"Remind me how you remain single?" Gabrielle asked as Jack expertly untangled her hair. She loved to walk along the beach with it loose, but it always got so tangled. Fortunately, among his many talents, Jack had a knack for untangling hair without making the female in question yelp in pain. He had learnt it from Lucy Stevens, who seemed to have had her own knack for getting her hair tangled.

Jack laughed ruefully at that. "Never found anyone I cared enough about to be in a relationship with," he admitted. He was glad that Gabrielle on sitting on the floor with her back to him so she couldn't see the blood creep into his cheeks. It had been several weeks now since their outing at the beach and as hard as he tried to pretend it had never happened – after all, as far as anyone but himself was concerned, it hadn't happened – there were moments when he couldn't help but remember how good it had felt to kiss her...

"Really?" Gabrielle asked, her interest piqued. "All those women who must love to have you as a boyfriend."

"Yeah, that's just the point. I've met plenty of women who want to go out with me 'cos I'm a surgeon... and not many who wanted to go out with me for myself. I know what you're thinking, poor Jack, has all these women throwing themselves at him and still isn't happy, but... that kind of attention was never what I wanted from a relationship. I want something real with someone who wants to be with me, not for my career or 'cos I have a bit of money behind me or whatever."

Gabrielle nodded. It made sense. It occurred to her that being a good-looking young surgeon wasn't all it was cracked up to be. She was well aware how many women would kill to date such a man – her ex-best friend Ashley included – precisely because he was a good-looking, personality be damned. "If it makes you feel any better, I like you for you," she said.

He smiled thinly. If only she knew... "Thanks," he said.

They sat in companionable silence for a few more minutes, Gabrielle passively enjoying Jack's efforts, before she asked, "So... Bianca never interested you in that way, did she?" in a teasing voice.

Even though she was sitting with her back to him, she knew he was making a face. "God, no. She was vapid and clingy and really quite selfish in bed. Her opinion of herself didn't match up with the reality." Gabrielle laughed at that; it sounded exactly like Bianca today. "I expected better than someone that much older than me."

Gabrielle scoffed at that. "That much older than you? Come on, she's only twenty-eight. Dan told me."

"Then she lied to Dan," Jack said. "She's thirty-one."

"What?" Completely forgetting how lovely Jack's attention to her hair was, she twisted around. "How did you know?"

Jack shrugged as if it was no great revelation. "She was fifth year when I was second, and I started two years earlier, when I was sixteen. So she was five years older than me – still is," he tacked on. Age gaps tended not to shrink, although they became relatively less important as you got older. "I checked when I realised who she was. She's five years older than me. She's thirty one."

Gabrielle returned to her sitting position. "Ha!" she said. So Bianca had lied about her age. "I knew she had achieved too much for twenty-eight. Oooh, am I allowed to say something about this?"

Jack shrugged. "If you want, it's not exactly a state secret. Just... don't say anything about her and I, OK?"

Gabrielle sniffed loftily at that. "Why not? She deserves to be brought down a peg or two." Really, crucifying someone because they slept with you eight years ago in a perfectly consensual situation – Gabrielle had known from their first few encounters that she wasn't the type of woman who forgot a slight, but that was ridiculous.

"Maybe she does, but it's not fair to put Dan through that. I worked it out after he stopped seeing her and I don't see the point in telling him that hey, her attraction to you may have been solely motivated in sticking it to me."

Gabrielle went quiet at that. Personally, she would have shouted it to the rooftops, to hell with a former housemate who thought it was perfectly OK to kick you out of the house to get laid. But Jack was Jack, with his own brand of loyalty and dignity. That neither Dan or Bianca deserved it, at least in Gabrielle's opinion, wasn't so much the point as the fact he was such a decent guy was.

When he resumed combing her hair, she wished just a teensy little bit that there was something more to it than just a friend doing a favour for another friend.


Gabrielle didn't have long to wait before the opportunity to needle Bianca about her age rose. Charlotte and Vincent were having a nostalgic discussion about turning thirty and how there was always that little bit of regret, no matter what you'd achieved for yourself. "Everyone thinks they should have achieved more," Charlotte said wistfully. "Career, travel, family... it's never enough." Gabrielle had smiled at that. From what she had heard about both doctors, they had achieved plenty by the time they were thirty. Between Charlotte's adventures in Europe and Vincent's two marriages and time working in Timor, their lives sounded so much more glamorous than her own.

Bianca, who had made a habit of trailing after Vincent as if constantly being in his face would suddenly make him aware of her various charms – what they were, Gabrielle had no idea – was there with them. Gabrielle had been wishing she would go away – Bianca had been particularly vicious to her since Jack had moved in, convinced that the reason Gabrielle didn't want her working with her staff was because of Jack's influence and not because none of her staff other than Dan could stand being around her – but now, she had found the perfect weapon in her hand. "What was it like for you, Bianca?" she asked sweetly.

Bianca sniffed. "I'm twenty-eight," she said haughtily, glaring darkly at this plain-looking girl who everyone said Jack was so fond of that he'd ditched his own sister to take her out on her birthday. Not that she believed the stories that he was extremely fond of his sister. She highly doubted Jack Quade was fond of anyone – except, of course, himself.

