Cat, Thomas, and the Kids

Cat hung up the phone, a look a sheer delight on her face.

"Bella" she called to Beth/Bella happily, "how would you like to go visit Kelly, Hayes, Douglas and Thomas at the beach house?"

Bella/Beth looked up from her iPad a huge grin splitting her face.

"You mean it? Today? Now?"

Cat smiled, "that was Thomas on the phone, he is going to be minding Kelly and Hayes for a couple of hours today while Steffy is at the office, so he thought that you might like to visit as well, what do you think? Would you like me to take you over for a visit?"

"Oh wow!" she yelled, "they can tell me all about Australia and Kangaroos and Koala Bears, and all that stuff."
Cat smiled, "alright, if we're going then, you better run and get your towel, a sun hat, and some sunscreen, it's going to be warm today and I don't want you getting sunburned if we all decide to go down to the beach."

Bella jumped up muttering, "awwweee mum." Before running up the stairs without another word.

Cat froze in shock, Bella had called her mum - for the second time, the first time had been two days ago, and now she'd done it again. Cat didn't make a big deal of it, although she was beyond thrilled, she instead just carried on as naturally as possible so as to allow Bella to see it as natural, and no big deal.

It had been a slow and steady approach when it came to acclimating Bella to live with them. Her name had come first, surprisingly, that had been easy as Beth had quite liked her real birth name, and it sounded close to the name Hope and Liam had called her. The Doctor still had sessions with her, and was very pleased at the little girls adjustment to her new life, having Liam living there, along with skyping with Douglas had helped tremendously, the two real visits with Douglas had helped settle her even more, and finally, Hope had met with them, it was teary and very emotional, but Hope had been surprisingly kind and decent, she'd done the right thing by the child she had thought of as her daughter, and had gently explained what had happened back then, and how she still loved her desperately, but that Cat was her real mother and that a horrible doctor had stolen her from her, so she had to be with her now because she loved her even more than she/Hope did.

Beth had sat with both Hope and Liam and cuddled and cried for a while before finally going off with Douglas to play while Liam took Hope home. She had been a little quiet and subdued after the visit, but Cat thought it settled something with-in her child. Bella now knew she hadn't been deserted or just given away, a horrible person had stolen her when she was just a baby, but that Cat and her family had kept searching until they found her again; for Bella it was just like in a fairy tale, but she was the princess.

And now that Liams injuries were almost fully healed, he had started to ease himself out of the house as well, now only staying on weekends, soon even that would be gone and Bella would be fully integrated into her family.

Everything was going so much better than expected, and Cat knew that that was mainly due to an amazing therapist, and the support of everyone involved in Bellas life, and now this, being called mum . . . tears welled in her eyes as she looked up the stairs where her daughter had just run.

"Slow and steady, Cat," she whispered. "Don't rush it, she's getting there in her own time."

She crossed herself and whispered a quick prayer of thanks to God for this unexpected gift.

Bella hurried back down the stairs, a hat, and a beach-bag under her arms.

"I packed my bathers, just in case, you better get yours too, you can't go swimming in jeans," she said authoritatively.

Cat smiled and nodded, "Okay, I won't be long to long, besides, we better give Thomas a chance to get there first, I said we'd meet him in an hour so we have plenty of time."

Bella frowned, clearly not liking the thought of waiting.

Cat thought for a moment, "Here's an idea, why don't you find Carmella and get her to pack us a picnic lunch? Tell her anything will do, whatever's leftover in the fridge is fine, or better yet, just some sandwiches for all of us, can you do that?"

Bella grinned, "You betcha, it'll be a surprise picnic." And without another word she raced off towards the kitchen.

Cat sighed in happiness before taking herself up to her room to get ready.

Two and a half hours later they were all sitting on the beach finishing up a pile of sandwiches that Cats cook Carmella had made. Cat began to gather the empty plates and wrappings, putting everything neatly back in the large basket she had brought along with her. Thomas sat back patting his stomach appreciatively.

"I don't know about anyone else, but I am stuffed to the gills, thanks Cat, this was a brilliant idea."

Cat blushed a little and smiled, "You're welcome, I'm just glad everyone enjoyed the lunch, and it was Bella that organised it all with Carmella, so she gets the credit here."

Bella looked over from where she was sitting with Kelly, Hayes and Douglas.

"I told her lots of peanut butter and Jelly cause I know they're everyone's favourites!"

She said importantly.

