Okay, so this is set between Tom coming back and Diane finding out… So it's set after Understanding and Sixty Minutes (which I think followed directly on from one another), so Diane's still mad at Ric for insulting her love life, and she doesn't know that Tom's back. Because Ric and Diane were so friendly in Tuesday's ep that something has to have happened between them arguing and then him asking her out. So this is my version of events hehe!

So, on with the fic!

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Ric sighed inwardly as Diane walked past him, deliberately avoiding looking at him.

"Diane!"

She didn't stop walking, ignoring him.

"Diane…" He wondered for a moment if she hadn't heard him, but knew that she had. He grabbed onto her arm to stop her.

She shook him away. "Get lost, Ric."

"Can I at least talk to you?" he asked her, following her along the corridor.

"Do you mean talk? Don't you mean insult my love life?" She stopped walking to glare at him, before carrying on.

He hurried to catch up with her. "Look, I'm sorry about that, I didn't mean it…"

"You still said it." She didn't betray how hurt she had been at that comment.

"Diane, I'm sorry, I really am!" There was a slight catch in his voice that forced her to look at him, and see how vulnerable he looked.

She sighed and turned to face him. "That really hurt, you know."

"You hurt me too."

"How?" she asked, clueless.

"Diane, you cared more about what other people would think than about our friendship." He sighed heavily, looking suddenly quite a lot older.

"That was no reason to tell me that I'm a failure at relationships!" There was a strange mixture of anger and hurt in her eyes, but only the anger came over in her voice.

"That wasn't what I said." He was startled by the ferocity in her tone, and instinctively moved away slightly.

"You said that there was no wonder all my relationships failed." She shot him a look. This time, there was more hurt than anger, and she sighed, leaning against the wall. "You know what? You're actually right."

"What?"

"You're right. All my relationships do fail." She looked as though she was only just coming to this realisation, and instinctively reached for Ric's hand to support herself.

"Diane…" He squeezed her hand gently. "Diane, don't be so stupid."

"Oh, so I'm a failure and I'm stupid?" There was a slightly hysterical note in her voice. "Thanks Ric, thanks a bunch."

"Diane, listen to yourself! You're blowing this all out of proportion." He shook her slightly. "I made one comment, heat of the moment, and you're obsessing over it. Calm down."

"I'm not obsessing," she replied quickly. "Ric, you had a point. You wouldn't have said it if you didn't mean it…"

"I would! I was annoyed at you, I didn't mean it…" He began to stroke her hair, sighing. "I didn't mean to do this, Diane."

She brushed her hands across her face quickly, removing any trace of tears that might have been about to fall. "Forget it." She let go of his hand and moved away from him.

"Am I forgiven?" he asked, hopefully. From the look in her eyes, he could tell that forgetting wasn't an option, but forgiving might be.

She smiled briefly. "Sure." But there was a distinct iciness in her voice still, and the smile that she had given him was merely civil.

"What is it?" he asked, wanting her to let him in on her problems.

"Nothing. I'm fine, really." She smiled falsely again, knowing that he could see through the façade, but not wanting to let him know how much he had hurt her. She began to walk off again.

"Are you sure?"

"Of course I'm sure," she replied briskly. She stopped for a moment, thinking. "Oh, by the way, did you find a place to stay?"

"Ah, yes, Jess and Lisa offered me a room." He wondered what she would have done had he said no.

"Oh. Right." She hesitated for a moment, and began to walk away. She had been about to offer her spare room, just to prove to him that she could cope with what other people thought, but now…

"Diane, wait just a second." He hurried to catch up with her. "There's something I need to tell you."

"What?" she asked warily. "I warn you, if it's anything about our history or…"

He laughed. "Don't worry. It's nothing to do with 'us'." Although he couldn't help thinking how nice it was to be holding her hand. Stop thinking like that, he told himself sternly. That's all in the past now.

"So what is it then?" She smiled, slightly relieved that he didn't want to discuss their history. It was easier this way, a lot easier.

"You know Tom…?" he began slowly, seeing the smile fade quickly from her face.

"Tom Campbell-Gore?" she asked tensely, detaching herself from his touch again, and turning away. "Yes. Of course I know him."

"Diane, don't wander off!" he sighed, grabbing her by the shoulder to stop her walking away. "Look, I need to talk to you for a moment."

She leant against the wall and shrugged. "Sure."

