WRITTEN BY: Sclub_fan
EDITOR: Angela
RATING: PG ~ For language and some moderate violence, also some sexual
references regarding the romance between two of the female characters.
DISCLAIMER: As always none of the characters are portrayed the way they
are on purpose. The story is completely fiction, apart from some names and
places referred to during the storyline. The members of S Club 7, as it was,
belong to their management and themselves; therefore I do not have any contact
or communication with any of them.
SOUNDTRACK: Kylie Minoge ~ Confide In Me
GOTCHA!
PART 1
Why Me?
In the small office on one of the back roads of London, a small dark haired man
sat at his large desk typing away at his state of the art computer. Nearby a
telephone sat at arms reach from the edge of the desk, together with a small
black leather notepad. The mahogany desk had a rectangle of red velvet on top
to create a sense of professionalism, together with two large and bulky leather
armchairs at either side of the desk. The office seemed to lack the home
qualities that most people liked to have around their personal space. However
this particular office was anything but personal to the old man perched behind the
desk. Nothing in the room looked welcoming or homely and that was just how
the dark haired man liked it.
"Ha, Miss Stevens." He forced a smile, as a young beautiful woman walked
timidly through the large oak door. "Nice to see you again, how've you been?"
The brunette seemed somewhat edgy due to the recent events that had
happened and she seemed to like to take all that anger out on this dark haired
man before her.
"How the hell do you think I've been?" she answered, her voice dripping with
sarcasm with a tiny glint of anger in her eyes.
"Yes well, I know you had it rough, but that was to be expected." He smiled,
taking no notice to the sarcasm and her bad manners. "I must say, I really didn't
expect you to be back at all. You proved us all wrong."
"Excuse me?" snapped Rachel, anger building up inside her. "I've been stuck in
the middle of the bloody Mediterranean with a madman, who incidentally was
trying to kill me while he was trying to take over the bloody world. Then to top
things, when I thought I knew you lot were going to come and get me out, you
didn't bother turning up. So I had to fight this flipping madman on my own and
managed to escape a helicopter that blew up in the process. I nearly pissing
died out there and you think you can just talk about it as if nothing happened? Is
this how you treat all your agents?"
"Now, now Miss Stevens." Smiled the man behind the desk, as Rachel
reluctantly stopped her ranting and took a seat in the large armchair. "That was
a bit harsh, don't you think? We here at the MI6 headquarters have far more
important things to do than chase our agents all around the world. I am so sorry
that we couldn't come to retrieve you, but as I said we were extremely busy with
other things. However, I will let your behaviour pass for now, seeing that this
was your first mission and you seem to be taking the events to some …
extreme. But from now on, you will refrain from using that kind of language in
front of me, do I make myself clear?"
"What do you mean?" she laughed, "From now on? There won't be a next time.
You said that I owed you a debt and that if I did this mission you would forget
about it. So as far as I'm concerned I've paid my debt and I am certainly not
going back out there as one of your so-called agents. I'm washing my hands of
all of this crap, you hear me?"
"I hear you Miss Stevens." Smiled the man, "But I'm afraid you … hmm how can I
put it? You didn't complete the mission as I would have hoped."
"What?" asked Rachel in misbelieve, "I caught the bad guy and saved the world,
what else didn't I do?" Her voice was dripping with sarcasm again, as she tried
to stay calm.
"You see when we made our little arrangement." Explained the man, "You were
new to all this. You didn't understand how we worked. Now maybe it wasn't a
barrel of laughs for you, Miss Stevens. But we really thought that once you did
this mission that would be the end of you, because you have to now understand
my position. You survived the mission and now you want to leave MI6, which
means you now have knowledge of how the headquarters work. Therefore, how
do I know that you won't blab to some terrorist group about our ways of
working?"
"Survived?" repeated the brunette, thinking over and over again the words that
the man in front of her had just spoken. "You mean … you send me to die? You
had no intentions of coming after me did you? So say I was another agent … an
important one. You would have come after me?"
"Possibly." Nodded the old man, clenching his fists together on top of the desk.
"Possibly … that means yes then?" she corrected, narrowing her eyes at him.
"So now that I've survived, what the hell are you going to do now? Cause I sure
as hell ain't working here again!"
