Mickie was sat with John having a glass of wine she hadn't laughed so much for years John looked up from his glass to mickie sat across the table from him "can I ask you something" he said softly

mickie nodded

"where's Tommy's dad?" he asked softly

Mickie looked down and ran her finger around the rim of her glass

"none of my business, sorry, shouldn't of asked"

"its ok" mickie said softly "he'll um, he'll never be in the picture"

John looked at her as mickie looked up at him

"i do feel bad him not having a father figure in his life, yanno someone to play football with him or teach him to ride a bike but, he'll understand one day why I wont let him see his dad"

"does he ask for him?" he asked softly

"sometimes" mickie said "only if he sees someone say dad" mickie sighed "i have a restraining order on his dad, not allowed with in 200 feet of us or the house, not that there's any point having it he moved to the other side of the country, thankfully" mickie took a deep breathe "he um, he beat me up when I was 6 and a half months pregnant and ran when I started bleeding from, down there I went into labour my best friend found me took me to hospital gave birth to Tommy and they said it was rare for a baby born when he was not to have some sort of disability"

"that's, horrible" John said he didnt really no what else to say

mickie smiled at her son when he came in wearing his Thomas the tank engine pyjamas "good boy"

Tommy looked at mickie and shyly pointed to John

John looked at mickie wanting to know what he wanted from him

"have I been replaced" mickie asked her son

Tommy shrugged

mickie looked at John "he um, he wants you to be his bed time cuddle" John looked at her with confusion in his eyes "he has a bed time cuddle instead of a story"

John looked at Tommy "lead the way" he said with a soft smile

"john you" mickie started

John smiled softly at her "it's ok, I don't mind" he looked down and followed Tommy out the kitchen

mickie got off her chair and started cleaning away the dishes from dinner which they had nearly three hours ago now, she liked having John around, Tommy seemed to be calmer with him around and more willing to do things like his maths work and go to bed which normally is a battle.

John looked around Tommy's room before his eyes landed on the little boy looking at him "i like your room"

thank you Tommy signed John remembered that one

he smiled softly at him "your welcome, I remembered that one"

Tommy smiled and climbed onto his bed and smiling at John as he pushed the covers back and lay down John smiled pulled the covers over him and lay next to him Tommy moved up to John resting his head on his big arm. John just lay looking up at the ceiling waiting for Tommy to drift off to sleep and he started thinking about mickie and what she had been through. He also tried to understand the feeling he got when mickie told him about her ex, Tommy's father, he just wanted to protect her, he wanted to be there for her. Being there for something and thinking about wanting to do it is two completely different things. John wasn't sure if he could get close to mickie again after the way she just left last time, and this time it was more complicated because of mickie's son.