The following morning, Katy walked the children to school thinking about the conversation that she needed to have with Alex. The more she'd thought about it, the more it seemed like him who had sent her the flowers. They'd even joked about their chat and cuppa being a date, which made sense when she thought about the note that had been attached to the bouquet.

Smiling tightly at Ms Gardener as she handed over Matthew and the twins, Katy chewed her lip as she tried to see if Charlie was in the Year 1 classroom yet. Unable to catch sight of him, she pulled out her phone and wandered up the playground, keeping one eye on her emails and the other on the parents wandering down the concrete towards the school building.

"You waiting for someone or just loitering suspiciously?"

Katy smirked as she looked up from her phone and met Alex's teasing gaze. "Could be either, you'll never know."

"Let me drop the gremlin off and we can go for coffee if you want? Definitely not on a date."

"Sounds good." She agreed, waggling her fingers at Charlie who grinned back at her toothily. "I'll wait up there for you."

She was unable to stop herself returning Alex's smile as he beamed at her over his shoulder. Huffing as soon as his back was turned, she glared at the floor for a moment, before stamping over to the wall and dropping onto it heavily.

"So? Coffee? It's a bit early for anything stronger."

"Alex… thanks for the flowers, but can you not, in future."

He frowned at her, hurrying to catch up as she strode away along the pavement. "Huh?"

"It was sweet of you, but please don't send me flowers again… especially not to the bar."

"I never sent you any flowers." Alex told her with a shrug. "I mean, I'm willing to take the credit if you liked them, but I didn't send them."

"Oh…" Katy furrowed her eyebrows in confusion. "Right, sorry, I just assumed…"

"It's a fair assumption, but I didn't." He pushed his hands into his pockets as they walked. "You got any idea who else might have sent them?"

"Nope." She shook her head. "But whoever it was wasted their money; I gave them straight to my Gran."

Alex laughed. "I'm not at all surprised. That sounds exactly like something I'd expect you to do."

She nudged him with her elbow. "Coffee's on you, anyway."

Propping up her chin on her hand, Katy huffed agitatedly as she stared blankly at the screen of the computer. Three of her employees had called in sick and rearranging the rotas was causing the massive throbbing pain in her head as she did her best to work out how to cover their shifts. As it was she was already working the next few weeks without a break and there was no way she could be in multiple places at once. The only night off she had coming up was to attend the Vic's boat party.

Huffing again, she didn't bother to look up as there was a light knock on the office door and someone walked in. Clicking irritably at the mouse, letting out an annoyed noise as the screen froze and frustrated her further, she barely acknowledged the intrusion to her space.

"Yeah?"

"I come all the way from Spain to see you and that's the best I get?"

"What are you doing here?"

Tyler sent her a lopsided grin. "Nice to see you, too."

"No, seriously, Tyler," Katy shook her head agitatedly, "what are you doing here?"

"I've left Pippa."

There was a long pause as she mentally digested his words. Tyler was still sending her his crooked, cheeky grin as though he thought that would convince her to give him an easier time after his announcement. Unfortunately for Tyler, it had completely the opposite effect, riling Katy up as she considered his blasé attitude to the whole situation.

"You're married with a kid. You can't just run away." She snapped. "You haven't been married six months! What the hell is wrong with you?"

"It's not my kid… she lied to me."

"So… what? Whatever her name is cheated on you and you thought you'd just come here and… what? You thought I'd just take you back? Your ego's taken a kicking and you thought I'd be waiting to make you feel better." Katy demanded angrily. "Seriously, Tyler?"

"Katy, I love you. You know I do."

"No, Tyler. No!" She shook her head, leaning backwards in her chair as though she thought that would let her get further away from him. "You need to grow up. I'm done. I can't do this anymore. I can't deal with you popping back into our lives whenever it suits you. You know I was shot, Tyler… I could have died. And you know what? In that moment I thought about everyone and everything I was on the brink of losing. I didn't think about you once. Not once. That told me everything I need to know about our relationship."

"Is there someone else?"

She exhaled angrily. "For god's sake!"

"So there is?"

"No, Tyler, there isn't. No one apart from the kids. They're the only ones I can think about right now." Katy folded her arms across her chest. "You need to go."

"Katy, just give me one more chance." He pleaded. "Let me make it up to you. Let me prove–"

"No."

"Please."

