"…No really Abs, I’m fine," Gina mused as she fiddled with a milk carton, the phone resting uncomfortably in the crook of her neck. "I’m not completely useless without Paul you know, in fact I’ve barely even missed him." She cursed quietly as the milk carton jarred open and splashed milk onto the lino. "What? No, the milk escaped. Look I have to go," she babbled, ended her call and grabbed a damp cloth.
          Gina had just finished mopping up the milk when there was a knock on the door. She abandoned everything in the kitchen and rushed through the living room.
          "What’s with the white stuff dribbling down your cheek?" Danny asked crudely and Gina shook her head.
          "Milk incident," she breathed. "And what brings you here?"
          "Coleman, please, I’m always here," Danny chuckled. "You might convince everyone else you’re doing just fine but I know you’re pining like a puppy."
          "I am not!" Gina huffed as she marched back into the kitchen to finish making her tea.
          "So you’ve been wearing his t-shirt and sleeping in unwashed sheets because your washing machine is broken and the rest of your linen and clothing has mysteriously vanished huh?"
          Gina felt her cheeks redden a little. "Oh hush," she groused, cocking her head to the side. "He called last night."
          "And?"
          "He was very drunk, said something about us getting married in Vegas by Elvis."
          "Well at least he was thinking about you," Danny smiled warmly. "So, what are we going to do today?"
          "We could watch the Crows versus Swans semi-final again," Gina mused looking unenthusiastically at her mug of tea.
          "Y’know I’m starting to think it doesn’t actually make you feel better, it just brings me down to your level of self pity," Danny frowned. "No, I’ve got a better idea," he perked, snatching her mug and emptying the contents down the sink. "We’re going out," he added and grabbed her hand.

          "Oh so where are we?" Gina mused as Danny led her through the dark hallway of an impressive looking building.
          "It’s a photography exhibition," Danny enthused. "Daniel Linnet, he’s a contemporary Australian photographer."
          "Right," Gina nodded as Danny handed her a brochure. She followed him silently until he stopped to look at the first photograph.
          "The way he captures the human form is just amazing," Danny sighed. "The lighting is magnificent."
          "The woman looks skeletal," Gina declared bluntly. "Is she dead? Perhaps someone should have given her a sandwich."
          Danny looked at Gina and narrowed his eyes. "Be nice!"
          "Fine," Gina breathed and turned to look at a collection of photos in the centre of the room. "Dear God, those people have owl heads."
          "Gina!"
          "They do, I’m not making it up," Gina gasped. "What’s he trying to say Brannigan, that all people from Broken Hill have fowl fetishes?"
          "I think he’s trying to express the larrikinism of country Australia," Danny said haughtily.
          "So what does the feathered thong in the next photo represent huh?" Gina countered.
          "You are not to say another word," Danny scorned and dragged Gina away from all photos containing bird matter. They turned into another part of the exhibition which Danny felt safer with, it was labeled ‘nudes’ and he looked cautiously at Gina who faked interest in her brochure.
          "The angles are phenomenal," he breathed.
          "He photographed someone’s navel, that’s hardly challenging," Gina chided and then looked perplexed at the next shot. "What the hell? What’s with the near darkness…"
          "It’s supposed to represent the way we find nudity taboo," Danny explained.
          "What nudity? I can’t see…Oh wait, no, there’s a thigh!" Gina squealed causing several people to turn around and look at her like she was an idiot.
          "You are so never coming out with me again ever," Danny huffed as Gina looked at him innocently. "I mean god woman, how does McDermott put up with you?"
          "We have sex on a regular basis and it releases the happy hormones," Gina shrugged. "It’ll be a month tomorrow you know? That’s a long time to go without an orgasm."
          "Cry me a river," Danny huffed.
          "Aw," Gina cooed and slid into his side, she wrapped an arm around his waist and he put an arm around her shoulders. "We have got to find you a girlfriend."
          "No, you’re not allowed near any women I like," Danny mused. "You frighten them."
          "I’ve never frightened any of your girlfriends."
          "You told Trudy I had genital warts!"
          "You did, I had to buy you that cream."
          "Ok bad example," Danny sighed. "What about Caroline?"
          "She had a tongue ring."
          "And that makes her a bad person."
          "It looked icky."
          Danny narrowed his eyes at Gina. "You’re so lucky I like you," he mused, holding her in a headlock.
          Gina laughed. "Come on, let’s buy donuts and go throw things at the wildlife," she mused and pinched his arse.
          Danny yelped and let her go. "So, so lucky," he breathed as he followed her out of the exhibition.

