Harry's POV

The kids are like bloodhounds on a fresh scent as we head out from our hotel room and towards the all-important Lego store.

The excitement is clear to see and to be honest I'm kind of excited too.

As we see the shopfront, they break into a run and I'm right there with them.

Fully dragged along of course.

Once we enter, there is just masses of colour explosions around the store.

I turn around and realise Beth isn't here and I'm just about to walk back out to find her when the automatic doors open and she strolls in and immediately stops dead in her tracks, looking around with her eyes wide before she notices the other shoppers carrying really large bags and they widen even more.

Then they land on me.

I just grin at her, knowing what's going on in her mind.

"No..." she takes a step and points her finger at me.

Uh oh.

"Quick...go nuts!" I say before I shoo the kids off in the direction of the boxes.

Ha!

Take that woman!

I stand there grinning with my hands clasped behind my back as I bounce up and down on the balls of my feet as Beth glares at me and tells me my dimple is not going to save me.

Oh I beg to differ.

Depends where I put said dimple.

"Look at how much stuff is here! How am I going to pay for them to 'go nuts,' let alone get it all home?" she continues.

I don't see the issue.

I mean, it'll take nothing to cart it back to my...home.

She means her home Harold.

Australia.

Oh.

Right.

"I'm sorry," I say, "but I'll take care of it okay? This is a once in a lifetime experience for most kids, can you let me make it the best one for them?"

Please say yes.

She reluctantly sighs and narrows her eyes at me.

"How do you make it so I can't argue with you?" she asks me.

Cause I'm fucking irresistible.

"Years of practice on my mum," I say because it's probably safer.

She shakes her head and walks off, presumably to find the kids.

I casually stroll behind her until she locates the kids and I lean down on the trolley handle, watching the flurry of activity in front of me.

And I love it.

I feel like I really belong here.

That I have a place with them.

A small bump beside me has me snapping out of my daydream and I know it's Chloe before I even look down.

Beth asks her if she wants to go looking for what she wants but she shyly declines.

"Would you like me to come over with you?" I offer and she nods her head and slips her hand in mine before we walk off together.

"So what are you thinking of getting?" I ask her, "I'm happy to buy you whatever you want since this is a special trip."

She remains silent as we wander up the aisles.

Uncharacteristically silent.

I stop us so I can bend down and talk more privately.

"Is everything okay Clo Bo?" I tentatively ask.

She bites her lip before sighing.

"You're letting me and my brothers get as much Lego as we want yeah?" she asks.

"Correct," I reply, "it is a once in a lifetime opportunity wouldn't you agree?"

She nods her head in agreement but I can still sense some sort of hesitation.

"But...?" I gently urge her.

"Harry," she whispers.

"Yes darling?" I reply.

"I don't really like Lego that much," she says sadly.

Oh.

I bite my lip because I want to laugh at how precious she is but I don't as I know that seemed awfully hard for her to tell me.

"That's okay," I tell her instead, "what do you like then?"

There's a simple solution to this problem.

"I like clothes...and shoes...boots...yeah, clothes," she says.

Yes Gemma.

"I have an-" I start but she cuts me off.

"But I didn't want to tell you because I didn't want to hurt your feelings when you're being so nice to us," she blurts out.

Oh my princess.

I give her a big hug for a minute before I loosen my hold on her, but still have her in my grasp.

"Well why don't we make a date to go shopping for what you do like when we get back to my place hey?" I suggest, "I'm not offended at all darling, and I'd much rather buy you something that you like rather than something you don't just so you don't think you're hurting my feelings, okay?"

Her face lights up like it's Christmas.

"We're gonna go shopping together?" she whispers excitedly.

I nod in agreement.

"If that's what you want," I smile.

"Oh I want!" she squeals before throwing her arms around my neck and squeezing me so hard I almost start coughing.

"Okay then," I laugh and extract myself from her before grabbing her hand again, "shall we go back to your mum?"

"Yep," she nods in agreement and we start walking back, "ooh bunnies!" she suddenly stops, jerking me back with her.

"Do you want that one?" I ask.

She nods her head.

"It has bunnies," she says in excitement.

"So does this one," I tell her as I point to another box.

