*Later that night and Brendan and Ste are settling the kids into bed*
"Read us a story Daddy" Leah says passing Brendan a book from her bag.
"Little red riding hood? Ok" Brendan sits at the edge of the bed with Ste standing in the doorway.
"Daddy, can I have a glass of water?" Lucas asks
"And me" Leah says
Ste walks off to get the kids a drink while Brendan starts reading the story.
"And I'll huff and I'll puff and I'll blow ye house down! Like this" says Brendan blowing the air hard, the kids laugh and copy him.
Ste returns with the drinks and puts them down before sitting on the bed silently.
"When are we going back to mummy's house?" Leah asks when the story's finished
Ste bites him lip worriedly and looks at Brendan.
"Kids, do you like living with me and daddy?" Brendan asks
"Oh yes!"
"And you're happy here?"
"Yeah!"
"Well your mummy said she wants you to live with us and go to school here and live with me and daddy Brendan" Ste says helping out
"But when will we see mummy?"
"Well mummy has gone away for a while and we don't know when she'll be home"
"But you can write to her every day" Brendan adds
"And she'll call you"
"Does mummy not love me and Lucas anymore?" Leah says her eyes filling with tears.
"Oh sweetie, of course mummy loves you but she's got a very special job in another country helping…" Ste says wiping her eyes
"Helping poorly animals" Brendan adds
"Oh, ok" Leah says in between sniffles
Lucas isn't crying but he curls up onto Brendan's lap and sucks his thumb. Ste and Brendan stroke the kids hair and whisper all they can to help them fall asleep a bit happier.
Once the kids fall asleep they lay them in bed and tuck them in and give them kisses. Even in their sleep the kids look like they're frowning. Ste heads into the living room and slumps on the sofa with a sigh.
"What are we gonna do eh Bren? The kids are gonna keep asking for Amy, how do tell them she dumped them to run away with some stranger"
"We'll take it one day at a time Steven"
"How long are we gonna be able to tell them she's working with animals? They're gonna get older and start figuring it out for themselves and I can't have them hating me for not telling them the truth"
"They won't understand even if we did tell them." Brendan says reassuringly, putting his arm around Ste. "We'll take it one day at a time and I promise I'll be here by your side the whole journey, I'll be here to help you bring up these kids and I'll make you proud to have a man like me"
"I already am proud of you, you know that"
"Well I'll make you more proud and I'll make the kids proud to call me daddy too."
"They love you just as much as me Bren. Thank you so much, I don't know what I'd do if I didn't have you"