Friday morning came far too quickly for Katy's liking. She'd had a furious argument with Isaac the night before and he'd stormed off to stay at Patrick's. Katy was fuming with herself that she hadn't ended things with him then and there, but he'd left before she got the chance. Instead of dwelling on it, she ushered the girls into action, swearing under her breath as she almost tripped over one of the kittens on her way into the kitchen.

A banging on the front door broke the temporary calm while Ruby and the twins ate their breakfast in front of the telly, Katy sighing as she went to see who was hammering quite so insistently. She furrowed her eyebrows in surprise at the sight of her father and his girlfriend on the doorstep; Jack looking irate and Denise looking somewhere between exasperated and concerned.

"What's up?"

"Where is he?"

"Who?"

"Isaac, obviously." Jack snapped, pushing past her and poking his head around the living room door.

"He's not here. He's at Patrick's."

"Why?" Denise asked curiously, looking at the blonde quickly.

"He just… is."

"They had a fight." Ruby informed her bluntly. "I'm surprised you didn't hear them through the wall."

"It wasn't that bad." Katy disputed untruthfully, rolling her eyes. "We just had a slight disagreement, that's all."

"Mum told him to act his age and then Isaac told her she needed to lighten up." Ruby enlightened them helpfully.

"Then she told him to piss off back to his mother's and he slammed the door." Jessica chimed in.

Katy blushed as they recounted the argument to her father and Denise. "Yeah, thanks girls… go and finish your breakfast." Shutting the living room door behind them, she shook her head. "What d'you want him for, anyway?"

"Did you know about Amy's crush on him?"

"Oh that…" She rolled her eyes. "That's nothing."

"And him smoking weed?"

Laughing in disbelief, Katy glanced towards Denise. "What?"

"Amy says she saw Isaac smoking weed outside the school." The older woman told her with a small shrug.

"That's bollocks. Isaac wouldn't do that. He'd lose his job if anyone saw him. It means far too much to him to even risk doing something so stupid."

"Yeah, well, Amy's not a liar." Jack defended his younger daughter quickly.

"I pointed out to her, in no uncertain terms, that her crush was utterly pointless." Katy told them, folding her arms and arching an eyebrow. "She didn't take it too well. She's clearly just making this up to get back at Isaac for stopping the tutoring."

Jack frowned at her, turning to open the door once more. "Well, we'll see what he has to say about it."

Denise shot her a weak smile as she followed her partner out and Katy watched as her father stormed across the Square, Denise trailing behind him. Wrapping her arms around herself, pushing the door closed just as Jack started hammering on Patrick's front door, Katy went into the living room to hurry her daughters up for school.

When Katy picked up her phone from the surface of her desk late that afternoon, she realised she had several missed calls from her boyfriend. Sighing, she listened to the answerphone message he'd left, furrowing her eyebrows at what she heard. Hanging up, she immediately selected his number from her contacts list and waited for him to answer.

"Isaac? What's happened?"

"Your fucking family, that's what's happened." He snapped at her. "First I had your dad round here shouting the odds before I even left for work and then your uncle went and got me suspended."

"My… what? Max?"

"No, Phil. I got called into the office to talk about a complaint that had been made about me and I see Phil bloody Mitchell smirking at me." Isaac told her furiously. "The same shit Jack was going on about; me being a junkie."

"But that's ridiculous!" Katy gasped immediately. "Where would… why would Phil even–?"

"It doesn't matter why, does it? It matters that he did and now I might lose my job."

"Isaac… I'm so sorry. I'll speak to them. I'll–"

"What's the point? It's too late. It's too fucking late."

Katy stared at her phone as the line went dead. A feeling of overwhelming guilt washed over her as she stared at the black screen, knowing that Isaac was right. Her family had ruined everything, yet again. She might not love Isaac and she might have been planning on ending things with him, but she would never have wanted something like this to happen.

Knowing that the girls were at her mother's with Matthew, Katy gathered her things, suddenly feeling as though all the air was being sucked out of the office. She gasped as she almost crashed through the door, catching Kathy's attention and muttering that she was going home, before heading quickly away.

She had, however, forgotten that there was a possibility that Tina was in. Making it through the front door, Katy only had time to shut it behind her and throw her things in the direction of the hallstand before she was sliding down to the floor, the tears she'd been fighting finally falling freely.

In a matter of moments her friend was at her side, running hands through her hair and pulling her into her arms, rocking her as she demanded to know what had happened. Katy could barely form a sentence, so Tina carefully hauled her to her feet and half-walked, half-carried her into the living room. Settling her on the sofa, she wrapped Katy in a tight hug again, resting her chin on the top of her head.

When the blonde managed to calm herself down, she was able to explain what had happened. Tina huffed when she heard what Isaac had said, telling Katy that it wasn't remotely her fault; that she wasn't responsible for her family's actions. The younger woman had simply shrugged and scrubbed at her eyes wordlessly.

"Why is everything so hard." Katy exhaled suddenly, squeezing her eyes closed and shaking her head. She pushed the heels of her palms into her eyes and fought back a sob. "I just want something normal. I just want someone to love me without all the extra crap that always seems to follow me around."

"You can have that." Tina promised, running a hand through her hair and pulling the blonde to rest against her side. "You deserve that."

"Yeah? So why has every single relationship I've ever had turned to shit."

"I'm sure that's not–"

"I just want to be loved, Tina." Katy told her softly. "No one has ever loved me. Not really. Tyler never really loved me… he loved the idea of me and he loved what loving me would represent. He wanted a family, the same as I did. Isaac doesn't love me either… hell, Isaac barely knows me. Even my parents don't love me unconditionally… I don't blame them; they missed most of my life. At least I've got my kids…"

"Katy, darlin', you are so worthy of love." Tina told her, moving even closer and cupping her face, forcing the younger woman to meet her eyes. "You really, really are."

"I'm not so sure."

"You've clearly just never found the right person."

"Or maybe there just isn't a right person for me?"

Tina opened her mouth to protest, but Katy shook her head and moved away, wiping her tears from her cheeks. Before the brunette could say anything to try and placate her, she was on her feet and walking towards the door, tying her hair up in a messy bun and taking a deep, steadying breath.

"The kids will be home soon. You in for tea?"

"Yeah, I guess I–"

"That'll make them happy." Katy called, out of sight in the kitchen. "Sophie was saying this morning that she misses you. Maybe I need to add in times for you to spend with Frankie and times for you to spend with the girls when I do the rotas."

Laughing weakly, Tina went to join her, leaning against the counter closest to the door. "I didn't realise it was a problem."

"Hmm? It's not a problem. You don't have to spend time with the kids if you don't want to."

"I do want to, I just meant…"

"Oh god… sorry, T." Katy turned to look at her apologetically. "I wasn't getting at you. It was meant to be a joke. I'm fucking everything up today."

"You're not." Tina told her firmly. "But you do need to do what's best for you and make a decision about Isaac."

"How am I supposed to end things now? Now that, because of my family, he's lost his job… possibly even his career."

"Katy, you can't–"

"I can't kick him while he's down, Tina."

"You can't throw your happiness away for the sake of him, either."

Making a noncommittal sound in her throat, Katy resumed hunting in the 'fridge for the ingredients to make dinner. She knew that Tina was watching her carefully, but made absolutely no attempt to continue the conversation. When the brunette took a seat at the island, clearly wanting to keep an eye on her without her realising, Katy smiled fondly but still said nothing.