"See! Did you hear that? Abi, you heard that, didn't you?"
"Are you serious?" Abi laughed from her spot on the sofa. "She didn't say it."
"Yes, she did. Say it again, sweetheart, Mummy's going deaf. Go on, say Dada. Da-Da."
"You've lost it," Abi grinned playfully, contently watching the scene before her. If anyone had told her 18 months ago that she would have this, she would have thought they were mad. Yet here they were. "It literally sounds more like Abba than Dada, Steven."
Steven laughed as he looked up at her, and she swore her heart stopped. She didn't even know how he did that - well, he didn't have to do anything to make her go all soft inside. She never thought she'd have someone who she clicked with so well, someone who made her feel like she was completely perfect to them.
Her train of thought was interrupted by a loud squeal from the floor, and Steven turned back to their daughter. "Don't listen to her, she's just jealous that you're not saying Mama."
"Uh, excuse me, she's not saying Dada either," Abi rolled her eyes. "And I'm not the one who's been sat on the floor for the past hour trying to force the poor child into saying it."
Steven threw her a smirk. He turned back to the little girl, picking up a small cuddly bunny rabbit and gently bopping her on the nose with it, causing her to let out an adorable laugh. This, of course, made both her parents laugh too.
Abi looked on contently as Steven continued to amuse the little baby sat in front of him, aimlessly grabbing at the soft toys in front of her. She didn't know what she had done to deserve this - a family of her own with a man who loved her just as much as she loved him, completely unconditionally. They had a little flat of their own and she didn't doubt that she'd have a ring on her finger too before long. They spoke about it all the time - getting married, buying a big house in the country and filling it with brothers and sisters for little Emily.
For now though, she was more than happy with what she had. She'd never been so happy before and part of her wondered how it had all worked out the way it had. Sure, her sister hated her guts and the rest of her family weren't exactly proud of her but the only family that mattered to her were sat right there in that living room. The same went for Steven - Ian and the rest of the Beales had cut him off completely when he came clean about everything, including his relationship with Abi and the baby they were expecting together.
The only person who still treated Abi like a human being was her Grandma Dot, who she still spoke to all the time. Tanya was starting to come round too - she'd come to Walford to support Lauren when everything had come out and she'd treated Abi like dirt upon hearing her full involvement in Steven's actions. A few photos of her only granddaughter later though and she was beginning to come around - not that Lauren knew that.
Steven pushed himself up off the floor and moved to sit next to his girlfriend on the sofa, lifting his arm up so the blonde could cuddle into his side - which she immediately did, throwing her legs over his as he lowered his arm around her shoulder. They sat in a comfortable silence for a couple of minutes, watching Emily roll onto her front on her playmat - a skill she had now finally managed to master at six months. Abi felt Steven lovingly running his fingers through her hair, as she leaned against his chest with a smile.
"We should have another one," Steven suddenly blurted out, causing Abi to laugh.
"Give me a chance, I've barely recovered from this one," Abi replied, half-jokingly.
"I don't mean right now," Steven rolled his eyes. "Just in the next couple of years."
"Yeah, of course we will," she said, interlocking her fingers with his free hand. "In a couple of years."
"Gonna have to marry you first, ain't I?" Steven teased with a smirk.
"Yep," Abi replied, popping the 'p' cheekily. They both laughed, but Abi's smile quickly faded. "Would be a pretty small wedding though. We'd have to drag in witnesses off the street."
"Come on, that's not true," Steven scoffed. "Dot would be there, and your Mum."
"Yeah, I guess you're right," Abi smiled weakly, glancing over at Emily, who was still completely captivated by her cuddly toys. "I just wish things were different for her."
"Why, because a big family did either of us any good?"
Abi ignored him, fighting the pang in her chest his comment had caused. She stood up off the sofa and leaned down to pick Emily up, placing her and her hip as the child giggled happily. Steven clearly realised his mistake straight away.
"Abi.." Steven sighed. "I just meant that she has us and that's all she needs, alright?"
"I know that.." Abi replied, smiling softly at her daughter who was looking up at Steven. "Yeah, you're right. We have each other."
