"God your gran can drink." Ben muttered, putting his head in his hands the next day.

Katy snorted, flipping through a pile of quotes in search of the one she'd decided to go with. "Yeah, she really can. That's another reason I needed you to come with us last night. There's no way I could've kept up with her, soft drinks or not. Besides, I needed someone to distract her while I made sure she didn't open her mouth."

"You've got some front, Katy…" He said, shaking his head. "You didn't even blink talking to that guy at the yard."

"There's too much at stake, Ben." She pointed out. "I've got to protect my kids."

"Katy?" They both looked up at the sound of Roxy's voice as she crashed her way into the bar. "Have you seen Mum? She's been acting really weird the last couple of days."

"Yeah, she was out with us last night, wasn't she, Ben?"

"Yeah." He agreed with a quick nod. "She's to blame for the awful hangover I've got."

"What?" Roxy looked completely bewildered by their words. "Mum went out with you two? What were you even doing on a night out?"

Her niece looked mildly offended. "We went to check out that new gay bar up the High Street. I wanted to check out the competition, Ben's the target market and, like you said, Gran's been acting weird. I thought she could do with cheering up a bit."

"Why didn't you invite me?" The older blonde pouted. "I could have done with cheering up a bit and all."

"Why?"

"Jamie's chucked me." Roxy told them with a dramatic sigh. As the two younger Mitchell's exchanged a look, she huffed. "The Walford FC footballer I've been seeing?"

"I thought you were seeing a guy from the brewery?" Ben asked, frowning.

"Nah? Weren't you seeing a paramedic?" Katy cut across him. When her aunt simply huffed again, she shrugged. "Sorry Aunty Rox… I can't keep up."

"Speaking of not being able to keep up, have you told Tyler yet?"

"About what?"

The older woman rolled her eyes. "The baby, obviously."

"I called him and left a message saying there was something we need to talk about." Katy shrugged, ignoring the look that passed between her aunt and cousin. "He hasn't got back to me, so…"

"He probably thinks it's about when he can have the kids over Christmas or something." Roxy pointed out. "Katy… you need to tell him."

"Yeah and I will." She replied with a frown. "I can't do it in a message, can I? How am I supposed to tell him in person if he won't call me back so I can tell him to come round?"

"Are you sure you're not putting it off because you know he'll want to be involved?" Roxy pressed, dropping into a seat and making her niece huff irritably. "There's no way Tyler's going to act like Isaac has."

"He might." Katy replied stubbornly. "Especially as I have no idea who's kid it is."

"Katy–"

"What is so difficult to understand?" The younger woman continued irritably. "I don't want Isaac, I don't want Tyler. I don't want any of it. This baby is a Mitchell and that's that."

Exchanging a look with Ben, Roxy stood up and shrugged. "It's your choice, kid."

"Yeah, it is."

Ben paused as Roxy shrugged and left the bar. Then he squeezed Katy's shoulder for a moment before following. Left alone at the table, the blonde briefly wondered whether they were right and she should try harder to tell Tyler the news. Then she shook her head and dismissed the thought, deciding that it was up to him whether he wanted to speak to her or not.

"What's going on?"

Katy frowned, watching as her friend was put in the back of a police car and driven slowly away. She looked sideways at her business partner, reading Kathy's expression and frowning deeply at the look she found there. The older blonde stared back, shaking her head a little.

"Tina attacked Ian."

"You're having a laugh, right?" Katy shook her head in disbelief. "You think Tina put Ian in hospital? No chance. This is Tina Carter we're talking about."

"But Ian said–"

"Kathy, with all due respect, I don't give a shit what Ian said." The younger blonde informed her bluntly. "I know Tina and I know she's not capable of that. She's your friend. This is gonna turn out to be a massive misunderstanding and you're gonna regret turning on her."

"My son is lying in a hospital bed because someone put him there."

"Yeah, someone."

"If it was one of yours–"

Katy arched an eyebrow. "No one hates my kids enough to batter them unconscious, Kathy. There's a whole list of people who'd be queuing up to put Ian in hospital. Tina isn't even in the top ten." She glanced towards the graffiti on the pub door and smirked. "Burn in hell? Hardly Tina's style, is it? Let alone her handwriting… come on, Kath, be serious."

