Chastity Dingle's head shot up the minute she heard her son's footsteps on the staircase, she'd been quietly waiting all morning for him to rise from his bed and time was running out. Two years ago she brought the other half of the woolpack off Diane and whilst she loved completely owning the business, it also came with its down sides. This morning for example when she had a million things to do like wait for the delivery and go over the stock from the weekend and this, when all she really wanted to do was talk to her son.

At eleven the pub doors open and so at half ten, she'd resided herself to the fact that she needed to get everything ready and there simply wouldn't be time for the chat with Aaron. She was relieved though, when she suddenly heard him, now was the time to discuss her fears. She'd spent the previous night laying awake, worrying about her son and replaying everything that he and Jackson had been through together, by four in the morning, when sleep still hadn't reached her, she'd made a decision - she couldn't let a reunion happen.

"Morning love."

"Morning." Aaron barely spared her a glance when he entered the room and it made Chastity smile, he'd never been one for polite pleasantries and it reminded her of when he was a teenager. She watched him drop onto the sofa and begin to pull on his shoes. "You going somewhere?" she said alarmed, her questions were too important to wait until he returned.

"Paddy's."

"Yeah?"

"He text earlier, it's his day off and he's asked me if I fancy a cooked breakfast on him."

"he's buying?"

"No he's making."

Chastity smiled for a moment, distracted by how happy she was that Paddy had remained in her son's life, she knew that they would always be close and she was so thankful to him. Paddy had an unreserved pool of strength and a lesser person would have given up a long time ago on Aaron as over the years he has caused one sleepless night after another. He tortured Paddy in the beginning, when she and he got together and then caused chaos whilst living with him, eventually going on to beat him up when Paddy discovered he was gay. This was hard enough but then the following suicide attempt, seeing him through Jackson's accident and then the second suicide attempt almost took it out of Paddy.

One event in particular startled Chastity, it made her realise that Paddy was just has emotionally fallible as she was where her son was concerned, before then he'd always held her up. It was a few weeks after Aaron had been sectioned and he still wasn't completely calm enough to hold a conversation. Paddy had gone to see Aaron alone and when he returned she and Rhona were having a cup of tea and waiting for Paddy's assessment, it was a routine they'd fallen into when one of them went for a visit. He couldn't speak though, and it wasn't because anything had happened and the visit had gone relatively well considering how ill Aaron was, it was purely because it all suddenly hit Paddy. He cried that afternoon for ages and it made Chastity understand that she needed to rely less on his strength and more on her own.

"Well that will be nice for you both," Chastity said, feeling a little panicky now, Aaron had got up and she couldn't avoid this conversation for much longer. She stood next to the sofa, sort of hoping from foot to foot and Aaron gave her a strange smile before straightening the leg material on his jean. He'd stopped wearing tracksuit trousers tucked into worker boots years ago, Chas assumed Dean was responsible for that, and she was extremely grateful.

She'd first heard of Dean during her visit to Dubai last year when Aaron was collecting her from the airport to take her to his apartment. He'd been a little uneasy in the car and she'd thought it was due to her getting very emotional at the airport, also, maybe because of the awful events that had preceded Aaron's departure.

During the drive he had sort of cleared his throat and glanced sideways and then steadily said, "Oh by the way I don't live alone." She hadn't initially thought anything of it, other than to wonder why he'd never mentioned a flatmate "Ok,

"He's alright though." She'd just smiled at him and then stopped when she saw the deep steadying breath that Aaron took, "Aaron, when you say living with someone – do you mean as in living with someone?"

He didn't say a word and his silence was all the confirmation she needed, "When did this happen!"

"A while ago."

"And you live together?"

Aaron had shrugged, "It's his place, I moved in a few months ago."

"Does he have a name?"

"Dean."

And the introduction had come the minute she'd walked through the door, Dean had laid out a fantastic lunch, fetched a beer and told her to make herself at home. The whole thing was a little overwhelming, and she'd accidently stuttered that she'd had no idea he even existed. Dean had flashed Aaron a look and she realised that he'd probably known this and had found out only recently, Aaron just stood to the side embarrassed.

Dean had been lovely – fantastic even. He was cool, friendly and confident and clearly adored her son. He couldn't do enough whilst she was there, and when not working the pair would take her all over the place. Dean had a fantastic career and judging by the apartment they lived in, was on a lot of money. The last night of her visit, the three of them had gone to the most expensive restaurant she'd ever set foot in, she'd worn a full length dress and the boys had worn suits. Just before they'd set out, she remembered catching Aaron and Dean in a private moment, Dean was straightening Aaron's tie as he grumbled about having to wear a suit. He had kissed the tip of Aaron's nose and told him to 'pack it in because we are doing something nice for your mother', he'd grinned in response and Chas had felt like crying because this was all she'd ever wanted for her son.

"See ya then," Aaron said whilst checking his pockets presumably to make sure he hadn't forgotten anything.

"Aaron wait."

She needed to speak to him now; to hear the clarification that Aaron isn't back because Jackson sent him a message, wanted the words spelt out that he hasn't returned to undo everything that he has with Dean.

Aaron raised an eyebrow questioningly and when Chas still hadn't said a word, looked at her impatiently.

She bottled it, "how was Adam yesterday?"

"Good."

"What did you do?"

She watched Aaron shift uncomfortably, "Not a lot, drank beer and sat around catching up, why?"

"No reason."

He'd gave her a weird look, waited for her to continue and when she didn't just shook his head, amused "bye then."

"Bye."

She'd imagined that conversation differently. She'd imagined sitting him down and chatting to him before getting confirmation that Aaron absolutely never read Jackson's message and that his return was pure coincidence. He was then meant to look her in the eyes and tell her how happy he was with Dean and that the reason he wasn't here was truly because of work commitments, and that he'd never loved anyone as much.

That conversation was going to have to wait.