And we're off! This chapter was erring on the side of gigantic so I cut it down and will post the remnants in the next one. I hope this is to your liking...sun stroke is still keeping me indoors for most of the time which sucks so I'll start work on the next chapter asap! Bring on the reviews, they'll make me so, so happy and I could do with some cheeriness at the moment. Being burnt to a crisp doesn't make for a very happy author.

Get those 'I hate Shannon' hats on kids, because its about to get messy... :) Once again, PLEASE REVIEW!

Matt Buckner stared blankly at the TV screen trying not to let the boredom get to him. He still had a good four hours before he head to meet Ike and Swill to go to the pub and he knew Pete was busy so that left him with nothing to do. Glancing down at his watch he wondered when Shannon would be back, jumping slightly when a menacing roll of thunder sounded out from the thick clouds outside the flat. It made sense that a storm was coming in; the weather the last few days had been so hot that it needed something to clear it.

Suddenly there was a loud knock at the door and he rolled his eyes, wondering whether Bovver had forgotten his key again; it had been odd living with him at first, the conversation was sparse and awkward at best but now things seemed to have settled down a bit, although Matt knew Shannon hated having him there.

"Just a sec," he called, walking towards the door and yanking it open, blinking in surprise when Allie launched herself into the flat and slammed the door.

"Hey," he smiled, stepping forward to give her a hug. "How are y-…"

"Where's your laptop?" she demanded, her eyes scanning the flat behind him.

"What?" he frowned.

"Your computer, Matt. Where is it?"

"Its on the table," he shrugged, pointing to it and then frowning again when Allie stepped around him and walked over, opening it and switching it on. "Allie, what's this all about?"

Scrolling down the desktop, she clicked on one of the icons and swore loudly, closing her eyes for a moment and trying to calm herself down.

"You wrote a diary that had stuff about the GSE in it?" she snapped, turning to face him, her green eyes wild with anger. "This has got everything in it, about Pete, about Steve, about me," she shook her head. "And yet your supposedly Harvard educated brain didn't think to put a fucking lock on it or something?"

"What?" Matt stared at her as though she was crazy. "What the hell are you talking about? Why would I need a lock on that file? I'm the only one who uses that computer."

"Yeah?" Allie raised an eyebrow, placing the laptop back on the table and standing up. "Well I guess its just by magic that Shannon ended up with a copy of your diary in her handbag today?"

"What?" Matt breathed. "No, no fucking way, she would never…"

"I took them out of her bag, Matt," Allie interrupted. "She was planning on taking all of that into her lawyer to get custody of Ben,"

"Shannon wouldn't do that," Matt shook his head vehemently. "You've got it wrong,"

"You reckon?" she laughed. "Are you that thick, Matt? She's already lied to me; you don't think she's above doing the same to you?"

"She's my sister," Matt snapped.

"Grow up, Matt." She shouted. "Shannon would fuck over everyone who ever gave a shit about her just to get her way, and you know it."

Leaning down, she reached for the computer and glared at the American when he shot his hand out to stop her, grabbing onto her wrist perhaps a little bit harder than he should have.

"She's my sister," he told her again, his voice much calmer.

"Matt," Allie sighed. "Look me in the eye and tell me that Steve deserves to lose his son," she shrugged. "If you really believe that, then fine, have the computer, let Shannon bury all of us." She looked at him pointedly. "But you don't believe that, do you? Steve doesn't deserve to lose his son anymore than Shannon does,"

"So what am I supposed to do?" Matt cried. "She's going to know that something happened, she'll know that you took the copy out of her purse and she'll know that I sided with you…"

Because I always do, his brain finished for him. Even though he knew he wasn't in love with Allie anymore, she still had a hold over him that he couldn't fathom out. If she asked him to walk through traffic with a blindfold on he'd probably end up doing it.

"I know what I'm asking you to do isn't easy, Matt," she shook her head and held onto the hand that had previously been wrapped around her wrist. "But if we let her do this, she'll take that baby and we'll never see her again. You know that as well as I do,"

Nodding mutely, he stared down at their hands and took a deep, shaky breath.

"So what do we do now?" he asked her quietly.

