"Last one left, hey?" Jack smiled at Emilia as she sat down at one of the desks, waiting for Rose or Henry to arrive. "You were great at practice today" he continued "thank you" Emilia replied with a smile. "Do you know who's picking you up?" Jack asked as he sat at one of the chairs near her. "Either Mum or Henry, but probably Henry because Mum had a baby 2 weeks ago, she hasn't really been out the house since" Emilia shrugged. "Oh, how exciting!" Jack smiled "did she have a boy or a girl?" He asked "a boy… I wanted her to have a girl because I already have a brother, but I still love him" Emilia nodded. "That's good, I'm sure he loves you… who's Henry?" Jack asked, silently wishing Emilia's mum or dad would hurry up as he wanted to get home. "My dad… kind off… him and my mum are married" "so your step dad?" Jack asked, getting a nod "yeah, my real dad died, so Henry looks after us" Emilia smiled. Despite Henry not being her biological Father, she did think of him as her Dad, and always knew Henry loved her just as much as he loved Charlie and Alfie. "Oh, I'm sorry to hear about your Dad" Jack said awkwardly, but Emilia just shrugged it off.
—
It had gotten to 5pm and after plenty of small talk, Emilia spoke up "can I walk home? I think they've forgotten about me" she said casually "I know my way" she shrugged. "I can't let you walk home by yourself, you're far too young, but I can walk you back if you show me the way?" Jack offered, getting a nod in response. "Grab your coat then we'll leave" he smiled as he put his on before they headed out. The walk back to Emilia's house was around 10 minutes so they just talked about school on the way, before they reached the end of the driveway.
Jack waited at the end of the driveway, wanting to ensure Emilia got in to the house safely.
Emilia knocked on the door, that was answered pretty quickly by Rose. "Hey?" She frowned down at Emilia, not noticing Jack. "How come you're knocking? Where's Henry?" She asked confused, seen as Henry obviously had a key to get in to the house. "He didn't come and get me" Emilia shrugged. "Don't tell me you've walked back from school on your own!" Rose looked at her shocked "no, Mr Dawson brought me back" Emilia shrugged again as she stepped in to the house, moving past Rose to take her coat and school bag off. "What?" Rose froze, hearing the name. "Mr Dawson brought me back…" Emilia repeated then waved at Jack who was at the end of the driveway. Rose's head shot up, she hadn't noticed anyone at the end of the garden, let alone the fact that it was Jack. Jack hadnt noticed it was Rose either, until they locked eyes. Rose stood there, frozen, feeling as though she was going to be sick. "Will you go and play with Charlie for a bit? He's upstairs in his room" Rose asked, not looking at Emilia, but got a groan in response "I don't want tooooo" she continued. "Emmy, please" Rose said firmly, and Emilia took the hint as she headed upstairs.
Rose finally took a deep breath and walked towards the end of the driveway, where Jack was stood in just as much shock as she was. "What the-" Rose said "you're alive?" she asked, swallowing the lump in her throat. "You're alive?" Jack copied her, shocked "but, you froze to death, you drowned…" Jack continued "as did you…" Rose said. "Can- can we talk?" Jack asked as he went to touch Rose's cheek, but she stepped back once she saw Henry approaching the house, though he couldn't see her yet. "Not right now… my hus- husband is back" she sighed gently "meet me at the park at 8.30?" She asked, her eyes heavy. "OK…" Jack nodded, watching as Rose rushed back to the front door and in to the house, closing the door behind her, so Henry wouldn't suspect anything, despite her being in a state of shock.
Henry nodded at Jack as he walked past him, unsure what he was doing outside their house, but didn't ask. "Hi" he smiled as he entered the house and walked in to the kitchen where Rose was preparing dinner. "So you just forgot to pick Emilia up?" Rose snapped, not even saying hello. "I'm sorry, I got caught up at work… I assumed you would go when I wasn't back by quarter to… who was that?" He asked about Jack. "Emilia's teacher, he walked her home, probably assuming we'd forgotten about her!" She snapped again, normally, despite being frustrated by the situation, she wouldn't become angry at Henry. "Look Rose, I'm sorry… but you don't need to be so harsh. Emmy is safe, that's all that matters" Henry replied. "Yes, no thanks to you. I'm going to feed Alfie, you can finish dinner, don't forget to make Emilia a plate up, you know, like you forgot to collect her" she said as she walked past Henry, leaving him confused- he understood why she was frustrated that he hadn't collected Emilia, but he had never seen Rose like this before.
—
"Dinners ready" Henry said to Rose as he walked in to their room after telling Emilia and Charlie to head downstairs. "I don't want any, but thanks" she shrugged him off as he stood by the door. "You need to eat" Henry insisted. "I'm not hungry. Go and eat with the kids, you know world war 3 can breakout between those 2 at any moment" she sighed as he sat on the foot of the bed. "Rose, what's wrong? You're never like this" Henry asked, and Rose thought of a quick excuse, knowing she would need one if she wanted to leave the house later without Henry firing questions at her. "I don't know, I think I've just got a bit of cabin fever. I'm going to go on a walk later once the kids are in bed" she said in a more relaxed tone. "Why don't we all go when we've finished dinner?" He suggested. "No, I want to go on my own. I just need a bit of peace and quiet. I'll help put the kids to bed then go" she replied. "Fine" Henry replied with a sigh, knowing there was no use in trying to change her mind.