Okely dokely – as promised, I would warn you of major mentions of episodes and this is the first one. 3x13: Dunes. If you haven't watched it, there will be MAJOR spoilers. If you haven't watched it because you're in the UK – they're all on the Channel Nine Rescue site, and better yet - unlike the stinky American shows, they're not restricted! Otherwise, come back in about three chapters... That being said, I will be manipulating the episode for my own uses. Or better yet, check out my profile and I will let you know when it's safe to start reading again!

But Who's Going to Save You?

Chapter 10: Michelle's New Babies

"Vince, you're here!" Michelle exclaimed happily as Vince appeared in her office doorway.

"You're remarkably cheerful this morning," he responded suspiciously. Awkwardly, he leant one of his crutches against the door and shook his backpack off his back.

"Let me get that," Michelle told him. "You know, you shouldn't have come in."

Vince stared at her in bewilderment. "First you're happy I'm here, then you're telling me I shouldn't be? Make your mind up, woman."

Michelle laughed, using her arm without the broken wrist to grab the backpack from Vince's feet. "You have a broken foot. You should be in bed, resting."

"And you have a broken wrist, and yet you managed to make it to work," he retorted.

"I know," Michelle said, shooting him a grin. "That's because I have some new babies."

"Babies?" Vince repeated, dubiously.

Michelle nodded. "Follow me," she told him, heading for the stairs.

"Oh, come on!" Vince complained. "Do you have any idea how long it took me to get up them?"

"If I said that the minister had supplied us with some new equipment, would that get you moving quicker?"

"Have we got those new harnesses?" Vince asked, hopefully.

"Better," Michelle beamed, before disappearing down the stairs.

Vince grunted and grabbed his other crutch, hobbling after her. "You could have waited, you know," he muttered as he joined her. He stopped, mouth falling open as he saw Michelle's new 'babies'. "I'm declaring joint custody," he declared, happily. "How on earth did you wangle that one?"

Michelle turned her attention from the two quad bikes and the off road bike and gave Vince a sly smile. "Well, apparently the minister was watching our efforts at the car wash. Not only did she decide to provide us with these little beauties, she's also ensuring the third helicopter stays airborne."

"And what about the radios?" Vince asked. At the car wash, he and Michelle had had a couple of radios on the table with them. Afterwards, neither of them had been repairable.

"Coming," Michelle nodded. "Oh, and did I mention, we're going to be getting a new patrol vehicle too?"

"This place is phenomenal," Felicity muttered in awe, her hand shading her eyes so she could turn on the spot to stare at the sand dunes that surrounded them.

"You're supposed to have a broken leg," Chase pointed out from his prone position on the sand.

Felicity dropped her hand and rolled her eyes. "You do realise that the others will be taking the most indirect route possible to 'find' us," she told him, making quote marks with her fingers. "And you're starting to sound like your brother."

"I do not!" Chase objected, pulling a face.

"I don't know," Felicity shrugged. She sat down next to him, folding her legs beneath her. "Although, if it was your brother, we wouldn't have crashed, I wouldn't have a broken leg, and you wouldn't be suffering a brain bleed."

Chase sat upright and scowled at her. "I don't have a brain bleed. I have a laceration to my forehead," he corrected her, pointing at the obviously fake cut on his head.

"Obtained when you fell from the bike and hit your head. For all we know, you could have brain damage," she smirked. "Which would be alright if we lived in Seattle and McDreamy was there to save the day, then McSteamy could fix your face and you'd be your good-looking self again," she added, leaning over to pinch his cheek.

"A Mc-what?" Chase asked, frowning slightly. "Is that some form of weird burger in England?"

"A burger?" Felicity repeated, pulling a face. "Chase, I'm talking about Grey's Anatomy, not a bloody fast food restaurant. Although, a McFlurry wouldn't go amiss right now."

Chase shook his head, lying back down. "Has anyone ever told you, you're crazy?"

