"Franky!" Emily greeted the brunette with her usual enthusiasm.

"Hey, bub. Gidge." Franky had been able to keep her promise to Bridget to call earlier that night so that Emily could show her the clothes she'd picked out.

"I got my new pyjamas on!" The young girl stood up so that the brunette could see them better.

"Oh those are cool! I bet they're comfy too." Franky smiled as Emily nodded. "Show me what else you bought."

One by one, the young girl showed the brunette each t-shirt and pair of pyjamas she'd picked out.

"And I got nail polish!" She held her fingers up close to the camera. "They're dinosaur nails."

"Ooo, I like the green! Auntie told me that you picked out some fun colors. Will you paint my nails like that for me when I get home?" Franky loved that Emily had chosen such a bold color.

"Yeah! Auntie Bridge painted mine for me," the young girl said looking at her nails.

"Awesome! She did a good job." The brunette noticed that Emily was a bit quieter now.

"I did something bad." She looked at Bridget, then back to Franky.

"Yeah? Do you want to tell me about it?" The brunette was pretty sure she knew where Emily was going with this, and she felt her heart rate pick up a bit. 'Please don't ask me any questions' was all that was going through her mind.

"I looked in your drawer, and Auntie told me not to, then I took your nail polish, and she said that wasn't allowed and she wouldn't let me use it. She said I had to ask you, but you weren't here." The young girl finished her whole story in one breath. "I'm sorry."

"Auntie is right that you shouldn't look through people's things, and you shouldn't take stuff without asking. I'm not mad, but now that you know it's wrong, don't do it again, okay?" Franky saw her nod. "If you see something of mine that you want to borrow while I'm away, ask Auntie. I'll say it's okay for her to let you use it, if you ask first."

"Okay." Emily gave her a small smile.

"Are you ready for school tomorrow?" The brunette didn't want to dwell on that subject any more.

"Yeah! Auntie said I had to go back."

"That's right. Promise me you'll be brave and go back without getting upset again?" Franky didn't want the blonde to have to go through another bad morning again.

"I promise." The young girl said it so quickly that Franky only really half believed it.

Bridget tapped her niece on the arm, signalling that it was time for her to say goodbye to the brunette. After they exchanged goodnights, Emily went to the bathroom to have a shower.

"I didn't think about the school thing," Franky said with an apologetic look on her face. "She's missed a couple days now either because she's come to set to visit or she's not felt well."

"It's okay. I talked to her teacher when this all started. She understands that it helps Em to be able to see you when she can. I've asked her to send home anything she's missed that I can go over with her here. It's worked out okay so far." The blonde was glad that her teacher was so accommodating. "I didn't tell her to tell you about the drawer."

"She made that decision on her own?" The brunette saw Bridget nod. "Maybe that's a good sign; she wants to be honest with us."

"I think so, yeah." The blonde sighed. "How are things in there?"

"Good, I guess. I think I'm sleeping a bit better now that there's only me and Heather left in our room. It's quieter." The brunette wanted to add that 'better' by no means meant 'good'. A good sleep wouldn't happen again until she was at home in her own bed with Bridget beside her. "What about you, Gidge? How's work been? You haven't said a lot about it lately."

"Nothing out of the ordinary, really. Vera asked if I wanted to take some family leave while you were away, but I thought it would just encourage Em to want to stay home. Besides, I don't want to sit here alone all day." The blonde knew what Franky was really asking though. "I haven't seen Julia much. She's supposed to be leaving the end of next week."

Franky nodded. "I'm going to do my best to get home to you guys sometime this week."

"I know you always try your best." Bridget gave her a warm smile. She knew the brunette put her whole self into everything she did, and she didn't want her to feel extra pressure in these last couple weeks. She heard someone tell Franky it was time to go for tonight.

"I'm beginning to hate the person they send to do that," the brunette mumbled.

