I've decided to start a new story. It's about Rachel and her two children, Lauren (13) and Molly (7) and also Rachel's boyfriend's children, Ella (11) and Daisy (5).

It was a Saturday morning and Rachel's house was in absolute chaos.

The last few weeks had been hard to say the least, and even though things were starting to calm down again now Rachel was still faced with moving all of Ella and Daisy's stuff in, not to mention the fact that Lauren had decided she wanted to change rooms too.

Rachel had been with Dave for about three years and things were going really well. It was the day before that Dave, Ella and Daisy were meant to be moving in with Rachel, Lauren and Molly.

Whilst Dave was on his way home from work on the Friday night, however, he was involved in a serious car accident and died a few hours later.

Rachel and the girls were so upset to start with but they were slowly coming to term with what had happened.

Dave, Ella and Daisy had been living with Dave's parents but they weren't well enough to have the responsibility of two girls living with them temporarily meaning that arrangements had been made for Rachel to become their legal guardian.

Rachel loved the girls to bits, they felt like her children anyway, however she knew how difficult it was going to be bringing up four girls on her own.

Daisy was in her room with Rachel while they unpacked all of her stuff.

Rachel had just finished hanging up all of Daisy's clothes in the wardrobe when she turned around and saw Daisy sat on the bed crying.

She'd been taking some of her stuff out of a box when she found her Minnie Mouse teddy that Dave had bought her when they all went to Disneyland last year. It made her think of her Dad and how much she missed him.

Daisy was clutching the bear against her chest when Rachel came over and picked her up and put her on her knee.

"What's wrong sweetheart?" Rachel asked gently

Daisy was just about to tell Rachel what was wrong when she saw Molly walk in so she stopped. She buried her head into Rachel's chest as she didn't want Molly to see her crying.

"Mum are we having lunch soon I'm really hungry?"

"Yeah I'll come down and make some sandwiches in a minute, I'm just having a little cuddle with Daisy first"

Molly walked into the room and started looking through some of Daisy's stuff.

"Can you just give us a minute love, go and ask Lauren and Ella what they want in their sandwiches" Rachel said knowing Daisy wouldn't want Molly there when she was feeling upset

"Okay" Molly said before walking back out

Rachel then turned her attention back to Daisy and tucked her hair behind her ear.

"Now then are you going to tell me what's made you upset?"

"I just miss Daddy" Daisy cried

"I know, so do I"

Rachel looked at the Minnie Mouse that Daisy was holding, she could remember how happy Daisy had been when Dave had walked into their hotel room with it.

"Do you remember when Daddy bought you Minnie Mouse when we were in Disneyland and you insisted on taking it around the park with us the next day but then you lost it?"

Daisy nodded her head and smiled.

"You said we wouldn't find her but then when we went back to where we had our lunch the waiter had kept her safe for me"

"Yep I'm very glad we found her"

"Me too"

Rachel sat there stroking Daisy's hair for a few more minutes until she seemed a bit happier.

"Shall we go down and get some lunch and then we can finish your room after?" Rachel asked and Daisy nodded

They didn't have too much more to do now which Rachel was pleased about because she was starting to feel quite worn out.

Daisy went downstairs with Daisy. When they got into the kitchen she saw Molly was already in there starting to get the stuff out for lunch.

"Thanks love" Rachel said smiling "Did you ask Ella and Lauren what they wanted in their sandwich?"

"Lauren wants cheese and Ella wants ham"

"Okay and what do you want?"

"Please could I have ham"

"Yep, Daisy?"

"Could I have ham too please?"

"Coming right up"

Rachel made everyone their sandwiches which took quite a long time because there was so many to make.

When they were ready she got Ella and Lauren down too and then they sat at the kitchen table to eat their sandwiches.

"Please can I have something else to eat Mum?" Molly asked after she'd finished her sandwich

"Yeah help yourself to a piece of fruit"

"Can't I have something chocolatey?"

"You can if you have some fruit first"

Molly sighed before getting an apple out of the fruit bowl.

"Eddie's coming over after lunch to help me build Ella's wardrobe"

Rachel had ordered the stuff for Ella to have a built in wardrobe from Ikea because she said she was happy with how Lauren had it decorated so Rachel wanted to do something for her to make her room a bit nicer.

"Okay what time's he coming?"

"I think he said he'd be over at about 2"

After lunch Rachel went back upstairs and finished sorting out Daisy's room before going into Ella's.

Ella was watching TV in the lounge with Lauren and Molly when the doorbell rang.

Ella went and answered the door and saw Eddie stood there. When she looked down she he had a little boy with him.

"Hi Ella, I've brought Michael with me"

"Hi Michael" Ella said smiling

"Hi" Michael said shyly standing slightly behind his Dad

Eddie and Michael came in so Ella closed the door behind them.

