A/N: I'd like to thank Ilovetoship, AdamaGirl, Imperfect Being, monkeyspajamas, Happymisa, ozzlover and the two guests for reviewing I was so happy to hear you are all liking the story, you made the last few days for me!

Chapter rating: T

Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.

All mistakes are my own.

21st November

Bill arrived at Laura's apartment just as she finished wrapping her present for Zak. "Hey, you ready to go?" he asked letting himself in to find her sitting at her dining room writing on a birthday card.

"Hey, yeah I am, just got to finishing packing my overnight bag and then I'll be ready to go" she replied.

"Need some help?" Bill asked following her to her bedroom "I'm sure I can come up some suggestions of what to pack".

"As much as I'm sure you could, I do have to wear more than lingerie over the next few days" she replied grinning at him.

"But you look so good in it" he replied wrapping his arms around her waist and kissing her soundly.

"Don't worry I packed something special for you" Laura said laughing at him. She grabbed her bag and looked down at the pair of denim jeans, and fitted red long sleeve shirt she was wearing and asked "do I look okay?"

"You look great, why?" he replied confused.

"It's just that this is the first time that I meeting your ex-wife and I'll admit I'm a little nervous" she replied fidgeting with the strap of her bag.

"Don't worry about it, we've been dating for five months now, so I reckon it's time for the love of my life to meet the mother of my children, and if Carolanne has a problem with that too bad, Zak wants you there anyway" Bill said.

Taking a deep breathe Laura grabbed his hand and said "okay, let's go".

"Why Zak and Lee are already at Carolanne's house again?" Laura asked Bill as they walked to his car.

"Well her place is bigger, and considering we are going to have 15 five year olds running around the house, it seemed easier to have it there, and not move the boys back and forth too much, by me picking them up yesterday, only to take them back there today, but then take them away again tonight. So we just settled on me coming in the morning to give him his presents and then taking the boys home after the party".

They found a park close to the boys house, luckily the party wasn't meant to start of another 30 minutes, and made their way through the house to the backyard where two large round tables, a small bouncy castle and a games area including twister, ring toss and a bubble station were set up.

Laura shrugged her jacket off, they were lucky with today's weather, although the temperature was just hitting 68 degrees, the sun was shining and Laura could feel a warm breeze swirling around.

Laura immediately spotted a lady blowing up balloons, who she assumed from Bill and the boys description to be Carolanne.

"Come on, let's get this part over with" Bill said grabbing her hand and walking in Carolanne's direction.

"Carolanne" he said by way of greeting.

"Bill" Carolanne replied coolly, before her gaze swept towards Laura, and her eyebrows rose up in question.

"Carolanne I'd like you to meet my girlfriend Laura" Bill said placing a hand on the small of Laura's waist.

"Hi, it's nice to meet you, you've raised some great boys" Laura said politely.

"Hello, it's nice to meet you too" Carolanne replied with a strained smile "thank you and it was all with no help from Bill" she added not being able to help herself from having a dig.

"Where are the boys?" Bill asked Carolanne ignoring her comments.

Carolanne went to open her mouth, but before she had a chance to reply the trio heard Zak scream "Laura" as he ran over to her and leapt into her arms.

"Hey little man, happy birthday!" she replied squeezing him tightly.

"I'm five today" Zak told her matter-of-factly "that means I'm a big boy now".

"Yes you are, and I have something special for you" she said handing him her the present, and noticing Carolanne had stormed off.

Zak eagerly grabbed the present from Laura, and began ripping the wrapping paper before exclaiming "woah!" upon discovering the present was the newest model remote control viper.

"Can I play with it now?" he asked eagerly.

"It needs to be set up, so how about we wait until we're back at your dad's place?" she replied.

"Okay….Do you want to come and see the bike Dad got me?" he asked his eyes sparkling.

"Sure" Laura replied smiling.

"My best friend Kara is playing with it right now, the rest of my friends aren't here yet, but her Mom dropped her off early" Zak said pulling her along by the hand towards the far side of the backyard.

"Kara" he called out getting her the attention of the little blonde girl riding around the washing line, "this is Laura".

"She's even better than you said!" Kara exclaimed running up to Zak and Laura "she's so pretty, will you come play twister with us?"

"Sure" she replied already feeling her muscles protesting at the thought of how she would have to bend.

20 minutes later, two games of twister done and with guests beginning to arrive for the party, Laura took the opportunity to head back towards the porch, and participate in adult conversation.

She smiled when she noticed Bill was sitting with Lee and his parents on the porch. Smiling at the group, she gave Lee and Bill's parents a hug before saying "Evelyn, Joseph how are you?"

"Good, it's lovely to see you again, looks like you were involved in an intense game of twister" Evelyn replied, as Laura sat down between Bill and the older woman.

"I'm definitely not as flexible as I used to be" she replied laughing and trying to work out a kink in her shoulder.

"You're still flexible sweetheart" Bill replied with a smirk before saying "ow" as Laura swatted him on the chest.

"This party is boring, none of my friends are here" Lee said with a frown, crossing his arms and sitting on his grandfather's lap.

"I know buddy, but this is Zak birthday, and for your party he didn't have any of his friends either" Bill replied.

"How about we go play some games?" Joseph asked Lee, trying to distract him.

"Okay" Lee replied sighing, begrudgingly following his grandfather over to the games station.

The party went by smoothly, well as smoothly as anything can go with 16 hyperactive five year olds running around. Zak revelled in being the centre of everyone's attention, telling everybody multiple times that it was his birthday and he was five. Laura didn't think she'd ever seen Zak look more amazed than when Carolanne brought out his birthday cake, shaped like a viper with sparklers on each corner of the board and five candles. They guests all ate their pieces of cake before the kids moved to the backyard to run around before their parents arrived.

"Hopefully they will run around enough, to use up all the sugar we've given them today" Laura commented watching the few remaining kids laugh and scream, she was sure they would all be in a sugar coma in a few hours.

"Fingers crossed, I'd be happy to just have a quite night in, watching movies with you" Bill replied, wrapping an arm around her waist, and pulling her into his side. "I don't know how you dealt with 25 primary school kids for 7 hours a day 5 days a week".

"Patience, and a lot less sugar" she replied laughing, before looking over her shoulder to where Carolanne was pouring a third glass of wine and asking "does she always drink around the kids?"

"She's always had a couple around the kids…she probably just knows she'll have the house to herself in a few minutes, so she can afford to do want she wants" Bill replied shrugging.

"I guess" Laura said unconvinced.

"Don't worry, I wouldn't let her do anything to harm the boys. Come on, we better get ready to go, the last of the guests are leaving" Bill said taking her now empty plate from her, "Lee, Zak, let's get going".

"Okay Dad, bye Mom" Lee and Zak said giving Carolanne a quick hug each before heading upstairs to grab their backpacks.

"Have fun with your new floozy" Carolanne said when the boys were out of earshot.

Bill glared at Carolanne, shocked that she would make a scene on her son's birthday. "Take the kids to the car" Bill told Laura as the boys came running down the stairs "I'll take care of this".

Bill stormed up to Carolanne his tone cold as he said "Laura's a great woman and I won't have you disrespecting her, she hasn't done anything to you, and doesn't deserve to be treated that way" he finished slamming the door on his way out.

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