Author's Note: I wanted to write something that was a little more Julie-centric, especially as we know next to nothing about her, so I feel that her background is pretty much fair game at this point in time.

Julie walked through her front door, locked it behind her and hung her leather jacket up on the peg in the hallway. She made her way into the living room where she threw her bag down on the settee and depressed the 'standby' button on her stereo. As something calm and melodic filtered through the speakers she went into the kitchen, pulled out a tumbler and filled it with a generous measure of scotch whiskey. She took a healthy sip of the caramel coloured liquid, sloshed it around her mouth so that it hit the back of her throat and gulped it down. She felt that beautiful burn of bitterness and let out a breath in pleasure. It was just what she needed after the day she'd just had at work. She felt her phone vibrate in the pocket of her trousers and carried the rest of her drink back through to the living room before looking at her phone.

"Jules, call me when you have a moment. Nothing urgent, just want to catch up. Love you, Mum xxx"

Julie cursed whichever of her nieces or nephews had taught their Gran to text and then sighed deeply. She knew that she was lousy at keeping in touch with her mother but she was rarely available at a reasonable hour to call anyway. She didn't get involved with family stuff much at the best of times. Although, now that the kids were young adults themselves it was much easier to chat to them on a level she was comfortable with. Her brother's boys had cousins on his wife's side of the family so they were naturally closer to them but her sister's children didn't have anyone else apart from them and herself. For some odd reason, despite her distance over the years, they seemed to hold her in particular regard. She'd received sporadic letters and packages in the post full of childish drawings and pleas of visits from when they were small. Now she was sent emails with photo attachments and Facebook requests despite not having an account. It's not that she didn't want to get involved, it's just that she barely had time for herself and she was sure they had a skewed perception of the sort of person she was and the sort of job she did. Julie checked her watch and noted that it was ten thirty, if her mother had just texted then she was still up so she thought that she should get the phone call over and done with. Who knew when she was likely to get another chance? She took another large sip of her drink, shrugged off her blazer, kicked off her heels and picked up her landline telephone. Julie dialled her mother's number as she sat down on the sofa, moved her bag onto the floor and made herself comfortable.

"Hello?"

"Hi Mum."

"Jules! How are you my love?"

"I'm fine, just got in from work."

"At this hour?"

"Yes Mum, this is pretty normal for me nowadays." Actually anything before midnight was reasonably early thought Julie, if you went by the last couple of months that was.

"Are you getting enough sleep and are you eating properly? You always were far too skinny for my liking." Julie chuckled, it didn't matter how old she was her mother still liked to fuss.

"Yes and yes. What about you, looking after that dicky ticker of yours?" Julie's mum had had a mild heart attack nearly a year ago and it had made everyone realise that she wasn't going to be around forever, despite her stubbornness and forceful personality.

"Of course, I'm still enjoying my delightful cocktail of tablets each day." If anyone wondered where Julie had got her sarcasm from they didn't have to look very far if her mother was anything to go by.

"That's good to hear. How are you anyway? Anything new happening that I should be aware of?"

"Claire's got yet another new boyfriend, one of those 'goth' types, you know with all the piercings, tattoos and wears nothing but black? You probably don't remember the last one. Nice boy he was, very polite and he made such a lovely cuppa." Julie chuckled out loud over the phone. That was so very typical of her mother, as long as a person could make a decent cup of tea they were marriage material in her book. Julie daren't tell her about her own numerous body modifications, thankfully most of which were in places that she could cover quite easily, she'd had to for work anyway.

"Lucy passed her theory test a few weeks back and she's been having proper lessons after college on a Thursday. Caroline was taking her out in her car before that. She's not bad, drives a little too fast but she's young and she'll learn. Oh and get this, Anthony's got an interview with the police next week. Have you been talking to him behind Caroline's back by any chance?" Julie knew that her sister wouldn't have been overly enamoured by that piece of news. Caroline still thought that Julie carried a gun and wrestled with violent thugs on a daily basis. She'd had firearms training of course but she'd fortunately never had to put it into practice. It was just as well really, the mere thought of firing a gun scared her half to death.

"Of course I haven't! It's the first I've heard about it. Although I am surprised he didn't speak to me first, I wonder why?"

"Well, when you come to see us you can ask him yourself. Now when exactly will that be, hmm?" Julie's mum was rarely subtle at the best of times.

"I don't know Mum, you know I've been really busy since my promotion." Wasn't that the truth and then some! There were weeks she'd barely been in her own office for all the travelling around the Greater Manchester area she had been doing.

"Surely you're still allowed time off from time to time? Or have you been spending it with someone in particular lately?" Julie rolled her eyes, she knew it wouldn't have been long before her mother started to go down that particular line of questioning.

"And when would I have had the time? Yes, I do get time off but it just hasn't been possible lately and I have other things to do, I have a house to maintain and friends to see."

