Owen watched as she made her way towards him. She seemed to be making herself smaller with every step. Her fingers brushed through her hair. She bit her nails and hugged her jacket tightly. Her eyes scanned the parking lot warily. She was anxious. Of course, she was anxious. He knew she would be. He knew she would regret everything in the morning because this wasn't in her nature. She told him so many times and yet, he couldn't stay away from her.

When she reached him, he fought the urge to kiss where the corners of her mouth dipped downwards. "Is everything alright?"

"Mhmm," she replied avoiding his eyes. "You didn't have to wait for me."

He almost laughed in her face. If only he had that option.

"It's no trouble. Why did you park all the way up in C? There's a spot right there," he said pointing at a free parking space just a few meters away.

Lora shifted uncomfortably and he saw her answer in her restless, brown eyes. If he didn't know her so well, it would have angered him. The shame. The guilt she kept bottled up. He sighed softly.

"Lora, I don't think there is anything suspicious about your car being parked next to my car. In fact, I think it would be a privilege. I bet a lot of the cars here would like to be next to my car."

Lora finally looked up at him, brows drawn together in confusion.

"It's a very attractive car!" he explained, his boyish grin making an appearance. "It's clean. It's fully insured, sensible. It's quite the catch, really."

"This isn't funny, Owen," Lora glared at him before walking away briskly.

He groaned and followed her. Her leg twitched impatiently as they waited for the lift to arrive and her jacket slid over her shoulder revealing the massive, fabricated stain on her blouse. Owen flicked at it with his fingers.

"Don't you think this is a bit extreme?"

Lora slapped his hand away and quickly drew up her jacket to cover her blouse. "No! It is a well-devised plan that is absolutely necessary after I let you convince me to sleep over. What was I thinking?"

He stepped directly in front of her so that she was forced to look into his eyes. "We showered and fell asleep. It was three in the morning when you woke up and wanted to drive back to an empty house!"

"I'm a big girl, Owen. I'm not afraid of an empty house," she replied jabbing the elevator button again.

"I am not saying that you're afraid. I'm saying that it was pretty futile at that point."

Lora rolled her eyes and pouted and it was all Owen could do not to nibble on her lower lip.

"And you would be right if only I didn't wake up this morning to realise that I didn't have any fresh clothes with me."

"I offered to drive you to your house before coming here."

"How many times do we have to go through this?" Lora sighed almost jumping with exasperation. "It is not about the drive! What if someone saw me running back to my house at six in the morning only to come out wearing something different ten minutes later? Or is that not suspicious either, Dr Shaw?"

"Fine. Bring clothes with you next time. I'll even clear a drawer for you if you want. Jesus, you're so needy!" he added grinning at the horrified look on her face.

It worked. Lora finally gave in and her laughter rang around the four chambers of his heart. If only she knew how irresistible she was when she laughed. He wrapped an arm around her and kissed her forehead.

"What are you doing?" she gasped pulling away instantly.

"Lora, will you relax? No one is here."

At that moment, the doors opened revealing an empty elevator. Lora sighed a breath of relief and rested a palm on her heart. "What if Mike was in there? Or Cara or Ness? They would have seen us!"

He gently put a hand on her lower back and guided her inside. "It's Mike's day off. He's been bragging about taking his boat up to Sicily for weeks. Ness doesn't drive so there is no reason for her to come down here, and Cara is on the ward, hopefully with a shirt you can borrow, or your master plan will be a master disaster."

She looked up at him and bit her lower lip. She envied the twinkle in his eyes, the easy smile on his lips. "How are you so calm? You're always making jokes. I know you don't have anything to lose but doesn't the guilt gnaw at you even a tiny bit?"

The humour in Owen's eyes vanished instantly. "What do you mean I have nothing to lose? Lora, if this gets out, I can lose my job! My reputation will be ruined and I can kiss my prospects at ever being a consultant goodbye."

Lora gasped in horror as she realised he was right and Owen immediately regretted his outburst. He put his hands on her shoulders and said, "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to scare you and I swear I know what I'm doing. I just don't want you to feel like you're the only one with something at stake here. And even if I had nothing to lose, do you honestly think I would be so selfish and careless with you? I do care for you, you know?"

Lora twisted her fingers anxiously as the heat rose to her cheeks. He had been nothing but nice to her from the moment they met. Before all this madness, she considered him a friend.

"No," she mumbled.

"Good," he breathed, visibly relaxing in front of her. His hand rose to her cheek and he gave her a concerned look. "I'm sorry if I made you feel like I didn't care. I make jokes because I like to see you smile. But you're right. We need to lay low until we figure this out."

