'No sir.' Sandra started.

'Sandra, just listen. I want you all to go home now and we'll re-evaluate the situation tomorrow. If any of you need to talk to me about this, you know where to find me.'

They'd all walked out together, all feeling miserable. Brian was feeling worse of all so when they got to their local he decided to face up to what he'd done.

'Ok, someone give me a lift back to the office. If I tell Strickland the truth, none of you will lose your jobs.'

'Brian stop being silly, we're not letting you do this.' Gerry told him.

' Yeah, Brian we all did because if one of left it wouldn't be UCOS anymore.'

Sandra hadn't said anything; she was angry but mostly miserable. Now her job hung in the balance she realised work was all she had. She needed UCOS. Gerry and Sandra had both left after finishing their first drinks and Jack was about to do the same.

'Wanna lift mate?' he asked Brian.

'No, I think I'll walk, clear my mind you know.'

'Yeah okay, don't do anything stupid. Also, Brian don't worry.' Brian nodded in appreciation as the older man left.

Brian could not contain the sense of guilt inside him; it felt like it was eating him from the inside out. His friend's jobs hang in the balance because of him (for him?) and he hated this feeling. When he'd felt like this before there was only one thing that helped. Booze.

The bar staff in his local knew Brian well enough to know not to serve him alcohol, so he got up and decided to walk 100 yards down the road to the next pub. No one in this pub would know him; a bit of a dump Sandra had once called it. She would know. As he pushed the door open, he scanned the room to see if he recognised anyone. Once he was pretty sure he knew no one in the pub, he walked over to the bar.

'Two vodkas and a beer please.' He said handing over £15.

'Brian?' he heard from behind him, he immediately turned and there he saw an old friend of his, Michael.

'Hello mate, its ages since I last saw you.'

'1987?' Michael told him.

'85 actually.' Brian corrected.

'Why don't you join me and we can catch up?'

'Why not.' Brian took his drinks and went over to an empty table. It didn't take long for the three 3 drinks Brian had bought to be empty.

Soon without realising it, it had gotten late, the bar was now closing and Brian felt great. He'd forgotten all about the events of earlier in the day and more importantly he'd lost the feeling of guilt that he'd been drinking to lose.