I apologise in advance for the cheesecake tangent... no idea what I was thinking but I had to keep it in because it reminded me of Syed's stringy hips tangent in the reunion ep!

I'm quite pleased with how this came out in the end and also pleased I've finished my first fic that isn't a one-shot, so I think I deserve lots of reviews for that! :p

Posted it today instead of tomorrow because I'm probably going to run out of internet/forget/just not post it...

So here goes...

Hope you enjoy the final bit.

'Why him?'

'Sorry?'

Zainab had finished talking to Syed. 3 hours later, Christian still hadn't returned from getting coffee, making it the longest time Zainab had ever known anyone to take.

'Christian.' Zainab enunciated the 3 syllables as if Syed was an imbecile for not realising the first time.

'What do you mean why him?' Zainab watched, in abject disbelief as Syed's face began to widen in a happy, soppy smile. 'There's no-one else.' Syed said simply.

'But- Amira?' Zainab was trying but she still didn't understand. Amira was attractive, a bit spoiled but nice enough. She wasn't exactly intelligent but you couldn't have everything.'

'Mum!' Syed said, his patience wearing thin. 'I never loved Amira. I was fond of her, but there was absolutely nothing there. I told myself I loved her so I could justify what I was doing. I dunno... it's like...cheesecake flavoured yoghurt and cheesecake.'

'What?' Zainab was lost now.

'Say you're craving cheesecake mum, and someone comes up to you with cheesecake flavoured yoghurt. You're fond of it, you might even grow to think of it as an ok substitute for cheesecake but at the back of your mind, you want something more but because you've never tasted it, you think cheesecake flavoured yoghurt will do. Then one day, someone gives you cheesecake and it's the most amazing thing ever and you can't imagine living without it because he... I mean it, makes everything brighter and perfect and amazing .' Syed looked pensive. 'But then someone snatches the cheesecake away and tells you you can never have it again and you know what it's like and the thought of living without it makes you want to die...' He trailed off. 'I'm not doing a very good job of explaining this am I?'

'No... I think I understand. So Christian's cheesecake?' Zainab couldn't suppress her smile at those two words being put together.

'No.'

Zainab raised an eyebrow and made an exasperated motion that screamed 'What were you talking about then?'

'Christian's...' Syed closed his eyes, his face lighting up. 'Christian's the most exquisite cheesecake imaginable. He's the version a Michelin star chef would make specifically for you after finding out exactly what you were looking for and then find a way to make it even more special, say by flambéing it and then-'

'I'm flambéed cheesecake?' Christian had opened the door and walked in, no doubt thinking Syed and Zainab had finished their conversation. He was clutching 3 coffee cups, that were probably stone cold.

Syed darkened imperceptibly, only the two people who were in the room at the moment would see he was blushing.

'Er... no, I was, erm, just trying to... shut up!' Syed stuttered in embarrassment. 'You weren't meant to hear that, you should have gone for another 3 coffees and taken another 3 hours! You're not very subtle, you know.'

Zainab shifted uncomfortably. She found it weird seeing them together, she didn't know who the man, so comfortable and self assured with Christian, was. He was a far cry from the person she had known 6 months ago, let alone a good while before that when he had just arrived in Walford.

'Subtlety was never my strong point.' Christian laughed, seemingly oblivious to Zainab's discomfort.

'You don't have to tell me that.' Syed teased.

'Can you two just-' Zainab clutched onto the seat of her chair for support, she was feeling lightheaded. This wasn't right.

'Zainab?' Christian got up in concern. Zainab had to hand it to him, she'd been quite awful to him when she'd found out about his affair with his son and he was still concerned about her after all of it.

She held up a hand. She didn't want him to be so close to her. Everything about him, his stature, his energy, his smell for goodness sake reminded him that it was a man her son had chosen to be with.

And he had chosen to be with her son. The realisation was suddenly clear as a bell. If their relationship was just an affair based on lust, or the forbidden, it would have ended long ago. She took a moment to reflect on the fact she'd just used the word relationship to describe her son's thing with that man.

'You love each other.' She said weakly, her voice at least an octave higher from wonderment.

She didn't miss the look they gave each other, an expression of utter confusion, a mutual recognition that Zainab had finally got it and yes, love.

'How many times have I tried to tell you-' Syed started.

Zainab shushed him. She walked up to him, surveying him. As she circled round him, he didn't move an inch. He was tall, muscled- though that might mean he spent far too much time in the gym and not enough time with her son- proud, he was also stubborn, crude, loyal to the point of stupidity and-

'I suppose you could do worse.' Zainab mumbled, almost despite herself.

He smiled sweetly at Zainab, trying to hide the shock. 'I suppose you could be worse.' He said grudgingly. 'Actually, on second thoughts-'

'Christian!' Syed admonished him.

'What?' Christian glanced at Syed, with an expression of mock hurt, 'I was only going to say...'

'Well don't.' Syed said firmly.

Christian stuck out a tongue. 'Spoilsport.'