          "That’s three ibis you’ve hit now," Danny mused as Gina plonked back beside him on the grass in the Botanic Gardens.
          "I’m doing it for my man, he hates ibis," Gina mused. "Besides it was only a gumnut."
          "So, you excited about the return of the monkey king tomorrow?"
          "I think so."
          "You think so?"
          "Well it has been a month," Gina shrugged. "Don’t get me wrong, I’ve missed him like hell but after four weeks alone it’s going to be very weird having him back."
          "Ha," Danny laughed. "You’ll take one look at him and melt into a gooey puddle of Gina ooze."
          "You know that’s really not an attractive image," Gina mused and then fell serious. "You know me Dan, you know it’s taken me a long time to give myself fully to anyone and now it kinda feels like I’m going to have to do it all again."
          "I know," Danny soothed. "But you guys, you’re so - perfect! I’m sure after about a minute it’ll feel like he never left."
          "Hope you’re right."
          "Have I ever been wrong?"
          "You said Chris was a nice guy."
          "Ok, so I was wrong once."
          "Oh and that Bernice woman, you were wrong about her weren’t you," Gina laughed. "She turned out to be Bernie after all."
          "Twice then…"
          "And there was Jemima, the woman with the foot obsession…"
          "Oh that’s it…that’s so it," Danny jeered, covering Gina’s mouth with his hand and pushing her back onto the grass until she squealed.

          Gina arrived at the airport at 6am, she’d been up since 4:30am and was ready to curl up in one of those big airport chairs and sleep. She checked the monitor that was extended from the roof and noticed the ‘landed’ sign was flashing next to Paul’s flight. There was quite a gathering despite the early hour; it was mix of eagerly waiting friends and family and weary backpackers awaiting their flights.
          Everybody who had gathered to wait looked up excitedly when the ‘arrivals’ door opened. A man in socks and sandals and a Hawaiian shirt glided out and was greeted by an elderly gentleman, they hugged briefly and then hurried for the exit. Next came a young blonde woman, then an older Asian lady, a cheerful looking family with children sporting ‘I Love LA’ t-shirts and then a man in a suit coughing into a hanky. Finally, just after a woman in a horrendous floral flock and bare feet came Paul. He was wearing his customary leather jacket, was unshaven and looked ready to crawl into a ball and die.
          He stopped away from the gathering crowd, leaned heavily on his trolley and scanned the room for something familiar. His eyes set on Gina and he smiled, it took about a second for that familiar fuzzy feeling to take hold of Gina and any fears that may have been lurking were forgotten. They approached each other as best they could, dodging patrons until they were finally close enough to touch.
          "Genie," Paul breathed and reached out to rest a hand on her waist and guide her toward him. She moved closer and pressed herself against him as they fell into a tight hug. He nuzzled into her neck, secretly enjoying the sweet smell of her hair. "Miss me?"
          "No, was glad you were gone," Gina mumbled into his shoulder.
          "Really?" Paul said, lifting his head and pulling away a little.
          "Please, I’m on the brink of bursting into happy tears," Gina half-joked and tried to ignore the emotional lump in her throat.
          Paul smiled again and gently dropped a kiss on her cheek. "Let’s go before they start charging us rent."
          "And so you can bathe," Gina added as they headed out of the international terminal. "How was your flight anyway?"
          "Flighty," Paul replied coyly. "Actually I was stuck beside a whiny child who spent most of the flight poking me with a crayon."
          "Did you poke him back?"
          "Yeah," Paul said sheepishly. "But then he started to cry and his mother wailed at me."
          "So what happened?" Gina asked as she unlocked the trunk of her car.
          "I had to drink," Paul mused as he placed his luggage in the trunk. "After a few red wines I was placated enough to not suffocate the child with an air sickness bag."
          Gina giggled as she closed the trunk and then watched as Paul returned his luggage trolley to trolley bay. He almost bounded back toward her and surprised her by pulling her into his arms.
          "I wanted to do this inside but not with everyone watching," he declared before he teasingly tilted his head and kissed her lightly on the lips. Gina felt a shiver run down her spine, it’d been a month and she’d forgotten what it was like to kiss him, how he tasted and just what a wonderful sensation it was. In fact, the sensation was so great that she quickly caught his lips for a deeper, more passionate kiss.
          "You taste like airline, if that’s possible," Gina breathed, wishing she was in the sanctity of her apartment.
          "You know I’ve been told a lot of things," Paul mused. "But never that."
          "I’ve tasted worse," Gina said softly and brought her lips to his again.

