"Oh my god! Katy bleedin' Mitchell?"

Katy grinned at the familiar voice and turned to look at the woman who had spoken. She couldn't take a single step towards Tina before the older woman had pulled her into a tight hug and was squealing delightedly in her ear. Laughing, Katy disentangled herself and tried to work out what she was saying.

"Shirl is gonna be so pleased to see you! Sonia mentioned you'd told Dot you were planning on coming back. Is it for good? Or are you just visiting? You've got to come and have a drink!"

"You try stopping me." The Mitchell agreed with a chuckle. "Yeah, I'm sticking around… I bought the bar over on Turpin Road. I bet Shirl won't be so thrilled about that."

Tina laughed. "We wondered who bought it. What you doing with it? Looks like you're having a load of work done."

Katy nodded. "Yeah, having a bit of a remodel and rebrand. It's pretty much a building site at the moment. I'm planning to open it at the end of March, so it's a full time job keeping the guys on task!"

"You've had a bit of a remodel and rebrand yourself." Tina joked, arching an eyebrow. She reached out and grasped Katy by the shoulders, peering at her for a moment, before spinning her on the spot. "Going blonde was a smart move. You look exactly like your Mum and she was hot."

Laughing again, Katy slapped her on the shoulder. "Leave it out, T."

"Seriously, though, it suits you."

"Thanks."

"So, that drink?"

"I'll catch you later." The younger woman sighed, glancing at the time on her phone. "I've gotta collect the kids, but I might be able to convince Gran to babysit later."

"Yeah, you make sure you do." Tina pointed at her as she backed away towards the Vic. "The first one's on me."

"I'll hold you to that." Katy called after her, grinning and heading in the direction of Walford Primary.

A feeling of anticipation washed over her as she made the journey that had once been so familiar to her. It had been a long time since she'd done the school run here; long enough to feel uncomfortable about it, but not long enough that she would have been forgotten by the other parents that would be hanging around by the classroom doors.

She had timed it so that she would arrive just as the bell was ringing, meaning that she wouldn't have to wait too long for the children. Starting at the year 3 classroom, she smiled weakly at the other parents, tamping down the urge to glare at anyone sending her a curious look, before beaming at her daughter and brother as they surged through the door towards her.

Laughing as Ruby immediately started chattering about her day, barely allowing Ricky to get a word in edgeways, they made their way around to collect Amy from her class, before she herded them towards the nursery. Thanking the teacher who ushered Matthew and the twins towards her, Katy snapped the reins onto the three youngest, while ordering the older three children to grab a hand each.

"Mummy…" Katy sighed, recognising her daughter's tone immediately. "You know when you open R&R… can I come too?"

"It'll be too late for you, baby." Her mother replied. "You'll be fast asleep."

"I can come, though, can't I, Katy?"

"No, Amy." Katy arched an eyebrow at her. "You'll be in bed, too."

"That's not fair! I want to go, too."

"It's entirely fair. I'm the one who's putting all the hard work into getting it ready for the opening." The young woman pointed out in amusement. "If you deal with the suppliers and the stupid contractors, then I'll let you come to the opening."

"OK, I can do that." Amy nodded decisively.

Katy looked at her for a moment and then pulled a face. "I totally believe you could. Dad would kill me, though, so I'm afraid it's no deal, kid."

"That's so unfair!"

"That's life."

As Amy stropped off to walk a couple of paces in front of her sister, dragging Jessica with her, Katy thought carefully about what she had said. Opening the bar as the R&R was all about honouring Ronnie and Roxy's memories and keeping their legacy alive. Amy and the others were all part of that legacy, too. Katy fully intended to keep the bar going, build the business if she could, until Amy was old enough to join her if that was what she wanted.

"OK, here's what we'll do." She announced as she caught up with Amy and Jessica as they waited for the others at the crossing. "You can't come to the official opening, because it'll be far too late and there'll be too many people–"

"Hopefully." Amy said, shooting her a look that made her seem far older than her ten years.

"Yes, hopefully." Katy rolled her eyes at her sister. "So yeah, far too late and too many people." Seeing that Amy was about to interrupt again, she held up a hand. "So, what we'll do is have an pre-official opening the same day."

"What's that?" Ricky asked, frowning at her.

Amy pouted. "That's not a thing."

"It is; I just made it up." Katy poked her tongue out. "You'll get to come to the bar and have a party before anyone else."

The three children considered the proposal while they waited for the lights at the crossing to change. None of them spoke as they waited for Katy to nod, before crossing to the other side of the road. Katy was waiting for them to throw more arguments or suggestions her way but, to her immense surprise, Amy simply nodded her approval.

