But Who's Going to Save You?
Chapter 6: Crisis at a Carwash
"I'm still trying to work out if I want to kill Flick, or hug her," Lara grumbled, leaning on the pool stick.
Dean glanced up from the shot he was lining up. "I know exactly what you mean," he agreed. "A day washing cars whilst Jake Hudson lords it over us."
"I was thinking more along the lines of just washing cars," Lara said, watching as Dean missed getting the ball in the pocket.
Dean righted himself, looking less than impressed. "You had better be joking about that."
"Thanks Dean," Lara grinned potting her remaining ball and then the black. "That makes it your round."
Dean rolled his eyes. "That's cheating," he stated.
"Hey, you choked," Lara pointed out, smugly. "Don't be bitter because I'm better at pool than you."
"Is that so?" Dean asked, leaning on his pool cue.
Lara nodded. "I'm better at most things than you. It's just the way it is," she declared, poking him in the chest.
With lightning fast reflexes, he grabbed her finger, using it to pull her to him. "Is that so?" Dean muttered, staring down at his blonde partner.
Lara nodded. "You know it, babe. Girls are always better than boys."
Dean licked his lips. "Care to prove it?" At Lara's slightly startled look he quickly tagged on, "At the carwash tomorrow."
Lara's lips twitched. "What did you have in mind?"
"Simple," Dean told her. "Let's see if you, Heidi and Flick can attempt to raise more money than me, Chase and Jordan."
"Oh, that's too easy," Lara scoffed. "And when we win, which we will, you guys will have to wash the ropes for the next six weeks."
Dean laughed. "Let's make it twelve weeks. You need the practice."
"You are so on," Lara informed him.
Felicity pulled up outside the fire station early. There was already a Rescue SUV parked prominently alongside a Fire truck, and she had clocked Jordan's obnoxiously bright green car pulling up behind her.
She got out and hurried over to Lara and Heidi, the former of whom was waving her over. "Morning, babe," Lara greeted her, cheerfully.
"Morning, ladies," Felicity returned.
"Flick, I hope you have your competitive head on," Lara told her, linking her arm through Felicity's.
"Why don't I like the sound of this?" she asked Heidi, suspiciously.
"Because you have good instincts," Heidi replied.
Lara shook her head. "I may have made a small bet with Dean." Felicity looked over at the man in question, frowning as she saw him huddled with Chase and Jordan – the three of them shooting looks in their direction. "That we could raise more money than them."
"And if we don't?" Heidi asked.
"Babe, it won't come to that," Lara tried to assure her.
Felicity shared a look with Heidi. "What have you bet?" she asked Lara, slowly.
Lara grinned. "That when we win, they will be washing ropes for the next three months."
"Lara!" Heidi exclaimed.
"It will be fine," Lara told them, firmly.
Felicity nodded. If Lara seemed certain, then she would go along with it. Instead, she busied herself setting up with Michelle – making sure the poster boards up along the surrounding streets had been amended to read 'today'. By the time she had made it back, the fierys had already started the barbeque and there were two clear sides to the car park – girls on one side, and the guys on the other.
In the centre, looking mildly amused, Vince and Michelle were seated behind a table. Even from a distance away she could hear Vince calling his complaints to Jake about the 'dining' table they'd been leant.
"All done," Felicity announced, hurrying to join Heidi and Lara. "Let's see if this works," she added, nervously.
"What are they doing?" Heidi asked, her attention on the opposing team.
Lara and Felicity turned to find the three guys pulling their shirts off. "What are they doing?" Felicity asked, somewhat transfixed.
"I don't know, but I'm going to find out," Lara said, pulling a face. She marched straight up to Dean. "What are you doing?"
Dean smirked down at her. "Winning a bet," he told her as a pale pink Kia pulled up in front of Jordan, a flushing housewife waving $10 in his face.
"That's cheating, Dean," Lara told him, disapprovingly.
"Nah, ah, ah," Dean shook his head. "We agreed the winner would be whoever earned the most money – not how it was done."
Lara glared furiously. "I didn't think you would stoop this low," she snapped, before storming back to Felicity and Heidi. "You're staring. Both of you," she pointed out.
"Uh huh," Felicity agreed, her head at a slight angle as she watched Chase wash the next car in line. She quickly shook her head free of the thoughts her engaged self shouldn't have been thinking. "What?" she asked Lara.
"I'll be right back," Lara responded, and then, leaving Heidi and Felicity alone, took off at a run to her car.
"What was that?" Heidi asked, a small smile on her face.
Felicity shrugged. "I have no idea. Maybe she's going to pimp herself out to get us some cars to wash?"
Heidi laughed. "Not that. You were checking Chase out!"
"I was not," Felicity hurriedly disagreed, feeling her face heat up. She quickly turned away in embarrassment from Heidi, scraping her hair back into a ponytail to give her something to do.
