"You can't make me do this!" Gina huffed as Abbie thrust her into the end of the check in queue at the domestic terminal at Adelaide airport.
          "You wanna bet?" Abbie replied sternly. "Other than the fact I might kill you and bury you under the patio if you stay a day longer. You're absolutely breaking the heart of the nicest guy you've ever dated and for Paul to be the nicest really says something about your choice of men."
          "But you don't have a patio Abs," Gina said with mock seriousness.
          "It wouldn't take much to install one," Abbie sneered. "Two weeks he's been calling for. That's two weeks you've not returned his calls. Two weeks I've had to lie for you and two weeks you've done nothing but shit me."
          "Well, it's nice to see you've been supportive while I've been trying to work out the emotional factions of my life," Gina remarked sarcastically.
          "So supportive I would have struck you with a waffle iron," Abbie groused and nudged her friend forward.
          "Yeah, well I'm probably wasting my time anyway," Gina declared astutely. "He's sure to have forgotten about me. I mean he forgot about Jo pretty quick and they were engaged."
          Abbie narrowed her eyes and leaned in closer to her friend. "Coleman, we've been friends a long time and I feel it’s my duty as your oldest and most respectable friend to inform you that you're being a total and utter dickhead."
          "Thanks Abs, that's precious," Gina sneered.
          "If you can't see that Paul, no matter who or what he is, is mad about you then you really ought to get a good therapist and a course of some strong medication."
          "You don't understand…"
          "There's nothing to understand you stupid woman," Abbie snapped. "He loves you, you love him. I know because he travelled half the fucking country twice to tell you and you have done nothing but talk about him for the last two weeks. So please, please get on the damn plane and drop the independent woman crap and admit that you love having him chase after you like any normal, red blooded woman would!"
          Gina flustered a moment surprised that Abbie was being so direct, as she usually took a back seat when Gina started doing something foolish. "I don't know what you're talking about."
          "Gina, I've watched you do it with all the men you've ever dated. You're playing him, seeing how far you can push and revelling in that moment when he comes knocking at the door begging for forgiveness."
          "Me? I wouldn't know how to play someone," Gina gasped as she handed over her ticket but coming across as highly unconvincing.
          Abbie raised an eyebrow and broke into a wry smile. "Oh please, I've watched you long enough to envy your skill. You had Alex promising you the world before you broke things off with him. Oh, you know exactly how you and McDermott are going to end up, you have since you met him."
          "Are you quite finished?" Gina sighed. "I have a flight to catch."
          Abbie stepped forward and they wrapped each other up in a hug. "Don't you dare fuck things up ok, he's the best thing that's ever happened to you."
          "What if he doesn't want me back after my two weeks of being a dickhead?" Gina breathed as they broke apart.
          "You know I think the 52 missed calls on your phone would indicate that's not going to be a problem," Abbie smiled.
          "True," Gina nodded and turned to head for the departure lounge.
          "Say it!" Abbie piped up.
          "Say what?" Gina asked.
          "That you love him."
          "What?"
          "Go on."
          "I love him," Gina said blankly and continued walking.
          "Louder!" Abbie called.
          Gina stopped outside the departure lounge and looked at her smiling friend. "I LOVE PAUL MCDERMOTT!" she yelled, causing just about everyone to turn and look.
          Abbie cracked up laughing. "Idiot."

          After what felt more like a 24 hour flight rather than a two hour one stuck next to the most rotund businessman she had ever encountered. He did nothing but eat and laugh hysterically at the in flight entertainment and this duel action caused small pieces of food to fly from his mouth and coat anything in its path. Gina was glad to escape back into the busy Sydney terminal, which she hurried through to catch one of the first wave of cabs that were waiting outside.

          She spent a short time back at her apartment unpacking her things, showering and sifting through the mail that'd built up over the last couple of weeks. There was nothing more exciting than the phone bill and her millionth offer of an American Express Card. Gina tore up the unimportant mail and dropped the remnants into the bin before she hunted out her keys and decided it was time to take the daunting drive to Paul's.

