Veronica sighed as he placed his hands on hers. "I'm sorry. I don't mean to take it out on you. I just-" She rolls her eyes. "I don't know, I'm over them." She sits back in his lap. "I don't wanna sit here and ruin our time together by bitching about my parental issues. I know you don't wanna listen to that no matter how much you lie and say you want to and you're here for me."

"I don't know what we can do...what do you wanna do?" She nods at him. "I know all that, I just don't wanna talk about it. It won't make me feel better or anything if we do so we should just leave it. I'm used to it anyway and they're not gonna change so why hope for anything more?" She kisses him back, sighing a little. Rory had a way of making her feel better and she loved him for it but she still couldn't take her mind off her parents as much as she tried.

Veronica nods. "Yeah but I don't really go to those. We could...go to the pier?" She shrugs a little. "I thought you said you wouldn't bring it up?" She smiles a little and kisses him. "I don't think they stay long enough to listen. Besides, we're all busy so no need to bring up mommy and daddy issues." She continues to kiss him. "Or we could stay here and have another round.." She winks and smirks. Veronica appreciated everything Rory was trying to do but she was convinced her family relationship would always remain the same.

"Nah. I prefer long walks in the park and all that stuff. I'm quote boring Rory so you better get used to it." She kisses his neck and smiles. "I know but there are so many other things we could be doing...in my room..in my bed." She giggles. "Oh, I'm more than ready, are you ready mr loudmouth?" She laughs and stands while helping him up. It was true Veronica wanted to take her mind off things and sex was about the only thing that seemed to do it and she enjoyed sex with Rory. She knew that it wouldn't work all the time but she might as well use it while it worked.

Veronica laughed as he picked her up and carried her. "You're so nasty Rory, but I like it." She kisses him. The two of them had an okay relationship so far but hopefully things would settle down so they could get a proper shot at it. She really liked Rory and wanted him to stick around for a while so she knew there were certain things she couldn't tell him if she wanted that to happen.

Katie is sat at home on the sofa of her living room. Ever since the incident, she hadn't felt up to doing anything at all. Her neighbour and friend, Gloria, had offered to look after Lucas for a few days until she felt better, and Katie had spent the time since Lucas left just sitting in the living room, alone on the sofa, in her pyjamas and feeling sorry for herself.

The TV was switched off, but Katie sat and stared at it anyway. Her swollen left eye and her fat lip were visible in the reflection, but she didn't look away. She merely sat and stared at how horrid she looked. She didn't even care. All she was worried about was the fact that her boyfriend, the love of her life, had been snatched away because of the spite of someone else and the need to lie. She hadn't seen Hayden for more thsn two days, and she worried about the conditions in the cell he was being forced to live in. It almost reduced her to tears to even think about it, but she managed to take a deep breath and hold in the tears.

Katie hugged her knees to herself and brought her chin to rest on them. She sighed, alone and sad, staring at her own reflection once more.

Katie was still sat staring straight ahead of her in the living room. She had been waiting all day for any news at all from Hannah and Izzy, but so far she had heard nothing. Because she was the alleged victim in the assault, she wasn't allowed to visit Hayden while he was in jail. It was a shame because she wanted nothing more than to just see him and hold his hand and tell him that it was going to be ok. She had known that Hannah and Izzy were going to the station that morning to see about the possibility of bail for their brother and cousin respectively, but she wondered why they hadn't told her anything yet. She wondered if it was bad news and she didn't want to go calling them in case they were still dealing with it as a family. She didn't want to feel like she was intruding on important Merjos family business, and she knew that they would be too polite to tell her to go away.

Katie was so fixated on how much she missed Hayden that she didn't even hear a key turning in the lock, in spite of the entire house being in silence. She rested her head on her knees again and sighed to herself as she continued to just stare at the front of the room. She wiped her eyes, wincing as her hand passed over the skin under her left eye and she whimpered a little, not hearing Hayden come into the room behind her. When Hayden spoke, Katie got such a fright that she almost jumped out of her skin, having sat in pure silence for more than 24 hours. She turned and saw him standing there, and straight away she burst into tears.

Without a word, Katie gets up from the couch and runs to Hayden. As the tears fall from her face, she throws herself into his arms, wrapping her arms around his neck, and her legs around his waist as she put her head on his shoulder and sobbed uncontrollably into his shirt.

Katie continued to sob into Hayden's shoulder. She had missed him more than she had never known it was possible to miss anyone. She had also feared that she would never see him apart from in a prison visiting room, as she was sure that the judge would believe the word of the lying fan. She looked up at him and tried to wipe the tears from her eyes, but it still stung to touch her face, and she winced again as she touched it. Katie looked at Hayden for a while, drinking in all of his features, as if she just wanted to remember every single little ting about his face. She eventually put her foreheasd against his and closed her eyes, as she listened to him breathe. She couldn't believe how much she had missed every single aspect of this guy she loved. She took a deep breath before speak, trying to steady her voice.

"I love you so much. I've missed you like you wouldn't believe. I was so scared Hayden." She starts to cry again.

Katie keeps crying for a while and then looks up at him when he kissed her head. Something about the way Hayden pressed his lips to her head always made her feel better, be it first thing in the morning when she awoke, or when she was just drifting off to sleep. Now here he was again, making her feel better with the simple kiss that she always needed. She wrapped her arm around his and held on tight. "I just got terrified that they would believe that girl and you would get taken from me forever. Or that someone would try to hurt you in there. I haven't slept or eaten or anything. I was too terrified and stuff. I just sat here looking at the TV." She looks up at him, drinking in all of his features again.

Katie looks sad. She felt like she had let Hayden down by not being strong. It had been a long time since Katie had been as down as she was over the last few days, and she wanted so badly to be the happy and cheery girlfriend that Hayden needed. But without him here, it seemed so hard to be the strong girl she knew deep down she could be. "I'm sorry, Hayden." She whispered. "Gloria from next door said she would look after Lucas...and then with my boys not here...I just felt...scared and lost, and like I had no purpose." She bows her head.