Max Branning goads Stacey when she’s had enough of him and tells him to get out of her house and then she slaps him when he pushes her too far!
Stacey tries to support Max but Martin isn’t happy about having Max around the house. Meanwhile, desperate to build bridges with Lauren and Abi, Max asks them to separately meet up with him. When the girls arrive together, Max is taken aback. They put on a united front and make it clear that they will never be manipulated by their dad ever again. A dejected Max is left on his own as they go their own separate ways for Christmas. Have the Brannings been broken forever?
Karen is stunned when she discovers a stash of mobile phones. Chatham and Riley are forced to confess that they nicked them. Determined to set things right, Karen and Bernadette try to return Stacey’s phone without her noticing but it doesn’t go to plan. Fed up when Stacey makes her feel small, Karen asks Keegan to sell the phones so they can keep the cash. Karen struggles with her conscience, however, and decides to do the right thing and get the phone back to Stacey after all - the phone with Jane’s message about Max….
At the Nativity, Stacey gets a call from Max, saying he’s left his wallet in her house. Stacey heads home, leaving Karen to step into the role of the angel! Back at the Fowlers’, Stacey realises that Max lied to get her on her own. A furious Stacey tells Max to get out but he goads her, saying she’s lost her Slater spark Stacey slaps him!
Mick’s relieved when he tells Phil that he’s backed out of the job and Phil is fine about it. It seems that Aidan isn’t done with Mick, yet however… When Mick takes Linda and Ollie out to the Nativity, Aidan turns up at the pub with a special gift to leave for Mick that Whitney places under their tree.
Also, Fi wants to talk to Kathy about Willmott Brown, but she’s in no mood to re-live the past.
