Hi all, apologies for the delay in posting an update, but I've been having some problems with my Internet and have only just managed to get back online.

Hope the last chapter left you all wanting more.

We are just carrying straight on from the last chapter.

xoxoxo

Christian POV:

How long I stood there, mouth open, gawping at her, I have no idea. A lifetime could have passed, and I wouldn't have known any different. Eventually, I realised that Diana was still standing in front of me, and was waiting for..well, I didn't know what exactly she was waiting for.

"Sorry, I.." I shook my head, trying to force myself to think straight. "It's just..this is a lot to take in..."

"Of course, I'm sorry."

"I just...I just don't know exactly what it is you want from me.." I saw her face physically drop. She was obviously expecting me to welcome her into my life with open arms, no questions asked.

"I just thought you had a right to know. Obviously I was wrong." She made to turn away, but I put a hand on her shoulder.

"Look, if you were expecting me to play the doting father just like that, then I'm sorry, but it's not gonna happen. I need time to take all of this in." She nodded in agreement.

"I'm sorry. I'm asking too much of you, aren't I?" I laughed softly.

"Just a little bit. Look, wait for me in the cafe, opposite the pub. We can talk there." She nodded her agreement and left. I sighed as I watched her go, completely bowled over by what had just happened. I turned back into the flat, closing the door gently behind me.

"Sy?" Syed had moved from his spot in the bed. As I called to him, he reappeared out of the bathroom, now fully dressed. "Sy.."

"I'm fine, Christian." He side stepped my attempt to embrace him, heading into the kitchen. I followed him through, following him until he was pressed against the counter units. I pressed myself into him, my chest flush against his back, so that he couldn't escape.

"Talk to me, Sy. Please." I heard him sigh and pressed a kiss to his neck.

"I just...I'm just in shock!" I laughed at him incredulously.

"And you think I'm not?" I hugged him close to me. "Sy, I'm just as shocked as you are, babe, if not more!" He spun around in my arms, wrapping his own arms around my waist. "It was..I was 16, at the time, and not so different from the way you were this time last year." He cocked an eyebrow at me. "I was coming to terms with being gay, trying to figure out how to tell my family, trying to accept it myself. I'd just been rejected by James, I gave him the come-on and he all but laughed in my face. It was only later I realised it was all an act, to hide who he really was. Susie was there for me when I was down and it just...happened. We were both drunk, it only happened once. I never saw her again after that night. The next day, her family moved away and I never even got a letter from her."

"What are you gonna do?" Syed averted his gaze from mine uncertainly. I placed my hands on the side of his head, turning him back to me.

"Nothing for you to worry your beautiful head over. No matter what I decide about this Diana, nothing will ever change between me and you. We've been through enough already." I ruffled his hair playfully before pecking his lips. "Now, I'd better get dressed and go to the cafe. The sooner I see her, the sooner I'll know where we stand." Syed nodded, capturing my lips once more before I headed out.

How long I stood outside the cafe, I don't know. I didn't have a clue what Diana wanted from me, and I didn't know what I could even offer her. If it was money she was after...I sighed, squaring my shoulders and heading inside. I gave a brief nod to Jane before my eyes landed on Diana, seated in the back corner, away from prying ears. Jane gave me a questionning look, which I returned, before I sat down opposite the girl. Neither of us spoke for a good few minutes. Neither of us knew what to say.

"Thank you," Diana eventually whispered. "For coming. I wasn't sure if you'd show."

"I said I would, didn't I?" Now that she had broken the ice a little, I was finding it a little easier to talk to her. I was still reeling from her news, of course, but it looked like I was going to have to be responsible from now on. I supressed a shudder at the thought. "Look, you've seen the way I am...it doesn't take much to notice. I'm gay, and you arriving in my life isn't going to change that. The guy you saw in the flat, Syed, he..he's everything to me, and I won't be letting him go because I've found out about you -"

"No, of course!" She looked at me incredulously. "Mr Clarke -"

"Christian."

"OK, Christian," she nodded. "Look, I'm not here to ruin your life, or change you, or make you split up with your boyfriend. In fact, I don't really know why I came. I just..I found the diaries, and I thought you had a right to know." I nodded my agreement.

"Look, your mum and me...we were close at high school. I was going through a rough time and she was there for me when no one else was. We slept together once, and I never saw her again. She moved away, and the thought that she could have been pregnant never even crossed my mind. I never saw her after that night. I knew who I was when it happened; I knew I was gay, but by being with her, I was trying to deny it, deny who I was. I'm not saying it was a mistake, but if you had the idea that we had this fairytale romance and were totally in love with each other, I'm afraid you're in for a disappointment."

