Molly did exactly as she promised for once. She went straight to bed and was nearly asleep when her Mum came in to check on her. Molly smiled as Alex hugged her, both still hardly daring to believe she was really here.

"I'm so glad I'm with you," Molly said drowsily. "No matter how much it hurt... I had to get to you."

"Sshhh..." Alex soothed her. "It doesn't matter now, go to sleep."

Molly smiled as she drifted off; thinking about how much Gene cared about her Mum. They were so good together, perfect. And Gene had proved time and again about how much he respected her too. Her mind reflected fondly on last week as she felt herself slip into blessed slumber...

Gene always picked her up from school in the Quattro. No matter what criminal scum needed chasing, no matter what was going on at work, he was adamant he would do so. He worried about Molly walking the streets of London alone and since she was still adjusting it made her feel safe knowing he'd be there every day to collect her.

Molly hopped into the front seat as usual.

"Hi!" She smiled brightly, before noticing how tense and nervous Gene looked. "Oh my God, what's wrong?" she asked, a feeling of panic and dread rising within her.

"Nothing," he assured her, his voice a little too cheerful as he pulled away from the kerb. "Feel like ice cream?"

"Mum doesn't let me eat ice cream before dinner."

"Yeah, and what your Mum doesn't know won't kill her." Gene winked at Molly and she giggled. There were a few moments of silence and she noticed he still looked anxious, it worried her.

Gene parked the car outside a little ice cream parlour and they went inside. "What do you want, Molls?" he asked her.

She contemplated the chalk board of choices. "Mint choc chip?"

"Make it two scoops," he told the woman behind the counter. "And a coke?"

Molly nodded.

"And I'll have a cuppa tea," Gene continued, before thanking the waitress.

He paid and found them a table in the corner by the window.

"You're not having ice cream?" Molly asked.

"Hate the bastard stuff! It's all cold and... Crap. Don't tell your Mum I said 'bastard' in front of you."

Molly smiled and took a bite of her ice cream. It really was delicious. "Our secret."

Gene lit a cigarette nervously. "Don't tell your Mum I smoked in front of you either." Then suddenly, looking at Molly, he felt guilty. Alex was always banging on about the dangers of passive smoking, how it could damage others' lungs and he hastily changed his mind and stubbed it out. He would never do anything that could hurt Molly.

"Gene, what's going on?" Molly pressed. "Is it Mum? She's okay, isn't she?"

He sensed the fright in her voice and felt even guiltier.

"Molly, she's fine, she's..." He couldn't help the little smile that crossed his face. "... Perfect."

She felt her insides melt a little. "She loves you, Gene. I mean, she has told you, right?"

"Yes, she told me." Shifting in his seat, he took a large swig of tea. "Couldn't say it back though," he confessed. "Felt like such a coward. She wasn't upset, thank God. She understands."

"Does this..." She waved a hand at her sundae, "All have a point?"

"Yes... yeah. I needed a sounding board."

"Right... you wanted to run something by me?"

"Exactly." Gene instinctively reached for his cigarettes again but thought better of it. However strange this was to be asking Molly, a kid, for advice about Alex he knew Molly knew her better than anyone. He couldn't remember ever being this nervous. "You see, Molls, I do love her..."

"Even though you can't tell her..."

"So I thought maybe I could show her instead." He took a deep breath. "I wanted to ask your permission... to ask her to marry me."

There were two seconds of stunned silence before Molly squeaked and broke out in the biggest smile he'd possibly ever seen.

"For real?" she grinned.

"Yeah, for real."

Molly practically did a little dance of excitement. "It's very okay."

Gene smiled. "Really?"

"Really." Then Molly suddenly frowned, deep in thought. "The flat might be a little snug though."

"I wanted to talk to you about that too. You see, I have a house..."

"You do?" she cut in. "You sleep on our sofa so much I assumed you were homeless."

"Cheeky mare!" Sometimes she reminded Gene so much of her mother. "No... I have a house. Decent, like. Close to the station, even closer to your school, lovely sized spare room you could have, you can decorate it anyway you want. What do you say, Molls? Would it be okay to ask you and your Mum to move in with the Gene Genie?"

He looked so sincere.

Molly smiled. "Yeah, it really would." Then she said, "Did you get the ring yet?"

"I've looked, nothing seems right though."

"I have an idea," she told him, dragging him out of the cafe by his hand before he'd had time to finish his tea and before he had time to protest about it.

He would never have thought of it himself. Molly was right, the ring was perfect, it screamed Alex's name to the high heavens. A diamond surrounded by rubies. After all, as Molly pointed out, red was Alex's favourite colour. It was even in Alex's ring size, no adjusting required. It was like it was fated, meant to be.

"Nice work, Molls," he said as he handed over the cash for the ring. It would nearly drain his savings but it was so worth it. He arranged with the jeweller to pick it up next week. That would give him and Molly enough time to find a suitable hiding place in the flat without Alex stumbling across the box.

"I know, what would you do without me?"

Gene contemplated that question as they left the jewellers. He honestly didn't know. He couldn't imagine his life without her now and was very sure he loved her just as much as he would if he was her biological father. Instead, in typical fashion he told her, "Just don't piss off to Canada with your dad, okay? It would break your mother's heart if you went anywhere."

Molly sighed. Her previous life felt like a dream. "Trust me, Gene, I'm not going anywhere."