"About Tom." He didn't know how to tell her this.

"Yeah?" She glanced down at her feet.

"He's come back…" He purposely avoided looking at her in the instant that he said that, and then felt the need to check on her and see that she was alright. The expression on her face was pure shock.

"What…?" She looked down hurriedly, not wanting to betray the fact that it had shocked her this much.

"Are you alright?" He reached out to put an arm around her.

"I'm fine." She smiled. "So what, I went out with him a few times. People move past these things, just look at…" She paused, searching for an example that didn't involve the two of them.

"Us," Ric supplied unhelpfully.

She nodded. "Sure. Us." Always a good example, she thought to herself, annoyed. Still in love with one another. Great example.

"What are you muttering about?" Ric queried, and Diane blushed as she realised she must have spoken out loud.

"Nothing…" She smiled. "Nothing at all."

"So you're alright about Tom being back, then?" he asked her, looking concerned.

"I'd prefer it if he wasn't, but I'm fine. It's not like I've got feelings for him or anything…" She broke off as he shot her a sceptical look. "I haven't! God no, of course I haven't!"

Ric laughed. "Good. You're much too good for him anyway."

"Why thank you," she teased. "Seriously Ric, did you really think that I could have feelings for him after what he did to me?"

"I know that people can't turn their feelings off so quickly," he returned, avoiding her question.

"But maybe I didn't have any feelings to turn off in the first place." She smiled sweetly at him. "It was a bit of fun, we went out a few times and I was not even remotely close to falling in love with him – I know better than that."

"Better than what? To fall in love with someone?" He was looking at her oddly.

She smiled apologetically. "It's not the right time just now."

"And yet you didn't mind dating Tom…"

"Like I said, that was just fun," she replied, slightly annoyed. He heard the irritated tone in her voice and looked apologetic.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to…"

"No, no, it's alright. If he's back… how long is he back for, by the way?" she queried, trying not to sound to interested in the answer.

"I don't know. He's only locum consultant, so hopefully not too long." He put an arm around her casually. She looked slightly happier at his answer, and he hoped desperately, for her sake as well as his own, that Tom wouldn't be around for long.

She smiled. "Good. I don't think I could handle him staying for too long." It was a strange mixture of feelings inside her – the chief one that she could identify was anger. Anger at Tom for running off to America and then apparently running away from Anita as well. And there was a certain amount of humiliation – he had stood her up, in front of Ed, in front of Ric, and everyone had known about it. Hurt, because he hadn't treated her how she deserved to be treated. Dread, at knowing that she would have to see him again, and knowing that she would end up either shouting at him or crying to herself.

He laughed. "I don't think anyone could. Even Ed seemed annoyed at him."

"Ed?" Diane said, smothering a giggle.

"If we keep it up, he'll be rushing back to Anita before Christmas…" Ric realised too late what he had said. "Oh, I didn't mean… I don't…"

She laughed at his discomfort, although she felt more like crying. "You're just going to dig yourself into a deeper hole, don't worry about it, I really am fine." She smiled. "I'll get over it," she assured him, leaning against the wall gently.

He wasn't convinced by her 'strong' exterior, but simply nodded, knowing that she would never admit to him if she didn't feel fine. She would never admit that anything was wrong until it was almost too late, but that was just Diane. He couldn't try and change her – she'd lived her life like that for thirty years and she wasn't likely to change now.

"I will!" she insisted. "God, it's only Tom, it's not a big deal."

"If you say so…" He moved slightly closer to her and squeezed her hand.

"I do say so," she teased, a smile playing at the corners of her mouth. Maybe Tom could make her feel like crying, but Ric always made her feel like smiling, he was a good friend and she knew that he would never hurt her. "You're a good friend, you know," she said softly, leaning slightly closer to him so that he could hear her.

"And so are you," he replied, whispering back.

She smiled and kissed him as he leaned towards her. He didn't object, but, as she moved away, looked slightly confused. "What was that?"

"Just a bit of fun," she said, smiling mischievously as she moved away from him.

"Well… it was fun…" he agreed, slightly more slowly than normal.

She paused. "I'd invite you back to mine…" Ric was slightly shocked at the innocent expression on her face. "But I'm on call and really should go." She kissed him again quickly. "We'll have to carry this on sometime."

"Diane…" he began, as she was walking off.

"What?" she called back, over her shoulder.

He sighed. "Nothing."