If there is anyone left reading this I am so sorry. The only excuse I have is writers block, but hopefully I am over that bump in the road now! Izzy xx

"What the bloody hell was that bout?" Alex asked, fuming. He was so angry he wouldn't have been surprised to feel steam pouring from his ears. "I don't care what Sabina has or hasn't said about me, he cannot talk to me like that!" Alex tried to make his way back into the shop but was stopped by Tom.

"You're right, dude, but storming back in there is only going to make things worse." Tom took Alex by the arm and led him away from the shop, "you can show me which top it was on the net and I'll go in and get it tomorrow." Tom steered Alex into a café and sat him down. "We know that Corbin bloke is a douche, right?" Alex nodded, he could not think of a better word to sum up the foul piece of meat that Sabina was dating. "Well he is a rather large douche, one that could beat your scrawny little but in a fight." Tom tried to talk some sense into his friend.

"You'd be surprised." Said Alex, thinking back to several times where his black belt in karate had got him out of a tight spot.

"Not so surprised if I ended up scooping you up in a jam jar to take home to Jack." Tom muttered, looking at Alex, whose eyes had lost their red tint.

"Well, whatever. Storming in there with violence isn't going to solve anything, if only I could get Sab to talk to me…" Alex lapsed into silence, lost in his own thought.

Tom knew that Alex was crazy about this Sabina girl, but he knew no more than that. He didn't know about the kiss and he certainly had no idea about the small animal that purred inside Alex's chest every time she was near. He couldn't know that Alex was in love. And it was killing him to know that Sabina was with someone else.

~*~

Christmas Eve brought with it the obligatory family visits. Around 11am Tom and Alex were awoken from their slumber by a shrill voice, "Awex? Awex?"

Pulling himself from a dream that involved a cyclic replay of the kiss that he had shared with Sabina he looked up to find Lucia sat on the end of his bed and calling his name repeatedly. Dragging himself upright he glanced at the clock on his bedside table 11.04am, he tried, and failed, to be angry with Lucia for waking him up but he just couldn't. It was the big, blue eyes.

"Yes, Lucia?" Alex mumbled sleepily, rubbing his eyes.

"IT'S GETTING UP TIME!!" Lucia screamed at the top of her voice.

"Arghh, who's been murdered?" Tom sat bolt upright in bed, forgetting that he was sleeping beneath the windowsill. "Shit!" He exclaimed as he hit his head on the wood.

"Language!" Alex laughed, "No-one's been murdered. My delightful little cousin was just informing us that it is time to get up."

"Sorry, Lucy-Lou." Tom said, smiling at the young girl.

"S'ok, Thomas Edward Harris." Lucia said, going over to put her arms around the teenager's neck. Tom and Lucia got on really well, Tom adored Lucia and Lucia thought Tom was amazing. Ever since she found out his full name she would not call him by anything else. "Nanny says that if you want to eat before lunch then you have to get up NOW!" Lucia shouted the last word, the two boys winced.

"Okay, we're coming Lucy-Lou. Why don't you go downstairs and wait while we get dressed?" Tom asked, Lucia gazed up at him and smiled.

"Yes, Thomas Edward Harris." Lucia nodded, "See you later, Awex."

Lucia shut the door behind her and the two boys got out of bed and started the hunt for clean clothes. Finding a shirt that couldn't have been worn for more than three of four days in a row Alex pulled it on, thinking about how amazing it was that Tom got on so well with the family. He slotted right in, even calling Marie by her first name. Tom got on especially well with Lucia, Alex almost felt replaced.

"I do love my little Lucy-Lou." Said Tom, as though reading Alex's mind.

"She's pretty fond of you too," Alex replied, pulling a hoodie on over his sweater.

~*~

"Ahh, the walking dead arise!" Exclaimed Jack as the two boys entered the kitchen some ten minutes later.

"Morning Jack." Alex kissed her on the cheek, taking a grape from the bowl she was washing in the process. "What's happening today then?" He asked, sticking four slices of bread in the toaster, two for himself and two for Tom.

"Well now you two are up, we can decide. I think Mum is getting Lucia suited and booted ready to go play in the garden." Jack said, getting the butter and the jelly out of the fridge for Alex to make his toast. "Why don't you go and play with her?" She asked, "There's a good chance of Harry being out all day, if he works today he gets tomorrow off, so it's looking like were on Lucia duty. Amy is at a friend's house until 2, but then would you and Tom walk over to get her?"

"Okay and yes." Alex said, answering both questions posed to him by Jack in the simplest way he could think of.

"Boy's, you are so expressive!" Jack said, a hint of sarcasm creeping into her voice.

~*~

12.15 found Alex on the sofa reading a book and Tom playing a colouring game with Lucia. Glancing at his watch, Alex decided to set out for Amy's friend, Gabriella's, house. He had no idea where he was going so he decided it was probably best if he left a little early. Looking over at Lucia and Tom he decided that they looked too warm and cosy to interrupt, he would go and fetch Amy alone.

"I'm off to get Amy." Alex called to Jack who was in her study upstairs.

"Okay, do you have the address?" Jack called down.

"Yes, it's in my pocket." Alex replied, slipping his hand inside said pocket to feel for the slip of paper just to make sure. He made his way out of the door and turned left. He followed the intstructions written by Jack and it was only when he was almost at the house he realised that Gabriella lived next door to Sabrina. With a jolt that seemed to start in his stomach and radiate to the rest of his body Alex came to a halt. He could see both houses from where he was stood and yet he still had 35 minutes to kill. Trying not to think about the fact that Sabrina may be within touching distance he made his way to the small playground that was in the centre of the cluster of houses. Sitting down on the swing he let his mind wander, he thought back over different places he'd been, different people he's seen but in the end his mind always came back to one person, Sabrina. Alex opened his eyes when he sensed rather than felt or saw someone approaching. There, walking towards him, dressed in skinny jeans, a hoodie and converse was the one girl he longed to see. Sabrina Pleasure.

"Mind if I join you?" Sabrina asked a very stunned Alex.

"No." One syllable was all Alex could manage, why was Sabrina coming up to him? Wasn't it her that had said that they could not be together?

"We need to talk." Sabrina said, and she looked Alex in the eye, tears streaming down her face.

Thanks for reading :) xx