"I watched this TV show and the couple in it reminded me of you and Dad." Katy told Ronnie innocently, the hint of a smirk playing around her lips. "They were in love from when they were teenagers, but they got separated and had kids with other people. Then they met up again when they were older and realised that they were still in love."

"Wait… are you talking about Last Tango in Halifax?" Ronnie asked incredulously, twisting slightly so that she could look her daughter in the eyes.

"Yeah! They remind me so much of you and Dad."

"Piss off!" Shoving her daughter's legs off her lap, she let out an indignant huff. "They're about a hundred! We're nowhere near their age! I'm forty-bloody-five!"

"You'll forever be pensioners to me."

"I hate you sometimes."

"No you don't." Katy reminded her, batting her eyelashes and smiling innocently. "You love me."

"Shut up, I hate you."

"I'm your favourite daughter."

"You're lucky you've only got brothers."

Standing up, Katy stretched before dropping a kiss onto the top of Ronnie's head. "I'll go and get the kids. Whit's having them until about six, but it's gonna be another late one, I'm afraid."

"I'm at Ruby's tonight, but your Gran will be here."

"Jess asked me why you named your club after Ruby and not her or Soph." The younger blonde said with a chuckle, gathering up her things. "I tried to explain you didn't name it, but I'm pretty sure she thinks there's some blatant favouritism going on there."

"Oh, wonderful!"

Laughing at her mother's tone, Katy left the flat and stepped out onto the Square. She smiled as met Jean's eyes, sending her a small wave before heading under the bridge in the direction of the school. Tapping at her mobile as she walked, reading a couple of emails that she'd been avoiding since they'd hit her inbox, Katy arrived at the school gates quicker than she had anticipating.

She sighed as she realised that there was no one already waiting in the playground that she had any intention of speaking to. Instead, she pushed her hands into her pockets and glared up at the sky, wishing she'd thought to bring an umbrella as fat, freezing cold raindrops started landing on her head.

"Here…"

In surprise, Katy looked towards the direction the voice had come from and spotted Alex holding an umbrella in her direction. Her mind whirled back to what Lola had said at the pub days before and she clenched her fists at her sides. For a moment she considered refusing, before realising that she would rather put up with a conversation than stand in the pouring rain without any form of protection.

"Thanks…"

"Good Christmas?" He asked lightly. "Haven't seen you since they came back."

"No… my gran and mum have been picking up while I've been at work." She glanced at him, before turning her gaze resolutely back on the building. "How was yours? Christmas, I mean…"

"It was good, thanks, yeah." He replied lightly. "Charlie had a great time with his cousins… it's always good seeing family, though, isn't it."

Katy snorted. "Sometimes I feel like I see far too much of mine."

"Must be nice having them all close by."

"Something like that."

As the bell rang and children started being sent out to their parents, Katy smiled quickly at the man beside her before fixing her eyes on the doors once more. She raised a hand and waved as Amy, Ricky and Ruby ambled towards her from the junior end of the school, smiling as they reached her and immediately started talking about their days. Amy spared a curious glance in Alex's direction but, thankfully, didn't make any of her usual cheeky comments.

"Oh god…" Katy groaned at the sight of the reception teacher waving her over, wondering what she was about to be told. Glancing towards the older children, she sighed. "You three… stay here. Hopefully I won't be long…"

"I'll keep an eye on them if you want?" Alex offered, earning himself a nod and a fleeting, grateful smile.

"Can I have a quick word?" Ms Gardener asked, smiling in a way that immediately set Katy on edge.

Not seeing that she had much choice, the young woman followed the teacher into the classroom. She shot the twins and Matthew a warning look as they shuffled on the spot and tried their best to look innocent, not convincing her for a second.

"What've they done?" Katy asked as soon as they were seated, not waiting for the teacher to speak.

"There was an incident this afternoon between Jessica and another child." Ms Gardener started, causing Katy to turn and glare at her daughter. "It started with some name calling and pushing on both sides, but then Jessica escalated the incident by using some inappropriate language and hitting the other child in the face."

