"When I'm not with you," Freddie gently sang into his son's ear. "I think of you always... I miss you"

Little Johnny laughed and clapped as he watched his dad's hands dance steadily across the piano.

"When I'm not with you," the man continued, kissing his head. "Think of me always, I love you..."

Johnny grabbed his dad's t shirt and joined, "I wuv ouuuuu..."

He let out a chuckle and bounced him on his knee, "Good boy."

"Daddeeeeeeeee!" Roshni came running into the drawing room, completely bottomless wearing only her wooly jumper with a picture of a duck knitted on the front of it.

Freddie gingerly got up from his stool, lowering Johnny onto the ground as the boy limped away, "What is it, darling?"

She tugged his trouser leg eagerly, "Look what I did! Look what I did!"

"Alright, alright...." he patted her head affectionately, giggling at the sight of her pink, bare bottom.

He let her tug him through the house, the kitchen where Monica was finishing up, and to the downstairs toilet.

"There!!" She pointed into her plastic potty and jumped up and down, where there was a fresh log waiting.

"Eugh!" Repulsed, he scrunched his face up and headed for the doorway in disgust.

But right then Monica appeared upon hearing the commotion and gasped, "Oh, Roshni, you learned to poo! Oh, my big girl!" She picked her daughter up and kissed her cheeks. "You'll be able to go to the toilet all by yourself now!"

Freddie simply shuddered, "Thank god for that. One down, another to go."

"Let's get you dressed and cleaned up, mummy needs to leave" she ignored his sass and left the room with her daughter on her hip.

"Wh-What about her mess?!" Freddie called after her, bemused.

"Just chuck it in the toilet and rinse it!" Was all he got in response.

In a way he was was proud for her too but, being the one who didn't want to be left with the dirty work now that Phoebe was away on holiday for a week, he rolled his sleeves up with a huff and leaned down, holding his breath.

There were worse things, such as the time he had to change her nappy in the hospital.

That was two months before, now Johnny's leg was estimated to be healed up and the cast ready to be sawed off.

After washing his hands three times (to be sure), he went looking for his son before he and Monica headed off to the hospital.

He found him sitting at the child safety gate at the bottom of the stairwell, waiting for his mother.

"Wrap up, love," he grabbed his hat and scarf on the coat rack and leaned down. "It's chilly out there."

Johnny giggled as his dad tucked the scarf around his neck and his ears under his small hat. He already had a thick Wellington boot sock stretched over his cast to protect his small toes from the cold weather.

"I'm coming!" Monica called from upstairs, buttoning her camel coat up as she emerged.

"Right" he trailed off as he watched Roshni speed off around the house anxiously, since he was the one on child-monitoring duty for the next hour and a half, a job he'd rely on Phoebe for.

"I'll call when we leave the hospital." Monica briefly pecked his lips, and propped Johnny in her arms.

"Wouldn't you be better off bringing him in the stroller?" Freddie smoothed a short brown lock of hair behind her ear.

"It's in the back of the Mercedes, just in case," she rushed to the front door. "You left your cup of tea in the drawing room."

That was the last thing she said right before the door slammed, leaving him alone with only his self-occupied cats and an overly energetic toddler.

He sighed in defeat and headed back into the drawing room, hearing his daughter's light footsteps pattering around.

Instinctively, he picked his Adidas trainers up off the floor at the door of the settee and sat down with a huff. He found that wearing shoes put him out of his comfort zone, thus putting him onto lyric-writing action.

As he tied his laces up he saw a small pair of hands snatch his second trainer away in the corner of his eye.

"HEY!" He tried to grab her. "GIVE ME MY SHOE BACK!"

Roshni giggled and ran out of the room as fast as her little legs could carry her, and Freddie grumbled as he stood up from his seat and followed.

"Get over here!" He sighed as he chased after her, and she laughed and ran through the kitchen right after his failed attempt to catch her.

"Cheeky little monkey." He murmured as he stomped on the Italian tiles.

He checked under the table, but there was no sign.

"The utility, of course..." he grumbled and headed towards the pantry.

He stood at the doorway of the utility, his fingers drumming the doorframe as he watched the moving, giggling lump under the duvet from one of the guest bedrooms airing on the clothes rack.

"Why do they always get away with this?"

He smirked and snuck up on the lump, whipping the duvet off, "GOTCHA!"

She squealed and jumped out as he laughed and was ready to launch.

He scooped her up into his arms, "Now, what have you done with that shoe?"

She peered over his shoulder and pointed to it, and it was sitting in front of the washing machine.

"Alright," he set her down gently and bent down to reach in and get it. "You wicked little thing."

But while he was still bent over she jumped onto his back and giggled.

"Oof! You're getting very big!"

"Play elephant! Elephant!" She babbled.

"Not today, love" he set her back onto the floor. "You and I need to stay at home until mummy and Johnny return."

