By the time that Lucy had emerged from her room, Jack had already packed most of her possessions. He found it almost therapeutic as it took his mind off his sister.
He was resting in the sitting room when she came downstairs. Without saying a word she walked into the room and sat down on the couch opposite Jack. For a while there was a awkward silence. The two kept glancing at the other then resuming looking at some inanimate object in the room with much fascination.
"Jack, I'm so-"
"Don't worry, it's ok." Jack said, interrupting her. "I've basically finished packing your things that you had in the utility room, I just need the stuff from your room." Lucy looked up and they made eye contact. Looking at her red eyes Jack realised how much he had upset his sister. He sighed and got up, he walked over to the couch where she was sitting and sat down beside her. "Lucy, I know you can't help the way you feel and although I'm confused about how you can feel this way I want you to know I don't want this to mess up our relationship. I love you Lucy and I will always be here for you, but that love can only go as far as brother and sister, I don't think that it could go any further."
Jack knew that he himself was lying about how he felt, he just didn't think it was the right thing to do, let alone the legal thing to do. If it was ever found out that a Police Officer, a person who is meant to enforce the law, was breaking it by committing incest it would be the end of his career. He looked at his sister who was trying to hide her tears.
"Come on, we need to get the clothes from your room." He stood up and offered his hand. Lucy reluctantly took it, lightly sobbing and followed Jack up to the bedroom. When they got upstairs they proceeded to sort the clothes out in silence, Jack guessed that this phase that his sister was going through was a result of the break up between her and James. She had, after all, loved him dearly. After the divorce had gone through, Jack planned to try and get Lucy to go out and meet more people, right now though it looked like the prospect of her going anywhere alone was slim.
An hour later they had finished putting the clothes in piles and had retrieved several bags from downstairs to put them in. They both went downstairs and Jack put on a pot of coffee and they soon each had a steaming mug of it in front of them.
"Thank you for this Jack." Lucy said, breaking the silence at last. Jack shook his head.
"It's fine, I just want to look after you and help you get through this. You can live with me as long as you wish, it's not like I'm bringing women home every night so you won't be disturbed." For the past five to ten years, Lucy, and their parents before they died, had been trying to persuade Jack to go out and meet girls, it was the shyness he had inherited from his father that had prevented him from doing so.
Lucy sighed.
"Jack, you need to go out and meet someone, you're twenty eight years old and you haven't got a girl friend. I don't mind if you bring women home while I'm over, it's none of my business." Jack shook his head and took a large gulp of his coffee.
"I'm fine Lucy. I've got to busy a life to get married, my job -"
"You said that now you're back onto normal patrol that you're ready to find a lady to settle down with."
"Lucy!" Jack said, raising his voice. "Just...Just forget it, come on, lets get this stuff into the car." They washed up the mugs and put them away, then moved all the bags into the car. When all the clothes were packed they both stood in the sitting room. "Now, are you sure that's everything? No books or anything you want to take."
"Oh yeah, I have a couple of books, and my laptop." Jack watched as she disappeared up the staircase to retrieve these items. As she did, he went around the house turning off the lights and locking the doors. By the time he had checked the whole house, Lucy had packed the rest of her things into her car.
"I'll lead." Jack said. They each got into their own car, Jack led the way to his house closely followed by Lucy.
Once they got to his house Jack parked on the street and let Lucy use the driveway. When she had stopped the engine she got out and went to the boot with Jack. One by one they took in a bag of clothes each, there were only about eight so they were done reasonably quickly. When Jack had purchased his house he chose a house with multiple rooms purposely so he could rent some out, he had never got around to sending a request for an advert in the paper therefore leaving him with two spare bedrooms fully furnished. As Lucy chose a room and unpacked her clothes, Jack went into the kitchen and washed up the pile of dirty plates before she got a chance to comment on them.
After he had finished he went upstairs to her room. He smiled as he stood in the doorway of the room.
"This looks exactly like your room when we lived in mum and dads house." Lucy jumped, not knowing he was there, she then nodded.
"Yeah, I know..." She stopped, another silence, this time they both knew what each other were thinking about. "God, I miss them." Jack walked over and hugged her, this time both of them had tears falling down their cheeks.
"Me too...Me too."
The parents had died in a car accident on the Marsh Mills roundabout just outside of Plymouth. By that point both Lucy and Jack had moved out of their parents house but were still very close to them emotionally. It came as a shock to both of them, Jack had to deliver the news to Lucy - She had been away with some friends in France.
"I don't know how I would have gone on with out you Lucy. I had only just left home when that happened and I suddenly had no one to support me. But then when I was able to move in with you, I will never forget how you helped me then." Jack ran his hand up down her back, listening to her sobs.
"It's kind of the other way round now huh?" She replied between sobs. Jack smiled to himself.
