"I suppose it's a good thing that Tyler's getting married in the summer." Whitney mused, not looking up from the bottles around her on the floor. "At least you don't have to pull the kids out of school for it."

There was a smashing sound as the bottle of vodka slipped from Katy's hand and hit the floor. "Summer? This summer?"

"You didn't know." The tone of the younger woman's voice told Katy that she wasn't surprised. Whitney sighed. "They're getting married in August."

"Why? She's not up the duff, is she?" Katy laughed mirthlessly. At Whitney's silence, she got her answer. "Oh… she is."

"Babe…"

"It's fine."

"Are you gonna go?"

"No, of course I'm not." The blonde scoffed, looking as though it was the most ridiculous thing she'd ever heard. "Even if I was remotely interested, there's far too much going on here for me to just go to Spain." She shook her head, stooping and beginning to pick up shards of the glass bottle she'd smashed. "Eddie's coming over to collect the kids; not sure when yet, but he'll let me know. I thought I'd have a bit more notice, that's all."

"Katy…"

"I said it's fine." She snapped, straightening and storming off in the direction of the kitchen.

Stamping on the pedal of the bin, she threw the glass into it, before pushing through the fire exit and heading out onto the street. Leaning heavily against the wall, Katy banged her head against the brickwork several times, exhaling deeply and running her hands through her hair.

Tyler had wanted a baby while they'd been together and so, before she'd got ill, they'd been trying for one. When they were unsuccessful, Katy had assumed that it was a problem on his side, considering she already had the girls. Now, though, her assumption appeared to have been totally wrong.

"Katy, you alright?"

Katy glanced up at the sound of her cousin's voice. Seeing Billy looking at her sympathetically, she felt the tears welling up in her eyes and leant her head back against the wall again. As the first tears began to fall, she let out a soft sob and Billy pulled her into a tight hug. Katy crumpled against him, fisting her hands into the back of his jacket and burying her face into his collar.

After five minutes or so, Billy gently pulled away, ducking his head to look into her face. "Please don't tell me you're crying over Tyler Moon." When Katy scrubbed at her eyes and didn't reply, he sighed deeply. "That doughnut don't deserve your tears."

She snorted with laughter at his words, turning incredulous eyes on him. "Doughnut?"

"I heard that he's getting married in the summer."

"Oh, so everyone knew except me, then."

"I didn't mean…"

"I know, Bill." She smiled weakly. Then she forced herself up to stand straighter, pulling herself together. "How's Will?"

"He's doing better, thanks. Just keeping him calm and resting."

"Good, I'm glad he's OK. And I'm sorry about Honey… for the record, I think she's an idiot for picking the dentist over you."

He rubbed the back of his neck. "Yeah, well…"

"Honestly, Billy. I think she's made the wrong choice."

"Thanks, Katy."

"We're family, ain't we?" She reminded him with a smile. "Even if you are a prat most of the time."

He laughed, the sting taken out of her words by the chuckle that accompanied them. "Thanks. You coming to this picnic Mick's organised tomorrow?"

"I'm not really sure that football is the girls' thing." Katy replied, laughing again. "Actually, scratch that. I'm not sure that I should unleash Jess on the other kids."

"Bring them along; it'll be fun. It'll do you good to get away from work and forget for a while, too."

"I'll think about it."

Squeezing her arm, Billy smiled and walked away. His shoulders dropped after a couple of steps, when he obviously thought his cousin had stopped watching. Katy sighed, wondering whether bad luck in relationships was unavoidable if your surname was Mitchell.

"Hey, Katy?" She glanced up as her father stormed towards her, looking irritated. "Have a word with Amy, would ya?"

"What about?"

"Her obsession with Mel."

"Eh?"

"She's calling her Aunty Mel and everything. Ever since this whole… you know…"

"What, her starting her period, you mean?" His daughter asked, arching an eyebrow. "It's perfectly natural, Dad."

"Yeah, I know that." He replied defensively. "Yeah, well, ever since Mel helped her out, she's been going on about her nonstop. It's getting awkward."

"Right, fine, I'll speak to her." Katy sighed. "Thanks for telling me about that, by the way. I had to find out from Whit."

"You ain't exactly easy to get hold of." Jack pointed out, raising an eyebrow at her. "You ain't even answering your phone."

"I'm busy, Dad." She sighed. "I'm sorry, OK. I'll… I'll try and do something with her later."

"She's still annoyed that you blew her off and she had to go and get her nails done with me."

"Yeah, I heard about that… Tina said the colour really suited you."

"Shut up." He rolled his eyes. "You promised her you'd be there for her, so step up, right?"

As he strode away, she shook her head, swearing softly under her breath. She felt guilty for backing out of taking Amy to get her nails done, but she'd had a meeting with a supplier that she couldn't rearrange. Deciding that she'd treat her sister like a grown up, she sent her a text, asking her to come to the office when she got a chance. Amy had replied immediately, saying that she'd be there in ten minutes.

Smiling to herself, she wondered who would be dropping the ten-year-old off at the bar, before wandering inside and back up to her office. Whitney sent her a fleeting smile, knowing better than to mention her storming out.

Katy settled herself behind her desk, waiting for the telltale knock on the door. It never came, however, as Amy simply barged in and dropped onto the sofa, looking expectantly at her older sister.

"You said you wanted to work here," Katy said with a shrug, "so today's your first day."

A small spread slowly over her sister's face. "Really?"

"Uh-huh." The older blonde nodded. "I can't let you near alcohol for the next eight years, but I can find plenty for you to do instead."

"Wait… are you gonna make me clean stuff?"

