Welcome to a brand new Far From Perfection!

We start off three years after the final chapter of the original story and we start off in a different state too. Sydney is personally one of my favourite cities in the world and I was inspired to start it off there as something a little bit different since I was there at the time of writing. Plus, I thought it was an awesome way to incorporate a whole heap of group scenes!

Enjoy this new beginning and I'll love you forever if you let me know what you thought of it!

Chapter One – Flash Forward:

35,000 feet above the ground,
Newcastle, New South Wales

The difference that three years can make on six individuals lives is truly quite an incredible thing.

Just like a seat in a plane, as ascending from the safe familiarity of ground can give a whole new and fresh perspective on landscapes, locations and sceneries that one may know like the back of their hand, looking at lives with a view to the past as you compare point A in your life with that of point B can work as a true eye opener.

That is just how the lives of these six individuals will be examined; from somewhere in the air, passing over and around Newcastle and between point A of the Gold Coast, Queensland and point B of Sydney, New South Wales. Similarly, a comparison of point A as twenty-one year olds, compared to the same lives of the people in point B as twenty-four year olds.

Lewis and Cleo McCartney had a stranger squashed in the third seat, located between the two of them on the plane. Lewis's fail with checking-in to the flight acted as a reminder, that although Cleo would permit his pride to be cushioned with taking the lead as the head of their two-piece family with performing normal duties, that sometimes he wasn't always up to it.

Although the seating had just been a simple mistake on Lewis's part during the online check-in of the flight, the principle applied to larger matters that he would step up to... as though he had never been affected by the Guillain-Barré Syndrome. Saying that, he had managed to fight hard against the disease to get his life back to a state of normality, three years on. While he was the old Lewis for the most part, the GBS had left some smaller scars on Lewis's abilities and it had had some minor repercussions.

No-one would ever choose to go through and endure the syndrome which Lewis had bore the brunt of, with his wife's support, but now it had been three years since the initial diagnosis and two years since he had been classified as in recovery. However, both halves of the couple would readily agree that even though they had spent more of their lives together than and that they had been through individual and shared problems for so long, the Guillain-Barré had proven to be their most relationship strengthening and self-improving hurdle that they had ever survived. Cleo and Lewis believe that they are better people for working through Lewis's illness, and if that hadn't, nothing could tear their marriage and love apart.

To the left of the married couple who had recently celebrated their 4th wedding anniversary sat Zane Bennett and Rikki Chadwick. This particular couple had discovered that when you mix dynamite with dynamite it can either create a spectacular, awe-inspiring firework display, or it can backfire in a catastrophic grenade.

Evidently, the couple have had their ups and downs over the years, experiencing times of radiant highs, along with the times of supreme lows. However, in spite of the couple's natural extremities within their relationship, at some point in time, Zane and Rikki had grown up.

... Apparently!

Jokes aside, Zane and Rikki had obviously done some amount of soul-searching and self-improvement since their eighteenth year of life, when their relationship had fallen apart the most recent time. They had beaten their personal records of lasting longer than they ever had lasted together before, and with anyone else either party dated before too. Suffice to say, in summary, the relationship affectionately nicknamed 'Zikki' had been on a good, slow, but solid boil for the last three years.

An additional relationship that Rikki had taken slowly and steadily (but not necessarily smoothly) was that of with her younger and previously unbeknownst sister, Tam. The girls still had a long way to go, but they had come a ridiculously long way from the early days when Rikki didn't even want to have a bar of her younger and only sibling.

Behind the couple sat Will Benjamin and Bella Hartley with their daughter sitting in the middle seat and in between the two of them. The past few years, they have spent time discovering that the past does not have to define the future... As long as you are not the one to let it.

When in the early stages of normalizing and rebuilding her life three years ago, Bella had been more than reluctant towards Will, only extending herself as much as she needed to for the absolute minimum in the awkwardness they worked through for the sake of their daughter. However, their endurance and persistence with the uncomfortable situation had resulted fruitfully and things had been working out well.

Bella and Will had both found a good balance with their mutual focus on their daughter they shared who had just reached the mark of turning four years of age a week earlier, being of their primary concern. But in addition, they had also found a comfortable medium in their own relationship which allowed them to be in a place with one another where they not only cooperatively co-parented Allie, but a place where they would both consider one another as one of their closest friends.

Slowly, Will had managed to develop a good relationship and bond with his daughter whose first year he had missed out on, due to both parent's combined stubbornness. However, with adequate time, Bella had permitted extensions to Will's access with Allie, first beginning with him taking her for an afternoon, which eventuated into a whole day, then a overnight sleepover, to the point of shared custody between both parent's. Now, the two spent three days a week with Allie, exclusively, as well as spending one day a week together as a family, while Will had her three nights a week to Bella's four.

Triggered by glancing at his daughter's books and seeing her 'Learn with Peppa Pig' book where he could clearly identify every character on the cover, Will pondered the fact that looking back to three years ago, there was no way that he would be able to name one, let alone have an intense discussion or conversation about every children's program that aired on TV. Three years ago, he had no idea that he would let a tot paint his toenails a blinding shade of pink (he has since learnt the lesson to invest in nail polish remover for himself, too), just with the sole purpose of pleasing her. He was also oblivious to the fact that he would be able to recite more children's songs than he could of the lyrics for the songs on the nightly 'Hot 30 Countdown'.

However, each and every one of both the individuals and the couples decisions over the last three years lead to the very place in their lives that they are now.

