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Starting Over Again	By : gallygaskins Category: 1 through F > Clocking Off (BBC) > Clocking Off (BBC) Views: 1117 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own Clocking Off and I do not earn any money from this fanfiction.

Chapter List
- 15
- 16
- 17
Chapter 16 – Children, children

“So, tell me about your second honeymoon. I trust you had a good time?” Trudy asked, as she, Sophie, Mack and Martin all sat back from the dining table after their meal.

Mack took Sophie’s hand in his and kissed the back of it, never letting go of the eye contact between them. “It was superb.”

“I wasn’t asking about your time spent on the boat, Mack.” She directed her next question to Sophie, “Did he take you out anywhere?”

“Yes, he was very good really, only keeping me chained up for half the time. We spent some time in Monaco before sailing down the west coast of Italy. We went to Pisa, Florence and Rome before going to Sicily and Tunisia for a few days.” Sophie answered.

“Can’t have spent too much time inside anyway, look at the colour of them both,” Martin suggested.

“We had a great time, bit fed up of pasta and pizza though,” Mack joked. “Glad to get back to … what did we have tonight? … Oh yeah, Cannelloni.”

Sophie swatted his arm, “sometimes you are insufferable.”

“But you love me.”

“For my sins,” Sophie lent in to kiss him, before getting up and collecting up the empty dessert plates. Mack went to help. “No, I can manage. Go into the lounge or outside if you want to, I’ll clean up in here and bring coffee to you all in a bit.”

“How about outside, seems nice enough.” Mack got up, Martin joining him as they went outside with their respective wine glasses. Trudy stepped into the kitchen after picking up a few more dishes.

“Thanks, Trudy, I can manage if you want to join them.”

“And hear them talking about the latest signings at City, I don’t think so. There’s something I wanted to say to you anyway.”

“What?” Sophie smiled to her friend as Trudy began drying off damp plates and piling them on the side.

“Did you know Katherine’s back?”

“Katherine?” Sophie asked, wanting to find out from Trudy what she knew about Mack’s ex wife.

“Yeah, she came into the factory last Wednesday looking for Mack, wanting to talk to him.”

“Do you know what about?”

“Sophie, there’s not much love lost between me and her; she’d have not told me if I’d asked. Needless to say I should imagine it’s about money.”

“Oh,” Sophie stopped washing the plates in the sink.

“What’s up?”

“We saw her.”

“What?”

“We saw her. After we’d had the blessing, we saw her. We must have walked straight past her, she called out his name. We stopped and there she was, happy as Larry, wanting to know who I was and everything. She was pleasant enough.”

“She’s a callous cow!”

“Don’t worry; I don’t trust her, not as far as I can throw her. She was making eyes at him, but he pulled me to him, put his arms around me and kissed me in front of her before introducing us properly. I saw her though, afterwards, watching us walk away together. I didn’t like it.”

“Good, at least it means you’re wary of her.”

“How could I not be, Mack’s told me so much about her, even when we were away we talked about her a bit and what she was doing in Manchester again. I think its money too. When I shook her hand I noticed that her nails hadn’t been manicured properly in a while and they weren’t soft either. She’s been working by the looks of it.”

“Mmm, I thought that too, her hand was calloused when I shook it the other day. Well, we’ll just have to be on our guard where she’s concerned and when she comes sniffing around again I’ll put her straight. The last thing you and Mack need is her messing things up for you.”

“Do you think she would?” Sophie looked worried.

“I think she might try but you 2 are strong together, and if Mack has already made sure that she knows who you are then you’re already there, in my mind.”

“Thanks,” Trudy hugged Sophie.

“Don’t worry; I’ll not let her anywhere near you or Mack if I can help it.”

“You won’t let who near us?” Mack asked, having watched the little exchange between Trudy and his wife.

Trudy let Sophie go, smiling at her before turning to Mack. “Katherine.”

A dark cloud covered Mack’s face. “How did you know she was back?”

“She came into the factory asking to see you.”

“Right, ok, let’s not spoil tonight, eh? I don’t want to hear her name mentioned again, she is nothing to me anymore.” He walked around the counter to his wife, taking her in his arms, “she’s nothing to us, petal.” He dropped a kiss on the top of her head. “Trudy, when she comes into the office we’ll decide then if we want to see her or not, ok?” Trudy nodded. “Good. Go and speak to Martin, I’ll help Sophie finish off.” Trudy left them to it as he switched on the kettle and began putting crockery and cutlery on a tray ready for the coffee. “Why didn’t you tell me you were worried about her?”

