The day was amazing. True to her word, Chey was extraordinarily well behaved, mostly due to the fact that she was so in awe of everything that she was too distracted to play up. From the monorail onwards, every single thing held her attention.

They started the day by heading straight for Enchanted Tales with Belle immediately after breakfast. Chey was stunned when the mirror became a door and they were able to pass through. Even Sam, who'd thought he was going to have to simply grin and endure such a super princess experience, was quickly given armor in order to play a marching a character, protecting everyone. Chey was delighted to be picked to play Philippe the horse, her love of animals leading her to perform perfectly although Sam was sure he did a pretty good job with his marching too!

Receiving her gift and having her photograph with Belle was one of many treats for Chey that day. She spent the day holding hands with one or other parent and often both while Sam developed a new anxiety of letting her out of his sight or touch in crowded places. This wasn't like the small petting farm when he'd thought it wasn't an issue and it became clearer and clearer that he definitely had a lot to learn about being around children.

Mercedes was amazed by Sam. Yet again he was like another person. She finally understood why sometimes people didn't recognize him. Being dragged around Disney by a six year old, he suddenly no longer looked like a multimillionaire. He didn't have that polished look that Stevie always did. He just was simply like a normal slightly better looking than average man, having fun with his family. And they definitely were having fun. She could feel Sam's influence getting them through the day. Far more thought and planning had gone into this than she'd expected. For lunch they went to Cinderella's Royal Table. She knew he had to have pulled some strings for that because not only was it one of the most expensive in the park, it was also usually booked weeks if not months in advance, especially at this time of year. And yet somehow they were sat, not just with a meal, but with a balloon in the middle of their table and a beautiful Tiara on Chey's head. For once in her life, Chey had been almost speechless with excitement. Entering the castle to meet the princesses, climbing the red carpeted spiral staircase and sitting on the throne like seats was almost too much for her to bear. The icing on the cake was when they literally were brought out an exquisite Princess Tiana cake. It made her think about what Sam had said weeks before about this trip being his belated birthday gift.

Chey looked at the confection with awe and seemed to be on the same wavelength as Mercedes. "Mommy is it my birthday?"

Sam grinned as Mercedes shook her head. "No baby. You already had your birthday. But daddy couldn't be there and he didn't get to have any of your special cake so we're having this special one with him today."

"Is that why there's no candles?"

"I guess so!" How on earth was she supposed to answer that?

Chey turned to Sam. "You missed my cake. It had princess Tiana too. It was chocolate and vanilla and I had two pieces but mommy doesn't know." She shot a worried look at Mercedes, "But mommy can't tell me off now because the cake is all gone!"

Mercedes simply smiled. Trust Chey to worry about something like that!

"Are we going to eat the cake now?"

Sam shook his head. "You're going to take the cake home and eat it another time. Maybe you can share it with your friend Emma?"

Chey thought about it then shook her head. "Emma can only eat special cake because she has algae."

Sam frowned, "Algae?"

"Cake makes her sick!"

"Allergy!" Mercedes corrected with a smile, wondering when on earth Chey had even learned the word algae. "Emma has a gluten intolerance."

Sam chuckled at the exchange. "Well I guess you'll have to share it with mommy and nana then." The cake remained in the middle of the table as they indulged in a chocolate slipper instead.

The day continued to be amazing and Mercedes suspected that Sam was enjoying himself even more than Chey. Rides, shows, food and snacks… the whole Disney Magic Kingdom experience and yet they felt that they had barely scratched the surface. One weekend was never really going to be enough. It was clear to see that Sam was going to be one of those fathers who would spoil his child at every opportunity. She didn't mind him spoiling her because quite frankly the child deserved it, but she had to make sure it wouldn't end up making her a spoiled brat with no friends.

By the time they finally returned to the villa to put Chey to bed they were all exhausted.

"Are you hungry?" Mercedes was caught out by Sam's question as they left the bedroom after Chey's story.

"Not really. Are you?"

He hesitated. "It doesn't matter."

