"Honey I'm back!" Lara called as she entered the kitchen. JJ shook her head with a laugh. "Did you have fun without me?"

"Fun without you? Impossible. Oh I got something fun for you to do, monkey."

"Do carry on." Neil opened the door with a groan. "Oops."

"What did I said about running through the bakery? You almost knocked someone over."

"I yelled move out the way."

"Do you want me to take you home? You haven't even been here two minutes and already messing around. Now, if you misbehave one more time I am taking you home and you won't come back here for the rest of the week okay. Understood?"

"But daddy I told them to move-"

"That's enough Lara!" JJ looked back at him. She had never seen him angry at her. "I told you not to run in here numerous times. And you know if you want people to move then you be nice and say excuse me. You know your manners and I'd appreciate it if you used them. This is JJ's place of work it's not a playground."

JJ saw the tears in Lara's eyes before she huffed and turned to face the wall. She looked back at Neil who was pinching the bridge of his nose. "Hey," she whispered as she approached Lara.

"I want to go home," Lara sobbed as she turned around. "I didn't mean to push." She knelt in front of her and opened her arms. Neil sighed softly as he walked towards them. JJ was whispering something in her ear which made his daughter smile.

"Jay, don't be nice to her. She's misbehaving and she knows it."

"Neil...come on. She's crying."

"I can see that, JJ. But just because she's crying, it doesn't mean you have to be nice to her and make her stop crying." JJ stood up slowly. She turned to him but before she could say anything, he shook his head. "She's my daughter and I'd appreciate it if you didn't fight me on this. This isn't an argument on how many pancakes you give her so in the nicest possible way, let me deal with it."

"Neil..."

"Judith, I already said no. Now Lara, you know what you have to do." Without another word, JJ walked away with a frown.

"I'm sorry I was running. And I should have said excuse me instead of pushing." He knelt in front of her and sighed.

"Lara, you know Daddy doesn't like screaming at you. But you have to remember no matter how excited you are, you still need to use your manners okay? I'm sorry for shouting." She looked down at the ground before nodding her head. When she opened her arms, he smiled. "I love you tesero."

"I love you too. I'm sorry again."

"And I promise daddy will try not to shout next time."

When Neil stood up, he found JJ back at the stand with a frown on her face. He sighed as he walked up to her. "Don't."

"Cara, I'm sorry. I never should have-"

"Neil, I will never get into your way of parenting. I'm just your girlfriend and definitely not Lara's mother, so I have no right in saying how to discipline her but I'd really appreciate it if you didn't talk to me like I was a child. So don't ever Judith me again otherwise I'll kick you where the sun don't shine." Neil slowly extended a hand out to her arm. She put the icing bag down before looking at him.

"Cara I am so sorry. I swear I'll never talk to you like that again."

"Okay. Just shut up and kiss me."

"Are you sure? You look pissed and I have a feeling you're gonna bite my lip."

"Yeah? Like you don't like it when I bite your lip. Now come here, I missed you." When he cautiously leaned towards her, she rolled her eyes. "Neil I just want you to kiss me. Properly like you always do when you see me after work. Before Mariam comes back from her break."

He leaned down for a kiss and once he relaxed, he gently brought a hand up to her cheek. "I'm really sorry again."

She glanced over at his face and sighed. "What happened at work?"

"Nothing," he mumbled.

"Sure. You're extra snappy and moody so it has to be something. I'm going to ask one more time and before I do I want you to know that when I ask how you are or how your day was I genuinely care. If you say nothing this time round then that's fine. I will never force you to tell me. So what's wrong?"

Neil groaned as he looked back at his daughter who was admiring the cake in front of her. "Something did happen at work. And something happened with Steph. Lara has been messing about in school and I just...can we talk about this later? I just want to spend some time with you and see you work and just forget about everything for a few hours."

"Of course we can." JJ leaned up to kiss him. He then pulled her into a hug, burying his head into her neck.

"Everything is fine now though," he whispered. He let go and kissed the top of her.

"Okay I got a job for you and Lara. I've got cupcakes I want you to decorate. I know you have no artistic bone in your body but we tend to get kids to decorate the not sold cupcakes or the slightly damaged ones and they just eat them."

"Yes!"

"I thought you might like that. You guys take your time. I'm gonna stop by the orphanage tomorrow morning."

"Now you see, you are amazing," Neil mumbled before kissing her.

* * *

"JJ can I go home with you?" Neil looked down at her.

"Yeah that's fine. But you gotta ask your dad first."

"Daddy, can I go home with JJ? Pretty please."

"That's fine honey." He gently placed a hand on JJ's waist. "I know what a crazy driver you are. I am trusting you to drive safely with my daughter in your car."

"Listen I am a very good driver."

"Good driver my ass. But please, please, please, drive safely."

"Of course I will. Neil?" She leaned into him so she could whisper in his ear. "Can we stop by KFC? I'm a little hungry and Lara hasn't eaten since after school." Neil chuckled before kissing her cheek.

"Tell me what you want and I'll pick it up in the way."

"No I'll pay for it."

"No you won't. You ladies go straight home and I'll get the food."

Neil kissed her cheek again before turning to Lara. "You behave okay? And I want you to tell me if she drives crazy." He turned back to JJ. "Text me your order. And here is the key incase you get there before me. And knowing the way you drive you definitely will."

