But Who's Going To Save You?

Chapter 18: Newlyweds in the National Park, pt 1

Spring was hitting the area in full force. If it wasn't for the fact it was only October, and she was literally on the other side of the world, Felicity was half convinced the April showers had hit. It had been raining heavily all night long but thankfully, it was finally starting to let up. Felicity parked her car and dashed over to where Lara was waiting for her, shielding herself from what was now drizzle with a bright blue umbrella.

"Please tell me we don't have to wait for Heidi?" Lara begged.

Felicity shook her head. "She's not coming. Apparently she's booked in with a psychiatrist."

"Yeah, right," Lara scoffed. "What's she really doing?"

"I'm being serious," Felicity insisted. "Her text said she couldn't make it because it clashed with the quote, stupid shrink appointment," she told her, complete with finger quotations. "I'm going to have to come back tomorrow afternoon with her."

Lara frowned. "So why are we still standing out here?" She turned on the spot and pushed the door to the bridal boutique open, hurriedly closing her umbrella.

As the door chimed, announcing their arrival, an assistant, followed closely by a very familiar looking leggy blonde, hurried over. "Miss Lowe?" the assistant queried, looking at the blonde for validation.

"That's me," Felicity confirmed, frowning slightly at the presence of Cole's PR agent, Lucinda.

"Wonderful!" the assistant beamed, suddenly producing three champagne flutes. "Your dress is ready to try on."

Felicity's eyebrows furrowed closer together. "I haven't picked a dress, and I'm sorry," she added, turning to Lucinda. "But why are you here?"

Lucinda lips pressed together in a thin line. "Cole asked me to help with the wedding. He said you were busy with work and wouldn't have time to arrange it."

"Why wouldn't I have time to arrange it?" Felicity asked, still confused. "It's not like there's much to organise."

"There's not much to organise?" Lucinda muttered, looking less than impressed. "You have two weeks, and close to a hundred guests."

Felicity, inhaled the champagne, rather than swallowing, and sent the bubbles soaring up into her nose. "How many?" she gasped, choking on the liquid, as it sent tears streaming from her eyes.

"Your friends and family," Lucinda sighed. "Then there's the majority of the rugby team, plus a few guys Cole has known throughout his career, as well as their wives or girlfriends. A few of them have children..."

"Are you alright?" Lara asked, seeing how pale her friend had gone.

"I will be," Felicity nodded, finishing the rest of her drink in one.

Lara took a deep breath and gently grasped the brunette's elbow. "We'll be right back," she informed Lucinda and the assistant, before leading Felicity away from the women and over by the window. "Breathe. It's just a wedding."

"I just wanted something small," Felicity muttered. "Something small I could organise myself, and not something with her involvement."

Lara looked over at the blonde in question, her expression thoughtful. "Do I know her?"

Felicity sighed, staring out the window. "She's the PR woman for the team. Though recently, it feels like she's Cole's personal assistant. And apparently, she's now a wedding planner," she explained, omitting the fact she was also the 'winner' of the raffle from the car wash.

"What do you want to do?" Lara asked her. She waited, patiently, for a response, but when none came, she peered in the direction Felicity was staring. "Is that Zoe?"

Felicity nodded, wishing she hadn't made it so obvious that she was staring. Across the road, standing under the awning of jewellery store was Zoe, her son on one side, and a man that wasn't Dean holding her hand on the other. Even from this distance it was clear they were pointing at rings. "It could be a brother?" Felicity suggested upon seeing Lara's startled look.

"If that's her brother, that's one messed up family," Lara murmured as Zoe and the man kissed in a way one never wanted to see siblings react to one another.

"Yeah, maybe not," Felicity nodded in agreement. She glanced at Lara. "Are you okay?"

Lara shrugged, giving her a bright smile. "Of course I am. Why wouldn't I be?"

"Okay," Felicity said, drawing out the word. "Are you going to tell Dean?"

"Nope," Lara responded, shortly.

Felicity blinked. "You're not?"

Lara shook her head. "No. I'm not. I told him about Zoe's kid and he told me it was none of my business. Even you said I shouldn't have said anything."

"Yeah, but-"

Lara held her hand up, cutting Felicity off. "I'm staying out of it. I am officially done with Dean Gallagher – I've even joined a dating website. So if you want Dean to know, you can tell him yourself."

Felicity stared at her, her mouth flapping about as she tried to find the words. "What in God's name-"

She was cut off again, this time by Lucinda clearing her throat. "Sylvia has other clients booked in, you know. Do you want me to rearrange this for another time?"

"No, we're good," Lara told her.