She looks up at me and I pull both boxes off the shelf.

"Come on," I take her by the hand again and we walk back to the others.

Beth looks at us curiously as I place the two boxes on top of the other ones in the trolley.

"I only got ones that had bunnies in it mama," she explains to Beth, "I don't like Lego as much as Nick and Jamie so Harry and I are gonna do something together when we get back home."

"Oh are you?" Beth replies, "sounds interesting."

"Yeah we're going to..." she starts but I give her a nudge with my hip and clear my throat, "...have fun?" she offers with a sweet little smile.

Nice save.

Beth probably doesn't need to know exactly what we're going to do at this very moment but the look she's giving the both of us indicates she may have quite possibly cottoned on that we're up to something.

"We're finished Harry," Jamie shouts as he throws one more box into the very full trolley.

Beth is standing there looking at said trolley and I can see exactly what's going on in her mind and I stand behind the kids and look at her with what I hope is a sad puppy expression.

She goes to open her mouth but then stops and shuts it.

Nothing.

"Thank you," I say as I wrap my arm around her waist and kiss her on the cheek, "I know you really wanted to say something, but I appreciate you giving me the opportunity to do this for them," I add as I watch the kids take the trolley up to the counter.

"You're paying to ship it all home you realise?" she says.

Well...

Not if I can help it.

"We'll see," I say and she looks up at me, a frown on her face.

I pay for our purchases and we all lug the black bags to our hotel room, taking them into the boys' room before Beth walks out and flops down on our bed, closing her eyes and sighing.

"Tired love?" I ask as I curl up beside her, pulling her legs up and placing them over my thighs to hug her close.

She lets out a tired noise so I suggest she has a sleep before we head out for dinner and the fact she's asleep within minutes so that pretty much answers my question.

~~~~~~

"Wakey wakey love," I gently shake Beth awake.

"Noooooo..." she groans and rolls over, blindly reaching out to grasp onto a pillow and damn if I want to cuddle up right behind her warm and supple body.

Even if I like to be the little spoon.

"Time to go out for dinner," I say, knowing full well Jamie is getting restless and must be fed.

"Alright," she grumbles adorably, "let me freshen up and we'll go."

"Not a morning person are you?" I smirk.

"It ain't morning Harry," she grumpily replies.

"I stand corrected, you're not a 'waking up from sleeping' person are you?" I say.

This earns me a 'fuck off' as she trudges to the bathroom to freshen herself up.

God I love her.

~~~~~~

After some discussion we, meaning Beth, chooses the one with a buffet in the hopes that it will suit everyone's tastes.

Meaning Chloe.

And bless her, she does try to eat dessert first but not tonight sweetheart.

Instead I offer to take her around the buffet and encourage her to try out the same foods as I am and that she can eat whatever she likes from the dessert bar later, to which she agrees.

The boys are much easier and happily load up their plates with meat and vegetables.

And Lego chips.

We walk back to the table with our plates and sit down, though I see Beth's attention is elsewhere.

"Are you going to go and get some tea?" I ask her.

"Harry, they're taking pictures of all of us," she says through gritted teeth.

Fuck.

"Sweetheart..." I start.

"I know, I know, it's part of what you come with," she cuts me off, "but time and place, you know?"

I know love.

But please don't let it ruin our night.

I decide to try and bring her attention back to us so I wrap my arm around her neck and pull her into me so I can kiss me her.

"Have I told you how much I love you?" I whisper.

"Are you trying to create a diversion?" she whispers back.

"Depends, is it working?" I ask.

"Not really, but I won't tell you to stop trying," she finally smiles before returning my kiss, standing up from the table and walking over to get her dinner.

I do like the way she walks.

And now she's round the other side of the buffet.

Ooh and now she's leaning down to look at something.

Damn.

She really should lean forward a little bit more.

Just for me.

Wait.

Who is that woman staring at her?

Now she's talking to her?

Oh crap.

Beth has this little quirk where her eyes narrow slightly just for a split second before she's about to let someone have it.

And not in a good way.

Oh this doesn't look good.

And there she goes.

She's not yelling at her though so that's a good sign.

Right?

