McLeod’s Daughters When I Wake 1

**This is my first time ever writing a fanfic so please send any reviews or any ideas for me. This is a Kate and Dave story because they are my favorite couple and there are not near enought stories about them!!!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters in this story**

**Takes Place after episode 131 after Patrick leaves.**

I tossed and turned in my sleep,in my dreams I felt the loss of control I felt with Patrick on the back on the motorbike, how I felt so safe when the bike stopped and was in Dave's arms. I woke with a start as my alarm clock went off, "wishful thinking kid" I thought to myself as I tossed my sheets aside.

I walked into the kitchen on Drovers, walking over to the coffee pot and grabbing a cup,

"Morning Kate, sleep well?" asked Stevie as she walked into the kitchen

"Just great, and you?" I replied, knowing what her answer would be

"Oh the usual, not getting much lately if you know what I mean" smirked Stevie just as Alex walked in, Stevie and Alex had been getting alot less sleep lately, Alex had been Stevies greates comfort after she told Rose about being her mum, since then they had become inseperable.

"Thanks for sharing, morning Alex" I grinned as I put some toast in the toaster, "By the way do you guys know if Jodi is up yet?"

"Yes I am and don't think I am getting no sleep Squirt" said Jodi as she walked into the kitchen, "Rob doesn't think we should move to fast so I have been getting lots of sleep."

"Thats sweet Jodes, too bad he wasn't like me I don't like anything slow, see you ladies later" laughed Alex as he kissed Stevie on the cheek and walked out of the kitchen.

"Well that is good to know, that you like things fast" yelled Jodi after him as she poured herself some coffee.

"Trust me there is nothing fast about him," smiled Stevie "now can we please start talking about work and not speed, we have a busy day ahead of us, and with Tess and Nick gone for the week extra busy."

"Typical we have lots to do and they get to go for a week away to Melbourne" said Jodi,

"But they are on Farmer's Council Business" I reminded her as I ate my toast.

"Right Kate, now for that comment Jodes you can clean out the troughes, I am going to ride out and check the fences, Kate can you go into town and get some supplies, can you also call Dave and see if he has the reports yet on the sick sheep?" Stevie said as she drank her coffee, her eyes laughing as Jodi got a pissy look on her face, "I am sure that Dave will love to hear from you anyway, why don't you invite him for supper we can have all the boys over." With that Stevie smiled and got up to go to work for the day.

"What am I going to say!!" I cried to Jodi knowing full well what she would say,

"Oh just tell him you are madly in love with him and want to marry him and have lots of babies," she laughed as my cheeks got red, "Or you could just do what Stevie said, anyways I have troughes to clean." Jodi got up drank the rest of her coffee and walked out of the kitchen.

"Too bad it wasn't just that easy" I said to myself as I cleaned up the dishes and grabbed the keys to the ute.

As I was driving into Gungellan I started going over in my head what I would say to Dave, after almost a week since Patrick had left I hadn't seen Dave much, he was probably trying to avoid me, but really I couldn't blame him. To him I was probably just some kid who he had to save from his idiot brother. He would probably never see me as a woman, he always seemed to see me as a younger sister who he could joke with, not someone he would marry and settle down with.

"I would settle for a kiss" I said out loud as I pulled into the truck stop.

Dave was also driving into Gungellan that morning, he had spent the earlier part of the morning at Killarney, looking over King Herald who Harry was sending to breed this afternoon. He couldn't wait to leave Killarney, he had to head over to Drovers after he stopped in town. He had the test results for the two sheep that were sick, thankfully they weren't contagious, he had the paper results anyway he knew that Kate would love to read them. The thought of Kate made his heart beat a little faster, last week when Patrick had her on the back of that bike, he knew that he would have killed his brother if anything happened to her. He could still feel her body in his arms as she cried with relief afterwards, how her hair smelled like strawberries, how little she felt,and how she was like a little lamb who needed protecting.

He drove into the car park of the truck stop, smiling as he saw the ute from Drovers and Kate loading supplies into it, he put his ute into park and jumped out.

"Hey Kate, need some help?"

"Thanks that would be great" Kate said as she smiled at him, walking back into the truck stop.

I turned and smiled at Dave as he loaded the last of the boxes into the back of the ute,

"Thanks for all of the help"

"Your welcome, I was actually on the way to Drovers, I have the results on those two sheep" Dave replied.

God why did he have to look so good, even in his overalls, my heart did flip flops just by him talking about test results.

"Sounds good, I hope its nothing serious" I said as I sat on the bumper of the ute trying to look all laid back and sexy, "No nothing too serious, I'll follow you home and then go over the instructions for the medicine with you girls" Dave said looking into my eyes.

"Ok" I said as I stood up, "Oh I almost forgot we are going to have everyone over for supper tonight and we thought that you might like to come?" Please say yes, please say yes.

"Cool, sounds like fun, I hope that you girls have lots of food though, I tend to get very hungry by the end of the day" Dave teased as he walked back to his ute. "Now get into your ute, so I can follow you I might get lost you know."

"I am so sure that you would get lost on your way to Drovers" I replied laughing shutting the door.

I started up the ute, and turned out onto the road, I could see Dave pulling out behind me waving at me. I smiled to myself, why can't I have the confidence of Stevie and Jodi, they just smile and they have men eating out of thier hands. Instead I stammer and try to act all coy and sexy and probably look like a complete fool.

"Because Manfredi that is just the way you are."

Dave pulled into the yard at Drovers behind Kate, Stevie and Jodi met them as they both got out of their utes.

"Hey Dave hope you have the results I want to hear." Stevie said grabbing a box from the back of the ute.

"Sure do Stevie, it looks like your two sheep have a minor bowel problem, I have the medicine in my ute, the only thing is that once they have it someone has to watch over them for 24 hours," replied Dave grabbing another box.

"Sounds good, anyway thats what we have these two for" laughed Stevie as she pointed to Jodi and Kate who were unloading boxes.

"Dibs on the day shift!" cried Jodi

"No fair!" replied Kate

"I have plans tonight with Rob after supper" said Jodi "Please Kate, please please please! Its not like you had anything planned anyway." The minute she said that Jodi felt like an idiot.

"Your right Jodes, I don't have anything planned, you get the day shift" Kate grabbed the last box and started walking to the barn.

"Well thats settled" said Stevie turning to Dave, "Did Kate mention to you about coming over for supper?"

"She did, sounds like fun." replied Dave looking towards where Kate had gone into the barn.

"So how about we start this medicine, and start these shifts" Stevie said laughing to herself as she saw Dave look after Kate.

"Sure, sure sounds good." Dave said walking back to his ute, his mind wandering.

I couldn't believe Jodi had said that in front of Dave, it is bad enough he thinks that I am a little kid, now he probably thinks that I am a little kid with no life.

"Kate I am so so so sorry" said Jodi as she ran into the barn "It just slipped out, all I was thinking about was cancelling my plans with Rob."

"Its ok, its not like you weren't telling the truth anyway Jodes." I turned and looked at her, she looked so worried about what she had said.

"Oh Kate, why do I have to always open my big mouth, but you know it might be a good thing he knows you have no plans, that way atleast he knows that you are available." smiled Jodi, trying to make me feel better.

"Maybe, its not like half the county doesn't know anyway." I joked as I gave Jodi a hug, "Anyway I can always impress him with my cooking. Now come on we have work to do."

"We always have work to do!" grumbled Jodi as we walked out of the barn.

"So now that they have had the medicine, just watch and make sure they have none of the side effects, and if they do call me asap." said Dave handing the bottle to Stevie,

"Sounds good, thanks a lot Dave, now I just have to find Jodi and get her in here to sit with them." replied Stevie as she walked back with Dave to his ute, she could see Jodi walking towards them across the yard, "Your babysitting charges await you!"

"I'm coming, jease atleast let me grab something to read first, I can't just sit there!" yelled Jodi as she walked towards the shearing quarters.

"Where is Kate?" Stevie yelled back at her,

"She is out checking on the other sheep, then she is going to start cooking supper, she said that she is going to make her Nona's famous lasagna" replied Jodi.

"That sounds yummy, I can hardly wait for supper." said Dave climbing into his ute, "See you tonight Stevie, what time would you like me?"

"6 o'clock would be good Dave, and if you see Alex and Rob would you tell them that time too, they already know but I know that Alex will need reminding." laughed Stevie as Dave started up his ute.

"Will do, see you at 6." and with that Dave drove off for the rest of his day.

I tried to do my work for the rest of the day without thinking about anything in particular, but my thoughts just kept coming back to Dave. How he was so funny, smart, how his smile always lit up his eyes, everything a girl could want, he just doesn't want this girl. I sighed as I hung up the bridle from my horse.

"That sounds like an awful sigh" said Stevie as she walked into the barn,

"Its nothing" I replied,

"Oh come on Kate it is not nothing, I could see the look on your face when Jodi opened her big mouth,"

"It was just so embarassing, now he knows that I have no life at all, not that he probably thought I did anyway, all I am is some kid anyway."

"Kate you are most definately not a kid, and you do have a life! A lot of girls would love to have your life, you work at a job that you love, you have lots of friends, you are smart, funny, and definately don't look like a kid." Stevie said sitting on a box, "And if Dave Brewer doesn't see that you are better off without him!"

"Thanks Stevie,hopefully someday that is how he will see me, but until then I am just some kid working on Drovers." Stevie got up and gave me a hug,

"Kate, then you are the best 'Kid' I know."

Dave was tired, he had been on rounds all day, he was happy to be home as he parked his ute next to Alex's. He walked up the path to the house and let himself in, Alex was sitting on the couch with a beer and from the sounds of it Rob was in the shower.

"Hey Mate, rough day?" asked Alex as Dave plopped into the arm chair,

"Not too rough, just tiring," replied Dave, "By the way Stevie wants us at Drovers at 6 for supper."

"Yeah, yeah I know she already called me twice, it will be midnight by the time we get there if loverboy there doesn't get out of the shower soon."

"Whats that Alex?" said Rob as he walked out of the bathroom, "I am not the one who takes forever in the shower, you are but hey when you look like you, you need all of the primping you can get I guess!" Rob joked as he walked to get a beer out of the fridge.

"Ha ha very funny, but I have never got any complaints in the looks department, thank you very much, the one that should be primping is Dave, he is the only one of us who is single." laughed Alex as he got up off the couch, "I'll be fast Brewer don't worry, then you can primp away." Alex walked into the bathroom and closed the door.

"He is so full of it," laughed Dave, "Its only dinner at Drovers, its not like we are going anywhere fancy."

"Ahh he just wants to look nice for Stevie, he probably thinks the better he looks and smells the luckier he'll get, me on the other hand, Jodi and I have decided to take things nice and slow, not rush into anything." Rob said as he took Alex's place on the couch.

"Sounds like a good idea, but Jodi seems really looking forward to tonight, the medicine I had to give their sheep requires 24 hour supervision and she practically jumped on Kate to have the day shift so she could see you tonight." joked Dave.

"Now I would have paid to see that!" Alex said as he emerged from the bathroom with a cloud of steam behind him, "Just add Stevie and some mud and that would have been perfect, that means that Kate will be in the barn all night, hopefully she has someone to keep her warm." He looked laughingly at Dave.

"What exactly does that mean Alex Ryan??!! Jodi said this afternoon she has no plans, so she isn't seeing anyone" replied Dave,

"Don't be such a fool Dave, Kate really likes you, just look at how she looks at you, she looks at you like you are a prince or something, and my friend you are definately not that." Alex called as he walked towards his bedroom.

Perplexed Dave looked at Rob, "Do you think this is true?"

"Well it might be, I don't really notice Jodi takes up most of my attention, but just see what happens tonight, see how she acts." replied Rob.

Maybe I will do that, thought Dave as he got up and walked towards the bathroom.

"Something smells good!" Stevie explained as she walked into the kitchen, "Do you need help with anything?"

"Could you cut the garlic bread and put it into the basket there?" I replied as I closed the oven door. "I am going to go get changed, the lasagna only has 15 more minutes, the salad is all ready, and the table is set."

"Thanks Kate, when you go down there tell Jodi she can come up for supper when the guys get here, a half an hour away won't kill her."

I walked towards the barn and called out to Jodi,

"You're free, Stevie said that you can come have supper when the guys come."

"Finally, although I probably won't be great company I smell like sheep!" laughed Jodi as I sat down next to her.

"Well I can take over from you when supper is over, that way you can get cleaned up and you and Rob can have a good night." I said,

"Thanks Kate, by the way what are you going to wear? You don't want Dave thinking that you stay in your work clothes all day." teased Jodi,

"I am just going to change now, into something comfy after all I will be sitting out here all night, plus I don't think that Dave notices what I wear anyway."

"Kate, I am telling you this as your best friend, I bet you that he does. Now go get changed, you can take anything of mine if you want."

"Thanks Jodes" I replied as I stood up and walked towards the shearers quarters.

I leaned over the sink washing my face, I took out my pony tail and brushed my hair, I had changed into comfy black pants and a pink tshirt, I took some of Jodi's lip gloss and applied it to my lips.

"Looking good Manfredi, nice and casual." I grabbed a sweater and the bag I had packed with a flash light, blanket and book for the night ahead of me.

"Mmmm somethings smells delicious!" Alex explained, as he, Rob and Dave entered the kitchen at Drovers.

"That is all thanks to our new chef here, maybe you have heard of her Ms. Kate Manfredi" teased Stevie as she walked by him kissing him on the cheek, "Come on boys supper is ready."

They all walked into the diningroom, Stevie set the basket of bread on the table, she must admit Kate sets a nice table she had set out the nice china and glasses with wine.

"Finally I'm famished!" cried Jodi as she entered the room, kissing Rob on the cheek as she sat down, "Sitting in the barn all day doing nothing makes me hungry."

"You're always hungry, sitting around doing nothing doesn't make matters better." I teased as I entered the room, Jodi stuck out her tongue at me. "Everyone sit down and I'll get the lasagna from the oven!" I turned and walked back to the kitchen feeling 5 pairs of eyes on me.

A half and hour later, everyone was sitting back stuffed,

"That was so good Kate, maybe I am going out with the wrong woman at Drovers," said Alex

"Whatever, just for that you get dish duty with me" laughed Stevie "Speaking of dutys, Jodi you better head back out to the barn."

"Oh I am going to go down now," I said "I told Jodi that I would take over for her, since she had plans this evening."

"Speaking of which I better go get ready" said Jodi standing up and looking at Rob, "Why don't you come help me?" she winked.

Rob looked over at Stevie, "Do you guys want any help cleaning up?"

"No go, thats what I have Alex for, have fun" Stevie replied and Alex grunted,

"Ok then, lets go Jodes, that way I can help you." With that Jodi and Rob got up giggling and whispering as they left the house.

"Well I am going to go down to the barn now, I am taking a radio to keep me awake, so if you hear anything thats what it is." I said getting up from the table and walking towards the door.

"Thanks for cooking Kate, it was really great." Stevie said standing up gathering the plates, as I walked out the door I heard a chair pull out from the table.

Dave pushed his chair back from the table,

"I'll just go check on the sheep with Kate before I leave" he mumbled to Stevie and Alex.

"Get going Brewer, remember what Rob said today too, maybe you will see something you like" said Alex as he grabbed the last piece of garlic bread from the basket.

Stevie looked at Alex as Dave walked out the door,

"What is that all about?" she questioned, "What were you guys talking about this afternoon?"

"Guy stuff" replied Alex, "And just maybe Dave may finally see what is right in front of his eyes." Before Stevie could say anything else he kissed her on the lips, "Now comeon cowgirl lets start these dishes."

I walked out the door of the house and grabbed my bag off the porch, Dave hadn't said much during supper, not that he had much of a chance, Alex, Stevie, and Jodi pretty much dominated the conversation. I noticed that the lights in Jodi's side of the shearers quarters were turned on, she and Rob must have decided to stay in tonight.

"Probably since my side is empty, they can do whatever they want." I mumbled to myself as I reached the barn.

Switching on the light I looked in on the two sheep, both seemed to be fine not a symptom in sight.

"Great make my night even more interesting, just try to keep me awake guys." I said to them as I laid my blanket over the bale of hay Jodi had been using to sit on. I plugged the radio in and turned the music down low, I didn't want to keep the sheep awake after all. I pulled out a magazine Jodi had let me borrow and started reading about how to look like a million dollars for only 100, and the top sex positions in Australia. When I reached an article called, 'How to tell if he likes you, and how to show him you do' I chuckled noticing that Jodi had folded the page over.

"Doesn't matter none of the nonsense in these magazines ever work anyway" I thought as I started reading anyway.

Dave walked out the door of Drovers Run his head running a million miles a minute. God she had looked beautiful tonight, even dressed down she had a certain flare to her. She hadn't said much during dinner, but she was probably just wishing her night in the barn was over. He thought about what Alex and Rob had said this afternoon, how that Kate was in love with him and that he couldn't even see it. He had to admit that he was starting to have feelings for her, especially when he had seen her with Patrick, even though he was his brother he just couldn't see her with him. Then after Patrick took her for a joyride the anger that Dave had felt had surprised even him, the thought of losing her in an accident had made him sick to his stomach.

He noticed that the lights in Jodi's part of the shearers quarters were on, they probably knew that they could have the place to themselves while Kate was in the barn for the night. That must kill Kate seeing Jodi and Rob and even Alex and Stevie together, thought Dave. Seeing how happy she could be, then probably thinking that Patrick would make her happy and having him break her heart. As he came closer to the barn, Dave thought to himself, "I'll be damned if I let her heart get broken again."

I could feel myself starting to get tired, I hadn't gotten any sleep today so I knew that it would be a long night. I was just starting to nod off when I heard the barn door opened. My heart started to race when I saw who it was coming towards me. Dave closed the door behind him and walked over to look at the sheep. He looked over the stall and the light hit his face, god he was so handsome, I could feel my heart racing even faster. He stood up straight and he started walking over towards where I was sitting.

"Hey, is this seat taken?" he smiled, gesturing towards the other side of the hay bale,

"Uh no, just let me move my bag," I replied, taking the bag and plunking it down beside me. I could feel the heat from his body as he sat down next to me, shifting as he got comfortable. "How do the sheep look?" I asked.

"They look like they will be ok, that medicine has a very low incidence of side effects, but it is still good to keep an eye on them." Dave said looking down at the magazine in my lap. I quickly closed it,

"This is just something Jodi left in here this afternoon, its nothing but complete rubbish." I stammered dropping it onto the floor.

"I see, although it is probably more interesting than sitting here looking at the wall I bet." joked Dave as he reached across he and grabbed it off the ground, "Hmmmm lets see now, apparantly the in look is red lips, you can look like a million bucks for 100, and ohhh whats this? The top sex positions in Australia! Goodness that is definately some good reading."

"It will help keep me awake anyway," I sighed stiffling a yawn, "I will know every page of that magazine before this night is done. I can hardly keep awake now, so hopefully reading it will keep me interested."

"Well the sex positions alone are worth staying awake for." Dave said as I felt my cheeks turning bright red.

Dave hadn't been this nervous since highschool, sitting next to Kate in the barn he could feel the warmth of her body sitting next to her, he could smell the strawberry shampoo she used. His mind and heart were running a mile a minute, and all he was talking to her about was some stupid magazine Jodi had left behind.

"So did you have a busy day?" asked Kate as she zippered up her sweater,

"No more than usual, are you cold? Do you need another sweater? I can go get you one if you want, I am sure Jodi can find me one if you want." replied Dave turning towards Kate as she smiled.

"I am just a bit cold, but I will be ok, besides I am quite sure that Jodi is busy and wouldn't have time to find anything if you know what I mean." Kate giggled, "I will be fine for the night, it will help keep me awake."

"If you want you can have my sweater," Dave offered, when Kate shook her head he replied, "Fine but then atleast sit closer to me so you don't get too cold." With that Dave moved in closer to her and put his arm around her. "Is this ok, if you don't want me too close I understand." he stammered.

"No this is good, I am nice and warm now thanks." Kate replied letting out a contented sigh.

I couldn't believe what was happening, I was sitting in the barn with Dave and he was sitting with his arm around me!!! Even though it was only because he thought that I was really cold, which I was farely cold, it was still amazing. I could feel his breathing going in and out, he smelled so good, like soap and aftershave mixed together, I was in heaven.

"Thanks for sitting with me a while, it can get pretty boreing in here by yourself," I said as I took another deep breath of how he smelt.

"You're welcome I can't think of any other way I would like to spend my evening, good conversation, good friends, and sheep." laughed Dave as he stretched out his legs, as he did this he pulled me closer to him, "Sorry bout that, just want to make sure you stay warm."

"Don't worry I am definately warm now." I smiled in return, my heart was racing all I kept thinking is Dave has his arm around me!!

Dave turned his head towards me and smiled, "You know another way we could keep warm?"

"Coffee?" I stammered all the way thinking stupid stupid stupid, why can't you think like Jodi she would say something sexy and kiss him.

"No by doing this," and with that Dave moved his face closer to me and kissed my lips. He kissed me softly, slowly, yet it was like the most intimate thing in the world, and we were the only people on it. As he pulled his head away he smiled, "Hopefully that was much better than coffee."

Dumbfounded I stammered out, "Definately, much much better than coffee." Just as Dave was about to reply this ringing started to come from his coat.

"Damn it, its my cell, I am so sorry but I have to take this." He said as he pulled it out of his pocket. "Brewer here, yes, yes, ok I will be right there." He sighed as he turned off his cell, "I am so sorry Kate, this is definately not how I thought our evening would end up. That was Paul Reese, one of his cattle won't milk, I need to go over and have a look."

"It's ok," I smiled "I guess that when you are a vet you get lots of calls at the wrong moments."

