Harry was relaxing on his bed as he typed out an email to his mum, letting her know how things were progressing so far and that he was indeed enjoying himself. He had conveniently left out meeting Grace's mother-in-law as well as the display in the kitchen with a very irate Grace.

It'd only make her worry and she was really good at that and didn't need any extra fodder.

He typed out a little more but he soon found his mind wandered back to Grace.

Harry had absolutely no idea, from what Grace had said to Rosie, what she was even talking about and what had riled her up so badly.

He had already gathered part of it was because of Joan, considering the dressing down she had already given him, which was hardly a surprise.

But there was obviously something that was much more upsetting to her.

And for some reason, he didn't like seeing Grace upset.

Rosie had been no help either.

She had given him nothing but a pinch on the cheek, a smile and a brownie before she had sent him on his way, telling him to bathe the girls before dinner.

But damn was it a good brownie.

Grace had then taken the girls to spend some time with them, waving Harry off for some free time.

His curiosity was definitely getting the better of him.

Harry's thoughts were interrupted by a small knock on the door.

Well, two knocks actually.

"Come in!" he called out, a smile crept onto his face, knowing exactly who was on the other side.

The door slowly opened, Dottie poking her head around before she turned and whispered to who he presumed to be Tilly and they walked in.

Well it started as walking but ended up full blown running as they both leapt up onto Harry's bed, launching themselves at him.

"Hey!" he pretended to pout, "watch my kangaroo!"

"Oops, sorry!" Dottie said as she straightened the kangaroo they'd given him, up on his pillow.

"Whatcha doing?" Tilly asked as she pointed at Harry's laptop.

"I'm writing to my mum," he replied, "telling her how much fun I'm having here."

"We love you being here Harry," Tilly smiled as she cuddled up to him.

A door suddenly slammed from down the hall, causing all three of them to jump.

"I don't want to hear it, this was your idea!" Harry heard Grace raise her voice.

"Hey girls," Harry quickly started typing on his laptop, "this is one of my favourite shows, wanna see?"

"Yes! Yes!" they chorused as they focused on the screen with excitement, their faces lighting up as the familiar tune of Peppa Pig began to play.

"Do you like Peppa Pig Harry?" Dottie asked, her eyes filled with awe as she looked up at him.

"I do," he said, "I'll let you in on a little secret," he whispered, "my stepdad Robin looks just like Daddy Pig."

Dottie giggled and looked back at the screen, allowing Harry to climb off the bed and head to his bedroom door.

He was about to close it so the girls wouldn't hear what he knew was the start of a potential argument when he stopped short of closing it completely.

"I'm sorry Grace," he heard James' voice.

"Sorry doesn't cut it," she snapped back, "you do this all the time, it's absolute bullshit!"

"Well if I do it all the time, why are you being so shitty about it?" he snapped back.

"Because tonight was your idea!" she replied, "you wanted to take Harry out for dinner this week, you made a big song and dance about it and went ahead and made reservations, this was all you!"

Silence.

"We can make it for another night..." he began.

"So you can cancel on that one too?" Grace cut him off, "look, just go, hell, use our reservation if you like, I'd hate to see that go to waste hey?"

"Grace..." James said.

"No!" she raised her voice again, "between you and your mother today, I'm so fucking done with all of this bullshit."

"Grace, watch your language!" James snapped.

"What are you gonna do?" Grace replied, "fuck the fuckity fuck off James."

"I expect more from you Grace," Harry heard him sigh.

"Well I expect nothing from you," she sneered.

"Grace..." he said.

"Just go," she cut him off again, "I'm done. I don't want to talk anymore and you certainly wouldn't want to keep your guests waiting."

"I'm sorry Grace," he said sadly before Harry heard footsteps.

He quickly moved away from the door and back onto his bed, next to the girls.

A knock on his ajar door had him look up as James opened it, a tight smile on his face.

Harry was sure James could hear his heart hammering in his chest and was sure he'd been caught standing in the doorway eavesdropping.

"Just came to say goodnight to the girls," he said as he walked in, "I've a business meeting tonight so I'll be home quite late."

Well that explains it, Harry thought, but Grace had made an awful lot of fuss over a business meeting...

"Girls," Harry reached over and paused the cartoon, much to their dismay, "hey, your dad's going out so he's come to say goodnight."

"Okay," Dottie replied, "goodnight Daddy."

"Night Daddy," Tilly echoed.