Lucinda turned to Felicity, who nodded. "No, it's fine." She half turned to Lara. "We'll continue this later," she informed her friend.

"Good," Lucinda said, her lips set back in a thin line. "You need to try this dress on."

"What dress?" Felicity asked, slightly exasperated a she followed Lucinda over to the dressing room.

"Cole found a dress. I checked your size and let Sylvia know. Effectively, it's your final fitting," Lucinda explained.

She checked her size? The only way Lucinda could have done that was to go through her wardrobe, and regardless of the circumstances, Felicity wasn't entirely certain that thought pleased her. Nor did the thought that Lucinda had been in her apartment without her. In fact, she wasn't sure she liked the idea of Cole choosing her wedding dress for her. If nothing else, wasn't it bad luck for the groom to see the dress before the wedding? Before she could voice the thoughts, Sylvia had presented her with the dress. And everything else was forgotten. It was beautiful. Even Lara let out a gasp.

"I'll take the stunned silence means you like it?" Sylvia asked.

Felicity nodded, still speechless as she allowed Sylvia to lead her into the cubicle.

"Is it on yet?" Lara called, impatiently.

"Kinda," Felicity called back, before shuffling out of the cubicle. It was a gorgeous white dress with a full skirt and diamante details over the bodice. But it was also tight enough that Felicity knew she couldn't sit down in it. "It's a bit small."

Sylvia nodded. "We'll have to take it out a fair bit," she told her, making Felicity feel rather uncomfortable.

"Which dress did you use for the measurements?" she asked Lucinda, trying to sound curious rather than accusatory.

"That black and pink floral thing," Lucinda shrugged. "Maybe you've put weight on."

Felicity bristled. "Maybe you can't take down measurements correctly," she muttered under her breath. There was no way she had put on that much weight – the dress in question was comfortable on, and none of her other clothes felt tight. "Well, while I'm getting re-measured," she said, addressing Lara. "Why don't you find a bridesmaid dress?"

Lucinda shook her head. "Already done. I just need your size," she told Lara.

Minutes later, Lara was being presented with the dress. It was a nice shape dress – strapless with an a-line shape which fell to just below the knees. The problem was the colour. "Coral?" Felicity exclaimed. "I'm not having my bridesmaids in coral."

"It's a wonderful colour and all the arrangements in the hotel have been ordered," Lucinda shrugged.

"It may well be a wonderful colour, but it's not going to suit Heidi and I'm not doing that to her. And who the hell chose coral?" Felicity demanded. "Green and gold. That's the colours, and all three girls will suit green."

"Cole chose it," Lucinda informed her. "And the decorations have been ordered. They were already done on short notice – we can't change it now."

If it wasn't for the fact Sylvia was far too close to her stomach with a handful of pins, Felicity would have throttled her.

"Flick!" Lara exclaimed. "We have to go."

Felicity blinked, turning her attention to Lara. She was waving her phone at her. "Huh?"

"Lachie and Chase are on the way to pick us up. We've got a situation."

"We're not done here," Sylvia hurriedly told them.

"Oh, but we are," Felicity returned, reaching for the zipper as she hurried back into the changing room. By the time she had re-emerged, Lachie and Chase were already waiting for them in Rescue Two.

"Righto," Vince announced from the mobile command centre which had been set up under the gazebo, protecting the equipment from the rain. "We have two newlyweds missing somewhere in this area," he explained, indicating to a large area on the map. "Mother of the bride said they were due back two days ago."

"Perhaps they're enjoying their honeymoon," Felicity muttered, tying her boot laces. She was still in a bad mood with her own wedding.

The tone in her voice earned her a frown from Michelle. "Her mother has informed us she's sixteen weeks pregnant and was due for a check-up yesterday."

"We'll split up into three teams," Vince announced.

"I'll go with Chase," Lara announced, earning a surprised look from the younger Gallagher brother.

""No, I'll go with you," Felicity told her, giving her a pointed look.

"How about I organise the teams?" Vince suggested, rhetorically. "Dean, you and Chase are team A. I want you searching this area." He pointed to an area on the map, before indicating to another. "Lara, you and Jordan can take this area – you're team B. Lachie, Flick... you're with me. We're taking the ridge."

"What about Heidi?" Jordan asked.

"Heidi is otherwise engaged," Michelle responded, shortly.

"Look, I know this area," Vince continued. "Radio and mobile phone reception is intermittent at best. We will be the middle men between base and teams A and B in the valley."

"We only have a few hours before we lose the daylight, so you'd best get moving," Michelle added.

Knowing they weren't likely to have phone reception for much longer, Felicity took the opportunity to call Cole and let him know that there was a very good chance she wouldn't be home that night.