"This is definately the wrong moment," Dave sighed as he started to get up, as he did he pulled me up with him, "Lets try to finish this moment right though," he whispered as he pulled me close to him, as he kissed me again I could feel my heart practically jump out of my chest.

Dave walked out of the barn towards his ute, cursing to himself, why did his cell have to ring right then, the curse of being a vet he guessed. He could still feel how her lips felt on his, soft and sweet just like her. Sitting there in the barn with her tonight just felt right, the feelings that he was finally feeling seemed like a tidal wave washing over him. He could still feel the touch of her lips on his, he could tell that he had shocked her with the first kiss, probably the second one too, he smiled to himself.

"Its probably a good thing that you didn't stay the night in that barn, God knows what would have happened." he said to himself as he climbed into the ute. As Dave started up his ute and drove away from Drovers he made a promise to himself, this time he would move slow and not mess this relationship up, he couldn't stand to lost Kate.

I was wide awake for the rest of the night, going over and over in my head what had happened. It had seemed like something out of a movie, sitting next to Dave, talking about mundane things and then just like magic he kissed me. And what a kiss, the kind that girls dream of, soft, and tender. It probably was a good thing that his cell had gone off, that one kiss could have definately led somewhere, which I know that we aren't ready for yet. But after that second kiss I might consider it.

I could see the sun coming up through the window in the barn, it was almost symbolic like it was rising on a new chapter in my life, hopefully one that Dave and I write together.

I could hear laughing coming from the kitchen as I walked up the steps of the veranda, I walked into the house and saw that Stevie, Alex, Jodi and Rob were sitting at the kitchen table. All of the talking stopped as I walked into the kitchen.

"Good morning, everyone sleep good?" I asked as I opened the cupboard and got down a glass.

"Oh I definately slept good, only thing is Rob snores," Jodi replied as Rob's cheeks turned red.

"Don't worry on certain occasions she has been known to do it too," I laughed looking at Rob.

"So how was your night in the barn? I hope that it wasn't too cold." smiled Stevie as she took a sip of her coffee,

"Oh it was good, it was cold most of the night, but the evening was nice and warm." I smirked as I poured some orange juice, "now if you will all excuse me I have some sleep to catch up on." I walked out of the kitchen knowing that they were all stareing after me. You probably could have heard a pin drop in the silence of that kitchen, knowing that any minute Jodi would be running after me.

True to form I was half way down the steps and Jodi was coming out the door,

"Kate wait up! What did you mean that your evening was warm??!! Did Dave spend the evening with you in the barn??!!!"

I turned to look at her, knowing that the blush in my cheeks would let away my secret, "He may have, and it might just have been the best night of my life, but right now I really am tired and I need to go to sleep. Now Jodes if you will excuse me I am going to bed, and you should probably go kiss your loverboy good bye before he leaves you now that he knows you snore." I replied as I walked off to the shearers quarters, "Oh and Jodi don't forget a lady never kisses and tells!"

"Well what happened??!!" cried Stevie as Jodi returned to the kitchen, and sat back down next to Rob.

"Apparantly Dave came and saw her in the barn last night, not that she would confirm it, but from the look on her face he did. She looked really happy, but she said that a lady never tells and walked away." replied Jodi,

"Well then she is definately the first 'lady' on Drovers" laughed Alex, "Come on Rob we better get home to change before work and Harry has a hissy fit."

"Sure thing," said Rob standing up turning to Jodi, "want to walk me out?" As they walked out of the kitchen, Stevie said to Alex,

"Not that I want to pry or anything, but if you find out ANYTHING from Dave call me, and even if you don't call me we can make plans for tonight, I might even let you take me out to the pub for supper."

"You bet your cute little ass I will," replied Alex as he leaned down to kiss her.

Dave woke up to the sound of his alarm going off, he sighed as he turned it off. He hadn't gotten much sleep, after looking in on Paul Reese's cow he had driven around thinking, about Her. When he finally came home and climbed into bed all he dreamed of was Kate, how their life could be together, how it would have been if Patrick hadn't ended his joyride when he did, that dream left him in a cold sweat. Kate would probably be climbing into bed right now after her night in the barn, just as he was climbing out. He got out of bed and walked to the kitchen to start the coffee pot, he smiled as he thought of how Kate had said that his kiss was better than coffee, every time he had coffee now he would think of it.

As he turned on the button he heard Alex's ute pull into the drive, here we go Dave thought to himself, bracing himself.

"Morning Dave, sleep well?" smirked Rob as he came in the door and kicked off his boots.

"I bet he did, do tell us Dave how did you sleep?" asked Alex winking at him and sitting on a stool at the kitchen counter.

"I slept just fine guys thanks for asking, I am sure that you all slept well too. Now if you'll excuse me I am going to go get ready for the day." replied Dave smiling as he walked towards the bathroom.

"Ahhh come one Dave we just want a little hint, did you watch how Kate looked at you?" said Alex getting up and walking behind him, "Please come on just a little hint?"

"Jease and I thought Stevie was dating a man!" Dave laughed "Besides I don't think it would be very honorable of me to kiss and tell." he winked as he closed the bathroom door behind him.

I opened the door to my half of the shearers quarters, I exhaled deeply as I closed the door behind me. It had taken all of the will power I had not to tell Jodi everything that happened last night. I just didn't want everyone to know what was going on, not until I had seen Dave again. I smiled as I thought of him, he was probably just getting out of bed to start his day. I wondered if he looked as good first thing in the morning as he usually did,

"He probably looks even sexier!" I sighed to myself as I pulled off my clothes and put on my pyjamas. I set my alarm to go off at 1 o'clock, I didn't want to sleep all day, Dave might come and I definately didn't want to miss him.

I woke up to the sound of knocking on my door, I looked over at my clock 12:45,

"Coming, I'm coming" I yelled as I climbed out of bed, atleast whoever it was had waited til I was about to get up anyway. I walked towards the door and pulled it open.

"Sorry I didn't mean to wake you up," said Dave, I could feel the heat rise in my cheeks as he looked my up and down, "Nice pjs by the way, very pink and I must say unexpected." he smiled.

I looked down to see what ones I had pulled out of my drawer, great pink pants with princess written all over them and a tank that had a silver crown on it.

"Uh thanks they were a gift from Jodi, she said I needed more pink in my wardrobe." I replied, "You didn't wake me up anyway, I was getting up at 1 anyway so you are just a better alarm clock." Dave smiled as I motioned for him to sit down on the sofa as I sat down. "So tell me how is the cow?"

"Its fine, as soon as I got there it started to milk, go figure." he replied nervously,

"Yeah, go figure." I said.

Dave turned to me, he looked me in the eyes, "Kate its probably a good thing he called, the way that kiss made me feel I don't know if I would have been able to keep myself in control."

"I know what you mean, that kiss was the most amazing kiss I have ever had, it was a good thing he called." I replied sighing and sitting back into the sofa.

"I did come here for something else," said Dave "I was wondering if you would like to go have breakfast with me?"

I smiled and turned towards him, "Isn't it kind of late for breakfast? Besides I am not even dressed."

"Doesn't matter, besides technically you just got out of bed, and whenever that is, is when you should have breakfast, now grab a sweater and come one!" laughed Dave as he pulled me up off the sofa, as he did he pulled me into his arms and placed a light kiss on my lips. "Then afterwards maybe we can discuss this and talk about dessert."

"Give me 5 minutes" I said as I ran into my room, I looked at my face in the mirror, ugh I looked awful. I brushed my hair and pulled it back into a pony tail, I started brushing my teeth and putting on deoderant, I sprayed on some smelly body spray and grabbed a sweater and put on a pair of shoes.

"I must say Ms Manfredi you are definately a vision." smiled Dave as I walked out the door, "Just one thing though," he said as he came towards me and pulled out my pony tail, "There much better." Dave took my hand and we started walking across the yard towards his ute. As we reached it Stevie came out of the barn,

"Oy and just where do you think you two are going?" she yelled, with a mischevious look on her face,

"Breakfast, don't worry we won't be late Mom." laughed Dave as he opened the door for me,

"Don't worry I have Jodi working extra hard today anyway, have fun you two." Stevie replied waving as she walked back into the barn. Dave looked at me and took my hand,

"Your chariot awaits my dear."

Ten minutes later we were driving down the road, I had no idea where we were going and Dave wouldn't give me any hints. Dave turned down an old dirt road that led to the lake,

"Here we are, breakfast for two." He said as he turned off the road, he raced out his door and came around to open mine, "Now close your eyes and trust me," Dave took my hand and led me out of the ute. "Ok now you can open them."

I looked around me, Dave had set up a gazebo like tent and had place a table and two chairs under it, he had set the table with linens, flowers, and candles.

"Oh Dave it looks beautiful, this must have taken you all morning!" I exclaimed as I walked towards it,

"Ahh this is nothing, besides I wasn't very busy anyway, now my dear if you would like to take a seat and we will start." He replied as he pulled out my chair, he then walked over to the picnic basket he had gotten out of his ute, "Now how about some coffee, it may not be as good as my kiss but it will be good all the same, and what would you like in it, I think it is important to know how someone likes their coffee." He winked as he poured me a cup.

I could feel myself blushing as he reminded me of what I had said last night, "Coffee sounds good, and just a little bit of milk in it please."

"Here you go, now onto the main course," said Dave as he handed me my coffee, "How do waffles with whipped cream and strawberries sound?"

"Delicious, I love strawberries, now tell me Dr Brewer where did you get all of this stuff from?" I giggled as he started dishing out the cream and strawberries.

"Lets just say that one of my room mates likes whipped cream alot, and the waffles and strawberries are courtesy of the store in town." winked Dave as he set my plate in front of me.

Dave sat back in his chair and looked across the table at her, Kate was sipping her coffee and looking out at the lake, she looked so beautiful, so at peace. He was glad that he had taken out her pony tail, it was like seeing night and day, with her hair down she looked like she was relaxed, while when she wore her hair up she was a no nonsense type. She smiled and his heart skipped a beat, he thought to himself how stupid he had been not to notice her earlier, she had always seemed like a little girl, but now he knew that she was a woman, a woman he wanted to hold close to him and protect her.

Kate turned towards him, "This is so lovely here, it is so peaceful thank you for breakfast Dave."

"No problem, it is good to see you so relaxed and laid back, it is a side I never got to see before." he replied, Kate blushed at this comment.

"I don't really get to relax too much, when I was growing up I had 3 older brothers and I was always trying to compete with them to prove to my parents that I was not just a little girl. I was the same way at uni and even when I came to Drover's I was like that. Now that I have been here a while I am trying to relax more, Jodi says I need to learn to relax and have more fun."

"I know what you mean, when my Dad died I was the man of the house as they say, I had to step up and help my Mum and Patrick. It was a long time before I started to relax, when I was done uni and started to settle down I realized that life is too short and that you need to take time to let your hair down, laugh and love." Dave replied looking in her eyes as he said the last word.

Dave stood up from the table and walked across to her, offering her his hand, "How about letting your hair down a little right now? I got Jodi to get you a swim suit why don't we take a dip?" he motioned to the water. "I brought lots of towels and I promise you won't get cold." Kate stood up and took his hand,

"Only if you promise that I won't get too cold, Stevie will kill me if I get sick!" kate giggled in reply.

"Don't you worry Ms Manfredi, after all I am a doctor." Dave joked pulling her towards him for a kiss.

I walked towards the bushes to change into my swim suit, I felt like I was in a dream. We were talking so naturally, not the way we usually talked to each other about farm stuff. As I took the swim suit out of the bag I noticed that Jodi had put her bikini in the bag instead of my one piece,

"Great, just great!" I mumbled to myself as I noticed a piece of paper float to the ground, I picked it up and started to read,

_Hey squirt, don't get mad about the swim suit I just thought that it might be more appropriate for the occasion. Dave was so nervous about your picnic, I thought this might ease the situation, I think that his heart may finally be going your way. Anyways have fun, I want details, and don't do anything I wouldn't do!_

_Jodes_

"Like that leaves a lot out," I said to myself as I started undressing, my heart beating slightly faster at what she had said in the note.

I pulled my towel around my shoulders as I walked from behind the trees, Jodi's bikini left little to the imagination and I didn't want Dave to think that I was trying to come on too strong. As I walked closer to the water he turned around and smiled, I could feel his eyes on me and I started to blush again.

"The water is nice and warm I put my toe in and it didn't turn blue!" Dave joked as he walked towards me and put his arm around me, "Don't tell me your already cold, we haven't even gone in yet."

"Oh no I'm not cold, its just that Jodi packed me the wrong swim suit, she packed me hers instead and its something that I don't usually wear." I replied as I pulled the towel closer.

"Well lets see this suit, if it is Jodi's I can only imagine what it looks like, but don't worry I won't think that your coming on to me or anything." laughed Dave as I started to take off the towel, "Besides that is usually what I am known for."

I let the towel fall to the ground, I could almost here Dave's intake of breath. I knew that the suit fit me, it was a little big in the top part but other than that it fit to a T. I also knew that with this swim suit you could see my tattoo, I had gotten it when I was 18 just above my pelvic bone, it was a small Italian flag.

"Well what do you think, am I coming on too strong?" I giggled as Dave started to turn red,

"Definately not, I think you may have actually for once left me speechless." he replied as he started to pull off his shirt.

"Good, it was getting a little loud here." I said laughing as I ran towards the water.

The water felt like a warm blanket wrapped around his body as he watched as Kate smiled at him and dove back under. It was like a dream, he almost felt like he had to pinch himself to make sure it was real. To think that he had known her for over a year and until a week ago he had never noticed her more than just a friendly girl who worked at Drovers. But she sure wasn't a girl, that swim suit left little to the imagination and he could honestly feel the breath come from him when she took her towel down. Who knew that little Kate Manfredi had the body of a goddess, and a tattoo to boot, he always thought to himself that she might have a rebel streak.

He could feel something swimming around his legs, as Kate swam upwards and broke through the water, about a foot from him.

"This feels so good, I haven't been swimming in ages! When I was growing up we used to swim all the time in the public pool, I didn't think that I missed it this much." Kate said as she pulled her wet hair from her face, "You don't seem to be swimming much though, are you chicken?" she smiled at him.

"Who me?? Never!! I was just thinking thats all." Dave replied as he pulled her closer to him and wrapped his arms around her. He felt her sigh as she placed her head on his shoulder.

As they swam to shore and wrapped towels around their shoulders they sat down on the grass, looking out over the water. Dave put his arm around Kate, he sighed as he said,

"I think that I need to apologize to you Kate."

"What for??" Kate replied turning to face him, looking into his eyes.

"I feel like if I had only realized how I felt for you sooner that I would have saved you a lot of heartache. The day that Patrick almost wrecked his bike with you on it. I felt like my heart had been ripped out, I was so mad at Patrick, I know that if he had hurt you, I would have probably hurt him. Plus when I think of how the others have all seemed to get together and couple up, while all you could do was to stand there and watch waiting to see if I would get my head out of the sand and see you waiting."

Kate stayed silent for a few minutes, turning her head away from him, as she turned back he could see that there were tears in her eyes. "You don't need to apologize, other people would have simply given up on you after a week or two. But I always knew in my heart that you would eventually come around, and even if you didn't I would always try to be happy for you. When Patrick came, I looked at him almost as the next best thing to you, thinking that maybe you would finally notice me when you saw me with your brother." She sniffed as Dave wiped away her tears.

"Well it definately worked, in fact the next time I see Patrick I will have to thank him." Laughed Dave as he pulled her closer to him.

As I looked out over the lake with Dave's arm around me I felt contented for the first time in a long time. I sighed and put my head on his shoulder, knowing that although this felt like complete heaven we would have to get up soon and head home.

"Here's a corny line for you, but a penny for your thoughts," said Dave looking over at me.

"I was just thinking for wonderful this is, how contented I feel, and how we will have to go home soon. When I never want this night to end" I replied as I snuggled closer to him.

"Well my dear Kate, this day is just the beginning. If you'll let me I will show you just how much more romantic I can be." He joked as he placed a kiss on my forehead.

"As if you even have to ask, ofcourse I'll let you, and you better have lots planned because I have been waiting a long time for this." I giggled as I stood up, "Now as much as I hate to have this end, we really should get ready to head back."

My heart was racing as we neared closer to Drovers, Dave reached over and took my hand, smiling as he drove.

"I hope you know that they are all going to pepper us with questions, especially Jodi she can wheadle anything out of me just so you know." I said as we turned into the drive, "So if you have anything you don't want her to know you better tell me or else she will find out, she just looks at me and I spill everything."

Dave laughed, "Don't worry Kate I don't have any secrets, plus your honesty is one of the things I like about you. Don't worry about the others, I know that they will be asking all sorts of questions. But they wouldn't be our friends if they didn't, so we just tell them the truth." With that Dave pulled up in front of the farm house, it was all lit up and Tess and Nick's ute was parked next to Alex's. We could hear talking as we got out of Dave's ute and walked around to the back of the house, everyone was sitting around on the veranda talking. They all got quiet as we started up the steps, before they could say anything Dave spoke up,

"Hello everyone, you remember my girlfriend Kate."

Dave sat back and looked around him, he couldn't remember the last time that he had felt this contented. Sitting around with his friends, talking, having a beer and Kate beside him. He knew that Kate was nervous about what would happen when they returned to Drovers, that's why he decided to make the move to just tell the truth. He knew that there would be a thousand and one questions so he just had one big answer. He could tell Kate blushed when he called her his girlfriend, but he was so excited about their day he wanted to tell everyone. After he had said that everyone had gotten quiet, until Alex finally said,

"It's about bloody time Brewer, now come sit down you two."

As the clock in the hall of the house chimed eleven o'clock Tess yawned and looked over at Nick,

"I do believe that we will turn in now, it's been a long day." said Tess getting up, she walked over to Kate and whispered in her ear, "Congrats and I want to hear all about your day later!"

"I guess that is our cue to go too." Alex said nodding to Rob, "Come on girls, lets go." he said as he stood up pulling Stevie with him, "Good night Kate, make sure he treats you right." The four of them walked off into the darkness.

I smiled to myself as I saw Dave try to cover a yawn, even in the moonlight he looked amazing.

"Whats the matter doctor are you tired?" I joked as I turned to look at him better.

"As a matter of fact yes, it has been quite an exciting day for me, but if you like I can sit here with you all night." Dave replied as he leaned in to kiss me on the cheek.

"I don't think that will be quite necessary, but you can walk me to the door of my room if you like, that way you can go home and get some rest." I said, kissing him on the cheek and then stood up. He stood up and took my hand as we started down the path towards the shearers quarters. I looked up at the sky as we walked, it was such a beautiful night there were a million stars in the sky, and the full moon shone as brightly as the sun. As we reached to steps of our veranda, we stopped and I turned around to look at him. The events of the day were swirling around in my head, I could feel my heart race as Dave pulled me closer to him, I could feel his heart beating through his shirt. He leaned down and kissed me softly on the lips. As we pulled apart I leaned my head on his shoulder and I felt him lean down and kiss the top of my head.

"I think that I had better go now, as much as I don't want to." Dave sighed as he ran his hand over my back,

"Well look at it this way," I said as I started to pull away, "Tomorrow you can start showing me just how romantic you really are." I could see his smile I kissed his cheek and started to walk up the stairs.

"You're on, just you wait Kate, you haven't seen nothing yet." he replied as he walked into the darkness.

I laid in bed looking at the ceiling, I couldn't sleep the excitment of the day was still coursing through my body. I smiled as I thought how wonderful today had been, I almost expected to wake up from a dream. I reached to turn off the light on my night stand when there was a knock at my door.

"Kate?? Kate are you still awake?? Come on let me in!!" cried Jodi knocking harder, "I know that you aren't asleep come on open up!!" I sighed as I sat up and walked to the door.

"Oh come on in, I was waiting for you to show up anyway." I said as I opened the door, laughing as she burst into the room and say down on my bed. I walked over and sat down next to her, pulling a pillow into my lap.

"Good now tell me EVERYTHING!!! I have been waiting for you to come home all day," exclaimed Jodi as there was another knock at the door, "God who is that now!" she said as I got up and went to the door again. I opened to find Stevie and Tess standing there in their pjs grinning from ear to ear,

"Hope we haven't missed anything, we brought hot chocolate!" Tess laughed as I moved out of the way so they could come into the room.

"She hasn't told me anything yet, you guys arrived just in time." Jodi replied as Tess and Stevie sat on the bed next to her. I grabbed the chair from the corner and sat down facing them, Tess took some mugs out of a bag and started to pour out the hot chocolate.

"Ok Kate, now tell us what we want to hear, and please leave out anything we don't want to if you know what I mean." grinned Stevie as she took a sip of her drink.

"Yeah, and no more of this 'a lady never tells' we want details!!" Jodi joked as she took a drink too.

"Well then I guess you could say it started last night in the barn, Dave came down to keep me company a while. Sitting there, I was so nervous but thanks to that smutty magazine Jodi left behind we did have things to talk about. It was so funny, I could tell that he was nervous too, he was so worried that I was cold, he put his arm around me and was so funny, he kept asking if it was ok."

"Like you would push him away," Jodi interupted and Stevie shot her a 'shut up' look.

"Anyway, we just kept talking about stupid stuff I can't even remember, I think we were talking about coffee when he kissed me. It was the best kiss I have ever have, then I said something stupid like it was way better than coffee. It was so romantic, then his bloody cell phone rang. He had to go look after Paul Reese's cow, so that kind of ended the evening."

"Typical, Paul Reese would call the vet if his cow looked at him funny," muttered Stevie.

"It sounds very romantic Kate, come on tell us more!" said Tess as she tossed a pillow at Stevie.

