"I told you I was fine." Katy muttered irritably as she and Ronnie made their way through the hospital corridors the next day.

"It wasn't worth taking the risk." Her mother repeated for about the tenth time. "I wasn't going to lose you, Katy."

They both paused, thinking about Dennis. Roxy had been in to break the news about his death the evening before, as soon as she'd been allowed onto her niece's ward. Katy may have thought that the teenager was a spoiled brat and had always hated spending any time in his company, but she would have never wished his fate on him.

"Come on, the kids are really looking forward to seeing you." Ronnie told her gently. "Mum's beyond relieved… I think she's cleaned every inch of the flat twice."

Sighing deeply, the younger blonde shook her head. "What's happening with Whit?"

"I'm not sure, sweetie. Your dad was seeing what he could find out and I think they're hoping to persuade Gray to represent her."

"It's not right, Mum. She doesn't deserve this after everything he did to her. If only I'd–"

"If only you'd what?" Ronnie demanded. She pulled her daughter to the side of the corridor, lowering her voice. "Katy, please don't tell me you mean what I think you mean?"

"Whit asked me to help her… she asked me to do something to get rid of him. I should have just…" She shook her head. "I was so busy… I was caught up in work and the kids and Tyler coming back and making threats… Whit needed me and I wasn't there."

"I'm glad you weren't." Wide-eyed, her mother shook her head. "You're not some killer for hire, Katy. You're not. Carl was an accident; you were protecting me. It wasn't… it was an accident."

Her daughter nodded slowly, before turning and meeting Ronnie's eyes with a blank stare. "Possibly. But Nathan wasn't. Or Dean."

"Dean?"

Katy laughed mirthlessly, before turning and continuing along the corridor. The older woman stared after her for a long moment, considering what her confession could have meant. It was only when the swinging doors clattered behind Katy that Ronnie forced herself to move again.

"Dean as in…"

"Ruby's uncle, yeah." Katy shrugged casually. "He came sniffing around, asking questions about Nathan, wanting to be part of Ruby's life. He took her… collected her from school and took her. Dad and Phil were useless; worse than useless, in fact. I had to deal with him myself." She frowned. "Ben helped me."

"Ben? But–?"

"Ben… is he OK? There was something wrong with him last night."

"Callum's missing." Ronnie said hurriedly. "What happened?"

"I don't know… something when the boat crashed, I guess. I didn't even think Ben was at the party."

"I meant, what happened with Dean."

"He messed with the wrong person." Katy told her darkly, pushing through the next set of doors.

"Katy–"

"I don't wanna talk about it." She snapped.

"Katy, you can't just–"

"Katy?"

Both Mitchells turned at the sound of the male voice calling her name. A slightly confused smile twisted Katy's lips as she saw who was greeting her, before taking several steps forward. A second passed before she felt herself being gathered in strong arms and pulled into a bear hug.

"Peter? Oh my god! What are you doing here?" She almost laughed at the sight of him. "Lauren never said you were all coming home?"

He looked a little awkward at her words. "Lauren and Louie aren't here… just me."

"Oh… oh, I'm sorry."

"Were you involved in this boat thing?" Peter asked, evidently keen on changing the subject. "Dad was brought in here last night. Bobby was beaten up so me and Gran were already here when he arrived."

"Bobby? What? Why? Are they OK?"

He nodded slowly. "They will be."

Katy studied him for a moment. "Are you OK? Must be really tough coming back here."

Peter shrugged, not needing to hear his twin sister's name to know what she meant. "I guess."

Ronnie cleared her throat, smiling warmly at the young man, before turning to her daughter. "We should get going; they'll be expecting us."

"I want to go to the police station and see Whitney." Katy informed her bluntly.

"There's no point yet." Her mother tried to soothe her. "Whitney doesn't want to see anyone and they probably wouldn't let you anyway."

"I don't care. I have to try."

"Whitney?" Peter looked between them, frowning. "What's wrong with Whitney?"

"She's admitted to murder…" Katy sighed, running a hand through her hair. "Tony King's son's been stalking her… threatened her. He attacked her and ended up falling on a knife. She should have let me deal with it. I said I'd sort it."

Ronnie shot Peter a wary glance. "You couldn't have scared him or paid him off. He wouldn't have taken the money or gone."

Knowing that Ronnie was well aware that wasn't what she'd meant at all, Katy merely shrugged. She smiled at Peter, told him to come and find her if he went back to the Square and then turned and continued along the corridor. Ronnie sighed and stalked after her, sure that she wouldn't get any peace until Katy had found out for herself that they wouldn't let her see Whitney.

"Where've you been?"

