"I'm glad that you don't think Clara's…you know…crazy." Chris admitted as he and Karen walked along the school's field together with the sun setting prettily in the sky in front of them.

"'Crazy'?" She reiterated, pulling him to one side. "Why would I think that?"

"People with post-traumatic stress, especially young ones like her, do get stigmatised." He looked to her sadly. "She's done a lot of extreme things over the past few weeks."

"I've seen the way she's with you," she took hold of him around his wrist, "the way she looks at you…Chris, she loves you. She well and truly adores you."

He came over slightly coy and cast his gaze away.

"I think you've done a brilliant job with her." She added.

"For someone who wasn't thought of as father material."

Karen frowned. "The woman who had her said that?"

Chris nodded dimly.

"Don't listen to her." She insisted. "She couldn't have been a very good mother if you're doing a better job than she is."

"I'm just worried about letting Clara go though, Karen." He stated. "With all the problems she's had, I don't think I can afford to let her go. I might lose her."

"Then don't let her go." She told him, squeezing his wrists. "And don't stop what you're doing with her."

Once a good enough crowd had built up over the next hour, Karen arranged for them all to have a small gathering.

Clara found Chris not too far away after disbanding from Harry. She slid up beside her father and took hold of his hand, squeezing it. He glowed inside at the affectionate contact.

"I'm glad so many of you turned up tonight." She started. "The ones who haven't made it…well, all the more sausages for us!"

Several people laughed from within the crowd.

"It hasn't been an easy time for any of us." She continued. "Even for people like myself."

Chris tilted his head in mild confusion. Just what was she on about?

"Menopause," she explained steadily, "isn't a word many of the younger women are yet familiar with. It changes your life. And whilst it's something most of you girls won't experience any time soon, don't feel that you're alone with it when it does come."

He felt a wave of relief wash over him. Thank god there was no mention of him or them!

Clara squeezed his hand to get him to look at her. 'I love you,' she mouthed to him when he did.

"And I've got a very special person who's going to be with me every step of the way, and he's actually here tonight."

Uh oh.

"Chris, would you like to come out to the front with me?"

He felt himself go beetroot red and he shakily went to the front where she was.
He certainly felt almost every single kid's eyes on him when he cut through the whispering voices that were surely talking about him.

"She's been seeing Mr Mead?"

"Lucky girl…"

"I knew that'd happen – anyone would've seen that coming."

He awkwardly went beside Karen, not knowing where to look. He didn't expect her to wrap her arm around him to hug him close to her body.

He was not very comfortable at having to endure a public display from her.

"He's been absolutely lovely about the changes going on in my body, and even though we won't be able to have a child of our own making, he has one of his own – who he thinks the world of. And I," she slid her index finger up the side of his neck, prompting a shiver from him, "think the world of him also."

Chris squirmed when she moved her lips against his and took in a very sweet citrus taste on him as she withdrew.

A few shocked gasps sounded from within the crowds.

She smiled playfully. "I hope there'll be more of that later."

He was sure half of the people watching were shocked. "K-Karen…"

"Ssh…" She pressed her index finger to his lips. "No more talking. Not once I put forward something to you…"

He swallowed hard.

"Chris, will you marry me?"

He looked to Clara, whose expression was more confused and shocked than entirely happy. He drew in a small sigh.
"No."

She came over immediately crestfallen. He couldn't have…no. He couldn't have rejected her proposal. Maybe he was playing hard to get. "Is it too soon, is that what it is?" She wanted to know. "I-is it…me?"

"It's neither." He explained, signalling to Clara to come out and go to the side of him. "I've got more of a responsibility to my little girl."

Karen looked to see her nestle her head against him. "S-so with us…"

"I didn't exactly wanna be a friend with benefits, Karen…that was never my intention." Chris went on. "But Clara needs me more and looking back, I don't think there ever came a time when I wanted to marry you."

Tom stood where he was, taking in the younger male's posture. He looked a little weighed down, but he remained firm with his daughter clinging to him. She was certainly being very loyal towards him, not wanting to move or leave him on his own.

"Can't you see?" He went on, feeling her grip on him tighten. "She doesn't wanna let go of me. And this is why we can't marry. Possibly not ever."

"B-but I love you," she protested, "we can still make this all work."

He shook his head. "It won't work. Not if I've made mine and Clara's relationship work already. And my relationship with her was never straightforward to start with." He didn't expect Karen to announce their relationship in front of half of the school and to then ask him to marry her. That was something he wasn't comfortable with. "And I wanna quit."