"Ok so obviously Dave had to go, so I spent the rest of the night looking at the sheep. And you guys all know what happened the next morning." I smiled looking over at Jodi.

"Yeah yeah, now come on keep on with the story." muttered Jodi, as I made myself more comfortable in the chair.

"Ok, well yesterday I woke to Dave knocking on my door inviting me the breakfast, he even made me leave my pjs on. As you all probably noticed when we came back, anyway so it was like a dream he had set up a big tent up by the lake and we had waffles with whipped cream, and it was amazing just sitting there talking. After that we went swimming, by the way thanks for the swim suit Jodes." I said looking over at her,

"Just thought it would help," Jodi winked and giggled.

I sighed, "Thats about it, then we came back here and he walked me to the door."

"That sounds so nice, I wish Alex was romantic like that," sighed Stevie,

"Well Dave did kind of say that the whipped cream was his, so you never know!" I laughed as Stevies face turned bright red.

"Just tell us one thing," pleaded Jodi, "Is Dave a good kisser, he has that whole sweet soulful thing going on, but can he kiss?"

I could feel the blush rising in my cheeks, "Put it this way it made my toes curl."

The three of them let out a mutual sigh, as my heart started racing again.

I woke up to the sound of my alarm clock going off, I looked over at it 5:30, it had been almost 12:30 when the girls had left. I turned the clock off and laid back on my pillow looking at the ceiling not wanting to get up, I had tossed and turned all night as the excitment from yesterday had left me with an adrenaline rush. I could hear Jodi getting ready in the next room, singing along to the radio. She banged on my wall,

"Come on Squirt the sooner you get up the sooner you will see your lover boy this morning!!"

I smiled to myself and pushed the covers aside, I stretched as I got out of bed and walked into the bathroom that we shared. Jodi had already made her daily mess all over the sink, as I pushed it aside and started to wash my face and brush my teeth she walked in.

"Hey, sleep well?? I am so tired, we probably shouldn't have stayed up that late talking, but hey we never do that very much anymore. I bet that you never slept anyway, dreaming the night away about your hunky vet."

I could feel my cheeks get red, if it hadn't been Jodi saying this I probably would have gotten really embarassed, "Well as if you weren't dreaming of your lead station hand, by the way are you two still planning on taking things slow??" I retorted and could see from the look that came over her face that they were.

"I'm sorry Jodes, maybe he is just wanting to move slow because he is in love with you so much."

"It's ok, it is kind of nice the not be rushing right into things, with Alberto and Luke I rushed in with blinders on, this time I want to go into things with both eyes open. Besides things have definately started to develop over the past couple of days, maybe seeing Dave being so romantic has rubbed off on him." replied Jodi as I finished brushing my hair and pulling it back into a ponytail, smiling as I remembered how Dave had pulled it out.

"Now come on I need to get dressed for the day, then we can go have some breakfast, I'm famished." I said as I walked back into my room.

Dave could hear Rob and Alex talking in the kitchen as his alarm clock went off, he sighed as he turned it off. The sun was shining through his blind, it was going to be a beautiful day, even more beautiful when he gets to see Kate. He smiled to himself as he got out of bed, he could still feel her lips on his, how she felt in his arms, so small yet so strong. He opened his bedroom door and walked out to the kitchen,

"Morning guys, sleep well?" he asked as he poured himself a cup of coffee,

"Slept great, thanks for asking" replied Rob as he finished his bowl of cereal.

"Slept great myself too, Rob and I were just discussing how great it was that you took our advice on Kate." said Alex as Dave put some bread in the toaster,

"More like you were gloating about how you were instrumental in our getting together," smirked Dave as Rob laughed,

"Yeah yeah whatever, but I am sure that both of our girlfriends have now heard about how romantic you are, and they are now waiting to see if we will live up to your reputation." Alex replied, "So we were thinking that we should make a trip this weekend into Adelaide, we'll invite Tess and Nick, then take the girls out to a fancy restaurant, they can go shopping, we can do something nice this weekend. Now where you and Kate are just starting to date and you don't want to we will totally understand."

"We won't be doing everything together either, but we thought that while the girls shopped we could go to the match on Saturday afternoon." said Rob.

"Sounds great, we should finalize with the girls, but it sounds like fun, and even if Kate and I did just start dating we will definately be going, I don't want her to miss anything else because of me." replied Dave as he walked towards the washroom.

I looked out the window at the sky, it must me almost noon time. We had been working all morning, there seemed to be tonnes to do, I looked over at the other three all covered in dirt we had been cleaning out the troughs for the past hour.

"Is it just me or does there seem to be no end to this?" moaned Jodi as she pushed a curl out of her face,

"Well without Kate here yesterday, we were all so distracted we need to make us time today," laughed Tess as she dug her pitch fork into a pile of hay, "I'm sure that we will be done this soon Jodes, we have to break for lunch soon I'm famished."

"How about another half hour, then we take a break," Stevie said as she wiped her brow looking over at me grinning, "So Kate are you eagerly awaiting the return of your loverboy, I bet that he would think you are extra sexy all covered in sheep poo."

"I'm sure that he would, after all it obviously worked for you three," I shot back laughing, we probably really did stink, "It's a good thing that we all have such lovely personalities or else we may not have a man near us for 50 yards today."

"Speak for yourself ladies, I'm sure that Nick would kiss me even if I was covered in sheep poo," giggled Tess as she heaved her last fork of hay.

"You should probably ask him that" said a male voice coming from the doorway, we all jumped startled and turned around to see Alex, Rob, Nick and Dave standing there. "Afternoon gals, how bout some lunch? By the way do you girls know how much you stink, you may have to change before hand." he continued a huge grin on his face.

As we finished up in the barn, the boys had gone up to make lunch saying that they could manage sandwiches atleast. We washed our hands and faces in the sink in the barn,

"We look like hell," muttered Jodi as she tried to pull her hair into a pony tail

"Speak for yourself, I think that we all look quite hot, plus come on girls we have 4 hot sexy men up there waiting" exclaimed Stevie as we walked out the barn door. I placed my hat back on my head and tried to wipe some of the dirt off my clothes,

"Don't worry he won't even notice" Tess whispered to me as we walked up to the house.

The girls walked into the kitchen to a, organized mess, there was bread strewn everywhere, a pot of soup was boiling on the stove, Nick and Rob were slicing cheese and meat for the sandwiches and Dave was filling the kettle for tea.

"Where's Alex?" asked Stevie as the girls looked around amazed,

"Right here, why did ya miss me?" Alex said as he walked in from the dining room winking at her.

"Nah just wanted to see if you could actually cook thats all," Stevie replied

"Well I was just setting the table, and who do you think is making the soup?" he replied as he walked over to the stove to stir it.

"Uh that would be me, sorry mate" smiled Dave as he pushed a red faced Alex out of the way. Everyone started to laugh and the girls walked out to the veranda sitting down in the chairs.

"Just imagine Kate he looks good and can cook," Jodi laughed, "More than what I can say for your boyfriend Steves."

"Yeah yeah, he may not be able to cook, but trust me he can do other things." replied Stevie with a wink.

Dave came out to the veranda a few minutes later, looking over at Kate he announced,

"Lunch is now served ladies, please won't you join us?" he walked over and took Kates hand leading her into the house, amid a fit of giggles from the other girls. Dave squeezed her hand as they walked down the hall towards the dining room, he looked down at her, she had washed the dirt off her face but he couldn't have cared to him she was the most beautiful woman in the world. When they were about to get to the dining room he pulled her with him into the study across the hall closing the door behind him.

"What the heck?" exclaimed Kate startled by the sudden movement,

"Sorry I just had to do this before we ate," mumbled Dave as he pulled her towards him and kissed her, he could feel her relax as he pulled her closer. "I just needed to do that, I've been waiting all morning." he smiled as he tucked a piece of hair behind her ear.

"Oh thats ok, anytime you feel the need just don't scare the bejesus out of me the next time." smiled Kate as there was a knock at the door.

"Come on you two were hungry!"

Dave and I walked hand in hand into the dining room and took seats next to each other, we went unnoticed as everyone was talking and talking over each other, a typical meal around here I thought to myself. I looked down at the bowl of soup in front of me, it did actually look good.

I leaned over and whispered in Dave's ear, "Looks good, I hope its not too hot."

"Trust me it could never be too hot with you in the room." he whispered in reply placing his hand on my knee, I could feel the blush starting again in my face. The room grew quieter as everyone started eating their food, the soup was really good, I could tell that Dave was happy everyone liked it as they all kept complimenting him.

As we started finishing up, Nick and Rob went into the kitchen and brought back mugs of tea and cookies, boughten ofcourse.

"So girls, there is a reason we thought that we should all have lunch today," Alex said as Nick and Rob sat back down,

"Oh really? Come on now do tell us whats up." Tess laughed as she grabbed a cookie off the plate,

"Well wifey, the guys and I thought that it might be nice for the 8 of us to have a weekend away, go to Adelaide for the weekend." Nick replied taking a sip of his tea.

"Oh that sounds like fun!!" exclaimed Jodi looking over at Rob, "Get away to the city for a few days, it might do us all some good."

"Sounds nice guys but you have to remember the farm, who is going to take care of things while were gone?" asked Stevie dunking her cookie in her tea.

"Already planned out, Terry said that he would come and check up on the place and make sure all of the animals are fed. Plus if he needs any help he can call one of the guys from Killarney to come help him, he thought it was a good idea for us to get out of here for a while." Alex replied, as he took a drink from his mug.

"Well it sounds like you have thought of everything, so when do we leave?" Tess laughed, as Stevie made a face at Alex.

"We thought that we could leave around 3 Friday afternoon and come back late Sunday evening, that will give us time to have everything done Friday and for Dave to do any rounds he needs to do." Nick replied smiling.

At the mention of his name, my head started swirling, we were going away over night, this was big in a relationship, we had just started dating, Dave squeezed my knee, probably knowing exactly what was going on in my head.

As they finished cleaning up the dishes, everyone started to walk back outside. As usual everybody was talking over everyone else, excited about the trip to Adelaide,

"Just so you girls know by the way, us guys are planning on going to the match Saturday afternoon, that way it will give you lots of time to shop." Alex said as he leaned in and kissed Stevie on the cheek.

"Yeah shopping sounds like so much fun" Stevie laughed sarcasticly,

"Oh pooh on you, I can't wait to go shopping, plus once we get you in a store usually you are the last person to leave." Jodi replied, laughing as Stevie rolled her eyes. They all walked back towards where the guys had parked their utes. Nick, Rob and Alex piled into Alex', waving as they drove off. Dave took Kate's hand and they walked over towards his ute as the other girls walked towards the barn. He looked down into her eyes, not knowing what she thought was driving him crazy, he knew it was a little fast but it was a great opportunity for them to spend some one on one time together.

He pushed a piece of hair behind her ear and smiled down at her,

"I know that this trip seems kind of fast but if you feel like we shouldn't go I totally understand."

Kate looked up at him and smiled, "I have to admit that when they first started to talk about it I was freaking out just a little, but the more I think about it the more I am excited about it. I haven't been to the city in ages, plus maybe we can get some alone time without everyone butting in."

"Sounds good to me, and if you want we can get seperate rooms and everything, I don't want to push you faster than you want to go." Dave said looking into her eyes. The look in his eyes was enough to melt Kate's heart, she knew that he wouldn't do anything to hurt her, she leaned up and kissed him on the cheek.

"I don't really think that will be necessary doctor, by the way when is all the romance going to start?" she giggled as he started to turn red.

"How about tonight, we go for a drive I will even bring a thermos of coffee, or something even better than coffee." He laughed as he kissed her and got into his ute, "I'll be here around 7, be ready!" With that he drove off leaving Kate standing in the dust, thinking to herself I will always be ready.

I walked back towards the barn after Dave drove off, my heart was beating a mile a minute. I smiled to myself as I thought if I stayed with him I will probably have a heart attack the way my heart keeps beating. I had to admit to myself I still did have some nerves about this weekend, its not like I haven't done that kind of thing ever, it just had been quite a long time. It made me so happy that Dave didn't want to rush anything, but I definately didn't think that two rooms would be necessary, I had wanted Dave for over 2 years and unlike Jodi and Rob I didn't feel like taking things slow.

I walked into the barn and heard voices coming from behind it,

"Ahhh did you and Dave have a lovey dovey chat?" joked Stevie as she handed me my saddle,

"I hope you guys don't feel any pressure going on this trip, I think that the guys may have pushed too soon, maybe we should wait a couple months." Tess said with a worried expression on her face, Jodi turned around and looked at me,

"There is just one thing that I want to know Squirt, when they make the reservations how many rooms is Dave booking?" she winked at me. I walked over towards my horse placing the saddle on it, I turned around and replied in my sexiest voice, "I told him to definately book just one."

The rest of the week flew by, Dave and I had gone for a very romantic drive, we finished the night over looking the sunset on a picnic blanket drinking our coffee. We had worked our tails off getting all the work done, so that we would have time to pack Friday morning, which led to this.

"I don't have anything to wear!!" wailed Jodi as she walked through my door and dropping down onto my bed.

"As if that is very likely, you have more clothes than Tess, Stevie and I put together." I replied as I opened my closet door pulling down my suitcase and opening it on my chair. "Plus if thats the case than you can help me pack and then I will help you."

"Fine, so open your closet and lets see." Jodi sighed standing up and walking over to my closet, "Leave room in your suitcase because you will probably buy stuff tomorrow, as you save your money like Scrooge and will have lots to spend."

"As if you don't have money, I know that you have your city fund, so don't go complaining to me." I laughed as she started to pull clothes from the closet.

"You will need these, these and these," Jodi said walking over to my dresser and opening the top drawer, "Now Miss 1 Room lets see what kind of undies you have," giggling as she starting to go through them, sighing as she closed the drawer, "Kate you have no sexy undies! You'll have to borrow some from me for tonight, then buy some tomorrow."

I could feel my cheeks getting redder my the minute, "Its not like I really needed them around here, nobody was really looking."

"Well someone is definately looking now, wait here, I have just the ones." Jodi exclaimed walking back to her room, coming back with a pair of black lacy boy shorts and a black lacy bra. "Try these, their not too revealing and hey you had luck with my bikini, why not with my undies. Oh and don't forget your swim suit maybe we can get to the beach, now come on lets get me packed and then we can go see how Tess and Stevie are doing." I got up and walked to her room with her, leaving the undies on top of the suitcase.

I looked at myself in the mirror, Jodi had helped me pick an outfit to wear and I had to admit I did look pretty good. I had on my 'good bum' jeans as Jodi called them, and a soft fitted pink sweater with diamond stud earrings my Nona had given me when I turned 18.

"Wow, you look amazing." whispered a familiar voice coming from the door, I turned around to see Dave standing there.

"Thanks you don't look so bad yourself Doc." I grinned at him as he walked closer to me, he seemed almost speechless.

"Uhhm I thought that I would come help you with your bag." he stammered,

"Gee Doc and to think I almost didn't wear this outfit, now come on and grab my bag." I giggled as I walked past him and kissed his cheek. I could see him pick up my suitcase from my bed and follow after me,

"Kate this doesn't feel very heavy, are you sure you packed enough stuff?" he asked as he caught up to me,

"Trust me, I packed enough plus I needed room for shopping, so I am sure you won't be saying that tomorrow." I said taking his other hand and walking towards the cars.

Dave felt like a kid at Christmas, he was so excited for their first weekend away. This whole week had gone by in a whirlwind, starting Sunday night in the barn at Drovers and now ending with them going away as a couple. When he had gone down to collect Kate and her suitcase the sight of her had taken his breath away. She looked so amazing, to think that this woman holding his hand now, was the woman that he had always looked on as a kid. As they walked towards the others by the cars she squeezed his hand and smiled.

"Kate I sure hope that your bag isn't nearly as heavy as Jodi's or else it may go over the weight regulation for the ute." Alex joked as Dave placed her suitcase in the back of the ute.

"It wasn't that heavy, besides you never know what you will need." cried Jodi as the others laughed, "Besides Rob never complained when he brought it up here."

"Its a good thing you two met, otherwise I would get out now if I were you." Stevie joked looking over at Rob,

"I would carry her suitcase anywhere." smiled Rob as he took Jodi's hand, and Jodi stuck her tongue out at Stevie.

"Sorry to put a damper on this lovely exchange, but how about we start off we have atleast a 2 hour drive" Nick said as he opened the door to one of the utes. As everyone walked towards the utes, Alex, Nick, Tess and Stevie got in Alex's while the others climbed into Dave's.

"First one there wins" Alex joked to Dave as they drove off.

I looked out my window and watched the miles of farms pass by, we had been on the road for about an hour. Dave and Rob were talking about the match in the front seat while I listened to Jodi talk about all the shops she wanted to go to when we got to the city. I looked forward and smiled as Dave winked at me in the rear view mirror,

"Do you guys think you could possibly change the radio station? This song is making me depressed we need some fun music!" Jodi exclaimed as Rob leaned forward and started to fiddle with the radio.

"Better?" he asked smiling back at her as a faster song came on the radio,

"Much thank you." She smiled back, as Dave and Rob laughed at her starting to dance to the song, "Come on Kate, we haven't car danced forever, you used to be really good at it!"

"Car dance? Come on girls do share, you can't keep secrets from us." Dave said looking back at us from the mirror,

"When Jodi and I were at school we used to take my parents car for rides and whenever we were at a stop light we would dance to whatever song was on the radio, it used to get lots of weird looks from the car next to us but it was really funny." I replied as I saw Dave turn the radio up.

"Well please don't disappoint us now, come one start dancing." He laughed as Jodi started dancing, and taking my hand and I started doing the same moves with her. As the song finished up Jodi started to giggle and looked over at me,

"Gee Kate you look like you have been practicing."

"You too Jodes, this may be a hobby that we will have to take up again. Maybe we can convince our two guys in the front seat to participate?" I smiled at her and looked forward, "What do you think guys care to join us?"

"Definately not," came the reply from both the male voices in the front seat,

"Besides it is alot more enjoyable to see you guys do it." grinned Rob, as we reached the startings of the city.

As they pulled up at the hotel they parked behind Alex and got out of the ute. It felt good to get out and stretch their legs. Dave walked around to the back and opened the back door of the ute, grabbing suitcases leaving Jodi's for last. Kate was reaching to get her suitcase when he jumped forward grabbing it before she could,

"You better leave that for me, thats what gentlemen are for." Hearing this Jodi turned around and laughed,

"Since when have you been known as a gentleman Dave?"

"Since he met me" Kate said turning around and sticking her tongue out at Jodi,

"What she said, and you better hope that Rob is as much as a gentleman as I am if you want him to carry that bag of yours." Dave smirked as they started to walk towards the doors.

"Did you guys have a good trip?" Tess asked as they all reached the front desk and started to check in,

"Definately, Kate and I taught the boys all about car dancing." Jodi giggled sitting down on top her suitcase,

"Lord, that would have been something to see." groaned Stevie as she made Jodi move over and sat next to her.

"Ok ladies, we have adjoining rooms, we have 501, 502, 503, and 504, who wants what?" asked Nick as he walked over to stand by Tess.

"We definately want number 1, right Steves since we are the number 1 couple." Alex piped up grabbing the key from Nicks hand.

"Ok whatever, so then we'll take number 2, Dave and Kate you can have number 3, and Jodi and Rob you take number 4." Nick replied as he handed out the keys, "Ok folks lets go." He said picking up his and Tess's suitcase and they all started heading for the elevator.

"Let me press the button, please I love pressing the button." exclaimed as Alex was reaching towards it. He turned around giving her an odd look,

"Go ahead, just calm down ok little girl." he said smiling,

"I'm sorry I have just always loved to do it even since I was a girl, ask Nick everywhere we go I have to press the button." Tess replied as she leaned forwards and pressed the up button,

"Its true, one the little known secrets of Tess Mcleod Ryan, she likes to press buttons." Nick grinned as Tess swatted at him and everyone else started laughing. Just as she was about to take another swat the doors opened in front of them.

"Here Tess you can press the button," laughed Stevie as they all finally piled in with all their luggage, "Just make sure you press 5."

"Going up." Tess giggled as she leaned in and pressed the button.

The elevator zoomed upwards, and as it did my heart started to beat a mile a minute. As the doors opened we all started to pile out of the elevator, we looked to see where our rooms were and we started walking down the hall towards them.

"How about we relax for an hour then meet in the lobby for supper?" Nick asked as they reached the first door.

"Sounds good," Rob and Dave chourused laughing at each other as they did.

"Sounds good Dad. See you guys in an hour." he laughed as he pulled Stevie with him into the room the door slamming behind them. The others started to walk down the rest of the hall, going into their rooms along the way.

"503 here we go." Dave grinned as he opened the door, holding it open as I walked in, "So what do you think?" he asked as I walked over towards the window.

"It's beautiful, just the perfect size for the two of us." I smiled turning around to see him walking towards me, pulling me into his arms.

"I reserved a room with two beds, I didn't want you to have any pressure we are here to have a good time." he whispered as I lay my head on his shoulder. Smiling to myself I could feel his heart beating against my cheek, most guys would go out of their way to request one bed, I could tell that he was as nervous as I was. Looking up at him I leaned up and kissed him softly on the lips,

"That was very thoughtful of you, but we may not need them. But we since we have about 45 minutes to get ready for supper, I think that we better unpack and get ready. Then maybe we can see about the bed situation." I winked at him as I walked over and set my suitcase on a bed.

35 minutes later, we had both unpacked, and Dave had already gotten freshened up. I was taking my time in the bathroom, I finished brushing my teeth and applied a coat of lip gloss, I sprayed a splash of perfume on and opened the door. Dave was laid out on one of the beds watching the tv,

"Anything interesting on?" I asked as I walked over to get my shoes on, he looked up and I could hear him turn the tv off.

