Karen drove Chris back to his place after their little bit of fun in bed.

"Thanks for the lift back."

"My pleasure." She smiled playfully, leaning forward so that she could slide her finger up the side of his neck. "Or should I say…our pleasure?"

He secretly drew in a sigh as he got out his flat's key.

"You don't seem happy."

"No, I am, but…" He looked to her sadly. "I was meant to take Clara out tonight instead of coming round to see you."

She came over slightly staid. "So why didn't you?"

"'Cause I wanted to tell you about her." He explained, his eyes fixed onto hers through the darkness, almost like cats' eyes. "God only knows what she now thinks of me."

"She can't think anything bad of you." Karen reassured him. "Chris, you've done so much for her…you adore her. How can she not feel the same way about you?"

Chris swallowed hard, making it crystal clear to Karen just how affectionate he was towards his little girl.
"I can't tell you how much she means to me." He effusively noted. "That's why when the time comes for me to let her go…"

She nodded in acknowledgement. "…You're going to find it hard to."

"She's the only daughter I have, Karen," he added, "you can see why I feel for her the way I do."

She came closer to him, placing a hand on his arm and squeezing his bicep through his jacket. "You're an incredible person."

He felt a small stab in his chest, but it wasn't a particularly painful sensation. It felt heavier…fuzzier…and foreign. He leant further forward and kissed her on the lips. "So I guess I shall see you tomorrow then."

She smirked, and squeezed the firm muscle again. "Take good care of her now."

He went into the flat after she drove off and he stood in the doorway to Clara's room. He felt something, and he wasn't sure what it was. It didn't feel bad, however…it felt very good, and the heavy fuzzy feeling was still there. Was it welled-up emotion? He still wasn't sure, but he felt that he had to be there for her…all the time. But at her age, was it something she would readily welcome?

He drew in a small sigh, going over to her and perching himself beside her on her bed. He softly drew her long hair back away from her face, allowing it to trail prettily over the blankets. If only there was some sort of sign…

She stirred slightly in amongst the bedclothes, inching into a more relaxed position next to him and sleepily placing a hand on his thigh. That sent shocks up through his hip into his spine. It was unexpected, but…nice.

Clara moved her legs outwards, waking up to find Chris peering down at her from his sitting position by her head. She was glad to realise that the lights that were turned down to a soft dimness didn't give her a headache as she came to. "Dad…?"

"Hey, sweetheart." He placed his nearest hand against her forehead. "How do you feel?"

"Tired, sick and weak." She replied. She closed her eyes as a wave of guilt crashed over her at the thought of what had happened earlier between them. "I'm sorry about what I said earlier."

He shook his head softly. "Don't worry about it – you had every right to be annoyed at me. I made a promise to you and I broke it."

She relaxed as he allowed his thumb to graze against her forehead soothingly. "How did your date go?"

He shrugged. "I only wanted to tell her about you."

"Y-you told her about us?" She made to sit up, only for him to make her lie back down. Even if she felt awake enough to get up, it was hardly at a time either considered to be early.

"Relax," Chris took hold of her shoulder and squeezed her there, "she's fine about it. Everything turned out ok."

Clara shivered a little. "I feel a little cold."

He looked more concerned. "You want me to get another blanket for you?"

"I-if it's not too much trouble."

"No, it isn't." He disappeared from the room and re-emerged with a softer, thicker looking blanket. He sat next to her on the bed and carefully slid the warm fabric over her shoulders.

"What did she say when you told her?" She felt a glow inside when he started to rub her quite vigorously in order to get the blood to her skin.

"Not a lot really." He explained honestly. "She's pretty much in favour of me looking after you."

"Really?"

"She understood why I didn't wanna force you back out on the streets." He looked to her tenderly. "You wouldn't have wanted me to do that if I didn't accept you, would you?"

She shrugged. "I didn't know what to think really. I didn't think you would throw me back out."

"No?" He smirked to himself. "What makes you say that?"

She flitted her eyes to his. "I guess that when I first saw you, you didn't strike me as the sort of person who would do that."

He raised an eyebrow at her answer. "Bearing in mind that you didn't exactly know me at that time, that's quite strange." He knew that a fairly well known saying was to never judge people before you get to know them, but there was something Clara had tapped into to suggest that he was a generally nice person, even on the outside.

