5 years Later:
"Daddy!" Sophie ran across the park and into Mike's arms
"There's my little Jellybean" he lifted her into his arms swinging her around
"Your squishing me" she laughed trying to wriggle free
"Oh it's so good too see you kiddo" he moved his head back to take a look at his little girl
"You saw me a week ago" she placed a hand against his beard
"A week was too long without one of your teddy-bear hugs" he hugged her again resting his hand behind her head
"Can I go play?" she pulled back pointing to the slide
"Ten minutes then we should head off" he placed her down to stand when Nikki moved towards them
"Okay!" Sophie giggled before running off
"Kate working?" he looked at her sadly
"She… she figured it was better this way, if I dropped Soph off"
"Nikki this is ridiculous it's been a month"
"How do expect her to feel Mike?"
"I didn't mean…" he sighed sitting down on the small bench
"Here, Kate said she'll pick Soph up from school on Friday" Nikki placed the backpack and a small bag next to him
"She can't avoid me forever" he looked up at her
"You're the one who did this Mike, you made your bed now you have to sleep in it"
"Yeah…"
"I've got to go but… Soph she's your priority at the moment" she moved back
"Nikki?" he arose
"Yep?"
"Does… is there still a chance she'll come home?" he asked hopeful
"I.. I don't know" she smiled sadly before making her way back to the car,
"Come on Jellybean time to head off" he picked up her stuff
"Can we stay a little longer?" she ran over to him
"Not this time" he looked at her sadly when she grabbed her bigger hand in his
"I don't like this…" she sighed as they began walking towards the car
"Jellybean.."
"Why can't we come back home? Why do we have to stay with Auntie Nikki"
"Because your Daddy screwed things up" he stopped in surprise when Sophie pulled her hand back
"But you can fix it right?"
"Soph…" he turned back to her moving to knell he placed her bags down
"Don't you love us anymore?" she teared up
"Of course I do Jellybean this has nothing to do with that, your Mother and I… we're just going through a bit of separation to work through things"
"Are you going to get divorced?"
"How.. how do you know what that word means?" he raised an eyebrow at her
"Mummy was talking about it with Uncle Jellyfish"
"Ah he's hanging around is he?" he sighed
"He's doing kissy face with Auntie Bec, and when he's not doing that he stays with us" she shrugged
"Yes they do that a lot don't they" he grinned brushing a bit of dirt off her chin
"But you and Mummy don't.. not anymore" her green/blue eyes met his
"No.. but hopefully I can change that very soon" he pushed a piece of her blonde hair behind her ear that had fallen out from her braid
"Can we get some ice cream?" her small lips perked into a grin
"Absolutely" he nodded,
smiling softly when she ran off towards the car he picked up her bags and quickly followed behind her.
'It'd been a normal day,
like any other really except for Sophie running a high temperature after being rushed to hospital with Kate refusing to leave her side even if it was just for a 5-minute break to grab some food,
after 4 hours of tests and waiting for results they were sent home after Sophie was diagnosed with a severe ear infection and given some antibiotics
'Come have some food, she's fine' Mike watched Kate sitting on their bed where Sophie had made herself at home asleep with Fluffy laying against her side
'I'm not leaving her' Kate brushed her fingers through Sophie's blonde hair
'Kate, she's been given antibiotics she's going to be asleep for a while just.. don't run yourself into the round'
'I'm not leaving her' she snapped
'Fine' were his last words that echoed through the house that night Kate annoyed sighed hitting his ears when he slammed the front door behind him,
and that's how he found himself sitting on the patio at the local hours later with a beautiful blonde who wasn't his wife but…
his friend and mother of his 'love child' who was clearly using this fight to her advantage of pulling Mike away from the one woman she despised for having what she wanted- Mike..
"So another fight with Kate? What about this time, the cat sleeping on your White's or her forgetting to cook dinner" she took a sip of her wine
"Soph spent most of the day in hospital…"
"Oh Mike I'm sorry…"
"She's okay just resting but Kate she…" he sighed taking a big gulp of his drink
"You two really do seem to be fighting a lot these days"
"All we ever do is fight, nothing is good enough I can't get Soph's school lunch ready without it being a big deal that I don't cut the crusts off"
"Want to talk about it?"
