A/N This is my SFB for this year, I've been working on it on and off since last november. This is some lovely art to go along with it, done by ValiantBarnes on Dreamwidth if you are interested :) sorry I can't give you a hyperlink on this site. You can also hear the playlist I made for this story on spotify under the name 'Come Elle or Highwater'

Warnings - Canon compliant death of an infant mentioned. Canon compliant underage drinking and sex mentioned. Canon compliant character death (Cameron) non-canon compliant character death (it's a surprise). Carmella and Elle have a not insignificant age difference. Elle is 19. Carmella is around 24. Medical malpractice resulting in character death is mentioned. Leo's gang past is alluded too but not examined in any detail. Kind of a lot going on in this fic.

I will preface this with the note that it's not the most in character piece of Neighbours fanfiction ever written. Even if it was, Elle is based on her 2005 character, and Carm her late 2007/pre Marco Death version. I'm just having some fun with these characters and being lesbain about them. Honestly if I were to ever revist this pairing I'd go back to their friends/enemies/enemies who run a business together/frenemies dynamic. So you don't have to tell me. I already know. That's not the point of this story :)

Anyway. Enjoy :) I worked lovingly on this story and it's really a passion project of mine. Leave a review if you enjoyed it (or didnt) I'd love to hear your thoughts 3


If you'd asked Elle Robinson at age fifteen if she thought Robert would ever have a more active life than she did then there is no way that popular, blonde, cheerleader Elle Robinson would have believed you.

But, as it was, unbelievably, RobSquared the Cat Skinner lived a rather full life. He was attending university, studying chemistry. He had a daughter he was raising. He shared her job at Leo's tea place, while Elle found her own life particularly empty by comparison.

When Leo opened his business, it had been his and Dad's belief that they would be rolling in the dough. The trends, and the teens on the TikToks had made them think that they were making a smart business choice. Except for the fact that the market was officially oversaturated, and their business was floundering. That left her with plenty of free time to stare out the window, count the minutes until her next break or experiment with drink flavours. Oh, and fighting with Robert. Don't forget that.

In spite of the employee policy, she slipped her phone from under the counter into the flat palm of her hand. The screen did not send her any new text messages, notifications or even social media updates. Even her stupid freemium game of choice wasn't reminding her of full lives. Jesus. What happened to your friends? She wondered, using her thumb to open it and check her messages.

Nothing from a friend for seven months, her most recent message from someone whose last name was not Robinson, Tanaka or Williams was from Sky Mangel. Sent when she and Dylan moved away.

'Hi Elle 3 I know it's been a while but if you want to talk we're always here. Message me soon :-)'

She hadn't replied. In fact, she distinctly remembers being annoyed at the message at the time. She didn't want anyone to message her. She didn't want people to talk to her. She just wanted to be left alone. And she still does. If, say, Glenn messaged her out of the blue (unlikely, what with the way Elle totally ghosted her) she probably wouldn't even go out anyway. Just, find a reason to stay home. Where she's lonely, but at least it's a lonely she can control. She doesn't have the energy for friendship these days. Doesn't have the energy to do much other than mope around and play with Harlow. Maybe that's why Rob keeps her around. Free babysitting.

"Shut up."

"I didn't say anything."

"You were about to." Rolling her eyes, she put her phone away and spun to face her triplet brother who was dressed just like her, in the silly apron with embroidered bees and the store name on the front. He wore the same visor, but while Elle used hers more like a headband, he wore his down on his forehead. Rob would be a handsome boy - provided he ever learned how to smile. He sported a pair of highly set brown eyes with an outer corner slightly higher than the inner one. His eyebrows, like hers and Dad's, were low set and angled downwards and sandy brown like his hair - which was currently cut into a fairly non-distinct boy cut, with a fringe that hung over his eyebrows when it wasn't swiped to the side. While Elle was quite proud of her oval-shaped lips, Rob's had a slight bow on the top. But they were small, and pink just like hers. Maybe that's the important part. They are just like hers. Same sharp, square chin. Same high cheekbones. Same spotting of moles, though his were way more interesting, sitting atop his cheekbone, and then again above the rightmost peak of his lips. Like an old fashioned movie star. Or Madonna.

