77 Harry's POV

Tom's arm nearly got ripped off, the way Buzz was pulling him onto the field. He didn't seem to mind much, looking more like he was trying to work something out in his mind, absently letting his son pull him.

"Field! Field! Field! Field!" Buzz was chanting, "Tree!" he pulled his dad towards the fallen tree on the right hand side, looking up at it in fascination.

Even though the trunk had fallen down years ago, it hadn't moved, or decayed in any way, so there was a still clearly defined bend in it, perfect to sit on, or under for that matter. It would have to be under for today, as Buzz was far too short to climb up it, or to sit up there without very careful supervision.

"Yeah Buzz, it's a bit tree, want to sit underneath it?" Danny asked, bending to the boys height.

"Yeah!" Buzz grinned, sitting down and yanking Tom with him. I felt slightly sorry for my friend in some ways, that did not look like fun. Not that he was really noticing, still in his own head, but still.

I laid down the blanket, encouraging Buzz to sit on that, before handing out the food Tom had packed. He'd thought of everything really. Strawberries, grapes, bananas, apples, sandwiches (ham and cheese, at our recommendation, after he had asked for it), and five mini sausage rolls.

We all tucked in, talking amongst ourselves, laughing when Buzz shouted out his observations of the world around him. it generally involved him pointing out insects and various animals roaming around the woods some way off, all of it absolutely fascinating to him. I wondered briefly if he'd ever been out here before, or been taken to any sort of open space that wasn't his own garden. Obviously, Tom hadn't been able to go with him, but had his wife taken Buzz out somewhere? Had she ever taken him out on trips like this, or taken joy in his fascination of the world?

The way he was lapping up the attention, it seemed like it wasn't likely. But then again, weren't all children like this? they loved attention, and having their questions answered, and being played with. Was this just Buzz being a child, or making up for all the lack of attention he'd had during the time he had spent with his mother?

I didn't know, and wasn't sure I wanted to know either. which seemed to be a running theme with us at the moment. None of us knew anything, and didn't particularly want to know all the terrible details of what went on behind the closed doors of the Fletcher house. Maybe we should have known more, tried to find out more, so we had some idea of why Tom was like he was...

Shaking myself out of it, I went back to concentrating on what was going on around us. Buzz had crawled into Tom's lap, letting the banana he had smeared across his face be cleaned up. in between, he was talking about the tree, looking over at it longingly.

"I think someone wants to explore the tree some more." I commented, trying to make it sound like I wasn't trying to angle for Tom to supervise Buzz.

"It's, it's a bit high." Tom looked at it worriedly, apparently back in the room.

"He'll be fine as long as someone holds him, I reckon." Dougie encouraged, "I've done it before with my cousins, when they were his age. As long as you hold them, then they're fine."

"Dada, tree please!" Buzz looked up pleadingly at Tom, but he still didn't look so sure.

"Go on, let him explore a bit. He'll enjoy it." Danny nudged Tom very gently in the shoulder.

"And we'll all still be here, so he'll be completely safe." I didn't want to make it sound like Tom wasn't capable of doing such a simple thing, but I wanted him to feel safe in the situation, like he had back up.

Tom thought for a few seconds, glancing between the tree and his son repeatedly, while Buzz reached out for the branches lower to the ground.

"Just the lower bits, for now." Tom gave in, holding Buzz closer to the tree.

Progress, it was possible.