          Paul kicked several magazines onto the floor and propped his feet up on the coffee table. After a day of brainstorming and rehearsing he was exhausted and wanted nothing more than to drink a few beers and fall asleep on the couch. The problem was that now he was alone it only served to give him time to dwell on Gina or 'The Hurricane' as he'd taken to calling her. She'd breezed unwanted into his life, caused a lot of mess, social upheaval and emotional damage and left leaving a scar that would forever be imprinted on his mind. However, unlike a real low air mass with high winds and thunderstorms she wasn't about to abate and he wasn't pissed off that she'd changed his life. In fact, Paul was more than happy to have her continue her raining trend of calm periods followed by floods of anxiety because he realised that unlike what was on television relationships were more like the weather. Therefore he loved her just like a week of spring days and cloudless skies. He paused and sipped his beer and realised that he'd just been analysing his relationship in a rather girlie way, not only that but he'd been relating it all to the weather which was something he'd never done before.
          "What the fuck’s in my beer?" Paul declared, looking accusingly at his stubbie as a knock resonated around the room. He got wearily to his feet and padded across the room to the door.
          "Hi," Gina said sheepishly as the door opened. She wasn't sure what she was expecting but it probably wasn't Paul standing there stoically looking decidedly unhappy. "How are you?"
          "Expecting spring days but looks like a storm's about to hit instead," Paul replied bluntly.
          "Oh, shame, it seemed so nice outside," Gina said quickly.
          "I wasn't talking about the weather."
          "Right, can I come in?"
          "What for?"
          Gina struggled for words for a few moments. "I just thought, I thought you might want to see me."
          "Why, so you can tell me that you love me and then fuck off again for some lame girlie reason?" Paul groused.
          "No," Gina gasped as the growing feeling of shame crept through her body. "I wanted to explain myself, about why I haven't be returning your calls and stuff."
          "Did you ever think that maybe I don't want to hear it?" Paul sighed. "I'm really tired and I can't deal with this, with you, right now," he added as they locked eyes for a moment and she found herself feeling so guilty that she had to look away.

          When Gina managed to look up again the door was closed. She swallowed, trying to ignore the heavy feeling in her chest and started to walk back down the corridor. She felt empty, a void had been torn open somewhere and her time to think was well and truly past. A few days of relentless life altering questions in the sanctuary of a good friend had actually done more harm than good for her relationship with Paul. Gina avoided going back to her car and walked the short distance to the beach, where she sat on the well trampled sand and looked unblinkingly at the ocean. She was now at a crossroads with one way leading back to singledom, strengthening her career and a thousand lonely nights while the other was the unraveled, with all the things she'd ever dreamed of and someone to share them all with. Gina's mind drifted back to what Abbie had said and how she already knew where she wanted things to go and by all means she had been right. The question was now, how did she get back on the right road?

          Paul glared at the glowing lights of his alarm clock, it was 3:54am and he hadn't slept a wink. It wasn't that he wasn't tired, he was nothing short of exhausted but since his confrontation with Gina, tension had gripped his body and relaxation seemed an almost impossible feat. He wasn't sure why he'd gone from missing her to hating her in a few short seconds and while he'd pondered, yelled and gone through enough weather analogies to make the bureau of meteorology blush, he still couldn't narrow it down to anything in particular. Other than the strange, evil feeling that he enjoyed inflicting pain on her in some masochistic form of revenge for the way she'd hurt him.

          Not far away Gina too was awake and trying to console herself with the reasoning that she had done what was necessary to confirm she was doing the right thing. She now knew without a shadow of a doubt that she wanted to be with Paul. That she would be willing to forgo everything she believed in to give their relationship a go, and that she would at that moment do just about anything to have him beside her in bed.