Losing her temper, Katy stepped forward, grinding her teeth. "Get. The fuck. Out."

"I'm not going anywhere until you hear me out."

"Fine. Fine, you stay here. I need to go and pick up the kids, anyway."

"I'll come with you."

"Tyler, no!" Katy snapped, whirling round and glaring at him. "What the hell kind of message would that send to them? I'm not gonna let them get hurt because you can't decide who or what you want."

"I want you, Katy. I always have."

"Well I don't want you."

Leaving him staring after her, Katy strode out of her office and the bar. She paused to take a deep breath, before marching away across the Square. She didn't pause or slow down until she turned the corner into the street where Walford Primary was. Making it through the gates, she stopped abruptly, feeling as though she was on the verge of tears.

"Hi." Alex greeted Katy with a warm smile, appearing beside her from nowhere. "You alright? You look a bit stressed."

"One of those days." She muttered, pushing her hands into her coat pockets. "They not let them out yet?"

He shook his head, glancing towards the building. "Nope. I guess they're all running a bit late."

"At least I got here in time, then, I guess." Katy said, smiling weakly at him. "I was convinced they'd be the last ones left here."

"I'd have stuck around with them 'til you got here."

"Thanks." Katy nudged him with her shoulder, before opening her mouth to say something else.

Before she could speak, however, she was suddenly painfully aware of a presence beside her. Both Katy and Alex turned at the same time, the young woman's fists clenching in her pockets as she realised that Tyler was staring at her friend with something that looked like angry jealousy shifting in his eyes.

"Tyler, this is my friend Alex." Katy said quickly, putting emphasis on their relationship. "Alex, this is the girls' dad, Tyler Moon.

"Alex? Nice to meet you, mate." Tyler said, holding out his hand for the other man to shake.

"You too." He replied, shooting a quick look towards Katy, who was keeping her eyes resolutely fixed on the school building. "Katy said you live in Spain. You over here on holiday?"

"Well, at the moment, but I'm considering a more permanent move home."

"Are you?" Katy couldn't help the surprise she felt coming out in her tone.

"I'm thinking about it, yeah."

"Well don't say anything to the kids until you're sure." She warned him seriously. "I won't have them upset when you change your mind, alright?"

Rolling his eyes at her, he moved forward as the classroom doors opened and the teachers started dismissing the children. Ruby was the first to spot Tyler, letting out a delighted cry and running into his waiting arms. He swung her into the air, hugging her tightly as she asked 101 questions without waiting for an answer.

"Are you staying with us?" She demanded as soon as Tyler had greeted Matthew and the twins as well. "Are Pippa and Logan here? Did you bring baby Mason?"

"No, they didn't come with me." Tyler told her quickly, glancing awkwardly at Katy. "And I'm staying in a B&B for a couple of nights."

"There's no room at home." Katy reminded them quickly. "We're crammed in as it is."

"Mum wants Grandma and Grandad Jack to get back together so she can have her room back." Ruby informed Tyler bluntly. "Grandma Ronnie is sharing with her at the moment."

"That can't be very… convenient."

"It's fine." She replied shortly. "Come on, kids, grab your stuff." She turned and touched Alex's arm to get his attention. "See you tomorrow. Hopefully I'll have time for a proper chat."

"Yeah, have a good evening."

Sending him a quick smile, she turned and herded the children in the direction of the street, completely ignoring Tyler's presence. The children, however, were doing the total opposite and Katy was trying very hard not to be offended by their lack on interest in her while he was around. She clenched her fists in her pockets at a burst of laughter from behind her, the children giggling at something he'd said.

The walk back to Albert Square seemed to take hours and Katy was relieved as they made their way under the bridge. Matthew asked whether Tyler was coming home with them, receiving a curt reply, before Katy ushered them up the steps and inside. She turned and shot Tyler a hard look as he hovered on the pavement outside, before shutting the door firmly behind her.

"Jess just told me that Tyler's here." Ronnie's querying voice broke through Katy's thoughts and made her look up, dropping her hands away from her face. "Why?"

Katy shook her head. "I don't really know. He said he's thinking about moving back."

"Is that… something that you'd want?"

"No." The younger woman shook her head. "It's not. We're done. I can't… I've got to move on."

Ronnie nodded slowly, understanding what her daughter was saying. "OK."

"I've gotta get to R&R. Can you…?"

"Of course. Be careful."

"Always am."