"Whatever." She looked back at the tubs of popping sugar bubble things that went into the drinks and used the scooper (a small mesh strainer on a long handle) to tip a large scoop of strawberry into the clear plastic container. It was just about time for the highlight of Elle's entire day, the arrival of Celestial Fruits and their delivery lady, Carmella. Leo used the service to provide fresh berries, and citruses to be used for garnishing and on the 'fruity' tea options. Elle could care less about the fruit, but Carmella…She was cool. Secretly, she's always wanted to hang out with her. She wore a Taylor Swift concert tee-shirt from Elle's favourite album. She complimented Elle on the music in the store and her tea-making skills. She even seemed to like Rob, as much as such a thing was possible. But she couldn't work up the urge to tell her that. So, she settled for making her tea with extra bubbles and giving them to her for free when she came in. It's the least creepy way to show fondness she can think of.

Just like usual, the back door of the building receives three loud knocks. Pushing past Rob, Elle swung the door open to reveal Carmella Camenetti. A perpetually cheerful Italian woman who is probably about twenty-five is waiting on the other side. Carmella was tall, slim and bubbly with matching brown eyes and hair, which she wore long and layered. As usual, it was clipped back from her face, leaving only a few wispy bits hanging out. Her top lip was slightly thinner than the bottom, and above the rightmost peak of her lips was a small, brown mole. On the opposite side of her face was a large pink and red scar. Today, her shirt was a fashionable looking gingham printed halter neck, and she was holding the wooden crate of fruit on her right hip.

"Good afternoon!" She said, "Delivery of fruit?"

"Always is." She replied, and took them from Carmella and passed them to Rob who scowled at being fobbed off and took them to the under the counter fridge to be kept until tomorrow morning.

"Sign here." Signing her name in pink gel, Elle smiled, taking pride in her penmanships. Using pink ink made her name stand out, she hoped it would make Carmella notice her.

"Oh, I have something for you, to take with you." She returned to the serving area and grabbed the drink she'd made for her. "Here."

"Oh? What am I trying today?"

"It's peach tea, strawberry bubbles and coffee jelly. For a kick."

"Well, I do need a kick." She said and took a sip. "Everyone does at this time of the afternoon."

"Hah, yeah. Looking forward to my break so I can get a coffee." She smiled and pointed at the crates from yesterday. "Rob, put those in Carmella's ute." With a longsuffering, withering look, Rob did as told with Carmella a step behind him. And just like that, the conversation was over. And so was the most interesting part of Elle's day.

By the time Rob pulled the Red Jag into the driveway, it was evening, and he was parking Auntie Julie in. The Robinson Family, or what was left of it, lived at number 22 Ramsey St and had done so for many years. When Elle was a little girl, she (and her triplets), Dad, and Amy used to live at Lassiter's. The top penthouse had been nice, but when their family grew by another four members – Andrew, Christina and the twins – he had decided that they should have a family home. Or possibly that Cameron was eating the hotel out of bacon and eggs. Whichever. And so, they had moved across the street from Gran and Grandad (not married - Grandad was Dad's dad and Gran was Dad's grandma), into the house where Christina and Caroline had previously lived before Chistina had moved into the Penthouse.