"I'm afraid that is the option." The man informed, showing no emotion what so
ever. "And by the way, Miss Stevens it is Sir when you address me." He sighed
and looked down at his clenched fists, before taking another deep breathe and
looking back up to the narrowed eyes staring back at him. "You see, Miss
Stevens. This was never meant to be … it wasn't supposed to end like this. You
weren't supposed to be sitting here this minute in my office. You're supposed to
be …" He sighed again and broke off, unable to continue with his sentence.
"No, I'm supposed to be 6 feet under aren't I?" she finished for him with an edge
of bitterness added to her voice.
"I know it is hard to believe that we wanted that. Well … we didn't exactly want
you dead, but that was the only way MI6 could remain secure. I hope you
understand, Miss Stevens. Because your mission was a success … in a way."
He sighed again and paused thinking of a way to tell Rachel that her services to
MI6 were of some importance. "We at MI6 headquarters think that this way is the
best for you and us. We need you to carry on with the undercover job … an
international spy if you like and you will have to continue going on missions like
the previous, except not that dangerous."
"So because I didn't die in the last mission, I have to die on this one. Am I right?"
she demanded, before adding, "Sir." The man behind the desk sighed again and
shook his head.
"No, that's not right at all. You showed all the signs of a good undercover agent
and we especially want to keep a close eye on you, to make sure that we don't
loose you. Your last mission was to see how well you would do without help and
I must say you impressed us all. That's why you won't have anything like that
again; we'll make sure of that. So what do you say?"
"I say you're mad … the whole lot of you … you're all mad." She answered
standing up to get ready to leave the office for good. "So if you don't mind, Sir I'll
leave you to get on with your important business, all right?" Her voice once
again dripped of sarcasm and anger that had been almost pushed over the edge
of Rachel's tolerance level.
"Please, Miss Stevens, sit down." Ordered the man's voice.
"Why?" snapped Rachel, "Why do I have to take orders from someone like you?
Hmm? I've only just set foot in this place and already I'm getting ordered about,
when I've explained already that I AM NOT FUCKING INTERESTED! God, you'd
think you'd get the hint by now!"
"Please, Miss Stevens refrain from using such language. You are a lady like
figure, not a loud mouth slag, you understand?" spat the man, brushing a hand
through his dark gelled back hair that shined in the sunlight that rained down
through the window behind the desk.
"I just want you to get my message loud and clear, that I am not going to do
anything for the MI6 again." She said clearly making sure that the man
understood her every word and remembered them.
"As you wish, Miss Stevens!" sighed the man, "But it's your lose. You had a
chance to change your life. Do a bit of travelling and sight seeing. But no Miss
Stevens, you don't want that do you? Well, as you wish … here is your pay for
your last mission and I hope that you will spend it wisely." The old man reached
into one of the drawers of the desk and pulled out a large wooden box. Opening
it, Rachel could see quite a few wads of cash piled into the box for safekeeping.
"How … how much is there?" she swallowed hard looking down into the box, her
eyes growing wide at the amount of money being showed to her.
"Almost …" he paused, checking a piece of paper on his desk, "£50,000. I hope
that will satisfy your needs. Good day to you, Miss Stevens." With that he
emptied the contents of the box and piled it all into a large envelope, handing it to
the brunette. Rachel swallowed hard as she felt the weight of the money in her
hands.
Never in her life had she earned as much money in one go. This was easy
money really. If the man was telling her rightly, the last mission was a tester to
see how long she would last. But if she had the correct training and weapons,
she would be raking in the money without having to do too much hard work. All
she had to do was save the world a few more times and she would be a
millionaire. How could she give something like that up without a second
thought? But it was too late; surely this money was a paying off and she wouldn't
earn this amount of money if she did decide to join the MI6 headquarters for
good, would it?
"Just one question." She asked timidly, before she walked to the door while the
man started to type into his computer again. He stopped and raised his
eyebrows at her and forced a smile.
"Yes, Miss Stevens?" he answered.
"Well, if I did decide to … join the MI6 and all that … not that I'm thinking of
changing my mind. But if I was, how … how much would I get, you know for the
missions and stuff."
