So...back for more, eh? :D Glad the last chapter seemed to go down well, but if you think THAT was drama...phew, are you in for a treat...

"Where's your little friend, Bovver?" Lee Esdon snarled, spitting blood onto the floor as he pulled himself up right and leant back against the car Bov had just throw him into. "It's not like you girls to be out separately…had a little tiff over borrowing each other's shoes, did ya?"

Not bothering to answer him, Bovver simply launched himself at the man, head butting him hard enough to knock him out and then allowing his body to crash to the cold pavement, his head catching on the curb and grazing his skin. Shaking his head at the violence around him, Bov tried to work out what the hell was going on. Fights like this were usually built up by word of mouth, but this…this had happened so suddenly and right outside Pete's front door. The whole fucking thing was sussed, but seeing one of Mikey's boys kick Swill in the stomach as he lay on the floor, Bov realised now wasn't the time to be thinking about that.

"Oi!" he screamed, shoving the bloke to the ground and helping Swill stand up. "Mate, what the fuck is going on?"

"Where's Pete?" Swill gasped, his chest constricting as he tried to get his breath back; the little fucker had sucker punched his stomach and knocked the air out of him.

"Where the fuck is Mikey is what I'm thinking about," Bovver snapped. "All his little tarts are 'ere, but where the fuck is he?"

"Well, well," Sean Esdon, Lee's older brother grinned through his chipped front teeth as he lightly tapped Lee with his foot to make sure he was still alive. Getting a guttural moan out of him as he kicked his ribs maybe a little too hard, Sean shrugged and stepped over his body, walking towards the boys of the GSE. "Petey Dunham, how are we this lovely evening?"

Bov and Swill snapped their heads around just in time to see Pete jogging down the road, slowing as he reached them and casting quick glances at all his mates to check they were ok. Coming to a stop beside Dave, he scanned the Liverpool boys and frowned, noticing someone was missing.

"What the fuck are you doing here?" he asked calmly. "You gotten lost without Mikey to hold your hand?"

"Always were one for the comedic, wasn't you, Dunham?" Sean grinned, rubbing his chin. "Mikey told us you were exactly the same growing up," he sniffed. "Never knew when you shut your mouth or walk away…probably the reason your dad kicked the shit out of you so often."

"Watch it, son," Pete snarled. "I'm not interested in your fucking commentary on my life, I just want you out of 'ere and I mean sharpish,"

"What's the hurry?" Sean shrugged, gesturing to the boys standing behind him, all of them but Lee stood tall and ready to fight again. "Don't tell me you're nervous."

"Fuck off, mate," Pete shook his head. "I'm just about done with you lot, quite frankly your playground antics are getting a little bit boring."

"Now, see there you go, shooting your mouth off again and hurting my feelings," he clutched his chest. "Silly little Dunham," the blonde haired man shook his head, his twisted, darkened eyes belying the age of the man who wore them. "I would 'ave hoped last week would 'ave taught you a lesson,"

"Your little mate Mikey twating me with a crow bar and then running away like a little girl is hardly a lesson, is it mate?" Pete laughed. "Speaking of, where is Mikey? At home telling Mummy what a brave boy he was?"

"Nah mate," Sean smirked. "We've not seen him for a few days now," he pursed his lips thoughtfully. "Come to think of it, where did we last see him, boys?"

The rest of the Liverpool firm shrugged, sending smug grins at the GSE who had lined themselves up unconsciously, mirroring the slightly older men.

"See our Mikey's found himself a knew mate to play with these days," Sean explained. "You might know 'im actually, Dunham," he rubbed his chin thoughtfully and then pointed at Pete. "Yeah, I understand you've got a fair bit of history with him."

Walking slowly over to Lee who was still collapsed on the ground but regaining consciousness, Pete bent down and inspected the young man, earning a concerned glance from Sean. Straightening up, Pete smiled at him.

"So with Mikey out the picture," he narrowed his eyes. "This would be your chance to play with the big boys, eh Sean?"

"Didn't you hear me, Pete?" Sean shouted. "You're not in the least bit scared?"

"Of you, mate?" Pete snorted. "I've coughed up scarier shit than you." He smirked. "You want to be the Major, Sean?" he lifted his foot and placed it gently against Lee's temple. "How about a little lesson in negotiation then?"

"What the fuck are you playing at?" Sean snarled. "Get away from him,"

"Struck a nerve, 'ave I?" Pete raised his eyebrows, aware from the movement under his foot that Lee had now woken up. "You best start talking before I do something we'll both regret,"

"Sean?" Lee mumbled, his eyes widening when he felt the pressure on his head.

