with a doorstop and supposedly killed him. Den then regained consciousness and grabbed Chrissie, who delivered a fatal blow, but left Zoe to believe she had killed him. The three women then buried his body in the basement, with Chrissie being able to avoid suspicion for the next few months by inventing a story that Den had left her for another woman. With the help of Phil and his brother Grant, Dennis and Sharon soon bring Chrissie to justice and sell The Queen Vic back to the Mitchells, apparently concluding the lengthy feud between the Watts and Mitchell families. Having stayed away from his funeral, Dennis later visits Den's grave and tearfully mourns the father he never had. On Christmas Day 2005, Sharon is admitted to hospital with suspected food poisoning, but finds out she is pregnant, despite the previous belief that she was infertile following an abortion 10 years earlier. After Dennis interferes with Johnny and condemn the treatment of his teenage daughter Ruby, Johnny attacks Sharon but upon finding out she is pregnant, he relents and tells Sharon that if she and Dennis are gone by midnight on New Year's Eve, he would not kill Dennis. He also admits that he murdered Andy Hunter nearly a year earlier. After much insistence from Sharon, they prepare to leave on New Year's Eve to start a new life in the United States. Sharon does not tell Dennis that Johnny has threatened to kill him, but she confides in Phil, who then uses Dennis as a weapon against Johnny, who is also an enemy of his. Phil tells Dennis about Johnny threatening Sharon and also that Johnny had murdered his friend Andy. Although Dennis knows what Phil is doing, he takes the bait anyway and beats Johnny to the brink of death. Johnny begs for help as he fears he is dying, so Dennis tosses him a mobile phone and says if he can reach it, he will live. Johnny is able to reach the phone and instead of calling for medical assistance, he contacts a henchman to murder Dennis as revenge for his beating. After cleaning his hands of Johnny's blood, Dennis makes his way towards the Albert Square Gardens where the locals are setting up fireworks ready to welcome in 2006. As he and Sharon lock eyes, Dennis is stabbed in the chest by a mysterious passer-by and collapses.