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"Jerome, please!" Mara hushed, pushing her husband away from her "I'm on the phone! I'm trying to sort out these bills! Could you please find Rebecca?" and then Mara carried on speaking urgently into the phone, just so that they wouldn't cut their electric yet. She had sent in the check, was it her fault that Rebecca would think it funny to put a minus in front of it, so she didn't notice?

Jerome rolled his eyes, scanning the kitchen for any sign of the brown haired seven year old. Then he heard a loud crash upstairs "Yeah…" he grumbled under his breath "That'll be Becca," he jogged up the stairs to find Marcus holding her up. "There you are Mark, your mothers been looking for you,"

The good looking blond teenager glared at his father, he was 15 now, and he really needed an attitude adjustment. "Well I would go down to her, if you stopped Becca from breaking everything," he thrust the small girl into his fathers' hands. Jerome gritted his teeth to stop from saying something nasty.

"Watch your mouth, young man!" he called to his son as he walked back to his room.

"How can I? It's under my nose, it's physically impossible...stupid,"

Jerome's nostrils glared, but before he could get angry, Becca pocked his cheek. "Daddy!" she called "I wanna see Mummy!"

"Mummy's a little busy," Jerome smiled at his daughter, carrying her to the master room and throwing her casually on to the bed, much to the young girls delight as she squealed happily. "Right," Jerome looked around their room, "Mara's father is coming for a day visit today, okay Becs?" the young girl nodded "So I want you to be on your best behaviour."

"But Daddy," the young girl asked, clutching her teddy bear "You don't like Grandpa Jeff…you said he was st-stupid and sh-"

"Ah ah ah," Jerome cut her off "I never said that," he lied to his daughter "Okay?"

Becca simply frowned, brushing her brown fringe out of her face "So, why do I have to be on my best behaviour if you don't like him?"

"Well…" Jerome paused for a moment "Have you been talking to Marcus?" Rebecca laughed loudly, falling back on to the cushy bed.

"Marcus says your dumb and don't know how to raise a family," Rebecca repeated innocently. "He says that Mummy's the only one who knows how to handle things around here,"

Jerome's eyes glowed in anger "Right that's it, I'm going to have a serious word with him," Jerome headed for the door, but in the door way stood "Mr Jaffray," Jerome almost bowed. "Hey, you're here early,"

Mr Jaffray remained expressionless, glaring at Jerome "Going to yell at your boy ain't gonna do him no good," the old man said, leaning on his cane. Jerome smiled slightly

"Sorry, Jeff, but you don't have a son, you had Mara, I don't think you'd get this."

"I think I would." Mr Jaffray cut in "That boy doesn't need to be yelled at, he needs a role model," he pointed an accusing finger at Jerome "One which you are obviously not providing."

"Actually, I think you'll find Marcus does look up to me." Jerome stood his ground

"No he doesn't Daddy," Rebecca cut in from the waves of blankets on the bed "He said that his role model was Uncle Alfie and Uncle Eddie. He also said that he thought Uncle Fabian was gay and that Auntie Nina and Auntie Joy shouldn't always be squab-"

"Okay, Rebecca." Jerome cut her off. Mr Jaffray sighed loudly.

"You shouldn't yell at little girls," he scolded Jerome, he reached his hand out and Rebecca ran to her grandfather.

"There you all are!" Mara grinned "Oh Jerome, dad just had a wonderful idea, he said we should all go to the war boat battle museum!"

"Oh did he?" Jerome asked, picking up Rebecca from Mr Jaffray's grip. "Well that sounds great, but I doubt Marcus will want to go, he's been in a bit of a bad mood-"

"No I'm not." Came Marcus's voice as he stepped out from behind his mother. He was tall and lean, looking a little bit like Draco Malfoy. Something her certainly didn't take for granted "You shouldn't talk about people behind their back, Dad." He scolded "It's rude."

"I couldn't agree with you more, Marcus, come on, let's go wait in the car,"

"Okay Granddad," and the two of them walked downstairs.

"Mara, I am serious." Jerome growled "I can't deal with him." Jerome Clarke had not changed very much since graduation. He was still extremely good looking, he worked as a photographer, now a retired model. He was dressed in a purple shirt with a skinny black tie and dark jeans. Mara Jaffray, had not changed a lot either, she was still short, beautiful, and kind.

"Deal with who, honey?" she asked, picking some stuff off the shelf and sliding it into her handbag.

"With Marcus! And your da-"

"And who?" she turned around, one dark eyebrow raised suspiciously.