Both girls made no effort to move from their spot on Harry's bed.

"What about a cuddle?" Harry prompted them, realising James was standing there, trying not to look embarrassed.

The girls wordlessly stood up on Harry's bed and reached out to hug their father.

"Thank you Harry," James said as he released the girls.

"Hey," he said smiling, "it's pretty hard to compete with Peppa Pig!" he said, hoping to ease James' awkwardness.

"True," he nodded and chuckled before he turned away, "enjoy the rest of your evening."

"You too," he said as James left.

What did he do now?

Should he go and see Grace and check to see if she was okay?

Sure, knock on her door Harold and say, I couldn't help but overhear you fighting with your husband, are you ready for dinner?

Maybe he should just go ahead and prepare something since Rosie had the night off.

Spaghetti it is.

"Come on my little monkeys," Harry said as he stood up, "climb up and we'll go and make some dinner."

"Yay!" they cheered excitedly as they clambered onto Harry's back.

He carried them down to the kitchen and set them each onto a stool safely before walking around the other side of the bench.

He grabbed an apple from the fruit bowl and cut it up to give to the girls to tide them over while they waited for dinner.

"I don't like apples," Dottie turned her nose up.

"Me too," Tilly followed her sister.

"Is that so?" Harry frowned, "that's too bad then," he said as he put the apple back.

"Why?" Dottie asked curiously.

"Oh, well since you don't like apples there's really no point in telling you..." Harry trailed off.

"No!" Dottie exclaimed, "tell us please!"

"Hmmm..." Harry pretended to think it over, "okay, I'll let you in on a little secret."

The girls leaned in closer to listen to Harry.

"I've heard there are extra special apples that exist and they only appear for extra special people," he picked up the apple again, "and I think this is one of them."

"I don't see what makes it special," Dottie narrowed her eyes.

"Why is it special Harry?" Tilly asked, her eyes wide.

"If you cut it open, you'll see the special star the fairies have left inside it," he said in a whisper.

"A star?" Dottie replied, still not entirely convinced.

"Fairies!" Tilly yelled in excitement.

Harry nodded his head.

"I wanna see the star! I wanna see the star!" Tilly yelled.

"Okay then," Harry cut through the apple and showed the girls.

"It's a star!" Tilly yelled again, "Dottie, he was telling the truth," she grabbed onto her sister's arm.

"Does that mean we're extra special Harry?" Dottie asked.

"Absolutely," Harry replied.

"Can we eat it?" Tilly asked.

Harry gave the girls half an apple each and watched as Tilly bit into hers while Dottie looked at her piece, examining it before tasting it.

He saw a movement out of the corner of his eye and realised that Grace had been watching them. She turned away but from behind, Harry could see she was wiping at her cheeks, a loud sniff confirmed she was crying.

He grabbed another apple and cut it in half.

"Another star!" Tilly exclaimed in excitement.

Harry smiled at her as he picked up a half and walked into the next room, finding her standing at the window.

He walked over and held the apple out in front of her.

"Only for extra special people," he said, smiling at her.

Grace looked up at Harry and then down to the apple, chuckling through her tears at his attempt to cheer her up.

"I certainly don't feel special," she said in a small voice.

Harry shrugged his shoulders.

She looked even tinier at that moment and as much as he wanted to embrace her in a comforting hug, he felt it was crossing the line.

Instead he chose to blurt out the first thing that sprung to mind.

"I guess it depends on who's perspective you're coming from," he said, "some people just don't see what's special even when it's standing right in front of them."

"Well aren't you a peach?" she smirked up at him, "sprouting whimsical shit like that..." she sniffed loudly again, looking down at the apple in her hand, "sorry."

"Don't be," he said, "are you okay?"

"You heard I suppose?" she asked.

"I...yeah...I kept the girls with me when I heard...the two of you..." he trailed off.

"Thank you," she replied, "usually I don't let them hear but he really pissed me off."

"Can I ask why?" Harry decided to jump straight in and ask.

Why was Grace so angry with him?

It was no different to any other time he disregarded his family and went off to do his own thing.

Tonight had been his idea, to take Harry out for dinner, a proper welcome to the family.

But it was just a dinner.

A stupid dinner.

So why did it mean so much to her?

"I don't know honestly," she sighed, "it just...really got my goat."

Harry didn't want to see her so down like she was, it made him quite sad.

"Well," he said, "I don't know about you, but I could really go a pizza," he smiled, "do they deliver out here?"

