Kat walked into the barrel store to get some new bottles of Vodka and Whisky they were out of in the pub. When she wanted to walk back she thought she heard something.
She turned another light on and saw Robbie sitting behind a barrel of beer.
- 'God you wanna cause me to pop this one out early' Kat said a little shocked not expecting to find someone in there.
Robbie didn't say anything and just looked at Kat standing there, looking at her.
- 'What are you doing here darling, you in trouble or something? 'Kat asked putting the bottles down.
Robbie put her head in her hands and started crying.
- 'Hey, what are the tears for, so emotional for seeing me again, i was joking about the baby to pop out early you know' Kat joked a little to break the ice.
She lifted Robbie's arm to make her wanna stand up 'Get off that cold floor you doughnut common, Kat'll make you some nice hot tea upstairs, common there you go'.
Robbie didn't say anything and let Kat take her upstairs to the apartment upstairs from the Vic. The place she lived for a couple years when she, Ronnie and Roxy came over from Ibiza, only to attend at Phil's wedding but then decided to stay in Walford.
- 'Sit down darling and tell Kat what's going on?' Kat said as they walked into the kitchen.
Robbie still didn't say anything.
- 'Are you in some kind of trouble again, i mean i know you love, i know that's your middle name am i right?' Kat asked 'or did something happen to you?'
- 'Roxy sold the house' Robbie said fidgeting with the spoon Kat just gave her 'she sold the house today, just before the wedding, and now we all have to move out'.
- 'Today?' Kat asked 'you have to move out today?'
- 'No, in a couple of days' Robbie said 'mum has been so stressed all week already, and now this, we're gonna move to dad..Jack's apartment, and Roxy Ames and Glenda move into the upstairs apartment'.
- 'Well at least you'll have a new place to live then,it's not really like you have nowhere to go right' Kat said.
- 'Yeah but now mum's really angry with Roxy, and they're arguing and all, i've seen this so many times before, they argue and then Jack gets involved and he gets angry and then mum and him get angry at each other and in the end mum will stick up for Rox and...'Robbie paused.
- 'And what?' Kat said.
- 'We're the most dysfunctional family on the square Kat, it's all gonna end in misery it always does' Robbie said 'what if they call off the wedding?' Robbie started crying.
Kat got up from her chair and walked over to Robbie and pulled her close.
- 'They're gonna get married i promise you, don't you worry darling, they'll figure something out' Kat said wondering if these were the right words to say.
Then Alfie came upstairs to see what had happened to Kat.
- 'Hiya darling, hey look who we have here, hey hey what's with the tears?'Alfie said 'they're looking for ya you know that, your dad, Max, your mum probably'.
- 'My dad?' Robbie asked.
- 'Yeah he told me to keep an eye out for his beautiful princes' Alfie said winking at Kat.
- 'Give them a call that she's over here yeah, don't want to worry them about another thing right?' Kat said looking at Robbie' here's your tea darling, drink it and you feel a lot better, and like i said don't worry cause they're gonna get married Thursday i promise you!'
Robbie drank her tea and just starred at Kat and Alfie talking.
Then Alfie left the kitchen while making a phonecall to Jack.
About 15 minutes later, Jack walked into the kitchen, upstairs of the Vic, where Robbie was still sitting on one of the kitchenchairs.
- 'Hey munchkin, you alright then?' Jack said as he kneeled down next to Robbie.
Robbie immediately put her arms around Jack's neck, and like she was just a little child, Jack picked her up and stood up again holding Robbie who put her legs around his waist and her head in his neck.
- 'Hey princess, what's this, i'm here, shhh dad's here alright' Jack said trying to comfort Robbie with his words and soothing her back.
- 'She's ehm, she's worried because of all the moving drama, and that you and Ronnie are not gonna get married Thursday because of it, cause she thinks she's part of an dysfunctional family' Kat said winking at Jack.
- 'Dysfunctional yes definitely, but don't worry darling it'll all be alright and your mum and i are gonna get married Thursday, if it's the last thing i'll do alright, come on let's get you home, your mum's worried about ya' Jack said as he thanked Kat for listening to Robbie.
Robbie tears were still welling in her eyes, she just wanted to be held by Jack's strong arms, she felt like a little girl who just wanted her daddy to comfort her and say it was all gonna be alright.
Jack then left the Vic carrying Robbie across the square to nr 27.
Before opening the door Jack put Robbie down.
Robbie looked at Jack.
- 'Dad, did you mean it, I mean, you are gonna marry mum Thursday right?'Robbie asked.
Jack stroked softly through Robbie's hair.
- 'I promise you darling, don't you worry, Thursday night we'll be the Branningfamily, you, me and your mum ok' Jack said.
A little smile came over Robbie's face but vanished as soon they entered the house.
As they got in Robbie said she just wanted to go upstairs.
