Thank you for all of the great feedback, I hope you enjoy this :)

Paul was stretched out on the floor laying next to the activity mat Lucy was laying on just enjoying the quiet time with his daughter, "You know there's one good thing about being fired, I get to spend more time with Lucy."

Patricia who was sat on the couch behind him reading a magazine laughed softly, "Then there is the downside of having no money."

"That is true too but what is better, having money or spending time with my daughter? I know which one I'd go for."

"You should think about maybe applying for different jobs."

"I know and I will, just not today. Before I apply for any more jobs I want to talk to Shawn and find out exactly what I did wrong because it can't be making a cup of coffee. As soon as I get a proper answer from him I will apply for jobs because I want to give my next employer a correct answer and not tell them it's because I made a cup of coffee because they won't believe me."

"That's fair enough."

Patricia went back to her magazine and Paul went back to focussing on Lucy.

Stephanie was stood outside the front door nervous, this was a massive step for her and she was absolutely petrified it was going to blow up in her face. She nervously wiped her clammy hands in her skirt before she took the plunge and rang the doorbell.

Paul lifted his head when he heard the doorbell ring, "If you can watch Lucy I'll go, it might be Shawn."

Patricia put her magazine down, "Sure. If it is Shawn invite him in, it would be nice to see him."

He pushed himself up off of the floor and went to open the front door but it wasn't Shawn who stood in front of him, "What are you doing here?"

Stephanie chewed on her lip nervously, "We need to talk. Can I come in?"

"I don't know why we need to talk, you made it pretty clear that I was fired earlier."

She sighed heavily, "Yeah about that, I really do need to talk to you so please can I come in? All I ask for is five minutes of your time."

He stepped aside and opened the door wider, "I guess. Come in."

Stephanie stepped inside and Paul shut the door behind her before leading her to the lounge where his Mom and Lucy were currently located.

Patricia looked up when she heard Paul re-enter the room and was stunned to see a female behind him so she quickly got up from the couch and picked Lucy up, "We'll get out of your way."

Paul nodded and smiled appreciatively towards her "Thanks Mom. Before you go, let me introduce you to Stephanie, my ex-boss."

Patricia's eyebrow raised in surprise wondering what she was doing here but she quickly shifted Lucy onto her hip and reached out her hand to the young lady, "It's very nice to meet you, Paul told me a lot about you."

Stephanie laughed softly, "I'm sure it was all bad."

"Actually it wasn't. We will leave you to it though and go and check on dinner."

"Before you go, who is this gorgeous little girl?" Stephanie reached for the little girls cheek and stroked it gently, she was adorable.

Whilst Stephanie was preoccupied with looking at Lucy Patricia took the opportunity and glared at Paul mouthing, "Tell her the truth."

He groaned lowly at his Mom's insistence, "That would be Lucy . . ." Patricia glared at her son again irritating him further, "She's my daughter."

Stephanie's head snapped up and around so quick that Paul thought she would end up with whiplash, "Your daughter?"

He nodded his head, "That is what I said."

Patricia took that as her cue to leave, "Come on Lucy, let's check on Grandpa and see if he's burning dinner yet." She quickly stepped around Stephanie and Paul and left the room pulling the door to behind her.

Paul motioned to the couch, "Take a seat."

Stephanie nodded and moved a cuddly toy from the couch and sat down entirely unsure of where to start so she decided to start with the obvious, "So . . . uh . . . you never mentioned you have a daughter."

"You never asked."

"True but I never heard you talk about her. She's adorable, I'm sure you and her Mom are very proud."

He laughed sarcastically, "That would have required her Mother to stick around and give a damn about somebody other than herself."

Stephanie's eyes widened in surprise causing him to back pedal, "I'm sorry, I shouldn't say that."

"Is it not true?"

He sighed heavily, "Oh no, it is most definitely true. She turned out not to be the woman I thought she was and she upped and left when Lucy was three weeks old."

"Three weeks? I could never imagine leaving my baby now let alone at three weeks old." Her hand flew to her mouth when she realised what she said, "Oops."

Paul sat on the couch and got comfortable staring directly at her, "You have a baby?"

She nodded her head, "He's two, his name is Alex and he's my world."

"Shawn never mentioned anything about you having a husband and child."

She violently shook her head, "No husband, just Alex. Shawn didn't mention anything as I try and keep my work and my private life separate, for more reasons than you could possibly understand."

"Try me."

Stephanie laughed at him, "Only if you tell me about Lucy's Mom."

Paul smiled warmly at her, she wasn't the heartless bitch he thought she was, "You've got yourself a deal there Miss McMahon."

She smiled brightly in response, "Get talking then. I asked about Lucy first so you can tell me your story and then I'll tell you mine."

"Well I guess the short version of the story is that I was working as a Graphic Designer for a major company and I'd been with Sarah for about two years before she fell pregnant and things were really good, we'd just gotten engaged and everything seemed to be going well. Towards the end of the pregnancy my workload increased but I always made sure I was there for the Doctors appointments and I was there for the birth but there was something about Sarah that was different, she was quite distant and soon after she had Lucy her behaviour became quite erratic. One day I was at work when I got a phone call from one of my neighbours, they said they'd seen Sarah leave the house ten minutes previously but they'd not seen her take Lucy with her and they were worried."

"She didn't leave Lucy home alone did she?"

"Yes she did. I rushed home from work to find Lucy in her bassinet in the lounge with a note which said Sarah couldn't cope and she had to leave."