"Numerous people, on numerous occasions," Felicity nodded. With a frustrated sigh, she rolled the sleeves and the bottom of her t-shirt to allow the sun access to her pale skin. "I don't know why I bother," she muttered, uncurling her legs and stretching out on her back. "I don't change colour."

Chase propped himself up on his elbow. "What are you doing?"

"Milking a cow," Felicity muttered, deadpan.

Chase rolled his eyes. "You'll burn."

"I'll get a few more freckles," Felicity corrected him. "I just want to give these grazes a bit of vitamin D – see if they can heal a bit quicker. Besides, if they leave us out here for much longer, we'll both have sunburn anyway." She glanced at her watch. "If this was a real rescue, my leg and your brain would have bled out ages ago. Although, if you were wearing your helmet when we fake crashed, you wouldn't have a fake brain injury."

"Crazy," Chase muttered, shaking his head. He leant over and grabbed the only radio they had. "Do you guys need us to light a beacon or something? This is the worst response time, ever."

"Shut up, Chase. You're unconscious," Dean told him.

"I'm not," Felicity informed him, leaning over Chase to speak into the radio. "I'm still very much vocal and contemplating heroics which will undoubtedly complicate your rescue further."

"Chase, have you got any more laceration stickers for Flick's head?" Dean asked, his tone dry.

"Don't know?" Chase shrugged. "I'm unconscious, remember?"

Felicity chuckled to herself, settling back into the sand. "Sometimes, I think your brother wants to throttle me."

"If it makes you feel any better, I think he always wants to throttle me," Chase told her, half listening to Vince, Michelle and Dean argue over who had the parental rights of the bikes.

"You say that, but you sleep on his couch," Felicity pointed out. "I love my sister dearly, but we really would murder each other if we lived together. You may not think it, but you're lucky..." she trailed off. "Are you listening to me?"

Chase shook his head, turning up the volume on the radio.

"Yeah, it's a buggy gone over," Dean's voice blasted out.

"Single occupant, male, probably fifteen to sixteen years old," Heidi added.

"What the hell?" Felicity muttered in confusion.

"Right, so I'm guessing he won't have a license?" Michelle asked in frustration.

"I doubt it," Heidi agreed. "There's no plates on the vehicle either."

"I'll call a local cop shop and see if we can pin a name on this kid," Vince sighed. "How are his obs?"

"He's none responsive, but Dean's trying to get close enough to do a nose to toes," Heidi replied.

"Rescue Four and Six portable, are you still there?" Vince asked.

"Rescue four portable, you won't believe our amazing recoveries, Vince," Chase replied, ripping the fake wound from his head. "We're on it." Beside him, Felicity was already on her feet, pulling her sleeves and top down to their normal position.

"Get yourself to the accident site, set up the flags – it looks like this area has a lot of off-road traffic," Vince instructed them.

While Chase stood the bike upright, starting it, Felicity reached for her helmet, pulling it on. Quickly she hopped on the bike behind Chase. "I'm good," she told him, before they took off, flying over the sand dunes.

The next thing Felicity knew, she was on her side, sliding along the ground with her leg trapped under the bike. She lay there, stunned for a moment until Chase's hand was shaking her shoulder. She let out a groan and pulled her helmet off. "Seriously, Chase?" she grunted, trying to pull her leg free from under the bike. "Are you desperate to get me on my back?"

"Are you alright?" he asked her, lifting the bike off her.

Felicity pulled her foot free and rolled up her trouser leg, gingerly pressing the tender muscle. "I think it's just a sprain," she winced. "What about you? Are you alright? What happened?"

"I'm fine," Chase muttered, somewhat distracted as he pulled a broken radio out from underneath the bike. "Rescue Four portable to Rescue Base, come in?" he said. "Great."

"You killed it?" Felicity asked, nibbling her lip.

"And the bike too," he muttered, examining the wreckage. He leant over to help Felicity up, when a boy appeared from out of the grass. "Hey!" he called.

