Episode 7689

Extended Summary

Bella and Nikau walk near the beach, discussing their digital detox. John comes along and tells them that the police have arrested the person behind the chemical attack, although they didn’t tell him who it was. He also mentions that Tane was missing overnight but has been found. Nikau says his phone’s been off and discovers it’s dead. He rushes off home, with Bella saying she’ll turn her phone on and to call her. At the Parata house, Ari notes Mia’s never mentioned Chloe’s father before. Mia says his name’s Matthew and she hadn’t heard from him in over twenty years; she was so shocked she hung up on him. Nikau arrives and Mia takes the opportunity to head to work. Ari assures Nikau that Tane’s fine. Nikau asks if Felicity’s behind bars. Ari says it wasn’t her.

Dean and Ziggy look over CVs for surf instructors. Ziggy rejects one who worked for twelve months in a surf pool. Dean reminds her that her one and only lesson ended in a head injury. Ziggy asks when he’ll be able to start driving again and Dean says he’s waiting for the all-clear. Ziggy comments on them being isolated. Dean says there are advantages of that and kisses her. At the surf club, John approaches Logan and asks about him joining the life-savers. He says Logan shouldn’t feel overqualified but Logan points out he’s busy running the emergency department. John asks about Marilyn, saying she’s only really been aggressive to him but her friends are still worried. Logan says there’s not a lot he can do without Marilyn coming in to be examined.

At Salt, Bella has filled Mackenzie in on the person being caught and gets a text from Nikau confirming Tane’s fine. Mackenzie asks what Bella’s going to do with herself, suggesting she’s been floating since giving up photography. Logan comes in and Bella leaves. Logan and Mackenzie discuss Marilyn before Mackenzie tells Logan that they’re having dinner with Ziggy and Dean. At the farm house, Ziggy and Dean come back from the bedroom. Ziggy also mentions the dinner and reveals that it’s at Salt. Dean is concerned but Ziggy assures him he can handle the stairs and also suggests he asks Logan about driving.

Nikau comes back from checking on Tane. He feels bad about wrongly accusing Felicity and wants to go and apologise to her. Ari says she’s getting checked over at the hospital. Nikau considers leaving her a message but Ari thinks there’s no quick fix and he needs to move on. At the surf club, Bella greets Ziggy and Dean as they arrive. John tries to interest Dean in joining the lifesavers without much success and he and Bella both cheer him on, to his annoyance, as he heads upstairs.

Logan and Mackenzie greet the pair on their arrival. Logan suggests Dean’s ready for another challenge and Dean says the stairs came second. Ziggy isn’t comfortable with the conversation despite Mackenzie pointing out she talked to her about it. Ziggy asks Logan about Dean driving. Dean tries to put off the conversation but Ziggy presses so Logan just says it depends on how Dean feels. Dean and Logan go to the bar. Logan says there’s no medical reason for Dean not to drive if he wants to. Dean insists he does, so Logan offers to go out for a spin with him tomorrow. Near the Diner, Nikau chats to Bella, berating himself for wrongly accusing Felicity and blaming himself for Anne being free to go after her and Tane. Bella says it’s not his fault and he did the only thing he could by deleting his socials.

Ziggy and Dean arrive home. Ziggy gives herself credit for the success of the night. She tells Dean he doesn’t have to drive if he doesn’t want to. Dean says it’s fine but he doesn’t have a car. Ziggy says she knows some second-hand car dealers. Dean acknowledges the effort in a rather muted fashion before heading off to bed. At Salt, Mackenzie suggests to Logan that Dean was a bit quiet and they both think Ziggy was keener for him to drive again than he was. Mackenzie encourages Logan to follow up on the effort to help him. Bella and Nikau arrive and John chats to them about Dean’s improvement, indicating it will put Nikau out of a job. Mackenzie gives him a pointed look and he apologises.

Ari finds Mia sitting in a park area. She says Matthew could only have called because he knows about Chloe, explaining that she told him she was pregnant but he doesn’t know she kept the baby. Ari suggests it’s up to Chloe if she wants to meet him and that he’d be fine with it but Mia insists Chloe will never know. As they walk, Mia explains that when she was sixteen, her best friend’s parents went away and she invited some boys from private school round, of whom Matthew was the only one Mia found charming. She got drunk and he took her to the bedroom to lie down, then got into bed with her: She doesn’t really remember what happened and had never done it before, but when she woke up he was gone. When she found out she was pregnant, she went to tell him. Next day, his mother gave her money and demanded she have an abortion. She agreed but couldn’t go through with it and left town. She insists Chloe must never know.

Next morning, Mackenzie, Bella and Nikau leave the flat. Mackenzie asks Bella about getting a job and Bella admits it’s hard without qualifications. They run into Ziggy, who spills her drink. She says she’s late for work because of having to give Dean a lift. Meanwhile, Dean is setting up outside the surf club when Logan turns up. There’s 45 minutes before the shop opens so Logan suggests they give driving a try. Dean gets behind the wheel, but when he tries to put the key in the ignition, he starts having flashbacks to the accident. Logan stops him, saying it’s too soon.

Bella and Nikau arrive at the surf club and are greeted by John. He suggests Nikau sign up for the lifesavers, saying he’d have to get his bronze medallion first but he’ll get to hang out on the beach playing with cool equipment. He points out Nikau enjoyed saving Lissa and reveals he’s holding a class today. Meanwhile, Dean and Logan arrive back at the farm house. Logan tries to discuss what happened, saying Dean’s been in two major accidents. Dean says he was the driver both times and lives were destroyed. He walks out, leaving Logan alone.