"Stay down you fucking idiot," his brother shot at him before looking back at Pete. "I'm not telling you shit," he scoffed.

"Bad move, mate," Pete winced. "Very bad move,"

He pushed his foot down hard enough to draw a strangled scream from the young man underneath him and Sean lurched forwards, panic written all over his face.

"Get off 'im!" he shouted.

"You're gonna tell me everything you know about Mikey," Pete snarled. "About Hatcher, what they've been talking about," he shook his head, his blue eyes glinting dangerously. "And don't you dare fucking tell me you don't know."

"How the fuck would I know?" Sean shouted as his younger brother screamed again, Pete's foot crushing the side of his head. "We haven't seen him for three days,"

"And where is he?" Pete demanded.

"I don't fucking know, do I?" Sean snapped. "He's the Major, what he says goes and he wasn't telling us shit, any of us,"

"Then how did you know he was with Hatcher?" Bovver shot, keeping a close eye on Pete. He knew that his best mate would never go out of his way to kill someone, but push him hard enough and Pete had one hell of a temper on him.

"Because he told us," Sean shook his head. "He said he was going to meet Tommy and that was it, none of us heard from him after that."

Pete met his eyes and tried to block out the cries of pain coming from the man on the floor; he could see the fear in Sean's eyes, but fear didn't make anyone innocent. Deciding that he was probably telling the truth, Pete lifted his foot and kicked Lee onto his back, meeting Sean's eyes once more.

"You'd best be out of my sight in the next thirty seconds," he growled. "Or your little brother won't be so fucking lucky next time,"

He was about to turn his back when Sean grinned sickeningly, the blood dripping from his forehead down into his eyes as he stared at something just passed Pete and the boys making him look almost manic.

"What's that old saying," He murmured, catching Pete's attention.

"You got concussion or something mate?" he laughed. "Or are you just that fucking stupid?"

"Nah," Sean shook his head. "What is it? Something about going around…"

"What goes around comes around?" Pete frowned, genuinely believing that the poor bastard was one apple short of a picnic.

"Yeah," Sean smiled. "I always liked that one,"

"You're sick in the head, mate," Pete spat at him, tapping his finger against his temple for effect.

"You reckon?" Sean nodded, his gaze focused on something behind them. "That what you think too, sweetheart?"

Following the young man's gaze, Pete turned and felt his heart stop. Allie was stood in the middle of the street, staring at him with so much fear in her eyes, a solitary tear trailing down her face.

"Allie-"

He took a step towards her, but she shook her head, stopping him. Turning, she started walking back towards the flat, wrapping her arms around her body to try and keep warm. So far it wasn't helping.

"Allie!"

"No," she whispered, walking faster. "No."

Pete ran after her, his feet pounding so loudly on the pavement that it seemed to echo through the street. The boys followed him, Sean and the rest apparently having taken Pete's advice and left fairly quickly.

"Oi," Pete reached out and snagged her hand, pulling her around to face him and instantly regretting it; she was looking at him like she didn't recognise him. "What the fuck were you doing out there? You could have gotten hurt!"

"What?" she whispered harshly. "Was I not meant to see that?"

"Allie…"

"Is it not okay that I had to watch the man I'm planning on marrying attempting to ram his foot through some kids skull?" she shouted, turning back to go into the building, frowning when he grabbed her arm. "Get the fuck off me," she hissed, not giving him so much as a second to respond before running up the stairs.

"Fuck it!" Pete shouted, kicking the door frame as hard as he could and welcoming the pain which shot through his foot. He frowned when someone shoved past him and glanced up to see Bovver jogging up the stairs.

"What're doing?" Pete asked.

"Making sure she keeps her mouth shut," he answered as though it was obvious. "Who's to say she won't call the ol' bill?"

"'Course she won't you fucking idiot," Dave shot at him, shaking his head. "This is Allie we're talking about,"

"And?" Bovver scoffed. "Mate, she's a nice bird and all, but that don't mean fuck all at times like this. She's got it in her power to fuck the whole lot of us over and you reckon she won't do it?"

Shaking his head at the bunch of mugs, he ran up stairs not slowing down until he was in the flat and standing in front of her.

"Have you called the coppers?"

"What?" she shook her head. "Christ, just leave me alone, Bov,"

"Not until you tell me the truth," he pressed. "Have you called anyone?"

"No," she shouted at him. "You're precious fucking firm is safe for another day, happy now?"

Seeing the rest of the boys enter the flat, she sobbed and stalked into the living area, unsure of what to do with herself. She felt sick…actually sick. She knew what Pete did, she knew about his past, but she had never seen it before. And now she had. And now she was terrified.

