A/N: Thank you so much for all your lovely reviews to the first chapter! They made me smile! This is a shorter chapter but it seemed to finish at a good place.. It was originally longer but I've chopped the last bit off and made it the first part of chapter 3, which will be up as and when - I'm on holiday and seem to have WiFi at the moment but I dunno if that'll change! Hope you enjoy despite the brevity and please keep R&Ring :) L x

Gill awoke early the next morning, indecently early for a weekend day – about 6am. The first thing she noticed was that she'd a splitting headache and a mouth dryer than the Sahara. She almost groaned and turned over to go back to sleep for another couple of hours, the way she usually would if she was hungover and had nowhere to be, but then she realised that the bed she was currently lying in naked was definitely not hers, nor was it Chris'.

Her eyes opened fully and she shot up in bed, horrified, clutching the sheet up to her collarbone as the events of last night began to make themselves clear in her mind. Slowly, trying not to make herself even dizzier than sitting up had made her, she turned her head towards the man asleep next to her, also naked and snoring unashamedly, but looking pleased with himself even in his sleep. Passing a hand across her eyes, the mantra "shit, shit shit, shit, SHIT" running through her mind, Gill slipped as quietly as she could out of the bed, sneaking the throw off the end of it to wrap round herself as she began hunting for her clothes.

She found her underwear, tights and shirt all littered around Kevin's room and put them on hurriedly, laddering the tights in the process. Creeping into the open plan sitting room, she discovered her shoes and handbag just inside the door, her jacket thrown over the back of the sofa and her skirt, somehow, in pride of place on top of a lampshade. Feeling somewhat sick, and not just because of the hangover, she finished getting dressed and left the flat, hurrying down the stairs, out the front door and into the fresh air. She walked round the corner, not knowing where she was but wanting to be out of view of the flat before she checked. As soon as she was out of eyeshot, Gill rummaged around in her bag and found, to her great relief, that her phone hadn't run out of battery. Less fortunately, however, she did have four missed calls – two from Sammy, one from Janet and one from a number she didn't recognise. Ignoring them, she opened the Google maps app she almost never used and held the phone out, waiting for it to tell her where she was.

Chadderton. So she couldn't be too far away from where Rachel lived… But there was no way she was going to go staggering round there; it wouldn't be appropriate, not least because Rachel was with Sean. There was no way she could ring Janet, it would wake the girls and Dorothy, and she didn't want Sammy to see her like this. She didn't have any money for a cab, so, preparing herself for excessive teasing and probably a bollocking, she reluctantly punched in Julie's number and tiredly held the phone up to her ear, her head pounding with every ring.

"Julie Dodson?" Julie answered, sounding sleepy.

"Jules…"

"Gill! What the hell on earth are you ringing me at this time for you crazy bitch?"

"Can you do me a favour?"

"What?"

"I overdid it a bit last night and…"

"Who did you shag?"

"Never you mind," Gill replied, her blood running cold at the thought of Julie's reaction if she found that little titbit of information out. "Either way I'm stuck and I need someone to pick me up…"

Julie sighed. "Where are you?"

"Chadderton."

"More specifically!"

"Um." Gill didn't really want to specify; Julie had been Kevin's boss and as such might know where he lived. She glanced around and then, as luck would have it, spotted a large Tesco's sign over some houses. She knew where she was now; she and Rachel had gone there for sustenance for the journey before setting off to Bristol.

"Oi!"

"Sorry. You know the big Tesco?"

"Oh yeah. You owe me!"

"Thanks Slap," Gill said, relieved. She hung up and began walking down the road towards Tesco, trying to hold her head high. She was wearing a smart suit after all; as long as nobody looked closely enough to spot last night's smeared make-up and the ladder in her tights, they wouldn't know she was doing the walk of shame.

While she was walking, Gill investigated the missed call from the unrecognised number. Whoever it was had left a message, and the culprit was immediately obvious as soon as they started talking:

"BOSSSSSSSSSss, I'm just ringing you off Sean's phone cos erm… What? (the sound of muffled giggling) Shhh! Yeah just to say thanks for the wine and please if you're still there give Kev a hug from me! See ya!"

Gill rolled her eyes. Typical Rachel and certainly not as useful a call as she'd had last time Rachel had drunk called her. Still, I'm one to talk, Gill thought, cringing as she was reminded of how much more than a hug she'd given Kevin, and probably on Rachel's behalf given that it was Rachel he was head over heels about. She put the phone back in her bag, not bothering to reply. Rachel probably wouldn't remember calling anyway.

When she got to Tesco, it occurred to Gill that she could have got cash out of the machine there and called a taxi, but it was too late now, Julie was on her way. Gill leant against the bike racks near the store entrance, squinting in the sunlight. She would have to speak to Kevin and make sure he wasn't going to tell anyone. Not yet though, she'd wait until he'd have woken up and until she'd got a few coffees in her. As she stood there, waiting for Julie, she questioned herself why. Why Kevin, of all people? What had come over her? She'd obviously not been too drunk because she hadn't been sick and she did remember everything, even if it was a bit hazy. She'd had one night stands before, every now and then, but this was different, because she knew Kevin. She worked with Kevin. He was Kevin!

The beeping of a horn ripped through her hangover and Gill groaned, glaring at Julie, who was grinning at her from the driver's seat of the car that had just pulled up. She walked round to the other side and got in somewhat sheepishly.

