"Mark, Dad said to make some food. Or order something. But I wanna make something."

"I think that would be fun! Come on, Mark! Please? What shall we make?"

Mark shrugged his shoulders and looked in the fridge. "Mash. Chicken here. Gravy. Beans. Veggies. Sorted. Come on, let’s get going. Jenna, peel the po-"

"Hold it! No one is doing anything till we get this house cleaned. Jenna, go and clean the living room. Mark go and do the hallway and dining room. When you are done, come back and I will give you something else. Now go!" They both mumbled under their breaths. Jenna walked away with the broom and Mark smiled at her.

"Already giving orders."

"Go!" He slowly raised his hand and backed out the room. "Mark, does the radio work?"

"Yeah. Bit old but my dad uses it all the time. Want me to come and turn it on?"

"'Kay. Don't even think about coming here! Your smart girlfriend will figure it out! Clean!"

After she turned the radio on, she looked around the kitchen and sighed. She turned on the cooker and fill the pan with water.

"Okay, that's done..." she whispered to herself. She ran upstairs and returned with a bucket of black clothes.

Half an hour later, Natalia stood at the door and smiled. Spotless. Mark came down the stairs with a broom and Jenna followed with a carrier bag.

"Rooms done?"

"Yes! Can I rest now?!"

"No. Mark, go and clean your dad's room. Jenna, Aunt Paige. Then you guys are gonna do the bathroom and toilet. Luckily for you, you get one each."

"It's their room," Mark muttered. Jenna already picked up the broom.

"And how many times have they cleaned up your room? Go!" Mark stormed up the stairs and Natalia began to cook. An hour later, Natalia heard the front door open.

"Hey, Nats! Did Mark leave you to cook by yourself?" Paige said as she gave her a hug. "Mark! Jenna! We're home!" Paige went to put her jacket away and gasped. "The house is finally clean! Oh my God! Did you make them do that?!"

"Yeah! And the bedroom. Your bedrooms. Toilets. Cupboards. Washing! Even made me hang up the clothes and sort out the socks!" Mark yelled as he came down the stairs. "Sometimes I feel like putting her in a dustbin and chucking her away. She will fit there."

"At least you will be chucking the rubbish." Natalia quickly chucked the tea towel over her shoulder and poured out the water for the boiled potatoes.

"But then I will miss you too much." Mark said before kissing the back of her head.

"Babe, I need you to do one more thing. Can you just wash that pan? I'm gonna set the table."

"I will do that," Marcus offered.

"No. You guys go and get changed. Get comfortable."

"I'll do it. Water is hot if you guys wanna have a shower," Jenna said as she washed her hand. Natalia wiped her hand on the towel over her shoulder and leaned down to check on the chicken.

"Aunt Paige," Natalia started, "The white clothes are still in the bucket upstairs. I thought the bed sheets would be more important so I put them in first. I managed to do two loads of black and the sheets. They are drying around the house because it was raining a bit. Come on! Get changed! You only have around twenty minutes before the chicken is done and everything is set up on the plates."

After twenty minutes, Marcus ran down the stairs and sat with everyone.

"You take longer showers than me!" Paige said with a laugh. Mark came in with a bowl of hot beams and Natalia came in with two full plates. Soon, everyone had a plate and the remainder was in the middle of the table.

"Take some more if you want. Let me get the salt and pepper," Natalia said before getting up.

"Babe," Mark said with a smile, "it was right in front of you. Come and eat."

"Oh my, Lord," Marcus moaned. "You should cook for us every day! Mark, you should marry her already and let her move in with us! This is what homemade stuff taste like!"

"Yeah. This is great. I don't really get the time to cook that often anymore so it's either shop bought, takeout or Mark cooking."

"I'm not that bad!"

"You are! Last time I tasted your cooking was in secondary. We were in Year 10 and still had to take food. Then he made fruit salad and put carrots in it. We made muffins one time and he thought the teacher wouldn't notice if he replaced his burnt ones with shop bought ones!"

"I remember that! Teacher called me and I couldn't stop laughing."

"Jokes aside, he isn't so bad after all. Just have to scream time and time again until it finally goes through. Time and time again. And again. And-"

"We get the point! Gosh!"

After they all finished eating, they all went into the living room and put on a movie. At the end, Mark straightened up and said, “Me and Natalia are engaged."

"That's great-"

"What?!" Paige and Marcus said together.

"I'm so proud of you, Mark. So when is the wedding?"

"Marcus! Grow up! When was this?"

"Before you called to cook. I still haven't asked Mr..Jenson yet. It just seemed like the right moment."