"Nothing as interesting or as beautiful as you." he laughed as he jumped off the bed and grabbed me in his arms, "You Ms. Manfredi look amazing! Plus you smell amazing, have I ever told you how much I love your smell, everytime I smell strawberries I think of you."

"Well you don't look so bad yourself, plus I guess you smell alright yourself." I giggled, "Now you have to let me go or my dress will get all wrinkled. I had changed into a sun dress I hate bought on one of the shopping trips Jodi and I had taken into Fisher when we got bored one Saturday. Jodi had insisted that I buy it, she said it hung in the right places or something like that, I think she liked it because it was kind of low cut and if she borrowed it she could fill it out better.

"Fine, fine, but some may say that wrinkles add a little character." Dave joked as he grabbed his jacket, I had to admit that he looked hot, he had changed into black dress pants and a blue shirt, smiling to myself Dave turned around and asked, "Whats so funny?'

"Nothing I just didn't know that you could be so hot."

"Well then we make a pretty hot pair." Dave replied shutting the door behind us.

As the elevator doors opened to the lobby Dave squeezed her hand as they walked out and saw Tess, Nick, Stevie and Alex sitting waiting for them. They sat down next to each other in two empty chairs.

"I must say all of you Drovers girls clean up quite well, Kate you look amazing." Alex said turning towards them,

"Well you guys don't clean up that bad either you know." Tess said looking at her watch, "Did you guys see Jodi and Rob when you left your room?"

"Nope, but their taking things slow remember so they will probably be about 10 minutes late anyways." Kate replied,

"Either that or they got into the room and started going at it like rabbits." Alex laughed as Stevie swatted him across the back of the head,

"Knowing Jodi she probably had to find something to wear." Stevie said, as the elevator doors opened and a very flushed Jodi and happy looking Rob came out.

"Looks like it may have been a mixture of both." Nick said as they walked towards the group of them.

"Sorry were late, I had to find something to wear." Jodi sighed, as the others stood up laughing.

"We can walk to the restaurant, its about two blocks from here." Tess said as they all walked out the doors of the hotel, "It is an amazing place a girl I went to school with owns it, they have the best food, with all organic ingredients."

"Sounds great," muttered Alex as Stevie rolled her eyes at him, "How about tomorrow night we all find our own places to eat, steak sounds much better than organic anything."

"You just need to be open to new things big brother, I ate here with Tess and I loved it." Nick said looking back at Alex.  
"You would." Alex replied as they kept walking.

Dave looked over at her face as they walked to the restaurant, she looked happy and excited. She was talking with the other girls about all of the displays in the windows they walked by, but every now and then she would just smile and squeeze his hand in hers. She had taken his breath away for a second time today when she walked out of the bathroom in that dress. Who would have ever thought that the girl walking next to him was covered in dirt and wearing work clothes this morning.

As they reached the restaurant, Nick held the door as they all walked in. It was a very eclectic place exactly the kind of place Tess would pick. As they all walked towards the maitre'd a squeal came from inside the restaurant and a woman of about Tess's age ran forward and hugged her.

"Tess Mcleod as I live and breath, when I saw your name in the book I thought that I was dreaming."

"You weren't dreaming, and its Tess Ryan now, this is my husband Nick. His brother Alex and his girlfriend Stevie, and our friends Jodi and Rob, and Dave and Kate." Tess replied grinning ear to ear.

"Nice to meet you all, I'm Lily Henderson please come with me, I have the best seats in the house reserved for you guys." Lily said as she led them into the restaurant towards the back where there was a long table set to the side, set for eight people.

"Allow me," Dave whispered as he pulled Kate's chair out for her.

"Why thank you, what a gentleman you are." she replied winking at him as he took the seat across from her.

After they placed their orders, and Lily returned to the kitchen, everyone started talking as they always did to each other and over each other.

"If you will all excuse me, I have to use the ladies room. Anyone else have to go?" Tess said looking at the others,

"Uh I do," Stevie replied as she pushed her chair back,

"Me too!" Kate and Jodi both said at the same time laughing, as the four of them walked towards the ladies room.

"Oh like that wasn't obvious." Alex said as the guys watched them leave,

"You know that ther are just going to talk about us." Dave replied laughing,

"They wouldn't be them if they didn't" Nick laughed as he took a sip of her beer.

As they entered the bathroom, Tess let out a big sigh.

"Finally we can talk without 4 extra set of ears!" she exclaimed as she sat on a little bench that was against a wall. Stevie laughed as she opened the door to a stall, "I don't know about you three but I actually have to pee."

I sat down next to Tess and leaned my head against the wall letting out a sigh.

"So Kate hows it going with you two?" Tess asked as she stretched her legs out in front of her,

"Yeah do you have the undies on?!!" Jodi asked as she applied some powder to her nose,

"What undies??" came Stevies voice from the stall, as Tess laughed.

"Kate didn't have any sexy undies, so I loaned her some of mine until she buys some tomorrow. Just in case she needs them tonight." Jodi replied turning around to look at Tess and I. I could feel my face turn 100 colors of red,

"Thanks Jodes, and yes by the way I do have them on, the bra is a little big though." I replied,

"From the look on Dave's face he isn't looking just at that bra, that dress is amazing." Stevie said as she opened the stall door and walked over to the sink.

"But everything is going good between you two right, I am still worried that we still may have rushed this." Tess said looking over at me.

"Trust me he has been a perfect gentleman, he even requested two beds so I wouldn't feel any pressure." I replied, "But I think that one bed may be all that we need, if you know what I mean." I giggled as Jodi and Stevie high fived me.

"Well since everything is going good with you, how about you Ms Turtle?" Tess laughed looking over at Jodi,

"From the looks of her coming off that elevator tonight, Ms Turtle is now Ms Hare." Stevie smirked as Jodi started to turn red.

"Lets just put it this way, things may not have gone fast at first, but right now I think that we are about ready for lift off." Jodi replied as she looked into the mirror again, "Anyways as if you have anything to talk about you and Alex are probably going at it like rabbits." As Stevie was about to reply there was a little knock at the door,

"Girls the food is at the table whenever you are ready." came Rob's voice from behind the door.

"Were coming," Tess laughed as she stood up pulling me up with her, "Come on Kate lets leave these two pervs to walk out themselves." As we started to walk to the door I thought of something,

"Stevie by any change did Alex say he needed to go to the grocery store before we go back?"

"Uh no why would he?" Stevie replied with a puzzled look on her face.

"Oh nothing its just that I heard he liked whipped cream." I laughed as I pulled Tess with me back into the restaurant.

"Ugh I'm stuffed, who knew organic food could be so filling." moaned Jodi as we walked out onto the street from the restaurant.

"Oh thats too bad, I thought that we should go for ice cream, I know this great little place that makes Italian gelato, down by the waterfront." Tess said as she pulled her sweater over her shoulders.

"Well maybe just a little," Jodi replied as we all started laughing at her, "How long of a walk is it from here? My feet are killing me."

"About a half hour, do you think you can make it?" Tess smiled as Jodi grimaced at the thought,

"I guess, that is if Rob wants to go." she said turning to look at Rob who smiled and responded,

"Wherever you want to go is where I want to go."

"Oh come on don't make us barf up our supper man," Alex laughed as he pulled Stevie towards him, "If you guys don't mind I think that we might make it an early night."

"Yeah I'm really tired." Stevie joined in as she put her arm around his waist.

"Yeah I'm sure you guys are real tired." Nick replied, "Fine what time do you want to meet for breakie in the morning?"

"9:30 sounds good," Alex replied, "You kids behave now, don't do anything we wouldn't do."

"That leaves alot." Jodi retorted as Rob and Dave started laughing.

"Ok well good night folks," Alex said as they started walking back to the hotel, then turned around yelling, "Hey Tess is there a grocery store around here, I forgot something" with that Stevies face turned bright red and Jodi, Tess and I started laughing hysterically.

"That was so worth the walk." sighed Jodi as they walked back towards the hotel, "I am even happier though that I got these," she said as she pointed at her feet and the cheap pair of flip flops Rob had bought her halfway to the ice cream shop.

"It was yummy, but I don't know about you guys but I am so ready to go to bed." Tess said as they reached the doors,"It has been a long day." The others all nodded in agreement as they walked towards the elevator, waiting for Tess to press the button. They all walked in, Dave placed his arm around Kate's waist as they waited for other people came into the elevator with the 6 of them. He could feel her relax next to him, sighing as the elevator started its incline. As they reached their floor, they all started walking out towards their rooms.

"So we'll meet at 9:30 in the lobby for breakie." Nick said as he and Tess walked to their door,

"Sounds good see you in the morning." Kate smiled as she waited for Dave to open their door, as Jodi and Rob walked by them Jodi gave her a wink and walked in her room after Rob.

Dave turned on the lights as we walked into the room, the beds had been turned down with mints on all of the pillows.

"How swanky, its like staying at the four seasons." I laughed as I sat down on one of the beds and watched as Dave took off his jacket and hung it over a chair.

"Only the best for you my dear. Now if you will excuse me for a moment" he winked at me as he walked into the washroom. I jumped up and grabbed a mint off the pillow, knowing I probably had horrible breath. I looked at myself in the mirror, I still looked rather good, I adjusted the dress so it was looking a little more low cut. I walked over to the window and looked out into the night, the lights twinkled across the city. It was always amazing to me to think of how many people were out there, living their lives. The bathroom door opened and Dave walked out, he had loosened his shirt and taken his shoes and socks off. He came up behind me and put his arms around me, kissing my cheek.

"Did I tell you how beautiful you looked tonight?" he whispered as I turned around and looked at him,

"Maybe just once or twice." I replied as I leaned up and kissed his lips, wrapping my arms around his neck. I sighed as Dave ran has hands over my back, running them over my bum. We kept kissing, every once in a while coming up for air. I could feel the excitment coursing through my veins as we backed away from the window and collapsed on top of the bed.

"Are you sure you want to do this? I don't want you to feel pressured, I can wait." He said looking into my eyes, melting my heart with the look in them.

"Trust me," I replied looking into his eyes and kissing him lightly on the lips, "I don't want to wait, I have been waiting a very long time for this to happen I don't want to wait anymore."

I got up and walked over to the lights, turning them off, then turning on a lamp next to the bed. "Now Doc why don't you just lay back and relax a sec," I said as I turned on the radio, tuning it til there was something soft and romantic coming through the speakers. I walked back over towards the bed, dancing slowly to the music as I leaned over and placed a kiss on Dave's lips. He grabbed me and pulled me into his lap, never ending our kiss. I could feel him searching the back of my dress for the zipper, slowly he unzipped it down my back. I stood up and eased my arms out of the dress, letting it fall to the floor. I could Dave's sharp intake of breath as he took me in his arms again.

"Gee Kates where did you get that outfit?" he smiled as he looked at the bra and pantie outfit I had borrow from Jodi.

"Oh it was just something I picked up for the occasion." I giggled as I straddled his waist and started to unbutton his shirt, pulling his arms out of it. I undid his belt next and popped open the button of his pants.

"Woah cowgirl, lets take things a little slower, I hope you can wait a little longer." Dave said as he pulled me into his arms and started kissing me again. As our kiss deepened I could feel the intensity and lust for him I had felt for him come to a boil. I caressed his chest and leaned down kissing his neck placing kisses all the way down his chest. I smiled as he snapped open my bra and tossed it aside, he pulled down my underwear and his boxers, caressing my hair he looked into my eyes.

"I promise that it will be everything that you have been waiting for." he said as he pulled me on top of him, thinking to myself, 'and much more.'

Dave smiled to himself as he looked down at her sleeping face, she looked so peaceful like an angel. Well almost he laughed to himself, thinking who would have known the Kate Manfredi would be such a wildcat in bed. He looked over at the clock 7:30 they would have to get up and get ready for the day soon, smiling as he thought he could spend better ways to spend the day than at a rugby match. Kate started to stir next to him, smiling as she opened her eyes and saw him laying next to her.

"Good morning sunshine, sleep well?" Dave joked as he pulled her closer to him,

"Definately, after the workout we had last night I could sleep for a week." Kate giggled as he placed a kiss on top her head. She looked over at the clock sighing, "I guess that we should get up and get ready to go, I really need a shower."

"Well that could definately be arranged." grinned Dave as he pulled back the blankets and carried her in his arms into the bathroom closing the door opened behind them.

An hour later they emerged from the bathroom, steam seeping out the door. Kate walked over and pulled open the closet door, "I should have asked Jodi what to wear today, I hate trying to dress all up just to go shopping."

"Well you could alway wear what you have on." Dave grinned looking at the towel she had wrapped around her, he grabbed a pair of jeans and a sweater from his hangers and dropped them on the bed, coming to stand next to her. "Just don't wear anything too sexy, I don't want any of these city guys chasing after my girlfriend." Kate laughed as she pulled out a jean skirt and sweater.

"I don't think this outfit will get them running after me," she replied as she pulled some underwear out of the drawer, and started to get her clothes on.

"It's a shame, I like you much better with your clothes off," Dave winked as he pulled his sweater over his head, running his hand through his hair afterwards.

"Your not that bad either Doc, but hey we can't always walk around naked now can we." Kate replied sweetly as she came up and kissed his cheek, "Now if you'll excuse me I better put some makeup on or Jodi will kill me." She said as she walked into the bathroom, smiling to herself as she saw him trying to tidy up the room, something she always did in hotel rooms.

Dave took my hand as we left our hotel room and walked towards the elevator,

"I don't know about you but I'm famished," he grinned as I pressed the button for the elevator.

"Me too, I guess all that exercise leaves one hungry." I giggled as we walked into the elevator, I laughed as the doors closed and Dave pulled me into his arms kissing me. The doors dinged open as we reached the lobby, as we broke apart the others were standing there stareing.

"To think I thought we would be the late ones." Jodi laughed as we walked out of the elevator. I could feel my face turn red as we walked towards them.

"Well someone has to give you a run for your money." Dave replied squeezing my hand as the eight of us walked towards the restaurant.

As we sat down at a table and placed our orders I took a sip of my coffee and let out a sigh,

"So how did everyone sleep?" asked Tess as she poured milk into hers.

"We slept amazing, didn't we." Alex replied winking at Stevie and she started to laugh,

"You two are disgusting," Jodi laughed, "We slept fine Tess, thanks for asking."

"So what about you two? How did you sleep?" Stevie asked turning towards us.

"Well for the amount that I got it was pretty good." I replied with a smirk on my face, I could hear Dave almost choke on his coffee.

"Jease Kate one night with Dave and you sound like them," Alex laughed pointing at Jodi and Stevie, who stuck there tongues out at him, "Whatever you do Brewer you should bottle it up and sell it."

"Thats ok, one woman is all I need to use the Dave Brewar charm on" Dave replied as he placed his hand on my knee under the table.

"Besides you would be the one who would buy it all anyway." Nick said as he took a drink of his coffee,

"Well then it would be your Christmas present." Alex replied as the waitress came with our food, and everyone started eating.

"Come on you guys, we have lots of stores to get to and it is already 11:00." Jodi moaned as we all walked back to the lobby after breakfast. Nick looked at his watch,

"Ok the game starts at 12:30, it should be over around 4:30 what time do you girls want to meet back here?" he asked as he helped Tess on with her jacket.

"How about 6?" she replied, "All of the shops close by then anyway."

"Sounds good, see you boys then." Jodi cried as she kissed Rob on the lips, "Come on girls lets go shopping!"

I turned around and smiled at Dave, "Have fun at the match, don't get too tired." I winked at him as I kissed him on the lips.

"Don't worry I won't, buy lots of stuff you can model for me later." he replied with a wink, as I followed Tess, Stevie and Jodi out the front door of the hotel.

Stevie, Tess, and I practically had to run to keep up with Jodi as we made our way to the first shopping plaza.

"You can run for this, but you practically have to drag you out of bed for work, that is so typical." Stevie laughed as Jodi held the door open for us.

"That is because she's my sister, and I love to shop just as much as I do." Tess grinned as we entered the first store,

"This is perfect for you Kate," Jodi said, "It sells sexy undies, you should definately stock up!" Stevie grinned,

"Then you must have lots from this store, from the look on Rob's face this morning you wore that poor boy out."

"Well we definately moved into full rabbit mode about ten minutes after we got home last night." Jodi sighed as she tossed a pair of red lace panties at me, "These are perfect Squirt, by the way did he like the ones I loaned you?"

"Definately, or atleast for the length of time they stayed on." I giggled, as Tess looked up laughing,

"Kate, Alex was right one night with Dave and you sound like those two hooligans." she said pointing at Stevie and Jodi who were now looking at a rack of leopard print bras and underwear, "But I must say it definately suits you, I haven't see you this happy in a long time."

As the guys found their seats and sat down they all let out a mutual sigh. They had been in line waiting to get in for almost 45 minutes, plus another 20 minutes as they got drinks and food.

"This game had better be worth all that," Nick said as he took a sip of his beer.

"Trust me it will be, atleast its better than chasing after the girls all day as they go from shop to shop." Alex replied as he stretched his legs out in front of him,

"Gee Alex do you got enough room?" Dave joked as he moved his legs so Alex could stretch out, "What do you think your in bed or something?"

"I wish" Alex grinned, "But from the look on some of the ladies faces this morning I am going to guess that I am not the only one. By the way Rob how are things going taking it nice and slow?"

"The slow part went out the window, but the nice part is definately still there." Rob replied smiling, "But I must say I could definately use my bed right now, I need a nap Jodi wears me out." The others laughed as Rob yawned.

"What about you Doc? How was your night do you need a nap too?" Alex teased as Dave blushed as Alex used the name Kate had started to call him.

"It was probably the best and most memorable night I have had in a long time, probably since I moved in with you and heard your snoreing." Dave replied as Nick and Rob started laughing, "By the way Alex what did you need at the grocery store last night?" He smirked as Alex's face turned bright red.

"Can we please take a break now??" Stevie pleaded as we left the tenth store we had been to in the past three hours,

"Sounds good, lets get some lunch." Tess replied as they walked towards a small restaurant, "This place looks good, do you guys want to go in?" As we all nodded, we followed Tess in and took a table for four, with two extra chairs for all our bags. As a waitress came over we looked over the menus and placed our orders. I took a sip of the glass of water she had poured as we placed our orders.

"I can't believe all of the good finds that we have got," Jodi exclaimed as she started looking through her bags, "That is the only thing I miss about living in the country, having to stock up on things."

"I know, I am going to drag Nick to the specialty grocery store tonight, he says he hates going but I think he likes it." Tess grinned as she took a drink of her water, "Speaking of grocery stores, Stevie what was it that Alex had forgotten last night?" Stevies face turned bright red,

"Put it this way, it was exactly what you said." she replied looking over at me as I giggle, "By the way Miss I'm so innocent how was your night? By the way you were talking this morning it sounded pretty good."

"It was amazing, and having waited so long for it to happen was the most special part. It was like fate." I sighed as the others smiled.

"That sounds real nice Kate, but get to the knitty gritty, how was he in the sack? I could have sworn I heard some sounds last night." Jodi said as the waitress brought us our food.

"Well since you put it so nicely, and by the way I never heard any sounds from your side of the hotel, but put it this way, my toes curled so many times I thought they were going to break off and I can't count the number of times they did on both hands." I replied with a satisfied grin, as Tess practically spit out her water.

"To think all this time I thought it was Alex was the one who could get over ten." Stevie smiled as she took a bite of her sandwich.

Hours later after visiting what seemed like almost every shop in Adelaide, we finally returned to the hotel. As we started to walk across the lobby we could hear familiar voices coming from the bar. Sure enough the guys were sitting there playing poker at a table in the corner.

"Typical, we spend the day walking store to store and they are sitting around playing poker." Stevie smirked as we walked over to them.

"Atleast they can help us carry our bags," Tess said as we entered the bar walking towards them. The guys looked up as we came up behind them, dropping our bags.

"Ladies, its about time don't you think? We have been waiting ages." Alex grinned as Stevie leaned down and kissed his cheek, "Now Steves did you buy me anything?"

"Maybe, it depends if you have been good or not." She winked as he pulled her into his lap.

"Jease get a room you two," Jodi moaned as she sat on the arm of Rob's chair and he placed his arm around her waist, smiling she said, "Don't worry I bought you something."

"What about you Kates, what did you get?" Dave asked as he pulled me into his lap and kissed my cheek,

"Oh this and that, some necessities that I can't always get at home. Very important stuff." I replied giggling.

"Kate got lots of important stuff, stuff that you will like very much." Jodi laughed as she pulled Rob up with her, "So what's on the agenda for tonight?"

"Why don't we all do our own thing tonight?" Tess asked as the others nodded in agreement, "We can check out the market I was telling you girls about tomorrow morning then before we head home."

"Sounds like a plan, how about breakie at 9 tomorrow?" Jodi said as she pulled Rob behind her,

"Sounds good, have a good night you two." Tess called after them,

"From the looks of them, they will have a very good night." Alex said as we all started getting up.

I opened the hotel room door, as Dave walked by carrying my bags I patted him on the bum,

"Gee what was that for?" Dave grinned as he set the bags down on the bed and turned around.

"That was for carrying all my bags and not complaining once," I replied as I walked towards him and place my arms around his neck, smiling.

"Well if I get that treatment for carrying your bags, what can I get if I carry this?" Dave laughed as he picked me up in his arms and kissed me.

