Arnold felt lonely back in his quarters; Kryten had cleared up the mess and dried his discs. Arnold sat on his bed with his head in his hands, as he lifted his head he saw Chloë's bed, the lovely pink duvet that Kryten had made for her just lay there. Arnold grabbed it and buried his head in it, her smell was all around him, he loved Chloë's smell, and it was his favourite smell. Chloë's smell always made him smile.
It was four weeks before Kriss let Arnold have Chloë on his own again. Arnold was so pleased. He had missed having Chloë and Chloë had missed seeing him.
"Will you look after Chloë when I have Alicia-May?" Kriss asked Arnold
"Of course" he told her "would you like me to have Llewey and Jim-Bexley too?"
"No, it's okay, but thanks for the offer"
"Okay, if you need me to have them then let me know
"Okay"
"Who's having them for you?"
"Cat is going to have Llewey and Kryten's going to have Jim-Bexley"
"If you were to have another boy, what would you call him?"
"Theo"
"Oh, that's a lovely name"
"Why do you ask?"
"I always wanted a son"
"Oh, Arnold I'm sorry"
"I love Chloë, she's wonderful, but I'd really like a little boy to go with her, I thought we'd have another one, once Chloë was born I was like 'right the next one's going to be a boy' you've got two now you're so lucky"
"The boys aren't easy"
"Neither was Chloë"
"She was easier than Jim-Bexley is"
"What about Llewey" Arnold asked
"He's just like Chloë was, but Jim-Bexley is harder" Kriss told him
"Look" Arnold began "let me have the boys for you tomorrow, you and Dave can have the whole day together"
Kriss couldn't believe her ears "Are you sure?" she asked him
"Yeah, if I need you I'll come and find you"
Kriss smiled "thank you" she said, "I'll give you them at breakfast tomorrow"
"Chloë" Arnold called "come and say goodbye to Mummy"
"Bye Mummy" Chloë sang as they hugged "I love you"
"I love you too darling" Kriss gave her a kiss.
Kriss went back to her quarters. Dave was sitting on his bed reading an old Zero Gravity Football Magazine; she leant against the doorframe and listened to what Dave was saying.
"Jim-Bexley" he called "Jim-Bexley, come to daddy" Dave showed him a picture in the magazine "this is Jim Bexley Speed, we called you Jim-Bexley because that's his name!"
"Dave" Kriss made him jump "he's eighteen months old, he doesn't understand you"
"Sure he does, don't you mate?"
Jim-Bexley smiled at him
"Jim-Bexley, can Mummy have a hug?" Jim-Bexley went and hugged her, Kriss kissed his hair "Llewey you too" Llewey did the same and Kriss kissed his hair. "Daddy, you too"
Dave gave Kriss the biggest hug ever "I love you Mummy"
"Oh I didn't tell you" Kriss realised "Arnold's offered to have Llewey and Jim-Bexley for us tomorrow"
"Why, that's not like Rimmer" Dave answered
"I know, it's so we can have some time together"
"Oh" Dave seemed cautious
"Are you okay with that?"
"Yeah"
"Good" Kriss smiled "Dave, I love you"
Kriss passed all the things that Arnold would need for Llewey and Jim-Bexley to him
"Are you sure you're okay with this?" Kriss asked him
"Sure" he told her "it'll be nice to have boys for a change"
"Chloë, come give Mummy a kiss" Kriss called to Chloë and kissed her "now you Llewey" she hugged and kissed Llewey "Jim-Bexley" she hugged and kissed him too.
That day went well, so well that they made it a permanent arrangement, once a month Arnold would have Chloë, Llewey and Jim-Bexley all day and overnight so that Kriss and Dave could have some time together.