Busy week but an extra long chapter to make up for delay in posting. Thanks for all your comments on this story. Enjoy!
"So how was your first night?" Kate asked the next day at work. She was supposed to be working so she was being as discreet as possible with one eye on the gaffer and his movements as she spoke.
"Long," replied Steve as he yawned. "Hardly got any sleep,".
"Why not?".
"Ellie decided to get in to bed with me around 1:30 am," revealed Steve. "How does someone so small take up so much room in the bed?".
"Starfish?" asked Kate, familiar with children's sleeping habits.
"Yeah," answered Steve. "I literally slept along the edge of the bed all night and she still kept kicking me,".
"Sounds about right," Kate agreed, remembering nights when Josh had slept in her and Mark's bed. Little sleep had been had by the adults.
"Hey Kate?".
"Yeah?".
"It's ok to let her sleep with me isn't it?" Steve asked. "Or should I be putting her back in her own bed?".
"It's fine, Steve," Kate promised. "It's probably just the first night in a new bed has got her a little restless. Nothing to worry about,".
"OK ," Steve replied, althoigh he made a note to bring it up woth the social workers when he saw them next.
"So what are you up to today?".
"We're off out soon to the park and then the cinema. Ellie's choice,".
"Sounds fun," Kate said.
"We're gonna have a few days of doing some fun things together and then we have to do some things to get her ready for school," Steve said.
Ellie would be attending the local primary school for the last term of the year. She was a little anxious about it as it was her third school of the year and she wasn't looking forward to being the new girl again. Steve had promised her it would be the last change until she was old enough to go to 'big' school, which had helped a little.
"She'll be ok, Steve," Kate reassured him. He had mentioned Ellie's concerns to her already.
"Yeah, I know," Steve agreed. "You're still helping out right?". Kate was going to help out on Ellie's first school morning, mainly to help Ellie get ready. Steve was fretting over her hair. He would eventually learn, but he wasn't quite sure he would have mastered a ponytail or a plait in two weeks.
"I'll be there, 7:30 am sharp," Kate promised.
As promised, Kate was punctual, ringing the door bell at exactly 7:30 am on Ellie's first day at school. Unfortunately, the same couldn't be said for the occupants of the flat who were running a bit behind time. Steve realised that he would have to set his alarm clock a lot earlier than he had. Somehow getting one extra person ready in the morning took a lot longer than just himself. He was in the shower when Kate arrived.
"Kate's here!" he heard his daughter yell.
"Can you let her in?" he hollered back, before pausing.
"OK!" was his reply.
"Hiya!" Kate greeted as Ellie opened the door. "Ooh don't you look smart," she added when she saw Ellie in her summer school uniform which was a blue gingham dress. On her feet were some white ankle socks. Ellie did a little twirl for her audience. "You had breakfast?".
"No," Ellie said. "The alarm didn't go off,".
"Right," said Kate as she looked at her watch. "Let's get you something to eat,", she suggested. She had guessed they might be a bit behind time as Steve wasn't great at time keeping. Luckily Kate had been prepared and gone to the coffee shop. In her hands were two coffees and croissants so Steve would be sorted for food. Putting her load down, Kate helped Ellie get some breakfast before going to Steve's room and knocking on the door.
"Five minutes!" was Steve's response. He was well aware he was behind time. He didn't need Kate telling him as well.
"Coffee and croissant in the kitchen," Kate said before heading back to check on Ellie. Steve appeared as Kate was supervising Ellie brushing her teeth.
"Thanks Mate," Steve said gratefully , indicating the coffee and pastry in his hands.
"You're welcome," Kate replied before turning her attention back to his daughter.
"Done?".
"Uh huh," Ellie said.
"Lemme see," Kate instructed and Ellie showed her her clean teeth. "Well done," she praised. Ellie was much better at teeth cleaning than Josh had been at her age. Maybe it was a girl/boy thing? "Just hair and then we're ready," Kate said as she took Ellie to her bedroom, leaving Steve to eat his breakfast.
In Ellie's room Kate took a seat on the bed whilst Ellie stood on front of her. "What would you like?" Kate asked. "Ponytail? Plaits?".
"Um plaits please, Ellie replied.
"One or Two?".
"Two please," Ellie decided before turning round so Kate could arrange her hair. It wasn't long before Ellie had two little plaits in her hair and two glittery blue slides for decoration. Kate had to admit the little girl looked very adorable.
