Number 30
Toadie's asleep on the sofa when Lib and Dan get up and are having breakfast. Dan picks up Toadie's latest version of the play, and starts to read the new ending where 'Stella' tells 'Gerard' she's been a coward and begs him to take her back.

LIB: He's still in love with her.
DAN: Yeah. That's why he takes her back.
LIB: No! Toadie! The play, the argument last night...he's still in love with her.

Libby, forever the romantic, looks sympathetically at Toadie, as Callum comes flying in, waking Toadie up, and demanding a round of zombie golf before breakfast.

Libby tells Dan she's going to have breakfast with Steph; he needs to go talk to Toadie.

Number 28
Karl and Ringo are finishing up breakfast when Karl realises that it's Ringo's first day back at footie training. The Miele dishwasher (thank you, product placement) starts to shake and make a very strange noise. Karl stares at it, concerned, as Susan comes into the lounge wearing a red floaty waistcoat, the purpose of which only becomes clear later.

Susan tells her husband that it was making noises the other week when he was away, and Steph managed to fix it on a make-do basis. Karl goes to call Steph again, but Susan tells him to call a proper dishwasher technician. Karl is filled with horror at the thought that this might cost him some money, and decides to fix it himself.

SUSAN: Ringo, could you pop out and tell everyone to expect a total blackout?
KARL: Where's the manual?
SUSAN: (exasperated) With the dead sea scrolls.
KARL: Oh...it's okay. We can download instructions from the internet.
SUSAN: Karl! We need a new dishwasher!
KARL: I don't think so!
SUSAN: It's completely worn out! Not unlike the rest of us.
KARL: We can't afford it!
SUSAN: Don't be ridiculous! You're a doctor!
KARL: What's being a doctor got to do with it...?!
SUSAN: Are you *serious*?!

At this point, Steve comes in to pick up Ringo for training - unfortunately he's not able to fix dishwashers. Karl thinks about the situation.

KARL: Do we even need a dishwasher?

Cue a Susan death-stare.

Charlie's
Bec is telling Steph and Libby about Didge and Declan's SMS Contract Of Commitment. Libby wonders what people did before text messages, and Steph reminds her that they used to talk. Paul calls to speak to Rebecca, so Lib decides to question Steph about Toadie.

Number 30
Toadie tells Dan he didn't mean what he said to Steph, but Callum interrupts, so Dan asks Cal to go outside and see what Ben's up to.

CALLUM: Are you trying to get rid of me?
DAN: Yeah.
CALLUM: Fine. If anybody needs me I'll be out playing in the traffic.

Dan insists that Toadie tell him why he had a go at Steph - and he thinks he's jealous of Greg. Toad denies it, but adamantly believes that Greg is wrong for his mate.

Charlie's
Steph tells Libby that Toadie can't stand that she's happy, and Lib tells her friend that he's actually written a new ending to the play. She doesn't know what it is, but suggests that Steph talk to him before the play goes to print. Steph doesn't care.

Number 30
Dan insists that Steph has a right to know how the play ends, and suggests he also tell her what's going on in his mind. Dan has to go to training practice; Toadie says he'll be coming, but he has some thinking to do first, so he'll be late.

Dan leaves, and Toadie hides the latest version of the play in a magazine under the sofa cushion.

Moments later Toadie is nowhere to be seen and Libby has come home, wondering what else is in that new version of the play that they don't know about, yet. She goes straight to Toadie's 'hiding place' and finds it - Dan is impressed she knows where the hiding place is. They decide between them that they won't interfere anymore...it's for Toad and Steph to sort between them.

DAN: Er, p.s....how did you know about Toadie's secret hiding spot?
LIBBY: Oh I found it a few weeks ago when I was doing a big clean up.
DAN: (worried) Um...does that mean you know about my secret spot?
LIBBY: (knowing) No-one in this house has secrets from me.

Harold's Store
Steph and Susie are talking about the dishwasher, and Steph assures her she needs a new dishwasher which is exactly what Suse wanted to hear. Steph thanks her again for the lovely dinner, and apologises for what went down over the table.

Susan has more shopping to do, just as Toadie comes in, so she leaves them to it. Toadie half apologises by saying Steph isn't a coward, and wants to explain himself.

STEPH: No need to explain. I know that you've been through a bad time.
TOADIE: Bad time?
STEPH: Yeah. Like your break up with Kelly, and all that stuff with Guy Sykes and Bob and...
TOADIE: Right, so you mean I'm a permanent loser...

In full self-pity mode, Toadie says he knows Steph pities him which is why she agreed to marry him! Shocked, Steph can't believe what she's hearing.

TOADIE: You're always so accommodating! Is that what it's like with Greg?! Is that how it was with Jay?! Why won't you just for once in your life stand up for yourself?!