The five-bedroom home had suited them nicely. Dad and Chistina…And Dad and Izzy…And Dad and Lyn…And now just Dad slept in the room at the end of the hallway. Directly to his left was Andrew's room, across from that was her and her brothers, then in the final two opposing rooms was Leo and David and then Amy, on her own with an ensuite all to herself. Of course, it wasn't like that anymore. Amy had gotten married, and had her baby, Jimmy. Now her bedroom was the one that Robert and Harlow slept in. If he cares about sharing a room with his baby he hasn't said anything. Since David was away at Uni, Leo had his own bedroom, something that he seemed quite happy about. Cam's bed is empty and cold. Since her divorce, Auntie Julie has been sleeping on their pull out couch. Elle doesn't mind having her around particularly, even if she is much more strict with them than Dad had ever been. With seven children, an ongoing custody battle with Christina, cleaning up Leo's messes when he got in with the wrong crowd, driving Rob too and from hospital appointments, hating Amy's boyfriend and cooking dinner there wasn't much time for discipline.

They made it into the house, and Harlow, Rob's four-year-old daughter, came tearing around a corner, apparently jumping out of Dad's lap and threw her arms about his knees.

"Hi sweetheart!" He cooed, picking her up in his arms and kissing her on the face. Harlow squealed happily and embraced him.

"Daddy!" She said, "I drew a house."

"Did you? Can you show me?" For all Elle's complaints about Rob's brothering, his fathering was actually not half bad. She watched as Rob sauntered off, baby on his hip listening to her babble about her day, the picture books she read and the drawings she did for him. It's cute. Auntie Julie and Dad are seated on the couch just to the left of the entryway, discussing something or other. Possibly business - Julie got the newspaper shop in the divorce, and she has no idea how to do the finances seeing that she never got her high school diploma. On the table is a selection of folders, possibly more business stuff.

"Dad, Auntie Julie." She greeted, passing through. Paul Robinson, her father, was a handsome man in his late forties with dark brown hair and a snakish grin. His jaw was square, his eyes were vibrant green and he sported a pair of dark, downwardly angled, imposing eyebrows. Having raised seven children, well, six and one still growing, had hardly made a dent in his charm. He dressed every day like he had a business meeting to attend in an ironed shirt and pants, even on weekends. Elle can count on one hand the number of times she'd seen him genuinely casual. This was because his left leg was a prosthetic and he didn't like to show it off. With his long suit pants, he could just be any man with a limp and sometimes when the pain got bad, a cane. He was a very normal looking dad. You wouldn't know he burned through women like clean socks just from his appearance alone.

"Darling," Dad greeted and smiled at her. He looks tired.

"Elle" Auntie Julie was Dad's oldest sister, in her mid-forties with long brown hair usually worn down on her shoulders. Her face was sharply angled, her prominent cheekbones go very red when she blushes or is mad. Her nose, just like Elle's own, was small and upturned at the end. When she smiled, she smiled with her whole face. She didn't smile much. Her lips were thin, and only thinned further when she frowned. She frowned a lot. She had two children of her own, daughters, both of which lived with their father while she got back on her feet. She had been getting back on her feet since Cam died - Elle is beginning to think that is a lie and she has simply moved in to help Dad manage his gaggle of children. Indeed, it seems sometimes that Dad is the only person who actually likes Auntie Julie now that Gran has passed on. Prone to bouts of neuroticism, cruelty and generalized selfishness she has inadvertently isolated herself from forming any strong bonds beyond that which is shared with her siblings and children. Dad manages her well, he seems to have a strange amount of patience with her, as if he can tell that one wrong word will send her over the edge, and straight into the asylum that Michael, her stepson and Elle's step cousin, said she would be better off in. She'd kind of like the strict parent to Dad's fun parent. She is the only person in the world to call Elle by her full name. She makes good muffins for Elle to pack in her lunch box, so it's difficult to stay upset with her for long.

"What're we doing for tea?"

"Stir fry A La Leo." Dad replied, "How was your day, Darling?"

"Hmm. Boring. You?"

"Oh, the usual."

"Fighting with Terese and planning world domination?"

"Exactly." Terese was Dad's current girlfriend. Elle dislikes her simply for not being Christina. "Listen, Darling, there's something I want to discuss with you. So, have a seat."

"Am I being broken up with?" She wondered, dropping down on the red couch opposite Dad and Auntie Julie.