"We have to tell Steve," she bit her lip. "We can't let her do this, Matt,"

"I know," he pulled his hand away from hers, staring out of the window on the far side of the apartment, watching as the first drops of rain cascaded down it. "I know,"

"Alyssa!" Lara called, stepping into the large hallway and shaking off her umbrella, chucking it next to the coat stand and sighing. "You are so lucky you buggered off when you did because the rest of my day has been the biggest load of shi-…" Lara trailed off as she walked into the living room and saw Ben staring at her intently.

"Hey Ben," she grinned, ignoring the warning look Steve was giving her. So what, she'd almost sworn in front of the minor…as if that was the worst he would be subjected to with Pete Dunham as an Uncle.

"Ay, ay," Pete walked past her, playfully ruffling her hair and making her groan.

"I hate it when you do that," she grumbled, flattening her curls back down.

"Hence the appeal," Pete smirked, taking a long sip of water and crashing back down on the floor next to the toddler and handing him a small football.

"You ready, mate?" Pete asked, hoisting him up so that Ben was standing and helping him walk towards the ball. "Right, big kick, come on,"

The toddler giggled, still dribbling excitedly as his chubby foot tapped the ball and it rolled gently over to the coffee table.

"'Ave some of that!" Pete shouted, bouncing Ben up and down, grinning when the toddler started laughing loudly. "Steve, did you see that?"

The older man grunted from where he was staring intently at a pile of papers, chewing the lid of his pen and getting ink on his lip.

"Sod 'im," Pete whispered to Ben. "He's too old to play anyway. But you and me, mate," he grinned at his nephew. "We got this sussed, right?"

Lara watched him for a minute and felt her heart leap; upon first glance, you'd never believe that someone like Pete could be good with children, but watching him now, the effortlessness with which he looked after Ben, Lara knew that he was made to be a dad. With that in mind, she realised something was missing.

"Hey, where's Allie?" Lara frowned.

"Dunno," Pete mumbled, shrugging nonchalantly as he continued to focus his attention on Ben.

Rolling her eyes, Lara realised that the pair of them were as stubborn as each other when it came to fighting and right now, she didn't have the patience.

"She text me when she left Shannon's saying she'd be home in an hour," she told him.

"Yeah, and?" Pete looked up at her.

"That was at four," Lara explained, noting the concern which crept into his eyes. "It's now just gone 6.30,"

"'Ave you tried calling her?" he asked.

"No, have you?" she shot back.

"Fuck," he cursed under his breath, digging through his pocket for his phone and flipping it open, seeing that there was no missed calls from her.

"She's probably just stuck in traffic," Lara told him, feeling guilty for making him worry.

"Yeah, but what if she's not," he shook his head, dialling her number and pressing the phone to his ear. "Fuck, it's gone to voicemail."

"Pete, look she's probably fine," Lara smiled tightly. "Its just me being stupid because I haven't seen her since this morning and she seemed a little…y'know," she shrugged. "Just a little down,"

Meeting the red head's eyes, Pete knew that Allie had told her what had happened but didn't bring it up.

"When did you last see 'er?" he sighed, hanging up his phone.

"About 2-ish," she shrugged and then looked at him with a slight smile. "I showed her the dress,"

"Yeah?" Pete nodded. "Did she like it?"

"She cried," Lara laughed. "She was so happy, Pete,"

"And you didn't tell 'er it was me though…" he trailed off, his blue eyes set on hers.

"No," she smiled, shaking her head. "I told her that it was me and Jack who paid for it. She'd kill you if she knew that was what you spent your insurance money on,"

"Yeah, I know," Pete snorted, picking up his phone and dialling again. "And I actually prefer my balls attached to my body so lets keep it that way, yeah?"

"Sure thing captain cripple." Lara saluted him before sitting down next to him to play with Ben. "You don't need to look so worried, y'know?" she threw a Lego brick at Pete's head playfully. "This is Allie we're talking about, she's probably just sat in a Starbucks somewhere sipping a decaf latte and pondering like as Mrs Dunham,"

"Have you finished checking her suitcase?" Allie glanced over her shoulder at Matt as she sifted through the drawers in the bedroom that used to belong to her and Pete.