“I’m sorry Mack, I just didn’t know whether you’d believe me or not. I know we’re strong together, I know nothing could tear us apart but I don’t trust that woman.”

“Sophie,” he reached for her, drawing her to him, kissing her, “again I say that that woman is nothing to me. I may have loved her once but when I truly realised what a conniving and vindictive person she was I was glad to be rid of her. She may have some ulterior motive for being back in Manchester but it won’t affect us, I promise you. I want nothing more to do with her, ever.”

“Thank you,” Sophie said. “So does that mean I can run her out of the factory when she turns up?”

“With a pitchfork if you want.” She laughed at him. “Come on, let’s take this coffee outside.”

.oOo.

Mack heard the front door close as he stood peeling potatoes at the sink, “Mack?”

He smiled, she was home at last. “In here, petal.”

Sophie dropped her bag and jacket over the arm of the sofa before walking into the kitchen and putting her arms around his waist. “Hi,” she breathed against his shirt clad back.

He dropped the potato and peeler in his hands and turned around, holding on to her, “hi.” They kissed, her hands finding their way over his backside and down the outside of his thighs. She was still amazed that his kisses still enticed her to want to make love to him every moment of every day. “Much more of that, Sophie and we won’t be eating tonight.”

She reluctantly moved away from him. “What are you cooking?”

“I was just going to do some savoury mince, potatoes and some greens. Is that ok?”

“Sounds good.” She went to the fridge and pulled out a bottle of wine. “Is this all we have left?” She asked quizzically. She could have sworn they’d had more.

“Tell me about your talk with the doctor and I’ll tell you why that’s the last bottle.”

“Ok, it’s a shame you couldn’t have been there actually.” She looked over to him finishing off the potatoes. “But I realise that meeting was too important to miss. How did it go, by the way?”

“Very well, I think we’ll get the order but we have to wait for the board to decide before we’ll know. What did he say?”

“She said,” she smiled at the face he made, “that first and foremost we, well I in particular, have to relax. She said we could be making love too often.”

“Too often?”

“Yeah, they suggest every 36 to 48 hours is best otherwise it affects the amount of sperm in the semen apparently. She also said that for best results we should use the missionary position, I should reach orgasm and I should elevate my pelvis after sex for at least 20 minutes.”

“Ok. That seems plausible, anything else?”

“They won’t consider us infertile until we’ve been trying for 2 years,” she said gloomily. Mack put the potatoes into the boiling pan of water. He moved over to her and took her head in his hands making her look up to him. “But they’ll do tests for low sperm counts and she’s told me how to find out when I ovulate so that should increase the chance of catching me at my most fertile.”

“Sophie, this will happen. Age isn’t on our side, I know that. And I’ve been talking to Martin and Trudy today about all this, need to be changing our diet a bit too.”

“Ah, so that’s why the wine has gone then. At least you don’t smoke. The doctor said that there are supplements you could take, to improve the sperm.”

“And I suppose you’ve gone and got some.” She shrugged, “I’m only teasing, put them in the bathroom cupboard and I’ll start taking them tomorrow.”

“Thanks.”

“So, when do you want to start this regime of every other night sex?”

“Tonight?” She wriggled her eyebrows at him.

“You little Minx, I somehow knew you were going to say that. Dinner will be about 20 minutes so if you want to get out of that suit, why don’t you go and do that now.” She got off the stool and walked out of the kitchen. He heard her climb the stairs and then her soft footfalls walking around in the bedroom above him. He went back to dinner, making sure that everything was going ok. He looked above him, “She is going to be so disappointed if this doesn’t work.”

.oOo.

“Absolutely, we’re actually moving the factory in 2 weeks. The designs have been going well and confidence in British made quality linen is high on the list of many of your competitors already, many have stated their intention to increase their spending with us by placing larger orders with us and most have signed contracts with a 5 year commitment.” Mack retorted.

“Who is responsible for the designs?” The assistant purchaser asked.

“Sophie Walker,” he said proudly, “a woman who blinded me with a torch light the night I met her, and then with her love, she’s my wife.”

“It’s a shame she couldn’t be here.”

“Unfortunately, she had a doctor’s appointment that she couldn’t miss.”

