At work the next morning, Jack was still reeling after the series of odd events.

'And so she just kissed him, right in front of you and Erica?' Cate asked in amazement.

'She sure did,' answered Jack. He had just spent the last five minutes explaining last night to Cate, and she was just as shocked and angry as Jack had been.

'Was Dan really into it?'

'By the looks of it. He followed her out of the bar.'

'Did you talk to Dan when you got home?'

'I tried. But he just kept telling me he didn't want to discuss it. He just won't listen to reason.'

'That's ridiculous. I can't believe Zoe! What a skank! Like she just took advantage of Dan and Erica breaking up so she could make a move on him.'

'She definitely has a lot of explaining to do.'

As Jack and Cate continued to gossip about Zoe and Dan, unbeknownst to them, Mike was listening into their conversation. He had been listening since the first mention of Zoe. Not sure why he was so fascinated by the idle gossip, Mike had slowly become more and more offended for Zoe's sake. He was sure she would never do something like that, he knew she was better than that. Or was she? No, he discouraged the negative thoughts in his head. He'd built up quite a strong opinion about who Zoe was, and he was not about to let anything or anyone spoil that opinion. Whether this was a good thing or not, he wasn't sure. As the words became more and more cruel, Mike felt compelled to protect Zoe. He had always been protective of Zoe, he felt like it was his duty to take care of her. She had no one else, he assumed, and therefore he had given himself the responsibility of defending her.

'As far as I'm concerned, Zoe destroyed their relationship,' growled Jack.

'Jack, do you really think you should be talking like that about your boss?' Mike asked, startling Jack. Mike was prepared to attack, and Jack was already well aware of this.

Jack prepared himself. It was most certainly not the first time he had argued with Mike, and he knew what it took to keep his head above water. 'Mike, this really doesn't concern you.'

'And it concerns you?'

'I was there, and I'm worried for Erica's sake. Who is the victim in this situation, not Zoe, as much as you love to think Zoe is always sweet and innocent.'

'Real chivalrous of you Jack. And where does telling all this to Cate come into the picture?

Jack knew what Mike was trying to do, trying to sew seeds of doubt over who was right and who was wrong. He directly avoided the question, instead trying to attack Mike's foundation, flipping the situation around.

'Mike, I saw them kiss with my own eyes, there is no other explanation for what I saw.'

'I know Zoe, she's better than that.'

'Well obviously you don't know Zoe as much as you think you do. Because she made a move on Dan, not the other way around.'

'You don't know that.'

Jack could see Mike's defence had already become very weak. The whole argument had been even easier to win than Jack had first thought. Zoe must have been a sore point for him. So Jack decided to twist the knife, use his new found power to pay Mike back for all the times he had preyed on Jack.

'Oh, I do. She had her hand on his lap first. And as much as you'd like to deny that in your head, it happened. She obviously cares less for you than you care for her. And Mike, jealousy is not a good look for you.'

And with that, Mike had been defeated. He muttered something inaudible under his breath, and walked away from the pair, his head hung low.

Cate, who had just been standing next to Jack in silent awe throughout the whole conversation, couldn't believe what she'd just seen. Why was Mike defending Zoe? From what she knew, they were just work mates. She wasn't jealous, or at least, she didn't think she was jealous. Mike and her had broken their relationship off over two months ago, so she didn't think she should still be so possessive of him.

'What was that all about?' Cate carefully asked Jack. She wanted to get as much information from Jack as possible, whilst still seeming collected. Jack was unaware of her relationship with Mike, and she intended to keep it that way.

'Weren't you listening? It was about Dan and Zoe!'

'No, I mean Mike. Why was he so defensive?'

'He always gets that way about Zoe. He has some virginal image in his head he won't let anyone disturb.'

'I didn't know Mike was close to Zoe.'

'Close to Zoe? He wishes! That's right, you were still off work when the whole sean/zoe/mike fiasco happened.'

'Well I heard about Sean and Zoe, but I didn't know Mike was involved.'

'Yeah, Mike asked Zoe out, before everyone knew about Sean, and she struggled to turn him down. So Sean started to get very jealous and told Mike that Zoe was off the market. I don't think Mike ever got over it.'

'He still loves her?'

'It's rather obvious from the way he acts. I think Zoe's basically the only person who hasn't noticed!'

Cate couldn't contain her jealousy for much longer. She just couldn't believe the whole time she had been dating Mike, he had been pining for Zoe.

'Why is everyone falling head over heels for that slut!' Cate exclaimed.

It was then that Jack noticed why Cate had been so curious about Mike's relationship with Zoe, she was jealous. He had no idea why, Mike wasn't exactly a 'prize catch' and Jack believed Cate could do much better. So he took on the same role he'd taken with Erica, that of the confidante.

'Cate, don't worry about him,' Jack comforted, 'He's not worth your time.'

'You don't understand!' snapped Cate, turning away from Jack and walking towards the door.

'Cate, come back! Mike would have to be crazy not to care about you!' Jack yelled, but he was too late, Cate had left.

As Jack was pondering why Cate could possibly be so worked up over Mike, he overheard the voice of the woman who had caused all this trouble, Zoe.

'There's no point calling up admin, they're not going to change a thing,' Zoe warned Frank as the two walked over to Jack.

'Well they bloody should,' Frank responded. He was very sick of the constant woes of admin, and found yelling at them across the phone a remarkable stress buster. So he excused himself, and went back to his office.

Zoe, rolling her eyes at Frank's response, began going over her paperwork at the bench.

'Good morning Jack,' Zoe said.