          The next morning Paul stirred beneath the comforting sheets of Gina’s bed. He could have sworn as he crawled beneath them sometime the previous evening that they hadn’t been changed since he left. He yawned, stretched and managed to open one eye which turned out to be a good thing since Gina was standing in only her underwear as she pawed through the wardrobe looking for appropriate clothing.
          "What you doing?" he announced sleepily.
          "Going to work," Gina replied as she pulled on a pair of black slacks. "It helps pay the rent."
          "I’ll pay you to stay home and spend the day in bed with me," Paul mused as he rubbed his eyes.
          "We’ve been through this before," Gina perked, buttoning up a lavender shirt. "That would make me a prostitute honey."
          "Well you’re the sexiest prostitute I’ve ever had the pleasure of massaging with baby oil."
          "Excuse me?" Gina quipped, looking curiously at Paul who suddenly looked flustered.
          "Not that I’ve ever visited a prostitute or used their services before," he said quickly. "You look pretty."
          "You’re such an idiot," Gina laughed as she sat on the edge near him to pull on her boots. "But I’m glad you’re back," she added, leaning back to kiss him.
          "I’m glad I’m back too," he grinned stupidly. "So am I gonna see you before dinner or should I go ahead now and get out the jaffle maker?"
          "I’d get out the jaffle maker, with it being my first day back there’s bound to be lots of yelling aimed in my direction," Gina sighed. "Although, knowing Mandy I could be back here in a couple of hours asking deep questions about the move to commercial telly."
          "What move to…" Paul paused, pondered a moment and then his eyes went wide. "Oh yeah!"
          "Be good, eat and bathe," Gina chided, kissing him again and then got to her feet.
          "Seeya tonight beautiful," Paul smiled and waited until Gina left the room before he snuggled back under the covers. "Maybe."

          "…I’d definitely talk to him, he’s certainly the most involved out of all the senate members…"
          "Gina, been looking for you everywhere honey," Amanda gushed as she caught up with Gina in the small office kitchen. Gina, who was busy advising a cadet in a freak moment of goodwill, looked at her friend strangely.
          "Why?" Gina asked, crossing her arms.
          "We have important things to talk about," Amanda smiled and looked at the cadet. "Scoot!"
          "But I was…" the cadet began but decided not to bother and skulked out of the room.
          "Mandy, I love you but that was just rude," Gina scorned. "I was helping the poor kid."
          "Help him later," Amanda enthused. "So tell me, what happened when you met him at the airport?"
          Gina rolled her eyes. "He smiled, we hugged, we threw streamers."
          "Gina, please, this is important," Amanda sighed. "Was he excited to see you?"
          "Well, he followed me around everywhere last night and I literally mean everywhere," Gina explained and raised an eyebrow. "Everywhere."
          "Oh," Amanda gasped and then bounced back. "Still, that’s good, it means he’s still interested. I mean, and I speak from experience honey, if he was being all distant and quiet then that would mean he was hiding an affair or had accidentally got married in Vegas."
          "No, he phoned up and offered me that experience."
          "Really?"
          "You know I’m sure you care more about my love life than I do, it’s thoroughly disturbing."
          "My husband uses his spare time to make mini-wooden wells for the neighbours," Amanda breathed. "If I didn’t get over excited by your life I might just shrivel up and die."
          "That’s not true," Gina scorned. "You’ve got your kids."
          "My son has demanded a Princess Barbie for his birthday while the baby has taken to sucking on the dog’s tail," Amanda babbled, looking like she was about to burst into tears.
          "Are you about to have a breakdown?"
          "Quite probably."
          "Right," Gina nodded. "I should probably go but we’ll pick this up later over cake yeah?"
          "Yeah, course," Amanda nodded and watched Gina leave the kitchen. Danny sauntered in with his empty coffee mug and looked curiously at Amanda. "Are you having a breakdown?" he asked as he grabbed the coffee jar.
          "My husband wants to leave his job as head of a finance company to start a miniature wooden well business," Amanda breathed helplessly.
          "Can you get me the milk," Danny asked, deciding not to delve further into the conversation.

          "Thanks for helping me out mate," Paul perked as he and Mikey strolled past a collection of tiny boutiques.
          "I wouldn’t have agreed if I knew it involved so much walking," Mikey groused, stopping to catch his breath.
          "It’s for a good cause though," Paul perked. "And I said I’d buy you a beer."
          "I’ll need more than a beer," Mikey sighed. "So you’re absolutely sure about this then?"
          "Couldn’t be surer," Paul nodded enthusiastic. "I’ve had a month to think, I mean really think and I’ve thought so much that I’m now totally committed to the whole idea."
          "Mate, I think you’re still stuck in a different time zone," Mikey mused. "You’ve really stopped making sense."
          "Ah, have I stopped making sense or have you just starting making sense huh?"
          "I’m getting a headache," Mikey groaned as Paul stopped suddenly and he nearly squished him into a shop window.
          "Ah huh!" Paul declared triumphantly. "This is it, this is the place."
          "So are you going to go in or shall we just lob a brick at the window and steal?"
          "Oh," Paul grinned and then laughed. "No, I’m a changed man, I’ll pay," he added, opening the shop door which make a bell tinkle.
          "We’re moving onto carrying now aren’t we?" Mikey sighed, looking unenthusiastically at Paul.
          "Yes but just think of the benefits," Paul beamed as they sauntered into the shop.
          "What benefits?" Mikey scorned putting his hands on his hips.
          "This is so gonna get me laid," Paul chided and then turned to the shop assistant. "Good afternoon darlin’…"

