The girls had left St Lucia and were now in Paris for a week.
"I'd love to go to the top of the Eiffel Tower," Lucy said, pointing to the famous landmark which they were standing beside.
Tasha shielded her eyes from the bright sun and squinted up at the tower. "Count me out, I don't like heights!".
Tasha stayed on the ground with Heather, Helen and the kids while the others queued up to go up the tower. "Let's go and have a coffee in a cafe," Helen suggested.
They wandered over to a nearby cafe and took an outdoor table out in the sunshine. Heather ordered three coffees and three cups of apple juice.
"What are you smiling about?" Helen asked Tasha, who was staring into space with a dreamy look on her face.
Tasha blushed. "Oh, I was thinking about Enrique,".
"Oh yeah, you never came back to the hotel on our last night in St Lucia," Heather recalled.
"Yeah, I was with him..." she blushed even more.
"We thought you were just mate with him," Helen laughed.
"We were... until that night," Tasha mumbled, looking down with embarrassment.
A gorgeous French waiter interrupted and gave the girls the drinks. "Here's your apple juice sweetie," Heather said, passing Nicole a cup with a straw sticking out of it.
"I'm seeing Paul tomorrow," Helen announced. "The boys are arriving in Paris tonight and will be here for three days, we're all invited to their concert,".
"Oh we are?" Heather said quietly. Half of her was excited about seeing Ben again but half of her was scared of how he would act around her.
Helen ran into Paul's arms and they hugged when he entered the hotel entrance.
"I missed you so much," Helen cried. "Come, let's go up to my room, the twins are in there,".
Helen and Paul went up to her room while the other boys checked in. "We're going to find the girls," Naomi said to Christian as she and Sarah followed Helen and Paul into the lift.
"We'd better make the most of today," Paul told Helen. "How about taking the twins around the city for the day?".
"OK," Helen agreed, as they entered her room.
The twins rushed up to Paul and hugged him. "Daddy!" they cried.
In the room next door, Heather was sitting alone. She knew the boys had arrived, but was too nervous to go and find Ben.
That night, the girls sat in the balcony of the arena as the guys performed the concert.
Heather couldn't take her eyes off Ben. She watched his every move, feeling happy yet sad at the same time. She loved seeing him onstage, doing what he loved most- singing. But she felt a pain in her heart when she had to remind herself she'd lost him.
The concert was coming close to the end and the boys were ending the show with a performance of 'Take On Me'.
A fan had thrown a banner on stage and Ben picked it up as he sang his lines. He read it and laughed, showing it to Christian who was beside him.
Paul came up to read it too, but on his way he was hit in the face by a teddy bear someone had thrown.
Ben couldn't help laughing. He picked up the bear and gave it to Paul with a smile. "It's the attack of the killer teddies," he joked.
Paul smiled back, that was about the first time Ben had been friendly to him in months.
After the show had finished, the boys went to the dressing rooms to get changed out of their concert clothes.
"Damn, the door won't open," Paul exclaimed as he kicked the dressing room door, which was stuck.
The only other person in the room was Ben. "I'll call one of the others to come and help open it," he offered, picking up his phone.
After phoning Mark, the two of them sat on the sofa in silence.
Paul was the first to speak. "Nice place Paris, isn't it," he said, not managing to look at Ben.
"Yeah," Ben nodded.
"I suppose summer is the best time to come here..." Paul continued. he stopped and looked straight at Ben. "This is stupid, we're talking to each other like we're complete strangers, just a few months ago we were best mates,".
Ben sighed. "That was before you started sleeping with my wife," he pointed out. "How would you have felt if it was me and Helen?".
"I'm sorry," Paul said sincerely. "I truly am. Please Ben, I hate arguing with you, can't we forget everything that happened and be mates again? Heather and Helen have made up...".
Ben looked at Paul's pleading eyes and nodded. "Well, I believe in forgiving people when they're sorry... OK,". He couldn't go on fighting with Paul any longer and also, he felt bad about the fact that he was just as bad since he had cheated on Heather himself.
Paul grinned and gave Ben a hug. He was so happy to have his friend back.
Christian, Naomi, Mark and Sarah were on the other side of the door, listening through the keyhole.
"They've made up," Mark whispered with a smile.
"Great, OK we can let them out now," Sarah laughed as she put the key into the keyhole and unlocked the door. The four of them had locked Ben and Paul in there on purpose, hoping they'd talk and make up. Luckily, the plan had worked perfectly.
The next morning, Heather was dressing Nicole ready to take her to Euro Disney for the day.
She was interrupted by a knock at the door. She opened it to see... Ben.
"Hi," Ben said softly. "I was hoping to take Nicole out for the day...".
"Sorry, but I'm taking her to Disney for the day," Heather told him.
"But I wanted to take her out, I won't get to see her again for over a month," Ben protested, walking into the room. Nicole saw him and ran up and hugged him.
"Well how about we both take her," Heather suggested.
"OK," Ben agreed. Although he wouldn't admit it, he missed Heather just as much as he missed Nicole.
When Nicole was ready, the three of them got into Heather's hire car and set off to the suburbs of Paris where Euro Disney was situated. The radio was on for the whole journey so no-one spoke.
"Wanna go on the elephant ride!" Nicole squealed excitedly as Ben pushed her buggy through the crowds to the kiddy kingdom.
"OK, the Dumbo ride it is then," Heather agreed as they joined the queue.
Heather and Ben climbed into the Dumbo seat and positioned Nicole in the middle of them. "Off we go," Ben said, holding Nicole's hand. The seat rose up in the air and went around in a circle quite fast.
Nicole was shrieking with excitement. "Lovely view," Heather commented to Ben.
"Mmmm, yeah," he agreed.
The ride speeded up, causing Heather to let out a shriek. She clung on to Ben in fear.
"It's OK," he said soothingly, getting closer.
The day went smoothly with no arguments. Before leaving they ate dinner in a restaurant.
As Nicole ate her fish fingers and chips, Heather and Ben chatted with each other, although both felt awkward around each other.
"Me and Paul made up last night," Ben said.
"That's excellent," Heather said with a smile. Maybe if he had forgiven Paul, he would forgive her.
"Um Ben...." Heather started. "I've been thinking about us, and... well...".
Nicole tugged on Heather's arm. "Mummy can you cut up my fish fingers?".
Heather sighed. "Of course, darling,".
Heather was annoyed. Her chance to ask Ben about their future had been ruined.
.