Action, Reaction and Consequences Ch. 02

As promised a second part, I've roughly drawn out the whole tale which I'm fairly comfortable will stretch to four parts in total. In the last part I suggested that the three main characters would reappear but there is only the main character in this segment along with another key one being introduced who will be there for the remainder of the story.

The first segment covered infidelity, this second part covers romance and both parts are key to what I consider is the main story to be told in the last two segments. A word of warning if you wish to follow the whole tale -- it is ultimately one of destruction and I've left clues in both the first two segments so please take that into account if it's not what you like to follow.

Both this and the earlier part can be read as two separate entities. There is a lead in for this part if you've not read the first part so you don't have to read both. I'll try to treat the last two parts in the same way but it may need some work to do so.

The first segment drew criticism over the extended sex scenes and too many of them. I've reined it in and hopefully those that felt that way feel compensated with this second part! I'm an amateur writer doing it for my fun and hopefully your enjoyment. If you don't like it well go find something you will enjoy .

My last story was reviewed by a fellow Literotican and I was happy with the results. This time I've given it to a friend who has critiqued it and some amendments made. Let's see if that approach works.

Remember this is fiction. Some places are real, individuals are not. I don't profess to know about the professions involved but hopefully for those not in the know it can pass off as realistic enough. Happy reading!

Last thing it's written in English, English not US, English.

_____________________________________________________

The wipers lazily moved across the windscreen clearing the sleet as it piled down from the grey winter sky. Matt watched them move back and forth feeling they captured the time of year stuck in the doldrums of post-Christmas holidays where every day folk realised they'd eaten & drank a little too much and spent way more than they planned to. But Matt was in the doldrums for something completely different.

During the last year he had a girlfriend but there was a snag. Ann was the wife of another man, Lance, and over Christmas he found out about their affair and all hell had broken loose. Lance torched the home he had with Ann and she had simply disappeared, quitting her job at Bournemouth Royal Infirmary with no forwarding details other than she was going after her husband who was in the Army. Matt decided to go after Ann so took a week off work trying to track her down in what he believed was her home town by checking out all NHS and private hospitals to see if she had started work. Every avenue drew a blank so he was mournfully driving back from the west country to Bournemouth trying to work out what to do next. In the end it wasn't what he was expecting.

Matt lived with his gran she was, as far as he was aware, his only living relative. He sat in the kitchen staring at his phone whilst she made a pot of tea. She knew he had been involved with someone she strongly suspected of being married but didn't know the full details. Over a cup of tea, it all came tumbling out, a potted history of the previous year right up to Matt walking back into the house twenty minutes ago having been trying to track Ann down.

She got up and walked around to him. He looked up with a tearful expression and expected that she was going to cuddle him instead she slapped him hard across the face, then wrapped her arms around him and pulled her into her bosom. Matt could only weep whilst held deeply in the confinement of her arms. She was the only person who he knew deep down cared for him.

"If your parents were still alive they would be so disappointed in what you've done Matt, listen to yourself! You've destroyed a man and wife's relationship and all you care about is finding this poor woman to do what? Hurt her more, poke at the angry wound you've created, enrage her husband more so he would...would...god Matt please stop chasing after something that is so wrong!" She was now sniffling herself trying to stop joining the sobbing that filled the air as she spoke to her grandson.

"Look at me Matt," Mat looked up into her face, it's features were of softness. "Your grandad and I thought we'd brought you up to be a respectful adult in the same way we brought up your dad. You've had it hard I know, but please look inside yourself and see what you've done. You have all that love to give and share, find the right person but don't do it at someone else's expense, promise an old lady you've learnt a lesson in life you'll never repeat."

Matt looked up at her and nodded burying his head back against her body whilst her arms rubbed up and down his back. The slap and her words began to germinate in his mind, it wasn't a "hallelujah!" moment but her tough love was a catalyst.

