Noah:

Looking at the faces of my family's utter shock after I presented my baby girl to them was not surprising. I had expected it; you don't suddenly come home with a baby and everyone is jumping for joy.

My mom was the first to rush over to me and take the little girl out my arms. "Oh my gosh, Noah she's beautiful." She gushed while my dad came and stroked her hair.

"Thanks mom." I replied with a huge grin on my face. Grace was finally meeting her grandparents and it couldn't make me any happier. I watched on as my parents fussed over her for a while before I looked over to Lee, Elle and their partners. I noticed Lee side-eyeing Elle, he looked like he was waiting for whatever reaction would come out of her. It wasn't long before Elle rushed out the door, I couldn't really tell from my position, but it looked like she was in tears. Dylan rushed after her which made Lee and Rachel more relaxed.

They both walked over towards my parents. "What was that about?" I asked Lee, him fully knowing I meant Elle.

"Urm, nothing." Lee replied, I could tell it was something. I also picked up on the vibes between Elle and Dylan, they weren't good. Now that I was home I could focus on not only protecting Grace but also protecting my family once again. "So, you're a dad now, huh?" Lee said again, peering over my mom's shoulder to get a look at Grace.

"Yeah." I looked over to my daughter and smiled "that makes you an uncle."

Lee produced a massive cheesy grin on his face "that means I'm the fun one. Tough luck brother." He patted me on the shoulder. Before Grace I would have retaliated somehow but now I had someone dependant on me, I had almost given up the fighting.

Grace then began to cry, I took her from my mom's arms and slowly rocked her while whispering her favourite song that Olivia would always sing to her. Once the song had finished and I looked up again to my family, I saw shocked faces once again, but my mom was almost in tears. "Mom don't cry." I said, not wanting this to turn into a family crying fest.

"I'm not. I'm not." She replied, wiping her eyes with her hands "My son is a dad and I'm a grandma." She finished with horror.

"Don't worry you don't look that old yet." I teased. "We'd love to say," I said while motioning to Grace in my arms "but she needs a nap and so I do." I chuckled slightly.

My parents, Lee and Rachel said goodbye and I headed off home.

~#~#~#~

I had woken up from just over an hour nap, I walked out the master bedroom and to the next room down which had become the nursery. I peered over the edge of the crib and saw Grace still sleeping soundly, her jet lag was going to kill me in the next week or so. I decided she wasn't going to wake up any time soon, so it was a perfect time to call Olivia back in London. I picked up my phone and dialled her over 5000 miles away. She picked up on the 4th ring.

"Hey"

"Hey, calling to say we made it safe. I've already shown her to my parents and she's currently napping." I informed the mother of my child.

"You're in for a tough few days then" I heard her chuckle on the other side of the phone. "How was your family's reaction?"

I thought for a second how to explain what had gone down "everyone was shocked of course." Olivia hummed on the other side "but mom and dad were almost crying with happiness. Lee was happy sort of too …" I paused.

"And I'm guessing Elle was there?"

"Yeah, she ran out with tears." I had to be straight with her and Olivia knows that Elle probably still has some feelings for me.

"Poor girl. Your childhood crush coming home for the first time in 2 years with his daughter, must be hard." Olivia could still amaze me, even though some would call her and Elle 'rivals in love', she still was her usual kind and sweet person. One of the things I loved most about her.

"Yeah …" there was an uncomfortable silence, I knew she wanted to tell me something but didn't know what. "What do you want to tell me." I thought I'd come straight out and say it.

"God" she groaned "you know me too darn well." I chuckled. "A position has opened up, which if I take will shorten the time I'm required to stay before I quit." Before we left London, me and Olivia had had a long conversation about her quitting the secret and unstable lifestyle and moving on. She had agreed, mainly due to Grace of course, but she was under contract, so we were looking at at-least a year, maybe 2 before she could fully leave.

A new contract that would bring closer the time she could leave, to me there didn't seen anything wrong with that. "That sounds good?" I asked in an unsure tone.

There was a lengthy pause on the phone "It's a red contract due to last 7 months." My body's communication methods were shut down after hearing that. Red contract were the ones that had higher percentage of dying than coming out alive. They were situated in the most dangerous of places and normally they only lasted 2-3 months max. A 7-month red contract is almost unheard of.

"You're not going to take it are you?" I asked, my voice slightly faltering with terror.

"I've already signed on. I can't let Chris do it alone." I was crushed.

"What about me and your daughter? What happens if you don't come back!" I quietly scream down the phone, conscious of not waking Grace up.

"Don't speak like that. Of course, I will come home." I could tell that she was crying.

I had to relent, there was no use getting angry with each other in this situation. "Hey, hey, don't cry. I'll always support you. I just want you to be safe."

"I know. We're leaving tonight, I'll text you as much as I can."

For another hour, me and Olivia sat on the phone to each other just talking. I filled her in on the plane journey and being alone with Grace for the first time for a long period of time. We spoke about anything to take our minds off what was going to happen in London tonight. In the middle of our conversation Grace woke up, so we turned to facetiming, so they could see each other. I loved watching both my girl's faces light up when they saw each other. When it was finally time to say goodbye, I let Olivia say goodbye to Grace first before I put her on the playmat and said my own goodbye. A goodbye filled with apprehension and love, soon after that the phone line went dead. I let out a deep breath before heading over and sitting to play with my daughter.