Right I've recovered from my severe jet lag now so hopefully this chapter will be better than the last and if its not...well then, sod it, I tried my best! :D Reviews as always are at the top of my wish list so be nice and leave me one. :)

Pete watched in a mixture of horror and awe as Benjamin shoved what had to be his fourth piece of chocolate cake into his mouth, chewing happily as he lounged back against the worn looking sofa in the staff room.

"What?" the Scotsman mumbled, spraying a few crumbs of sponge down onto his blue shirt and earning a chuckle from Pete.

"Nothing," he shook his head. "Just remember whose birthday cake it is, you cheeky fuck."

Giving him an innocent look, Benjamin held the half eaten cake out to him, the sloppily drawn West Ham crest the boys in his class had made for him only half visible now. Grabbing a small slice, Pete bit into it and licked a spot of icing off of his lip.

He'd been slightly overwhelmed when his class had presented him with the cake along with a hand made card and a framed photo of all of them taken last sports day. He hadn't even suspected that any of them knew it was his birthday but then with someone like Benjamin around, he should have known better than to think it would slip by unnoticed.

"So this really was all down to you then?" Pete asked, raising an eyebrow at his friend.

"Aye," Benjamin grinned. "I'm not nearly as self-centred as my devilishly good looks would have you think,"

"Yeah, well cheers for this mate," he winked. "It's been a fuckin' brilliant day,"

"Ah well see I knew I wasn't going to see you properly until Sunday," he cocked his head.

"Don't tell me you know what Allie's up to?" Pete squinted at him and laughed. "You cheeky fucker, you do n' all, don't you?"

"My lips are sealed brother," he smirked. "I value my balls too much for your missus to rip them off with a pair of blunt scissors," he laughed when Pete winced. "Her words, not mine,"

"No one's saying anything and it's worrying," Pete frowned. "Usually I've got 'er organising shit left, right and centre but she ain't said nothing other than that I've got to be home tonight by 7."

"She's a dark horse our little Alyssa," Benjamin raised his eyebrows. "Trust me brother, it won't be anything you want to miss,"

Playfully slapping his cheek, Benjamin stood up from the sofa and gestured for Pete to follow him.

"Come on old man," he joked. "What'd you say to a cheeky game of footie with the boys before fourth period kicks off?"

"Oi, 26 ain't old," Pete shoved him. "I've got a good while before I catch up with you anyway,"

"Hey, I'm only 28," Benjamin protested, munching on his final slice of cake and wiping his hands on his trousers. "Saying that, I think living with my little shit of a brother is aging me in dog years,"

"Bring him along on Sunday," Pete nodded. "If nothing else, we might be able to mess with his head,"

"The chance would be a fine thing, brother," Benjamin snorted. "There's no head to mess with…that lad is seriously disturbed." He paused as they pushed their way out into the hallway. "Speaking of disturbed, how are things in the house? I take it Nat hasn't killed Allie yet?"

"Nah, its all pretty sound actually," Pete shrugged. "They 'ad a chat a few nights ago, I think everything got sorted then. I mean Nat's still fucking miserable looking, but that's just 'er, y'know,"

"Well what better way to clear the animosity that with a nice little birthday party, eh?" Benjamin smiled.

"Animosity?" Pete smirked at him, his eyebrows raised.

"Word of the day toilet roll," Benjamin explained with a wink. "Greatest invention ever,"

Pete laughed loudly as they jogged out onto the pitch and joined the boys who were playing around, making the most of their lunch break. So what if things weren't perfect at the moment? Perfection was overrated in his eyes anyway; he had Allie and Poppy, he had his mates around him. That was all he needed and as long as he had that, he was certain that there was nothing that could screw it up.

Allie knelt forcefully on the small suitcase as she closed it, pulling the zip around too quickly and then letting out a small yelp when she caught her finger in it, frowning at the droplets of blood oozing from the tip.

"Shit," she whispered, sucking it into her mouth and grimacing at the coppery taste. Abandoning the task at hand for a moment she jogged down the hall to the main bathroom and yanked open the medicine cupboard which was now pretty much barren after she had hidden all the pills and potions from Natalie.

Pete had questioned where everything was when he had gone to get an aspirin a few days back and she had winced, thinking quickly on her feet as she explained that most of it had been out of date and she'd had to throw it out.

Reaching past the bottle of TCP to the box of plasters, she skilfully pulled one out with one hand and wrapped it around her finger, looking up into the mirror and almost screaming out loud when she saw Natalie behind her.

"Jesus Christ," she hissed, her breath coming out in nervous, harsh pants. "What are you doing?"

