Matt was woken by the vibration of his phone in his pocket. He'd never taken it out last night and he carefully released his hand from Alesha's grip, reaching down to see who it was. They obviously hadn't moved all night. Nine missed calls, all from Ronnie. He glanced at the clock in the top right of the screen. It was nine, James would have got into work and had a call from the police. Everyone must be worried about Alesha and when Ronnie had realised Matt wasn't going to turn up, he'd put two and two together.

Matt let the phone ring out, knowing he wouldn't be quick enough and carefully got up doing his best not to wake Alesha. He thought he had got away with it but he heard a short, sharp intake of breath as he left.

He went out to stand in front of the large window in the open plan living area and gazed out at London as he dialled Ronnie's number.

'Mattie? Oh thank God! Are you with Lesh, she alright?' The words came out in a rush and Matt rubbed his head, trying to think clearly.

'Yeah she's okay, don't worry. But I won't be coming in today, she's gonna stay at mine for a bit I think. Call James and let him know and I'll ring again later so you guys can come round and see for yourself.' His voice got quieter, 'Tell James Lesh probably won't be in for a couple of weeks but that she's okay.'

Ronnie sensed that Matt didn't want to spend anymore time on the phone so said his goodbyes and put the phone down.

Matt slid the phone back into his pocket and slowly returned to the bedroom. Alesha was now sat up, 'Hey, who was that?' She'd heard him talking.

'Sorry, I didn't mean to wake you. It was Ronnie, James got a call half an hour ago. I told Ron we'd call him later, they all wanna come and see you. I didn't really explain properly.'

Alesha sighed, she hated all the attention, 'Yeah okay, you can tell them to come after work, if that's okay?'

Matt nodded, relieved she wasn't going to be difficult about it. He leant against the doorframe and took out his phone. His fingers darted over the keys as he typed a text to Ronnie,

Alesha's doing fine. Could u all come over tonight after work. Stay for dinner maybe?

He knew Ron would take a while to reply so he looked up at Alesha, 'Breakfast?'

Matt made pancakes, a rarity for him, and they talked for a bit about work and stuff. There was never really an awkward moment between them, even when they sat in silence.

Matt's phone buzzed and he grabbed it from where it sat on the table next to him,

Sounds good, George has a meeting, says he'll get an update from James tomorrow but the rest of us will all be round. See u later. X

Matt had never really understood why Ronnie always ended his texts with a kiss but he'd managed to get him into the habit as well. He typed a reply,

Okay, give me a buzz when you're here and I'll come down and get you. X

Matt suspected they would need help getting to the right door, Ronnie had only been there once, but he knew he would need to explain a couple of things before they saw Alesha anyway and it would be easier to do out of earshot.

He looked up to find Alesha meeting his gaze. He smiled a soft smiled, the one that sent Alesha's heart into a small stutter, and talked, 'Ron, James and the gov will all be round later for dinner, George has a meeting…' Matt thought, 'Shit, I'll need to cook something, I'm crap.'

'I'll help,' Alesha smiled. She wasn't bad and she wanted to.

Matt gazed into space for a minute and realised he hadn't thought about her attackers since before he went in to see her. He smiled at how easily she was able to distract him and realised he really didn't care. They weren't going to get away with it, they'd be prosecuted and it was Alesha he was worried about. Best not to waste his thoughts on them. He pushed the ideas out of his mind and looked over Alesha properly.

She looked worse than she had last night. The bruises had darkened and a couple more had appeared on her face. They really had done a job on her. She looked tired as well, shadows under her eyes, but her expression lightened things. It looked as though she was feeling better, no sadness left in her eyes now.

Matt gave a sigh as he wondered what they were going to do all day. He loved spending time with Alesha, but it wasn't something they often did. Aside from the time they spent together at work, which admittedly was quite a lot, they didn't spend all that much time together. He idly thought about that, realising that she must really trust him if she was willing to shack up with a guy she barely knew indefinitely.

He pulled himself back to the reality and glance at his watch, it was coming up to ten. 'Right, in that case, we're gonna need to go shopping at some point for food, I don't think I've got much in. Other than that we've not got much to do. What do ya fancy, a day of movies, a walk, up to you really?'

Alesha smiled. There was something she liked about Matt making a fuss over her, guilty as it made her feel. She was still knackered, 'A day of movies sounds perfect.' Her smiled grew as Matt's cheeky grin appeared. He was obviously pleased at the response, or maybe he would have been pleased with any response.

'Kay, well how about we head out to the shops now and maybe stop by the rental place on the way back, I haven't bought a new movie in like 10 years.'

'Sounds good.' Alesha got up and headed back towards the bedroom to change, dabbing a few blobs of concealer and doing the best she could to cover the bruises. It didn't take long for her to realise that they were far to dark so she went to the bathroom to wash it off, frustrated now.

Her features smoothed as she looked at Matt, leaning all God-like on the front door as she came out. He smiled as she walked into view. Granted, she was still covered in dark shadows, but he'd never seen her in anything so casual; a purple v-neck jumper and jeans. She was equally pleased as she looked him over. Jeans, high-tops again and a thin grey long sleeved shirt that clung to his body in all the right places. He slipped into the same military jacket as last night and helped Alesha step into her shoes. He was still worried and couldn't help but wonder how on earth they were going to get around the supermarket. He grabbed a couple of things on his way out and supported Alesha by her waist as they hobbled to the car.

When they arrived Matt went into the shop and returned with a wheelchair. They attracted some attention but Alesha doubted anyone would give them any grief. Matt made it obvious they wanted to be left alone to anyone who looked as though they were going to offer help.

He really was hopeless. 'So what we gonna cook then?'

'Oh right, I thought you had something in mind… Umm, how about a spaghetti bolognaise, should be simple enough.'

Matt whizzed them around the supermarket as quickly as he could, picking up everything she told him to and shoving it onto the basket in her lap. He paid with his card and took Alesha back out to the car, getting rid of the chair.