"J-just Marcus," Jerome recovered, holding Rebecca tightly, a sign for the young girl to not saying anything. Luckily, she was too absorbed in the light bulb to say anything that might possibly cause and argument. Jerome really didn't want to end up sleeping on the couch, especially since that's where Rebecca hid all the sharp things she found. A habit she had picked up from Marcus.

"Why?" she asked, smiling slightly "He reminds me of you, when you were 15,"

"I was never like that," Jerome scoffed. Mara laughed loudly. "What?" he asked defensively.

"Jerome, he's exactly like you were! He's clever, manipulative, sneaky, and resourceful! You can't yell at him to change when you were exactly the same!" she slung the purse over her shoulder and took Rebecca off him. "Now come on, I want to get to the museum early." Jerome watched her leave and let out sigh.

He didn't care what she said. He was not like that.

Line Break

"I can't believe you dragged me here," Marcus whined, eyes glued to his iphone as Mara, Mr Jaffray and Rebecca looked at the massive battle ship.

"What? Mum said you wanted to go!" Jerome cried. Marcus rolled his eyes

"My phone battery is dying,"

"That's because you use it so much," Jerome growled "Now come on, turn it off," he reached down for the phone but Marcus stepped back

"No, get lost!"

Jerome ran his hand through his hair "Don't talk to me like that."

"Like what? In English?" his son's cold blue eyes stared back up at him.

"Listen to me, Mark. Hand over the phone, right now." Jerome placed out his hand and glared at his son warningly. "Come on, hand it over."

"No! Mum got me this phone! It's mine!" he slid it into his pocket. But Jerome had lost all patience.

"No! Give it to me, right now!" he stepped forward, trying to intimidate his son, but Marcus stood tall, glaring right back up at him.

"Why don't you just relax? Just because you're in a crap mood doesn't mean you have to take it out on me-"

"Hey! Don't you swear! What has Mum told you about th-"

"What? YOU ARE!"

"I am not in a crap mood-"

"-Yes you are! You're always in a crap mood whenever granddad comes over!" and Marcus's voice was loud in the museum hall, and it echoed. The Clarke family, plus Mr Jaffray, turned, to hear the words crystal clear. The few onlookers, lowered their eyes slightly.

Marcus let out a deep breath, stepping away from his dad, and shuffling towards his mum. Jerome met Mara's eyes, and she shook her head at him. Leading the kids away.

Line Break

"See?" Mara pointed to the massive ship "That's the HMS Valcory, over three hundred men and women died on this very floor," Marcus's eyes widened slowly, impressive. "See?"

"Why did the boat kill them, Mummy?" Rebecca asked quietly, brushing her hand through her fringe and drinking her orange juice.

"The boat didn't kill them, stupid." Marcus growled "The bullets did,"

"Marcus," Mara said gently, her son was the only a centimetre smaller than her now "She's seven,"

"But Mum!" he whined "Someone's going to have to tell her,"

"I know," Mara grinned "So go on, tell her," she nudged her son towards Rebecca who placed her hand against the glass window of the ship.

"You're not allowed to touch the exhibits," Marcus said softly, lifting her hand away. He tried to be gentle, knowing full well Mara was watching. His favourite family member. The only person he ever tried to impress.

"Why did the boats kill them, Marcus?" she asked again, looking up at him with large brown eyes. Marcus cleared his throat

"Well, actually Becs, the boat didn't kill them, evil men on another ship were shooting at them," he faked gun sounds, and Mara smiled, leaving him to it, and she turned to go and read about another ship.

Meanwhile

"Listen, Mr Jaffray, he's just a kid, he doesn't know what he's saying," Jerome defended himself. "I'm sorry, if his stupid comment hurt your feelings, but it's not true, I don't…always….feel in a…."

"It's alright, Jerome," Mr Jaffray sighed, sitting down on the chairs. "You were right before…I wouldn't know, I'd never had a boy, only Mara…and now…you have her,"

Jerome swallowed, looking down at his expensive Italian shoes, they had been a gift from Amber, and even though he had laughed at her at his birthday party, he loved them. "I don't have her, Sir," he said quietly "She's your daughter, she'll always be your daughter. She'll love you, a hell of a lot more than she could ever love me,"

"Why are you so hard on Marcus?" he asked, changing the subject. Jerome shrugged

"I don't know…" and he was going to leave it at that, but the next few words just flew from his mouth "One minute, he's this little boy who follows his father around all day long, and cries if he doesn't get to sit next to him during dinner. Who'd scream if I didn't say good night, who would beg to come to my office on a Saturday," he smiled slightly "But now? I'm lucky if I see him at all, he's always locked up in his room. He comes down to grab his dinner off the table, and then eats it upstairs, away from all of us. He locks his door at night so no one can say good night, and god forbid we ever ask him to do anything with us on a Saturday…"

"Then how come Mara got him to come along today?"