"Don't shoot the messenger, baby." The blonde understood Franky's sentiment exactly, but she didn't let it show. "I love you." She saw a flicker of a small grin appear on the younger woman's face. She didn't know if Franky realized it, but everytime Bridget told her that she loved her, the same quick grin would appear, no matter how upset she was.

"I love you too, babe."

"Franky, your partner has arrived on set, and is ready to meet you," a crew member told the blonde.

"Okay, thanks." She'd been in the walk-in fridge getting the last couple of ingredients for their station.

When she arrived, she saw a girl who was a year, maybe two, older than Emily waiting for her beside their spot at the long counter.

"Hey, I'm Franky." The brunette smiled down at the girl.

"I'm Olivia." She reached out her hand to Franky.

"Well, nice to meet you." She returned Olivia's handshake, a bit surprised at that gesture coming from a child that young.

"Okay, everyone. Listen up!" Jared waited at the front of the kitchen until he had everyone's attention. "You'll all be making the same recipe today, and myself, along with a special guest who'll be here later on, will be evaluating the final product. Every good chef should not only know their craft, but should understand it, and be able to explain it. That's what today's challenge is all about. You'll be teaching our young friends here, how to make a classic dish from scratch; spaghetti and meatballs. The pasta has been provided, but you'll be making the meatballs, and the sauce. Remember, chefs, your main role today is instructing, not cooking. You should only be providing minimal help, and in cases where safety is a concern, so that no one gets injured. You have two hours, starting now!"

"Alright, so we have two things to make here." Franky laid out the two recipe cards in front of them. Normally they wouldn't have these in the kitchen, but they were allowed this time since they were working with kids. "We have the sauce, and then the meatballs. We'll have to cook the spaghetti too, but that won't be until close to the end. We should start with the sauce, because it needs time to simmer while we make the meatballs. So the first thing we do is cut these tomatoes into quarters, like this." The brunette picked up one of the plum tomatoes and a knife and demonstrated it for the girl. She placed the knife on the counter in front of Olivia when she'd finished.

"Those tomatoes are small. My grandmother always uses the big ones for her sauces," the girl said, inspecting the bowl of tomatoes on the counter.

"Yeah, some sauces use those, but this recipe calls for plum tomatoes, which are these small ones." Franky reached out and moved the knife a bit closer to Olivia, hoping she'd pick it up and start cutting them. When she made no move, the brunette spoke again. "We really need to get started."

Olivia picked up the knife with a sigh, and began to quarter the tomatoes.

"Do you like to cook with your grandmother?" Watching the girl work was a slow process, and it took everything in Franky not to take the knife and just do it herself, so she decided that some small talk might help to distract her.

"Yeah, she taught me everything. I'm going to be a chef someday," Olivia said matter of factly.

"That's great!" Franky always loved when kids told her they had found something they were passionate about. "Ready to move on to the next step?" she asked when she saw that the tomatoes were all cut.

Olivia nodded.

She managed to get the girl to chop the onion they needed as well, and begin to cook it in the pan. Once the onion was cooked they added in the tomatoes and spices, and left the sauce on the stove to simmer.

"Next we'll do the meatballs." Franky sat the bowl of ground beef in front of Olivia, and handed her a pair of gloves.

"Is this beef?" the girl asked, peering into the bowl.

"Yeah, it is. We need to add the spices and cheese." The brunette wondered why Olivia was still just looking at the meat.

"My grandmother uses half ground beef and half sausage meat. She says it makes them juicer. All beef is too dry." She looked at Franky as if she expected her to change the recipe and do it her way.

"Well, today, we're using beef." Franky continued before the girl had a chance to say anything more. "We should measure out all the spices, and the cheese, into this bowl, then we can mix them in with the meat." She placed a smaller bowl beside the other one.

She helped Olivia with some of the measurements for the spices.

"Okay, now it says we need two ounces of parmesan cheese. If you want to bring it over here to the scale, I'll help you weigh it." Franky knew that every scale was different, so even if the girl had used one before, it may not have worked like this one. When she turned, she noticed Olivia hadn't followed her. "What's wrong?"

