A/N: This chapter did not go the way I was anticipating when I sat down to write it. It completely took on a life of its own, seemed to write itself and totally surprised me. However, looking back... it totally makes sense?

Anyway, here it is!

After the excitement of the day, Matthew, Ruby and the twins were fast asleep before Katy had even got half way through the story. She smiled, tucking them in and heading downstairs. A knock on the door made her jump and she answered it quickly, surprised to see Shirley on the doorstep.

"Shirl!" Katy beamed. "Merry Christmas. How was it? Tina told me about the waffles."

"I need to talk to you… it's important."

"OK… come in. I'm guessing this is a conversation we should have in private?"

"Yeah…"

Furrowing her eyebrows, the younger blonde motioned for the older woman to follow her to the kitchen. She closed the door carefully; curious about what she could possibly have come to talk to her about. Once they were alone, Shirley turned wild eyes on Katy.

"Tina and Mick are leaving… properly leaving."

"They… what? Why?" Katy frowned at her, not quite understanding what was going on. A heavy feeling settled in her chest at the thought of the brunette not being around.

"Gray saw that detective that's working on her case. He said that Peter's been released with no charges and the witness who saw Tina that night checked out." Shirley told her in a broken tone. "Someone's setting her up, but there's nothing we can do."

"Shirl, I'll call Ritchie. We'll get her onto this and it'll go away."

"No, no!" She shook her head desperately. "It won't work. She won't be safe!"

"But why is Mick going?"

"He's going to set her up and then… then he says he's coming back, but…"

"Shirley… you and I both know that running away isn't the answer to this." Katy told her, her hands clenching into fists at her sides and tears springing to her eyes. "She can't just run away. She can't go. She's innocent and–"

"She's going because I told her to. I told her it was her only chance."

"You're wrong. She can't just go."

"I know. I changed my mind. You need to persuade her to stay."

"Me? What can I do?"

"You need to do something, Katy…" The older blonde almost begged her. "I need you to do something and stop her leaving."

Katy shook her head, feeling tears stinging her eyes. "I don't want her to go, Shirl, of course I don't. But what can I actually do? If Tina's made up her mind she ain't gonna listen to me, is she?"

"My dozy cow of a sister is completely in love with you." Shirley blurted out, scowling at the younger blonde.

"What?" Katy blinked in surprise. "No she ain't."

"Yes, Katy, she is."

"But she… she's never…?"

Shirley rolled her eyes. "She looks after your kids, she covers your shifts, she runs around after you like a puppy… she even carried on living with you when your boyfriend moved in because you told her you didn't want her to leave. You're just too self-absorbed to realise."

"I never… I had no idea."

"Nah, course you didn't." The older woman snorted. "Like I said, self-absorbed and completely clueless."

"So… what do I do? She's my best friend... I don't want to lose her."

"The way I see it, you've got three choices. One, you pretend we never had this conversation and you carry on being a selfish cow and messing with Tina and she leaves." When Katy opened her mouth to protest, she shook her head and continued. "Two, you sort this out and let Tina move on and she might still leave, but she might not. Three, you take a chance and admit that the dependency you have on her means her feelings might not be completely one-sided. You do that and she might just stick around."

"Shirl, I'm not–"

"I've done my bit; I got you to realise what's going on. The rest is up to you. She won't listen to me, but just know that you can do something to stop her leaving."

As the older woman pushed through the door and strode away, Katy stared after her, open-mouthed. The revelation Shirley had just thrown at her had knocked her sideways and the news that Tina was planning on leaving the Square without saying something had pressed the young woman's buttons in a way that was guaranteed to make her react.

A thud from upstairs made her jump and she instinctively looked up towards the sound. Rubbing her forehead tiredly, Katy made a decision. She poked her head around the living room door, smiling at her father but pointedly not mentioning her parents' proximity on the sofa.

"Can you watch them, please?" She requested urgently. "I need to sort something. I need to find Tina before…"

"Are you OK?"

"I don't know." Katy admitted with a chuckle, shaking her head. "I have absolutely no idea. But maybe I will be? I really think I will, anyway."

"You're making no sense." Her mother told her, concern tingeing her tone as she stared at the younger woman. "What's happened?"

"I can't tell you now… I need to find Tina. But I will as soon as I can."

"Katy, if this is about–"

"Tina's innocent, Dad. I'm gonna prove it."

"Yeah, well, it'll be easier now that witness has turned out not to be credible."

"What?" Katy frowned at him. "Seriously?"

"Yeah… his statement was bollocks. The CPS won't touch it."

Sending him a beaming smile, Katy turned and headed out onto the Square. She glanced towards the house where her friend was currently staying with Gray and her sister. She didn't want to go there unless she had to, doing her best to avoid the lawyer. She hadn't trusted him in the slightest, ever since he'd been working on Whitney's case. There was something about him that was just too smooth, too charming and it didn't sit well with her at all.

Just as she had resigned herself to going over to the house and asking to speak to Tina, she spotted the woman herself standing on the Square opposite the Vic. A smile twisted Katy's lips as she looked at her and she took a deep breath, something settling in her chest. Things seemed to click into place and suddenly Shirley's words didn't seem so much of a surprise after all.

