Episode 7117

Extended Summary

Colby escorts Bella to the hire car. She insists Dean’s making a mistake but Colby says that’s not up to her. He insists she gets in the car, then goes over to Dean and Ziggy to say sorry. Both are fine. Colby bumps into another driver, Paul, and apologises. As the cars pull out, Bella looks on sullenly. The convoy of cars heads through the outback roads. Ziggy sings along to music, to Dean’s consternation. Paul and his wife Tanya draw alongside, with Tanya shouting through a loudspeaker for them to move aside. Ziggy complains that it’s not even a race.

Colby is driving Bella and jovially notes he needs to put a lock on her door. He makes small talk about the view and suggests they take time to admire it before catching their flight. He stops the car and gets out; Bella eventually joins him. He notes he’s never been out this far before and Bella agrees Ross wasn’t one for sight-seeing. Colby asks why she did it and Bella says he wouldn’t help: Ziggy’s tearing their family apart and they already haven’t seen Dean in weeks because he was working on the car. She says she’s trying to keep them together. Back in the Bay, Willow knocks on Jasmine’s bedroom door and is eventually allowed in. Jasmine is sorting her clothes to give some to charity, having piles of keep, donate and maybe. Willow accuses her of delaying doing the journal. She sits her down at the table, saying to write while she gets supplies.

Ziggy notices Dean looking serious and assures him Bella will be fine. Colby calls Dean and tells him what Bella was thinking. Dean says they’ve already had that conversation and he told her she didn’t need to worry. Colby asks if that’s because he’s not interested, Ziggy’s not interested or he thinks he doesn’t deserve her. Dean suggests all of the above and Colby finally twigs that Ziggy’s sat next to him. He tells him that if he’s got a chance to be happy he should grab it. Ziggy sees Paul and Tanya stood next to their overheated car. She stops alongside them, asks if they need help, then says too bad and drives on. She tells Dean there’s support cars to help them and now it is a race.

A short time later, several drivers including Dean and Ziggy are relaxing at a rest stop. Ziggy tries to get Dean to eat fast so they can get moving. Paul and Tanya finally turn up, slightly annoyed at being left behind, and Ziggy sarcastically congratulates them on getting halfway, saying they didn’t want to miss the barbeque. She and Dean head off. Later, Ziggy is making a video call to Ben and Maggie (who are in the Diner) from the passenger seat. She shows them the view and Dean, who Maggie tells to keep his eyes on the road. Dean tells them about Ziggy making enemies which Ziggy quickly denies. Maggie tells her they’ve nearly hit their fundraising target; Coco has been following on social media and got all her friends to donate. Ziggy assures them she’s having a good time.

Willow arrives home with her little buffet but finds Jasmine has only written her name and drawn a flower. Willow produces a bottle of wine. Jasmine reminds her Irene doesn’t allow booze in the house but Willow says Irene’s not there at the moment. Jasmine agrees to drink it in her room. Later, they are slightly merry with Jasmine saying Willow’s attempt to get her to write her journal has backfired. She says she hasn’t had panic attacks since she was young and doesn’t want to think about that time. She notes the first one was when she was eight, explaining about her mum dying and her dad leaving. Willow understands, saying her mother died when she was young and now Russell has Alzheimer’s it’s like he’s not there. Jasmine is glad they had this talk and Willow agrees that it seems sometimes she has nothing except Dean and Colby.

Dean and Ziggy pull into the overnight stop and prepare to set up their tents. Paul and Tanya emerge from the next tent along, noting they said they’d overtake them. Paul offers them beers (pulling Ziggy’s away a couple of times before letting her take it) and they make introductions. Meanwhile, Colby pulls up near a hotel and asks Bella if she’s hungry. Bella doesn’t reply or move from outside the car. Colby tries to convince her they won’t get rid of Dean and suggests they stay overnight at the hotel and fly back tomorrow. Bella agrees but doesn’t sound interested.

Willow and Jasmine are still curled up on the bed. Willow has deduced that Robbo leaving brought up memories for Jasmine but points out he came back. Jasmine says now he’s gone again, then realises that’s going too far. Willow encourages her to confront Robbo and demand answers but Jasmine doesn’t think that sounds like her. Willow says she doesn’t want Jasmine to do something she’s uncomfortable with but sometimes you have to act or the spark dies and the other person moves on. Irene calls out and Willow goes to distract her (with Jasmine’s clothing on her head) while Jasmine hides the bottle and glasses. Jasmine’s attention is drawn to her engagement ring.

Ziggy has explained about Maggie’s cancer and asks Paul and Tanya how they got involved in the rally. After an awkward moment, Paul explains he has stage four melanoma. It was on his bucket list and he’s probably not going to be around next year, which they’ve made peace with. They turn in and Ziggy and Dean reflect on how you wouldn’t know to look at them. Ziggy says it’s the same with her: No-one there knows about Brody and Simone, which is kind of liberating. Dean kisses her, saying he’s wanted to do that all day. Ziggy simply says that now he has before going to her tent. They both lie awake, looking uncomfortable.

Next morning, Colby is setting up the car and tries to assure Bella that everything will be okay. Bella doesn’t believe him: For the first time, she had a family who cared about each other and now that’s gone. She starts walking towards the police station, saying she’s going to tell them her brother murdered someone.