"There it is. I hope it's comfortable enough." Ben fluffed one of the 
pillows on the sofa bed.
"Compared to sleeping in my cold, rain soaked house, this is the Hilton." 
Robyn smiled.
"Just don't expect a spa bath. One of the many luxuries this house doesn't 
have." Ben sat down on the bed next to Robyn.
"Did you want another glass of wine?" Robyn asked.
"Um. No, I probably shouldn't. I can't get this smile off my face as it 
is."
"Yes, I'm bordering tipsy myself. And now I'm too hyperactive to go to 
sleep. Especially with this storm."
"Yeah, it is a bit freaky. I'm surprised the power hasn't…"
Everything suddenly went black.
"You had to say it didn't you?" Robyn laughed.
"Hang on, I'll grab the candles." Ben walked into the kitchen, and grabbed 
the matches and candles from a high cupboard. He lit two of them, and placed 
them both on a coffee table next to the bed.
"So, what's next in life for Robyn Taylor?" Ben asked.
"Well, going back to my maiden name for one."
Ben was dumbfounded. "What?"
"We're getting divorced. Me and Jeff." Robyn tried to gauge his reaction in 
the candle light. "Don't seem so surprised Ben. The amount of lies I was 
told in our marriage. You should have heard what came out in the court 
case."
"So it's a trust issue then?" Ben asked.
"I can never trust that man again Ben. Unfortunately, I'm a great believer 
in trust."
"Robyn, I of all people know how lack of trust can ruin a relationship."
"Yeah. I know." Robyn grabbed Ben's hand.
"But do you love him Rob?" Ben asked.
Robyn paused, thinking about the question. "Do you love your ex-wife?"
"I asked you first." Ben challenged.
"Okay then. Yes. I still love him. He's the father of my child. For that, I 
guess, I'll always love him. But I'm not in love with him. And I don't think 
I could ever be again."
"Yeah. I know just how you feel." Ben whispered.
"Ben, Ben. What did we do to deserve this?" Robyn asked rhetorically and 
sadly.
"I have no idea." Ben exhaled deeply. "Another wine?"
"Please."
***

"Why are you so shy? I'm not having a problem with this. Why should you 
be?" Jo exclaimed.
"I'm not the one without a shirt on." Jack stared into the fire, avoiding 
looking at Jo.
"I do have the blanket around me." Jo reminded him. "Come on Jack! What do 
I have to do to make you comfortable with this? My clothes are soaking wet. 
They are now drying by the fire. Soon, they should be dry, and I will put 
them back on. But in the mean time, you will have to talk to me." Jo 
suddenly got an idea. "I'm not going to have to flash you am I?"
Jack grinned. If only!
"Look at me Jack. Look at my eyes."
Slowly, Jack moved his gaze from the fire, up to Jo's eyes. She took a seat 
next to him.
"See. Was that so hard?" she whispered as much as she could over the 
hailstorm. She touched his arm. "Jack."
"What?"
"You're freezing! Get that jumper off."
Jack took his jumper off.
"And your shirt."
"No! You're the one with the blanket! I'll freeze if I take my shirt off." 
He protested.
"It's wet!" Jo tried to reason. "Okay. Fine. We'll share the blanket."
"No!" Jack said hastily.
Jo just laughed at him. "Sheesh Stretch. Anyone would think you've never 
had a girlfriend."
"Well, I've only ever had the one." He said softly.
"You're kidding?" Jo asked incredulously, but her tone was curious.
"Molly. I thought she was the one." He trailed off sadly.
"So, what happened?"
"I moved here, she got drunk and slept with my cousin. You know, the 
usual." Jack said sadly.
"Oh Jack. I'm sorry."
"It's not your fault." Jack shivered.
"I knew you were freezing! Come in the blanket with me!"
"I'll make you a deal. Your shirt should be dry by now. Put that on, and we 
can share the blanket."
"Fine!" Jo muttered under her breath as she crossed to the other side of 
the fire to retrieve her shirt. "Anyone would think I'm not attractive 
enough for you."
"What was that?"
"Nothing."
***