Shaking her head again, Katy turned and wandered in the direction of the R&R. The repairs were mostly done and the plumbers were installing the new sink that afternoon. Katy was tentatively hoping that she'd be able to open up before Christmas and cash in on the festive trade. As much as she hated to admit it, even to herself, not being open until the New Year would be disastrous for the business.

"Katy! Hi!"

She looked up with a frown. "Hi?"

Kim bounced across to her, beaming. "We're here for the trial."

"Right…"

"I'm Mila." The other young woman told her, smiling and sending her a small wave.

"And, obviously, you know exactly who I am." Kim pointed out with a giggle.

"Oh!" She shook her head, remembering something Kathy had said about needing to hire someone. "You're here for the trial, right. Ummm…"

"Kathy's left a list of cocktails for us to make." The young woman said, motioning to the A4 sheet of paper on the bar.

"Brilliant!" Katy grinned. "You might as well get on, then. Obviously I won't be able to sample them," she rubbed her stomach quickly, "but I'm sure Kathy will be here before long. I'll be in the office if you need anything."

Heading away, she shook her head. As much as she liked Kim as a person, Katy was pretty sure that if they ended up working together she might actually end up committing yet another murder. Shaking her head, she let herself into the office and gritted her teeth as she prepared to check through the accounts yet again. It took a lot of effort to do so these days, watching the figures dropping lower and lower every time.

Hours later, her mood in no way improved by the numbers she'd checked and double-checked several times, the office door opened and Kathy appeared. She fixed the younger blonde with a hard look, folding her arms and dropping to sit on the sofa opposite the desk. There was a tense silence and then Kathy sighed and dropped her hands to the cushions.

"I'm sorry for earlier." She said. "I know Tina's not… I'm sorry, alright. I'll apologise to Tina when…"

"I'm sorry, too." Katy admitted, narrowing her eyes at the slightly surprised expression that had appeared on her business partner's face. "Ian's your son. I get it. I'd blame anyone and everyone if someone hurt one of mine. I'd do a lot more than bitch about them, too."

"Yeah, well… maybe you were right, too. Ian's not exactly Mr Popular, is he?"

Katy was about to say that it didn't mean he deserved what had happened, but stopped herself. "Nah, he ain't."

"So, I've decided to hire Mila."

"How did Kim take that?"

"Not great." Kathy admitted, huffing and leaning back against the sofa cushions. "She broke a bottle of vodka and threw a strop."

"I mean, that's just standard Kim, isn't it? She'll be completely over it by now."

"Mmm… so, how's it looking? Are we going to be able to keep our heads above water?"

"If we can get open before Christmas, yeah." Katy told her, smiling wryly. "We need the Christmas and New Year trade. I can't really afford to plough much more in to keep us going. I need the money for the kids."

"If I could do more–"

"I know." The younger woman nodded at her quickly. "It's not your fault."

"Let's just help we get things sorted quickly, then."

"Tina!"

"Katy…"

"What's going on?" The younger woman demanded, frowning at her friend. "Dad said that you'd been arrested for battering Ian? Please tell me–"

"Of course I didn't." Tina sighed, shaking her head. "We had a fight – at his house – but he was alive when I left. He did this…" She motioned towards her lip. "I didn't do it, Katy."

"I believe you." She assured her, reaching out and squeezing her hand tightly. "I know you're not capable of that. So? What've they said? Surely they've realised you're innocent and dropped it?"

"No… they've let me go for now."

"What? This is bullshit." Katy scowled. "Let me call Ritchie… I'll speak to Dad. I can–"

"Gray's on the case." Tina assured her, cutting her off before she started making wild suggestions. "Shirley wants me to move into his house with them so that we can sort all this out."

"What? You're moving out?"

"Only for a little bit. You don't need all this… Gray said they'll probably want to search the house and all sorts. I can't put you and the kids through that. It's not fair."

"Tina… I don't want you to move out. You don't have to do that. So what if they search the house… there's nothing for them to find."

"It's for the best." The brunette replied with a weak smile. "It won't be forever. Besides… it's Christmas, ain't it? You'll be surrounded by Mitchells and we'd barely see each other anyway."

"Are you sure this is what you want?" Katy asked, sensing something that her friend wasn't saying. "One phone call and I can get Ritchie on it."

"No, it's alright. Shirley trusts Gray… it'll be fine."