"What did you think of the dress?" he asked her.

"It's beautiful," Felicity admitted. "Not that Lucinda could get my measurements right. The dress was too tight."

"Well, baby, I didn't want to say anything, but you have put some weight on recently."

Felicity stopped short. Thankfully she was taking up the rear of group and Vince was none the wiser as he ploughed on along the trail. "I have not put any weight on," she told him.

"Baby, you have," Cole insisted. "I don't mind that you've got a bigger arse. I like it. There's more to grab hold of."

Felicity twisted, trying to look at her backside in profile. If anything she had lost weight, not gained it, and she was getting increasingly annoyed that her ass of a fiancé was insisting otherwise. "Cole, there's a shepherd's pie in the fridge. I'll see you tomorrow," she said, responded, shortly.

"Hey, goldfish!" Lachie called. "Everything alright?"

"It's Felicity," she told him, warily as he watched her thrust her phone back into her pocket.

"So how's the wedding planning going?" Lachie asked as they caught up with Vince.

Felicity let out a noncommittal grunt.

"That good," Lachie noted. "What about your family? When do they fly in?"

Clearly he wasn't getting the message that she wasn't in the mood to be discussing what was turning out to be a wedding from hell. Who'd have thought Cole would be turning out to be a Groomzilla. Felicity sighed. "My sister, Rose, is due in next Saturday with her kids."

"What about your parents?" Lachie pressed.

"They're not coming," Felicity shrugged.

Lachie glanced at her, pulling a face. "Lachie," Vince warned.

Lachie ignored him. "They're not coming?" he repeated. "What is your dad doing that's more important than walking you down the aisle and giving you away?"

"Time," Felicity muttered.

"What?" Lachie asked.

"Drop it, Gallagher," Vince told him.

"Time?" Lachie pressed, ignoring Vince. It earned him a smack upside the head from the station coordinator.

"Yes, time," Felicity told him. "My dad is in prison."

"Well who's going to walk you down the aisle?" Lachie asked.

"Do you not know when to shut up, Lachie?" Vince asked him in exasperation.

"I can walk myself down the aisle," Felicity told him, catching the apologetic look Vince was giving her. He knew. As did Michelle – it was something she'd had to declare when they questioned the address of her emergency contact. Cole had taken one spot, and the other – she'd considered writing her sister down, but she wasn't good in a crisis. Besides, it wasn't like her father wouldn't be around to take the call for the next decade.

"How about you zip it now and pay attention to where you're going," Vince suggested, glaring at Lachie. "All this rain will have made this area unstable and the last think we need is you falling over that cliff," he jabbed his thumb to the left. "Satisfying as that would be."

"Why, Vincent," Lachie mock exclaimed. "That's not very nice."

"I'm not a very nice person," he glared back at him, resuming the lead.

"You know, you could have paired me up with Chase," Lachie shrugged.

"Oh yeah, because that's a brilliant idea," Vince told him sarcastically. "No, you stay with me so I can keep an eye on you."

"And what about goldfish?"

"It's Felicity," Felicity told him through gritted teeth. Honestly, she had no idea who was annoying her more today – Cole or Lachie.

"Short straw," Vince shrugged.

"Heidi really went to see someone?" Lara finally asked Jordan. They had been walking silence for the best part of two hours, short of their calls for the missing party – Julian and Patricia.

Jordan nodded, checking his phone for quite possibly the hundredth time. Not that it did much good. The signal had dropped out about fifteen minutes after they had split from the others. Heidi would have gotten out from the psychiatrist about now, and he couldn't call her to see how it had gone. "You think Michelle will let her back in the field now?"

"I don't know," Lara admitted. "I suppose it depends on what the psychiatrist says."

Jordan looked surprised. "You don't think she'll be let back out?"

"I really don't know," Lara repeated.

"Do you think it would help if I told Michelle we were together? You know – that's why she acted the way she did?" Jordan suggested.

Lara thought about it, finally shaking her head. "No, not really. I think she's going to have to find out eventually, but not this way."

"I wonder how she's getting on?" he mused.

Elizajo - I'm still gutted about it, but I'm also holding on to the belief that this is all one bug publicity stunt and Nine are going to turn around in the new year and go 'surprise! We bought it back!'... Well, a girl can hope!

meddrama - LOL, for some reason I really enjoy writing him doing that, so I think it may happen again!

MMC gang - why thank you - and I hope I didn't keep you waiting too long, this time!

Rescuelover - I think it was forever! Vince is my favourite character, but combine him with Lachie and I'm in heaven - they just play off each other so well, so it makes me happy to write them!