"Katy?" Tina grabbed her friend's arm as the younger woman headed slowly up the staircase, her attention completely wrapped up in the papers she was clutching tightly. "Can I ask a favour?"

"Mmm? Course." The blonde smiled weakly at her. "What's up, babe?"

"Is there any chance you can give Mick a job?"

"A job?"

"Yeah, at R&R. He told me this morning that he's had another rejection. You know he'd be brilliant."

Katy nodded, smiling again. "Yeah, course he will. It's absolutely fine with me, but you'll need to run it past Kathy and make sure she hasn't hired anyone else. I know we said we were short staffed, but I'm not sure we need to take on two more people."

"Amazing! Thank you."

"Don't mention it."

Wafting a hand at her, Katy continued up the stairs and into her office, still distracted by the information she was reading. It wasn't until she closed her door behind her that she considered the possibility that Tina might have seen what she was holding. Biting her lip, Katy considered calling her friend into the office and asking her about it, but then she dismissed the idea. If Tina hadn't seen anything it would just make her ask questions and the Mitchell wasn't in the mood for that.

Instead, she dropped information from the abortion clinic into the top drawer of her desk and picked up her phone. Re-reading the message she'd received from her bouncer that morning, Katy ran a hand agitatedly through her hair. Apparently Nick had tracked down Jason Williams and had more information for her. Glancing at the clock, Katy realised she had a couple of hours before he would arrive for his shift and she'd be able to ask him anything.

Time passed slowly and no one came to disturb Katy, no doubt having seen how distracted she was and not wanting to be on the receiving end of her potential annoyance. She passed the time doing some last minute shopping for the twins' birthday on Sunday, remembering how delighted they'd been with Tyler's gifts and deciding that she needed to somehow find a way of beating kittens as their favourite present.

"Ms Mitchell?"

"Nick," she smiled warmly, "what've you got for me?"

He placed a couple of photographs on her desk and stood back, folding his arms across his chest as she scrutinised them closely. Katy's jaw clenched as she recognised the man in the candid shots, before leaning back in her chair and fixing her bouncer with a hard look.

"Jason Williams?"

"You know him, boss?"

She nodded. "Mmm… sadly I do."

"He seems to be that Anderson-Millet guy's muscle." Nick told her. "A mate of mine followed him to a pub in Balham and he was talking about some deal he'd set up for his boss… sounded like a protection racket."

"Wouldn't surprise me." Katy muttered, glancing down at the photograph again. "Anything on Graham North?"

"Bit of something a few years back with fraud, but nothing stuck. Got some fingers in some pies as far as I can tell… mostly financial stuff, though. Doesn't seem to get his hands dirty."

She rolled her eyes. "Again, that doesn't surprise me."

"Anything else I can do for you, Ms Mitchell?"

"Just keep your ear to the ground… particularly for anything to do with Jason Williams." She replied quickly. "I want to know as soon as he even looks like he's planning something."

Nick looked a little awkward for a moment, before pushing his hands into his jacket pockets. "Who is this guy, boss? He's got you rattled and I've never really seen you rattled before. Pissed off, yes. Rattled, no."

"Just someone I knew a while back." She replied shaking her head. "Someone who's bad news."

"Right… I'll tell the boys to keep their ears to the ground."

"Thank you." Katy smiled at him gratefully. "I appreciate it."

He nodded and her and ducked out of the office, leaving the photos on the desk. Katy looked at them again, before sweeping them into her desk drawer on top of the abortion clinic information she'd hidden there earlier. With a sigh, she decided to get a bit of fresh air, heading downstairs slowly.

"Uhh…?" Katy furrowed her eyebrows, watching the young woman wiping tables. Turning to Tina, she registered the disgruntled expression on her face before she asked the question. "Who's that and why's she wiping my tables?"

"New barmaid… Kathy hired her."

"But what about Mick?"

Tina made a sound in her throat and shrugged. "When he found out he was up against Frankie he backed out."

"Frankie?" Katy glanced towards the young woman again and then sighed. "T, if I could afford to take on Mick as well–"

"Yeah, babe, I know." The brunette reached out and squeezed her arm, smiling weakly. "Thanks, yeah?"

"Don't be silly; I'm just sorry it didn't work out. As soon as we need someone else, the job's his if he wants it."