"Yes it does Sam. You asked for a reason. If you want something then have it."

He paused. "I was just wondered if you wanted to go down to the restaurant and have a meal. The portions at lunch were miniscule. The hotel can provide someone to be here with Chey while she sleeps. It only takes a phone call."

Despite the explanation she was still taken aback. "Dinner? You mean like just the two of us."

"Yep. Dinner. You know, that meal you eat later in the day to stop you from going to bed hungry."

He shot her a lopsided smile and she eyed him warily. "Just you and me dinner?"

"Yeah. We don't really get to have much 'you and me' time. We're definitely good friends now but I still think we have a lot to learn about each other. I add to my list of twenty questions every week! Plus I want to talk about Chey. You have to teach me how to not let her walk all over me!"

Her eyebrow was still raised as she remained stuck on the initial part of the statement involving 'you and me' time. "So you want to take me to dinner…"

"Well yeah! People have to eat right?"

"They do. But me you and a posh restaurant dinner sounds… Well it sounds a lot like a date and I don't want to be stepping on your woman's toes!"

Sam grinned and shot her an expression that she really couldn't read. "It's not that kind of a date. It's just, this trip is for Chey, and she's having fun, but there's no reason why you can't have a good time yourself. Not counting lunch, when was the last time you went out for a nice meal? You now have all this money and I know that unlike most you won't spend it on yourself."

Mercedes had to think honestly and realized that her birthday week was the last time she'd been out for anything posher than lunch, coffee or Al's Burger. Old habits die hard.

"I'm not sure Sam…"

"Look, I'm not going to pressure you into something you don't want to do. I'm just putting it out there. We've come all this way. The hotel is designed so that you can be free to do your own things in the evening when the kids are asleep. Treat yourself to something nice."

"I did that last night with my bath and the wine."

"You have to think bigger than that Mercedes! Parenting is hard work and you shouldn't feel guilty for taking a break."

"No Sam, parenting is a responsibility and I have no intention of shirking it!"

He shook his head slowly. "Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying you should. We spent the whole day with our child, giving her our undivided attention. Now she's asleep it's perfectly fine and reasonable to have some grown up time without being a bad parent."

"I understand that. But…" she narrowed her eyes at him, "Are you just saying all of this because you're hungry and want something to eat?"

Sam felt infuriated. He wanted to do something nice for her but she always tried to deflect it. "Yes I want to eat. But I more importantly don't want to eat alone. And I think it would be nice for us to just talk sometimes. To have a chat without there being some big agenda behind it. Last night I abandoned you because of work. Let me make up for it tonight."

She sighed and he knew that she could sense what he was trying to do. "Okay. How about this for an idea? I really don't feel like eating anything else tonight and I don't really eat this late. So how about you order yourself something from room service and instead of me watching you eat something that'll inevitably be laden with calories, I'll go and have another relaxing bath to unwind and afterwards we can open a bottle of wine and have our very own lazy pajama party. Then tomorrow, I'll make sure that I eat less so that we can go to the restaurant and I can make the most of it."

Sam thought of it for a moment before breaking out into a grin which was far too enthusiastic for her liking. "Wine and pajamas? I feel like I've been invited to a girlie sleepover! Is it true these things consist solely of girls in skimpy nightwear having slow motion pillow fights and giggling?"

No wonder he looked so happy about the idea! Mercedes rolled her eyes. "Only in male fantasies! I'll be in my pajamas and a robe just like I was this morning and my wine will be one small glass because I don't want too many calories. You'll sit on one end of the couch and I'll sit on the other because for some stupid reason I have decided to trust your ass. Don't make me regret it!"

He smirked at her. "I'm a perfect gentleman!"

She smiled back at him, "Really?"

"Really. So much so that I'll confess that it wasn't until this morning that I noticed my ensuite has a very decent whirlpool bath which you're welcome to use if you want your relax to be extra special. I'll be out here catching up on my emails so you'll have your privacy."

She thanked him and he watched as she disappeared into her room to grab her things.