"Definately something much better," I replied breathlessly as we pulled away from each other, "Maybe if you set me down I can show you." Dave laughed and let me down slowly to the ground, close enough to his body so I could feel every inch of it against my body on the way down. As my feet touched the ground I pushed him back onto the bed and sat on his lap, smiling I leaned in and kissed him again, I started the pull at his shirt, smiling he pulled it off.

"Let me help you with that, maybe I can get another reward." He winked as he pulled me towards him again and we fell backwards into the bed.

"So what do we want to do tonight Doc?" I asked as I came out of the bathroom, Dave was laying in bed propped up with pillows flipping the channels on the tv.

"Nothing too strenuous, you've worn me out." Dave replied smiling.

"Well hopefully you're not too tired," I winked at him and laughed,

"Give me a while and I am sure that I will make a full recovery," He said as I sat at the end of the bed.

"Well then I have a couple ideas of things we can do tonight." I said turning to face him,

"I am up for anything as long as we end up back here,"He replied smiling as I started to blush.

"Ok then, I know this sounds really stupid and so not romantic, but how about we go to the movies? There is no theatre around us and we have to wait months to see the dvd." I said giving him my most convincing, please pretty please face.

"Well since you asked so nice, that sounds like a good idea, anything where we can sit together in a dark room I am up for." Dave replied laughing as he leaned down and kissed me lightly on the lips.

Dave placed his arm around her as they walked out the door of the hotel and with the directions they had gotten from the front desk they started to walk towards the theatre. He could feel the warmth of her against his body, almost sensing the smile on her face. It had been a long time since he had felt this content with someone, it always scared him getting too close to anyone, he never liked to really let his guard down. But with her it was a different story, just in the short amount of time that they had been together he knew that they had both let their guards down, he felt closer to her than anyone he had ever been with. As they turned the corner Kate looked up at him,

"What are you so quiet about?" she asked with a smile, he looked down at her and his heart took a leap,

"Oh nothing, just how amazing you are." He replied as he bent down and gave her a soft kiss.

As they reached the theatre they looked at the sign to see what is playing,

"Any requests?" Kate said as they read the board,

"You chose this date how about you choose, I'm up for anything." He replied as he pulled her closer to his side.

"Well how about this?" Kate giggled pointing towards a poster for the movie 'Little Miss Sunshine', "I read in one of Jodi's magazines that it is supposed to be very funny."

As he looked at the poster Dave laughed, "Looks good to me it is even named after you, come on lets get some seats at the back" he replied as he pulled her with him into the theatre.

Dave took my hand as we left the theatre two hours later,

"That was definately a good choice, I haven't laughed that much in a long time." He grinned as we made our way towards the front doors.

"I know, my cheeks hurt from laughing so much." I replied giggling as we walked out into the fresh air and looked around.

"How does supper sound?" Dave asked as he pulled me close to him and put his arm around my waist.

"It sounds good, but since I chose the movie you can chose the restaurant" I replied as we continued walking down the street.

"Well then I have an idea," He smiled mischeviously down at me, "How about we have room service then we can continue our movie watching experience in bed." I could feel the heat rush to my cheeks even though it was cold out,

"Sounds good Doc, then I can show you the pyjamas I got today, hopefully you will like them." I winked as we reached the door of the hotel,

"Don't worry, I like whats underneath them better anyways." Dave replied as we reached the elevator.

Half an hour later we had ordered supper from the room service menu and Dave had changed into his 'pjs' as he called them, otherwise known as his boxers and a tshirt.

"My don't you look sexy, I hope that whoever brings our food doesn't try to steal you away from me." I laughed as he came out of the bathroom and ran his hand through his hair.

"I've changed into mine, your turn now. Or are you just all talk?" He replied as he jumped onto the bed next to me, I stood up and walked over to my bags from today and started looking through them, finding the bag that I wanted I walked towards the bathroom, as there was a knock at our door.

"Remember what I said." I giggled as I closed the door behind me. As I changed into the pyjamas that I had bought at the urging of Jodi and Stevie I looked in the mirror, they were definately sexier then I was used to. They had a skimpy black tank top with short boxer shorts with leopard print all over them,

"Dave will love them, he is a vet after all he loves animals." Jodi had grinned as I paid for them. I had to admit they did look good, Dave would love them.

"Ok what do you think?" I called as I opened the bathroom door and stepped out.

"Well their not my cup of tea but whatever floats your boat." Came a familier voice as I noticed Alex standing in the door talking to Dave.

"What are you doing here??!!!" I cried as I grabbed a blanket off the bed and pulled it around me,

"No worries Kate, I only needed to ask Dave something, just pretend I didn't see anything." He laughed as he covered his eyes and walked out the door, "See you two in the morning." As the door closed Dave walked back towards me,

"Not exactly the entrance I wanted to make." I sighed as I sat down on the bed,

"Don't worry how about you walk back in and we can pretend that he wasn't even here." Dave replied as he placed a kiss on my cheek,

"Ok, but what was he here for anyway?" I said as I got up and walked back into the bathroom, sheet and all,

"Nothing really he just wanted to know if I knew where a store was located around here." Dave smiled as he sat back against the head board of the bed, "Now come on lets see those pjs" he winked as I closed the door behind me.

The next morning Dave woke up and smiled to himself, he could feel her breathing in and out as she slep curled up in his arms. He almost laughed as he remembered the expression on her face when she came out of the bathroom and saw Alex standing there. He had wanted so much to tell Kate what Alex had wanted, but he had promised Alex that he wouldn't say anything. Who would have thought that coming to the city would actually make Alex decide to make the decision he did. Probably all of the guys stareing at the girls everywhere they went he though as he pulled Kate closer into his arms, the four of them together did cause quite a stir, the Drovers girls were definately something to look at. Especially the one right here in his arms, he leaned down and placed a kiss on her shoulder and could tell that she was waking up.

"Good morning Little Miss Sunshine, how was your sleep?" He asked with a laugh, turning to face him Kate giggled,

"I haven't slept that good in a long time, all this exercise is really taking alot out of me."

"Well if you like we can be less exertive." Dave replied placing a kiss on her lips, pulling her closer to him deepening the kiss,

"That is one idea, but I like the other way too." Kate sighed as she wrapped her arms around him.

A while later Kate groaned as she looked over at the clock on the bedside table,

"I think that we should probably get up and dress, we have to meet the others at 9 and it is already 8:15."

"Whatever you say my dear, besides I am famished the sooner we get down there the sooner we can have breakie." Dave replied with a grin as he pushed the blankets aside.

"Typical man," Kate laughed as she sat up, "All you think about is your stomach."

"Trust me, that is not the only thing I think of." Dave winked as he walked into the bathroom. Kate got up walking over to the closet and picked out an outfit to wear today, she grabbed a shirt and then rummaging through her shopping bags she pulled out the jean skirt she had bought yesterday. She looked up as Dave came out of the bathroom followed by a cloud of steam,

"All yours my love, but you better hurry I am very hungry." he laughed as she scooted by him and closed the door behind her.

As Dave and I walked into the restaurant I could see the others sitting around a table waiting for us,

"Its about time, no one can ever say I am late anymore." Jodi said, as we sat down next to each other.

"Sorry about that we lost track of time." I smiled as I looked over the menu,

"Whatever if thats what you two like to call it go to town." Alex joked as the waitress came and we all placed our orders. After the waitress left Alex cleared his throat a little,

"Jease please don't tell us that you are sick." Nick moaned as we all laughed,

"Trust me far from it," Alex replied with a grin, "Its just that Stevie and I have some news to share with you guys."

"Were engaged!" Stevie cried before Alex could say anything else. Everyone started talking at once, Jodi grabbed Stevie's hand,

"Wow what a rock! Where did you ever get that?" she exclaimed,

"Wait is that what you wanted last night?" I asked as I turned towards Alex,

"Yes, I decided to ask Dave because I knew if I asked any of you others you would squeal right away, by the way Kate your pjs were very nice." Alex replied a smile a mile wide radiating from his face.

"Well this definately calls for champagne." Nick said as he motioned to our waitress ordering a bottle.

"Congratulations to the happy couple, this will be one hell of a party." Tess said with a smile as she lifted her glass and we all clinked our glasses together.

"Thanks, and just so you girls know you are all my bridesmaids." Stevie replied with a smile as Jodi let out a squeal of excitment,

"And just so you guys know," Alex said with a smirk looking over at Dave and Rob, "Thats two down and now two more to go."

Dave took my hand as we left the hotel with the others, we were going to what Tess fondly described as her 'favorite' place in Adelaide, otherwise known as a street market that took place every Sunday. I knew that Alex's joke had made Dave uncomfortable, I could tell by the look on his face as soon as Alex had said it. Poor Rob looked like he could have fallen off his chair. I squeezed his hand and whispered in his ear,

"You ok, you got awfully quiet, I hope you didn't take Alex's joke to heart."

"Don't worry I never take anything that Alex ever says very seriously anyways." He replied as he pulled me closer to him and put his arm around my waist.

We walked around the market as a group for around a half hour then decided to split up and meet back for lunch,

"Remember ladies there isn't that much more room in the utes, so don't buy too much." Nick laughed as he and Tess walked away. Dave and I started walking down the street again, we walked into a stall that was selling home made creams and perfumes, I leaned down and smelled one,

"Mmm this smells yummy here smell." I said as I stuck my wrist up to his nose,

"Its nice, but I must tell you that I prefer the way you smell right now much better." He grinned as he leaned down and kissed my cheek, taking my hand as we walked out of the stall. We kept walking in contented silence for a little while, pulling each other into stalls every now and then. We ended up in a stall that was selling antiques, we walked over and looked in a jewellry case. My breath caught in my throat as I saw a ring that looked almost exactly like my Grandmother's engagment ring.

"What is it?" Dave asked with a smile, "See anything you like?"

"Its just that ring there it looks almost like my Grandmother's engagment ring, I always loved it so much but my eldest cousin got it when she got married." I replied as I pulled him away from the case, he probably didn't want to have much more marriage talk today.

We walked back to the meeting place and sat on a bench, Dave wrapped his arm around my shoulders and leaned over and kissed me lightly on the lips, I smiled at him as he leaned back.

"This has been such a nice weekend, I almost regret having to go home so soon." I sighed as I snuggled closer to him,

"Well all good things come to an end, besides you must admit that you like me much better in my vet's coverall than in these regular clothes." Dave joked and I giggled.

"Definately, and you like me much better covered in sheep poo and dirt, nothing sexier than that." I replied and we laughed harder.

"Gee you two whats so funny? Hope you are hungry for lunch." Alex said as the others approached us and we stood up still laughing.

Dave closed the trunk door of the ute, it had been a close fit but they had gotten all of the bags into both the utes. He walked over to where the others were standing, everyone seemed to be taking their time getting into the utes, no one really wanted to go home that bad.

"Well we better head off before it gets too dark." Nick said as they started walking towards the utes and he opened the door for Tess. Dave walked over and opened Kate's door for her, he winked at her as she slided past him and got into the ute.

"Last one home cooks breakie tomorrow Brewer!" Alex called as he shut the door behind him,

"You may as well drive slow, that way we don't have to eat his cooking." Rob said as he closed the door behind him and the girls started to laugh. Dave looked in the rear view mirror, Kate looked up and met his eyes in the mirror, smiling she winked at him,

"Hurry up and put some music on, Jodi and I feel like dancing again." she smirked as they drove off.

An hour later, evening had started to creep in and it was getting darker, Jodi and Kate had both fallen asleep in the back seat. Dave smiled to himself, Kate looked like an angel when she slept, so peaceful and content. Rob had started fiddling with the radio turning it onto something softer and not so dance musicy,

"So what did you think of Alex's comment this morning?" He joked as Dave laughed,

"Very suttle of him I would say, but then again being suttle isn't one of Alex's strong points." Dave replied,

"I don't think that Jodi caught on too much to it, we were doing good moving slow, but this whole weekend has blown things out of the water. Everytime I look at her I can see us growing old together and having kids." Rob said as he looked out the window with a smile,

"Gee are you going all soft? Better not let Alex see." Dave joked, "I know what you mean though, I know that Kate and I have only been together a little while, but it seems like forever, everytime I look at her all I want to do is make her smile. I felt like such an idiot for ignoring her all this time, and it took my idiot brother to show me what was in front of me all this time. Now I feel like I need to make up for lost time."

"Sounds like you are becoming an old softie too, how about none of this leaves the car." Rob laughed as Dave turned off the highway onto the road that headed to Gungellan.

As he pulled into the drive for Drover's a sadness came over him, the weekend that they had just spent together had gone by too fast. He was going to miss seeing her every minute, seeing her smile and definately the feeling of her in his bed. Dave parked the ute next to Alex's and got out and stretched, he walked behind him and opened Kate's door.

"Sleep well?" he asked with a smile, as Kate nodded with a smile.

"I guess I really was tired, I told you all that exercise would catch up with me." She whispered in his ear as she leaned up and kissed him on the lips.

"Dave open the back so we can get our things out, come on you can kiss her anytime." Jodi said as she and Rob walked around to the back of the ute. Dave tossed the keys at her,

"Here you open up, I am in no hurry." He replied as he pulled Kate closer to him and kissed her.

I moaned as my alarm clock went off, I pressed the snooze button and laid back in bed. I looked at the ceiling yawning, I hadn't gotten much sleep I smiled to myself as I thought why. Since coming back from our trip to the city Dave and I had spent most of our time together. It was hard to believe that it had been almost three months since we spent that weekend together. Dave had definately shown me just how romantic he could be, just as he said. One morning I had woken up to find a bouquet of flowers at my door, another morning I had found a thermos with gourmet coffee, and the ultimate was that he had given me a drawer in his dresser at his place, a major commitment according to Jodi and her magazines. Anytime that I didn't spend with Dave or working, we were busy planning Stevie and Alex's wedding. Much to Harry's dismay they had decided to have it at Drovers, Stevie wanted something simple so the plans were going good, Tess had called Rose and she had agreed to come as a surprise for Stevie, so everything was falling into place. Today we had our last dress fitting in Fisher for the wedding, which was this Saturday. I could hear Jodi start to walk around in her room, she and Rob had spent tonnes of time together since the trip to the city, they had even decided to buy a house on a small property that adjoined Drovers that was coming up for sale. They were both going to keep their jobs, because Jodi said she couldn't stand to leave Drovers. Rob kept asking her to marry him, but Jodi kept telling him to wait, it was actually quite funny Rob asked her every day it seemed. As my alarm went off again I pushed the blankets off and jumped out of bed.

"Morning, sleep well?" Jodi asked as we both came out our doors at the same time,

"Yeah you?" I asked as I sat on the couch and pulled my boots on, "I didn't get home until late so I didn't get much sleep."

"Why Squirt you are becoming quite the little rebel aren't you, I guess love can change even you." Jodi grinned in reply as she sat and pulled hers on.

"Speaking of love when are you ever going to say yes to Rob." I giggled as Jodi stood up,

"Just put it this way when and if I do, I will let you know. Now come on I'm starving." Jodi said as we walked up towards the house. As we walked into the kitchen, Stevie and Tess were sitting at the table drinking their coffee and looking over wedding arrangments.

"Morning ladies, sleep well?" asked Tess as she looked up with a smile,

"Yup, me more than this girl." Jodi grinned pointing at me, I could feel the heat rush in my cheeks again.

Stevie looked up from her papers with a glint in her eyes, "As if you are one to talk about late nights, and by the way Alex said Rob wanted to know if you had decided yet." Jodi grabbed a piece of toast and sat down, as I went over and poured a cup of coffee and a bowl of cereal.

"Jodi has said that when and if she does that we will all know." I said as I sat down and started to eat.

"Well in that case you should hurry up, we can save some of this wedding information for you." Tess laughed as Jodi stuck her tongue out at her.

"Now now ladies, we have work to do, we need to be in Fisher at three." Stevie said as she pushed her chair back.

"Ok boss, lets go." Jodi said as we walked out of the kitchen.

Dave pulled into the driveway at Drovers Run and smiled as he saw Kate heading towards him. Alot had happened in three months, most of which included the fact that he now realized that he was head over heels in love with her. He knew that he couldn't spend his life without her. Seeing Stevie and Alex get ready for their wedding, made him want to get married and settle down even more. He hadn't told her but he was purchasing the house the he, Alex, and Rob lived in from Harry. His business was also booming now, so there was no better time to settle down and set down roots. He was trying to come up with a way to propose that would make Kate's head spin, Alex and Rob were no help, Rob couldn't even get Jodi to marry him.

He opened his door and got out grabbing his bag from the passenger side,

"Hello Doc, didn't think I would see you this early." Kate smiled as she put her arms around his neck and kissed him.

"Oh well you know what they say, 'the early bird gets the worm'. I thought if I got through my rounds early maybe we could do something tonight after you come back from Fisher." Dave replied as he kissed her lips again.

"That would be nice, we will probably be back around six. Tess said that there are a tonne of things that we have to pick up while were in there." Kate said as she took his hand and they walked towards the barn.

"Sounds good how about I pick you up around seven?" He asked as they reached the door,

"See you then, I have to go check the fence in the north paddock now, so I can't stay and see your valuable medical knowledge at work." Kate giggled as she leaned up and kissed his cheek.

As he walked into the barn he could see Tess watching two sheep that were sick,

"Hey there how are they doing?" He asked as he came and stood next to her.

"They seem to be getting better, whatever you gave them yesterday it worked amazing." She replied with a smile, "So does Alex have you run off your feet as much as Stevie has us?"

"Nah, he is more nerves then anything, it is quite funny to watch actually. I asked him something and he had no ideas what so ever." He grinned as they sat down on a hay bale.

"Thats odd for him, usually he has an answer for everything, what did you ask him?" Tess asked noticing Dave had started to blush.

"I was just asking Him and Rob if they had any ideas on how I could propose to Kate." He replied looking out the window. Tess let out a little squeal of excitment,

"Really! You're going to ask Kate to marry you, thats great!"

"I know I can't wait, I am just having a hard time coming up with something that will blow her away. I don't want to do anything tacky or stupid." He sighed as he sat forward.

"Nothing you do will be tacky or stupid, Kate likes simple things she doesn't need fireworks, which by the way would be tacky. You know what you should do, that first day that you two spent together by the lake. Kate always talks about how lovely it was, you should do something like that." Tess said as she stood up,

"Thats a good idea, I guess I was blowing this all out of proportion." Dave replied as they walked towards the door.

"Whatever you do, Kate will love anyway, and trust me she will definately say yes, unlike another girl walking around here." Tess giggled as she walked him to his ute, "Now you better get off now, we have tonnes to do before we head into Fisher this afternoon."  
"Yes M'am, and thanks for the vote of confidence and the help." Dave said with a smile.

"Stevie you look amazing, everytime I see you in that dress you get prettier and prettier." Tess exclaimed as Stevie came out of the dressing room in her dress. I looked at her and smiled, she had chosen a simpled white dress, nothing too poufy she had said, it was a little low in the front and almost completely backless, with her veil and boots she looked amazing.

"I still can't believe you are wearing a pair of boots with your wedding dress!" Jodi moaned as I giggled,

"Come on Jodes it wouldn't be Stevie without a pair of boots, besides they are new its not like they have poo all over them or anything." I replied with a laugh,

"Exactly, thanks Kate, and it could have been worse I could have made you lot wear them too." Stevie smirked as she looked at herself in the mirror, "Mind you I have to agree with you Tess, I do look damn hot in this dress, Alex won't know what hit him."

"Gee don't be modest or anything, besides you only look so good because you have three amazing bridesmaids with you." Jodi said with a laugh, as she stood up and walked over to look in another mirror. Stevie had let us chose our dresses ourselves, we had all decided on a strapless dark red color dress, that went to just below the knee. Tess and I came and stood next to her,

"Well it is a good thing you are getting married soon anyways, another month or two and I don't think I would fit into this dress." Tess said with a sigh.

"WHAT did you say!!" We all cried at once,

"Nick and I were going to wait until after the wedding, but I just had to tell you guys, I'm pregnant." Tess said with a smile, "About three months now."

"Oh my god thats wonderful, its the best news I have heard in a long time!" Stevie cried as she pulled Tess into a hug, Jodi and I hugged her too.

"You guys had all better let go we are going to wrinkle our dresses to hell." Tess laughed as she wiped a tear from her eyes.

"This happy occasion calls for icecream." Stevie remarked as we walked down the street finishing our errands,

"I second that idea, lets go over there." I replied as I pointed to an icecream shop across the street. As we sat down outside with our icecream I looked over at Tess, she even seemed to have a glow to her. She looked so happy and contented, after all that she had gone through she definately deserved this.

"So whats everyone doing tonight?" Tess asked as we all started eating,

"Rob and I are going to look at our house." Jodi grinned as she said 'our' house,

"I don't see why you just don't say yes to his proposal, the guy is like dying." Stevie said as she licked her spoon,

"I don't want to rush into anything, besides I am going to tell him yes anyways." Jodi replied with a smile,

"Its about time, the poor guy looks desperate everytime I see him." Tess said looking over at me,"What about you Kate what are you up to?"

"Oh just the usual, Dave thought we should do something tonight so we are going to go out around seven." I replied, Tess seemed to get this little sparkle in her eye, she looked away fast before I could tell, "Do you know something I don't?"

"What? No I have no idea what you are talking about. We should probably start heading back." She replied standing up.

As Dave knocked on my door I called out to come in, I ran around my room getting ready. We had just gotten back 20 minutes ago, after we had gotten a flat tire.

"Hey beautiful, are you almost ready?" He said as he came in and sat on my bed,

"Just give me a few more minutes, we were late getting back after we got a flat tire." I replied with a grin, "I hope you don't mind if I dress down tonight I never had time to do laundry yet."

