As perfect as the pregnancy reveal was, I was annoyed by the lack of focus that Kat and Alfie got in the actual episode, so I decided to do something about it. In this, they knew that they would have to be out of the Vic at midday on Boxing Day.
"Right, presents," Alfie called to the family as he got up from the dinner table, rubbing his hands together expectantly. "I'm so going to win this," he said, winking at Kat.
"Wouldn't count your chickens mate," Kat smiled knowingly.
Charlie set his wine back down on the table, having taken a sip. "You two haven't changed a bit, is there anything you haven't had a competition over?" When neither Kat nor Alfie spoke a word, Charlie believed that they had been too wrapped up in each other to notice his comment, but this hadn't been the case.
"You did get me something then? Only I can't see anything under the tree," teased Alfie.
He wasn't graced with an immediate response; Kat's thoughts were firmly on what her dad had said. Not that she would change anything about the way they were with each other; she had found her mind back at the last time that her father had mentioned the two of them being in competition. It had been the same night that they had agreed to try for a baby. Eight years later and it was finally happening.
"Of course I have." Kat insisted. "For doubting me Mr Moon, I'll have mine first."
She was about to make a dive for the tree to retrieve the pile of presents that she had yesterday berated him for overspending on, but was beaten to it by Alfie. As he deposited three boxes of varying sizes at her side, he found himself being rewarded with a tender embrace, much to the annoyance of Mo. Feigning a cough and by so doing, causing the newly reunited couple to spring apart, she grumbled, "Lynne's picking your Dad up at nine you know!"
Alfie knew he'd overspent on the presents by some considerable amount, but there was no way that the process of opening them was going to take up seven hours. Seven minutes if Alfie had his way; he was beyond excited to see what Kat had for him, and almost felt as if he were Tommy, with such enthusiasm for the more commercialised element of this particular holiday. He looked over to to his love to suggest that her Nan might have lost it, as he waited for her to kick off proceedings by opening the first present.
"Ignore her, just because she's not getting any!" Kat replied crudely.
Having made the point that she resented such an allegation, Mo had been persuaded; reluctantly of course; to let it lie in order to avoid delaying things further. With her father currently occupying Tommy, Kat tore into the first of her presents.
Peeling back the wrapping paper, Kat soon found a box which gave nothing away. It was simply your bog-standard brown box. "Bikinis?" she announced, surprised, upon opening it. For one thing; currently unknown to everyone else in the room, she wouldn't be able to fit into them come summer. As Kat turned to Alfie in confusion, Mo eyed the garments with a frown upon her face, as if envying the fact that she could no longer get away with wearing such a thing.
"They're kind of the wrapping paper if you like; this is the real present," Alfie told her, producing an envelope from his back pocket, which he quickly passed across the table to Kat.
"Paris?" she gasped, hardly believing what she had seen. Alfie nodded enthusiastically, but his sense of excitement was soon curtailed as it registered that Kat wasn't sharing in the positivity. "Alfie, we agreed that the limit was fifty quid, not five hundred!"
"It's only money, isn't it?" he remarked, in an attempt to alleviate the tension. Mo on the other hand seemed to have been bitten so to speak by prior encounters with her granddaughter's temper, and was cautiously backing away from the table, with Charlie eyeing her curiously. "Kat we're not going to be homeless; the bills are paid up on this place so we've got all the money from the safe."
He was right, it was only money, but Kat had an entirely different reason to have her reservations about this getaway. With this in mind, she mumbled, "Yeah," and gave him a weak smile. Alfie had an inkling that there was something else to this, but decided against forcing the issue. He knew that she hadn't cheated on him; everything else could wait. She would come to him when she was ready and not before, it was the way they had always worked best.
As Mo and Charlie exchanged concerned glances, it was clear that they were anticipating a row. Mo followed this display of apprehension by making a grab for Tommy, ready to take him out of the room. It wasn't like Mo to shy away from such a scene; usually she enjoyed the fallout, but it was no place for a little boy of not even three. Such preparation appeared to have been rendered unnecessary as Alfie then silenced Kat by tenderly passing her another present.
