Lawson Story

Kerry tells Lawson that they've got a new team member arriving. Apparently she's got a good reputation, experienced, a strong track record and has just moved interstate.
Lawson; " good, sounds good, what's her name ? "
Kerry is walking down the corridor next to Lawson; " Cate Henson"
Lawson stops, he doesn't say anything, he looks at her with his mouth open.
Kerry stops; " Lawson ? Do you know her ?"
Lawson; "yes.....well, I used to know her"
Kerry puts her hand on her hip, "is that a problem ?" ( she wants to ask if there is history but doesn't want to push it )
Lawson is silent a moment, then replies; " no, no it's not a problem, it was a long time ago"
Kerry removes her hand from her hip and turns to start walking again, "good then" and she walks off wondering about this new development. Lawson stands where she left him.

The next day Lawson meets Cate. She is tall, attractive, wavy strawberry blonde hair tied back in a ponytail. She shakes his hand; "Lawson Blake, long time......"
Lawson; "it sure has been Cate......what brings you back to Melbourne ?"
Cate; "split with my husband, felt like a new start."
Lawson can't help but blurt out; "you've been married then ?" ( he's surprised, but why should he be, its been so long ) She nods. He says; "well nothing like returning to your roots"
She smiles, "you could say that ". Both of them feel very awkward and the others have been watching them in astonishment. Lawson and Cate remember where they are and get back to business.

Later in the squad car.
Dom to Josh; " what do you reckon the story is ? "
Josh ; "huh ?"
Dom continues; "between Lawson and the new girl, ever heard him mention her ? "
Josh; "oh, nuh. Lawson keeps his personal life to himself"
Dom doesn't believe this, he knows how tight Lawson and Josh are; " looks like they know each other well"
Josh; "looks like old history to me, that stuff can come back to haunt you"
Dom; "you'd know would you ?"
Josh ignores this comment.

At Lawson's place that night

Lawson is home alone, shuffling through an old shoebox of photos. He finds a couple of photos of Cate and him. He hasn't ever filed these ones in his photo album.

Lawson thinks to himself.
"It must have been 20 years ago......we were both starting out in the police force, young, full of ideas, brash confidence.....like Michael is now. I loved her passion, energy, she was cute, sassy, she's still gorgeous.... We had some great times, mountain bike rides on the weekends, a ski holiday.......how many years were we together ? 2....3 years ?"

He can't remember exactly. He's tried not to think about this.

"Then she took that job in Brisbane..... I might have asked her to marry me....."

He sighs and says her name aloud; "Cate..."
He puts down the photos, and picks up his beer, takes a mouthful.
He says; "s**t..... I thought I'd forgotten about her"

Thinking; "How am I going to work with her ? She hated me for refusing to leave Melbourne, but I couldn't have gone north. No, I don't regret that decision at all. Well, so here she is now, and she said she'd had a husband ?"

Lawson is definitely in a predicament here. She was the love of his life, they'd met at work but had not had to work together for long, they had been in different suburbs, it had worked out fine. But now he was going to have to work closely with her. He knew he still had strong feelings for her and it went against his ethics to carry on an affair with a work colleague......she probably wasn't even interested anyway..

Josh's thoughts

After the awkward conversation with Dom, Josh did give some thought to Lawson's predicament. Regardless of what the others might think, Josh did think about relationships, he just didn't see the need to discuss these things publicly. He and Lawson had always been the bachelors of the team, the occassional brief relationship, but never anything lasting since they had known each other. This had puzzled Josh a little. He thought that Lawson seemed to be the kind of handsome, eligible, dependable type that you'd expect to be married with a kid or two. He didn't seem to relish his bachelor lifestyle and yet he didn't seem to be looking for love either.
One night after their usual beer, pizza and footy routine, Josh had dared say something about this topic and Lawson had surprisingly muttered that he'd already met his soul-mate and didn't expect a second chance. That brief comment seemed to take on a new meaning following today's events.

