10th November, 2008

Peter stumbles out of bed at 9:00 in the morning, and asks where Deirdre keeps her emergency fags. Ken tells him he's been up since 6:30 reading to Simon. Blanche refers to the boy as “Shymon.” Ken says it's no wonder the boy's shy. A house full of strangers and a cantankerous old woman ordering him about. Apparently she's had him fetching slippers and things all morning. Peter says he'll just have a quick smoke, and then be in to give Ken a hand. Ken tells him he can take over NOW, and while he's at it, he can go shave. He looks like a vagrant.

Kevin and Sally are discussing how they think Rosie's doing, AGAIN. Kev thinks she not as chipper as she's making out. He says she flinched and yelped when the toast popped up. Just then, Rosie comes downstairs, and is embarrassed that he's told her about the toast. Sally tells Rosie that while they're gone to work, she should keep the doors locked, and only open them if she knows who it is. Rosie tells her she's fine. Sally will be home to see her at lunch time, and leaves for work. Kev asks what Rosie's going to do all day, and she says she might go back to bed. Once they've both left, she looks around, nervously.

Fiz is talking to John Stape, telling him to please stop phoning her, she doesn't want to hear from him. To say that she thought she knew him is an understatement.

Dan meets Peter for the first time while on his way to work, and they talk about the business of being a bookie. Apparently Peter owned the bookies before Dan. He tells Peter they should keep in touch.

Further down the street, Dan runs into Kelly. She says she can't wait to be off on their beach holiday together. She owes him money yet for her half of the trip, but thinks she's grabbed the wrong bank card, as it says she doesn't have any money in her account. She promises he'll get the money tomorrow. She makes a few ditsy remarks, mainly about the “Davisi Code,” and Dan looks like all he wants to do is get away from her. She kisses his cheek as she leaves, and he wipes it off in disgust.

Tony's in an unexpectedly good mood this morning! In fact, everyone at Underworld is laughing it up and having a good time while they work. Sean asks Tony what material HE prefers in a ladies undergarment, silk or satin. Tony laughs it off, and tells everyone to settle down. Natasha thinks it must be lace. She knows his type. Tony admits he's got a thing for cotton. Oh Tony, you kinky beast. Kelly runs in late, but Tony's fine with it. Sean says if HE had better legs, he could get away with murder in this place. After Tony's left, Sally questions why he's enjoying himself so much. Sean seems to think he's defrosting under the hot lights of their spirits. Kelly frets about how the ATM said she didn't have any money, but the girls reassure her that their week's wages usually don't clear until lunch time. Julie tells everyone that Kirk and Chesney leave for South Africa today. Sally says she wishes she was going. Sean agrees... He wishes Sally were going too!

David comes home from his driving test to find Tina on the phone talking to a mate. He overhears her saying “...he's absolutely gorgeous.” Seeing him, Tina hangs up the phone, and runs over too him. She's so excited he's back! But David's in one of his jealous moods again. Before he'll hug her, he wants to know who it was she was chatting to, and who it is that's “absolutely gorgeous.” She tells him they were just talking about their OTHER mate's new boyfriend. He asks if she fancies him. She sounds like she's had enough of his questions, and tells him it was an objective opinion. They finally smile, and she kisses him three times. Once for passing his driving test, twice to welcome him home, and a third time just for a laugh.

Chesney and Kirk are packing for their South African holiday, Chez worries when he can't find the suntan lotion. Kirk shows him he's bringing along SPF 5 and SPF 10. “Factor 5??” says Chesney. “I'll whiz up into their air like a bit of paper off a bonfire.”

Peter tries to help Simon with his jigsaw puzzle, and asks him what he thinks of his granddad. Simon says he likes him. Peter tries to have a conversation with his son, but can't get anything out of him. Simon just stares at him. Peter gives up, and says he's going to nip out for some fags. He promises Simon he'll get him a lollipop while he's out. He leaves his five year old son home... alone... while he goes to get his cigarettes. Who can tell this isn't going to end well?

Leanne sees Janice passing by the salon, and runs outside to ask her how things went at court today. She brings her inside for a quick brew.

Tony's arguing with his accountant on the phone, and tells him he doesn't want to go back into work just now, so he goes to meet him for lunch.

Inside the Kabin, Peter looks at some kids toys, and sighs.

Over at the Platt residence, David's on the phone with a mate, and tells him he'll see him soon. It's Graeme, David's former cell mate from his days in the slammer. Graeme's just been released. Tina warns him to steer clear of that lunatic. David tells her he'll be around in a bit.

Ken comes home to find Simon playing by himself. Where's his daddy?

Peter leaves the Kabin, fags in hand, and whistles at Leanne, who's just left the salon. She didn't realize he had a kid with him, but Peter doesn't want to talk about it. She tells him she likes kids, and Peter says he knows who to come to if he needs a babysitter. Leanne suggests it depends on who he's taking out, because she might get insanely jealous and refuse. He checks her out as she walks away, and she seems to quite enjoy that.

