Hi, so here is another chapter and now we have only seven left to go! I hope you all enjoy this chapter and I will do my best to bring you the next one sooner rather than later.

Disclaimer-Nothing here is mine just the character of Isla.

Please Read and Review.

And the action will come in the next chapter as we finally see Roxy's true colours.

And some trigger warnings, for this chapter and what is to come next. If you are a Roxy fan then you might want to leave this chapter and the following ones as well.

Glory Days

Chapter 10-The Rat's Out Of The Bag.

Freddie is arrested and there is a truce between Alexandra Yizzel and Isla Boswell, Martina does not know what to do for the best and Roxy begins to put her terrible plan into action.

"He's kissing the DHSS woman" Jack said grimly. Isla was upstairs but he, Adrian and God help them Billy were all stood there at the window watching.

"He's really kissing the DHSS woman" Billy said sounding almost impressed. "I don't even kiss Julie like that and I have a baby"

Jack rolled his eyes.

"Well that's it then, were never going to be able to hold our head high in the DHSS ever again"

That was Adrian, Jack ignored him. He never held his head high anyway.

"Shut it Billy" was all he said because Billy was showing all of the classic signs of interrupting and he could still smell the hospital smell in his nose and that was throwing him off completely.

He turned to watch his brother who had now let go of the DHSS vampire who said something short and to the point and (If Jack knew her—and he did) probably emasculating. She turned on her heel and stepped into her car showing off what Jack had to admit was actually rather nice legs and then Joey was coming back.

"Shit" Jack hissed throwing the curtain back and then shoving Adrian so it looked like the three of them had been doing something, anything other than staring at Joey through the window.

He stomped into the house and up the stairs not saying anything and there was the sound of a door slamming. Jack winced.

Great, that was their cash cut in half for the next month.

"Didn't sound like it went to well Adrian" said softly.

"Well…it's been a while for him. He's been out of practice just what…six years now? Aside from the odd fumble. And let's face it there's nothing romantic about them—and don't start about you and Carmen"

He didn't know what t make of it himself. If it was anyone other than her…

But then again, it was damn time Joey got himself a woman. Roxy had done some damage and then some on him and Jack had often wondered weather or not his brother would ever go into the world of dating again. He had never liked Roxy all that much, granted he had never said that to Joey's face as Aveline had once done (culminating in a row that had sent his sister to tears and Joey out the house for three days) but he couldn't change how he felt. His Mam had thought that a baby might make her gel easier into the family but that had been a pipe dream from the start. Roxy had had no interest in Isla other than when she thought she could drag Joey away from the family. She had gone to sleep soon after the baby was born and it had been Joey who had held her and gotten up in the night etc, hell it was Joey that named her. And when she had walked out of his life it had been him who had kept Joey going simply because all of the others had needed him, the baby had needed him, his Mam had needed him and yet he had had nobody to help him through it. More than once in those days unbeknownst to everyone Jack had taken Isla and allowed Joey to get something that resembled sleep, or had let him talk as he had sat there on the edge of the bed just wondering what on earth he had done wrong.

It had been hard to hear that. It had been hard to hear that his brother was blaming himself when the truth of the matter was as far as Jack could see the only person to blame was the one who had walked out the door and had never looked back. It was not as if he didn't understand that sometimes you had a wobble. But Roxy had not had a wobble, Roxy had, had a full blown meltdown.

So no Jack didn't like her. Personally he was more than happy to forget that Roxy and the damage that came with her. He liked the Joey he had now as a opposed to the Joey both with Roxy and immediately afterwards. And he wanted his brother to be happy, out of all of them Joey was the one who deserved it because he constantly beat himself up for not being enough.

Because Roxy had left him thinking that.

Jack had said it then, he had thought it since and he said it out loud now that Billy had sloped off and it was Adrian watching the news which was all about Princess Diana hugging some poor orphan.

"Bitch"

"Who?" Adrian said with a start. "The DHSS woman?"

"No. Her" he said shortly. It wasn't like Adrian didn't know who he was talking about.

"Roxy"

Adrian nodded. What he had thought about Roxy he had kept to himself but it was known throughout this family that if both Adrian and Billy (to some extent) were against you then you were not going to keep your feet under the table long.

