Author's note: Hello everyone, I'm back with another story. This one was inspired by what Iain MacLeod said about Simon's drugs storyline 'colliding' with Carla and Peter's love story. I wrote this a few weeks ago so it's set around the time Peter was in detox and Nick's still in London with Sam and Natasha. I love reading things all in one go so I've decided to post the first three chapters up to give you a flavour for the story. Hope you enjoy it and thanks for reading.

Chapter 1- The Confession

"What time do you call this?" Leanne asked when Simon walked through the door. He had been doing this for weeks now, disappearing for hours on end with no explanation as to where he'd been, and she'd had just about enough of it. The teenager's hood cast a dark shadow over his face and all Leanne could see was a set of eyes glaring at her. Truth be told, he looked rather intimidating. He was gripping tightly onto the straps of his rucksack and Leanne noticed that his right knuckle was bleeding. She frowned and pointed at it. "What happened to your hand?"

He shrugged off her concern. "Fell off my bike."

She didn't know whether to believe him, but decided not to press him on the matter. She folded her arms, eyes narrowing at him. "So where have you been all this time?"

Another shrug of his shoulders. "Out."

He didn't care to elaborate and started walking away.

"Excuse me," she called after him. "Where do you think you're going? I'm not finished with you yet!"

He took no notice of her and disappeared into his bedroom, slamming the door behind him.

A little while later Leanne went to check on him. She found him stood in front of his bedroom mirror, shirtless, examining the bruises covering his back and stomach. The sight was so shocking that Leanne let out a gasp. His head snapped to her in the doorway where she was pointing at the garish purple and red marks. "Simon, what happened?"

"Get out!"

He shoved her out of the doorway and slammed the door shut in her face. She heard it lock and started pounding her fists against it, demanding to be let in. "Simon, open this door! Don't mess me about, open this door right now!" The panic was rising in her chest as the image of those garish marks burned in her mind. "Where did you get those bruises? Who did that to you? Simon, answer me!"

Several minutes passed with her stood outside the door and when it became clear he wasn't going to let her in any time soon, she closed her eyes and dropped her head against it in defeat. "Simon, I…"

She trailed off.

What had she been about to say? Sorry for being a terrible mother? Sorry for being so caught up in her own problems that she hadn't noticed he was struggling too?

She decided to leave him to it and walked away.

However later that night, just before going to bed, she tried his door again and to her surprise it opened. She crept inside and perched herself on the edge of his bed. He was asleep or pretending to be. She decided on the latter. She began stroking his hair just as she'd done when he was a child. "What's going on eh, Si?"

A long silence, then a mumbled reply. "I can't tell you."

His voice sounded hoarse and gravelly, as if he'd been crying.

"Of course you can," she soothed. "I'm your mum. You can tell me anything. Anything at all."

He shook his head. "Not this."

Her fingers continued stroking his hair as she said softly, "Simon, if you're in danger, if someone's hurt you, then I need to know. Whatever's going on, you can tell me. I'm not going to be angry alright, I promise. Just tell me what's going on so I can help."

He winced in pain as he sat up and wiped his eyes. Then he reached under his bed for his rucksack and set it down in her lap. She gave him a questioning look before slowly unzipping the pack and peering inside. She pulled out something wrapped in a plastic bag. She knew immediately what it was and her heart sank. She held it out to him. "Is this what I think it is?"

He nodded, avoiding her gaze.

She had promised that she wouldn't get angry so tried to keep her voice calm. "Where did you get it from?"

"Jacob from the chippy," he replied.

"And how did he get his hands on something like this?"

"Harvey."

She furrowed her brow. "Harvey? Who's Harvey?"

"He's the man in charge, the one we work for."

Her frown deepened. "Work for…?" She needed a minute to process it all. "So let me get this straight," she began slowly, needing to be clear on the facts. "You and Jacob get given drugs by Harvey and then you go off and sell them. Is that what you're telling me?"

He nodded again, still refusing to look at her.

"And how old is Harvey?" she asked. "Is he your age?"

He shook his head.

"Older?"

A nod.

"How old?"

"I don't know, forty maybe." He forced himself to meet her gaze and started to become emotional. "I didn't know what I was getting myself into. All I knew was that we needed money and Jacob said he knew a way to help. The job sounded easy enough at first but things went wrong…"

Leanne gave him an encouraging look and he continued, "I was making a delivery but the person I delivered to took off without paying me for the drugs. Harvey was furious when he found out. And now I owe him. I've got to keep working until I've cleared my debt, that's how it works."

Leanne swallowed. This was bad. Really bad. "So what happened tonight? How did you get all those bruises?"

"I was out making a delivery in another part of town when this gang jumped me in an alleyway. They took off with the drugs and said they'd kill me if they ever caught me dealing on their turf again."

He winced as he sat up straighter. Seeing her son in so much pain brought tears to Leanne's eyes. "Oh Simon…"

She wanted to shake him for getting caught up in something so nefarious, but the mother in her just wanted to pull him close and protect him.

His phone started to vibrate on the bedside table, the caller ID unknown.

Simon looked over at it. "That'll be Jacob. He'll be wanting to know how the delivery went. He's going to kill me when he finds out what happened…" He swallowed as it continued to ring. "I better answer it. He gets mad if I don't answer."

"Just forget about Jacob," Leanne said, tossing the phone into a drawer. She grasped Simon's chin with gentle fingers, forcing him to look at her. "Listen to me, Si, I know I've not been the best mum lately. I've let things slide, I know that, but I promise you, that stops now. I'm going to sort this, okay? Everything's going to be fine."