Susan overhears and comes over to support Steph.

TOADIE: No wonder your relationships go bad!!

Susan is shocked, and Steph stutters to say that at least she's in a relationship!

STEPH: What about you? You won't even give it a chance, like poor Kelly! The minute she looks like she might be getting a little bit too close - whoosh! She's gone!
TOADIE: That was her idea!
STEPH: And you call me a coward! You go round blaming everyone except yourself. *You* are turning into a lonely, bitter old man.

Steph storms out, and Susan doesn't look particularly sympathetic to Toadie's plight.

Footie Training
Ringo kicks a ball about on his own whilst the others practice together. Dan comes over as Steve calls the team together, and welcomes back Ringo. There's an awkward silence - no-one seems very welcoming at all. Steve wants a warm up lap of the field, but the team have a better idea: now that Ringo's a star, they have a banner for him to run through, make him feel right at home.

The banner reads: AFL HZERO RINGO WHO?

Everyone laughs, and Dan appeals to Steve to stop them, but Steve is clearly going to do nothing of the sort. And instead of feeling sorry for himself as he so often does, Ringo takes it on the chin and good-naturedly runs through the banner. The training begins.

Cut to later where Toadie has joined them, but he's not really fit enough for the training. He decides to give up, and tells Dan he's clearly not out for it, bitterly recalling the words that Steph used on him earlier. Dan and Steve watch him go.

Number 30
Toadie arrives him to find Cal playing on the Wii. Seeing how much Cal is like him, Toadie tells his son to turn the computer off and go and play outside. Cal doesn't want to, so Toad turns it off himself and tells Callum he has work to do. Cal walks out, annoyed, and Toadie retrieves the play from its secret hiding place. He settles down at his laptop to do some more work on it.

Cut to later, where Toad is on the phone to the printing place, asking how much it will cost to bind the copies for the school. The email is on his computer, ready to go, and Toadie sends it. All done. He's also eating a very large sandwich.

Number 28
Susan is sitting up at the kitchen bar, reading a large book. There are kitchen items everywhere, all dirty, and all waiting to be washed up. Karl returns from the garden where he was feeding the pig.

KARL: What's all this?
SUSAN: Dirty dishes from the dishwasher. It died mid-cycle, remember?
KARL: And you expect me to wash them up?
SUSAN: Well, I'm not.

Karl relents - he'll call the technician. But Susan insists they need a new, top of the range dishwasher.

KARL: If we were serious about saving water we'd wash those up ourselves.
SUSAN: By 'we', presumably you're including me.
KARL: Well the kitchen is your department.

Death-stare. 1-0 to Susan.

Susan gets Karl to read a consumer report she has - demonstrating that using a dishwasher correctly actually saves water.

SUSAN: So, until we have a really good dishwasher, I'm officially on strike.
KARL: On strike?!
SUSAN: Yup. And that means none of work shirts have been ironed, and obviously there's nothing prepared for dinner, just so you know.
KARL: That is blatantly unfair. This is a dishes dispute pure and simple.
SUSAN: No. It was. *Now* it's a matter of principle.
KARL: (scraping) What if I said I wasn't going to do *my* chores?
SUSAN: Yeah, both of them, do you think anyone'd notice?

2-0.

Karl thinks.

KARL: Okay. Okay, from now on I will take over household management.
SUSAN: Good. Exellent.
KARL: I will do it *my* way.
SUSAN: Okay.
KARL: Where do we start, let's see. Dishes. We'll put these on the back lawn - Lenny can lick them clean.

Out on Susan's irritation. 2-1.

After the commercial break we're back in the house where Susan reads her book at the table, and Karl makes a deliberate mess of the 'household management'. He covers the fish in flour, drops egg shells on the floor, pours enough oil into the frying man to run a small car, can't be bothered to make the chips from the potatoes themselves so retrieves a bag of oven chips from the freezer, and decides to use Susan's grandmother's platter to for the chips to put in a 'super hot' oven.

Susan watches in despair, desperately wanting to say something and not being able to. Karl's mobile rings, and it's the hospital; he takes it outside. Susan races to the oven to retrieve her grandmother's platter, putting the chips on an oven tray instead. Unable to help herself, she picks up the egg shell from the floor - and Karl catches her.

KARL: Ah! I knew you'd crack!
SUSAN: Rubbish. I just remembered that gran's platter's not overproof, that's all.

He brings his face right next to hers.

KARL: (disdainfully) You're a strike breaker. In this country we have a word for people like you.
SUSAN: (evil) Don't worry, comrade. Strike's still on.

She walks off.

Charlie's
Ringo is eating alone, whilst Kyle and other teammates are at the bar. The waiter drops a beer on his table, and Kyle says it's from him. They tell Ringo he's okay, and the world is suddenly better again.

