2573: Russ and Justin leave Hollyoaks

Hannah insists that she still wants to go on the run with Justin and leave Hollyoaks until they can prove he's innocent. Justin cares for Hannah too much to bring her down with him so tells her to stay, but she's not prepared to let him go.

Seeing them together, Josh is annoyed that Hannah would leave like this after all he's done for her but Hannah desperately explains how she feels and soon talks Josh round into helping her leave. Justin heads to the graveyard while Josh takes Hannah home to pack her bag. As they're about to leave, Rhys turns up to stop her.

Meanwhile at the graveyard, Justin hears someone approaching and prepares for the worst but is relieved to see Ste. Ste attempts to talk Justin into leaving alone as he knows that it's only a matter of time before the police find him. Justin, however, insists on taking that risk and refuses to leave without Hannah.

Unlike Josh, Rhys isn't prepared to stand back and let Hannah leave, so Josh, at a loss as to what else he can do, punches a stunned Rhys and a fight between the brothers quickly ensues, leaving Hannah free to escape. She makes it to the graveyard and meets with a relieved Justin.

As they prepare to leave, Justin worries about dragging Hannah into a life on the run and tells her to head to the car while he says goodbye to Mel and Sophie. When he doesn't turn up, Hannah returns to the graveyard to find him. A confused Hannah calls out to Justin but there's no answer - soon realises that he's left without her.

Carmel frantically tries to contact Russ after she let him take Max but he's not answering his phone. Jacqui returns home wanting to see Max but hoping she can find him herself, Carmel lies that he's with Theresa. Jacqui quickly susses that something's not right and as soon as she discovers that Russ has Max, she loses it.

Jacqui's furious with Carmel for knowing that Russ has taken him but is completely unaware that her sister actually allowed him to. After calling the police, Jacqui heads out to find Russ herself. The pair head to Nancy's flat were Jacqui lets herself in. Nancy's outraged but she's totally oblivious as to what Russ has done. Seeing Russ isn't there, they head back to search for Max's passport but it's gone. The realisation of what she's actually done hits Carmel but will she catch up with Russ before he leaves the village for good?

Russ prepares to flee the village with Max and leaves him in the car while he quickly heads to the flat to pack a bag. Seeing police arrive out the window, he panics believing that they're looking for him. However, he decides to chance it. Just as he's about to head out, Nancy enters and, relieved he's back, tells him that she's not letting him go. She gives an impassioned speech about how she feels and that they should be together but Russ, who's becoming agitated about Max, tells her that they're over and that he's leaving.

Desperate for him to see how much she loves him, Nancy suddenly proposes to a stunned Russ. Completely thrown, Russ toys with the idea of him and Nancy leaving together and starting a new life but just as Nancy thinks she's persuaded him, he tells her he can't and leaves her distraught.