"Exactly, now pass her here," he said, putting his arms out and motioning for Emily to come to him - which she did, more than happily. Abi smiled, folding her arms across her chest as she sat back down on the sofa.
"I won't be surprised if she does say Dada first, she adores you," Abi rolled her eyes with a teasing laugh, before putting on her baby voice to turn to Emily. "Proper little Daddy's girl, aren't you, sweetheart?"
"Yeah, well, she has good taste," Steven smirked, gently bouncing her on his knee. He looked back at Abi, noting the sadness behind her content expression - he didn't know why she tried to hide things from him when he'd been able to read her like a book from the very first time he'd kissed her, if not before. "What's going on, Abs?"
"Nothing, nothing's wrong," Abi replied unconvincingly, knowing that she was going to have to tell him eventually because of the disbelieving look he threw her. She stood up again, and Steven stood straight up after her, after placing Emily down comfortably on the sofa.
She ignored the sinking feeling in her stomach as she covered her face with her hands, feeling him stood behind her. She was expecting him to question her once more, but instead she just felt his arms snaking around her waist. He brushed her hair to one side and gently pressed his lips against her neck.
"Whatever's going on, you can tell me. You know that."
"Lauren and Josh are engaged," Abi said quickly.
"Oh. Okay.." Steven muttered in confusion as Abi turned around in his arms to face him.
"He proposed two months ago, apparently," Abi added. "I saw her when I was at Grandma's yesterday. You know I try to avoid her, or anyone for that matter, but she was there when I got there. He proposed in Rome, then my entire family had a party for them when they got back and nobody has even mentioned it to me the whole time."
"So you're upset she didn't tell you?" Steven frowned. "I didn't think you'd care."
"She didn't tell me because I would tell you," Abi explained, going to start her next sentence before pausing and taking a deep breath, attempting to fight back the tears beginning to form behind her eyes. "And you know why they didn't want you to know?"
"Because I'm her ex who lied to her about having cancer and cheated with her sister, I'd guess," Steven snarked.
"No," Abi replied with a fake, humourless chuckle. "Because they're still expecting you to try and win her back. Didn't want you ruining her happiness by grovelling for her to dump him and take you back."
"What?" Steven questioned in disbelief. "You are kidding."
"I wish I was kidding," Abi said, pushing him away from her and walking past him to lean against the opposite counter, not wanting to be so close to him in that moment. "But nope. They thought you'd try and stop it going ahead - the wedding, that is."
"That's insane," Steven stated. "Abi, you're not seriously letting this get to you? I couldn't care less about what Lauren does. I can't believe you'd even think that."
"Everyone else does, Steven," Abi argued. "Everyone thinks you're humouring me because of the baby and you're eventually going to go beg for forgiveness from Lauren because she's the one you actually want. Everyone we know thinks you've settled for me because I've trapped you with a kid."
"None of that is true and you know it," Steven said, affectionately tucking a loose strand of her behind her ear. "I'm never going to leave you. Ever. You're my girl, aren't you?."
"I'm your girl," Abi rolled her eyes, laughing as she gave in. "I'm sorry, it's just...the idea of losing you after everything-"
"You're never going to me lose me," Steven interrupted, glancing over at Emily who was still happily playing with her cuddly toy in her highchair. "This - you, me, our family...This is forever."
They both grinned widely at each other for a few moments before Steven leaned in to passionately kiss Abi, both of them knowing in that moment that Steven's words were true.
Abi opened her eyes as the loud, piercing cries surrounded her. Looking over at the cold, untouched side of the bed, she felt like she was about to burst into tears at being awoken from her dream. Waking up from a dream like that was like losing him all over again - in that split second, she had to remember that Steven was dead. Their forever had ended before it had ever even began.
She sighed as she pushed herself out of bed, walking over to the cot by her bed and gently lifting the crying baby.
"Shh, baby, it's okay," she hushed, holding her daughter against her chest. "Mummy's got you."
Mercifully, it only took a few minutes of Abi nursing her for the baby to calm down. She fell back asleep in Abi's arms, her tiny fingers wrapped around the wedding rings around Abi's neck. In that moment, Abi knew she still had a love that would last forever - and it was only six months old.