Nathan's POV -

My attention was drawn from Ellie, who had fallen asleep in my arms, by a faint knock at the door.

I looked over to see Jay and Max stood there with smiles on their faces, and Aimee was stood beside Max; she looked like she'd had a good afternoon with the boys.

"We're off out for dinner now. Are you coming, or are you going to stay here?" Jay asked.

"I think mummy should stay asleep. She's been sad all day." Aimee said.

"What do you mean?" Max questioned her, going down to Aimee's level so that he was looking at her.

"She keeps crying. James makes her sad." Aimee replied, and I could tell that she didn't like it when Ellie was sad or when she got upset over something; she was only a child, but she still understood how her mum was feeling and she didn't want her to feel like that.

Ellie shifted a little in her sleep, moving closer to me and further into my chest at the same time.

"Well, don't you worry about mummy. She's going to be fine." Jay smiled down at her.

"How do you know?" Aimee questioned him with some confusion in his voice.

"I just know. Jay knows everything." he laughed in response, and all Aimee did was giggle at him before she walked out of the room and waited outside for either Max or Jay to go out and join her.

"You know, despite everything she did to you, you two are actually really sweet together." Max smiled out of nowhere, which surprised me because of what he had said about her before and how little he really did think of her.

"Thanks mate." I smiled back at him.

"Do you want to stay here with here, rather than wake her up and we'll take Aimee out with us?" Max asked, and I simply nodded at him as Ellie continued to sleep; moving around more than she was before and attempting to get comfortable. "We'll bring her back here when we're done then."

"And remember to use protection." Jay winked as he walked out of the room in fits of laughter.

"We'll see you in a bit." Max stated, closing the door behind him as he walked out of the room; leaving me to go back to admiring Ellie as she slept.

She looked peaceful and like she was actually happy.

It's probably the only place where she was happy after the day she'd had, and it seemed like all she wanted to do was sleep.

Max's POV -

Ellie might not have been in my list of top ten favourite people right now, but if she made Nathan happy, then I wasn't going to stop that and I wasn't going to take it away from him either.

She made a mistake and we all do those in our lives.

It just so happens Ellie made a stupid mistake which they have been paying for ever since the night she walked out.

Nathan with a broken heart and Ellie with Aimee.

She didn't have to be a single mother but, in a way, I understand why she did take that option because it was never going to be easy bringing up a child when its father is in a famous boy band who do nothing other than work all the time.

However, Ellie has done an amazing job with Aimee and she's such an amazing little girl. The first time she walked into that room, she didn't a single word to either me or Jay for over an hour, until Jay mentioned the stories he could tell her about Ellie - admittedly, some of them made me chuckle as well and sound like the sort of thing a young girl would actually do.

Then she wanted to play hide and seek...which I totally sucked at, firstly because Jay was helping Aimee with all her hiding places, and secondly, because I was far too tall to be able to hide in the places that she was able.

"How does mummy know Nathan?" Aimee asked suddenly.

"What do you mean?" Jay replied, but I already knew there was no point in treating her like she was an idiot; she was going to be four in two days time as she kept reminding us.

"Does mummy love Nathan?" Aimee questioned.

"No. They're just friends sweetheart." I stated with an awkward smile.

"How?"

"You should probably ask mummy." Jay spoke nervously, now starting a conversation with Siva so that's he didn't have to answer anymore of the questions that she was going to put to him if he continued to listen to this young child.

"Why?" Aimee asked, and I wished now she would stop asking me questions because I was going to say something that got me into trouble if she continued to be this inquisitive.

"Just, ask mummy and I'm sure she will tell you everything." I smiled over at her, looking at Tom as the same time in the hope that he was going to help me out here; he knew Ellie better than any of us because he was always close to her and knew things about her that other people didn't - Nathan even thought that he knew where Ellie had gone when she walked out on him, and he accused Tom of knowing the reason why as well.

"Nathan and your mummy have been very good friends for a long time now Am. Mummy is just sad because of James and she needs a friend, so Nathan is being that friend. Now, what are do you want to eat when we get here? Hot dog?" Tom laughed, successfully managing to change the topic, for which I was extremely grateful.

"No. Pasta." Aimee grinned at Tom.

"Eurgh. Hot Dogs are much better." Tom replied, pulling the most ridiculous face I had ever seen him pull.

"No. You're just silly. Pasta is the best." Aimee argued, and the same argument continued all the way to the restaurant; with Aimee winning in the end because Tom simply gave up and wasn't able to argue anymore.

Thomas Parker was beaten in an argument by a three year old, and that was rather amusing.

Hello there everyone,

I do hope you're enjoying the story so far and are loving where it's going.

I'm only here to inform you that there are only two or three more parts left in this story; and the next part is going to be slightly dramatic as the truth about Nathan being Aimee's dad is revealed.

Please let me know what you think of the story, and thanks for the support.

I'll see you in the next part.

Lots of love and hugs,

El:)<33