Thank you for your reviews, Knortho and Maddie. To answer your question, there's three more stray scenes to come.


"Daddy?" Jake asked, worming his way deeper into the covers his father had just tucked around him. It had been a long day at the hospital.

"Yeah, mate?" Neil replied, sitting back down on the bed.

"When are you and Grace getting married?" he asked curiously. He couldn't restrain the smile that threatened as he saw his father splutter in surprise.

"What - I - where did this come from?" his dad asked.

"She's been living with us for more than a year now," Jake pointed out. Jeez, did Dad think he was dumb or something?

"Do you want us not to get married?" Neil felt like he was floundering a little. He hadn't expected Jake to ask this question.

"I like Grace," Jake frowned. "Don't you want to marry her?"

"Yeah, I do," Neil said honestly.

"Then why don't you ask her? Will she say no?" Jake's mind began whirring with ways to convince Grace to say yes.

"I think," Neil paused, trying to think of the best way to put it delicately. "I think you shouldn't ask someone to marry you, to make that commitment, if getting married to them isn't the thing you want most in the world."

"Huh?" Why did Dad always have to make things so complicated? Jake mused.

"What I want most in the world is for you to be finished with this chemo, and well again," Neil smiled indulgently.

"So you can't marry Grace," Jake nodded. He guessed that was fair enough. He paused, torn between his innate curiosity and a strange desire to not know the answer. His curiosity won out. "You and mum didn't want to get married more than anything, did you?"

Dad shook his head minutely. Jake, by now used to the idea his mum and dad didn't love each other any more [and hadn't for more years than they'd been divorced], sighed heavily but quickly focussed his attention to the matter at hand.

"So when I finish the chemo, you'll ask?" he pressed.

Neil nodded. "All things being equal, kid," he said. "Why do you want us to get married?"

Parents were so dumb sometimes. "Saying: 'Grace is my dad's girlfriend, she lives with us' is a lot longer than saying 'Grace is my step-mum'," Jake explained patiently.

Dad smiled. "Well, between you and me, she might not say yes, she might not want to marry anyone. But I'm pretty sure she won't mind if you just call her your step-mum anyway. Nobody else is going to know or mind if we aren't actually married."

"That's a good idea!" Jake exclaimed, somewhat surprised it had come from Dad.