Looking out of the small window below Lewis's normal line of vision, he had to look down uncomfortably to see the views of the mountains, the streams and rivers that progressively lead to an increase in roads, houses and establishments as the aircraft neared the city and their physical destination. At the same time as catching a look for himself, Lewis tried to describe the sights to an agitated Cleo, talking over the sleeping Filipino in between the two of them from her seat that confined her to the aisle seat.

Across the aisle, Rikki and Zane struggled to look out the different views from their window on the opposite side of the plane to Cleo and Lewis, with the couple bickering over their knowledge of the city and what they could see from above, debating what the visible landmarks were and where. Behind the argumentative couple, Allie could see past her bulkier father to see the views out of the plane caught her attention – for a few minutes at least!

"What is that down there? Why is it so little? Where are we now? Why are the clouds going away? Are we there yet?" the inquisitive tot questioned to whoever would answer her as she shot out every question that passed through her little mind.

"That, A?" Will confirmed as he looked out to see the same scenery as his daughter.

"That's Sydney. That's where they found Nemo."

Finally, after a one and a half hour flight, the seven had landed at the destination of their summer holiday that had been a work of communal planning over the last few months, with the trip marking the beginning of summer and the holiday season, which the friends had chosen to share in the different state and city.

It was Zane and Will's umpteenth trip (hence, naming them as the delegated tour guides of the trip) to the more southern city of Sydney. While Cleo, Lewis and Bella had all visited once or twice every now and then, it was Rikki's first trip to the city which she had no idea of how greatly it would was going to change her present and future life.

However, as they all neared the destination, it was not only Rikki whose life's about to reach a turning point, just with some of the 7 experiencing more changes than others...

Bondi Beach, Sydney,
New South Wales:

"HOLDING THE BALL!" Zane exclaimed in a loud grunt of protest to his best mate's foul move in the three boy's smaller imitation of Aussie Rule's, or AFL, football.

In the explanation of their own variation of the game to the uninterested girl's, they had included the fact that there are three teams as they were all on their own individual teams, another twist on the original rule of two teams of 22 footballers. Basically, it was just a game of 'keep-the-ball-away-from-each-other-for-as-long-as-possible'.

Meanwhile, far in from the shore and away from the slowly rising water, three girls and a preschooler sat amongst the sand, sipping an assortment of Vodka Cruiser's and Midori Splice's from straws.

The sun was hot. The sand was warm. The drinks were cold. Life was good.

Cleo was reading a new novel that she had splashed out to buy herself as a holiday treat and Rikki lay on her stomach, alternating between positions and angles to capture photos from. It was safe to say that both girl's were far more relaxed and tranquil than Bella, as she alternated between feeding Allie melon or sultanas and convincing her to dig through the dry sand with her bucket and spade... anything to keep her daughter as far away from the water as possible, cursing whoever's decision it was to visit the iconic and primarily tourist-based, Bondi beach in eastern Sydney.

Shortly after the ball made its way into the water after Lewis was too close to the shore and at the same time as Zane's tackle, a unanimous decision was made to take a quarter, or halftime break, depending on how long the boy's stayed interested in their game. Zane retrieved the ball from the water (submerging himself far further in the waves than what he needed to), being the last to plonk down on the sand next to the girl's.

"Gimme a kiss, Rik" Zane teased as he neared his wet body closer to his long-term girlfriend's, knowing that unless he wanted to risk revealing the girl's secret on one of Australia's most popular beaches, he would never actually touch her while being so soaking wet.

Just as Zane knew he would never touch her, Rikki knew Zane wouldn't either, but that didn't stop her from squirming away in the sand from her settled position as she stifled a laugh.

Laughing as he noticed the total parallel to amusement written on his daughter's face from the affection of the couple in a such a close vicinity to the horrified four year old, Will decided to distract Allie from her disgust of Zane and Rikki's flirtatiousness.

"Great sandcastle you got going there, kiddo."

While Allie had a far greater memory than she had even just a year earlier, the tot was still at that age of distractions being able to completely derail previous trains of thought – working as both an advantage and disadvantage to her parents in particular.

"Thanks daddy. It's a Fairy's castle" Allie informed with a smile. Any irritation from the loved-up couple's PDA's was completely eradicated.

Of course, the young father played along with the complimenting game for the sake of his child's ego, telling her how he thought the pile of sand looked 'exactly' like a castle for Fairies and that the unidentifiable structure was 'the best he had ever seen'.

Inches away from Will and Allie were Cleo and Lewis. Cleo was comfily laying on her stomach as she read her book that had been specially allocated for their holiday, while Lewis crept as close to her as he could without running the risk of getting her wet from the isolated parts of his body which were still holding the traces of liquid, as he asked questions about Cleo's book, taking a special interest in the novel that had been purchased at the same time as his latest Scientific textbook.

Life was very good.

A statement that each member of the group would agree with.

After a period of three years, all six of the adults had worked hard to attain a position in their lives where life could be considered really good and really comfortable.

But, comfortable wasn't a word to describe the way that their lives would stay...

So what did we think? I am really happy with the change of scenery by writing in Sydney, so I hope you're enjoying that too. There's a lot of fun and a lot still come from this trip...

I'll try to reply to any burning questions or feedback as soon as I can, but it may not be immediately or for a few days as my whole week has been manipulated by 'Wedding World' and appointments or preparation for it as I'm in my friend's wedding weekend.

All reviews, favourites, follows and etc are gratefully appreciated!

Next chapter: As the group are enjoying being quite the tourists, Zane is evidently on edge and covering the tracks of his secret. What is he hiding from Rikki and their friends?