Katy paused, forcing herself not to react instinctively to the woman's words. "There must have been something that triggered that? Have you asked Jess why she reacted like that? My kids aren't violent. Who was the other kid involved?"

"We spoke to both children and those who were around at the time. According to Jessica the other child said something she didn't like so she hit him."

"Jess, get over here." Katy ordered, turning to raise an eyebrow at her daughter. The five-year-old frowned, but did as she was told. "What happened?"

"He called me weird and said that Mitchells are all stupid and scum, so I called him a fucking twat and I punched him." Jessica informed her bluntly.

Letting her eyes slip shut for a moment, Katy forced herself to stay calm. "Firstly, you need to apologise, because you know that's not acceptable." As the little girl mumbled an apology, her mother nodded. Then she turned on the teacher. "Secondly, I hope you told this other kid – and their parents – that what he said is totally out of order. I will not have my kids told things like that by anyone. I can assure you that Jess will be punished for her behaviour and she'll apologise to the other kid for hitting him, but if anything like that is said to her again... to any of the kids… I'll be dealing with it."

"Ms Mitchell, I can assure you that–"

"With all due respect, I don't want your assurances. I'm just letting you know what'll be happening, alright?" Katy motioned for Jessica to go back and join the other two, before lowering her voice. "Look, Ms Gardener. I've put up with enough crap in my life because of my family and I'm not going to let the kids have to deal with that as well. If you won't do anything about it, I will."

Standing up abruptly, Katy swept out of the classroom with Matthew and the twins. She forced a neutral expression onto her face as they headed up the playground to retrieve the others. Smiling at her daughter and siblings, she waved off their questions about what she'd been talking to the teacher about, thanking Alex quickly for keeping an eye on them.

"You wanna watch out, Alex." A voice called from further along the playground. Whirling round, Katy realised that it was Shelly talking and her blood pressure rose significantly. "Stay away from that one… the Mitchells are all bad news. You don't wanna get yourself involved with that lot; they're all thugs and criminals."

"Was it your kid saying stuff to my daughter?" Katy demanded furiously, surging towards her.

Glancing down as she realised that something was stopping her moving any closer to the other woman, she saw that Alex had wrapped an arm around her waist and was holding her back. She looked up at him furiously, opening her mouth to warn him to let go of her, but he shook his head.

"She's not worth it." He told her quietly. "Everyone's looking… you'll come off worse if you go for her. Let her mouth off and be the bigger person."

Shooting him a disbelieving look, she shook her head. "Maybe she's right and you should stay away from me if you think that's the way to deal with this."

"So you wanna be the person she's saying you are?"

"Who says I'm not already?"

"I don't believe it."

Katy was about to laugh in his face, to tell him that she didn't care what he thought. But then something stopped her and she inhaled sharply. Jerking her head towards the gates, she signalled that the children should start walking. Realising that she wasn't in the mood for their usual nonsense, all six of them immediately did as she had silently asked.

"Are you intending to make the whole of your son's class hate you?" Katy asked Shelly, forcing her tone to stay even. "First Linda, now me… who's gonna be next on your character assassination list?" She looked at the women surrounding the older blonde and scoffed pityingly. "You wanna watch yourselves… I doubt being friends with her will keep you out of her firing line."

Turning sharply, she stalked up the playground in the direction of the gate, still shaking with anger. Alex hurried to catch up, his son's hand clamped tightly in his. When Katy crouched to zip up Matthew's coat against the rain, he stopped, glancing back in the direction they'd just come.

"She's a piece of work that Shelly. I knew she wasn't as nice as she made out."

Katy snorted. "She's a fucking cow. Sorry…"

"You're alright." They started along the road, the children milling along in front of them. "So… are you Mitchells really as bad as she was making out?"

Smirking, the blonde arched an eyebrow at him. "Oh, honey, we're so much worse."