“Nothing bad, I hope?” The purchasing director asked.

“No, we’re trying to create a little addition to our family. We’ve just had some trouble conceiving.”

“Oh, that’s alright then. If you don’t mind me asking, what are your policies on working mothers?”

“Under Sophie’s instruction we are setting up crèche facilities which will begin when we move. We have already set up flexible working hours for those mums with children who are within the schooling system and this crèche will help those with childcare issues. Obviously they’ll be able to go and check up on their children during break times and so ease any concerns that the mother may have over leaving her child with someone she doesn’t know.”

“And your wife has put this all in place?”

“Amongst other things, she’s an incredible woman with a head for business and a heart of gold. I am very lucky to have her.”

“Yes, it sounds like you are. Well, I’ve made my decision, I will be placing an order with your company Mr Mackintosh and making a 3 year commitment at this stage, if that is acceptable to you.”

“Yes, of course. Thank you.”

“You haven’t seen the order yet. You may not be able to cope with it, but please do not hesitate to contact me directly if you have any problems or any queries that need resolving. I would like to work with you Mr Mackintosh and I feel that the only way that that can work effectively is if we treat this as a two way street. I also trust that when we are lucky enough to see the designs that your wife has created for us that she will be able to meet with us and discuss our requirements.”

“Yes, Mr Partington. We will make sure that she is available at that time. Thank you again.”

Mr Partington stood up from the plush seat in the hotel bar, “my pleasure, Mr Mackintosh. I look forward to meeting with you again and being presented to your wife.” They shook hands and soon the director and his assistant had left him to clear up his paperwork and get started on his journey home.

He looked at his watch briefly, 5.34. By the time he’d have left the hotel he’d be stuck in traffic. He straightened the papers and put them in his briefcase. Upon taking out his mobile he searched the phonebook for home, sitting back in the chair before he made to hit the call button.

“Mack?”

He looked up, “Katherine?” He put the mobile on the top of his paperwork in his briefcase, forgotten for the time being. “What the bloody hell are you doing here?” He closed his case.

“I’m sorry, Mack. I’ve tried talking to you at the factory but Trudy keeps sending me away.”

“Good, I’m glad she has. What on earth could be so important that you would have to lower yourself to talk to me?” He was starting to get angry with her.

“Can I?” She motioned toward the chair, he shrugged. He scanned over her, still beautiful but there was something else. Her clothes seemed old, her hair was longer but not as pristine, her nails were short and ragged. “I need some help.”

“What kind of help?”

“Money. I need money; I need somewhere to live too. Do you still have any flats?”

“No, I sold them all off. How come you’re so poor? When we divorced you got what was rightfully yours.”

“I know, but things are expensive especially …”

“Especially what? What about work, you know you could try that.” He said, his voice laden with sarcasm.

“I have, Mack. But I’m only good enough for shop jobs and they don’t pay nearly enough.”

“I’m surprised you haven’t reeled in some other sap, to be honest.”

“That’s not exactly fair, Mack. You were the one that showered me with gifts and allowed me to believe that we’d be good together.”

“I was in love with you; it’s just a shame that you couldn’t return it.”

“I did, at first. And it’s difficult getting into another relationship when you’ve got baggage.”

“Baggage! You never left me with any baggage apart from all your clothes, the Audi and my factory, plus a rather nice settlement.”

“I thought it would be enough.”

“Enough, for what precisely.”

“For our baby.”

“What baby?”

“Ours, Mack. We made love the night before I left.”

“We had sex, Katherine. I’m man enough to realise that and since I found Sophie, I’ve really found out what making love actually is. Besides, if this baby is mine, which I doubt, then how come it’s taken you this long to tell me about it?”

“I wanted to make a clean break.”

“You did that, love.” He got up from his seat, “I have a friend that might be able to help you out with a job, another that might be able to help you out with a flat. As for me, you’ve kept me away from my wife long enough. Come by the office, I’ll give the information to Trudy to pass onto you.” He picked up his briefcase and walked away from her.

“But what about your son?”

He walked back to her, glaring at her, “I’ll take a paternity test, if that recognises me as his father then we’ll sort something out but until then you get no financial help from me. Alright?” She nodded. “Oh, and it will be a practitioner of my choice. I’m not standing the risk of the results somehow being miraculously decided upon in your favour. This gets done my way.”

