-Bonnie Sveen Fan, panic at casualty and ReadingxTherapy: Thank you all so much! You're literally too kind. I love love love your reviews and they're what spurs me on to do more writing. Hope you enjoy this.

Ethan drums his fingers on the steering wheel as he drives through the familiar village. Corner after corner, he spots the exact same things: the school, the corner shops, bikes parked, children playing out. He has space to think because both children are miraculously fast asleep in the back. Reflection is what he needs more than anything else, so it's lucky he has grabbed this ten minutes.

The kit would need to be sent off quickly for it to be valid. Waiting times are anywhere from 28 days to six months too. With dread, he realises the latter is half of a whole year. A lot in anyone's life, but made all the more significant when there's a baby in their first year of life. Seth might be a moving, smiling, gurgling baby before they learn his little life will be sniffed out prematurely. He feels agonised. Alicia doesn't need to feel the hurt, and his sole aim for years has been to protect her. It would be angst for nothing if he turns out to be right as rain.

Though, as much as he'd love to, he can't pretend concealing it from her is for anything other than selfish reasons. She would riot and leave him without a second thought. He would be alone forever and then suffer and die in solitude. There would be no point to life.

And Connie can't have seen. It was probably just a weird coincidence. The second he'd taken the hand brake off, Seth had decided to sick spectacularly up the milk his mother had so painstakingly divided ounce by ounce into little bottles. Acid reflux problems, Ethan suspects, but while ever his wife is so highly strung, he is refraining from suggesting any sort of ailment. Alicia believes her children are perfect through and through and prides herself on being the vigilant one. Idly, he decides to let her come to her own conclusions.

He drives up the cul-de-sac and feels his stomach sink at what awaits. The doorway of their house is occupied by Alicia, who is standing with arms folded and lips pursed.

Reverse on to the drive and ignore, he thinks.

A response is formulated in advance as he climbs out the car, but he lets her speak first. And she does.

Her eyes are round and angry. 'What are you playing at?'

Not wanting their sleeping children to be disturbed by the domestic about to ensue, he is mindful to gently close to car door.

'I would have told you—'

'Full of would haves, should haves! Next time I make a bolognese I'll just ship yours out by carrier pigeon, shall I?'

'Bolognese?'

She stomps off into the house and he quickly follows. The aroma of homemade sauce and mince smacks him in the face and he feels even more choked. Nobody has told her anything, it's just a pasta dish.

'I didn't realise the time,' he responds. 'I was so busy with the children, and—'

'Busy?' She interrupts, eyes blazing. 'I was busy with cleaning the grubby fingerprints off everything. Busy picking up your socks from the floor. Busy sorting the laundry. Busy preparing what I thought would be a nice family meal!'

'We were in hospital. You know how hectic it gets. I offered to sort it here and that would have been fine considering I do have a medical degree and consultancy qualifications—'

'Oh, don't be facetious!' She snaps. 'You could have checked your phone if you were going to be over 6 hours.'

'I was paying more attention to our children and there was traffic!'

Her lip quivers a little. The last person he's seen that on is his daughter only hours earlier. It's enough to make his expression soften and he goes to peer in the pan. Clearly still defensive, Alicia tries to shield it.

'Has it spoiled? Surely we can warm it up.' He tries gently.

'The kids are asleep, what's the point?'

He fumbles in his pocket for the keys. 'I'll sort it and dish it up if you want to go get them. Think all the waiting around must have tired Delilah out.'

'Might as well leave them be a while, I swear my ears are still ringing from earlier.' She runs a hand through her matted hair. 'That's awful, isn't it? I'm their mother. Oh god.'

Ethan goes to put a hand on her shoulder in comfort and then startles at the temperature. 'How long were you on that doorstep?'

'Five minutes,' she mumbles, averting his anxious eyes.

He pulls her into a rough embrace and places his lips to her forehead for a long second. 'A law unto yourself, you are. Please let's not row sweetheart.'

She squirms away from him after several seconds. 'Going to get our babies.'

Ethan feels a bit helpless as he begins to plate up the food, noting that it's warm enough to generate billows of steam. Mindlessly he dollops a bigger portion onto the pink plastic IKEA plate — it's his daughter's favourite meal and it will have been made with her in mind. His heart suddenly feels full to burst. Even though she has tendencies to overreact, his wife is always putting others first. Selflessness he could only wish to have. There's bread coated in garlic butter still baking away on low. There were only good intentions, he knows for sure.