"Go!" Felicity told him. Chase was off like a shot after the kid. Using the bike as a support, Felicity got to her feet, watching as the boy – probably still in high school – fell to the ground. In the second it took for her to realise he was seizing, she was hobbling after them.

By the time she got to the pair, Chase was already supporting his head. "Easy, breathe," he muttered. He glanced over at Felicity as she knelt down beside them. "What's the chance you have your phone on you?"

"About the same chance you have yours," she responded. "The kit's all on the quads, too." The seizure eased up and Chase turned him on his side. "Hang on," Felicity told him, reaching for the teen's neck. "His name's Todd Rouse," she said, reading the nametag. As Todd started to come around she leant back to give him room.

"Hey, are you okay?" Chase asked him, trying to stop him from sitting bolt upright.

Todd ignored him, trying to move around his hands as he slowly began to focus on him. "Yeah."

"My name's Chase," he told him. "And this is Felicity. We're from Rescue."

Todd glanced over at Felicity. "Rescue?"

"Yeah," Chase nodded. "Me and my team are attending a buggy crash down here."

"I – I was just..." Still trying to sit up, Todd swayed. Quickly, both Chase and Felicity reached for him, supporting him.

"Easy," Chase said, gently. "You've taken a bit of a turn."

"Turn?" Todd asked. "No, you must have hit me with your bike or something."

Chase glanced at Felicity, noting the face she pulled and then turned his attention back to Todd. "So you don't get seizures?"

"Dunno what you're talking about," Todd told him, refusing to look at either one of them.

"Are you sure you're not an epileptic, Todd?" Felicity asked him.

Todd stared at her suspiciously. "How'd you know my name?"

"Easy," Chase muttered, holding his hands up. "It's in the back of your shirt."

"Bloody mum," Todd cursed. "Yeah, okay, I'm epileptic. So what?"

"So, you just had a grand mal seizure," Chase pointed out. "We need to get you to the rest of the team and give you a proper medical."

"No!" Todd cried. "No, I gotta get home." Trying to pull himself free from Chase and Felicity's grasp, he struggled to his feet. "Mum knows what to do."

"Wait," Felicity ordered. "Which way?"

"That way," Todd replied, allowing Chase to support him. His eyes fell on the bike. "Cool bike."

Chase glanced back, frowning. "Yeah, it was." He looked at Felicity and sighed. "You want me to take it?"

Felicity shook her head. "I've got the duff ankle. You help Todd and I'll take the bike. I can use it as support."

"You've got an accent," Todd told her, his eyes widening.

"I'm not the one with the accent," Felicity called over her shoulder as she hobbled back to the bike. "You're the one with the accent."

"That doesn't make any sense," Todd mumbled to Chase.

"Sense?" Chase repeated. "No that's the part of her that does make sense. You want to be asking her about McSteamed."

"Why does that sound like a really nasty vegi-burger?" Todd asked him, wrinkling his nose.

The walk to Todd's house was relatively quick. Or it would have been had they not been walking slowly because of Felicity's ankle. Admittedly it was doing better, but it was still slow going. They were coming up the final dune, Todd's house in sight, when a woman in her thirties came dashing out the door. "Todd?" she called, running over to them.

Chase glanced over at Todd, who was now walking unsupported. "That's your mum?"

Todd rolled his eyes. "How'd you guess?"

"Todd, what happened?" his mother demanded.

"Nothing!" he cried.

Todd's mother glared at Chase who sighed loudly. "He had a seizure on the dunes. Sorry," he apologised quickly, seeing how confused the mother was. "I'm Chase Gallagher and this is Felicity Lowe. We're from Rescue."

"We were attending a buggy crash when we found your son," Felicity added.

Todd's mother glared furiously at them. "Well why didn't you call me?" she demanded.

"I'm afraid the radio's out," Chase told her, as apologetically as he could. "I need to use your phone to call my team if that's possible?"

