"I need your help."

The words alone might not have been enough for Katy to take him seriously, but combined with the expression on Ben's face and the fact that he was there at all, made her nod slowly instead of immediately rejecting him. She leant back in her chair and watched her cousin carefully wondering what was worrying him so much that he'd come to her for advice.

"Again? This is twice in one day." She reminded him. Then she leant forward anxiously. "Is this about my dad?"

"No. No… it's about me."

There was a long pause before Ben spoke again. Katy watched him for a moment, before getting impatient and arching an eyebrow.

"Well?"

"Callum wants to join the police."

Unable to stop herself, Katy aborted with amusement. "You what? How do you feel about that?"

"I ain't particularly happy, obviously." He confirmed her suspicions immediately, a scowl twisting his features. "But that ain't why I'm here."

"So what?"

"Shirl says that Dad's started losing business because of it. Callum told Tubbs he was planning on joining the police and word's got around."

"I bet Phil's delighted about that..."

"He don't know yet. I asked Shirl to let me try and deal with it before she told him."

"Deal with it how, Ben?" Katy asked seriously, all taxes of amusement gone from her tone and expression. She leant forward fixing him with a slightly wary look. "You can't just order Callum to give up on his dream. What kind of boyfriend would you be if you did that?"

"I tried that and it didn't work anyway." Ben admitted. When she rolled her eyes, unsurprised that he had thought that was a good idea, he scowled at her. "Don't judge me. You'd have done the same."

"I don't think I would." She argued.

"So you didn't try to convince Jack not to go back to being a copper?"

"Not really." She muttered irritably. "Besides, this ain't about Dad. Contrary to popular belief, I don't hate you enough to wanna see you lose Callum. You're marginally less of a twat when you're happy."

"That's all well and good, but I don't see that I'll have much choice."

"So you'd honestly end things with Callum to save face with those disgusting men?" Katy arched an eyebrow. "Maybe you should, then. He deserves better than that."

"That ain't helpful, you know."

"I dunno what you expect from me, Ben." She admitted with a shrug. "I can tell you not to end it with Callum or I can tell you that maybe you should. I don't know which you actually want to hear."

"Neither do I."

Katy let out a long sigh and leant back in her chair. "Look… when you came back to the Square I hated you. Now… well, let's face it; we're never gonna be mates, are we? But we're family and, ridiculous as it sounds, I do actually want you to be happy and settled and all of that."

"Because I'm less likely to affect you if I'm happy?"

"Obviously." The blonde sent him a crooked smile before leaning forward and fixing him with a serious look. "You want my advice? Callum is more important than a few guys who'd knock you out as soon as look at you. Don't throw everything away to save face, Ben. You'll regret it if you do."

"Is that what you did? With Tyler?" Ben asked curiously.

"No. Surely you know me well enough to know that I'd do the opposite?"

"So what did happen?"

"I don't want to talk about it." Katy told him firmly. "Besides, you came here to talk about you, not me. Just make it work, Ben. Make it work and let yourself be happy for once." Then she narrowed her eyes. "Have you convinced Phil that Dad has nothing to do with his suspicions about Sharon?"

"I dunno… yeah?" Ben shrugged. "I think he's coming round to what I'm saying."

"He better, Ben, or I'll be having a word with Callum that you won't like very much."

"I thought you just said you wanted me to be happy."

"I do." Katy agreed. "But I want my dad to be safe more."

A couple of days later it had fallen to Katy to do the school run for apparently every primary school age child in the family. She checked her phone as she rushed towards the school, swearing softly as she realised she was probably not going to be on time. Just ahead, she spotted a familiar figure and smiled.

"Ahhh, you're on the school run today, then?" She asked, falling into step beside Mick as they neared the gates. "You in Linda's bad books or what?"

He chuckled, shaking his head. "Nah, she's just caught up with the Grotto and that. You bringing your lot over?"

"Yeah, we'll be there at some point. I heard you're doing a play and all?"

"You up for a little part?"

Katy snorted. "No chance. The kids probably will though, if you want them."

