Bianca was having a hard time concentrating on the road. Instead of the cars all around, she kept seeing Janet's stricken face. How could she have been so thoughtless? Even after all this time, Ash was a delicate subject. The evening had started out so well, with the kids making dinner, everybody having fun together. And she and Janet were finally starting the conversation that she had wanted for so long. Until Ash's name came up. And Janet threw her out.

Bianca tightened her grip on the steering wheel. "She threw me out. Damn it, she threw me out!" The pity she had felt minutes ago was quickly turning to anger. "I cannot believe she threw me out! She shut me out, then threw me out. Well, that does it. I am through with Janet King. Done! I don't care if she is the most gorgeous woman I've ever seen. When she shuts me out like that, I won't put up with it."

The tirade continued until she reached her apartment. Stepping inside the small but comfortable space, she looked around in appreciation. "Thank goodness I didn't give up my lease and move in with her. Where would I have gone now?" She went into her bedroom, undressed, and took a long, hot, soothing shower. Then she crawled into bed. Whenever she came home after being away on assignment or on holiday, she enjoyed slipping into her own comfortable bed. She really liked her bed. But she liked Janet's bed better, especially when she was in it with Janet. Oh, well. That won't happen any more. Bianca stared at the ceiling a long time until finally falling asleep.

Janet was still awake. After showing Bianca to the door, she had pulled out all of her photo albums. Many of her pictures of Ash were gone forever, since Peta had deleted the file on her iPad, but the earliest ones were in the albums, pictures of the two of them in Berlin when they had first met, their first apartment together, the vacation in Tasmania, sunrise on Belongil Beach. Ash had been dead for more than five years, and all those sessions with the therapist had helped Janet get past the grief and be ready for a new relationship. Yet suddenly, the mention of Ash's name had undone all that progress, and maybe even undone her relationship with Bianca.

Janet picked up every picture, savored the memory, and wept. Ash was never coming back. Ash, who knew Janet's faults and loved her anyway, who put up with her obsessive work ethic, who just wanted to be with Janet and their two beautiful children, and was cheated of the life she deserved. Janet finally threw herself on the bed and curled into a ball of misery until she, too, fell asleep.

The next morning she awoke to find the pictures strewn all over the floor. She gathered them up and filed them back into the albums. Then she went downstairs and began to fix breakfast. She had hoped to spend the day with Bianca, maybe all four of them going to the beach. But when she rang, there was no answer, so she left a voicemail. "I was thinking we could all go to the beach. Give me a call." An hour later, the kids were clamoring to go. Janet tried again and was sent to voicemail again. "Hi, Bianca. It's Janet. We're headed to Neilsen Park. Can you meet us there? I really would like to see you today. I want to apologize for last night."

The twin's high spirits lifted her own, and the three spent the day laughing, playing, picnicking. The children were always so good about living in the moment, and Janet did likewise, putting aside thoughts of her past with Ash and a now-unlikely future with Bianca. It was only when they had returned home, and the kids were finally in bed, that she felt the loneliness press in on her. She tried Bianca again, but still no answer. This time she texted, "We missed you today."

As soon as she woke up, she checked her phone, but nothing from Bianca. Then it was time to get ready for work, get the the kids to school, get back into her normal routine. The NCC couldn't touch Darren Faulkes, unfortunately, but the original reference on gambling in sports had uncovered other nefarious enterprises. Too much work had gone into their investigations - they had to stop some sort of criminal activity, even if they couldn't put that slimy bastard Faulkes in jail.

After work, it was time to pick up the kids, fix dinner, bath and story time, the usual flurry of activity. It wasn't until she settled on the couch with a glass of wine that the emptiness kicked in again. No Bianca beside her. No Bianca to talk to, to laugh with, to cuddle. She reached for her phone and texted: "Wish you were here with me. The kids asked about you." By the time she went to bed, there had still been no response. So she sent another text: "No fun drinking alone. Can you come over tomorrow night?"

As soon as she woke up the next morning, Janet reached for her phone. Still no response from Bianca. Hmmmm. But she didn't have time to think about it for long. The usual morning rush was about to start. It wasn't until lunch that she had a chance to try again. This time she called, but there was no answer, so she left a voicemail. "Hi, Bianca. It's Janet. I'm sorry about the other night. Can we try again? Give me a call."

Bianca had felt her phone vibrate, but was in the middle of a meeting, so she didn't see the voicemail notification until an hour later. Seeing that it was from Janet, she deleted it without even listening, as she had the previous ones. The texts had shown up on her screen, but she had ignored them. She was through with Janet King.

When Janet still had not gotten a response from Bianca, even after the kids were safely in bed, she began to worry. The last thing Bianca had said to her was "We'll get through this," so why wasn't she answering her phone? Maybe she should go over to Bianca's and check that everything was okay. She had seemed upset when she left, but if something bad had happened, like an accident, surely Janet would have heard about it by now. The grapevine reaches a very long way. Maybe Tony could come to the rescue again.

Yes, good old Uncle Tony was happy to get up out of his comfortable chair and ride to the rescue once again. Janet told him she hoped not to be too long. There was a light in the window of Bianca's apartment, but no answer when Janet rang the doorbell, even after several attempts. Disappointed and slightly confused, Janet headed home. When the doorbell had been silent for ten minutes, Bianca emerged from her bedroom and sat on the sofa to finish her glass of wine.