Matt returned to work and spoke to the Fire Station Commander, reliving the previous year and apologising for erratic behaviour as the end of the previous year had played out. Because of the nature of the hours and the situations that emergency services personnel worked it wasn't uncommon for relationships to fail, it could happen because of the hours worked, shift pattern - sometimes an event that those workers could find themselves in cause enough emotional trauma to trash relationships, livelihoods and, in extreme circumstances, put those affected in a place so dark they can never recover. Whilst it was rare the Commander had seen it first hand and made sure to offer the right level of guidance when it was required. He also knew Matt was a special case.

When you are a fireman your Watch are like a second family. Yes, you can bicker and squabble, have highs, have lows but you always look out for your 'family' so to speak. Once it became common knowledge what had happened they made it clear he had had a lucky escape. Matt never let on that it was extremely likely that Lance had touched his own house as he'd come to realise to let sleeping dogs lie. Of course he still had moments where he missed Ann, especially the first time he went back to the "Blues & Twos" emergency personnel night held at a local club where he'd met her. Within a few months he was back to his former self except this time he made damn sure any hook-ups he had were with single women.

The summer months crept around quickly and Matt's Watch attended a Road Traffic Accident on one of the busy main roads that weaved through the New Forest. A deer had run in front of a heavy goods vehicle that was travelling at fifty miles an hour and, as it sensed its own demise, tried to jump in the air in the hope it could leap above the forty tonnes of metal, glass and rubber rapidly bearing down on it. All that happened is that it jumped high enough for the front grill of the truck to strike it like a tennis pro hitting a backhander at Wimbledon sending the lifeless body of the deer spinning through the air to squarely hit the windscreen of an elderly VW camper bus travelling in the opposite direction killing the driver and front seat passenger instantly. The bus lurched through ninety degrees striking the truck as it was frantically being pulled to a halt but there was too much kinetic energy in both vehicles so the rear right hand portion of the elderly VW folded and condensed, compressing whatever was that side of the bus into a shape that a small human child clutching her favourite doll should never be in.

With the momentum from striking the lorry the VW bus pirouetted quickly back across the road and spun into the trees of the New Forest before coming to an abrupt stop as it slammed into a large ancient oak tree. Before the dust had started to settle numerous people were on their mobile phones seeking out the emergency services as all the other vehicles screeched to a halt.

Matt's team arrived on site, the Watch lead went to survey the wreckage while the team began to gather equipment that they understood would be required to cut occupants that were trapped in a vehicle. They made their way over towards the VW and as they drew nearer Matt's legs began to turn to stone. He wanted to throw-up at the scene before him. He started to sweat straight away and his steps became hesitant as they drew even nearer.

"You ok Matt?" asked James who was walking carrying rescue kit with Matt. "Sorry, yeah...saw something similar once...bit of a shock.... Yeah I'm ok, c'mon better get started."

They walked forward as the Watch lead started to give orders based on his appraisal of the situation. There were two dead adults in front of the vehicle, a dead child in the back quarter with another trapped in the rear who was alive, but barely so. The priority was to get access to that child for the paramedics then get the child out of the VW asap.

If you know or ever speak to emergency services personnel, the one thing that will deeply affect them are children and whilst the Team set to work as professionals each one of them felt the pain and suffering from the carnage that they were trying to unpick. In the rear a small hand reached out from a section of compressed steel but it was still and it would never move of its own free will again. In the seconds between the deer striking the VW to the VW striking the lorry the young girl had reached out seeking her older brother for support.

Sat trapped in a seat partially wrapped in steel from the broken VW shell was an eight-year-old boy. His body broken and unconscious, bleeding heavily from a head wound that was visible once you peered under the steel pushed across his upper torso. Matt stood struggling to breathe when a hand came to rest on his shoulder, the hand of the Station Commander.