“You could never trust me, could you?”

“Have you ever given me reason to?”

“I suppose not.” She said sullenly.

He nodded, his lips pursed into a fine line. “I’ll be in touch, leave your details with Trudy when you come by the office. Now if you don’t mind, I’m going home.” He strode off in the direction of the garage, never looking back. If there was one thing he could be assured of it would be the way she would use her wiles to get him to come running. He’d learnt from his mistake, which was never going to happen again.

.oOo.

The weeks had past slowly and even though Mack was seemingly enjoying his life on the outside, inside he was in utter turmoil.

At least the factory was going from strength to strength. They’d moved into larger premises as more and more orders had been coming in. New staff had been hired and Sophie had headed up the crèche with some active marketing so that other workers in the area could use the facilities for a small charge.

He lay in the darkened bedroom, his head aching from the tension. Sophie, of all the things he cherished most in the world he was getting the most aggro from. She’d become almost obsessive with the notion of falling pregnant and even after they’d talked and argued, they were still no nearer getting anywhere.

And then there was this suspected son of his. He hadn’t met the little fellow yet but he had been for the test as had the boy and the results were due the following day. He knew Sophie was meeting with her doctor and had advised his practitioner and Katherine to turn up to the factory whilst Sophie was out. That way, he hoped, the whole sorry mess could be dealt with as quickly as possible and half of his troubles would be over.

His hand instinctively went to his had as he heard the door begin to open. “Hey,” Sophie whispered.

“Hey.”

“I’ve brought you up a cup of tea. How are you feeling?”

“Thanks. Not too good,”

“Is there anything I can do?”

“I don’t know, petal. I just feel so tense.”

“I know what will help that, a massage.”

“A massage, yeah that sounds like a good idea.” He sat up, undoing the buttons to his shirt and slipping it off his body. She held out her hand for it and placed it over the chair on her way to the bathroom. When she came back out with the massage bar, he was laying with his chest against the bed, his arms supporting his head. He’d noticed she’d taken off her tight fitting skirt and blouse, replacing it with one of his shirts, knowing he liked seeing her in them, the sleeves rolled up to her elbows.

She crawled over the bed, straddling over his lower back as she rubbed the bar between her hands, the oils transferring onto her skin before she placed her hands on his shoulders and began to slowly and expertly massage away any tension. She reached up to the top of his spine, working his neck muscles and down his back. “Oh, that’s good, Sophie.”

“I’m glad you’re enjoying it. Maybe afterwards you can massage me.”

“I know what that leads to.”

“Well, it is our night to …”

“Sophie,” he leant up on his hands, turning slightly to look at her, “not tonight, hey. I’m not in the mood.”

“But we’re supposed to …” Her face looked perplexed.

He moved her from where she sat, getting up from his position on the bed, reaching out for his shirt and slipping it back on, doing up most of the buttons. He put on his shoes.

“Where are you going?” Tears began rolling down her cheeks.

“Out.”

“Why?”

“Because I can’t stand this any longer, it’s like a bloody timetable.”

“Mack?”

“I have to get out for a bit.” He walked over to the bedroom door, opening it. He turned back to her briefly, “Sophie, I love you but I’m not a robot, it just feels like all you want is my sperm, not me. You’re putting too much pressure on me.” He made to go, “I’m sorry, I’ll be back later.”

Sophie sat still, listening to every movement he made. She heard the front door open and shut as he went out, she heard the crunching of the pebbles underneath his feet as he walked to his car, she heard the engine fire and the tyres moving the car away from the house. She sunk down into the covers, her heart silently breaking as she let it all out, her body wracked as she cried in anguish, the tears falling in a torrent of emotion. She finally fell asleep when she was too exhausted to do anything else silently hoping that he would come home to her soon.

When Mack eventually came home he found the house in the same state he’d left it in. Lights on, TV blaring and doors unlocked, he went around the house checking everything and locking up before climbing the stairs to bed. He looked in on Sophie; she was lying on her side of the bed on top of the covers, her face miserable, with black streaks over her cheeks. He walked over to her and pulled his side of the duvet over her before exiting the room and spending the night in the spare room next to theirs. He was up before her and left the house before she was even awoken by the alarm wanting just a little more time on his own, he knew it was going to be a long day.

.oOo.

“I’m not happy about this, Mack.” Trudy exclaimed.