"Really? Jack said you were thirty-one. Said you were five years older than him."

"And what would Jack know?" she asked, even more haughtily, as if Jack suffered from serious mental retardation rather than a brilliant mind.

"Well, he said that when he was in second year at AUMEL, you were in fifth, but he started two years earlier so that makes you five years older. Unless it's a different Bianca Miller that he's thinking about? Graduated in 'ninety-nine, credits and distinctions?"

Vincent was trying to hide his laughter now. There was something about the highly disconcerted look on Bianca's face that told him Gabrielle knew exactly what she was talking about – and so did Bianca. "I thought you got all high distinctions?" he asked sweetly.

"I know Jack did," Charlotte piped up. She and Vincent had always been very in sync in thinking, and she picked up where Vincent was going with this, calling Bianca on the fact that she hadn't achieved as high as she had said she had, and had, in fact, 'borrowed' someone else's results. Like Jack's. "I never met anyone prouder of his academic transcript. Can't say I blame him, though. If I had his dad, I'd be shouting my achievements to the rooftops."

"Then he must have the wrong Bianca Miller," Bianca said haughtily. But the damage was done. Shooting a death glare in Gabrielle's direction, she made a fast exit.

"She's really thirty-one?" Charlotte asked. Gabrielle nodded. "And you're sure Jack just hasn't confused her with another Bianca Miller? After all, it's a fairly common name."

"Yeah, because there are so many half-Polynesian Bianca Millers running around with her attitude towards him," Gabrielle countered.

Charlotte eyed her suspiciously. Gabrielle had a good point. Bianca bore a grudge against Jack which no-one understood. And if anyone knew what it was, it would be the person who Jack shared a house with – the person he was close enough to to ditch his sister in favour of. And given that Bianca never forgot a slight, no many how minor or how long ago, and Jack's chief means of causing trouble for himself was his penchant for older women... "What do you know?" she asked. "C'mon, spill."

Gabrielle smiled brightly. "Me, betray a friend like that? I think you're confusing me with Dan." And with that she walked off, grinning wildly.

By the end of the day, it was all over the hospital that Bianca had lied about her age and given herself airs about being a head of trauma so young. It had been easy enough to pull her personnel file. Thirty-one was still young, but not nearly as impressive as twenty-eight. More to the point, all the people who had suffered under Bianca's haughtiness and arrogance got a good laugh at that. Bianca Frost, giving herself airs about an achievement she hadn't actually accomplished. Not to mention her so-called spotless academic record of high achievements; that, too, was easily enough located for someone who knew how. Or the fact that the academic record she claimed to have achieve was, in fact, the same academic record that Jack Quade had achieved; and that was real enough.

It didn't take people too long to point out that there had to be a connection between Bianca's hatred of Jack and her claiming an academic record that he actually possessed. Too many people had suffered at the hands of her nastiness not to make that connection now. And everyone knew that Bianca hated Jack, even though he seemed to have no idea what he had done to incur such wrath. Also, everyone knew that Jack had long had a thing for older women- in fact (and it was actually Cate who had gleefully raided the ED's personnel records while Gabrielle kept Frank otherwise occupied) Bianca was the same age as Deanna Richardson. Not that that meant anything, of course. Except for the fact that Bianca was the same age as Jack's ex. Which, of course, didn't mean anything.

It wasn't long before people were wondering if Bianca's resentment of Jack was not because of the so-called 'boy's club' in medicine that she kept going on about (it hadn't exactly stopped her admiration of either her husband or Vincent Hughes) but because of an unrequited fling which had meant much more to her than it had to him. Charlotte was the first to point out that if Jack had known Bianca when he was in second year and she was in fifth, given that he started university at sixteen, he would have been seventeen to her twenty-two.

In short, people were saying by the end of the day, Bianca had held a grudge for nearly ten years over a fling that Jack had soon lost interest in when he had been a teenager and she should have had more dignity in her twenties. It was too good a story not to pass between all the people who had been slighted by Bianca.

Jack was surprised that the rumour mill had got the story pretty much close to the truth, a rarity for any rumour mill, let alone one in a major hospital where people's lives were so intertwined with one another's that they often had nothing better to do than pass on the story as it got more and more out of hand. (Although to be fair, it was only the end of day one.) But he was a little pissed off at Gabrielle. He had expected better of her than to go around repeating a confidence.

"I didn't!" she said indignantly when Jack confronted her. "I was just needling her about her age – which you said I could do, by the way – and Charlotte kind of worked the rest out. She knows you better than you think she does, I reckon." She reconsidered her words and gave a short laugh. "Actually, I think everyone knows you better than that in that regard, given your penchant for older women who seem to cause you nothing but trouble," she teased. Jack glowered at her. "Look, I'm sorry," she added. "I really didn't say anything."

Jack made himself relax. He knew Charlotte quite well himself, and knew that the older woman had a certain talent for ferreting out the details and piecing them together until she had the general big picture before you realised you'd said anything. "It's fine," he said. "I just wish Dan hadn't found out about it." As if he cared about his own reputation anyway. Everyone knew he had a history of promiscuity – it was OK for guys, or at least more OK than it was for girls – and one more woman didn't make a difference. In fact, if it wasn't because of Dan, Jack would be quite pleased that Bianca had been exposed for the bitter, petty hypocrite that she was.