- 'You don't wanna talk to your mum first then?' Jack asked while the living room door opened and Ronnie walked into the hallway.
- 'Where have you been Robbie, I've been worried about you?' Ronnie said concerned.
- 'No, i just wanna go upstairs' Robbie said looking from Ronnie to Jack as she answered his question.
Ronnie and Jack watched Robbie walk up the stairs.
- 'She's angry with me then?' Ronnie asked not understanding how Robbie could be angry with her for something Roxy started obviously.
- 'She was upstairs at the Vic talking with Kat, Kat said she's afraid the wedding will be off cause of Roxy selling the house, she's afraid you and me will have a fight over Roxy and you'll take her side in the end and then we split up again' Jack smiled a little.
Ronnie sighed and put her hand on her forehead.
- 'Go on, go upstairs and talk to her' Jack said 'i already carried her home'.
- 'You carried her?'Ronnie asked surprised.
- 'She put her arms around my neck at Kat's and wouldn't let go of me' Jack said.
- 'You're her daddy, her hero, and i love him very much too' Ronnie said melting a little then putting her arms around Jack kissing him.
- 'Why don't you go upstairs, see if she's alright and tell her not to worry' Jack said 'where's Roxy?'.
- 'She's upstairs too, Amy's having a temperature, i think she was gonna try to phone Tanya see if she can work something out with her and Gregg' Ronnie said.
Ronnie went upstairs and walked straight to Robbie's room.
Robbie was laying on her bed and for a minute Ronnie thought it looked like she was already asleep.
Ronnie lay down next to her and put her arm around Robbie.
- 'Hey you monkey, did you really think that we were gonna call off the wedding?' Ronnie asked.
- 'Whatever mum, just do what you have to do, you and Roxy always do' Robbie said not looking at Ronnie.
Ronnie sighed.
- 'Stop, I know you really care about it, this is what you have been looking forward too for a very long time, but first of all this has nothing to do with you alright, this is Roxy at her fullest, and at the moment i think she's calling Tanya to work something out, or at least a later moving date' Ronnie said' we were gonna move into Jacks anyway right?'
- 'This is also about me mum, you said i could keep my room here and now i can't, now in maybe a week or so i have no room here anymore, and then the three of us are living together, and Roxy Ames and mum upstairs, it's gonna be different' Robbie said turning her face to Ronnie.
- 'Of course it's gonna be different, but they'll be upstairs, nothing really different about that right, i mean, we're upstairs now and Jack is downstairs' Ronnie said trying to take a little tension off making a joke about it.
- 'Don't talk to me as if i'm stupid mum, us living apart is not gonna have Roxy sitting on your sofa in the mornings or having me sleep upstairs in Roxy's room' Robbie said.
- 'Oh and you sleep in Roxy's room now everyday too, do ya?'Ronnie said' You still can sleep up there once in a while if you want, and they can still have breakfast or dinner downstairs with us a couple times a week if you want, or you can have it upstairs with them' Ronnie said' i know it's gonna be a little different but it's not as if they're living say at Georgestreet, now that would have been very different'.
- 'Why can't we just be normal like other family's' Robbie said.
- 'It would bore the life out of ya my little love' Ronnie said giving Robbie a tight cuddle 'every day the same things, you would climb up the walls'.
- 'I don't think Walford does "normal" 'Robbie said.
- 'See, we fit in perfectly then' Ronnie said' now i don't want you to worry so much yeah, these are grown up things and not for you to worry about ok, let me and your sister handle it'.
- 'Thought it was a grown up thing?' Robbie said.
- 'Roxy is Roxy' Ronnie said sighing.
- 'Don't be such a hypocrite mum' Robbie then said.
- 'Excuse me?' Ronnie said sitting up.
- 'Like it's all Roxy's fault, i mean it's not really clever to sell at this moment, but i hate it when you're not straight with me, just like you hate it when i'm not being straight with you mum, or when I lie to you, you've been nagging me about it my whole life' Robbie said 'you said we were just gonna be at Jack's to see if i could sleep better there, i mean without the dreaming and all, but you already knew you wanted the three of us living there, you lied to me'.
- 'Well.. 'Ronnie said a little stunned by what Robbie just accused her of.
Robbie got off the bed and walked out of her bedroom.
- 'Robbie come here, please' Ronnie tried but Robbie didn't come back.
There was a little knock on Roxy's door and Robbie walked in.
- 'Rox can we talk?' Robbie asked softly, noticing Amy was asleep on Roxy's lap, who was sitting in the rocking chair.
- 'What? 'Roxy tried to speak softly 'where did you go?'
- 'The Vic' Robbie said as she sat down on Roxy's bed.
- 'The Vic?' Roxy asked confused 'why did you go there for?'
- 'I just ended up there alright, look i asked if we could talk alright, i don't particularly want to talk about that, i wanna know why you didn't tell us a little earlier, I mean about selling the house'.