"There's nothing," Matt shrugged and then sat down on the chair in the corner of the room, staring at the determined blonde. "Allie, I don't…this feels really wrong,"

"I know," she sighed, tucking her hair behind her ear. "But if she has any more copies of that diary then we need to find it, I don't even want to think about what'll happen if we don't."

"Have you ever thought that maybe Steve deserves this?" Matt asked her sharply. "I know that he loves Ben but he's far from being a saint,"

"You think it's only Steve that'll get screwed over if she shows her lawyer your little journal, Matt?" Allie stared at him in shock. "Think about just how much is in it; about the boys, about me, about Pete," she shook her head. "What'd you think will happen to all of them if you let her get away with this?"

"Get away with what?" Matt snapped. "Allie she's scared, she needs help,"

"Yeah, well she forfeited my help when she manipulated me into lying for her," she told him, yanking open another drawer and rummaging through it.

She picked up a photo which had fallen out of Shannon's address book; it was of the two of them at Steve's birthday party two years back, slightly worse for wear as they paraded around the dance floor, Steve and Terry stood just in shot smiling at them while Pete was calling out something to Allie that was making her laugh. Feeling tears sting her eyes, Allie realised as she stared down at the dark haired woman in the light blue dress that she had no idea what had happened to her. When had Shannon gone from being the woman who forced her to read bridal magazines and rang her every Sunday night to talk about stupid things to this woman who didn't care about anyone but herself?

"Did you find something?" Matt asked, coming over to try and look over her shoulder.

"Uh, no," she told him, sniffing, subtly shoving the photo into her pocket. "I didn't…there's nothing here," she told him with a shuddering breath.

"So what'd you wanna do now?" Matt asked her.

"Actually, I just want to go home," she squeezed her eyes shut, rubbing the heel of her palm against her forehead. "I need to talk to Pete,"

"Hey," Matt took her hand in his. "Are you ok?"

"Yeah," she nodded, opening her eyes and looking at him. "Look, Matt I'm so sorry, I know this can't be easy for you but I-…"

The front door slammed and both of them jumped, panic flooding their systems as they recalled the last time they had been in this scenario and Tommy Hatcher had strolled through the front door with a blade in his hand.

"Matt!"

Shannon's shout echoed through the small apartment and Allie looked at the blue eyed man in front of her, her stomach plummeting.

"Oh shit," she whispered.

"Matt, are you in?" she shouted again, her voice coming towards the bedroom.

"Allie, what do we do?" he asked her, his voice low and panicky.

She didn't have time to answer him as the bedroom door burst open and Shannon stood there, glaring at them with so much venom in her eyes that Allie actually felt a shiver run down her spine.

"You bitch," Shannon spat angrily.

"Shannon…" Matt put up his hands to calm her down but she ignored him, stepping further into the room, her gaze still levelled on Allie.

"You stupid fucking bitch!" she screamed, launching herself at the blonde, only to find herself held back by Matt.

"Shan, that's enough!" he hissed in her ear.

"I trusted you," she shouted at Allie.

"Yeah?" Allie looked at her sharply. "Well I trusted you as well, but that didn't stop you screwing me over, did it?"

"This isn't a game," Shannon snapped. "I could lose my son because of what you did,"

"I told them the truth," she shook her head.

"That I'm not a fit mother?" Shannon screeched. "How is that the truth?"

"Because look at you!" Allie shouted. "You left your husband and then you came back out of the blue to find him with someone else and thought that the best way to get back at him would be to lie to anyone and everyone who every gave a crap about you just to get your own way and take his son away from him!" she laughed bitterly. "Does that sound like someone who's in control of what they're doing to you, Shannon?"

"You don't know what you're talking about!" the American woman shot back. "You're too fucking selfish to understand what's really going on here."

"I'm selfish?" Allie asked her, reaching down onto the bed and grabbing the copy of Matt's diary she had taken from her purse. "So what were you doing with this then? Just brought it along to read in the waiting room, did you?"

Staring at the papers, Shannon's light blue eyes widened when she realised what they were.

"You went through my bag?" she whispered, her voice shaking with fury. "You stole from me?"

