Three months. He had enlisted in the academy for three whole months before he'd decided it really wasn't his thing. Which had been unfortunate, because it had actually appealed to him initially, and he'd made some fantastic friends along the way. But when it came down to it, he wasn't very good at taking orders. Which was basically what his dad had said when he'd announced that he was going to become a police officer.

Well, he'd been right. The problem was that Zane felt that was the direction he wanted to go in for a career. He wanted to help people. He just didn't want others to tell him how to do it. Which of course led him moving back to the Gold Coast, but thankfully his dad had agreed with him when he'd decided he needed a place of his own and had more then willingly provided him with a sweet little two bedroom deal of his own. Right on the water. It probably had something to do with the mans new girlfriend, but Zane was far from complaining.

Emma had been there to help him with the move, but she was seeing some new bloke now and didn't really have much time to hang out. Cleo and Rikki had said they'd come by next time they were in town, but they were completely swamped with end of semester projects and couldn't tell him when that would be.

That being said, it was a busy few days of emptying boxes and catching up with a few old school mates before he found himself sitting down to his computer and looking up the number for ANU. He hadn't really found the time to try and call Lewis since his last attempt, which had been a few days after the big blow out between him and the girls.

Which was still apparently a taboo topic among their little, separated, group.

Whatever. Zane hadn't been able to get a hold of him then, something about the dorms phones not being set up properly so they couldn't find his name in the system yet. He'd been meaning to try later that week, but then his own courses started and he just lost track of time.

"Yes hi," he answered when the university's dorm operator answered the line. "Could you put me through to Lewis McCartney?" He waited a moment until the woman came back on the line.

"I'm sorry, but there doesn't seem to be anyone registered to that name," she announced and he sat up in surprise.

"Are you sure? Lewis McCartney. He's a freshman this year."

"I'm sure sir. He's not in our system."

"But he has to be," Zane frowned to himself. "He had a full ride, the school was putting him in residence." He insisted. There was a pause on the other end of the line.

"I don't know what to tell you, he's not here. Are you sure you have the right university?"

"Yes of course I have the right school," he insisted. "Look, could you put me through to registration instead?"

"Of course, hold the line please." And from there he just got more and more confused. Of course all they would tell him was that he'd declined his initial acceptance to the school months ago. Which apparently had disappointed them greatly, as they'd been looking forward to having him as a member of their fine establishment. Zane hung up on them without saying thank you and stared at the phone in his hand. Then he dialled Lewis's family, only to have them tell him to call back at Christmas, because they doubted they'd hear from Lewis before then. And they'd hung up on him before he could tell them anything. They hadn't picked up when he'd called them right back.

Christ, Lewis's family was far worse then his own. No wonder the guy had never offered to introduce any of them to his folks.

Which didn't help him find Lewis, and that unease he remembered feeling all those months ago when Lewis had initially started picking fights with them, tt was back now, and digging deep into his chest. He needed to find Lewis then

Right. That should be easy. And then he'd give the ass the chewing of a life time.

H2OOOO

He pressed himself deep into the corner of the tank and crossed his arms, hunching over on himself trying to preserve heat. The water was absolutely freezing, to the point that his fingers were numb and it made the still healing wounds on his back ache terribly.

He'd given up banging on the glass to get there attention an hour before, because it had become fairly evident that they were going to ignore him until they were finished whatever test they were hoping to accomplish this time. All Lewis knew, was that the water felt like ice, and it was more difficult to absorb oxygen in these temperatures, and he'd been slowly growing more and more lethargic as his shivering had increased.

A loud slap cut through the water and he jerked in surprise, his elbow smacking into the glass behind him and he grunted. Then peeled his eyes open, blinking to clear his vision.

"What?" he snapped as he looked past the glass to see Denman standing there, arms crossed and frowning at him. He closed his eyes again and wished his back would stop hurting so much. It had been three damn weeks since the accident. How long did it take for a few cuts to heal?

A hand suddenly landed on his shoulder, fingers curling around to wrap under his armpits and so hot on his skin they felt like fire. He reacted violently, twisting out of the grip and kicking his fin hard, trying to propel himself away before realizing that there was barely enough room in the tank to move as it was. So he flattened himself to the glass bottom, only a few feet underwater in the shallow tank, but the hands were back, and as always, they had multiplied.

He didn't resist this time, his initial shock over as they pulled at him until he was breaking the surface, and then they easily hauled him onto an awaiting gurney and quickly strapped him in. He squirmed, the hard surface just as uncomfortable as the tank had been, and then Denman was beside him, putting her hand gently on his chest, her fingers spread out.

He cut his eyes to her sharply, hoping they portrayed his disgust, before his burst of energy left him and his head dropped onto the gurney with a thud. She frowned down at him.

"How do you feel Lewis?"

"Are you serious?" He slurred, half laughing at the absurdity of the question.

"I know this is unpleasant Lewis-"

"You know fuck all" he hissed. She continued as though she hadn't heard him.

"But if we don't do these tests we won't get the information we need, and we'll have to do them again."

"How about you grow a conscience and don't do them at all?" he muttered, only to be ignored again. He was so tired.

"So tell me how you feel." She ordered and, as if on cue, he felt Gil's hand land on his arm and squeezed warningly.

"I can tell you, with relative certainty, that I'm a tropical fish," he jerked his arm to try and dislodge Gil's heavy hand. "Can we skip the arctic water now? I'd like to keep feeling my flesh."

"Sure Lewis," she answered instantly, no promise in her tone whatsoever. "Get his weight and measurements then follow through with the usual tests." A hard tube was shoved into his mouth to get his O2 reading and they were already hooking up monitors for his heart. He realised with despair that they'd probably want to do this all over again, but with monitors invasively attached next time.

She removed her hand from his chest and he breathed easier, and firmly kept his eyes clenched shut so he wouldn't have to see them, with their clipboards and clinical eyes as they did what she bid. Bastards, the lot of them.

Complete bastards. To think that she had almost had not one, but all three of the girls…he ground his teeth at the thought.

He had saved them, not in the most lucrative way for himself, but he had save them and that was enough. For now it had to be.

But he wanted to go home.