"...So she just left! I don't know what I'm going to do without her."

"You'll be fine. You've got Ronnie, and Amy, and... and your mum's around too."

"Auntie Peggy always knew what to do though."

"You could always give her a phone, you know. She left Walford, she didn't die," Christian said as he leaned back in the chair while Roxy played with the tissue she had in her hand.

"I suppose."

They'd been avoiding talking about the fire itself. Christian didn't want to bring up something that would actually be quite painful for his best friend, as she lost part of the family business with it all going up in smoke. And Roxy had taken it hard that night - according to onlookers she had desperately called for help as she thought Peggy wouldn't make it out alive.

It seemed that family drama had taken over her life these past few days and Christian didn't mind at all. Not when he considered what that family had gone through as a result of the fire. Sure, he and Roxy were best friends, but he was more than willing to overlook the fact that now was the first opportunity Roxy had had to come see him, and he didn't want her to fuss over him – he'd had enough of that from everyone else around him.

Besides, apart from worrying about how she might be doing, he hadn't given her too much thought over the last few days either, he thought, guiltily. Maybe they were beginning to drift apart a little now that he was settling down more.

Roxy wiped her eyes with the end of the tissue. "Listen though; I know I've been a terrible mate the last few days but how come you didn't text me the news when you got out of hospital?"

"I'm sorry; I didn't think to let you know. I was just relieved to be getting home. I just wanted to rest up with Sy."

"Hey, this kind of news is important, babe... you tell your best friend when you decide to change your life."

"Change my life?" Christian was puzzled. How could leaving a hospital be a life decision?

Roxy reached over the table and took Christian's hand. "I know I'm not Syed's biggest fan, not after everything I saw you go through in the spring, but I promise I am going to be completely supportive of you getting married."

"Getting what?" Christian's eyes felt like they could pop out of his head, though why Roxy would wind him up like this was beyond him. It was in no way distracting from the dull throb he had in his stomach, which had taken a slight churn when Roxy had mentioned marriage.

"No point in hiding it, everyone knows. Have you set a date for it yet? I have to be your wedding planner. It'll be brilliant... I'm thinking a summer wedding..."

"Hold up a minute, who said I was getting married?"

"I dunno. I heard it from Denise."

"Denise? Where would she get this from?"

"How should I know?" Roxy held her hands up in a surrender gesture and leaned back in the chair. "Were you trying to keep it a secret? In case his parents found out?"

"No, I just... we never said we were getting married, because we're not."

"Oh." Roxy frowned but at the same time Christian was sure he could see relief in her eyes.

"Not yet." He put in, belatedly. He wasn't even sure why it had burst out of his mouth.

"Not yet?"

"Well... in the hospital," he began, skirting around the full story, "Syed kind of proposed."

"He asked you." Roxy leaned forward again, clearly hoping for a juicy story to come out of this, and one that he would be swearing her not to tell anyone.

"It was spur of the moment, he didn't really mean it and I told him so."

"So you said no."

"No... but I didn't say yes, either."

"Oh, Christian," Roxy rubbed his arm in condolence, "I'm sorry."

"Sorry for what?" He pulled his arm away, "We're fine. Syed was just upset about hospital stuff and was being impulsive. When the time is right maybe we will marry... just not yet."

"Where is he anyway?"

"Went to the movies with Tam; he's reassuring him that everything is alright, since Sy has spent the last three days running around after me and pretty much ignoring everything else."

Roxy sat quietly and just stared at the tissue in her hands, and Christian just knew she was mulling something over in her mind.

"What are you thinking?" He asked, giving her a sideways look.

She took a few more seconds before answering. "I'm just wondering, why it is that half the square thinks you two are engaged? I mean... the rumour has to start somewhere, right? And he's the one that proposed to you."

Christian scoffed at the insinuation that Syed would start gossiping, and he wasn't stupid. He wouldn't, and besides, it wasn't like Syed to talk about their private life to all and sundry. "You think he got the wrong end of the stick or... what? That he'd guilt me into it since 'everyone knows about it'?"

Roxy shrugged. "It's just odd, that's all I'm saying."

Christian folded his arms across his chest and frowned worriedly.

