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PART THREE

Disclaimer: Mt. Thomas and all characters belong to Blue Heelers, Southern Star and Channel 7.

At the pub the mood was nostalgic and cheery rather than downcast at PJ's departure.

Amy was glad she had come so she could say goodbye to him, but she couldn't deny that she felt awkward and out of place at the pub which she had only visited a handful of times. The other coppers all joked about their memories about PJ and ribbed each other in good fun.

"PJ remember we were looking for a body and we thought it might be under your freshly poured slab?" Jonesy chuckled in memory. "You blew a gasket!"

"Well it was my slab!" PJ cried, throwing his hands up in the air.

"Well I have to say that I have quite a few stories to tell myself." Tom teased good-heartedly.

"You were quite a strapping fella in your day!"

"Are you saying something has changed?" Asked PJ, eyebrows raised.

"Well let's just say you've moved on from the sunglasses and leather jacket stage."

"Oh, has he now?" Susie laughed, patting PJ's well worn trademark jacket.

Still relatively knew to Mt Thomas Amy didn't share many of the memories that they fondly recounted. Amy never felt completely comfortable joining in with the easy chatter in the station and this translated to her outside life as well.

"Can I get you something else?" Chris kindly asked the lone figure sitting at the bar.

"Uh yeah. Thanks Chris I'll get a scotch."

As the night grew older Amy repeated this statement a few times over. Amy had never been much of a drinker but that night she felt like she needed a pick me up. She was sad that PJ was leaving and was acutely aware that once he left, she would have no inkling of a friendship with anyone in the station. Despite what Alex had said, she now realized that he had said it out of pity. If he hadn't found out about her past, he probably would have just kept thinking of her as the 'ice queen' – just as everyone else did.

About an hour later the music was cranked up and people were starting to dance.

Amy felt vaguely giddy and light headed and noted in the back of her mind that driving home that night probably wasn't the smartest idea.

"What's a lovely lady like you doing sitting over here on your lonesome?"

She turned at the sound and saw a tall, dark haired man standing over her. For a minute she thought it was Alex and she felt a strange, involuntary clench in her stomach. However after a couple of blinks she realized she was way off the mark. Feeling oddly disappointed, she turned to the man who was taking a seat next to her.

"I'm Tyson. Can I get you another drink?"

She looked at him. He was tall and well built, wearing jeans and an expensive looking shirt. He had high cheekbones and large blue eyes and smile lines, which showed from what Amy gathered to be his twenty five or so years on this earth.

Amy was usually quite quick at judging character from all her years in CI and usually found herself reflexively suspicious of most people she met, but on this occasion, she found that she couldn't pick any stand out details from this man's face, gestures or clothing. He just seemed like a regular, friendly guy. 'And what was the harm in that?' the alcohol in her system asked. Why couldn't she accept a drink from a nice, attractive man? When Amy realized that she couldn't grasp an answer to this question and turned to him, smiling.

"I think I'll take you up on that."

Alex broke away from Jonesy and Susie to get another round of drinks from the bar.

"Hey Chris, I'll get another round of the same thanks."

"All right. So, who's the guy Amy's with?"

"Amy?" Echoed Alex curiously.

"Yeah. She just took off with a tall, dark guy." Chris nudged her head in the direction of the dance floor.

Alex looked over to see the usually serious, business like Detective flinging her hair back and dancing with an attractive man. He whispered something in her ear and Amy laughed, her hand traveling up his back seductively.

What was she doing?

However bad it sounded, he had to ask the question. Amy had never seemed like that sort of person – she was business like and straight to the point at work and rarely ventured out to the pub. Unless she did some serious Melbourne pub crawls in the wee hours of the morning, Alex was pretty sure that the station and her work in CI was pretty much her life. Not that he could blame her. With the abuse she had suffered year after year, he couldn't fathom the fear she must have of social gatherings. When Alex had learnt of her abuse he had been shocked. Yet, he didn't want her to feel like an outcast – exposed and different – so he had continued to treat her the same as he always had. Joking and always on her back about one thing or another. Yet apart from the occasional insult she had never blown her top at him. Not until today, when he had had a glimpse into what it really must be like for her, battling day after day against demons from her past. It was because of this, that Alex found it hard to believe that hours after he had seen her almost in tears after being reminded of her abuse, she was tearing up the dance floor as he had never seen before and flirting shamelessly with a man that she was sure he had not met before tonight. It wasn't that he was jealous that she had rejected him, but the fact that she had flung herself onto a complete stranger. Okay maybe he was a little jealous…I mean there was no denying that she was a gorgeous woman. Alex had a knack to seeing beyond people's exteriors and beneath her tough façade Alex could see that Amy had a good heart and was a great person who just needed to be understood and taken care of. Under the cold shell she was vulnerable – more vulnerable then he knew she would ever admit. And it was because of this, that he was concerned at her out of character behaviour.

"Should have got your money down faster, mate. Good things like that don't just wait around you know." Chrissy commented.

"Do I sense a bit of jealousy?"

"No."

Alex frowned and he was concerned enough not to take the joke or even think of a suitable comeback.

"I'm not jealous. I'm just concerned."

"Why?" Asked Chris flatly.

"Well…have you ever seen her act like this?"

"Well, no but to be fair, I haven't seen many people, let alone Amy, drink as much Scotch as she has in the last couple of hours."

She pulled the tray of drinks up onto the counter.

"Anyway, here you go."

"Thanks Chrissy."

Part four to follow…tell me what you thought!