Episode 604

Extended Summary

Carly is running late for work and tells Pippa the batteries are going on her alarm clock. Bobby arrives and Carly thinks she’s there to tell her off for being late. Bobby reminds her she said she’d be the fourth to know what was bothering her but admits things have got a bit out of hand. She tells them that if Pippa was still her foster mother then in seven months she’d be a foster grandmother. Carly in particular is surprised that Don took it so well. Bobby asks how they feel. Pippa is worried but supportive and says she thinks Bobby will be a good mother. Carly is a bit more subdued and is exasperated when Bobby admits Chris is the father. Bobby says it doesn’t make any difference, she doesn’t want to marry him. Jane comes by to ask Carly and Ben to dinner. Carly says it’ll have to be at seven because she has the afternoon shift. Bobby and Carly leave for work and Jane asks Pippa if they can talk.

Don arrives back at the school and finds Blake and Karen still waiting outside the classroom. He tells them to get off to class and then come and see him after school. Blake apologises for what he said about Bobby.  Don accepts but says Blake’s still on detention for his behaviour in class. He finds Grant cleaning up the classroom and thanks him for stepping in. Grant tells him he already knows what happened and says he’s sorry. Don replies that he considers becoming a grandfather a cause for celebration.

Bobby and Carly arrive at the Diner. Carly says she should have got Jane to invite Bobby as well. Bobby thinks Jane wanted an even number of people so Carly suggests Jane find Bobby a date. Bobby is annoyed to realise that Carly is trying to find her a husband because she’s pregnant and says she doesn’t want the sort of life that Carly’s got with Ben: She tried marriage and it didn’t work out for her and she’s certainly not going to get married for the wrong reasons. Meanwhile, Jane is telling Pippa about her disastrous attempt at doing a first meal for her and Grant and how she’s not used to vegetarian dishes.  She wonders if relationships get any easier. Pippa says the only person she’s really had a serious relationship with is Tom but that you start off worrying about how different you are from the other person until one day you wake up and find you’re two parts of the one whole. She adds that if you then lose the other person that can take just as much time to get used to.

Sophie, Blake and Karen are discussing Don’s punishment in the school grounds. Karen wishes she had her old encyclopedia to prove she was right but Blake says Don’s the only person who’s allowed to be right. Grant overhears them and goes to see Don, suggesting the punishment was excessive and saying he believes education means teaching students to think for themselves, not just reeling off a load of facts at them. Don says whether they were right or wrong doesn’t matter; they were punished for being insolent and Grant is close to being the same.

At the Diner, Bobby has told Sally about her pregnancy. Sally is delighted by the news, despite Carly trying to get her to keep it quiet. Sally suggests Carly’s jealous that people aren’t talking about her and Ben anymore. She starts thinking about baby names and getting Pippa to help knit things for the baby. Later, Blake, Karen, Sophie and Sally are sitting together. The others get Blake to apologise to Bobby for telling Don about her pregnancy. Bobby says it’s a good job he did since she wasn’t having much luck doing it.  She and Carly both observe Don’s a nice guy underneath. Blake protests he’s just given them a week’s detention but Bobby and Carly say they were never off detention and he must be going soft.

Pippa has given Jane a load of spare pans, noting how much stuff she’s accumulated over the years. Jane says she’s never stayed in one place long enough to gather possessions. Grant comes in and says he came home for lunch because he couldn’t stand being around Don. Pippa and Jane wonder what could have happened to put him in a bad mood. Don is overseeing the playground and shouts at two boys to stop fighting. Pippa pops by to congratulate him over Bobby and notes she was worried how he’d take it. Don admits he has a reputation for being an ogre. He says if it was anyone else he’d be disapproving but when it’s someone close to you, you feel differently.

Grant moans to Jane about Don’s behaviour and how it doesn’t matter to him whether Karen was right or wrong. Jane says she had a senior sergeant that was the same and sometimes you just have to ride it. She tells him they’ve got Carly and Ben coming over for dinner. Grant is annoyed she didn’t check it was all right with him, saying he has a lot of marking to do that evening. Grant goes back to school and asks Don when Abraham Lincoln abolished slavery in the United States. Don says it was 1863 and makes the same conclusion Grant has done: Karen was using an American encyclopedia which ignored European history, whereas the British Empire outlawed slavery in Australia in 1807. Don approaches Blake, Karen and Sophie in the playground and clarifies the matter. He says Karen was right to challenge him and she won’t have to do the detention. However, Blake was still insolent so his punishment stands.

Carly suggests Bobby go home from the Diner since they’re not busy. Bobby points out she’s only two and a half months pregnant and doesn’t need special treatment yet. Carly still thinks it doesn’t need both of them there so Bobby lets her go early to get ready for her dinner. Sophie and Karen come in. Sophie suggests they go to meet Blake from his detention to offer him support. Karen thinks Sophie should go on her own, since she knows she likes him and thinks she should tell him. At the school, Don congratulates Blake on carrying the bin around with him rather than taking paper to it like most students on detention do, meaning he’s getting more done. He says he’s re-read Blake’s reports and they say he keeps getting into trouble but is intelligent and it’s a waste of potential. He hopes he doesn’t write the same thing and tells him once he’s finished that section he can go and doesn’t have to do the rest of the week. Sophie turns up after Don has gone. Blake is initially ambivalent about her being there but when she’s about to go he suggests they head down the beach.

Don arrives home. Bobby jokingly asks if he got into trouble for skipping class. Don confirms he’s happy about her being pregnant but says there are two other people that need to be told. He thinks she should tell Morag but Bobby points out Morag didn’t want to be her mother and Don accepts the point. However, he also thinks she should tell Chris. Bobby says she doesn’t want anything from him but Don points out he was cut out of her life for eighteen years and says she doesn’t have the right to do that to Chris. Bobby says she’ll think about it.

Grant is doing his marking on the table. Jane wants to set it for dinner, saying Carly and Ben will be there soon, but Grant says he doesn’t have anywhere else to do it. Jane ends up dumping the table things near him and snapping Carly and Ben can help themselves. Later, Jane is dressed up for the meal and wants Grant to get changed but he still hasn’t finished his marking. Jane eventually snaps and says she’ll ring Carly and Ben and cancel. Grant looks frustrated.