A/N: should be one more chapter after this.

Chapter 10

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As far as Jenny was concerned, the world was a brilliant place. She'd woken up in the middle of the night, having heard someone on the stairs creaking their way up; so she'd opened her bedroom door a smidge and been delighted to see Donna leading her father upstairs. Not that the pair of them would have noticed her anyway. They'd been too busy sharing little kisses as they crept towards the bedroom.

She'd wanted to squeal with excitement, but managed to hold it in long enough to hear Donna offer in low tones, "Do you want to come in," and nod her head towards her personal bedroom.

"Let me check in on Jenny first," her dad had whispered back.

Oh shit! Jenny was quick-witted enough to think of getting quietly back into bed, turn her face away from the door, and pull the covers up high.
Seconds late she sensed John stand by her bedside. Then he placed a loving kiss on her forehead. That's when she knew he'd guess she wasn't asleep, so she pretended to rouse herself. "Whassamatter?" she mumbled.

"Nothing, darling. Go back to sleep."

She opened one eye and peered at him, drinking in his happiness that radiated out. "You alright?"

The grin came out in full force. "Never better."

Time to encourage him to bugger off back to his girlfriend. "Okay. Night, Dad. Love you," she deliberately slurred, and turned completely away from him.

There were low murmurings after that, but she didn't stay awake long enough to hear the outcome. She could only assume he'd entered Donna's bedroom. Well, 'hope' was a stronger word, she reasoned.

But just in case he was in there, when she got up the following morning, she made her way downstairs to surprise them with a cup of tea in bed. That would be her way of showing she was didn't mind them being an item.

The kettle hadn't long boiled when she heard a key turn in the front door lock and some unknown woman let herself in. She immediately rushed into the hallway to see who had the cheek to do so.

Standing next the front door was a middle-aged woman who obviously ignored most fashions and dressed for practicalities. Nothing like Cruella de Ville, that's for sure. "Who are you?" Jenny demanded to know.

The woman finished hanging her coat up and glared back at Jenny. "I'm Betty. Who are you?"

"Jenny. But why are you here?"

"How do you think this place keeps clean? It doesn't do it itself." Moving towards the doorway to the kitchen, Betty asked, "Are you the daughter the papers are talking about?"

"I dunno. Probably," Jenny confirmed. "Have the papers really mentioned me? What do they say?"

"Never mind that. Where's Donna?"

"Still in bed, I think," Jenny supplied. "I was about to take her up a cup of tea."

"Hmm." Betty tried to give her a friendly smile. "I'll finish doing that. You go tell her to get up. I've got something important to show her."

"What sort of something?"

"This," Betty demonstrated, holding up the wodge of morning post. "She'll want to see it, so hurry up, as quick as you can."

Seeing the upheld papers, all Jenny could do was utter "Oh!" This looked bad. Very bad.

There was a sharp rap on Donna's bedroom door, right before Jenny burst in. "Donna, there's some woman downstairs who says you know her, and…. and-"
Okay, her dad wasn't in there, so she didn't have to feel awkward about disturbing something, but things weren't happy in the room.

Donna looked up from her crouched position on the edge of the bed and tried to give the girl a supportive smile. "Is it Betty?"

"Yes, but…" Jenny carefully stepped closer, unsure what to do. "Has something happened? Are you alright?"

"I'm fine."

"No you're not," Jenny insisted, and prompted sat down beside Donna. The bloodshot eyes and red nose were a dead giveaway. "Is it still him?" Her head tilted sideways to nod towards some unknown entity; called Lance.

"Yeah," Donna softly replied, giving her nose one last dab with a tissue. "Silly of me, I know."

Jenny instantly wrapped an arm around her host's shoulders. "Not silly. Not at all. I may not know much, considering I've only been let down by Bradley Walters, but even I know it's okay to cry when you're sad." She acknowledged Donna teary thanks and took a chance to put her plan into action. "Do you think Dad might be able to heal your heart? I know you're still grieving but wouldn't he help? He's ever so understanding and lovely."

With a relieved laugh, Donna patted Jenny's knee. "You might be onto something there. I'll definitely keep him in mind. Shall we go and see what Betty wants? You go and get dressed and I'll meet you down there. "

Now satisfied she had lain enough ideas in Donna's head, Jenny got up to dress and then follow her downstairs to see what the next domestic emergency was.

"You are kidding me!" Donna exclaimed at Betty's news.

Betty finished struggling with the tangled vacuum lead and gave her employer a consoling smile. "I wish I was, sweetheart," she sadly replied. "I had to fight my way through to get to your gate just now. This isn't fair on you. All them reporters outside again, and The Sturn printing those horrible photos. They need shooting they do."

"What horrible photos?" a baffled John wondered as he entered the lounge. He turned his gaze onto Donna. "Have they dragged up that one from Saturday?"

"It's worse than that," she weakly answered. She then handed over the tabloid newspaper Betty had brought in with her. "Have a look on page five."

Quickly turning to the relevant page, John lifted his eyes to state, "'Midnight tryst. Between newlyweds'. How on earth did they get this? It's disgusting!"

"Depends if it's true," Betty remarked offhand.

"It doesn't matter if it's true. It's a clear invasion of privacy!" Donna protested. "I was in my own kitchen, not out in public!"