"I told you to keep her inside," Pete turned on Matt, watching as the American seemed to almost cower under his scrutiny. "Why the fuck didn't you stop her coming out there?"

"You're blaming Matt?" Allie stared at him in disbelief. "You're putting what happened out there on him? How the fuck are you working that out, Pete?"

"What did you think you were doing?" he shouted at her. "Anything could have happened to you out there, Allie. Those men are fucking animals,"

"And what does that make you?" she looked at him, her eyes wide. "Answer me!" she screamed, tears pouring down her face. "Be a man and at least give me a straight answer. I mean what do you think just happened out there? Do you even care that that kid was scared? That you could have killed him?"

"Kid?" Pete laughed. "Christ, I told you before you don't know what this is about," he shot back at her. "You don't understand it,"

"Well its hardly fucking rocket science is it, Pete?" Allie laughed bitterly. "When are you going to fucking grow up? You keep telling me that this isn't a game…try telling it to yourself. Your problem is you think this is all about you," she looked at him in disgust. "What about Sophie? Huh, have you even thought about her, about how scared she was?"

"I did what I had to do," Pete gritted his teeth, trying to keep the anger from showing in his face. "To protect myself, to protect this firm."

Allie stared at him in disbelief for a moment, shaking her head and laughing bitterly as she looked over the faces of the men stood in front of her. They weren't the same people she had known and loved for four years, they were strangers. And it scared the shit out of her, what if that's all they ever were from now on?

"You know something?" She looked Pete dead in the eye and felt the words leave her mouth before she could stop them. A part of her was glad because he needed to hear it, but the other part of her felt lower than shit as the pain registered on his face.

"Steve was right about you," she told him bitterly. "From what you've told me about him, you sound just like your father."

The room descended into silence and Pete stared back at her for a long moment, his heart pumping slower and slower, making him feel as though his body was shutting down. The words he never wanted to hear said to him by the one person he loved more than anything in the world…fuck, if that wasn't irony, then what was? He steeled himself against her gaze, waiting for her to look away, but she didn't, she held his eyes and though he could see the guilt in the emerald depths, he knew that a part of her had meant that.

Unable to stand there any more, he gathered himself together and not saying a word, stormed past her, into his bedroom, slamming the door as hard as he could.

Allie closed her eyes, letting the noise dance around in her head for a little bit before looking back at the boys who were staring at her intently.

"Sweetheart-," Dave stepped forward, but she shook her head, putting her hand up to stop him.

"I have to go," she mumbled, flinging herself out of the door and down the hall, running so fast the air in her lungs felt like fire as she tried to breathe. It did occur to her half way down the road that given Pete had described Sean and his friends as 'animals' that running through the streets on her own may not have been the best of ideas, but she didn't care. To be honest even if they did find her and beat the hell out of her she wouldn't feel it; her entire body felt so numb, so cold.

God knows how much time had passed when she slammed through the front door of her house, still running as she climbed the stairs, the ache in her body trying its best to persuade her to just collapse.

"Allie?" Lara frowned, watching as the blonde ran past her and into her own bedroom, slamming the door. Once inside, Allie ran straight through to her bathroom, not bothering taking any of her clothes off as she switched on the shower and stepped under it, leaning back against the tiled wall and slowly slipping down it until she was sat on the floor, arms wrapped around her legs just like when she was a little girl. Leaning her forehead against them, she found herself recollecting the pain in Pete's eyes as she had yelled at him.

"You're just like your father,"

Rocking herself lightly, Allie banged her head back against the cold tile and tilted her head up so the water hit her face, the water blending with the tears and making them indistinguishable it. Unable to help herself, she began sobbing, slamming her head back over and over again, feeling sick as she did so.

"Allie?" Lara called, the banging on the bathroom door, seemingly quiet in comparison to the volume of the water spray in her ears. "Allie? What's wrong?"

Shaking her head, Allie sobbed harder, curling into a ball and trying to make herself as small as possible as her world caved in around her and she only had herself to blame.

Matt Buckner opened the door to Pete's flat as quietly as he could, having left temporarily with the boys to give him so privacy. They'd tried knocking after Allie had left but he'd chosen not to answer, so much to Bov's disagreement, Dave had suggested they just go back to his for a while and leave Pete to sort it out. Swill had followed Allie, making sure she had gotten home ok, although he'd told them once back at Dave's that he'd lost her a few times along the way, apparently the girl could run for Britain if she wanted to.

Sighing deeply as his brain continued to process the events of the evening, unwilling to give him a break, Matt reached up blindly and switched on the light.