"Sure," Todd's mother muttered, brushing him aside. She turned her attention to her son, checking him over. "You okay? You know I don't like you walking the dunes alone."

Todd rolled his eyes at her. "Yeah you don't like me doing anything alone."

"Well can you blame me with those idiots and their dune buggies?" she snapped at him. She looked at Felicity. "Was anybody hurt?"

Felicity nodded, trying to remember the name she'd heard over the radio. "A boy called Sean Cooper. Do you guys know him?" she asked, watching as the mother and son shared a look.

"Everyone knows the Coopers," Todd's mother muttered, dismissively. "They treat this place like it's their own private motor cross circuit."

"Is Sean going to be okay?" Todd asked Chase, looking worried.

Chase sighed. "My team's there. He's with the best people possible."

Mrs Rouse eyed them both dubiously. "Really?"

"We had a little accident, hence the need to use the phone?" Felicity hinted, keeping a smile on her face.

"It's in the house," Todd's mother sighed. She wrapped her arm around her son's shoulder – despite his protest and led them into the house. "There," she said, pointing at the phone. "I take it it's going to be a local call?" she asked, looking pointedly at Felicity.

"Yes, ma'am," Chase answered for her.

Felicity held her breath, waiting for Mrs Rouse to disappear into the house then turned to Chase. "Local call? Really?"

"I think she's worried about her son," said Chase, ushering her over to a chair. "I don't think she really thought about what she was saying. And what's with you today. You're really… twitchy."

"I'm not twitchy," Felicity objected.

"But you also haven't been able to sit still all day," he pointed out, placing his hands on her shoulder and forcing her to sit.

"I'm not twitchy," Felicity repeated, trying to push Chase's hands off her shoes. "I don't like being the patient. It's just a sprain. In fact, it's feeling better already – I probably just rolled it."

"Which we won't know unless it's examined," Chase pointed out, finally unlacing the shoe.

"We should be phoning in our location," Felicity returned. "And going helping the others."

"Which you can't do unless your ankle is examined," Chase continued.

"You can ring, you know," Felicity started. Then she sighed, seeing the pointed look Chase was directing at her. "Fine," she muttered in defeat and sunk back into the chair.

"It needs strapping up, but it looks like you've sprained it," he looked up and grinned. "Now stop pretending it doesn't hurt, because it's making you grumpy."

"Sorry," Felicity grumbled, watching as Chase laughed at her. He pulled a bandage out from his pocket and started wrapping her ankle up. "And of course you just happen to have that in your pocket. Were you a boy scout, or something?"

"Or something," he agreed, tying it off. "That's not too tight, is it?" Seeing Felicity shake her head, he finally reached for the phone and dialed. "Hi Vince, its Chase."

"Chase? Where the bloody hell have you been?" he demanded.

"We were heading for the accident, a kid ran out in front of the bike and we swerved. He had a seizure so we walked him home."

"And what about you and Flick?"

"We're fine," Chase assured him. "Felicity's sprained her ankle. How are the others doing?"

Vince sighed. "The kid didn't make it. They're packing up."

"Sorry to hear that," Chase muttered.

"Where are you? I can send your brother to pick you up," Vince offered.

"Uh yeah, it's bungalow 17 – the beach on Power Street," Chase told him, ringing off.

"Is everything okay?" Felicity asked, watching him carefully.

"The Cooper boy didn't make it," Chase sighed.

"He didn't?"

Felicity blinked. She hadn't even noticed that Todd's mother had joined them. Chase shook his head.

"Oh, no," she mumbled. "Poor Graham. I can't even imagine if I lost Todd." Muttering to herself, she disappeared back into the house.

Dean stood to one side, watching as the ambos carefully loaded Sean Cooper's body into the back of the van. Beside it, his father, Graham, was watching helplessly. Cautiously, he walked over. "You can go with him," he said, his words startling him.

"No," Graham told him. "Lynne. My wife… I've got to call Lynne. No," he shook his head. "I've got to tell her face to face. I can't tell her on the phone that her son's dead."

