The BBC One soap ended its episodes last week with Barney returning home with his murderous mother Nicola Mitchell (Laura Doddington), adopted dad Teddy Mitchell (Roland Manookian) and half-brother Harry Mitchell (Elijah Holloway) after Zack overwhelmed Barney with revelations and a desire to take his son away from Walford.
In Monday’s episode, Ravi Gulati (Aaron Thiara) was seen knocking on Zack’s flat to get him to go to work, with Zack answering, looking dishevelled and agreeing to turn up for his shift.
At work, Zack proved somewhat insubordinate, prompting Ravi to deliver some tough love to Zack about the situation with Barney, encouraging him to have patience and wait for Barney to come around. In the meantime, Zack was sent home to get his head straight.
On his way back, however, Zack ran into a saddened Barney and tried to speak to him, but Barney fled instead – and later pushed his friend Avani Nandra-Hart away too.
Meanwhile, Lauren Branning (Jacqueline Jossa) was brutally confronted by the anger that her fiancé Peter Beale (Thomas Law) feels regarding the diagnosis of son Jimmy Beale with severe sight-impairment, blaming Lauren’s drug-taking while pregnant.
Following an upsetting encounter with Peter, Lauren headed off to break her sobriety by getting a drink at the Queen Vic – but was refused by fellow alcoholic Linda Carter (Kellie Bright).
Heading instead to Harry’s Barn, Lauren demanded a drink but was refused by Gina Knight (Francesca Henry), and proceeded to get angry before Zack entered and encouraged her to leave.
Back at Zack’s flat, Lauren still wanted to drink, but Zack stopped her and persuaded her to stay and talk.
As Lauren recounted her issues with Peter, Zack revealed his situation with Barney, and both felt they had failed as the parents they wanted to be.
However, after Zack expressed how lucky Lauren’s family were to have her, they leant into physical affection for each other before sharing a passionate kiss.
This isn’t going to end well!
Of course, this isn’t the first time that Zack and Lauren have cheated on someone together, with the pair’s tryst last year resulting in the implosion of Zack’s hopes of married life with Whitney Dean (Shona McGarty).