By the time Lara came back, a bag in her hands, it was clear that the guys were in the lead. Aside from the fact Lara's team had been one down, for the best part of an hour, there had been a steady stream of middle-aged women wanting their cars washing by the guys. Much to both Felicity and Heidi's amusement, despite Vince's attempts to usher cars fairly, Jordan was proving to be the popular one. Heidi couldn't stop giggling at Jordan's embarrassment, whereas Felicity was highly entertained at the fact Dean and Chase were trying to flirt with the female drivers, and getting shot down. Entertained and somewhat confused - yes, Jordan was clearly pretty, but the other two were hardly hit by the ugly stick.
"How are we doing?" Lara asked them.
Felicity shrugged. "I've been trying to keep track, but I think they're a good ten cars ahead of us thanks to Jordan. If we could get more customers, I think we could plough through them quicker. They're going one car per person, but I think if we all worked together on the car, it would help us."
"That's not a bad idea," Heidi agreed, joining them. "But how are we going to get more customers?"
"Bribe Vince?" Felicity suggested.
"I don't think that's going to work," Heidi sighed. "I mean, how are we going to compete with that?" she asked, pointing at the long line of cars.
"Our problem is that the people driving by and stopping are women," Lara informed them. "The men keep on going. So we need to rectify that."
"Why do I suddenly not like the sound of this?" Heidi asked Felicity.
"Because you probably have the same feeling as me," Felicity responded, watching Lara warily. "Like we don't want to know what's in the bag."
"Vince, we'll be right back," Lara called over her shoulder, grabbing Heidi and Felicity's hands and dragging them into the station to the bathroom, pulling out something from the bag.
Felicity looked over at Heidi, happy to see from her unimpressed look that not only had she suspected there were bikini tops too, that she didn't want to wear them either.
"Look, I don't know about you, but I don't want to be stuck washing ropes," Lara told the pair. "And frankly, with Dean pulling that stunt, we're going to need to get a little dirty."
Felicity shared a look with Heidi. "It's going to cost you," Felicity told Lara.
"Yup," Felicity agreed. "Regardless of the outcome, we don't want to be writing up any more paperwork than necessary for a month."
"Oh, come on!" Lara objected. Seeing Felicity and Heidi fold their arms, she sighed. "Two weeks."
"Deal," Heidi agreed, snatching the green and black striped material from Lara's hands.
"Fine," Felicity sighed, taking the hot pink bikini.
It didn't take long for the girls to change. "Look, if we're going to do this, we might as well show those guys we mean business," Heidi sighed. "No ponytails," she told them, pulling her own hair loose and fluffing it out.
Felicity nodded. "And let's roll these shorts up," she added, rolling her own up as high as they would go.
"Where are they going?" Chase asked, watching Lara drag Heidi and Felicity into the station.
Dean grinned. "That, baby brother, is the act of a desperate woman."
"Looks like a more determined woman if you ask me," Chase muttered.
Dean shook his head, the grin firmly engrained there, and focused his attention on the car which had pulled up in front of him, attacking it with the hose pipe. The two women inside gave him a wave, which he returned with a wink.
"Dean, I think we're in trouble," Chase stammered, pointing back at the firehouse.
Dean turned, his mouth dropping open as Lara marched out wearing the tiniest blue bikini top, flanked by Heidi and Flick.
"Hey!" Jordan cried as Dean caught him with the hose, soaking him. He looked up and suddenly wasn't bothered as he saw his secret girlfriend heading towards them. She was… He blinked. His brain wasn't processing words quickly enough to come up with an appropriate describing word.
Dean, having the same problem, finally found the words. He turned the hose off and dropped it on the floor, marching over to Lara. "Ladies," he nodded at Heidi and Felicity before pulling Lara to one side. "Please tell me you aren't about to stoop so low?" he asked with a half laugh.
Lara stared defiantly up at him. "I'm just evening out the playing field," she responded.
"You're cheating," Dean told her.
"Scared?" she taunted him. "Besides, I thought we agreed - it was whoever raised the most money, and not how it was done."
"Is she back again?" Jordan asked, pulling a face as a familiar pale pink car appeared.
"I think you've got an admirer," Felicity laughed, passing by to fill up her bucket with some fresh soapy water. It had taken a couple of hours, but it had certainly picked up and Felicity no longer had a clue as to who was in the lead. The station was also getting busier as people were waiting around for Cole to arrive. "Have you got the time?" she asked Chase.
"Nearly three," he replied after a quick examination of his watch. "You got somewhere to be?"
Felicity shook her head. "Cole's late," she muttered. They both turned at the sound of excited screams and Cole's Spyder pulling into the centre of the car park.
"About time," Michelle muttered, joining them as Cole got out of the car and started signing autographs.
Felicity gave her an apologetic smile. "He's never been brilliant with his time keeping," she told her.
"I was getting sick of that lot asking when he was going to appear," Michelle shrugged. "I'm just glad he showed. I've got Vince doing a count at the moment, but with the raffle tickets, I think we've got the money we need." She beamed, leaning forward to give Chase and Felicity an excited hug. "I think we did it."
"Thank god," Felicity murmured. "Because I do not want to do this again."