She pouted, "alright."

He giggled and pulled the duvet back up to fix it, then picked her up again.

"Kitty!" She made grabby hands towards the feline running ahead on their path.

"Wait until we get to the drawing room, love" he bounced her on his hip.

She giggled, imitating meowing noises.

He laughed, "That's right, meeeeeowww..."

He set her down on the drawing room floor, and she toddled after it as he went to sit down and put his shoes on before returning to his growing-cold cup of tea.

"Go to the corner and play with your toys," he ordered softly as he tied his laces, sensing that the cat didn't want Roshni's company. "Kitty wants left alone for a while."

The girl nodded, and toddled over to the play mat in the corner. He followed and sat down, settling himself on the carpet, "What are you going to play with today?"

She babbled as she started arranging the building blocks.

Twenty minutes dragged on, and throughout that time Freddie longingly glanced towards his piano, thinking about how he could make better use of his time.

He murmured, "Tell daddy how many building blocks you're holding."

She looked at the fistfuls of blocks in her hand and hesitantly counted, "...Won... tewww... fweeeeee..."

"How many, darling?" he repeated. "Show daddy your counting."

"Faw... an' fiiiive!"

He giggled and clapped as she smiled proudly.

"You building something?"  He shuffled a little closer, asking for the purpose of sitting cross legged and watching her go back and forth.

She nodded, handing him the soft lion toy.

"You building lion a house?" He asked.

She nodded, "Pheebs plays the lion."

"Oh he does, does he?" He rubbed his eyes tiredly, craving another nicotine fix, before he sighed and collected more pieces to help his daughter assemble the lion's den.

He was saved by the ring of the telephone...for now.

He sighed and got up, "Keep on playing, love. That's probably mummy."

"Ma!" She got up.

"No no, you stay... someone has to keep building the house, alright?" he signalled her not to move, and she obediently sat back down as he made his way to the nearest phone.

He went out to the hall and picked the headpiece up, "hello?"

"Hey, it's me" Monica's voice sounded on the other end.

"Monica? Oh dear, how was it?"

"All is well, doctor says we there's no need to come back. It has finally fully healed and now I have the cast cut in half and ready to take home for the memory box."

"Oh, thank god!" he sighed in relief.

"He's going to need a few physio sessions to walk on it again because he is limping, but that shouldn't be an issue."

Freddie thought he'd heard footsteps, but then returned to the receiver, "So what are you going to do now then?"

"I'm stopping off at the shop on the way back, want anything?"

"Come to think of it," he smiled to himself. "Why don't you get us all a little treat to celebrate tonight-"

He was interrupted when he heard a brief shatter in the other room.

He froze and dropped the phone, watching the cat that Roshni was previously chasing around the house rush out of the doorway into the sitting room.

"Freddie? Hello? Did you want anything?!" Monica asked on the other end.

But Freddie was already making his way over to inspect the scene.

He was met with the sight of his 19th century Meiji period vase that he'd spent a fortune bidding on at an auction in Tokyo in the late 1970s, in smithereens beside its toppled-over stand, and he felt his blood bubbling.

His chilling eyes instantly darted to the culprit, timidly standing away from her spot on the play mat and next to the mess.

"YOU BROKE MY VASE!" He marched over and roared, bending down and gathering up the pieces. "I TOLD YOU TO STAY PUT!"

Roshni's lips trembled and her eyes began to fill with tears.

"The only fucking valuable thing in this whole room and you had to break it..." he muttered, ignoring her and gingerly collecting the fragments.

It wasn't until she started wailing immediately after that the remorse hit.

"Oh fuck..." he thought, dropping what was in his hands.

"Oh Roshni, I'm-I... Daddy didn't mean to..." he blubbered, crawling over to her.

She let out a deafening scream and backed away from him, absolutely distraught and petrified.

"Roshni!" he helplessly pleaded in a hushed tone as he felt his throat tighten, his arms reaching out to her. "Please come to-"

"Noohhh! Noooo!" She sobbed as she curled up tighter in the corner, her small hands protectively on her head. He found her red, wet face scrunched up in despair and covered by her little fingers, terrified whimpers and the way she frantically shuffled further and further away from him an excruciating sight.

She sobbed and slithered underneath the settee for closure. He wanted to fish her out, but instead he turned away and slowly stood back up as tears of regret streamed down his cheeks. He didn't want to look into those fearful, hurt blue eyes any longer. He wanted to make her stop crying but she wasn't letting him an inch closer, screaming in a hysterical panic and shielding her head with her elbows.

"Oh fuck... you selfish fool... you monster," he thought to himself as his eyes grew blurry, storming through the hall. "You're always going to be hopeless at this father business."

He rushed out the door and into the garden for some fresh, icy air, wiping tears off his face as he paced back and forth at an absolute loss.

To be continued...