Linda stared at her reflection in the small oval mirror on her dressing table. Faint black mascara under her eyes, blotchy pale skin and a sunken, tired look on her face which had remained for the past few weeks. It's over, she told herself again and again but it didn't change anything. Was she glad Mick would be coming home? Of course she was but it was her guilty conscience that hung, the measures she had to go to to free her husband, to bring him home.

She knotted her dressing gown tighter around her slender frame as a chill hit her. Loud voices, cheering and shouting came from beneath her, what was going on? Moments later there was a small knock at Linda's bedroom door and Shirley stepped in.

"He's home, Mick, he's home!" Her smile from ear to ear.

Linda smiled at Shirley as she noticed a figure come up behind her.

"Where's my L?" Mick's eyes met Linda's.

"Mick!" She flung her arms around his neck, clinging to him like a small child. Shirley excused herself.

"I've missed you so much" He breathed into her hair.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry for letting you think I had abandoned you. I needed to do something to get you out of there, there had to be a way to make him confess" Linda explained, frantically.

"Hey, shhhh it's going to be ok. I'm home now and I'm not going anywhere. I'm going to take care of you and Ollie" Mick pulled Linda tighter as she nodded.

She had missed this. Her husband with her in their home, their pub where he belonged. Why could it not have been simple? Linda knew Mick would never harm anyone and she didn't know how the police didn't see that, how Stuart didn't make one slip up to prove Mick's innocence. Instead, she assumed responsibility in freeing her husband. She knew it wasn't going to be easy but she didn't know it was going to be this difficult.

Shirley and Tina and prepared a meal for the family, a roast dinner with a bottle of champagne. Mick, Linda, Tina, Shirley and Ollie all surrounded the table. Linda pushed her food around her plate with her fork as everyone cleared theirs. Shirley and Tina made their way into the living room as Mick picked Ollie up from his chair.

"My little man, daddy's missed you"

"He's missed you" Linda mumbled as Mick looked down at her plate.

"You not hungry?" He quizzed, his gaze meeting her eyes.

"What? Oh. No, not really. I've just been thinking" She replied.

"About what L?"

"How you should have been home sooner" She said as she stood up and stroked his arm, his hand met hers.

"I know. It's been...tough. But without you, I wouldn't be here. I'd still be in prison now thinking about how I'm going to miss out Ollie's face on Christmas morning, you pushing me out of the way in the kitchen so you can prepare the dinner. I thought I was going to miss all of that y'know? But now I'm home and that is all that matters" Mick sighed.

"I'm so glad you're home" Tears rolled down Linda's face.

"What did you do in the end?" Mick asked.

"What do you mean?"

"To make him confess" Mick replied.

"It took weeks, months of building trust. I don't want to talk about that tonight, I just want to enjoy having you home, being back together as a family" Linda gave Mick a small smile.

She hoped he would leave it at that. No more questions would be asked. Linda knew that wouldn't be the case, Mick had just been in prison for months, of course he was going to want to know every single detail of how Stuart confessed to Linda. She couldn't bring herself to tell him, at least not now. The man was still able to twist and pull Linda's family apart when she was desperately trying to hold it together.