Katy laughed. "There may be a bit of cleaning, possibly some glass collecting? How do you feel about beer mats?"

"I don't have any strong feelings…"

Laughing again, Katy stood and wrapped an arm around Amy's shoulders, pulling her into a hug. Feeling the younger blonde's arms wrapping around her waist in response, Katy rested her chin on the top of her sister's head and sighed.

"I'm sorry I've been a bit crap lately." She apologised softly.

"Yeah, you have."

"But surely you know that you could have come to me if you needed me?"

"Yeah…"

"So, why didn't you, sweetie?" Katy asked, genuinely perplexed over the situation. "You know I would have sorted everything out."

"Dad and Granny said that me and Ricky shouldn't bother you." Amy explained with a small shrug. "They said that you have lots to do and that you needed to get better properly."

"You listen to me, Amy Christina Mitchell." The older blonde leant closer, fixing her with a stern gaze. "I'm your sister, alright? I'm never, ever going to be too ill or too busy to look out for you. I love you and I will do whatever I have to so that I can make sure you're safe and you're happy and you have everything you need. D'you understand?"

Amy nodded. "I understand."

"Good." Katy nodded firmly. "You make sure Ricky knows too, alright?"

"Alright."

"Next time, you come to me, babe, yeah? For anything."

"Aunty Mel was really nice about it."

Katy wrinkled her nose. "I'm sure she was, but she ain't family, is she?"

Amy shrugged. "So, what do you want me to do?"

"Fancy learning how to use the tills?"

"Yes!"

Grinning, Katy led her out of the office and over to the upstairs bar. She explained the basics, before letting her younger sister have a go. When they opened up for lunch, Katy took Amy downstairs so that she could help out. Glenda and Kathy appeared, grinning as the ten-year-old carefully imputed their order into the till and held out her hand for the payment.

Arching an eyebrow, Glenda waved her card and her granddaughter. Amy huffed petulantly as Katy set up the machine and pushed it across the bar towards the older blonde. She nodded her head towards the card machine and Amy dutifully removed the card and ripped off the receipt, before handing it back to Glenda.

"You planning on taking over from Katy, are you?" Kathy asked Amy with a chuckle.

"Yeah, sooner rather than later, I think." The older of the two sisters said, nudging the younger with her hip.

"She's paying me twenty quid an hour to help out." Amy informed her cheekily.

"Oi!" Katy laughed. "She definitely is not. D'you wanna bankrupt me single handed or what?"

They chatted for a couple of minutes, before Katy's ringing mobile interrupted them. After a quick glance at the display, she announced that she needed to take it and told Amy to go and sit with the older women and have some lunch. They frowned at her curiously as she hurried back up to her office, already talking into her phone in a low voice.

"Jeff?"

"More money in your account." He told her without preamble. "It was picked up by my associate, who asked whether he should transfer it to the same account as the last payment."

"How much?"

"Another ten."

"Fuck."

"Ritchie able to shed any light on the matter?"

Katy shook her head, closing her office door firmly behind her. "Nothing. She has no idea about the account it's coming from and neither does my contact in Ibiza. Well, he's not admitting he knows anything about the transfer, anyway. He said my Mum had a contingency plan for their business account, but seeing as it's only been open for a couple of months and they've been dead for a couple of years…"

"I'll keep an eye on the situation. If any more money comes in…?"

"Put it in the separate account until we can work out where it's coming from." Katy sighed. "God knows I could do with that money the way things are at the moment, but it's too much of a risk."

Ending the call, she put her head in her hands and thought about the situation. Thirty-five thousand pounds wasn't an amount that could be dismissed easily. She hadn't been exaggerating; the money would come in extremely handy, but it was far too much of a risk to touch it at the moment.

Katy briefly considered what she'd do if it turned out that one of her cousins was using her account to launder dodgy money, before her mind wandered to Ben. She let her eyes slip closed as she remembered his involvement in her latest situation, wondering how long it would be before he demanded something from her to keep his silence. If the timings hadn't been slightly out, she would have thought that he was behind the money.

Knowing that if she didn't reappear soon, Glenda would come looking for her, Katy painted a smile on her face and headed back down the stairs. She waved off their concern over the phone call by telling a half truth; that her accountant had called with a couple of questions about the accounts, before motioning for Amy to follow her back towards the bar. Pointedly ignoring the curious looks that her grandmother was still sending her, Katy explained the ordering system to her sister and set her off taking stock of the bottles in the fridge.

"Can I work here all holiday?" Amy asked as she waited for Katy to check over what she'd done a little while later.

Her sister glanced up, sending her an amused smirk. "I'm pretty sure there are laws against child labour, sweetie. In fact, I'd probably get into trouble for having you here, now. Besides, don't you want to enjoy your week off?"

"I'd rather hang out with you."

Sighing, Katy put the clipboard on the bar and pulled her sister into a tight hug. She pressed a lingering kiss to the top of Amy's head and let her eyes slip closed.

"I love hanging out with you too, sweetheart. But don't grow up too quick, yeah? Enjoy being a kid while you can. Trust me, you become an adult far too soon."

Amy rolled her eyes, pulling away and picking up the clipboard once more. "God, you're embarrassing."

She shot her sister a grin, assuring Katy that she was just joking, before announcing that she was going to do a stock take of the upstairs bar. Nodding at Jenny, one of her barmaids, as she silently asked whether Katy wanted her to follow the ten-year-old, the blonde leant against the bar and watched her disappearing from sight. She wished she could get Amy to understand that Katy was just trying to protect her, but knew that they were too similar for the younger Mitchell's own good.