"I don't see why you're so considerate towards his feelings," Gabrielle said. "He wasn't exactly considerate of yours."

Jack shrugged. Truth be told, he'd been enjoying living with Gabrielle so much that he really didn't have the ill-will to think badly of Dan. "There just didn't seem any point. I've no idea how interested in him Bianca actually was and how much of it was just to get to me... and now he's never going to be sure, either. I didn't see the point in putting him through that."

"Sorry," Gabrielle said in a small voice. She still though Jack was being far more considerate of Dan than he deserved, given the circumstances, but that was Jack's decision and she had kind of helped blow it for him. "Why don't I take you to dinner to make up for it? You choose. You're always bragging about how you know all the best places in Sydney. About time you proved it, I think."


"Talk about of all the places in all the world," Gabrielle said, making a face. Up until now, they had been having a fantastic time. She was beginning to think Jack really did know all the best places in Sydney. Certainly, this Thai place was to die for. She was beginning to think she would be happy never cooking again, just going out or ordering in. Not to mention he was easy to talk to and could make her think and laugh in quick succession.

Jack twisted around in his seat to see Bianca and Peter Frost entering the place. "I don't see why they'd come here," he said. "Much too low-brow for them." Peter was a good ten-fifteen years older than Bianca and a highly respect cardio surgeon. Many considered him to be the new Richard Craig, in both professional and personal lives, and such men rarely deigned to go to family-friendly eateries, even if they did serve the best Thai food in the western suburbs. But here they were. "What are you – ah," he said when Gabrielle scooted her chair around so it was right next to his with a flash of that cheeky smile that he was beginning to learn meant she was up to something – and usually something deliciously mean and clever. Where they were sitting, it would be impossible for the Frosts not to notice them, or the fact that Gabrielle was sitting so close to him, too close for ordinary friendship – or so most people would think. Most people would think half an hour patiently unkinking the knots in her hair to be more than just friendship, too.

Jack thought they would just pass without comment. To his surprise, they stopped – although at Peter's instigation, not Bianca's. He stifled the urge to laugh at Bianca when he saw the scowl on her face. Weather it was because of the rumours circling the hospital or because he had never bothered to take her to dinner, he didn't know, but knowing he had upset her too deeply to hide it would be worth whatever pointless tasks she dished out for him in the days to come. "You're Jack Quade," Peter said pleasantly, and it was clear he shared none of his wife's animosity. "I've heard a lot about you."

"Don't believe any of it," Jack half-joked, shooting a look in Bianca's direction. She looked livid. He wondered what she'd said to her husband, what she'd been able to say without revealing exactly why she hated him so much.

"If I had someone like Mike Vlasek and Vincent Hughes having such a high opinion of me, I'd be shouting it from the rooftops," Peter said. "But you have a track record of modesty. I pulled up your academic records and I must say, I'm very impressed. It isn't easy to get a scholarship to AUMEL – as my wife would know." He gave a short chuckle which was just a touch too mean-spirited to be taken wholly in good humour. Theirs was an interesting marriage of two very smart and very ambitious people.

Jack was floored that Mike and Vincent would say such things about him – but then, they were hardly going to say them to his face were they? And Peter had been impressed enough to pull up his academic records? Not that he was sure he wanted someone like Peter marking him as someone to watch – too much like Richard Craig, who Jack had had a complete lack of respect for as a man, brilliant surgeon though he was – but it was nice to know that he had impressed someone regarded so highly in the surgical community. Ha, so Peter was impressed with him while Bianca could barely hide her resentment of him at his side. That had to be a bitter pill to swallow. He shot another look in Bianca's direction. She was turning red with anger, and he was childish enough to be enjoying himself. "And you must be Gabrielle Jaeger," Peter continued, looking in Gabrielle's direction. "Frank Campion thinks very highly of you?"

"He does, does he?" Gabrielle asked cynically. She couldn't picture Frank speaking highly of anyone.

Peter laughed, knowing exactly what Frank was getting at. "OK, he actually said you were an improvement on the manipulative tramp that was your predecessor," he admitted. Which they all knew was as close to a compliment as you were likely to get out of Frank. "It's good to see you both," he said in a voice that sounded as close to sincere as someone like Peter Frost got. "I expect I'll see you around the place." And he and Bianca headed to their own table, Bianca looking ready to explode.

"Wow," Jack said, snickering a little. "She looked pissed. And I can't believe how polite he was to you. I thought he hit on everything in a skirt."

"He does," Gabrielle confirmed. Like Richard Craig before him, Peter Frost considered nurses to be his own personal supply of bedmates – at least, that's what she had been told by agency nurses who had worked both with him on the surgical team at St. Angela's and with her in the ED at All Saints. "He was extending you a professional courtesy."

"A what?"

"Professional courtesy. Even Steve knew not to go after the wives and girlfriends of his fellow doctors. It very quickly leaves you with not many doctors willing to work with you." She giggled. "My God, the look on Bianca's face. I don't know what she was more pissed off about – that Peter seemed to have taken a shine to you or that you were out with me. Looking pretty cosy, too," she added. She had only intended for her and Jack to be seen together, very close, but for Peter to actually bring them over and talk to them, for Bianca to be so obviously put out that she, normally haughtily calm and collected, could barely contain herself – that had been beyond thrilling.

