"Is Grandad Jack coming to watch the play?" Ruby asked, appearing in front of her mother, grandmother and great-grandmother suddenly.

"Of course." Katy assured her quickly with a smile. "He promised he would, didn't he?"

Ruby wrinkled her nose for a moment, looking over their heads and then shrugged and skipped away to join the other children with Mitch and Mick. When she'd gone, Katy turned in her seat to look at her mother seriously. Ronnie looked just as concerned as the younger blonde; neither of them had been able to get hold of Jack for hours.

"Where the hell could he have got to?" Katy hissed, glancing at the screen of her phone again and, yet again, seeing the there were no messages from her father. "He's gonna miss it if he don't hurry up!"

"I don't know!" Ronnie replied, just as irritably. "Have you asked Denise if she's seen him?"

Ignoring the slightly bitter edge to her mother's tone, Katy hastily typed another message to her father, pretending not to notice the previous unread and unanswered messages. Scowling at the thread, she locked the device and slouched down in her chair slightly.

They watched as Mick finished hanging the backdrop carefully, unable to stop themselves laughing as, as soon as one end was secured the other flopped down and landed on Shirley's head. The older blonde turned and sent them a thoroughly irritated scowl, shooting them the middle finger for good measure, before stomping back behind the bar.

Turning to see whether it was worth going and ordering the next round, Katy's eyes fell on a young man entering the pub with a little boy. Her stomach dropped at the sight and, unable to stop herself, her eyes flicked towards Mick to see if he had noticed the new arrival. Apparently he had as he shot her a broad, smug grin.

"Oh my god… what's he doing here?"

"Who?"

"That guy… there… with the little boy." Katy muttered, resolutely not turning back and letting him catch sight of her.

"Who is it?"

"No one."

"So why are you so bothered?" Ronnie asked, smirking slightly.

"I'm not bothered. I'm just… I don't know why he's here." She frowned at her mother. "He's just one of the dads from the school. Mick invited him to come and watch the play but I didn't think he'd actually turn up."

"Why is it such a big deal?" Glenda asked, leaning around her daughter to fix the youngest of the blondes with a curious look. "Unless… is there something you're not telling us, Katherine?"

"No." Katy replied at once. "Don't be stupid. I just… I think Mick was attempting to match make or summit, but I weren't playing ball. I ain't interested."

"Well there's no harm in him being here then, is there?" Ronnie asked with yet another smirk.

She exchanged a look with Glenda as Katy scowled even more. In an attempt to distract herself the young woman checked her messages again, even though she knew it was completely pointless. There was still radio silence from Jack, but Tina had sent her a 'back stage' photo of Jessica and Sophie, dressed as pandas and pulling faces at the camera. Chuckling, Katy held her phone out to show Ronnie and Glenda, before typing out a quick reply.

There was no time to say anything else, before the 'cast' trooped out onto the makeshift stage and stood with their backs to the audience. Katy grinned and waved at her daughters and Matthew as they took their places, laughing softly as Ruby huffed and rolled her eyes before turning round. Her grin broadened even more as she caught sight of Tina dressed as the third polar bear on stage with all the children.

"Hello everyone," Bailey started, looking out at the crowd confidently, "there are a couple of things about tonight's performance. Everyone here has different needs, so we won't be dimming the lights, there'll be no loud noises and, if anyone needs some space to move around or make a bit of noise, that's fine with us."

The audience chuckled and settled back in their seats as they started their performance. Katy smiled at the sight of the children dressed as animals standing in front of them. Leaning forward, she nudged Lola gently in the back, telling her how cute Lexi looked with her flashing red nose. Her cousin rolled her eyes and informed her of the fuss the little girl had made when it had first been suggested.

The play passed with no hiccups and Katy had to admit that she was impressed. Considering Bailey had written it, they had been expecting something a little less polished, but none of the Mitchell women could say that they hadn't thoroughly enjoyed it.

When the girls and Matthew appeared afterwards, they congratulated them, telling them they'd been fantastic and promising them whatever they wanted for tea. Matthew and the twins were immediately distracted, arguing over whether to get chips or pizza, but Ruby was looking around them for someone who wasn't there.

"Grandad Jack didn't come, did he?" She asked, not looking her mother in the eyes as she asked the question.

"No, babe…" Katy admitted. "But Amy has got that bug, so I guess he's at home looking after her."

"We'll call in and see them on the way home if you want?" Ronnie offered with a warm smile.

