Having hurriedly left the lounge Stephanie had made her way back to her room and gotten dressed before she took a seat on the bed and pulled her hair out of the messy bun she had put it in to shower and began to brush it through before she put it back in a tidy ponytail. If she was honest her hair was fine as it was, she was just procrastinating about going downstairs as she wanted to wait until Paul had left to venture out of her bedroom again because she was embarrassed at the state he caught her in.

When she heard a car pulling out of the drive she breathed a sigh of relief knowing he had left so it was safe to venture out to get breakfast now and as soon as she had eaten she was going to get started on clearing boxes.

After a few hours and a couple of trips to the garage for more boxes she had two piles of clothes on the bed that needed hangers and the rest of her clothes were tidied away nicely in the drawers. Looking at the clock she saw it was just about lunchtime so she was going to take a break for lunch and then afterwards she would work on some more boxes but she had made a good dent in it all so felt quite accomplished.

Paul was still not a fan of dragging Chloe on errands with him because he always feared that he would accidentally leave her somewhere, he knew it was an irrational fear but he had heard the stories and they were engrained in the back of his mind. Arriving home it was not a minute too soon for him as he did have some work that he needed to attend to whilst she was napping but first thing first was lunch as he was starving.

Unbuckling Chloe's car seat he carried her towards the entrance into the house impressed by the amount of boxes that were missing, "Looks like Stephanie has been busy whilst we have been out, maybe we can sneak up to say hi to her."

Entering the kitchen he shook his head seeing her stood at the counter, "I think you have an inbuilt sensor for when I return as you always manage to be in the kitchen."

Laughing she abandoned her sandwich and walked over to him snatching the car seat from him, "Guilty as charged. I was busy and didn't see the time so have only just stopped for lunch, if you're nice I will make you some too."

Stood there looking offended as he watched her unbuckle Chloe from the car seat to cuddle her he shook his head, "If I am nice? You are the one that just snatched the car seat from me."

Smiling sweetly as she held Chloe close she gave him her best puppy dog eyes, "I just wanted to sneak in a cuddle with Chloe before I die when your wife comes home."

Rolling his eyes at the dramatisation he leant on the counter, "You're overreacting but whatever you say. I am going to grab the bags from the car seeing as you have Chloe, if you haven't finished making your own sandwich and it wouldn't be too much extra effort to make me one aswell then I would be grateful thank you very much."

Bouncing the little girl gently in her arms she smiled at her, "We can stretch to that can't we Chloe?"

Receiving a coo and a pat to the face she turned to Paul, "Chloe agrees with me, we can make you a sandwich too." Placing Chloe in the bouncy chair she moved back to the counter and took out another plate to make him a sandwich also whilst he disappeared back into the garage.

After a few trips back and forth to the car he had everything he had bought now piled on the kitchen floor, "I have done a quick food shop as we were running out of some essentials and I have decided I cannot be dealing with the lines any more so I'm going to try this whole internet shopping thing so I will do a proper big shop one evening this week if there is anything you would like to request I will let you know when I am doing it or if you are so inclined you can help but it isn't in your contract."

Before she had even thought about it the words were out of her mouth, "I don't mind helping you at all, it might be fun."

Looking at her like she had lost her mind he bent down to retrieve some of the things that immediately needed to be in the fridge or freezer, "You're crazy but whatever, women have an odd sense of fun so I will just put it down to that."

"And I will put your sandwich in the bin."

Pouting he was quite enjoying their banter, "Okay okay, I promise to be good for the rest of today."

Laughing she helped him put away the stuff he was placing on the counter before they sat down to eat.

After they had finished their lunch they put the rest of the food away before Chloe began to cry, "I think she needs a nap. Do you need me to take any boxes upstairs and you can take Chloe?"

Raising her eyebrow she was confused, "Wait, you want the heavy boxes and not the light baby?"

Smirking he nodded his head, "Absolutely, it's a better workout than Chloe. So what will it be?"

Picking Chloe out of the bouncy chair she smiled, "Any box or boxes you want is fine, we will meet you upstairs."

Watching her as she walked away he smiled, just seeing the way she held Chloe and had her entire attention on her just warmed his heart, he almost forgot that she wasn't Chloe's Mom. Shaking his head he headed into the garage to grab what he could.

