A week later.

Liz had succumbed to the temptation Michael had offered her again. She had always known she was a rotten wife but even for her this went beyond what even she thought she was capable of. She was building a life up with Jim, but before it was even secure she was wrecking it.

But when she was with him she was just in a whole other world than the one she led when she was at number eleven which was clattered with responsibilities to a man she didn't know how she felt about. She didn't know if it was enough. Not any more.

But Michael he was different. She knew how she felt for him. She felt a strong passion and a need to be in his arms. And when she was there she was in heaven.

Having gone back to his for the after noon it wasn't long till she had to get out of bed.

"I have to go get Katherine." she said to him and he nodded understanding. But he felt a envy for the girl. He knew he was never going to come first in her life.

"When am I going to get to see you again?" he asked gently, wishing she didn't have to go.

"Soon. Well when you get to ours in the morning to see Jim." she said.

"You can't enjoy this." he sighed.

"Enjoy what, us. I enjoy that a lot." She teased.

"No Liz. The whole Jekyll and Hyde thing. At times a devoted and mother and wife and others a lover." he said to here.

"It is how it has to be." she said to him.

"But I think that is where you are wrong. You don't have to go back to that if you don't want to." he told her.

"What and leave my daughter?" she asked in horror.

"No bring her with you." he told her. "The three of us could be a family."

"Katie would never agree to that she loves her father too much and I could never ask that of he! Bedsides I couldn't do it to him either," She told him. She was a bit shocked he had even suggested it. It seemed so cruel and harsh. No, she'd never allow that.

"But we can give her a good safe home." he told her trying to bring her round.

"Thank you Michael but she already has one of them and one she will not be brought away from!" she wouldn't let her be.

"Then is it always going to be like this. It isn't fair on any of us. I love you. I hate seeing you go back to him and then when I get there in the mornings it is like you're a happily married couple and I know your not." he said to her.

"I know you find it hard." she responded. "But I don't see an away out." She wasn't even sure she wanted one.

"What if I said to you I had one because I do. I have been offered a job in Milton Kynes. Liz I want you to come with me." he professed.

She had never been so shocked.

"What?" she said to him.

"Come on it'd be a new start for the two of us, just think about it." He begged her and she nodded faintly.

All the way home she was thinking on what he ha said to her. A new start… it'd be so weird to move away form the street. She had called it home for the past nine years and yet the thought that he might go with out her if she did not go with him hurt. She didn't know when or where but since they had been sleeping together she felt a if she had fallen deep in love with him. She didn't want to lose him. But at the same time she didn't want to hurt or to lose Jim and Katie. They had been through so much already and had come out the other side.

She knew if she was going to do the right thing then she would stay with them. But who was that right by? Them? If it was all just a lie and she was doing it to appease her conscience then maybe it wasn't… for her she didn't think it was the right thing.

And she cared so much for Michael.

She wanted to go with him in her heart. A life of care free responsibility. She wanted that once more.

She knew for a fact if she was going to far away then her daughter would never go with her. It was just never going to happen.

Was she really willing to give her up? No…

She couldn't do it to her. She adored Katie. She'd never leave her. She had fought so hard to be with her at times.

Getting in to the house she sent her daughter up to get ready for dinner and she went in to the living room to see Jim smiling at her,.

"How was your day?" he asked totally unaware of what she had done.

"Not so bad." she said to him feeling guilty. "What about you?"

"Yeah good me and Michael went for a pint and I went to Garry's for bit after. Only two months still he and Judy have there babies now." he reminded her.

"I remember how that feels. I was so nervous when it got to that bit with the twins. So anxious." she said to him.

"Aye." he said in agreement, yawning.

"You sound get a bit of sleep before dinner." she said to him.

"Na, its ok. I said to Katie this morning I'd help her out with some project she is doing at school. She is doing well considering every thing." he said to her and she nodded.

Ever since she had returned for her third year at school she had really seemed to put her head down and was working hard. She was reaping the rewards for it too.

It pained Liz to see hoe her daughter had to struggle over her work. Every thing that was physical, or makings things, Katie hands were rarely sturdy enjoying to get it right and if it was mental work like reading or math then she was often over come by fatigue before she got it done and yet she poured ever effort she could in to it .

"Jim?" she said..

"Yes."

"What do you think of the three of us being back like this?" she said to him.

"What do you mean what do I think of it. I love it. We should never have been split the three of us to begin with. We're happy, aren't we?" he asked.

"Yeah. Of course we are." She nodded to him smiling.

"Liz… I - you know my feelings have never changed. I am as in love with you as the day I was when I met you." He told her. She knew it was true.

That was it thought Liz. She couldn't leave now.

She would tell Michael tomorrow. She wasn't leaving. She couldn't. She didn't want too…

-

How did he always do this to her? She thought to herself in distress.

