"Mam, can Holly stay tonight please?" Scott asked Cheryl after coming down from his bedroom.
"Yeah sure. I hope you're being good though. You' may be of age but she's only fifteen" she replied to him, picking up a jacket from the floor.
"Yeah mam, of course. Even if she was sixteen, I'd wait until she was ready" he replied, taking a seat on the sofa next to Cheryl.
"You love her, don't you?" she smiled, patting her son on the knee.
"I do" he grinned, unable to stop himself at the thought of his girlfriend.
"You're so good to her" she said, filling with pride.
"I learnt from the best" he replied, kissing her on the cheek. Cheryl giggled. "Where is mum, anyway?" he wondered, looking over at coats to see if hers was there or not, it was.
"She's upstairs with Jane" she said, thinking back to the earlier incident with a drink.
"Is she okay?" Scott asked.
"Yeah she's fine, she's still getting picked on though" she frowned, feeling sadness wash over her at the memory of the ten year old coming home, crying.
"I'll wait for her tomorrow after school" said the boy, anger building up inside him.
"She'll appreciate that" Cheryl replied, wrapping an arm around her son and giving him a quick hug.
"Mammy!" Jane shouted in a mild Geordie accent while running down the stairs. "Have you seen my jacket?" she asked.
"Yes sweetie, it was on the floor where you left it" she told her, giving her a look to say she shouldn't leave her things laying around.
"Sorry mam" she said, looking down at the floor as she held her hand out to take the jacket.
"Your brother is going to walk home with you after school tomorrow" Cheryl said to her. A big smile came straight to the young girls face.
"They've been getting worse" she said sadly as she hugged Scott.
"I'll sort them out" he said determinedly, giving her a tight squeeze. "I'm going to call Holly" he smiled after Jane pulled away from the embrace and ran around the living room, chasing the dog.
Kimberley came down the stairs and sat next to Cheryl once Scott had moved.
"Do you think it'll come out?" Cheryl asked, referring to the stain left on Jane's shirt she recently changed out of.
"Yeah it should do" she sighed, putting her hand on her head.
"You got a headache babe?" the younger woman wondered, resting her hand on Kimberley's belly and shuffling up closer to her on the sofa.
"A bit" she replied, wrapping her arm around her wife and instantly feeling slightly better.
"Umm" started Scott as he came back into the living room and looked at his two mothers. "Holly's dad is coming round" he said a little nervously.
"How come?" Kimberley asked.
"I don't think he likes us" he asked in a way that Cheryl would do, even though he had no accent.
"Oh this will be fun" said Kimberley, knowing what her son was meaning. Holly's father wasn't coming around for tea and a friendly chat.
"I'm sorry" he said to the married couple, taking a seat on the opposite sofa and twiddling his thumbs.
"Don't be silly" replied Cheryl. "It'll be okay" she said. The look on Scott's face told Cheryl not to be so sure about that. "It wont be the end of the world if she can't stay" she reasoned.