"Nothing like that." Dad assured her, "But your aunt and I have been talking and…It's time that we start dealing with Cam's things."

"Wh-What?" The bottom fell out of Elle's world. Cam's third of their bedroom had been just like it was when he was here for the last three years. Why did it need to change now? It was bad enough Cam was dead now they wanted to take his stuff?

"Not all of it. You can keep some items." Julie said, "But we need to start clearing it out, getting rid of his bed, and the linens."

"Why do we need to do that?" She asked, accusingly.

"Because we need to start moving on." Dad sighed, "Look, we're not going to do it now but before the end of the year…It needs to happen. Have a think about what you might like to keep." All of it? She wanted to keep all of it. She knew Cam was never coming back to sleep in that bed but that didn't mean that it should be moved. Glancing around, she looked up at Cam's ashes inside his urn on the black cubby shelf behind her. The urn was actually a biscuit tin that David had picked out, it was shaped like an apartment building, painted in purple pastels with blue windows. It's tacky. Cam would have loved it.

"His candle has gone out." She says, finally.

"Light it again, Darling. Maybe we should find a new place for him. I think the air conditioner is blowing right on him."

"He would like the air conditioner." She replied, grabbing the lighter from the cubby underneath - the wall is filled with them like pigeon holes - and re-lit the candle. It burns brightly, but not as bright as Cam had.

….

Elle didn't have to work the following day. Work was only part time. It left her with a lot of time to be alone with her thoughts. Rob spent the day working at the kitchen table, tapping away on his laptop and making the odd phonecall to someone named Katya. She thought little of it, assuming they had some kind of group project. She spent her time caring for Harlow, ensuring she had lunch and then taking her out to the sandpit in the backyard to play for a while until they got cold and wet.

It was an uneventful day. Aunty Julie tried to convince her to submit some of her short stories to a contest she saw in the paper at her newspaper store. Dad tried to convince her to look at universities. She ignored both of them. As payback, she burrowed Dad's phone while he was helping Andrew with his homework and cancelled a date with Terese. It's not that she didn't want her father to be happy, she did, but she wanted him to be happy with Christina.

So, when she got back to work on Wednesday, she was happy to be there. Well, she was happy to be out of the house at least. It's not like Dad and Aunty Julie are wrong. She should be planning for her future but the thing is without Cameron there is no future. Just a long stretch of nothing. Well. Nothing and looking forward to her visit from Carmella. Carefully, she prepared that days drink, while Rob remained on the phone in the back room. He's not helping, but it's not busy so Elle could care less. Scoop of pink, scoop of white, then finished it off with strawberry soda. She took one of the cut strawberries from last night's delivery and placed it in the drink. Perfect.

After serving the lunch rush, Elle was grateful to watch the clock tick over to the afternoon and hear the knock at the backdoor to indicate that Carmella was here. She opened the door, and had a crate thrust into her arms firmly. Confusedly, she took it into her arms and looked at Carmella whose eyes were practically glowing at her.

"Carmella?" She asked, as she set the box on the ground before it gave her splinters. She didn't want to carry it - She'd get Rob or Leo to do it later.

"What's your problem?"

"Huh?"

"Is it pity? About my face?"

"I don't know what you're talking about." Elle exclaimed, because yes she treated Carmella differently than the other customers but it wasn't out of pity. She thought Carmella was cool, and interesting.

"The drinks, Elle!"

"What about them? I made one for you today."

"Urgh! I ordered one from your brother, yesterday and when it arrived it only had half the amount of bubbles the ones you make me did. Do you feel sorry for me, because of my face? Is that it?"

"No!" She exclaimed, "I, um, I tried to make you better drinks because I thought your Taylor Swift shirt was cool and I wanted to know if, um, you'd want to hang out some time!" GOD. Could she possibly sound even slightly more pathetic than that? I'll take no for two hundred, Alex. What kind of person confesses to thinking a hot girl was cool on account of her swiftie shirt? Carmella could be anyone, she's a business partner of Leo's. She's messed everything up, the whole damn thing. It hits her heart like a dagger made from ice.