“And you think I am?”

“I’m sorry, but Sophie should be here. She should at least know about it.”

“And if the boy isn’t mine, I’d have worried her for no reason at all. She’s got enough on her plate at the moment.”

“But what if he is? How the hell do you think she’s going to cope with that? Knowing that you’ve fathered a child with another woman whilst she is finding it so difficult to conceive.”

“Don’t even go there, Trudy.”

“Why not? It’s not fair.”

“No, it’s not. It’s not fair that she’s so demanding of me every other night, I feel like I’m just a donor rather than her husband. It’s not fun.”

“Will you just listen to yourself? Why do you think she’s so desperate to go through all of this?”

“I don’t know.”

“Then you must be bloody blind, Mack. Sophie is doing this for you. She loves you so much and knows how much you want a family, that’s why she’s doing it. For you, you pig headed bastard.”

A knock sounded on the open door, “hope I’m not interrupting?” Katherine stood at the door with a blonde haired, blue eyed boy. Mack noticed him and watched him as they walked into the office.

“Katherine.” Trudy said.

“Trudy, so nice to see you again.”

“Whatever. Drink?”

“No thanks. Just want to get this over with.”

“Right, I’ll leave you to it then. I’ll show Greg and Peter in when they both arrive.” She slammed the door behind her.

“So …” Mack left the word hanging.

“Yeah, well this is Robbie.”

“Right, let’s wait for the introductions shall we. Probably not appropriate if I’m not the boy’s father, eh?”

“You’ve convinced yourself then?”

“No, Katherine, the only thing that will convince me is the result. One way or the other.”

“I take it you haven’t told Sophie?”

“That’s none of your business.”

“She’s not here.”

“She’s at the doctor’s?”

“Nothing bad.”

“No. Look, Katherine this is a difficult time for her, for us. I just want this over, with the least amount of pain and suffering for all concerned, ok?” She nodded. They saw the door open, Peter Cochrane and Mack’s practitioner were ushered in before the door was purposefully slammed again.

“Seems like Trudy’s not herself.” Peter remarked as he shook hands with Mack and Katherine in turn.

Mack couldn’t help but retort. “No, but then none of us really are today.”

.oOo.

Sophie couldn’t wait to tell Mack her news, slamming the door of her car after she got out and quickly hit the button on her key to lock the car up. She quickly ran through to the office passing Trudy as she went. “Oh, Trudy I have the best news.”

Trudy got up from her desk, “Sophie? Mack’s in a meeting?” But she was too late.

“What meeting?” She opened the door to the office only noticing her goal as she stepped into the room, “Mack, everything’s going to be great, I have wonderful …” On noticing that he wasn’t alone she peered around to all the other occupants. “What’s going on?”

A wicked glint shone from behind Katherine’s eyes. “We’re just about to find out if Mack is Robbie’s father or not.”

Her world span uncontrollably away from her as she sank to the floor with a thud, the last thing she remembered was seeing Mack rush toward her from behind his desk. But he was too late to catch her, her limp body cascading down like a deck of cards, her head hitting the arm of a nearby chair before she lay crumpled in a heap. “Sophie?” He pulled her to him only to allow Trudy to take charge of her as she set her unconscious body in the recovery position after checking she was breathing. He could hear Peter behind him calling for an ambulance. He looked up to Trudy, she looked away unable to keep his gaze.

“Mack?” Katherine shouted.

He turned around to look at her instead, “what?”

“Are we going to do this or what?”

He shook his head, “no, we’re not right now. I’m going to wait with my wife for the ambulance to turn up, I’m going to go to the hospital with her, I’m probably going to find out,” he howled with emotion, a tear trickling down his face, “that she’s lost her baby that took us forever to conceive and then I shall have to tell her what the hell has been going on here,” he waved his arms around in front of him. “And that’s if she still wants to talk to me. So no, I’m not going to be a party to this. If you want to know then get Greg to tell you when I’ve gone, Peter can deal with the details and I’ll speak to him but as for you, I never want to see you again.”

The ambulance men had arrived, picking up Sophie and placing her on the stretcher. Mack picked up his jacket and walked with her out to the ambulance. He spoke to Trudy before getting into the back of the van with his wife and leaving the site.

Trudy absently walked back into the office. “Can’t say I blame him but he wants this over with, Greg let her know what she wants to know.”
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Starting Over Again