Letting out a long, irritable huff, Katy shot Tyler a derisive look and carried on restocking the bar. "We ain't open yet."

"Katy, I'm serious." He tried again. "You went to that boat party, didn't you? You left the kids with Glenda and spent last night god knows where with god knows who."

"I'm so glad you know the answers to your own questions without waiting for me to say anything."

"So I'm right?"

"No, you're not bloody right." She snapped. "Although I honestly don't see what business it is of yours if I did. The kids were absolutely fine with Gran and I'm allowed a night off every now and then."

"So where were you, then?"

"I was in hospital, Tyler, if you must know!" Katy shouted, slapping both palms down on the bar and scowling at him. "The bloody boat sank and my step-cousin drowned. Almost all my family and friends were on that fucking boat when it went down! Dennis drowned and Whit's been arrested and I don't have time for your fucking childish whining at the moment."

He peered at her, blinking several times in surprise. "The boat went down? Are you OK? Why were you in hospital?"

"I'm fine." Suddenly she looked and sounded exhausted. "I'm alive." Turning back to the 'fridges, she exhaled sharply. "What d'you want?"

"I wondered if I could take the kids bowling or something?"

Katy shrugged, her back still turned. "It would probably be good for them to get out for a while. The atmosphere isn't exactly great at the moment."

"So it's OK?"

"Of course."

The door opened and closed again, neither of them turning to see who had entered the bar. Katy assumed it was probably Kathy or Tina arriving to start work or her mother trying to persuade her – yet again – to go and see Sharon, while Tyler didn't seem to care very much at that moment.

"Oh, sorry…"

At the sound of Isaac's voice, Katy whirled round. She didn't need him to say anything incriminating and give Tyler any more ammunition against her. His smile dropped a little at the expression on her face, but as Isaac's eyes drifted over to Tyler he seemed to realise that there was something that he didn't understand hanging in the air between them.

"You alright, mate?" Holding out his hand in Tyler's direction he grinned broadly. "Isaac."

"Tyler."

"I was thinking we could grab some lunch?" He suggested, pushing his hands in his pockets. "My shout."

"Yeah… yeah, OK." Katy agreed decisively. Her eyes flicked towards Tyler and her expression hardened. "Sorry, Tyler, I'm gonna have to lock up. I'll text Mum and let her know you're coming to get the kids; I'm assuming you're gonna take Matthew as well as the girls."

"Of course." Tyler replied instantly. "I wouldn't leave him out."

With a tight smile, Katy ushered both men towards the door, locking it behind her. As she and Isaac headed towards the Vic, she fired off two quick texts; one to Ronnie informing her of the plan and the other to Kathy to explain why the R&R would be locked when she arrived. Katy could feel Tyler's eyes boring into the back of her head as she pushed her phone into her back pocket and turned to give Isaac her full attention, deliberately smiling much more brightly at him than she normally would have done.

Slipping through the door that Isaac held open for her, Katy was immediately aware of the tense, sombre atmosphere in the pub. Jack, Max and Denise were sitting at one of the tables, the elder Branning brother in the middle. It was obvious that something had gone on between the couple, with Denise barely looking at Jack, and Katy wondered whether she had been correct in thinking that the woman's suspicions about her parents relationship had been raised by their behaviour at the party.

"You sit down, I'll get us a couple of menus." Isaac offered. "Well… I'll check if they're doing food first. We might have to go somewhere else."

Nodding in understanding, Katy settled herself at a table, shooting Mick a small smile as he nodded in greeting. She guessed that people were wondering whether she knew anything about Whitney's situation; probably wondering about Dennis and Sharon as well. As her friend was still refusing to let her visit and she hadn't been able to bring herself to go and see the older blonde, Katy really had nothing to say on either matter.

"Everyone, can I have a quick word?" Mick requested as Isaac slid onto the bench with their drinks, barely raising his voice. It was testament to the solemn atmosphere in the pub that anyone heard him. "I just wanna apologise for the… for the boat. It was supposed to be a celebration… it was supposed to be something special. You know, something that we'd never forget."

"What happened on the boat was… there really aren't any words." Linda added, looking rougher than Katy had ever seen her. Clearly the effects of how much she'd drunk the night before were making themselves known. "Horrific… tragic… senseless… don't really cover it, does it? But if we can take anything good from it, and god knows right now that seems impossible, it's to appreciate the ones we love, hold them that bit closer and let them know every day that they're loved."

Mick raised his glass in toast to Dennis and everyone followed suit. Isaac squeezed Katy's knee sympathetically as she took a long drink from hers, shaking her head slightly and sending him a weak smile in response.