Episode 5253

The unresolved sexual tension between Ned and Janae reaches excruciating levels when Janae decides that, seeing as there's no hope of romance with new dad Ned, she might as well move to Cairns with the rest of her family. When she delivers the news, Ned and Mickey are both devastated but Ned, painfully aware of the earful he got last time he made a move on Janae, puts his own feelings aside to be a supportive friend. When Paul discovers that anxious Mickey has started wetting the bed, he urges Ned to tell Janae how he feels and stop her leaving for both of their sakes. Feeling like a failure as far as both Janae and Mickey are concerned, Ned's pent-up frustration finally boils over when he finds out Mickey's been picked on and he nearly whacks the bully's enormous dad. Sending Ned to cool off, Janae picks up Mickey's bag only to discover the picture he'd been drawing, including a heartfelt message asking her to stay. Can she resist?

Grandpa Tom has a rare moment of lucidity and he apologises to Rachel for accidentally setting fire to the kitchen and getting her into trouble. Zeke and Rachel feel increasingly unhappy about the plans to send Tom back to an aged care facility but they quickly come to understand that he needs greater supervision than their family can provide. They witness how hard it is for Karl to deal with his dad's steadily deteriorating condition and pledge to help in whatever way they can while Tom waits for another place in the nursing home.

Though she puts on a brave face, Pepper can't stop thinking about Adam. Has she lost "The One" forever?

Harold canvasses Lou's opinion on whether he should tell Janelle the truth about Loris swapping Anne and Bree at birth. Lou believes no good could come of it but Harold admits that a small part of him hopes that if Loris was ostracised from the Timmins clan she might come back to him for support.