He pulls at the front door without even waiting for an answer, even though he knows that if Kate is as bad as Cal has said, him entering her home without permission will just be another piece of ammo for her to fire at him. He's scared, has been working on autopilot ever since the call, dashing over still in his pyjama shirt to ask his neighbour to keep an ear out for Rose before speeding off.

Cal doesn't seem surprised to see him run in. On the contrary, she simply raises a shaking hand. "She's in there." Cal jabs a finger at Kate's closed bedroom door. "She's locked me out. She won't even talk to me, Mike." She rakes a hand over her hair and sinks lower into her armchair. "It's this thing with Sav and Claire. I should have gone with them. It's really freaked her out and... and I don't know what to do. I've never seen her this frantic."

"I shouldn't have left." Mike mutters, more to himself than to Cal as he mentally kicks himself. "I knew she was freaking out."

"It's not your fault. She... she panics sometimes. And hides. But... it's never been like this." Cal's eyes look different without the usual eyeliner around them, and he can tell that she's been crying. "I shouldn't have picked a fight with her. It's just... sometimes that works best. Making her angry..." She picks at a mosquito bite on her arm. "I've never seen her that mad."

"Cal... it'll..." He trails off, because he can't promise that everything is going to be okay. It's only striking him now how young Cal is, beneath the bravado and the make-up and the auntie status. Just a kid, way out of her depth. And he can't comfort her, even though Cal is looking at him as though begging for a solution. "I'll try and talk to her." He mutters, pulling himself to his feet and moving to Kate's door. For a moment he stares at the hard wood, brushing a hand against it as unwanted thoughts flood through his mind. What if he can't convince her otherwise? What if he loses her for good?

His knock is louder than intended, driven by fear and frustration, and it echoes throughout the otherwise quiet house. "K... Kate, it's me." He calls out. "I... can we talk?" He'd never fought with Sarah like this, never had her shut him out. The next moment, he wishes he could stop comparing the two. "Kate... please. Please, let me in. I..."

He doesn't expect the lock to click, but it does. A moment later the door is pulled open and, quick as a flash, Kate has dragged him in and relocked the door, shutting Cal out. "Don't want her in here." She mutters, and in the brief flash of light from the hallway, he sees that her cheeks are damp with tears, although a moment later they're plunged into darkness once more.

"Kate, what's going on?" He begins. A moment later, Kate's fairy lights turn on and he can see her, standing by the bed. She doesn't look at him. Instead, she seems to busy herself with the chain of her necklace. "Kate, Cal said you wanted a transfer. You can't leave. It won't achieve anything. And I promise, we'll keep Bridie safe."

He's sure that she's only pretending to fiddle with her necklace so that he won't see her wiping her face. But her continued silence is scaring him far more than her anger. Because he knows that bad things hide in silence, secrets are hidden, and he...

"Kate, please talk to me."

"There's nothing to talk about." She mutters, still not looking at him. "It's done, Mike. I've made my decision."

For a moment, he just stands and gapes. Then he takes a step closer to her. "So that's it, is it? We're done and... and you're leaving town and you didn't even bother to talk to me?"

"I don't need to ask your permission for me to look after my own kid." Her words don't even sound like her, laced with a coldness he's never heard before.

"Can you at least look at me!" He snaps, taking hold of her arm and spinning her around. Her face is cool and impassive once more, and anger bubbles to the surface. "All we talked about? Buying a place together and being a family? That's all over, is it?"

For a moment, there's something. Something in her eyes that has has him convinced she'll take everything back. But a second later it's gone. "I'm sorry." She murmurs. "Really, I am. But Bridie is my only concern right now."

"You-" He resists the urge to kick her dressing table, but only just. "This isn't you, Kate!"

"Maybe you just never really knew me, Mike." She hisses back. "Because this is me." She shakes her head and turns her back to him. "Look, I don't want to talk about this now. My mind is made up, and-"

"And what am I supposed to tell Rose?" He spits. "What are you going to tell Bridie?"

"I'm not Rose's mother." She murmurs, still not looking at him. "She'll... she'll be fine."

"And me?" He feels his voice shake. "Did you ever love me, or was this all some sick game?" He's so sick of the way she's keeping her back to him. "Can you please just freaking look at me?"

"I never wanted to get into this!" Kate whirls around, hair flicking in front of her face. She pushes it away with an angry swipe of the hand, glaring at him. "You chased me, Mike! You were the one who kept at me to have a relationship! I never wanted this!"

He has to bite his tongue to stop himself from saying the thing that flashes into his mind, the adjectives he longs to throw at her. Instead, he moves closer, and as she steps to the side, they begin to circle each other like feeding sharks. "Oh, so this is my fault?" Mike challenges.