Zainab had to add puerile to that mental list.

Syed looked from his mother to his boyfriend, wondering what would happen now.

'I don't understand...' Zainab waved her arms about, trying to find the right phrase in vain. 'What you do.' Both Syed and Christian cringed at the same moment which led Zainab to think she hadn't succeeded. Christian in particular looked profoundly pained.

'Zainab. I really appreciate...er... whatever that was. But that's just the thing, you act as if Syed and I are another species when really we're exactly the same as everyone else. We're boring, I whine at him for not cleaning up after himself-'

Zainab interjected with 'He'll never change.' Christian continued.

'He nags me for being too tidy... we watch DVDs on the sofa together, we laugh, we shout, we love. We're really no different from any other couple.'

It was Zainab's turn to look pained, though whether it was from Christian's speech or the effort of talking to him like he wasn't a worm from the planet Mars, she couldn't tell. 'I don't understand how that works.' Her voice cracked, why was she showing them she was vulnerable? She glanced at her son, her beautiful son. During his tirade, Christian had sat down on the bed next to him and Syed was playing with his fingers absently. He didn't even know he was doing it, it was as if he needed to, for what- reassurance? She felt a rush of love spring through her that was so overwhelming she had to bite her tongue for fear she'd cry out. Her son. Suddenly she was transported back to another time- a small dingy London hospital. She'd given birth to him, this man she saw before her now. He'd been so new, so perfect with his full head of hair and his little fingers and toes. She remembered feeling that same rush of love as she'd held him to her and felt those golden bonds between mother and child shoot up, tying them together. Only she'd let them become entangled. She saw it all now. Everything. As a young mother, she'd vowed to get to know her child as the person he'd grow to be. As an older one, upon finding out who he was, she'd discarded that version of her child swapping it for a fairytale version with no faults at all. He hadn't betrayed her, she'd betrayed him. Why hadn't he felt able to tell her in the first place? Because of the way she was, her love had been conditional and her son had known it. She suddenly wanted to cradle her son in her arms, hold him and never let him go. But she couldn't. She'd never be able to again.

'Oh Syed.' The lament for what could have been came out as a croak. She could have known her son for who he was all those years instead of blindly not seeing. She could have...

'What Ma?' Syed was peering at her, his brown eyes wide and innocent.

He was still her baby. He still needed her protection. Perhaps everyone did deep down. Yet she couldn't shake the fact that she had been the one to hurt him the most. Even though it was wrong, she still resented him for making her hurt him, though rationally she knew the only one to blame was herself.

Not letting her eyes leave her son's for a second, body shaking, yet full of purpose, she walked up to Christian. Christian's eyes widened in confusion. Before she could change her mind, she pulled Christian's head down gently but firmly and softly kissed him on the forehead.

Christian stared at her in shock. She only had eyes for Syed. She watched her son look from her to Christian with the most heartbreaking expression she'd ever seen, a single tear streaming down his face. Christian, as if sensing Syed's tears, pulled him into a hug. Syed gazed at his mother as if he'd never seen her before.

Zainab looked at Christian, who was still looking like someone had hit him over the head with a baseball bat.

'You take care of him, ok?' She said, through a storm of tears on her face.

'Always.'

They all sat in silence for the longest moment. It was as if they were a tableau.

Zainab broke the silence. 'I don't understand. And I can't guarantee I ever will. I don't approve, either. But, for some reason, you,' She turned to Christian, ', are what my son wants. All I know is, I've never seen him so happy.' Syed began to speak but Zainab held out a hand. 'I'm not going to come for dinner. I probably won't like you for a very long time.' Both Zainab and Christian smiled wistfully. 'But if I see you on the square, I might-no promises- nod. No, I don't understand this at all. To me, it's wrong. But... just give me time. '

Christian nodded first, then Syed nodded, slowly, his grin widening with each movement of his head.

The nurse popped her head around the door. 'Visiting hours are almost over. I'll give you guys 10 minutes more.' She smiled and closed the door behind her.

The silence was becoming oppressive. Zainab opened and closed her mouth several times, trying to find something to say she hadn't already said. She expected the ma- Christian was secretly enjoying seeing her speechless.

'Thanks Mum.' Syed said the two words so quietly, Zainab wasn't sure she'd heard them. She turned to her son, a watery smile on her face.

'Yeah thanks Mum.' Christian deadpanned, and then gradually grinned.

'Shut up, you!' Zainab reluctantly at first, then genuinely found herself smiling at him.

'Sorry Zainab.' Christian said meekly, while Syed collapsed in a fit of silent giggles beside him.

The man – she thought this fondly- made her son regress to being about 12 years old, but seeing as he had acted older than his years for most of his life, maybe that wasn't such a bad thing.

She'd sort things out with Mas tomorrow, tell Tamwar she was sort of back on speaking terms with her eldest son. He'd be thrilled. She wondered how the separation had been affecting him, maybe she'd cook him something nice tonight... she could see he was starting to look a little peaky.

Zainab was beginning to see a lot of things.