Heidi joined them, clutching at a small collection of belongings. "I'm really sorry Mr Cooper."

"What kind of dad am I?" Graham asked her in disbelief. "I can't look after my son – I can't protect him."

Heidi gave him a sad smile, handing over his son's belongings. "These are Sean's things from the accident site."

Lovingly, Graham's hands ran over the items, until his fingers fell onto a small silver bracelet. "What's this?" he asked, holding it up.

"Sean's epilepsy bracelet," Heidi replied.

For half a moment, Dean was certain a spark of anger passed through Graham, but as quickly did it appear, did it disappear. "Thanks," he muttered

Dean watched him leave, frowning slightly. Then he stuck his hands in his pockets, sighing as his fingers felt the bag of weed he'd found at the buggy crash. He headed back to the truck, ready to start writing up the incident, but stopped when he realised Lara had seen him and hurried over to the other vehicle. Three days of this was enough. He threw the weed in the truck and walked purposely over to Lara. "You're ignoring me," he told her.

"No, I'm not," Lara told him, busying herself with something in the boot.

"Then you're avoiding me. And you've been doing it since Saturday. When we kissed," Dean pointed out.

Lara sighed, turning to lean against the bumper. "Alright," she nodded. "Maybe I have. I'm sorry. I… I just didn't know what to say."

"Well, anything would have been better than nothing," Dean told her, leaning against the car, next to her.

"I know. I'm sorry," she repeated. "It's just…" she frowned. "We work together."

"Lara, it was just a kiss," Dean told her, quickly. "It wasn't a marriage proposal. And for what it's worth, I won't let it happen again. So stop avoiding me," he added with a forced grin. Without waiting for a response he made his way to the quad bikes to start packing them away.

Lara watched him go. She had been trying to tell him that yes, they worked together, and yes she'd been avoiding him, and no, she didn't know how to successfully merge the two so the avoidance disappeared altogether. Because she'd been wanting him to do that, to kiss her (and maybe a little bit more) for so long she couldn't even put a time to it. That part of the avoidance came from the fact that she didn't want him to brush it off. That it mattered more to her than it did to him. That she had been trying for three days to put that jumbled collection of words into something more cohesive.

And then he assured her it wasn't going to happen again.

Sorry it has been a while without an update. It turns out I have a stalker. Oh yes, some eejit has developed some infactuation with me. Me! I shouldn't laugh, but if I didn't, I think I would cry. A lot. Sadly, while my rabbit, Jack, is rather good at going for people's ankles, he's just not threatening enough. So, writing it really not top of my to-do list (Although you have got to read my longest chapter yet). It's doing my health a lot of good... Decided to take up running, because if you knew me, you'd know I have the upper body strength of a stick of celery. Not entirely sure that watching the Scream movies was a brilliant idea to help me sleep. Internet dating... it turned me into a horror movie cliche.

Anyway, moving onto happier stuff. Rescue... yeah, that show can put a smile on my face. Although I have just watched this week's episode and wow - who else wants to give Dean a big ol' hug?

Miss Deeds - Well, they have three weeks to redeem themselves as there was any... anything. I won't be impressed if there's nothing by the time they kill this show. I was supposed to have an assessment today, but they called me up at 8am(!) to let me know that the assesment I had taken last year was valid for another four, so it's waiting on the medical now. Which I passed last time, but then they decided to put a stop on all hiring, so I'm hoping it doesn't happen again. Otherwise, I will be walking out, becuase I can't afford to lose any more of my wages again!

MMC gang - I will most definitely be writing more fluffy chapters in the future - I might have enjoyed writing it far too much. As for Chase and Felicity, well they're behaving themselves. For now...

Asha331 - Cole will be around for a while longer, but I've already written him getting his comeuppance. Admittedly, the way I see this panning out, it could be a very long story. They totally like each other. Now I just have to get them all playing happy families!