"Waiting to use the bathroom," she shrugged, holding up her towel as though it were proof. "Why? Are you finding more pills to hide? Or has it gotten to the point where you're afraid I might start snorting baby powder or something?"

Allie shook her head and put the plasters back in the cabinet, turning to face the younger woman and giving her what she hoped was an uncaring look.

"If you're trying to make me feel guilty for what I said to you the other night then you're wasting your time," she shook her head. "And quite frankly, I don't have the energy to indulge your little 'Natalie Vs the World' attitude. Its Pete's birthday tomorrow and I don't have the time or patience to deal with you."

"Fuck you, Allie," Natalie spat at her as she strolled past, slamming the door as the blonde walked down the hallway, obviously not giving a crap.

Turning on the shower, she sighed as she looked in the mirror realising that she only had an hour before she had to meet Jake. Her body trembled in anticipation and she looked down at her arm, her pale green eyes zoning in on the faded scars left by dirty needles in the past.

Was she really about to get into all of this again? She'd sorted herself out over the last four years, becoming completely self-reliant and now here she was, ready to give all that up just because she couldn't quite deal with the fact that while she had been away, the world as she had known it had moved on.

Angrily throwing her hairbrush into the sink, Natalie stripped and stepped under the shower, letting herself focus on the fact that in just over an hour, none of this would matter to her, for a little while at least.

Pete carefully pushed his bedroom door open, slightly worried as to what if anything, he was going to find.

Two small suitcases sat in the middle of the bed, a piece of paper perched precariously on top of one of them. Picking up it, he smiled down at Allie's familiar curly, slanted scrawl and frowned.

Look out the window.

Doing as he was told, Pete squinted into the darkness of the garden, blinking in surprise when he saw a faint glow coming from the gazebo at the very end of the past near the trees.

Throwing his jacket and bag onto the floor, he turned around and jogged back downstairs, through the house and out into the rapidly cooling evening. Reaching the gazebo, he felt a smile pull at his lips when he spotted the candles on the steps leading up to it.

"Thank God," Allie's voice carried over the side of the tall wooden panels. "If you'd taken any longer getting home, this food wouldn't have stood a chance,"

Pete laughed and jogged up the steps, careful to avoid knocking the candles with his feet and grinning when he found Allie sat on the cushioned floor in a simple peach coloured dress and no shoes, surrounded by plates of party ring biscuits and twiglets, an open bottle of corona next to her.

"Hi," she smiled up at him.

"Party rings?" Pete crouched down and picked up one of the cookies, taking a huge bite and smirking at her. "Where's my sushi and caviar, bitch?"

"Oh please," Allie snorted, putting on a posh accent. "As if a commoner like you can even spell caviar, let alone have the taste for it,"

He burst out laughing and tossed the uneaten cookie back onto the plate, pulling her into his arms and standing up with her, their foreheads resting against one another.

"Happy Birthday," she whispered, kissing him softly.

She hadn't seen him this morning because she's had to leave for work extra early as she had cheekily demanded the whole weekend off, including Monday. Jack had told her it was fine but she didn't want to have to drag her arse in on Tuesday morning and find a mountain of work on her desk.

She pulled back and smiled at him, running her fingers over his face, tracing the features she knew so well.

"You're late," she told him, pulling his shirt collar down slightly and pressing her lips against his throat.

"You said 7," Pete protested, his hands drifting down to grip her hips tightly as she bit down lightly and made him moan.

"Uh huh," she grinned against his skin. "It's 7.02. And that makes you late,"

"It's my birthday," he told her. "Which means you can't get pissed off at me, no matter what I do,"

"Really?" she looked at him with a laugh. "And that's some kind of law, is it?"

"It fuckin' well should be," Pete grinned. "As is the rule about not being able to say no to anything I ask,"

"Uh huh," Allie rolled her eyes, knowing where this was going.

"Even if what I ask has something to do with handcuffs," Pete continued the same cheeky boyish smirk on his lips which made her heart skip.

"You're so perverted," Allie smacked him. "Now do you want your present or not?"

"I thought this was my present," Pete frowned, gesturing to the food which he noticed for the first time with a laugh had been laid out on paper West Ham plates.

"Oh, Dunham," she shook her head. "You underestimate me greatly,"

Wiggling out of his arms, she shoved him down onto one of the bean bags and straddled him, reaching behind him and pulling out three different coloured envelopes from under them.

"Pick one," she told him, holding them up in front of him and smiling at the unbelievable cute look on his face which was somewhere between excitement and confusion.

He reached for the green envelope and Allie shook her head.

"Not that one," she told him.

He blinked in surprise and then reached for the orange one.