"Thank you for what you're doing for me." She placed a hand on top of his, caressing the soft, dewy flesh at the back of it.

"You shouldn't have to thank me." Chris pointed out. "You're family now."

"Just out of interest," she gazed into his soft blue eyes, "how old are you?"

"Thirty-one."

Clara frowned. "That only puts you at thirteen when I was born."

"Yeah…" He peered down at the blankets quietly. "I wasn't really father material at that age."

"Don't talk daft." She prised his gaze off the blankets by tilting his head back up to meet her eyes. "You would've made a brilliant dad, however old you were."

He came over slightly modest. "That's nice of you to say, but…at that age, you don't tend to think that way."

"I don't blame you for leaving my mum when you did." She went on. "And I don't love you any less."

Chris came over even more modest. "I guess that's a good thing…" He relaxed a little more when she cupped his face softly. "You should get some sleep." He noted dimly.

"I think you should do the same." She admitted, noticing his eyes had taken on a darker, more tired-looking appearance. It didn't help to see faint dark circles developing under his orbs and it was a sight she rarely saw.

"My first priority is with you." He explained softly. In other words, he didn't care how tired or worn down he felt, he was more worried about her.

"I know it is," Clara spoke tenderly, "but I'd hate for you to feel tired in the morning from looking after me."

He nodded a little, swallowing hard. He figured that she would be fine on her own, and if she wanted his help with anything she'd let him know. "O-ok." He agreed slowly. "But if you want help with anything…let me know."

"I'll be fine." She smiled reassuringly. "Just get yourself to bed now."

The next morning.
Chris came to check up on Clara, finding her still asleep. He swept a hand over her forehead, watching her stir under the bedclothes and allow her eyes to flicker open and gaze up at him. "Morning." He perkily noted.

She smiled softly at him as she sat up in bed and leant on her arm. "Morning."

"I'll be heading off to work soon," he preened a few stray ends of her hair, "so I'll have to leave you here for a few hours."

She shrugged casually. "Not a problem. Will you be staying on later tonight?"

"I might be. But I can always let you know if I'll be later back tonight, ok? No more broken promises this time."

Karen came in much earlier that morning and so had surprised the young male as he half-expected the door to still be locked. He ended up stumbling in as a result.
She giggled a little at his graceless fall.

"Trying to catch me out or something?" He came back with, in an attempt to recover some dignity. "You're starting to come in earlier than me."

"Well, I'd spent so much time looking after the little one," she watched him sidle up to her desk, "she was keeping me up into the early hours of the morning."

Chris frowned. "That doesn't sound good. That's not even your job."

"Jess spends more time round her friends' houses than she does with her own child." She felt glad that he was there although she wanted to know why he was. "I shouldn't be going on about what's going on at home, why are you here?"

He felt bad for wanting to take time off when he'd heard about how bad she'd had it. "Just…wanted to see how you are, really."

Karen smiled a little. "Chris, I'm not exactly unwell…"

"No," he leant against the radiator by her desk, "but you're still undergoing trauma and with Jess disappearing the way she is, it isn't good."

She peered at him, unable to resist gazing admiringly at his slender hip area. She felt like getting out of her chair, going over to him and putting her hands on him.

"It's a pity things with Jess's baby aren't really working out." He admitted apologetically. "If it were up to me, I'd happily take her if she didn't reprove of it, but I've got my own daughter to take care of now."

"How are things with her?"

Chris's eyes took on a softer appearance. "She's ok from what I've seen so far."

Karen nodded in acknowledgement. "Well, if you want any time off to look after her, you know that all you have to do is ask." She could understand if he was having any problems with taking care of Clara on his own, being the fact that he was a single parent.

"Sure." He came over slightly shy. "If you were having problems with the baby, I don't mind helping out for an hour or so tonight."

Yes. That was exactly what she'd hoped he'd say, and it wasn't so that she could have a bit of fun with him! "As long as you're not doing anything with Clara…"

"No," he smiled softly, "I've been meaning to take her out but it can wait. And she knows about you and I."

"Really?" She tensed up a little. "What has she said?"

"Nothing that'd worry you." He took in her tense posture. "Relax. I've got a feeling she'll love you when you see her."