Hal awoke to the sound of Tom's strong voice shouting his name.

"Hal, Hal, wake up mate."

Hal blearily opened his eyes and saw Tom staring back at him.

"W-What are you doing in here?" He muttered grogily.

"You gotta come downstairs, there's one o' those ladies from social services outside, she probably wants to talk about Eve."

"Alright, I'll be down in just a moment, I need to get dressed."

Tom nodded vigirously and sped out of the room and stomped down the stairs as Hal climbed out of his bed and began to pull his clothes on.

Tom opened both of the doors and welcomed the woman in.

"Please, do come in." He said in a strangely robotic voice, born from months of having Annie speak through him to visitors.

She followed him through to the living room and accepted his invitation to sit down.

" My name is Alice Johnson and I work for social services. I have been sent here on some rather important business involving yourself, Mr Mcnair, im afraid we have had some complaints from neighbours about you. I am to believe that you have a daughter?"

"Yeah. Eve."

"Well, I have been told that at certain times, some very strange noises have been coming from this house and it appears that some of the residents of this street are worried about the safety of your child.I don't suppose that you could give any sort of explaination for these strange happenings?"

"That would be Tom, he can get very loud on some nights."

Both Tom and Alice turned to see Hal standing in the doorway, however, only Tom noticed the pattern he was tapping out on the doorframe.

"I'm sorry, but might you be?"

"My name is Hal Yorke, I am Eve's father." Hal crossed the room and held out his hand. She took it, looking rather bewildered.

"I thought that was the childs father."

"I am!"

Alice's eyes widened in realisation and her cheeks flushed as she remembered Hal's earlier comment. Hal rolled his eyes.

"Oh, I am sorry, I didn't realise that she was adopted."

"She isn't, a friend of ours agreed to be a surrogate."

"Of course, and, where is...Eve?"

"She is with her birth mother, An..nabel, we felt it was important for her to grow up knowing her real mother." Hal explained fluidly.

"O-of course, well since I am here, may I take a look around your home, just to make sure that everything is in order."

"Indeed, Miss Johnson, would you like a cup of tea? I am so sorry that you have not been offered one already. Tom why have you not made this lovely young lady a cup of tea?" Alice blushed scarlett again.

"Oh, yeah, A'right, sorreh." Tom retreaded to the kitchen as Hal led Alice upstairs

Hal showed Alice the multitude of rooms in the house, the majority of which were empty, before he came to Tom's room. He opened the door and ushered Alice inside.

"This is Tom's room, well, where he keeps all of his stuff anyway. He doesn't sleep here, of course. It's the one room in the house that I'm not allowed to clean."

"If he doesn't sleep here, why is there a bed?" She said, slightly suspiciously

"It.. came with the house."hal's voice had deepened slightly and Alice dropped the subject.

Hal turned to leave the room and Alice followed as he entered his own.

"this is mine ...and Tom's room."

" Much cleaner. I must say, you two seem to be complete opposites, how do you stand it?"

"I suppose that we do annoy each other in some ways but we also care for one another which makes it bearable." Hal seemed surprised at the words that had come out of his own mouth.

"Awww, well, that's nice, how a relationship should be. Well, I think this house it perfectly fine and safe for the baby, it certainly very clean, though the décor leaves much to be desired. I can also see that she has very caring parents who will look after her."

"Thank you, we most certainly will."

Later that evening, as Alice lay in her bed, memories of her day kept her very much awake. There was something strange about that house and the men who lived there. Fathers to a child who was nowhere to be seen, Lovers, with separate rooms and the dangerous tone that had taken over Hal Yorke's voice when she seemed just the slightest bit suspicious.

Yes, there was something very wrong about that house, something very wrong indeed.