"Don't worry you can wear your pyjamas and I wouldn't care, besides as you know I like whats underneath better anyways." Dave smiled with a wicked grin as he came up behind me and kissed my cheek. I pulled my hair out of a pony tail and turned around,

"Ok lets go."

"So where are we going?" Kate asked as Dave drove down the driveway towards the road.

"Oh I thought we could go for a little drive and then maybe grab a bite to eat somewheres." He replied with a wink,

"Sounds good, mind you I am awfully hungry." She replied as she moved across the seat to sit next to him, he put his arm around her and continued driving.

"You need to close your eyes for a second." Dave said as he turned off the road, he looked down at her and smiled.

"Ok Mr. Mysterious, but just remember I am scared of the dark." Kate replied with a smirk,

"Don't worry I will protect you." Dave replied as he started driving. As he stopped the ute he turned off the engine, "Let me get out for a second, then I will come and get you." He said as he opened his door and closed it behind him. He ran over to the mini generator that Alex had loaned him and flicked the switch, then he ran over and lit the candles on the table. "Ok Brewer this is it, deep breath now." He said to himself as he walked back to the ute.

"Ok open them." Dave said as he opened the passenger door and took Kate's hand.

"Where are we, Dave..." She started to say as she looked behind him and gasped.

"This is where we had our first date, I wanted to recreate it, only at night time." Dave smiled as he took her hand and led her down under the canopy.

"But how did you get all this up? You have lights and candles and everything." She exclaimed as she looked around,

"Well with a little help from some friends and you can do anything." He replied with a grin as he pulled out her chair, "Now my dear would you please take a seat."

"First let me kiss you atleast." Kate replied as she leaned forward and kissed him softly on the lips, "This is absolutely amazing, and I don't know what I did to deserve you."

"Au contrare my dear it is I who don't deserve you, now sit down and I will start our meal as you are awfully hungry." Dave replied as Kate smiled and sat down.

"So what are we having tonight? Waffles and whipped cream perhaps?"

"Nothing so fancy I thought that we could have my famous chicken a'la Dave. Otherwise known as chicken with rice and veggies." Dave replied with a wink, Kate giggled,

"How about I be the cook in the relationship ok? You can still make your waffles though."

"Sounds good, now how about a glass of champagne? Freshly chilled ofcourse."

"Yes please, I atleast hope that you have strawberries for dessert though." She said with a smile,

"Ofcourse I wouldn't want to disappoint you." Dave replied as he set her plate down.

As they finished their meal Dave looked across the table at her, she looked out at the moon over the lake and looked so relaxed and calm. Unlike him, his stomach was doing flip flops and his heart was going a mile a minute.

"How about we go for a little stroll?" Kate asked as she looked over at him,

"Lovely, be careful though it is dark." Dave replied as he stood up and took her hand,

"I don't need to worry thats what I have you here for." Kate said with a grin. As they walked down towards the lake Dave put his arm around her and sighed, the more they walked the less nervous he got. He knew they would go for a walk so he led her over to a blanket he had already placed by the lake.

"Well you certainly thought of everything." Kate smiled as he leaned down and lit the couple candles he had left with the blanket.

"I just wanted tonight the be as wonderful as our first day together." He replied as they sat down next to each other, Kate curled up next to him and placed her head on his shoulder. Dave felt himself relax as he place his arm around her.

"This feels so nice, I can't believe that you did all this." Kate sighed, "I could sit here forever with you."

"We might get a little cold, but the forever part I could take." Dave replied as she sat up straighter and looked into her eyes. "Thats one of the reasons that I did all this tonight, there is something I wanted to ask you."

I turned and looked into Dave's eyes, my heart started racing a mile a minute. I smiled as he touched the side of my face and kissed me softly on my cheek. I could feel my pulse go even faster as Dave moved and got onto his knee,

"All my life I didn't think I would ever meet anyone like you. The past three months have been the best in my life, and believe me I still kick myself every day that I let the amount of time that I did pass without letting you into my life. But you are the most amazing, beautiful, smart, funny, honest, caring, person that I have ever met. Everytime that you smile my heart skips a beat, just knowing that I am going to see you makes my pulse beat faster. I love you so much Kate, would you do me the honor and joy of being my wife?"

"Oh Dave! YES YES YES YES YES YES YES!!!!!" I cried as I put my arms around him and kissed him.

"Kate I promise you I will make you happy, just give me a chance and I will do whatever you want." He replied as he pulled something out of his pocket, "I knew the minute that I saw it that this was supposed to be yours, I hope you like it." I opened the small velvet box and gasped, inside was the ring that we had seen at the market, I took it out of the box and placed it on my finger. It fit like a glove, as if it was made just for me.

"When did you ever get it? You were never out of my sight that day!" I asked with a grin,

"I have my ways, besides I could tell by the look on your face that day that it was the one that belonged on your finger." He replied with a smile, "I figured that it gave your Grandmother many happy years with your Grandfather, so it would be a good omen for us."

"I love you so much! This is the most amazing night of my life." I cried as I wrapped my arms around him and kissed him, pushing him to the ground.

Hours later, we lay entwined with each other wrapped in the blanket looking at the stars. Dave smiled over at me,

"I have another surprise for you by the way."

"You do? And what may that be, I don't know how many more surprises I can take." I replied with a wink,

"Well I don't have to tell you then." He smirked and looked away,

"No come on tell me, don't be mean to your fiancee." I said as I lightly punched him in the arm,

"Well since you are my fiancee, which by the way makes me so happy to hear you say, I guess that I should tell you that I bought you a wedding gift already." He said as he pulled me closer to him,

"Really, what did you get me?" I smiled as I leaned my head on his shoulder.

"Well since we are going to be married I thought that we are going to need a place to live, plus with my practice heating up I am going to need to set up an actual office. So I talked to Alex and if you want I thought that I could buy the house that we live in now." Dave replied. I could feel my heart do a little flip flop as he looked at me waiting to see what I would say, "So what do you think Kates, if you don't want that house we can look anywhere else."

"You don't need to look anywhere else, I love that house. Besides I don't really want to leave Drovers, so it will be perfect." I smiled at him as I could see the look of relief that came over his face, I laid back down and laid my head on his shoulder, "To think I am going to be a doctor's wife, who would have thunk it."

"Not just any doctor my love, but me the Doctor of Luv." He joked as he leaned down and kissed me again.

As I climbed the steps to my room, I slipped my shoes off and opened the door as quietly as I could. As I closed it and flicked the light on I nearlly jumped out of my skin as Jodi cried,

"Where in the hell have you been!! I have been worried sick its like 3 am you know."

"Sorry mom, it won't happen again." I replied with a grin as I laid back on my bed,

"Sorry but you scared me, I didn't know if something had happened to you, and you never said if you were spending the night at Dave's." She said as she sat down at the end of the bed, "So where were you anyways?"

"I will only tell you if you promise not to tell anyone, you have to swear to me." I smiled knowing that it would kill her to keep this secret.

"Fine, but if its anything big you better tell the others soon, or else I can't promise anything, now tell come on!" She joked as I tossed a pillow at her.

"Ok well, Dave and I are engaged. But we want to tell everyone at supper tomorrow night so please please don't tell anyone not even Rob!" I exclaimed, so happy to tell someone my news.

"Oh my god!! That is so exciting, oh Kate I knew that he would ask you. How did he ask you, where did you go, and what does your ring look like??" Jodi yelped as she lept forward and hugged me, "Oh Squirt I am so happy for you."

"He took me to the spot where we first had that amazing day together, it was so romantic Jodes, he had a canopy set up with twinkle lights and candles everywhere. He even had a blanket set up by the lake for us to sit on and look at the stars. It was so romantic, it makes me want to cry. He even remembered the ring that we had seen when we were in Adelaide, remember the ring I told you about. I don't know how he got it, but that made me love him even more." I sighed as Jodi grabbed my hand and looked at the ring.

"It is perfect for you, I can't believe that you are engaged! I promise you I won't tell anyone until you guys do, when by the way do you think that will be?" She giggled as she hugged me again.

"We thought tomorrow or I guess now tonight at the party that Tess and Nick are having for Alex and Stevie. I just feel like yelling out loud how happy I am, but I think I can wait." I laughed as Jodi grabbed my hand again,

"Well then you better make sure you don't have this on today, if you hadn't noticed us Drovers girls notice everything especially big rocks."

The next morning my alarm clock went off way too early, as I leaned over and turned it off I saw the ring on my hand and smiled. Yesterday night had been so amazing, the idea that I was engaged was starting to sink in now. I was so happy, it felt like my own fairytale now coming true. As I got up and walked into the bathroom Jodi was already up brushing her teeth,

"Morning Squirt, sleep much?" She grinned as she walked back into her room to get dressed. I walked over and looked in the mirror, as I put tooth paste on my tooth brush I couldn't help but grin, I am getting married, this was definately not in the five year plan.

Dave drove down the road towards Drovers, he was finishing up his rounds for the day and was ending them here. All day he had been smiling, he felt like a kid at Christmas he was so happy. He couldn't believe how lucky he was, Kate had said yes to marry him. She made him happier than anything in the world, just knowing that she loved him made him want to jump over the moon. It was hard this morning not to tell Alex and Rob, mind you they both thought that something was up, Alex just assumed that he had gotten really lucky. Which he had in more ways than one. As he pulled his ute into the yard by the barn he shifted into park and got out.

"Afternoon Dave, took you long enough to get here." Stevie called with a smile from the barn door,

"Ahh you know I always save the best for last Steves, now show me some sheep." He replied with a grin as he walked towards the barn.

"Right here waiting for you, they seem to be much better now." Stevie said as she motioned towards the sheep that were in a stall, as Dave opened the gate and kneeled down to look at them,

"They do look better, they could probably go out and join the rest of the mob today." replied Dave as he walked out of the stall.

"So are you all prepared for the big day?" Dave asked as they walked outside the barn,

"Pretty much, thank goodness we have tonight to relax, just a peaceful dinner at home with friends, that is exactly what I need now." Stevie sighed with a smile as she turned and walked up the drive, "By the way Kate is in the tractor shed if you are looking for her."

Dave walked over to the shed to look for Kate, he could see her standing by the window trying to fix something, and not have very good luck with it. He smiled to himself as he heard her cursing under her breath,

"My my what a way to talk, I am not sure if a doctor's wife should use that sort of language." He said with a grin as he walked up and placed his arms around her, "So how are you today my lovely fiancee?" Kate turned around to face him and smiled,

"I am doing just lovely thanks, I don't know how much longer I can keep this a secret, now I know how Jodi feels." She leaned up and kissed his lips, "So what time are you coming for the party?"

"Well if you mean the nice quiet supper that Alex and Stevie think were having then around 7, Tess wants Rob and I to keep Alex away as long as possible." Dave replied,

"I know Tess is going to come up with a reason for Stevie to go to town, Jodi is going to help her with whatever it is. Its so exciting like being in a spy movie." She giggled as Dave brushed a piece of her hair away from her face.

"It is, but you know seeing Alex and Stevie so happy makes me want to marry you even more," Dave said as he kissed her again.

I looked around me as everyone was laughing and talking, it had been hard to pull the wool over Stevie and Alex's eyes but it had been a success and now they were glowing with excitment. They hadn't wanted a traditional Hen and Buck's night so Tess had decided to do what we had done for her and Nick, throw a massive party for them both.

"Hard to believe that they are getting married tomorrow," Jodi said as she came up behind me and we watched as Stevie and Alex kissed,

"I know the preparations went by so fast, but atleast they are having a great time tonight, not nervous." I replied as we walked out of the room and towards the veranda.

"So when are you going to make your announcment, I don't know how much longer I can keep it in." Jodi smiled as we sat down,

"Don't worry I am going to go down and get my ring in a few minutes, by the way you now have my sympathy, I now understand how you feel when you have a secret to tell." I replied with a grin,

"Took you long enough, now go get that rock." Jodi replied with a wink and pushed me off the chair.

As I started walking down the path towards the shearers quarters I could hear foot steps coming up behind me,

"Hey gorgeous why don't you wait up." Came a familair voice which made my heart beat a little faster,

"Come on Doc and hurry up then." I stopped and turned around with a smile, as Dave came up and pulled me into his arms.

"Now whats your hurry anyways, no one knows were missing we could have atleast a couple minutes together you know." He grinned as he kissed my cheek and we continued walking.

"Well I guess I could spare a couple minutes, but remember I am helping with the food at this party so if you want to eat you won't keep me too long." I replied as we walked up the steps, "Besides I was coming to get my ring, I miss wearing it and I think that we have waited long enough, I am about ready to yell from the hills that we are getting married."

"Is that so, well then we better hurry up." Dave said as I opened my door and switched on the light. He pulled me into his arms and kissed me as he turned the light off.

Some time later we walked back up towards the main house, I ran my hand through my hair and checked my shirt again. Dave took my hand as we walked up the steps, we had decided to play it by ear to when we were going to make our announcment, or whenever someone noticed my ring. As we walked into the kitchen Tess was standing there looking like she could cry,

"Whats the matter?" I said as I walked towards her, and hugged her.

"I burned the samosas, I wasn't watching them and they burned completely. By the way where have you two been?" Tess said then stopped as she looked at us, "Whats up with you two?? Oh my god Kate is that what I think it is!!" Tess cried as she grabbed my hand, "Oh its beautiful! I take it this means that you two are engaged. I am so happy for you guys, its about time." She hugged me tighter and kissed Dave on the cheek,

"Oy whats going on here?" Stevie asked as she and Alex walked into the kitchen,

"Well we were going to wait for everyone but we were just telling Tess that we are engaged." Dave said as he placed his arm around me.

"Kate thats wonderful! I knew that you two would get married, when did you get engaged?" Stevie cried as she came forward and hugged me,

"Its about time Brewer, just make sure you treat her right." Alex said as he slapped Dave across the back and leaned down and kissed my cheek,

"Whats this now?" Nick said as Jodi and Rob followed him into the kitchen, "The natives are getting restless looking for food out there."

"Ahh leave it Nick, Dave and Kate are engaged!" Alex replied as Jodi ran and hugged me,

"Don't worry I never told anyone," She whispered as we jumped up and down and Nick and Rob congratulated Dave.

"Well now that everyone knows, which before you even ask you will get details later, but lets get some food and finish the party." I said as Dave pulled me into his arms again.

As the clock in the hall chimed that it was two am, Dave yawned and looked around him with a smile. Most of the guests had left the party, all that was left were the eight of them, all of them like a big family.

"I can't believe that you two are getting married today." Nick said as Tess rested her head on his shoulder,

"Believe it, by the end of today we will be man and wife." Alex replied as Stevie sat in his lap, "You know I kind of like the ring of that."

"It definately grows on you right Wifey." Nick grinned as he looked down at Tess with a grin, "Pretty soon you will get to say that too Brewer, then all that will leave is poor Rob over there."

"Well I can't say its for lack of trying atleast." Rob said as Jodi sighed and laid her head on his shoulder,

"You never asked me in the last ten minutes you know, maybe I have changed my mind." Jodi said as she looked up into his eyes. Rob sat up and looked at her,

"You mean that you have changed your mind in the past ten minutes?"

"Get used to it mate she is a Mcleod." Nick joked as Tess swatted him across the back of the head,

"Ok then, in front of all our friends and family, Jodi Mcleod you know that I love you and want to marry you more than anything, please say yes this time." Rob said as he got down on his knee in front of her. You could hear a pin drop as everyone waited to see what Jodi would say, finally a big smile came over her face.

"Yes Rob I will marry you, I told you if you waited for the right moment I would say yes." She cried as she pulled him close to him and kissed him.

"Yea! That means that we are all going to be married ladies and have lots of babies!!" Tess cried as she jumped up and hugged Jodi,

"Did you say baby?" Dave asked as all of the girls ran over and hugged Jodi.

"Well I already told the girls yesterday afternoon, but I guess all you guys will have to find out now. Nick and I are going to have a baby." Tess replied with a smile.

"Hey I'm gonna be an Uncle!" Alex cried as he stood up and hugged Nick, "Just think you guys can call her Alexandra."

"We would never do that to our daughter, sorry mate." Nick replied with a grin. As everyone sat down again and started to get quiet, Tess let out a yawn.

"Well ladies I'd say that we head off to bed now, we have to be up early. Stevie you need to say good bye to loverboy over there, remember its bad luck to see him." She grinned as she stood up,

"I guess that is our clue guys," Rob said as he stood up and kissed Jodi.

"See you tomorrow cowgirl, I'll be the one up front waiting." Alex whispered to Stevie as she leaned down and kissed him,

"I'll be the one in the white dress, try not to miss me." She replied as she stood up and pulled him with her. Dave looked down at Kate, who had stayed mostly quiet for the past little while, she was almost asleep.

"Why don't I walk you to your room before I go?" He asked as they stood up and he placed his arm around her.

"See you at home boys." He called as they walked down the steps.

They walked in companionable silence to the shearers quarters, her hand in his. As they walked up the steps Kate pulled him with her over to the sofa on the porch. As they sat down she laid her head on his shoulder again.

"This is nice, we should have this at our house." She sighed as they looked out at the moon,

"We can have whatever you like at our house, as long as you are there with me I don't care what it looks like." Dave replied as he placed a kiss on her forehead.

I looked at my reflection in the mirror, it was really quite amazing what a bridesmaids dress and a half an hour having Jodi doing your hair could do. The dress fit perfectly, the red color went good with my skin tone, or so the sales lady had said. Jodi had piled about a hundred curlers in my hair this morning, and now my hair was pulled back and looked like a million bucks.

"Wow squirt who knew you could clean up so nice." Jodi said as she came into the room, "Will you zip this up for me please?"

"You don't look so shabby yourself, who knew that we could go from clothes covered in sheep poo to this." I grinned as she turned around and looked at herself, as Tess entered the room we turned around.

"What are you two doing admiring yourselves? Atleast let me look too." She joked as she came up and put her arms around us, "To think that yesterday at this time we were just simple jillaroos, and today we look like princesses."

"Well if you are princesses than I am definately the queen." Stevie said as she came through the door, she took my breath away. She was a vision in white, Jodi had left her hair down in her curls and with her veil on top she looked like an angel.

"Stevie you look amazing, Alex won't know what hit him, even with the boots." Jodi exclaimed as she came towards us in front of the mirror.

"Good that is exactly the look I was going for. Now I know that you all said you didn't want any gifts but I did get you all something." She said as she walked over to the dresser, "I saw these in Adelaide when we were at the market that Tess dragged us to. The minute I saw them I thought of us four, the Drovers girls, and I knew I had to get us each one." Stevie handed us each a black velvet box, and as we opened the lid we all let out little squeals. Inside on a silver chain was a silver horseshoe with rhinestones laced through it.

"Stevie they are beautiful." I cried as I hugged her,

"We should all wear them today," Tess said as she wiped a tear from her eyes.

"Heck they will even look good with our dresses." Jodi smiled as she took hers from the box.

"Its time." Tess said as she came into the living room where we were all waiting for our cue. "But first Stevie, I have one surprise for you." Tess went out the door and came back in with Rose beside her.

"Tess said you needed someone to walk you down the aisle, so I thought you might like me to do it." She said as Stevie let out a cry and ran across the room to hug her daughter.

"I would be honored if you would walk me down the aisle." She replied as she wiped tears from her eyes, "I am so glad that you came, I didn't know if you would or if you were still mad at me so I never bothered calling."

"I wouldn't miss this for the world." Rose said as she hugged her mother again, "Now come on we better get you down the aisle before your makeup runs anymore."

As the music started I came to the top of the steps and started walking down the aisle. I smiled as I walked with one foot in front of the other as Tess had got us to practice. I looked around at all the smiling faces, everyone was so happy for Stevie and Alex. I looked up towards the front and caught Dave's eye, he winked at me and smiled. Even now he made my heart skip a beat. I smiled back at him as I took my place on the left hand side, looking back to watch Jodi and Tess walking up the aisle. As Stevie and Rose came walking up the aisle I could tell by the grin on Alex's face that he liked Tess's surprise too. As he took Stevies hand from Rose he kissed her on the cheek and they walked towards the minister.

"Ladies and Gentlemen please clear the dance floor for the new Mr and Mrs Alex Ryan." The DJ announced as everyone clapped and Alex and Stevie took to the dance floor. As the slow song that they had chosen started to play, I could feel Dave pull his chair closer and put his arm around me. He leaned closer to my face and kissed my cheek,

"Just imagine that will be us soon." He whispered in my ear as I smiled, "We will chose a better song though."

"We don't have a song yet remember, you have never really ever danced with me yet." I replied as I laid my head on his shoulder.

"Well we will just have to rectify that situation won't we."He said as he stood up and held out his hand to me, "I just need to check the song list with the DJ to make sure there is a good song playing first." He took my hand and we walked over to the DJ table and I waited while he went over and talked to the DJ. As Dave came back he took my hand and led me towards the dance floor.

"This next song is sent out to anyone in love." The DJ announced as I moaned,

"What a corny line to be said the first time we dance together."

"Just wait a second and listen to the song, see if you remember it." Dave whispered in my ear as he pulled me closer to him. I could hear the light playing of guitairs coming from the speakers and this soft voice.

"I love this song," I replied as I laid my head on his shoulder,

"This was playing on the radio the night I kissed you in the barn." Dave said, "Ever since I have considered it our song, it reminds me of you."

"Who would of thought, 'When you say nothing at all' would be our song." I replied as I leaned forward and kissed him.

Dave groaned as the alarm clock went off, he hit the snooze button and rolled back over into bed.  
"Ugh is it five already?" Kate moaned from beside him, "I think I need to call in sick today."

"I'll do it if you want, but I think that you might find Stevie here in record time pulling you out of bed." Dave joked as he pulled her into his arms and kissed her.