It isn't long before Alicia staggers into the kitchen with their eldest draped across her arms.

'Something's wrong.' She gabbles, thrusting her at her husband.

He frowns but sets the plate in his hands down on the table and goes over. 'In what way?'

'She's sweaty, cheeks are pink, increased pulse, her forehead is boiling, it could be a febrile response to a haematoma somewhere in the tissue around the shoul—'

Delilah wakes up and starts to cry at the panicked tones she hears. Ethan outstretches his arms, effortlessly taking his little girl and holding her close. He starts to sway a little until she is soothed, occasionally whispering words of comfort.

'Aren't you going to do something?'

He smiles thinly. 'I left the heater on in the car.'

Alicia's face crumples. 'Now I suppose you think I'm mad as well.'

'Go get Seth before he starts the tears. At this rate, there won't be need for me to pay a water bill this month.'

-x-

'And,' Delilah says, on the predictable sugar rush, dropping the cutlery with a loud clang. 'I even got stickers. Lots of stickers.'

'Wow! Aren't you lucky?' Alicia nods, balancing the baby in the crook of her arm.

The child stands up and demonstrates a twirl before clumsily dropping to the floor, provoking involuntary responses from both parents whose arms shoot out in unison to break the fall.

'Nearly,' Ethan says, exchanging glances across the table. 'Sit down and eat your dinner.'

'Don't like it.'

'What's not to like?' He shoots back. 'Mm, yummy spaghetti. It's fun because you can twirl it on your fork and then eat it.'

'I know Daddy.' She rolls her eyes and kicks her chair back with force, making the table judder.

'Don't be rude.' Alicia scolds. 'I made you this dinner 'specially because you said you liked it. It's healthy and it's got all your veggies in it. I'll be a bit sad if you don't at least give it a go. Seth's eating his milk and he's only 9 days old.'

The child cradles her arm thoughtfully while the others eat, not so much as lifting the fork. She watches with fascination at her brother feeding.

'Mummy? How do you eat at the same time as Seth? That's very clever.' She observes matter-of-factly.

Ethan snorts into his pasta.

'When you have babies, you learn how to do a lot of things at once with both your hands. I am hungry but my baby is hungry too, so we eat together. As soon as he is big like you, he can eat by himself. I'll make you a deal: if you eat all your dinner now then I might just have some ice cream in the freezer.'

Delilah's eyes light up with glee before she stops almost just as quickly.

She looks torn before she begins truthfully. 'I've already had some today and it might be bad for my teeth.'

'Uh, just after you were such a good girl in hospital, that's right.' He quickly interjects and coughs loudly.

'And after I stuck my tongue out and Seth did!'

Alicia furrows her brow, pats to the baby's back becoming slower and slower as she mulls over the possible meanings. The pieces are slowly being put together and she glances at him across the table. She knows nothing for sure except that it's not good, but is clearly hoping his expression will give something away.

He sips from his pint glass of water, hoping desperately he hasn't paled too much.

'What do you mean?' Alicia asks finally. 'Were you all just being silly or something?'

Ethan nods vigorously. 'Yes, being very silly—'

There is a moment's silence but for the little gurgles from the baby. Delilah makes exaggerated head movements, looking curiously from parent to parent. Neither looks the other in the eye.

'I can't say.' She says slowly. 'We made a pinky promise.'

'Can I be in on the promise?' Alicia pretends to be interested, yet her chin is jutting out a little and her eyes have glazed over. Realisation has dawned and she is just seeking confirmation.

'We were all feeling cross after being in the hospital so Daddy drove the car somewhere funny and then parked it up. He put those things you used to clean my ears with in Seth's mouth and then into a bag and then I stuck my tongue out and did one too for a game. We stopped playing it all of a sudden and then Seth was sick up all his milk and it smelled and we got ice cream after that, a big one with sprinkles on it because I played the game well.'

The focus is not on how cute she sounds, slight-lisp slight Geordie twang, but rather on the words she has managed to gabble out. Oblivious, she begins to chew the mince and shovel the dinner in by the forkful. It's unclear as to whether she has finally remembered she's hungry or is simply eating because she senses the tension.

Tears well in Alicia's eyes. She rises from the table without a word, leaving the food behind to congeal.