Episode title: 9204
Australian and UK airdate: 10/03/25

Writer: Emma J. Steele
Director: Harry Lloyd
Guests: Shane Ramsay: Peter O'Brien
Roxy Canning: Zima Anderson
Lachie Jensen: Jack Hayes
Lana Kline: Elizabeth Parisi
Music:

Summary/Images by:

The Waterhole
The guy Roxy recognised from up north is called Lachie and he is in town because he's missed her, and the heat between them, so much that he has followed Roxy down from Brisbane. Roxy though thinks he's made a mistake in coming and that she needs to go, especially given Andrew/Aaron have entered the bar to carry on drinking!

Number 28
"The whole situation is really off," is how Holly sums things up talking to Shane on the phone and she plans to take up Andrew's invitation to fill in a missing person's report about Max. Holly finishes the call just as the K's enter the house - its been a bit of a tense journey home from Italy thanks to Karl's stinginess!

Number 22
Terese gets a shock when she enters the garden room and finds Roxy sitting in the dark. The lass unloads to her aunt about exactly how she knows Lachie - it would seen at some point, Roxy was in Brisbane and in some bar she met Lachie, where they got along and "it got pretty intense" but Roxy did "cut it off" so she didn't go near crossing the line. Terese hadn't realised that she and Kyle were having issues and Roxy's reply is they aren't, it was her.

ROXY: I love being a wife and I love being a mum and the three of us, we just have the best time together, but… it's just not enough.

Roxy then asks if it is bad she is away from her family and Terese's first response is Roxy being away is "not forever" and that she will be back in Darwin soon enough, although she adds that Roxy really needs to talk to Kyle about this. When asked about Lachie, Roxy is sure that she has shut him down, so Terese reiterates that Roxy needs to make sure Lachie understands that!

Harolds café (rear)
Given the noise that Aaron made getting home, and the comments about Andrew's dancing, Sadie and Byron are confident that they were right to give the Hucks night a wide berth as they have brekkie with Jane. Jane was more than happy to give the night a wide berth too, not wanting to risk not being the Principal again!

Jane then brings up how impressed Lana was at the role Byron played in getting her job back and when Sadie brings up the call from Lana, Byron quickly cuts her off and suggests going inside to get everyone more coffee's! However, it is Jane who does that which allows Byron to explain why he cut her off when mentioning Lana - he's not wanting to risk his mum's happiness at being back as Principal as they tie up the loose ends from her review.

Number 28
Holly updates the K's over Max and she can't wait for Shane to arrive. In turn, they suggest that to avoid getting hurt again, they let Shane take the lead, but all talk of that is curtailed when Terese and Roxy arrive.

Susan is grateful for Roxy stepping in to help but is eager to get back to work immediately, to let the lass get home, and Karl plans to resume his duties the following week. However, it is apparently a working at home day because the office is being fumigated, which confuses Susan as she booked it in for the long weekend.

Harolds café
Having heard he had landed, Roxy and Holly meet up with Shane in Harolds. He's grateful for Holly calling and reveals Max hasn't called his mum either, which apparently is very unusual. Shane plans to head to the station to talk to Andrew, but just at that, he and Aaron enter Harolds talking about last night's party.

Shane isn't too impressed at Andrew visiting Harolds instead of being out looking for Max! Andrew tries to explain that it is unconfirmed if he is missing and Shane is quick to reply that Max has "dropped off the planet!" and the text messages, which were bogus, have stopped now too.

SHANE: From what I can see, even if the evidence was presented to you on a platter, you wouldn't know where to start! You're a muppet!!! I shouldn't have to tell you how to do your job!

Andrew reacts calmly, and in his defence, tries to tell Shane that he was going to help Holly put together a missing persons report today, if Max still had not been in touch. Shane isn't buying this, and tells Andrew it's "too little, too late, hotshot!" and by now, with the technology the Police have at their disposal, they should have been tracing Max's texts to try and find out where he is. Aaron tries to calm Shane down as Andrew explains he can't deploy the technology search without proof that Max is actually missing.

SHANE: No wonder Holly called me! You're useless!

Shane then demands to talk to Andrew's superior, but is told the reply will still be the same! At this point, Shane really starts to lose it and the insults, along with the decibel levels, are raised but calmly, and looking Shane directly in the face, Andrew reminds Shane that his daughter was drugged and kidnapped due to his son and so he wants to bring down the person responsible.

ANDREW: But if you don't believe that, I don't care.

Shane is now starting to process what Andrew has said as he and Aaron head out of the café. "I guess he has a point," Holly says when Shane looks at her before silently exiting the café via the rear door.

Roxy's phone then indicates she's received a text - it's Lachie asking when can they meet?

Number 32 (garden)
Sadie is now beginning to regret not going to the Hucks night, feeling that she needs to "get out there and do things by myself." Byron suggests once he gets back from the vineyard, that they go for walk and she can then decide whether to ditch him or not but he promises to stay nearby in case she has a wee wobble.

Number 22
Susan apologises for her delayed return from Italy, they didn't bargain on how long it would take for Karl to recover. She is definitely ready to get back into things though… Karl was a difficult patient!

However, Susan is a bit perplexed about the mix- up over the fumigation and asks Terese if there were any other issues? The look Terese gives, even though she remains silent, gives Susan her answer so she pleads with Terese to tell her what happened. Reluctantly, Terese does that, putting the issues down to the haste Susan did things before getting to Italy.