Sat in the rocking chair in Chloe's room she sat watching her fighting the sleep she so desperately needed and as she continued to look down at her she couldn't help but dream of the time where she would be doing this with her own child but currently that wouldn't happen any time soon as she was single and had been for a long time. Sighing heavily she lifted her head when she heard movement outside of the door and smiled seeing Paul leaning against the door frame, "You can come and take over, I just didn't want to get in your way so thought it was best we sat here out of the way."

Having dropped the boxes into her bedroom he made his way to the nursery and just leant on the door frame watching her, her body language was so down that he wanted to ask her about it but really didn't want to pry. When she noticed that he was in the doorway he walked closer and knelt beside the rocking chair, "No it's okay, I don't want to disturb her as she is so close to going to sleep."

Feeling guilty that she was holding his daughter and all he got to do was stroke her head she frowned, "I'm sorry for this, I didn't mean to take this away from you."

Lifting his head he looked at Stephanie oddly, "Wait, what? I always get to hold her as she falls asleep, just sat here beside you as you hold her really isn't something you need to apologise over." Placing his hand on her knee he gently squeezed it, "I promise you that I am not mad so just relax."

She tried to ignore the touch of his hand on her leg as he left it there maintaining his focus on Chloe. When she was finally asleep she stood up and gently placed her down in the crib allowing Paul a moment with her as she stepped outside to wait for him.

Giving his daughter a kiss he pulled the side up on the crib before he turned the baby monitor on and attached it to his belt exiting the nursery and pulling the door closed behind him.

When he left the nursery she took this as her opportunity to ask the question she needed to ask, "Paul, I don't suppose you have any spare hangers for pants do you?"

His eyes widened at the question, "I think we have about a billion different types of hangers and I will be honest with you, as domesticated as I may be, I am not up on the different types of hangers."

Her face fell at the news but she would just have to buy some, "That's cool, I'll buy some this week."

"Or you could come and look and see if we have what you need, whatever floats your boat really."

She couldn't help but laugh at that comment, "Well if you don't mind it would help."

Walking towards the master bedroom he opened the door, "Come in, I won't bite."

She couldn't help but mutter 'no, your wife does though' as she made her way over to him.

Paul had opened a cupboard that was practically full of just spare hangers so she began going through them all pulling out the ones she needed.

Neither of them heard Megan return home so when she had all of the hangers she needed she had shut the doors and walked to the exit of the room, "Thank you so much for this Paul, I really appreciate that."

Shrugging his shoulders he hadn't done anything, "When I actually do something helpful you can thank me but until then it's nothing."

Exiting into the hallway she immediately spotted Megan coming towards them and tried so hard not to groan knowing she was going to jump to conclusions as she didn't know the truth. Ignoring the other woman's presence she turned back to face Paul, "You would be surprised at how helpful you are actually being."

Seeing her husband exiting the Master bedroom with another woman Megan stormed over to them, "If you're going to cheat on me Paul at least be more subtle and have your whore out before I return."

Rolling his eyes he shook his head at his wife, "I am not cheating on you with Stephanie or anybody else."

As Megan turned her gaze on her Stephanie made a small step backwards nearer to Paul not sure what she was going to do or say but if she was closer to him if she did try to hit her then he could hopefully intervene before it got too bad.

She didn't trust her husband so she was going to warn the mistress off and glared at her, "Keep your filthy hands off my husband. If you want a man of your own I suggest you go and stand on a street corner, you'll find plenty there for you."

Stephanie planned to be calm and not to react to Megan but when she suggested she should be a prostitute all bets were off. Putting a frown on her face she pouted and gently began to rub Paul's chest, "What, you mean that I can't continue to rub Paul's hard, muscular chest as we make out on the bed?"

Glaring at the other woman she was so close to hitting her, "Bitch get your hands off my man and stay away from him."

Pretending to give the other woman what she wanted despite the fact that she was already leaving she turned to Paul, "Thank you for everything this weekend." Gently running her hand down his arm she walked past Megan and turned around mouthing 'sorry' to Paul as she knew that doing what she had just done was just going to have caused him even more problems but she couldn't and wouldn't just stand there and take that from Megan. Turning back around she made her way to her bedroom and shut the door behind her.

Right now Megan didn't care where Stephanie left as long as she got out of her face, "What the fuck do you think you're playing at fucking her Paul? Couldn't you at least have found somebody classier?"