"Well, you did really well Bella, I couldn't eat another bite." Said Thomas with a grin at the little girl.

Douglas watched the interplay between everyone happily, this had been a lot of fun, it was like having a real family again.

He knew that Steffy had gone into see Cats brother Marius to ask him to date her, or that's what he'd overheard, and from the different conversations he'd listened in on when his dad wasn't noticing, he knew that Marius liked his aunt too.

He wondered what it would be like if his dad and Cat got married, then he and Bella would be a real brother and sister with a real family together, and better yet, his dad could be happy again. He glanced over at Bella's mum, Cat seemed really nice, and she was very pretty, did she have a boyfriend? He wanted to do something good for his dad, especially after all the times he'd helped him. He wanted his dad to be happy, but how could he get Cat to like him and his Dad? That was a question he'd just started to think about as they'd started to eat and he realised what a great time everyone was having.

Soon he came up with a perfect idea, a way to get Cat and his dad to see each other again with-out seeming to be trying to push them together, he smiled at his inner sneakiness before saying innocently.

"Wouldn't it be nice if we were all a real family."

Thomas frowned and looked over at his son, "what do you mean bud, we are a real family."

Douglas shook his head, "No, I just meant, like if you and Cat were married, and Aunt Steffy and Cats brother Marius were married, we'd all be a proper family again, and we could all do Christmas together and stuff, like we used to do when we were little kids, you know, that's all, I just thought it'd be nice."

"Mummy doesn't want to get married again," said Kelly angrily.

"She mightn't now but she might in the future, and I reckon it would be nice if it was someone we all liked, and someone that would make us all family again – not some horrible stranger."

Kelly blinked several times before frowning to herself in thought at Douglas' words, after losing her dad and Finn, she didn't want to share her mum with anyone, only her dad, but, if Douglas was right – and Douglas was always right, he was her hero, and he'd saved her mum and Thomas – perhaps she should be worried her mum might marry the "wrong" person.

Thomas sat up, "Hey Douglas, what's brought all this on then?"

Douglas shrugged, "I was just having such a great day, and it felt like we were all a proper family again, like a real family, and I just thought it would be nice. I mean, Cats really pretty, and you're not dating anyone, and neither's Aunt Steffy, so all we'd have to do is get her and Marius together, if, Aunt Steffy decided she liked him."

"Oh, that's such an excellent idea!" said Bella as she looked at Thomas and her mother with wide eyes.

She turned to Kelly and Hayes, "And imagine if your mum married Uncle Marius, we'd be real cousins, not pretend, we could have sleep overs and picnics all the time, which is much better than your mum or Thomas marrying someone icky."

She turned to Cat who was still sitting there with her mouth slightly ajar at the turn of conversation. "Can you go on a date with Thomas and see if you want to get married?" she said innocently.

"Before you kids finish marrying everyone off to suit your lifestyles," said Cat blushing in embarrassment and giving Thomas a quick look. "I think we'd better finish this picnic and see if we can get back to Steffi's in one piece – don't you?"

Thomas started laughing, "see, now you've gone and embarrassed Cat, who I would date in a second if I wasn't too old for her."

Douglas looked from one adult to the other, "you're not to old dad, you're just like Granddad and Donna used to be."

"Hey, there's not THAT much of an age gap," protested Thomas in mock shock as he tried desperately to lighten the tone of the conversation.

Cat laughed in real amusement and stood up before looking down at Thomas, "alright then father time, you grab the basket and I'll grab the blanket, c'mon kids, time to gather your things and head back, Steffy might be home soon and we don't want her to panic if you're not there."

Laughing and smiling, everyone grabbed their towels, Douglas and Bella happily scooping up their belongings together. A now thoughtful Kelly gathered her hat and towel and took Hayes' hand and led him back up the beach, she was now deep in thought.

Douglas's words had made her realise that, although she might not want her mum to get a boyfriend, she might, because she was very pretty and very popular with people, even Jiemba's mum had told her that, but she'd ignored it at the time. Now however, Douglas had said it, and she knew he was right, she didn't want her mum having just any old boyfriend, she wanted her to be happy and with someone nice. Someone who would be kind to all of them, and if it couldn't be her daddy then perhaps Douglas was right, perhaps if she got Marius as a boyfriend and Cat and Thomas got married, they'd all be a family again, a proper family.

She needed to think on this, because she had to protect her mum and Hayes, and she was determined that not just anyone was going to walk into her mums – and her and her brothers – life.

They had to be extra nice!