Ruby considered for a moment, before nodding and heading away to talk to Janet and Honey. Katy watched her for a moment, before sighing and gathering up her things. Ronnie and Glenda were doing their best to get the children back into the coats, making Katy smile fondly and shake her head before shrugging on her own coat.

"That was brilliant, wasn't it?"

Jumping at the unexpected question, Katy turned and stared at the man who had spoken. "Uhhh… Adam, right? Yeah, it was great."

"Alex."

"Right, sorry." She apologised with a shrug. "It's good of you to come… I'm sure Mick appreciated it."

"Nah, we enjoyed it, didn't we buddy?" Alex glanced down at his son who nodded vehemently.

Katy smiled, before glancing over her shoulder. "I'd better get going… kids to feed. See ya."

Without waiting for him to say anything else, she weaved her way through the chairs and rejoined her family. Ignoring the questioning looks that were sent her way, she led them out of the Vic and in the direction of Jack's house. Ronnie and Glenda were obviously keen to ask questions, but the expression on Katy's face left them in no doubt that she wasn't in the mood to answer them.

"Hi, Amy. How are you feeling?" Ronnie asked, beaming at her niece as she answered the door.

"I'm OK." The eleven-year-old replied with a shrug. "I think I can go back to school tomorrow."

"That's good news." Glenda said, reaching out and cupping her cheek. "You're looking much better than you were earlier."

"Is Dad in?" Katy asked, keen to get out of the cold.

"Yeah… he had an accident. Ben said he slipped on a banana skin."

Filing into the house, ushering the children in front of them, the three women exchanged a look. After telling them that Jack was in the kitchen, Amy took the others into the living room to watch a film while the adults talked.

"What's all this about a banana skin?" Ronnie asked as they caught sight of Jack.

"Jesus, you look terrible!" His daughter told him bluntly, scrutinising his face carefully. "What really happened?"

"Looked the wrong way at some geezer who'd had a few too many." He told her.

"Yeah, right." Glenda rolled her eyes. "Come on, Jack."

"It was definitely a drunk who did this…" Jack scowled between them. "It was just a drunk who happens to have the same name as you."

"Phil?" Ronnie gaped. "Phil did this?"

"I'm gonna kill Ben…" Katy growled.

"Ben?" Her mother whirled round and stared at her. "What's Ben got to do with this?"

"Everything."

As she turned, intending to storm out of the house in search of her cousin, Jack grabbed her by the arm. "Leave it, Katy. I don't want you getting involved in this. It's sorted."

"Sorted? Nah… This ain't sorted, Dad." She shook her head. "I told him… I fucking told him."

"You knew about this?" Jack's hand dropped from her arm and he took a step backwards. "You knew Phil was gonna come after me?"

"No! Of course I didn't know he was gonna do this. I just… Ben told me that Phil… Ben said he was gonna stop it."

"And you trusted him?"

"Of course I didn't trust him, I just…"

"We thought we'd be able to head Phil off before he did anything." Ronnie interjected quickly.

"You knew as well?" Jack turned to scowl at her. Then he threw up his hands and turned away. "Of course you did. Your fucking family!"

"Mum, Gran… can you watch the kids?" Katy asked, already heading for the door. "There's a conversation I need to have."

Too quickly for any of them to stop her, Katy yanked open the front door and headed down the steps and onto the Square. She pulled her jacket more tightly around her as she headed towards Turpin Road and the flat over the undertakers where Callum lived. Leaning on the buzzer, she waited impatiently for someone to let her in.

The friendly smile that Callum sent her was almost enough to make Katy reconsider what she was about to do. Almost enough. Pushing her hands more firmly into her pockets, she looked around the small flat, not really expecting to see anyone else.

"Ben around?"

"No, sorry, he's not back yet." Callum apologised with a shrug. "Anything I can help you with?"

"Not unless you had anything to do with Phil beating my dad to a pulp, no."

The young man's mouth dropped open at her words, his eyes wide and searching. "He… what?"

"Yeah. Best-case scenario, your boyfriend stood back and watched as his old man did mine over. Worst-case scenario, he helped him." Katy snapped angrily. "When Ben gets back, tell him I wanna see him straight away."

"Right…"

As she reached the door, Katy turned and realised that he was apparently frozen to the spot. "And Callum? Watch your back, yeah? The apple doesn't fall far from the tree. Everything might be rainbows and unicorns now, but when shit hits the fan it ain't gonna be Ben that gets hurt."