"Or we could make our own?" Grace suggested.

"Okay then," Harry replied as they moved to head back to the kitchen.

"Nice touch with the apples by the way," Grace said.

"I still stand by what I said," he looked down at her, "extra special person."

Before she could stop herself, Grace started to blush.

Get a bloody grip, she thought.

Some young bloke gives a compliment and you've gone all giddy like a teenage girl.

"Girls!" Grace cleared her throat and hugged both of them, "we're gonna make pizza for dinner, would you like to help?"

The girls yelled in excitement as they scrambled off the bar stools and into the kitchen area.

Around an hour later sat four very full tummies with shirts and some little faces splattered with tomato, flour and wide smiles.

"That was delicious," Harry patted his own stomach.

"Agreed," Grace replied, "I may need you to roll me out of here, I feel like an oompa loompa."

"Well you're certainly no Veruca Salt," Harry chuckled.

"I should bloody hope not!" Grace laughed a little before she stopped and sighed.

She just couldn't believe Joan today.

Well she could, but still...

"Why don't you put the girls to bed and I'll clean up?" Harry nudged Grace with his foot.

Usually Grace would have argued with that but she actually felt really drained.

Emotionally drained.

"If you wouldn't mind..." she replied.

He shook his head and stood up, collected the dirty plates from the table and took them over to the sink.

"Come on girls, bedtime," Grace said.

"But I wanna stay with Harry," Dottie pouted.

"Me too," Tilly added.

"It's bedtime," Grace repeated, her voice firm.

"But mama..." Dottie began.

"I'm going to head to bed after I clean up," Harry cut in, sensing where this was headed, "we'll need lots of rest ready for tomorrow okay?"

Dottie opened her mouth to say something before she closed it.

"Okay Harry," she said, before she walked over to him and hugged him around his legs, "goodnight Harry."

"Goodnight Princess," he replied as he hugged her back.

Tilly ran over and did the same before Grace took them by the hand and led them to bed.

"Goodnight Harry," she smiled.

"Goodnight Grace," he replied as he watched them go.

After she cleaned up the girls and tucked them in, Grace finally climbed into her own bed.

She couldn't believe James had just dropped them all the minute he got his better offer.

Grace laughed bitterly to herself that she really shouldn't have been surprised.

And Harry had been so good not to let on to the girls, he really had become a blessing to have in their home.

The girls were clearly taken with him and he seemed to have taken a shine in return.

She rolled over onto her stomach, her hand reached out to the other side of the bed which was cold and empty.

It had always been cold and empty, but it felt even more so tonight.

How could she have been so stupid?

So taken in by it all?

Love.

Or so she thought.