The doors opened onto the foyer. Owen immediately dropped his hand and he stepped out but Lora stayed back.

"Why don't you go in? I'll follow in a few minutes."

He gave her an assuring smile. "Lora, we met in the parking area. I held the elevator for you. It was an awkward and silent ride up because I'm moody in the morning and you blush like a tomato when you're in the vicinity of a male homo sapiens. If anything, people will feel sorry for you."

Lora's lips curled into a smile. He was right. She thought he didn't understand what she was going through, but maybe he understood more than she thought.

"You're not moody in the morning," she muttered, finally making her way across the foyer.

Owen chuckled as she pushed past him. He couldn't help staring at her from behind. How did she not see how desirable she was?

"Not today, I'm not," he replied with a wink, opening the door with his access card and going in without waiting for her.

He strode to his office purposefully and slammed the door shut behind him. Lora stared longingly at the spot where he vanished. She wasn't ready to be away from him, she realised, and even though she had spent all morning trying to outrun him, suddenly all she wanted was to run back to him.

'Dear God,' she prayed inwardly as the fear consumed her, 'I know I have no business asking anything of you today, but please let this work. Please help me get through today so that I may understand what is going on and make my way back to the path you have set for me. Please guide me through this before I am completely lost. Peter too had sinned, but he was your most trusted friend. Mary Magdalene sinned and yet she was your most loyal servant. Their faith prevailed and with your counsel, so shall mine.'

Lora lifted her chin and made her way to the nursing station where she found Nessy and a few other carers ready to take handover.

"Ness, is Cara in today?"

Vanessa looked up at her surprised.

"Good morning, Lora. You're here bright and early!" she greeted, her tone dripping with curiosity.

"Yes. Is she here?"

Good, old Nessy eyed her for a long while. Her gaze was loaded with judgement and accusation. "She's still in the staff room, but she'll be out soon."

"Great, thanks," Lora said quickly and without further delay, she all but ran to the staff room ignoring the expression on Nessy's outraged face.

Thank God, Cara was alone and Lora started to breathe again.

"Good morning, darling!" the beautiful brunette said cheerfully as she downed the last gulp of coffee. "How are you? Did you sleep here?"

Lora shut the door hesitantly behind her and walked into the room that was once home to her. "No, I just got here. I need a favour. Do you have a spare shirt or something I can borrow? I spilt my coffee on my way here."

She showed her the stain even though Cara hadn't asked for proof.

"Well, that's what you get for having breakfast on the go," her friend scolded, getting up and opening her locker. "You need to slow down. But don't worry, I have your back."

She took out a dark green sweater and handed it over to her. "This should fit you. How did it go with Shaw yesterday?"

Lora's eyes widened at her friend and her heart hammered in her throat. "Excuse me?"

"You talked to him about Jona's transfer, right?" Cara went on ditching her empty mug in the sink.

"Yes!" Lora almost laughed in relief. "It was fine. I was just a bit worried about how fit he is and... yep, he cleared everything up!"

Cara smiled at her empathetically and Lora dropped her gaze to the floor. There was a time when the two girls told each other everything. Cara remained by Lora's side all the while as she dealt with her sister's death. She supported her during her journey with Jonathan and was her shoulder to cry on when her brother wasn't talking to her. She could tell when she was avoiding the truth just by looking at her and now here she was, lying to her outright. Lora wondered whether she could see right through her, but if she did, she didn't say anything.

"Can I ask you something?" Lora blurted out. "Is there something going on between you two?"

Cara didn't even blink. "Who? Me and Shaw? I wish! He's off limits."

"Off limits?" Lora asked twisting the sweater in her hands.

"Yeah. The man's a dream but he's emotionally unavailable. He always keeps his distance. Mike says he had a bad experience. His ex-wife cheated on him or something. My theory is it put him off women forever."

"But you guys seem so friendly."

Cara removed the hairband from her wrist and tied her hair back into a long horsetail. "Oh, yes, he's friendly. He's great fun. But that's it. That's all he's ever been with anyone as far as I'm aware."

"Oh," was all Lora could say. Suddenly, she felt the heaviness of her secret weighing her down. She couldn't understand why she was surprised or why this seemed to change things but she was, and it did.

Lora shuffled into the changing room, locking the door behind her. She removed her blouse and stuffed it deep inside her bag. She threw on Cara's sweater, took a few deep breaths and walked out, relieved she'd finally gotten rid of the evidence of the night before.

