Thank you for the reviews! When I was trying to figure out who Sutton could be paired up with, Dan just leapt out at me. My mind works in strange ways sometimes. (And they did have that kind of bonding moment in the last episode so it's not completely random...)

EPISODE EIGHT: Home Invasion

CHAPTER ONE

Thayer was having sex with Rebecca.

It wasn't an unpleasant experience but the act was purely physical, feeling her body writhe under his as he thrust into her. He felt nothing of the joy of that one night with Emma or even the tenderness of making love to Laurel. It was just something they did to pass time or perhaps to corrupt each other even more than they already had been.

Finally, they climaxed and he rolled off her, both of them lying there, panting in exhaustion. "All that practise is doing you good,"Rebecca commented.

Thayer glared at her but said nothing. He was aware that he was sleeping with Laurel more than he needed to, more than simply maintaining his cover. The truth was he liked it and not just for physical reasons. There was a certain purity about her that he enjoyed being part of, even for just a little while. It helped him forget just how twisted his life had become.

"You know the plan for tonight?"Rebecca asked, businesslike as usual.

"I'll get the information that you want,"Thayer noted. "And make sure Laurel's out of the house. What about Emma and Sutton?"

"I'll deal with that,"Rebecca replied. "You just play your part." She noticed his worried look. "Oh, come on. I'm not going to hurt my daughters, am I? Just someone else."

"So have you figured out where Sutton's been sneaking off to for the last couple of weeks?"Ethan asked as he and Emma approached the trailer.

"No,"Emma admitted. "She's been a lot happier though."

"Guess it hasn't been easy on her, everyone else pairing off,"Ethan remarked.

Emma nodded in agreement. "Be great if she found someone."

They pushed open the door to the trailer and stepped inside. They were afforded a brief glimpse of two bodies entangled beneath a sheet on Dan's bench bed before Sutton and Dan realised they had company and sprang apart, pulling the sheets tight around them as they looked in shock at the two newcomers.

Emma and Ethan stepped out of the trailer, turned and walked back the way they'd come, neither of them able to meet the other's eye.

"Did we just walk in on my brother having sex with your sister?"Ethan asked in a detached, casual tone.

"I think we did,"Emma agreed, in the same tone of voice, still looking in the opposite direction to him.

"That's…unexpected."

"Uh-huh."

"What do you want to do to try and erase it from our memories?"

"Go to the cabin and have as much sex as we can?"Emma asked in the same detached manner.

"Sounds like a plan."

Rebecca leaned against her car in the hospital car park, in what she hoped was a seductive pose. She'd worn a dress that showed off her legs, which she knew were still mighty fine for her age. She hoped it would be enough to get Ted's attention. She noticed him heading towards the hospital and put on her biggest smile. "Hi, Ted!"she called.

He looked in her direction and she waved at him. It was enough to make him turn and head in her direction. "Hi, Rebecca,"he responded politely. "What are you doing here?"

"Well, remember what I said a couple of weeks back about the two of us spending time together? I wondered if you'd thought any more about that." She saw him hesitate, thinking about it, and went on before he had a chance to answer. "Because if you have, well, I've got a table for two booked tonight and the person I was going with has cancelled so I wondered if maybe you fancied having dinner with me?"

Ted was silent for a long time and for a moment she began to wonder if she'd misjudged things. But then he nodded. "Yeah, sure, that'd be fine. What time should I pick you up?"

"Half six?" He nodded in agreement. "See you then." As he walked away, Rebecca smiled to herself. That meant that two things were proceeding the way she wanted them to.

Emma had heard the movement from her twin's room and cautiously made her way there. She was greeted by the sight of Sutton folding clothes and putting them in her wardrobe. Sutton noticed her presence but studiously ignored her.

"Sutton…what I saw before,"Emma began cautiously.

"It's not a big deal,"Sutton claimed, still not looking at her.

"It is a big deal,"Emma argued. "Or it should be." She sat down on Sutton's bed. "Do you love him?"

Sutton abandoned what she was doing and turned to face her sister. "I like him,"she said. She saw Emma's burgeoning list of disapproval and shook her head firmly. "That's a big deal for me,"she insisted as she sat down next to her. "I've been with guys. A lot of guys. Got my fingers burnt when I was way too young. Only one I ever cared about after that was Ethan and even then I never opened up to him. Dan…Dan's probably the first one that I've ever really been honest with and who's been honest with me."

"What about Theresa?"Emma asked.

Sutton shrugged. "What about her?"

"A few months ago, he was going to marry her. What if he's not over her? And what about you?"

Sutton looked defensive, sensing the criticism. "What do you mean?"

"Well…he's Ethan's brother. Are you sure you're not…transferring the feelings or something?"

Sutton glared at her. "Given that both of the guys that have loved you loved me first…don't go there." The fire seemed to go out of her. "Emma, this is the first time in pretty much my whole life that I've found someone who makes me truly happy. Can you not ruin it?"

Emma took her hand. "If you're happy, then that's the important thing." But she couldn't help adding, "If you're happy."

Dan was in the trailer, tidying, when Sutton arrived. He smiled at the sight of her. "Hey, how are you?"

"I spoke to Emma,"Sutton stated, deciding to cut out the preamble,"Or she spoke to me."

Dan nodded slowly. "What did she say?"

"Well, to start with, she wondered if you're over Theresa."

Dan sat down. "I'm not,"he said after a long pause. "Do I need to be?"

Sutton sat down next to him. "I don't know. Do you?"

"I think I'm always going to love her but that doesn't mean I can't love someone else." He looked at her seriously. "Sutton, I really care about you. And given how big a risk this is, I wouldn't be going into it if I wasn't serious. Are you okay with that?"

Sutton nodded and smiled. "More than okay." She kissed him briefly on the lips.

"I'm going to tell your parents,"Dan decided.

Sutton looked worried. "Are you sure?"

"Well, keeping it secret makes it look like what we're doing is wrong. Maybe if we're straight with them, they'll be okay with it. Better than them finding out some other way."

"So, about tonight,"Thayer remarked as he and Laurel headed up the stairs to the flat. "Are you doing anything?"

"Don't know. Dad's going to be home, he might want to do something together."

Thayer knew that if Rebecca's plan had worked then Ted would be otherwise occupied. Of course, he couldn't say that. "Well, I'm going be at the Diner so how about you join me if you've got nothing else on."

"Yeah, that sounds like…oh, hold on." Laurel had opened the door to the flat and now paused by the alarm box to key in the code.

"Ooh, numbers,"Thayer remarked once she'd finished. "I'm surprised you remember them all."

"Shut up!"Laurel protested.

"No, really. I mean, don't you get confused with the alarm code for your old house? Be really embarassing if you go round there and end up getting the police called out."

"I know both of them,"Laurel insisted.

"Okay, what's the code for your old house?"

Laurel sighed in frustration. "4501. Satisfied?"

"Yeah,"Thayer confirmed as he made a mental note of the number. "That'll do."