Dave

Dinner and a show with Jamie was both the perfect way to celebrate her birthday and to wind up the working year. What sucked however was saying goodbye at the airport the next day with Eli bawling his eyes out as it sunk in that he wouldn't see me until after Christmas.

"We meant to have Christmas together I told Santa I was going to be with you. What if he leaves all my presents there?"

"I'll take you to see him again and you can tell him that you'll be at home," Jamie said rubbing her son's back. While we were on the road the three of us were like a family and saying goodbye was always hard.

"I have an idea, how about we have our own little Christmas right here? I was going to wait until I saw you next year but why not now?" I asked reaching into my carry-on and pulling out a wrapped gift for the young boy.

"Dave…" Jamie started but I held out my hand to stop her objections before pulling out a smaller gift to hand to her. When I found out that my kids were going to be spending Christmas with me I planned that I would give Jamie and Eli their gifts at the airport. Eli looked at his mother hopefully,

"Yes you can open it," she sighed barely even looking at her son, she was too busy examining the small box that held her present.

"Oh wow, thank you Davie!" Eli cried returning to my lap once he'd finished opening his present.

"What did you get Eli?"

"A wressling cossume! And Davie and Mark and Glen!" Eli cried out trying to hold up his new costume and action figures at the same time but failing miserably.

"Can I put it on?"

"Ah why not wait until you get home buddy? Then you can get your mom to send me a photo." I was glad he liked his present but the real one was waiting for him at home. With Jamie's permission I organised for his room to get a Go Diego Go make over including drapes, play table and bedding. The young boy was obsessed with the show and I hoped that having his room decked out like it would help him to sleep in his own bed. That is if he didn't blend into the walls when he got home as he was already wearing a Diego Animal rescue long sleeved shirt and Diego Camo pants.

"Are you going to open your present?" I asked turning my attention to Jamie who was still fiddling with the box I had given her.

"Yea mommy, open it!" Ah the joy of 3 year old, they'll get on any bandwagon. She looked at me then at Eli I could see that she was uncertain about it.

"Do I have to do it for you?" Eli asked,

"No thank you I can do it myself," she replied and I couldn't help but smirk. Slowly she unwrapped the box and opened it to discover a simple gold chain.

"Wow it's beautiful"

"I noticed last week that you'd stopped wearing you're chain which meant you weren't wearing your cross or key anymore. I asked Eli and he said it was broken so I figured you needed a new one," I smiled as Jamie took out her purse and found her cross and 21st key before threading them onto the chain.

"Thank you" she whispered as I took the chain out of her hand standing up so that I could put it around her neck. Once the chain was on she turned wrapping her arms around me a move which I automatically copied.

"You're too good to us," Jamie whispered as her head rested against my chest.

"I can't help it," I replied catching myself before I said those three immortal words, I love you, I wasn't ready to say them yet even though I knew it with all my heart. Just because I knew something didn't mean that I was ready to admit it.

"MOMMY!" Eli cried out reminding me that we weren't alone, we were in fact in the middle of an airport waiting for our flights.

"Can I give Davie his present?"

"I posted your main present but Eli insisted on giving you one today," Jamie whispered and I couldn't resist leaning down to kiss gently kiss her.

"HERE DAVIE!" Eli announced once more finally forcing us apart. I looked down at the boy to see that he was proudly holding up a roughly wrapped package.

"Thank you buddy," I took the parcel from the boy.

"OPEN IT"

"Alright, alright," I laughed. I ensured to take care unwrapping the gift but obviously took too long as Eli reached up and ripped most of the paper off in one go revealing a stuffed elephant.

"Now we both have one!" Eli announced proudly holding up the elephant he'd had since he was born.

"If you lonely you give him a hug and he'll make you feel better," I felt like crying it was such a generous thought from the boy.

"You know what buddy? This is one of the best presents I've ever received I'm going to keep this guy on me all the time"

"YAY! Mummy has one too but hers is smaller than yours and mine is smaller too… But that's cause you're biggest and I'm littlest," Eli announced proudly. He was grinning ear to ear clearly proud as punch at my reaction. At his statement a voice came over the speaker announcing Jamie and Eli's flight was now boarding. I picked up Eli before wrapping my spare arm around Jamie pulling her close while I was going to be with my daughters for Christmas it was still going to be extremely hard without Eli and Jamie. I leant down and kissed Jamie again,

"Thank you"

"For what?" I asked confused as to why she was thanking me for a simple kiss.

"For being here, for loving Eli, for just being so good to us"

"No problem" I smirked kissing her again and hugging Eli tighter as he began to cry.

"Look at your mom for me okay?" I kissed Eli's forehead and he nodded slightly.

I walked the two to their gate and watched them board their plane before heading across to the other side of the terminal to wait for my own flight. When I'd been with Jamie and Eli there hadn't seemed to have been any fans bothering me. I guess they realised that it wasn't a good time to ask me for autographs. However the second I headed for my own gate in the American Airlines part of the airport, Jamie and Eli were flying NorthWest, I seemed to be surrounded by fans. I had plenty of time before my flight so I chatted with them and signed autographs for a few minutes.

"I saw you over there earlier you were with a woman and a little boy. Mom said I couldn't talk to you while you were with them. Who are they?" A young boy around the age of 8 asked.

"Can you keep a secret?" I asked acting as though I was about to let him in on the biggest secret in the world when I knew most fan sites had already told everyone. The boys eyes opened wide and he nodded ready to take on the task of secret keeper. I knelt down to his level and cupped my hand over his ear,

"They're two very special people. That's my girlfriend and her son"

"Really?"

"Yep and I miss them already?"