This time, Kat tore off the wrapping paper to uncover the box to what she presumed would be either a necklace or bracelet. Her prediction was proved correct upon opening the box; she unveiled a silver bracelet, complete with charms and sitting against a velvet inlay.
"Ten," Kat announced, once she'd counted the charms, among which there was a high-heeled shoe and a handbag. "Alfie, the charms alone must have been over fifty quid."
"One for every year we've been married. Happy Anniversary Mrs Moon," Alfie explained, as the tears built up in Kat's eyes and began to trickle down her face.
"Thank you," she uttered gratefully, and shot out of her chair and around to the other side of the table, where the two embraced. "We're not though…" she whispered, regretfully.
Alfie responded to this by moving in to peck Kat's cheek gently. "It's a formality, we'll always be married," he reassured her. "In here," Alfie added, gesturing to his heart.
With the tears threatening to fall again, Kat moved in for a kiss. Before it could turn particularly heated, they were interrupted by Mo, who as usual, got straight to the point. "If you two have quite finished with the private love fest, can we get on with presents?"
"Last one," Alfie promised, circling the table and gathering up the final of the three gifts. "This one didn't really cost anything," he teased while handing over the parcel. Kat could relate to this; her gift to him had also cost nothing, yet anyway.
Inside the wrapping paper was a photo album, its cover a very lifelike image of the Vic. Kat gasped at the thoughtfulness of the item, before turning it over to reveal the first photo; their wedding day. As she took this in, Kat found herself wishing that she had gone as far as to get him an additional something within that fifty pound limit. He would be overjoyed, but were it not for the role of chance; fate if you preferred; she'd have had some serious thinking to do.
"It's all our special moments from this place. I thought it was fitting, what with…tomorrow," muttered Alfie, barely able to admit that they had reached the end of this chapter in their lives. Granted, not all of it had been positive, but almost everything good that had happened to them had occurred within the four walls of the Vic.
Turning the pages of the album, Kat almost immediately found that she was doing so to the tune of her grandmother's self-indulgent griping. "Why can't I find someone like him? Fat Elvis gave me a Breville!"
Kat wasn't even half way through the contents of her gift as yet, but she was already becoming all the more emotional. She'd seen pictures of their engagement party, Tommy, Jean and Stacey, Zoe, she and Alfie with Nana singing karaoke; even a picture of them behind the bar the night before. It hadn't even occurred to her that anyone had been taking snaps; she for one wouldn't have, when they were handing out free champagne. "Would this be one of the cheap Brevilles you offered me? Unlucky Nan!"
In her animated state, Kat proceeded to drop herself onto her former husband's lap, snaking her arms around his neck. "Thank you," she said, before moving in for a kiss.
"What for?"
"Everything," she told him sincerely. "For the presents, for taking me back, for loving me, for always being there for me." And of course, for their child that as yet, he knew nothing about. "I won't screw up again, I promise."
"Hey," Alfie spoke up gently, while running his fingers through her hair. "You don't need to thank me; I only did all that because I love you. You don't need to feel guilty anymore; fresh start, yeah?"
"Yeah," agreed Kat enthusiastically, nodding her head at such a speed that she thought she might actually have done herself a mischief.
As he pulled away from the kiss that Kat had then initiated, Alfie wasted no time in enquiring as to the whereabouts of his present or presents, in his own way of course. "So?" he winked. It was suggestive, but not in the way that many others would have perceived it to be.
"It's through there," Kat told him, tilting her head in the direction of their bedroom. She was glad that she'd planned it that way; any hopes she might have had for a quiet five minutes in the corner to break the life-changing news were quickly dashed.
