"Time to call in my favour."

Katy glanced up, arching an eyebrow at her cousin as he sauntered across the park towards her. She took her time retying Matthew's shoelace, kissing him on the head, before propelling him towards the girls. Waiting until he'd joined them, she turned and fixed Ben with a hard look.

"What favour?"

He chuckled, taking a seat opposite her at the picnic bench. "Oh, come on, Katy. You're not stupid. In fact, out of our lot, you probably have the most brains."

"Flattery will get you nowhere."

"But seriously, K, you didn't think I'd help you out with your little problem and not ask for a favour in return?"

"Of course I didn't." She sighed, resolutely not looking at him. "I know you too well for that."

Ben laughed again. "We're the same, you and me."

Katy scowled. "We are not. I'm nothing like you."

"Whatever you say." He shrugged, his eyes on the children playing happily in the corner of the park. Then he shifted his gaze back to her, fixing her with a piercing glare. "Now, I think we can do each other a favour. I've heard you're having some money troubles at the R&R–"

"I am not letting you anywhere near my business."

"I didn't think you would." He agreed with a smirk. "Nah, I weren't talking about me. I've got enough going on anyway. Mum needs a challenge; something she can get her teeth into."

"What?"

"She's just come into some money and she's looking for something to do with it. I think you should ask her to go into business with you."

"Why the hell would I do that?"

"Because you need her money."

"No I–"

"Give it a rest, Katy. I know you do." Ben cut across her arguments, rolling his eyes. "You ask Mum to invest and I'll leave well alone. Otherwise I am going to be in your face at every opportunity."

Katy clenched her jaw, knowing that he was deadly serious. "Fine. But she ain't having a major share. It's my bar and I make the decisions, alright?"

"Sure, but do it soon and make sure she feels like she's doing something useful."

He grinned smugly at her as he stood and strolled away, waving at the children as he went. Katy ground her teeth, furious with the turn of events. She liked Kathy and didn't doubt that she'd have some useful advice. She also couldn't deny that a cash injection would be helpful, especially as there was money in an account that she couldn't touch at the moment.

"Come on, kids." She called, standing up and gathering their things. "Time to go."

"But you said–"

"I know, baby, I'm sorry." Katy apologised, tucking Ruby's hair behind her ear. "I've got something I need to do. I'll drop you at Grandad Jack's house, OK?"

Ruby sighed dramatically and nodded. "Fine."

Herding them out of the park and across the Square, Katy quickly apologised to Rainie about dropping the children off, before heading towards the Café. She had decided to ask Kathy straight away and get it over and done with. If the other woman turned her down, at least she could tell Ben she'd tried.

"Kath? You got a minute?" She asked, leaning against the counter and motioning towards the table in the corner.

Looking confused, the older blonde nodded and followed her across the room. Once they were settled at the table, Katy rested her elbows on the surface and looked at her carefully. Kathy was still looking confused, clearly having no idea what the other woman could possibly want to speak to her about.

"Is everything OK?" She asked, suddenly worried. It crossed her mind that there might be something bothering Katy that she couldn't speak to her grandmother about.

"Yeah, I just have an offer to make you."

"What kind of offer?"

"I'm going through bit of a tough time at the bar. I know you've got a bit of experience in the trade and I was wondering whether you would help me out a bit." She paused for a moment. "Look, to be totally honest with you, Ben told me that you'd come into a bit of money and were looking for a project to take on. How would you feel about investing in the R&R?"

Kathy blinked at her for a moment. "So you want my money."

"No! Well, I can't deny that it would be helpful, but I'd like your experience as well. Besides, I'd quite like to hand over some control to someone I trust. I need more time at home with the kids; I'd tired of breaking promises."

"What, exactly, are you proposing?"

"You buy into the R&R, I make you manager and we work together."

"Equal partners?" At the expression on Katy's face she laughed. "I didn't think so."

"I can't." The younger blonde told her softly, shaking her head. "I can't give up so much."

"OK… I can work with that."

"Really?"

"Yeah. I know how hard you've worked and I don't want to take it away from you." Kathy said, reaching out and squeezing her hand across the table. "Besides, I think Glenda might kill me. Right, so… twenty-five percent?"

"I could live with that." Katy agreed, reaching out and shaking her outstretched hand. "I'll get Ritchie to draw up the paperwork."

"Excellent."

"So… I've been talking to Tina and she reckons there's massive scope for some sort of LGBT events. There isn't much around here that caters and she thinks we could make a fair amount."

"I'm in. I had a similar conversation with Ben this morning."

Katy thought for a moment, furrowing her eyebrows as she tried to work out whether her cousin had planned the situation around that conversation or not. "Right…"

"Why don't we split the bar into upstairs and downstairs and dedicate one part to being a gay bar." Kathy suggested excitedly. "Surely that would be better than a few events every now and again?"

"That sounds kinda… segregationy…"

"We're not saying that it's gays only or straights only, are we?" The older woman reasoned. "But we can provide a dedicated space that's not already accessible."

Katy nodded. "OK, let's speak to Tina and see what she thinks of the idea. Maybe we should bring her on board as some sort of co-ordinator? It would be good to get her opinions on everything."