"Do you love them?" He asked ensuring to whisper. I looked around and leant in again,

"This is a REALLY big secret are you sure that you can keep it?"

"Yea"

"They don't even know the answer"

"I promise I won't tell"

"Yes I do love them," I smiled at the boy whispering in his ear, I couldn't believe that I had said it out loud I finally admitted it to someone and it just happened to be a total stranger. He just looked up at me and his jaw dropped.

"Do you want an autograph?" I asked knowing that I'd stunned all questions out of him, he just nodded in answer so I got his name and signed a piece of paper. I watched as he ran back to his mother who automatically asked him what we'd been talking about the boy was quite proud to say that he wasn't allowed to tell because it was a secret.

Aside from a two hour delay the flight home was pretty uneventful and I spent the time hugging the elephant Eli had given me. I wanted to call Jamie when I got home but ended up being short on time and by the time I was able to slow down my daughters were arriving.

"GIRLS! It's great to see you" I said hugging each daughter,

"Have you eaten?"

"No," Hailey muttered,

"Well why don't you put your bags in your room and we can head out and get some food. What do you feel like?"

"Pizza!"

"Steak"

"Chinese," great my girl's all wanted something different for dinner how would I solve that problem?

"Okay we'll go to the food court in the mall then perhaps we can catch a movie"

"Yea sure whatever," this was going to be hard, I had to break through the wall that they'd put up.

"From tomorrow night we'll eat at home"

"You can't cook dad"

"Jamie's been teaching me, plus I hear that you three can all cook up a storm." I chose to ignore the synchronised eye roll courtesy of my daughters.

"Alright take your bags upstairs, hey Rach why don't you have your car?" I added as an afterthought

"Tyson decided that I didn't need it while I was here"

"She got caught coming in past curfew… TWICE!" Mel laughed as she raced up the stairs followed by her now angry sister.

Dinner had to have been one of the most awkward events that I had ever experienced. Rachel was still pissed off at Mel so she spent the meal in silence glaring at her youngest sister. Hailey kept her head down playing with her food very little actually making it into her mouth. Mel however was keen to chatter away merrily until Rachel snapped at her to shut up. I tried asking the girls some questions about what they were up to but after Rachel's slight outburst all I could get out of the girls were grunts. Once we finished dinner we headed to the cinema's and settled on seeing Wild Hogs and knowing my girl's would completely close up otherwise I purposely ignored anyone looking for autographs. I didn't care what the gossip sites said tomorrow my girls were way more important than any fan. During the movie I noticed that my girls would let out an occasional laugh at something on screen, while small it was definitely a good sign.

The movie had caused the girls to relax slightly but when we got home they headed straight to their rooms and after sitting in the lounge by myself, not quite sure what to do, for a while I decided to call Jamie.

"Sex Goddess Palace how may I help you?" Alex answered the phone giggling her head off.

"You're not my girlfriend,"

"No I have much better taste."

"Dating Jim is NOT better taste! Where is my girl?"

"Eli woke up she's trying to get him back to sleep. She won't be long but you'll have to talk to me until she gets back"

"Oh joy!" I exaggerated. Alex and I got along quite well but that was mainly due to the fact we spending most the time bagging each other out. "So what trouble do you two have planned for tonight?"

"Jamie's folks are away until tomorrow so we've got a girl's night planned; movies, wine and lots of chocolate."

"Sounds elegant just make sure Jamie doesn't have too much chocolate. I don't want her getting sick again." Despite her serious sweet tooth Jamie wasn't meant to have chocolate as it affected her chronic asthma. Unfortunately the fear of getting sick vary rarely stopped the woman and I'd witnessed an asthma attack on more than one occasion; I was quickly becoming versed in what was to be done. Her son was similar however he wasn't allowed any chocolate however that was due to his severe caffeine allergy. One evening, without thinking, Mark accidentally gave Eli a fun size Milky Way and while he only had a small bit the young boy became quite ill. On another occasion someone had given him a coke and despite Jamie taking it off him before he'd managed to have much more than a sip the evening ended in the emergency room from that point on Jamie ensures that Eli always has an Epi Pen in his bag.

"Aww how cute Davie's all worried"

"Bite me," I replied rolling my eyes not caring about how lame the comeback was.

"EW! No way! Who knows what I'd catch! JAMIE! Lover boys on the phone," I heard Alex turn away and address my girlfriend.

"Then give me the phone"

"Do I have to?" I heard Alex whine before another phone began to ring in the background, "THAT'S JIM! Here," Alex cried before I heard the distinct sound of the phone being handed to Jamie.

"Hey," my girlfriend's breathtaking voice came over the speaker and my heart began to melt.

"Hey gorgeous, you know that best friend of yours is absolutely NUTS"

"Yea but like I've said before she's part of the package, it's either the four of us or none of us," I could hear Jamie's smirk over the phone as she spoke about Alex, Jimmy, Eli and herself.

"Hmm… Can I get back to you on that one?"

"Nope its now or never lover boy," Jamie used her best friend's favourite nick name for me and I couldn't help but roll my eyes.

"Alright! I guess I'll have to take you all then. How are you?" I asked ready to change the subject.

"Not bad. Oh my gosh! If Eli didn't love you before he certainly loves you now he spent the rest of the day in his room not knowing what to do first. Then Jimmy saw it and he started begging Alex to do the same in his room, those boys crack me up sometimes," I found myself laughing along with Jamie as I tried to picture the boy's reactions.

"Dad?" A small voice asked, I hadn't even heard the door open but when I looked up my youngest was standing there.

"Hey Jamie I've got company. You have a good night of movies, wine and chocolate and I'll call you tomorrow night."

A/N: There wont be any more updates until July, I'm finishing university, working and getting ready to move to America.