Julie and Kirk say goodbye to each other. She asks him not to talk to any girls while he's away. He promises... unless it's a flight attendant offering him his dinner, or if he's in a shop trying to buy a souvenir. Then he might say “thanks.” Not that they'd understand English... in South Africa. RIGHT, Kirk. >_>

In the living room, Sally asks Fiz what the police asked her when she was arrested. Fiz tells her they knew the second they laid eyes on her that she had nothing to do with it. She loved John, and she's devastated.

Someone's fidgeting with the lock at the Barlow place, and Ken runs to the door, expecting to see Peter, but it's just Blanche.

Rosie sobs to Kevin at the garage. She heard a whistling sound at home, coming from Sophie's room. She must have left the window open. Then the door slammed, and a picture fell off the wall. She thought she was going to have a heart attack, or kittens, or both. Sally runs up to see what's wrong. She tells them she's just been talking to Fiz, and that she still claims she knew nothing about what happened. Between sobs, Rosie tells her once again, that she didn't. Sally says John wouldn't be the first nutter to have a female sidekick. She was going to suggest Rosie went out with her friends tonight, but seeing the state of her now, admits that probably wouldn't be a good idea. Sally starts to head back to work, but stops to asks which picture it was that fell, and if it broke. Oh, Sally.

Julie is freaking out because her credit card wasn't accepted at the butchers. She was so embarrassed. Natasha says she checked with the bank, and her wages haven't gone through either. The girls decide to confront Tony when he gets back.

Ken does some confronting of his own as his son finally returns home. Peter says Simon's five. He's fine on his own for ten minutes. Blanche thought Peter had taken off. He brings up that Ken wasn't always there for them when he was a kid. He brings up his three siblings, who apparently aren't winners either. One of Ken's daughters in jail for murder. As the two men argue, Blanche tells them Simon's trying to ask Peter something. “Can I have my lolly please?” Guess what. Peter's forgotten it.

Graeme shows up at the Platt place... with a duffel bag, and he and David do some stupid secret handshake. He assumes Tina knows the handshake too, but she could care less. Graeme was released from jail yesterday, but he's had a fight with his “big fat mum”, so he thought he could kip on their sofa. David says he'll have a word with Gail about it, but she'll be cool. David's apparently looking to get a car, and Graeme says he can help him with it. Tina warns David not to get involved with it.

The girls are discussing their money woes, both their wages and their lost lottery winnings. The police say they can't have the lottery money, not until the investigation is over. They ask Janice what her punishment was for stealing their 25 grand. She has to work in the canteen at the hospital. Doesn't quite seem fair.

Fiz sits at home watching TV, trying to ignore John's constant calls.

Peter's out back for a smoke, and Ken comes out to join him. Ken tells him that despite both their many mistakes, Simon is still a poor disoriented child who's lost a mother and gained a father, and whether Peter likes it or not, his entire future is in his hands. It's a huge responsibility. The biggest thing anyone will ever ask of him. Nothing is more beloved than your children. Blanche pops her head out to tell them there's a social worker here to see Peter. “I just can't do it,” he says. Oh, Peter. What have you done. See you for Part 2! :-)

Peter greets Rachel from Weatherfield Social Services at the door. Ken thinks they should talk about this first, but Peter invites her in.

Leanne sees Tony on the street, and asks him if he's heard from the property agent about the flats yet. Tony says he should be hearing from him anytime.

The girls discuss whether their lack of wages is just a simple mistake or if there's something sinister going on with Tony. Julie uses Sally's phone to call him, just as he's walking in the front of the factory. Tony's plays ignorant about the situation. Julie tells the girls she thinks he's lying, but he's standing right behind her, which scares the hell out of her. He says it's all a complete mystery to him, and he'll see what he can find out.

The social worker says she'll give them all a minute to talk, and excuses herself. Ken asks Peter why. He says he's just trying to get things sorted. Blanche says she's never been more ashamed of this family than right now. Blanche takes Simon for a bun at Roy's so he won't hear what Peter's planning. Peter says what he's PLANNING is to give the boy a better life than he could give him.

Tina's father, Joe, shows up at the Platt's and sweeps Gail off her feet... literally. The two have been keeping their relationship a secret from their children, who are also dating. Gail thinks they'd find either of them dating to be "gross", but to find them dating EACH OTHER would be too much for them. She says the kids could show up any minute, but suggests she might have some "carpentry" that needs doing up in her bedroom, and they go to “take a look.”

Peter tells the social worker that his ex-wife had taken Simon to Australia shortly after he was born, and he didn't know their were back in the country until a short while ago. She says that giving up his son altogether is a big step. She suggests that maybe his family could take him. Peter feels Ken and Deirdre have their hands full just looking after Blanche. He wants Simon to go to a proper couple so he won't need to be handed from child-minder to child-minder. She asks him if he might wake up in a year or two and wonder “...What have I done?” Peter doesn't have an answer to that.

