AN: Two stories updated in one night! Woo! Think of it as me making up for not doing anything constructive for about two months.

This story will get happier and less angsty eventually, I promise. Stick with it.

Chapter 4

Unsurprisingly, it didn't take Vince that long to find Lara. The man had more connections that a King's Cross drug lord. She was checked into a hotel under her middle name and, according to the receptionist, she hadn't left her room since she'd arrived.

The detective who'd found her had given Vince the name of the hotel and Lara's room number, and he was now debating what to do with that information. Since she was obviously close to the heart of the problem, he couldn't send Heidi, which is what he usually did for things like this. Hamish was out for the same reasons, and that left him with limited options.

In the end, he gave it to Dean, who'd just returned from the press conference, along with his keys and a muttered instruction to take his car and make sure Lara was okay. Dean nodded, then left.

Once he got to the hotel, Dean just strolled past the receptionist like he belonged there, and wasn't challenged. It didn't take him long to find the room he was looking for, and after a brief hesitation, he knocked on the door.

"Lara? It's Dean." There was no answer, so he continued. "I know you're in there. You let me in when you're ready, but I'm staying out here until you let me know you're okay. And I know I'm not great at the whole Dr Phil thing, but if you need someone to talk to, I'm better than no one, right? And-"

Dean's rambling was cut off by the rattle of the lock and the door opening to reveal Lara. She looked dishevelled, and it was obvious she'd been crying.

"How did you find me?" she asked in lieu of a greeting.

"Vince called in a favour. You alright?"

"Not really." She turned and disappeared back into the room, which Dean took as an invitation. He followed her, shutting the door behind him, and took a seat beside her where she'd flopped down onto the bed and lay staring up at the ceiling.

"So Hamish came to the stationhouse today." He started after it became apparent Lara wasn't going to say anything. "Apparently, he was drunk and ranting about how you'd left him because you'd slept with me." Lara glanced at him briefly with a sort of detached surprise in her eyes. "Yeah, surprised me too when I heard about it. You'd think I'd remember something like that…" He caught the expression on her face and realised that now probably wasn't the time for jokes. "Sorry. Anyway, after Chase told him that it couldn't possibly have been me, he started yelling about how it had to be one of us because you'd told him you spent last night 'with a colleague'."

Lara had gone back to staring at the ceiling as he spoke. She was fiddling with her engagement ring with one hand, and absently tracing a red mark on her neck that was just visible under her collar with the other.

"Naturally, he assumed it was me and he was apparently about ready to break my jaw until Heidi confessed."

That drew the first reaction he'd got since she'd let him in. Lara closed her eyes and drew a deep breath, letting it out slowly. "So Hamish knows."

"Yeah." Dean confirmed. "After that, Vince sent Chase and Jordan back to work and took Hamish and Heidi outside, so they don't know what happened, but Jordan said Heidi came back ten minutes later and wouldn't talk to anyone. Just after Jordan finished telling me that, Vince came over and told me to come here and make sure you were alright."

As he finished talking, Lara's phone beeped from its position on the bedside table. She made no move to answer it, and when the display lit up briefly, Dean saw the alert on the screen. '17 missed calls'.

"What's going on, Lara?" He'd got what he now suspected was a highly edited version the day after the rescue at the national park, but things were obviously not as simple as Lara had claimed.

She didn't look at him as she spoke. "I don't know. I messed up. I just…I kissed her and…she…then Hamish…"

"Why don't you start at the start?"

She gave mirthless laugh, then nodded and took a deep breath. "I kissed Heidi. I didn't mean to, but the morphine was making me feel all…I don't know, floaty. And then she was there and I just…kissed her. I didn't even know I wanted to until I did, but then I wanted to really badly. Then I remembered Hamish and I stopped, but it was so hard. Then she left, and Hamish was at the hospital, and he was being so sweet and concerned, and all I could think about was that I wanted to see her again. Then she called yesterday and said we needed to talk, and I said we couldn't do it at my place 'coz Hamish was there, so we met at hers and she said she didn't know what the hell was going on. And I told her I was sorry about what happened, but I couldn't stop thinking about it, and then she kissed me and I didn't stop her. I didn't want to stop her. Then it just…"

"Then you didn't make it home that night." Dean supplied, and Lara nodded.

"And now I don't know what to do. I'm not gay!"

"You're not gay. So what, you're a Heidi-sexual? I'm guessing she's the one who put that there." Dean pointed to the red mark Lara had been tracing, and she covered it self-consciously with her hand. "As hot as that is, you need to sort this out, Lara."

She sat up and eyed him guardedly. "You're taking this very calmly."

He shrugged. "It's nice for me to be on this side of the 'holy shit' relationship chats for a change. Don't change the subject; how are you gonna sort this out?"

"I don't know! I don't even know what I want." She buried her face in her hands."I really messed up."

Dean looked at her, surprised. "What d'you mean you don't know what you want?"

"I mean I love Hamish, I really do, but last night…" She closed her eyes and exhaled slowly. "I just…I don't know…"

"Have you actually spoken to Heidi about this?"

"We didn't really have a proper conversation. We got…distracted."

"Well, that's probably what you need to do. Somewhere where there's no chance of you getting 'distracted'." Suddenly he stood and offered her a hand. "C'mon, I know a place." He helped her up, then pulled out his phone and hit the speed dial. "Jordan, get Heidi and meet me at the pub." Lara shot him a questioning glance, and he replied with his 'trust me' look.

Back at the stationhouse, Jordan glanced over to where Heidi was slumped over her desk in the same position she'd been in for half an hour. "I don't think she's really in the mood, mate."

"Just bring her. It's important."

"I'll try." Jordan told him doubtfully. "What's going on?"

"Good. See you in twenty."

Jordan sighed, annoyed, as the dial tone sounded in his ear. The possible love triangle drama was rapidly losing its novelty value, especially since the reactions of those involved were telling him that the ramifications were apparently more serious that Jordan had originally thought, and this wasn't something that could be shrugged off with a week of teasing followed by never mentioning it again.

He stood, and approached Heidi's desk cautiously. The redhead had been snapping at anyone brave enough to come near her since Hamish had left, and Jordan wasn't willing to lose a limb to fulfil Dean's request.

Heidi had been staring at the same page for the last ten minutes, and she didn't respond when Jordan said her name. He decided to take advantage of her inattentiveness and grabbed her hand, pulling her to her feet and towards the stairs before she realised what was happening.

"Jordan, what the hell?"

"Dean wants us at the pub."

She yanked her hand out of his grip. "Yeah, well, I'm not in the mood."

"Dean said it was important. And last time I saw him, Vince'd sent him to find Lara, so it's probably about her."

Jordan could see the conflicted feelings playing in Heidi's eyes, but eventually she turned and snagged her jacket off the back of her chair. "I'm driving."

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