With Ellie finally ready, the two girls headed to find Steve who was also just about ready to leave the house. Kate looked at her watch. They had made up some time which was good.
"You ready?" Steve asked his daughter as he picked up her brand new rucksack they had bought the other day.
"I think so," Ellie said as she started to follow Steve out of the house.
"Hang on a minute!" Kate said. "Have you forgotten something?".
Steve looked doen at his hands. He had Ellie's bag and lunch box. "Don't think so," he replied.
"Photo," Kate said. "You have to have a photo of Ellie on her first day of school. It's the rules," she added.
"But it's not my first day," Ellie pointed out.
"It is with Steve," Kate retorted as she quickly positioned Ellie in front of a wall. "Smile," she said before taking the photograph on her phone.
Ellie smiled obediently. Another difference between boys and girls Kate thought, remembering the performance she had endured with Josh when she had tried her first day of school photo with him. "Lovely," Kate said as she studied the picture. "Right, one with Steve as well," she instructed.
"What?" said Steve. "I dunno," he said hesitantly. Obviously it wasn't just young males who didn't like having their photo taken.
"C'mon Daddy!" Ellie instructed, grabbing Steve's hand and pulling him to stand next to her.
Steve paused and looked at Kate shocked. It was the first time that Ellie had called him Daddy. For the previous two weeks she had been calling him Steve.
Kate looked like she had noticed the name change as well as she had her eyebrows raised, but soon started smiling. It was infectious and Steve couldn't help but return it as he took his position up beside Ellie.
"Smile," Kate instructed before taking another photo. She studied it. "Lovely," she said before showing it to Ellie and Steve. She would send it to Steve later so he could have a picture to mark the first time Ellie had called him Daddy. It would soon become his screen saver.
The smile stayed on Steve's face for the rest of the day which everyone noticed. "Why is DS Arnott walking around with an idiotic grin on his face?" the gaffer asked Kate later that day at work. He too had noticed Steve's happy demeanour and couldn't understand it. There was nothing going on at AC-12 to warrant such unbridled joy and Ted was instantly suspicious.
"Ellie called him Daddy for the first time this morning," Kate replied.
"That'll do it," the gaffer replied, recognising Steve had a good excuse to be happy. "Don't let me disturb you any more," he added before walking off back to his office.
In fact the smile stayed for a couple of days and Kate realised something was wrong when it finally disappeared.
"You ok, mate?" she asked when they were alone in the car travelling to a witness for a statement. "You seem a bit down today,".
"I'm worried about Ellie," he revealed. "I'm not sure she's very happy at school,".
"What's happened?" asked Kate.
"I don't know," Steve replied. "She says everything's ok when I ask her, but I'm not sure she's telling the truth," he continued. Whenever he asked her how school had gone she'd say 'fine' before talking about something else. Steve had recognised her avoidance tactics. "Could you have a word?" he asked Kate. "Maybe she'll confide in you,".
"I can try," Kate answered, wondering if she'd have any success or not.
Steve was still looking for a child minder so Ellie was brought to AC-12 after school which the gaffer was not entirely thrilled about. He had made Steve promise to have a minder by the end of the month as he couldn't really have a 5 year old girl causing havoc in a working police office.
Steve tried keeping Ellie out of the way of Hastings and sat her in a briefing room with an iPad and lots of things to occupy her. He and Kate regularly checked in on her for food and drink requests.
"You need a drink Ellie?" Kate asked later that day on one such check in.
"Maybe a squash," Ellie decided.
"One squash coming up," Kate said before she disappeared to the kitchen to make the drink. "Here you go," she said when she returned.
"Thank you," Ellie said as she took her drink and sipped it.
"How was your day?" Kate asked nonchalantly, as she tried to find out if Steve's hunch about Ellie was correct.
"Ok," Ellie said with a shrug of her shoulders.
"You made any friends?" Kate asked. Ellie froze momentarily and Kate spotted it. She'd discovered the problem. "Give it a few days," she consoled the little girl. "They just need to get to know you,".
"No body talks to me because I'm different," Ellie said sadly, suddenly wanting to tell someone her problem.
"How are you different?" Kate asked.
Ellie glanced briefly out of the office at her father before looking back at Kate. "I don't have a Mummy picking me up from school," she revealed.
