Later that evening the 3 of them ate dinner whilst Sophia lay in her bouncer after being fed by Rose. "It's straight to bed after you've finished Tilly, it's a bit later than we normally have tea" Rose smiled at her, getting a nod in response. "OK" she said, clearly tired. "Can you put me to bed too, Jack?" Tilly asked hopefully. He looked at Rose, not wanted to intrude but she nodded at him. "Yeah, I can help Mummy if you'd like" he smiled at Tilly. "Thank you" Tilly replied.

—

Sophia had fallen asleep whilst Jack, Rose and Tilly ate their dinner and Rose managed to get her changed and in to her crib without waking her up. After closing her door carefully, she headed to Tilly's room where Jack was about to start reading a story. The two of them sat on either side of her whilst he read, changing voices for each character.

Once he finished reading, Rose spoke "I'll be in Jack's bedroom tonight darling, so if you need me, come in there, OK?" She said, getting a nod back. She had already discussed with Jack that sometimes Tilly would come and find her in the night. "OK… will you both lay with me until I fall asleep?" She asked "sure" Rose kissed the top of her head.

A few minutes later, just as Tilly was beginning to drop off, Rose sighed as she heard Sophia cry "I knew her staying asleep was too good to be true… back in a minute" she said quietly as she climbed off the bed and went in to sooth Sophia. After doing so, she headed back towards Tilly's room, stopping as she heard the conversation between her and Jack.

"Jack?" Tilly said, looking up at him. "Hmm?" He looked down at her. "Are you my Daddy now?" She asked casually "wha- what?" He frowned, unsure what to say "well, mummies and daddies sleep in the same bed together?" she asked confused. He didn't really know what to say. He couldn't give her a straight answer without speaking to Rose but thankfully Tilly yawned and rubbed her eyes. "Try and get some sleep" he said awkwardly, watching as she drifted off again.

Rose left it a few moments before going in to Tilly's room and giving Jack a small gentle smile, bending down to kiss Tilly's head as Jack climbed off the bed. "Night baby" she whispered and stood up, leaving the room. "I'm going to go and get changed" Rose whispered "OK, I'll make us a cup of tea" Jack replied "thank you" she said as she walked off in to hers and Jack's room, getting changed as quietly as possible to avoid waking up Sophia.

—

Rose headed downstairs, interested to see if Jack would mention his conversation with Tilly but deciding not to bring it up herself.

—

"Thank you" she smiled as she took the mug from him whilst they sat on the sofa.

"What do you want to do tomorrow?" He asked "Well it's a Monday… are you sure you can have the time off Jack?" Rose said worried "yes, my boss said it was fine" he nodded and smiled gently "should we decide tomorrow then?" She asked and he nodded.

"Rose?" Jack said nervously, she just looked at him "yeah?" "Tilly asked me if I was her Dad" he said "I know, I heard her" Rose said, it was obvious she didn't feel comfortable in the conversation. "Sorry, we can talk about something else" he said "no… no, it's nothing like that Jack" she sighed "She can call you what she wants. But I'm not here to force her to call anyone, anything. I don't want to be that 'controlling parent' like my own Mother was. If she calls you Dad and you're happy with that, then we can go with it. But I don't want it to be a formal sit down conversation. She's 5, Jack, and so confused by everything going on around her" Rose sighed. Deep down, Rose knew that she was more confused and overwhelmed than Tilly and was maybe wrongly using her daughter to mask it.

"OK" Jack nodded and smiled a little "we'll just see where she goes with it" "thank you" Rose gave a very weak nod, before leaning in to his side.