          "Well hello stranger," Danny grinned as Gina walked half dazed to her desk after only an hour of sleep.
          "Huh?" Gina muttered and then looked at Danny. "Oh, right, hi."
          "Jesus Coleman you look like shit," he chided.
          "Thankyou, I was feeling generally awful and you've just made me feel so much better about myself," Gina groused, falling into her chair and letting out a weary groan.
          "You know I would have thought after a two week holiday you would have come back all refreshed and happy," Danny sighed. "Boy was I wrong."
          "It wasn't a holiday," Gina countered. "It was thinking time."
          "Thinking time? Oh my god! You're pregnant!"
          "Spot the tabloid journalist," Gina breathed. "No, I just needed to work out my priorities."
          "Oh is that all?" Danny chided. "For a moment I was worried, I'm not ready to become Uncle Dan."
          "No offence Dan," Gina mused. "But I wouldn't even trust a cat with you."
          "And to think I was going to listen to your problems and everything," Danny huffed. "I'm going out to interview the transport minister about buses now," he added, grabbing his notepad and dictaphone and stalked out of the room.
          Gina let out a heavy sigh and turned to the pile of work that was on her desk. She started sifting through a large pile of press releases but gave up after about a minute. It irked her that her mind was too full of Paul to concentrate on anything else. Checking that her editor was nowhere about, Gina got to her feet and headed towards the entertainment section to talk to Amanda.

          "Yes, of course I'll fax those questions through," Amanda said politely down the phone as Gina poked her head around the door. "Uh ha, right, ok then bye," she smiled and put the phone back in its cradle. "Git!"
          "That sounded important," Gina mused and sat herself in a seat opposite Amanda.
          "Just some touring popstars publicist being a complete and utter control freak," Amanda groused.
          "Are you going to comply?"
          "Of course, I'll fax her through the questions and then have my minion ask her different ones," Amanda perked. Gina giggled, it was always fun when her friend got devious. "Anyway, enough about me, how are you?"
          Gina wanted to tell her she was great, couldn't be better but it came out as. "Not too good actually."
          "Oh sweetie what's wrong?" Amanda gasped. "No, let me guess, Paul."
          Gina nodded. "He's pissed at me for ignoring him for two weeks and he has every right to be."
          "Was it worth it?"
          "Was what?" Gina asked, not entirely sure where Amanda was coming from.
          "Well, did being separated for two weeks help you work out whatever it was that was troubling you."
          "Sort of," Gina shrugged. "I mean I can finally admit that I'm totally besotted with him," she added. "But I'm still a little uneasy about Jo."
          "Yes, that one came as a surprise to me," Amanda agreed. "I was certain they'd split up."
          "You need new sources," Gina teased. "So, what do I do now?"
          "Well, if it were me I'd probably go and see Jo. I mean it'll put your mind at rest and then you can focus on how to make things up to your man."
          "Sounds good but how on earth am I supposed to find his ex-fiancee?" Gina exclaimed looking at Amanda doubtfully.
          Amanda narrowed her eyes and grabbed her phone. "Give me a couple of minutes."