"There's no parmesan cheese here." She crossed her arms.

"Yeah, there is." The brunette knew it was there. She'd seen it just seconds ago.

"This?" Olivia asked, holding up a wedge of cheese.

"Yeah, that's it. Bring it over here." Franky motioned for the girl to come to her.

"This," Olivia said in a know-it-all way, holding the block of cheese up. "Is not parmesan. Parmesan comes in a can and is like a powder."

"That's parmesan. Trust me." The brunette didn't know whether to laugh or be pissed off at the girl's attitude.

"No, it's not. Are you really a chef?" the girl asked, placing the cheese back on the counter and crossing her arms.

Franky glanced over towards where Shayne and his partner Ella were working, and saw him watching in disbelief at the girl's question.

"Yeah, I am. I've been a chef probably longer than you've been alive." She walked back to the counter, and bent down so she was eye level with Olivia. "Let me tell you something, some free advice. You listening?" Franky watched as the girl nodded. She looked slightly scared, and the brunette knew there was an edge in her voice, but Olivia needed to hear this, and the sooner someone said it to her, the better. "You want to be a chef? Well guess what, there's a lot to be learned, and you haven't learnt it all yet, no matter how much your grandma has taught you. Even after you finish culinary school and start working, you start at the bottom. There's more than one way to do things, and you learn from those above you who've been there longer. If you ever spoke to a head chef the way you just did to me, you'd be looking for a new job pretty quickly. Now pick up the cheese, and come with me."

The brunette started walking, and once again, the girl didn't follow behind. Franky turned back, and saw Jared talking to her.

"Go on, it's alright." He gave Olivia a reassuring smile. He knew where the brunette was taking her.

Franky continued on her way once she saw that the girl had started to walk. She led her into the walk-in fridge.

"What does this say?" the brunette asked, taking a wheel of cheese from one of the shelves and holding it so that Olivia could see the label on it.

"Parmesan," she said, quietly.

"Right, and does that look the same as what you have in your hand?" Franky waited while she compared the two.

"Yeah." Olivia hung her head.

"Okay, so let's go finish cooking." She placed the wheel of cheese back on the shelf before following the girl back into the kitchen.

Things went along smoothly from then on, and they were just getting ready to form their meatballs, when Franky heard a commotion come from the other side of the counter beside where Emily was working with Shayne.

"No! Not like that! Do it how I showed you like two seconds ago."

"Hank! What's going on?" Jared knew he needed to get this under control quickly.

"He doesn't do what I fucking tell him to!" Hank's voice was raised even more now.

"Ooo, Ella, that's a bad word, don't say that, okay?" Shayne told her with a small grin. "He has to put a quarter in the swear jar now."

Ella giggled.

"Fuck you, Shayne." Hank spat out.

"That's two quarters now," Shayne said quietly, holding up two fingers to the young girl, who giggled again.

"Hank, you're out of the kitchen. Go back to the dorms and we'll talk later." Jared had seen enough.

"Fucking stupid challenge," he mumbled on his way out.

"That's three," Shayne said a little louder this time.

Franky looked over and saw that the young boy Hank had been working with was now in tears. She walked around the end of the counter, picked up the bowl of their meatball mixture and their pan, and brought it back to where she was working with Olivia. She walked back around to where the boy was still standing.

"What's your name?" she asked, crouching down to his eye level.

"Liam," he answered in between shaky breaths. "He didn't show me anything. He just said make a meatball, but I've never made one before."

"It's okay." Franky reached out, intending just to rub his arm to try to comfort him a bit, but as soon as she did, he stepped forward and wrapped his arms around her. "Shh, it's alright." The brunette rubbed his back. "How about you come work with us, and we'll get them finished up?"

"Okay." Liam let go of her, and wiped his eyes.

