Red Ranger 1

Oh gosh, a lot of updates again.Irene is Aden's grandmother?Leah's dead and someone sabotaged her car?Geoff may or may not be about to propose to Nicole?What the heck's going to happen next?!

Now to the bit where I disagree with you! For me, that scene in the bedroom was Aden trying to straighten out the mess they were in, and figure out Belle's true feelings for him for once and for all. At this point, Belle had told him that she still loved him (after the courtcase). He had heard her teary admission to wishing Aden had told her he wanted her back before she had slept with Angelo. And just before that, she admitted to protecting him from the developers threat. I think it was pretty clear to Aden at this stage that she still had feelings for him, and the scene in the bedroom was just his way of making her confront her true feelings. I think the way in which he went about it was pretty much keeping in character with Aden, in that he fights for what he believes in. Belle did make a few half-hearted attempts at a rebuttal, but I don't think for an instant that Aden forced her hand in any way. I would like to think that had she rebuffed him strongly, he would have accepted her decision, but thats all hearsay I guess! I will try and make this the last time I bang on about this scene because I imagine people are tired of hearing it.Here's my take on what happened.Aden doesn't go to that room to find out how Belle feels. He goes there to tell her how she feels and get her to do something about it.Belle, in my view, is torn between what she wants(Aden)and doing what she thinks is right(not hurting/cheating on Angelo). Maybe it is in character for Aden to act in an aggressive manner but really all he needed her to do was get her to admit what she wanted(confront her true feelings as other people have put it)and then they could sit down and discuss calmly how they were going to proceed.But instead, much like Belle with the development, he seemed to want everything to happen straightaway.He kissed her and she pushed him away because she knew it was the wrong thing to do.Then, after more intense dialogue about how they're meant to be together and how it's right, he kissed her again and she gave in to it and responded.I do think that he pressured her into acting on her feelings against her better judgement.

Absolutely loved the way Nicole told Geoff.He'd better change his mind and grow up and help her deal with this. Getting a bit worried about Belle.See what happens.

Okay, I would like to point out that, true or not, this is a "real world" explanation for why Belle cheated on Angelo and, in terms of the fiction, doesn't in any way exonerate her and Aden.With that out of the way... So, we're saying that Angelo was brought in purely so that he could and the relationship between him and Belle was just a way of getting him into that place rather than a way of keeping her and Aden apart?Possible.Could they have done it another way? Well, Angelo never liked Aden.And right from the moment he came back to the Bay and started working with Belle at the Diner again, he obviously wasn't happy with the idea of spending time together.So imagine that Aden and Belle had done things the right way round:Belle had broken up with Angelo first and then got back together with Aden.Angelo is unlikely to have shaken their hands and wished them luck.His behaviour would probably have been less extreme but he may well have been angry and upset and given them a hard time and still .Maybe it would have been less believable but they probably could have managed it without making Aden and Belle in the wrong.

Given that I was the one that brought up the phrase "emotional blackmail", I think I should probably give my own perspective on the scene I mentioned.As someone said, we all view these scenes differently depending on how we view the characters.The way I see it, Belle says to Aden "I love you but nothing else can happen between us until I've finished with Angelo."He then reminds her of all that he's been through recently and how much he needs her support and makes her feel bad for pushing him away so she carries on seeing him even though she knows it's the wrong thing to do.I call that emotional blackmail.But that's just the way I viewed the scene and other people evidently saw it differently. Broadly speaking, I don't think Belle did anything she didn't want to.But I do think that the way Aden behaved towards her was, possibly unconsciously, rather manipulative and caused her to do things she knew were wrong, even though they were what she wanted to do.When he came to see her in her bedroom, she said "No" to him at least once and told him she'd chosen Angelo and he basically ignored her.I was accused once of implying that Aden raped Belle which isn't what I believe.But I do wonder sometimes how long it would have taken Aden to get the message if Belle had stuck to her principles and kept saying "No".As with many of Aden's actions during that period, the only reason he got away with it was because he was right and Belle did still have feelings for him.If he'd misread things and she really hadn't wanted to be with him, his behaviour would have been rather unnerving. And just to prove that I can be balanced, I don't think there was anything underhand about the kiss in the car, that was just them reacting to a certain situation.It caused a few problems in retrospect since it left her feeling confused and probably encouraged him to keep pursuing her at a time when he seemed ready to move on.But I don't think it was the same thing. Just as I don't think Belle not breaking up with Angelo because she felt guilty about being in bed with another man while he was being hit over the head really qualifies as emotional blackmail.It just qualifies as...guilt.And given that she came up with a new excuse for not telling Angelo every episode, first saying she'd do it when he was out of hospital, then when he was back on his feet, then when she didn't need a friendly policeman on tap anymore, I do wonder whether she'd actually have been brave enough to be honest with him even if it hadn't happened.