She swallowed hard. "Q-quit? Quit what?"

He caressed Clara down her back as she wrapped her arms around his waist. He drew in a small sigh, not wanting to explain any more.

"Your job?"

He nodded softly. "She needs to go home." He pointed out. "I have to get her to bed."
And with that, he took hold of her at her wrist, taking her to his car. He didn't care what people thought of him or both of them. He was doing what he thought was the better option for them.

"You feeling tired?" He helped her into the back of the car, not entirely sure she could go through the whole ride awake.

She nodded drowsily.

"Close your eyes then." Chris twisted the key into the ignition. "Don't let me stop you."

"What if I fall asleep?"

He smiled softly. "Don't worry about that. Just close your eyes, sweetheart…relax." He placed a hand against her forehead, allowing his thumb to graze the contour at her eyebrow.

"I liked the way you handled that back there." Her voice came muffled from her curled up position on the back seats.

He smoothly emerged from the school gates. "I just…wanted to tell her and everyone else the way I felt."

"I think what she did was very unfair." Clara noted drowsily. "How she could put you on the spot like that and ask you to marry her…she must've planned it all out."

"Well, she isn't the sort of person to make it up as she goes along, I'll give her that." He admitted. "But a marriage with her just wouldn't work. If I didn't have you, then maybe. But…life changes, doesn't it?"

"I'm sorry." She stated stonily.

"What? Why are you sorry?" He peered into the back to see her eyes fix onto his in the dark. "You didn't destroy things between us."

"But if I hadn't have turned up, you would still be with her."

"No," Chris reached out and let her take hold of his wrist, "don't say things like that. I would rather you turn up than not."

"Why did you quit your job then?"

He felt warm inside as she stroked him at the contour of his wrist. "Really and honestly, it was 'cause of what she did. But everyone now knows just what the two of us did."

"So what now?"

"Well, right now I'm going to get you home and straight to bed."

"Not that," Clara smirked tiredly, "I mean now that you've left?"

"Oh." He didn't think that much about what his plans were after he said he wasn't coming back. But then again, he didn't think that much about leaving in the first place! "I don't actually know."

"Guess you weren't thinking of leaving that place any time soon?"

"No, and especially not in that way." He drew in a small sigh, as the lights changed for him to go, prompting him to remove his wrist from her grip. "Don't worry, I haven't left us poor."

"Nice going," Tom stated to Karen sharply, "you've made our own deputy head quit his job and humiliated him in the process. Now he won't even come back."

"I did not humiliate him," she noted icily, "I wanted to tell him how I felt."

"Well, he's made it blatantly clear how he feels towards you." He tossed the box of matches to one side.

"He chose his own daughter over me, how could he?"

"Don't you understand anything about being a family?" He pointed out incredulously. "Chris did not choose her over you, it was simply a matter of priority. Her needs were greater than those of yours. She was always going to come first, Karen, didn't you see the way she was latching onto him?"

She drew in a shaky sigh.

"I'm sorry if things for you haven't gone the way you wanted them to, but he's done nothing wrong. I don't deny that he felt something for you, because he obviously did, but…why say that in front of everyone else? And why put him on the spot like that? That wasn't fair."

"I just wanted him to always be with me…"

"But that can't happen now, can it?" Tom softly told her. "Maybe it was never going to happen."

"Clara…" Chris gently stroked her long hair back. "You feel awake enough to walk?"

"No." She dreamily mumbled. She liked it when he carried her because she could feel him pressing her up against his warm, soft body. Plus she could also hear his heart if she nestled her head against his chest in the right place, and that was a reassuring sound to hear.

"I don't know," he playfully pointed out as he scooped her into his arms, "getting me to give you lifts here there and everywhere."

She giggled from his little quip, as he skilfully managed to lock the car and carry her up to the flat at the same time.

He laid her down on her bed, sweeping her hair back away from her face. "You going to sleep a bit better tonight now?"

She nodded slowly. "I think so." She reached out and cupped his face softly.

"Don't ever think you destroyed anything." He insisted. "If anything, you did the complete opposite of that. You made us become a family."

She felt her breath get taken away when he did the same as her. He was so gentle with her, and she relaxed under his touch.

"And I love you." He planted a kiss on her forehead.

"I love you too."

"I know you do." Chris made to switch her light off and leave her to sleep in her own time. "Go to sleep now, ok? Sweet dreams, my love."

A/N – Wow this is a change for me to write at the end! Man I thought this fic would never end ha ha! Got another one on the way, so watch this space…!

Thanks for reading!

xXx