"We really had better stop this or else I will be late for work, and Stevie really will be banging on the door." She giggled as the alarm shot off again. Kate sat up and pushed the blankets off, "Mind you since you don't need to be up this early you can go back to sleep."

"I had lots of sleep I'll get up and make you breakie while you get dressed." He replied as he got out of bed too, as she started to make the bed he laughed, "You work earlier I will make the bed."

"Thanks, I knew I loved you for some reason, breakie and making the bed who could ask for more." She joked as she walked towards the bathroom. As Dave heard the shower turn on he straightened out the blankets and smiled to himself. It had been two months since Alex and Stevie's wedding, when they came back from their honeymoon Stevie and Alex had moved into the house that Harry had bought them as a surprise for their wedding gift. Rob moved in with Jodi while they waited for their paperwork to clear for their house, and Kate had moved in with him two weeks ago and it was absolute heaven. It had taken them a while to get used to living together, but after a couple of days he got used to waking up at five am, and she got used to him leaving the toilet seat up, which he was trying his best to remember to put down. They had even survived a visit from her parents, they were a little upset at first that they hadn't known too much about the engagment. But after a day or two they came around and gave them their blessing, making plans to return for their wedding. They were planning on getting married in a month, they had most of the planning done, neither one of them had wanted a large wedding, with mainly friends and family in attendence. Tess had insisted that they have the reception on Drovers, as they had already picked the place they wanted to get married. He had been somewhat surprised when Kate had suggested that they get married by the lake where they had their first date and where he proposed, she said that since it was where their romance had started, it was where she wanted the next chapter to start there too. Dave walked over and opened the blind, the sun was starting to rise. He could hear the shower turn off, he headed to the kitchen to start breakie.

"Something smells good," Kate exclaimed as she walked into the kitchen and peeked around him to look at the stove, "Pancakes yum, but if you keep making me breakfast like this every morning I am going to get fat!"

"Maybe that is how I want you, nice and plump!" Dave laughed as he handed her a cup of coffee with milk just as she liked it.

"Well good thing that I have a job that I exercise alot so I can burn it all off." Kate replied as she took a sip,

"I can think of other forms of exercise that will do the exact same thing." Dave smirked as he placed a plate in front of her and Kate blushed.

"So Doc what do you have on the agenda for today?" She asked as she poured syrup on her pancakes and he sat across from her at the table.

"Well I have three calls this morning, then my afternoon is free so I thought I would finish up the painting in the living room." Dave replied, they had been slowly redecorating the house into a style they could both agree on. He liked to tease her saying that she picked the color and he did all the work.

"Sounds like fun, I will probably be home around five thirty, don't forget we are going to Stevie and Alex's for supper." Kate said as she took another sip of coffee.

"How could I forget, Alex's famous chille, to think that married life would turn him all domestic?" Dave laughed as Kate made a face at the mention of the chille.

"Yes to think Alex domestic, who knows what will happen to you then." Kate grinned as she stood up and took her dishes to the sink. "Oh and don't forget that I am going with the girls into the city tomorrow to do wedding stuff."  
"You mean look at dresses?" Dave winked as he came next to her at the sink, "If you would want to make me really happy you could wear nothing to the wedding, maybe a veil."

"That might make you happy but I think the minister would have a coronary." Kate laughed as she leaned up and kissed him.

"Morning ladies and how are we this morning?" I said cheerily as I walked into the kitchen at Drovers, Tess who was now six months pregnant and looked like she was about to burst.

"Morning Kate how are things at the love shack?" She joked as I pulled a chair out from the table and sat down next to her, Jodi had come up with the name for my house with Dave because that song was playing on the radio when I moved in with him, she said that it suited us for some strange reason and since then the name had stuck.

"Just great, Dave made me breakfast again this morning it was just heavenly, plus he said he was going to finish painting the living room which made me even happier." I replied with a grin as Stevie and Jodi walked in.

"I can beat that Alex made me breakfast in bed, I'm telling you ladies I don't know how much more domesticity I can take, plus he was getting his chile ready for tonight." She moaned as she poured herself a cup of coffee.

"Well I can not wait for Rob and I to move, that shed is getting too small for both of us. I can't even barely turn around." Jodi sighed as she grabbed a piece of bread and popped it in the toaster,

"You would think that would be romantic Jodes, close quarters and all." I winked at her as she stuck her tongue out at me, "I bet you don't think that when you wake up next to Rob every morning."

"Well there is that plus, he is pretty sexy in the morning." Jodi replied with a grin,

"Please save us the details, we need to get to work, we have tonnes to do since we are going away tomorrow, plus Alex wants us at our place for 6:30 and who would want to miss his chile." Stevie said as she stood up and put her hand out to Tess to help her up.

Jodi and I rode into the yard at Drovers we had been out looking at fences for most of the afternoon,

"How do they look?" Stevie asked as we both got off our horses and started walking them towards the barn.

"The only place where they need to be repaired is in the north paddock and it is only about two metres of fence." I replied as I took the saddle off my horse.

"Good that will give Alex something to do tomorrow besides cook." Stevie replied with a grin. Alex, Nick and Dave had volunteered to look after Drovers for the day tomorrow, Harry said he couldn't spare Rob so he was going to miss Dave on a horse. I had tried to take him out riding a couple times, but he still didn't like to ride that much, it was actuallu quite funny to watch.

"The sheep are fed and I do believe that everything is in order for tomorrow." Tess said as she walked in and stood next to Stevie, "I hope Alex made lots of food I am starving!"

"Well I guess that we may as well call it a day ladies, I better head home and make sure that there is lots of food." Stevie laughed as we walked out of the barn.

As I walked up the steps to the porch of the house, I pulled my boots off and opened the door.

"Honey I'm home!" I called as I walked in closing the door behind me, I could hear music coming from down the hall and I walked towards it. I stood in the doorway to the living room and started to laugh, Dave was finishing painting dress in his boxer shorts.

"Hey sexy nice look, were you worried you would get paint on your clothes or something?" I asked as he turned around and smiled.

"Well if you must know my paint clothes are still wet on the clothes line so I figured instead of getting any more clothes dirty I would just wear these. Why do you like the look?" He grinned as I walked over and kissed him on the lips, "If I was in a real pinch I could have done it naked."

"I think that your boxers will be ok, by the way you have done a really good job in here." I said as I looked around, we hade decided to go with a coffee color in the living room, Dave had joked that the coffee color made him think of kissing me. "Once our new furniture comes it will look perfect." My parents had given us money to buy things for our home, since I had told them I didn't want any money for my wedding.

"It definately will, and once we have a few kids it will definately look much better." Dave replied as he put his arm around me, "We could get some practice before we go for supper." I could feel my cheeks getting warmer as he started to nuzzle my neck,

"Well we better hurry Alex wants us there by 6:30." I replied as I pulled him with me towards the bedroom.

Dave pulled the ute into the driveway at Alex and Stevie's place, they were late and he was sure that they would hear about it. After Kate had found him painting they had kind of lost track of time, which wasn't a bad thing he thought to himself with a smile.

"Atleast were not too late, it is only 6:45." Kate said as he took her hand and they walked up the steps, as they made it to the top step Alex opened the front door.  
"You do realize that you are late, and that we have a very hungry pregnant woman here right." He joked as Dave and Kate walked into the front hall.

"Sorry mate, we were a little busy finishing some painting." Dave replied as they followed Alex to the livingroom where everyone else was sitting around.

"If thats what you want to call it go ahead, anyway let me get you guys a beer." He said as Kate took a seat on the couch next to Jodi and Dave sat next to her.

"Sorry were late, we lost track of time." Kate said as Alex went towards the kitchen,

"Don't listen to Alex, he has just been really excited about cooking everyone supper." Stevie replied with a smile, "Anyways as long as Dave finished painting your living room that is all that matters."

"Well that I definately did, I didn't want to have to paint tomorrow what with all the work for me at Drovers." Dave joked as he placed his arm around Kate,

"Getting you on a horse alone will be work enough." Alex joked as he came back from the kitchen and handed Dave and Kate beers, "Supper is served if everyone would like to come eat."

After everyone had helped with the cleaning up they sat around on the large veranda on the front of the house,

"I think that we had better make this an early night, we are leaving early tomorrow after all ladies." Tess said with a yawn, "I can't wait to get to the city."

"Me too, I need to do some shopping I can't wait!" Jodi exclaimed as Rob rolled his eyes,

"Just remember that you have a six month pregnant woman with you so please don't go walking all over." Nick said with a smile.

"Don't worry Daddy we will make sure that she doesn't over do it, besides that is what ice cream stops are for." Stevie giggled as Tess swatted the back of Nick's head.

"We will be good anyways Kate is very precise, she won't be going from store to store, she will probably chose the first dress she sees." Jodi said with a grin, "Don't worry Squirt it isn't a bad thing." She said turning towards Kate who had started to turn red.

"Thanks Jodes, but I am sure I won't be that bad," Kate sighed as she laid her head on Dave's shoulder,

"She could just go with my idea anyways, I said she could go naked." Dave said with a grin and all the guys started laughing, "But Kate didn't think the minister could handle it, plus I don't want you lot to see my fiancee naked anyways."

"Just for that comment, I might get the most covered up wedding dress ever." Kate said with a smile as she stood up, "Now we should probably get going, we do have an early morning."

Dave had noticed that Kate had stayed quiet for most of the drive back to their place,

"I hope that you aren't mad at me for saying about you going naked for the wedding." Dave said as he place his hand on her knee, "I was only joking." Kate looked over at him and gave him a sheepish smile,

"Its not that I just have a lot of things going through my head thats all. I am worried that it won't be as simple as finding a dress, things have been going so great I am worried that something will happen. I am probably just being silly but I have this funny feeling." Kate slid across the seat to sit next to him and he put his arm around her shoulder.

"As long as I have you next to me nothing bad will happen, I promise you that." Dave whispered in her ear as she let out a sigh, "And if you have any more funny feelings just let me know and we will work them out together." He could tell that she was smiling as she started to relax more next to him, Dave turned into their driveway and drove towards their house, "Besides what could possibly happen?" As he put the ute in park he noticed that there was a strange vehicle parked next to Kate's car,

"Who's car is that?" Kate cried as she sat up next to him, before she could say anything else a figure started to walk down their stairs, "Patrick."

I could feel Dave tense up immediately as we sat next to each other in the ute, I took his hand and squeezed it,

"What do you think he would want, you haven't heard from him since..." I started to say as Dave finished,

"He almost tried to kill you on that stupid bike." Dave opened the drivers side door and got out first, I slid across the seat and came out standing next to him. We walked towards the steps where Patrick was standing, I couldn't tell because of the darkness but he didn't look too pleased.

"Gee Kate you didn't want to be with me so you decided to move on to the next Brewer in line?" Patrick shot as he noticed Dave taking my hand, "Whats the matter was I too dangerous for you so you had to have the stable one in the family?" I could feel tears starting in my eyes, as Dave squeezed my hand.

"What do you want Patrick?" He asked in a strong voice that I had never heard from him before, "Because if you have come to insult my fiancee and myself you had better get your ass in that car and drive away." I could see a grimace come across Patrick's face as Dave said fiancee.

"Well I heard from Mom that you had gotten engaged, when she said who it was I must say that it was quite a shock. Really Kate you could do much better then him, I thought that I would come back and see if you were still up for a little adventure." He replied as he stepped closer to us reaching out to take my arm, before he could touch me Dave grabbed his hand.

"Don't you dare touch her, you were the one that almost killed her remember? Then you left like you always do, never even asking for forgivness." Dave hissed as he pushed Patrick back and I gasped,

"Well I guess that she was lucky that you were here to pick up the pieces wasn't she, well atleast you like someones seconds, must be sad though when it is your little brothers." Patrick said as he walked around us and started towards his car.

"Stay here." Dave whispered as he ran to follow him, I waited until Dave was out of sight when I tip toed over towards the ute, if that idiot tried to do anything to Dave I would kill him. I could hear the two of them arguing beside Patrick's car.

"What do you really want Patrick?! If you had really cared for Kate you would have been back here ages ago, besides that Mom said that you didn't go back on your meds. I told you that you weren't ever to come here if you were off them." Dave said I could tell that he was getting angrier by the tone in his voice.

"Maybe Mom should mind her own business, I left here in such a hurry before I never got to say sorry to Kate for the way I acted. But when I found out that she had fallen for you it made me even angrier, why do you always end up being the perfect son?! You went to college, you have a stable life, now you are marrying the best girl in all of Australia and all I have is this run down car and a mental illness!" Patrick replied as the anger started leaving his voice, "Then seeing the two of you tonight just made me see red, I feel even worse for what I said to Kate and you, I am such an idiot." I could tell from the way Dave was standing that the anger was leaving his body, I stepped back from the ute towards the ute when a loud snap went off from a twig I stepped on.

"Sugar." I hissed to myself as I started to scurry back towards the house,

"You may as well come here," Dave called as I stopped in mid step, I could feel my face turn red as I turned around and started to walk towards where they were standing. "So much for you going in the house." He whispered in my ear as I came and stood next to him.

"Sorry" I muttered as he put his arm around my waist, Patrick looked over at us and smiled.

"You know Kate I am very sorry for what I just said, I have always been jealous of Dave, and now since he has you I am even more. I will understand if you don't forgive me for that day on the motorbike, but just so you know I am very very sorry." Patrick said in a quiet tone, I let out a sigh.

"I forgive you, if it hadn't been for that day Dave and I may have never found our way to each other. But if you really want me to forgive you I want you to do something for me." I replied,

"What is it, I will do anything I have felt so bad about it for so long." Patrick said as he looked me in the eyes,

"I want you to go on your meds, Dave deserves to have a little brother, and you deserve to have a big brother. Family is all that we have really, and you too need each other as much as you will argue that you don't." I said as Dave tightened his arm around my waist. "Just remember that we are your family and we are here for you."

"God big brother you got yourself a regular Oprah here," Patrick joked then his faced turned serious, "I promise you that I will go back on my meds, the past months have been awful I realize now that I need to start to straighten my life out. I already let one great girl fall through my fingers, its time to settle down and start finding another one."

"One step at a time, you need a job and a place to live first." Dave replied, "Then you can work on the girl. Now come on I am freezing, and you are staying the night here now grab your bags and meet us inside." Dave took my hand and we walked towards our house.

"Are you sure about this?" I asked as he opened the door for me,

"You are right my love, family is all we have. Patrick needs a good kick in the ass and a good start over. I can provide both." Dave replied with a grin, "Besides if he is under our roof I can keep my eye on him, now you better get to bed you still are going to the city tomorrow." Dave pulled me into his embrace and kissed me.

Dave tossed and turned in bed, his mind had been racing since he and Kate had finally gotten to bed. Coming home tonight to find his brother on their door step was the last thing he had ever expected to happen. He had known that Patrick would eventually come back, but seeing him tonight had stirred up emotions that Dave hadn't thought he had in him. The sheer anger he had felt when Patrick had verbally attacked Kate had made him angrier then he had ever thought possible. He had known that he felt protective of Kate, but he never knew exactly how much until he saw his own brother going after her. He knew however that most of the feelings that Patrick had shown that evening were due to his illness, Dave could remember somewhat the symptoms his own father had shown towards the end. He knew now that he had to help Patrick straighten up, after all it was like Kate had said family was all they really had. Dave turned over onto his side and looked at her sleeping peacefully, every time he saw her like this it still took his breath away, he always thought she looked like an angel.

"Stop looking at me Doc, or else you are going to give me a complex." She whispered as she started to open her eyes,

"Sorry, I didn't mean to wake you." Dave apologized, he pulled her closer towards him into his arms and let out a sigh.

"I imagine by all the tossing and turning that you have been doing that you aren't getting much sleep." She grinned as she pulled his hands into hers and kissed them,

"Yeah you imagined right, Patrick showing up here has definately got my mind running a mile a minute. I never thought that I could possibly get as angry as I was tonight, when I heard the way he was talking to you I know that if he had laid a hand on you I would have done serious harm to him." Dave replied as Kate let out a sigh, "I knew that he would come back someday I just wasn't expecting it to be today." Kate rolled over and looked in his eyes,

"The way you acted tonight, I felt like I had a knight in shining armour standing up for me. I fell in love with you even more tonight, but not only for the way that you defended me. But for the way that you forgave Patrick, it takes a strong man to forgive someone, especially family. But seeing the way that you treated Patrick, it also made me realize another thing." Kate smiled as Dave started to blush.

"And what is that my love?" Dave asked with a smile,

"How great of a dad you will be when we have our baby." Kate grinned as Dave sat straight up in bed,

"What did you just say!? Did you just say what I think you said..." Dave asked as Kate sat up next to him with a huge smile. She leaned over and kissed him on the cheek,

"Thats right Doc in about seven months we are going to be parents, now isn't that a scary thought?" Kate smiled as Dave pulled her into his arms, "I bought a test today when I went to get supplies for Drovers, I am way over due for my period but I thought with moving and stuff it was just late. But when I took the test it said that I was. I know that it wasn't planned or anything, but seeing you tonight I know that it was a sign."

"This is the best news that I have heard since you said that you would be my wife, I can't believe that I am going to be a father! Just think we will have a baby." Dave laughed as he pictured them with a baby. "Lets just hope that they have your good looks." Kate grinned and pulled his face closer to hers, leaning in and kissed him,

"Well hopefully they have yours, your not so bad to look at either Dr Brewer."

Dave woke up to the smell of frying bacon and coffee, he rolled over and looked at the clock 6:30 he sighed and rolled over the look at Kate. He smiled as she smiled in her sleep, he still couldn't believe that they were going to have a baby. He knew that they would have kids, maybe not this soon but he knew that with her with him they would be able to handle anything. Dave pulled the blankets back a little and leaned down to Kate's tummy.

"Hey little person in there, this is your Daddy speaking, just thought that I would wish you good morning and that I can't wait to see you." He whispered as Kate smiled and opened her eyes, "Good morning to you too my love, just thought I would give our little person a welcome this morning."

"Well I am sure that our little person appreciates it, and just so you know I have a feeling it will be a girl." Kate grinned as she sat up and moved to get out of bed.

"Is that so? And what makes you think that may I ask?" Dave replied with a grin as he climbed out of bed behind her and starting making the bed as she opened the curtains.

"I just have a feeling, and as my Nona always said a feeling is all it takes." Kate giggled as she walked over and kissed his cheek, "But now my feeling is that I am hungry and from the smell coming from our kitchen, your brother has cooked us breakie."

"Well lets just hope that he is a better cook than I am." Dave laughed as he took her hand and they left the bedroom.

"Ok girls lets get a move on." Stevie called as we all walked towards the ute, we had all met at Drover's at 7:30 to meet to go to the city. From the looks on everyones faces when we showed up this morning with Patrick in the backseat, I was going to get peppered with questions the minute the doors closed. Dave was going to help Patrick look for a job after they had finished the work for the day at Drovers, and I had told him I would try to keep our secret unless I really felt like I had to spill the beans. He had laughed saying that I wouldn't make it out of the drive on Drover's before I would tell the girls, I told him I would atleast wait til we made it onto the road.

"Have fun today, and don't worry everything will be fine." Nick said as he leaned down and kissed Tess, "Make sure she takes it easy you lot, I don't want to get a call my wife is in labor."

"Don't worry she'll be fine." Stevie replied as she opened the drivers door, "But if we don't leave soon she will be having the baby anyways."

"Were coming jease, keep your shirt on!" Jodi cried as she kissed Rob and ran towards the ute,

"Five bucks says you don't make it down the drive." Dave whispered in my ear as he leaned down and kissed me,

"Dish duty for a week says I will." I grinned in return as I walked towards the ute.

As Stevie drove towards the road I was waiting for the right time to tell them, these women were like the sisters I never had and I was dying to tell them. As she pulled onto the road I let out a huge sigh and Jodi stopped talking midsentence and looked over at me with a questioning look in her eyes,

"OK Squirt we have waited long enough, spill why is Patrick here?!" Tess turned around in her seat to see my response and I could feel Stevie looking at me in the rearview.

"He was waiting on our front porch when we got home last night, and trust me neither of us knew that he was going to show up. I have never seen Dave so angry, he wanted to know why Patrick had almost killed me and never even returned to apologize to me. Then Patrick said some really awful things that I don't even want to repeat, which in turn made Dave even angrier and I thought that they were truly going to fight."

"That ass had better have not said anything bad about you, I will kick him where the sun doesn't shine!" Jodi cried as Stevie rolled her eyes,

"Continue on with the story before she has a coronary." Stevie pleaded.

"Well then Patrick stormed off to his car and Dave followed him, I was supposed to stay in the house but you know I couldn't if he had tried to hurt Dave I would have attacked him!"

"That I would pay money to see." Stevie said with a wink, "Sorry to interrupt please continue."

"Anyways I walked over and hid behind my car and Patrick apologized to Dave for being such an ass, and he said he realized how Dave and I were meant to be, blah blah blah." I sighed as I sat back into my seat, "And thats about it, Dave and I agreed to help him get his life back on track, that is what he really needs."

"That is very nice of you and Dave, if you need any help make sure you let us know." Tess said as she turned around and looked out the front window. "And by the way Kate when were you going to tell us about how far along you were?"

"The way I see it guys, the faster we get this work done, the faster we can spend the rest of the day relaxing." Alex said as they walked towards the barn he took a piece of paper out of his pocket, "Let me have a look at the list of things Stevie says need to be done." Nick opened the barn door and the others followed him inside.

"Ok we have to get the sheep fed, clean the stalls and Stevie wants to know if we will fix the fences in the north paddock. How about Nick and I go out and do that, Dave and Patrick why don't you two start feeding the sheep."

