It was a Friday after school and Rachel was waiting in the playground to pick Ruby up. She was also picking up Ruby's best friend Emily who was coming over for a sleepover tonight, something that Ruby had been extremely excited about all week.

It was a really cold and windy day so Rachel hoped they would come out soon as she wasn't having much fun stood in the playground, especially when it looked like it was going to pour down with rain any minute.

Eventually the classroom door opened up and luckily Ruby was one of the first ones to come out.

Rachel was surprised when she saw that Emily wasn't with her.

"Where's Emily?" Rachel asked as she took Ruby's book bag.

"She wasn't at school today so are we picking her up from her house instead?"

"Well if she wasn't at school she's probably poorly so I don't think she'll be coming for the sleepover anymore" Rachel said however she was a bit surprised that Jane, Emily's Mum, hadn't phoned to tell her as the two of them had become quite good friends since Ruby had moved in with Rachel

"Why?"

"Because if she's poorly she'll need to stay at home with her Mummy until she gets better"

"But I really want her to come and play with me"

"I know you do love but we'll have to arrange it for a time when she's feeling better, won't we?"

Ruby's bottom lip began to wobble before she burst into tears.

"Oh love don't cry" Rachel said as she took hold of Ruby's hand "I know you were really looking forward to Emily coming over to play but you wouldn't have very much fun when Emily's poorly would you?"

Ruby just shook her head to this but she was still really upset that Emily couldn't come.

"But we'll rearrange it for when Emily is feeling better and we'll still have fun tonight"

"I suppose so"

Rachel wiped a few stray tears off Ruby's cheeks.

"Anyway let's get back to the car, it's freezing out here"

"So what do you fancy doing tonight, I can't be bothered to cook so I'm going to ask Dad to pick up a takeaway on his way home from work"

"Please can we watch a Christmas film?"

"A Christmas film, isn't it a bit early for that?"

"No Christmas is next month, please can we?"

"I suppose so if you really want to"

The children were all really looking forward to Christmas already, but Rachel knew how much she had to do before then!

When they got back to the car Rachel strapped Ruby in before driving home.

As soon as they walked through the front door Chloe came out of the lounge.

"Mum it's so cold in here, why's the heating not on?"

"It should be on by now, let me go and check"

Rachel went to check and realised that it hadn't come on for some reason, but when she went to turn it on it wouldn't.

"Well that's bloody brilliant" Rachel said sarcastically

"What is?" Chloe said as she'd followed her Mum in

"I think the heating's broken, and it's meant to be absolutely freezing this weekend"

"It's so cold in here, can't someone come and fix it?"

"I doubt I can find anyone to do it tonight, maybe tomorrow morning but not now. It's just going to have to be hot water bottles and blankets I'm afraid, I'll light the fire now too"

Rachel quickly went upstairs and got changed out of her work clothes before coming down and lighting the fire.

She loved having an open fire, but she knew the rest of the house was going to be absolutely freezing.

"Ruby remember what I told you about not playing too closely to the fire, okay?"

"Okay Auntie Rachel"

Ruby was sat down doing some colouring so Rachel decided to give Jane a call just because she thought it was odd she hadn't phoned to let her know about Emily being poorly.

Rachel dialled their home phone number. It took Jane a while to answer but eventually she did pick up the phone.

"Hi Rachel, I'm sorry I completely forgot Emily was meant to be having a sleepover with Ruby tonight" Jane said and Rachel picked up straight away on the fact there was something wrong with her

"Is everything okay Jane?"

"Not really no"

Rachel guessed this wasn't going to be a conversation Ruby should overhear so went out into the kitchen.

"Why what's going on?"

"I don't even know how to tell you this Rach, Martin's been abusing Emily" Martin was Emily's step- Dad

Rachel was utterly shocked by this, she couldn't believe what she'd just heard and didn't know what to say.

"Oh my goodness Jane, I'm so sorry"

"How did I not realise this had been going on under my own roof Rach? Emily's been acting completely out of character recently, she hasn't been herself at all I should have picked up on the signs before" Jane said before bursting into tears

Rachel had a really long phone call with Jane and found out how Jane had noticed some unusual marks on Emily when she was having a bath last night. When Jane had asked Emily where they had come from Emily wouldn't say, but when Jane asked her if someone had touched her somewhere private other than her and her real Dad she had simply nodded. After that Jane managed to get the whole story out of Emily, how Martin had been touching her inappropriately now since the beginning of the summer holidays.

Martin had been made redundant recently so over many glasses of wine over the last few months Rachel had listened to Jane telling her about Martin taking it badly and how he had turned to drinking a lot, but never had either of them expected that he'd started doing this.

"If there's anything I can do for you, you know where I am. Just pick up the phone whenever and I'll be straight there" Rachel said however Jane was lucky that her parents lived really close and she had a very close relationship with them

Rachel came off the phone feeling quite sick at the thought of what Martin had been doing to Emily.