He was not having this conversation in the hall where she could hear them easier so roughly grabbing his wife's arm he led her into the bedroom and shut the door, "Seriously Megan?! You seriously think that I value my marriage vows with that little regard that I am going to go out and sleep with the first woman I find just because you don't have time for me?"

Dropping her suitcase to the floor she put her hands on her hips, "Well she always seems to be here so what else do you expect me to think?"

Rubbing his face wearily he sighed heavily and decided to just get it over with, "Well I suggest you get used to seeing her as she has moved in."

Her eyes widened in shock, "You what?! Since when and why was I not consulted?"

"For the same reason you weren't consulted when I asked her to stay to look after Chloe this week, it is my house. If I thought we could have possibly had a civil conversation about the matter then I would have discussed it with you but I knew that if I mentioned it you would just fly off the handle so I made the decision to invite her to move in. Let's be honest though, with the amount of time that you are actually here being so small it really won't affect you."

She did not want or need some whore sniffing around her husband, "Don't you want me to be here more? With her here it will discourage me from wanting to be at home."

His eyebrow raised as he listened to her pathetic attempt to get him to change his mind, "Megan whether I allow her to stay or kick her out you won't change your mind about the amount you work, which is the only thing keeping you away from home, so it is a moot point."

Crossing her arms she was not best pleased with him, "I still don't like that I have to live with her."

"I'm not asking you to like it, I am just asking you to behave like an adult and just get on with it. Can I trust you to do that?"

She wasn't happy about it but she would deal with it, "Okay fine, I will just ignore her existence."

Luckily for the sake of Paul's sanity Chloe woke up from her nap and began to cry, "Would you like the opportunity to go and spend some time with your daughter?"

Motioning to her suitcase she shook her head, "This laundry won't do itself and I have some work to finish before tomorrow."

He didn't even have the energy to fight with her or try to plead with her to spend some time with her daughter so he left the room and went to pick Chloe up to soothe her tears.

Standing in the doorway of the nursery with his daughter in his arms he was torn, he desperately needed to do some work but it was also Stephanie's day off. Turning left he walked the short distance to Stephanie's room and knocked on the door.

Placing the last hanger on the rail she shut the door to the closet just as there was a knock at the door. Instead of shouting come in she took the few small steps necessary and pulled the door open hoping she wasn't about to get a slap to the face but when she pulled the door open she was surprised to see Paul stood there, "If you have come to apologise on Megan's behalf don't, I should be apologising to you for what I said."

"I'm not here for either, I am here for a favour."

Stepping backwards she motioned for him to enter, "Come in then, I'm not sure what I can do for you but I can try."

He felt bad for having to ask this of her on a Sunday, "I feel really bad asking this of you but is there any way you could work for an hour or two right now please? I desperately need to do some work and I was going to do it whilst Chloe napped but well Megan happened and then she didn't sleep as long as she normally did so I am desperate as I really don't want to work through the evening again."

"What about Megan?" The words were out before she thought about it and the second they were out she felt bad for bringing her up but she couldn't take it back now.

Staring at Stephanie he knew she meant well but he hated having to keep repeating in various ways that she didn't care, "The less said about that right now the better."

Looking at the progress that she had made with her room she could take the rest of the day off, she could always do more when Chloe was napping during the week, "Sure, I can watch her for you."

Breathing a sigh of relief he smiled and kissed Chloe's cheek before he passed her over to her, "Thank you so much and don't forget to write this down in the book."

"Paul . . ."

Before she could even say it he shook his head, "Nope, nuh uh, not happening. I asked you to watch Chloe, you are going to get paid for doing it as I am not going to take advantage of you so just do it okay?"

Nodding her head she wasn't going to argue with him over something as silly as that, "Okay okay, I'll go and write the time in the book now. When you are done you will find Chloe and myself in the lounge watching TV because I'm done for today so feel free to join us."

Running his hand over his daughter's head he smiled, "I might just do that. I'll see you both in a little while."

Watching Paul walk away she shifted Chloe in her arms, "You don't have to be Einstein to know that your Daddy is one stressed out man right now so let's be good girls for him huh?"

Chloe babbled her agreement and lay her head down on Stephanie's shoulder as she carried her out of the room.