"Remind me never to get on your bad side," Jack said with a newfound sense of admiration for Gabrielle. This was no doormat, as Bianca had found out to her detriment. Not for the first time he thought this Steve had been a complete fool to do the wrong thing by her.

"I can't imagine you being jerk enough to get on my bad side," she said, a touch more flirtatiously than she had intended.

"I'll do my best," he replied. He glanced over at the Frost's table, where Bianca was glaring at him as best she could without Peter latching on. He snickered at the image. "Here," he said, and it was obvious by the direction of his gaze that he was intending to do something that would make Bianca jealous. He cupped her face and turned it slightly so she was looking direction at him. "Anyone who's jerk enough to get on your bad side deserves to be shot," he said, continuing the conversation – although she noticed that he kept looking directly at her, not at Bianca to gauge her reaction, and she decided that could only be a good thing.


"Jack! Jack! Hey, wait up!" Dan yelled, trying to catch up with Jack as he strode towards his car. God, but the guy was fit.

Jack finally slowed to a stop and waited for Dan to catch up. "Yeah?" he asked. He was tired and hungry and wanted to go home to what was sure to be another delicious meal.

"Look, I wanted to ask you something," Dan said.

There was a lengthy pause as Dan fidgeted, searching for the words. Jack became bored and was increasingly aware of his tiredness and hunger. "Whatever it is, just spit it out, will you?" he asked. "I'm tired and hungry. Sorry," he added when he saw Dan flinch. "I'm just... tired and hungry."

"It's fine. I, uh... look, it's about you and Bianca. Um... did you really know her at uni?"

"Not really. She was three years above me. I didn't have much to do with that entire year."

"OK, but you saw her around?"

"Yeah."

"And, um..." Jack started inspecting his nails. They were getting a touch too long and dirt was getting under them, never a good look for a surgeon. And damned if he was going to give Dan any leeway here. If he wanted to know about him and Bianca, he could come out and ask. Actually, it was kind of fun watching him squirm. "Look, is it true that you slept with her?" Dan finally blurted out.

"Yep." Jack didn't stop inspecting his nails.

"Damnit, Jack. Stop ignoring me."

"Yeah, well, stop beating around the bush. It's not my fault she was full of crap. You want to know about my life eight years before you knew me, then ask me and stop wasting my time." He hadn't meant to be so short with Dan, but after two months of living with Gabrielle and her brand of frankness, he had little patience with anything else.

"OK... you slept with her. When?"

"Once, in second year."

"You really were seventeen?" Jack nodded. ""Was it a relationship?

Jack made a face. "God, no. Like I'd waste my time with her. I'd get back with Deanna before that. She wasn't nearly as talented as she thought she was – in every sense of the word," he added scathingly. Despite knowing he wouldn't want to hear it, Dan found himself asking what had happened. "It was just a one-nighter. Or at least, I thought it was. I went through a lot of them when I was at uni – so sue me, a lot of guys did. To be honest, I don't even know what someone as haughty as she was saw in me, except that I had a reputation for being somewhat... beyond my years. And I don't know what she expected from me, either. How often do you think you're going to get a relationship out of a hook-up at a party?"

"I wouldn't know," Dan said a trifle sullenly, because he wasn't exactly the type to pick up at parties and the one time he had, the girl had gone missing shortly after only to emerge in their ED years later with no idea who she was. And the fact that Jack thought getting back with Deanna preferable to a relationship with Bianca galled him. She wasn't really as bad as everyone said, was she? Guiltily, he remembered that Jack had insisted the exact same thing over Deanna and Dan wondered if maybe he had been in the wrong all along just as Jack had been.

"Well... you don't. And you certainly don't go about it the way she did. She followed me around campus for weeks and sexually harassed me. She complained to admin that I harassed her. She just... couldn't get over that I wasn't interested. I think it would have been fine had she been disappointed in me and wanted nothing more to do with me, but..." Jack shrugged. "I hadn't thought about her in years until I worked out who she was. I still don't understand why she would spend so much time hating me."

Dan digested this. Despite his unwillingness to acknowledge it, Jack's version of events along with everyone else's opinion of Bianca sounded more plausible than her own attitude, that Jack was just your run-of-the-mill jerk who cruised through life and went through women like tissues, when everyone who bothered to get to know Jack knew that he came from a working class family and a scholarship background, and that he went through women with no more frequency than Bianca did men. And everyone but Dan thought Bianca was haughty, arrogant, sexually aggressive and had to have the last word. That kind of personality fit entirely within Jack's version of events, whereas if Bianca had known Jack at all she would have known how wrong she was about him... "Why didn't you tell me?"

"Honestly, I didn't realise it until after you had stopped seeing her, and then I thought it wasn't worth mentioning."

"But you mentioned it to Gabrielle."

"So? She's my best friend."

For some reason, that deflated Dan more than knowing that Jack – and everyone else – had been right about Bianca all along. "I didn't realise you were that close."

"I don't see why not. She's easy to get along with. She makes me laugh. And she's the best cook." He hadn't meant that as a dig at Dan, and felt sorry once the words had been said. But what was he supposed to say to rectify that? Sorry that you're none of those things; rather, that you'd make me sleep in an on-call room to get laid? It was just that in contrast, Dan wasn't much of a friend – or at least, hadn't been to Jack.

