Wow, its been a while! I'm very very very sorry for the delay, I hope there are still people reading this! Please leave me a review and tell me what you think,

Rhyleigh xoxox

"Daddy", Ellie said seriously, approaching her father with her hands on her hips, "Can you help me ride my bike?"

"You know how to ride your bike, baby", Ben said gently, shoving aside the mountain of work he had been putting off and lifting her onto his knee.

"Without training wheels".

"Oh".

Ben had been four years old the first time had learned how to ride a bike without training wheels- that had resulted in a scar that was still visible on his right knee. Teaching Ellie how to ride a bike was at the top of his list...

But had been in plaster for six weeks after falling off the trampoline. Removing the training wheels from her bike could either be a really good move (she might be a natural, he never knew) or it could be a really bad move (resulting in another trip to the emergency room).

"How about we take a picnic tomorrow?" he suggested (it was Friday night, and after a week of school, Ellie more often than not crashed long before her bedtime. During the first week she spent at school, she came home and had a nap in her Winnie the Pooh chair, amazing her father and housemates). "Its getting pretty late, by the time I take off the training wheels it'll be too dark to see!"

"Yeah, Ell, you might wrap yourself around the phone pole out the front- or end up in the fountain!" Carbo gasped dramatically, making Ellie gasp at his theatrics.

"That was you, mate", Ben reminded him with a chuckle.

"Okay", Ellie agreed cheerfully. "Can we take off the training wheels now?"

"I suppose we can", he nodded, taking her hand and leading her towards the garage.

Nathan and Carbo, with little Sophie in tow, were quick to follow- the boys were left alone with the two little girls, as both Sammy and Retta escaped the madhouse for the day.

"Hi Ben!" Ruby waved excitedly over the fence at her big brother, her head covered in a bike helmet. "Guess what? Dad's teaching me how to ride a bike!"

(Suddenly, it all fell into place. Ellie and Ruby were the best of friends, but being so close in age, they had an almost sibling rivalry between them.)

"Really?" Nathan said seriously. "I bet you're really good at that, Rubes".

"I am, Nathan!" Ruby agreed. "Really, really good!"

"Daddy's gonna teach me tomorrow", Ellie said determinedly. "Right, Daddy?"

Carbo twirled one of Sophie's baby curls around his finger. "Natho, I think we need to make a bet".

"Twenty bucks that Rubes learns how to ride a bike successfully before Ellie does", Nathan said quietly, so that neither little girl (or his older brother) would hear him.

"I have more faith in Ellie", Carbo said, and both Ellie and Ben turned to face him.

"We haven't been really riding", Dave said quickly, poking his head over the fence. "She won't let me let go of the bike". "

"I don't wanna fall!" Ruby protested.

"Daddy won't let me fall", Ellie said smugly, patting Ben's chest. "Will you Daddy?"

"You're totally on", Nathan mumbled, shaking hands with the man.

And with that, the bet was settled.

"It's gonna be a good day, right Daddy?" Ellie chattered cheerfully, as Ben lifted her bike into the van (they had gone ahead and were making a full family day of it). "We're gonna play cricket and I'm gonna ride my bike and Uncle Nathan and me can play on the swings-"

"Uncle Nathan can do what?" Nathan wanted to know.

"Play on the swings!" she enthused.

Nathan loved his nieces and baby sister dearly, he would do anything for them, but after an afternoon at the park with all of them (and Ted and Chel, supervisors), he had been in a lot of pain. Swinging Ellie, Ruby and Shelby into the air and making them squeal, pushing Harry and Sophie on the swings, listening to them giggle.

"The swings are his favourite", Sammy beamed at him, and Nathan glared.

"Of course we'll play on the swings", he told the little girl soothingly.

Nathan glared at Sammy like she was the worst person on the earth, but the hug Ellie wrapped around his legs made him feel on top of the world.

"Daddy, can we ride my bike now?" Ellie called, waving her tiny five year old size cricket bat (a hot pink grip around the handle) around, waiting for Carbo to gently bowl to her (the little girl was growing up in a house where three men loved cricket, and there was no way that she was not going to learn the sport).

"Alright, alright", Ben gave in, and they retreated from the field. Picking up the bike, he waited for Ellie to climb onto the seat before wheeling her over to the marked track (Ellie jamming on the brakes every two paces, making Ben shudder to a stop).

"Ready to go, babe?" he wanted to know, and she nodded enthusiastically, grinning cheesily at Retta's ever-present camera.

"I'll tell you when to let go", Ellie told her father, as Ben held her tight.

"Ready?"

"'Kay, go Daddy!"

Ben took off, holding her tight and pushing his daughter down the paved bike track. "Pedal, bubs!"

"Let go!" she squealed, and Ben let go, watching her little feet pedal as fast as she could. She was flying, giggling hysterically, as the path wound around the grass. But then he saw her starting to lean…

"Ellie! Brake! Put the brakes on!" he shrieked, taking off after the tiny girl.

Tumbling onto the grass with such impact that both Carbo and Nathan winced, she detangled herself from the bike, giggling. "Daddy! Did you see me? I nearly did it!"

"You've just gotta learn how to stop", Ben agreed, picking up the bike and dusting the little girl off. "Nothing broken? No? Just bruises? Good job, kid".

"Good job, Ell!" Sammy complimented, and Ellie giggled as Carbo and Nathan lifted her into the air, setting her on their shoulders.

(if Nathan lifted them onto his shoulders, Ben reasoned, it was his own fault he complained about a bad back.)

"Let's go again!"

"Let's go", Ben decided, standing the bike up and waiting for the little girl to clamber onto the seat.

By the end of the day, the little girl's legs were splotched black and blue with bruises, and her lip was puffy from a particularly splendid fall ("Ben, oh my God, people are going to think she's abused!" "No one's going to think Daddy's little princess over there is abused- he piggybacked the whole way home from school yesterday!"), but Ellie could successfully ride a bike.

It was just one more thing Ben could check off his list as a father.