All through that day, Kat carried on work in the bar as normal. It broke Alfie's heart to see her, chatting to customers like nothing was wrong. Several times he tried to get her to talk about it, but she turned him down angrily. It was like trying to have a conversation with a brick wall.
"Kat, you can't just pretend nothing's happened," he said to her quietly, after yet another failed attempt.
"Nothing has happened," Kat said brutally. She grabbed a bottle from the shelf and slammed it down so hard on the counter it nearly broke. He started forward involuntarily, and she glared at him. "Will you just leave me alone?!"
"Not until you accept what hap-"
"How many times?! Nothing happened!" Kat exclaimed. She ran her hand violently through her black hair. He saw she was close to tears - a breakdown, more like - and tried to comfort her.
"Look - come on, it's okay," he said in a reassuring voice. "You can deal with it however you want."
"There's nothing to deal wi-" Her voice broke in the middle of the word and her face crumpled. She glanced around, mortified, seeing the customers nursing their drinks. Anyone might see.
Alfie touched her arm and she jerked away from the touch. "Get lost!" she shouted at him. A couple of people glanced up at them and turned back to their precious alcohol, disinterested. Kat took to her heels and ran out the Vic.
It was getting dark outside and biting insects swarmed around in the twilight. She shivered in the cold, hardly feeling the tears run down her face. She didn't hold them back - couldn't, even if she tried. She heard the pub door open and swing shut again, and knew it was Alfie. She would have batted him away, told him where to go, apart from that was just an act. Another mask. She craved the comfort and warmth that he provided. She felt his hand touch her shoulder gingerly.
"I-" Suddenly it was like she couldn't breathe, her chest was hitching for breath, and the sobs all ran together. Everything spilled out - all the raw emotion that she had been bottling up. "It's not fair, I wanted it, I wanted the baby-"
Alfie was in front of her and he was looking at her compassionately. Some of his face was bathed in moonlight. The moon. "It's alright, I know."
"I could see her, Alfie," Kat said urgently. It felt like she had to say this, she had to get it all out before the words dried up. "In my arms... I'd love her and she'd love me back..." She gasped suddenly. "It might have been a he, but I was sure it was a she... so sure..."
She had been able to see the baby, too. She had imagined being in the hospital, holding her newborn baby close, feeling its warmth. Anthony would be next to her, and he'd be so enthralled by the birth of his daughter - something his medical books had taught him about, but he had still not been prepared for emotionally. She and Anthony would not have been together, but they would be friends. Good friends. Good enough to bring up their baby together. And her daughter - she was sure it was a girl, although it was only the size of a pea at the time - would be nestling in Kat's arms, she would be beautiful. Kat could practically see the baby's soft brown skin, the same as Anthony's, and its little eyes, gazing up at her, so warm and trusting.
But that was all gone - the baby was dead.
Alfie gathered Kat into his arms and she cried on his shoulder, for the second time in only two days. He held her to him protectively and smoothed down her hair. "It's alright," he whispered.
"What'll I do?" Kat cried. "I've got nothing - nothing left."
...And it had been then that Alfie had suggested she have a break. He had a mate, he explained, who needed some help in a bar in Lanzarote. Nothing too hard. But it would get her away from things. Kat had agreed, she had left...
...And he had missed her.
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Kat & Alfie ForEver! 
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