At Roy's, Blanche thinks it might be no bad thing for Peter to follow through on what he's been planning. Roy asks how Deirdre's trip to France is going, and tells them that HIS wife Hayley will be back from Africa on Monday. He's bought her some scented bubble bath, as she's been restricted to showers while in Mozambique. Ken says that surprising Deirdre with a child to bring up would be better than what Peter's proposing. Blanche tells him that for once, this isn't about him or what he wants. Ken thinks Peter's just panicking, and just needs a bit of time. In the mean time he and Deirdre can look after Simon. He's making an awful lot of decisions for other people, says Blanche. She just hopes they're the right ones.

The girls worry that maybe Underworld's business is going down the tubes and that Tony doesn't have any money to pay them with. Sean says Tony's too good a business man to let that happen. Tony enters and tells them the bank is looking into the problem, but it won't be sorted out today. He says the money should be available to them tomorrow morning. If any of them don't trust him, they're welcome to walk out the door right now, but they better not think they can just walk back in again.

After returning to the Barlow home, Ken tells Peter and the social worker that he and Deirdre are prepared to help him look after Simon. Peter says if he'd wanted help, he would have asked for it. Ken tells him to go off and do whatever it is that's more important than bringing up his son. He and Deirdre can manage without him. He'd like to think that she'd be furious with him if he didn't do this. Peter goes out for a smoke, and the social worker, Rachel, asks if she could have a word alone with Simon. In the kitchen, Blanche tells Ken that he's “stark-staring bonkers!”

Graeme rolls up to David in his shiny new car. As he passes unstable Rosie on the street, he honks his horn, which scares Rosie half to death. Fiz runs up to her to see if she's okay. Tina tells Graeme to take the car back, and asks where he nicked it. She tells David that if he drove around in that, he'd be arrested in five minutes, and this time, she wouldn't wait for him. This seems to get the point across to David, but Graeme says it would be difficult to take back, and they hide the car in the garage.

Simon asks Rachel if she knew his mummy, and says she was very pretty, but she died. Ken tells Peter it's important Simon knows he has a family that still cares about it. It's not that Peter doesn't care, it's just that he can't give him what he needs. He doesn't want Ken coming round to him in a month's time saying he can't cope, once he's proven how much more caring he is than Peter. Rachel says that as long as Peter's happy, she's fine with Simon staying with Ken and Deirdre. They always like children to stay their families, if possible. Blanche thinks Ken's going to need a miracle to make this work.

The kids walk in on Gail and Joe having a cup of tea together, and Joe makes up an excuse for being there. David introduces Graeme, and Gail recognizes him for visiting David in jail. David mentions Graeme staying over, and she doesn't seem too keen on the idea, but agrees.

Peter plans on heading home to Portsmouth in the morning. Ken wishes he would stay to help out just until Deirdre gets home. Peter says the word dysfunctional was made to describe this family. Just because he's Simon's biological father doesn't mean he's fit to raise him. Ken recalls how five years ago, when Simon was born, Peter nearly killed himself getting to the airport to stop his wife from taking Simon away from him, and now he's happy to give him away to anyone. Peter says the reason she wanted to get away from him was because she knew he was a waste of space. The only reason she left Simon with him now is because she was dying and he was all she could think of. Ken tells Peter the boy needs to have a sense of who he is. He needs to have memories of his mother, and that Peter's the only one who can give him that. Peter says it's for his own good. Peter's made it abundantly clear what he thinks of Ken as a father, and the one thing Ken can do for him, even at his age, is to try and prevent him from turning into everything he despises in his own father.

While Gail has no objection to Graeme staying there, in principle, she would have like to have been asked. Joe asks David if he can start work early in the morning. He's just hired him as his assistant recently. As soon as David's up the stairs, Gail and Joe are in each others' arms. She hasn't made up her mind about the wardrobes in her bedroom yet. He'll have to come back another day to go over his ideas with her. *wink*

Blanche pushes through the crowd of girls from Underworld who are entering the Rover's to find Peter sitting in a booth, drinking alone. He tells her he's already heard it all from his dad. She says as much as Ken hates to admit it, he's an old man. He doesn't need to be raising a five year old at his age.

The more Julie thinks about the situation with their wages, the more she thinks Tony's lying.

Fiz catches Tony just as he's closing up the factory, and thanks him for letting her have all this time off to get over what's happened, but she's ready to come back to work. He says she can start again next week, but she begs him to let her come back in the morning.

At the bar, Leanne makes a comment that makes Peter think she already knows that he's given up Simon to Ken. When he realizes she has no idea, he tells her she's better off not knowing. He excuses himself to take a phone call.

Tony enters the pub, and asks if he can buy any of the girls a drink. Julie says she'd rather buy it herself, but Janice won't say no. Tony tells them that one of the orders their working on has a penalty clause for late delivery, and they'll all receive bonuses if they make the deadline. He says they'll have to take his word for it, and warns if they don't make the deadline, it won't just be delayed wages they're worried about. They all agree to be there in the morning, and Tony leaves them some money for drinks.

Peter's phone call has certainly cheered him up. “I think the phrase is... 'LIFE CHANGING.'” He orders another round for both he and Leanne.