Sunday morning had seen an early start for the residents of Number 28. The, now, six-year-old twins had woken early and therefore so had everyone else. Tina, who had worked the night before, had simply waved a hand in Katy's direction and accepted the mug of coffee she was offered, turning down the option to head back up to bed. Wincing, the blonde mouthed an apology and dropped onto the sofa beside her.

The day passed relatively calmly, considering all the Mitchells had dropped in and out at one time or another. There was no sign of Tyler (although Katy couldn't say she was completely surprised) but the kittens were still the star attraction. Huffing in resignation as Sophie gave her a quick hug before abandoning the last present she'd opened and went to play with the cats, Katy dropped a kiss onto the top of Ruby's head and told her she was popping out for a bit.

"Where's your Mum?" Tina asked about fifteen minutes later, flopping down beside Jessica and stealing a couple of sweets out of her bowl.

"She's gone to church."

The brunette furrowed her eyebrows, sure that she'd misheard. "Eh?"

"She's gone to church to see JJ."

"Who's JJ?"

"My brother." Jess told her with a shrug. "Me and Sophie and JJ were triplets but he died. Mummy's gone to see him because it's our birthday."

"Oh…" Tina blinked a couple of times. "I had no idea."

Jessica smiled up at her, before passing over the bowl and sliding off the sofa. Watching her sitting on the carpet and giggling as two of the kittens immediately started attacking her socks, Tina considered what she'd just heard. Her heart went out to her friend as she thought about how genuinely tough her life had been already. She also couldn't help wondering what else she didn't know about Katy.

She moved around the room, shoving any stray bits of wrapping paper into a bin bag, her mind turning over the information she'd just heard. The girls were just starting to get hungry when they heard the front door opening and Tina headed slowly into the hall.

"Hey, you alright?" She asked softly, making Katy jump as she hung up her jacket on the pegs by the door.

"Yeah, fine. Why?"

"Jess told me where you were."

"Oh."

"You never said you had a son."

"No." Katy replied bluntly, shrugging and making her way into the kitchen, flipping the switch on the kettle and busying herself making tea. "I didn't."

"Why not?"

"Because… I don't like talking about it."

"I'm really sorry that-"

"Why? It wasn't your fault, was it? It was mine."

Tina fought against the very clear message Katy was sending her that she should drop the subject. Instead, she settled herself on a stool at the island and smiled gently at the blonde. When her housemate sent her a suspicious look, Tina motioned towards the stool opposite.

"Wanna talk about it?"

"Why would I? It's been six years."

"Because you're not as hard and heartless as you like to make out?"

"Aren't I?"

"No." Tina replied firmly. "You're not. What happened?"

"Thought I was having twins, turned out to be triplets but my s- the third didn't make it."

"Your son."

"Yeah." Katy nodded stiffly. "So… that's it. That's the story."

"So why is that your fault?" Tina asked gently. "It's incredibly sad, but it's not your fault."

"Then whose fault was it, Tina? Because I need someone to blame and that person might as well be me."

As Katy stood up and left the room, the brunette put her head in her hands and sighed. She heard footsteps on the stairs and the sound of Katy's bedroom door shutting above her and wondered whether she should call Ronnie. Deciding against it for the moment, she finished making the tea, intending to take Katy's up for her.

"Tina?"

"What's up, kid?" She asked, turning and smiling warmly at Ruby.

"What's wrong with Mum? Did you have an argument?"

"No… she's just a bit… I made her talk about something she didn't really want to." Wrinkling her nose, Tina shrugged. "I think I upset her a bit."

"She'll be OK." The nine-year-old told her sagely. "She just needs to calm down and think rationally."

Spluttering with laughter, the brunette shook her head. "Where d'you hear that?"

"Grandad Jack."

"Right."

"You didn't really pick a good day to talk to her about something she wouldn't like." Ruby continued, helping herself to a packet of crisps from the cupboard and sending Tina an almost challenging look as though she was daring the woman to try and stop her. "She's probably upset about JJ."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah. Just give her some time… or that cup of tea might do it. She's not as scary as she pretends."

"Well, thank you for the advice." Tina said, trying not to laugh at the little girl. "I'll take this up to grumpy-pants and then we'll order pizza, OK?"

As Ruby grinned and headed away to join her sisters in the living room, the brunette shook her head in amusement and made her way slowly up the stairs. Placing the cup of tea on the side table on the landing, not trusting it to stay upright on the carpet, she knocked gently on Katy's bedroom door and told her it was there. Guessing that she wouldn't get a response, she headed back downstairs to fulfill her promise to the girls.