At the next day, the Heeler brothers and Pat were ready to check out of the guesthouse, with their backpacks on their backs.

"Man, that last night was so wild!" Rad exclaimed. "I had so much fun!"

"Yeah, we noticed that" Stripe replied.

"You for sure had a lot of fun with that friend of Mel" Pat replied.

"What can I say?" Rad asked, with a smile. "I'm quite irresistible to the girls."

"But I bet there is someone here that may have had more fun than any of us… right, Bandit?" Pat asked, turning to his best friend.

"What do you mean with that?" Bandit asked.

"We noticed that you and Mel got out of our little party" Stripe said.

"Really? They did?" Rad asked, going then give a tap on his brother's shoulder. "That's my little brother! Finally you found yourself some friend to help you move on from Emily."

"Okay, you three must stop with any ideas you may be having in those little heads of yours" Bandit said. "Yes, Mel and I got out of the party for a little walk, but that's the only thing that happened: a walk between friends."

"Sure…" his brothers and best friend said, sarcastically.

Bandit rolled his eyes. Despite not liking whatever Rad, Stripe and Pat were thinking about whatever happened between him and Mel, he couldn't just break the promise he made to her, so just let them have that one. For his luck, Mel appeared, going to the reception.

"So, looks like it's a goodbye, hein?" she asked.

"Well, we'll still have a swim, before our ride to Lisbon" Rad said, while approaching. "If you want to stop by to grace us with your beauty…"

Mel laughed and replied:

"I would love to, Rad, but I have a lot of work to do here, so…"

"Too bad, well, at least we had the luck to meet someone like you" Rad replied.

"Thanks for the compliment" Mel told, turning her attention to the computer. "Okay, I already cleared you from the system, now I just need the keys of your rooms."

"There you go" Rad said, while he gave Mel the key of the room he shared with Stripe, while Bandit gave his.

"Thank you, and… your free to go" Mel replied, getting the keys.

"All right, okay, guys, let's go to the beach and have some last fun with the waves before taking the bus to Lisbon" Rad said.

"Ah, Bandit, before you go, can I speak with you?" Mel asked.

"Sure" he replied.

"Okay, little bro, we'll be waiting outside" Rad said. "Just don't take too long."

After Rad, Stripe and Pat went out, Bandit approached the balcony of the reception.

"I just want to say… thank you for last night" Mel said. "It really meant to me a lot."

"You also helped me" Bandit replied. "Thanks to you, I was able to start to move on. I just hope… we can be friends for life."

"We already are" Mel told. "Whatever you need, you can always call me."

"Great… because it's most likely I will need some of your advices along the way" Bandit told.

There was a pause and then Mel told:

"I… actually also wanted to tell you something. I talked with Golias… You were right. He got so happy when I told I was pregnant. And my family… well, it was a big shock for them, but… I think everything is going to be okay."

"I'm happy for you" Bandit told. "So… what is going to happen now?"

"Now… I will see where this is going" Mel told. "I will still finish this semester, but then I will make a transfer to the university of Sydney, that's where Golias live. His family will help us the baby come, so I can still finish my studies. We're going to be a family. In the meantime… we'll figure things up."

"I'm glad everything worked out for you" Bandit told.

"And I'm certain everything will work out with you too" Mel replied. "Remember, you just need to keep move on and have an open heart to a new love."

"I will for certain do that" Bandit said. "Obrigado… por tudo (Thank you… for everything)."

"De nada (You're welcome)" Mel replied. "E, Bandit… sê feliz (And, Bandit… be happy)."

"Tu também (You too)" Bandit said.

As he got out, he met up with his brothers and Pat, who were sharing a laugh.

"So… did you say goodbye to your girlfriend?" Rad asked.

"She's not my girlfriend" Bandit told. "She's just a good friend."

"Right… I'll pretend I believe that" Rad said.

"Come on, guys, let's stop this" Stripe said. "We still have some time before the bus, so let's enjoy every single second of it."

"Stripe is right" Pat said. "It's time to go for our last swim!"

And so the group started heading towards the beach.

Eleven years later

Bandit was with his family at the front yard. He was playing with his daughters, while Chilli observed them, sitting at the stairs of the porch, drinking a lemonade.

"We got you, you mean thief!" Bluey exclaimed, while she and Bingo were over their father, preventing him from moving. "It's time for you to go to jail."

"Yeah, and you're going to return everything you stole" Bingo added.

"Oh, mercy, officers!" Bandit exclaimed. "I just stole some apples, I was so hungry!"

"That is no excuse" Bluey replied. "You can't just steal apples."

Chilli couldn't help but chuckle. She always loved seeing her husband play with her daughters and how dedicated he was to their game. It was then that something caught her attention. It was a moving truck approaching.

"Hey, girls, look!" she said, while getting up and crossing the pathway to the house. "It looks like the new neighbors are coming."