"Sounds good, anything to keep this body off a horse sounds good to me." Dave joked as the others laughed.

"We shouldn't be long, Tess said it was only around two metres of fence that need to be repaired, so the four of us will clean out the stalls when we get back." Nick said as he and Alex headed off to saddle up two horses. As they rode off, Dave turned to Patrick,

"How about we feed some sheep?" He grinned as they walked towards the room where the feed was stored.

"I just wanted to say how sorry I was again for last night." Patrick said as they each took a bag and walked towards the sheep, "I feel like a total ass, and I feel even worse for having to face everyone after how I behaved the last time I was here."

"Everyone makes mistakes Pat, those two out there have made lots. But you have to learn to learn from your mistakes, which is what I hope you have. Besides I want your future niece or nephew to look up to you, you have to help show them that even if you make mistakes you have to always try again." Dave replied as he looked over at Patrick.

"Did you say future niece or nephew?! Is there something that you aren't telling me?" Patrick grinned as a huge smile came across Dave's face.

"Kate told me last night, I Dave Brewer am going to be a father." Dave grinned, "I am sure that by now Kate has told the girls, I wanted to tell you before I told Nick and Alex."

"God you two must really be in love if she let you get her pregnant." Patrick joked as Dave laughed and they started to feed the sheep.

They had already started to clean out the stalls when Alex and Nick returned,

"Thought it wouldn't take you very long." Dave joked as they both got off their horses.

"We just thought that we would take the long way thats all." Alex replied as Nick and he started to take the saddles off their horses. After he and Nick had returned from brushing down their horses they started helping Dave and Patrick cleaning out the stalls.

"Hey Patrick, Alex and I were thinking since Jerry left we need another worker over at Kilarney. You are welcome to it as long as Rob agrees. It includes room and board in the wages, as long as you don't mind rooming with other blokes" Nick said as they finished up the last stall.

"That would be great, thank you so much I worked on a couple farms over the years so I do have experience." Patrick replied with a grin, "Besides I don't really want to overstay my welcome at Dave's, they are going to be very busy." He winked over at Dave and automatically Alex and Nick's heads turned towards him.

"Brewer do you have something you need to tell us?" Alex asked with a smirk,

"Well Kate told me last night that we are going to have a baby." Dave replied with a smile.

"Congrats mate, its a good thing you two are getting married though, from the looks of her parents when they were here they would have killed you if you weren't." Alex said as the others started to laugh.

"You look absolutely beautiful Squirt!" Jodi sighed as I came out of the dressing room. I walked over to the mirrors and smiled, this was only the second dress I had tried on but I could feel that this was my dress. It was a strapless dress with an empire waist, which the sales girl assured me would be perfect for my expanding figure, it was simple and elegant exactly like I wanted.

"Kate you look like an angel." Tess said with a sniffle as she helped Stevie put on my veil, "You are going to take Dave's breath away." Jodi came over and handed her a tissue,

"I think that you should wear these though instead of shoes, they had them over there." She said with a smile as she handed me a pair of while flip flops with sparkles on them, "I thought that the would be more comfortable for you, I hear that pregnancy is killer on the feet."

"Just you wait, you will be the biggest baby ever when you have a kid." Stevie laughed as Jodi stuck her tongue out at her. I could feel the tears starting to form in my eyes, seeing myself in this dress, knowing that I was having Dave's baby it was like a dream come true.

"Whats the matter?" Tess asked as she placed her arm around me,

"Its nothing, I just can't believe that this is all happening. I never thought that I would be this happy." I grinned as she wiped away my tears, "Look at me blubbering away, we have lots more things to do today girls Jodes help me out of this dress."

"Can we please go and get some lunch now??!!" Stevie cried as she and Jodi followed Tess and I around the Baby Gap for the hundreth time.

"Sorry, its just that these clothes are so cute!" Tess squealed with delight, "Besides I won't be back to the city before I have my baby."

"Fine fine, you two have five minutes Jodi lets go sit on the bench outside." Stevie replied as they walked towards the door.

"Just you wait til she has another baby, she will be here all day." Tess said with a smirk as we walked towards the checkout.

"I can't believe that I am having a baby, it seems so weird to think about." I smiled as I placed my items in front of the cashier.

"It is weird to think about, but trust me it is the most amazing thing ever, plus you and Dave will make great parents, just look at how good Dave is with Bom." Tess replied as we took our bags and walked to the door, "Besides our kids are going to have so many aunts and uncles that will be wanting to see them their heads will spin."

"Looks like they have kept the home fires burning." Tess laughed as Stevie put the ute in park in front of the main house at Drovers. The guys were sitting around on the veranda drinking a beer.

"Typical they probably did the work in an hour and spent the rest of the day doing nothing." Stevie replied with a grin as we all got out of the ute and walked towards the back to get our packages.

"Evening ladies, how was the shopping excursion?" Alex called as we walked up the steps and over to where they were sitting.

"It was a great day, by the way thanks for helping us with our packages." Stevie replied as she dumped her bags at his feet, "Mind you I do have on complaint, if I see the inside of a maternity store again soon I will cry."

"You never know Stevie, you could be next!" Tess giggled as she took a seat next to Nick and he placed his arm around her. "As you husband said, thats two down, two to go."

Dave turned off the engine of the ute as we parked in our driveway,

"Home sweet home." Dave said with a smile as he took my hand,

"I am so tired I don't think I can even walk to the door." I sighed.

"Good thing you have me then." Dave said with a grin as he leaned down and kissed my forehead, he opened the door and pulled me into his arms, carrying me to the front door.

I woke with a start, I had been tossing and turning in my sleep and had finally drifted off about an hour ago. I could feel my stomach doing flip flops as I lay back down in bed, I looked over at Dave he was fast asleep with a smile on his face. I lay there looking at the clock for another twenty minutes, then I felt like I needed to pee so I got up and walked to the bathroom. I could feel sharp pains as I walked towards the door, I let out a sharp cry of pain as I fell to the floor.

Dave woke with a start as he heard her cry, he pushed back the blankets and ran to her side.

"Kate?! Kate are you ok, oh my god." He cried as Kate looked up at him, Patrick opened the door after hearing all of the commotion, "Patrick call an ambulance!"

"Oh god is she ok?" Patrick said as he ran to the phone.

"Kate, you'll be ok, keep looking at me, everything will be fine." Dave whispered as he kissed her forehead taking her hand.

Two hours later Dave kept holding her hand, they had made it to the hospital. Kate had been sitting quietly for the past hour, the news that the doctor had told them had left both of them a little shell shocked. Dave sat down on the bed facing her,

"You know that everything is going to be ok right? The doctor said that we will be able to have babies, lots of them if we want." He said trying to smile, Kate he could tell was trying her best to smile.

"How could I have been so stupid to believe a home pregnancy test?!" She whispered as she looked up into his face, "I mean I should have gone to see the doctor make sure I was really pregnant before we went and told everyone, I went and bought baby clothes for Gods sake, I am so stupid."

"You are not stupid, it is a mistake that anyone could have made. Besides we have to worry now about getting you better, that way we can work at making more babies to take care of after our wedding." Dave replied as he leaned in and kissed her cheek, "Anyway it is much better that you have a kidney infection then anything else. I know that if it was anything else I would have died if I lost you." Kate looked up with him with tears in her eyes, he wiped them away.

"I suppose that I can always keep the clothes for when I do get pregnant. Because if the doctor says that I can have them we will definately be on that." Kate said with a smile, a nurse knocked on the door and looked in,

"There are quite a few people to see you if you are up to visitors." She asked with a smile.

"What are we going to tell them?" Kate moaned as Dave stood up,

"We are not going to tell them anything, I got Patrick to tell them the news. I didn't want you having to tell them." Dave replied as he leaned down and kissed her forehead, "Now I better let them in or else they might bang that door down."

Jodi walked in the room first and ran over to Kate's bedside, she sat down in front of her friend and pulled her into a hug. "How are you?" She asked as she looked into Kate's eyes.

"Fine, I feel like a fool for practically yelling from the roof tops that I was having a baby, but other than that I am ok. It is better that I have a kidney infection than having lost a baby. I don't think that I would have made it through that." Kate replied as Jodi hugged her again,

"You would have made it through trust me, you Kate Manfredi are stronger than you think. Plus that is what Dave and I are here for." Jodi said as Kate smiled, "It's probably better anyway that you're not pregnant that way you can get lots of practice on your honeymoon." She winked as Kate rolled her eyes.

It had been almost a week since I had been in the hospital, Dave and everyone had been watching over me like mother hens. It was cute for a while, but now I was ready to get back to normal. The news that I hadn't even been pregnant had put me into a kind of shock. The more I thought about it and talked with Dave and in particular Tess I was happy, still knowing that I would eventually have children. Dave and I had talked about postponing our wedding, but I insisted on him that I didn't want to, the smile on his face was worthwhile enough not to postpone it. I liked to think to myself that in three weeks I would be Mrs. Brewer.

I rolled over in bed and looked at him asleep next to me, his breathing in and out was calming in a way. I leaned over and laid my head on his chest listening to him breath. I could tell that he was waking up as his hand crept towards my back.

"Good morning Doc and how did you sleep?" I asked as Dave pulled me closer to him and I let out a sigh.

"Great, ever since I have had you sleeping next to me I sleep like a baby." Dave grimaced as the last word came out of his mouth, "Sorry slip of the tongue."

"Don't worry, I am ok. But if you want to have a slip of the tongue I know where you can slip it." I replied with a grin as I pulled him closer and kissed him.

I walked into the kitchen at Drovers, I could here the girls chatting away. I hadn't been at work for the past week, Tess and Stevie said they wanted me to take it easy. But I was more than ready to return to work.

"Morning ladies, and how are we this morning?" I asked with smile as I came in the door and walked over to the coffee pot.

"Kate! Oh I am so glad that you are back, Stevie has been working me to the bone!" Jodi cried as she ran over and hugged me.

"Don't believe her Kate, but it is good to have you back." Stevie said with a wink as I poured myself a cup of coffee.

"Are you sure you're ready to come back, if you need any more time it is ok with us." Tess said as she rubbed her tummy.

"I definately don't need any more time, if I watch daytime tv anymore I think I will die. Besides I need to come back to work, you three have to help me finish the wedding preperations." I replied as I sat down at the table,

"So you and Dave have decided to keep your wedding date then?" Jodi asked as she took a sip of her coffee.

"We have, I don't want to wait too much longer before the weather gets colder, besides I can't wait to be Mrs. Brewer." I giggled as Stevie rolled her eyes.

The next two weeks flew by, Dave and I had made another trip into the city to pick up my dress plus the girls dresses, and his suit. The girls had been great helps, Stevie had called the caterer she had had for her wedding and that was all arranged. Meg had said that she would make our wedding cake, and we had gotten the DJ from the pub for our reception. Everything was taken care of, so all we had to do now was wait.

"What time did Tess say she wanted us there?" I called to Dave from the bathroom,

"7:30, awfully late for supper, but you know Tess." Dave replied as he came to stand in the doorway watching as I tried my best applying some makeup.

"You know you don't really need that gunk, you look amazing without it." Dave said as he came and placed his arms around my waist leaning down and kissing my neck.

"Thanks, but I still like to wear a little. It makes me feel girly." I said with a smile,

"I know another way to make you feel girly," Dave grinned wickedly as I slapped away his hand.

"I like that way too, but if we do that we will be late again. But if your lucky maybe later you can show me." I replied as I took his hand and walked out of the bathroom.

"There doesn't seem to be anyone home." Dave said as we walked hand in hand towards the main house at Drovers, "Are you sure Tess wanted us here tonight?"

"Yes she said this afternoon that it was tonight." I replied as we walked to the back of the house. As we walked towards the kitchen door, all of a sudden the back yard was lit up with what seemed like a million fairy lights.

"SURPRISE!" Cried around 30 people gathered under the lights,

"Welcome to you Hen's and Buck's Party!" Exclaimed Jodi as she came walking out of the crowd, she placed a face veil on my head and a top hat on Dave's. I could feel my face turning a thousand colors of red, as Dave squeezed my hand and we continued walking down the steps.

"This is such a surprise, I thought it was a little late for us to have supper." I laughed as Tess came up and gave me a hug,

"Well it is pretty hard to keep a secret around here but we tried our best." Tess replied with a grin, "Now on to the activities!" In the next couple of hours, we endured ten different games that had us doing things from a raunchy scavenger hunt, to truth or dare. As the clock in the hall chimed 11:30, some of the party goers had started to leave, and people had scattered around the yard. Dave came over to me with a grin,

"How about we make a repeat of what we did at Alex and Stevie's party?" He asked as he took my hand,

"Sounds like fun, mind you we probably won't be able to use my old room, Jodi and Rob may not like it much." I replied with a grin as we walked off into the darkness.

Dave took her hand winking at her as they looked towards the minister,

"This is when we will start the vows, I know that you have each written your own so tomorrow you will recite them." The minister said as he squeezed her hand. The past week had flown by, with all the wedding preperations and the arrival of Kate's family and his Mother. Kate had been stressing all week over all of the details left, she had lists scattered everywhere in the house of things left to do. He smiled to himself when he thought of how sexy she looked when she was all frazzled.

"After we are done, you will take Kate's hand and walk down the aisle, followed by the rest of your wedding party." The minister said as Kate smiled at him and they turned around walking down the fake aisle they had made for the rehersal. He pulled her into his arms as they made it to the end of the aisle,

"That seemed easy, tomorrow will be even better though." He whispered in her ear as he kissed her lightly on the lips.

As the evening wore on a glow seemed to come over Drover's, they had decided on just a potluck supper and everyone was having fun. In the still of the night you could hear laughter and music drifting in the air, mixed with a little Italian accent thanks to the 15 members of Kate's family who had came for the wedding.

"To think Brewer, tomorrow this time you will no longer be a free man." Alex said as he and Stevie sat down at the table across from Kate and Dave.

"Just like you? You mean right?" Dave replied with a laugh, "Lets just say if I can be half as happy as the two of you are then it will be all worth it." He could see Kate starting to blush, he placed his hand on her knee under the table, "Besides like you always said Alex, marriage is the best because basically you get to have sex whenever you want."

"Don't listen to him all the time, it is more like whenever I want." Stevie replied with a grin, as she pulled Alex towards the dance floor. Dave turned to look at Kate, she was looking out at all of their friends and family.

"I can't believe that tomorrow we will actually be married, it seems like just yesterday when I came to Drover's and met you." She said as she laid her head on his shoulder.

"I remember that day like it was yesterday, I remember thinking how cute you were, but you just didn't seem like my type, I am so glad that I was wrong." Dave replied as he stood up, "Now how about a dance before we call it a night?"

I laid in bed looking up at the ceiling, I was spending the night at Drover's. Jodi, Stevie and I were staying here as it would be easier for us all to get ready here tomorrow. Nick, Alex, Rob and Dave were at Alex and Stevie's, they were going to have some late night poker playing, according to Alex. I rolled over and looked at the alarm clock, 12:30 it was actually now my wedding day. As I started to close my eyes again I could here a knock at my door.

"Kate? Kate are you still awake?" Jodi hissed as she started to open my door.

"What do you think?" I replied as I sat up in bed and Jodi came into my room follow by both Stevie and Tess in their pjs.

"We thought that since we were all here tonight, we should have a chocolate binge and a chat." Tess said as the three of them crawled onto my bed. She passed me a tub of chocolate mint icecream, "We got you this just for tonight, we knew it was your favorite."

"Thanks girls, how did I ever get so lucky as to have three amazing women like you as friends?" I replied with a grin as I started to eat my icecream.

"Just luck I guess, we are all so strong willed and opinionated it was bound to happen that we would find our way together." Stevie said as she ate a spoonful of her icecream. "Besides I was never close to my sister, the three of you are like my sisters, and every girl should have that relationship."

"Here, here." Tess giggled, "Besides if we weren't here who would keep all of these men in check!"

"Entertained more like it." I replied with a smile, "Dave always says that watching the four girls on Drover's is like watching 'Sex in the City' on a farm. Before you ask, I never ask him who is Samantha."

"Well that would definately be you Squirt, we all know that you are a sex feind behind closed doors." Jodi winked as I stuck out my tongue.

"That must be why Dave is always so happy." Stevie said as she started to laugh, I could feel my cheeks start to turn red.

"Don't listen to them Kate, they are just jealous because we all know if anyone is Samantha, it would definately be me!" Tess replied as she rubbed her belly and we all started to laugh.

Three hours later, Stevie and Tess had returned to their rooms, saying that they needed their beauty sleep for tomorrow. Jodi and I laid next to each other, listening to the silence of the house.

"I can't believe that we are both getting married, that seems so old." Jodi said with a sigh, "Ten years ago I thought I would be travelling the world doing something exciting, but now I look at Rob and at our home and I couldn't be happier."

"I know, it does seem a little odd to think of being married, it was definately not in my five year plan. But since coming here I have realized that my plan needed to go out the window. Being happy is much more important then where I will be in five years. Being with Dave has changed my life, everytime I see him my heart beats a little faster, that has been the best feeling I have ever had." I replied smiling to myself in the dark.

"Well then we had better get to sleep, you poor heart is going to need to be ready for tomorrow." Jodi giggled as I closed my eyes.

Dave lay awake looking at the ceiling, he had been tossing and turning all night. Everytime he closed his eyes all he could see is her smiling face. He knew he wasn't nervous, as he was more sure of this then anything he had ever been of before. The excitment of knowing that he was going to be able to spend the rest of his life with her was what was keeping him awake. To hell with this he thought to himself as he climbed out of bed, he walked towards his door to get a glass of water from the kitchen. As he walked down the dimly lit hall to the kitchen he could see that the veranda light was on, he walked towards the door and looked out the window. He could see Nick sitting in a chair looking out into the darkness. Dave turned the door knob and walked out onto the veranda,

"Hey let me guess you couldn't sleep either?" He said as he walked over and sat in the chair next to Nick.

"Not really, but atleast you have an excuse? What is it nerves?" Nick replied with a smile.

"Nah, I couldn't be less nervous about anything." Dave said as he leaned back in the chair stretching his legs out.

"I was that way, the night before Tess and I got married I was so excited I was like a kid at Christmas. This is sad but I think half the reason I can't sleep is not having her next to me." Nick laughed, "Plus now I am always worried about how she is when I am not with her, she could go into labor at anytime."

"Good thing Alex isn't here, he would never let you live that remark down." Dave replied with a grin.

"Yeah because he is one to talk, he loves Stevie so much, whenever he isn't around her usually he is talking about her, the same goes for Rob, those two are so far gone it is quite comical actually. It's good to have that in a relationship though, I can see it with you and Kate. Tess was so happy that you finally realized that Kate had feelings for you, I don't know who was more excited the two of you or her. She says that now that the two of you are getting married and next Jodi and Rob it is like the beginning of a new chapter, a chapter she says she can't wait to see." Nick said as he looked out into the night.

I woke up to the sun streaming into my room, I looked over and smiled as I saw Jodi fast asleep beside me. I turned to see what time it was, 8:00 already. I was so happy that we had decided to set everything up for the wedding yesterday, today I just wanted to relax and spend time with my family and friends.

"Morning Squirt, or should I say Mrs. Squirt in a few hours." Jodi said as she opened her eyes and rubbed them,

"Morning to you too, and it's Mrs. Squirt now." I giggled as the bedroom door flew open and Tess and Stevie came in carrying a tray with coffees and coissants.

"Morning ladies, thought we would start the day off right." Tess grinned as she set the tray down on the table and handed us each a coffee. Stevie grabbed her coffee and the plate and sat at the foot of the bed.

"So how much sleep did the two of you get really?" She grinned as she took a sip of her coffee,

"Enough to know that I wish I had more." Jodi replied with a yawn.

"Are you all ready for today Kate?" Tess asked with a smile as she sat at the end of the bed beside Stevie,

"As ready as I will ever be." I replied as I took a sip of my coffee.

I opened my eyes and looked at myself in the mirror, I could feel my breath leave my lungs for a few seconds as I caught my breath. I couldn't believe it was me in the mirror, I looked like a model you would see in a magazine, not Kate Manfredi who usually wears jeans and a tshirt.

"Oh Kate you look amazing." Jodi said as she walked into the room, "Dave won't know what hit him!"

"Thanks Jodes, you don't look so bad either, not as good as me, but hey what can you do." I replied with a giggle as Jodi stuck her tongue out at me. I had let the girls chose their own dresses, they had chosen strapless knee length dresses in a midnight blue color.

"Well we can argue this point all day, but we really have to get going, or else Stevie may come up here and throttle us." She said as she took my hand and we left the room.

As we arrived at the site of the wedding I could see that all of the chairs that we had set up yesterday were full, I could also barely see in the distance Dave standing looking out over the lake, our lake where our story had first begun. Jodi held my train as I walked over to stand with the others, I looked over at my parents who were both beaming.

"Are you ready?" Tess asked as the music started playing,

"I have been ready forever." I replied as Stevie started walking down the aisle. I took my parents hands, one on each side of me, they squeezed my hands and kissed me on the cheek. I knew if I looked either of them in the eyes I would break into tears. I looked forward and could see Dave standing there next to the minister, he winked at me and I grinned. As I looked at him I could see our future, us growing older together, the children that we would have, how happy we would be. As we neared the end of the aisle my parents both leaned in and kissed my cheeks, I walked forward taking Dave's hand, I looked up into his eyes and could see the love there.

"You look beautiful, like an angel." He whispered as I blushed,

"You don't look so bad yourself Doc." I whispered back as we took our places before the minister as he started to speak,

"Dearly beloved we are gathered here today to witness the marriage of ..."

THE END...FOR NOW


End file.