"Oh yeah, well don't leave us waiting on desert while you trial these … articles... as well, will you," warned Mo, as Kat grabbed her partner's hand and tugged him in the direction of the door. It wasn't as if she'd ever been one to have any sense of shame, but when your grandmother assumed that you'd acquired your bloke's Christmas gift from a sex shop, it surely took the biscuit?
Not caring to dignify the latest insinuation with a response, Kat dragged Alfie from the room and across the landing. The last time she'd been in this position, some small part of her had been dreading sharing the news, with good reason as it turned out. It was such a stark contrast to the present, wherein they were happier together than they had been in years. Kat was under no illusion; it wouldn't remain this fresh forever, but she was able to fully appreciate what she had. Sudden though it might be, she honestly felt as though their baby was fate's way of saying that everything was right with them now. As the pair entered what remained of their bedroom in amongst all the moving preparations, Kat retrieved a small present from the pocket of one of her coats, which had been thrown into the top of one of the many boxes that they had packed.
"Close the door," Kat told Alfie, beginning to show signs of panicking about what lay ahead. "Nan spent most of yesterday trying to get this out of me; I wanted you to be the first to know."
"You're not ill are you?" asked Alfie as he complied with her request.
"Of course not," she assured him, expelling a nervous giggle. "That wouldn't be much of a Christmas present, would it?"
"That's good."
Sitting down on the edge of their bed, Alfie gave an encouraging smile. He wasn't sure why, but something gave him the impression that the size of this gift wouldn't be proportional to the size of the box that Kat had just passed to him. She was smiling though, so that could only be a good sign.
He ripped the paper away from the box that he had been handed, revealing what he could only assume to be the box from a bracelet. He was a little confused at this to say the least; granted he wore loud shirts, but he drew the line a long way before the point at which he would consider wearing jewellery. "Kat?"
Kat nodded to him to signal that he should open the box; as had been the case many a time during their marriage, no words were necessary. They knew each other so well after all this time that often, a glance or a gesture were all that were needed.
Having flipped open the lid to the box, Alfie's expression turned from one of anticipation to perhaps confusion. He could read the single word that was emblazoned across the tiny window; it was having it sink in that was the problem. After all of this time? It was a dream come true for him and to allow himself to believe it only for it to be snatched away would be too much to bear. "Seriously?" he questioned, doing his best not to allow his emotions to overtake him until he knew for certain.
Kat meanwhile was finding that she was unable to read her better half. Was he happy and it was just the shock? Was he angry and he couldn't care less? Did he not know what to think himself? This was unfamiliar territory for Kat; normally, she could read him like a book, and a large print one at that. It was among what had made him so different from every other bloke that she had ever been associated with. She wouldn't be taken for a fool because he couldn't tell a convincing lie, not to her.
"It's your baby Alfie." That was it, he assumed, confirmation. It was as sure as he could ever be, short of Kat spelling it out to him.
As Alfie took a step toward her, Kat felt as though she had been transported backwards in time to that moment two and a bit years before; namely, the time that his shock had given way to anger as he'd held her head in his hands and asked her callously who the father was.
Kat breathed a huge sigh of relief as Alfie's next words registered with her. "I know it's mine darlin', I just needed to know that it was definite, you know? I didn't want to get my hopes up and that." He was now only hoping that she would appreciate where he was coming from, without jumping to the conclusion that he'd been hoping she'd fall pregnant again accidentally all along. He had; since the day she'd miscarried and had told him that she couldn't bear to try again for fear that the tragic series of events would repeat themselves, but she didn't need to know that. For someone with no biological children, was it not natural that they would be beyond overjoyed at the prospect?
"I had it confirmed by the Doctor on Monday, while you were busy flat hunting."
Leaving Alfie to his thoughts for a short while, Kat moved to sit down on the edge of the bed. Fighting the urge to throw her arms around him, she afforded him the time to fully digest the news.
As he looked up at her a short time later, Kat felt the need to explain to Alfie why she'd been less than enthusiastic at the prospect of them jetting off. "That was why I wasn't overjoyed about Paris, I don't think I ought to fly until twelve weeks; I don't want to take any risks, and those bikinis won't fit me soon."
