A/N: While still PG-rated in keeping with the show, there is some mild sexual content in this chapter.

...

New Zealand, 2013

Zoe ran downstairs in a state of shock. She'd arrived home after dropping Jean early at her friend's house, having left Lara at the villa with Joseph five hours ago, hoping they would keep each other company. She'd got back to find the place apparently deserted. Maybe Lara had taken Joseph out somewhere. Heading upstairs for a lie down, she'd heard noises coming from Joseph's bedroom. Furious that he could have taken advantage of her absence to bring a girl back, she'd opened the bedroom door to see Joseph and Lara wrapped around each other. It felt like the floor had given way beneath her and she had fled. She thought she heard Joseph give a slightly shocked laugh as she ran.

Going into the kitchen, Zoe immediately started pouring herself a drink. A recent photograph of herself, Joseph and Jean smiled at her from the nearest shelf. She resisted the urge to knock it to the ground.

"Zoe!" Lara hurried into the room, still arranging her clothes.

Zoe pointed a finger at her. "Please, tell me this is some kind of sick joke."

Lara shook her head, distressed. "I'm so sorry, it just happened. It was a terrible mistake."

"You and Joseph? You and my nephew?" Zoe felt close to hysteria. "How could that just happen?"

"It was him, I swear. I never meant..."

"He's only just 18," Zoe snapped. "You're meant to be the adult..." As she spoke, she realised that Lara, at 29, was closer in age to Joseph than to Zoe's 45. The age difference had never mattered before.

Zoe forced herself to calm down. She could already hear the voices starting up in her head as her stress levels rose. She took a deep breath. "Was this the first time this has happened?"

"Yes! I swear." Lara's accent got stronger when she was agitated.

"How then?"

"We just got talking, and drinking." Lara hung her head. "He was telling me about his parents..."

Zoe rolled her eyes. She could just see Joseph using Chris and Rachel's deaths to manipulate Lara into feeling sorry for him.

"And then what? One of you said 'Hey, Zoe's out all day, let's hop into bed quickly before she comes home'?"

"I wasn't thinking," said Lara tearfully. "You've been out a lot lately... I know it's no excuse, but Joe paid attention to me. He kissed me and..."

"Shut up! I don't want to hear all the details!" Zoe glared at the woman she had thought she had loved. She remembered Joseph's comment when she had first introduced them, "She's prettier than the last one." At the time she had dismissed it as a typical Joseph comment, but now it made her feel sick. "Just leave. Get out of my sight."

Lara nodded. "I'm so sorry." She gave Zoe one last look as she left. Zoe waited until she had gone before breaking down.

...

Joseph emerged fully dressed while Zoe was still standing in the kitchen, wondering what to do. "Jean not back yet?" he asked, helping himself to a glass of water.

Zoe put her glass down on the table. "Lara's gone. Our relationship is over."

"Really, why?" said Joseph in mock concern.

Zoe shook her head. "I don't know what the point of this was, Joseph, but I hope you got something out of it. You know Jean's going to be heartbroken?"

"Well, it's not that different to you screwing Charity behind Dad's back, is it?"

That brought Zoe up short. "How do you..."

"Know about that? The same way I know about Dad paying Charity for sex, or Cain and Charity's antics. I was there. I was a child, not deaf!"

"Well, if this was revenge on your father's behalf he wouldn't thank you for it," Zoe said, wondering how long Joseph had been waiting for an opportunity like this. "We forgave each other everything."

"And you'll forgive me and Lara eventually, so let's skip all the shouting." Joe opened one of the cupboards. "Have we got any tea?"

Zoe smashed the glass out of Joseph's hand. "Go and pack your bags. I want you gone by the time Jean gets back."

"I'm not leaving for another week, remember?"

"Oh yes, you are. I want you on the next flight back to England. Graham can deal with you from now on."

"You're abandoning me again? What would Dad say about that? First you pack me off to school in another country, then you sign me over to another guardian..."

"You know I had to, they would've expelled you!"

"You couldn't wait to get rid of me. I was just too much trouble for you, next to sweet little Jeanie."

"And you've had your last chance." Zoe's voice shook but she stood firm, eye to eye with the taller young man. "Go and pack."

...

"I thought Joe had another week here," said Jean the next morning over breakfast.

"He had to go early." Zoe wasn't eating.

"Why would he leave without saying goodbye?" Jean persisted. "He hasn't texted me. And where's Lara?"

"Jean, please!" Zoe snapped.

Jean reluctantly stopped asking questions. Zoe went into work to find that Lara had quit the surgery without notice. A small jealous part of her wondered if she had gone with Joseph, until she received a text from Graham a few days later saying that Joe had landed safely, presumably alone.

What hurt the most wasn't losing Lara, it was losing the nephew she had fallen in love with as a baby, back when she thought she would never have a child of her own. The little boy she had held in her arms at Chris's funeral. But when she remembered Joe's parting shot about her mental illness, the low blow that had made her slap him across the face, she knew she had done the right thing.