          Gina still couldn't believe Amanda had tracked down Jo's home address, other than the fact it was more than likely highly illegal, she wasn't sure if she was entirely ready to face the woman whose man she'd stolen. Gina checked the address on the crumpled piece of paper in her fingers and then the number on the apartment door in front of her and after a deep breath knocked loudly. Deep down she was hoping that Jo wouldn't be home but much to her horror the door was opened quickly and she came face to face with a pretty blonde woman with a tan that made her look a little too orange.
          "Hi," Gina swallowed. "You must be Jo."
          "That's right," Jo nodded. "And you are?"
          "Gina, can I come in?"
          "Why?"
          "Um, I want to talk to you, about something we have in common, Paul McDermott." Gina watched the sadness of the still raw feeling of a broken heart flash across Jo's face.
          "Ok," she said quietly and moved aside to let Gina in. They walked in silence into the living room and Jo motioned for Gina to sit on the couch. Jo sat herself in a large white armchair and picked up the mug she's obviously been drinking from before Gina had arrived.
          "I'm sorry to do this to you," Gina piped up before the uncomfortable silence became even more uncomfortable.
          "Are you his new girlfriend?" Jo asked abruptly.
          "Yes," Gina replied her voice almost a whisper. "I promise I never knew about you. He never told me and if I'd known I would never have, well, let things get this far. I'm so sorry."
          Jo's expression seemed to soften which eased Gina's nerves slightly. "I should have known that he wouldn't wait for me. I mean we didn't really promise to stay faithful since I was going to be gone for so long."
          "Still, you were engaged," Gina declared. "He should have respected that at least."
          "In the end," Jo sighed. "I didn't respect it either."
          "Oh," Gina said softly. "Still, if he did to me what he's done to you I'd probably kill him."
          "Somehow I don't think that's going to be a problem," Jo smiled. "Apparently when you walked into his life he realised that he didn't know how he'd ever lived without you."
          "Really?" Gina gasped then realised she probably shouldn't look too happy and quickly changed the subject. "At the moment I think he's wishing I hadn't."
          "Well he didn't give me that impression," Jo countered.
          "That was before I went for two weeks purposefully avoiding him," Gina sighed. "After finding out about you I went a bit mad."
          "I'm not surprised, I would have done the same thing," Jo nodded. "If what he said to me is anything to go by, things'll sort themselves out."
          "You're being far too nice to me. I was expecting to be attacked with a curling iron."
          "There's no point in arguing about it," Jo shrugged. "He's in love with you and there's nothing I can do to change that. Believe me, I've tried."
          Gina shot her an amused look. "I'm still sorry."
          "Don't be," Jo laughed. "It's not worth worrying about but thankyou for talking to me. It's nice to know you're not smug or anything about it and I hope I've put your mind at rest a bit?"
          "Yes you have, thanks for not hurting me," Gina smiled as she got to her feet.
          "Not a problem but should you guys ever break up, let me know," Jo teased.
          Gina laughed all the way down the corridor and once she was back outside she leaned against her car and laughed some more. It felt like a weight had been lifted off her shoulders and now there was nothing standing in her way to making things up with Paul.

          "Wanna go and get something to eat?" Paul asked as he and Mikey downed the last of their beer.
          "What? No, can't, sorry," Mikey babbled. "Laura and I have plans."
          "But you told me in the cab this morning that Laura was away visiting friends."
          "She's come back early."
          "I think you're lying to me."
          "Yes Paul, you're right, I despise you and don't want to be seen in public in your presence," Mikey sarced.
          "Gee mate, I only wanted to get some dinner," Paul groused. "I won't ask again."
          "Oh don't get stroppy," Mikey sighed. "You look worn out. Go home and have an early night."
          "I don't want to go home."
          "Well I think you should."
          "What are you my mother."
          "I might be, these are child baring hips you know."
          "Have I done something to annoy you?"
          "Yes, but that's not why I don't want to go out to dinner with you."
          Paul looked blankly at Mikey. "Fuck this, I'm going to get something to eat then," he declared getting to his feet.
          "No, you have to go home," Mikey ordered, shooting to his feet and following Paul out of the pub.
          "Excuse me? Are you telling me what to do?" Paul gasped.
          "Yes, it’s for your own healthy and safety," Mikey declared astutely and bustled Paul toward a waiting taxi. They had a weak tussle and Paul was soon shoved into the back of the taxi with Mikey beside him.
          "Bastard," Paul muttered as he crossed his arms and fell into a sulk.

          A short while later the taxi pulled up outside Paul's apartment block and he eventually dragged himself out of it and toward the entrance. He wasn't quite sure what Mikey was playing at and vowed to seek revenge by making his team lose that week. In an attempt to alleviate his mood Paul took the stairs grousing to the walls as he went. By the time he reached his floor he was puffed and still no less grumpy.

