Chapter Text
“Hey,” Robert called, walking in through the front door. He threw his keys down and headed straight for the kitchen, “Hey, Liv, is Aaron not- oh hey Belle.” He forced a smile at Belle, who was sat at his kitchen table with Liv. She didn’t even look at him, she merely shrugged.
Liv started to answer Robert, “Aaron was working late remem- what?” She narrowed her eyes at Robert as he gestured for her to follow him out of the room.
Looking at Belle then back at Robert, Liv stood up and moved into the doorway where Robert continued to usher her into the hall,
“What is up?” She whispered.
“What is Belle doing here?” Robert hissed.
Liv frowned, “She was upset.”
Robert pinched his nose and shook his head, “Liv, she can't be here.”
“I couldn’t just leave her,” Liv was really not seeing the problem, “I found her crying.”
“And that's not good, ok, but,” Robert lent in to make sure that Belle could definitely not hear, “She kissed Charity’s fella.”
“Yeah...I know,” Liv said, matter of fact, “We’ve all made mistakes.”
Robert rolled his eyes, “This isn’t about casting judgement, Liv. This is about the fact that we are now harbouring a guilty Dingle.”
Liv blinked, “What are you on about?”
As if on cue there was a series of loud knocks and shouts from behind the front door. Belle immediately jumped up from her sullen state at the table and became a frantic mess, pleading with Liv and Robert to not open the door.
Robert looked pointedly at Liv, gesturing between the Dingles behind the door and Dingle in his kitchen.
“Oh,” Liv mouthed, apologetically. She now realised what he meant.
“Come out, Belle!”
“Don’t let them in, please. They'll kill me!”
“You can't hide in there forever!”
“This needs sorting!”
“What were you thinking?”
Raising his eyes to the heavens and saying a quick prayer to whoever was listening that his husband would suddenly appear, Robert took a deep breath and went to open the door.