Still firmly gripping the edge of the newspaper pages, John gulped. "I'm doomed," he faintly noted. "I might never work in a school again."

"If that's you in the photos, why do you care?" Betty queried. "Since you're with Donna now, you'd can give up work and do whatever you like." Seeing their shocked faces, she tacked on, "Sounds bloody marvellous to me."

"That isn't the case. We…" Donna's eyes implored John to explain.

"Well," he began, giving his neck a comforting rub, "we certainly met in the kitchen last night."

"Plus a few other things," Betty quietly added, but didn't say anything more because she heard his daughter approaching.

"What's all the noise about?" Jenny suddenly bounced into the room to ask. "Did you have a midnight feast and are getting told off for it?" she teased.

"Not quite," John supplied through gritted teeth.

"Then what's the problem?" Sweeping her gaze between the adults, Jenny waited patiently for an answer. There must be some reason for them all looking so tense.

"Jenny, love," Donna carefully began, "it's about me and your dad. We've had a stalker photographer take photos of us in the kitchen, using a telephoto lens."

The gurl shrugged, clearly not understanding the severity of the situation. "You were cooking in the kitchen together. So what? That's not very exciting."

"It's more complicated than that."

"Oh for God's sake!" Betty gave her an exasperated sigh. "Just tell her you were caught kissing. The girl can handle it."

"But can I?" a red-faced John muttered, averting the stare from his daughter.

"You were kissing," a joyous Jenny declared, and clasped her hands in glee. "Does this mean you are definitely together now? Is it alright to tell Amy?"

"Hold your horses," Donna warned her by placing a hand on Jenny's arm. "It isn't as clear cut as that."

"It isn't?" John glumly asked. "But, I thought we were…"

Donna's next words to him caused his happiness to totally drift away. "We need to talk. In private. But first I have a phone call to make."

It was no good, John couldn't stay still for long. His future happiness hung in the balance, and Donna was in her home study, on the phone to her agent. All he could hear through the door was urgent mutterings, but nothing of substance.

"Shall I make you another cup of tea?" Betty offered. "You look like you could do with one."

She'd been cleaning non-stop since she arrived, and he felt loath to take advantage of her kindness. "I'll tell you what, I'll make us all one instead."

"You're a keeper," she complimented, and returned to her polishing. "Mine's milk, no sugar, thanks."

"What's the latest, Dad?" Jenny wanted to know as soon as he entered the kitchen.

"I don't know yet. Do you want anything else to eat?"

"Not sure I can until we get the verdict." She then sidled up and slowly gave him a hug. "Sorry that it seems to have gone wrong."

"Me too, sweetheart, but we won't know for certain until Donna gets off the phone."

It took three cups of tea being offered by Betty before Donna finally came back into the kitchen after her phone call. John couldn't keep in his worried feelings as soon as he saw her. "Well? What's happening?"

"I've had a talk with Patrice and Gus, about the vultures outside, and The Sturn photos," she slowly answered him, wringing her hands as she paced about the room.

"The thing is, we're easy prey here." She gestured towards the large windows. "They can see everything we do."

"It's disgusting! Spying on us like that," Jenny exclaimed. "We ought to report them for it. Especially as I'm technically a child."

"You are a child," John corrected her. "You won't be an adult until you are eighteen."

"That's why I said 'technically'," she berated him. "I do know that."

"Despite that," Donna spoke louder to stop the bickering, "the police have been informed but they don't have the manpower to protect us."

"Unless someone threatens to kill us, it would seem," Jenny commented.

"Which hopefully they won't," Donna retorted. "I have to keep you safe. So…"

"So?" John prompted. Should he reach out and take her hand? Was he even allowed to now? He moved nearer to ask, "What do we do next?"

"Well, you and Jenny are being taken to somewhere safe and out of the way."

"And what about you?"

His intense gaze almost broke her resolve, but Donna had to do this, for him. "I'm going somewhere that's completely different. We won't be seen together again."

"What, ever?!" Jenny cried.

"I don't know," she admitted.

"Dad," Jenny implored him, hoping he could stop this.

"If Donna thinks this is necessary then I suppose we have to go along with it," he cautiously replied. But he didn't want this. Not at all. Instead, he wanted to sweep Donna up into his arms and kiss all her worries away. He gulped before asking, "Will we still be able to call you?"

"I don't think it's wise, do you?" Donna sadly responded. "You never know if our phones are being tapped. We don't want to risk a leak."

He thought back to the various celebrities that had had their phones tapped by the Sunday papers, and their intimate details published for the world to gawk at. "That could have happened," he agreed. "Perhaps I ought to thoroughly read through that Sturn article to see if anything like that has been printed."

"Isn't it bad enough that they showed those photos of us?" she countered. "No, I'm not letting them do this to me again. I'll start court proceedings, but first we have to get you and Jenny out of the limelight."

"Okay."

"Where are we going and when will we be leaving?" Jenny requested.

"We go tonight. Gus will give us the details when he gets here," Donna stated. "In the meantime, John, can I have a quick word?"

"Of course."

As he walked, he threw Jenny a pleading look. She couldn't tell if he was asking her to rescue him or just keep out of the way. In the end, she hoped it was the latter, so she went upstairs to message Amy then begin to pack again.