A few days later Andy woke with a clear Knowledge and determination of what she was to do with her life and felt confident that her William would be safer. She got up, went downstairs and put the coffee on then got dressed and drank her coffee, she got William up , dressed him , put him in his high chair and placed his breakfast in front of him.. While he was eating she got his bag packed for creche and cleaned up after he had finished. She picked him up out of his high hair and put his coat on, then she shut and locked the door, got into the car after strapping William in his car seat and headed off for work.

Work was quiet today, just the usual report writing this morning and then this afternoon it was filing, nothing major. She left her desk at lunch and went to eat with William in the creche; It was only a 5 minute walk from her office. It was in the same building with a staff only door separating the two units. She always had lunch with him and got on really well with the woman who ran it. Lunch went by quickly as normal and she headed back to her desk to finish her tasks. After she'd done the filing she opened the web browser and typed in police academy; she had to leave the browser in the background however when more papers for her to file away had come in, so she filed them and returned to browsing. She wrote down the address of the academy and took note of the process; she also had a browse of local nurseries and wrote them down on her pad as well. Once that was done it was time to go home, the day had gone by quickly and she had done everything she'd planned to do with regards to the reasearch. She tidied up her desk, shutdown her computer and headed to the creche to pick up William. She got home around 5:30 , did dinner for her and William then played with him. She then bathed him before bed and put him down to sleep with a bottle. She then hit the shower and went to bed.

A week later she had a day off work, she got up, got dressed, got William up, bathed and dressed him then took him downstairs to be fed and put him in his playpen for a bit while she got together the forms she'd filled in necessary to enroll herself in the police academy, She'd been and picked them up at the weekend. She'd also got to get William attending nursery, as once she'd dropped her hours at work he was no longer eligible for free care. She got her bag , the forms and William and headed out the door to the car. She strapped William in, kissed his head and shut the door. She climbed in the driver's side, started the engine, backed out the driveway and off they went. Andy handed in the forms for the police academy and picked up several forms for different nurseries in the area. Tomorrow she would go and have a look round said nurseries, she wasn't happy with leaving her son with just anyone, so she would just trust her gut and see with which one she felt safe with and which William felt comfortable.

It had been a long day of running around but she felt it was a productive day. Her and William returned home late afternoon, had dinner and spent time playing together before she gave him a bath and put him to bed early evening. Once William was in bed and settled she called her dad.

"Hey kiddo, everything OK" her asked

"Yeah" she replied " umm have you got time to chat?"

Tommy looked at the time on the station clock. "Yeah I was just about to head to the lockers and change, end of my shift" he replied "what's up?"

"Well " she replied " I've enrolled myself in the academy today" she said, waiting for his response. When no response came , she found herself absently chewing on her bottom lip. "Dad?" she asked

"Yeah kiddo, I'm here" came the reply. "Are you sure it's something you want to do? I mean you have William Andy"

"Yeah" she replied "seeing you diffuse that situation in the park made me think. I hate the fact I just sat in the car helpless watching you go and protect the people who were there and us as well, I know I have William but I think I can better protect him by being a police officer and doing what you do, taking all the bad guys off the street, it will help me to know he's safer when he's older"

"But what if something were to happen to you, Andy I couldn't be without you and nor could William" said her dad " we only have you"

"I know " said Andy "I have thought about it and thought about it and I feel it's something I need to do. You've done a good job raising me while being a police officer, and you've been fine, besides I would be helping to protect William like I said"

" well if your sure" said Tommy " I'll back you no matter what"

"Thanks dad " she said " it means a lot to me that your happy for me"

" well" said Tommy " I'm real proud of you kiddo"

At hearing those words Andy started to tear up.

"Have you sorted day care for William yet?" Asked Tommy

" no not yet" she replied " I'm gonna go look at a few nurseries tomorrow with William, wanna come?" She asked.

" Yeah sure, Gramps has gotta make sure his baby boy is sorted and it is my day off" he said as he smiled. He could hear her smile in her breathing.