"I see. You want to know the pay?" he asked suppressing a smile, as she
nodded. "Probably the same amount as you have got right there. Obviously you
will have to sign a contract that will have a fixed amount for each mission. But
given the standard of your skills, I would say you have a chance of gaining a
bonus. But obviously you wouldn't be interested in that, seeing you don't want
the job, am I right Miss Stevens?"
"Yeah, I just wondered that's all. Goodbye Sir!" she said and forced a small
smile to show her polite side for once.
"Yes, good luck in your life, Miss Stevens!" he smiled again, "I have no doubt that
you will do great things. I am very glad I met you and you have done me proud.
Thank you and I am very sorry about the ordeal that you had to encounter."
With that she walked through the oak door and left the building in silence, leaving
the man in his office to probably call on someone else and do exactly the same
thing. But that's not my problem anymore, thank God! She thought, as she made
her way back to her house in North London. But before she reached her house
she made sure to put her money into the bank for safety.
PART 2
Outcast
"Hay, I didn't expect to see you lot in here. How come you didn't tell me you
were all meeting up." Asked Rachel, as she made her way to a seat in a small
café near the bank that Rachel had paid her money into. She had fancied a
coffee after everything that had happened and decided to go into the local café,
where her usual friends met up and chatted about latest gossip.
She noticed the sudden silence that had taken over the laughter and chatting that
had once filled the room only moments ago. She began to sit down, as she
noticed all her friends' faces, they were hiding something from her she was sure.
She looked at each of them in turn to try and figure out why they had suddenly
gone quiet.
Three young men sat at the table, one with blonde spiky hair, another with black
hair and the other man had black short hair. Their names, Rachel had thought,
suited them. Jon, Paul and Bradley. Jon because he was always sensible and
outgoing, Rachel found it quite easy to talk to him more than the other two, as he
was more sensitive about certain things. Paul was always there when you
needed a laugh and it surprised the brunette somewhat, that Paul was sat silently
looking extremely uncomfortable about the situation. Bradley sat in silence as
well, drinking the liquid from his clear cold glass occasionally, the condensation
forming on the outside of the glass began to run down it and Bradley seemed
rather interested by it. Either that or he just didn't want to look or speak to the
brunette that had just entered.
The brunette looked towards the three young women who were sat to her left.
Tina sat with her dark black hair falling into her eyes; the blue slide placed in the
top did nothing to stop it falling. She too found the condensation on the outside
of their cold drink glasses interesting and seemed not to notice the presence of
Rachel. Hannah on the other hand, sat in her seat and smiled briefly at Rachel
before dropping her eyes to the floor, letting her long blonde hair also fall into her
eyes, before timidly tucking it behind her ear, waiting for someone to start
talking. Jo had long bleached hair that fell down to her shoulders gracefully. But
gracefully wasn't a kind of word to describe Jo. She was about the hardest
woman to talk to that Rachel knew of. Every time that Jo would appear
depressed, she couldn't find it in herself to talk about it to anyone. Each of them
looked very uncomfortable with the presence of their so-called friend. Rachel
found it impossible to understand their behaviour, they always sat in the same
café, talking about the same thing each time and yet this time, they seemed like
they would be happier if Rachel wasn't there at all.
"Well?" she asked, realising that no one had answered her for over a minute or
so. They looked at each other, some sighing, others shrugging their shoulders.
The brunette frowned when she could have sworn she could see boredom in Jo's
eyes, as she rolled them up to the ceiling.
"We … erm … we just came here unexpectedly … we tried to call you at the last
minute … but your phone must have been switched off or something, cause you
didn't answer." Answered Hannah finally, looking worriedly at the others and then
smiled at Rachel.
"We didn't want to bother you if you were … busy." Said Jo immediately, a heavy
emphasis on the busy and again Rachel could have sworn she saw boredom fill
Jo's eyes. "Anyway, you're too late now, we're going!" The brunette wasn't
imaging it anymore, she knew that much. They didn't want to sit there with her
and talk like they usually do at the same time everyday. However this was the
one time that she had caught them all at the same place, only a different time. It
had been the first time she had seen them since she had gotten back from the
Mediterranean and they all seemed to be trying their best to ignore the brunette.
"Oh I see." Rachel swallowed hard, trying not to look too hurt.
"Maybe next time huh Rach?" winked Jon, as he hurried past her after looking at
Jo's stern expression.