"So we finally get to this poor old sod, stuck in the middle of a cow 
paddock without a stitch of clothing on. He was clearly drunk, and he was on 
his hands and knees mooing!" Robyn laughed as she relayed the story.
"He was pretending he was a cow?" Ben asked.
"So to speak. I get closer, and he mutters this obscenity. Nothing unusual 
on the job…except that I recognised the voice. 'Darren?' I asked."
"Darren? Brother-in-law Darren?"
"It was his bucks night. His friends got him so drunk, they'd convinced him 
that if he acted like a cow for an hour, they'd come back and pick him up. 
So he played along." Tears were streaming down her face. "Needless to say, 
he couldn't look me in the eye at the wedding. Truth be told, I couldn't 
either."
"Thank goodness I stuck to the pub crawl." Ben laughed.
Robyn glanced at her watch. "I can't believe this storm is still not 
letting up."
"It's kind of comforting though. Makes you want to rug up in the 
candlelight, telling stories and drinking vast amounts of alcohol." Ben 
commented.
"What? Are you cold?" Robyn asked, mentally tellying the fact that they 
already had the stories and the wine.
"A little. I'll just go and grab my doona." Ben raced down the small 
hallway into his bedroom.
Meanwhile, Robyn continued to sit on the sofa bed, laying against the 
makeshift headrest. She certainly was feeling content. Much better than the 
Imperial. And she had missed Ben's company. It felt good catching up. More 
than that. She felt comfortable.
"What are you smiling about?" Ben interrupted her reverie.
"Oh, you mainly. What a charming man you are." She teased.
"Oh, that I am." Ben relied with mock modesty. He flung the queen size 
doona over Robyn, and crawled in beside her. "You don't mind me sitting 
here, do you?"
"Why should I mind?" She asked cautiously. "Do you have some hidden agenda 
I should know about?"
"If I did have a hidden agenda, wouldn't you think I'd try and keep it 
remaining, um, 'hidden'."
"Hmm. Good point. Hidden agenda or not. I don't mind you sitting there."
"That's just as well. It's my house, and my doona. And if you didn't let me 
sit here, you'd be out on the street." Ben grinned.
"Well, look who's Mr Hospitable all of a sudden." Robyn teased.
***

In amongst all the junk in the shed, Jack managed to find a ground sheet. 
It was getting late, and he was tired. He knew the chance of the rain 
letting up was slight. The noise of it hitting the roof was deafening.
So Jo and himself were lying on the ground sheet, in front of the small 
fire, with the blanket draped over them. Both were facing opposite 
directions.
"The Boss is going to kill me." Jo muttered.
"What?" Jack asked.
"The Boss is going…"
"Yeah, yeah, I heard you the first time. He won't kill you. It was an 
accident." Jack reasoned.
"When I turned around and saw that tree hit the car… I freaked." Jo 
remembered.
"Yeah, I noticed."
"Two minutes earlier, and we wouldn't be here."
"But we are here. We're alive."
"Not for long." Jo said under her breath.
"Why wouldn't we be?"
"The Boss will be back soon."
"It doesn't matter. He's an understanding guy."
"No, you're an understanding guy. The Boss is, well, the Boss."
"Oh well, you have your health." Jack joked.
Jo shifted her weight so that she was facing the middle. "Jack."
Jack also turned to face her. "Yes Jo?"
"Do you believe in fate?"
Her face was so close to his, he could feel her breath mingle with his. He 
could hardly believe the close proximity they were sleeping in. If they both 
moved their heads toward each other just an inch, they would…
"Jack? Hello???" Jack snapped back to reality.
"Fate takes us only part of the way." Jack quoted his grandmother. She was 
quite a wise woman. "Your heart takes you the rest."
"When you and your ex-girlfriend got together, was that fate, or your 
heart?"
"A bit of both I suppose. We've known each other since we were little. 
Anyway, I wasn't the one to ask her out." Jack admitted sheepishly.
"What? You let her ask you out?" Jo replied incredulously.
"I was too shy! I still am." Jack protested.
"Do you miss her?" Jo's tone softened.
Jack thought for a moment. "I don't miss her as much as I thought I would. 
But I miss certain things."
"Like what?"
"Having someone to go to the movies or a party with. Someone to curl up on 
the couch with. Just stuff like that." Jack decided to turn the conversation 
around. "What about you? What do you miss?"
"I miss falling for the wrong guy. I miss having an ex try to kill me. You 
know, that kind of thing." Jo said light-heartedly, yet a little bitterly.
"You'll find someone Jo." Jack reassured. "Someone who treasures your every 
word, someone who worships the ground you walk on."
Jo scoffed, feeling a little uneasy. "This isn't a fairytale Jack. And I'm 
no Cinderella. When the Princess breaks up with the Prince, he doesn't 
tamper with her horse, and she definitely doesn't sleep with his cousin."
"Not every guy is a maniac."
"Not every girl sleeps around." Jo sighed. "Let's face it Stretch. We're 
just two good people having a hard time with relationships."
"Yeah." Jack muttered sadly.
They both lay in silence for what seemed like hours. Both had thoughts 
racing through their heads. There was nothing like a long, cold and lonely 
night to stir up romantic thoughts. Especially relationships that ended 
badly.
"Jack." Jo broke the silence.
"Yeah." He replied.
"Have you really only ever had one girlfriend?" Jo asked.
"Yep."
"Judging by the female following you have in this town, I would have 
guessed that you were some kind of cassanova."
"Really? You really think I'm like that?" The hurt in Jack's tone was 
evident.
Jo immediately felt bad, and turned her body to face his again.
"No. Of course not. I didn't mean it the way it sounded. Honestly, you're 
one of the most decent men I've met. You're sweet, caring, sincere, 
talented." Jo trailed off.
"But they're not the kind of characteristics girls are going for these 
days, right?" Jack insinuated sadly.
"No! That's not it at all. Heaps of girls go for that kind of guy." Jo 
protested.
"What about you? Would you?"
"In a second." Jo replied without hesitation.
Both of them were in some form of shock. Jack could hardly believe what she 
just said. Jo could hardly believe that she spoke of the feelings she only 
suspected she had.
Overcome with nervousness and emotional fear, both turned to face the 
opposite directions again.
***

