Here's another update, hope you like it!

A/N: Hopefully the timeline makes sense in this chapter, Zoe and Ash have been together 6 months and they got together in June so it is December in this fic, hope this makes sense! Please keep reading and reviewing, I really love getting them and it helps me come up with ideas about what to happen!

Chapter 29

Zoe.

Ash and Ella had repaired their relationship and Jake had come round twice in the week since the incident and although it was still a bit awkward between all of us it was slowly getting better. Ella had found herself a job at the local supermarket and was working every Monday and Thursday evening and Saturday morning to save money for a flat she wanted to rent out.

Sharice had really started to settle into school, she had made a few friends and was getting on really well with the work she had. The school had been good too, prior to living with Ash and I Sharice hadn't been to school in over a y ear after her grandmother got ill and Sharice turned into her full time carer, so the school had allowed her to stay behind a year and gave her extra tutoring so she could catch up. So instead of being in year 10 she was in year 9.

Jess was also doing really well, she was slowly getting used to her mothers death, we still visited Lou's grave every fortnight with flowers, but to me she seemed to be finally accepting that she couldn't see her mother anymore, she had stopped asking me if she could go visit heaven and the psychologist was very pleased with her progress.

The sale on Lou's flat had finally been completed and the money I had got from selling it had gone into a bank account for when Jess was older. Ash still had his house on the market but we were in no rush to sell it so were waiting for the right price to be offered.

Despite planning a trip away Ash and I had got no further in our plans. My parents had already agreed to take the girls for us and Ella was happy to help out.

I decided to approach the subject the morning after we had finished a night shift. The babysitter (Ella was staying at a friends house so wasn't there to look after Jess if she woke up) had left and the girls were at school.

"Hey, how about we look for a place to for our weekend away?" I suggested.

"Sounds good, do you want to go abroad or stay in the UK?" he asked sitting on the couch.

"I don't know, we could go to a hot country and or go to the coast…" I didn't mind, I just wanted a few days away from work with the love of my life.

"Tell you what, why don't I book it and then surprise you with the destination when we are on our way?"

"That would be great! A surprise holiday! I'm really excited now!" I exclaimed giving him a kiss.

"Brilliant, now why don't we go and get some breakfast at that new café that's opened on the corner?" he suggested.

"Sounds good, let me change into something more casual." I said running off upstairs.

"Hurry, I'm hungry!" he called after me.

Breakfast at the café was brilliant. Ash had a full English and I had pancakes and nutella with banana. The café we went to was a small old-fashioned style café with bunting, teapots and cute vintage wallpaper and teacups.

It wasn't really something I was used to but we had a really good time together.

We walked back home hand in hand.

"How about we go have a shower and then this afternoon I will take you for a picnic like we did when we first got together?" Ash suggested.

"Mr Ashford that sounds delightful! Lets get right to it!" I smiled.

I walked over to him. My forehead resting on his, I was on my tiptoes, our lips moments from touching, I took his hand and pulled away. Leading him upstairs to our room…

After our shower, which took about an hour, I got dressed, casual clothes – jeans, a top and Ash's hoodie, did my hair and make up whilst Ash went to the shops and brought food for our picnic.

Because we had only had breakfast less than 2 hours before we decided to wait a while before going out. I had some paperwork to do and Ash was busy researching holiday destinations so with me in my study and Ash sitting on the bed in our room we worked silently apart from the occasional sigh from me as the work I was doing was boring and repetitive.

At 1 pm I was bored and hungry.

"Right, lets go." I said, standing up and pulling my jeans up.

"Ok, great. Ill be 2 minutes, why don't you go down and put some shoes on, ill be right there." Ahs said, not taking his eyes off the laptop.

"Cool, see you soon, don't be too long!" I said desperate to escape the paperwork my study was drowning under.

Ash drove us to the woodland that we had gone to the first time he had taken me on a picnic it was about a half an hour drive away. He had packed a hamper with food but not let me look in it before we left. It was early December so we had blankets and flasks of hot chocolate that had been made by me whilst Ash was finishing off on his laptop.

We walked to the clearing and Ash set up the waterproof blanket on the floor and passed me the thick fluffy one that I wrapped around me.

We sat together huddled in our blankets eating a picnic of strawberries, chocolate, jam sandwiches, hot chocolate, coffee, marshmallows and crisps. It was perfect.

Chatting, laughing, shivering and kissing.

It was the most relaxing and perfect day we had had in a long time.

We had to reluctantly leave at 2:30pm so we could go and get the girls from school, there was only two more weeks to go until the Christmas holidays. Ash and I had tried to take as much time off as we could so that the girls wouldn't have to spend anytime at the hospital with us or alone at the house. We had both managed to get Christmas day off but Ash was working Christmas Eve and I Boxing day.

The girls were all looking forward to Christmas. Ella was staying with us over the first week and at her mothers for the second this meant she was spending Christmas day with us. Sharice hadn't had a proper Christmas for years so this year was going to be special. Jess was the only one who wasn't quite certain about the event, normally both Jess and Lou would come to my house to spend the day out of their flat and my parents would come down too but my parents had decided to spend Christmas with their friends this year and come to our house for the new year.

I had decided to take the girls to choose a Christmas tree the following weekend and then allow them to decorate it themselves. Normally I would leave the decorations to Lou and Jess, give them a key and money to buy what ever they thought was necessary in their quest to prepare my house for Christmas day so it was all new for me.

I had found some decorations for the house in the storage spaces in the attic, the house had started to get more festive over the past few days, a wreath on the door, advent calenders in the kitchen, Peppa Pig, a Cadburys one and a kinder one for Jess, Sharice and Ella respectively. Ash and I even had our own Lindt calenders, which were opened every morning during breakfast.

Ash and I picked Jess and Sharice up from school on our way back home, jess could not stop talking about what she had done at school, something about paper chains and a sandpit. Sharice also seemed happy, she was smiling and laughing with a friend she had made when she walked towards the car. They had hugged as they said goodbye to each other before Sharice jumped into the car and the other girl walked off home.

Ella was already at home when we got in. It was my turn to cook dinner tonight so no one was expecting anything special. I had brought chicken, potatoes and vegetables on the way to the school and was planning something simple, but knowing me it would burn or be dry and inedible.

Ella was on her laptop filling out applications to universities for an English literature course she had found and wanted to do. Sharice was up in her room doing homework and chatting on her phone to her friend, I think her name was Emily. Jess had sat down with Ash at the dining room table doing some math's homework she had been given.

At 6pm, we had had dinner, slightly dry but nothing compared to my usual standard so I was quite impressed, Jess was up having her bath with Sharice helping her and Ella, Ash and I were sat at the dining room table helping Ella write her personal statement. By the time we had finished it was 10 pm and both Ash and I were utterly exhausted, having been up over 24 hours after a night shift and a day spent together. Ella was going to stay up for a while longer and Sharice was still on her laptop, we had brought her one to help her get better at school and homework, watching a movie, we told her to go straight to sleep after it finished and went off to bed ourselves after checking on Jess.

We were so tired that we just fell straight asleep after getting undressed, Ash only in boxers and me only wearing Ash's hoddie I had worn that day.

We slept soundly until we were woken at 5 am by a scream downstairs.

… Please review and send me ideas! Update ASAP!