"To discuss everything that goes wrong between Kate and I, one beer won't be enough" he held up his glass
"I'll get us another round shall I?" she shifted from her chair
"Tah" he nodded finishing the last mouthful in his glass.
...
It had all happened so fast she didn't know what to think,
Nikki had come over to see how Sophie was and offered to watch her straight away when she'd mentioned that Mike stormed off
and she needed to fix it but the sight she walked in on at the local was making her change her mind quick.
Sitting in the same spot four hours later when Mike entered half drunk he flicked on the kitchen light
"Shh" he hissed when the light flickered on
"It's one am" she answered from her plus at the kitchen table
"What are you keeping tabs on me now?" he huffed pulling a beer out of the fridge
"Don't you think you've had enough?" she closed her laptop
"I'm not in the mood Kate" he opened the beer throwing the lid in the sink
"Were you drinking alone?" she arose from her chair
"Can we not, it's been a long night"
"Sure you'd be pretty exhausted"
"Extremely" he took a sip from his beer
"So tell me.." she stepped forward "Did you kiss her or did she kiss you?" she stopped looking across at him
"I…" he paused
"Yeah, you see" she laughed sarcastically "I went to find you, to apologise for being a bitch but when I arrived you were locked in an extremely passionate kiss with Maxine"
"Kate…" he placed his beer on the bench
"Maxine, Mike? Of all people you cheat on me with it's bloody MAXINE WHITE!"
"Nothing happened, it was just a kiss"
"Did you sleep with her?"
"What?"
"You stumble in here at one am, the bar shuts at eleven so where'd you go, what'd you do?" she shrugged
"You.. you honestly think I'd do that to you? Sleep with someone else?" he pointed a finger
"I don't know you don't seem to have a problem kissing someone else" she scoffed
"Kate I love you" he stepped towards her
"But you kissed someone else!" she yelled holding her hand up between them
"Please…"
"Just tell me you… tell me you didn't sleep with her" Kate struggled
"I didn't sleep with her"
"I… how can I believe anything you say after…"
"Because it's me, Kate it was a drunken mistake and as soon as I realised I left"
"How do I know your telling me the truth?" a tear fell down her cheek
"I went to Ryan's I swear, that's where I've been the past two hours" he stepped closer
"You need to leave…" she dropped her head
"Kate, I came home please don't push me away over a silly little mistake"
"That little mistake is what caused you to end up having a 'love child' you always go back to her, how do I know this time is any different"
"Because it's always you, it will always be you"
"I can't do this right now…"
"I'm sorry… please.." he placed his hands on her arms
"You need to leave, I can't be around you not after… please.." she pushed him back
"Kate…" he teared up himself
"Get out of this house" she struggled through the tears
"Please"
"Get out, pack a bag and get out!" she looked up to meet his eyes her hurt plain for him to see
"What about Sophie?"
"Sophie, does not need to be dragged into your Maxine drama"
"Can we at least discuss this?" he reached out for her
"In the morning…"
"Yes?"
"Sophie and I won't be here" she moved past him
"For how long?" he turned to face her again
"I honestly don't know, but tonight… I can't have you here my priority is Sophie"
"Kate…"
"Please Mike, don't.. don't make me ask again" she sighed moving up the hall and entering Sophie's room where Nikki had moved her earlier that night.'
Looking at Sophie through the rear view mirror Mike sighed sadly,
focusing back on the road he began thinking that no matter how much he stuffed up or how much Kate avoided him he knew it was time everything go sorted out and sorted out now;
if not for them then for there little girl who was currently being tossed between two houses 3 days a week and questioning why her Mum and Dad refused to see each other let alone talk about their problems.
(One more or two towards this 'flash forward' and then there'll be another flash forward to a few years later, if that makes sense anyways enjoy)