"Holy cow, Lora! You have boobies!" Cara cried as soon as she was out the door.

Lora frowned at her friend's wide eyes, strictly focused on her chest area, and then turned back to the mirror. Her mouth fell open as she saw for herself how Cara's sweater hugged her body and the V-shaped neckline framed her cleavage in a very flattering display. Her hair was slightly ruffled, having only finger brushed it this morning and the rims of her eyes were dark with the remains of yesterday's mascara. Lora realised she resembled the luscious woman in her entrance hall mirror and her cheeks reddened at the thought.

"You know, you were always pretty but I had no idea what you were hiding under those drab clothes of yours," Cara admired as she stood behind her.

"Don't be silly, Cara," Lora said still mesmerised by her reflection.

Cara pulled on her arm and dragged her out of the staff room.

"Are you kidding me? Actually, keep the sweater! You look better in it than me." Cara opened the door to Room 7 and pushed her inside chanting playfully, "Good morning, Jonathan. It's going to be a good day!"

Lora's smile was wiped clean off as her eyes landed on her husband's face. He was unsurprisingly gaping at her chest, eyes bulging, face purple.

"What the fuck is this?" he garbled.

Lora hunched her shoulders forward, suddenly wanting to cover herself. Her master plan had taken a wicked turn.

"I dropped coffee on my shirt on my way over here, so I borrowed one from Cara. This was all she had," she mumbled in reply.

Before Jonathan managed to get a word out, the door opened behind them. Lora turned around thinking Cara had come back but she found herself face to face with Owen instead.

She tried to warn him, silently pleading with him not to react, but it was too late. His jaw dropped and his eyes looked as though they were about to fall out of their sockets. His eyes rose to her face and there was no mistaking the hunger in them.

"Hey, kid!" Jonathan snapped from behind them. "I may trust you with my life but keep your eyes off my wife, alright?"

Owen cleared his throat apologetically, but his eyes lit up with humour. His lips twitched and turned upwards at the corners, making Lora's heart skip a beat. She immediately looked away but her cheeks burned nonetheless.

"I'm sorry, Mr Scicluna, I meant no disrespect," Owen said politely. But his eyes were still on her, flickering with want and exhilaration and warmth. His hands flexed as though they were itching to touch her. He saw the mortification in her innocent eyes and his expression sobered. He wanted to tell her there and then, how stunning she looked, how perfect she was. "Apologies, Mrs Scicluna. You look particularly delightful this morning. Green suits you."

She dared lift her eyes back to his and allowed his chocolaty tone to soothe her discomfort.

"What do you want?" Jona barked, the outrage evident in every syllable.

Owen's dimple flashed momentarily at Lora before he put on his professional face and made his way over to his patient. "The Rehab Centre called just now. They will have a bed available for you next week. They're sending someone over on Monday to do an initial assessment and we can probably plan for the transfer on Thursday."

His tone was so smooth, so emotionless that the impact of his words hit Lora in slow motion. But when it did, it felt like the ground was ripped from beneath her feet. She forgot about her anxiety. Everything from the slow hospital WiFi to conquering world hunger seemed trivial as her heart started thrashing inexplicably, protesting wildly between her lungs. Her eyes snapped to the young doctor, standing by her husband, his back towards her, not even giving her a side glance. If he had, he would have realised she was spiralling out of control.

Thursday.

That was a lot sooner than expected. How was that even possible?

"Really? That's great!" Jonathan howled bringing Lora's attention back to the conversation. "Did you hear that, Lor? We'll be out of this hell hole in less than a week? No offence, doc, I'm just sick of lying here all day."

He was right. It was great news. It was what they had been praying for the past year. The chance for a full recovery. The chance to get out of this hospital once and for all. Right?

Dr Shaw turned slightly and their eyes met once more. Their gaze connected for half a second but to Lora, that moment stretched into a lifetime. She knew he saw the panic in her eyes. She wanted to run into his arms and cry into his chest, but he didn't even blink.

The irony was not lost on her. She was the one who begged Owen, challenged him even, to sign her husband up for rehab.

"That's wonderful news," Lora croaked, her voice breaking mid-way. The space around them mocked her. The walls laughed and the floor engulfed her.

Owen nodded in agreement. Jonathan grinned at her. Even her own lips formed a smile as the little beacon that had begun to shine inside her recently was extinguished like a candle on a birthday cake.

She barely felt him brush past her. She didn't hear him say goodbye or see him try to catch her eye before leaving. She merely blinked and the room was cold and lonely save for Jonathan's cocky smirk.