"Yeah, yeah whatever!" she sighed, as they all left the table and walked out of
the café, expect for Hannah who remained behind.
"Aren't you going as well?" she asked Hannah sarcastically.
"Look don't be like that." Sighed Hannah, "Cause … they're just a bit confused to
why you disappeared for three weeks without telling anyone."
"I didn't do it on purpose, I have my reasons you know!" snapped Rachel angrily.
"Well, I'm waiting." Smiled Hannah.
"I … I … I can't explain now. It's too late. I … just had a break for a while. A
break that I didn't choose, I was forced to take the break." The brunette said
hurriedly, while Hannah frowned in confusion.
"Fine, okay whatever." Sighed Hannah, not really bothered about what Rachel
decided to get up to in her spare time. "Just remember they don't understand.
We're all meant to be friends and friends tell each other their secrets. Anyway, I
have to really go now. Cause believe it or not, while you were taking a break I
got myself a job, so I better not be late for it!"
"Oh my God!" for the first time that day, Rachel broke out into a genuine smile.
"Hannah Spearritt got a job? Am I hearing this right?"
"Yep, cause you are sweets, would I lie to you?" Hannah smiled back playfully.
"Doing what exactly?"
"This and that." Hannah smiled again, "But I really have to go now. Talk later
okay?"
With that Hannah smiled and gave her friend a quick kiss on the cheek and
patted her on the back before quickly running out of the café to her new job.
Unbelievable! Rachel thought, when the blonde haired woman had bounced
through the doors of the café, Hannah has got a PROPER job, not at all like me.
PART3
Why Did You Hurt Me?
The brunette stood waiting outside the door for what seemed like an hour, just
waiting for the door to open and let her in. She rung the plastic doorbell beside it
again and again, hoping that the person on the other side of it would hear it and
answer her call. Nothing happened. The only sound was that of the wind curling
past her and whipping her face forcefully. The cold grey sky threatening to open
up and start raining upon her. She tried the doorbell once again and sighed,
knowing that she would have to give up some time soon.
Just as she took a deep breathe and turned around, ready to walk back down the
path to the main road, the person she had been longing to see all day on her own
walked down the path to the front door. She seemed to not notice Rachel
standing in the cold by her front door; either that or she was doing a good job of
ignoring her. The strong face showed no emotion and her body language gave
nothing away. It could only be one person. The person Rachel longed to see, to
talk to. It could only be - Jo.
"What do you want?" asked Jo finally acknowledging the brunette's presence.
There was nothing in her face that looked alive. It was as though her sprit had
disappeared, her will to live.
"I just wondered if you were all right, that's all." She answered with a smile.
"Oh right!" said Jo her eyebrows lifting while her voice drowned in the sarcasm.
"How the fuck do you think I feel? Hmm? We were sat there in the café and you
said you needed the toilet. But after about three hours, to be honest I was
getting pretty worried about you. Then when I went to try and find you, you
weren't there at all. So you tell me? Am I all right?"
"I'm sorry, I wish I could explain." Answered Rachel dropping her eyes to study
her feet, suddenly feeling ashamed and embarrassed. Jo sighed and thought
about whether she should hear the brunette out. "Can we talk?"
Jo considered the question for a moment and then nodded before turning the key
in the lock and opening the door to let Rachel in.
"You'll have to excuse the mess. I haven't been feeling too good lately and
haven't been up to cleaning." Rachel frowned, suddenly worried about Jo's
health. She did look different, the way her face showed no emotion and her
heavy body literally dragging itself around the house.
"That doesn't bother me. But if you feel ill, then why didn't you tell me? Have you
seen a doctor -"
"First I couldn't tell you, cause you were nowhere to be seen for the last three
weeks now. And secondly you know I hate doctors, they're that ones that make
me feel sick." Answered Jo moving some magazines from the sofa, so that they
could sit down.
"I'm sorry, I've really mucked things up haven't I?" sighed Rachel looking down at
the floor.
"Want a drink?" asked the blonde haired woman, trying to change the subject.
"No thanks, but I won't stop you!" she smiled, knowing full well that Jo would
want a drink.
"Glad to hear it!" laughed Jo, "You sure you don't want one. Just I think I need a
strong one."
"This early?" frowned Rachel.
"Trust me I need one. I can't twist your arm then?"
