second and whispered so lightly and seductively that Jackie shivered into his touch,

"I can't imagine how I would fall apart if I had to watch you get married again, just remembering you and Brian is hard enough. I don't want us to end up like our grandparents. I love you." Okay so that was far too easy for him to say to her.

She looked at him straight in the eye to see if he was telling the truth and when she had made sure that he was, a grin overtook her face as she told him the truth as well, "I love you so much," before pulling him in for another lip-numbing kiss. Robbie could feel hs body getting wetter from the drops of water coming off of Jackie but he didn't mind, he just pulled her closer and started to unbutton her blouse.

***

The End.