Lily and Jules are mincing along the beach, swapping nose-rubs and trying not to trip over the wallabies gambolling at their feet, when they suddenly spot an upturned mop with eyes floating some distance away in the sea. Said mop usually goes under the name Matilda, and she's struggling to inhale air instead of water. Both Jules and Lily scurry to the water's edge but, at the last moment, Jules decides that he'd rather not get his hair wet and leaves Lily doggy paddling to Mattie's aid. Of course, by the time she reaches the drowner, both girls are in serious trouble. As Jules will presumably melt if he comes into contact with H20, it's left to Ric to don his David Hasselhoff-style red trunks and bring the girls ashore. Matilda is nothing more than a bit bedraggled. Lily, though, takes full advantage of some mouth-to-mouth from our hero (lucky cow) before being whisked to hospital. Nee-naw!Hospital dramaGrave faces all round at the Northern Districts hossie. While Matilda's cure-all came in the form of a towel, Lily has ended up hooked to a series of machines that make the usual intensive care ward look like it's being run with a clockwork key. Cassie and Sal are given some shattering news about the patient; her chest wall has been damaged from the amount of water she inhaled. "This sort of accident can lead to life-threatening complications", mopes Dr Hugh, like Eeyore with a stethoscope.However, Cassie tries to keep a positive outlook. "You're gonna be OK", she whispers, as she approaches Lily's comatose body. Lils blips and whirrs in response. (Hey, it's better than having to listen to her speak.) And while Matilda begins to blame herself for Lily's fate, Ric decides to shift the guilt onto the gutless Jules...

Killer instinct

Gutless indeed. Why the flamin' heck didn't Jules step in to save the day? Drew asks this question with his hands on his hips. After all, it's not as though Jules can't swim.

However, biker boy has a rather good excuse. "I killed my girlfriend!" he yelps. A nation blinks in unison. Perhaps we'd better explain. You see, today's incident dredged up the painful memory of Jules's girlfriend's death in a freak yachting accident (is there any other kind?).

In a horrible moment, Jules was forced to choose between saving himself or the girl he loved. Linda, for that was her name, now sleeps with the fishes. "I'm selfish!" he bawls. "I'm gutless. I tell people I care about them, but it's a load of bull.

" Surely not, Jules. "Because if it was true, Linda wouldn't be dead." That night, Jules disappears from Summer Bay in a puff of self-loathing. All he leaves behind is the briefest of notelets. Is this the last we'll see of him?

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