Patrick had got home from work, and as usual dragged his feet across the threshold to the house, dumped his bag on the floor, and slumped in the armchair nearest to the living room door. He only shuffled slightly in his chair to remove his coat and draped it onto the arm on of the chair.
At the sound of her husband's return, Shelagh came in from where she was busy helping Tim in the kitchen with his last bit of homework. She looked over at his appearance- his hair messy, more unruly than it usually was, his tie discarded along with his coat, and his shirt untucked from his trousers. All signs of a tough day at work.
"Evening love" he murmured, rubbing his temples wearily, then bending down to untie and slip off his shoes.
"Hello," she pecked him on the lips, "Bad day?"
"Just your general sniffles and coughs today." He slowly bend over to untie his shoes and slip them off. "But very busy, and so many missed appointments from patients! It drives me insane. All that time could be given to those who have been waiting days for appointments!"
"I know," she soothed, perching on the other arm rest and lightly rubbing his shoulder, "But there's nothing you can do about it is there?"
Hesilently simply shook his head.
A cry from their bedroom, at the other side of their flat, shattered the comfortable comfortable silence that had fallen between them.
"Nearly bed time I think. For all of us.." She nodded towards the kitchen door, indicating to Patrick that their son needing encouragement to go to bed at a decent time. A difficult task with any teenager.
"You go and run a bath, for Angela, I'll be up in a second to give you a hand" With that, Shelagh went upstairs to see what had upset their 3 year old, who had been left playing with her dolls house, (now 3 years old), who had been left playing with her dolls house;whilst Patrick persuaded Tim into going to bed earlier than midnight; despite the fact he was at a crucial part in his latest videogame.
"Patrick! Could you pass me the towel I left on our bed please?". Shelagh called through the closed bathroom door Patrick took the blue towel off their bed and walked down the hallway towards the sound of rushing water and low murmurings. He inched the bathroom door open slowly to reveal his wife sitting on the floor, in her dressing gown, and their daughter with her arms inside the t-shirt she was wearing, but her head stuck.
"My, my, what's going on here then?" He chuckled.
"I think we're going to need Daddy's help aren't we my angel?" Both girls giggling.
Together, both parents freed Angela from the confines of her clothing.
"There!" Shelagh said, smiling, this was always her favourite time with her daughter. And even more so when Patrick was home at the same time.
"Now madam, let's get you in that bath!" He picked her up and gently placed her in amongst the group of toys that were hiding in the mountain of bubbles. Shelagh and Patrick exchanged loving glances.
"Angela, could we try and keep some of the bath water inside the bath please?" He gently scolded. His top had very little dry patches left on it, so he unbuttoned it and threw it in the corner with the rest of the pile of clothes. His vest was the next thing to come off, completely soaked.
Shelagh remained silent, swallowing the light moan that nearly bubbled from her lips. She always had a weakness for his forearms, even when she still was Sister Bernadette. When they had married, the sight of his bare sight thrilled her even more. Instead, she busied herself with answering to the incoherent whines of her daughter.
"Mummy, where's ducky?"
"Are they not in the bath with you?"
Angela shook her head in reply.
"Well that won't do will it?" Patrick stood up and wandered over to the cupboard in the corner of the room, amongst the few small towels, Shelagh's female articles, and a few sponges, there was no sign of the rubber duck. "I'll just check our bedroom, I did some tidying the other day. You never know..." He winked and walked out the room in direction of their bedroom. They had often found items belonging to the youngest member of their family tucked away in their bedroom. Usually brought to them first thing in the morning.
Shelagh turned round to the sound of footsteps and the bathroom door opening again.
"Tim! I thought you'd gone to bed!"
"I couldn't sleep. Im sorry." He started to slink away, but Shelagh managed to catch the tips of his fingers from where she was sat on the floor. "No, stay." She gently pleaded. Clearly there was something on his mind, and sending him back to bed wouldn't help him.
"Timmy!" Angela called out, waving her hands and sending more waster over the side of the bath.
"Hello Ange" He chuckled, holding one of her small hands to limit the water damage to the floor. At this moment he caught his mother's eye, welling up but looking directly at him.
"When are you going to stop crying when you see us together?" He sighed, but lovingly wrapped his other arm around her shoulders. "We're brother and sister, it's all it is." they both shared a smile. "Plus, it gets embarrassing after a while!" He added cheekily. They both sat together, mother and son with Angela quietly talking to her toy boat and fish in the bath.
When they were almost silent, they could hear Patrick in the next room singing to himself, the Rubber-ducky Song from Sesame Street.
"Here we are-Tim!" Patrick opened the door, surprised to see his son sitting on the floor alongside his wife, his arm wrapped around her shoulders. Silently he handed the yellow rubber duck to Angela, and came and sat on the other side of Shelagh.
"It was in our bedroom bin!" He chuckled and slightly frowned "Alongside the red and yellow tie. Did you put it in there love?"
She could do nothing but laugh. His wardrobe was still a disaster, even after four years of marriage. She feared it wasn't something she would be able to control completely; but she certainly took a good stab at it.
When she'd calmed down she said "I'm sorry. It's just... That tie is awful! Where on earth did you get it?!"
"I found it the other day, in the bargain bin at the charity shop. Only 50p!"
Shelagh and Timothy both exchanged giggles, and Tim piped up "There's a reason for that Dad! Even I wouldn't wear that, and you're always saying I wear weird stuff!"
"Well fine." He huffed good humouredly, "Right! It's time you came out the bath," He tickled Angela under the chin "And you went to bed" He looked at Tim.
Tim huffed, but stood up, after hugging his mother goodnight and waved toward his dad. He stepped out the room and quietly shut the bathroom door behind him.
"What what should I do Doctor Turner?" Her eyes lighting up.
"You can go to bed too. Only not to sleep." Ensuring she caught his meaning he caught her lips between his for several breathless moments.
Instead of going out the room, however, Shelagh rose to her knees and edged towards their daughter's bath. She picked up a handful of bubbles, whipped her head round and blew them in the direction of her husband.
He grinned, just as cheeky as his son, and immediately retaliated with a pile of bubbles blown in her direction. Angela sat in the bath squealing, and clapping her hands. But this her to her parent's attention. They exchanged cheeky glances and both picked up a pile of bubbles in each hand.
One look at her parents and Angela went "Uh oh!". In the next few minutes each parent had been soaked and the bathroom floor was just as wet.
All three of the Turners sat around giggling and eventually got themselves cleaned up and went to bed.