Scotty

Requested by 'Tdog' and set in episode 6644: this is what we didn't see from Scotty's brief return in mid 2013.

Georgia stared in shock at the tall man practically towering over her. It felt like a lifetime since she had last seen her boyfriend of seven years, even though it had only been about three months since she had learnt the truth about his sexual orientation and fled from the house.

Eventually she managed to utter, "What are you doing here?"

Scotty glanced to the floor sheepishly, "I think I owe you an apology and an explanation" he murmured

Kyle scoffed, "You think?!"

Georgia glared at him, "Kyle, could you give us a moment?"

"I hope it takes longer than 'a moment'" Kyle muttered

"Please!" Georgia snapped

Kyle shrugged before reluctantly trudging out of the room, leaving the former couple standing in the living room, avoiding each other's gazes. After a long – and extremely awkward – silence, Scotty took a deep breath.

"First of all, I am so sorry about everything, Goldie" he began, and Georgia almost trembled at his use of the nickname, "I never meant to hurt you, you know that, right?"

Georgia nodded solemnly, "I know, but you lied to me about your sexuality for seven years so how can you expect me to be anything but hurt?"

"I can't" Scotty responded quietly, then considered this, "but it wasn't seven years of lies, I only realised my real feelings a few years ago"

Georgia scoffed, "Oh yeah, because that makes it so much better"

"Sorry" Scotty apologised hastily, realising how careless that sounded, "But I did love you, I still do"

"Just not in the way that everyone thought you did" Georgia murmured

Scotty nodded, "I know, and I wish I could have loved you the way you deserved, the way you loved me"

Scotty noticed Georgia shifting uncomfortably and questioned her about it. After hesitating for a moment, Georgia admitted, "Look, I do still care about you, but things haven't really been the same since I moved to Erinsborough"

Scotty looked puzzled, "I know long-distance wasn't ideal, but when I arrived around Christmas, you were acting as though no time had passed at all"

Georgia shrugged, "Because it was nearly Christmas and I was excited to see you"

Scotty nodded, "Yeah, me too"

Georgia sighed, "I just feel like even if your sexual orientation wasn't the issue then our relationship would still have been in trouble because of the distance between us"

"But you were ready to marry me" Scotty pointed out in confusion

"I thought I was" Georgia replied sombrely, "I mean, you pointed out that life's too short and I guess I just got lost in the moment"

"So you weren't actually happy with me anyway?" Scotty questioned, "Why didn't you say anything? We've always been honest with each other"

Georgia couldn't help snorting at his comment, "That's rich coming from you"

Scotty nodded slowly at his hypocrisy, "Yeah, sorry" he breathed, "You know, we could have saved a lot of time and problems if we'd just talked more honestly after I arrived. You could have told me how you wanted to be with Kyle instead of me, and I could-"

"Wait, Kyle?" Georgia interrupted, "Why do you think I wanted to be with him back then?"

"Because you two got together pretty quickly after I left" Scotty pointed out, "And looking back, it was obvious that you were into each other. I guess that's why I wanted to work at Dial-A-Kyle"

"To keep an eye on him?" she clarified

Scotty nodded, "I know it was stupid, but I was scared of losing you to him because I thought that if I lost you, I'd have no-one"

Georgia studied Scotty sympathetically, "I shouldn't have strung either of you along" she whispered

Scotty shook his head, "Hey, I've done the same thing" he reminded her, "But now you guys can be together properly"

xxx

After finishing their tea, Georgia suddenly broke the comfortable silence, "So, now that you've deal with coming out, what's next for Scotty Boland?"

Scotty shrugged, "No idea, I guess I'll just take each day as it comes"

Georgia smiled slightly, "Well I meant romantically" she corrected, "Because Chris is still single so if you grovel enough he-"

Scotty shook his head, "No, he's made it perfectly clear that he's not interested"

"Because you were in the closet and in a relationship with me, which you're not anymore" Georgia reminded him, "You don't know for sure that he wasn't interested"

"I'm not even sure if I was" Scotty murmured thoughtfully

Georgia was about to question him about his comment when Scotty stood up, "Look, I should be heading off"

"Really?" Georgia asked, glancing at her watch, "it's still early"

Scotty nodded, "Yeah, there's some stuff I need to sort out"

Georgia slowly stood up and faced her ex-boyfriend, "Well thanks for coming back, this has really helped"

"Yeah, it has" Scotty agreed before pulling her into a long hug.

xxx

Chris was almost as surprised to see Scotty as Georgia had been. Scotty stood awkwardly in the doorway and there was an uncomfortable pause.

"Can I come in?" Scotty asked

Chris swallowed, "Why? What's going on?"