Had an awful lot of updates to catch up on there.Loved Aden casually telling Irene that Geoff had got Nicole pregnant. I've been wondering if the agony aunt is Roman because he seemed to know about Nicole's pregnancy. Or am I remembering that wrong?Probably should have checked...

On a completely different subject, I noticed an earlier post where someone said Ric and Belle were like Geoff and Melody.Which I find interesting because I'd actually been thinking they were like Geoff and Nicole.Belle was someone who seemed to have been a bit rebellious and just hung around with whoever showed an interest, whether she liked them or not.Then she found herself going out with someone who was actually a decent guy and liked her as a person and it seemed to surprise her, as though she wasn't used to being treated with respect.I think it probably helped her grow up a bit.

Ooh, really interesting!I like the way you've played about a bit with the usual pairings.Looking forward to the next chapter.

Red Ranger 1, your contributions to the threads are not attacks at all in my view! I find you're always stating your view in a very constructive way and that's exactly the kind of healthy debate I was talking about. Thanks for saying so.But I'll freely admit there have been times when I've got annoyed about a post and replied with an ill-considered rant which I'll try and keep to a minimum.

Oh my god!They're dead?!And Geoff and Nicole have slept together and she might be pregnant and they've been stuck there for two months and I probably need to breathe now?!?! And Aden and Belle did something, sorry, zoned out during that part... Joking, okay?Joking.

I agree, Belle wasn't the only one at fault.No-one involved behaved particularly responsibly.Geoff, understandably, was more concerned about Melody.Nicole...is Nicole frankly and, certainly at that point, I didn't expect any better of her.The people I was most disappointed in were Tony and Belle. Tony's response to the situation was to give Aden a lecture that he blatantly ignored but not bother to tell Roman or the police.As someone pointed out on another thread(and as someone else just pointed out), he went to see Melody to try and get her to press charges but didn't seem interested in getting Axel to press charges even though what Aden did was just as bad in my opinion. However, Belle was the only person, except maybe Nicole, who actually "forgave" him for what happened.For those who aren't quite on top of the storyline, Annie tells Geoff what happened to Melody and he goes to the Den and tries to attack Axel in front of Aden and Belle, who break things up.Oddly, even though he sticks up for him when Geoff's there, even at that point Aden seems to assume Axel's in the wrong.Later, Annie arrives and tells Aden and Belle what happened.Belle decides to go and find Geoff to stop him doing something stupid but Aden seems more interested in finding Axel.Belle then finds Axel badly beaten and barely conscious on the beach and takes him to hospital(where he refuses to tell the police what happened).Clearly shaken, Belle goes home and tells Annie what happened and when Geoff arrives he neither confirms nor denies being responsible.Belle then realises there's a more likely candidate and goes to confront Aden, who isn't sorry about what he did but is worried that if Roman finds out he'll throw him out.(Which seems a bit odd, especially in retrospect when Aden did a lot worse and Roman didn't seem to particularly care.)Nicole overhears the conversation and promises to keep quiet.Later, at the Den, Belle tells Aden she won't tell anyone.Tony turns up and tries to impress on Aden that he did the wrong thing(having found out what happened when Geoff admitted he saw Aden attacking Axel and did nothing, which he at least had the decency to feel bad about)but Aden just stood there looking smug and Tony gave up and left.Belle was angry and stormed out.Aden follows her and says "Axel's scum.He deserved it.Trust me, I know."And Belle basically just accepts it. Then he starts flirting with her and, I believe for the first time, she doesn't seem to mind.Which seems like a very strange reaction. Maybe I missed some episode/scene but how/when did Aden emotionally blackmail Belle into keeping their ralationship going alongiside her relationship with Angelo? Sorry, I missed out on this discussion.I was referring to the scene at the end of the "reunion episode" where Aden and Belle are down on the pier.Aden tries to put his arm round her and Belle shakes him off, saying she doesn't feel comfortable getting cosey with him while Angelo's in hospital.Then Aden says(and this probably isn't an exact quote but this is the gist of it)"I'm trying to get better.If I don't have you, I won't be able to manage it."Which is a bit pretty extreme guilt trip and seems to be putting an awful lot of pressure on her on at least two levels.

Yeah, the way it's plotted out it's going to be about the same length.I think that's just the length I write to, I can't seem to do really long or really short. Thanks to everyone who's continuing to comment in here and I promise I'll give you something interesting to read soon.