"Rach Eddie's here"

"Okay I'm in your bedroom"

Eddie and Michael took their shoes off before following Ella up to her bedroom.

"Excuse the mess" Rachel said when she saw Eddie walk in

She then saw Michael follow him in

"Oh hi Michael I didn't realise you were coming"

"Sorry Allison dropped him round at the last minute, I was just leaving when you turned up wasn't I little man?" Eddie said and Michael nodded his head

"That's okay, do you want to go downstairs with Ella Michael and she'll get you a drink"

"Okay"

Ella took hold of Michael's hand before taking him downstairs.

"Thanks for doing this Eddie" Rachel said smiling

"That's alright, you know I'm more than happy to help"

Eddie had been such a great support for Rachel since Dave's death which Rachel was extremely grateful for.

Rachel and Eddie were just starting to look through the instructions when Molly came running in.

"Mum please can I go out and play?"

"Yep, just outside though no going to the park unless you ask me first"

"Okay"

Molly then went back to her friends who were waiting downstairs for her.

After a good couple of hours and a few disasters Rachel and Eddie had successfully managed to put the wardrobe together.

Rachel was Eddie were just coming down the stairs when Molly came in with two of her friends.

"Hi love are you coming back in now?"

"No but we all really need a wee" Molly said before the three of them ran upstairs

Rachel smiled before going into the kitchen with Eddie.

"You must have your hands full looking after all four of them"

"It's not easy I have to say" Rachel said laughing "But I wouldn't have it any other way"

"If you ever need a hand, you know where I am"

"Thanks Eddie, and I really do mean that for everything. I don't know how I'd have got through all of this if it wasn't for you"

"It was nothing, I care about you Rach I hated seeing you hurt"

The two of them were sat down having a coffee when Molly came in with her friends to make a drink.

"You can go out and play for a bit longer Molly but I want you back in in half an hour because we're going out"

"Okay"

Eddie stayed for a quick coffee before deciding to get going with Michael.

"Thanks for coming over Michael, sorry you couldn't do something a bit more fun with Daddy"

"I like it at your house, it's really big. Please can we come back here again Daddy?"

"Maybe, we'll have to see won't we"

Eddie picked Michael up and started opening the door.

"Say goodbye to Rachel then"

"Bye Rachel" Michael said putting his arms out to Rachel

Rachel took him off Eddie to give him a cuddle. Michael gave Rachel a kiss before going back to his Dad.

Rachel ruffled Michael's hair before Eddie walked out.

"Bye Rach, I'll see you Monday"

"Yeah enjoy the rest of the weekend"

"You too"

Rachel waved to Michael until Eddie had pulled off the drive before closing the door and going into the lounge where Lauren, Ella and Daisy were all watching T V.

"Your wardrobes done Ella"

"Can I go see?"

"Of course you can"

Ella went upstairs with Rachel and was really pleased with her new wardrobe.

"We'll put your stuff in when we get back"

"Where are we going?"

"I need to go to Tesco and I thought we could have a quick look around Next too so you can pick out a few bits for your room"

Rachel was planning on getting a takeaway for tea as she couldn't be bothered to cook but she thought they should get out for a bit as they'd been stuck inside all day.

"Okay"

"Do you mind doing me a favour and going to tell Molly it's time to come back in?"

"Yeah sure"

Ella got her shoes on and went out to find Molly so Rachel went into the lounge where Daisy was cuddled up on the sofa with Lauren.

"We're going to go out for a bit girls, we need to go to Tesco and we're going to go to Next too"

"Do we have to go, we're watching a film"

"We've been stuck inside all day so it'll do you good to get out for a bit"

Lauren rolled her eyes before going up to her room to get a coat.

Daisy got up off the sofa and went into the hallway with Rachel.

As they went out Ella knocked on the door so Rachel let the two of them in.

It took a while but eventually they were all ready to go out. With five people to get out of the house, it always did seem to take a while.

Rachel got a trolley and then they went around and got everything they needed.

"Do you two want to go and pick out a DVD for us to watch tonight once Daisy and Molly are in bed?" Rachel said to Lauren and Ella

"That's not fair why can't we stay up to watch it?"

"Because you were all late to bed last night so I don't want anyone to be too late tonight, we can watch something different before you go to bed though"

The girls went off to the DVD isle and started looking through them.

"How about this?" Lauren said holding up Love Rosie "I've been wanting to watch it for ages"

"It looks really good but it's a 15, will Rachel let us?"

"Yeah I watched a 15 with her last week when you were at your friends"

"Okay then"

Ella and Lauren went back to find Rachel. It took ages for them to find them again but eventually found them in the toiletries isle.

"We've been looking for you everywhere" Ella said

"Sorry love, I forgot to pick up conditioner. Did you find a DVD?"