Kate's heart broke for the little girl in front of her. She could remember what her childhood was like and how she was treated a little differently by school friends when her parents separated . She was the only kid in her class to come from a broken home.
"How about if I come and pick you up tomorrow?" Kate asked Ellie as she tried to think of ways of getting Ellie accepted in to a friendship group. "Would that help?".
Ellie just shrugged her shoulders. "Maybe," she said.
"Leave it with me," Kate told Ellie as she started to think of ways of getting Steve to allow her to do the school pick up the next day. She didn't know whether to tell him what Ellie had told him or not as he would only worry and there wasn't a thing he could do about it.
In the end, she didn't really need to come up with a story. Steve was needed at AC-12 whilst Kate wasn't. She was on the list of people allowed to pick Ellie up from school and Steve was grateful for her help.
Parking her car near the school gates, Kate found a group of women standing together whilst they waited for their offspring to appear. It wasn't long before one of the group approached Kate.
"You look a bit lost," the woman said. "Can I help?".
"I'm picking my partner's daughter up for him. Is this the best place to stand?" Kate asked.
"Yes it is," the woman replied. "Are you anything to do with the man that usually is waiting here?" the woman then asked.
"Possibly," Kate replied.
"He usually looks terrified, bless him," the woman commented. "I think he's a bit scared being the only man amongst us women!".
"Sounds about right," Kate said.
"Lisa," the woman introduced herself.
"Kate," Kate replied. "And the terrified one is Steve,".
"I'll try and say hello next time I see him," Lisa commented.
The two women got talking and soon the school bell was heard signalling the end of the day. It wasn't long before pupils slowly started walking out of school and towards their parents.
"Ellie!" Kate waved to get Steve's daughter's attention when she saw the little girl. Hipefully other children would see that Ellie had a female picking her up as well.
"Kate!" Ellie said with a smile. She knew Kate was trying to help with her problem.
"Hello Ellie," Lisa said as she was still beside Kate.
"Hello," Ellie replied.
"Jess!" Lisa shouted on seeing her own daughter approach. "Come here!" She instructed. "This is my daughter, Jess," she introduced. "I think you two are in the same class, aren't you?" she asked the two girls.
"Yeah," they muttered awkwardly..
Keen to get Ellie and Jess talking, Kate started up another conversation with Lisa whilst keeping an eye on the girls. It wasn't long before they got bored and wandered off together to entertain themselves on the school play things.
"My mum can talk for ever," Jess complained to Ellie.
"So can Kate," Ellie agreed.
"We're gonna be here all night then!" Jess said with a smile. Maybe the new girl wasn't all that different after all.
Lisa was very easy to get along with and Kate found herself explaining a bit about Ellie and Steve's circumstances. "Oh my god!" said Lisa. "That's so sad," she said when she found out that Ellie had lost her mum. "You and Steve look like you're doing a great job though," she commented as she looked over at the children. They were getting along great on the climbing frame together.
"Steve's really trying," Kate praised, "but it's tough being a single parent. Hey, you don't know of any childminders that could take an extra child most afternoons do you?" Kate enquired, remembering Steve was quickly running out of time to find someone and keep the gaffer happy.
"She can come back to mine," Lisa decided, wanting to help out after hearing Ellie's sad story.
"Really?" asked Kate.
"Yeah," agreed Lisa. "It looks like Ellie and Jess are getting on great together,".
"I'll introduce you to Steve," Kate suggested. "Maybe you can work something out," she said before looking at her watch. "Shit!" she exclaimed. "Is that really the time?!" She asked Lisa. It was 4 pm. They had been chatting for nearly an hour. Steve would wonder where she had got to.
"Yeah, I better get a move on as well," Lisa said. "Jess!" she hollered. "We're going!". Ellie and Jess ran over to the two women. "How would you like Ellie to come to ours after school sometimes?" Lisa asked them.
The two girls liked the sound of that plan having bonded very quickly.
"Excellent!" Lisa declared.
"That's amazing. Thanks so much," Kate said before the quartet split up. She could see that Ellie was a lot happier and her steps were quite bouncy like they always were when she was happy. "Hey Ellie," she said. Ellie looked at her and Kate produced a fist.
Ellie grinned and gave Kate a little fist bump. She had made a friend. Things were good again.