Disclaimer: Don't own anything. Red Dwarf is Grant Naylor's problem, not mine. K?

Author's note: HAPPY BIRTHDAY LAURA! Just for you, this chapter is being posted today. I got a HUGE headache trying to finish it, but I'm pleased with it, and I even managed to put in some suspense/intrigue at the end! Go me! Anyways, R&R as always you lovely, LOVELY people!

"Happy birthday, Laura!" six voices screamed as Laura entered the room. She didn't seem surprised. In fact, she seemed rather pissed off.
"Everything…OK?" Gemma finally asked.
"No!" Laura said as though it was the most obvious thing in the universe.
"What's the problem?" asked Bex.
"My brother's the problem!"
"Why?" Robyn asked, "What did he do?"
"Nothing!" Laura screeched.
The group looked amongst themselves in confusion.
"Well, if he did nothing," Rimmer said, "Then…what did he…I mean…"
"He did nothing!" Laura continued to rant, "And yet he gets everything! It's so unfair!"
"Laura, forget about it," Liz said, putting an arm around her, "It's your birthday! Enjoy it!"
Laura sighed, "OK…he got surround sound, y'know!"
"Shut up!" everyone shouted at once.
"OK, OK!"
Laura beckoned to Gemma and she led her over to a corner whilst the others dispersed around the room.
"What's up?" Gemma said, "And if you're gonna bitch about your brother some more…"
"No, I'm not, I'm not," Laura interrupted in an urgent whisper, "I just thought I should tell you…I was followed here."
"What? A stalker?"
"No. A TV broadcaster."
Gemma groaned, "Not about-"
"Yes, about…that."
Gemma sighed and pounded her fist against the wall, "Why won't they leave us alone?"
Laura smiled comfortingly and put a hand on her friend's shoulder, "It'll all blow over."
"When?"
Laura couldn't answer that. Frankly, no one could. She and Gemma and Rimmer and Nicole…they all knew that it was a case of 'wait-and-see'. It might even be something as awful as another horrible accident happening that would detract attention from them. But that was the way the media worked. Gemma hated it.

"Laura?" Robyn called, "Presents?"
"Ooh, yeah!" Laura replied eagerly and pelted over to them. Gemma followed her a second later after taking a deep breath.
"Who's this one from?" Laura asked, immediately grabbing the biggest present.
"Us," said Liz and Bex simultaneously. Laura grinned at them and began tearing off the paper. Gemma smiled whenever Laura looked at her, but went back to staring at the ground and biting her nails whenever she looked away. She could see Rimmer kept glancing at her, but she knew it was futile to hide any of her feelings from him; he'd eke them out of her somehow. She kept thinking about Faiyre…about her mum…about Rimmer…about herself…they would never have normal lives again. And being friends with Laura, Liz, Bex and Robyn was just dragging them into the 'depressive circle', as she called it. She knew she should be grateful that she had such a number of people to rally around her and protect her, but a part of her felt utterly guilty. It was Gemma who had run away. It was Gemma who had persuaded Faiyre to go with her. It was Gemma who wasn't moving on.
"Gem?" Rimmer said, putting a hand on her shoulder. She looked up to see she and Rimmer was alone in the room; she'd become so involved in her own thoughts that she hadn't noticed everyone else go to dinner.
Gemma mumbled a reply back at her future stepfather, "I'm OK, really."
"No, Gemma, you're not," Rimmer said softly, "I may not exactly be overly experienced with sympathy, but I want to talk about this."
"Well I don't!" Gemma said, almost snapping. Rimmer let his hand fall off Gemma's shoulder.
"Well," he said dejectedly, "If…if you ever do need to talk…"
"I'll talk when I'm ready," Gemma said angrily, "I don't know why everyone is forcing me to get over my sister's death so quickly!"
"Gemma…"
"And what's worse, everyone else is over her death! Why am I being left behind?"
Rimmer sighed, "You're not, Gem. You're really not."
Gemma snorted and slumped onto the couch, crossing her arms defiantly. Rimmer sat next to her and wrapped his arm around her, "You're not alone."
"I know I'm not alone. I've got all you guys. And I'm grateful, honestly. I just…I just want to be over this. Once and for all."
"We all do."
"You all are! That's what I'm saying!"
Rimmer took a deep breath and decided to tell her. He'd been wanting to for so long. He knew it would be hard to recount, but it would be worth it if it benefited Gemma, "I had a sister who died."
Gemma looked up at him, "What?"
"I…I had a sister. She died. It was horrible," he remembered.
"I thought you only had brothers."
"I don't talk about Patience much. But she was a good sister. She was lovely to me. Don't remember all that much, of course; she died when I was still very little."
Gemma could see tears glistening in his eyes, "I had no idea…"
"Like I said, I don't talk about her much. The general memories I have of siblings aren't very pleasant."
There was a long pause as Rimmer stared into his lap, his eyes glossy. Gemma could tell she wasn't going to get anything else out of him that evening se she slipped her hand into his.
"Shall we go to dinner? We don't want to miss the look on Laura's face when she finds out who's there!"
Rimmer smiled, "Me neither."
They got up and walked hand-in-hand out of the door.

"Greg!"
Laura was jumping about screaming this name when Rimmer and Gemma arrived at the restaurant, a slightly perplexed looking boy standing in front of her with a card in his hand.
"Surprised?" Gemma said from behind her.
"How could you do this?" Laura screeched turning to face her; Gemma saw for the first time that Laura's screams weren't happy ones as her face was red and tearstained, "You knew I never wanted to see him again!"
"I…I thought…" Gemma stuttered.
"Well, don't!" Laura yelled, and ran from the room in floods of tears, Robyn following close behind her.
All eyes turned to Nicole.
"Well," she said defensively, "Youall thought it was a good idea, too!"

A/n: Confused at that last bit? Don't blame ya! It'll all become clear next time. And no, Laura, I'm not telling you!