"If I was in my house right now, I think I'd be panicking because my roof 
would have flown off." Robyn joked.
"Don't laugh. I'll drive you out in the morning. It might just be true." 
Ben promised.
"Don't say that!" Robyn protested. "I have enough complications in my life 
as it is."
"Don't we all." Ben muttered.
"The power's been out for a while. I wonder if it will come back on." Robyn 
thought aloud.
"Would you care if it didn't?" Ben asked. "I mean, if you're worried about 
the boogie monster, let me assure you, I'm here to protect you."
Robyn laughed for what seemed like the thousandth time that night. Her 
cheeks were aching from it. "No, we've got candlelight. Candlelight wards 
off Boogie Men."
"The candlelight's kind of soothing, in its way. Makes the storm seem not 
as real." Ben mused.
"Yeah." Robyn replied softly. "Thankyou for letting me stay here tonight 
Ben."
"Thankyou for the great company. I'll miss you when you leave again." Ben 
whispered.
"And I'll miss you. You're a great person to be around, you know that?"
"Yes, I do. But it's nice hearing you say that all the same." Ben smiled.
"You make my problems disappear for a while. Not many people can do that."
"You make me feel not so lonely." Ben reached his hand over, and cupped 
Robyn's face. She closed her eyes in anticipation. Slowly, their faces 
gravitated to each other, as they relaxed into a passionate kiss.
Outside, the storm was raging.
Inside was no different.

***
END OF PART TWO
PART THREE:

"Jack? Jack? Sleepyhead! Wake up!" Jo's voice was piercing. Jack opened his 
eyes sleepily.
"What?" he grumbled.
"Can you hear that?" she asked.
"Hear what?" Jack grumbled again.
"Exactly."
At that comment, Jack opened his eyes, wide, trying to work out what was 
going on. He remembered crashing the car, then running into the cabin to 
avoid the storm. THE STORM!
"The storm!" Jack sat up in their makeshift bed.
"It's over. There's piles of rubbish everywhere out there. It's just after 
six a.m. so I say we start walking now." Jo finished stamping out the fire. 
"No doubt we'll get called into work sooner than later."
"Yeah, sure." Jack's mind was still hazy from the bad sleep. As he stood up 
and stretched his tired muscles, he wondered if the conversation they had 
last night really happened.
Jo finished tidying up the shed, until it looked pretty much how they had 
left it. "You ready?"
"Yeah, let's go."
In silence, they walked the five kilometres into town.
***

What was that glaring in his eyes? Whatever it was, it was annoying, and he 
had no idea how to get rid of it. Hang on.
Ben opened his eyes to find the overhead light shining in them. The power 
must have come back on while he was asleep. He rolled over, and noticed the 
other half of the sofa bed was unoccupied.
"Robyn?" he called out softly.
"I was hoping I was going to be out of here before you woke up." She 
confessed, sitting at the end of the bed, tying her shoe laces.
"What? But, why?"
"We shouldn't have done that last night Ben. Life is complicated enough at 
the moment as it is." Robyn shook her head.
"I hope you don't blame me? Or think that I took advantage of you in any 
way…" Ben started.
"No!" Robyn confirmed quickly. "No. I don't think that at all."
"Then why?" Ben asked.
"It wasn't right Ben… it was, um…"
"I know what you're going to say Robyn." Ben began, sitting up on the sofa 
bed. "You're going to say that it was the storm, or the candlelight, or the 
wine, or the atmosphere. But it wasn't. It was you and me. We connect Robyn. 
We have chemistry. And no matter how hard we try and deny that, it will 
always be there. I care about you so much." Ben pleaded.
Not moving from the corner of the bed, Robyn lowered her head into her 
chest, and closed her eyes in confusion.
"You don't feel that?" Ben asked, waiting for a reaction. Any reaction.
"More than you know." She whispered.
"Then what's the problem?" Ben asked.
Robyn crawled up so that she was sitting next to him.
"I'm scared Ben. Everything with Jeff happened so unexpectedly. I'm scared 
it's going to happen again." She confessed.
"It won't."
"Then there's the four hours drive between here and the city. How can any 
relationship survive on that, especially a new one."
Despite Robyn's discomfort, Ben could not help but smile.
"Does that mean you want to give it a go? You want to see how we can work 
as a couple?" he asked.
Robyn looked up at him with tear-filled eyes. Slowly, she nodded her head.
"More than you can imagine." She sighed. "I've been attracted to you for a 
while."
Ben reached out his hand and massaged her shoulder. "I know the feeling."
Robyn fell into Ben's embrace, as they kissed again, both feeling anxiety 
and anticipation at the thought of something new.
***