"Yep we've picked up Love, Rosie" Lauren said putting the DVD in the trolley

Rachel looked at it and saw it was the type of thing she thought the girls would pick out but then she realised it was a 15.

"We can't watch that it's a 15"

"So"

"So neither of you are old enough to watch it" Rachel said picking up the DVD to read the back

"We watched one last weekend"

"Only because you lied to me and said it was a 12"

"It's not like it's going to be about anything we've never heard of before"

"I don't know" Rachel said thinking Ella probably was a bit too young

"Please Rachel" Ella said

"Oh go on then, you girls have got me wrapped around your little fingers" Rachel said rolling her eyebrows

Once they'd finished their shopping they went to pay before putting all the shopping in the boot and driving to the Next home store.

They started looking around and picking out stuff for their bedrooms.

Ella and Daisy both picked out some new bedding as at the minute they just had plain white ones on along with some other decorations.

Rachel let Lauren and Molly pick out a couple of bits for their bedrooms too.

Rachel ended up spending a fortune buying the girls stuff for their rooms, but she didn't mind they all deserved a treat after everything they'd had to go through recently.

It was getting quite late so they headed home and took everything into the house.

Everyone was starting to get hungry so Rachel rang up and ordered the Chinese before unpacking the shopping with help from Daisy and Molly.

"Thanks for your help girls, do you want to go and stick a DVD on or something?"

The two girls ran into the lounge so Rachel went upstairs to help Ella sort her room out a bit.

A lot of Ella's stuff was on Rachel's bed still so she carried it all through and then the two of them started to put it away.

"Your fairy lights look good"

"I know it looks really pretty, thanks for buying me all of this stuff Rach"

"That's okay darling, this is where you live now so I want it to feel like a home to you"

"It kind of does already, we always used to stay over anyway"

"I know you did"

They'd been up there for a while when eventually the doorbell rang.

Rachel presumed it must be the Chinese so she quickly ran into her bedroom and grabbed her purse from her bag.

Once she'd laid it out on the table she called the girls down.

They were all starving by now so came in straight away.

It was so nice that things were starting to go back to normal.

Over the last few weeks everyone had been so upset and Rachel had hated seeing them like that, so she was so glad to see the girls all smiling again.

"I'll just clear up the kitchen, and then I think we'll get you two into your pyjamas" Rachel said looking at Molly and Daisy

"I don't want to go to bed yet Rachel" Daisy said

"You don't have to go to bed, I just want you to be ready for bed before we watch TV"

"I don't mind clearing up Mum, if you want to go up now"

"Okay thanks love, do you want to help her Ella?"

"Yeah I'll help"

Rachel smiled before taking Daisy and Molly up.

"I'll be in in a minute Molly, I'll just help Daisy first. I think you've got some pyjamas under your pillow"

"Don't I need a bath tonight Rachel?" Daisy asked

"No you had one last night, so I thought we'd just give it a miss tonight"

Daisy got her pyjamas out from under her pillow and then Rachel helped her to get changed into them.

Rachel got Daisy's dressing gown off the back of the door for her and put it on.

"Do you want to go downstairs love, I'll just go and check on Molly and then I'll be down"

Rachel went to Molly's bedroom. Molly had pushed the door closed so Rachel gently opened it.

Molly was just stood in her knickers.

"I'm getting changed"

"It's only me darling" Rachel said coming into the room

"Well you should've knocked, you always knock when Ella and Lauren have their door closed"

"Sorry love" Rachel said smiling, living with two older girls meant that Molly was always trying to be like them

Molly finished getting into her pyjamas and then put her dressing gown on before going downstairs with Rachel.

Rachel went into the kitchen to see how Ella and Lauren were getting on. When she went in there she was they were nearly done.

"Thanks girls"

"That's alright" Lauren said

Looking after four children on her own wasn't an easy task, so Rachel really was grateful for how much the girls did help her out.

Rachel wiped down the table and then they were all done so the three of them went into the lounge.

Rachel put on Britain's got Talent knowing everyone would like that.

After it had finished Rachel took Daisy straight up to bed.

"Go for a wee and clean your teeth"

Daisy went into the bathroom so Rachel went and waited for her in her bedroom.

She was sat on Daisy's bed when she heard her shouting so went into the bathroom to see what Daisy wanted.

"I'm really thirsty please can I have a drink?"

"Okay I'll go and get you a glass of water"

Daisy finished on the loo and then went and got into her bed.

Rachel got Daisy a small glass of water, she didn't want to give her too much because she knew she'd be needing the loo all night otherwise.

"Molly time for bed now"

Molly sighed before going upstairs with her Mum.

"Go to the bathroom, and I'll be into tuck you in after I've said goodnight to Daisy"

Rachel went into Daisy's room and gave her drink to her.

Daisy took it and started gulping it down.