"Tina!"

"Katy?"

"I need to talk to you."

"Can it wait, I need to…"

The blonde grabbed her hands tightly. "No, I don't think it can. Shirley told me what you're planning to do and I… I don't want you to go."

"Katy…" Tina turned to her with wide, tear-filled eyes and Katy saw the truth of what the woman's sister had confided in her. She didn't understand how she hadn't realised it before. "I can't do this now. I need to–"

"Tina." Katy shook her head and inhaled sharply. "I don't want you to go. I want you to stay here. With me."

There was a long pause as they stared at each other. Katy tried to convey the deeper meaning behind her words without having to actually say them. She caught her bottom lip between her teeth, willing Tina to understand what she meant. A slow smile spread across the brunette's face as she realised what she was wordlessly being told. Taking a tentative step forward, Tina pressed a hand to the younger woman's cheek, searching her eyes for the answer to her unasked question before leaning in and kissing her gently.

"How… why…?" Tina struggled to ask the question that was swirling around in her mind when she pulled away.

They both laughed at her inability to form an actual question and then Katy shrugged. "When Shirley told me what you were planning to do it made me realise a few things. I don't… I've never…" She inhaled sharply, feeling just as unable to express herself as Tina had been a moment before. "You're going to have to be patient with me, T. I don't… You know more than most people how much of a disaster zone I am and you're my best friend. I don't want this to…"

"It won't."

"Rule number one… don't make promises you can't keep."

Grinning, Tina cupped her face with both hands, stroking her cheeks gently. "OK, no promises. But we'll work this out together… as slowly as you want. I don't wanna mess this up either."

"You gonna kiss me again or what?"

For a few moments they stood together, wrapped in each other's arms, feeling as though everything else that was threatening to tear their lives apart had melted away. Katy wasn't quite sure why she had never thought that there was more to her friendship with Tina before Shirley had put the idea in her head. It seemed so obvious and simple. Tina was, quite literally, the person she wanted to spend all of her time with. It made sense.

Then Tina pulled back, glancing over her shoulder towards the house where she'd been living for the past few days. She smiled at the younger woman, nuzzling their noses together for a moment. Then she let out a long sigh and took a step backwards.

"I need to go and sort something out."

Katy was instantly worried. "Tina, what is it? You can tell me, you know. I want to help."

The brunette chewed her lip. "Gray is a liar."

"Tell me something I don't know."

"You know?" Tina's eyebrows furrowed. "What do you know?"

"I don't know anything about him, exactly." Katy admitted with a shrug. "But I really don't trust him. There's something about him that sets my teeth on edge." She shuddered involuntarily, before remembering something and smiling broadly, squeezing Tina's hand. "But it's OK. Dad just told me that the CPS won't take any notice of that witness statement they've got. Apparently the guy that said you were at the Vic wasn't credible. They don't believe him."

"Detective Arthurs has literally just told me the same thing." Tina informed her urgently. Her expression didn't lighten at all, which concerned the woman in front of her. "Gray lied to me about it. He told me that he'd spoken to the police and that I was in real trouble. He made out that I was still the only suspect and that they could take me back in at any moment. He said I wouldn't get bail." She shook her head. "But Arthurs practically said that I'm off the hook. He told me to talk to Gray… Gray knows the truth and he still told me the opposite."

"Why? Why would he… I mean, what's he getting out of it?"

"It's because I know what he's really like… He's been doing his best to twist things between me and Shirl; trying to turn her against me. He knows that I know that he's a bully and a liar and I'm going to make sure that everyone knows the truth."

"Tina…"

"No!" She shook her head. "I can't keep quiet about this. Kheerat told me that Chantelle was scared of him… Kheerat said she was going to leave him and then she had that accident. That can't be coincidence, surely? Shirley told me that he was going to kill himself and the kids. What kind of man would even consider killing his kids?"

Katy grasped both of her hands tightly. "Do not confront him, T – not on your own. Go and find Shirl or Mick… tell them. I'll go back and find Dad and tell him what's going on. I'll get onto Ritchie and get her involved. If we can confront Gray together with proof that he's lying about your chances then we can prove that you're right."

"OK, fine."

"I mean it, babe… don't do something stupid." Katy ordered her, shaking her head. "If you back him into a corner who knows what he's going to do. Do not put yourself in danger."

Tina grinned at her, rolling her eyes playfully. "Ordering me around already? Is this what it's going to be like from now on?"

"Too right. This is what it's like when you get into bed with a Mitchell."

"Promises, promises." Tina teased, kissing her quickly again. "Right… you go and find your dad and I'll go and speak to Shirley."

"Just Shirley, yes." Katy reminded her warningly. "You don't go near Gray."

Tina waved a hand dismissively. "Yeah, yeah."

"I'll see you at home after, right?"

"Right."

"You're definitely not running away?"

The brunette laughed, wrapping her arms around the younger woman again and kissing her. "I promise. I'm definitely not going anywhere… not now."