"And so if you draw a line right here, then the pattern will join up and you have your graph. You see? Ok guys, I'll give you a couple of minutes to do it in your workbooks, and then we'll come back together to see what we've found out. Ok, off you go!"

Nikki sighed as the class turned back to focus on the squiggles and crosses on the squared paper of their Math books. She had barely gotten any sleep last night – it turned out that apparently 'morning sickness wasn't exactly choosy about the specific time of day when it decided to hit – and she and Cameron hadn't left the house on good terms.

She hated days like this: lack of sleep made them both grouchy, and then the slightest thing the next morning would totally set either of them off. This morning it had been Cameron taking a call on his cell during breakfast then avoiding her eyes and making excuses when she tried to find out who it had been from.

Whatever. Nikki had decided to let it go. It had been four months since she had moved into Cameron's little apartment just outside Playa Linda, and it was too soon for her to let this little stuff wind her up so much.

She took a deep breath, hoisted herself up onto her feet and stood beside the chalk board.

"Ok kids. What have we got? Oh, actually, hold that thought – the bell for lunch is gonna go in about …."

The end of her sentence hung in the air as the piercing ring of the bell buzzed through the school.

"Alright then, see you after lunch!"

As soon as the last child had scrambled from the classroom, Nikki collapsed into the chair behind her desk, feeling guilty as she heaved a huge sigh of relief. As much as she loved teaching, this was her first full-time job and being quite heavily pregnant made it a hell of a lot more testing.

She rubbed a hand over her protruding bump, leaning over to the floor to rummage around in her bag for a bottle of water. When she lifted her head back up, the precious bottle grasped in her hand, her eyes widened at the sight of a cute tanned face poking round the door, a sheepish grin spread right across it.

"Hey…"

"Hey!"

"Listen … sorry about this morning, Nik. I was out of line. It's just … I don't really know-"

"Cam, it really doesn't matter. I overreacted … people tend to get a little tetchy when they've been throwing up the entire contents of their stomach all night."

She smiled at the worried look on his face.

"Seriously, Cameron, it's ok!"

An instant look of relief visibly settled on his face.

"Ok, good, because we need to talk. I brought food!"

8888888888888

Along with sandwiches lemonade and fruit salad, it turned out that Cameron had brought a little plaid picnic blanket, which they were now sat on having spread their little feast out on the classroom floor.

"Anyway … what did you wanna talk about Cam?"

"Uhh, it's kinda difficult to explain. Well. Not difficult to explain, but just kinda hard to tell you."

"Ok, honey, you're really scaring me now. Seriously – just tell me."

She focused totally on his eyes, seeing the fear that lurked behind that arresting shimmering blue.

"Well. That call this morning was from my bank. You see – oh god, Nik, please don't judge me, or hate me – I'm in so much debt. You know I told you about my time in L.A?"

She nodded.

"I ran up huge credit card bills while I was there. Spending all my money on a crazy lifestyle that I didn't even want to be living… And when I came home I found out that my parents couldn't lend me any … no-one would give me a job …"

He buried his head in his hands.

"Basically I'm going down fast. Unless I get some kind of miracle in the next six months, I'm going to be bankrupt."

She heard now that his voice was thick with tears.

"God, all I seem to do is let you down…first Lucie, and now this new baby…Maybe you really would be better off without me. I'm just trouble."

Nikki felt for the first time a small flash of annoyance.

"Cameron, get over yourself and your self-pity! Everyone is in debt! Hell, I'm in pretty much the same situation as you – toddlers aren't cheap y'know!"

Grasping his hand, her voice softened and she looked deeply into his eyes.

"I know you're scared. I'm terrified. Money worries, jobs, children …. We're real adults now, whether we like it or not."

Nikki let out a low chuckle.

"And as for all that 'you'd be better off without me' crap …" Suddenly the chuckle was gone and she was deadly serious. "Without you, Cameron Bale, I would be heartbroken. Utterly and completely devastated. And I don't think that would be better for me – or for our babies … do you?"

Lifting his chin with her finger, she wiped the hot tears from his flushed cheeks and kissed him tenderly but firmly, their lips sealing together in a passionate lock.

As they broke away, she paused before continuing the conversation.

"But, you're right. We should be worried about money – how much debt exactly are we talking? Because I've got my pay check coming soon…we have enough saved to pay off at least one credit card, I'm sure!"

Cameron smiled a warm, deeply grateful and genuinely awestruck smile. It was hard for him to believe that people like Nikki actually existed. He kept waiting to discover some major flaw in her personality, but the days kept rolling and she remained as incredible as ever.

Their baby was going to be born in under four months' time, and he was determined to make things right by then. He couldn't let his children grow up seeing their father as an incompetent unqualified hack who would fail to put food on the table. No, he had had quite enough experience of an awful father during his own childhood, and he refused to succumb to the self-pity which Nikki had so rightly ridiculed.

As he embraced Nikki over their paper cups of lemonade on the picnic blanket he felt a warmth rush straight through him at the feel of her extended stomach pressed against his own, and for the first time felt a slight kick against his t-shirt.

"Oh my god…Cam, did you feel that?"

One look at his goofy love-struck face gave Nikki all the answer she needed.

She had told him that the baby had kicked before, but this was the first time he had been there to experience it. Resting his palms over her belly-button and feeling the little foot poking the inside of her stomach, Cameron felt totally ecstatic and yet completely serene at the same time.

It was as if this was the natural order of things – this was the way things were meant to be.