"Go on then. And then you can tell me all about what ever's bothering you and
all the gossip I've missed." Jo disappeared into the kitchen to collect some
drinks, while Rachel sat in silence listening to the clattering of glasses coming
from the kitchen.
"Thanks." Smiled Rachel taking the glass from Jo's hand and sipping it slowly.
"So why did you disappear that day? Was I really that bad company?" Jo forced
a smile, but she couldn't help but feel hurt that the brunette had left her without a
word.
"I told you, I took a break that's all."
"No you didn't tell me that you took a break. And why the hell did you decide to
take a break in the middle of our shopping trip, huh?"
"Sorry, but it's really hard for me. I can't tell anyone about it. I signed the fucking
contract that made me swear that I wouldn't let out the secret."
"Oh what secret?" asked Jo getting interested in what Rachel had slipped out by
mistake.
"Oh shit. Look I've told you way too much already. I can't tell you anymore. I'm
sorry!" she sighed.
"Fine. I just wondered that's all. I mean I always have people running out on me
during trips. It's okay, I completely understand." The blonde haired woman
answered with sarcasm, as she folded her arms across her chest and slumped
further down the sofa.
"Look … I had my reasons trust me. If only you knew what the hell I had to go
through for the last three weeks, you wouldn't be sat there giving me a lecture on
being a good friend, all right?" snapped the brunette, as she crossed her arms
across her chest mirroring Jo's position on the sofa.
She let out a small sigh knowing full well that she had said far too much about
her other life than she needed to.
"Well what did you do then?" asked Jo making sure that she still sounded angry
with Rachel than interested in her life.
"I told you. I can't explain that to you. I can't tell anyone. I signed the contra -"
she sighed. She was giving Jo enough ammunition to ask more questions than
she needed and that was the last thing the brunette wanted right now.
"Just tell me!" ordered the blonde haired woman.
Rachel sighed. She knew she'd be breaking both the contract and her promise,
but she just couldn't stand the fact that Jo and the rest of her friends were mad at
her for something that wasn't her fault.
"Well, I know this is hard to believe … but can you remember when we went into
the café for a drink and that bloke forgot some papers." Jo nodded. "Well, I
picked them up didn't I? And I took them home cause the woman at the café
wouldn't take them back and I'd missed that bloke … he must have been in a
hurry cause I couldn't find him. Anyway I took them home and I kinda went
through them to see if there was a number or name I could contact. But the
papers were confidential and they belonged to the MI6 headquarters. Anyway,
cause I couldn't find any contact details on them I put them to the side and forgot
all about them. It was only when we went out to do some shopping that they
caught up with me. These MI6 people … they apparently were following me for
about a week after the papers went missing and when I went to the toilet they
must have been waiting outside for me … cause when I came out they told me to
follow them. I had no other choice cause the men held my arm and led me to the
car outside. We went home and I had to find the papers to give them to them.
Then we went to this office type place and I was told that I was in debt to them,
cause I had found out about their secret service thing. Not that any of it made
much sense to me, but anyway they told me that I had to go to the Mediterranean
to see if this man was going to smuggle some drugs or something into another
country and kill a few people in the process. I almost died after escaping a
bloody helicopter that blew up while this madman tried to take over the world. So
what do you think? Yeah I loved the past three weeks, been really relaxing for
me." Rachel paused and take in a deep breathe.
She had more or less told Jo the whole story and she was sure to get into more
trouble with the MI6 for letting out their biggest secret. Her plans of never
returning to the work that she had left just a few hours ago would be up in smoke,
that she was sure of.
"Wow." Said Jo raising her eyebrows, not allowing any emotion into her face.
"So while we've been over here slagging you off, you've been playing James
Bond?"
"Something like that." Answered the brunette, "Forgiven?"
"Maybe." She smiled, "Only if you do the name thing and then I might think about
forgiving you."
"Name thing?" laughed Rachel while she frowned slightly, confused to what Jo
was on about.
"Yeah, you know the James Bond name thing."
"Oh get lost. I ain't doing that!" she laughed blushing slightly with
embarrassment.
"Oh fine … but I was about to forgive you."
"All right." She sighed, "Stevens … Rachel Stevens. There happy now?" Jo
threw her head back and laughed, causing Rachel to smile a little.
