Baby May

His Family

Alyssia is woke the fifth morning of their trip by Toby pressing hot kisses to the bare skin of her shoulders, spinal and the back of the neck between the straps of her pyjama vest top.

Rolling over, he connects his lips to hers, a content sigh accompanying the kiss, "I like this wake-up method."

"Well, maybe soon," He kisses down her jaw and neck, "I'll be able to wake you up like this daily."

"I'd love that," She runs her fingers through his hair, "Are you ready to start looking when we get home?"

"I've been ready since the day we finished high school. At least we've had time to save though," He's been saving a big chunk of his paycheck every month for the past year, the only money spent goes on his car bills and essentials he needs.

"I'd like to find a house, one where we can imagine a future as a married couple, raising children together..." She can't imagine that life with anyone other than Toby.

"Create a whole array of memories. Christening every room in the house in a week, our first Christmas, coming home after our honeymoon as a married couple, bringing home our first child maybe even living there till we're old and grey, if it's the right house," With his career well underway the next step for him, is to move in with Alyssia and eventually propose. Yes, they're only 18 but they've been together six years and it's the right step for both of them.

"Sounds amazing, I'll talk to dad when we get home find out who his estate agent was. Now," She rolls over on top of him, pecking his lips then gets out of bed, "I'm going to have a shower. I promised your Jenna I'd go skating with her and the public session starts at quarter past one."

------

"Do you have any hobbies or interests, Jenna?" Alyssia asks while they leisurely skate around the edge, letting Alyssia warm-up before she shows Jenna what she's learnt over the years. Thankfully the rink is quiet.

"I love animals, I wanted to be a vet when I was older..."

"Why can't you be?" She unintentionally interrupts her.

"You have to have top quality vision for the job and though I have most of my sight back, it will never be that good. But I am looking to be a zookeeper instead or a zoologist, anything with animals, I love them."

"Can I ask you something?" It's something she's wanted to ask Jenna since they arrived.

"Sure."

"Do you blame Toby for what happened?"

"No," Jenna answers without hesitation, "Toby was a kid just like I was, I was two and he was six. Don't tell mum I said this but, he should never have been left to look after me even if it was only for a moment. But I don't blame anyone, it was an accident."

"Your very brave Jenna, I can't imagine what it would be like to lose my sight but I don't think I would cope as well as you did," Look how well she coped when she fell on the ice in a competition.

"Thank you. Can I see you skate now?" Jenna changes the subject.

"Of course."

------

"Alyssia, I want to talk to you," Sarah smiles encouraging Toby and Jenna continues in front of them.

Alyssia falls back to walk with her, "Have I done something wrong?" She doesn't want to get off on the wrong foot with Toby's family.

The four are on their way down to Bondi Beach, just ten minutes walk from Toby's home. It's one of the most famous beaches in Australia so Toby's had to take her to it.

"Not at all, I actually want to say thank you for supporting my son. I know you're aware of past interactions and believe me it is something I will always regret, I was wrong to blame Toby for what happened and when I finally came to my senses, which was a couple of weeks after I moved here, I tried contacting him immediately to make amends. Every time I did that, Toby's dad would reply saying Toby doesn't want to speak to me, I accepted that I hurt our son and gave him time. When Toby came here after his dad was arrested, I found out that his dad never even gave Toby the messages, he blocked all contact."

"Toby didn't go into it in great detail but from what he did tell me, a lot of the lost communication was down to his dad," Alyssia always wondered how a mother could blame her child like that for so long but this explanation brings a lot more light on the past.

"I will never forgive myself for hurting Toby like that, but he tells me you are a big reason he told social services on his dad."

"My dad wanted to do it himself, but Toby said he would do it when he was ready."

"I'm glad he has you, I don't believe he would have gone for the police apprenticeship without your support. At first, I worried about him living in London with only my mother but now I can see he has a solid future ahead of him," She hopes to hear to news of a proposal soon, she can't imagine a better daughter-in-law.

They continue the rest of the walk in a comfortable silence until Toby pulls Alyssia to walk beside him, "Look," He points to the beach dead ahead.

"Oh wow," The water looks so warm and blue compared to the sea in England and there are still many people on the beach despite it being winter for them.

They find a good spot on the beach and set down their beach blanket, Jenna and Alyssia strip down to their bikinis. Toby admires his girlfriend as she sits on her towel and he leans forward whispering, "You should wear that more often."

"Now, now, tongue back in please you have to keep your hands to yourself. We're in public," She teases then turn to sit on her knees whispering in his ear, "They can't see in the water though."

She gets up smirking, "I'm going for a swim, Jenna, you coming?" Jenna stands and follows her.

"I'll join too, just in case," His brain slowly puts together a good reason, "Alyssia struggles to swim in the sea."

Sarah rolls her eyes, her voice dripping in sarcasm, "Oh, I'm sure that's the reason." Musing once Toby is out of earshot, "Maybe it will be a baby before a wedding."

------

"I got it!" Brian hears the shout upstairs followed by thundering footsteps along the long the landing and hammering down the stairs, straight into the living room where Brian and Anita are.

"I got the part!" Alyssia squeals, bursting with excitement. Toby and Alyssia's second week in Australia flew by and they've been home two days. Alyssia has been waiting anxiously for a call about her audition.

"Which one?" Anita asks, happy for her daughter.

"Lady Sybil Crawley," She beams using her best upper-class accent. She would have been happy with either part but really she wanted Sybil's role more.

"Oh, we have a lady in our midst," Brian teases, "When do you start filming?"

"Not for a good while yet. They still have a lot of other characters to cast, it's a big series and a lot of key characters. They said it will be towards the end of next year that I will get a script and begin my fittings for costumes. Filming should hopefully start in early March 2010. It's really in the beginning stages of production," She can live with that as it gives her another year to do Dancing on Ice and maybe even the chance of the Winter Olympic 2010, depending on how things work out.

But a big role in a TV series that is set to be on prime time ITV, what better could she ask for at the start of her acting career?

A few weeks after that saw the release of her single, I Wish I Was A Puck Rocker, it did well, reaching number 10 in the UK charts, but it didn't stay there for long. It did better in Australia reaching number 2 and stayed there for three weeks.

It bumped back up a little just when her cover of Sweet Child of Mine was released, alongside the CD and vinyl. It's not the huge music career she thought she might have one day, but acting and skating are her talent, not music.