"Yeah, new neighbors!" the two girls exclaimed, while getting out of Bandit and going to their mom.

It was then that the truck stopped by the house that used to belong to Doreen.

"Why did the truck stopped at Doreen's house?" Bingo asked.

"Well, honey, you remember that Doreen moved away, right?" Chilli asked. "She doesn't live at that house anymore."

"But why?" Bluey asked.

"She wanted to live closer to her family, now that she retired" Bandit replied, while getting closer to his family, rubbing his back. "They live a little far away."

"Oh, I liked Doreen…" Bingo said, sad.

"Yeah, me too…" Bluey added, also sad.

"Come on, girls, don't be like that" Chilli said. "Who knows, maybe the new owner has kids of their own. And you know what that means, right? More friends for you to play with."

"Yeah, new friends!" both Bingo and Bluey exclaimed, excited.

"Ah, I wished I could get this excited so easily" Bandit said to his wife.

At that moment, a car approached the house that was once Doreen's. After they park, a pair of dogs got out from it, one from the front, who was a female Portuguese cattle dog, and the other from the back, who was a ten-years-old Estrela mountain dog with a long bridle coat with shades of black. Seeing them, especially the female one, Bandit said:

"No way…"

"What's the matter, Bandit?" Chilli asked.

But Bandit just started heading towards the new arrivals. Chilli and the girls had confused faces, but they followed him.

"Mel?" Bandit asked, while approaching. "Is that you?"

The female dog turned around and, after noticing Bandit, she smiled and said:

"Bandit? Is that really you?"

"Yeah, it's me!" he exclaimed.

The two went for a hug and, after they finished it, Mel said:

"What a great surprise! I didn't know you lived here."

"And I didn't know you'd come to live here" Bandit replied.

They both shared a laugh, before Bandit saw his family approaching.

"Mel, allow me to introduce you to my family. This is my wife, Chilli, and my two daughters, Bluey and Bingo. Girls, this is an old friend of mine, Mel."

"Oh, so this is Mel…" Chilli said, while going to her and shake her hand. "Bandit, told me a lot about you."

"And he also told me a lot about you too" Mel said. "It's nice to finally meet you… and these little ones."

"You're a friend of our dad?" Bluey asked.

"Yes, I am" Mel said. "My name is Mel. I met your dad when he went on a vacation in my home country, Portugal."

"Oh, I like that name" Bingo said. "It's funny to say it."

Mel chuckled and said:

"You two are really your dad's daughters."

"And don't tell that young pup behind you is little Bento" Bandit said, looking to the pup behind Mel.

"Yes, he is" Mel said, turning then to her son. "Come on, Bento, go say hi to my friend Bandit and his family."

Bento approached Bandit and extended his hand, saying:

"It's nice to meet you, sir."

"It's nice to meet you too, Bento" Bandit replied, shaking his hand, turning then to Mel. "So… where's Golias?"

"Well, he has been deployed for some time" Mel told. "But he trusted me with the move and I know he's going to be happy to live here."

"Mommy, what does 'deployed' mean?" Bingo asked Chilli.

"It means my daddy is out working" Bento replied. "He works at the Navy and sometimes he goes away… to keep this country safe."

"I know that feeling well…" Bandit said. "You know, my father used to work at the Navy. I bet you miss him a lot, hein?"

"Yes… but I know he's going to be back" Bento said.

"That's the spirit, mate" Bento told, showing his knuckle that Bento hit with his.

"You know, we would love to have you and Bento at our house for an afternoon tea… or maybe a dinner" Chilli said. "Please, I insist. It will be like our welcome gift to you both."

"That would be lovely" Mel replied. "Just let me and Bento settle in and we for sure meet you for some tea and dinner."

"Great!" Chilli exclaimed. "We'll be expecting you."

Mel and Bento then moved away, to coordinate the move, while the Heelers returned to their yard.

"Mel seems really nice" Chilli said to her husband. "Now I understand how you two became friends."

"I know" Bandit replied.

"Dad, how come we never came to know Mel and Bento up until now?" Bluey asked.

"Come on, Bluey, you and your sister don't know all the friends your mother and I had during all lives" Bandit replied. "But I guess the reason why you never came to meet Mel and Bento is because they used to live in Sydney."

"But Mel said she is from Portu… Portu…" Bingo said, trying to pronounce Mel's home country.

"Portugal" Bandit said. "Well, that's where she used to live before coming to live with her husband here in Australia."

"And is she a good friend of yours?" Bluey asked.

Bandit noticed Mel talking to the movers, remembering all the help she had given to him, something that allowed him to open himself to love again and have the family he had. If he had to thank someone for his happiness, that would be her.

"The best" Bandid replied, with a smile.


Note: With this chapter, we get to a close Bandit's staying in Portugal. The next part of this story will happen in London… and we all know what happens in London. Besides that, I told Mel wouldn't become a forgotten character. I hope you keep watchful of the next chapters, because the best is still coming.