"Much happier!" Jo laughed again.
Thank God things are back to normal. Rachel thought as she continued to laugh
with Jo. It was just like the old times.
PART 4
The Scar's Hurting Twice
"Yep, that's why she wasn't around for the last three weeks. So I think we all
need to say something to Rach, don't you?" informed Jo. All of Rachel's friends
were as usual sat in the same café, at the same table, having the same drinks, at
the same time. Rachel smiled nervously. It had only taken a day for the secret
to have been broadcasted to all of her friends from Jo.
"But it was you tha -" started Paul before he winced in pain, as he received a
painful kick under the table from Jo. He narrowed his eyes at her and then
brushed back his dark hair with his fingers. "Sorry Rach. Jo … we didn't
understand and we just …"
"Anyway … we're really really sorry and hope that you can forgive us." Finished
Hannah smiling at Rachel. Rachel nodded feeling slightly better about their
friendship than the day before.
"Rachel Stevens?" asked a tall blonde haired man who had approached their
table while they had been talking. He seemed rather young, maybe about 20
years old or something. His blue eyes twinkled in the light as she nodded with
confusion. "Hmm, can I have a word please?" He seemed nervous about talking
to her, as if he didn't know quite what he was doing. She nodded and turned
back to the others, shrugging at their questioning looks.
"What's all this about? Who are you?" she asked immediately when she had
stopped following the blonde haired man to a quite table in the café.
"I'm Si … from the MI6 headquarters and I've been told to give you a message.
That Richard McKee wants to see you immediately."
"Oh what now?" she sighed, "I told him I wasn't interested. Forget it and tell him
from me … if he sends someone to follow me again, I'll sue him for harassment."
"But it's important. Really important and he said that if I couldn't convince you to
go by talking, I would have to … arrested you to take you out. There are two
policemen waiting outside all I have to do is call them. It would only be a mock
arrest but do you really want the fuss that it'll cause?" he said raising his
eyebrows in emphasis.
"You can't arrest me. I mean what am I getting done for hmm? I bet McCunt
never thought of that did he?" smiled Rachel knowingly.
"Please, his name is McKee and you should address him as Sir when you refer
to him."
"Oh please not you as well. I told McCunt that I was finished with that business
and I am not going back on my word. So you want to take me hmm? Cause I'll
tell you now, I ain't coming quietly."
"As you wish." Smiled the young blonde haired man.
He stood up and stared out of the window for the two men that were stood facing
the window, watching them like hawks. The rest of her friends frowned at the
sudden opening of the café door, as it slammed against the wall and then
slammed shut again. The two butch men, one with fair hair the other with
strawberry coloured hair came racing over to Rachel. The fair-haired man took
out his handcuffs that were attached to the back of his belt and started to
handcuff the brunette's hands together behind her back.
"Rachel Stevens," started the man, "I am placing you under arrest for the
attempted use of drugs class A. You have the right to remain silent. Anything
you do say maybe used as evidence against you. Do you understand?" Rachel
sighed deeply through gritted teeth and mumbled a yes.
"I believe you're nicked!" smiled the man, as she narrowed her eyes at him while
the two other men nodded their heads in response to Si's order of taking her
away. Si quickly glanced at the six people suddenly making their way over to the
scene, their faces full of shock and anger.
"What the hell's going on?" demanded Jon, staring at the blonde haired man like
he had two heads.
"What was all that about drug use?" ordered Jo, "Rachel's never touched drugs
in her life."
"Please, please!" shouted the man who had suddenly grown more confident as
time passed on. "Please," he continued dropping his voice seeing that he had
everyone's attention and they had all gone silent. "Rachel will have to go down
the station for some general questions. We will let you know about everything in
due course. Other than that, there is nothing that you or I can do."
With that he smiled at their worried faces and turned his back to them, walking
quickly out of the café door to the awaiting police car. The six stunned people
who stood in the café quickly made their way out of the door just after Si, just in
time to see Rachel being helped into the back of the car by one of the men. She
turned to look out of the back of the window and smiled sadly. She saw a tear
threaten to fall from Jo's eye, as the car started to pull out into the road and begin
its journey.
God what must she think of me? She thought, as she turned back in her seat and
dropped her head forward while a small tear fell from her own eye.