So the winnor of the pool was…. "drumroll"… PETER!

Anyway, I was watching through the old Tracy Beaker series. And you know when it's Tracy and Peter's birthday. And Peter gives Tracy a card for her to believe it's from her mum. Well, I was looking at that card- it looks very nice actually and it might not have been all too cheap, as well- Peter's way too little to go shopping on his own. And Mike, Duke, Elaine or Jenny couldn't have taken him because they'd found out what he wanted to do. However it happened he must still have had it before the birthday…

I found a way to makee this work.

Anyway, first I just wanted to say that I found out that Hayley had photos of herself and her mum. Meaning that the new chapter I wrote for her doesn't work. Anyway, I'll keep that chapter there but some time I'll write another new chapter for Hayley too.

Thanks to Ally R. Swan for reviewing.

Peter Ingham

It was in the middle of the night when six- year- old Peter Ingham laid on his bed. It was his birthday, his and his friend Tracy's, he had just been to be the first one to wish her happy birthday and now he couldn't fall back asleep.

Peter knew there was a lot of things Tracy wasn't happy about, and especially about having to share her one and only special day of the year with him…

He had already tried with being the first to sing her the happy birthday song…

There had to be something else he could do that would actually make her happy.

And then, at two minutes past one during the night Peter Ingham had his idea about what he could do that would actually make her happy.

Peter always wanted to get his mum a card and put it by the grave where she was buried. But he had never gotten the chance to last year. And that was the reason why it had been lying in a desk drawer ever since he came to Stowey House…

Peter made sure he did everything quietly, not to wake anyone up as he took the card from the drawer. It was the most beautiful card he had ever seen and no other card would ever have been good enough for his best friend.

Flashback

A birthday wish

Peter read the text on the card he picked out that year. It didn't just say "Happy birthday" like any other card but Peter had learned how to read a long time ago…

…Every year on her birthday five year old Peter Ingham bought his mum a birthday card.

Peter had learned how to count money and see the prices and soon he figured he was a pound or two from being able to buy the card.

With a disappointed sigh he started putting the card back in the shelf just as his nan, Nora Ingham came over to him after picking up coffee and cookies of what had been her daughter's favorites.

"I like this one. But I can't afford it."

"Here let me see." Nora took the card and felt in her pocket that she had cash. "Wow. That is a pretty card. Is this the one you want to give your mum this year?"

"I don't have enough money."

"Here, let me count. See if there's another card you want but maybe you counted it wrong."

Peter turned and didn't see as Nora took another two pounds from her pocket.

"You have just enough. You must have counted it wrong." Peter turned again and gave a big smile. "Just take this and you go before me in the line."

Peter took the card and his money and left was Nora behind and counted her money so she´d be able to do her shopping. She had just enough and with that she went after Peter, paid for what she had and then took him by the hand and went out of the store and down the street.

Today would have been the birthday of Amelia- Nora's daughter and Peter's mum. And every year since he could remember Peter wanted to buy a card and put on the grave, even though she had died when he was born so he had never met her.

As they walked Nora Ingham looked down on her grandson who was walking proudly next to her, and she remembered all of the times she and Amelia had been walking side by side down this very sidewalk.

When Nora was pregnant, and Amelia was spiring and growing inside of her Jack, her husband and Amelia's dad had talked about becoming a dad, bought every baby- item they needed (or wanted) and every evening laid his ear down towards Nora's belly that was growing bigger by the day and spoke to their daughter.

They'd been so happy…

The labor had lasted for forty nine hours, and when Nora could at last lean back and take their newborn daughter in her arms Jack was nowhere to be found. Day after day she had been waiting, but since then she hadn't seen him. As if the long and painful labor was enough for Jack to know how hard parenting would be…

Nora and Jack had seen in front of them how they would walk down the street with Amelia with them…

And when it came, Nora was the only one there to push the stroller, and then hold Amelia's hand as they walked.

But it was okay, Amelia was always well cared for by her mum and Nora knew that as long as they had each other nothing could ever stop them.

Then Amelia met her Roman.

They were only together for a few months and Nora was just as happy, she had never trusted Roman. Obviously rightfully so because Roman was gone in the same moment that Amelia told him she was pregnant.

