Sooooo this is the final chapter, I hope you all enjoy it :)

Paul held Stephanie tightly for a minute before Lucy started to get grizzly so he pulled away from Stephanie slightly, "okay okay baby girl, I get that you're tired and hungry. Steph would you like to relax on the couch with the kids whilst I get Lucy some dinner and me and Shawn clean up the kitchen?"

Stephanie shrugged her shoulders a little still quite unnerved by the whole Luke experience, "I guess."

Taking his hand in hers and linking their fingers together he squeezed it gently, "you're safe you know, Luke is in jail and can't get you."

Smiling softly she couldn't believe how well he seemed to be able to read her, "I know that in my heart but I'm still a little jumpy."

Tugging on her hand gently he started to walk towards the front door, "let's go inside and shut the door and hopefully you'll feel happier."

Following him inside she only hoped he was right because she really needed to relax for Alex's sake.

Shawn was sitting comfortably on the couch with his feet on the coffee table watching cartoons with Alex, "this couch is much more comfortable than mine."

Alex giggled, "Mommy will be maaaaaadd."

Ruffling his hair Shawn laughed, "what Mommy doesn't know won't hurt her."

When Paul and Stephanie walked into the lounge the first words uttered were, "get your dirty feet off of my coffee table."

Alex sniggered, "You's in twuble."

Shawn put his feet on the floor, "I'm sorry, I'll clean it before I leave."

Paul laughed, "you're under the thumb and she's not even your wife."

Sticking his tongue out at his best friend Shawn crossed his arms, "oh shut up Mr I have a girlfriend and am not going to tell my best friend."

"Yeah about that Shawn, it's not that I wanted to keep it from you but we thought it would be best to keep it quiet until we were sure."

Shawn stood up from the couch, "let's not do this here yeah?"

Paul nodded, "sure. I was going to ask you to come and help sort out the kitchen window anyway."

Handing Lucy to Stephanie Paul kissed both of their cheeks, "I'll be back in a minute with her dinner and we will get the kitchen sorted and then we can think about dinner for the rest of us."

Smiling softly Stephanie rubbed Lucy's back, "we'll be fine."

She then took a seat next to Alex as the boys headed into the kitchen to clear up.

As soon as they entered the kitchen Shawn shut the door, "so how long has this been going on for?"

Paul turned to face him unsure if Shawn was mad that they were together or just upset that nobody told him, "a couple of weeks tops. It kind of happened that weekend I helped them move back home but we didn't want to say anything as we weren't sure if or how it would work between us. The only people that know are you and Steph's family."

"You mean you haven't told your parents yet?"

Shaking his head Paul sighed softly as he turned and got the dustpan and brush from underneath the sink, "no, we honestly haven't seen them together to be able to mention it but when they get back into town we will tell them . . . I hope."

Shawn walked over and picked up the key for the back door before he went and unlocked it, "your parents will be so pleased for you, just like I am because after all I did get the two of you together."

Paul laughed softly as he bent down to sweep up the glass, "of course you did, I mean it has absolutely nothing to do with their being an attraction there, it's all your doing."

Leaning against the counter Shawn smiled proudly, "thank you, I'm pleased you're acknowledging it."

Rolling his eyes Paul just cleaned up the glass before disposing of it safely, "take your big head and go and find something to patch up this door with whilst I sort Lucy's dinner out."

Shawn headed outside to sort the furniture out so it was no longer outside of the back door and to see if he could find anything suitable whilst Paul made Lucy's dinner and then took it in to Stephanie.

Once Stephanie had Lucy's dinner Paul went back to the kitchen to see what Shawn had found, just as he was about to go out of the back door to search for him Shawn appeared in the doorway with a piece of board in his hand, "one piece of board and now we just need to find some nails and a hammer or something to attach it to the door with."

A few minutes of searching high and low later and they had found a hammer and a few nails, "okay Shawn if I hammer the nails in will you hold the board in place?"

Shawn looked at Paul sceptically, "is this code for 'I'm going to break your fingers'?"

Laughing Paul liked the idea but didn't want to face the wrath of Rebecca if he did, "as fun as that sounds, no. Your wife would kill me if I did that."

"That is true. Come on then, let's do this."

The two men stepped outside and started to line the board up before Paul got the first nail in place and started to hammer it in. As Paul started hammering out of nowhere Shawn said, "so when are you moving out again?"

The next sound that was heard was a yelp of pain from Paul as he hammered his thumb, "Jesus Christ Shawn, did you have to do that?" Gripping hold of his thumb tightly Paul tried to will the pain away, "fuck this hurts."

Shawn smiled sheepishly, "sorry, it's just a question that came to mind. So what's the answer?"

Paul shrugged, "the weekend I guess, I obviously haven't talked with Stephanie about it but I should imagine the weekend just so she feels safe and settled again."