"Maybe things will get better" Adrian said quietly.

Jack snorted.

That would be the bloody day.

Something was very odd with Isla Boswell.

She was being kind, polite, distant but not ignoring her.

She was being…nice.

Didn't she know that Alexandra couldn't live like this?

In the end it was complete and curiosity that made her go over to her at lunch.

"Is this a trick?"

"What?"

Christ she wasn't even reading a book.

This was very disturbing. As her Dad said it was like when England won the footie. Made everyone feel unnerved—not that Alexandra would know of course, she had never seen the point of football—but she thought that this was what that feeling felt like.

"This…this being nice to me. Because I don't like it"

And with that she sat down on the grass.

Which was wet.

Ugh.

"No" Isla said and Alexandra thought that she seemed…sad…

It was odd, one of the things that you could never fault in Isla Boswell was that she was happy—sometimes annoyingly so.

Now she wasn't.

It was…sad.

"Well…"

"Can I tell you something Alexandra? And you not tell anyone. Not your Dad, not my Dad anyone?"

Jesus, she was calling her Alexandra as well.

"Go on" Alexandra said, she was curious despite herself but the blue eyes looking at her were so very blue that she found herself saying (despite her better judgement).

"Promise"

"My mother is back"

Alexandra felt her jaw drop.

She had heard about Isla's mother. Half of Liverpool knew about Isla's mother and her Dad and Alexandra's dad had, had a hate/hate relationship for years. When she had told her own Mam she had shaken her head and muttered something under her breath about how this was 1980 and once you had a family you stayed with that family regardless. Her Dad had told her off for mentioning it again, even between the two of them she had only ever thrown back Isla's mother in dire, dire circumstances.

"Shit" she said not caring that Mr McAgrew would wash her mouth out with soap if he heard her swear on the playground.

"She doesn't want me to tell my Dad she's back. Says she wants a relationship with me before she does"

"Wow. That's…ballsy"

"I suppose. She said a lot of things. About my family, about how mean they were to her. And now…now I can't stop looking at them differently. It's strange, I never thought badly of her or anything like that but since she's here I'm wondering just why she left…or could something had stopped her?"

Alexandra personally thought that once a woman made up her mind to leave her baby nothing was going to stop her but she refrained from speaking such words. Isla she knew from experience had a mean right hook and an sharp elbow she could easily lodge in your ribs.

"So why didn't you tell your Dad?"

"Because I have a feeling that he'd stop it all, and I'm not sure if I want him to do that because—Alexandra what if she's a different person now?"

Alexandra wanted to ask but what if she wasn't but before she could bring up this very good point (or so she was thinking) Isla was speaking again.

"I just…I didn't even think about her before you know? And now…I don't know if she's a good person or not"

"So why don't you ask your Dad. Isla you and he have like a really good relationship. Almost as good as what I have with my Dad. Not the same obviously but you seem to get along well…why don't you just ask him. At least then you can go back to being mean to me, I can be mean to you and the balance of the world can be restored"

Isla giggled.

"You know…this has almost been nice. Sat here talking to you"

"Yes well…" Alexandra said shrugging and trying (and failing) to keep the smile of her own face as she thought that she might admit the same thing.

"I guess it's not been too terrible"

"Do you think your mate is right? That we can be friends? Cause sometimes I think that might be nice. Having a girl friend."

"Don't you have an Aunt"

"S'not the same. She's all wrapped up in herself. And Nan's…Nan. I had…I have a friend but she's an adult. And I don't know about Mum."

Alexandra blinked.

"I suppose it would be nice to be friends" she said quietly. Isla smiled and then handed her an open box of jelly worms that were by her side.

Alexandra took one.

"You will be careful won't you?" she asked. "Whatever it is you do. Good enemies, and good friends are hard to come by in this city"

"Sure Lexie" Isla said and Alexandra was relieved to see that she seemed normal again, so relieved in fact she let go of the fact that she was using her dreaded nickname.

They sat there together in silence eating jelly worms until the bell rang and they trudged back to lesson.

He kissed her.

Bloody bastard.

Gorgeous bastard.