Jack couldn't help but be put off by her cheery greeting. Had she completely wiped her memory of the night before? He responded with a disapproving grunt, and went about checking over a patient's file.

Unimpressed, Zoe inquired if anything was wrong, and was once again met with a disapproving grunt.

'Do you have a problem with me, or work or what?' she asked, trying her best to be Jack's boss, as well as his friend. That was always difficult for her. She was good at being a boss, but lousy at being a friend. But she tried not to blame herself, instead she blamed her upbringing, her parents and everything else that had been wrong with her life.
Jack, surprised by Zoe's clueless attitude, finally gave up the tough charade.

'I'd thought you of all people would know exactly what's wrong,' he answered.

Zoe was startled by Jack's scathing tone of voice. 'No, no, I don't think I do,' she said.

'Don't you even remember last night?'

'What? Oh, Oh my gosh! You think Dan and I…'

'I don't think, I saw.'

'No, not it's not like how it looked.'

'Oh really, because it certainly looked like you two were pretty close.'

'Yes, but that was just for Erica and Dan's sake.'

'You're not making much sense!'

'I only kissed Dan to make Erica jealous, so she'd realise how much she cares for him.'

This was a shock to Jack. Sure, things hadn't exactly worked out perfectly, now with Cate upset, as well as Erica. But Zoe had meant well, and Jack did feel regretful for saying those horrible thinks about her. He couldn't believe it, Mike actually had been right about Zoe, she couldn't do something so horrible. Perhaps Mike did know Zoe better than Jack had first thought.

'I didn't cause too much trouble, did I?' Zoe asked, 'I didn't really think about how anyone else would see it. I'm really sorry.'

'No, no. It's fine. I understand, you meant well.'

'Good, I'm glad that's all sorted out.'

'With me, yes. But I think you should sort it out with Mike as well,' Jack said mysteriously.

Before Zoe could question Jack's response his pager went off and he was whisked away to examine a patient.

Later that day, whilst she was sitting in her office, Jack's cryptic advice was still imprinted firmly in Zoe's mind. She just couldn't make sense of it. From what she knew, Mike and Erica weren't close, and nor where Mike and Dan. Mike hadn't even been there that night!

Mike who had entered the office unnoticed, cleared his throat to gain Zoe's attention. Startled, Zoe looked up at Mike, assuring herself she hadn't just been muttering out loud about the puzzling situation.

'Hey, have you seen Frank,' Mike asked casually.

'No, he went home about a half hour ago. Had some business to sort out,' replied Zoe.

'Oh, ok. It's not that important I guess.'

To this Zoe gave a little smile, and then went back to working her way through the pile of paperwork Frank had slammed on her desk.

'How's the paperwork?' asked Mike.

'Great,' Zoe replied sarcastically.

She could see that Mike was trying to make idle conversation, and as he took a seat across from her, it became clear that she was not going to be able to get rid of him easily. It wasn't that she didn't enjoy Mike's company, but he just had this habit of making her feel like his eyes were piercing through her, reading the thoughts in her head. And at this particular time, she was not in the mood for it. She was still worried about Dan and Erica, partly feeling she may have just made things worse. However, it soon occurred to her that it may be the perfect time to bring up Jack's little piece of advice. And so, assuring herself she hadn't done anything to make Mike angry with her, she asked, 'So, have you spoken to Jack lately?'

Mike, hearing Jack's name, quickly assumed Jack had told her about their fight. He wasn't sure why, Mike could just tell Zoe exactly what Jack had said about her, and then she sure would be angry with Jack! Nevertheless, he began covering his tracks.

'Yes, of course. Why?'

'He just said something rather interesting to me.'

'Oh really?'

'Look, just stop the charade Mike. I know you know exactly what I'm talking about.'

'Fine Zoe, I do. But our argument really shouldn't concern you. It wasn't a big deal, we argue all the time.'

'What? What argument?'

Zoe was puzzled by Mike's answer. Jack hadn't told her about any sort of argument, and she didn't think that was why Jack had advised her to sort things out with Mike.

'Jack didn't tell you about our argument?' Mike asked.

'No, should he have?'

'I guess not. But then what were you talking about?'

'When?'

'Just before!' snapped Mike. He was becoming more frustrated with the conversation as it progressed.

'Oh,' stuttered Zoe, shocked by Mike's anger, 'Jack, well he told me to sort something out with you.'

'Sort what out?'

'I think it was about last night.'

'What about last night?'

'I'm not sure. I think perhaps you make have found out I kissed Dan. And I think maybe I should just explain to you that I am in no way attracted to Dan. It was just a silly little kiss to try to make Erica jealous, and help her realise how much she loves Dan,' Zoe explained. She wasn't quite sure why she was explaining her actions to Mike, because from all she knew, he didn't even know about her and Dan. But, she felt compelled to, like that was what Jack had been trying to hint for her to do.

'Right Zoe. And why are you telling me this?' Mike asked bluntly.

'I just thought that it might have had some sort of connection to your argument.'

'No, it didn't at all. I don't care about what happened last night between you and Dan. Maybe you should remember this whole hospital does not revolve around you!'

And with that, Mike bit his tongue, realising just how horrible he had been to Zoe. Just looking at the expression on her face was enough to break his heart. She looked mortified, and deeply upset by Mike's harsh words.

'Zoe, I'm really sorry,' he apologised.

'It doesn't matter,' Zoe replied, her head buried in her paperwork.

'Ok, I'll just go now,' muttered Mike, leaving the room and kicking the wall next to the office in aggravation.