Part 3: The meet and greet

A/N: Just a reminder. Fred and Laurissa don't have any phones with them so they can't contact each other when one of them goes for a walk.

Thank you so much for the replies! Sorry for the delay in posting this. I had Uni stuff to deal with and I got really into reading a Harry Potter fic.

Fred was lost. He had started wondering up the beach not knowing exactly what to do or where to go. All he knew was the docks, the caravan park and the road they had come in on. After about half and hour of walking around the beach Fred decided it might be best to ask someone for directions. He figured that Laurissa probably found her friend. Fred would have to ask someone on the beach if they knew who he was. He hoped that the things about small town communities were true.

He scanned the beach looking for someone to ask. There were a couple of teenage boys mucking around with each other. Fred didn't know it at the time, but he would later know these two boys as Henry and Max. Fred didn't want to ask them. He looked to his left and saw a young couple strolling along the beach with a small baby. Liking the looks of the couple Fred decided to approach them.

"Hello. Sorry to disturb you. My name is Ronan-"Fred stopped for a moment realizing that Laurissa hadn't given him a last name. "I'm looking for Kane Phillips. Do you know where I may be able to find him?"

Flynn gave Fred a suspicious look. Fred didn't look like the average Summer Bay resident. Flynn knew well that Kane had gotten into a bit of trouble in his time; he didn't want to send anymore his way.

"Why are you looking for Kane?" Flynn asked.

"My girlfriend, Holly, went looking for him and now I'm looking for her. Kane is an old friend of hers so I guess she's with him" Fred explained.

Knowing when people were lying was something Flynn had learnt during his years of counseling. Sally had also picked it up through her teaching years. They could both tell that Fred was genuine.

"Just go up here" Sally gestured to a path with her free arm. "Kane lives at the beach house just up the road"

"Thank-you" Fred politely answered before heading up the path.

Kane was to take Laurissa back to the caravan park to briefly meet Fred before going home to Kirsty. Laurissa and Kane had decided shortly after leaving the diner that they'd head into Yabbie Creek for dinner with their partners. Laurissa wanted to know more about the girl who won Kane's heart. Kane wanted to know much more about Laurissa's mysterious arrival in the bay. He didn't care much for meeting Ronan. Laurissa's older brother, David, who Kane had first been friends with, had turned into a rich snob so he expected Ronan to be similar.

The drive from the diner to the caravan park wasn't far. In fact most of time whoever lived at the caravan park would just walk to the diner, but Kane wanted to drive. That was another thing Laurissa liked about Summer bay. You could just walk everywhere. She supposed she could still do that with most places she visited in the city, but you certainly wouldn't want to be doing that beyond dusk.

As they neared the caravan park Kane's patience grew thin. He never had much to begin with and surprised it had lasted this long. Kane supposed it was because of Kirsty. Because of her, Kane was forced to learn to control his temper. But this was Laurissa he was in the car with, not his wife. Laurissa was the girl next door Kane had grown up with and had to say goodbye to before the pair could even start daydreaming about high school together.

"Laurissa, why are you in the bay? What did you see? Who's after you for seeing it?" Kane attempted to discover the truth.

"It's Holly, Kane" Laurissa snapped back with the same frustrated tone that Kane had used.

"We're in my car. No one is going to hear us" Kane grunted back.

"You know change the tone and it sounds like we're up to something" Laurissa joked, avoiding Kane's questions.

"Laurissa tell me the truth. I've already had a lot of stuff kept from me by my parents. Don't be just like them."

Kane decided that the abuse from his father might come in use for something. Laurissa had a slight idea about what had gone on at Kane's place over the years. She had been too young and too scared to do anything about it though. Kane's father terrified her and seeing the scars on Kane's back one day made it a lot worse.

"I know what you're doing."

Laurissa knew that Kane bringing up his family was a trick. He never wanted any sympathy for what happened to him.

"Who's after you?"

"The rich and powerful. That's all I'm saying. I'd prefer it if you stayed somewhat innocent in all of this. It's my fault that Ronan is in this too"

"We used to be close when we were younger"

"Past tense. A lot has happened since then."

"Yeah and you won't tell me what!"

"We're only going to go around in circles Kane. You'll get all dizzy"

Kane had nothing to say to that statement. At this point there didn't seem a way to get Laurissa to tell him what was going on. Kane was surprised he managed to keep his temper under control. Those sessions Flynn had told him to go too seemed to be helping.

"You can be so frustrating do you know that?"

"C'mon. Let's go meet the joy that I call Ronan"

Laurissa changed the subject as she got out of Kane's car.