"Not that one either,"

"So I take it I'm going for the blue?" Pete laughed, shaking his head.

"If you don't mind," Allie smiled at him, pushing it forward.

Pete somewhat cautiously picked the bright blue envelope out of her hands and looked at her patiently, catching her smile as she nodded and gestured for him to open it.

"Aw, no fuckin' way!" he laughed, pulling the two Zutons tickets out and staring at them in awe. "These were all sold out when I last checked…and they're fuckin' front row!"

"I got in there early," she told him, her chest swelling with pride when she saw his grin get even bigger. "Green next," she wiggled her fingers at him.

Pete opened it up and smirked when he saw an 2 night stay at the Ritz complete with dinner.

"The Ritz?" he raised an eyebrow.

"I know, its poncy but they have beds there the size of my car," she laughed and pressed herself against him, grinning when he let out a quiet hiss of pleasure. "Last one," she pressed the orange envelope to his chest and kissed him slowly.

Pete blindly took it from her and opened it, reluctantly pulling back from Allie and pulling another small scrap of paper out of the envelope, grinning like an idiot when he saw what it was.

West Ham Vs Arsenal on Sunday, 3pm kick off.

"The boys are all going with you," Allie told him. "No offence but I'd sell my soul before I went to a football match, a little thing like me would get eaten alive at one of those things,"

Pete laughed and pulled her back down, kissing her thoroughly before moaning against her mouth when she pulled back.

"Happy birthday," she told him again, stroking his face.

"Babe," Pete shook his head in disbelief. "You didn't have to do all this for me,"

"I know," she smiled. "But you had such a crap year…I figured that if anyone deserves to have a little fun then its bound to be you,"

"You're amazing, you know that," Pete beamed up at her, holding her tightly and nuzzling her neck. "No one's ever done anything like this for me before,"

"Yeah, well," Allie winked down at him, pushing him onto his back and lowering herself down on top of him. "You'll just have to think of a way to pay me back, won't you?"

Matt waited patiently for Dave and Bovver to come back from the bar, each of them balancing three pints of beer with ease as they slid back into their seats.

"'Ere you go, son," Bovver muttered, shoving Matt's pint across the table to him.

The yank nodded his thanks and took a sip, shuddering slightly at the coldness of the liquid. He frowned when he noticed Dave checking his phone for what had to be the fifth time in as many minutes and laughed lightly.

"What's her name?" he asked.

"What?" Dave frowned.

"The girl who's supposed to call you," Matt grinned.

"Allie Dunham," he told them with a laugh. "Silly bint was meant to text me when Pete got home, I was gonna see if he was up for a cheeky pint with us before they go up town for that concert,"

"And you haven't heard anything yet?" Matt frowned.

"They're probably shagging," Swill told him with a shrug as he sat back down with them, his pool queue still in his hand. "Y'know what them two are like…you can't leave 'em alone for ten seconds without them screwing about."

Matt laughed knowing better than most of the lads how true that was; after all he'd had the pleasure of living with them for two months.

"So, guess what Terry told me earlier?" Dave smirked, leaning forward on the table and raising his eyebrows.

"If he offered you money for sex again, I 'ope you said no," Swill told him, feigning seriousness.

"Piss off," Dave laughed. "Nah, he reckons that there's a meet after the match on Sunday,"

"What? He reckons the GSE are taking on the Gooners?" Bovver snorted. "No fucking way,"

"Nah mate, its Gospel of Paul," Dave nodded. "Apparently the lads are getting' proper inpatient with the fact that there hasn't been a proper meet since Pete was in charge,"

"What, and they reckon Ray is gonna lead the fuckin' way do they?" Ike laughed. "Mate with that ponce in charge, they'll be dead before they hit the ground,"

At the mention of his name, all seven men turned in the direction of the slightly older looking bloke sat at the bar flanked by both old and new members of the GSE.

Ray Forber was a skinny little bastard, what little muscle he did have lay uselessly in his swollen looking legs and with light brown hair hanging messily in front of his large grey eyes, he was far from being an intimidating bloke to look at.

However none of that had stopped him from attempting to take over where Pete had left off as the head of the GSE. Like Swill, Dave and the rest of them, many of the original members of the firm had left when Pete had pulled out, knowing full well that whoever stepped in to take his place would never run it the same way.

The youngsters that Ray had brought with him seemed to range between 18 and 25, all of them looking like deer in headlights whenever someone mentioned a fight. They were kids in every sense of the word; unlike Pete who at the age of 18 had joined the GSE knowing exactly what he was getting involved in and craving it more than anything, these twats were more concerned about getting the tattoo and being able to tell birds that they were in a gang.