Jerome laughed slightly "Mara seems to be the only person in the entire universe that has control over him…I don't know how she does it."

"Come on," Mr Jaffray sighed, knees aching as he stood up, let's go find them,"

Line Break

Mr Jaffray, Mara and Rebecca had gone to the gift shop, and Jerome saw this as his chance to talk to his son. He walked up behind Marcus as he was stood in a different part of the museum. This part wasn't even about ships.

"Pretty cool," he said, standing beside him. Marcus sighed, sliding his phone back into his pocket, worried his dad would explode again.

"Not really," he shrugged. "It's a globe in a fire place,"

"Yeah…but…it symbolises global warming,"

Marcus snorted "Not my problem, my generation don't have to deal with it,"

"Come on Marcus," Jerome sighed "I'm making an effort here, I want you to…not lock yourself away from us,"

"What?" Marcus asked, a frown on his face. Jerome turned back to the globe in the fire place.

"I miss you."

"Gay," Marcus snickered under his breath

"Alright, that's it!" Jerome roared, his temper getting the better of him and he kicked the wall hard, a few people turned to see them.

"Stop it!" Marcus hissed "You're embarrassing me!"

"I'm embarrassing you?!" Jerome cried "How on earth, am I embarrassing you?"

Mara rolled his eyes, walking away.

Line Break

Mara and Jerome sat in the car, watching the three of them walk inside. "I can't do it, Mara," he sighed. "He just won't learn,"

"I told you," Mara shook her head "Don't try to change him. Do you even remember when you were his age? Victor would tell you to do something, and there was no chance you'd even listen,"

Jerome smiled slightly, remembering "But he's meant to have some of you in him, why isn't he a book worm?"

"Jerome! He loves reading!"

"What?!" Jerome burst out laughing at the thought "He does not,"

"He does," Mara said proudly "His favourite author is Derek Landy, he reads for one hour every night,"

"H-he does?" Jerome frowned.

"Maybe the reason he doesn't listen to you, is because he thinks you don't care about him. Show him slowly Jerome, and soon he'll open up to you," Jerome watched his wife for a moment, before leaning down to kiss her softly.

"I love you, Jaffray,"

"No no," she whispered "I'm a Clarke," He grinned at her happily.

Line Break

The next morning was better. It was better for Jerome, he woke up rather early, not a sound in the house. Even Mr Jaffray was asleep. He kissed Mara's forehead and padded down stairs while buttoning his shirt, planning on some tea, before going back to sleep.

He entered the kitchen silently, and almost jumped when he saw Marcus already awake, talking on the phone, his feet up on the kitchen table. Already dressed. Or still dressed. Jerome could have yelled, Jerome would have yelled. Jerome was about to yell, at the fact that he was getting mud on the table, he was wasting the phone bill, he had obviously snuck out, and that he shouldn't have left his coat from last night on the ground. But he didn't. Because Jerome listened to the conversation he was having.

"And it was so cool!" Marcus continued "It was called the HMS Valcory, and it was massive! You wouldn't believe it Tyler, I swear, it was awesome! Really awesome! And right, on it, you could see the blood on the floor, over three hundred men and women died on that ship! How cool is that? They were shot by this other ship, and I had the best time ever! Really, you should have been there, everything was so cool! And the ship had canons on th-" Marcus stopped, he had turned his head slightly, and he wiped the smile off his face, to see his father standing there, looking happy. And Jerome had been happy, happy that his son had enjoyed the day out, no matter what he said to them, he had enjoyed it, he had learnt, he had paid attention, and he had found it cool. Marcus didn't hang up though, like Jerome would have expected, he continued to talk into the phone, maintaining eye contact with his dad. "Yeah…but it was crap." And it sounded like a lie…well Jerome thought it did. "Really really crap. I swear to you, don't even go, it was the lamest, most boring thing ever, crap crap crap." And then he hung up.

"Marcus-"

"What? Happy? I hung up," he chucked the phone at him and began walking up the stairs.

"Hey Mark, before you go," Jerome called "What's your favourite book?" Jerome had to bite back the smile that was going to spread across his face. Marcus looked genuinely shocked, he stopped on the steps and turned to look at his dad, before shaking his head.

"Nice try old man, but if you want to understand me, you can't rely on tips from mum," and then he was gone.

Jerome sighed.

But, he thought as he turned the kettle on, it was getting better.

Hey! Never written a future before, wanted to try it, do you think I should continue, making it like something happens every day in the lives of Mara, Jerome, Marcus and Rebecca? Or should I end it here?

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