Katy had half been expecting her mother to be waiting at the hospital when she arrived for her appointment. There was no sign of the older blonde in the waiting room, however, so she took a seat, pulled out her phone and distracted herself until she heard her name being called. With a sigh, Katy walked towards the room where her consultant was waiting for her with a warm smile on his face, wondering whether he was simply trying to put her at ease before giving her bad news.

Taking her seat, she smiled weakly at the doctor as he leant on his desk and shuffled her notes in front of him. He started by asking her the usual questions about her health – physical and mental – before running through the results of her last set of tests. Katy tried to take it in, her confusion mounting as she worked out that things sounded like they were quite positive. When the consultant smiled even more broadly at her, she furrowed her eyebrows and shook her head.

"I don't understand… are you saying I'm OK?"

Doctor Matharu smiled warmly at her. "That's exactly what I'm saying. Obviously I'm not making any long term guarantees, I can't do that, but at the moment everything is looking incredibly positive."

Katy let out a long breath, flopping back in her seat. She felt like she could cry with relief, unable to quite believe that things could be as positive as he was saying. She was so used to getting bad news every time that she went to the hospital that it was difficult to take in. Katy barely listened as the consultant outlined the schedule for checking that her health stayed heading in the right direction, glancing sightlessly down at the appointment list he handed her.

"There is something else." Doctor Matharu said quickly when it looked as though Katy was starting to gather her things to leave. "I'm assuming you weren't aware… Katy you're pregnant."

She laughed. "Yeah, very funny."

"I'm completely serious." The doctor replied, looking thoroughly unsurprised by her reaction, as though he'd expected her to dismiss it. "The blood tests showed up a positive result."

"No, but that's… that's impossible. The chemotherapy meant that I couldn't..."

"Infertility was a possible side effect of the chemotherapy drugs you were given," he acknowledged, "but–"

"No… they told me that the type of drugs and the fact that the doses were so high meant that I should consider freezing eggs or whatever if I wanted more kids." She shook her head. "They said the drugs would definitely cause infertility."

Doctor Matharu sighed, shaking his head. "In that case, you've been incredibly lucky."

"But I can't be pregnant."

He raised an eyebrow at her. "I can tell it's been a shock. Is there anyone you could call to accompany you home?"

Pulling herself together, Katy shook her head. "No… no. I'll be fine."

"Right… keep up the good work and good luck. Hopefully the next time we meet we'll have equally good news for you." The consultant said, standing and walking over to the office door, holding it open for her with a warm smile. "Congratulations!"

Nodding, the young woman walked out of the office and headed for the exit. She kept walking until she reached the car she'd borrowed from Jay, slipping into the driver's seat and staring blankly ahead of her for a couple of minutes. Katy couldn't even begin to get her head around what the doctor had just told her, let alone start to work out what she was going to do about it.

It was only when she was parking the car outside the car lot that she realised she hadn't asked any relevant questions. She had no idea how pregnant she was which, in turn, had made her realise that there was also a possibility she didn't know who the father was. She almost found it funny that it was completely unsurprising that she didn't know who had got her pregnant.

"Katy!" Glenda called her name, hurrying towards her granddaughter as she spotted her walking quickly in the direction of the R&R. "How did it go? Is everything alright?"

The younger woman grinned at her, pausing to let her catch up. "All good, Gran. Doctor Matharu was very positive; well, as positive as he can be when he can't say for definite whether it'll come back at some point."

"Oh, darling! That's wonderful." Glenda exclaimed, pulling her into a tight hug and pressing a kiss to her forehead. "I'm so, so relieved. We need to celebrate. How about dinner tonight at Walford East?"

"Oh, I'm not sure, Gran." Katy shook her head and shrugged. "I dunno if I can get tonight off at such short notice."

Glenda looked disappointed but didn't argue. Instead she demanded that her granddaughter sort cover for the following evening instead so that they could go out and celebrate her news. Katy smiled at her, promising to do what she could to make sure it happened. She didn't doubt that Tina would have been more than happy to stand in for her that evening if she'd asked, but she really wanted to speak to Nick and see whether he'd managed to find anything out already.