She closed her eyes and sighed as she drifted off to sleep, a luminous pair of green eyes invading her dreams as she did so.

~~~~~~

Grace was woken by the loud chatter of the girls and instantly sat bolt upright, checking the time and finding it was mid-morning already.

There was laughter again, shrieking laughter followed by someone shushing them.

"You'll wake your mum," she heard Harry say, "let's try and give her a sleep in, remember?"

Grace laid back down, fighting the urge to get up when she reminded herself that Harry was their nanny and that this was his job.

And she needed to try and trust him.

Okay.

She decided to give it another ten minutes and then get up.

Grace reached over and grabbed her phone and saw there was a text message from James.

Sorry about last night xo

"Sure," she mumbled, "how about a big serving of 'shove it up your fucking ass' instead?"

Grace ignored the message and decided to browse through her social media when the silence was broken with an ear-piercing scream.

Grace threw the covers back and bolted for the door, running down the hall to find her girls.

She stopped short when she reached the girls playroom.

There, she found Dottie standing silently behind Harry as he sat on one of their small chairs in front of their beauty salon playset, a hairbrush in one hand and plastic scissors in the other.

Harry was consoling a hysterical Tilly who held a pair of kitchen scissors in one hand.

And a handful of Harry's hair in the other.

"It's okay," he cooed into her ear as he hugged her tightly and rubbed her back in an attempt to soothe her," as long as you're not hurt, that's the main thing."

Grace gasped as she stepped closer and saw just how much hair Tilly was gripping.

Quite a lot.

"Harry I'm..." she started, only to be met by Harry's gaze and a slight shake of his head.

"You know what?" he said as he gently pried Tilly off him so he could look her in the face, "I've heard your summers get pretty hot here, I probably needed a haircut anyway!"

"Harry!" Tilly cried out and threw herself onto Harry again as she sobbed, unable to be consoled, "I wanted to play and to make you look pretty!"

"Your hair..." Grace whispered, horrified at what her daughter had done to his beautiful locks, "I'm calling my hairdresser in to fix it."

She rushed back into her bedroom and made the call, promising to pay him anything as long as he hauled ass over there.

By the time Jonathon arrived, Harry had finally managed to calm Tilly down to the point she fell asleep in his arms from all her exhaustive crying.

Grace gently took her from Harry and put her back to bed, Dottie hopped in with her, saying she needed to look after her sister.

She came back into the kitchen to see the remainder of Harry's hair in a ponytail and Jonathon cutting it off.

Harry smiled cheerfully at her but Grace was mortified as she watched his long locks fall to the floor in her kitchen.

"Oh Harry..." her hand flew to her mouth in disappointment for him.

"Gracie, Gracie," Jonathon waved his hand at her, "he was gorgeous before, but he'll be even more so when I'm finished with him," he patted Harry on the shoulder, "you'll be fighting the girls off with a stick, hell, you'll be fighting the boys off too!" he giggled.

"How can you be so calm about this Harry?" Grace asked.

"It's only hair Grace," he shrugged, "making sure Tilly was okay was much more important..."

"Thank you for being so understanding," she replied, as she took a seat and watched Jonathon work his magic.

Jonathon was in full blown hairdresser-mode, firing questions left, right and centre at Harry, wanting to know all about him and his home, reminiscing of his few years spent working in London until he had transformed Harry's hair.

"What do you think?" he called out after he'd sent Harry into the laundry to inspect his work.

"I love it," Harry replied as he walked back in, "if feels weird, but I love it."

"What do you think Gracie?" Jonathon asked her.

"You still look handsome Harry," she eventually replied.

Still? Thought Harry.

That would mean she always thought I was.

His heartbeat seemed to pick up a little at the thought.

"As long as you're happy with everything," she continued as she stood smiling awkwardly at Harry and he in return.

Jonathon made himself busy, cleaning up his equipment before he turned around to them both.

He cleared his throat causing them to break their gaze at each other and look at him.

"Harry?" he said, "a pleasure to meet you, Gracie?" he turned to her, "walk me out darling?"

"Of course," she replied following him out, "thank you so much for coming over so quickly, I really do..."

"So, are you shagging him yet?" he asked her, catching her completely off guard.

"What?" she asked, taken aback.

"Oh please," he scoffed, "if it was any hotter between the two of you just then, my hair would be as limp as wet noodle," he patted his perfectly sky high coif.

"He's not...we're not..." Grace stammered.

"Are you seriously telling me you haven't played 'hide the sausage' with the English gentleman?" he asked, a shocked look on his face.

"No!" Grace replied, quite indignantly.

"You've given him none of your crumpet?" he pressed.

"My god Jonathon!" Grace began to blush furiously.

"Honey," Jonathon cut her off, "it would be a real shame if all the lovin' that boy is getting is with his hand," he placed a hand on her shoulder, "now go save a horse and ride a cowboy."

"He isn't a cowboy," Grace reminded him.

"Well...go and ride him anyway," he winked as he opened the front door, "I expect a full blow by blow of all the details after you blow by blow him next time I see you..."

"Your incorrigible!" Grace shook her head at her dear friend as he waved at her before climbing into his car, blowing her a kiss as he drove off.

She watched him drive away and returned inside and back into the kitchen.

"Hey," she said as she looked at Harry who was sitting at the counter, a mug of tea in front of him.

"Hey," he replied.

"I'm so sorry..." she began.

"Grace," he cut her off, "you've done an awful lot of apologising this morning, it's fine."

She smiled sheepishly at him as she looked down.

And stopped.

In her panic to get to her girls this morning, she was still dressed in just her sleep shorts and tank top.

Her white tank top.

Her very see though white tank top that had nothing underneath it.

"I um...should go and get changed," she murmured, her face reddening again as she looked up and caught Harry's surprised gaze.

He had only just noticed the lack of clothing that Grace was wearing and that it was see through.

He averted his gaze out of politeness as she walked past him but found himself having to adjust his jeans as they began to tighten around his crotch area.

"Stop, stop, stop," he muttered to himself, "she's your boss, your very, happily married boss."

Keep telling yourself that, he thought, keep telling yourself that Harry...