"Shayne, can you keep an eye on their sauce?" the brunette asked as she led the boy around the end of the counter.

"I'm on it." Shayne stepped to the side and stirred the sauce in the pot while Ella worked on making their meatballs.

Franky grabbed a pair of gloves for herself, and a new pair for Liam since he had taken his off when he got upset.

"Alright," she looked at the kids on each side of her. "I'll make a couple with you guys, then you can finish them up."

She picked up a small amount of the meat mixture, and showed them each how to roll it between the palms of their hands to form a ball. Once she had demonstrated it a couple times, she got them to make one on their own.

"Those both look good. Keep going until you run out of meat. I'm going to get the water boiling for the spaghetti." The pot was far too large and heavy for either Olivia or Liam to lift, so Franky assigned that task to herself.

The head of the network happened to be on set that day, observing.

"Are you seeing this?" He leaned over and said quietly to Jillian, pointing in the direction of Franky and the two kids.

"Yep." She had a feeling they were thinking the same thing.

"Just file that bit of information away for later." He sat back up straight in his chair, and continued to watch the contestants work.

The guest judge actually ended up being two local children's entertainers. They were very generous with their evaluations, and gave most of the dishes an eight or nine out of ten with only a couple of exceptions. Their two scores, along with Jared's score were averaged to give a final number.

In the end, it was Ella and Shayne who came out on top, edging out Franky and Olivia by less than a point.

"Congratulations Shayne and Ella, you'll each receive a Melbourne unlimited attractions pass, good for four people. It provides access to over twenty local attractions including the Sea Life aquarium, Melbourne zoo, Melbourne river cruises, Legoland, and even the Melbourne ghost tour. Something very nice to enjoy with your families or friends." Jared handed each of them an envelope that contained the passes.

The rest of the contestants and the crew started to clear out quickly after they were done filming the segment, and Franky was saying goodbye to Liam.

"Hey." Shayne came over to join the brunette and the young boy. "Don't pay attention to anything Hank said today, okay?" He saw Liam nod, and figured that Franky had probably been telling the young boy the same thing before he'd joined them. "Here." He held out his envelope. "I think you'll enjoy these more than I will."

"Thank you!" he said excitedly before running off to find his mother.

"Softie." Franky nudged the young man with her elbow.

"Well, Hank's an asshole." He shrugged and left it at that.

"Alright, guys, I'll need you back over in front of the kitchens," Jillian said as she passed by them. "Jared wants to film a segment. Shouldn't take long."

"Hank, give me one good reason why I shouldn't send you home right now." The chef put his hands behind his back, and stepped forward.

"This wasn't an elimination challenge," Hank said, smugly.

Jared stepped forward a couple more steps so that he was now only about a foot away from Hank.

"When you wear that black jacket, I expect that you treat every challenge like it's an elimination challenge." The chef held the other man's stare, neither of them wanting to back down. "I'll say it again, give me one good reason why I shouldn't send you home right now."

"I had a stupid kid. It wasn't my fault I couldn't work with him," he shrugged.

"He wasn't stupid." Franky spoke up from her spot between him and Shayne.

"How would you know?" Hank turned his attention to the brunette.

"Because I brought him over with me after you got kicked out." She crossed her arms over her chest. "He just needed to be shown what to do."

"I showed him what to do!" He was beginning to raise his voice.

"No, you didn't. I was standing right beside you, mate." Shayne spoke up, taking Franky's side.

"I told you before, I'm not your fucking mate!" Hank spat out. "I got a shitty, stupid kid, and you got a perfect one. That's the only reason why you won. And you," he jabbed a finger at Franky's face. "Have been an arrogant bitch since the beginning."

"Hey! Back off!" Shayne stepped around the brunette, putting himself between her and Hank.

"You're defending her, are you? The protector, huh? You always did have a soft spot for her. Your little late night talks outside. Making meals for her. She's not going to fuck you, no matter how hard you try." Hank smiled, and shook his head. "She's a dyke. You knew that, right?" He took a step closer so that their chests were almost touching.

