Happy Valentine's Day! Now, let me enlighten you of how my morning went down- keep in mind that my school, much like many other schools in Australia, has a uniform. So, I arrive at school today and my best girl friend looks me up and down, as if she is examining me. And then she wanted to know why I was not dressed for Valentine's Day. Figure out the logic in that one, please (but I did tell her I was wearing pink hearts. Take one guess where I was wearing them). Read and review!

Rhyleigh xoxox


"Come on, Daddy!"

The two year old bounced on the discarded mattress once more, giggling happily, reaching for the wooden frame. Ben smacked her hand away, sighing in frustration. "Ellie, for the last time, child, no!"

"But Daddy-"

"If Daddy's going to put your new bed together, you can't touch", he said firmly, and Ellie crumpled against the mattress, hiding her face from her father. With an even heavier sigh, he lifted the tiny brunette into his arms.

"Ellie, you want to go to swimming lessons, right?"

"Yeah!" she enthused.

After the trip to the beach in the summer, Ben knew it was inevitable that he'd have to book his daughter in for swimming lessons. being the daredevil she was, she would quite often head out a lot deeper than she could handle, causing him (and Carbo- he claimed that the little girl was the cause of his single grey hair) to shriek around in a panic until Ellie was once more standing in ankle deep water.

But the delivery man had decided to drop off Ellie's new bed on the same day the child was scheduled to start swimming lessons. And Ellie, apparently, had inherited Rachel Rafter's patience.

Therefore, she had none.

"Ellie!"

Pulling her off the mattress once more, he carried her to the door. "Where is your uncle? CARBO!"

"What?" Carbo bellowed back.

"Unca Carbo!"

And Ellie took off down the stairs, leaving Ben standing, completely bewildered, in front of pieces of his daughter's brand new bed. He contemplated calling his best mate up into the room to help, but he knew that Ellie completely idolised her Uncle, and would no doubt follow and get underfoot.

So, armed with tools, he dove into the job headfirst.


"Go! Go! Go!" Ellie squealed, as Carbo twisted and turned the remote around in his hands, yelling at the television all the while. Ben stood in the doorway, nursing his seemingly broken hand, staring in absolute horror.

"Are you seriously teaching my two year old how to play video games?" he wanted to know.

Carbo dropped the controller guiltily. "No! Of course not, mate, I was simply showing Ellie... Ellie put that down!"

"You were teaching my two year old how to play video games. Are you kidding me?" Ben shook his head in amusement. "Alright, Ellie Rose, your bed is all done!"

"Yay!"

Scampering in the direction of the stairs, they heard an even louder shriek when she discovered the bed in place of her cot.

The decision to buy Ellie a bed had been quite an easy one- when the little girl had crawled into his bed, pulling at his eyelid until he woke up, he knew that something had to be done. He was not rushing his daughter to the hospital in the middle of the night because she had fallen and cracked her head open.

That just wouldn't go down well.

"Love it, Daddy!"

"I'm glad, babe! Ready to go swimming?"

"You planned this quite well, didn't you?"Nathan said, stepping in the doorway. Trotting down the stairs, Ellie's ear to grin grew even wider when she saw her uncle.

"Unca Nafan! You comin' simmin'?"

"I think I will Ellie belly", he agreed, swinging her into the air. "What do you think, should I?"

"Yeah!"


"What a water baby, hey?" Ben laughed, as his daughter kicked her legs obediently, the instructor holding her by the back. Once they reached the side of the pool, Nikki lifted the two year old to the side of the pool, and Ellie beamed at her father.

"Daddy, didja see?"

"I saw, baby!" Ben enthused, as the sopping wet little girl tossed herself at him, leaving an Ellie-sized damp patch on his grey shirt. "Oh, thanks for that, munchkin".

"S'kay, Daddy". Ellie's blue eyes gleamed, as she slid back into the pool.


"You're going to stay in your bed tonight, right?" Ben said sternly, as Ellie climbed into her brand new bed.

"Yep". The two year old nodded excitedly.

"She's not going to stay in her bed", Carbo whispered to Nathan, the latter trying not to laugh. Retta shot the two of them a look, as Ben pulled up her blankets.

"Oh, absolutely", Nathan agreed, a chuckle escaping his lips.

Ellie just grinned innocently from under the blankets.