The heat of the water beating down on Ronnie from the shower was incredibly comforting, washing away her sins, her guilt and trying to put her mind into some semblance of order. Jack cheekily offered to join her but she laughed off the suggestion, they were both too tired for it to get to anything useful so what was the point? She just wanted to be alone. She'd barely slept, even as Jack snored next to her all she could to was sit, watching and thinking. She didn't seem to be able to turn off her brain anymore, it was always making plans, running ideas it was all becoming exhausting. Letting her hand brush against her taut stomach she began wishing and hoping that someday soon she would be caressing a perfectly formed bump because only then would this all be worth it. Wanting so badly to feel a child moving inside her, those little flutters that so soon turned into fierce kicks, it was the most unbelievable feeling and she wanted it again more than anything, apart from the impossible. Turning off the water she let herself stand for a moment, water dripping off her before she reached off for a towel. These pauses were becoming regular, sometimes life would just come to a halt and as much as she willed her feet to move they became stubborn and uncooperative.

Stepping onto the bathroom mat she suddenly became aware of the wafts of cooking coming from the kitchen. She smiled to herself as she pulled on some clothes, drying off her hair. She eventually made her way into the kitchen, Jack was dancing around, a huge smile on his face... Well he couldn't say her plan didn't have its benefits for him... He continued dancing, moving over to her and wrapping his arms around her. She took comfort in this security, in the strength of his arms protecting her, holding her together and yet she felt a resentment in it. Would she be here if things had gone differently? No.

If Danielle had not…if she hadn't lost her then there was no way she would be with Jack. And if she had never known about Danielle, she still wouldn't have been with Jack. That day at the wedding he had given her an ultimatum and purposely tried to hurt her when she had not thrown herself into his arms. Even after then, he had gone after Roxy, caused trouble, threatened her with legal action even. All in the wake of the most horrific day of Ronnie's life. He hadn't even cared what she had needed. But then, on her lowest day, a day she had almost ended everything, he was there, he offered himself up. She had needed somebody, anybody and there he was and she finally allowed herself to be weak, she finally allowed herself to accept that she didn't want to be alone. But Ronnie had not only seen Jack that day but the chance of a future, a future she was now working for whether he approved or not. Whether that future would include him, she was still considering.

"Breakfast is nearly ready" he grinned, kissing her neck "I certainly built up an appetite last night!"

Ronnie smiled back, letting him get on with serving up breakfast whilst she sat herself down. Jack was talking, something about the club but Ronnie wasn't listening, instead she was running through her schedule for the day trying to work out when she would be alone, when she would have time to complete her daily Danielle rituals, the jewellery box with the locket. It would have to be later, she was going into work with Jack this morning. "Hey? Earth to Ronnie! How much toast to you want?" Jack interrupted, shaking his head as he realised that once again Ronnie was a million miles away when all he wanted was for her to be right here. "A couple of bits will do" she replied, not really thinking, not really feeling.

"You're beautiful, you know that right?" Jack smiled, spearing a mushroom with his fork he watched Ronnie's every move, just wanting to hold her and be close to her all the time. He wanted her to look at him and see her hero, her love but her mind was too often elsewhere and he planned to stop that. He didn't care what else she was thinking of, if it wasn't him then it wasn't worth it.

"So I've heard" Ronnie laughed trying to act as normal as possible, she'd let herself appear distant this morning and Jack was noticing, time to bring in the false laughs and smiles. "I mean it, I love you so much Ron." Jack promised, reaching out and stroking Ronnie's hand. She leaned over and kissed him, laughing as she tasted egg yolk on his lips. "You're messy!" she grinned, wiping his face with a napkin.

The rest of breakfast passed by uneventfully, Ronnie was fully focused on appearing engaged and happy, wanting Jack to think that everything was ok. The sooner he felt she was stable the sooner her baby plans could stop being so secretive and devious. It felt disrespectful to Danielle all this false laughing and smiling but it was for the right reasons, she would understand, Ronnie knew that. The smiles were only for show, only as a shield, they weren't real. Ronnie couldn't help but wish that this had been the shield she had used before, instead of the cold and untouchable woman that Danielle had encountered. If only she had…no. If she started with this train of thought again she knew that she wouldn't be able to keep up the smiles and then Jack would notice.

Finally tidied up, dressed and ready to make their way to the club they exited the flat walking hand in hand, to the outsider they looked like a happy normal couple no-one could guess the tornado of emotions that raged through every inch of Ronnie's body. The hand in hers didn't feel right. It belonged to the wrong person. Any hand would.

Sitting down at their respective desks, both buried their heads in piles of paperwork, glancing up occasionally and catching each others eyes. It was all about appearances, two love sick teenagers was today's act and Ronnie had a feeling it would put Jack in precisely the right mood for a repeat of last nights performance. Finding an excuse to make her way over to Jack's desk, she let her skirt ride up slightly as she leaned against it, revealing a little leg but not too much. Again it was never obvious, seduction was a far more subtle game and at the moment Ronnie was playing it perfectly.

"Have you had a look over these?" she purred passing over the handful of sheets. "Yeah, I've got some more figures you might want to take a look at... They're somewhere in this mess" Jack laughed, pointing to the mass of papers which covered every inch of his desk, starting to wade through them Ronnie suddenly caught a glimpse of colour amongst the flurry of white. Scraping through she picked it up, looking at what she held in her hand she felt herself begin to shake, this sad mixture of jealousy and anger that made it feel like she would explode at any minute. It was a photo, a photo of Amy and Roxy.

Jack hadn't noticed that Ronnie had picked up the photo, he was far too immersed in his reams of paperwork to see Ronnie scrunching it up into a ball and dropping it in the waste paper bin at the side of the desk. Standing up abruptly she knocked most of the papers over, sending them flying all over the place. "Ron! Will you be careful!" Jack snapped, trying to grab hold of as much as he could.

"Jack! How the hell do you expect to find anything in this mess? Is it any surprise what state the club is in when you can't even find some simple numbers?" Ronnie retorted, she just wanted to pick a fight, any fight. She needed to vent her anger but it couldn't be about Amy... No it couldn't be at all baby related. "Why do you think I'm trying to sort through all this Ron! There's no need to worry we just need to tighten our belts!" Jack explained, trying to force a smile at a flustered looking Ronnie.

"Well you don't seem to do a very good job of that or is it just me who's meant to cut back?" Ronnie muttered, it was half a dig at the amount of money that went towards supporting Jack's children and half a dig at how those children were conceived in the first place and it didn't go unnoticed by a perturbed looking Jack. "What are you getting at Ron?" Jack snapped, this was typical Ronnie fine one moment and raging the next he never quite knew where he stood with her. "Oh I need some air Jack, forget it" Ronnie sighed making her way out the office, not relaxing until she was up those stairs and outside of the club.