"Everything you've done, all the stupid little stunts you've pulled and you're concerned about your privacy?" Allie laughed. "Jesus, you really are deluded."

"When are you going to pull your head out of your ass and realise that the life you're leading," she shook her head. "It's a fucking joke, Allie."

"Really?" the blonde laughed. "Well forgive me for not taking your advice on lifestyle choices; last time I looked you had the emotional stability of a toddler,"

"I used to feel bad for you, y'know?" Shannon spat. "I used to look at you and think that you could do so much better than Pete, that you were ruining your life by being with a piece of scum like him."

"What the fuck would you know?" Allie hissed, taking a step forward. "I bet everyone looks a little less than golden from up there on your high horse, right?"

"Silly little Allie," Shannon laughed. "Everyone thinks you're the golden girl, don't they? Pete's little angel who can do no wrong," she leant in and stared her in the eye. "It makes me sick,"

"What happened to you?" Allie whispered. "Look at the state of you, Shannon. You're not the same person anymore,"

"Oh, a lesson in being myself from Little Miss lets-date-a-thug-to-prove-a-point-to-Daddy," she smirked. "This should be good,"

"Talk about Pete like that again and-…"

"And what?" Shannon cut her off. "What is it you think you can do to hurt me that you haven't already done? Because if I lose my son, Allie, it's all down to you,"

"Are you expecting me to say sorry or something?" she laughed. "Shannon, you fucked me over! You took everything that our friendship meant and you pissed on it just to get back at the man you walked out on for moving on with his life." She laughed again. "And you think it's me who needs to grow up?"

"You're pathetic," Shannon told her. "I just hope that I'm around for the day when Pete finally gets sick of your bullshit and realises that maybe playing the good little puppy dog isn't worth getting laid once a week," she smirked. "Because that day will come, Allie. And you'll be stuck with the baby wondering what it was that made your life with Pete so amazing that you were willing to throw away everything you wanted, everything you could have been, just to watch him slowly kill himself."

Allie stared at her in horror for a moment, the words sinking into her heart and ripping at it like rusty nails. Snapping out of her reverie, the fury returned and poured out of her in waves.

"And what makes you think I give a shit about what you've got to say?" Allie laughed. "Look at the state of you? You're nothing more than some washed up piece of trash who should have known better than to show her sour, pathetic old face around here ever again,"

The slap came so quickly that Allie actually didn't see Shannon raise her hand; the snapping of her head and the pain etching across her face was the only real evidence she had.

"Shannon!" Matt shouted, shoving her back. "What the fuck are you doing? Are you insane?"

Staring at the blonde girl, Shannon stared at the fast developing mark on her face and felt her stomach twist.

"You think that's going to sound good in court?" Matt hissed at her. "Hitting a girl who's two months pregnant? You're not gonna be happy until you fuck this up completely, are you?"

"Matt, why the hell are you-…"

"Just leave, Shannon," Allie told her quietly, her face stinging from the force of the slap. "You've said everything you wanted, now just get out,"

"Don't you dare speak to me," she shouted. "Don't even look at me from now on. We're officially done, do you understand me? Anything that was ever between us, is done,"

Grabbing her jacket, she strolled towards the door, stopping only by Matt.

"You're staying with her aren't you?" she asked him.

"You made that decision for me, Shan," Matt answered her.

"You hear that, Allie?" Shannon called to her over her shoulder. "You won again."

Allie didn't answer her, she just watched as the woman who used to be her friend, who used to be Matt's sister, Steve's wife and Ben's mother walk out of the door, leaving it open behind her, swaying gently in the wind that the storm was kicking up.

"You should go after her," she told Matt quietly, not trusting her own voice to go much louder. "Make sure she's ok,"

"I don't want to," he shook his head, turning around and coming to stand in front of her. "You're my family now,"

Allie smiled at him, trying her best to ignore the tears which were stinging her eyes before giving up and letting them take over, resting her head against Matt's shoulder as he pulled her to him, rocking her gently while she cried.

"Christ," Pete rubbed his face, flopping down onto the sofa next to Ben who was gurgling contentedly and mashing two pieces of Lego that would never fit together. "You look like I feel,"

The toddler stared up at him in curiosity, reaching out a chubby hand and pulling on his tie, the light blue material proving to be an unexpected source of entertainment.

