Number 24
Sophie's in a happy mood, telling Kate about the gingerbread men she made, until she finds out they're getting a bus to Sydney instead of using Paul's plane tickets. Kate only gives a flimsy explanation as to why Sophie shouldn't hang out with Paul anymore, but Sophie hates being left out of the loop and says she'll uncover the truth one way or another. "Kate, he's all the family we've got".

Number 22
Declan ignores a voicemail from Mark, asking him to come down to the station for questioning. Donna pops around to see if Declan wants to catch a movie, but he's busy with work. When Dec realises that Donna's just trying to keep herself distracted so she doesn't think about being lonely without Ringo this Christmas, he says he's got a job for her to do.

Number 24
Donna excitedly tells Kate that Dec put her in charge of the Christmas party at Harold's - but she also needs Kate's organisational skills. Donna hopes that everyone can just have fun and let go of all the aggro from this year. Her main mission is to make peace between Lyn and Karl. Sophie slinks out and tells Kate she's staying the night at her mate Sally's. Donna notes the tension between them and asks Kate what's wrong, but Kate just says they're arguing about their trip. Donna sneaks two gingerbread men when she thinks Kate isn't looking.

Later that night, Kate's decorating the last of the gingerbread men before she stops and takes off the silver locket around her neck that Paul gave her. She's sad about losing the reminder of her mum, but doesn't want anything Paul's touched. Kate soon cheers up when Mark calls around with a bottle of wine, but things get flirty between them and they quickly head off to the bedroom.

Harold's Store
Donna asks Natasha and Andrew along to the Christmas party and reminds them to bring a gift for the lucky dip. She then latches onto Lucas when he walks into the store and asks for an important favour.

DONNA: How would you like to be the focus of the entire Christmas party? The person to bring joy and laughter into everybody's lives?
LUCAS: No, no way.
DONNA: You don't even know what I was going to ask.
LUCAS: You want me to be Santa.
DONNA: ... Yes. OK, what do you think?
LUCAS: Are you kidding? There's no way I'm old enough or fat enough to play Santa.
DONNA: (mocking) Yes, you have abs of steel, we all know that. (She pats his stomach) We would have to pad you up a lot.

Lucas tells her the answer's still no. Meanwhile, Tash and Andrew are talking about Christmas and Tash is disappointed Andrew wants to spend the whole day with his dad and not even pop over to #32.

Number 24
Kate wraps up her robe, meeting up with shirtless Mark (hello!) in the kitchen. Mark worries about telling her that he can't stay because he has an early shift, but Kate's fine with it. Mark's happy she's so easy- going - his last girlfriend was really uptight about his work hours. They banter- flirt some more and Mark smilingly says he can't tell if she's lying or not anymore since she's not playing with her locket. Kate mutters that she just got sick of wearing it and then distracts Mark with talk of round two in the bedroom before he leaves.

Harold's Store - Next Morning
Declan barely lets Mark get a word in on the phone before he tells him he's busy and hangs up. Sophie runs into Declan and asks what's going on between Kate and Paul. She's really annoyed that Kate won't tell her anything, but Declan says that Kate must be doing it for a good reason. He says she needs to trust her big sister and cut her some slack. Kate overhears this last portion of conversation and is pleased when Sophie takes Declan's advice and agrees to get the bus to Sydney.

Charlie's Bar
Kate follows Declan and thanks him for having a chat with Sophie. She doesn't want to go into specifics about her fight with Paul, but Dec was right about one thing, "he's not the man I thought he was". They're interrupted when Mark walks in with a fellow detective and asks Declan to come down the station for a talk. Declan protests and says he's busy, but when he acts too cocky about it, Mark ends up arresting him (for refusing to comply with a police officer) and handcuffing him. Natasha watches the whole thing unfold in the background looking very intrigued.

Today's nostalgia photo is of Gaby, Doug and Pam Willis in 1994.

First Commercial Break

Erinsborough Police Station
Mark's questioning Declan in the interview room about the case but Dec isn't very forthcoming with information. Mark reminds him that they can stay on these kinds of cases for years - "Are you up for years of this?". Declan doesn't respond so Mark tries another avenue, wondering how he can live under the same roof as Paul when his memory could return at any given moment.

