A/N: Here we go with the long-awaited showdown… I've been trying to get this right for ages and I'm still not entirely happy with it but I hope you enjoy it nonetheless x

-Flashback-

"So," the brunette opened the conversation, her tone icy. "You're Sandra. The girlfriend. He send you, did he? Talk me down, woman to woman?"

"No. It was my own decision. And I don't want to talk you down. I want to find out what's really happening here, Catherine."

"What's really happening here, is that my ex-husband, your boyfriend, is a corrupt, stupid man, who doesn't care about his own children, and would stop at nothing, and I mean nothing, to get his hands on more money." She intoned slowly, selecting every word with knife-like precision.

"He confessed. He told me that he was guilty. But what I don't understand is why. Why would he throw away his career, his reputation, practically overnight, just for more money? He's a DAC, he has enough money already."

"Don't you see? He never has enough money. He spends it all, then when I ask him for money for the children, it's all gone. The only person he cares about is himself."

The blonde shook her head so slightly that it was barely noticeable. No. That certainly wasn't him.

"What do you do for a living?" she asked.

"I'm an event organiser," she replied. "Weddings, parties. That kind of thing. Why?"

"Pay well, does it?"

"Fairly," Catherine smirked, one step ahead of her rival. "If you're wondering how I've managed to put the children through boarding school and maintain the house without Rob's money, it's my current husband. His job pays the bills, mainly. He's the CEO of a company in the City."

"Oh. So that's why I saw Rob write a cheque for ten thousand pounds to the school on Tuesday, then?"

The younger woman blinked, a miniscule fissure appearing in her demeanour. "Believe me, that was the first time he's paid in years."

"Oh, I do believe you," Sandra smiled, sarcastically enough that her words implied quite the opposite meaning. She paused for dramatic effect, staring at her opponent. "So, if Rob supposedly doesn't care about his children, why did he go to the lengths of practically kidnapping them from school to take them on holiday a few months ago?"

She snorted. "That stunt. Clearly it was just to try to fool the children into thinking that he loved them. Thankfully it only had the result of making them think he was insane. Rufus is scared of him."

"Thankfully? How is a child being scared of his own father a good thing?"

"Look, Sandra. I don't know what you're trying to achieve here, but you need to open your eyes. Rob is a waste of space, always has been, always will be. You're better off without him, you seem like a decent woman."

"Why did you send the tip-off about Rob leaking the information to the press? Surely you just want him out of your lives, if he's such a waste of space? Your kids have a new father figure in their lives now, a better one by the sounds of it. More's to the point, why did you go to his house this morning?"

"Have you been following me?"

"I saw you leave his house when I was going to see him. I wanted answers. Besides, let's not forget that you're talking to a police officer, here, Catherine."

She narrowed her eyes.

"So, back to my original question. Why did you send the tip-off about Rob?"

"I wanted justice. He's a corrupt police officer, and he deserves to be sent down for what he's done."

"How did you find out, that he'd been leaking details to the press?"

"I have contacts in the media. Someone told me, as a friend, that they'd been getting information from Rob. They thought I should know."

"Right," Sandra nodded slowly, still not breaking her eye contact with the other woman. "See, I have another theory."

"What's that?"

"I think that you blackmailed Rob into leaking details to your friends in the press, probably using access to the children as an incentive for him to do it. I think that you want to punish him for divorcing you, and you just couldn't resist the chance to ruin him, once and for all. I think that you've brainwashed your own children against their father just to make yourself feel like a better mother, and to spite him. I think that you're the one who is obsessed by money."

Catherine's upper lip twisted, as though the blonde's words were like a knife, twisting inside her. Yet, somehow, she still managed to deliver another blow.

"If he's innocent, then why did he confess to you that he did it?"

Sandra smiled knowingly. There were numerous explanations. Perhaps he had grown to believe it himself, thinking that he probably deserved punishment for failing to be a good father to his children in the face of Catherine's vendetta against him. Perhaps he wanted to get her away from him, to stop the allegations poisoning her name as well as his, before it was too late. Perhaps he just wanted to hide the fact that his ex-wife had so much power over him. Or perhaps he really was guilty. The only one she knew to be false, for definite now, was the last one, and she suspected that the real reason he had confessed was some bizarre mixture of the first three suggestions.

"Because he's human. Because he's a coward. Because he loves me."

"He doesn't love you." She spat, her eyes narrowing to mask the hint of jealousy behind her pupils.

"He loves me more than he ever loved you."