"At least I'm not getting eliminated for throwing a temper tantrum in the kitchen. Not even any of the kids did that, mate." Shayne emphasized the last word.

The brunette turned her head back just in time to see Hank pull back his fist.

"Shayne!" She grabbed onto the young man's jacket and pulled him to the side.

There was no stopping Hank's fist though, and it landed square on Franky's cheekbone.

She stumbled, and felt Shayne's arms around her, stopping her from falling completely.

"Shit!" Hank immediately regretted his decision. He stepped forward to check on the brunette.

"Just fuck off, Hank!" Shayne made sure she was steady on her feet before he let go.

"Fucking hell, I haven't been hit like that in a long time." Franky checked her hand to see if there was any blood on it.

"Alright, Franky, go back to the dorms and see the medic. Put some ice on that. Hank, give me your jacket." Jared wanted this to be over as soon as possible.

Hank opened his mouth to protest.

"It's out of my hands. You got violent with another contestant, show rules say you're out. Jacket please." The chef held out his hand.

Hank ripped off his jacket and threw it on the ground before storming off the set.

Franky was sitting on the couch with Shayne when Jillian arrived.

"You alright? What did the medic say?" she asked, as she sat down in one of the armchairs.

"Yeah, all good. Just some bruising." The brunette lifted the ice pack to show a small purple area on her cheekbone.

"Good. There's some time now if you'd like to call home." They weren't doing interviews until later that night, but Jillian knew that no one would question where Franky was for a while since Shayne was the only one who knew she was back from seeing the medic.

"Sure, thanks." The brunette got up, and followed the producer to the interview room.

Franky decided to text Bridget before she called her. It was late enough in the day that she'd be home with Emily by now, and the brunette wanted the chance to explain the bruise on her face to her before the young girl saw it.

To: Gidge

Hey, I'm going to call in a minute. I'd like to talk to you alone first, but if you can't get

away from Em, make sure the video stays off. I'll explain later. X.

Franky waited a couple of seconds before she got a reply back, saying that Emily was watching something on TV, so she'd go out on the patio and wait for her to call.

"Hey, babe," the brunette said quietly when Bridget appeared on her screen.

"Franky….what happened?" The blonde shielded her screen from the sun in order to try and get a better view of Franky's face. "Are you alright?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. Just got a bit of a headache. I got punched. Well, more like I got in the way of a punch." Franky saw Bridget shake her head, indicating that she didn't understand what that meant. "Shayne and Hank got in an argument during filming. Hank went to punch Shayne and I tried to stop him and ended up getting it instead."

"Baby…" The blonde didn't know what else to say. She was glad that the younger woman hadn't really been involved in the incident, but the bruise looked like it hurt, and she hated seeing her in pain.

"I'm okay, Gidge, really." She gave Bridget a weak, unconvincing smile. "I just wanted to tell you what happened so you'd know what was going on before Em sees me."

"That was probably a good idea. You can talk to her now if you have time. It might be better for her not to find out right before bedtime." The blonde thought that at least if Emily found out now, then it would give her a few hours to talk about it that evening if she wanted.

"Sure, everyone thinks I'm still with the medic." Franky gave her a small nod.

"Okay, I'll go get her, and maybe just give her a head's up before she sees you." Bridget placed her phone face down on the cushion of the lounge chair while she went inside to get her niece. "Em, love, Franky's on the phone if you'd like to talk to her." She saw the young girl's face light up. "I want to tell you something first though. She had a little accident at work, and there's a bruise on her cheekbone, but she's totally okay, alright?"

"Okay." Emily nodded.

The blonde picked up her phone, and she and Emily sat down together on the edge of the lounge chair.

"Franky, Auntie said you were hurt." The young girl studied the brunette's face.

"It's just a little bruise. It'll be gone in a couple of days." Franky gave her a smile.