They did alright after all, it was Nora's time to wait as the pregnancy went by, and as they counted the days until nine months they saw in front of them how they all three would be walking down the street together.

They would be doing okay…

Then all of a sudden, Amelia had started feeling unwell, they had believed it was just from the pregnancy itself.

Things were changing when Amelia had suddenly collapsed, her mother had heard a weird noise in the night and found her daughter seizing. She had thrown herself on the phone and called 999.

Amelia was rushed to the A and E but Nora just couldn't understand what was going on. The doctors had told her something about preeclampsia, high blood pressure and how it had shut off Amelia's liver and kidneys. Something about a C-section and soon the nurse had come out of the trauma room with a little baby wrapped in a blue blanket.

The baby had made it, but not his mum.

But Nora and Peter- as the baby boy's name became did okay, and that day they walked down the street to go home so Peter could sign the card and then to the graveyard.

"There's already something written in this card."

Nora was brought back from what she was remembering when Peter started talking to her, at first she didn't hear what he was saying then saw him holding up the card and saw.

"Oh yeah. There is. There is something written in a lot of cards… Do you want to go home and write that it's for your mum?"

"No. That's enough. I want to take it straight to the graveyard even though you thought I want to go home first. You do loads and loads for me nan. Always a lot. You take me to the store and you take me to the graveyard to meet mummy and you do lot of other things."

Nora didn't answer to that. It was no point with burdening her five year old with how stressed she always sbecame with both work she had to do, and then as good as being an only parent.

She loved it though, there was no way she would have traded her life to any other.

It was stressful sometimes though, but as she opened the gate to the graveyard and waited for Peter to pass it she didn't even know how stressful it was and what that could turn into.

Sometimes long -time stress, as for being a teacher and working loads and being an only parent and always worrying and thinking about Peter and also about what she thought had been the love of her life- where was he now?

And that broken heart she always had thinking about Amelia. And she always felt stressed and started breathing heavily as they came closer and closer to the grave that was in the very corner of the graveyard….

She didn't want to be here. She never wanted to be here. Being in this place always broke her heart again.

And that upon all the stress she had been under lately finally pushed her down and she fell to her knees on the ground next to Peter who looked at her in confusion.

"Nan?"

As he sounded like he was far away, as if she heard him from the other side of a wall it was fading away further and further as everything went black for Nora and she collapsed and her wrinkled, so many times kissed cheek fell towards the gravel ground.

"NAN?"

End of flashback

He remembered back to when he had bought the card, maybe he should just like to keep it as a memory like he had for the past ten months.

Peter thought for a long while, for a certain five minutes.

But there was that thought that this card would make Tracy happier than anything before if she'd believe that it really was for her mum. And the thought of that he would make her happy made him happy.

There was only one thing more- he wished he did have a pen or pencil that would make an even nicer writing. But the only thing he had that worked was a brown felt pen so that was what he'd have to go with.

But then, if Tracy believed this card really was from her mum- which she would. The pen used wouldn't have mattered.

At last Peter took his felt pen, sat down on his desk chair and wrote inside the card, carefully and trying to make his hand writing as neat as possible. Some of the text needed was already in the card but Peter only had to think of the rest.

To Tracy

Have a very
happy birthday
and a wonderful year

All my love
mum

Peter knew that when he'd put an X it would mean hug. But he liked more and many hugs so he added x's as many as he thought looked right.

He was lucky he knew the adress to his home- a home that was a home as he took a pink envelope that had come with the card and wrote the adress on it.

Tracy Beaker
Stowey House
Lee Road
London TB6 75D

Now he only needed to make sure he got up earlier than all the others in the morning and lay the envelope on the hallway matt so that Tracy would actually believe it had come in the post.

It was with a smile on his lips Peter laid down at last, and feeling to peace with the thought that he'd be making Tracy happier than he could know he drifted off to sleep.

Random fact

To make what the card looked like, what it had written in it and the address I actually got up the episode with Tracy and Peter's birthday and kept pausing where I needed to copy is. But at the last piece it was hard to see if it was 75D or T5D so I might have gotten it wrong.