Christmas Eve brought with it a flurry of snow that covered the entire street in a thick, white blanket. Everyone had thought it to be nothing short of a miracle when the snow began to fall, never had they had a white Christmas at Walford. One person who wasn't enjoying the snow however, was Ronnie. She sat by herself in the closed Queen Vic, drinking yet another glass of vodka.

Christmas just seemed so pointless. It was a time for loved ones, and what good was that when they all left you? Jack was past tense, Ronnie loved Jack, but he couldn't give her what she wanted most in the world. He had used the one thing he knew was her weakness against her. His words still rung in he ears, "You are just like Archie". She had begged him to take those words back, because she couldn't be like the man she despised so much, she just couldn't be.

Then there was Danielle. Her beautiful baby daughter, who had been so cruelly snatched from her before they had had a chance to even be the mother and daughter they were always meant to be. Still, Ronnie did not know how she got through those weeks after she died. It was like living in Hell. Her last words to Danielle haunted her; she had been so cruel to her daughter. Her Amy.

The rest of her family, Peggy, Roxy, Phil, Ben and baby Amy were all away in different places, enjoying the Christmas season. Ronnie had lied and told them she was spending it with Jack, she wanted to be alone and knew if she admitted she had no where to go, Roxy would stay.

Ronnie jumped as the door to the Vic swung open. "We're closed" she called over her shoulder, automatically.

"I know" said a familiar voice from behind her, "I just didn't think you should be alone at Christmas." She turned to face her ex fiancé, her head spinning from the vodka.

"What if I want to be alone?" she argued, how did he know she was here anyway? She hadn't told anyone she was spending the night alone.

"Well I don't and have no one else to hang out with, so you're stuck with me." Ronnie resisted the temptation to laugh.

"Get lost Jack" she said, coldly. Jack pretended to be hurt,

"hey, what did I ever do to you?" he said, indignantly.

"How about slept with my sister and knocked her up" Ronnie retorted. Jack pretended not to notice her tone,

"well there is that" he said, cheerfully, "but that's in the past now. This is now."

"Great to know how quickly you forget about your kids. If this is the way you are with Amy I'm glad we never had the chance to start a family." Jack stopped smiling,

"I came back you know", he said quietly, "I changed my mind, I wanted a family with you, but when I came to tell you that, you had gone." Ronnie was taken aback at this revelation, she always though Jack never wanted children with her, she though now he had one with her sister, he didn't need any more.

"Well I'm sorry if I don't wait around for you to decide what you want out of your life"

"Ron, it had been about an hour"

"I was upset Jack, I thought you would never want a family with me. After you stormed out, I thought you didn't want me." Her voice broke at the end of the sentence, she didn't know if this was due to the alcohol, or the tears that were gathering in her eyes, threatening to spill.

"I always wanted you Ronnie" Jack said softly.

"Even though I'm just like Archie?" she whispered,

"I didn't mean that" said Jack, "you have to realise I didn't mean that." Ronnie raised her eyebrows,

"do I?" she muttered.

She reached for the bottle again, but Jack took her hand and pulled it away. "I think you've had enough of that," he said. Ronnie glared at him.

"You're not my dad" she snapped,

"It wouldn't make a difference if I was, Archie isn't exactly father of the year" he retorted. Ronnie burst out laughing.

"Oh yeah, didn't you know? I nominated him." Jack laughed too

"Is there even such thing as a father of the year award?" he questioned. Ronnie shrugged,

"How should I know. I can't talk anyway, I'm not winning any mother of the year awards any time soon either." Jack started at her for a moment.

"It wasn't your fault Ron, what happened to Danielle." Ronnie winced; she couldn't stand it when her daughter's name was mentioned by anyone other than her. She raised her eyebrows.

"No?" She said, "then whose fault was it?"

Jack drew a breath. He knew Ronnie blamed herself for Danielle's death, but didn't know how to convince her otherwise.

"It was no one's fault, it was an accident. If you're going to blame anyone, blame Janine and Archie."

"But she was my daughter Jack. I couldn't even see she was my baby. All mothers should recognize their own daughter. I didn't even believe her when she told me." Tears were welling in Ronnie's eyes again, but she refused to let them spill.

"How could you know? You thought your daughter was dead, thanks to your dad." Jack tried to comfort her, but knew it would take far more than these words to heal her.

"But what about all those things I said? Right before she died I said I wouldn't want a pathetic freak like her for a daughter."

"She knows you didn't mean that. You were angry; you had every right to be. The way you saw it, this girl came into your life and pretended she was your dead daughter. Anyone would have been mad."

"I knew Jack. Right from when she said about the locket, I knew it was my Amy, but I didn't want to believe it. Accepting it would mean accepting dad had lied to me all my life. Accepting it would mean accepting I helped abort my own grandchild." Jack said nothing, just pulled her into a hug.

"You were with her when she died," he whispered into her ear, "you told her you knew she was you daughter as you held her in your arms, that's what really matters."

Ronnie pulled away from the hug and leant in to kiss Jack, who pulled away.

"Not now Ron, not when you're like this."

"I'm not that drunk," Ronnie argued, "just a little tipsy."

"Really? What's your name, age and father's name?" Ronnie frowned.

"Ron-no, Veronica Mitchell, 36 and the biggest bastard you ever will meet." Jack laughed.

"Good enough for me" he said, leaning towards Ronnie and kissing her on the lips. She wrapped her arms around his neck and returned the kiss. Suddenly, everything came back to Ronnie. Every sweet thing Jack had ever done for her. Every time he had taken her out, every time he had cheered her up, every time he looked after her when she had a little too much to drink, every time he comforted her when she cried. She remembered all this, and nothing else mattered. Not that he had slept and had a baby with her sister, not that he had said she was just like her father, not that he had called her crazy and left her, alone. All that mattered was he was there then, in the moment she needed someone to care. He always had been.

Comments/reviews loved! :)