"Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you, happy birthday dear Nicole, Kris and Jamie, happy birthday to you!".
Heather and Helen watched with big smiles on their faces as they watched their children blow out the candles of their huge Tweenies cake. It was their third birthday and everyone was over at Ben and Heather's house to celebrate.
"Can I cut the cake, daddy?" Nicole asked, looking up at Ben with her big blue eyes.
"You'd better not, princess, let mummy do it," Ben said, stroking Nicole's glossy dark brown hair as Heather picked up a knife and started cutting up the cake.
Nicole went off to play hide and seek with the twins and their friends, while the grown-ups went into the living room. Ben had his photo album out and was showing people pictures.
"Awww, that's from our wedding," Helen said with a grin, pointing a photo out to Paul.
"And there's one of us all with the babies on their first birthday," Paul added, pointing to another picture.
Linda wandered over to take a look at the photos. "I can see me and Mark in that one," she said as she looked at the big group shot of the wedding.
"Where is Mark by the way?" Helen asked.
"Oh, Westlife are on tour in America at the moment, he'll be back next week. I was going to go with him but I didn't want to see Shane so I decided not to,".
Heather could hear kids shouting. "What's going on?" she said as she went out into the dining room.
"Nicole! Stop it right now!" she cried as she caught her daughter throwing cake at the twins. "Helen, come out here!".
Helen gasped as she saw Kris and Jamie, covered in cake. "Come on you two, to the bathroom for a clean up!".
Paul couldn't help laughing. "That's kids for you!" he grinned. "They love getting messy!".
"Yeah," Heather smiled, turning to Paul. She couldn't help thinking he looked really sexy that day. But then she saw Ben coming along and felt guilty for thinking that.
"Come back into the living room," Ben said, leading Heather in there. "Lucy has something to show us,".
Lucy was sitting on the leather sofa holding Hello magazine. On the front was Sam with Pete Sampras. "I can't believe Sam sold her wedding photos to Hello!" Lucy exclaimed. "I bet she got a lot of money,".
"She doesn't need the money now she's married to Pete. He's a millionaire," Nick pointed out. "I'm glad we didn't sell out wedding photos,".
"They haven't got any pictures of the guests, it's just Pete and Sam," Heather said as she skimmed through the glossy pages. "Oh look, there is one of the guests! Look Ben, there's us!". Heather and Ben had gone to the wedding, which had been in Hollywood a few weeks back.
"Oh yeah, and look, there's Tasha!" Lucy exclaimed. Tasha had been Sam's bridesmaid. She was no longer with Marat; they had broken off their engagement.
A couple of hours later, everyone had gone home, except for Helen and Paul.
"I'm off now Heather, I'll see you in the morning," he said, giving her a kiss goodbye. He was going to visit his mate Toby and wouldn't be back until the next day.
"Bye Ben," Paul said before leaving the room to get the twins in their buggies ready to leave.
Helen and Heather were left in the room together. "Did you get the twins cleaned up OK?" Heather asked with a smirk.
"It wasn't funny! Their clothes are ruined now!" Helen snapped.
"OK, calm down," Heather muttered. "Are you pregnant again?".
"What?!" Helen exclaimed. "No, I'm not!".
"Oh, you must have gained a few pounds then," Heather replied.
"How dare you call me fat!" Helen yelled, getting angry.
"It was a joke, where's your sense of humour?!" Heather shot back.
"You cow," Helen spat.
Heather wouldn't let anyone call her a cow. She gave Helen a good slap.
Helen was in shock. "I'm leaving," she stated before turning on her heal and dashing to the front door.
"What's going on?!" Paul cried as he ran into the room.
"We had an argument and she left," Heather explained.
"That was irresponsible of her," Paul said. "She didn't tell me, now I'll have to take the kids home myself. I can't push two buggies at once!". Paul and Helen had walked over with the twins since they only lived ten minutes away.
Heather turned around to see the twins strapped in their buggies, with Nicole by their side talking to them. "They can stay over for the night and so can you," Heather offered. "You can have the bed and I have some spare cots for the twins,".
"Thanks," Paul smiled, making Heather's heart flutter. She was starting to get those feelings for him again...
Half an hour late, the kids were in bed, and Heather and Paul were sitting in the living room drinking red wine.
"I can't believe Helen was so nasty to me," Heather said with a frown. "We're supposed to be mates,".
"Don't worry about it, I'm sure she'll apologise soon," Paul assured her, putting an arm around her.
Heather turned the stereo system on using the remote and pressed play for the CD without knowing which CD was in there. She blushed when she realised it was a love songs compilation.
Paul started singing along to Westlife's 'What Makes A Man' followed by 'Show Me The Meaning' by BSB. "Oh yeah, did Ben tell you about the duet?" Paul asked suddenly.
"No, what's that then?" Heather asked.
"We're doing a song with BSB and Westlife!" Paul smiled. "But we haven't decided on what song we're doing yet, it'll probably be a cover version,".
"Cool," Heather said. "But Ben never told me,".
"Does Ben often keep secrets from you?" Paul asked before taking another sip of wine.
"Mmmm, he can be a bit secretive sometimes," Heather said.
They sat listening to the love songs CD not saying a word. "Shall I put something else on?" Heather asked, starting to feel embarrassed.
"No, this is fine," Paul said with a sexy smile, inching closer to Heather.
Helen was in a right state as she dashed home in the dark. It was raining and she had no umbrella.
"Heather was such a cow," she muttered angrily, not looking where she was going. She stepped into the road to cross over without looking.
"Aghhhh!" she cried as she felt something hard.
The everything went black.
"Midnight already," Paul said as he looked at the clock. "I'm not even tired yet!".
"Nor am I," Heather said, opening another bottle of wine.
The strong wind rattled the windows, making Heather jump.
"Don't worry, it's just the wind," Paul said, hugging her.
Heather looked into his eyes and he returned her gaze. They smiled at each other then Paul leaned towards her.
Moments later, they were kissing. "I think it's bed time now," Paul hinted after a five minute long snog, taking Heather's hand and leading her towards the stairs.
The phone started ringing. "Ignore it," Heather said as they began to climb the stairs.
"I can't get through! Damn it!" Linda cried. She was at the hospital trying to get hold of Paul.
Helen was dying.
She had been hit by a car and had been rushed to hospital. She was still unconscious and doctors suspected her injuries were life-threatening.
Linda was trying to get hold of Paul. There was no answer at his house or at Heather's either.
"Come on, pick it up!" Linda yelled as she tried Heather and Ben's house again. "Come on, Helen is dying!".
.