"I needed to talk to you before I went back home" Scotty replied

Chris narrowed his eyes at him, "I didn't even realise you were back in Erinsborough"

Scotty nodded, "Kyle thought there was unresolved stuff between Georgia and I, so I came back to talk things through with her" he explained, "Now I think there's unresolved stuff between us"

"That's for sure" Chris scoffed, then grudgingly stepped aside, "Come in, do you want a drink or something?"

Scotty shook his head as he entered, "No thanks, I just need to clear the air"

Chris nodded as he followed him down the stairs, "Ok then, start talking" he commanded as he folded his arms

Scotty took a deep breath, "Look, I want to apologise for everything I did to you" he began, "I'm sorry for cracking onto you in the first place and assuming you'd be interested when you weren't. I'm sorry for making you think you'd imagined what I had been doing and lying to Georgia about it; I can only imagine how embarrassing and uncomfortable that must have been for you. And I'm sorry for lashing out when I thought that you'd tell Georgia my secret, I was just scared that everything would fall apart, but I know that doesn't justify violence"

Chris shook his head, "Nothing does" he agreed, "But I do understand the confusion and fear that you felt, so I accept your apology"

Scotty smiled gratefully, "Thanks"

There was a lingering pause and Scotty was about to leave when Chris suddenly spoke up, "Actually, I have a question and it might sound a bit weird, but why me?" he asked, "I mean, there are way more attractive guys around here than me. Or did you think that because I'm gay and single that I'd be an easy target or something?"

"Kind of" Scotty replied sheepishly, "But I guess it was mainly because I admired you"

Chris was baffled, "What do you mean?"

Scotty hesitated before admitting, "When I first arrived and found out that you and Aidan were a couple, I was jealous of how easy and matter-of-fact it was for you to be yourselves. I'd convinced myself that it wouldn't be like that in Birreguarra, that I'd be shamed or ostracised or something"

"But you weren't, were you?" Chris clarified

"Well not everyone was doing cartwheels about it" Scotty joked, "But it definitely wasn't as bad as I'd imagined"

"I'm glad" Chris replied honestly, "And it's great that you can finally be yourself now"

"Yeah, it is" Scotty agreed, "But after you and Aidan broke up I was kind of relieved because I thought I'd have more of a chance to test the waters"

"So you trying it on with me was kind of like a test of your sexuality?" Chris realised

Scotty nodded shamefully, "It was ridiculous and completely out of order. I hate what I've done, I've hurt so many people and I wish I hadn't"

"That doesn't matter anymore" Chris assured him, "I think we all just need to move on"

Scotty nodded, "Yeah, we do" he agreed, then held Chris' gaze momentarily, "Look, thanks for letting me talk to you. Most people in your shoes would have just slammed the door in my face"

"I was tempted" Chris chuckled, "But I've been in your position before and it's tricky to go through it alone, so the least I could do was to give you a chance"

Scotty nodded, "Well thanks again" he responded, then glanced at the door, "Anyway, I should be heading off"

Chris nodded slowly and Scotty ascended the stairs to the door. Suddenly, he turned around to face Chris, "You know what you said before about there being more attractive people around here than you?" be began, "You shouldn't sell yourself so short. I mean, you're not that bad"

"Oh, stop it. You're making me blush" Chris deadpanned

Scotty sniggered, "I guess I should probably work on my pick-up lines. That and 'are you warm enough?' probably won't be very successful if I went out on the pull"

Chris pulled a face, "Yeah, it's probably for the best to come up with some new ones"

Scotty nodded, "I'll think of some on the way back"

Chris smiled slightly "Well have a good trip, drive safe"

"I will, thanks" Scotty replied, "I'd say 'see you around' but I really doubt that I will"

Chris shrugged, "Well wherever you are, it shouldn't matter" he reminded him, "You should be able to live your life your own way and be with whoever you want to be with"

Scotty considered this, "Yeah, you're right. Thanks again mate"

Chris shook his head, "No problem, good luck out there"

Scotty smiled gratefully, then gave a brief wave before turning back around and heading out of the door. Chris let out a deep breath, relieved that the air had finally been cleared. He hadn't realised how much talking to Scotty would help the situation; after all, he had starting moving on from it himself, and his friendship with Georgia was gradually recovering. However, now that Scotty had returned to explain everything, it would hopefully help everyone to move on properly.

Thanks for reading, and thanks 'Tdog' for the prompt: you must be psychic or something because while watching the story involving Alistair, I was reminded of how unresolved the Scotty storyline was, so I'm glad you requested it! Actually, I had some issues with keeping up with the continuity of episode 6644 because what we saw was really vague, so it was difficult to write around it. Anyway, if anyone has any ideas for one-shots (they don't have to be about Chris now that he's gone and Aaron's arrived) then just let me know; and remember that reviews are always welcome!