But Fred was not in the caravan. Laurissa did happily note that he had unpacked everything before disappearing. They gathered that Fred had grown bored and went looking for Laurissa. Kane suggested that they head to the beach house so Kirsty could meet Laurissa. Fred would be likely to turn up there if he asked anyone in the bay about Kane.

By some coincidence Kane and Laurissa pulled up to the beach house at the same time Fred had gotten there. He smiled at the sight of Laurissa, thankful that he found her.

"Hey Ronan. I was wondering where you were" Laurissa causally greeted Fred as if he was her brother rather than her boyfriend.

"I was wondering the same thing. Hey I'm Ronan" Fred introduced himself to Kane.

"Kane" He replied.

"It's good to meet you finally. Laurissa says you two grew up together" Fred commented.

Laurissa stiffed a giggle. Fred did not sound like a teenager at all. She knew that in a small town like Summer bay, Fred would turn on the rich charm. It was a way of proving he was better than people. One of these elements he used was to speak properly like an adult in their community would. Another element was Fred to show of all the gadgets he owned. Laurissa was grateful Fred had none of them here.

"Yeah. Lived next door to each other for about 8 years" Kane replied as they walked into the house.

Kirsty, Tasha and Robbie were sitting on the couches watching TV. Although Kirsty was paying a little more attention than Tasha and Robbie were. They seemed to be more interested in each other than the TV screen. Kirsty was pleased to see that Kane had finally returned home from the boat, but she had no idea who the two strangers were.

"Hey babe" Kane greeted his wife as she got off the couch.

Upon seeing Tasha and Robbie, Laurissa quickly grabbed Fred's hand. If they were going to keep up the story that they were runaway lovers she had to act like they were around everyone except Kane and Kirsty.

"This is Holly and her boyfriend Ronan. Holly and I have been friends since we were kids" Kane explained introducing Laurissa and Fred to the room.

Laurissa's stomach tied in a knot. She wasn't so sure it was a good idea to openly tell everyone she was linked to Kane in that way. Although there was nothing she could do about it now. The gossip queen had already seen them in the diner. The friendship that Laurissa and Kane had was probably common knowledge by now.

"Hi" Laurissa greeted Kirsty and the others with a warm smile. Fred did the same.

"This is Kirsty, my wife. And the two on the couch are Tasha and Robbie" Kane explained.

"I didn't know you had any friends before Kirsty" Tasha said with a smirk.

"Thanks Tash" Kane replied.

Detective Peter Baker sat in his office attempting to organize his files. With Sarah in rehabilitation now Peter had less work to do. Instead he had been given a case from some colleagues in the city. The police Peter currently worked with knew that he had dealt with something similar before and hand handed the case to him.

Peter read through the files he had been given on the case relatively quickly. Pair of teenagers had refused complete police protection and were headed to Summer bay. Although they weren't officially under protection the police had promised to aid the couple in getting a few things such as ID's and money. This what Peter was going to have to deal with. From their files the two teenagers sounded like typical spoiled brats. Peter almost wished that Sarah would break out.

"Baker" Someone called from outside his office. "The duo from the city is here"

Laurissa and Fred then entered Peter's office. After their visit to the beach house Fred had reminded Laurissa that the police were expecting them to 'check in'. Laurissa wasn't too keen, as she knew the police would still try and tempt her into official protection.

"Hello, you must be Laurissa and Fred. I'm detective Baker" Peter greeted shaking their hands before they all sat down.

"Yeah, but we're going by the aliases of Holly and Ronan while we're here" Laurissa explained.

"Okay. That was a good idea. People in this town like to know who other people are. Giving them fake names would make it hard for them to find out anything about you" Peter said speaking from experience with Leah. "I suppose I better organize from ID's for you. What did you too plan to do until its safe to return to the city? You'd both still be in school right? I can contact Summer Bay high and have to enrolled"

"Well I was actually studying law at Sydney University Detective Baker." Fred proudly told Peter.

Laurissa rolled her eyes. It was predictable that Fred would become a lawyer. His entire family was either upper-class lawyers or doctors. Fred nearly fainted when they dissected a rat in Biology so therefore he went into law. There was no way Laurissa was going down that path. Laurissa had no idea what she planned to do.

"I can organize for a transfer for you to Summer bay University. It shouldn't be too difficult. I have a few contacts in the administration department at Sydney Uni" Peter told Fred.

"I suppose I'm off to high school then?" Laurissa asked.

"Yes, the headmistress there is a friend of a friend. Small town you know. She'll be happy to have you" Peter replied.