The Pier Diner

"It's good to see you looking better now, although I don't think I've ever seen you eat so much." Heath smirks.

"I think I just got used to having good days, so when that bad day hit the other day, it really got to me." Kyle says. "My counselling session went well this morning and I sent Lucas a text to meet up, but he hasn't replied yet. I just wanted to apologise for how mean I was to him but I think it's too late for that."

"It's not, I've just given him a few thoughts about himself." Heath says, noticing Kyle's face.

"What did you say to him?"

"I just said he needs to stop beating himself up over things he can't help because he was really upset that he couldn't help you." Heath says.

"I feel bad for what I said to him, he didn't deserve that." Kyle sighs.

"Come on mate, don't go beating yourself up as well. He knows you didn't mean anything bad by it, you were just having a rough day." Heath says, glancing at the door. "He might not have replied to your text because I told him to come here instead."

"Hi." Lucas says, shuffling awkwardly next to the table before sitting down.

"Hey, I'm sorry for the other day. I'm grateful for everything you do for me, even if I didn't seem like it." Kyle says.

"I know, I'm sorry too. I should have given you some space like you wanted, I just didn't want you to be alone when you felt like that." Lucas says.

"Great, that's sorted then." Heath smiles. "And Lucas, you should know Kyle has eaten enough since you left him the other to feed all of us for a week."

"I got really hungry that night and Irene brought home burgers, I wasn't going to say no!" Kyle says.

"It's great that you did eat something though." Lucas says. "We could hang out this afternoon if you like?"

"Sure, I'd like that." Kyle nods.

"Great. How about at home this time? Casey and Denny are going into Yabbie Creek to see a film but Tyler's free after his surf." Lucas says.

"Sure. Can Emily join us?" Kyle asks. "We haven't seen each other for a few days and she has some free time."

"Yeah of course she can."

"Can anyone join or are you going to kick me out the house for the afternoon?" Heath asks.

"Considering you won't tell your own brothers what the gender of your baby is, you can find something else to do." Kyle smirks.

"No amount of blackmail will make me tell you." Heath says.

"Are you seriously going to keep us waiting for weeks?" Lucas asks.

"Yeah, where would be the fun in telling you now?" Heath laughs as a woman walks over to them.

"Boys, why have you been avoiding me?" She asks.

"Mum." Lucas mutters, standing up to face her. "What are you doing here?" He asks, Kyle not knowing what to do as he looks at Heath.

"I've come to take you both home. Tyler, why are you ignoring me?" She asks.

"That's not Tyler." Lucas says. "This is our triplet, Kyle. Guys, this is Shelly." He mutters to Heath and Kyle.

"Come on, we'll get Tyler and then we're leaving this town." Shelly says.

"No, mum. We live here now, and we live with Kyle. Why won't you acknowledge that he's your son as well?" Lucas asks.

"Are you questioning me after everything I did for you and Tyler?" She scoffs, shaking her head at him.

"Why don't we take this outside?" Heath says as he stands up as well.

"And who the hell are you?" She snaps, glaring at him.

"I'm Heath, their big brother. Who the hell are you talking to Lucas like that?" Heath glares back.

"Is there a problem here?" Irene asks as she walks over to them.

"No, we were just leaving." Shelly says, grabbing Lucas's arm.

"Oi, don't grab him like that!" Heath hisses, shoving her arm off as he stands in front of him.

"You need to leave right now." Irene orders, staring at Shelly.

"Lucas, come on." Shelly says, turning to walk out when she realises he stays still, so turns to face him. "Lucas, don't you dare ignore me."

"I'm not going with you, I'm staying here." Lucas says, not sounding so sure, which his brothers picked up on.

"He's not going anywhere with you, now get the hell out of here." Heath warns, lightly sighing as she storms out. "You okay?" He asks his brothers.

"I never thought she'd turn up here." Lucas says.

"Kyle?" Heath asks, glancing down at him.

"I'm fine, it's not like she's anything to me." Kyle mutters. "It's not me you should be focusing on, it's Tyler. She could easily get into his head, so you better go and find him."

"I'm not leaving you like this." Heath shakes his head.

"You go, I've got this." Irene says to him.

Summer Bay Beach

"Tyler!" Heath shouts over to him, walking up to him.

"Where's Kyle and Lucas?" Tyler asks.

"At the diner. We need to talk." Heath says.

"Our mum is in town. And I didn't know about it until just now before you go complaining." Tyler says.

"So you know." Heath says. "She was just in the diner, things got a bit tense. She grabbed Lucas and he seemed a bit… off, I guess."

"Yeah, she did that a lot. He doesn't like people knowing about it. She never got really abusive, it was more neglect." Tyler says. "But can you please not tell anyone? He'll kill me if he knew I told you that."

"Okay." Heath nods. "Did she ever do it to you?"

"Sometimes. The reason I dragged Lucas along whenever I got into trouble with the law was because I didn't want him to stay home and get hurt. He would never stick up for himself around her. Once he did shout back and I've never seen him look so guilty about something like he did then. He hates confrontation and beats himself up over it for days when it happens." Tyler says.

"Yeah, I have noticed that. So what happens about your mum, do you want her here?" Heath asks.

"I don't know. I get that she wasn't the best, but she's still our mum."

"What did she say to you?"

"She was just saying how alone she felt since we left and wanted us to go home with her. She doesn't have anyone else, she never did after getting into a bad crowd." Tyler says.

"This bad crowd, what type were they?"

"You don't need to worry about that, it happened just before we moved here and we never even met those people. I just know they were into heavy stuff and used her a lot for money, not that we had a lot in the first place." Tyler says.

"So is she here for money or what?" Heath asks.

"No, she wants me and Lucas to go home with her." Tyler says, briefly glancing down. "I never thought about how she would feel when we left, I just wanted to be with Lucas and to get to know Kyle. I don't want her to be alone but I don't want to leave this place."

"I am making this clear right now. She is not moving to the Bay." Heath firmly says. "She completely blanked Kyle once she was told who he was, and I'm not having him feel uncomfortable living here."

"I understand that, I do. But Lucas won't want to move back to Cairns. He fits in so well here, and he didn't go back home, whereas I don't fit in here, but I did in Cairns." Tyler says.

"So now you don't think you fit in here either." Heath rolls his eyes.

"I don't mean it like that, it's just… I know you and Brax are still being careful round me because of my attitude when I came here. But I really have been trying hard in my counselling and anger management sessions and I'm happy with who I am now. I wouldn't think about being mean anymore and it's thanks to you guys." Tyler says.

"You know we've actually been laying off you now because we can see a huge change in you. If you think we're still being hard, then we're sorry, we don't mean to be. I'm impressed with how far you've come and we sometimes might test you but there's nothing malicious about it." Heath says. "I really wish all this happened when Brax was here because all of this is out of my expertise."

"Thought you were our big bro as well?" Tyler smirks.

"Yeah I am, but so much has happened since Brax has been away and he would know how to deal with all of this. Just know you're one of us as well, okay?" Heath says.

"Okay." Tyler smiles.