"I didn't say that!" She cries out, raking a hand through her hair. "But I just can't... I can't do this right now, Mike! I can't deal with you on top of everything else. I have to think about Bridie!"

He shakes his head, unable to believe that this is the way the conversation has gone in less than sixty seconds. "I can't talk to you when you're like this! Coming here was a mistake!" He hisses.

"Then go!" She jabs a hand at the door. "I'm not keeping you here. Leave and don't come back!"

"Fine!" Mike snaps. He stalks to the door and wrenches it open, but at the last moment, he turns and looks back to Kate. And he's not sure whether he wants her to keep the argument going so that he can yell some more, or whether he wants her to beg him to stay. Say something, he mentally pleads. Anything.

But there's nothing.

She doesn't even look like the woman he fell in love with. And as he closes the door, he hears her lock it once more behind him.

Cal pushes herself to her feet as she spots Mike. "Well?" She prompts, as though she hadn't just heard everything they'd shouted at each other.

"She... I think..." He glances back at the door again, wondering if Kate is even remotely upset behind it. Or is she that strange version of Kate he'd just... "We just broke up."

"What?!" Cal splutters. "Mike, I..."

"I need to check on Rosie." He mutters, feeling dazed beyond belief. More than anything, he needs to get out of this house, away from whatever had just happened. "I... I'm sorry, Cal."

"But-" Cal begins, but he's already at the front door.

"But what happened?" Bridie demands yet again, ignoring the plate of toast Cal had just deposited in front of her in favour of trying to catch her mother's eye. "I thought everything was good." Bridie looks even younger this morning, eyes wide and fearful as she glances between Kate and Cal.

"I told you." Kate sips at her coffee, avoiding both Cal and Bridie's gazes, and there's a detached sort of coolness to Kate's voice that seems so out of place. "We had an argument and we ended things. And I don't want to speak about it."

From her spot on the other side of the kitchen bench, Cal stirs her tea, even though she's sure the sugar granules at the bottom have long since dissolved. She can feel Bridie's eyes on her own, pleading with her to do something, provide more information or, better yet, talk Kate around. But Kate had made it clear that Cal was not forgiven in the slightest, and Cal feels as though she's standing in front of a cannon, waiting for the blast. Instead, she murmurs, "Bridie, if you get ready for school, I can drive-"

"No, we're going to take the day off." Kate interjects. "Spend some time together before my shift this afternoon. Then when you're done with class you can pick her up at the fire station."

"But-" Cal begins. It was so unlike Kate to insist Bridie skip school.

"You have Uni to worry about anyway." Kate continues coolly, pushing herself to her feet. "So, Bridie, get dressed and then you and I will hit the road. I'm going to brush my teeth." She stalks towards the bathroom without a backwards glance.

Bridie turns to Cal, looking uncertainly at her aunt. "She's not okay, is she?"

"Not in the slightest, no." Cal agrees, fiddling with her lip piercing. "I don't know what to do, hon."

"I wanted to see Rose and ask her what Mike said." Bridie continues, glancing at her school bag leaning against the lounge.

"I'll drive you to school if you want." Cal lowers her voice, but Bridie shakes her head.

"No. She's already mad at you. It'll only make things worse." Cal shrugs but knows that Bridie is right. "No, I'll stay with her today and maybe try to talk her around. I mean, she can't keep me away from school forever."

"Bee..." Cal begins tentatively. She's not sure if she wants to tell Bridie about Kate's determination to move, but a moment later Kate returns to the room and the chance is taken away from her.

"Come on." Kate flashes a smile that doesn't quite reach her eyes. "The day is young. Let's go."

Bridie finds it hard not to drag her feet as she walks into the firehouse that afternoon alongside her mother. They're carrying at least a dozen shopping bags between them, and Bridie is quite surprised that her mother's credit card hasn't burst into flame from overuse. For her part, Kate hadn't seemed to notice that her daughter wasn't as involved in the spontaneous shopping day as she herself was, too intent on insisting upon buying Bridie purchase after purchase. Worse still, she'd dropped the news. They were moving.

Bridie is exhausted. She has the beginnings of a sugar headache pounding in her head after her mother insisted that they have an ice-cream, a juice and a milkshake each, not to mention the enormous lunch, and all she wanted to do was sleep. "There's some lollies and chocolate in my locker." Kate jabbers as she leads Bridie into the break room and deposits the bags on a table in the corner. "Or I could make you a smoothie. I'm sure Buffer stocked the kitchen with lots of fruit. Or-"

"No, no more food, please." Bridie whines, flopping into one of the armchairs and turning to face her mother. "Mum, just call him."

