"And you're telling us now?? What..." Shane turned round to hide his sudden tears from Kian. "My God..." Both Nicky and Bryan were looking at the floor. They had lost all manner of speech. "I knew there was something but this..."

Esther just sat beside Ki, holding little Samuel on her lap. "We both decided that it would be the best thing to do. I mean, if I had told you guys you would have changed towards me and I just wanted, well, you know..." "I can't believe it Ki. You talk about it as if it's no big deal." "It isn't really. Not anymore..."

Esther started to cry softly. Kian took her hand. "Don't now. We both knew this day would come..." "But why does it have to be so soon?" The others all went outside in unison.

Esther cuddled up against her Kian, with a sleeping Samuel on his other side. "MMM! I like this." They didn't say a word. Everything that had to be said had been said. It gave Kian a comforting feeling to know he had been able to tell Es everything he wanted to say. Or almost everything...

"Ki?" "Yeah?" "What are we going to call our daughter? We never discussed it..." Kian started to laugh. "Oh dear... I haven't given it much thought yet." They both thought about it for a while. "What about Kiara? I like that name." Esther looked up at him. "Ki, have you been watching the Lion King again?" He gave her a guilty look. "Yeah, okay, I know Simba's daughter is also called Kiara, but I still like the name." "Me too."

"Call in the lads will ya?" She knew this would be it. As sweet as she could she kissed him, trying to tell him how much she was going to miss him...

By the time Shane, Bryan, Nicky and Mark entered the room, it was too late...