Standing in the rain

Park

Fletch arrived back on Darwin a bit stunned and went straight to Jac's office. He didn't bother knocking
"Come in why don't you" snapped Jac
"Sacha knows, lofty and Dom know..." he said out of breath
"Hey hey slow down " Jac said shutting the door and guiding him to the sofa
Fletch took a deep breath " Robyn saw you bring me in after the attack, she told lofty who told Dom who told Sacha who asked him to keep it quiet. I think he has. Anyway Sacha asked me and made it clear he couldn't let anyone hurt you or leave after all the shit you've had over the years"
"And what did you say Fletch?"
He grasped both her hands in his  and lifted her knuckles to his lips. He looked into her eyes and said steadily " I told him we loved each other" he cringed "hope that's ok"
She allowed a ghost of a smile pass her lips "well it's true so yes that's OK." She reassured him "It feels like everything is running away with us. I think we need to be careful that we keep in mind that this is still very new even though there were months of both of us wanting more but being too stupid and scared to do anything about it" she hugged him "can't believe you're freaking out more than me Fletcher"
He hugged her tighter
"Come on you need to get back out there. I don't think Petrenko knows yet so let's keep her guessing a bit longer"
She could feel him smile against her neck and then replace it with a kiss.
"Stop it Fletch" she moaned "you know I love it when you do that"
He stood up straight "Sorry" he gave her a cheeky grin
"Listen it's a lovely day shall we take the kids to the park after work, go on the boating lake, get fish and chips on the way home?"
"Perfect"
"Ok do you and Emma want to come round to mine about 6ish"
"Yes we'll see you then. Now go"
"Yes ms Naylor"
He left the office. She tried to analyse how she felt about people starting to find out and concluded that they'd already been through so much and she had no intention of messing this up so at some point they were going to have to go public.
Jac picked Emma up from the crèche. Theo had already gone
"Hey baby do you want to go to the park tonight with the Fletchers?"
"Yes please" Emma squealed. Jac was overwhelmed how much she loved this little girl and briefly wondered how she herself would have turned out if she'd had a similar childhood
They arrived at the Fletchers just before 6.
Jac was dressed in cropped jeans and tight white t shirt and converse.
"Hello ladies" Fletch said opening the door. Emma ran through to the others "how do you manage to look so sexy just wearing jeans and an admittedly very tight t shirt" he kissed her on the doorstep and couldn't resist a little squeeze of her denim clad bum
"oh shut up Fletcher" she smiled and breezed past him secretly loving his compliments
They made their way to the park everyone chattering and joking with each other and made for the boating lake. All seven couldn't fit in one boat so Fletch took the boys, Jac the girls
"You do know we're racing you to that island and back don't you" said Fletch
"Of course" Jac had never been one to turn down a challenge.
"Loser buys chips"
It was inevitable that Jac and the girls won, she had a fierce competitiveness that few had ever matched
"Ha show us the colour of your money Fletcher" she grinned as they walked towards the playground. The 5 kids had run off ahead, Jac and Fletch were walking along hand in hand in contented silence. The next moment the silence was shattered