Alfie's sister Annie warns Rose to finish with Pete, or face severe repercussions from his two brothers. Rose remains defiant and goes to visit Alfie in prison, demanding a divorce. This is curtailed when she discovers that Alfie is suffering from terminal cancer and after a period of contemplation she decides to stop seeing Pete so that she can nurse Alfie through his remaining months. However, Rose cannot keep away from Pete and in May she re-enters his life, telling him that she misses him. When Alfie's brothers discover she was seeing Pete again, they beat her badly, causing her to be hospitalised. Pete goes to visit Rose in hospital and they make plans to go into hiding to escape the wrath of the Chapmans. The following day, Pete smuggles Rose out of hospital with Frank Butcher's (Mike Reid) help and they then make their getaway to start a new life.