Complications We Didn't See Coming

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Authors Note: I do NOT own Home and Away. All credit goes to the writers.

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Chapter Thirty Four: Heath and Bianca.

"Daddy"

Heath stopped waxing his surfboard to look over at his daughter who came prancing across the grass clutching a barbie doll. He remembered it was one Tegan had brought and Darcy had claimed it looked like her mother. He hadn't seen her play with that particular doll in months so his curiosity spiked. "Hey baby, what are you doing?"

Darcy shrugged. "Nothing" She looked at the surfboard and then back at her father. "Daddy, I gots to ask a question. It's super doper important"

Heath sat down on the small wooden bench seat. "I think you mean important sweetie"

Darcy rolled her eyes. "That's what I said"

Heath chuckled. "What did you want to ask me?"

Darcy looked down at the barbie doll in her hands. "Is mummy ever gonna see me?"

Heath felt his heart clench since moving back to Summerbay, Darcy had only mentioned her mother once. It hadn't been to ask to see her mother, it was just that Tegan had missed Darcy's birthday and the little girl had wanted to know why.
He'd tried to explain some of the situation to her but he hadn't wanted to the tell the newly turned four year old much. She was still young enough that the details weren't something he wanted he wanted to share with her.

"Daddy?" Darcy called his name, annoyed that he hadn't answered her question.

"Sorry baby" Heath looked back down at his daughter. "Daddy was just thinking. Do you want to see your mum?"

Darcy shrugged. "I dunno. Is she gonna come see me?"

"I don't know" Heath told her honestly. Since the phone call he hadn't heard back from Tegan. "Do you miss her?"

"Sometimes" Darcy whispered sadly.

Heath could sense there was something more going on. "Darcy, look at me" Heath tilted her chin up so they had eye contact. "You know that you can tell me anything. Anything at all, okay baby?"

Darcy let out a sigh. "All the mummies are coming to kindy but I gots no mummy" Darcy looked up at him sadly.

Heath's heart broke. He remembered reading something about it in the kindergarten newsletter but he hadn't had a chance to speak to Darcy about it. "Hey" He smiled at her reassuringly. "Maybe your teacher would let me come or we can ask your Nan"

"Can Bianca?" Darcy asked innocently, blinking as she waited for an answer.

Heath was surprised but he knew he should have expected that. "You want Bianca to go?"

Darcy nodded. "We live with her. She's a mummy. She's nice to me. Daddy, is Bianca my new mummy?"

Heath coughed in surprise. He definitely hadn't been expecting that. "Darce, hun, no one can replace your mum and Bianca, well, Bianca and I haven't been together very long"

"But I like her, she's a good mummy"

"She is" Heath agreed. He had no idea how to explain this to her. "One day if Daddy marries Bianca then she'll be your step mum but do you think for now she can be your friend"

Darcy pouted. "Can I still love her?"

"Of course" Heath smiled. "I know she loves you very much"

Darcy smiled slightly. "Can she come to mummy's day still?"

Heath nodded. "You can ask her"

"Yay" Darcy jumped down from his lap and started to run to the back door, pausing for the brief moment to speak to her dad again. "Marry her soon!"

^..^

Heath ran his hands through Bianca's blonde hair as they cuddled in bed early in the morning, the tv on in the background but neither of them were paying much attention to it. Heath's mind had been on other things since hearing from Tegan ten weeks ago. His mind was not only on what Darcy had spoken about yesterday but also about what Bianca had told him about Hannah wanting to have a baby with Andy.
He knew that he hadn't been with Bianca for long but it was long enough to get him wondering about the future and where they would go from here. They had had this talk once before but nothing really came from it except that they were now living together. He wanted to know where Bianca stood on the idea of marriage and more children. He wanted her to be truthful with him when it came to those topics.

"What are you thinking about?" Bianca asked curiously, she could feel his body tensing and then un-tensing, her head on his chest was making it easy to tell that whatever he was thinking about was making his heart race.

Heath shook his head, his hand falling to her bare shoulder, tracing patterns. "Nothing"

Bianca frowned. "It's not nothing; it's something I can tell. Talk to me" She moved her head so that she could look him in the eye. "We need to be honest with each other"

"Where do you stand on marriage?"

Bianca's eyes widened. "Ma…marriage?! Heath, we haven't been together that long"

"Calm down" Heath murmured, he could see the panic racing through her eyes. "I wasn't planning on asking you to marry me right now, but your reaction certainly isn't reassuring"

Bianca exhaled, letting go of the breath she wasn't aware she had been holding. "Don't take my reaction to heart, I just wasn't expecting it"

Heath smiled weakly. "Do you see marriage in our future?"

"In our future" Bianca let the words roll out of her mouth. "To be honest I've never thought of marriage at all. It just wasn't something I ever saw happening for me, especially with Liam. But…" She smiled at him. "But with you I'm open to the idea, maybe not yet, maybe in a few months or a year from now. The important thing is marriage could be in our future"

Heath grinned, kissing the top of her head. "Good because one day I will marry you"

"Is that so Mr Braxton?"

"It is, Miss Scott" He chewed on the inside of his cheek momentarily before he decided he should just bite the bullet and ask. "Don't freak out okay…"

Bianca raised her eyebrow. "Freak out over what?" She asked cautiously.

"Where…where do you stand on having more children?"

Bianca swallowed, placing her head back down on his chest so she didn't have to look him in the eye. Having children was something that had never been on the cards for her, she had decided before she fell pregnant with April that she didn't want any because of what she had to go through as a child but then she had fallen pregnant and had April. Things were different now. She loved the daughter she had but had never been open to having more children with Liam, he had forced her into something she hadn't wanted and then she had lost the baby.
She closed her eyes, her hand falling over her stomach. Nevaeh. Her daughter, the one she had never gotten to know. If she had a choice now, she wouldn't have been so angry at the thought of having another child.
Darcy had helped to fill a gap in some ways. Not replace Nevaeh but to show her that it was possible to love more than one child. And she did love Darcy; the cheeky little girl had brought her a lot of joy over the past months.

"Bianca" Heath whispered her name when he noticed she had gone quiet. The wetness feeling on his bare chest were tears or at least he assumed they were. "You're crying, baby"

Bianca opened her eyes, wiping away the wetness on her cheeks, she hadn't even realised she had been crying. "I didn't realise" She murmured as she glanced back at him. "I never wanted to have any more children after April and then I did fall pregnant to Liam and all I felt was resentment. No one could understand how much I hated myself for resenting the baby I lost. But Darcy, she opened my eyes to love again. She showed me it was possible to fall in love with another child and one day…" She pursued her lips and looked at Heath in the eyes. "One day I will be ready to have another child. Not right now though"

Heath kissed the top of her head. "Never should you hate yourself. You love your little girl and she knows that. She's watching over you and April now"

Bianca blinked back the tears that were forming in her eyes. "I love you"

"I love you too Bee"

^..^

Well, what are your thoughts? Read & Review?! Please.
I have one more update for you today, this one was about Bianca and Heath so next up is Chax.