"Well if you want help moving your stuff back home you know where I am."

Nodding absently Paul just went back to the board and the nails and started hammering them in again silently.

Once the board was secured to the door the men went back inside shutting and locking the door securely behind them.

Having finished what Paul needed his help with Shawn looked at his watch, "okay I'd better get home to Rebecca before she thinks I've run off with my secretary."

Paul laughed, "for one you don't have a secretary, you are the secretary and two, you've not cleaned the coffee table yet."

"Fine, get me some furniture polish and I'll clean it."

Happy to oblige his best friend Paul grabbed the polish and a duster and handed them over, "there you go."

Shawn took the polish and went into the lounge closely followed by Paul and started to clean the table off as Paul took a seat in the chair in the corner.

As soon as the coffee table was clean Shawn stood up, "okay so I'm going to head home now. I'll see you at work tomorrow Steph?"

Shaking her head Stephanie shifted Lucy in her arms, "no you won't, I'm taking the day off and so is Paul."

"I'm what?"

Looking over at Paul nervously she chewed on her lip, "I'm sorry, I just kind of assumed that you'd prefer to stay home with Lucy and maybe me too."

Moving to sit on the newly clean coffee table Paul took her hand gently, "I would love to, it's just the first I heard of it."

Smiling shyly she shrugged her shoulders, "I was just thinking about it here when I was sat with the kids."

Shawn hated to interrupt the moment but he really needed to go, "okay I'll give you a call tomorrow, take care and if you need anything just call me okay?"

Paul and Stephanie both smiled and thanked Shawn before Paul escorted him to the door.

Once Shawn had left Paul went back into the lounge and sat back on the coffee table, "so is my little girl ready for her bath?

"She sure is so if you want to give her a bath and put her to bed I'll make Alex some dinner and then we can decide what we want?"

Nodding she kissed Lucy on the top of the head, "goodnight baby girl."

Paul then took Lucy from Stephanie's arms and headed upstairs with her deep in thought after what Shawn had said, he didn't really want to move out but he couldn't stay here and impose on Stephanie.

After Paul had left Stephanie turned the TV off, "come on you, let's get some dinner and you can keep me company."

Alex smiled brightly and jumped off of the couch and grabbed hold of Stephanie's hand before they walked to the kitchen together.

Sitting Alex at the table Stephanie went to the freezer to see what she could cook.

Twenty minutes later and after a lot of soul searching Paul had made a decision about what he was going to do.

Walking down the stairs he kept his mind focussed on what he needed to say before he lost his bottle, heading straight into the kitchen without even announcing his presence he simply said, "I'll move out at the weekend if that's okay with you."

Stephanie spun around surprised by what she had heard but before she had chance to even open her mouth to say anything Alex was out of his chair and attached to Paul's leg, "no go."

Carefully prising Alex's grip from around his leg he knelt down with him, "I can't stay here forever buddy, I've got to go back to my own house."

Alex gripped Paul's neck, "no go."

Rubbing the little boys back he wasn't sure what to say to placate him, "you'll still see me, I'm only going back to my house across town."

Stood there Stephanie felt her heart breaking, not just at the way Alex was reacting but at the thought of Paul leaving and it had nothing to do with Luke as he wasn't going to bother her anymore, "it's not your house though is it Paul?"

Still holding on to Alex he lifted his head, "maybe not but it is my home until I can afford my own place."

Walking closer she ran her hand over Alex's head, "you have your own place, it's here with us."

Keeping a tight hold on Alex he slowly stood up so he was face to face with her, "what are you trying to say to me?"

Shrugging her shoulders she looked down at her hands as she played with her fingers and shuffled her feet nervously, "I don't want you to go. I know you've only been staying here a week but I can't bear the idea of you leaving again."

He was shocked to hear her say that, "you really mean it? You really want me to stay and not because of Alex or Luke or anything else, it's all you?"

Biting her lip as she lifted her head slowly to look into his eyes, "I really mean it, it's all me. I know we said we'd go slowly but everything that's happened has kind of thrown us together and it feels right. I want you here with me, with us, forever. What do you say?"

Smiling he reached out to her with one hand and pulled her closer to him before he wrapped his arm around her shoulder, "I would love to."

Leaning up she kissed him softly on the mouth, "I love you."

Moving his hand to her cheek he stroked it gently with his finger, "I love you too."

He relaxed as she wrapped her arms around him and Alex and he held her back happier and more content at this moment than he had ever been in his life.

Now you have read the final chapter I just wanted to take a moment to thank each and every one of you who favourited the story, read the story and reviewed the story, your feedback has meant a lot to me and has kept me going, now go read my other story :-P LOL Nah, seriously though, thank you and I do have a sequel idea in mind but I'm not sure how many, if any, of you would be interested in a sequel so if you're interested feel free to let that interest known.