AN: Woo, chapter three. So I've decided that I'mma just hang a disclaimer here that says "Warning, story may contain OoCness. Please suspend disbelief." and leave it at that. So consider yourselves warned.

I should also point out that I don't particularly like Hamish, and thus I reserve the right to make him a massive jerkhead. That is all.

Chapter 3

Jordan was confused. Not only had he failed to get anything other than a headache out of his 'talk' with Heidi yesterday, but Dean was also being uncharacteristically reluctant to help him work out what was going on. All that the senior rescuer had said after talking to Lara was "leave it alone", which led Jordan to suspect that the whole situation was far more complex than he realised and this may be more than just a light-hearted, morphine-induced kiss between friends.

His suspicions were heightened by the fact that Lara didn't show up for work on what was supposed to be her first day back, and confirmed later that day when her fiancé stormed into the stationhouse, raging.

"Gallagher! You son-of-a-bitch, where are you?" he yelled, instantly attracting the attention of everyone in the garage and equipment area.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, Hamish. Calm down, mate." Jordan caught the lawyer by the shoulders as he tried to push past him up the stairs. "What's going on, mate?"

"What's going on is your asshole mate Dean has been sleeping with my fiancée!"

"What?" Chase had come downstairs to see what the commotion was about, followed by Heidi and Vince. The younger Gallagher moved to help Jordan restrain the irate man as he tried to break free of his hold. Behind Hamish's back, Chase mimed drinking at Jordan and he nodded, having noticed the smell of booze on Hamish when he came in.

"Your brother has been having an affair with Lara! I'll kill the son-of-a-bitch! Where is he?"

"Mate, calm down. Dean's not here." Jordan told him, which was true. He and Michelle had gone to some press conference thing. Originally, Vince had been the one going with her, but Michelle had muttered something about him having the political sense of a trout and had elected to take Dean instead.

"What makes you think he and Lara are having an affair?" Chase asked him, looking genuinely curious.

"She told me!" Hamish broke free of Jordan's grip as it slackened in surprise, but Chase and Vince caught him before he could go anywhere. Out of the corner of his eye, Jordan saw Heidi stiffen, but her expression was blank when he spared her a glance.

"What?" Chase voiced what they were all thinking.

"She told me something had happened with one of her colleagues and she needed some time to think about things. Then she packed a bag and left! It doesn't take a genius to work out she meant Dean; I've seen how they are around each other. I'm gonna kill that little prick."

To their credit, no one in the room even glanced in Heidi's direction during Hamish's tirade, and Jordan was surprised by their self-control. He knew that almost everyone within earshot was aware of at least part of what Hamish was talking about, and the fact that they were all covering for Heidi was a testament to their loyalty as a group.

"Hamish, mate, calm down and start from the beginning." Vince told him, leading the lawyer over to sit on the stairs. "And the rest of you get back to work!" He added to the other Rescue workers who'd stopped to watch the show. For the most part, they did a passable job of pretending to follow the order, and Vince was too concentrated on Hamish to push them further. "Start from the start, mate."

Hamish was starting to calm down somewhat, but he was still shifting restlessly, trying to wriggle out from under the hand Vince hand on his shoulder. "Lara's been weird with me ever since she came back from the hospital after that rescue in the national park. At first, I just thought it was because she was annoyed about the crutches and the painkillers, but she's been off them for a couple of days and it's just got worse. Then she didn't come home last night—"

Jordan was surprised when Heidi shifted uncomfortably as Hamish said that, and he struggled to keep his face blank as the implications flashed across his mind. Heidi hadn't come back after she went 'out' yesterday afternoon, either.

"—and then when she did come home this morning, she said that something had happened with one of her colleagues and she had to think about things and she couldn't do that with me around. Then she left and I haven't heard from her since. All because your bastard mate couldn't keep his hands to himself."

"Dean wasn't with Lara last night." Chase assured him. "He hooked up with some traffic cop from the MVA yesterday. She was there when I picked him up this morning."

"Well it was one of you! And you all know who, don't you? Who is it? Which one of you did she betray me for?" He jumped up as he yelled, but was quickly restrained again by Chase and Vince.

Nobody said anything, and nobody would meet his eye as he looked around the room. After a long, painful silence, Hamish went slack in their grip and the anger seemed to drain out of him, replaced by resigned helplessness.

"Of course you won't tell me. You lot close ranks; protect each other. I never really stood a chance against that. Did I?"

The silence that followed his rhetorical question was broken unexpectedly by three words that shocked the few who didn't already know and surprised those who did.

"It was me."

Suddenly, the one person in the room that they'd all been struggling not to look at had their undivided attention. The half a dozen or so other Rescue workers stopped any pretence of working and stared openly at the confrontation. Hamish appeared not to fully comprehend what Heidi had said, and he stared at her in confusion for a moment before speaking.

"What?"

"It was me, Hamish, and I'm sorry." Jordan was staring at Heidi along with everyone else, and he could clearly see the anguish in her eyes.

Hamish seemed speechless, and Vince took advantage of that to regain some control over the situation. "Right, Chase and Jordan, upstairs. Go do paperwork or something. You mob! Back to work! You and you," he pointed to Heidi and Hamish, "outside, now."

He led them both out the front of the Rescue building, away from eavesdroppers, before rounding on them.

"Right. I was perfectly happy to stay out of this when it was just a friendly little kiss between co-workers, but it's obviously gone beyond that and now it's messing with my station."

Hamish and Heidi both started speaking at the same time.

"You knew about this? You—"

"It's not a problem, I'll sort it—"

Vince raised his voice to cover theirs. "Shut up, both of you! Our first priority is to find Lara, we'll deal with the other shit later. Hamish, I'm assuming you don't know where she is?"

He shook his head, still looking slightly dazed at the turn of events. "I've been trying to call her, but she's not picking up."

Vince turned his attention back to Heidi. "Do you know where she is?" Heidi shook her head mutely. "Right then, so we need to find her. I'll take care of that, you two go back to work."

They both started protesting at the same time, making their individual words hard to decipher.

"Vince, no. I want to—"

"She's my fiancée, I'm not—"

The station coordinator held up a hand to silence them. "Enough! Jeesh, between the two of you, I'm not surprised she nicked off. I'll find her and make sure she's okay. Heidi-ho, go back inside and write reports, wash the trucks, I don't care. Do something productive. Hamish, go find somewhere quiet to sleep it off, then go back to your office and do lawyer stuff. I'll let you both know when I find her."

Heidi, knowing that it was best to follow orders when Vince had his serious voice on, did as she was told, albeit reluctantly. Hamish didn't move, but he fell silent as Vince dialled a number on his mobile. Heidi only caught the beginning of the conversation as the door swung shut behind her.

"Davo, mate! It's Vince. Listen, mate, I need a favour…"

AN: Reviews. I needs them.