Janet sent Tony home with a big smile of gratitude but no explanation of where she had been. Janet needed to work this out herself. What had gone wrong? Okay, maybe she had overreacted at the mention of Ash's name. She and Bianca hadn't really talked much about Ash, except for the one time when Clay Nelson had been hit by a bus, leaving his son Reed without a father. No father -hmm, she would have been better off if her father hadn't suddenly reappeared. That seemed to be when things starting going wrong between her and Bianca. Yes, her father had caused her so much pain over the years. Maybe she need to talk to somebody about that. Talking to her therapist had certainly helped her get through the pain of losing Ash. Should she call Adie? No, that might take weeks. She wanted help NOW. Tony had been wonderful during the conflict with her father, but he really didn't want to get involved in her love life, although he got along well with Bianca and thought the two were a very good match. But don't put him in the middle of a lovers' quarrel.

So who did that leave? Her mother certainly wouldn't listen. That man had been horrible to her, and the only thing she wanted to know about him what what time his funeral was. That left her sister Liz. Somehow, Liz had managed to escape the wounds that having a demanding, loveless father had inflicted on Janet. Or maybe she hadn't. Maybe that's why she had moved to New York as soon as she finished university. With the time difference, and both so busy in their careers, Janet didn't talk to her sister very often. It was way past time for a good talk.

10PM in Sydney was 6AM in New York. If she got up early and tried at 5, that would be 1 PM. Better to try her at lunch than wake her up, but there never seemed to be a good time to call, so she rarely did. Any news that one heard about the other usually came from their mother. Liz might not even know about her recent dealings with Graham, since her mother didn't want to hear anything about him.

"Hello, Liz. Do you have time to talk now?"

"Well, G'day to you, little sister. Must be something important if you're calling. I have about 20 minutes, which might be enough since we don't waste time on pleasantries, do we?"

"I have at least an hour, so we can take plenty of time to catch up on things, but if we only have 20 minutes, can I go ahead and ask you something? We can try to catch up on the weekend, though."

"What can I help you with?"

" You know my girlfriend, Bianca? You met her right after I got back from Fiji."

Yes, I did. You're a lucky girl."

"Not so lucky any more. She broke up with me, and I'm hoping you can tell me how to get her back. A month ago, she gave me my house keys back and I thought we were finished for sure, but then she came over for the twins' birthdays, and I thought we were going to get back together. But right now she's not even talking to me."

"So what did you say to her - or, knowing you - not say to her?'

"We were fine until Graham showed up. I asked her to move in with me, but it was very complicated with him around, and the next thing I knew she said "It's too late."

"Whoa - go back. Dad showed up? He never visits you. I haven't even talked to him in months. "

"That's why I 'm calling you. He has messed up my life again. Things were great with Bianca. She was just about to move in with me. Then he showed up and ruined everything. At first he claimed that he wanted to get to know the twins, and he really was very sweet with them. Much nicer than he ever was to us. But what he really wanted was legal help. Pax, his company, has been losing lots of money, and he has made some very questionable decisions, although they weren't strictly illegal, so the case against him was dismissed. And now that he doesn't need my help, he is gone again. Good riddance."

"So what does this have to do with Bianca? She's a cop, right? Was she investigating him? "

"She and I were working on a case where he was a person of interest for a while, so she didn't want to be around him. And I don't think he wanted to be around her much, because he was rather rude to her a couple of times."

"He would certainly want to be the center of attention."

"I think that's what upset Bianca. She accused me of paying too much attention to other people. And of not talking things over with her."

"You do tend to keep your own counsel. Frankly, I'm surprised you're even talking to me about this."

"The trouble started when he showed up. After all these years, he still manages to shatter my life. But you came out fine. You always have. What's your secret?"

"I don't know that I have any grand secret. I think maybe I was just very lucky to have good friends all along. And netball. I spent so much time playing netball that I didn't really notice how absent he was, even when he was right there in the room. Did you talk to Bianca about him?"

Janet thought back to the conversation that started with the Tooth Fairy and ended with Bianca walking out. Bianca had offered her support and her love, but Janet had dismissed them both, telling Bianca to stay out of it. Sheepishly, she recounted the conversation to her sister, and was not surprised when Liz exploded.

"You idiot! No wonder she broke up with you! She practically begs you to open up, and you completely shut her out. You CANNOT treat your partner that way. You shut me out plenty of times when I tried to help, but I'm your sister and you're stuck with me. Bianca is - or was- your girlfriend, your partner. You can't expect a partner to stick around when you shut them out like that. Didn't you learn that with Ash?"

Now Janet was mortified, remembering her behavior when Bianca mentioned Ash. "You're going to yell at me again, and I deserve it." She confessed that Bianca had asked about Ash and had been thrown out. "I've tried to apologize but she won't take my calls or answer my texts. I even went to her apartment but she wasn't there. What more can I do?"

Liz looked at her watch. Her next client was probably in the waiting room, but too bad. Janet, her beloved, self-sufficient, strong-willed sister, had not sounded so broken since Ash's death. "If I were Bianca's sister, I'd say stay the heck away. Bianca was right. It's too late. But I'm your sister, and I want you to get her back, even though she might be too good for you, because I know that you love her and I want you to be happy. So you track her down. Stake out her car, her apartment, her workplace if necessary. And when you find her, be prepared to grovel. I know that's not your style, so start practicing. And after you've finished groveling, you have to tell her how you feel. You need to open up - be vulnerable for once, dammit, - and then you need to listen, really listen. Can you do that?"

"I'll have to. Thank you, Liz."

"Let me know how it goes. Now I really have to go. But remember, I love you and I'm on your side, no matter how big an idiot you are." She chuckled as she hung up.