"That sounds fair."

"Yeah? Good, because that's the only offer you're getting."

"Of course I'll babysit!" Glenda agreed instantly, smiling broadly at her granddaughter. "You need to get out and enjoy yourself more often. I'll babysit whenever you want, darling."

"I'll be out a lot once the bar's open." Katy pointed out, grabbing an armful of clean washing from the back of the sofa. "You're going to end up regretting that offer."

"Yes, well, your father will have to pull his weight, too."

Katy chuckled, unsurprised that her grandmother would have a comeback for that. "If you're sure you don't mind? I'm only going for a couple of drinks over the Vic."

"Take as long as you like."

Pausing for a moment, Katy smiled and dropped the washing into the basket. She pressed a kiss to Glenda's cheek and thanked her, before grabbing her purse and jacket and heading for the door.

While she had been avoiding bumping into anyone since they'd moved back to Walford, Katy decided that an evening in the Vic should be enough to get reacquainted with most of those she'd left behind two years earlier. She'd tried to get hold of Whitney, but the younger woman hadn't replied to her messages. Bumping into her in the pub wasn't the way Katy really wanted to let her friend know they were back, but beggers couldn't be choosers.

The Vic was exactly as she had pictured it in her mind. It still had the same, slightly stale smell that Katy remembered so well. The atmosphere was relaxed and familiar and memories, both bad and good, rushed at her as the doors swung closed behind her. A soft smile appeared on her lips as she looked around. It felt like home.

"Katy!" Whitney's eyes widened and she rushed around the bar to wrap her arms around her friend with an excited squeal. "Oh my god! What are you doing here? Why didn't you say you were coming? How long have you been blonde?"

"I bloody well did tell you, Whitney Dean." Katy laughed, pulling back and mock frowning at her. "Apparently you're far too busy to reply to my messages."

"Sorry…" She winced guiltily. "So how long are you back for? Are the kids with you?"

"We're back for good, Whit." Katy told her with a grin. "I've bought Number 43 and the bar on Turpin Road. I'm gonna reopen it as soon as it's ready."

"No way! That's amazing!"

"Thanks, babe."

As she propelled Katy over to a free booth, keen to catch up on all the gossip, Tina spotted them and, true to her word, appeared with drinks and dropped onto the bench beside her. Katy grinned and accepted her drink, immediately drawing the older woman into their conversation.

After a while, Shirley wandered over and grinned. "Fancy seeing you here, Mitchell. Tina says your back for good."

"I am." She tilted her head and appraised the older blonde. "You're looking good, Shirl."

"So are you. How's the cancer?" Tina and Whitney both gasped, turning wide-eyed to stare at Shirley after her question. Her sister nudged her in the side and shook her head at her. "What?"

"It's not great, to be honest. Still hanging around trying to take me down." Katy shrugged, taking a long drink and not meeting anyone's eyes. "But it hasn't managed so far, so… my last set of tests results were more positive, though. I've got enough going on to keep my mind off it."

"Ah, yeah… that's something else I wanted to talk to you about." Shirley said, narrowing her eyes playfully.

Katy laughed. "The Vic did alright when The Albert was open. It'll be exactly the same when I open the R&R."

"You're calling it the R&R?"

"Yeah… what else would I call it?"

"They'd love it, K." Whitney told her seriously, reaching out and squeezing her hand. "They'd be so proud of you."

"Thanks." The blonde smiled at her, before leaning back in her seat and turning the conversation round to all the goings on that she'd missed while she'd been away.

"Hey, you ain't mentioned Tyler at all?" Tina realised suddenly, peering at Katy over the top of her glass. "Where is he?"

"Spain." She shrugged. "We split up."

That confession seemed to put the dampener on the evening. Their conversation was interrupted every so often by someone coming over to speak to Katy. She smiled and answered their questions as briefly as she could, gritting her teeth as most of them referenced her mother and aunt's deaths or Tyler's absence.

After a short while, Shirley and Tina were called over by Linda to help behind the bar and Whitney's boyfriend appeared. He was nice enough and seemed to worship the young woman, so Katy decided she approved.

Leaving them to their drinks, the Mitchell said goodnight and headed across the Square. Glenda asked how her evening had been, before asking whether Katy minded if she popped out for a while. Shaking her head and pressing a kiss to the older blonde's cheek, her granddaughter told her to have a good time.

Only a few minutes had passed before the buzzer sounded and Katy moved to see who was outside. When Whitney's voice sounded over the intercom she smiled softly and pressed the button to let her in.