It also made Rachel think about Ruby, she realised she probably needed to talk to Ruby about this sort of thing because she doubted Mel ever had.

Rachel made herself a coffee before going into the lounge. Phil, Chloe, Ellie and Ruby were all in there now because it was so cold everywhere else.

"Right, we're having a takeaway for tea, what does everyone fancy?" Rachel asked

"Can we have Chinese?" Ellie asked

"Are you three happy with that as well?"

Luckily they both were and there were no arguments about what everyone wanted.

Chris was picking the Chinese up at six so Rachel decided to give Ruby a bath before he came in.

"Let's get you in the bath Ruby"

"But I'm drawing"

"You can finish it after your bath, I'll shout to you when it's ready"

Rachel went upstairs and started running a bath for Ruby. She thought now would be a good time to have a chat with Ruby. She wasn't going to mention anything about abuse or what had happened to Emily but she did just want to talk to her about her private parts.

"Ruby your bath's run" Rachel shouted, she listened and soon heard Ruby coming up the stairs

Rachel helped her get undressed and got her into the bath before letting her have a bit of a play.

"Ruby there's something I want to have a little chat about" Rachel said, she was a bit nervous about this and unsure of what to actually say

"About what?"

"Well I know it sounds a bit funny, but I want to talk about pants" Rachel said making Ruby burst out laughing "because it's very important that you understand that any part of your body that's covered by your underwear is private and so you shouldn't let anyone else see it"

"But you see when I have a bath"

"It's fine if I see or Amy or Chloe or Ellie or Uncle Chris but you shouldn't let anyone else see it because it's very private and it belongs to you. So if anyone else did try to see or try to touch you underneath your underwear you must say no and come and tell me about it, okay?"

"Okay"

Rachel didn't want to keep talking about it for too long. She felt like Ruby had listened to what she had just said though and she was just going to try and bringing it up subtly every so often. She didn't want Ruby to ever have to go through what Emily had been though.

"So have you decided what Christmas film you want to watch tonight?"

"Can we watch the one where the little girl doesn't believe in Father Christmas because her Mummy told her he didn't exist, but then in the end they both find out he is real really"

"Do you mean Miracle on 34th Street?"

"Yes that one"

"That sounds like a good choice to me"

Rachel washed Ruby's hair before getting out and wrapping a fluffy towel around her. She got her dried off and into her pyjamas as quickly as she could because it was so cold.

Once she'd dried Ruby's hair they both went back downstairs and into the lounge.

Rachel saw the time and decided to order the Chinese, thinking the timing would be about right.

When Chris came in with the food Rachel got it all out on the kitchen table like she normally did and then called everyone out to help themselves.

Everyone dished out as quickly as they could because it was so cold out there.

"Are we eating in the lounge tonight?" Chloe asked

"Yes I reckon so, Ruby's chosen a film for us to watch as well"

"What've you chosen Ruby?"

"Miracle on 34th street" she told them

Chloe and Ellie were both happy about watching a Christmas film.

It had been a long week and everyone was really tired so it was nice to just have a relaxing Friday night in.

Once they'd all finished their food Rachel took the plates out to the kitchen and put them in the dishwasher before pouring a glass of wine for her and Chris.

Ruby was really enjoying watching the film so Rachel let her stay up until it had finished. As soon as it finished though Rachel took her straight up to bed.

"You go and clean your teeth and I'll fill you up a hot water bottle"

By the time Rachel came upstairs Ruby was already in bed but she had the covers pulled right up over her head.

"What are you doing under there missus?"

"It's cold"

"I know that's why I've got you a hot water bottle"

Rachel gave Ruby the hot water bottle and then got her tucked in so she was all cosy.

She stayed with her for a bit just like she always did and then went downstairs once Ruby was nearly asleep.

The others all had I'm a Celebrity on so Rachel sat down on the sofa next to Chris and snuggled up to him.

Once I'm a Celebrity had finished Chloe, Ellie and Phil all decided to go up to bed as well.

Rachel went out to the kitchen with the girls as they both wanted hot water bottles filling up.

Once Rachel had said goodnight to Phil and the girls she came downstairs and talked to Chris for a bit and told him about everything that had happened with Emily. Rachel couldn't seem to get it out of her mind, it really was such a terrible thing to happen.

It wasn't that long before Rachel and Chris decided to go up to bed as well because they were both quite tired.

Rachel got into bed and it didn't take her long to fall asleep.

Ellie woke up in the middle of the night feeling absolutely freezing so she decided to refill her hot water bottle as it wasn't hot anymore.

She reluctantly got out from under the covers and went down into the kitchen and boiled the kettle. Normally Rachel would fill it up but she didn't want to wake her.

Once the kettle had boiled Ellie lifted it up and started pouring however the lid wasn't on properly so the boiling water ended up going all down Ellie's legs.