The words sank into Dan's head. He hadn't been very nice to Jack over the whole Bianca drama, and it seemed even worse in retrospect now that he knew the real reason Bianca hated Jack so much. He wondered if Bianca had ever been genuinely interested in him, or she had just seen him as a way to get to Jack. He frowned. It certainly wasn't good for his ego, both knowing that he may very well have let himself be used and that he had treated a friend so badly in his quest to get laid when it should have occurred to him that her story wasn't adding up. He started to say something, but at that moment Jack's phone went off. He read the message quickly, his face breaking into a smile. Dan tried to remember the last time he had seen Jack smile. "Sorry, I've gotta go. That's Gabby telling me I have half an hour before dinner's served – she does the best roast."

Dan nodded. So it was Gabby now? He thought she hated the name. And if Jack said that someone made the best food, then it had to be true. "See you around, then," he said faintly.

Jack barely heard him. He was already headed to his car, no doubt thinking about roast dinner and fun company.


"I can't believe I treated him like that. I can't believe I let her let me treat him like that," Dan said later that evening to Erica over take-out pizza. He was sure that Jack was eating much better. He missed Jack's cooking. He missed Jack.

"I don't think you can blame it on her," Erica said. She was sympathetic, but Dan was a grown man, and thinking with one's penis was not an excuse that grown men qualified for.

"Yeah, but it sounded nice," Dan said wistfully. Only since Jack had admitted that the rumours doing the rounds were fairly true – remarkably close to the truth, actually, given that they had been working mostly on Charlotte's speculation over something that had happened almost ten years ago – had he really thought about how his actions had affected Jack, and he hadn't liked the truth one bit.

He had forced Jack to sleep at the hospital for a week at a time because Bianca had insisted that she preferred his place. Damn straight she preferred his place, seeing's she had a husband stashed at hers. And when Jack had informed him of that fact, rather than be grateful for watching his back, he had told Jack where the door was. And the whole thing may or may not have been over Bianca wanting to make Jack feel unwelcome in his own home, and not out of any genuine affection she had for him.

God, how people had to be laughing at him right now.

God, Gabrielle must laugh every night at how Dan's bad behaviour was her benefit.

"It was a shitty thing to do," he admitted.

"Yeah, it was." When Dan shot Erica a peeved look, she shot him one back; she was not going to sugar-coat that it had been a shitty way to treat a friend when he himself had admitted to it.

"I miss him." In this industry, there weren't a lot of male friends to be had because there weren't a lot of males around and Jack was one of the few male doctors who didn't look down on him – at least a little – for effeminising himself by being a male nurse. Which only made him feel worse for the way he had treated Jack when the time had come to demonstrate that he was a decent human being. "You know I love hanging out with you, but –"

"Yeah, I know." Erica knew she would feel exactly the same if she had only one good girlfriend and she was on the outs with that girlfriend. Especially if it was because of her own actions. "Look, you need to be telling him this. He's a decent guy. He won't hold it against you forever more if you just freaking apologise. He knows you were wrong. You know you were wrong. There's no shame in saying it. If you'd just said it in the first place instead of acting like buying him a beer was the same thing as apologising, you wouldn't be missing him right now. You'd be burning out the circuit on that thing," she said, gesturing to the playstation, which looked like it was gathering dust.

"I know. It's just –"

"It's just nothing," Erica cut him off. "Forget this 'love means never having to say you're sorry' crap. You stuffed up, you both know it, the only way you're going to get your mate back is to apologise."


"I think Dan was about to apologise when you messaged," Jack said at around the same time at Gabrielle's place. Dinner was, as usual, delicious, and as thanks he let her lie across the couch with her head in his lap while he stroked her hair and they half-watched Buffy. He relayed the conversation he had with Gabrielle.

"Sounds like he's sorry," Gabrielle said. "And humiliated." She grinned wickedly at that, a grin she was grateful that Jack couldn't see. She knew he was very fond of Dan and felt bad about putting him through the humiliation of people talking about him being used to get to Jack, not to mention the far worse factor of wondering himself if her feelings had been genuine at all, but part of her got a thrill out of knowing she had sowed the seats to strike a blow for wronged friends everywhere. "I think you have some major leverage."

"Really?"

"Of course. Don't go back without some serious concessions. I reckon you can get at least three month's rent knocked off. And don't forget to remind him that you pay the same to me, and I live in a much nicer place."

"So I've noticed." For some reason, he couldn't bring himself to broach the subject of him staying on permanently. It was just that he had so much fun with Gabrielle, and she actually seemed interested – or was one damn fine actor – in the things he found so fascinating, whereas Dan sometimes made him feel like an overintelligent freak of nature. It wasn't his fault, of course, a lot of people tended to know that when they found out you could read books in foreign languages, but Gabrielle just made him feel... smart.

Not to mention welcome. Even though this really was more her house than Dan's was his because this had never meant to be a permanent arrangement, he had felt far more welcome here than he had living with Dan. Maybe it was knowing that every evening he had a home-cooked meal to come home to, or that Gabrielle wasn't the kind of person who would turf you out of the house to get laid – but he felt welcome here.