"I'll change the date; I can cancel if you want?" he offered, his words running away with him, he was that excited.
"You don't mind?"
"Course not."
"Just change the date yeah? It'd be nice to spend some proper time together before this one's here."
In the moments that followed, Kat and Alfie were having to stop themselves from jumping around the room as their happiness, excitement and elation flowed out of them.
"Are you two nearly done in there or what?!" came a shriek from the lounge, as Kat and Alfie were getting to the point of having got the initial display of surprise out of their systems. For Kat, it could hardly be summarised as the initial surprise, but that was what it felt like. It was as if she hadn't allowed it to play out when she'd realised, knowing that she could make Alfie's Christmas by saving the happy news until that day. With their eviction looming, it wasn't as if there was anything else to make this festive period a happy one, however much they had vowed that they would have the best Christmas ever. It had been a cover, designed to distract the both of them from the inevitable, but this news had made that dream a reality.
With her mind still on Alfie, Kat reluctantly turned to the door. She knew he had questions and she understood entirely; she'd effectively cut him out of this pregnancy thus far, after all the years that they had wanted nothing more than to have a child together, and all the moments that they and to a greater extent he; had missed out on with Tommy. For a while when she'd first begun to suspect that she was pregnant, Kat had been incredibly torn between them doing the test together and her eventual course of action, knowing that Christmas was only days away. "I guess we'd better go; we'll have our Christmas yeah, we can stay up all night if we have to," she offered, turning the door handle.
"Kat?" Alfie muttered, tugging her back gently.
"Yeah?"
"Do you think we should tell them? Your Nan and Dad I mean? You said she was turning into Miss Marple yesterday."
Allowing a giggle to escape her at his way of referring to her grandmother, Kat thought this over for a few moments. "Do you think we should?" she asked, not wanting to do anything further by herself when it came to this pregnancy.
"I'm happy with whatever you are babe. I'll think of some excuse for them if you want to keep it quiet."
Once she had given sufficient thought to this idea in a few moments of silent contemplation, Kat spoke up again. "Just them though; no one else until twelve weeks."
Alfie reached his arm out to the side, waiting for Kat to walk into his caring embrace. Once she had done this, he gripped onto her arm delicately and gave her shoulder a comforting squeeze, before leading them toward the lounge to re-join their family.
"What treats did she have for you then?" Mo asked, getting on the case as soon as Kat and Alfie had appeared in the doorway. She had been so quick off the mark in looking for the intimate details that Charlie was beginning to wish he had phoned Lynne to ask that she collect him earlier; the last thing he wanted was to hear the stories about his daughter's sex life.
"Nothing like that Mo!" chuckled Alfie, before remarking to his father-in-law, "What's she like 'ey?"
"I'm pregnant," Kat announced nervously, suddenly more apprehensive of her family's reactions than those of the remainder of the Square. There was some logic in that; she could deal with half of Walford believing that she'd done the dirty on Alfie again, in fact she'd be pleasantly surprised if she avoided such a reaction from the Mitchells; it was the family thinking that of her that she couldn't stomach.
It transpired that Kat had been worrying unduly, for Charlie was soon congratulating Alfie and Mo her.
Night had fallen and both Kat and Alfie were pleasantly surprised not to have had Phil, or worse Ronnie; barging in to rain on their parade, or more specifically to give them their marching orders before time. Such an appearance could have formed part of some kind of sick scheme to complete the Mitchell Christmas. Charlie had left around fifteen minutes before, at which time Mo had taken it upon herself to poke her nose in at Janine's street party. In her words, there were bound to be freebies to be had. Kat wasn't convinced, knowing Janine as well as they did, but it had got her out of their hair for an hour or two.
As Kat changed into something more comfortable, Alfie slipped through the gap in their bedroom door carrying two glasses.
"Orange juice?" questioned Kat, as she pulled back the duvet and climbed into bed, patting the empty space beside her for him to join her.