Martina shook her head and not for the first time (and like most women in the country) she wondered why her hair would not look like the Princess of Wales. Diana's hair was styled perfectly no matter if she was on duty, with her son or at some polo match or whatnot. She had never had that luxury, her hair needed taming and today was the day that needed to be tamed.

He was coming in today to pick up his usual truckload of payments.

And she would be ready for him.

She had gone home after he had kissed her. She had been so bloody angry with him that she had not known what to say. Now she knew what she wanted to say. Saying it however was another thing entirely.

Martina knew that the lines between him and her were becoming rapidly blurred. She was the DHSS woman and he was practically at this point the favourite of everyone. She should stop the lines from being blurred here and now but she couldn't. She didn't want to because there was something happening here that she couldn't put her finger on.

It wasn't just him she thought, it was Isla. She wanted both of them and what that meant considering even she knew she was as maternal as a shark (Thank You Mr Wilson!) she did not know what to think. But she did know that she was sat here attempting to curl her hair in that artful way an hour earlier than she usually was because she knew today she was going to see him.

And that was both very good and very bad.

Which one she was not yet sure.

But damn he was as good kisser.

She had not exactly lied to her daughter. It had not been Joey. It had never been Joey, it had been that family. None of them had liked her. She was not religious, she had already been engaged and called it off before she met Joey, she had been flirtatious and had introduced him to the nightlife and cigarettes and whiskey and so the mother had hated her and the brothers she found out did whatever their mother told them. The father was non-existent and the grandad was just…there.

Aveline…for a fiver Roxy would have thrown Aveline in the river. The girl had been spoilt rotten by four brothers who had fallen arse of head to give her what she wanted and a mother who had wound the clock back two hundred years. Aveline had hated her on sight, she had hated all of them on sight, all of the girls taking her brothers out of sight and out of mind but Roxy had been the first and she had been the one who had stuck around the longest. Now Billy had a girl too but she wasn't at the house—that much Roxy had figured out.

It had been Isla that had been the catalyst for it.

If truth be told she had never wanted a baby, she and Joey had been young and she had wanted to live her life free of repercussions. She hadn't planned to tell him but he had found out and she really did think that he had talked her into it. She had all been for going down the clinic until he had, had a fit.

Even when Isla was born she had thought he would have at least found her a flat, they'd be together as a family, always on her terms but together but no…she had moved in with Mary Poppins and the brood from hell. Two nights had been two months and there was not much more it she could have taken. Even now she felt a shiver going down her spine.

Isla had not taken to breast-feeding, naturally Ma Boswell had made pointed quips about her babies being naturals and how it was her fault, she had not lost the weight quickly enough so there had been snide comments from the sister about how she hated babies because they made you fat and dumpy and unsexy, there had been days she hadn't wanted to get out of bed but fat chance of that in that house. She had known she was depressed. She had known she needed support and yet she didn't think it existed.

How could Nellie Boswell appreciate that Roxy had been depressed, so depressed she didn't even want to hold her own baby?

The best part was when she had overheard the conversations about how she could never be a part of the family. She had never really wanted to but to hear it had been hard. And then there was the constant offering to go with her when she went out with the baby.

It had made her paranoid as well.

It had been selfish to leave but it had been easy.

And she had not given it a second thought until her husband had asked her to find that baby.

Practice he said even though she had Oscar.

She had wanted to disagree with him but he found creative new ways to torture her these days and Isla was just a part of that.

She had not expected to want the little girl.

She had not expected to be able to walk back in as well. Even if Joey had wanted to give her a shot at being a mum there was no way in hell that family would let him or her.

No. The best thing to do was to do what she should have done all those years ago and let Joey do what Joey did best. Take care of that family.

And she would take care of hers.

She watched in the mirror of her car as Isla came out of school. It was early…to early…she had to get everything ready but one thing was for sure.

She was taking back her daughter.

And she was getting the hell out of this city and this country.

A new start, a new life.

A new family.

And there was nothing that Joey or the rest of the Boswells could do to stop her.

And there you go, I hope you enjoy, see you soon.

Next Chapter-The Boswell's deal with Freddie's arrest, Roxy puts her plan into action when she puts something to Isla and Joey and Martina attempt to move on past their kiss.