"I'm going to miss you," was all he could manage to say.

She tilted her head and smiled up at him. She couldn't help but wonder just how much he would miss her. Oh, she knew they had fun together and that they would still see each other socially after this, but really miss her? She doubted it. Not the way he would miss – well, a girlfriend. She knew he was fond of her, but she also knew from his past that she wasn't the type of woman he would date. They said men tended to gravitate to women who reminded them of their mothers, and since he had never known his mother and hated his step-mother, so it stood to reason that the type of woman he would gravitate to would be someone attractive and sophisticated, like his sister. Deanna and Bianca were no doubt first-class bitches, but they had a certain sophistication about them that Gabrielle knew she would never possess – and that Jack seemed to gravitate towards, whatever the consequences.

No, he would never miss her like he would a girlfriend, because he would never think of her like a girlfriend.

"I'm going to miss you, too," she decided was the safest thing to say. "But we'll still see each other socially, won't we? I would hate to lose you as a friend just because you've patched things up with Dan."

"Yeah, of course," Jack said, a little disappointed by the emphases she seemed to put on the word friend.


Dan caught up with Bianca the next day, who was, understandably, in a furious mood. Not only had Jack and that plain little mouse that he may or may not be dating - no-one could work it out, not even his doppelganger Charlotte – contrived to let the world know that she was three years older than she had claimed to be, but they had somehow managed to let the world know about the night she had spent with Jack all those years ago, all the while claiming that neither of them had said a word about it.

So no, she did not want to speak to some nothing nurse who had called it off when he'd found out she had a husband. If it was good enough for Peter to screw around, why wasn't it good enough for her? "I'm busy, Dan," she muttered angrily as Dan raced to catch up with her. He stepped in front of her and made it obvious that he intended to block her path until she spoke to him, and she decided that it was better that than looking like an idiot, playing a stupid game of give-way with an ex-lover. "What do you want?" she asked. "Unlike some of us, I have important things to do."

Now that she had no reason to be nice to Dan, she didn't bother, and Dan understood immediately why so many people disliked her. If she considered you beneath her, or that you had nothing to offer her, than you were little more than a cockroach to her – or maybe a particularly useful dog. And he had defended this woman to people? Now he was beginning to appreciate how crap Jack had felt after finding out just how manipulative Deanna was. "Look, I want to know if it's true about you and Jack?" he asked, even though he already knew it was true and just wanted to see what she had to say.

"None of your goddamn business what I did or didn't do eight years before you knew me, and why are you listening to that prick?" she snarled, which was plenty an answer for Dan.

"That prick happens to be a good friend of mine who I made sleep at the hospital because you claimed to have a liking for my bed. What was it, Bianca? That we couldn't go to yours 'cos you had a husband stashed at home, or did you get a kick out of forcing Jack out of his own home?"

"Don't be ridiculous," Bianca snapped, using the same condescending tone that she used on the rest of Gabrielle's staff, including Gabrielle.

It was all the answer Dan needed. It hurt, but nowhere near the shame he felt about letting her use him that way. Letting her use him that way? He was a grown man; he didn't have the right to use his penis as an excuse to behave badly. "I can see why people are comparing you to Deanna," Dan said sweetly, and for the first time in his gamer-geek life he was struck with a bitchy comeback for someone who truly deserved it. "Hey, maybe you could track her down. The two of you could start a club; women who've been rejected by Jack."

The last thing he saw of her was the look on her face as he walked off.

He located Jack later that day. It was time to eat humble pie. "Look, man, I'm really sorry," he said. "I was a complete asshole to you over Bianca, and when you tried to tell me she was married – look, I behaved in the worst possible way a friend could, and what's worse is I did it when you were trying to cover my back. It was a mean and selfish thing to do."

"Yeah, it was," Jack said.

"Well... I'm really sorry and... I miss you. You're the only good guy friend I've really got. I want you to move back in."

Jack found himself a little wary. He had figured it would come to this eventually, but living with Gabrielle and her friendship and hospitality had made him all the more aware of how badly Dan had treated him. "What's to stop you from doing it again the next time a pretty girl comes along?" he asked.

"I've thought about this a lot. I remember when you found out about Deanna and everyone thought you were such an idiot for thinking so highly of her –" Dan decided to cut that sentence short just there as it was obvious from the expression on Jack's face that he did not wish his relationship with Deanna to be compared to Dan's with Bianca. "Anyway, I remember how bad you felt about it, that you were the only one who didn't see her for what she was and... I think I know how you felt now. To insist that there's another side to her when, actually, she's a bitch through-and-through."

Jack was surprised to hear Dan refer to Bianca as a bitch. He must have confronted her. Well, at least now he saw her for what she really was. Jack pretended to think about Dan's request that he move back in. "I want three months free rent," he said. "It's hardly more than what you owe me for charging me rent to sleep in the hospital." Which was something of an exaggeration – try three weeks instead of three months – but he knew Dan was unlikely to quibble.

"Done." Dan was too relieved that Jack had agreed quickly to care about three months rent. He had already lost two, what was another three when he was at fault anyway?

"And twenty percent off the rent."

"What! Not fair! It's a good deal as it is!"