"Not too much or you'll have to get up again to go for a wee"

Daisy had had enough so passed it back to Rachel.

Once she was comfy Rachel sat there for a bit before kissing her on the forehead and going into put Molly to bed.

Molly took a bit longer than Daisy to settle down. She kept talking but eventually stopped so Rachel stayed with her for a bit before going back downstairs.

"Are you ready to put the DVD on girls?" Rachel asked

"Yeah I'm just going to put my pyjamas on first" Lauren replied

"That's a good idea"

They all went upstairs and got changed into their pyjamas before going down and putting the film on.

Rachel got a blanket so they all snuggled up under it.

They all really enjoyed it, not that she thought it was really something the girls should've watched, especially Ella. But she knew if they didn't watch it with her they'd only watch it with their friends.

Ella had felt quite uncomfortable watching some parts with Rachel being there but she'd still really enjoyed it.

At the end of the film Ella and Lauren went upstairs to bed. Rachel turned everything off before going up too.

She checked on Daisy and Molly who were both fast asleep before going in and saying goodnight to Ella.

Once Ella was tucked in she went and did the same for Lauren before going to her own bedroom.

She got ready for bed before climbing into her big bed.

Rachel had felt really tired when she was watching the film but now she's got into bed she felt wide awake.

After laying there for a while not being able to sleep she decded to have a look through some photos.

After talking to Daisy about their holiday to Disneyland she started looking through the album from when they went there.

Looking through all of the photos and seeing Dave suddenly made Rachel really miss him. She just wanted him back and to be tucked up in bed with him now.

As she sat there looking through the photos Rachel couldn't help but cry and once she started she couldn't seem to stop.

Lauren couldn't sleep either, so like she normally did when she couldn't sleep she went across the landing and into her Mum's room.

She opened her Mum's bedroom door and was shocked when she saw her Mum crying.

Lauren wasn't used to seeing her Mum crying, Rachel would hardly ever cry in front of the girls.

Even after Dave's death when she was around the girls she tried to remain strong and save her tears for when she was on her own.

"Mum are you okay?"

Rachel hadn't been expecting anyone to come in, so quickly wiped away her tears before turning to face her daughter.

"Yes I'm fine love"

"No you're not, I can see you've been crying"

Lauren went and climbed into bed next to her Mum and wrapped her arms around her.

This was enough to make Rachel start crying again. She hated crying all the time but she just couldn't seem to help it.

Rachel held Lauren and continued to cry.

Seeing her Mum so upset made Lauren cry.

Rachel saw this so tried her best to compose herself.

"Oh love don't cry, what's wrong?"

"I don't like it when you cry"

"I know you don't I'm sorry" Rachel said feeling bad

"It's not your fault, are you crying because you miss Dave?"

"Yeah" Rachel said giving a sad smile

"I really miss him too"

"I know you do"

"I know he wasn't my Dad, but he was really starting to feel like one to me"

"I know he was and he loved you to bits. You'd never have known you and Molly aren't his children"

Although at first Lauren had been reluctant to try and like Dave, she'd become really close to him and they'd built up a relationship just like a father and daughter.

"I wish he didn't die"

"Me too darling, me too"

The two of them stayed cuddled up for a while. Rachel had to admit she was glad of the company.

"Why did you come in anyway?"

"I just can't sleep"

"Me neither"

"I'm feeling tired now though"

"Do you want me to put you back into bed?"

Lauren nodded so Rachel went into her room with her.

"Are you okay now Mum?"

"Yeah I'm fine"

"I thought you weren't so upset about it anymore"

"I'm not, but we're always going to miss him and even though with time things get easier it's never going to be the same is it?"

"No. Mum will Daisy even remember Dave when she gets older?"

"She'll have some memories with him, but it will be harder for her to remember him than the rest of us"

"It's really sad"

"I know"

Rachel stayed in Lauren's bedroom and stroked her hair until she drifted off to sleep, just like she used to when she was little.

Once Lauren was fast asleep Rachel straightened up her duvet a bit before going back to her own bed.

This time it didn't take her long to drop off to sleep because she was really tired now.

She managed to sleep right through the night for the first time since Dave had died. She'd been having really restless night's sleep so she was really glad to not have woken up at all.

When she did wake up it was because Daisy had jumped in bed next to her for a cuddle.

Rachel kept her eyes closed hoping that Daisy would go back to sleep for a bit.

"Rachel are you awake?"

Rachel smiled before opening her eyes.

"Yes, did you sleep okay love?"

"Yes thank you but when I woke up in the night to go for a wee, I couldn't get back to sleep for ages because the rain was really loud"

"I take it you got back to sleep eventually though?"

"Yes"

Rachel and Daisy stayed in bed for a bit longer before Rachel decided to get up. She was looking forward to spending another day with the girls.

Please review and let me know what you think xxxx