"Hey you" Nikki murmured as she crouched down in front of Donovan as the baby began to cry quietly, tears rolling down his cheeks as Nikki tried to calm him down. "Daddy will be back soon" she told him as she signed some of the words as well, her son watching her closely even through his tears and sobs "Then we can go home and give you a nice warm bath. Hmm?"

She then picked Donovan up out of the buggy and cradled him to her shoulder, sitting down on one of the chairs and attempting to calm him down. It didn't take long for her son to stop crying loudly when he was in her arms and feeling her presence and he began to whimper quietly against her shoulder instead of crying, gripping at her blouse as tears rolled down his cheeks.

"What's wrong with my handsome little man?" Nikki whispered as she wiped his face, her son instantly reaching up and grabbing her hand, looking intently at it before looking up at Nikki and grinning, tears still in his green eyes and on his cheeks. His mother giggled loudly and leant down to kiss his forehead.

"Drink?"

Nikki turned around when she saw Adam, the young man who had defended them earlier, standing next to her and smiled, nodding as he sat down next to her and put the two cups on the table next to him and away from both of the babies.

"Thank you" Nikki nodded and Donovan let out a loud squeal as he continued to try and put his mother's hand in his mouth. "Don't do that baby" she giggled and shook her head as she took her hair away from her son and reached over to the buggy to pick up the toy caterpillar instead, handing it to him as he reached up for it.

"We really are sorry about what Penny said about.." Adam blushed slightly and motioned to the baby in Nikki's arms.

"Donovan" Nikki smiled and Adam nodded "And it's not your place to apologise so don't do it"

She then chuckled when Adam grinned at her son and Donovan snuggled closer to her, eyeing the new person warily and letting out a small whimper as he chewed the toy in his mouth with toothless gums.

"How old are they?"

"Four and a half months" Nikki replied, Adam smiling and reaching over to take Donovan's hand in his.

"Hello" he addressed the baby who continued to look warily at him "I have a six month old little sister" he then told Nikki "Mum and my step dad. I know all about the sleepless nights" Adam chuckled and Nikki grinned.

"Well Harry and I thought we had two very good babies because they didn't really cry that much, or so we though. But after they were about a month old they began to get more demanding" Nikki told the slightly older male as she shifted Donovan onto her lap and let him lean against her stomach so he could see the rest of the hall and everyone in it, her little boy's eyes flicking around to look at everything new as Adam continued to hold his hand. She then looked up at the double doors when someone walked in from the main office and she swore under her breath.

"What is it?" Adam asked as he looked towards the doors and saw an older man standing there looking around. Nikki just shook her head and kissed Donovan on the head, the little boy shaking Adam's hand and laughing loudly.

"I don't believe him" she whispered and shook her head "He's just..."

"Nikki"

Nikki swore again as her father walked over to them and looked from her to Adam and then back again. She hadn't had any contact with him since the day he had gone to see her and the argument that she and Harry had had. Nikki wasn't prepared to initiate anything anymore and knew that if he really wanted his daughter and her children in his life he would at least start the ball rolling himself.

"Who is this?" he asked, nodding towards Adam who frowned at Nikki "Left Harry and got another bloke have you?"

"No" Nikki replied incredulously as she glanced around the room and stood up, shifting Donovan to her arms as she did so "Harry's showing some parents around, this is Adam he's in our year. We were just being polite and having a normal conversation dad, men and women can do that without being anything else" she added sarcastically and Adam started when he heard her say 'dad' "You can't be here anyway. How dare you come here when you have nothing to do with it"

"I want to see you and I knew there was a parent's evening on and you would.." Victor told her and Nikki scoffed, she could smell the alcohol on him. That was his second chance gone. She knew he was mad to think that she'd let him see her children while he had been drinking "You haven't contacted me in a while"

"You haven't contacted me in a while either, if you wanted me and my boys in your life so much you would have done something about it" Nikki shouted as Mr Michaels walked over to them. "That's your last chance, it's gone. I can't keep doing this"

"Is everything okay?"

"I'm just talking to my daughter" Victor nodded and Nikki shook her head, kissing Donovan on the cheek before putting him in the buggy and securing him gently so he didn't fall out.

"Mummy loves you" she signed to him as his bottom lip began to tremble at the loss of contact.

"Sir you can't just.."

"I want you out" Nikki interrupted Mr Michaels without looking away from Donovan who she was comforting with her hand placed gently on his stomach, her other hand in his tight grip as she attempted to stop his crying before it had even started again.

"I think you should leave sir" Mr Michaels told Victor and Nikki was well aware of people in the hall looking at them. She was used to it however and ignored them as she checked on Gabriel who was still fast asleep. "You're distressing my student"

"She's my daughter and.."