"I'd have got a nightcap but if you're not drinking for the next nine months then neither am I."
She looked from Alfie, to the ceiling and back again, as if thanking the powers above for his presence in her life. She had it all; a man who worshipped her, a gorgeous son and a new baby on the way, and to top it all, he was so considerate that he would go as far as to make it snow on Christmas day and to join her on the wagon. "You don't have to do that," she told him. The simple fact that he'd even been willing to do it was more than enough for her.
"You're carrying my baby, it's the least I can do."
"Come here," she commanded, smiling a beaming smile and holding her arms out for him. "What did I do to deserve you?" she mused. Even by the standards of Kat Slater, she'd treated him appallingly, on more than one occasion.
Alfie knew what he wanted to get across, but what he had no idea about was how to word it. He was the one who'd talked so much about drawing a line, so how could he dredge it all back up again? "I don't want to bring it all up again right Kat, but you've been through hell you have. You were due a change of luck."
"I love you," she stated as she took the glass of orange from his grasp, setting it down on her bedside table. She had so much to thank him for, but she was a market trader and not a poet. With this came the unsettling feeling that whatever she said, it would never be enough.
Climbing under the covers beside the love of his life, Alfie repeated the sentiment. "I love you too," he reassured her, pulling her toward him and leaning her head on his chest. The scene was then completed by Kat, who had taken to clinging onto the little finger of the hand that was draped over her shoulder, in much the same way as their baby would soon be clutching onto them.
"Kat?"
"Yeah?"
"When did you find out?"
"You remember that day when you'd just signed for the last delivery, I came down and you asked what I was smiling about?" Kat recalled, the words quickly receiving the desired reception from Alfie. It was bordering on the amusing, as he could almost be compared to a nodding dog.
It had always been said that the excitement of the first time father was something else, but Kat begged to differ. He was so different to every other man and the same was true now. Alfie had missed out on so much with Tommy and he was more than making up for it. Kat had no doubt in her mind that he would continue to do more than his fair share, even if the worst happened and they were to break up again. "I'd done the test just before I came down. I was over a week late but what with the stress of losing this place, I didn't think anything of it until the night before," she added.
"When do you reckon; you know, it happened?"
She wasn't entirely sure whether or not she had been expecting this question, and was even less sure of how to put this. It only took the once, but how did you explain to someone who you'd only just got back together with that it had been straight away, especially when they were the same person that you'd tried to start a family with for four years with no success. "Your wedding night," Kat said sheepishly. Would he start to doubt that it was his baby?
"Wow. Are you sure?"
"It must have been. I went back on the pill the next day."
The glint that could now be seen in her partner's eyes told Kat that this information had given him an idea. She then stared into his eyes, waiting for the moment that he would spill.
"I can't wait to see the Mitchells' faces," he grinned, giggling.
"Alfie no!" Kat began, her urgency such that one would have been forgiven for thinking that he had been about to go and announce it all over the Square. "It's one thing going all out with the Christmas decorations but we can't tell them that, what about Roxy?"
"They'll have to know sometime Kat," Alfie replied, conveniently circumventing the issue of his ex.
"Not everything they don't, it could have happened at any time."
"You're right," he agreed, somewhat reluctantly, before asking, "Any sickness?" The question changed the subject, which pleased him greatly, but he was genuinely interested in the response.
He looked down at her caringly, to witness a shaking of the head on Kat's part.
"Nothing. I'd have sussed sooner if there had been."
"Tell me if there is yeah? If the only thing I can do to make the next eight months easier for you is to hold your hair back and stroke your back at five in the morning then that's what I'll do."
"Come here you," smiled Kat, tightening her grip on his finger and pulling him even closer to her with her spare arm. It was surprising that this were even possible, they were so close. The two remained this way until Mo arrived home. They'd have stayed put, but the disturbance that she'd caused had put the pair in fear that their home was about to be burgled.