"How was your day?" Ange asked supportively as she entered her daughter's room having returned from her shift. Both her and Chloe were working today, they were picking up a lot of extra shifts due to the hospital being so short of staff. They felt like they both had to pull their weight. They were both as bad as each other though, Ange knew that it was something she had passed on to her daughter.

Kisaiya just shrugged and snuggled more into her duvet.

"Hey, come through to the living room for a bit" Ange commanded. "I've missed you."

Kisaiya just shrugged.

"Have you gotten dressed today?" Ange asked and Kisaiya shrugged again before trying to pull the duvet over the top of her head.

"Kis" Ange said sitting next to the girl. She put her arm around her and allowed Kisaiya to relax into her. Kisaiya sank into her mother's arms. She didn't want to tell her mum what was wrong.

"You know you can speak to me right" Ange tried again and Kisaiya nodded but she was hesitant.

"This isn't like you Kis, we tell each other everything don't we?" Ange said trying to get through to her youngest daughter.

"I don't want you to think I'm being selfish" Kisaiya said wiping the tears that were sneaking down her face.

"I'm your mother, I will never think of you as being selfish especially when it's causing you such an upset. You know fine well I'd be very straight with you if you were turning selfish" Ange said and Kisaiya nodded. She knew her mother was very truthful with her.

"It's just, I'm find it really hard just now" Kisaiya said wiping her eyes again. Ange nodded and turned her daughter closer into her arms.

"What can I do to help you?" Ange asked encouragingly. Kisaiya shrugged.

"It's going to make me be selfish" Kisaiya cried.

"I promise you, it's not. Try speaking to me, baby" Ange encouraged as she rubbed her daughter's back.

"Before it was okay. I had school so it divided the day up more. But now, it's just me all the time. You and Chloe are working so hard but it means I'm at home on my own all day. I know I can go for a walk on my own but then I just panic. I don't like being on my own and then I worry that I haven't locked up or something" Kisaiya tried to explain and Ange nodded.

"I'll speak to Chloe. We can have a look at the rota and make sure we are both only doing one extra shift a week. She can try to spread our days out a bit. I know I can do that as long as I get Chloe's rota" Ange suggested and Kisaiya nodded. That made her feel so much better.

"And for the days that we are both working, hopefully only 2 or 3 days a week, 4 if it's a bad week. Then we can come up with a routine for you to follow. We can find things for you to do to stay busy like a home workout or we can look for a course for you to complete online" Ange suggested and Kisaiya smiled, that sounded like a great idea. She felt better about all this now.

"Mum, did Chloe tell you about Ryan?" Kisaiya asked nervously. Realising that although she was going to speak to her mother on Sunday, her mother had ended up being called into work as an emergency due to staff having to isolate.

"No" Ange asked slightly confused. She was unsure if it was about Kisaiya or Chloe.

"I've been speaking to him online" Kisaiya said playing with a ring on her mother's hand.

"Remember you can't trust everyone you met online" Ange started going off on one.

"No mum, I mean I was speaking to him at school. He's in the year above me, it's just because of COVID, we obviously can't meet up or anything. He's asked me to be his girlfriend" Kisaiya explained, their relationship having deepened slightly since her conversation with Chloe. Ange nodded.

"And what do you think about it?" Ange asked unsure as to how Kisaiya would be with a boy being close to her again. Kisaiya shrugged.

"At least with it being lockdown, we are just speaking online. I'm a bit nervous that when we do get to met up again that he might expect too much from me" Kisaiya admitted.

"It's just important that you are honest with him. I'm not saying you have to tell him about what happened but just make sure that you are clear you want to go slow. You are only 13 as well" Ange said.

"You've been exposed to a lot that people your age don't even know about. Try and not let it worry you" Ange said as she kissed the top of her daughter's head. Kisaiya nodded. She felt better after speaking to her mother. She hadn't even realised she felt bad but it just showed that it was still going around in her brain.

"Arg, that was horrible" Chloe shouted as she entered the house pulling both Ange and Kisaiya from their thoughts as the had drifted into a relaxed silence.

"Get your clothes off, mine are in the washing machine already. Have a shower and then you can tell us all about it" Ange shouted back.

"Shall we order a takeout?" Ange asked Kisaiya and the girl nodded. She actually hadn't eaten all day but she couldn't admit that to her mother.

"Chipper all right?" She asked and Kisaiya agreed. They quickly found out what Chloe wanted before ordering it.

"You okay?" Ange asked as Chloe walked into the living room towel drying her hair. Chloe nodded.

"I'm just so tired" Chloe said as she flopped down into her mother's arms.

"Well about that, I was speaking to Kis, and I really don't think it's good that we are working so many extra shifts and Kis is on her own so much" Ange said.

"But they are short" Chloe defended.

"I know but we need to look after ourselves as well" Ange shot back. Chloe nodded. They jumped when the bell rang and Ange went to get it.

"Chloe, I'm sorry. I told Ange that I was struggling on my own, that's why she is on about you and her doing more shifts. But if you want to do more shifts, it's fine. I'll be okay" Kisaiya explained.

"Oh I didn't realise. Sorry Kis, don't worry about it. Mum's right. I have been doing far too many shifts. I'd rather be off with you than working and extra shift anyway" Chloe said as Ange returned with the chipper.

"God, the kids meal is bigger than the light bites" Ange said as she divided the food up.

"You are never going to eat all that" Ange said looking at Kisaiya's kid's potion.

"I will, I actually haven't had anything but a slice of toast this morning at like 10" Kisaiya said covering her mouth when she realised what she had just said.

"Kisaiya! It is now 9 o'clock at night" Ange shouted.

"I'm going to start making you packed lunches for when I'm at work" Ange decided.

"No mum, that's more work for you" Kisaiya complained.

"Oi, you are my daughter. The two of you and Dom are the only people who matter" Ange said pulling both her daughter's into her arms and kissing them both on the head.