"What?"

"But every time I tried, I just…Chickened out. But I still thought you were cool. So I...I made you cool drinks." Carmella blinked twice, and then went adorably red. She broke Elle's eye contact and looked away back at the ground.

"Oh."

"Can you two keep it down? I'm on the phone."

"Whatever," Elle replied, rolling her eyes. Rob scoffed and ducked away without even offering to take the box of fruits.

"Do you still want to?"

"Want to do what?"

"Hang out sometime." Carmella looks away still, her face sweetly drawn.

"Oh, yeah. Sure." Knowing she sounds like a stunned mullet, Elle can't help herself."Um, I can give you my number and we can work something out?"

"What are you doing tonight?"

"Looking after my niece, sorry."

"She could come with us." Carmella offered, "We can go see a kid-friendly movie?"

"You'd really like to hang out with me that bad you'd take my four-year-old niece?" Carmella laughs at her suspicion.

"Yeah. You've always been cool and I shouldn't have thought the worst. I can pay, for snacks and tickets." She considered it. For the longest time, hanging out with Carmella is all she's wanted and now it's here and she's hesitating. Why is she hesitating?

"Hey Rob?" She called

"Yeah?" He called back -

"Can I take Harlow to the movies with Carmella tonight?"

"Sure, but she's not allowed to see anything more than G-rated. I'll skin you alive if you give her nightmares." Carmella frowned at Rob's threat but Elle is used to him and his morbidity by now.

"Thanks!" She called back. "Yeah. We can go."

"Meet me at the Erinsborough Plaza theatre at six-thirty. Be there, or be square!"

"Or square," Elle repeated, as Carmella grabbed the empty crate and hurried away, waving as she did so.

"I have to make my next delivery!" She called, "See you tonight!"

"What do you think?"

"I think you're going to the movies, not a black-tie event." Leo said, from where he was lounging on Cameron's bed. Looking at herself in the mirror she saw what she had seen for the last three years. A short teenager with dishwater bronde hair, downwards tilting eyebrows that were a little too thin to be fashionable and oval lips. She was white, and her eyes were green. Nothing to write home about. She'd picked out a dress to wear to the movies with Carmella. A floor length green scoop neck with cap sleeves and white lace. Last time she'd worn it had been Dad and Christina's vowel renewal.

"What do you think Rob?"

"Three years ago, Pisces were having a bad week." He replies, and flipped the page on an old copy of Take 5 that used to belong to Elle. The benefits of having an aunt who ran a newspaper shop was that it was easy to get your hands on whatever magazine your heart desired.

"The dress. What do you think?" Rob finally looked up, gave her a once over than said -

"Green is not your colour."

"He's right." Leo said, "And you know I loathe to agree with Robert on anything." Elle's eldest brother, Leo was a twin to David not that you would know just by looking at them. For starters, Leo was tall. Maybe the tallest person Elle knew, with a sort of bob length brown black hair and matching brown eyes that never seemed to know if they were warm, or cold. He was half japanese, if such a thing mattered. And to Elle, it did not, until it came to him making her bento boxes for lunch on her birthday at school. Then it made him immensely cool, maybe the coolest big brother she knew. Like most Robinsons, Leo had a sharp jaw, to match his sharp intellect and a wide smile that was charming in a snake-like way. Dad's second in command, Leo was Elle's go-to when she needed to talk, or wanted advice.

