Rob arrived back at Waterloo Road before the end of lunch. He still felt the aftershocks of his kiss with Karen. He felt like a teenager all over again. Every time they kissed it felt like something new. He wanted to make the most of every moment with her, nothing was rushed, everything savoured. He got out of the car and saw Aiden walking towards him looking smug.
Aiden stopped in front of his dad and smiled. "Someone looks like the cat who got the cream...or the caretaker who got the head." He playfully punched his Dad's arm.
"Alright Aiden...calm it. Remember that Charlie's still around." He rested a hand on Aiden's shoulder. "Oh and for your information I was just checking that she was ok." He turned and grabbed his jacket from the driving seat.
Aiden nodded at him. "Course...and I know, Charlie is still walking round like he owns the place. I want to shout from the roof what he did to her, and Jess...I just." He broke off.
"I know son...but it wont be long. Once everything is more certain that everything can be made public, but right now we need to protect Jess." Rob knew how much Jess meant to Aiden. They were best friends. For the first time Aiden had formed a friendship with a girl that didn't involve them sleeping together. Aiden had fitted into the role of the protective big brother despite only being a couple of months older than her. Rob knew his son, and he knew how much it had taken Aiden to stop himself punching Charlie for what him and Maria were doing to Jess. Probably about as much as it had taken Rob to stop himself for knocking out Charlie when he had hurt Karen.
Aiden nodded. "Right...we staying there again tonight yeah?" He would never have believed that he was saying it but Aiden felt like he had fitted straight into the Fisher family. There was a large part of him that was dreading going back to it just being him and his Dad at home.
Rob nodded. "I was thinking we'd stay at least till the weekend, Karen was ok with it, as long as you are mate?" Rob felt as though him and Karen had been talking constantly about the kids and how they were doing with him and Aiden staying over. Neither of them could believe quite how well it was working. Of course there were small arguments, but nothing more than teenage bickering at the end of the day, and as Karen kept reminding him. Her three were more than capable of that on their own.
Aiden nodded. "Yeah...." He turned to walk back towards the school. "See you later Dad." He turned and nodded towards his Dad before walking back for registration.
Rob watched him go and couldn't help but smile. He was the first to admit that Aiden wasn't perfect. It was common knowledge what had happened at his previous school. Yet Waterloo Road was all about second chances as Karen kept telling him, and it had certainly given Aiden that. He was settled into a group and his grades were better than ever. Rob nodded before locking his car and walking back towards his office.
...
Aiden sat on one of the computers in the sixth form common room. He was taking a break from coursework and browsing his facebook page. Jess had put up some photo's from the last time they had all been out. They had only gone to a local boating lake and hired a row boat, but they had all had fun. Looking back over the photos was making him smile. He looked up from the computer as Ronan and Vicki came into the room. They both look worried. "What's up?" He watched them both look at each other before back at him. "Come on...what is it?"
"Mate..." Ronan started before sitting down on the chair next to him. "There's a rumour going round...well more that Charlie Fisher it telling everyone well..." He broke off again and looked back to Vicki. He turned back to Aiden. "He's telling everyone that you're the Dad of Jess' baby..."
Aiden felt his heart sink momentarily before he could feel the anger starting to rise in his chest. He looked towards them both. "Do you believe it?"
Vicki shook her head. "Jess would have told me. Anyway, we all know that it's cool between you two. You're practically brother and sister now." She stood over him and put a hand on his shoulder. "We thought you should know."
Aiden nodded. "Yeah." He switched off his computer before standing up from the desk. "Cheers." As he walked out of the computer room he didn't know what to think. He knew that everything was looking at him and pointing as he walked down the corridors. At first he wasn't sure where he was going, but soon he ended up in front of his Dad's office. As he went to push the door open he saw the picture pinned to the door. It was one from the boating trip of him and Jess...but someone had vandalised it by putting a baby bump on Jess and putting an arrow pointing to him saying 'Dad.' As he looked round he realised that the pictures were everywhere. He took a deep breath to hold back the tears and anger before pushing open the door.
"Aiden...you ok mate?" Rob looked up from his desk. It was obvious straight away that something was seriously wrong. Aiden didn't say anything, instead he put the picture on the desk in front of his Dad. Rob looked from the picture and then back to Aiden. "I'm sorry..." He stood up and pulled his son into a hug.
"I want to punch him...I don't know why I haven't...there are pictures everywhere and he's shouting his mouth off...and what about Jess...what about Maria...everyone's going to think we're covering up..." Aiden pulled away and clenched his fists, he went to punch the wall before he thought better of it.
"Just try and stay calm, we need to try and stay calm to sort this. We both know that none of this rubbish is true." He took the picture and screwed it up. They both looked up as the door flew open and Bex and Harry ran into the room. They were both holding piles of the pictures.
"Sorry Rob...we didn't know where else to..." Bex broke off from her sentence as she burst into tears. Rob walked forward and hugged her. He held her protectively until the sobs slowed down.
"We'll be ok. We can get through this together." He looked from Bex to Harry. "I know that I'm not your Dad."
"Good job...we don't need another idiot like that around." Harry stood in the room his arms folded tight across his stomach.
Rob tried not to smile. "You know what I mean. I'm not trying to be anything that I'm not, but I really really care about your Mum...and you three." He didn't say anymore because he wasn't sure what was meant to come next.
Bex looked up at him. "I know what you mean...you're pretty cool anyway." She smiled at him and then Aiden. "Both of you."
Rob looked at the three kids in the room. "Right, well I reckon that the best plan is to go home..." He stopped. It had been a slip of the tongue. "I mean back to your Mum's."
"It's ok Rob..." Harry looked towards him. "We like you staying..." He looked at them both. It was true that sometime they fought, but that was normal. To Harry it felt like he was in a family again for the first time in a long time.
"Cheers mate. Well lets get going then, there's no point in staying here...and I want to tell your Mum before some idiot phones her or texts Jess." He looked round and saw them all nodding in agreement.