Kate averts her gaze, like she has done every other time Mike has been mentioned that day. "I'm going to have to go on duty in a sec and might get called away. But Cal is going to come and pick you up in an hour or so. Um... there's books and the TV and... and I think 2Dads left his XBox-"

"Mum-"

"So I need to go get changed and-"

"Mum!" Bridie snaps. "This is crazy! You love him and he loves you and-"

"I've told you I am not having this conversation with you!" Kate slams a fist on the table, making Bridie jump. "It's over, Bridie. And I don't want to hear anything else about him. Now if you're done being a child, I need to get to work."

Bridie rolls her eyes and crosses her arms. "Excuse me for thinking this time would be different." She can't keep the bitterness from her words.

"This time what?" Kate clicks her tongue impatiently. They never really argued much, unless her Mum got like this... so wound up she forgot everything else.

And Bridie is beyond angry. She's tired, she's scared and all she wants to do is yell and rage. So she pulls herself up to her fullest height and jabs a finger in Kate's direction. "That this time we wouldn't have to leave again." Bridie hisses back. "But it's fine. You bought me a few dresses, I guess. So I should forget about Mike and Rose and this school and this whole bloody town." She turns her head darkly. "It's the way it's always been with you."

Kate feels tears prick the corners of her eyes. "Bee, I-"

"McGregor!" Marshall's voice snaps from the doorway. "Shift's started. Get moving."

For a moment, Kate tries to catch Bridie's gaze, but the young girl won't cooperate. "I'm sorry, Bee." She whispers, before she leaves the room to get changed.

Sitting in the back of the truck, Kate doesn't think she's ever felt more guilty than she does now. She'd hated moving as a child. Hated each new town, hated the introductions, hated everything about it. And now... well, now, she was doing the exact same thing to her own daughter. Kate runs a hand through her hair and secures it with an elastic, barely resisting the urge to start tugging at it and screaming. She was no better than her own mother, running away.

But something in Claire had scared her. Claire isn't well, and Kate feels as though she's stuck between a rock and a hard place. Because she'll never forgive herself if Claire hurts Bridie.

"So I talked to my mate." Dutchy leans across to be better heard over the roaring of the siren, and Kate leans in, grateful for the distraction.

"About?" Kate frowns.

Dutchy looks puzzled. "About the house?" He supplies, then hastens to add, "Look, I know you said you really didn't think it was the right fit for you and Mike and the kids, but... just give it a chance. I really think you'll like it."

"Oh." Kate fidgets with her boots. "Look, that's kind of on hold at the moment." She forces a smile she's not quite feeling and turns to face Buffer, effectively cutting of Dutchy's words. "What's the situation?"

She ignores Dutchy's confused gaze and focuses instead on Buffer's words as he briefs them. "Car went forwards instead of backwards at a local rec centre. Small engine fire but we need to make sure the building is stable."

"Should be an easy one, then." 2Dads muses. Almost immediately, several cries are heard throughout the truck. "What?" 2Dads frowns.

"Mate..." Charge leans back in his chair. "You've just single-handedly guaranteed us the most hectic shift imaginable." He clucks.

By the time they arrive, Nikki and Chris are already checking over the driver, who was all the while swearing that he'd thought the car had been in drive, Kate and Dutchy head over to investigate the car. The engine is still smoking slightly, but the fire has long been put out. Thankfully, the car hadn't hit the main building, only the shed where the pool floats and lane ropes had been stored, and Kate sets about inspecting the building. "Bloody lucky he hadn't been parked anywhere else." Dutchy muses, kicking a tyre with a boot. "He either would have ended up in the pool or in the reception hall." Kate nods, her eyes itching from the chlorine in the air. She's never really been a fan of public pools, even when she was younger. She'd always preferred the beach. "Lucky there wasn't as many people around." Dutchy adds.

"Yeah." Kate agrees, glancing around. "Although..." She hesitates, looking up and down. There were certainly enough cars in the car park. It was, after all, a warm afternoon, and despite it being a school day, there were normally more people about. Kate turns to face the two patrol cops that had called the accident in. "Has the centre been evacuated?"

"We sent the other team in." He glances at his watch. "They should - should have been out by now." His words are interrupted by a cough.

"What are you thinking?" Dutchy frowns, as Kate takes a step closer to the pool shed. "Kate?"

Behind her, Nikki coughs. Kate turns to face her. Then her eyes widen. "Everybody get back!" She shouts. "Move, now!"

"What? What's going on?" Dutchy demands.

Covering her mouth with her wrist, Kate runs right up to the chain link fence and her heart drops. "Chlorine." She mutters, catching sight of the drums in the shed. "Chlorine gas is leaking everywhere."