"What happened?" Emily asked.

The brunette explained what had happened just like she had earlier to the blonde. The young girl seemed satisfied with her explanation.

"I don't want you to get hurt again," the young girl said softly.

"I won't. They made him go home because he broke the rules." Franky continued. "So you're not going to worry about me anymore while I'm here, right?" The brunette didn't want any sleepless nights, or school morning arguments happening over this.

"Okay," Emily whispered quietly.

"Promise me, bub," Franky said in a serious voice..

"I promise."

"Good." No one had come to tell her that her time was up yet, but her head was starting to pound. She'd initially refused painkillers, but now she was thinking she'd need to ask for some. "I love you very much."

"I love you, too." Emily gave her a smile.

Bridget took Franky's goodbye to the young girl as a signal that she was ready to go, so she said her goodbye as well.

Her phone vibrated just seconds after they'd hung up.

From: Franky

Sorry to take off, but this headache is getting worse fast. I'm going to get some

meds, then lay down. If I don't call later, I've fallen asleep and I'll call tomorrow.

I love you. Xo

The blonde could tell that the younger woman wasn't feeling as well as she'd let on.

To: Franky

No worries, look after yourself and get some rest! I love you, too. Xo.

There was no crew member there to take her phone back, so she wandered for a minute before she found Jillian.

"Can I get something for a headache?" she asked as she handed her phone over.

"Sure." The producer got the attention of one of the crew members. "Can you take her to see the medic then back to the dorms? Thanks."

When Franky got back, she grabbed a pair of trackies and a t-shirt, and headed to the shower. She liked that for the last bit, they'd all pretty much had their own private bathrooms, and she could leave her stuff in there. It made it feel a little less like she was away from home.

She stood under the hot water, letting it hit the back of her neck and run down her back. She thought it wasn't so much the actual injury to her face that was causing the headache, but the fact that her head had snapped to the side and the muscles in her neck were now tense and stiff.

She had her eyes closed, and forehead resting against the cool tile on the wall. The warmth of the water, combined with the soothing sound of it hitting the floor was relaxing her to the point where she felt herself start to drift off. She decided it was time to get out, and her bed was looking very inviting.

She dropped her chef jacket and pants into the laundry, and put on the clothes she'd brought with her. On her way across the hallway to her room, she spotted Shayne out of the corner of her eye, and gave him a small wave.

When her back hit the mattress, she let out a sigh. Most of the time she didn't find this bed all that comfortable, but right now, it felt like heaven. She could feel the painkillers starting to kick in both because the headache was starting to ease, and because there was a sleepy feeling coming over her. She knew they weren't supposed to make you drowsy, but she rarely took any meds, and she always found that that was a side effect for her. She pulled the blankets up to her chin as she rolled onto her side.

"Franks?" Shayne's voice was soft, not wanting to startle her.

"Mm?"

"I just wanted to make sure you were okay. I'll leave you to sleep." He reached up for the light switch to turn them off for her.

"You can stay. Come lay down." She pointed to the empty bed next to hers. When she opened her eyes, it took her a few seconds to adjust to the darkness, then she saw his outline walk to the other bed and lay down. She could smell his body wash when he walked past her, and figured he must have gone and showered as well. Bridget's is better.

Shayne was silent for a minute.

"Listen, I want to talk to you about what Hank said." He took a deep breath. "When he said you'd never sleep with me. I just wanted to say that that was never why I was nice to you, or liked hanging out with you. I've never looked at you in that way."

"I know. I never thought that you did. He's just a dick." Franky mumbled, and dismissed the thought with a small wave of her hand.

"Okay, I just like feel like we get each other, we're mates, ya know. It feels more like you're my big sis or something." He heard a soft snore come from the other bed, and smiled to himself. "Goodnight Franks."

He got up, walked quietly across the room, and closed the door as softly as he could behind him, leaving the brunette to sleep.