"I'm scared mum." At his frightened admission she pulled him into her arms and rocked him whilst he sobbed against her shoulder.

They sat in the darkened room, her arm around him, fingers stroking through his hair, his head upon her shoulder. "The people I'm involved with," he began, breaking the companionable silence that had settled between them. "They're dangerous, they've killed people…" He swallowed, lifted his head to look at her. "What if they kill me?"

"That's not going to happen," she said fiercely, her arm tightening around him. "I won't let it."

"What are we going to do mum?"

"I'm not sure yet," she admitted. "But I'll think of something."

The next day a new Leanne took charge. The woman who spent all day moping about in her pyjamas feeling sorry for herself was gone and in her place was a woman of action, a mother willing to fight by any means necessary to protect her only remaining son.

Simon was all she had left in the world She wasn't going to lose him too. No way.

The first thing she did was made him quit his job at the chippy. Then she started driving him to and from college each day. She banned him from hanging out with his mates and she even went so far as to confiscate his phone just so she could be sure he wasn't contacting Jacob in secret.

With Simon no longer working they needed money from somewhere, so Leanne went to see Imran about getting her old job back despite having quit only a few weeks earlier. Imran graciously accepted and she started back the following week.

At work, she would check in on Simon constantly. She hated leaving him alone in the flat but he promised he was sticking to the rules, not going outside and not answering the door to anyone other than her.

Those first few weeks passed without incident, but things soon took a turn when Jacob showed up at the flat. Leanne ordered Simon to his room before answering the door to the teenager who greeted her in an overzealous manner. "Afternoon Mrs B, just thought I'd pop by and see how my buddy Simon's doing. We all miss him down at the chippy, you know. It's a real shame he quit. Can I have a quick word with him?"

"No you can't," she said, and the bluntness of her reply took him by surprise. "I don't want you speaking to my son ever again, do you hear me? I know everything, Jacob. About how you've been getting him to sell drugs. Well, I'm telling you now, Simon's having no further part in it. And if you dare try to contact him again, or threaten him in any way, I'll call the police. Just you try me. Now get the hell off my doorstep."

Jacob looked dumbfounded as she shut the door in his face.

She had hoped, rather naively, that that would be the end of it, but of course it was only the beginning.

The following evening, after picking Simon up from college, they returned home to find the place had been broken into. Plates and dishes were smashed to pieces on the floor, the coffee table had been flipped over, Sam's science project had been trampled on, and someone had taken a cricket bat to the flat screen tv.

Leanne crouched over the photo of Oliver that was lying on the floor. She cleared away the broken glass and set it back on the sideboard where it belonged.

"Mum, look…" Simon was pointing towards Oliver's bedroom.

Leanne had kept his bedroom shut after his death, but now the door stood slightly ajar.

The sight alone sent shivers through her. Her stomach twisted in painful knots as she took slow, tentative steps towards the door, afraid of what she'd find waiting for her on the other side.

She pushed gently on the door and it opened with a slow, unsettling creak…

She didn't know where to look first. There was mess everywhere. Oliver's sheets had been ripped from his bed, his clothes were strewn all over the floor, the head of his favourite teddy bear had been ripped off, and his music box, her most prized possession, had been smashed to pieces.

Oliver's room was her sacred place, the one place she could go to feel close to him.

She dropped to her knees with an anguished cry.

Simon had done his best to clear up the mess, but he'd left Oliver's room alone, knowing that his mother would want to sort that herself. He brought over a cup of tea to where she sat motionless on the couch, staring blankly at the wall ahead. He sat beside her, snapping her from her daze. After a moment she spoke. "How could someone do a thing like this?"

The devastation in her voice was soul-destroying.

"Because they're thugs, that's why. The lowest of the low."

"But to trash Oliver's room like that, all of his stuff…" She trailed off and Simon watched as a tear slid down her cheek. He thought she was going to break down again. He had seen her break down so many times these last few months that he'd almost become immune to it. Then a shadow passed over her face and her expression grew dark and hateful. She swatted away the tear then marched over to the front door.

Simon called after her. "Mum? Where are you going?"

"Out!" was all she said, before hurrying out the door.

Leanne's fists were clenched at her sides as she thundered down the cobbles. She burst into the chip shop and strode up to the counter where Jacob greeted her in a nauseatingly polite fashion. "Evening Mrs B, what can I get you?"

Her arm shot out and knocked the bottles of ketchup and mustard off the counter.

"What the…! " the boy stared at her, aghast. "What the hell are you doing?!"

But she didn't stop there. She started flipping over the tables and chairs until the place looked as much of a state as her apartment.

Behind the counter, Jacob clutched his head in bewilderment. "What the hell is wrong with you? You're stark raving mad!"

"Oh I am," she said, closing in on him. "I'm very mad indeed. You know why? Because I've just come home to find my son's room – my dead son's room – trashed!"

She reached over the counter and grabbed him by the collar of his uniform. "Now you listen here, Jacob. This boss of yours, Harvey, I want to meet him."

Something changed in Jacob's expression then. He looked… scared. "Believe me lady, you don't."

"I'm not scared of him," she sneered. "Or you."

"Well, you should be. He's dangerous," Jacob warned her.

"Yeah? Well so am I!" He stumbled backwards as she released his shirt and stormed out of the shop.

That evening Nick phoned like he always did to see how she was doing. She lied to him, told him everything was fine and not to rush home. She didn't want Nick involved in Simon's mess. Nick had other priorities now, like Sam. That had to be his focus, just like Simon was hers. Tomorrow she would meet with Harvey and put an end to this whole sorry mess once and for all.