Oh, tonight's episode(well, the first half anyway)was the funniest thing ever.Liz saying Danielle was cheap and an oblivious Michelle noting that that's Lloyd's type, Dev's ridiculous advice to Tyrone which he then proceeded to ignore himself, the cab office scenes with the boys begging Eileen to work and Lloyd's plaintive message to the drivers...Classic.

I have just found this, I have just read it and as possibly the one remaining Lucas/Belle fan I just want to say that I really, really loved it.It was so lovely and sweet and funny and I like how you brought the rest of the Bay into it as well. Merry Christmas two years on!Or should that be Happy New Year now...Twenty minutes to go where I am.

Message received and understood.I try to steer clear of personal attacks but I have been known to generalise or react in an overly emotional manner so I'll try and do better in future.

Gosh, I can't believe I've never looked in here before.It's really intense, isn't it? Up until recently, I'd always been very fond of Belle.But the last few months I've just gone right off her. I remember her when she first came in and some people didn't seem to like her because she'd split up two popular couples(Ric and Cassie and Lucas and Mattie).And having her possibly indirectly accidentally cause Flynn to die a bit earlier probably didn't get many people onside.But I really liked her and I wished Sal had let her stay.She seemed so feisty and independent but you could tell how vulnerable she was underneath.She seemed genuinely surprised to realise Irene and Ric cared for her and she was probably more affected by some of Cassie and Mattie's comments than she'd have liked to admit so I was glad they eventually became friends.(I liked it when the boys left her and Mattie alone so they could thrash it out and they pretended to be fighting when they came back...which, of course, meant job done.)And remember when she'd been needling Ric about Cassie cheating on him and then Drew did the same to her, so she went round to his house and got drunk so they all had to cover for her? But this last six months or so I've just started to like her less and less.The famous "scene on the rocks" with Aden was, in my opinion, one of Belle's worst moments.I've banged on a lot about Aden's behaviour during the Axel incident but it was hardly Belle's finest hour either.Aden's just put someone in hospital so she starts flirting with him?At the start of the episode she was visibly shaken but then she covered up the fact that Aden had arguably committed a serious crime.And just prior to that scene she made a rather ambiguous comment.After Tony's given Aden a lecture and he's ignored it, Belle said (and I apologise if I'm paraphrasing)"One minute you're defending Melody and I think you're all right, then you go and spoil it by acting like a loser."Now most people would assume she meant "You seemed really worried about Melody and I thought you were all right but then you just used it as an excuse to beat up Axel."But although he seemed angry on her behalf in the Den, it's hard to call that Aden "defending Melody".Worryingly, a more likely interpretation of the comment is "I liked that you beat up Axel for what he did to Melody but then you spoilt it by acting like a jerk to Tony."It quickly became obvious that, as with Drew, she was going to stand by Aden whatever he did.Whether that's strength or weakness is a matter of opinion but I know what I think. Then there was the cheating on Angelo.Okay, Aden was the one that pressured her into sleeping with him and emotionally blackmailed her into keeping it going but at least he wanted to be straight with everyone.Belle actually seemed to be stringing them both along, telling Aden she was going to break up with Angelo and constantly coming up with excuses to keep Angelo onside.Anything Angelo did afterwards is irrelevant in my opinion because it didn't affect Belle's behaviour.The frustrating thing is that after the trial, when Belle was ignoring Angelo's calls, Irene told her to be honest with him and if she had been she'd have saved everyone a lot of heartache.But instead she slept with him in a moment of weakness and made everything a hundred times worse. And as for the development storyline...I'm probably missing the point but I couldn't care less about the whole thing.Toxic waste had been there for years, the developers were removing it anyway, yet Belle kept acting as though it was something really urgent and instead of waiting for a thorough investigation she wanted everything done now, this very minute.It just made her seem immature and annoying. Maybe they make it clear in the episodes I haven't seen but half the time I couldn't even work out what she wanted:Was it about saving lives, exposing those responsible or just proving she was right? She seemed to spend the whole incident treating everyone really badly.She blew up at Angelo for doing his job and breaking up a violent protest, even though he'd repeatedly warned her to leave before things got nasty, and continued to treat him as the enemy after he stuck his neck out to keep her out of trouble.She wanted Aden to steal for her and help her break into the place when he was either facing trial or on a good behaviour bond and would have been in serious trouble if he'd been caught.She had a go at Rachel for doing the right thing and respecting her patient's privacy and then had the audacity to claim she wouldn't have minded Rachel handing out her details to some random girl on a crusade.The only way she could get the police to help her was by sleeping with one of them. She didn't have the sense to use Annie's soil analysis as evidence and half the time she just seemed to use it as an excuse to hang around Aden.(Why exactly did she go round to his place just so he could watch her look stuff on the computer, take him to the hospital with her and then ask Annie to lie to Angelo about it?)And all because Belle was apparently the only person who could save Summer Bay from, er, being exactly the same as it had been for at least ten years, possibly more. It's interesting that I haven't liked any of her relationships since she split up with Lucas.I liked her with Ric and I liked her with Drew the first time round but there was no way they should have got back together after he slept with Amanda.The fact they never seemed to be happy afterwards just made the fact they trampled over Lucas to be together all the more annoying.My views on her and Aden are on record in several places but let's just say I don't think they're any better.Ironically, her and Angelo had promise but she ruined it by pining for Aden the whole time.Can I put in a vote for her and Geoff?I first suggested it on a thread on which couples you'd like to see together, when she was breaking up with Drew and before Nic and Mel when he'd never had a girlfriend.And then they had their first proper scene together since he was first living there and she was embarassing him into leaving(bar him shouting at her in a corridor for arguing with Don)and I suddenly thought "My god, they've actually got chemistry!"And on the rare occasion they have a scene together, I just think how sweet they are.It could happen. It's never going to happen, is it?

