Three Years Later:

"Mum, can I get ice cream?" asked Nicky, jiggling on his seat.

Sylvia grinned and looked across at her mate, who was sitting next to her on the bench. "What do you think, Perry?"

"I think it's such a hot day we could all do with ice creams," Perry grinned, fanning himself with a piece of paper. "Seriously, who's in charge of the sun today? It's like a hundred degrees out here."

Sylvia looked at him in confusion for a minute before laughing. "Three years I've lived in this country and I still haven't become used to using Fahrenheit instead of Celsius."

"If it was a hundred degrees Celsius, we'd have a serious problem," Perry said lazily.

"Technically we'd all be dead at like sixty Celsius," Sylvia said. "So technically there wouldn't be anyone left by the time it got to a hundred."

"This is a rather morbid conversation," Perry remarked.

"Yes, yes it is. How about those ice creams, then?"

Perry shot Sylvia a look. "Okay, but whoever doesn't get them pays for them."

Sylvia pretended to get up. "Nah, not worth it."

She handed a twenty dollar bill to Perry, who grinned and headed off.

"Why don't you go with your father and choose which ice cream you want?" Sylvia suggested to Nicky, who leapt off the bench.

"Okay!" He ran off to catch up with Perry.

All of a sudden, Sylvia heard a small cry. She reached into the platypus-sized baby stroller and quickly found which of the twins was crying.

"C'mere, Becca," she said fondly, stroking the one-month-old platypus. "You know, I met your father when Nicky was your age."

Becca stopped crying and looked up at Sylvia with adorable brown eyes. "Nacky," she said.

Sylvia had just begun cooing over how cute Becca was when the baby's twin started crying too. She placed Becca in the crook of her left arm and fished the other twin out of the stroller and held her in the crook of her other arm. She gently rocked both twins. Becca stayed silent but Millie didn't stop crying, so Sylvia carefully put Becca back in her stroller and focused all her efforts on calming Millie. It reminded her of when Nicky cried when he was their age…

She got an idea.

Come stop your crying, it will be all right

Just take my hand, hold it tight

I will protect you from all around you

I will be here, don't you cry.

Just like it had on Nicky three years ago, it worked. Millie stopped crying before the second line and was asleep by the fourth. Sylvia smiled and put Millie back in the stroller.

Perry and Nicky came back, holding ice creams. Nicky had what looked like toffee and Perry was holding two: chocolate and mint. He handed the chocolate one to Sylvia, who grinned. "You remembered I liked chocolate, then?"

Perry nodded but Nicky said proudly, "I had to tell him! He was going to choose your least favourite for you."

Sylvia burst out laughing as Perry gave Nicky a glare. "Thanks, Nick."

"You're welcome, Dad!"

Perry quickly grabbed Nicky before he could get away and began tickling him. Nicky squealed. "No-no-no-no-no!" he screamed, giggling madly.

"All right, calm down," Sylvia laughed, wrestling Nicky away from Perry. She settled her son on her lap as he recovered from the tickling. "Perry, why don't you give Becca and Millie a taste of ice cream?"

"Aren't they too young?" Perry asked.

"They're almost onto solid foods now," Sylvia replied. "Like Nicky was at this age."

As Perry took Becca and Millie out of their stroller, he smiled. "I can't believe it's been three years since we met."

"I know, right?" Sylvia also smiled. "It seems like only a few weeks ago that I sang You Are Not Alone for you."

Perry paused for a minute, gently jiggling the twins. "It was the four year anniversary of Edith's death two days ago."

"Really?" Sylvia frowned. "Why didn't you tell me?"

"I didn't want to burden you guys with it," Perry replied. "I mean, I've moved on. I have a new family now."

"That doesn't mean you can't still miss her," Sylvia pointed out. "She was your first love. Do you still miss her?"

Perry paused again, thinking. "Sometimes," he replied eventually. "When I'm alone, I sometimes think about her and what would have happened if she hadn't died." He smiled again. "But when I'm with you, everything's better. You're my new family."

Nicky scrambled off Sylvia's lap and hugged Perry. "You may not be my biological father but I consider you to be my only daddy," he said sincerely.

Perry hugged his son back. "And you may not be my biological son, but I consider you to be my only son."

"Would you have said that if one of the twins was a boy?" asked Nicky.

"Of course not. If one of the twins was a boy, you wouldn't be my only son."

"What about Jimmy?" asked Sylvia quietly.

Nicky sat between Sylvia and Perry as the latter pondered his answer. "Well, we never found his body," he said eventually. "But…he can't have survived. If he were alive, he would be my son too. But he isn't, and nothing can change that." He smiled and ruffled Nicky's head. "I'm happy to be stuck with you."

Nicky stuck his tongue out at Perry, who did it back at him.

"Real mature," snickered Sylvia. "Anyway, it's time we got back. Your father's cooking tonight."

"I am?"

"You are now."

Sylvia stood up and began pushing the stroller away. Perry followed, holding Nicky's little paw.

Three and a half years ago, Perry wouldn't have thought he was capable of such happiness again. But because Sylvia just hadn't given up on him, he now had two beautiful new daughters of his very own, plus Nicky.

And Sylvia. The girl who had taught him that he wasn't alone.

That truly was how to heal a broken heart.

…

Last chapter over! Thank you to everyone who has ever read this story and who will read this story in the future. Plans for a sequel are in the works but I'm going to focus more on my other stories for now.