Series of one-shots which go through milestones of Aidan, Flo and Isobel

May 2024

"Happy Birthday to you, happy birthday to you, happy birthday to Aidan happy birthday to you" his family sing to him, Aidans fourth birthday, starting school in September, Aidan blowing out the four neatly placed candles

"Right, let's cut the cake eh?" Peter suggests as Carla nods taking the knife and placing it on the icing which makes a slight indentation causing a tearful expression from Aidan

"No!" Aidan huffs, Carla and Peter glancing at each other perplexed, Aidan screaming the house down which just made Carla and Peter even more confused

"Do you not want cake?" Peter laughs as Aidan pouts his lips nodding but tears still streamed down his face

"You hurt!" Aidan cries accusing Carla of trying to hurt the figurines on his birthday cake, Carla trying to suppress laughter at how funny the situation was

"Told you you should've got a plain cake" Carla whispers as Peter nudges her taking the knife and dragging the knife through it

"Alright then easily sorted" Peter smirks as Carla folds her arm tilting her head to one side watching Peter continue to cut the cake

"You wanted this cake so you're going to eat it" Peter places a plate on the table Aidan going to eat the cake, Peter smirking triumphantly

"Wow, I'll tell you something…we're going to have our hands full when Flo and Is are this age" she points to the twins who were walking around gripping onto pieces of furniture, Simon making sure they don't fall

"I wouldn't have it any other way…"

At this point in time Peter knew that the future was something to look forward to…

September 2024

"Wakey wakey" Peter grins waking Aidan up for his first day at school, Carla getting his uniform ready, they decided to send him to private school, Peter was sceptical but Carla insisted that she wanted to have the best education something she didn't have

"No" Aidan moans as Peter rolls his eyes

"It's like he's a teenager already"

"Ugh don't even start with puberty" Carla groans taking Aidan downstairs for breakfast, Peter going to see to the twins

"Right, toast with jam, or toast with butter?" Carla asks Aidan who bites his lip, he was so like her in his mannerisms

"Jam please" Aidan smiles Carla placing a plate in front of him, Peter appearing holding Isobel and Florence

"Put em in the highchairs they can have the same along with some fruit" Carla smiles as Peter nods, placing Florence and Isobel in their respective highchairs

"Right, bowl for you and a bowl for you, and a slice for you and a slice for you" Carla gives the twins their breakfast as Peter smirks

"Done, Mummy" Aidan smiles giving his plate to his mum as she bends down to kiss him on the forehead

"Right, let's get you into your uniform" Carla grins leading Aidan upstairs leaving Peter to deal with any mess the twins made, Carla returning 30 minutes later

"Aww look how smart you look!" Peter grins ruffling Aidan's hair as he beams up at his dad

"Johnny should be here in a minute to watch these two, then we can take the drive to school" Carla grins as the doorbell rings

"That'll be Johnny" Peter smiles going to answer, appearing with Johnny by his side

"You two go, I'll clean the girls up" Johnny smiles practically ushering them out of the house as Carla does the 20-minute drive to Aidan's school, both Carla and Peter holding one of Aidan's hands as they walk to his classroom door

"What if he hates it?" Carla bites her lip as Peter sighs, they had been through this so many times before

"He won't, look he's itching to play with the other kids" Peter points to Aidan who was running around with a little girl the same age as him

"You're right I'm just having-"

"A mum moment?"

"To be precise, yes" Carla rolls her eyes as Aidan's teacher opens the door Aidan already heading towards all of his classmates with his bookbag waving goodbye to his parents

"Looks like we weren't needed" Peter shrugs as Carla forces him in for a hug

"He'll be fine, I think that proves it just there, doesn't it?"

"I guess you're right…on this occasion"

December 2024

"Merry Christmas" Carla whispers, as Aidan bounds into the room

"And the madness begins" Peter groans as Aidan shoves him to make him fully awake, Aidan leaving the room temporarily to grab his stocking

"So then do you have any surprises for me?" Peter questions as Carla taps the side of her nose, Aidan lugging the stocking onto the bed

"I'll go and get the girls" Carla smiles stepping out of bed to go into the twin's nursery, lifting both Florence and Isobel out and taking them into the bedroom, before running back to get their stockings

"Right, let's unwrap" Carla grins as Peter nods taking a present out of each of the twin's stockings and handing it to them, a confused look on their faces at the thought of unwrapping presents, an hour or so later, it was done, all the children had a series of gifts lined up in front of them

The family were sat around the table, Simon was meant to be arriving with his girlfriend later on leaving Carla and Peter to enjoy the younger children. Carla trying hard not to incinerate the turkey while Peter made snide comments about it causing Carla to roll her eyes. Dinner was eaten and it was time to watch trivial nonsense on TV, the girls were put down for a nap and Aidan was playing with his new toys leaving Carla and Peter huddled together on the sofa.

"So where's my real present then?" Peter questions as Carla looks up at him, a cheeky glint in her eyes

"Ah now that would be telling" she smiles as Simon enters the house using the key he always had, his girlfriend, Natasha, trailing behind

"Hey guys" Peter smiles as Simon goes to hug his dad then Carla

"Merry Christmas" Natasha beams huddling up on the armchair with Simon

"So then Nat, did Si get you anything nice?" Carla questions switching the program, Aidan getting up to show Peter what his toy did

"Yeah…I guess he did" Natasha smirked up at Simon, Peter raising an eyebrow at the little hesitation

"Ok, dad we have something to tell you…" Simon smiles as Natasha goes into her handbag and pulls out an envelope to give to Carla and Peter

"Ok?" Peter glances to Carla who was biting her lip, she already knew what was in this envelope from previous experience

"Oh my…seriously?!" Peter questions as Simon kisses Natasha, Peter looking down at the ultrasound picture in his hands, Natasha biting her lip

"So what do you think?" Simon questions as Peter gets up and give him a hug, a way to say he accepts them both into the family

"How many weeks Nat?" Carla questions as Nat bites her lip

"Eighteen" she grins as Carla raises an eyebrow

"You're barely showing!" Carla replies as Nat laughs nodding in agreement, Carla bringing her in for a hug

"I know, they think it's lying quite far back" Nat grins patting her non-existent bump

"I'll tell you something, this is what family is all about"