Susan and Libby come in, and Susan's telling her daughter about her strike. They join Ringo at the table and ask how his training went, and he wants to know what's going on with Toadie. Susan explains about the fight - just as Steph comes in.

Steph has just finished fixing Bec's car, and Susan and Libby invite her to have a drink with them. Susan says it's an intervention (a care-vention, perhaps?!) - they're worried about her. Libby wonders if Toadie is jealous, but Steph is sure they're just good friends.

SUSAN: It's always harder for the one who hasn't moved on.
LIB: Especially when your ex is living with their new love in the same street.
SUSAN: Yeah, well, we've all been there, haven't we?

And from nowhere:

RINGO: You just keep running into them all the time. You've just gotta suck it up and move on otherwise it kills you.

The girls are all taken aback!

Number 28
With the kitchen looking like a small bomb has hit it - and the oil still in the pan - Susan returns home. She wants a drink of water and says she'll get it herself, but finds a soppy, dirty cloth sitting in the sink.

SUSAN: Oh, that is disgusting.

She throws it at Karl and it hits him. He grabs the bag of flour.

KARL: Right...
SUSAN: You wouldn't dare.

She grabs the bowl of batter.

KARL: Well try me.
SUSAN: Take one step closer...
KARL: Yeah? Or what?
SUSAN: I'm warning you...
KARL: Yeah, go on then!
SUSAN: Yeah!
KARL: Yeah?
SUSAN: Yeah...

Pause.

KARL: You know...you're pretty hot when you're bolshy.

He drops the flour, Susan drops the bowl.

SUSAN: Is that right?
KARL: Yes that's right.

They throw themselves at each, kissing loudly, and the need for Susan's floaty waistcoat becomes clear - Karl needs something he can strip off of her.

They just about manage to kiss their way to the front door before Susan - very reluctantly - remembers she's taking a stand over the dishwasher.

SUSAN: Wait! Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait...just hold your horses, comrade.
KARL: What?!
SUSAN: I'm still on strike!
KARL: (devastated) Oh! You've *got* to be kidding!!
SUSAN: There's a picket line and I'm not crossing it!
KARL: That is blackmail!
SUSAN: I'm telling you: no dishwasher, no pompoms.
KARL: (thinks) No pompoms?
SUSAN: No pompoms. I'll leave you with that thought.

She walks to the bedroom door.

KARL: (gutted he has to get a dishwasher; thrilled he's about to get lucky) Okay! Okay, I'll get a dishwasher.
SUSAN: You promise?
KARL: Yes, this afternoon. I'll find a reconditioned, bargain priced...brand new...
SUSAN: Top of the range...
KARL: Top of the range dishwasher.
SUSAN: Thank you.

3-1 to Susan.

KARL: Now you - come here.
SUSAN: You come here.

Susan leaps on him - and I mean, literally LEAPS on him - and they kiss noisily again as Ringo walks in. They hear the door, and in a strange position worthy of some contortionists, Susan puts on an innocent face and pragmatically suggests she was thinking of getting takeaway for dinner that night.

Ringo makes a hasty exit. Poor kid. Living with these two must be so traumatic.

The second he's left, they're back to kissing their way to the bedroom, Karl carrying Susan rather, er, awkwardly...

Number 30
Toadie is playing some kind of game on the Wii when Dan comes home. Toad tells Dan that he's giving up footie, and Dan's disappointed - his mate just needs to take some time to get back on form, that's all.

Dan sees the final, bound version of the play on the desk. He sees that Toadie has built up the part of Tara, who now gets together with Gerard at the end of the play. Toadie bitterly explains that Gerard needs someone who will accept him for who he is, and says that Stella is just deluded, selfish and self-centred. Oh, this side of him is just horrid.

Dan tells Toad that Steph will be crushed if she sees this.

TOADIE: Well, I'm sure Greg will be on hand to kiss it better.
DAN: I don't get you at all, dude.
TOADIE: There's nothing to get. You see, this is the play I should have written all along. This is payback. This is revenge.

He answers the knock at the door - and it's Steph.

After the commercial break Toadie learns that Steph wants to apologise for losing her temper. She knows that he didn't mean to hurt her, and some of what he said is true. Toadie nods, and Steph admits she didn't mean to hurt him, either. They agree they're still mates, and Steph picks up the latest copy of the play.

Toadie, of course, doesn't want Steph to see it, but can't think of a good reason why, so calls in Dan for back up, who makes some excuse that it has sloppy construction and bad grammar.

But Steph - who's clearly playing a game - doesn't care. She needs to show it to Greg so he's fully up on what happened between her and Toadie. After all, Toadie shouldn't mind if the play is an honest reflection, should he? She walks off with the play and says she'll return it tomorrow moning.

DAN: You're dead.
TOADIE: I am SO dead.