"Christian, I wasn't really looking for anything from you. Really. I just wanted a chance to see my father, and tell him that he had a daughter."

"I appreciate it, Diana. I really do. Even if you have turned my world upside down." We both laughed. "Listen, I would like to get to know you. So long as you can handle family drama, and me being gay."

"Trust me, I've had plenty of experience on the drama side," she smiled at me, the first time I'd ever seen her smile. When the smile reached her eyes, I noticed that she had my eyes, and felt a strange sense of pride. "And, you being gay..I think it's kinda cool. It's kinda like I have two dads." I laughed and nodded.

"Yeah, I know Sy'll want to get to know you, too." I pushed a napkin across to her. "This is my mobile number. Give me a call, and we'll arrange a time to meet again." She nodded, smiled and left. I smiled to myself, looking up as Jane came over to join me.

"What was all that about?"

"That...was your niece."

"What!" I grinned at her, happiness replacing the shock I had felt when she had first turned up on my doorstep.

"She's my daughter," I laughed at the look of shock on her face. "Yeah, tell me about it! Turn up for the books or what?" I told Jane the story of how Diana had come to be standing on my doorstep, and she had her mouth hanging open the full time.

"I didn't even know you'd ever slept with a woman!" Jane shook her head at me in disbelief.

"I know, Jane." My phone started buzzing in my pocket. "Two secs, it's Sy." Jane left me to it, going to serve another late night customer. "Hey babe. You OK?"

"Christian," his voice sounded shaky down the phone, and I leapt to my feet, waving goodbye to Jane as I left. "Can you come home, please?"

"I'm on my way babe. What's wrong?" It had been such a long time since Syed or I had been upset that hearing tears in his voice really scared me.

"Just come home. Please." The last word was whispered, and then the line went dead. I hurried home, eager to get to Syed to comfort him. The fact that I didn't even know why he needed comforting was what scared me the most. As soon as the door was open, I flung myself up the stairs and unlocked the second doorway, hurrying inside and calling to him.

"Sy?" He wasn't in the main area of the flat. "SY?" I headed to the bathroom, but he had locked the door. I knocked gently. "Sy, talk to me." A few moments later, the door opened and he flung himself into my arms. I wrapped my arms around him and pulled me to it, gently cradling him and shushing him. "Sy, what is it?"

"Qadim," it was barely a whisper, but I heard him.

"Amira's dad? He's been here?" I was instantly on edge. If Qadim had laid so much as a finger on him..

"No," he shook his head. "He called me. Out of the blue."

"And?"

"It's Amira. It turns out she was pregnant after all, when she left.." I felt as though the breath was knocked out of me. In one night, both Syed and I had discovered a child we had known nothing about. "Amira, she went into premature labour. She was only 6 and a half months gone. There were complications, and she died during childbirth."

"Sy, I'm sorry," I held him closer to me. Even after all we'd been through, I knew he still cared about Amira. I still cared for her. And now she was gone. "And the baby?"

"He survived," I let out a breath I hadn't realised I'd been holding.

"I'm sensing a but," Syed struggled against me, trying to get out of my embrace. I locked my arms around his waist, careful that I wasn't accidentally suffocating him. "Sy?"

"Qadim gave me an ultimatum. I can leave, tonight, and go to Pakistan with him and raise my child. Or.." He looked up at me, his eyes pleading with me, and I knew that he had already made his decision. "Or he's gonna kill him," he managed to choke out, burying his head in my shoulder. I shook my head in disbelief. Qadim was a cold, ruthless bastard, but I didn't think he had it in him to kill a child, let alone his own grandson.

"He's bluffing," I managed after a moment. "He may be an evil bastard, but there's no way in hell he's kill an innocent child."

"Wouldn't he?" Syed gave me a knowing look. "I just...I can't take that chance, Christian. He's my son and, if anything happened to him, if Qadim made good on his threat, I'd never forgive myself." The tears were running down both our faces, and in that moment, I knew. I knew that I had lost him yet again, and that there was no point in trying to change his mind. I couldn't compete with his son, I had known that from the start. I nodded in defeat, my arms dropping to my sides, my posture starting to slump already. He cupped my face in his hands, forcing me to look at him. "I will always love you, Christian." I nodded, and he captured my lips. I kissed him back, relishing in the moment and committing it to memory. I opened my eyes, and he was gone. Collapsing onto a heap on the floor, I cried out my anguish and my pain.

A/N: Sorry! I had to get some drama back in here somehow! I think I may be close to wrapping this story up now.