When Elle was ten years old, she was gifted with two new brothers. At the time, they'd been living at the Penthouse at Lassiters. They'd moved there after Grandad died, and Dad was too overwhelmed to live on the street where his own father had his final heart attack. Back then, it was just Dad, Chrissy and the four children. Nene was stable back then, so Amy lived with her and came to see them for the holidays. Over the years, as Nene got less stable she started spending more time with them and then being with her mother for the holidays. For the record, she'd loved it. Everyday was an adventure when your home has more rooms than a castle. A favourite game of herself, Rob and Cam was to follow the housekeeping staff around and try to steal the chocolates that they left on the pillows for guests. Even if they were caught, the terrible triplets as they were called, were given them anyway. It was, in its own way, an idyllic childhood. One that let Elle get close to her brothers in a way she otherwise wouldn't have. It's not like there were other kids hanging around the hotel as much as they were - Lassiters is a high class business hotel, not really a family place. Back then, Elle really believed that they were safe inside the high rise building that they made their home. Before Dad slept with Aunty Caroline and blew up his marriage. Before Rob got sick. before Leo was in trouble. Before Chrissy and Dad's custody battle for Andrew. Before Aunty Julie came to live with them, when her marriage broke down. Before the noise. Before the mess. When Cam was here.

But then, out of the blue, Dad started taking long phone calls in his office. Then, they moved to 22 Ramsey Street, and there was a bedroom with no one in it. Amy, then fifteen, had her own room and Andrew had a room to himself that may have once been a walk-in closet. The triplets had been squeezed into their own room. Then, two new brothers took up in the empty room. And Elle was astounded. Not with David - who was boring as a brick wall and never had time to indulge his younger siblings he was too busy studying and being boring - but with Leo. Because there was no one like Leo. No one looked like him, Elle met all sorts at the hotel but on the street it was mostly just white people. No one had a haircut like him, all the boys she knew had short hair they barely remembered to brush let alone style. No one spoke like him, and his slightly New Zealand-ish accent. He was…Different and she had been completely infatuated ever since. Turns out that the reason he had to move in with them was because he was in trouble with both the law and his stepfather and his mother wanted him away from the house. Leo doesn't speak of her much. But then again, Elle doesn't talk about her mother much either. It wasn't like they didn't have any mothers around anyway. Chrissy, then Lyn even Izzy had all been happy to take on the mother role for them. Of course, then he got into trouble here, too. Making money in a way that was not…Exactly Kosher. It took until Dad got him out of legal hot water for Leo to understand that this wasn't temporary. He wasn't going to be expelled from their home, he wasn't going to be tossed aside no matter how much trouble he caused.

"Hm." She slid open the mirrored door of the built in cupboard to look for another dress. The room was large and rectangular - It had a bed pressed against the back wall and then again on either side of the room, with Cam at the back, her at the left and Rob on the right. Elle's fishtank sat next to the bed, it was a large, blue rectangle with three goldfish (Mississippi, Miami and Malibu) swimming in circles. There was no desk, they'd always done their homework downstairs at the kitchen table. Pushing aside other dresses and outfits, she produced an old favourite. Bright yellow with a pink flower pattern on it. "What about this one?"

"Hmm it's a little…" Rob began

"Cheugy?" Offered Leo. He'd just learned the meaning of the word and now was trying to fit it in every conversation that he could.

"Don't say that." She muttered, "You're nowhere near cool enough to say that. Or young enough, for that matter."

"Fine. Pick your own outfit then."

"What? And ask Dad to tell me if it's good? He's only worn business suits at least since I was born!" Putting the yellow dress back, she sifted through more before pulling out a pair of brown slacks, white tank top and brown-green cardigan. "This?"

"Might be on to a winner there." Leo said, as Ell shucked the dress off over her head and slid into the new clothes, first the shirt, then pants, and then pulling the cardigan over the top. She grabbed the green dress off the floor and put it on a metal hanger. "It's been a while since I've seen you excited to go out." He said, "This girl must be special…Are you going to bring her some flowers?"

"Shut up. It's not a date. It's just people. Hanging out. Like friends do. If you had some, you might know that."

"Haha. You might want to think about getting some shoes on, time's a-wastin'"

"Oh, right! I wanted to get Harlow into a nice dress!" She said, stuffing her feet into a pair of slip ons as she hurried from her room into Harlow's.