"Don't look at me that way," Pete frowned. "I've got every right to be worried about 'er."

The toddler mumbled something unintelligible and Pete nodded.

"Yeah, I know I've been a complete twat to 'er the last few days, but that don't mean I'm not worried that she's suddenly vanished off the face of the bloody earth."

Taking the Lego brick that Ben was offering him, he slumped down on the over stuffed sofa so his body sunk into it and his head was nearer to Ben's.

"I dated this bird once, back in the day when you weren't even a twinkle in my brother's eye," he smirked. "Rachel Donahue. The fittest bird in year 12," he shook his head. "I mean, fair play, she'd been around the block a few times, but that didn't mean you said no, you get me Bennie boy?"

The toddler giggled and Pete laughed.

"Yeah, well anyway, for 'er birthday, she promises me a hand-…" he censored himself, looking down at the baby and smiling tightly. "She promised to be really nice to me if I took 'er to see this film at the drive in down in Wandsworth; now when a bird is offering to be that nice to you, you'd take 'er to Jamaica if she asked for it," he rolled his eyes. "So it turns out she has a thing for old films, right? So there's this flick called Love Story on…biggest bunch of bollocks I 'ave ever seen in my life." He laughed.

"But the bird in it, says something at the end which meant fuck all back then but now…" he shook his head and stared at the bright red Lego brick in his hand. "Love means never having to say you're sorry," he laughed. "What an absolute crock of shit that was. See before I met Allie…I'd never loved anyone. I didn't know what to do or say that would make myself look good in front of 'er. Every time I opened my sodding mouth I felt like I was frozen to the spot and I kept getting everything wrong,"

"And I thought that if love meant never 'avin to say you were sorry, then I was a fucking wreck son, because it was coming up at least twice a day in conversation," he laughed and rubbed the back of his neck. "And then it hit me that you can't love someone that much and never 'ave to say sorry."

"See I fell for Allie big time and believe me, mate, I didn't fucking want to. I knew it was far from wise but when you've got a girl like that…" he smiled. "All she has to do is look at you and you know you're completely screwed. And even though I didn't want to hurt 'er, I couldn't think of nothing worse if I'm honest but…I love 'er so much that I'm bound to mess up."

"See Ben, women are confusing at the best of times, but when you're in love with one of 'em," he whistled. "Fuck me does it get complicated. They're all you can think about all the time, which means while they're somehow acting all cool and shit, you're walking into lampposts and spilling your beer down 'em, trying to tell 'em jokes that ain't funny and trying your best to convince yourself that the fact you've fallen for 'er makes you too much of a gentleman to try and get a cheeky look down her shirt,"

He looked at the blue eyes boy next to him and tapped his nose.

"Just for the record, that last one?" he shook his head. "Not even worth attempting, especially when they've got a body like Allie has." He grinned. "I seriously 'ope this don't disturb you in later life mate, just remember, for all intents and purposes, you are related to her."

"I just want 'er to know that I love 'er." He shrugged. "I love that woman more than I thought it was possible to love anyone or anything. She makes shit jokes, she can't cook, she's a lightweight down the pisser, after almost four years she still doesn't 'ave a fucking clue about football and don't even get me started on how many pairs of shoes the woman owns,"

He smiled and took Ben's hand, shaking it lightly and making the baby squeal with delight.

"But when I think about being with her for the rest of my life, of 'aving a little one 'a you with her." He grinned broadly. "She's perfect, I just don't know if I tell her enough." He winced. "I sure as shit 'aven't made it obvious the last few days,"

Ben made a strange noise and picked up Pete's mobile, attempting to find out the hard way whether or not it was edible.

"What, you reckon I should call 'er?" Pete frowned. "You're wiser than you look, son," he grinned. "But then the only other bloke I know who dribbles that much is Swill, so…"

Flipping the phone open, he pressed speed dial 1 and waited for Allie to answer, needing to hear her voice so that for once he could reassure her that everything was going to be alright, desperately trying to ignore the annoying little voice in the back of his head that kept asking him: what if it wasn't?

So? What'd you make of that then? ... :)