Episode 6349

Extended Summary

As Leah and Zac’s wedding begins, Charlotte sneaks in to the house. She looks at the family photos, picking up one of Hunter with Leah and Zac. As Leah walks down the aisle Charlotte is drawn to the veil which Leah decided not to wear and tries it on. After staring at herself in the mirror she takes it off again, then slowly picks up her bag containing the gun, and walks to a window. She looks down at the beautiful wedding, at what she thinks she could have had. As Zac says his vows there’s suddenly the sound of slow clapping, as Charlotte stands at the end of the aisle, sarcastically applauding them. Alf tries to get her to leave but she snaps at him not to touch her. She goes on to say what a perfect place Summer Bay seems to be until you scratch the surface, and lists the secrets that people are hiding and one by one they shift with discomfort. As Charlotte talks of people getting away with crimes Hunter’s had enough and he marches her away. They fight, Charlotte telling Hunter to go back to his family, that he’s pretending to be a good son and how much she’s sacrificed for him, that Denny would still be alive if it weren’t for him. Zac comes over just in tiem to hear Hunter tell Charlotte she may be in hell soon enough, then breaks it up. As Charlotte leaves, Leah comes over and when Zac apologises Leah assures him that it’ll take more than that to ruin their day. They kiss and get back to the ceremony. Afterwards Leah checks on Irene who tells her she’s fine. After Leah walks away though Irene ducks off and urgently drinks from a hip flask, clearly not okay.

Chris goes over to Hannah and Phoebe and tells Hannah how amazing she looks. He also tells them that he has a surprise planned for Leah but despite Phoebe’s attempts to get it out of him he won’t tell.

Irene gives Chris a big hug and as she drunkenly stumbles Chris tries to get her to sit down. As she pushes him off she knocks Maddy who drops her purse and rips her dress when she bends over to pick it up. Irene laughs and Matt guides Maddy away to get changed, walking behind her. Up at the house Maddy thanks Matt for saving her from embarrassment and there’s a charged moment between them, which Oscar interrupts. As they protest awkwardly Oscar tells them to stop. If they want to be together he doesn’t want to keep them apart.

Chris tells Hannah he needs to take Irene home because she’s drunk, explaining that she’s an alcoholic. Hannah suggests telling Leah but Chris thinks Leah’s had enough surprises for one day. Irene is aggressive as Chris persuades her to go with him and some of the others look over, wondering if everything’s okay.

Back at the house Irene searches the house for booze while Chris talks on the phone to Leah, telling her that Irene was just feeling unwell. After hanging up Chris tries to talk to Irene but she’s too drunk and angry and as Chris attempts to take the hip flask away Irene slaps him, and Chris pulls back, completely shocked. Irene’s stunned by what she’s done. As she sits quietly on the couch Chris hands her a glass of water and then Leah appears. Chris leaves them to talk and Irene tells Leah how much she’s struggling, that so many questions are running through her mind no matter how hard she tries to numb herself. She’s decided that she needs to find her child…

Hannah finds a distressed Chris back at the house, and he tells Hannah what happened. She tells him that Irene will be fine because she has Chris. He’s reassured and tells her he loves her. Hannah is silent and Chris asks what’s wrong. She finally admits that she does still have feelings for Andy. Chris walks away, crushed.

Kat has been investigating a hair which was found on Denny’s body. She organised for it to be compared with Charlotte’s blood sample and is grimly triumphant when the results come back confirming it’s Charlotte’s. She and some other officers break into Charlotte’s apartment to find she’s packed up and gone.

Down by the ocean Charlotte sits in her car, unable to contain her hopeless desperation anymore as she loses it, wailing and hitting the steering wheel and anything in reach. She stumbles out and falls to her knees on the sand, utterly broken.