          "Did you know that Amanda’s husband makes miniature wooden wells?" Danny asked as he paused in the typing of an article.
          "Don’t ever use that as a chat up line," Gina chided throwing a smile in his direction. "It will so not get you laid."
          "You’re in such a good mood it’s frightening," Danny perked. "I mean you’re even being nice to the cadets."
          "I’m feeling the need to impart my wisdom," Gina explained. "Bring some purpose to my job."
          "I’m sensing happy hormones," Danny teased.
          "Placated hormones actually," Gina countered. "He was very jet lagged."
          "Placated works," Danny agreed.
          "COLEMAN!"
          Gina winced and reluctantly turned around in her swivel chair. "Max, how I’ve missed you."
          "Coleman, what’s this drivel," Max the editor asked slapping a printed article on Gina’s desk in front of her.
          "It’d be my article on hospital funding sir," Gina swallowed as she looked at the angry expression on her boss’s face.
          "No, it’s a poorly written piece of crap," Max scowled. "You didn’t even interview the health minister."
          "I tired but I couldn’t…"
          "No excuses Coleman!" Max hissed and stormed off back to his office. slamming his door for added dramatic affect.
          "Those happy hormones are so gone now aren’t they?" Danny sighed, scooting over in his chair.
          "Fled with my self esteem," Gina pouted and looked miserably at her article.

          By the time Gina arrived back at her apartment her mood was still sullen as it had taken her until dinner time to finally get an interview with the health minister and a further 3/4 of an hour to do the re-write of her article. She miserably locked her car and headed for the stairs when her neighbour appeared.
          "Hey Moonstar," Gina sighed, hunting out her keys.
          "I hope you’re happy," Moonstar scowled. "I thought you weren’t like that."
          "Weren’t like what now?" Gina asked, confused.
          "A killer of flora, it should be left in fields to grow and be at one with the earth," Moonstar scolded.
          "Right, I’ll keep that in mind," Gina agreed as she unlocked her door. Moonstar stalked back into her apartment. "She needs therapy."

          Paul heard the key in the lock and let out an obscenity. "Fuck." He breathlessly raced around the room making sure everything was perfect and went to sit on the couch but tripped over the rug and landed on the floor. "Oh Jesus…"

          "Hi honey I’m home," Gina called from the hall. "You would not believe the day I’ve…" her voice trailed off as she took in the scene before her. Her living room was decked out with tonnes of brightly coloured roses. Some were in vases others in boxes and some were just petals scattered on the floor. Her attention was averted to Paul who was on the floor, sporting his pinstripe suit and holding a single rose in his hands. "What on earth?"
          "Genie," Paul smiled slightly and seemed to lose the words he wanted to say.
          "What are you doing on the floor?"
          "Hurting."
          "What?"
          "Just shut up a moment yeah," Paul ordered and got to his feet. He walked over to where she was standing stunned in the doorway and handed her the rose. "I’ve been thinking…" he began, taking her hand and leading her toward the couch. "Sit."
          "Ok," Gina said blankly and sat on the couch, she had her jacket over one arm and was still holding her bag in the same hand as the rose.
          "Over the last month I’ve thought about things, about us," Paul said gently as he sat next to her. "And I realised that above and beyond work," he continued as he slid off the couch and onto one knee. "And our own insecurities." He paused and reached into his pocket where he pulled out a small velvet box. "I realised that I couldn’t imagine living another day without you…"
          "Oh," Gina peeped, feeling incredibly overwhelmed.
          "So, I’m asking you seriously," Paul breathed, his breathing slightly ragged from nerves. "Gina Coleman will you marry me?"
          Gina opened and closed her mouth a few times and Paul looked at her expectantly. "Yes."
          "Yes!" Paul gasped.
          "Yes," Gina smiled, dropping everything in her hands and lunging forward to wrap her arms around him. She pressed her lips hard against his as she couldn’t find the words to express herself.
          "Oh shit!" Paul gasped, toppling back and they both ended up sprawled on the rug. They lay in stunned silence for a moment before Paul gently took Gina’s hand, slid off the ring he’d bought her as a birthday gift and slid on the cute, Celtic engagement ring he’d bought.
          "Oh my god," she breathed, finally looking at the new piece of jewellery. "I’m going to marry you."
          "I know," Paul smiled breathless. "I know."