It was sickening.

"What happens if it kicks off when we're there?" Matt asked, drawing everyone's attention back to the table. "I mean, I know we're not…"

"Its not our place anymore, son," Dave told him firmly. "If we get started on, then yeah, by all means get in there but as far as I'm concerned if those little dicks wanna go out blindfolded and get their 'eads bashed in, then that ain't our problem."

The rest of the men around the table nodded in agreement and slowly the conversation turned back to its former light heartedness, all of them discussing what the outcome of the game might be and more importantly who was most likely to get laid that night.

It was only when Dave frowned and let out a short laugh that the conversation halted, the rest of the lads craning their necks to see what he was looking at.

"Oi, you little bastard, did Terry say you could go 'ome yet?"

The sandy haired boy looked up, shoving his hands into his pockets and staring back at the older man with deep brown eyes that looked almost black in the right light.

"I started my shift early so I'm finishing early," he shot back. "That alright with you, mother?"

"Piss off," Dave laughed. "You do realise if you go out now, I ain't waiting around to give you a lift back to mum's? I'm flying over to Jersey at 8 tomorrow morning and I ain't spending my night chasing after you when you've 'ad one too many bottles of white lightening and you've praying to the porcelain God."

"Christ, if this is what happens to you when you turn 30, remind me to kil myself before then," the young man rolled his eyes and reached for the door handle. "I gotta go, I'm meeting someone and I'm already late,"

Dave whistled, drawing his little brother's attention back to him one last time.

"Don't go getting' involved in some shit I 'ave to clear up, understand?" he asked, his voice firm and commanding.

"Whatever old man," his brother snorted, yanking the door open and letting some cold air in.

"Oi," Dave called to him. "I mean it Jake, mum still doesn't know I 'ad to bail you out of the nick last month so just try not to let history repeat itself?"

At that, Jake Whitfield almost laughed. History was very much about to repeat itself, in fact a bad habit that he had fallen out of a good four years ago was now back to fuck with his head though the thought oddly excited him.

If only you knew, brother, if only you knew.

"I'll be a good little boy," Jake told him. "You just go home, put on your slippers and read the newspaper, yeah?"

He chuckled as the crystal clear shout of 'you little prick' followed him out onto the street, the chill of the night enveloping him as he walked quickly down the road to his beaten looking Clio, yanking the door open and collapsing behind the wheel.

He quickly inspected the glove box, sighing with relief when he saw the small black leather bag still sat there staring back at him mockingly. It wasn't something he was proud of, but doing this helped him pay his rent and a bloke had to get by anyway he could, right?

Pulling out of the parking bay, he watched the lights of the Anchor disappear in a faint amber mist as he turned the corner and let out a deep breath when his lights illuminated the figure stood under the oak tree at the entrance to the park just as they had promised they would.

Dressed in jeans and a light pink sweater, Natalie Dunham didn't look like the kind of girl that should be waiting on park corners for someone to sell them drugs. She looked like she should be in a poncy student café somewhere, reading Shakespeare and discussing politics. But she wasn't, and what was worse was that Jake knew she never would be.

Her fate was sealed, as was his.

Cutting the engine, he stepped out of the car and looked at her soundly for a moment, neither of them really sure of what to say or do.

"You're back then," he breathed finally, looking her up and down as she eyed the black bag in his hand with a mixture of hunger and fear.

"Yeah," she nodded, meeting his eyes. "I'm back."

"How much longer?"

Allie looked at her husband as he glanced about the elaborately decorated elevator and shuffled his feet nervously.

"We're on the top floor," she informed him.

"The what?" he half shouted, making them both laugh as an older couple shot them a filthy look.

Having just come back from seeing the Zutons, they'd realised that as much fun as it had been being in the front row, they were now partially deaf.

"The top floor," Allie told him again, making sure she moved her mouth exaggeratedly so he could lip read.

"Fuckin' ell," Pete moaned. "I hate these things, can't it go any faster,"

He punched the already illuminated button on the wall a few times, stopping only when the man on the other side of the carriage cleared his throat and gave him a stern look. The same look Pete would give the lads in his class when they were pissing around.

The doors pinged open and the couple stepped out, ignoring Pete as he winked at them and using the poshest voice he could muster, offered them a 'good day.'

Allie laughed as the doors shut, squealing when Pete suddenly had her against the wall, his hands pinning her there.

"Thank fuck they're gone," he smirked down at her. "I thought that old bint was gonna pepper spray me at one point,"

"I would have protected you," Allie giggled, reaching up and pulling his head down to hers, licking her lips in anticipation. Tonight had been so much fun, just the two of them messing about like it used to be. True, she was missing her daughter like hell but it was nice having a night to just be with Pete.