"Come on Matt, step away, this one isn't for you. We have enough people on site to deal with this." Matt didn't move but stood like a stone figure. "Matt, it's not a request it's an order, go and sit in my truck. I'll be over with you in a couple of minutes". It was said calmly with an air of authority but with sympathy. Matt turned and walked away finding the truck he sat in the passenger seat feeling numb, deep in thought. The Station Commander spoke to various people on site over the next couple of minutes then joined Matt before driving away.

"You ok Matt?" Matt nodded as he stared out through the windscreen with a blank expression.

"You probably don't realise but I was there Matt, a bit older than you are now and I still sometimes have flashbacks to that day. It was tough on a lot of people but nowhere as tough as it was on you. They say nothing good comes from a family tragedy but I disagree in this instance. You become a Fireman dedicating yourself to try and save others." Matt just nodded, still staring blankly out of the truck as it made its way back to the Station.

Once back the Commander told Matt to go home and try and relax. In the morning to come and see him when he came back on duty and they would take it from there. If they both felt some counselling would help it would be put in place as a priority. Matt changed into his own clothing before pulling away from the Station on his R1 Yamaha and spent the next couple of hours riding around some of the coastal roads to help clear his mind by concentrating on the ride. As he came back into Bournemouth he headed to the hospital rather than home.

He walked up to the emergency reception desk and asked about the boy that had been brought in from the road traffic accident a few hours back out in the New Forest. The receptionist asked him to wait whilst she made a phone call before a woman came up beside him. "Are you a relative?" she asked. Matt shook his head and showed her his Fire Service ID and explained he had been initially called to the scene as part of the emergency response. The stress in his voice was clearly audible.

She reached out and touched his arm. "Come with me and we can have a chat." He followed her to a small room with a couple of chairs and a table where they sat. There was a kettle and enough stuff to make a couple of cups of tea and after turning the kettle on she sat down at the table at right angles to Matt. Speaking softly, she said, "Some introductions would be nice, don't you think?" He nodded, acknowledging her, before telling her who he was and that he wanted to see if the boy was going to be ok from the crash.

Ok Matt, my name is Tanya and I'm part of the Special Investigations Team but the Station's short-handed so I was asked to come down to gather some data and be a point of contact for the family in the first instance. The family were from Liverpool, we've tracked down the next of kin and they are making their way down here, should arrive early evening."

Matt heard those words; 'Were from Liverpool...' he knew the young boy hadn't made it. He folded his arms into the table before setting his head to rest on them and started to sob uncontrollably. It felt as if layers of healing time had been peeled back to the raw centre of his life over ten years ago. Tanya walked behind him and ran a hand gently through his hair then put her hands on his shoulder before leaning in so her face was inches from his. Speaking softly in his ear "Whatever it is Matt, let it all out, let it all out now." With that the sobbing ramped up and they stayed like that for a few minutes until he regained some composure. She made a couple of cups of tea then sat back in her chair then, for the first time in his life, Matt fully bared his soul to another person.

He started with what he considered was day zero. Day zero was trapped in a cold dark place, cut, bruised with a broken arm; the only thing visible to him was his brother's lifeless and bloody outstretched hand. Then the darkness was gone as firemen lifted him free from the wreckage that had claimed his mum, dad and younger brother. They had left home in the early hours of a cold February morning travelling to Gatwick airport for a morning flight to Tenerife for a family winter break. Their car hit a patch of black ice, turned sideways before slamming into a tree which practically folded the car in half. His dad and brother died instantly, his mother died at some point over the next hour or so prior to being cut free. They said Matt had been lucky although as a youngster he didn't feel like losing your family was lucky.

Matt carried on explaining how he went to live with his only surviving gran and grandad and from eight years of age they'd brought him up as their own son. His grandad was a good man and made sure to treat him like his own son, in fact Matt did something his dad wasn't allowed to do and that was to become absorbed in his grandfather's love of motorcycles despite misgivings from his gran. His grandad passed away from a heart attack four years ago which was hard on Matt and his gran but they used each other to overcome the loss together.