Jack shrugged. "Gabrielle lives in a nicer area and is giving it to me for twenty percent less. Not my fault she was smart with her money and payed a hefty deposit so she's got hardly any mortgage repayments." Actually, Gabrielle's father had done some pretty nifty legal work on the family trust so Gabrielle could own her own home; it had seemed only fair, since her younger brother Ben would inherit the farm intact. But Dan didn't need to know that.

Dan glowered at that. Just because some people could afford to take cut-prices on tenants – but he knew he wasn't in a position to be choosy on the conditions if he wanted Jack to move back in. From the sounds of it, he had a better deal in location, rent and landlady than he did with Dan, and Dan would at least have to match Gabrielle on the rent if he wanted Jack back. Which he did. "Fine," he said, albeit somewhat grudgingly. "When can you move back in?"

"Tonight, if you want to help me move," Jack said. Dan had a funny feeling that that meant he move all Jack's stuff while Jack and Gabrielle supervised him over margarita mix.


"Thanks for everything," Jack said to Gabrielle hugging her tightly, talking close to her ear. "Not just for letting me stay... for everything." In Gabrielle he had found a perfect match in loyalty, humour and the willingness to plot against those who had wronged them.

"Thankyou," she replied. "You made me believe in men again. Or at least some men."

He kissed her forehead, not wanting to let her go. She felt so right in his arms. She had come to mean a lot to him, and he wanted to tell her, but he knew how stupid the words might sound, like he was some lovesick fool. Especially since she knew better than anyone how promiscuous he had been in the past.

He had never regretted more his past than when he was holding her now. Perhaps if he could come to her as someone who had slept around less, as someone less like her ex... But he knew there was a difference between her liking him as a friend and her loving him as a boyfriend, and right now, that felt like a chasm that couldn't be bridged.

Later, he was playing playstation with Dan, and found himself feeling restless. This is what he had wanted for two months, what he had been plotting with Gabrielle over... funny how it wasn't as enjoyable as it had been two months ago. Funny how the take-out pizza and playstation annoyed him rather than made him happy like they once had.

He'd never had a real guy friend before Dan. His natural inclination was towards women, and he'd only really clicked with Dan out of necessity – Dan for a housemate to share the rent, Jack for a house to live under after his old one had burned down. But for someone who had always gravitated towards women over men, he had enjoyed living with Dan. Having a male friend was different to have a female friend, he had found, and if Dan sometimes drove him bonkers with his disinclination towards cooking or cleaning, he had learned to accept that.

Only now, it didn't seem to be as good as it once had been. He felt oddly bored, when he had never felt bored living with Dan before.

"You OK, mate?" Dan asked. Jack looked decidedly disinterested.

"Fine," he said.

"Is it Gabrielle?"

"Huh?"

"Gabrielle. Do you miss her?" Dan asked.

His question was of an insight that Jack hadn't normally found in Dan that he was momentarily speechless. "Yeah," he agreed cautiously.

"As more than a mate."

Jack was immediately defensive. "What the hell are you talking about? Have you been listening to Bianca's rubbish? Did she tell you she saw us at the Thai Palace?"

"Woah, woah, Jack," Dan said, putting his hand up in a stop motion. "Bianca hasn't said anything to me. In case you haven't noticed, I'm currently number-two on her shit-list after you. Or maybe number-three after you and Gabrielle," he added after a moment's thought. "I've just noticed how happy you are – were living with her. You were always talking about the stuff you did together and the food you cooked for each other. Both of you."

"That was mostly to make you think about what you were missing," Jack admitted.

Dan laughed at that. The pieces suddenly fell into place. Jack and Gabrielle had schemed over this together. "But you wouldn't have done it to the degree you did if you guys hadn't been in sync... if you hadn't cared about each other to know each other," he said, again with an insight that floored Jack.

"What would you know?" he demanded, because Dan was hitting a nerve.

"I know that you don't smile at anyone the way you smile at her. I know she doesn't permit anyone else to call her Gabby. I know you don't ditch your sister for just anyone," Dan recited, and the look on Jack's face confirmed it. He had fallen in love with her. "Jesus, just go and tell her."

"And if she rejects me?"

"Then she rejects you. We can all handle the moping you did after Terri dumped you again – yourself included. And something tells me she's not going to reject you," he added.

Jack grabbed his keys and headed out the door. Something told Dan that he had lost his housemate for good. Well, fair enough, he had kind of driven him away in the first place. And if it put a smile like that on Jack's place permanently...


"Jack! Did you forget something?" Gabrielle asked when Jack let himself into her house, still in possession of his keys.

"Uh...no." Now that he was here, his words lost him.

"Then what's up?" She hadn't been expecting to see him until at least tomorrow. Not that it wasn't a pleasant surprise.

"Ummm...." Jack wiped his hands on his jeans, leaving dark sweat marks on the material.

"Jack? Are you OK?" Gabrielle asked. She had never seen him nervous like this. Actually, she couldn't remember seeing him nervous at all. "Is something wrong?"

"No. I uh – I – I'minlovewithyou," he blurted out quickly, striding towards her as he did, grabbing her and kissing her, pushing his mouth hard against hers and thrusting his tongue in her mouth aggressively.