- 'It just came up Robbie, Tanya and Gregg were looking for a house near the square, i overheard them talking at the cafe last week, and well with all the commotion in this house, everyone walking on egg shelves all day long, i thought it was best to keep it quiet, I just didn't expect them to get it all finalized with the finances this fast, it came as much as a surprise to me as to you alright' Roxy said as she slowly got up to put Amy in her cot.
- 'Alright' Robbie said' what a mess'.
- 'It's not a mess, and it certainly isn't your mess you hear me, Ronnie is just stressed out and it shows, after the wedding day she'll be alright, don't worry she's got a lot to think of because of that' Roxy said.
- 'I just called her a liar' Robbie said sniffing at one of Roxy's expensive perfumes.
- 'Robbie you didn't 'Roxy said as she took the bottle out of Robbie's hands, giving a little slap on them and put it back on the dresser.
- 'Why didn't she say we were gonna move there permanently, i mean what if someone else already was living in the upstairs apartment, then where would you go?' Robbie said putting some hand creme on.
- 'Well, that is not the case alright, you're gonna move in downstairs and mum, Amy and me are gonna be upstairs, don't worry about the "what if's" Robbie, now i want you to do something alright' Roxy said.
- 'Yeah but what..' Robbie said.
- 'Robbie Shuss!'Roxy said putting her hand on her sisters mouth.
- 'What then?' Robbie asked pushing Roxy's hand away.
- 'I want you to go apologize to Ronnie alright' Roxy said.
- 'But..' Robbie protested.
- 'Now Robbie!'Roxy said holding Robbie's face 'listen to your dosy cow of a sister for once yeah'.
Roxy gave Robbie a kiss on her forehead 'love you babysis and if i ever catch you drinking in the Vic you got another thing coming!.
Robbie shook her head as she got up and left the room.
Robbie walked down the stairs and when she got downstairs she saw Ronnie in the kitchen cleaning the kitchen table.
She watched her for a minute then took a deep breath and walked over.
Ronnie stopped a minute as Robbie walked in then walked over to the sink to rinse out the cloth she was doing the table with.
- 'Did you get all of your homework done then?' Ronnie said without looking at Robbie.
- 'Mum i..' Robbie said.
- 'I asked you something Robbie?' Ronnie said putting on hand on her hips.
- 'Mum i'm not here to talk about my homework ok' Robbie said.
- 'Oh let me guess ehm...you wanna accuse me again of being a liar?' Ronnie said 'hmm?'
- 'I'm sorry mum alright' Robbie said 'but you told me this move was just for a little while, you could have been honest with me straight away, what were you gonna tell me after we moved in, if i would've asked to move back to the house again'.
- 'It's just decisions parents make alright, and they're maybe not always the good ones' Ronnie said.
- 'Right' Robbie said shaking her head 'you know what a kids decision is?'
- 'What's that?' Ronnie asked not understanding what Robbie meant by that.
- 'Telling you that i don't like you at this moment' Robbie said and then walked out of the kitchen and went upstairs.
Ronnie sat down at one of the chairs and poured herself a glass of wine.
She took a sip and starred at the hallway.
Then she got up and walked upstairs again.
She walked over to Robbie's room again just like before.
Robbie was sitting at her desk looking in one of her schoolbooks.
Robbie looked up when she heard the door open but turned her head back to her schoolbook again when she saw it was Ronnie.
- 'I want to talk about this Robbie, i don't want us to go to bed feeling like this alright' Ronnie said.
- 'Another "parental" decision you just made did ya?'?Robbie said.
- 'Alright, i'm sorry too ok' Ronnie said 'i know i should have said something to you about moving to Jack's in the first place, but with all the wedding arrangements and all the stress…'
- 'Bull mum and you know it' Robbie said standing up raising her voice 'you've had plenty of time to tell me.
- 'Could you just calm down Robbie, i'm still not one of your girlfriends your talking to alright, now come sit here with me please?' Ronnie asked.
Robbie looked at Ronnie for a minute and then sat down next to her.
- 'Alright, i'm sorry that i kept that from you, but with Roxy's money problems it seemed all to make sense that we would move to Jack's and then mum, Rox and Amy could move upstairs' Ronnie said.
- 'I'm sorry for calling you a liar and saying i didn't like you, i guess i'm just angry about the fact that you didn't tell me mum' Robbie said.
- 'I know sweetie, of course i know that, i know i've raised you to always be honest with me so i understand you expect me to be honest with you too, but sometimes parents need to make decisions for their children, whether they like it or not, do you understand that?' Ronnie said.
- 'Yeah I guess' Robbie said.
- 'Come here sweetie' Ronnie said pulling Robbie close' i'm sorry your mother made you feel upset and made a bit of a mess of it'.
- 'Yeah well, I'm glad it's not me for once 'Robbie said with a cheeky smile.