MARK: Maybe it already has.
DECLAN: What?
MARK: Well he was acting pretty weird when I came in to see him. Especially when you came in. Maybe you've got some sort of a hold over him?
DECLAN: You're wasting your time.
MARK: Am I?
DECLAN: I didn't do it.
MARK: That's it? No proof, no arguments?
DECLAN: It's the truth. Now you may not like it but it doesn't change it.

Kate paces nervously in the foyer, rushing over to Declan when he finally emerges from the room, but he doesn't really want to speak to her. Mark apologises to Kate for arresting Declan in front of her, but Kate blurts out he's making a big mistake. They need to talk - now.

Number 22
Natasha finds Andrew trying to wrap Paul's Christmas present without much success so she takes over for him. She's happy when he asks her to help him find Rebecca a gift, and comments that he's really getting into the holiday spirit. Andrew hands her a pair of socks for Declan to wrap next.

NATASHA: Are these prison regulation?
ANDREW: Sorry?
NATASHA: Prison. Didn't he tell you? The cops took him in for questioning.
ANDREW: What about?
NATASHA: I dunno, his hairstyle?

Andrew's confused when Natasha says it must be something to do with Paul's case - as far as he's concerned they're still looking for Diana. His dad would have told him otherwise. But then a cloud of worry forms over him and he rushes out to find Paul.

Erinsborough Police Station
Kate adamantly tells Mark that Declan didn't push Paul, but Mark says that if she knows something she needs to tell him. Kate only repeats that she knows Declan too well, but Mark retorts that he can't just let Declan go because they have a shared history. Mark gets that she's worried for her family and ex, but this case could make or break his career and he's not going to pull any punches. Kate sighs and says she'll let him get back to work.

Second Commercial Break

Harold's Store
Natasha tells Andrew to try his dad's mobile, but he's already left heaps of messages. Luckily they run into Declan and Andrew angrily demands to know why he was with the cops. Declan tells him that Paul remembered Diana left the scene of the crime before it happened. Andrew can't believe his dad left him out of the loop yet again.

Number 22
Andrew bursts into the house, completely fuming about being left in the dark. He picks up a photo of himself and Paul off the shelf and smashes it to the ground. He's about to hurl something else around when Natasha yells at him to stop. She tries to wheedle him into talking but decides to leave when he doesn't answer. Andrew catches her before she's out the door, though, and quietly asks if he can spend Christmas day with her, throwing Paul's present in the bin for good measure.

Harold's Store
Obviously Donna has worked her magic on Lucas because he's standing around trying on a Santa beard and costume. Donna promises him he'll only be Christmassy for an hour tops. They sit down with Sophie and Kate, who are talking about heading off to Sydney tomorrow morning. The topic of Declan's arrest soon crops up and Donna says that Kate should go and have a chat with him. She knows things haven't been easy between them lately, but he must be doing it tough.

Charlie's Bar
Declan assures Rebecca on the phone that everything's fine and to send his love to Indy. Kate finds him and gets on his case about Mark, reminding him he could go to prison. Declan says he isn't about to just hand his mum over to the cops and asks Kate what she thinks he should do. Mark hovers near the entryway and spies them talking to one another, but can't hear what they're saying. He looks concerned nonetheless. He leaves and Declan apologises to Kate for getting her caught up in all of this, but Kate just says it's too late for that now.

Third Commercial Break

Erinsborough Police Station/Charlie's Bar
Mark reads through Kate's original statement from when Paul was pushed.

In the bar, Declan tells Kate that he doesn't blame Mark for doing his job and begrudgingly admits that he treats Kate well. He adds that Kate shouldn't worry - he won't let anything happen to her or his mum.

Mark opens up his laptop and clicks on the file where he keeps all of his recorded interviews. He opens Kate's file and clicks play, but is soon distracted by reading through Declan's paperwork, completely missing that Kate's playing around with her locket on the recording (liar, liar, pants on fire).

Preview
(Tomorrow on Neighbours)
(Mark watches the recording of Kate)
KATE: I thought I might have done something to upset you?
(Karl pulls down Susan's Citizen of the Year posters and replaces them with his own)
(Susan draws moustaches on all of Karl's posters)
KARL: What are you doing?
(Natasha tells Tomas that Summer's working at Harold's)
(Summer tries to hide behind the counter but he sees her)
TOMAS: Come on, one date. Who's it going to hurt?
(Andrew doesn't like this new development)
SUMMER: Why do you care? Are you jealous?
(And Natasha doesn't like *this* new development)
NATASHA: I'm going to ask you this once and then I'm never going to mention it again - are you into Summer?