For a second, she remained stiff in his arms, too shocked to do anything. He pulled away, it registering what he had done. What in his head had been natural and sweet and involved him kissing her back and in reality been him pushing himself onto her, stiff and unresponsive. "I'm so sorry," he said. "I – uh – I'm going to go now." He bolted to the door.

"Jack wait," Gabrielle called after him. "Jack – please – stop. Hey!" She scooted in front of him, blocking his exit. "Look, it's just that I'm not exactly used to guys throwing themselves at me. Can we try again? Please?" she asked, looking up at him hopefully, trying desperately to tell him with her eyes that she wanted him to start over, but slower.

"I'm – in – love – with – you," Jack repeated slowly. "I didn't realise how much until I was back at Dan's and I missed you. I have fun with you and – I've never felt this way about someone before. I thought I did, but when I'm with you –" he realised he was babbling. "Look – can I –" he asked, and cupped her chin, tilting her head so he could look into her eyes. He searched them for permission to kiss her and got it. He lowered his mouth to hers and kissed her gently, closed-mouth, waiting for permission to go further. It came when she opened her mouth, trembling slightly. He slipped his tongue into her mouth and searched for her own. She met it and he deepened the kiss, wrapping his arms around her waist as she threw hers around his neck.

Kissing him was better than she had imagined and she pushed her body against his up against the door. "Jack," she murmured. She had been kissed before, but not like this. She wondered if Jack, being a Sydney boy born-and-bred, had a certain sophistication and finesse that country boys like Steve lacked. She giggled at the thought.

"What's so funny?" he whispered.

"Nothing. Just keep kissing me."

"Happy to oblige." He lifted her up slightly and carried her over to the couch. They started in a sitting position but it was all too easy to push her down onto her back. He kissed her mouth, her face, her neck, tasting her, inhaling her, savouring every element of her. Kissing her was better than he had imagined, and she was so eager to be kissed. He moved his hands down her body, touching her, wanting to feel every inch of her.

She wrapped her legs around his waist and dragged her hands down his back and under his shirt. Jack bucked against her at the feel of her hands on his bare back, loving the feel of her. He moved his hand slowly down her chest, cupping her breast. Oh, God, he wanted her so much, he couldn't remember wanting a woman so badly; not Terri, not Deanna...

He felt his jeans start to tighten and he reluctantly pulled away from her. "Something wrong?" she asked, certain she had done something that he didn't like. "I'm sorry, I'm not very good at this. I don't have a lot of experience."

He smiled at her. She was never cuter than when she thought her lack of experience and pretentions was a turn-off when it was actually enchanting. "You're wonderful. But I don't want to do this. Not yet." She looked confused. "I've always rushed too quickly into relationships. I've never had a relationship which didn't start with sex on the first date, and I've hardly had any relationships where a date even preceded sex." Funny how he suddenly felt ashamed of that when he had never been bothered by it before; in fact, he had up until now been of the opinion that sex on the first date was a necessity because if you didn't have the right chemistry, it wasn't worth the bother. "I want to date you. I want to take you out to dinner and hold your hand and stuff before I go to bed with you."

"Oh. OK." She tried not to look disappointed when she wouldn't have minded in the least if Jack had wanted to ravish her on the couch. Jack eased himself off her. "You feel like a cuppa?" she asked, feeling a little stupid. They had been in a steamy make-out session just a few seconds before and now she was offering him drinks like he was a guest.

"I'd love one." Actually, he hated tea, but if it distracted him from how hot he was for her right now –

Gabrielle went over to the kitchen and busied herself getting things out. Jack came after her and put his hands on her hips and ran his mouth through her hair. "You're beautiful," he said in such a way that she wholeheartedly believed him.

"Jack..." she said as he began trailing soft kisses over his shoulders. Why did he have to get a conscience about taking a woman to bed before he dated her now? It had certainly never bothered him before. "Look, haven't we already kind of dated?" she asked him.

"Huh?"

"We've gone to dinner – and movies – and a play – doesn't that count as dating?"

"I guess so," he said, not moving his mouth from her shoulders. It was only a pity she was wearing a t-shirt and he couldn't unbutton it and bare her shoulders.

"So – if you want..."

Yes, he wanted. "Is it what you want?" he asked. "I don't want to rush you."

"Jack, I've wanted it since you took me out on my birthday," she admitted.

He chuckled. "That long, huh? You should have said something." He spun her around so she was facing him and kissed her deeply. They resumed the make-out session they had started on the couch and he thrust his crotch against her thigh to show her how much he wanted her.

"Take me to bed, Jack," she murmured between kisses. She pushed him towards her bedroom without stopping the kisses until he was backed up against the door, kind of like in her fantasy, except then she had been against the wall. It was like déjà vu. "Is this real?" she whispered, wondering if maybe she was just fantasizing again. "I'm not dreaming? Ow! Shit, that hurt!" she yelped when he brought his hand hard against her ass. "What was that for?"

"Real enough for you?" he asked, his eyes twinkling. "I can do it again if you want." She poked her tongue out at him and he responded by kissing her again.

He opened the door behind him and once in the bedroom, they edged towards the bed. He lowered himself onto it with her on top of him, and her weight felt good. Except for one little thing –

He flipped them so she was beneath him. "I like to be on top," he said with a cheeky grin.