He had woken early on the sofa and made himself a coffee, she had a Nespresso machine and stock of Rosabaya capsules, given there was no way she could have prepared for things turning out the way they did yesterday, she must have also adopted his favourite habit..well his second favourite habit. Or maybe she had it because it had been another reminder of him all this time, smiling to himself and wishful thinking.

He wandered around downstairs, looking at all the details she has surrounded herself with, she had made a lovely home for her and Charlie, a whole wall in the kitchen was dedicated to his various pieces of artwork and creations, one of lots of his handprints drew Charles in he stared at it for a long time, tracing the outlines with his fingers, another of who he guessed was Molly in her uniform and lots of variations of fire engines. There was a beautiful canvas photo of Molly and Charlie in the centre of it all, huddled together laughing with woolly bobble hats on and rosy cheeks like they had just finished a snowball fight...he had missed a great deal, he thought but he was going to try not to dwell on that and focus on what was to come.

He was stood by the patio doors looking out on to the garden when Charlie came downstairs, closely followed by Molly "morning, I see you found the coffee machine" Charlie grabbed his hand "come and play fireman with me again please" Molly grabbed Charlie "not yet mate, breakfast first for you" she sat him down at the dining table and began getting cereal out of the cupboard and filling a bowl, Charles laughed to himself ...Coco pops...what else. Molly asked Charles if he would like toast or something, he smirked "how about you share the Coco pops? One bowl two spoons? She smirked back knowing exactly where he was going with this. "What do you think Charlie should we let Charles have some of our Coco pops?" Charlie shouted "yes mummy, then can we play fireman?"

Breakfast finished the two boys picked up where they had left off yesterday acting out life at the fire station, Molly went upstairs to get showered and dressed when she came back down they were sat on the sofa together, Charles was reading a story to his little man acting out different voices, she could see that he was so captivated and absorbed by trying to cherish every second. She left them to it for a bit longer whilst she cleared away the breakfast things every so often hearing snippets of the conversation between them, it felt magical she had to wipe away happy tears quite a few times.

When she had finished in the kitchen much as she could leave them all day, he needed his routine so she shouted through to the living room "Charlie five minutes and then you need to get dressed" she walked through "awwwww Mummy I want more stories" Charles gave her his puppy dog eyes also pleading on his behalf "ok one more story" she sat beside Charlie on the sofa it was early days but she had not felt this happy for a long time.

"And they all lived happily ever after" Charles closed the book "OK Charlie time to get dressed that was the deal we made with Mummy" Charlie gave him a high five and ran upstairs, Molly leant across and gave Charles a tender kiss, they held each others gaze knowing what the other was thinking the spell between them broken by Charlie shouting down "Mummy come on then" she smiled and set off upstairs.

By the time they came back down, Charles had his coat on, I should get a taxi to the station and get back to Bath. She hadn't expected him to go yet and looked at him disappointed "do you have to go?" He didn't know what to say, he didn't want to go but was trying to do the right thing, take things slowly, not assume anything, not overwhelm Charlie or her. "I need fresh clothes, I didn't really plan for yesterday, I..." She had her arms folded, she didn't look angry, her expression was hard to read but he was running out of explanation and could feel a building awkwardness from both of them..neither knowing how to move from this bubble they had been in for the last 24 hours...what came next, they need to figure out how how this all meshed, the three of them, with life back in the real world and they were both at a loss of how or who was going to take the first step.

It was Molly who finally took control of the situation "Charlie come on let's get our coats on we are going for a day out to a place called Bath, where Charles lives"

She belted Charlie into his car seat and got in the car, Charles beside her in the passenger seat he looked across at her "are you sure about this?" She started the car "Yes you need to pick up some things and your parents need to meet their grandson" He grinned "have I told you what an amazing woman you are Molly Dawes" she laughed "not today" as she pulled out of the drive and they were on the way to the next step of their journey.