* * *

"You got your seat belt on monkey?" JJ turned around in her seat and pulled the seat belt lightly to make sure it was secure. "Alright let's go. Look your dad is so slow he's still looking out the windows and we are off in three, two, one." JJ pulled out the bakery with a laugh before looking at Lara in the mirror. She was waving at her dad.

"Thank you for helping me out today. Your cupcakes looked really pretty."

"Thank you for letting me help. Mine looked a hundred times better than daddy's."

"You're right about that. We'll just tell everyone that a baby made them." Lara giggled as she looked out the window. "Hey monkey? Are you still upset with your daddy?"

A few seconds went by in silence. "A little. He didn't have to shout."

"Well I don't know if daddy will tell you but he had a hard day today. He was just a little upset and he got mad just a little bit quicker. But what he said wasn't wrong Lara. You can't run around in the bakery because you might hurt someone."

"He was shouting on the phone at home. It was aunt Stephanie. And I think it's because I got in trouble at school."

"You know it's not your fault. You said sorry and that's the important thing. But what happened in school kiddo?"

"Nothing," she mumbled.

"You sure?"

A minute went by in silence. JJ pulled up at the traffic light and sighed. "I don't have friends," she mumbled. "No one wants to play with me at school yet. They were all friends last year and the year before but I wasn't here."

"Sweety...sometimes it takes a while to make friends. Do you ask them to play with you?"

"No. I get shy and sit on the benches. There's this one girl though. She sometimes eats lunch with me."

"Lara you are amazing. You can sing and you can dance and you are so nice that you would make a wonderful friend. If you sit there then they're going to think you don't want to play with them. So how about tomorrow you ask one of them if you can play, you know tons of jokes so tell them one. I want you to come by tomorrow and tell me how many people you made laugh, okay?"

"But what if they don't like me?"

"Sweety not everyone is going to like you but if you're nice and polite then most people will. Just because one person might not like you doesn't mean everyone is going to be like that. Now you see Lara, you are a special girl and I promise you if you be a little brave then you will have loads of friends."

* * *

Neil opened the door and heard the laughing from inside. He smiled softly as he walked into the sitting room to find JJ and Lara staring at each other and making faces. Lara giggled.

"Well if you both are hungry then I've got food."

After eating, JJ sat down on the sofa beside Neil. Lara was watching TV, lost in her world.

"Hey can I talk to you about Lara for a minute?" He looked towards his daughter before standing up. "Your room?" He nodded his head.

"Okay what's wrong?" Neil said as he left his door ajar.

"So I spoke to her in the car, and before you get mad, I know it's your place to talk to her but just hear me out. I just asked her if she was still mad at you and she said a little but I think she understands now that you had a hard day. And she mentioned she got into trouble at school so I just asked how she was doing and I think she was playing up because she has no real friends in school. She told me she doesn't have any and she's shy and I think intimidated by the fact they have history and they've all known each other for a few years."

Neil frowned. He scratched the back of his head. "I mean I knew she was having trouble making friends but I didn't know it was that bad." He leaned in closer to kiss the top of her head. "And I'm not mad. A bit disappointed she didn't tell me but I'm glad she told someone. Thank you."

"Kids tend to play up when someone is wrong so I figured since she's such a nice girl, thanks to you, that there must be something on her mind. I told her that she should be a little brave and ask to play with them. And she has nothing to worry about because she's wonderful." Neil smiled before wrapping his arms around her. "I also told her to tell jokes and tell me how many people she made laugh. She's a funny girl. Something she didn't get from you."

"I have you know I'm hilarious. But thank you so much, cara. I'll give it till next week, she how she does in school and if it's the same then I will talk to her properly."

"Do you want to tell me what's wrong now? I give pretty good advice."

"I know you do. But at work a client fell through which meant another two did and it was stressful because we had to work our asses off to get them back and it was not a good day. As for steph...well you know what I posted this morning on Instagram? The three of us in bed?"

"Hmm, cute picture. I liked it."

"I know. But I captioned it as morning lie in with my two ladies with a heart which I thought was hella cute but she didn't. The thing with Steph is that she doesn't use Instagram often but on our family group chat my mum sent a message saying how cute we were and obviously Steph had to be nosey. She then saw all the stuff over the last two months and it's basically been us two or us three over that time and she had a rant on how I let you in the bed with Lara and the same old."

"I'm sorry." She frowned as she put her head on his chest. "And I'm sorry about work. But some days are good and some days are bad. As for your sister...in the weirdest possible way, she's looking out for you."

"She calls you a child molester every week, how can you still defend her?"

"Because I get why she's saying it. I was basically a stranger in the beginning and I've hung around your flat with Lara you technically knew nothing about me and only went on a feeling of trust that I was okay. So I get it from that point of view. And yeah it's shit she still feels that way but she's your older sister she's looking out for you and she's looking out for her niece. In a very strange way."

"I don't care. There's a right way and there's a wrong way of doing things. And labelling you as she did is horrible and disgusting."

"Neil just give her some time. And give me her number so I can meet up with her alone." He immediately shook his head.

"No. Never."

"I'll get it off your mum."

"No you will not. You will not meet her unless I'm there. You saw what she did with the whole family there, imagine the things she will say when I'm not there. I'm telling Ma not to give you her number."

"Like your mum listens to you. I'm doing it and you won't know about it unless I tell you and I'm not telling you until the meeting has happened."