OK, so this mission, I'm aiming for a chapter a day. Eeek! Here's today's instalment – hope you enjoy! Oh, and I'm sorry for the really lame chapter title! Jessie xx

Monday, again.

"Mmm, morning…" Rob silenced the alarm, rolled over and opened his eyes in confusion as he found the pillows beside him vacant. "Sandra?"

Frowning, he got out of bed and pulled on his dressing gown. It was Monday morning again, though a less reluctant one than the previous week as they had managed to get to bed at a reasonable hour without a lengthy snow-delayed drive preceding it. They'd had a pleasant weekend; Sandra had suggested that she might like a few hours to clean her house and sort out her wardrobe and, after a fairly busy week at work, time had decreed that their Saturday morning had been spent with him and Bella rolling about on the rug in her living room while Mia helped Sandra to clean the house. How her house could be dirty, Rob was slightly bewildered by, but he couldn't help but agree when they'd got there. He supposed it was due to the fact that she spent most of her time at work or at his, her house had become a drop and go sort of place. He wondered how she felt about that. They hadn't had the 'relationship' talk. Everything had just sort of fallen into place. Quickly too. Thinking about it, it had only been six weeks since the first night they'd shared together; discussing the sleep-ability of the sofa. He'd been devastated when she'd turned up in his office the day after they had found out about Jack's death, but had understood her decision that they shouldn't see each other. But then, that argument, the undercover mission that hallmarked disaster; losing her. It had gone quite smoothly in the end, the compromise they had reached in that case. The compromise that ultimately had allowed him to care about her, to need her, to love her. Whatever the reasons, he knew that he wouldn't change a thing regarding their relationship. They didn't need to have 'the Talk'. After Sandra and Mia were satisfied that the house was of an agreeable standard, they'd then dropped Mia and Bella in town and gone to see her mother. That hadn't been terrifying at all. He'd met Grace Pullman before. Memorably, she had acted as an awkward matchmaker while Sandra had been obviously floundering about something that was going on in her office. He still wasn't entirely sure what that had been. But Grace had seemed happy enough that he was looking after her, even though she had berated him for not bringing Mia and Bella to meet her too. That had been remedied on the Sunday. Though she had mocked Sandra for not seeing her for a fortnight then coming twice in one weekend. He smiled to himself as he thought of the conversation he'd had with her mother while she had taken the excuse of helping Mia settle Bella into the car for the return journey. She'd apologised for that, profusely. He'd acted up to it of course, demanding several kisses and that it was her turn to cook dinner.

"Sandra?" he inquired of his daughter as he found her in the kitchen but no Sandra in sight.

"Bathroom," Mia replied simply, turning her attention back to the cereal she was mashing up for Bella.

He shrugged and took a seat at the kitchen bar. He was about to ask Mia what time she finished college that day as he was hoping to get out early when Sandra emerged from the bathroom. "Morning, love, you ok?"

"Urgh, I don't think that Indian agreed with me," she pulled a face, coming over to the kitchen bar and tying her dressing gown at the waist. "I knew we should have gone to the other one."

"It was your choice, you were in charge of dinner –"

"Yes, thank you, I remember why. And as neither of your stomachs are rejecting my catering…shut up!" she finished ineffectually as the two with stomachs of iron burst into laughter.

"Sorry," Rob leant over and kissed her cheek. "Next time, we'll go to the other one."

"Next time, we won't go and see my mother first," she grumbled, flushing as she recalled how embarrassed her mother had managed to make her feel at variously frequent times over the weekend. "Or if we do, she's not allowed to talk!"

"Do you want some breakfast?" he asked, standing up as the kettle finished boiling and Mia disappeared to wake her daughter.

"Yes please," Sandra was suddenly ravenous after her body had decided to evacuate its last meal. Either she had managed to catch some deeply annoying stomach bug or she was developing an equally irritating allergy to her favourite things; wine and curry. Whichever it was, it irked her. She'd not been sick for ages before last week. Must have been Wales.

"Sandra? Are you with us this morning?"

She looked at him, his jovial tone not entirely masking the quite serious concern she could see in his expression. She shook her head slightly, dispelling the lingering thoughts of wine and curry and smiled. "I'm fine, really. What were you saying?"

"I was just saying I thought I might take Mia shopping after work, for Bella," he frowned. She really hadn't heard a word of the conversation that he might as well have had with the milk carton. "If you're not feeling well…"

"She finishes early on Mondays," Sandra nodded in agreement. "And Bella does need some new clothes."

"Yes," Rob decided to ignore for now that she hadn't registered his second comment. "I don't suppose there's any chance you might…?"

"Probably not," she agreed; the chances of her managing to get out of work early amusing her as she tried not to imagine what fresh scrapes the new week would bring with her boys. "Besides, it's Monday."

He thought for a moment then held the plate he was holding up in realisation, "Boys night?"

She grinned, "Yes."

He dished up the toast smiling as he vividly recalled Gerry's petulant pouting on Friday evening. They'd all gone down the pub for a drink after work and he'd gone to pick up Sandra. Before he'd hardly said 'good evening' the boys had informed him that Monday night was hereafter 'Boys night', i.e. their night with Sandra. Seeing no reason to object to this, he'd naturally agreed. He'd also agreed to go fishing with Brian and Gerry at some point; it would have been that weekend except for the very real need to see Grace. Sandra had categorically informed him that her mother had said that if she didn't get to meet him that weekend then she was going to come round. He knew the power of that threat now as when faced with it on Saturday he'd practically got to his knees and promised that Mia and Bella would accompany them on the Sunday.

"You going back to yours?" he asked sitting back at the bar. He couldn't be bothered to set the table for breakfast, conversation had gotten in the way.

"Can I come back here?" she asked quietly, as though unsure of his answer. The thought of going back to her house, although clean, wasn't appealing to her. She was determined not to be that drunk or that hungover ever again.

"Of course you can," he laughed. "Sandra… of course you can!"

"It shouldn't be that late, it's not going to be another one like last week."

He wasn't sure whether she was promising this to him or to herself. Either way, his day was made a lot more pleasant by the amused scenarios that he painted of her stumbling through his front door much later that day. She was quite affectionate when she'd had a drink; even the way that she'd fall asleep halfway through making a romantic suggestion and roll onto her back snoring instead of carrying through with her proposal made him glad to have her in his life.