Chapter Twenty-Six

Becca, it turns out, was the one who shopped Bradley to the police on the night that he died; an admission which had Becca ejected from the Slater household with immediate effect and received a warning to never return to Albert Square. Although Chris had grown to quite like Becca he wasn't really bothered about her leaving and if he was honest he was probobaly just going along with it to make Stacey happy

Becca's departure had made Stacey have a funny turn and she was displaying the characteristics of bi-polar disorder again. As Chris watched Janine Butcher head off to her sham wedding Stacey barged passed him not even noticing him; Chris followed her.

"Stacey, Stace where are you going" said Chris running up to his sister

"Police station" said Stacey continuing to walk without looking at her younger brother

"Why" said Chris running so he was infront of Stacey; she stopped dead in her tracks "Why the hell would you wanna go there for"

"I'm going to tell them" said Stacey with an insane smile "I'm going to tell them everything"

"No, no you're not" said Chris desperately trying to pull Stacey back. He could kill Becca for this. Stacey tried to pull herself off Chris but he was too strong for her

"Chris, please" she begged "I need to do this; I need to tell someone I need to atone for my sins"

"No. No you don't" said Chris "You have already payed a big enough price; you lost Bradley"

Chris's words seemed to hit Stacey hard and without saying anything or looking at Chris she turned on her heal and walked away. Later, Chris along with Amber, Mo, Jean, Charlie and a reluctant Stacey went to the Vic because for some reason they had decided to go to Janine and Ryan's wedding reception

"Had to stop Stace going to the old bill earlier" said Chris cornering Max who was in attendance with his new girlfriend Vanessa

"What" said Max "Why she was going there"

"To tell them about Archie" said Chris in a whisper "Said she wanted to atone for his sins; she aint well Max"

"Well, I'll have a word later" said Max taking a drink from Roxy "See ya"

Chris joined Amber, Jay, Darren and Jodie near the toilets at the back of the Vic and managed to have a good time despite avoiding Stacey who acting weirder and weirder. She dragged Ryan into the toilets; then Pat followed them in then Ryan and Pat exited

"Babe, stop putting all your attention on her" said Amber "Just leave her; she'll be fine"

About 10 minutes passed and everyone was having a good time when Peggy Mitchell appeared from behind the bar shouting something about the fire

"Old cow's finally lost it" Chris whispered to Jay and Jodie as Peggy flapped up and down the bar. However as Chris finished the sentence a large explosion came from behind the bar

Chris, Jay, Amber, Jodie and Darren were all lifted off their feet by the explosion and were flung against the wall. Chris picked Amber up with his hand but could not see for the amount of smoke. He heard people shouting and screaming eachother. Chris and Darren led the group to what they thought was the door but they were blocked by a barrage of flames; they retreated backwards. Amber was coughing a lot whilst Jay looked faint. Chris turned around and Darren was gone.

"We're gonna have to jump it" Chris said to Jay, Jodie and Amber

"Are you mad" said Amber

"It's our only choice" said Chris

The teens eventually made their way out of the door and threw the flames where they met up with Darren and Whitney. They stood in a group until Chris noticed Stacey and Lily were not with Jean and Mo. Suddenly a window from the Vic living room smashed; it was Stacey

"Help" she screamed. Chris, Jean, Mo and Amber ran towards the window and Chris tried to run into the Vic but was held back by Max and Billy. Ryan eventually found a ladder and climbed to the window where Stacey handed Lily to him. Ryan gave Lily to Zainab Masood who took her to the ambulances; Amber went with them.

Chris refused to move until Stacey was out; Ryan was stronger than Chris so mounted the ladder once again to get Stacey out. Ryan and Stacey were making their way down the ladder when the Vic exploded and flung them both to the ground; Chris was thown by the force of the explosion and made his way over to Stacey.

The next day, Chris was with Stacey in the hospital room where she and Lily were being treated. Stacey told Chris that Ryan that he was Lily's father and that she had accidentally let it slip to Peggy that she killed Archie; Chris accepted this but it did make him wonder how many other secrets his sister was keeping from him

Peggy Mitchell stormed into the hospital room

"Christopher, can you leave please I need to talk to your sister" Peggy said acting like lady of the manner once again; words could not express how much he hated Peggy

"No way" said Chris folding his arms and sitting down next to Stacey "I know what you're here to talk to her about"

"Wait you know" said Peggy angrily "And you said nothing"

"You bleeding hypocrite" shouted Chris; he didn't make a habit of shouting at 70-year olds but she was a definite exception "All the shady stuff your lot do that you cover up"

"Never a murder" said Peggy

"Oh I think there's a few hidden in the woodwork" said Chris spitefully

Peggy was despicable; she tried to get Stacey to take the blame for the fire at the pub. Peggy then left and apparently left Walford for good. Goodbye Peggy; couldn't have come soon enough in Chris's opinion. At least Chris had survived a pub fire.