"The more the merrier." Mick agreed at once. "Should you be out 'ere in this cold with just being out of hospital and that?"

"I'm fine, Mick, seriously." She replied with a sigh. "Seriously, I wish people would just stop asking me. I just wanna get back to normal."

"Point taken." He said, holding up his hands and ushering her through the school gates first. "You won't hear another word from me about it."

"Thanks." Katy smiled, genuinely grateful. "So, I heard Ollie got Learner of the Term. Rubes said he looked chuffed in assembly."

Mick immediately beamed at her, puffing his chest out with pride. "Me and L thought he weren't never gonna get Learner of the Week, but Learner of the Term…"

"He deserves it; Matthew never stops talking about him and what he's done."

"We should get them together for a little play date. With Sophie and Jessica, too, obviously."

"They'd like that." Katy told him with a smile as they came to a halt in the playground, looking towards the door that the reception children would be let out of.

As the bell rang, Mick stepped away to talk to a group of the mums that Katy knew Linda had been doing her best to get involved with. She rolled her eyes, turning back to the door and grinning and waving as the twins and Matthew rushed towards her. Shaking her head at them, she accepted the bags while they went to collect Lexi and the others from the juniors.

"So... you're Lexi's mum?"

Katy fixed the man who'd spoken with a dangerous look. "Who wants to know?"

He grinned, apparently unfazed by her attitude. "I'm Alex, Charlie in year 2's dad. He talks about Lexi a lot."

"Right... I'm not her mum; she's my cousin's kid. They're mine." She pointed vaguely in the direction of Ruby and the twins, who were chasing around the playground with Amy, Ricky, Matthew and Ollie. "Not all of them, obviously, just the three younger girls."

"Oh, right."

"Yeah."

Before anything else could be said, she heard her name being called and Mick was striding towards her. Slightly bemused by the expression on his face, Katy turned her back on the other man and focused completely on her friend. His eyes darted towards Alex for a moment, before he folded his arms and nodded back towards the women he'd been speaking to a moment before.

"Invited them to the play… only turned it down, didn't they? Said their problem is with L, not the boy."

Katy sighed, shaking her head and throwing a scowl over his shoulder in their direction. "Take no notice, Mick. Right stuck up cow, that one. She's had a problem with me and the kids since day one… like she's so perfect."

"Are you talking about Shelly and her crowd?" Alex asked.

As one, Katy and Mick turned to look at him with near-identical quizzical expressions on their faces. As Mick shot the young woman a quick, questioning look, Katy shrugged.

"This is Alex. His kid is in year 2." She explained in a bored tone.

"Oh, right... well, nice to meet ya. My boy Ollie is in year 2." Mick reached out and shook his hand. "Yeah. She had a bit of a barney with the wife and me mother. Bit of a misunderstanding, you know how it is."

"I do." Alex agreed with a warm smile. "I've gotta admit I wouldn't want to get on the wrong side of her."

"You know her, then?"

"She tried to add me to her little group when Charlie started, but I didn't have time for it all. I'm a single dad and was more interested in spending time with my son than hanging out with that lot."

"Man after my own heart." Mick nodded approvingly at him. "Tell you what, we're putting on a little Christmas play for the kiddies at my gaff, the Queen Vic in Albert Square. You should bring your boy down. I'm sure he'd love it."

Katy raised an eyebrow at Mick as he shot her a sly look, before turning to shake her head at Alex. "Don't feel like you have to go out of your way, though. It's mostly a few families at the pub, so might not be your thing."

"You're going?" Alex asked her, almost hopefully.

"Like I said, it's a family thing." She replied, shooting him a hard look. "All the Mitchells will be there."

Mick chuckled. "Don't let that put you off. You can't believe everything you hear about them."

"Mick, you know as well as I do that the rumours are only half the story." Katy told him bluntly. Then she turned and called to the children. "We better get going. See ya."

"The play's on Thursday if you fancy it." Mick called to Alex, grinning at the scowl the blonde sent him. "Five o'clock."