A quiet but awkward moment together between Lawson and Cate, out on a job.

Lawson and Cate are waiting outside a building. Lawson is pacing. He doesn't like this situation, having to work closely with her and he just wants to get out of there but he's also got questions to ask. Cate also feels awkward but not as much as he does. She doesn't realise how deeply he was hurt by the failure of their relationship.

Lawson looks like he's going to ask her a question, then he bites his lip, looks the other way, his hands on his hips, awkward.
He commits to it.
Lawson; "so you were married, you said......"
Cate is glad he broke the ice, "yes"
Lawson; ( was hoping for some more information there ) " so..... how long for ? "
Cate; " ten years"
She's not giving much away, he really expected some more information and now he's going to have to prod which he doesn't like.
Lawson; "ten years ! "
Cate; " is that surprising ? "
Lawson; "well, no, I just , I guess it's been a while....it seems like it wasn't that long ago that we..... anyway ten years is impressive I guess"
Really what he would like to say is that he can't believe she would commit to someone else for ten years but not to him, who is this guy ? ( Lawson thinks this but doesn't say it )
Cate; " it's not impressive now that its over !"
Lawson; "sure, sure"
Cate; "he's a successful lawyer, I met him in court actually ! ( she laughs ) but in the end he couldn't handle my commitment to my career, he wanted me to give it all up and have his kids"
Lawson; "right, right, yeah well, your career is important to you "
Cate; "yes it is"
Lawson thinks: well I know that, you don't need to tell me, didn't you tell him before you went and married him ?
Cate; "what about you ? what have you been doing all these years ?"
Lawson; " uh, not much, working a lot it would seem..."
Cate: "yes it does seem to be a priority to you too...."
He nods.
Cate; "so no wife ? "
Lawson shakes his head.
Cate; "no kids obviously...."
He shakes his head again, he's looking at the ground.
Cate; "girlfriend ..... ?"
Lawson shakes his head.
Lawson; "sounds pretty sad doesn't it ?" ( he's chuckling )
Cate just looks at him.
Lawson; "well, what can you do hey ? that's life " and he walks off.
He needs to escape from the inquisition, it was getting too heated for his liking. He didn't want to think about what he might say next.
Cate stands there thinking. He's changed, he's so serious and uptight, he used to be fun, bit of a charmer, what's happened to him ? She thinks some girl must have broken his heart but it doesn't occur to her that it is her , it happened so long ago she's moved on and forgotten about it. But it's still an intense memory for Lawson.

Later, after work Josh and Lawson are having a beer, pizza, footy night together as they do.

Josh told Dom that Lawson's private life was his own business but Josh has decided to broach the subject anyway, he asks Lawson; "so what's going on with this Cate chick ?"
Lawson is a little defensive; "nothing, nothing at all"
Josh considers this silently.

Lawson watches him, then says; "don't make things up when there's nothing to work on"
Josh; "well it doesn't look like there's nothing"
Lawson; " I don't know what you mean" but Lawson won't be able to brush Josh off that easily. "Oh come on Lawson, you both avoid each other, then when you do have to communicate it's awkward, you try desperately not to look at each other....."
Lawson is horrified that Josh has observed this much, or if not, that someone else has told him; "is it that noticeable ?" Josh nods. "Have the others said anything ?" Josh nods.
Lawson; "s**t why did she have to come here ? come and gatecrash my workplace ?"
Josh prods; "so what's the story ? the history ?"
Lawson sighs, "we went out for a few years.."
Josh is rather astonished; "YEARS ?"
Lawson; "yes, then she moved interstate, she put her career first...."
Josh nods; "I see, and you ....?"
Lawson is quiet a moment, he can't tell Josh that he was going to ask her to marry him....
Lawson: "I was gutted, I've never forgiven her, I thought I had forgotten her but......"
Josh; "bloody hell..."
Lawson; "not a word of this to the others !"
Josh; "yeah, no worries, it's in the vault"