The Aftermath of New Years

Chapter 4

James POV

When John-Paul and I got back to my flat we were surprised that no one was home. I checked my phone to see a text from my mother.

Hi Darling, I am taking Romeo and Juliet to the movies. Tell John-Paul that Matthew is with us as well. Love you.

"Mother has taken our children to the cinema. I got the text about 2 hours ago." I say to John-Paul who proceeded to sit on the kitchen counter and I put the kettle on to make coffee.

"What are they going to watch?" John-Paul asks.

"Never asked. I'm sure they will enjoy it." I say to John-Paul and I hand him a cup of coffee.

"James, do you think we could give... us... another shot?" He asks looking into his cup.

"John-Paul..." I start before I get cut off.

"I know what you're going to say and no this isn't a rebound. It's you. It's always been you. I let myself get distracted by him and it was a mistake. The biggest mistake was believing him over you. Please let's get back to how we were. Before George, before Ste, before Harry. Let's go back to being us." He says and looks like he might cry. I might cry as well.

"After everything I did. How can we go back to how we were." I say to him. We stood exactly how we were last night. My arms around John-Paul's waist, his around my neck.

"James. You shot my sister and I am not surprised. If someone killed you, I would want revenge too." He says resting his forehead on mine.

"But Mercedes didn't kill Harry." I say to him, now getting emotional over the memory of Harry. I missed him so much.

"No but she did hit and run on Grace. She was also dealing drugs. She probably deserved to get shot. I forgive you." John-Paul says, connecting our lips. I hesitate for a split second before kissing him back.

We stop when we hear the door unlocking. I walk over to the kettle to act like I was making coffee.

"Hello darling. John-Paul" Mother said as she walked through the door with all 3 children in tow.

"Hello Mother. How was the cinema?" I ask.

"Its was good. The kids have come back to play some games, if that's ok with you John-Paul." She says looking at the kids who were now sat on the sofa.

"Yeah, just not violent or gory games please he is only 8." John-Paul says and the three children cheer. Mother goes and joins them and I join John-Paul on the counter with 2 coffees.

"We can give it another go, but lets take it slow. Last time, we rushed into it so lets just go slow." I say to John-Paul who nods and we both drink our coffee talking about our children.

Marnie POV

The children sat playing Minecraft. I think they were trying to see who could find diamonds first. They were actually quite good. I watched John-Paul and James laughing and talking. Juliet saw me watching them.

"Whats up?" She queries. Both boys look at me now and then look at their fathers.

"They used to be so happy. Then came George." I say to them. The little boy who saw George as a father figure seemed to falter at the mention of his name.

"Since George came along, my dad changed. First he was happen then he seemed to become more broken. He stopped seeing me and i knew it was George's fault. Dad loved me then he stopped" Matthew spoke. All 4 of us were now looking at the two fully grown men laughing like girls and drinking too much caffeine.

"I remember when John-Paul went temporarily blind. James was going to let John-Paul stay here so he could look after him. It's my fault that never happened. I made him see that he couldn't love. That he wasn't capable of caring. Then he showed me how much he cared for John-Paul." I say letting a few tears run down my face.

"What happened?" Romeo asks.

"They got engaged. He proved that he loved John-Paul so much that he was willing to give his life to him." I say to them. They all look shocked. I pick up my phone and show them the photo I had of them the day they got engaged. It was James and John-Paul in each other's arms. James had his arm around John-Paul's waist and John-Paul's left hand laid gently on James' chest. They were both laughing,

"That is a beautiful picture Gran." Romeo said. I got used to him calling my gran, Juliet calls me gran as well. James adopted her a while ago and now she is my grandchild.

"Do you think they will get back together?" Matthew asked. He was young but mature for his age.

"I don't know darling. All I know is that your dad made James very happy." I smile at him.

"I think we should try and get them together." Juliet says and the 2 boys nod in agreement.

"I like the idea but how?" Romeo says.

"Maybe if they see us getting closer then that may make them see what they each missed out on." Matthew suggests, looking at Romeo.

"Ok. That may work. Starting tomorrow, the three of us act like siblings." Juliet says. They all turn back to their game but I look at James a while longer. For the first time in a while, He looks genuinely happy.