" Andy, i gotta go change , so call me when your ready to go tomorrow" he said and with goodbyes and plans for the next day they hung up. Andy was glad she'd talked with her dad, it was important to her that he was on board, after all he knew what it was like to bring up a child on your own while being a police officer. Now she knew he was OK with it she went to bed happy.

The next day Andy got up, got dressed and headed downstairs for a coffee. William hadn't woken yet so she left him till he woke up on his own. She was nervous about today, finding a place for her son to spend the day while she was at the academy was nerve-wracking. She'd never left him in one building and been miles apart in an other building with someone she'd never met before. She chose to have him so she would take sole care of him, she was glad that her work had a creche that was just down the hall, in the same building, she was never far away from him and she knew the woman who ran it , had done for years .

She sat down at the kitchen island with her coffee and nursery forms in hand and flicked through the info, before she started filling out the forms. She found it hard, in the sense that it was all becoming a reality that she was really going to be without her little boy, and she would be leaving him in the care of another person she didn't know. She wasn't exactly feeling great about any of these nursery's either and that only added to the tension she felt.

She didn't wanna do this alone so she called her dad and told him she was up and to come round. A few minutes later the door knocked and in walked her dad.

"Morning kiddo" he said as he walked towards the coffee machine " you OK?"
He could tell she was a bit apprehensive and nervous about leaving William with some total stranger and being a few miles apart instead of in the same building.

"He'll be OK you know" he said as he took a seat next to her at the island, putting his coffee down and placing an arm around her shoulders. " we'll find somewhere"

"I know" she said. " I just… He's always been close by" she looked up at her dad and smiled a wistful smile, then got back to filling in the forms.

As if by magic, the moment she'd filled in the forms with the help of her dad, William woke up. "Mamamamamama" he cooed. Andy got up, put her cup in the sink and went upstairs to get him. She bathed him, got him changed and fed him his breakfast. Tommy finished his second mug of coffee and placed the mug in the sink. He went round to William who was sat in his high chair smiling and Tommy laughed when William pulled out these really deep dimples that were embedded in his cute cheeks.

" Hahaha your chubby cheeks are getting craters" laughed Tommy smiling as he poked at them "You're a real cutie, as if you didn't know that already"

Andy was in the hallway busy getting her bag ready and gathering Williams things that he'd need for the day out, she heard her dad laughing at William.

"whats so funny?" asked Andy as she came back into the room to see what her dad was laughing about. She went over to see what her dad was referring to and she couldn't help but smile at the adorable grin and deep-set dimples that William was displaying for all to see. If possible they made him all the more cuter. "Come here my gorgeous little man" she cooed to him and that made him smile all the more.

"Time to go out" she said picked him up and put on his coat. She passed William to her dad, grabbed the bags and locked up the house. Tommy carried William to the car and strapped him in while Andy went and got in the driver's side. Once William was all strapped in , Tommy then got in the passenger side and shut the door.

"So where do we go first " Tommy asked

"well I was thinking about starting at Little Smiles and then going from there " she said "there are 5 in total too see that I've found so far"

"I think that's a great idea, don't you William " said Tommy which resulted in a clapping of hands and a big smile from William.

"Looks like he agrees" said Tommy with a smile , and Andy smiled back. She pulled the car out of the driveway and drove in the direction of Little Smiles.

A few hours and 6 nurseries later, a whole Lotta questions answered, a lot of viewing and Andy had found the right nursery for William. It was called Sunshine Nursery and it was run by a lovely woman named Mrs Jesse Cooper. She was an ex nurse who was married to a military man and as soon as Andy stepped into the building she felt herself relax. William struggled to be put down and was in awe of all the toys that he could see, he happily ran off to play which was something he hadn't done in any of the other places. He seemed to be at home here.

Tommy was looking around eying up the surroundings and watching the other children that attended, he felt it was the best nursery they'd looked at. He too felt at ease and after talking at great lengths with Jesse he and Andy felt that this was the safest place William could be left while Andy was at the academy and work.

After more forms were filled out and signed, medical history, contacts, fees and hours were discussed, hands were shaken and everyone was happy with everything Andy bid a goodbye to Jesse. William waved goodbye as he was picked up by Tommy and they all left with a sound mind that William would indeed be safe in this little place with Jesse. Andy was glad she'd found this little place right in the middle between her house, her dads house and the academy. It was a fluke that they'd driven passed it after viewing all the others and Andy not feeling satisfied with any of them.