She took a sharp intake of breath as he slid one hand down to her behind and pulled her flush against him. Oh yeah, it was very nice having a night with just Pete.

"How far away is the room?" he asked her, his voice hoarse.

"Um," Allie gulped and looked at the small screen above the door. "We're on the 25th floor right now so we have like six to go,"

"Its too far," Pete growled, picking her up and shoving her hard enough against the wall to make her squeak in surprise, the noise turned quickly to a groan as Pete thrust his hips into hers and attacked her neck.

"Oh God," Allie whispered, gripping his shoulders and closing her eyes.

Pete repeated the action and moaned softly in her ear, trailing his kisses back to her mouth and smiling against the softness of her lips.

"I love you," she told him, kissing him wantonly and wrapping her arms securely around his neck.

"I love-…"

He was cut off as the doors pinged, indicating that someone else had pushed the button so it would stop at their floor. The doors parted revealing a shocked looking woman in a suit, her mouth dropping open as she temporarily stopped chatting into her phone.

"Good Lord!" she cried.

"Sorry," Pete grinned at her, his arms still holding Allie against the wall. "We'll just be going," he told her, reaching around Allie and pressing the button for the top floor the sound of her giggle echoing through the foyer even after the doors were shut.

Sliding away from him, Allie laughed and shook her head when he tried to pull her back into his arms, jabbing her finger into his chest.

"We have a daughter to think about now," she told him. "And I'm not letting Lara and Harry raise her because we're both doing time for public indecency,"

Pete laughed and slung his arm around her shoulders, kissing the side of her head and sighing with relief when they arrived at their floor.

Like a couple of teenagers, they practically ran down the hall, their hands locked together as Allie dug the key card out of her pocket and swiped it blindly as Pete kissed her.

Before they could step into the room, Allie's phone rang and Pete groaned in frustration, dropping his head into the curve of her shoulder and sighing.

Sometimes, the world just didn't want him to get lucky.

He frowned when the noise ceased.

"Its only Lara," Allie smiled. "I can call her back later, it probably just her panicking about tomorrow anyway."

Poppy was spending tonight with Pete's mum and then going back home to spend tomorrow with Lara; even though Allie had complete faith in her friend, Lara was still at the stage where every time Poppy cried or made a noise, she freaked out, assuming that she had done something wrong.

"So we can go in now, right?" Pete grinned at her like a school boy and Allie laughed.

"Yeah, we can go in," she nodded, turning in his arms and pushing the door to their room open, revealing a huge bed and plush décor. "Oh, one more thing actually,"

Pete looked at her expectantly as she reached into her handbag and pulled out a small blue bag, handing it to him with a wink.

"You might want these," she told him, strolling into the room and leaving him in the hallway for a second.

Peering warily into the depths of the bag, Pete grinned and let out a laugh as he pulled out the toy handcuffs. Hearing her giggle, he shoved them back into the bag and wasted no time in running into the room, shoving the door shut behind him and closing out the rest of the world for a while.

"Shit, shit, shit!" Lara hissed, looking down at her phone.

She'd tried calling Allie again but still she wasn't picking up. Chewing her lip nervously, she realised that her and Pete were either still at the concert or back at the hotel, neither of which scenarios would warrant Allie answering her phone.

Giving up for a moment, she pounded a manicured hand against the bedroom door, shouting through the worn panels and growing inpatient with the lack of reply.

"Natalie!" she shouted. "Natalie, open the fucking door now!"

Again, there was nothing.

Letting out a sob of fear and frustration, Lara flipped her phone open again and pressed call, tapping a fingernail nervously against her teeth and practically jumping when Dave answered.

"Alright gorgeous?" he grinned down the phone. "We were just talking about you, how'd you fancy coming down the Anchor for a bit?"

"I need your help. I need you to come over to Pete and Allie's as soon as."

The urgency in her voice made his blood run cold and he leant forward on his bar stool, ignoring the strange look Bovver was giving him.

"Why?" he asked. "What's wrong? Are you in trouble?"

Lara almost laughed, bending down and eyeing the specks of blood on the carpet and door handle, carefully picking up the used syringe and turning it over in her fingers.

"Yeah," she told him. "I'd say we're in trouble,"

Ooooh, I totally forgot how much I missed cliffhanger endings! Its my birthday on Tuesday so I don't know when I'll next be updating. I might shock myself and aim to throw another chapter your way on Monday but I seriously doubt it so this will have to keep you going till probably Thursday.

Please leave me a nice review as an early birthday present, getting old sucks and it would really cheer me up! :D