Tiny bit of swearing in this chapter, but not too much :)

TWENTY FIVE - IN LAWS

March 1921

It was March 1921. Eliza was almost 9 months and Teddy was going to turn 4 in May. They were both incredibly happy children and Jack and Rose adored them. Jack had returned to work now, he worked 9-4 Monday to Thursday. His boss had tried to be flexible with his hours to ensure he would see the children each day. Whilst Jack was at work, Rose would watch the children. Mary and James had reiterated that they would visit in April, meaning Jack had just a month to tell them about Rose - something he still hadn't done.

—

Jack arrived home from work, walking through the front door Teddy ran at him from the living room. "DADDYYYYY!!!" He grinned, Jack picked him up "hey little guy, have you had a nice day?!" He smiled and kissed his head. Teddy nodded "it was good" Eliza appeared in the hall way, following Teddy. She was trying her best to crawl but hadn't yet managed it, so was commando crawling at the minute. Jack put Teddy down and ruffled his hair before he picked up Eliza "and how are you?" He smiled and kissed her cheek which made Eliza giggled. "I'm just going to say hello to Mummy, OK? Why don't you go and play with your toys in the living room" "OK" Teddy smiled and walked off, Eliza following him of course.

Jack walked in to the kitchen where Rose was at the stove, her back to the door "hey you" he smiled "oh, hello" she smiled and turned to see him at the door "sorry, I didn't hear you come in" he walked over to her and kissed her gently "how was your day?" She asked "long" he smiled "I couldn't wait to get home to the 3 of you. How was yours?" "Good. The kids have been good so we went to the park for a little while" she nodded. She turned around to stir the food in the pan on the stove "what's for dinner?" He said as he wrapped his arms around her from behind. "Stew" she replied "lovely" he said as he kissed her neck a few times "stop" she giggled "Teddy and Eliza are in the next room" He laughed and stepped away from her to take his jacket off.

—

The four of them ate dinner then Jack and Rose put Teddy and Eliza to bed. Eliza was now in her own bedroom, which was proving great for Jack and Rose's sleep, amongst a few other things. Teddy's nightmares had more or less gone, Benjamin - the cat - would sleep at the end of his bed every night, something Jack and Rose believed helped in ending the nightmares.

Eliza's new bedroom was light pink and white. Five photos on her window ledge; a photo of the 4 of them, one of just her and Teddy, a photo of Elizabeth, a photo of Mary and James and a photo of Jack's parents.

"Night baby" Rose whispered to a half asleep Eliza before putting her in to her cot and carefully shutting the door as she left. She went in to Teddy's bedroom where Jack was finishing off his story - the two of them normally rotated, one night Rose would put Eliza to bed whilst Jack put Teddy to bed, and they'd change roles the following day.

"OK, time to go to sleep buddy" Jack said as he kissed his head "I'm not tired" Teddy said, this was something he'd say every night, but still fall asleep almost immediately when Jack and Rose left his bedroom "Look, Benjamin is fast asleep" Jack pointed at the sleeping cat "so you need to go to sleep too" Teddy sighed and hugged Jack "OK" Jack hugged him back before getting up, Rose walked over and kissed his head "night darling" "night Mummy" she stroked Benjamin before leaving the room with Jack. The two of them going downstairs.

—

Jack and Rose were sat on the sofa, Jack catching up on the paper whilst Rose read her book. It was around 9.30 and there was a knock at the door "who's that at this time?" Rose frowned, confused. Jack got up and peered through the curtain to see the front door "shit! Shit shit shit!" He said quietly and quickly shut the curtain "Jack? What is it?" "It's Mary and James!" "Elizabeth's parents?" Rose asked "yes! and I still haven't told them about you!" "What do we do?!" She asked "there's nothing we can do, just sit down and act calm, I'll let them in and we can go from there" he kissed her then she sat down.

Jack left the room and headed to the front door. He'd never been so nervous. He took a deep breathe before opening the door.

"Hi, Mary… Hi James"