"What a day!" Jo exclaimed to the group of them gathered at the pub. The 
day was spent delivering tarpaulins to houses with destroyed rooves, and 
clearing debris from the roads and country side. It had been back breaking 
work, but Jo thoroughly enjoyed it. It kept her from much conversation with 
her colleague.
Jack, on the other hand, knew how Jo really felt. He knew that it wasn't 
right to get his hopes up. Police and relationships never worked out anyway. 
He knew that Jo was just speaking out in the heat of the moment last night, 
without giving it a lot of thought. Hell, his question "Would you?" hardly 
gave her an opportunity to answer otherwise.
"Well, it's been a long day. I'm calling it a night." Jack announced.
"Yeah, I agree." Jo followed. "Goodnight guys."
Jack took the steps up to the rooms two at a time.
"Jack! Wait up." Jo called out to him. Jack sighed, but was glad that she 
was no longer avoiding him. Hopefully after this conversation they would be 
back to being friends again.
She followed Jack into his room, closing the door, and turning to face him.
"Jack, what I said last night, about you being the kind of guy I would fall 
for…" Jo started.
"I know, you don't have to explain. It was the storm, it was the fire, it 
was the blankets…"
"It was true." Jo interrupted.
Jack was taken aback. A look of disbelief crossed his face. "What?"
"You are the guy I could fall for. I already am."
"You're what?"
"I'm attracted to you. Listen to me for goodness sakes!" she exclaimed.
"I am, I'm just having a little trouble believing it." Jack shook his head 
in disbelief.
"Look Jack. I'm very nervous about this, and you're not making this any 
easier on me." Jo protested.
"Sorry. What do you have to be nervous about? You know how I feel about 
you."
"I hope I know. God knows when you would admit it."
"I'm shy."
"Yeah." Jo grinned. "It's part of the appeal. Part of it that I am becoming 
increasingly sick of."
"What do you mean?"
"I mean that if you don't kiss me right now, I'm going back to my room, and 
locking the door." Jo threatened.
"Right now? As in, this moment?"
"Uh-huh. You have until the count of three. One" No movement. "Two." Still 
no movement. "Two and a half. Two and three quarters. Two and ten twelfths." 
Still nothing. "Three." She said silently.
Feeling dejected, she turned and walked toward the door. Just as she opened 
it, it was slammed shut again.
"Did I mention I can't count?" Jack asked sheepishly. He leant down, and 
kissed her with as much passion as he felt. Jo kissed him back just as hard, 
just as lovingly. For once, she was going into a relationship knowing that 
she was going to be looked after. He would adore her, and she would adore 
him.
***

"Well, I guess this is it." Robyn said sadly in the Imperial car park. She 
had spent the day fixing up insurance and real estate. Now it was time to go 
home to her baby.
Ben stood next to her, with a sad smile, and his hands shoved in his 
pockets.
"We'll have to do this more often." He smirked.
Robyn gave a wry smile. "Just shut up and hug me."
Ben took her with both of his arms, and gave her the cuddle of her life. 
Robyn's grip was just as fierce, and both were reluctant to let go.
"This is terrible." Robyn muttered into Ben's shoulder. "I haven't even 
left yet, and I miss you already!"
"Don't think about that. Think about last night." Ben suggested.
"How could I not?" Robyn teased, giving him a last long lingering kiss 
goodbye. Reluctantly, she opened the driver side door of the car, and hopped 
in.
"Are you sure you don't mind me taking your car back to Melbourne with me?" 
Robyn asked again.
"Of course I don't mind. That means you'll have to come back to return it." 
Ben grinned.
"I'll hurry back."
"I'll be waiting." With one last kiss, Robyn was gone, leaving Ben waving 
at the diminishing car.
It felt good. It felt right.
The storm was over, the fun times had just begun.

THE END!