"wanna stay for dinner" Andy asked her dad as she pulled up at home

" yeah that would be nice thanks" he replied while lifting William out of the car and carrying him inside. Andy unlocked the house and locked up the car once they were inside. Tommy placed William down and he crawled off to play with the toys. Tommy went and sat at the kitchen island and pulled his chair so that he could see William clearly while Andy went about putting dinner on.

Once it was ready Tommy got William and put him in his high chair while Andy dished up. They sat at the island talking about Jesse and how happy she was that she'd found the place. it certainly helped ease her mind about being so far away from him.

After dinner Tommy cleared up while Andy got Will out of the high chair and put him in the living room playing with him for a while before it was bath time and bed. Tommy came and sat down with them after the kitchen was clean and laughed with them. He always felt younger when playing with Will, his silly googoo gaga side would come out and he couldn't stop it. Andy laughed at her dad he was a complete goof. It was soon bath and bed time for Will, Andy took him upstairs bathed him and put him to bed with a story.

She came back down to find Tommy half dozing off on the arm of the settee.

"dad Dad" she called i think your tired" she smiled at him as he opened his eyes with a start. "Are you OK to drive home or do you wanna stay here?" she asked him.

He yawned "I'll go get you a blanket and pillow" she chuckled to him, "your not going anywhere being that tired" and walked off to the airing cupboard to get the blankets. Once he was settled and snoring she locked up and crept upstairs to the bath room, she got undressed and had a nice hot shower before heading to bed and falling soundly asleep.

A few weeks later Andy received the letter that she had been waiting for, the letter to say that she had been accepted to the academy pending her medical and assessments. They were to take place in a few weeks, so she booked the time of work as she hadn't dropped any of her hours yet until she knew for sure she was in the academy. She started out doing home exercise just to help her fitness and slight nerves, she didn't feel out of shape and looked anything but , but her body had squeezed a child out and she wanted to be sure she was in top form.

William was due to have a fresher week with Jesse to help him settle in a week before she officially started, IF she got in and passed her assessments and she was grateful for that, she worried that William would be confused by taking him to 2 different places, for now he was still at the works nursery.

The time came for her to have the medical and assessments and her dad watched William for her so she could focus entirely on getting through them. She was in top physical form, she'd been blessed, that when she was pregnant she hadn't put on much weight at all and was all baby, she'd managed to get back her form quite quickly and the exercising had helped her a lot. She'd returned back to work the day after all the assessments etc and waited the outcome before she told anyone at work.

3 weeks later and she got the letter she was waiting on. A congratulations you passed all your assessments and your medical. She was provided with a start date and a schedule of her classes and times. To say she was excited would be about right. Now she could tell her work and drop her hours, she also had to call Jesse and arrange for Williams fresher week. She took her dad and William out to celebrate getting in.

The few weeks past and it was now the week William was to start at Jesse's, Andy was due to start the academy next week and this was the first day he was in. She had informed her work once getting the letter and they were sad to see her go.

William was great at Jesse's , he'd started with half days for the first 3 days then the last 2 days he was in full days. Andy was allowed to sit in with him at first in-case he freaked out, but to Andy's surprise he settled in quite nicely. He absolutely loved it there, Jesse was great with him and they bonded just fine.

When the next week had come William wasn't even bothered that his mum would leave him, She dropped him off and went for her first day at the academy she drove over to the academy from Jesse's and it only took her 20 mins, she was excited and nervous. She had everything she needed and found the classes easy to find. The day went by quickly and she really enjoyed it. Home time came and she left to pick up William, he'd had a brilliant day as usual but he sure was glad to see her at the end of the day. Andy always told him she'd come back for him later and she always did. Maybe this is why he was so relaxed and accepting..maybe he just always knew Andy would be there, he'd had practice and been OK in the works creche. She said her thanks to Jesse and took him home.

Life was good , William was very happy at nursery and she had enjoyed her first day. She had a feeling this was going to be a great chapter in her life.