Christian sat at the table, staring at the chair where Roxy had been sitting, and mulled everything over in his head.

Syed wouldn't have told people they were getting engaged. Syed knew they weren't getting married. Christian was pretty sure that if Syed did think so then he'd be in a much happier mood about it all. He'd be wanting to start some sort of plan. Sure, his mother and Amira had pretty much run their wedding and he'd let them do what they wanted, but Christian had watched Syed throughout it and there had always been hints of a man actually excited about the big display and the pride that went with it - even though he had been hiding a very big secret at the time. And even though he had never truly wanted to marry Amira - just the idea of her.

He stood and began to tidy up the mugs he and Rox had used, and once in the kitchen he began doing some more cleaning. He cleaned when he was thinking and when he had spare time and excess energy to burn.

If Syed hadn't said anything then who could have done? Only the two of them knew though, didn't they?

Unless... Jane?

She knew something but would she tell people the wrong thing? It was very un-Jane-like but if Denise had been saying things then there was that link of friendship that led to Jane's door. It must have just been something silly that got out of hand.

Which left the bigger question - did Syed know? Did he know they were being gossiped about – again? And what about the rest of the Masood clan who would no doubt be spitting at the news that there could be a civil partnership taking place near their home and that their own son would take part in it? It would just upset Syed to see or know that his parents had yet another negative opinion of him and his homosexual lover.

He really didn't want to worry Sy, but neither did he want to see him in any way hurt from whatever nastiness could come about from untrue rumours. And Syed was a very private person. Lies or not, theirs would never have been a relationship to lord about the place. Christian and Syed were not Ryan and Janine.

So the question remained as to whether or not he would mention anything to Syed... or if Syed mentioned something to him would he pretend it was the first time he'd heard anything? But come to mention it, people had been acting a bit weird...

His phone rang and he grabbed it from the coffee table. "Hello... Oh, hi Alec... Next week, hopefully, but I'll make sure you get a definite yes or no by Monday... Well I think Syed will be the one to keep everyone right... Well you're due a new programme so I'll draw one up for you while I'm laid up and we'll start that at the next session but in the meantime you can stick to the plan we were on for a little longer... All part of the service, mate. See you later."

"Hey babe," he said as Syed came in the door.

"Who was that?"

"Alec."

Syed frowned while thinking for a second. "Oh, posh Alec."

"Can you make sure we call everyone on Monday to organise sessions properly again? Alec's the only one to call so far though, right?"

"Yeah, he called yesterday too, and the day before come to think of it. Always asking how you were doing."

"That's sweet of him." Christian plopped himself down on the sofa and threw an arm on the back of it so he could turn and see Syed better as he pottered about the place, taking off his jacket and shoes.

"I don't think he likes me."

Christian tilted his head and gave Sy an indulgent look. "He doesn't know you."

As Syed sat down, Christian immediately stood up and moved to the shelves behind the TV. "Want to watch a DVD? Or are you all movie'd out?"

"I could suffer through another movie tonight. So long as it's better than the one I just saw."

Christian's fingers trailed over the titles but not finding something he wanted he moved into the top drawer below that had their overflow in. He grabbed a box and dragged it out, but then as he shut the drawer it wouldn't close right. He pulled it out and tried to shut it again, but it got caught in something in the one below.

"What are you doing?" He heard Syed ask from behind. "Look, leave it alone and sit down, I'll fix it." Syed approached and tried to get Christian to move aside.

"It's just a drawer, this much I can still do, you know."

"Just go sit down." Syed argued, grabbing the DVD box from Christian's hand and trying to take over. Christian frowned then turned back to the drawer.

"What is it? Do you have a present stashed in it for me?" He grinned but Syed didn't - he just gave him an exasperated and, possibly, slightly worried look. The teasing smile dropped from Christian's face and he pushed aside the hand that Syed was trying to block him with, and opened up the drawer to find that the offending items were actually just a handful of papers that had been stuffed on top of a bunch of table cloths.

He pulled them out and looked at them in shock when he read the top line on the legal document.

"Why didn't you say something?" He asked, as he saw the two signatures on the back page.