"Oh my God that's crazy, what would have happened if that neighbour hadn't have called you?"

"I think she knew the neighbour would call as that particular neighbour was always watching out of the window for comings and goings. Anyway, I initially took a couple of weeks off to look after Lucy and just take care of things but a few days after Sarah left there was a knock at the door, apparently Sarah had run up hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of gambling debts and there were loan sharks after her. To pay off her debts for Lucy's sake I ended up using all of my savings and selling the house which is why I ended up moving in with my parents."

"I can't believe that, that is ridiculous. How could anybody get up and leave their baby like that and leave you with all of her debts? How come you're no longer a Graphic Designer?"

"I always knew Sarah was selfish, I just didn't realise exactly how selfish she was. I ended up quitting my job as a Graphic Designer because the hours were long and I didn't feel it was fair on Lucy or my parents to ask them to look after her whilst I was at work."

"Have you heard anything from Sarah since?"

"Not a word but I'm not surprised."

"If she turned up tomorrow would you take her back?"

He shook his head, "I couldn't trust her not to run away again or run up massive debts so I couldn't take the risk. So now tell me you're story."

Stephanie grinned, "I can top your story."

Paul laughed, "Yeah because it's a competition right?"

She shrugged, "We either make it a competition or we'll just drown in our own misery. Before I tell you my story is your story the reason Shawn got you the job with me?"

He nodded, "Yes it was. I told him I was thinking of going back to work part time to earn some money so I could buy my own place again so Lucy had her own space and Shawn said that you were a pretty relaxed boss who was very understanding about family and as he was thinking of moving on I'd be a great replacement but that didn't appear to be the case."

She chewed on her lip nervously, "Yeah about that, you'll understand more once you hear my story."

Meanwhile in the kitchen Patricia was sat on the table with Lucy on her lap as Paul Sr made dinner, "There's been no screaming yet. Do you think she's come to give him his job back Paul?"

"I don't know, I'm keeping my fingers crossed though."

In the lounge Stephanie played with her fingers nervously as she pondered where to begin.

"You do know talking is essential to telling me your story right?"

Stephanie grabbed the nearest cushion and hit him with it, "Shut up, I just don't know where to start."

"How about the beginning?"

She hit him again causing him to laugh and wrestle the cushion out of her control, "Sorry."

She sighed heavily, "I was dating this guy Luke for three years, off and on through the entire relationship he was violent towards me, it was never anything major until the last six months. In the last six months of our relationship the business really started to get up and running so I was working incredibly long hours trying to cope with the demand and then I'd go home and he'd be waiting for me accusing me of having an affair because there was no way I was 'at work' for as long as I said I was. When I stuck to the story of being at work he would attack me. The short version of what happened was one night it was so bad I ended up in hospital at which point I found out I was pregnant with Alex and that gave me the strength to walk away."

"Wow, I can't believe you went through that."

"I can't either but on the bright side I do have a beautiful little boy."

"What happened to your ex?"

"Luke? He got charged and sent to jail but was out after two years."

Paul frowned, "Well that's messed up. Is he involved in Alex's life?"

"He kind of doesn't know he exists, that's kind of why you got fired."

"Huh? Explain that please."

Stephanie got up and started to pace in front of him, "I never told Luke I was pregnant, I never testified in court so he had absolutely no idea. Once he got out of jail he started to follow me for a couple of months and then he would disappear for a few months or whatever and then he'd return. Well to begin with it was limited to him following me but now this time he sent the flowers, you know the ones on the desk earlier, and he rang whilst you were making the coffee and said he wanted me back and he had changed. I obviously freaked out, hearing from him just scared me so much that I didn't know what to do or how to react and I ended up taking everything out on you. It was totally uncalled for and you didn't deserve it but the last thing I wanted was to actually speak to him."

"So you're telling me you fired me because Luke your ex rang and he got through to you?"

"Yes and before you say it I've already had it from Shawn that you would have put him through anyway because I didn't tell you about him but . . . that's kind of why I'm here, I came to apologise. I'm really sorry Paul for firing you and for freaking out on you as it was unfair and completely uncalled for."

He rubbed his temples, "So you expected me to be psychic?"

She smiled shyly, "Yes?"

"Sorry to disappoint you but I failed that class."

She laughed despite herself, "You're taking this better than I expected."

He shrugged, "Well I can't be too hard on you as I did keep Lucy from you, granted that's not as big of a deal as this but it would impact on my work. You've had it tough and by the sound of it you've already had it from Shawn so why put you through it again?"

"Thank you Paul, I appreciate that. So . . . umm . . . do you want to come back to work?"

"Oh I don't know about that." He pretended to think about it just to wind her up, "I'll see you bright and early in the morning?"

Stephanie smiled brightly, "Make it 9, I want Shawn to think I didn't talk to you."

"Why would you want that?"

"I just want to see what he'll do or say."

Paul laughed and stood up, "Well I'll see you at 9 in the morning then."

She didn't know what came over herself but she hugged him before she quickly pulled back, "I . . . uh . . . should get home to Alex before my parents kill me."

"I should go and give Lucy a bath ready for bed so let me walk you out."

Paul followed Stephanie to the door, "Thank you for being so understanding Stephanie."

"No, thank you! Good night Paul."

Stephanie opened the door and stepped into the crisp night air and walked back to her car, only when she was safely inside did she relax fully.

Paul watched Stephanie until she got into her car and then he shut the front door and leant against it sighing heavily, today had been a rough day full of ups and downs but at least he had his job back.