"Well...I'm happy for the both of you," Paige said.

"This is just like when your mum was here. Homemade food. Sit down with the family. Watch a movie."

"Well she isn't here, is she?!" Mark snapped before leaving the room.

"No...I'm gonna go to bed. Goodnight everyone," Marcus said before leaving the room. Paige followed. Jenna sighed.

"It's okay. Everyone will be fine by tomorrow. You go to bed, okay?" Natalia whispered as she kissed her forehead. "You got school tomorrow."

Jenna walked away with a small smile and Natalia cleaned up the kitchen again. Slowly, she walked up the stairs and sighed when she heard the punch bag hit the side of his cupboard.

"You can hear that from halfway up the stairs and your dad is just opposite you. Jenna has school tomorrow. Aunt Paige has to go work tomorrow."

"Like I give a fuck!" Mark looked at her as leaned against the frame of the door. "I don't wanna talk to anyone now!"

"I think you should have a shower to cool off. And you are kinda sweaty." Natalia smiled and walked in front of him.

"You're not my mum. Stop telling me what to do!"

"That would be weird since I'm your fiancé. I'm not tryi-"

"Well that was a mistake!"

"It was?" Natalia asked as her throat went dry.

"I just-" Mark stopped when he stared into her sad eyes. "I'm sorry. I miss her, Talia. I miss her so much and she left us." Natalia took of his gloves when he started to cry. Marcus opened his door and then walked into Mark's room.

"It's okay to miss her, Mark. I still miss my mum." Mark pulled her into a hug and cried into her shoulder.

"I'm so sorry. I didn't mean it. I swear to god I didn't mean it."

"It's okay. Just carry on crying. Let it all out."

"Marky," Marcus said as he stepped in. He turned his crying son to face him and let his own fall. "I'm so sorry. I'm sorry I wasn't here for you. Your mum would have been so proud of you and Jenna! So proud!" Marcus hugged his son. "I'm so sorry. Your mum named you after me. She used to call me Mark all the time and she wanted you to carry on the handsomeness." Mark let go and wiped away his tears. "She had to do that. She had to leave us, Mark. She was suffering. You don't have to miss her, Mark. She's right here," he said when he pointed to his chest. "She will always be here."

"I'll let you guys talk," Natalia said.

"No." Mark sniffed before putting an arm around her. "You're not going anywhere. Thank you. Thank you for staying with me, Talia. I love you so much. So, so much."

"I love you too, Mark. So much. But you really need to have a shower. You kinda stink." Mark sighed before kissing the top of her head.

"I love you," he whispered.

"Do you wanna have a bath? Shall I put the water on?"

"No...I'm gonna go now. You go to sleep, okay?"

Mark sniffed and then walked out. Marcus walked over and gave her a hug.

"You know he loves you, right?"

"Yeah. I can never question that. He's like a ticking bomb. Marcus, I have an idea. But I don't think Mark will like it that much but it's something he needs to do."

//

Mark rubbed his nose when he felt Natalia's hair at the entrance.

"Talia, get off me. Your hair is annoying me." Natalia groaned and rolled off his chest.

"I'm gonna go and have a shower."

"It's only..." Mark stopped. "What time is it?" He felt the warmth on his eyelids and slowly opened them. "Yes?"

"Just a little morning kiss. It's six, by the way." Mark smiled, put his hand under her t-shirt and rubbed her back. "Getting touchy, are we?"

"Hmm, what can I say? You're too beautiful." With his remaining hand, he fingered her smooth cheek and kissed her. "That's a morning kiss, my love." Natalia softly laughed, rested her back against him and stared at the ceiling. Mark pulled the blanket up to her neck. The hand that was on her back came round to her hollow stomach.

"When I wasn't feeling well, my dad always used to kiss my eyelids in the morning. I used to wake up and he always used to say it was a good luck kiss. Wishing me luck for the day and hoping I would get better."

"That’s how my mum used to wake me up..." he mumbled.

"Sorry."

"Yeah...Can you get off me now? I'm gonna go back to sleep." Mark pushed her off him and turned the other way.

"Mark...I'm sorry..."

"It's not your fault. Sorry." Natalia rolled onto his back and he softly laughed. "Talia...I really don't know what I would do without you."

"Get more sleep. Anyways, you go back to sleep and I'll have a shower. I stink of you. Hey, what happened to the bags I left here?"

"Bottom left of the wardrobe. Hey, babe?"

"What?"

"Can you clean my car? I mean, you're already up and that."

"Yeah, sure. Go back to sleep."