CHAPTER SEVEN

"Evening," Nick Cutter said, walking through the front door and closing it behind him. There were shouts of "Hey" from the lounge, where, down the hallway, he could see his three younger children sitting. He walked through into the lounge and kissed Grace on her blonde head, she smiled up at him.

"Hey, dad" Adam said, high-fiving his father.

"Good day at work?" Chris asked, doing the same thing.

"It was alright" Nick answered, vaguely, as Claudia walked into the living room, wiping her hands on a tea-towel. She smiled and Nick kisses her gently.

"Hello, darling" She said. "Anything interesting happen after I left work?" There was something in her expression that Nick understod and he gave a minute shake of his head. Since the children had been old enough to understand things and ask questions, Claudia and Nick had used a sort of code to determine what each of them meant. Usually, though, they were so in tune that they could communicate through simple expressions. Now, the look on Nick's face told Claudia that there had been no Anomaly since she left the ARC that afternoon at 2;30 so she could be home for the children.

"So, whats for dinner, oh dear one?" Nick asked.

"Chicken Parmesan" Claudia said, turning and going to exit the room. Before she did, she cast a glance at her eldest son and cuffed him around the back of the head.

"Hey!" Chris said, indignantly. "What the hell was that for?"

"Less of the Hell, Mr!" Nick said, firmly while Claudia pointed to Chrisophers feet, which were comfortably resting on her coffee table.

"That table was a wedding gift from your grandparents!" She said, and Chris took down his feet, massaging the back of his head. Claudia, looking vaguely satisfied, left the room and Nick gave his son a look.

"What?"

"I don't like that table" He said, slipping a five pound note into his sons hand. Chris looked confused for a moment and then grinned, casting a quick glance at the door before putting his feet back up on the table.

"Atta boy" Nick said, under his breath, and then he followed his wife out into the kitchen.

"So," Nick said, casually, "Where's Anna?"

"She went upstairs as soon as she came in, didn't say much more than hello to me" Claudia said, while pouring pasts into a pan of boiling hot water.

"Hm, I wonder if she had a bad day at school" Nick said, removing his jacket and laying it over the back of a chair, earning him a reproachful glare from his wife. Trying to hide a smirk, he picked it back up and went out into the hall to put it into the closet.

"No," Claudia replied, "She just hates me"

"She does not hate you," Nick said, walking into the kitchen and wrapping his arms around his wifes waist from behind, "You're her mother"

"Pretty sure I hated my mother at her age," Claudia replied, beating the eggs she was making a little too hard. Nick put his hand over hers, halting her, and kissed her neck.

"She doesn't hate you, she's a teenager"

"Daddy, how was work?" Grace asked, repeating Chris' question and walking into the kitchen, causing her parents to quickly break apart. She was so different to how Anna had been at her age. She still had the wide, baby eyes and the dimples, the same as her sister, but there was something much more mischievous about the youngest Cutter girl.

"It was OK, angel, thank you" He said, "How was school?"

"Great! I made the first years cheer-leading squad!"

Nick groaned inwardly. The last thing he wanted was for his eleven year old daughter to be a cheerleader. Why couldn't she be on the football team, or the netball team, or the swimming team, like Anna? He'd been to matches and he'd seen what his goddaughter, Emma, wore when she did cheers and the last thing on earth he wanted Grace to do was dress like that, but he put on a brave face.

"Hmm...we'll talk about that later" He said, and Grace rolled her eyes. "Have you seen your sister?"

"Yeah, she's upstairs" Grace said.

"Why?"

"Well, I don't know but I let Max in earlier"

Claudia's head snapped up at those words and she and Nick locked eyes.

"How much earlier, Gracie?" Claudia asked, laying down the last set of knives and forks she was putting out. Nick was staring up the stairs and Claudia anxiously moved towards the door, watching her husbands expression carefully. Grace looked between her parents, slightly puzzled.

"Uh...about a half-hour ago...why?"

"Nick!" Claudia called out as Cutter leaped the first few steps and began racing up the stairs. She ran up, a few steps behind him, and saw the same scene as he did when they entered the room.

Anna and Max were sitting on the bed, both having discarded their shirts. They had obviously been kissing because Anna's arms were still around Max's neck, though they were both frozen in shock, staring at the door where her parents stood. Anna was turning a shade of beetroot and, finally coming to her senses, she scrambled back from Max and pressed her back to the wall, grabbing her discarded T-shirt to cover herself with.

Nick looked as though he was getting ready to steam from the ears.

"You need to leave. Now." Claudia said, coldly, to Max, whom she had always liked. He looked unsurely at Anna, who was staring at her father, and Claudia raised her voice, "I said now!"

Max jumped violently, scrambled as Anna had, for his shirt, and then tip toed towards the door, where Nick and Claudia were still standing. He didn't take his eyes off Nick as he passed the man, and Claudia glared down at him. He scampered down the stairs and, moments later, the front door slammed, leaving Claudia and Nick with a highly ashamed looking Anna.


I know, I know! I'm sorry for the, uh...two month delay between chapters. (I honestly thought it was more than that O.o)

Hope you like this chapter though, more coming soon, I promise!

Stephanie xxx