"For what it's worth, I'd pay to have you wash my car," Chase told her with a grin.
Felicity couldn't help but laugh. "How many times have you had that line used on you today?"
"What are you wearing?" Cole demanded as he and Michelle joined them.
"This little wardrobe was a stroke of genius," Michelle answered for her. "Lara may well have come up with a solution to making sure we earned enough money."
"I would have thought raffling me off would have done that," Cole responded, haughtilly.
Inwardly, Felicity cringed. The expressions on Chase and Michelle's faces were enough for her to want to crawl into a hole and hide in embarrassment. "I promised the fierys I'd introduce you," she said, hurriedly, taking Cole's hand to lead him away. "Classy," she told him when they were out of earshot.
"Classy?" Cole repeated. "One look at you and I question whether or now you know what that word means."
"Bite me, Cole. It's for charity," she snapped.
By late afternoon, the majority of cars had been washed, and most people were waiting around for announcement of the raffle winner. With Vince's help, Michelle had everyone take a break in what they were doing and had them gathered to one side with Cole, Michelle stepped forward onto the steps, addressing the large crowd of excitable women and the press.
"I want to thank you all for coming today and helping us raise some money for our Helicopter Service. They are vital to what we do and every dollar earned will be put to good use. It's great to see that even though the minister doesn't appreciate the value of a rescue helicopter, you, the public, do. We are still counting, but it looks like we have raised enough to keep two helicopters in the air for this year," she had to pause, grinning, while the crowd erupted into a cheer – the loudest cheers coming from the team. "I also need to take this time to thank the Fire Service for all their help."
"Help chatting up the women," Vince muttered to Dean. "They've just sat on their arses all day."
"Most importantly, I want to thank Cole Turner for raffling himself off," Michele continued, though had to wait for the women in the crowd to stop screaming. When the noise died down, she continued. "Well, clearly you're all here to see who won the date, so without further ado, I will let Cole pick the lucky girl."
Michelle nodded to Felicity. She headed over to Michelle who had been joined by Cole, carrying a bucket full of the tickets and held it up to him. Cole plunged his hand in, pulling out a ticket. "And the luck lady is," Cole grinned. "Lucinda Whitworth."
"Cole," Felicity hissed at him, keeping a smile on her face as they waited for the winner to make her way forward. "That's not what that slip says."
Cole ignored her, stepping forward to plant a kiss on the cheek of a strangely familiar blonde. Unless Felicity was very much mistaken – and she was certain she wasn't – the gorgeous woman who was acting like a crazed fan girl was his PR agent, Lucinda.
It wasn't until the crowds had dispersed somewhat and the car washing had resumed to finish off the final few cars that Felicity had the chance to speak to Cole. "What is going on?" she demanded.
"It's alright, baby," he told her, placing a hand on her shoulder. "I did this for you."
"Isn't she your PR person?" Felicity asked, shaking herself free of his touch.
"You rather I went out on a date with a loony?" he returned. "At least this way we both know who I'm having a meal with. I thought you would have liked that?"
Felicity shook her head. "Cole, that's cheating," she told him, bluntly.
"Oh relax," he snapped at her. "Luce bought a ticket – all so you could get a stupid helicopter."
Felicity took a step back, holding her hands up. "No," she told him firmly. Then she spun on her heel.
Cole grabbed her arm, pulling her back to him before she could move two paces. "Do not talk to me like that," he told her, his voice low. "And for the last time, go and get some clothes on.
Felicity yanked her arm free, glaring at him. Wordlessly, she again turned on her heel and stalked away from him, joining Michelle and Vince at the registration desk. They both turned with puzzled expressions when she slammed the bucket of tickets on the table. "Everything alright, Flickety-Split?" Vince asked her, cautiously.
"Just peachy," she growled, continuing past the table.
She had barely left them when Chase appeared, hurrying after her. "What's up?" he asked her. "What happened to your arm?" he added, spotting the red mark.
"It's nothing," she told him, a hint of venom to her tone.
"Well it doesn't look like nothing," Chase pushed.
"Drop. It," she told him through gritted teeth.
It was a squeal of tires and the mad hammering of a car horn which killed the conversation. Chase and Felicity turned in time to see an old truck bearing down on the Fire Station. By the time Felicity had worked out it wasn't going to stop, it was already mounting the footpath. It wasn't going overly fast, but there were people who couldn't get out of the way in time. It was also heading directly towards the registration table.
Her eyes were still on Michelle and Vince as Chase wrapped his arms Felicity's waist, pulling her to the ground. There was a painful explosion in her side, but her eyes were locked on Vince and Michelle. At the last moment, she saw Vince shove Michelle out of the way, and then the truck was there – and she hadn't seen Vince move clear.
Asha331 - He will be in there, eventually, yes! And I'm warming to that pairing. It wasn't going to be... but my muse has developed a will of his own!
Bubbles799 - Thank you! I'm always checking it for the same reasons you get frustrated, although I'm frequently annoying myself when I read a posted chapter and realise that I missed something. Grrr.