Viv was so disappointed. It was Halloween and she'd made sure to swap her shift to ensure she could take Jamie trick or treating. The person she'd swapped with had fallen ill and couldn't cover anymore, so she'd been called in at the last minute. Siobhan had agreed to look after Jamie, promising to make some Halloween cookies with him. Viv had mentioned trick or treating in passing but she knew that wasn't really Siobhan's thing and she didn't want to push the blond into anything she wasn't comfortable with. Viv was just grateful that Siobhan was so willing to take care of Jamie at all, after all the pair were still getting to know each other. Jamie had taken to Siobhan immediately despite her stoic demeanour, he thought she was pretty and she was always nice to him.
As Viv made her way downstairs, she walked into the lounge and found Siobhan and Jamie sat on the sofa together. Jamie was excitedly telling Siobhan about his day in nursery and the Halloween decorations he'd made, grasping at her hand as he did so. She was listening intently and smiling down at his chubby little hand holding hers. "Right you two, I'm off to work. Jamie be good for bonbon, she's doing us a big favour tonight okay?" Viv crouched down and cuddled him close before kissing him on the forehead. She looked up and into Siobhan's eyes, catching the blonds free hand in hers. "Thank you for doing this. I know you two are going to have the best time." As she stood up, Viv kissed Siobhan on her forehead too before making her way out to her car. She wished so desperately that she could stay.
"Right Jamie, how about we make some cookies?" Jamie nodded excitedly before climbing off the sofa and hurrying off into the kitchen shouting "bonbon, I know where Mummy keeps all the sprinkles." Despite her line of work, Siobhan had never been keen on children but with Jamie things were different somehow. He was so like Viv, he looked like her, his little accent sounded just like hers and most importantly, he was already just as kind as his mother. Siobhan hadn't been in his life long but he'd already started to ask after her and worry if he didn't know where she was. As she lifted Jamie up onto a stool, his little fingers clutched onto her jumper and just for a second, she felt her heart melting.
Siobhan had already set everything up, so she immediately began telling Jamie what to mix together to create their cookie dough. As she watched him haphazardly stir the mixture, she giggled a little, he was making such a mess but he was concentrating so intently. Once the dough was ready, Siobhan showed him how to press the little cutters down and make the shapes they wanted. There was a pumpkin, a witches hat, a ghost and a cat, so they made a few of each and placed them on the tray ready for baking. Once Siobhan had placed the tray in the oven, she picked Jamie up off the stool and took him back into the lounge, sitting down on the sofa and placing him on her lap. He started to play with her hair immediately and remarked "your hair is so different from Mummy's, it's so light. It's like sunshine." Siobhan blinked at him for several moments before asking "you think my hair is like sunshine?" Jamie nodded frantically and giggled as he looked up at her and fiddled with her necklace. "Bonbon, when will the cookies be ready?" Siobhan laughed as she scooped him up and threw him up into the air "you're always thinking about food aren't you? What's your favourite food?" As she lowered Jamie back down onto her lap she watched as his face scrunched up, he was deep in thought deciding on his answer. Suddenly he threw his hands up in the air and shouted "SWEETS" with a huge grin on his face, before adding "I love jelly tots."
Just at that moment, the timer dinged indicating that their cookies were done. Siobhan made her way back into the kitchen and sat Jamie down on the stool again before pulling the tray out, placing it out of his reach for the time being. "Jamie jelly tot...maybe that should be your new nickname" she said as she ticked his stomach. He laughed in response "I'm a jelly tot and you're a bonbon...what's Mummy then?" Siobhan frowned for a moment and replied "I'm not sure...we'll have to ask her what sweet she'd like to be." Jamie beamed at her before exclaiming "I want to decorate my cookies with orange and black sprinkles."
Siobhan nodded and began to get the things together to make the icing, including the various food colouring tubes. Once they had their icing bowls set up, Siobhan retrieved the tray of cookies and placed a couple in front of Jamie, then a couple in front of herself. She allowed Jamie to take charge of his own cookies, watching out of the corner of her eye as he threw sprinkles over the cookies wildly with no rhyme or reason. Siobhan took a slightly more thoughtful approach with her cookies and as they decorated the rest between them, the difference in their artistic visions became very clear. As pretty as hers were, in the end she preferred Jamie's despite his haphazard approach. Together, they each took a cookie to eat, arranging the rest neatly on a plate for Viv to inspect when she got back. Siobhan made sure that Jamie's cookies were front and centre, he was so proud of them.
"Bonbon, I wanna show you something. Wait here." Jamie pointed his finger at Siobhan sternly before scuttling off to get whatever he wanted to show her. While Siobhan was tidying the kitchen, she turned her back to the door, causing her to miss Jamie's reappearance. He crept up behind her and did his best impression of a monsters roar, making Siobhan jump. When she turned to face him, she realised he'd got changed into his Sully costume, he loved Monsters, Inc and the gentle blue monster was his absolute favourite. "Wow, that's a scary monster...did you eat Jamie?" Siobhan pretended to act shocked, immediately breaking character when Jamie tugged on her hand and whispered "it's me bonbon, did I scare you?" She nodded in response enthusiastically before crouching down to his level "you know that's such a scary costume, we can't just let it go to waste. Shall we go trick or treating, just for a little bit?" Jamie started clapping and bouncing up and down as he squealed "yes please."
Siobhan wasn't really sure what had come over her but she just wanted to make Jamie happy. As they moved from house to house, she felt her heart swelling as she watched him say thank you for his sweets. The way he toddled along in his little costume was so adorable and every time he looked up to check that she was still there, Siobhan felt tears behind her eyes. This tiny little person was putting his trust in her to keep him safe and look after him. If only someone had done that for Siobhan, her life would have been very different but at least she was finally starting to heal. She'd never even imagined that her life could be so wonderful, yet here she was holding a beautiful little boys hand and she was free and happy instead of trapped and miserable.
Once they'd walked to the end of the street, they began making their way back. Jamie was clutching his bag of treats in one hand and clinging onto Siobhan's coat with the other. As they walked, he looked up at the blond and suddenly said "Mummy was sad before you. She smiles loads more now. I think she likes your sunshine hair." Siobhan couldn't help but scoop Jamie up into her arms immediately and cuddle him close to her chest. She carried him back and once they were inside, he insisted on separating his sweets into three piles on the coffee table. As he spread them out he chanted to himself "some for me, some for Mummy and some for bonbon.
When he was finally finished, he climbed up onto the sofa and immediately settled himself in Siobhan's lap again. "Mummy told me why you're like a bonbon." Siobhan looked down at him fondly and stroked his hair before asking "why am I like a bonbon?" He wrapped his arms around her waist and squeezed as he replied "well she said it's in your name anyway, but actually, you're hard on the outside and soft on the inside. I think she got mixed up though, cos you are soft like a teddy bear on the outside." As he rested his head on her chest, Siobhan had to stop herself from bursting into tears, he was so sweet and innocent. They sat together for a while, cuddling until they both nodded off, tired after their night of Halloween fun. That was exactly how Viv found them, fast asleep with their arms wrapped around each other protectively. She watched them for a bit and as she did so, she realised just how thankful she was that she'd met Siobhan. Not just for her, for Jamie too - that little boy was going to grow up so loved, so kind and so gentle.
He was going to become everything that the world needed, but in the meantime, he was very quickly (and very unexpectedly) becoming Siobhan's world.