She picks up her plate and strides over to us, and the woman is heading off to her table looking suitably embarrassed.

Shit.

"How are those chips?" Beth asks brightly as she sits down.

"Great," Jamie gives her the thumbs up.

Do I ask?

No.

Yes.

Maybe.

I really want to know.

I turn to find her staring down at my dinner plate.

"What?" I ask.

"You're having salad for dinner with a salad on the side?" she asks.

I don't see the issue.

"I like salad," I shrug my shoulders.

"And you think I'm weird," she mumbles.

"Don't think I haven't noticed that if you have different foods on your plate you can only eat one thing completely before you start on the next one," I say smugly, "but I still love you and all your faults."

She opens her mouth in shock so I decide to shove a forkful of my kale salad into it, earning a glare as she reluctantly chews on it.

"I dare you to take one bite from everything on your plate," I say with a cheeky grin.

Beth looks down at her plate for a brief moment.

"I can't," she shakes her head, earning a laugh from all of us at the table.

I eventually stop and clear my throat.

"Do I want to ask what that was all about?" I whisper.

"I believe she may have had some questions for me but I just gave her a friendly reminder about privacy and decency, that's all," she replies, glancing over at the woman.

We agree that we need to talk about this later, knowing it's a discussion to have without the kids and that we're also trying to have a family dinner together.

I start grinning like an idiot at the thought of the work 'family.'

They're my family.

I get that she needs to put herself and her kids first, but I do have an image to maintain.

You sound like a right tosser Harold.

Shut up!

I mean that we need to work together to agree and understand where each person is coming from.

You're still a tosser Harold.

I'm aware of people taking the occasional 'selfie,' that is, they take their own picture but it's really just me in the picture with maybe their ear or half their face in it.

And bless my darling girl, she's trying her best to ignore it.

"So what are we doing tomorrow?" Jamie suddenly asks as he helps himself to his third bowl of ice cream.

"I thought we might go exploring a bit," I suggest, "start the day at the waterpark and then maybe the movies after lunch?"

I'd had a bit of a look at what there is to do at the hotel when Beth was napping and I thought this would be right up their alley.

The kids are excited and it's high fives all round and a grin from Nick.

Well I think it was a grin.

With everyone finally finished, we make our way back to our hotel room, the boys quick to get to bed.

Or so they tell us.

"Why don't you have a shower and I'll put Chloe to bed?" Beth suggests.

"Are you saying I smell?" I ask with mock offence.

"Oh my god no!" she splutters, "I'm just saying..."

"I'm kidding love," I cut her off, grinning like an idiot.

She shakes her head at me as she takes Chloe down to her room.

I decide she may be right and a quick shower wouldn't go astray.

I bolt in there and quickly wash myself and my hair, no mucking around tonight.

I reckon I'm about done in five minutes flat before I'm out and drying off my body and my hair, slipping on a clean pair of boxers and sliding into bed like a baseball player sliding into home base.

It does feel good to lie down.

I put my hands up behind my head, lacing my fingers together and letting out a contented sigh, closing my eyes and wait for Beth to come back.

Harry needs a bit of hanky panky.

A slight tapping on my arm makes my eyes fly open and although it's dark in the room, I can make out the outline of someone standing next to me as I lie in bed.

Chloe.

I sit up on one elbow and rub my eyes, glancing at my phone next to me.

2:47am.

Shit.

What happened to my hanky panky?

"Are you okay Clo?" I ask before yawning.

"I can hear noises," she whispers.

"I'm sure it's nothing sweetheart," I try to reassure her.

"I'm scared Harry," she replies, "can I sleep with you?"

Oh.

Um.

"Please Harry?" she begs.

How can I say no?

"Sure," I sigh and move myself over to the middle of the bed, backing up to Beth's warm body as I hold the covers up so Chloe can hop in.

"Thank you Harry," she says and I can hear the smile in her voice.

I tuck the covers around her as she snuggles into me, my arm outstretched for her to use as a pillow.

She sighs in contentment and soon I hear her breathing slow to a regular rhythm.

I kiss her gently on top of her head and close my own eyes again as I fall back to sleep, knowing my hanky panky was going to have to wait.