An uncomfortable silence fell. Sandra's words had been the killer punch: one that was very much below the belt for her rival.

"So what if I did make him do it?" Catherine asked eventually, bitterly. "He'd never testify against me, he'd never do that to the mother of his children."

"So you did?"

She nodded, her head held high in triumph, defiantly choosing to act in pride rather than shame now that her plot had been revealed. "Yes."

"Why?"

"I loved him. And he left me. He said that I was obsessed by money, and that I was just using his status for my own gain."

"And were you?"

"No. I mean, I suppose that's how it seemed, to him, but I wasn't. It was an obsession, but for the children's sake rather than mine. I just wanted to give them a good life."

"They already had a good life."

"I know that now. But I didn't at the time. I always wanted more, better. I hated him, when he left, because he knew that without him, I wouldn't have a job, money. I'd never be able to give the children the life they deserved. So that was my new obsession, trying to ruin his life. It still is today, I suppose."

"That's all I wanted to hear." Sandra said quietly. She moved to leave the room.

Suddenly, the door burst open to reveal Hermione, trails of hot tears staining her face.

"Mum," she half-shouted, half-cried. "Everything you've told us about Dad…it's not true, is it?"

Catherine face fell, then quickly turned to panic as she faced her daughter. "Sweetheart, you've got everything wrong, out of context. I didn't mean what I said."

"I was there the whole time, I heard everything. I know what I heard."

"Darling, honestly, it's not true." She made a desperate attempt to sweet talk her child. "You know how much of a bad person your father is, you've seen it with your own eyes. You've made your own mind up over the years."

"I haven't!" the young girl yelled, tears still flowing rapidly down her red cheeks, flushed with rage. "You've never given me the chance, you've been feeding me lies since I was ten years old. I can barely remember when you were together, when we were all happy. All I have is what you've told me. You've poisoned me against him. I realise now…god, I've been so stupid! All this time, when you said he didn't want to see us, when you said he didn't care, it's been you! You've kept him from seeing us, you've shut him out of our lives and tried to pretend that we don't need him. Well I need him at the moment. I need at least one parent I can rely on. I'm moving out. I don't ever want to speak to you again."

She turned quickly, her long brown hair slicing across her face, and slammed the door loudly. They heard her footsteps racing up the stairs, and drawers opening and closing frantically as Hermione packed her possessions.

Catherine moved to sit on the sofa, her head in her hands. A sudden thought struck her, and she looked up at Sandra with tearstained eyes.

"Why was she stood outside the door? She'd never listen in, she's a polite girl. Did you tell her to?"

"So what if I did?" she asked, repeating Catherine's earlier defence. "She's not a little girl anymore, Catherine. She deserves to know the truth. She'd have found out eventually, and believe me, the older you get, the harder it hurts."

"You're a bitch," the brunette spat. "I could have hid it from her, she never had to know. We're moving to Spain soon, and he'd have been out of our lives for good."

"That's what my mum thought. That I'd never have to know the truth about my dad. But eventually I did some digging, and when I found out…my whole world collapsed. Everything I'd ever believed, everything I'd done, it was all lies. Do you really want Hermione and Rufus living like that?"

Catherine shook her head, placing it back in her hands.

"I think you've only really got one option left," she said, gently, almost feeling sorry for her. Is this what her mum must have felt like when she had confronted her about her father? "I think the only way for you to regain Hermione's trust is to drop the allegations against Rob, and even then it's not going to be easy. You all need to talk, instead of just shielding the children from him. You need to put them first, not your arguments."

The door swung open again, and Hermione entered with a suitcase. "Take me to my dad," she demanded.

"Me?" Sandra asked.

"Yes, you." The girl snapped.

She stood up quickly, holding up her hands. She was surprised by her forceful nature, but then again, she was a teenager, whose life had just been turned upside down.

"Okay," she said, moving towards the door. "My car is at the end of the street. Lead the way."

"Hermione, please," her mother made one final attempt to prevent her rash actions. "Let's talk about this, we can sort it out together."

Hermione simply shot her a look that rivalled Sandra's icy glare, and stormed out of the front door and down the drive, pulling her huge suitcase behind her. Catherine looked desperately at Sandra, who merely shrugged.

"Like I said, you've only got one real option here. Drop the charges or lose Hermione for good, simple as." With that, she followed the girl down the drive, reaching her car and helping her to place the suitcase in the boot. They both got in the car, just as the rain stopped.

"So," Sandra opened, cautiously.

"Just drive."