"Leave dad" Nikki snapped loudly and winced as Gabriel jumped slightly and opened his eyes, his bottom lip trembling as he looked around the room and clenched his tiny hands into fists. She gently placed her hand on his stomach, her other hand still in Donovan's tight grip. "Ssh little man, mummy's here" she murmured and Gabriel turned to look at her, a few stray tears leaking down his cheeks where he had been going to cry. Seeing and hearing Nikki however stopped him for a few seconds before he began to cry quietly by a baby's standards. Nikki sighed and stroked his hair gently.

When she looked up again she saw her father glaring at her, Mr Michaels having situated himself between the buggy and the older, obviously drunk man.

"You know you don't deserve those" her father told her, motioning to the twins and making Nikki bite her lip when she heard what he said. She had thought the same many times since she found out that she was pregnant and she didn't need to hear it voiced by someone like her father. "Maybe once the social services have done with you then they can go to a family who haven't got any children and deserve some"

Nikki felt her blood run cold when she heard her father's not so subtle threat and she looked back at her babies, tears smarting her eyes as she heard Mr Michaels escorting him out of the room. She heard the muttering's amongst the crowd of parents, staff and pupils in the room and closed her eyes, biting her lip as she fought not to cry. She refused to cry in front of everyone and definitely not over something that her drunken father had said. She couldn't help but wonder what they thought of her when they had seen her father, wonder if they thought that her babies had been an accident because she was as horrible and useless as her father was.

"Nikki?"

She opened her eyes and saw Adam hesitantly crouching down next to her as if afraid that she didn't want him near her. He didn't attempt to touch her though and she reached up to wipe a stray tear away.

"Are you okay?"

"Um..." Nikki swallowed the lump that had formed in her throat, nodding slightly in answer to the question. "Yeah" she choked out, looking relieved as Harry walked into the room with the two parents he had been showing around the school.

He instantly saw how distressed his fiancé was and said something to the parents, motioning to Nikki where the older couple looked and then smiled and nodded. Harry then rushed over to her, Nikki standing up and letting him wrap his arms around her, stroking her hair gently as he kissed her forehead.

"What's wrong my love?" he asked her, ignoring the small smile that Adam gave them as he walked away to give the couple some time together.

"I'm afraid there was a bit of an altercation" Mr Michaels told Harry as he walked over after having instructed the staff and students to get on with what they were meant to be doing. "Nikki's father..well he came into the school"

"He..he said that..the..social...services..would take...our babies away...from...us" Nikki sobbed as Harry stroked her back and kissed her forehead, hatred running through him at what her father was doing to her. She was a new mother and didn't need any added stress like he was giving her, it was enough having two babies and still keeping up with school. "Why..would..they...he must..have...called...them...to..."

Harry heard how upset and distressed his lover was getting and glanced at the teacher who was looking concerned. He didn't want this to happen in the main hall with everyone present and watching, although he wondered if the altercation with her father had been seen by everyone.

"You can use my office" Mr Michaels told the young man who nodded and told Nikki this "Would you like me to bring the twins?"

"Please" Harry smiled slightly and nodded, gently leading Nikki out of the room with the teacher pushing the buggy after them.

"Now what did he say?" Harry asked his lover a few minutes later as they sat in the privacy of the teacher's office, both of them sitting on the sofa with the twins' buggy facing them, the little boys wide awake and playing with the various toys attached to the buggy, Gabriel having calmed down quickly.

"He said that..once the social services..have done with us then..maybe the boys will go to..someone who doesn't have..children and deserves...them" Nikki's sentence was punctured by small sobs as Harry held her close and rubbed her back soothingly.

"Nikki he was probably saying that to scare you" Harry told her, hoping that it was true. It was Victor's style after all to try and scare her just as he had done with the Haemophilia a few months before when she had been pregnant. He could never understand how a father could do that to a child. "He had been drinking and..."

Nikki just shook her head and started to cry again, tears slipping down her already wet cheeks as she sobbed loudly. Harry sighed and kissed her on the cheek, stroking her hair gently before moving away from her and unclipping Gabriel from the buggy, kissing him on the cheek and making his little boy giggle.

"Mummy needs some cheering up from both of you" he told the baby before he placed the four and a half month old on Nikki's lap. She instantly smiled through her tears and leant down to kiss the little boy on the head, sitting back on the sofa and cradling him against her stomach as Harry placed Donovan on her lap as well. She kissed him and her son leant on her stomach, laughing loudly and clapping his hands as Harry handed both the boys one of their toys each. "No-one is going to take them from us. They have no reason to"

"Promise"

"I promise"