          Paul fished his keys out from his pocket, opened his apartment door and stopped. The room had been cleaned and was now bordered with what looked like hundreds of tiny tea light candles that illuminated the room giving it a soft glow.
          "What the…" his voice trailed off as Gina appeared from the kitchen.
          "Are you hungry?" she asked.
          "Huh?" Paul said, averting his attention from the candles.
          "I bought take away," Gina declared. "I thought we could have dinner and talk if that's ok?"
          "Dinner is good," Paul nodded, dumping his stuff on the floor.
          "Take a seat on the couch and I'll bring it through," Gina said quietly and disappeared into the kitchen. She returned a second later carrying a tray with Thai take away, a bottle of wine and two glasses.
          "Wine?" Paul said grabbing the bottle.
          "It’s low alcohol," Gina pointed out.
          "Where's the fun in that?" Paul mused as he opened the bottle and poured them both a glass.
          "You already smell like you've been doused in beer," Gina pointed out as Paul started on the take away. They fell silent as they ate, Paul wolfing down his food while Gina only toyed with hers.
          "Not hungry?" Paul asked, planning to eat what she didn't.
          "I went and saw Jo today," Gina declared.
          "What? Why?" Paul gasped, nearly choking on his mouthful of wine and having to thump his chest to stop.
          "I needed to apologise. I felt so guilty," Gina sighed. "I'm not in the position of stealing other people's partners."
          "You fucked someone's husband though didn't you?"
          "No," Gina mused. "I made that up."
          "Why?"
          "I don't know, made me sound interesting I guess."
          "Actually, I made up my story about the sisters too," Paul smiled and for a moment they smiled at each other then looked away. "So is that why you ignored me for two weeks."
          "Sort of, I just needed to work out my priorities," Gina shrugged.
          "And did you?"
          "Wasn't much to work out in the end," Gina shrugged. "Since every thing that's important to me all came down to one thing."
          "What?"
          "You," Gina felt her cheeks redden but Paul smiled slightly. "I know it doesn't seem like it but I missed you so much. Abs was gonna kill me and bury me under the patio."
          "Abs doesn't have a patio," Paul mused.
          "That's what I said," Gina nodded as they locked eyes again.
          "Sorry I was so abrupt yesterday," Paul said softly. "I was actually angry at myself for not being angry enough at you and I kinda just wanted to hurt you a bit."
          "I deserved it," Gina breathed. "But I'm not sorry for avoiding you. It was something I had to do."
          Paul nodded slowly. "So where does this leave us now?"
          "Ball’s in your court hon," Gina swallowed as Paul studied her for a moment and then brought his hand to her cheek and brushed the hair from her face.
          "So, what do you want me to do?" he asked coolly.
          "I was hoping you'd hold me and tell me that you loved me," Gina replied, fighting a smile as he stroked her cheek with his thumb.
          "And what do you think I'm going to do?"
          "I really don't know," Gina breathed as she felt his warm breath on her lips and closed her eyes as their lips met in their first kiss in two weeks. It was slow and tender and her heart was beating ten times faster by the time he pulled away. Not daring to open her eyes she felt the heat from his lips move to her ear.
          "I love you," he whispered, making her shudder and open her eyes slowly. When she did they were focussed back on his and she moved forward wrapping her arms tightly around him. "Don't ever abandon me again."
          "I promise, from this moment on we're in this together ok," Gina declared.
          "It's a deal babe," Paul grinned. "You know I've been referring to you as 'Hurricane Gina' for the last two weeks. I think you might have weakened and turned into a soft north easterly."
          "Does that make you a freak downpour?" Gina mused.
          "No, it makes me the strong southerly," Paul nodded. "When we collide all hell breaks loose you get thunderstorms."
          "What are you on," Gina giggled.
          "I'm happy, I'm happy Paul," Paul beamed. "And I've lost the remote so I'm stuck on the weather channel."
          "Oh, well my north easterly wants to meet your strong southerly," Gina chided and dropped a kiss on his cheek.
          "That depends," Paul declared. "Can I have the rest of your noodles?"
          "Of course you can," Gina giggled and pushed him down onto the couch. "For breakfast," she added cheekily and brought her lips to his as he still held her tightly.