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Part two.

Nathan watched Kelly from where he stood at the edge of the play park. She was knelt on the floor in front of the slide, encouraging the small boy- his son- to slide down. Charlie was grinning, gripping onto the sides of the slide. Then, he pushed himself down and went sailing to the bottom, into Kelly's arms. She laughed, lifting him up and hugging him to her chest.

There was a smile on her face that Nathan hadn't seen in a long, long time. Kelly looked up and their eyes met and he felt his heart jerk in his chest, breath catching in his throat. It took a moment before he could force his feet to move forward, striding across the grass towards her.

'You came,' Kelly said, her accent still as strong as ever and his lips threatened to turn up at the corners. He shouldn't laugh. She might hit him.

Instead, Nathan distracted himself by sliding a cigarette out the packet and slipping the end in his mouth. He offered one to Kelly, but she shook her head. 'I don't smoke anymore,' she told him.

Charlie was staring at him. Nathan glanced at the boy, realizing with a jolt that the boy had his eyes; a mix of moss green and hazel. The more Nathan stared, the more of himself he saw in little Charlie, so he focused back on Kelly.

'Do you want to sit down?' he asked, gesturing to a damp park bench to their left. Fuck, this was awkward. And weird. So weird. Kelly nodded and they moved, sitting down with Charlie snuggled in between them. Nathan still couldn't get his head around the fact that he was a dad. He was a dad, he was the father to this boy, to Charlie. He'd made babies with Kelly.

Nathan sniggered. Kelly flashed a look up at him. 'What's so funny?' she demanded.

'I'm still trying to get used to this,' Nathan shrugged, the laughter dying from his lips. He sighed and then looked back at Charlie. Moving, he knelt down in front of the boy. Charlie looked back at him, cautiously. Nathan gave a friendly smile and then reached up, pulling a pound coin out from behind his ear.

Charlie grinned brightly and took the offered pound coin. 'What do you say?' Kelly nudged Charlie.

'Thank you,' he smiled, looking down at the coin. Nathan grinned. 'Can we go to the shop?'

'Sure thing. If that's okay with your ma?' Calling Kelly a mother was weird too. He thought was brain would explode if he wasn't too careful. It was as if he'd fallen into another dimension. Surely, none of this was real?

'That's fine.' Kelly nodded and taking Charlie's hand, led the little boy from the park. After a moment, she stopped and turned, looking at Nathan. 'Are you coming?' she asked, impatiently. Nathan smiled.

'I'm coming.'

Nathan and Kelly sat in the small kitchen in Kelly's mum's flat, clutching steaming cups of tea between their hands. In the living room, they could see Charlie sat, cross-legged on the rug, chewing his sweets with Keith laying his big head on the boy's lap.

C'mon. Drop a sweetie. C'mon. C'mon, just drop one. Kelly smiled as she listened to the dog's thoughts, Keith's big brown eyes focused on the sweet bag in Charlie's hand.

'Why didn't you tell me you were pregnant?' Kelly looked up, the smile fading instantly. Nathan was staring intently at her.

'I freaked out,' she muttered, annoyance evident in her tone. She didn't want to talk about this, she didn't want to bring up the past-

'So you ran?' There was a crease in his brow, frowning, as if trying to work out a difficult mathematic equation.

'I didn't know what else to do,' Kelly snapped. 'I didn't think it would matter to you.'

'It always would have mattered to me,' Nathan growled, fists curling into balls on the tabletop. 'You were my girlfriend. What did you think I would do? Laugh in your face? Kick you out?'

'You were never one for responsibility, Nathan. You took the piss out of everything, everything was a big joke to you.'

'Pregnancy isn't a joke.'

Kelly slammed away from the table, running a hand through her hair as she paced. 'I was scared, Nathan. Scared that you'd reject me, reject the baby.'

'You should have told me instead of waiting for four years. All this time I've had a son and I haven't even known about it? Yeah, I took the piss, but… but I had a right to know!'

'Mummy?' Charlie stood in the doorway. Behind him stood Keith, standing guard. Kelly forced a smile.

'Yeah, baby?'

'Why are you mad?' he asked, rushing forward into her legs. Kelly knelt down, brushing his cheek with a smile.

'Me and … Nathan are just messing around. We're only playing.'

If only things are that easy, she heard Nathan think sourly. She ignored it. 'Go back and play. Dinner will be ready soon.' She straightened up, watching Charlie rush out.

'You're not much of a chav anymore,' Nathan said, breaking the silence. Kelly turned to him.

'Some of us were forced to grow up.'

'You never gave me a chance,' Nathan shrugged.

'Maybe that was for the best,' Kelly replied. She turned away, turning the oven on to start cooking Charlie's dinner. Nathan sighed, running a hand over his face.

'Look, can I see you tomorrow? And Charlie? Please,' he asked. Kelly hesitated and then turned to face him. She nodded.

'I'd like you to know Charlie a little better,' she agreed, seeming suddenly quiet and withdrawn. Nathan moved towards her, pulling her into his chest and Kelly went without protest, squeezing him tight.

'I'm sorry,' he murmured, kissing the top of her head. Then, he turned and left.