Waking up beside Casey and not feeling like absolute shit was wonderful, and Heath was determined never to keep anything from Casey again. All his guilt over their relationship was gone, he knew now that being with Casey was the most important thing in the world to him and he would do anything to make it work. Heath was excited by the thought of their future now that he'd come up with this plan and he wanted to share it with Casey. He kissed Casey's sleeping lips and loved the way Casey snuggled in closer as he woke. Heath slid his arms around Casey and held him tight. Nothing had ever felt more right. They stayed like that for as long as they dared, sharing slow kisses and just enjoying being together. But Heath knew the longer they stayed in here the more chance they had of being caught.

"I wish we could stay like this forever," Casey said softly, "I'm sick of stolen moments, I don't wanna hide anymore." Heath had been having the exact same thoughts and what he'd woken Casey to tell him was only solution he could think of.

"So we won't." Casey looked at him dubiously. "Let's get outta here," Heath proposed, "let's go far away where no one knows us and start again. Just be two people who love each other." Casey's eyes lit up with excitement at the thought.

"We could really do it, couldn't we? There's nothing left for us here..." But then Casey's excitement dimmed, "but we can't leave Ricky and she won't leave because of Brax...and neither can we..." Casey sighed, shutting down the idea of their new life before it hurt too much.

"I guess not," Heath mused, "but there's no reason why we can't bring them too."

"Except for the part where Brax is in jail."

"So we'll bust him out and run. We can call in every favour we were ever owed. New identities for all of us, you and I would need them anyway, and we'll go overseas, never look back."

"This could work," Casey said, his mood brightening once more.

"It could," Heath confirmed, certain because of one simple fact. "As long as we stick together, we can handle anything."

xxx

Of course there were a lot of details to sort out but now that Casey was on board everything else would follow. The next person to tell was Brax. Heath had made an appointment to see him in a few days time. Hopefully Brax would forget Heath's last visit when the prospect of freedom was put before him. Heath was thinking over the questions he'd need to ask Brax when Ricky walked in.

"Heath, can we talk?" She sounded serious.

"Is this about the baby?" Heath asked with concern.

"No, the baby's fine, it's something else." That was a relief.

"Okay, sure." Ricky was silent, she seemed to be struggling with what to say.

"It's alright Rick, you can tell me, I wanna be here for ya." And then it clicked, she knew he'd told Brax about the baby. Heath had been meaning to talk to her about this. "I'm so sorry Ricky, I shouldn't have told him."

"Told who what?" Crap, she didn't know, but it was too late to back pedal now. Anyway she needed to know this and now was as good a time as any to tell her.

"Brax...about the baby. I really am sorry." Heath thought she might hit him, or at least yell at him, but she didn't. She asked an anxious question instead.

"How'd he take it?" Heath should've known, even after everything Brax had put her through, Ricky was the same as him and Casey; she still loved the stupid bastard.

"I dunno," Heath admitted, "it kinda just came out and I was too mad to stick around and find out."

"I have to go see him," she insisted, looking wildly around for her handbag. Heath gripped her arms to steady her, needing her to calm down and listen to him.

"We can't Rick, not today, we don't have an appointment."

"I-" She was getting upset, and that wasn't good for her or the baby.

"Look, come and sit down, I'm going to see him in a couple of days, you can come too." Having a plan of action seemed to satisfy her.

"Okay," she agreed, following him to the lounge and taking a seat.

"Now, you said there was something you needed to talk to me about."

"Yeah," she said, uncomfortable once more. "I saw something at the beach the other day..." Fuck, Heath knew exactly what she'd seen, he'd been sure he and Casey were alone. She must've been a fair distance off, maybe he could tell her she hadn't seen what she thought she saw. "...it was you and Casey. What's going on with you two? Brothers don't act like that..." Heath didn't want to lie to her, and maybe if she knew this it would make their plan easier, she was going to find out eventually anyway.

"Do you really need me to say it?"

"I think I do, I need to know if I saw what I think I saw."

"If you think you saw two people who are in love, you did." Ricky was silent for what felt like an eternity, a million thoughts must've run through her mind. Eventually, when she did speak, there was no judgment in her tone and Heath was grateful for that, but really when it came down to it, he and Casey weren't hurting anyone.

"I knew there was something weird happening with you two. How long has this been going on?"

"A while." Ricky thought for a moment.

"This is why you broke up with Bee."

"One of the reasons. She fell in love with someone else too."

"Zac."

"Yeah. Please don't tell her about this."

"I won't, but Heath, you can't seriously think this can work? No one will accept it, I'm not even sure it's legal."

"I dunno," Heath smiled, "you seem to be doing a pretty good job of it. Anyway, we've got a plan, wanna hear it?"

"Umm, okay..." It was a little sooner than Heath had planned but Ricky was a Sharpe, she knew how to keep her mouth shut. Besides, it was only fair, this plan involved her too.

AN: Chapter 16 will be a few days, I haven't finished writing it yet. The good news is that chapters 17 and 18 are already done. Thanks for reading :)