The next few days flew by and suddenly it was the weekend again.

"Wow!" Sheelagh said on Sunday morning when they were eating their breakfast in their dressing-gowns.

"What?" Des looked up from buttering his toast.

"Over a week has gone by already!"

Des smiled, "yeah it has, and I can safely say that you're not a pain to live with."

"You think?"

"I know."

Sheelagh smiled. "Good, good."

"What're you doing today?"

"I've gotta go and speak to Gina, then I don't know."

"Have I got to come and see her?"

"Yeah, I think so."

"Where are we meeting her?"

"In her car on Island Lane."

"Oh."

"What are you doing after?"

"Taking you on a walk along the river."

"Do I want to go for a walk along the river?"

"Yeah."

"Okay. But first can we stop by at my house to say hello to Patrick?"

"Okay." Des was secretly gutted but didn't let it show.

At 11:30am they were getting into Gina Gold's car on Island Lane. Gina was in the driving seat and Adam was in the passenger seat. They both turned round, expectantly.

"What's been happening?" Gina asked.

"Not a lot, Honey flirts with everyone, Reg's quite good, Des is an idiot and that's about it."

"I'm not an idiot!" Des protested smiling.

"What about the customers? Any…unwanted attention?" Adam asked.

"There was a bloke that looked Sheelagh up and down the other day, but he hasn't been in since." Des replied.

"Do we have a name."

"Charlie O'Donnall."

"Okay." Adam made a note of the name. "Anything else?"

"No sir." Des replied.

"Sheelagh?"

"No sir." Sheelagh replied.

"And how are you two getting on? Honestly." Gina asked.

"Okay." They answered together.

"Sure?"

"Yeah, we're fine." Sheelagh answered.

"What are you gonna do with your day off?" Gina asked.

"We're going to see Patrick then for a walk along the river." Des answered.

"Okay. Off you go."

They got out of the car and back into their own car. Des didn't turn on the engine straight away, instead he turned to face Sheelagh.

"Are you okay?"

Sheelagh nodded, "how about you?"

"Yeah, course. Come on. Let's go and see Patrick." Des started the car and drove round to Sheelagh's house.

Once they were all seated in the seated in the sitting room Declan cam running in.

"Hiya Mum!" he threw his arms round her neck and hugged her.

"Hiya Declan!" Sheelagh hugged him back. Declan let him mother go and asked.

"Are you back for good?"

"No, love, not yet."

"Oh," Declan looked sad, "okay."

"Is this how it's gonna be?" Siobhan asked. "We see you for about 20 minutes a week?"

"I'm sorry, love." Sheelagh didn't answer a straight 'no'.

"Sheelagh?" Patrick said quietly.

"Yeah." Sheelagh turned her attention to Patrick.

"Do you… do you have to sleep with Des?" Patrick looked at the floor.

"No! Only if a crazed gunman is pointed a loaded gun at us and demanding us to, which hasn't happened."

"Oh." Patrick looked a lot happier.

"How do you know if the gun's loaded or not?" Fintan asked.

"We don't. We have to believe that it is though."

"Oh."

"Sorry, but we…" Sheelagh looked at the floor, "…have to go."

Patrick stood up and held his hand out towards Sheelagh. She took it and he pulled her up and into a hug.

Five minutes later Des and Sheelagh were leaving the house and getting into the car. Des turned to face her.

"Do you wanna walk along the river?" He asked.

"You're asking me now?" Sheelagh laughed.

"Yeah, I was joking earlier when I told you that I was taking you."

"Yeah, I know. Come on, let's go."

While they were walking along the river, they were talking.

"This is nice, thanks for suggesting it." Sheelagh said.

"That's okay. Oh no."

"What's the matter?"

"It's Charlie O'Donnall."

"Oh."

"Can I hold your hand?"

"Okay."

Des slipped his hand into Sheelagh's as they approached Charlie.

"Oh, hello." Charlie said when they were face-to-face.

"Hi." Des and Sheelagh replied.

"Look, we'd love to talk, but we've got a lot to be getting on with." Des said.

"Okay. I'll let you get on then." Charlie walked past them.

Three quarters of an hour later they were back at the pub. Sheelagh flopped down on the sofa.

"Wanna drink?" Des asked.

"If you want to make me one."

"Okay. Coffee okay?"

"Why don't we have some hot chocolate?"

"Okay."

Sheelagh smiled at him as he left the room. He hadn't let go of her hand when they had left Charlie, instead he had held it until they had reached the car. They hadn't spoken about it at all.

When Des came back in with two mugs of hot chocolate Sheelagh was flicking through the DVDs that Des had brought with him. She chose one, put it on then settled next to Des on the sofa. Des handed her the mug and their fingers brushed, but neither of them said anything about it.

"What film have you chosen?"

"'The Others', what's it about?"

"You'll see."

At 9 o'clock that night they were clearing away their takeaway wrappers and plates etc. when Sheelagh said.

"Why didn't you say the film was going to scare the daylights out of me?!?!?!"

Des laughed. "Maybe I should've, then my jumper might not be so pulled from you hiding behind it!" # "Sorry." Sheelagh said bashfully.

"Ahhh, come here/" Des again offered her a 'hug opportunity', which she took. "I was only joking."

"Good, good."

They stayed like that for a couple of minutes until Sheelagh pulled away.

"Come on," Sheelagh took his hand and led him into the sitting room, "you don't get away from clearing up by giving me a hug!!"

Des laughed and used her hand, that was still holding his, to pull her so she was so close to him that they were almost touching. He put his free hand round her waist and said.

"Don't push me too hard."

"Why? What're yo…" Sheelagh was cut short by him kissing her softly on the lips. Sheelagh was stunned for a minute before putting her hands on his chest and kissing him back. Her kissing him was such a shock that Des pulled back. He smiled at her.

"I thought you were gonna push me away." He said. Sheelagh shook her head and pulled him in and kissed him passionately.