Bad Blood

Part Two

A/N New story enthusiasm is me. Hope you enjoy, xx

Chapter Two

Athens had been fun, she'd managed to squeeze in eight of the top ten things to do in the city in her three days, but landing in Heathrow gave Nancy a buzz she hadn't had in years. Australia had been her base for ten years, but as she stepped into the arrivals hall, she knew she was home. And not just because of the surprise welcome party she had waiting to greet her.

Her father was beaming, a man of few words, her mother had aged, but then she hadn't seen her in the flesh for almost a year. Her parents had visited regularly, and she often met them in Thailand or Singapore for a holiday. She had been home a few times, when her grandmother was ill, and subsequently died, she was at her side, when her brother and his girlfriend had twin girls two years earlier, she had made a trip over to spend time with them all. She hadn't been the best daughter and sister whilst she lived away, but she hadn't been the worst.

But she wasn't sure she deserved the banner, and everyone she wanted to see, present there giving up time for her. Joe, her brother held his daughter, Isla on his hip, Maria his girlfriend, held her twin Tabitha on hers, all four waved and were flanked by her parents. Her mother was crying, and even her father looked tearful. Opening her arms she wrapped them around as much of the group that she could and felt the tears flow herself.

"Welcome home, Spotty?" She asked, cocking an eyebrow at her brother, who held the banner bearing those words. "I'm thirty two and you are STILL referencing my teenage acne?"

He grinned, kissing her on the forehead, "you will always be my spotty teenage little sister in my mind,"

Rolling her eyes, she moved along to her father, always silent, always watching. She missed him so much over the years, she'd missed them all. He held her in a tight hug until her mother tapped their shoulders and separated them, only to replace his arms with her own.

"I never thought we'd have you back here." Her mother held her at arm's length, "I'm sorry, that it took you and Luke...well. I never saw it coming."

Nancy sighed, "I should have, would give anything to erase the vision of him with his secretary. So cliched. But there it is."

And it was a shock, until then she thought they were happy, that they wanted the same things. They had sex, lots of it, and until that moment, walking into the office, finding his secretary, Lisa, face down on the desk, Luke behind her, trousers around his ankles, dramatically and loudly fucking her., she hadn't guessed anything was wrong. She had been shocked, hadn't expected it, and it had hurt. It took her weeks to get back to work, to face people, and Luke, well once he realised that she wasn't going to forgive him, he became vindictive, nasty, and ought her for every penny that they had.

Painful, humiliating and confidence draining, for a while. But the time on the cruise ship, she got her mojo back, started to feel human again. That was a big part of why the cruise ship was the right thing to do.

Her father drove her and her mother, Joe and his family in their car in convoy behind, all heading back home.. Her family home was a small town about thirty miles west of London, commuter belt for a lot of the city, but small enough that it wasn't as imposing as being in London.

After almost ten years in Melbourne, it felt nice to be back in smaller and more familiar surroundings. Joe lived a few streets away from their parents, he and his father ran a garage together, repairing cars. They had always lived comfortably, holidays, nice cars, but he worked hard, and as they drove home, she was glad to hear that he was finally starting to retire. Not completely, but significantly reducing his hours.