Ellie screamed out in pain and dropped the kettle.

Rachel heard it and immediately woke up. She wondered what had happened so came downstairs straight away followed by Chris.

She walked into the kitchen to find Ellie crouched down on the floor in tears.

"What's happened?"

"I've burnt my legs" Ellie sobbed

"Oh my god, get those pyjama bottoms off" Rachel said helping her to stand up

"But Dad's there"

"I'll stand in front so he can't see"

Ellie took her pyjama bottoms off.

"Chris I can manage, you go back to bed"

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah"

Rachel thought it was best to get Ellie in the shower so she could run cold water over her legs.

"Right upstairs to the bathroom now"

Ellie and Rachel went up as quickly as they could and Rachel turned the shower on.

They stood there for ten minutes, Ellie was still crying but mainly from the shock now.

"How are they feeling now?"

"Freezing"

"Are they sore?"

"Yeah really sore"

Rachel passed her a towel.

"You dry your legs off, I'll go and find some cream"

Rachel went and found some cream for burns in the first aid box and a fresh pair of pyjama bottoms before coming back to the bathroom and putting it on her legs. She'd mainly burnt the top of them.

Once Ellie was sorted Rachel put her back into bed.

"How did you manage to pour boiling water down your legs anyway?"

"I was filling up my hot water bottle but I don't think the lid was on properly"

"What've I told you before about letting me fill it up for you?"

"I know but I didn't want to wake you up"

"Well next time please do, I don't want any more incidents like this thank you very much"

"Don't worry I will"

"Hopefully your legs won't be feeling so sore in the morning"

"I hope not, and hopefully not so cold either. When's the heating being fixed?"

"We've got a plumber coming early tomorrow morning, so you never know it may even be fixed before you wake up if you're planning on having another lie in like you did last Saturday"

"I need to wake up early tomorrow because I need to get my homework done before Sophie's party tomorrow"

"Oh yeah I'd forgotten about that, what are you doing again?"

"Going ice skating at 2 and then we're going to Sophie's house for a sleepover afterwards"

"I told Ruby we could go swimming tomorrow afternoon so I'll drop you off and then we can go"

"Are you going to that swimming pool we went to last time with all the really cool slides?"

"Yes I think so"

"I wish I could come, it was really fun last time"

"You can'd do everything, and we can't go on Sunday because we've got Grandma and Grandad coming over for a roast. Anyway I think it's time me to go back to bed"

"Night Mum"

"Night love"

Rachel went back to bed and luckily slept right through until the morning this time.

For once she'd woken up without being woken up by Ruby. Unfortunately though she couldn't lie in bed in peace for a bit as she plumber was coming so she needed to get in the shower.

She was glad the heating was being fixed today as it was absolutely freezing in the house and not very nice at all when it was so cold outside.

Rachel got in the shower, making the most of being warm.

She'd been in there for a while so realised she probably should get out. Just as she was about to turn the shower off the door opened and Ruby walked in.

"Auntie Rachel I came in for a cuddle but you weren't in bed"

"That's because I'm in the shower"

"But you're always there when I come in on a Saturday morning normally because we have a really long cuddle"

"I know but someone's coming to fix the heating so I needed to be up and dressed for when he comes. You get back into bed and I'll be out in a minute to give you a cuddle"

Once Ruby had gone out Rachel turned the shower off and quickly grabbed a towel to wrap around her.

Once she'd dried off and cleaned her teeth she climbed into bed next to Ruby to give her a cuddle.

Chris wasn't in bed anymore either.

Rachel was still giving Ruby a cuddle when Chris appeared carrying a tray with breakfast on. He'd made crumpets for the three of them, as he knew Ruby was in their room too, and a coffee for him and Rachel.

"Wow, look at this Ruby breakfast in bed, aren't we lucky?"

"I love it when we have breakfast in bed"

Chris got in next to them and they started eating.

"Are you still going to make pancakes Auntie Rachel?" Ruby asked after she'd finished her crumpet and had jam around her face

"If you want me to. Hold still a second I need to wipe your face"

Rachel was impressed that Chris had remembered to bring up a few pieces of kitchen roll on the tray.

"It's not like you to remember things like this" Rachel said as she wiped Ruby's face

"Well I know how messy Ruby can get and I knew you'd never forgive me if she got jam all over the bed"

"Thank you for doing this, it was a lovely idea" Rachel said reaching over Ruby and giving Chris a kiss

Rachel got out of bed and got ready just in time for when the plumber came.

Luckily there wasn't anything too wrong with the heating so it didn't take long to be fixd, much to everyone's relief.

They all had a lazy morning around the house and before long it was time to drop Ellie off for her party and take Ruby swimming. Even Chloe had agreed to come swimming on a busy Saturday afternoon.

They did have fun at the swimming pool but it was really nice for everyone to come home to a warm and cosy house.