"Could we offer her a job; Assistant Manager or something?"

"I don't see why not." The younger blonde grinned. "I knew this would be a good idea."

"We should speak to Ben, too."

Immediately, Katy's smile dropped. "No. I don't want Ben involved."

"Why not? He's my son. My gay son."

"I don't care, Kathy." Katy shook her head. "I don't trust him and I don't want him anywhere near my business, alright?"

"Alright, fine." Kathy agreed, not looking remotely happy about it. She glanced towards the counter where the brunette was watching them curiously. "Shall we tell Tina now?"

"Let's get the paperwork drawn up and finalised first. I'll get Ritchie to draw up Tina's contract at the same time."

"Are you gonna be able to afford two managerial wages? If necessary I can–"

"It should be fine." Katy cut across her, guessing that she was about to suggest that she didn't officially take on the role. It would make the younger woman much more comfortable if they knew where they were legally. "Whit's told me she's gonna quit to see whether she can make her own business work and Stacey handed in her notice too. Apparently there's too much going on at home at the moment. To be honest, having a manager and assistant manager is gonna be a massive help."

"OK. If you're sure." Kathy beamed, reaching out and squeezing the younger blonde's arm. "You get the paperwork drawn up and I'll sort the money."

"I'll speak to Ritchie and check how much twenty-five percent is worth and let you know straight away."

Nodding, Kathy practically skipped back to the counter, grinning and shrugging at Tina as she asked what had put her in such a good mood. Katy shook her head and pulled out her mobile to call the solicitor. Ritchie answered immediately, evidently thinking something was wrong. She was intrigued as Katy explained the plan, looking at the figures and telling her the number to put to Kathy. Ritchie promised to get the paperwork drawn up and dropped off by the next day, guessing that her client was as impatient to get the deal done as she usually was for everything else.

As she passed the counter, the young woman passed on the amount, earning a swift nod from Kathy and a confused frown from Tina. The brunette's frown deepened as Katy winked at her and swept out of the café without a backwards glance.

Ritchie had been as good as her word and the next afternoon Katy and Kathy met at the R&R to do the deal. Jeff confirmed that the money had been transferred into Katy's private account, before she slid the papers across her desk for her new business partner to sign. Handing the older woman a glass of champagne, Katy raised her own in the direction of the portrait of her mother and aunt on the wall. She smiled as, without being asked, Kathy did the same.

"I think they'd approve." Katy announced, turning back to look at the older woman. "They liked you. They probably never admitted it, but they did. They'd have like the ideas for the R&R, too."

"I hope so. They'd be incredibly proud of you."

"I hope so." Katy echoed. Then she downed the rest of her drink and turned to Kathy. "Shall we tell Tina the good news?"

As luck would have it, as they were headed out of the R&R on the way to the Vic, they spotted the woman they were looking for walking towards them. She frowned at the bright smiles on their faces as she approached, looking between them in confusion.

"Have you got a middle name?"

Tina looked even more bemused by Kathy's question. "No."

"And is it Tina or Christina?"

"It's just Tina. What's this for?"

"Oh, it's just an insurance form, you know…" Kathy told her casually. "They want a list of everyone that's going to be a keyholder."

"Especially our new assistant manager." Katy added, shrugging lightly.

There was a long pause as the brunette looked between the two blondes in front of her, trying to work out what they were talking about. It seemed to hit her gradually and she put a hand to her chest, unable to quite believe that she might be right in her assumption.

"Me?"

"You." Katy agreed with a broad grin. "Kathy's bought into the bar and we talked about what we were thinking about LGBT events. Kathy suggested we turn half of the R&R into a gay bar and we decided that we need someone who knows the scene."

"And who better than someone I trust, who's hardworking and who deserves something nice to happen to her."

"Katy… Kathy… I don't know what to say."

"Just say yes!"

"Yes!" Tina shouted, pulling them both into an overjoyed hug. She pulled back, covering her mouth with a hand and laughing softly. "I can't believe it."

"Like I said, you keep looking forward." Kathy told her seriously.

Tina let out a scream, jumping in a circle. "I'm gonna run a gay bar!"

"I take it you're happy, then?" Katy asked, laughing at her excitement.

"What are you gonna call it?"

"We're keeping it the R&R." The younger blonde told her firmly. As Tina opened her mouth, she laughed and shook her head. "No, T, we're not calling it The Prince Albert."

"The what?" Kathy looked bemused.

"I'm not telling her."

Tina rolled her eyes at Katy and leant forward to whisper into the older blonde's ear. Kathy burst out laughing, shaking her head at the meaning and glancing towards Katy, who repeated her refusal to change the name.

Instead, she suggested that they went inside, had a drink and sorted the paperwork. Grinning as she listened to the two older women laughing excitedly, already discussing what they could do with the place, Katy followed, totally confident that she had made the right decision.

A/N: Thanks so much for reading and reviewing, guys! I know the updates aren't quite as frequent as you (and I) would like, but I have a very full on job and lots of other stuff going on, so I'm doing my best to write around everything else I have to do! :)