"Thought you could use this after today." Whitney said, holding up a bottle of wine and smiling as Katy opened the door.

"You couldn't be more right."

Squeezing her arm affectionately, Whitney followed Katy into the kitchen and perched on one of the chairs at the table as the blonde hunted for wine glasses in the cupboard. She made a mental note to thank Glenda for unpacking, before emerging triumphantly with a glass in each hand.

"So, wanna talk about Tyler?"

"Not really." Katy shrugged. "Tell me about Callum. He seems like a great guy."

Whitney didn't need any more encouragement to talk about her boyfriend. She happily launched into a story while Katy poured the wine and led the way back to the living room. Listening lazily, the Mitchell nodded along with the stories her friend was telling her, interjecting when necessary and enjoying being back in Whitney's company.

"Whit…" Katy chewed her lip, wondering how her friend was going to react to what she was about to tell her. "This is going to sound completely mad, right, but… I think…"

"What?"

"I got this letter." She moved across to the dresser and pulled the envelope Jack had given her out of the drawer. "Dad saved it for me. Read it and tell me what you think… who you think sent it."

Whitney nodded slowly, her eyebrows furrowed as she pulled the letter out. She read over it quickly and frowned as she realised what Katy must be thinking. The young woman didn't want to completely dash her friend's hopes, but she couldn't see how Katy's mother could possibly have sent the letter.

"K…" She started slowly. "You want this to be from Ronnie, don't you?"

"Who else would have sent that?"

"Babe, your mum is dead."

"Is she?" Katy shook her head. "Tell me that this isn't exactly the sort of thing Mum would do. She'd try and contact me if she wasn't dead, right?"

Whitney looked a little confused. "Well yeah… of course she would, but… Jack saw her body in the chapel of rest, didn't he? We were all at the funeral? The police were there at the hotel. They told you she was dead."

"I…" Katy couldn't help but feel her hope slipping a little at her friend's words. "Whitney, I just…"

"I know, babe." She pulled the blonde into a sideways hug, closing her eyes as she felt the pain radiating off her. "I wish she was still alive – I wish they were both still alive – but they're not. I dunno who sent this, but I really don't think it was Ronnie."

A scuffling sound outside the living room door caught their attention and Katy glanced over, wiping her eyes and smiling softly at the figure of her sleep, still half-asleep daughter in the doorway. Holding out her hand, she beckoned Ruby over, scooping her onto her lap and kissing the top of her head as the seven-year-old snuggled into her.

"You remember Aunty Whitney, right Rubes?" She asked gently, smoothing down her hair and tucking it behind her ear.

The little girl shook her head. "Nope. But you used to talk about her and Aunty Lauren all the time and there were loads of photos."

"You've got so grown up!" Whitney told her with a bright smile. "And you're so pretty!"

"Mumma says I look like Grandma."

"You really do."

"It's 'cos I'm blonde." Ruby informed her seriously. "I used to have brown hair when I was little, like the twins, but it's gone blonde now. Mum's dyed her hair blonde too, like me and Grandma and Granny Glenda."

Chuckling at her daughter, Katy shook her head and stood up, pulling Ruby with her. "Come on, you, back to bed. Say goodnight to Aunty Whit."

"Goodnight, Aunty Whit." Ruby repeated obediently.

Signalling that she'd only be a couple of minutes, Katy ushered her eldest daughter out of the room and back to the bedroom. Careful not to wake the others, she tucked Ruby in and pressed a kiss to her forehead, watching as she fell back to sleep almost immediately. Looking at her for a moment, Katy exhaled softly, before leaving the room and re-joining her friend.

"She's gorgeous, babe." Whitney told her genuinely, holding out the refilled glass of wine in her direction.

"She's not bad." Katy agreed with a chuckle. "I never thought I'd manage to raise such a mature, sensible kid."

"I never doubted it."

"So… R&R."

Whitney furrowed her eyebrows in confusion, wondering what Katy was getting at. She wasn't at all surprised that her friend seemed to want to forget their previous conversation. "What about it?"

"I'm gonna need staff when we open." Katy pointed out. "Who better to be my right hand woman than my best friend?"

"Me?"

"Who else, Whit? I trust you."

"I dunno…" She bit her lip thoughtfully. "I mean, Mick and Linda have been so good to me. It feels a bit like I'd be betraying them."

Katy's face fell slightly, but she quickly schooled her features and smiled. "I get that. I'm not asking you to betray the Carters. But the Vic's always done fine even with the bar and club open."

"Can I think about it?"

"Course." She nodded, squeezing her arm. "Take as long as you want."