Trish had quickly become a regular at the Shepard farmstead and Thomas soon found his initial misgivings fading. It was clear that both teens were happy together and the older girl had obviously taken his words to heart. It couldn't have been easy for them to spend the start of their relationship confined to the farm, unable to get away and do the typical dating things and yet the Stewart girl hadn't moved on to easier pickings like he'd half expected her to.

His other worry, that Nicola would stop working in order to spend more time with her girlfriend, was also proving to be unfounded. Instead they settled into something of a routine, Trish turning up just before lunch so they could spend the break together then when the farmhands returned to work sometimes she'd drive off, returning again in the evening, but more often she'd sit at the side of the field with a datapad or fiddling with her omni-tool until Nikki was finished for the day. It was no real hardship to make another portion of the evening meal, after all John's girlfriend was often present as well and they had the option of eating out.

The two girls would often join in with family game nights, go out together around the farm or just head up to Nikki's room to chill out. Admittedly that last, (ok and quite often the second) would involve a silent warning look from him to the elder but... Thomas took a quick glance at the clock before returning his attention to the pouring rain outside the window, the girls were cutting it very close.

The school holidays had come round by the time Nikki's punishment expired and Thomas made sure she got plenty of days off. It would have been so easy for them to go overboard with their new found freedom and it was true they spent as much time as possible out and about; town, the drive-thru and god knows where else, but there had been no more brushes with the law and they always made it back on time. Although thinking about it that may have been in part due to the lack of an actual curfew. He was pretty certain: 'Be back by a sensible time' and 'let me know if you change your plans' didn't exactly count. It was just typical that the one day they'd been given a deadline, it looked like they wouldn't make it. He finally caught sight of two shapes running towards the house, an implosion of noise as they burst through the door, their clothes saturated and hair drenched from the storm outside.

"You're late."

"What? No! You said 3 o'clock, it's only seven minutes to!" His dripping daughter protested vehemently.

"I said we were leaving at 3. You need to have a shower and a change of clothes or you'll catch cold. There's not enough time." He softened his voice. "I'm sorry Nikki, we won't be long."

"It's not fair!" He bit back a chuckle. Grounded, omni-tool confiscated and a note on her police file for masterminding a crime she was merely accomplice to, not a peep. Not allowed to come to the spaceport... Well at least she had her priorities straight. He looked at the soaked through Trish:

"Make sure you both get clean and dry." She nodded and he turned away before pausing to shout over his shoulder, "and make sure you use separate showers!" As he headed towards the car where the boys were already strapped in waiting, he could hear the older girl trying to calm Nikki down and lead her upstairs, but mostly he could hear his daughter:

"But we were on time! It's not fair, it's not my fault. I didn't make it rain on the way back... Hang on... What was he going on about separate showers for? How else are we supposed to shower?"

...

The flickering light of the TV screen provided enough illumination to see the sleeping teens curled up together on the sofa, they looked so peaceful and content. If the quiet giggling of his sons as they crept into the room was anything to go by it wouldn't last long. They paused, looking not quite over at him for a moment before jumping the girls, his eldest pulling Trish out of the melee with a hand over her mouth. The sibling play fighting had been all fun and games for years but they had quickly learnt that any suggestion of Trish being hurt or upset removed all trace of friendliness from Nikki. Speaking of his daughter, she finally noticed the other details of the room, releasing Mark from a headlock with a shove to keep him away from her as she lurched over in roughly his direction with young Kevin still clinging to her shoulders.

"Mom!" Thomas winced slightly as she practically collapsed around the wheelchair enveloping the woman inside in a tight hug before springing back as if she'd been shocked. "I didn't hurt you did I? Sorry-"

"It's fine Nick, it'll take more than that to hurt me."

"She means, she's on so much pain medication she can't feel a thing." Thomas corrected.

"Careful darling, you can still feel pain." His wife countered threateningly before turning her attention upon the stranger in the room. In any other circumstance she would have been furious at the sight of someone elbowing her son hard enough for him to double up, but considering the awakening she'd just witnessed she'd make a one time exception. "Are you going to introduce your friend to me Nikki?"

"This is my girlfriend Trish. Trish this is my horrible, evil mother." The older girl's lips twitched as she held back a smile, both at the chosen emphasis and the obvious affection she'd already seen on display for the 'evil' woman.

"Nice to meet you ma'am."

"Ma'am? Such manners, you must be new here. Hannah's fine. If I want to feel old I'll look at this rabble. Now then, I suppose congratulations are in order." Trish was wondering about the use of the word 'suppose' when she realised the conversation was no longer aimed at her but the woman's husband. "You didn't kill any of them while I was away after all..."

"Mom thought you'd been food poisoned to death in the car." Kevin told Nikki in a very loud whisper. "That's why you weren't with us, dad had deaded you."

"Killed Kevin, not deaded, that's not a real word. I thought your dad had 'killed' her."

"It doesn't matter what the word is." Thomas interrupted, noticing the guilt and regret rising on his daughter's face at not being there. "And my cooking is not that bad!"

"Well you know what they say, 'whatever doesn't kill you only makes you stronger'." John joined in on teasing his father and if she hadn't spent so much time around the Shepards Trish would have been either very confused or rather worried. She thought Thomas's cooking was actually pretty good, but then again she also knew the family were always joking about.

"Oh I know all about that, I've been on hospital food for months now. I think I'm capable of making an accurate judgement as to which is worse. All I need is a sample, care to make us some dear?"

"As long as you're sure your life insurance is up to date then fine." Thomas added to the jokes being fired at his expense, "Shepherd's pie coming right up. Staying Trish?"

...

"I thought Shepherd's pie was made with potato?" Trish murmured quietly to Nikki as she looked at her plate and the chicken, mushroom and cheese pie wrapped in puff pastry upon it. She was surprised to feel her girlfriend stiffen beside her but before she could analyse what she'd said or done wrong they were interrupted.

"I'm a Shepard Trish, any pie I make is Shepherd's pie." Thomas retorted, her remark clearly not as quiet as she'd hoped. There were groans in all directions from the children at the terrible dad joke and Hannah simply shook her head with a smile. The incident put her firmly in the spotlight however as her girlfriend's mother turned to address her.

"So I'm curious Trish, baseball bat or shovel?"

"Erm, what?" Now she was really confused. The comment came completely out of nowhere and without a sense of context she wasn't entirely sure whether or not she was being threatened.

"My daughter. Did you hit her round the head with a baseball bat or a shovel?" There was a groan beside her and a quick glance to the side revealed a reddening Nikki hiding her head in her hands. "She was pretty oblivious and hopeless when I left, you must have done something to get her attention."

"My car may have purposefully broken down on the way to school so I could talk to her."

"And that was enough?" There was clear disbelief in the woman's voice and Trish was inclined to be offended on her girlfriend's behalf until she remembered just how awkward and naive Nikki had been. She caught sight of the silent 'kill me now' Nicola mouthed across the table to her amused brothers and their subtle but delighted shakes of the head.

"Well... It worked the second time..." Hannah laughed.

"Oh, I like you." It was as if a weight had been lifted from the collective shoulders of the people around the table and they all started breathing again. Which was absurd because Trish hadn't even been aware of any tension until it lifted.

"Well I guess it's official then," Thomas stated, "you're part of the flock now." Groans and insults were hurled through the air in response to the pun but Trish didn't care, her attention caught by Nicola's shy smile.