Chapter 2

Leanne woke up the next morning to silence; normally she would hear Nick playing his music loudly on a Saturday morning. He wouldn't get up until midday but just lay in bed listening to a CD and she would hear Nathan bouncing a ball around the house and dad telling him off.

She walked out of her bedroom. The upstairs of the house was empty and she couldn't hear her dad downstairs.

Whilst making herself some breakfast Leanne thought about last night. She decided to call Nick.

She picked up the hand set and dialled Michael's number.

'Hello?' a female voice answered it was Sara, Michaels wife

'Hi Sara, its Leanne. Is Nick still there?'

'Hi Lea, is everything ok now?' Sara sounded concerned

'It's getting there, sorry to have dragged Uncle Mike away last night. Jamie and josh didn't miss him too much did he?'

'That's ok sweetie, if you ever need to chat, I'm here for you as well. You know girlie stuff.' She giggled

'Thanks Sara, that means a lot.'

'Mike and Nick left about 2 minutes ago, to come back to your place.'

'Ok, thanks. I'll pop round later to see you.'

'I'll look forward to it.'

As she hung up the phone Lincoln came in the side door.

'Hi dad, where have you been?'

'To the shop, dam paper boy missed us out again.' Lincoln rolled his eyes

Leanne nodded.

'Uncle Mike and Nick are on their way back.'

'Yeah, Michael called me earlier. I was thinking of having them round for a family lunch tomorrow. How does that sound?'

Leanne smiled

'That sounds great. I'm going to go and get dressed.'

In the car………….

'Don't worry your dad will have calmed down by now.' Michael looked over at Nick.

'I know, Leanne said he was ok last night after we went.' He nodded

'There you go then.' He smiled

'I can't believe how excited Jamie and Josh were to see me this morning and how did I get roped into taking them to play football tomorrow?' Nick laughed

'They are sneaky little kids and can wrap almost anyone round their little fingers. Sara's becoming wise to it. They have a time-out nearly every day now. They are getting to be a real handful.'

'Poor kids, I used to hate time-outs. Oh well I guess I'll be grounded for a bit anyway, so I can sympathise with them.'

They pulled up outside the house; both took a deep breath and got out of the car.

Nick used his key to open the door.

'Hello, anyone in?' Michael shouted from behind, making him jump.

'Jeez Uncle Mike.' Michael patted him on the shoulder.

'In here.' They heard Lincolns voice coming from the kitchen

'I'm going to put my stuff away.' Nick went upstairs

In the kitchen Lincoln was sat at the counter reading the paper.

'Hey Mike.' He looked up

'How are things?'

'I'm going to sort everything out. Thanks for last night, it really helped to calm the situation down, I was so mad at him, I probably would have done anything.' He sighed

'Try not to be too hard on him, but show him that you care.'

'Cheers mike.' He looked at him with sincerity in his eyes for the first time ever.

'Anyway, I'd better go and sort my kids out; they have probably had 5 time-outs already and are driving Sara crazy.'

Leanne and Nick came down the stairs; Nick had his head down and didn't look at Lincoln.

'Hi Uncle Mike.' Leanne beamed as she went to the fridge.

'Did dad mention to you about tomorrow?'

Michael looked at Lincoln.

'I was just about to.' Lincoln remembered

'Do you, Sara, Jamie and Josh want to come round for a family Lunch tomorrow?'

'Are you hiring caterers?' Michael laughed

'No I'm doing it myself, well with the help of my three wonderful kids.' Lincoln chuckled

'Oh god, I'm defiantly not coming then.'

'Uncle mike' Leanne and Nick both softly punched him in either side.

He laughed.

'Hey' Lincoln frowned

'Ok ok we'll come.'

Lincoln smiled; even Nick looked up at Lincoln and smiled slightly.

'That's settled then.' Lincoln got up and started to make a list of things he needed.

'Uncle Mike, can I get a lift with you? I promised Aunt Sara I'd come and see her.' Leanne asked

'Yeah sure as long as it's ok with your dad?' Michael looked over at Lincoln who was engrossed in a cookery book.

'Yeah that's fine; Nick can come and help me with the shopping.'

Michael smiled 'let's go then, you two have fun.' He winked at Nick

After they left Nick sat down at the table trying to make small talk with his dad.

'What time is Nathan coming back?' he asked

'We are picking him up on the way to the shops.'

'Ok. So he didn't beg to stay a bit longer?' Nick asked

'Yeah but I told him he had to come shopping with us.'

'The police called this morning….' Lincoln said without looking at him.

'What did they say?' nick looked at the floor

'They are giving you a caution; I have to take you to the station later.'

'No fine then?' nick looked surprised.

'No, looks like you got off lightly there.' Lincoln walked over to where he sat.

'You're grounded for a month, no TV, no phone, no video games.' Lincoln picked up his car keys.

'Kind of asked for that didn't I?' nick got up and followed him out of the house.

'Yeah, but at least we get time to sort our problems out with no interruptions.' Lincoln swung his arm round Nick's shoulders.

Nick smiled.

'I don't think the 'no interruptions' bit will last long.' Thinking of his sibling's ability to make noise.

'I can always bribe them to leave us alone.'

They both laughed.