"And we're not worthy of a visit now and then?" Julie refused to feel guilty, her mother had her own social life with the local WI and often had the grandchildren round at various intervals, she was hardly alone and neglected.

"You know that's not what I meant. I'll see what I can arrange."

"Soon?"

"Yeah, we'll see."

"How's Gill?"

"She's fine, as far as I know."

"You haven't seen her recently?"

"Three or four weeks ago maybe. She's just as busy as I am plus she's got Sammy to consider. He's just got engaged by the way and he's going to be joining the force. Actually thinking about it, I wonder if Anthony's been speaking to him? I know they're friends on Facebook and they always did get along well with each other."

"Makes sense, when you do see Gill next you'll have to ask her. Please give her my love and pass on my congratulations. It's been ages since I last saw her."

"I'd forgotten that you've practically adopted her!"

"She's such a good influence on you, better than some of your other friends in the past. I'll even bet that she visits her mother more often than you do?" Julie wondered just what it was with Gill and being adored by her friends mothers. Janet's mum Dorothy seemed to share a similar view.

"Her mother lives in the same county, so she can be there and back in a day. I promise that I'll look into when I can get up to see you, soon, okay?"

"Good, that's all I ask love. The kids will be happy to see you."

"I'm sure they're old enough to have lives of their own by now."

"You know that's not true, they adore you. They'd just like to see you more often, as would I."

"Okay, okay, I get it. I'm going to go now, I need to have something to eat, unwind and then go to bed."

"Alright love, I'll speak to you soon unless I see you before?"

"Night Mum."

"Night Jules."

Gill walked into the pub about ten minutes later than they'd agreed and found Julie sitting at a table with a bottle and two glasses beside her. Gill wondered if her best friend could actually read her mind or if she was just predictable.

"Hello love." Julie got up from her seat to kiss Gill on the cheek and offered to take her coat and bag so she could put it on the seat next to her along with her own.

"Hiya Slap! Funny thing; I got a text from your mother this afternoon, inviting me to stay for a weekend?" Gill asked her best friend and wondered if Iris knew they were meeting later that day for a catch up or was she just as psychic as her daughter? "While it's lovely to hear from her, I wondered if you knew about it and if there was any particular reason for the invite?" Julie sighed in frustration, it was one thing pestering her to visit but another when her mother started to harass her friend. Gill parked herself opposite Julie as the older woman poured out a generous glass of wine for her.

"I'm so sorry about that, she's been after me to see her for a few weeks now. She asked after you the last time I spoke to her and I suppose she thought it would be a clever way of ensuring I go up there." Gill chuckled good naturedly.

"You really don't do family gatherings do you?" They both reached for their glasses and took a well needed sip of the cold alcoholic beverage.

"Not if I can help it. I know what will happen, it will be fine at first and then once we're all caught up the arguments will start and stuff long since passed will be dredged up. Not my idea of fun."

"No, but when was the last time you did go and see her?" Gill asked in a tone that suggested she was about to admonish her friend.

"About six months ago, why?"

"Don't you think you ought to make the effort? Especially after her health scare last year."

"You're right of course, I just keep finding excuses to put it off." Julie took another sip of her wine, the bottle wasn't going to last long at this rate.

"Tell you what, why don't I come with you? I haven't seen Iris for ages and I'd enjoy seeing you outside of your comfort zone." Gill smirked at Julie from across the table as she teased her.

"Cheers mate! You don't have to, honestly. I will go and see her soon. Besides, she knows you have your own family and that you're just as much of a workaholic as me." It sounded as though Julie was desperately trying to put Gill off the idea.

"Are you ashamed of me?" Gill pouted in mock indignation and Julie laughed out loud.

"Of course not! You'd really put yourself through that, willingly?"

"Anything for you Slap. I'm not saying that there won't be a payback at some point in the future though. You'll have duties at Sammy's wedding, I can promise you that." Whatever Gill asked of her could never be too much of an imposition, especially if it was for Sammy but they enjoyed teasing each other like this anyway.

"Well, hopefully that won't be for a few years yet by which time you'll have forgotten so I can live with that."

"Believe me, I won't have done. I've already got half a list prepared." And Julie could well believe that she had. Gill was a little too excited about her son's engagement, even with the thought at the back of her mind that they were far too young.

"Alright, but if we do this then we're not staying at Mum's, we'll get a hotel room for the weekend. At least then we'll be able to escape the mad house for a few hours."

"Sounds good to me, I could do with a break." Gill took another sip of her wine, already ready feeling energised at the prospect of a few days away with Julie.

"I can't guarantee it will be a relaxing one though. When are you free?"

"How about the end of the month? Would that fit into your family's plans?"

"I'll call Mum tonight and find out. Oh god, you know that's she's going to be delighted that you're coming? I won't hear the end of it!