Sorry about the review, as I type this A/N and upload this chapter the next one is being written. This didn't turn out quite as I wanted it to but I hope you guys enjoy it. As always thank you to my amazing readers! This is for you guys :)

January 2011
She twirled the white plastic in her hands, every so often catching sight of the blue plus sign that confirmed her worst fear. Wrapping it in a wad of toilet paper she put it in the bin beneath the bathroom sink before sitting down on the edge of the bath, head in hands, barely able to hold back the tears that were filling her eyes.

This was what she had wanted wasn't it?
Great boyfriend, amazing stepson, move in scheduled for the next weekend and now this. In any normal situation she would be doing cartwheels. She would have raced downstairs to tell Neil, the man she loved beyond any doubt, that he was about to become a father again.
But this was notnormal – far from it.

The door rattled in its frame as it was slammed shut. The sound of Jake's rucksack scraping the wooden floor with extra force echoed down the hall. Grace lifted her head from Neil's chest. Two pairs of brown eyes met in the realisation that something was wrong. Jake was home early.

He appeared in the living room, cold air blowing in around him, eyes glittering and obvious tear tracks on his cheeks. Neil stood up to meet his son, worried about the early return and wiped a stray tear from his cheek.
"Jake, what's wrong?" The ten year old choked back a sob, not looking his father in the eye. "Jake, what is it?"
"He bit me!" He held up his hand, his thumb was luminous with bruising and there were obvious bite marks in the middle.
"Let me see." Grace soothed, reaching for him. Neil stood by, silently fuming, as Jake sat beside her and allowed her to look at the mark more closely. "It looks pretty bad – how old is he?"
"Two." Jake looked guiltily at the floor. "Mum yelled because I pushed him away from me and he toppled off of the couch. She wouldn't listen when I told her it was an accident. He's little so he doesn't know any better." Anger seemed to rise in him, he ripped his hat from his head and launched in across the room. "It's always the same! It's never Lucas' fault! It's always mine because I'm the oldest! Liam always blames me because Luc is his son and mum doesn't care anymore because she has a new kid to look after!" He looked to his dad who had come to sit on the other side of him. "She doesn't want me anymore. She doesn't have room for me."
"That isn't true Jake your mum loves you." Neil reasoned gently.
"Lucas has MY old room – the bigger room because he lives there all the time while I only live there every second weekend and on Wednesdays. Mum is late picking me up from school EVERY Wednesday because she has to pick Lucas up from the babysitter first. Lucas is always first. Never me – not anymore."
Neil looked at Grace, neither sure what to say. "Listen," Neil sighed, "I'll call your mum and we can talk. I'll let her know you got home alright and I'll ask her about what's going on."
"How did you know I'd run off?" Jake asked.
"You feel like an icicle. So there's no way you got a lift here." Grace joked. "I'll go get you some hot chocolate okay?"
"Thanks Gracie." Jake hugged her fiercely. "Love you."
"Love you too Jakey."
From the kitchen she could hear the hum of the three way phone call in the living room. She really felt for Jake and the way the attention had been diverted majorly from him. It must be difficult, being an only child for so long and then…She stopped, picking up on strands of conversation that were drifting from the living room.
"I'm sorry Jake and mum's sorry too. She's going to try harder with you and Lucas but you need to try to be patient with him. He is only little even though that doesn't excuse him biting you."
"I know – I'm sorry too dad. Only.."
"Only what?"
"Promise me," Jake began, "promise me you won't do that to me, you and Grace." Grace knitted her brows together. Do what? "Promise that you won't have a baby as well. I don't want you to leave me out as well."
Grace tightened her grip on the mug of hot chocolate and returned to the room.

Jake was going to flip. She had always wanted a child and having Neil's child was just about perfect but at the expense of his son? She knew deep down that Jake would survive it but she didn't want to drive a wedge between him and Neil, she didn't want this to destroy everything she'd built with the boy.

Slowly she stood and travelled down to the living room where Neil was. He was doing paperwork, feet propped on the table, balancing the laptop on his lap, one eye on the football. Grace sat beside him and was immediately enveloped in a warm embrace.
"I need to ask you something." She began lightly.
"Ask away." He grinned kissing her forehead.
"What we promised Jake – about not leaving him out and everything. Do you think it was slightly melodramatic?"
Neil sighed. "I couldn't do that to him Grace. His mother having a baby with Liam destroyed him. He feels like he doesn't have a place there anymore and I don't want him to feel like that about this house, our house."
Grace met his eyes, nodded understandingly. "Okay."

*Jake*
The fighting died down a little while ago. To be honest, I'm not sure what it was over but it wasn't like their normal bickering. Grace is better at riding out dad's bad moods than mum ever was but not this time.
I heard her in her and dad's room throwing things into a bag. I heard her leaving through the front door and knew that this wasn't like normal.
Dad was crying when I peered into the kitchen but I don't think he knew he was. He was just staring out the window, looking lost. I left him there – not because I wasn't worried about him but because he was scaring me.
I decided to just start my bedroom routine. I put my PJs on and went to brush my teeth remembering that the toothpaste had ran out this morning so I'd need to get a new one from under the sink.
That's when I knocked the bin over.
That's when I found it.
That's when I knew Grace wasn't coming back.
That's why I decided not to tell dad about why Grace had really gone.

Most days, looking back from where we are now, I wish I'd told the truth.

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