Just when she thought she knew what she wanted he came in to the room.

Michael looked at Liz. She didn't look happy as she stood with Jim and Katherine he couldn't leave her hear. But of course they were unable to talk with the little ears in the room.

He had decided to go back latter that night when he knew some of the lads on the street had Jim out drinking with them.

"I can not come with you." she said to him.

It felt as if his entire reason for living had just been taken from underneath his feet.

"Of course you can. Liz you can." he said to her but she shook her head.

"My place is here with my child and my Jim." she said to him.

"I can understand your need to be with her." he said gently. "Honestly I can. But him. No I can not understand that!" he said honestly.

"That is because you haven't lived the past twenty years of my life." she said to him.

"History, that's is all it is. Liz it is in the past." he said.

"No. that is where you are so wrong. Yes it is in the past. But I think me and Jim are going to be a huge part of my future too. Katie is six. She needs the two of us. Her mum and her dad. We are going to be a family again."

"Then you can just turn your back on the past few weeks?" he asked her furiously. They were in love. Her staying was a bad idea. She'd regret it he was sure.

She shrugged as a tear fell from her eyes. It wasn't that she didn't love him because as she stood there she knew she did but there was no way they were going to be able to be together.

"Why don't you think about it a bit more?" he asked her calmly.

"There is no point. Mike, you are clutching at straws. There is no way I can come with you. We have to end it, you and I. There is no way there can ever be an us." she told him.

"I think there is though." he protested as he moved closer to her.

Caressing her cheek she pressed his own soft lips to hers which.

"Don't. Please don't." she said but she knew it was too late. He had seduced her and they both knew it.

It wasn't long till they had made there way through to the down stairs bedroom and were on the bed making love once more.

-

Every thing was set for Jim. He had roses, and he had brought Liz a new ring, this was it. He was going to get her back for good.

Katie who he had just picked up from Deirdre's found this all rather exciting. Her daddy was going to ask her mother to be his wife again and then they were going to get back to the way she had been when she had been very tiny.

Katie had been four when her mother had left her father. When she tried to picture herself living with her mother, her father and her two big brothers all living together she found it harder and harder.

Going nix to the house Liz was the only thing on Jim's mind. God he had missed there being a them when they had been apart. He hadn't realized how much till now. Not till he had got her back.

Going in to the living room he saw that she was not in there which he had to admit he found a bit of a disappointment. He had had it all planned out in his head and when he had been thinking about it he had always thought she would be in there because that was where she was normally.

Suddenly though he heard a noise from his room.

Wheeling himself over there he was feeling nervous.

This was it.

-

Liz was alarmed when she heard the door of the down stairs bed room where she had been with Michael was throne open. There she was in her lover's arms and her ex husband was looking at the two people he trusted. They had betrayed him.

Liz didn't even know what to do when she looked up to see both Jim and Katie at the door of the bed room as she lay there in another's arms. He was hurt and she saw that. Beyond what words …. It was then she noticed the roses. She knew he had got them for her. He would have had to go in to town for them and no doubt it had been a hard journey for him. Oh god… she thought to herself.

How ever it wasn't long before the only thing she was able to nice was the look of horror on her babies face. Luckily they had been under the covers so Katie couldn't see a lot. But she had seen enough.

Jim finally came to his senses again after a silence that lasted forever. His hands covered his daughter's eyes. He didn't want her to see this. She shouldn't have…

"Katie, go to your room." it was a command from her father that she knew she was not to disobey from the tone of his voice. She had to go.

So he had been right all along he thought to himself one the little one was gone. Liz was a whore.

Katie had swiftly run to her room. And as soon as she got there she through herself on to her bed and she heard her father's voice. He was yelling. He had rather understandably lost control. Katherine as she had got older though had learnt more of his temper. And ever since the accident she had begun to understand it was some thing to be feared. He had got himself in to terrible rages and he had not always settled her from them.

When at last all the yelling and screaming was through with, she heard the door slam an d then her fathers weeping commence and it disturbed her greatly. Looking out of the window she saw her mother crying also, and Michael was holding her tightly.

Katie felt angry, anger at her mother. She had said the three of them were going to be ok. She had lied to her. Here they were. The family devastated again. She watched as her mother turned her head and looked up at her and waved. She had split them up again. Katie turned. She had to get to her dad. She had a feeling he was going to need her.

Going back down the stairs careful, she found her father in tears. Katie went up to her father sat in his lap and buried her head in his shoulder before realizing she was crying too.

"It isn't fair dad!" she said to him.

And he nodded. That was just what he had been thinking. Liz had got there hopes up and then she had dashed them.

"It is just you and me again now kid." he told her and she agreed. If there was one person she knew she could trust, it was him. All her mothers actions done that night was secure Katherine's faith in her dads love more.