Episode 6970

Extended Summary

Tori and Robbo are driving back to town in silence. We see a flashback to their session with the counsellor, Meredith. She asks Robbo about his two deceased children, Sophia and Lucas. Robbo says they were six and eight, just normal kids. Meredith continues to press for details. Giving away as little as possible, Robbo says they were sporty and active and Sophia liked art. Meredith asks if they got that from their mother. Robbo tries to shut it down and Tori tries to mediate. Meredith insists Robbo needs to deal with his grief, asking how he’d feel holding a baby again or supporting Tori through the pregnancy like he did Lauren. Robbo walks out. Back in the present, Tori asks Robbo if they’re going to talk. He turns the radio on.

At the surf club, John and Marilyn ask Raffy if she knows what’s going on with Ryder. She says she doesn’t and quickly goes over to talk to Coco, explaining about the grilling. Coco wonders if it’s her fault and says she hasn’t spoken to Ryder much since the break-up. Raffy admits she hasn’t either. Coco concludes that he has no-one to talk to. They find Ryder on the beach, where he went wondering if Dean fancied a surf. They invite him to hang out with them. Ryder is surprised they’re not going to have a go about the previous day but they say they want to move on. Ryder dismisses it as a pity hang and thinks someone put them up to it. Despite them looking confused, he walks away.

Robbo and Tori get back to his flat. Tori again tries to start a conversation. Robbo says Meredith pushed him too far and he’s ready to go ahead with the pregnancy. He says they don’t need the clinic: They could get drunk and make a baby themselves. Tori thinks they need to sort things out before she gets pregnant. Robbo says he can’t tell her he’s over something he’ll never be over. Tori leaves upset. Nearby, Leah is asking Alf about Ryder; Alf says he’s working at the surf club and will be joining him in the afternoon. Leah wonders if keeping tabs on him all the time really helps. Tori comes past in tears and Leah goes to comfort her.

At the Diner, Marilyn gets a call from Leah asking her to cover her shift. She joins Alf and John, where Alf learns Ryder isn’t working and put himself down as unavailable for every shift. Alf admits he doesn’t know what to do. John and Marilyn suggest he talk to Maggie. He goes to the farm to see Maggie and Ben, recalling what a pain in the backside Ryder was when he first got there. He knows that Ryder’s took some knocks with Ty and Roo leaving and Coco breaking up with him, but he’s in danger of pushing everyone away.

At the Morgan house, Leah tries to put an optimistic slant on things but Tori thinks Meredith was right and Robbo has never really processed what happened to his family, just forcing it down. She doesn’t think he’s ready to be a dad. Outside the Diner, Alf runs into Robbo, who is leaving for a run, and comments that he hasn’t seen him around recently. As Robbo jogs off, Ryder appears and accuses Alf of treating him like a loser, thinking he or Leah put Raffy and Coco up to talking to him. Alf denies it and suggests they were simply worried about his behaviour. He says he’ll back off if Ryder lets people in, starting with apologising to Maggie and sorting out the roster, and he’s not going anywhere. Alf gets a call from Roo as Ryder leaves to find the girls, and seems stunned by what she tells him.

John serves Coco and Raffy at the juice bar. Raffy is complaining about Ryder, although Coco is a bit more sympathetic. John tries to give a moral about friendship being like a fine wine but they walk away. Ryder comes in and apologises for being an idiot, also forgiving them for being bad friends. Back at the Morgan house, Tori tells Leah it could take Robbo years to process what happened: She can’t rush him but she needed a donor and baby now and would be left with nothing. Leah gets a text from Alf and has to go. Tori concludes she needs to do what’s best for the baby and can’t go ahead with Robbo.

Coco and Raffy make plans with Ryder to go to a movie in Yabbie Creek. Ryder says it feels like he always has to fit in with what they want to do. They ask him what he wants and he admits he doesn’t know, since he’s never had to think about it before. He says they’ll go to the movies this time but he gets to choose what they do next. Down on the beach, Alf and Leah are walking. Leah asks about Duncan and Alf explains Roo said he’s focusing on Bryce. Ryder appears and Alf tells him Caroline died and he’s flying over for the funeral. Ryder says he’ll talk to Maggie about delaying his exams but Alf says Ryder has no passport and there’s no time to get him one so he’ll have to stay with Leah. Ryder is disappointed Alf is going but Leah thinks he’ll be busy having adventures with the girls. Alf jokes that the only adventures they have are on screens.

Robbo is doing sit-ups on the headland, memories of the conversation with Meredith and his row with Tori in his ears. At the same time, a tearful Tori is taking a shower, remembering her and Robbo deciding to have the baby and her conversation with Leah. Meanwhile, Ryder rejoins Raffy and Coco at the surf club and says he knows what he wants to do: Spend the night in the River Boys’ old “haunted” hideout. Raffy calls it gross and dangerous and Coco wonders if they could just see a horror movie instead. Ryder thinks it’s the best time, since Alf’s away and the River Boys don’t go there anymore, and reminds them they said he could choose.

Tori approaches the Diner flat, steels herself and then knocks on the door. The door opens to reveal Robbo who, after standing impassively for a moment, says he’s ready to talk. We see he isn’t at the Diner flat but has gone back to see Meredith.