Most of the furniture with the exception of the sofa and the coffee table had been knocked over, glass littered the floor and in the midst of it all sat Pete Dunham, his back against the fire place, his head cradled in his hands. Matt stared at him for a long moment, not sure what to do or say for fear that it would make him lose it again. As though sensing his presence, the blue eyed man looked up at Matt, his eyes shimmering with unshed tears, his face reddened with those already shed.

"I'm fucked up, Matt," he told him, shaking his head as yet more tears fell down his cheeks. "I am so fucked up."

"Pete, what happened?" The American kicked a half broken lamp out of his path and moved to perch on the arm of the sofa, still staring at his friend.

"Well, 24 years ago I was born," Pete raised his eyebrows. "4 years ago I met the woman who I actually could see myself wanting to spend the rest of my life with and about 2 and a half hours ago, she threw it all back in my face."

"Are you drunk?" Matt asked him, eyeing the can of beer lying on its side next to him.

"Not nearly as much as I'd like to be," Pete laughed, lifting the empty can and shaking it at him. "We only had one,"

"Oh," Matt nodded, more than a little relieved.

"So I just mixed in some good old Jack Daniels with it," Pete finished, holding up the also empty bottle of rum.

"Right," Matt nodded, sending him a tight lipped smile. "Has it helped?"

"Well, I trashed my flat, I'm crying and I'm almost certain I'm sitting on a piece of broken glass," he grinned at Matt and tossed the JD bottle onto what used to be the small table beside the sofa. "You tell me,"

"What Allie said," Matt winced at the dark look Pete got. "She didn't mean it, not like that,"

"You're just like your father," Pete frowned. "I'm no shrink, but I'm pretty fucking sure there's only one way you can take that,"

"She was scared, Pete," Matt shook his head. "You can't hold that against her,"

"She lied to me," He pressed. "She never fucking lies to me, Matt. Ever."

"So?" Matt ran a hand through his hair and suppressed his yawn as he looked at the clock. It was already 2.30am and by the looks of it, he could kiss sleep goodbye for at least another hour. "People lie, Pete. And Allie's not perfect, ok? She's a girl who got scared and didn't want to tell her boyfriend," he shrugged. "Isn't that the same reason you keep half the stuff about the GSE from her?"

"I don't lie to her," Pete snapped angrily.

"No," Matt conceded. "But you never really tell her the truth either,"

The words seemed to sink in for a moment, either that or the rather potent combination of Fosters and Jack Daniels was hitting him, because Pete went quiet, staring at his hands which Matt had noticed were shaking somewhat.

"What happened to her?" he asked softly. "After I…" he nodded towards his bedroom.

"She didn't say anything," Matt told him. "She just ran out. Swill followed her though," he added quickly. "Made sure she got home ok."

"Good," Pete nodded and then looked around the living room, the chaos in it making his head spin.

"You should go get some sleep," Matt told him, standing up and offering him his hand. "Just forget everything till the morning. Everything always seems better in the morning,"

"Yeah," Pete pulled himself to his feet and tiredly rubbed his eyes. "I'm sorry about…" he gestured to the living room.

"I've slept in worse," Matt laughed, shoving him slightly towards the hall which led to his bedroom. "Don't worry, I'll take care of it." He kind of had to if he wanted anywhere to sleep anyway; tired as he was, Matt didn't see sleeping on broken glass as a very appealing option. "I'll see you in the morning, yeah?"

Nodding, Pete made his way down the hall, his body suddenly feeling the stress of the last few hours mixing with the alcohol and heightening his need to lie down. Collapsing onto the mattress, Pete fought the urge to groan as the scent of Allie's shampoo filled his nose, the shirt of his that she always wore rested on the pillow next to him and smelt of her skin. Closing his eyes, Pete wondered if she knew the hurt she had caused him tonight, if she had said it on purpose to make him hurt. It always seemed to be him fucking up and hurting her so maybe this was her get back. She deserved it, after all she was right, he had put her through an unholy amount of shit the past four years and she'd forgiven all of it, without question. The words echoed in his head again and he winced as they caused an almost physical pain.

You're just like your father.

Turning his head to the side, Pete stared out of the window and catching the first signs of the lightening sky, almost laughed as he remembered Matt's advice about everything seeming better in the morning. His heart still hurt, Tommy was still out there somewhere, Mikey was AWOL, Allie was afraid of him and he had no living room furniture left. It was morning, but none of those things had lost their weight, in fact as Pete pushed himself upright and sat there watching stoically as the first rays of sunshine poured out of the clouds, they seemed to get heavier, anchoring him to the room, to his bed until eventually as the sun finally crept over the sky scrapers and hit his window, he fell asleep.

If you're nice enough to leave a review, I'll consider updating in the next few days. Told you I liked being evil... ;)