Number 28
Karl definitely isn't being patient and tries to play his guitar but seems to have issues over feelings in his fingers, so the guitar is quickly put back down.

The Waterhole (exterior)
Roxy meets up with Lachie to put him straight - she agrees there was a spark between them but adds that she loves her husband and so won't cross that line. He questions her interpretation of 'spark', suggesting instead that her flirting "was off chops." "My marriage is solid," Roxy reiterates, she was merely enjoying the attention and apologises for inadvertently leading him on before adding, he shouldn't have followed her to Erinsborough. "It was worth a shot!" is his reply back, adding that she is "a cool chick" and that Kyle is "a lucky guy" before asking if they can still be friends? A confused Roxy replies back "sure" and he seems happy with a promise of her texting when she's next in Brisbane.

Lassiters Complex
Sadie decided to go walking alone without Byron and has made it to the Complex where she spots Byron - he lied about going to the vineyard when instead he was meeting Lana! As part of "I won't take no for an answer," Lana hands over an envelope to Byron containing a lot of $100 bill notes, which he initially tries to reject but she makes him accept it for his "valuable service" having earned "every cent!"

Number 22
Susan can't believe how she managed to be so careless about the things that went wrong. Terese plays things down and subtly changes topics onto Paul's impending arrival home, but the chat about Terese being back with Paul, is curtailed when Karl hobbles into the house.

Susan doesn't look too impressed to see Karl there, so picking up on the look Susan had on her face, Terese suggests that Roxy takes her out for lunch so they can do a full handover! Susan can't say yes and get out of the house quickly enough, while Terese stays behind and takes one for the team, by wanting to hear all about Karl's trip… before it went wrong!

Number 32 (garden)
Holly is trying to update Sadie about Shane being back in town but she's zoned out, and once Holly notices, Sadie unloads about what she witnessed earlier and has concluded that Byron has gone back to being an escort! "That's a really big leap to make," Holly says but after Sadie re- runs all that happened today and the comment about service, Holly agrees it doesn't sound good! She is confident Byron wouldn't get back into the escorting business without saying something first but then Sadie isn't sure how she'd handle that. Holly advises her friend to stop worrying and urges her to talk to Byron as she will feel better once she knows the truth… whatever that is.

The Waterhole
Roxy returns with menus for them and Susan says lunch is on her as a thank you. Roxy was hoping to carry on for longer but Susan is more than ready to get back working again and when Roxy mentions the letterhead screw up, Susan is very adamant that won't happen again! The lass isn't giving up though, and comments on how Terese seems to not be treating Susan like she would another manager. "Are you saying that Terese is unhappy with me?" Susan asks and Roxy replies that despite them being besties, Terese is "a little bit worried" by not knowing if Susan is "still up for the demands of this role." Susan looks utterly shocked at what Roxy has just said!

ROXY: But if you think you are, then that is all that matters.

Meanwhile hiding out of sight, Lachie has been watching the pair and gets out his mobile to call Carter, telling him not to stress, he isn't going anywhere!

LACHIE: I still got my eye on Roxy. If Max shows up, she'll take me straight to him, just like she did the last time.

Number 32 (garden)
Byron returns and asks if Sadie is ready for her walk but she ignores that and gets straight to the point, asking if he is escorting again! When Byron doesn't initially reply, she adds that she doesn't care if he is, she would though if he doesn't tell her about it.

BYRON: I'm not escorting.

And when Sadie explains why she concluded that, Byron puts her right on the real story - Lana was so impressed at getting Jane back her job, she hired him to deal with a tradie who wouldn't finish a job. Given the whole Clint saga, Lana didn't want to tell Jane that she'd hired her son as it "could be seen as improper" and the cash payment was because Byron refused to hand over his bank details as he didn't want paying, but Lana wouldn't take no for an answer. "Why wouldn't you tell me about it?!" Sadie comments although she does get why he wouldn't tell his mum and the reply is he's still trying to figure some things out!

SADIE: Now is not the time to be cagey!

Coming clean, Byron has been thinking about his life and has decided he wants to be a lawyer again!

The Waterhole
Susan and Shane are catching up with each other over Max going AWOL and how he handled talking to Andrew. Shane admits, that for the first time since he's come into money, he doesn't know what to do.

SHANE: I'm so used to throwing it around to solve my problems, but it's not gonna help me here.

Susan agrees that it's a terrible feeling being "powerless to help your kid" and Shane has a "really bad feeling" about Max's disappearance.

SHANE: I brought him here to be safe. All I've done is just put other people in danger. I have to find him. I have to.

Number 28
Holly arrives home and starts talking as if Karl is in the house, but the lack of any replies back from eventually causes her to pay attention that something is wrong.

Holly can sense there is someone in the house though, and after getting a spray can out of her bag, warns the person that she has a weapon and has done serious damage with it before! Her attention though gets taken by the back door opening slightly and because she has turned around, Holly doesn't see the intruder with he black hoodie [does look like the hoodie Lachie has on] then grab her by the neck and Holly starts to scream as we cut to the promo for tomorrow!

Coming up on Neighbours
- Susan asking Terese if she is questioning her ability to do her job?
- Roxy rejecting Aaron's accusation of meddling.
- Paul back and wanting to talk to Terese.