Since the day he was rescued all Matt wanted to do was be a Fireman and he remained true to that dream when he joined the Fire Brigade at eighteen. He attended the National Fire Training School at Morten-in-the-Marsh finishing top of his intake before starting at the Central Fire Station in Bournemouth.

Matt continued on and spoke of the previous year and the affair with Ann, how it imploded and his realisation he had destroyed the relationship between a husband and wife. He also spoke about growing up sexually because of Ann which caused Tania to raise an eyebrow at his honesty. Ninety minutes and another cup of tea later he was finished.

Tania looked at her watch. "Shit! I need to get back to the Station to do a write-up for the handover for the poor soul that'll be coming back to meet the family later tonight. It's one part of our job I don't do very often & frankly I'm glad about it."

Matt apologised, he hadn't realised how long he had been talking for. When he thought about it all he knew was she was a policewoman and her name was Tania. He felt somewhat selfish that he had spewed his life story out to someone that probably didn't want to hear it.

Tania surprised him with her response. She wrote a phone number on the back of a card and gave it to him. "Find a table for 7.30pm tonight somewhere and message me a pickup time based on living in the centre of town. Once you message me I'll give you my address. Oh, and bring some bulldog clips to pin those ears back as it'll be my turn to spill my life story. By the way there's nothing I don't like." Matt looked at her and she let out a soft giggle. "I'm talking about food Matt, just food, I'll happily eat anything."

She smiled and he realised that the comments were nothing but double entendres. She walked out of the room and Matt looked at her properly for the first time. Around five foot six/seven with mousey coloured hair tied in a ponytail her body was nicely proportioned with flared hips and a pair of nice buns hidden below the trousers she was wearing. Her blouse was modest in style and could be considered the archetype wear-to-work clothing with hints of femininity without being overtly so. Her facial features were classic English rose looking not dissimilar to Emma Watson who played the lead female role in the Harry Potter film franchise. The day was most definitely a strange one and to use a football phrase it was turning into a game of two halves. He picked his crash helmet up and left to go home, whilst he thought of the family from this morning the sting had been taken out of the event by meeting Tanya. He was looking forward to the evening.

Once home Matt told his gran about the accident, she'd heard it on the radio and wondered if he'd attended it. She asked if he was ok and then he told her about the rest of the day and spilling his heart & soul to Tanya. His gran was surprised by his statement, he had never to her knowledge ever discussed his life in detail with anyone including her and her husband. Maybe this woman was special, she hoped so.

Matt made a reservation for a little Italian in Winton, a suburb of Bournemouth that was almost like a small town itself although it housed a large proportion of university students living in rented accommodation. Being a midweek night the restaurant should be fairly quiet. He messaged Tanya and received a message back asking about dress code, he replied as you like but casual is fine. The reply was a smiley emoji and thumbs up with an address telling him she would meet him outside the building.

Matt arrived at some modern apartments in the centre of Bournemouth around seven fifteen and within a few minutes she came out the door and got into his car. She wore a perfume that had the fragrance of burnt wood mixed with lavender which he liked. Matt turned and spoke to her "I should have asked earlier you're not married or in a relationship with anyone else?" She was rather shocked by his bold statement and mildly annoyed, jeez she thought it's only a meal. She thought about a reply for a few seconds before looking directly at him.

"No I'm single as in unique, unattached, eligible, unwed, footloose and fancy free. Why do you ask, are you going to propose to me?" Matt's face went crimson as the reply caught him out. "Oh god no, look I'm sorry, it's just what happened last yea......."

She cut him off "Ok, ok I've got the picture as a tip can I suggest you create a questionnaire for any future dates you have."

Now Matt was really shocked. "Is this a date? I thought we were just having dinner so you could even up from where I stole the entire conversation earlier."

Tanya put a finger to her lip as if pondering the question "Hmmm let me think about that then. Tell you what, let's go get something to eat and at the end of the evening let's decide if this can be categorised as a date." Matt put the car in gear and pulled away heading for the restaurant, he thought this was most definitely the day of two halves.