I loved them.Absolutely loved them.I was surprised when they got together, seeing as how they didn't get off to the best start and it looked like they were just going to be friends, but they worked really well together.They had such an innocence about them that I didn't even care about the age difference. I loved when they both really wanted to kiss each other but weren't quite brave enough to do it and when he told her she was beautiful.It's no wonder she fell for him, he was probably the first person to love her for who she really was.Hated Christine when she stuck her oar in and ruined it. It's a shame it went a bit wrong towards the end.I didn't like Geoff splitting up with her at the party.He said he was doing it to save her trouble but it was hard to follow his reasoning:Christine wouldn't have a personality transplant just because they weren't seeing each other and all he was doing was taking away the one good thing in her life.I could understand Melody not wanting to just go back to being Geoff's girlfriend after what happened with Axel but having her disappear from the show as a result was a mistake.Even if she wasn't seeing Geoff anymore, she was supposed to be Annie's best friend but she just replaced her with Ruby.We didn't get any proper resolution to the Axel storyline because by the time we saw her again he was dead and the fact no-one thought about how it would affect her just underlined the fact no-one in the Bay really seemed to care what happened to her.And by the time she did finally reappear, Geoff had forgotten about her and they didn't seem to know what to do with her. I wouldn't actually mind them getting back together.I'm not suggesting it happens in the premiere or anything but further down the line, if things don't work out between him and Nicole...But I think they need to give Melody someone else in the meantime, rather than just having her pining over Geoff. Someone nice and normal, preferably without any psychological problems, who'll bring her out of herself a bit, like a Will/Peta relationship.

^No, I'm not actually familiar with that example of the genre.Maybe I'll look it up some time.When I'm not busy writing this, of course...

Oh, I'm rather enjoying this, it's different.Looking forward to more.

I agree, that was the perfect ending.A moment of honesty that allows them to move forwards to whatever the future brings.It was well worth waiting for.

Ha-hah!Belle kissed Geoff!Oh-and then she kissed Aden. Looking forward to the next chapter.

At a time when all the couples I like seem to be splitting up or leaving and the ones that I'm not keen on seem to be getting all the screentime, these two are a breath of fresh air:A pair that I enjoy watching, that actually seem to like being with each other and who I really want to stay together. It's just a pity that after all the drama of them getting together, they've been pretty much disappeared into the background, aside from those few episodes where they were worrying about taking it further. For a while, the writers seemed to have forgotten they were meant to be going out and just written them as friend:This is, after all, the couple who had three months between their first and second screen kisses.Hope they do a bit more with them next year.

As an aside, has it ever been established what happened to Aden's mother or indeed when it happened?There seems to be a general assumption that she's dead but I'm not sure if they've ever said it.The only time I can ever remember her being mentioned is when Belle found Larry drinking and he said something like "I fell apart a bit when I lost Aden's mother", which probably means she's dead but could possibly mean she walked out on them.

Yes, Geoff's attempts to chat up Belle were just hopelessly desperate.Or desperately hopeless.Really looking forward to the next update.

^Oh yeah, the 45th anniversary bash.And my brother who lives in Boston.You remember what I say better than I do. Try and get the next chapter up today.