"Good night then?" Julie asked, looking like the cat that'd got the cream. This had clearly given her weeks' worth of teasing material.

"Ugh" Gill replied.

"Yeah, I bet," Julie laughed, moving off, "serves you right, you daft old bag."

"Oi, less of the old bag please! Just because you're choosing a zimmerframe doesn't mean we're all ancient."

"I may be a couple of years older than you, lady, but some of us don't mistreat our livers the way you do!"

Gill snorted. "My arse!"

"Yes, I'm glad you've brought that up," Julie answered, a smug smile playing around her lips, "I hope you realise I'm not going to let it drop until you tell me who you slept with last night?"

"You'll be so lucky," Gill retorted, her tone indicating that the matter was closed. Julie just smiled in a self-satisfied way, as if she was sure she'd get the truth out of her best friend eventually. But Gill couldn't tell her. Not this time.

The rest of the journey passed in silence, Julie allowing Gill some quiet time before she relaunched the attack. When they got back to Gill's, Julie accompanied her indoors for a coffee. Gill led the way into the kitchen, going through the motions of making the coffee tiredly, hoping she would feel better once she'd had some. While she was clattering around, Sammy appeared from upstairs and leant in the doorway sleepily, looking a bit annoyed.

"Hi love," she said, going over to give him a hug. He hugged her briefly then peered at her.

"Mum, where were you last night? Why didn't you call?"

"Um." Gill hadn't thought this far ahead. She did not have an excuse for where she'd been.

Thankfully, Julie seemed to have decided that she didn't need punishing that much and chipped in.

"I went for a drink with them all last night; your mum got a bit worse for wear and ended up snoring on my sofa."

Gill nodded, smiling in what she hoped was a reassuring way at Sammy.

"Yeah, sorry I didn't phone you, kid. I was… Well."

"Okay," he said, looking a bit suspicious. "I'm gonna go back to bed for a bit. See you later."

Once Sammy had mooched back off upstairs and Gill had heard his bedroom door shut, she turned to Julie, handing her a mug of coffee.

"Thanks for that!" she told her gratefully. "I didn't have an excuse ready."

"You're welcome… But in return I think it's only fair you tell me who it was! Is it someone I know?"

"No."

"Gill, I can tell when you're lying… Come on, it can't be that bad!"

"Nose out! It's my business."

"Not when you're calling me to pick you up at stupid o'clock on a Saturday morning it's not! The way you're going on, you'd think it was Kevin!"

Gill spluttered into her coffee. Julie narrowed her eyes.

"Sorry, you made me laugh!" she said, forcing herself to grin.

"It wasn't was it?"

"Wasn't what?"

"Kevin."

"No, of course not!"

"Look me in the eye and say that."

Gill raised her gaze to meet Julie's, cursing herself for not phoning a taxi. Julie was one of the very few people who could read her like an open book.

"Jesus, Gill! It was Kevin! What the fuck were you thinking?"

"I don't know!" Gill sighed, "I was pissed out my skull, I was angry with Dave, Chris was away… Kevin was moping around because of Rachel and Sean so I bought him – us both – shots and one thing led to another…"

Julie was shaking her head.

"Gill, you've got to phone him, now, and make sure he doesn't tell anyone about this. If it gets out you'll be a laughing stock."

"You think I haven't worked that out?" she snapped back. But Julie was right.

"Ring him. Now."

"Fine. Fine!"

Gill fished her phone out of her bag and glanced at the screen – 1 new message, from Kevin Lumb.

"He's texted me!"

"Look at it then, don't just stand there like a lemon!"

Gill skim read the text, brow furrowed slightly, then read it out for Julie.

"You didn't have to creep off like that this morning, boss, but you don't have to worry, I won't tell anyone. It'd be as bad for my reputation as it would for yours ;) See you Monday. Kev x"

"That'll be the day," Julie snorted, "he'll want to boast about it to all and sundry…"

"No, I don't think he will," Gill replied seriously. "He's improved a bit, you know, since he was in your syndicate. And he wouldn't want it to get back to Rachel. Anything that might potentially ruin his chances with her isn't worth the risk."

"He really likes her then?"

"Poor lad," Gill said, and she meant it. "Just when he finally shows himself capable of feelings other than just horny, Rachel takes up with Sean."

"Hm. Sorry, Gill, I can't feel too sorry for him… But you obviously like him, so.."

"I don't like him! Well, I don't dislike him. But he's alright."

"You shagged him last night!"

"And I'm never gonna hear the end of it, am I?"

"That you aren't," Julie smiled. "Anyway, I'll leave you to your hangover."

"Yeah. Thanks Julie… For everything."

"No problem," Julie replied, as the two of them walked towards the front door.

"Really, I mean it. You're not half bad sometimes."

"Oh, thanks Gill." Julie laughed, hugging her. Gill gladly accepted the hug, enjoying the familiar smell and feel of her best friend.

"You stink, by the way," Julie said jokily as they broke apart, "Go and shower."

"Charming as always," Gill replied drily.

"You know me! Bye, you raging drunkard."

"Bye Slap."

Gill closed the door and leant against it, exhaling slowly. It looked as if everything was going to be alright. She'd just have to see how Kevin acted at work. Cursing herself, she stumbled upstairs for a shower and hoped to God that Kevin would stick to his word.