"You seem distracted…" Glenda narrowed her eyes slightly. "Is there something you're not telling me?"

Laughing softly, Katy shook her head and laid a hand on her grandmother's arm. "No, sorry, Gran. I was just thinking about something else."

"What?"

"Ruby's birthday. She's refusing to tell me what she wants and I have absolutely no idea. You got any clues for me?"

"A cat." Glenda replied instantly, rolling her eyes.

"Well that's not happening." Her granddaughter said with a chuckle. "Unless there's some sort of robotic or virtual cat I can get her instead."

Laughing too, Glenda nodded. "I'll keep thinking."

They separated and Katy made her way quickly in the direction of the bar. She asked Tina about covering her the following evening, laughing as her friend pulled her into a tight hug when she admitted the reason for her request. As she'd expected, the brunette offered to cover that evening instead, but Katy shook her head and pointed out that the girls would be back the following day and she'd prefer it if they could join them at the restaurant.

The time until the bouncers arrived for the start of their shifts passed slowly and Katy did her best to keep herself occupied. She was hoping to put on a few promotions as they headed into the autumn, knowing that business tended to slow down a little bit before picking up again around Christmas and New Year. She was halfway through looking into organising a drag night when a knock on the office door made her jump.

"Ms Mitchell? Is now a good time?"

"Come in, Nick." She agreed immediately, motioning towards the sofa. "Drink?"

He shook his head quickly. "No, I'm fine, thanks."

"So? Have you got anything for me?"

He nodded, shuffling forward so that he was perched on the edge of the sofa cushions looking at her seriously. "The Anderson-Millet guy is in with some seriously dodgy people. He's got a couple of protection rackets going on, fingers in so many illegal pies."

"I knew it…" Katy nodded, leaning back in her chair with a self-satisfied smile.

"I've got a list of names of the guys working for him," he fumbled in his jacket pocket and handed her a scrap of paper, "and thought you could look over them. Maybe you'll know of someone?"

Running her eyes over the names for a moment, she frowned. "Jason Williams?"

"You know him?"

Katy hesitated. "Maybe? Although… it's not exactly an uncommon name, is it?"

"Want me to look into him?"

"Yeah… see what you can find out." She requested. "If he's the guy I think he is then he's an absolute scumbag. What about Graham North?"

"I haven't found anything yet, but I'll keep digging."

"Thanks, Nick. I appreciate it."

Nodding, he left the office and went back to work. Katy considered the situation for a moment. If it was the Jason Williams she thought it was, her friend Nina's partner, then it wasn't good news. He would have recognised her name as soon as Anderson-Millet mentioned it and she didn't doubt that Nina had told him where she was and that she owned the R&R.

"Mum said it was good news from the hospital."

Katy adjusted the basket on her arm and turned to look at her mother carefully. "Yeah… the doctor was really positive. He thinks it's good news for my long-term prognosis although, obviously, he can't guarantee anything."

"Right." Ronnie nodded slowly. "Well, I'm glad."

As she turned away, her daughter rolled her eyes. "That it? You find out that I had good news in my cancer check up and that's all you've got to say?"

"What do you want me to say?" The older Mitchell asked, scowling at her. "You made it perfectly clear yesterday that I've completely messed up your life. You're the one who said you didn't want to rely on anyone else."

"No, I said I can't rely on anyone else. There's a difference."

Ronnie scoffed, rolling her eyes. "Sure."

"Look, I don't–"

"I don't want to argue with you." Ronnie sighed deeply, shaking her head. "I'm taking Matthew, Amy and Ricky to the cinema. What time are Ruby and the twins back?"

"In about an hour." Katy told her, glancing at the time. "I don't want to argue either. Mum, I…"

"What?"

"I'm… I'm sorry."

"Yeah, me too." Ronnie smiled tightly. "I've got to go."

"Wait, I need to…" The younger woman blinked a couple of times and then smiled weakly. "We're going out for dinner tonight to celebrate my results. Will you come?"

"Of course… Mum already invited me. I'll see you later."