In Love with a Superstar Ch. 02

"Hello Darling!" said Sarah, genuinely happy to see the little girl again, "how are you?"

"I'm fine thank you," came the reply, followed by, "Can you sit back here with me?"

"Can I sit up here with Daddy for a little while?"

"OK," she said, "But you can come back here in a minute can't you."

"Oh yes, of course." She sat in the front passenger seat and connected her seat belt, she looked at Bruce and the week of only phone calls, stolen looks and a few passionate moments in the store cupboard was soon forgotten as he took her face in his hands and they kissed.

Cathy seemed completely unperturbed by it, and Bruce continued until a bus horn reminded them they were in the way.

Sarah looked back at Cathy immersed in a picture book and Bruce read her thoughts.

"Oh don't worry, don't forget she's seen me kissing lots of ladies like that."

"Daddy kisses ladies when he's at work," a little voice echoed the sentiment.

"Yeah," said Bruce, "only now I'm not at work."

"So are you allowed to kiss ladies when you aren't at work then?" said Cathy.

"Only Sarah," said Bruce winking at her. Sarah gave a slight shudder, She had so fallen for this man!

After half an hour Bruce was true to his word and they stopped for some groceries at a large out of town supermarket. Cathy sat in the chair in the trolley and Sarah pushed the trolley talking face to face. Although she had trained for secondary school pupils the few weeks she'd spent with primary kids had been a delight and she'd quite forgotten how much fun they were.

For the rest of the trip Sarah sat on the seat next to Cathy playing word games and reading to her, with Bruce interjecting with the silly voices where necessary.

The route into London was not that well known to her. She had been to London many times but like most her journeys always were by rail and terminated at Paddington or Kings Cross. Progress could only be judged by the brown tourist signs telling her that she was passing into Kensington.

He drove the car into a small side street with a sharp left into the entrance to an underground car park. He slowed and stopped the car at a barrier and opened the electric window.

"Yes?" enquired a tinny voice from the black box on a stalk.

"Open the gates you bloody idiot," said Bruce very matter-of-factly."

"Why?" said the voice.

"Because if you don't I'll... rip your..." Bruce stopped and thought deeply for a few seconds, closing his eyes in concentration, "Toe nails out?" he ventured.

"Which Toe nails?"

"Oh I don't bloody know," Bruce replied in exasperation.

"

That IS you isn't it Bruce?" said the voice.

"How do you know?"

"Oh," said the voice of the security guard, "Just a lucky guess I suppose."

"Open the gate Dave."

"Derek..."

"Sorry, Derek... didn't recognise your voice there."

"Nah, OK this time Bruce, and it's middle toenails, MIDDLE," the man emphasised the last word for effect. "Until Monday night."

"OK mate, sorry. Won't happen again."

"At least not until the next time anyway." The barrier raised and a large wrought Iron Gate before them swung inwards in two sections. Bruce drove the car into an empty space, parked and got out, moving back to unclip the seat belt of the now sleeping Cathy.

"Evening Mr Young," said a man in a white shirt and a black tie. He looked sternly at Bruce.

"Derek," said Bruce, "Mate!"

"Good try Bruce, good try."

"How was I supposed to bloody remember the pass threat, I haven't been here since February."

"It was emailed to you and if you remember it was actually your idea," said the man looking at his watch and holding out his hand and taking Bruce's car keys.

"Derek," said Bruce seeing Sarah step from the car, "this is my very good friend Sarah," Sarah smiled at him and the man extended a hand, which she shook.

"Hello Sarah," he said with a smile.

"What's a pass threat?" said Sarah.

"It's like a password but a lot more believable - Bruce always used to swear at us when we spoke to him on the intercom so we just formalised it. Works brilliantly, whenever anyone is nice to us we know that they either aren't residents or something is wrong."

"And why did you swear at them," said Sarah effecting a look of shock.

"Cos he could never remember the bloody code number on the keypad," said Derek, "One evening we said 'that has to be you Bruce, because no one else can swear as well as you. So we got everyone to do it, Countess Harovich loves it, swears every time she sees us." Derek giggled, "I'll get the lift for you, have a nice night Bruce, see you later Sarah."

"Night," the both chorused as the man walked back to his small office, pressing a small button on a green lit panel.

Bruce lifted out Cathy and he rested her head on his shoulder.

Sarah took her overnight bag and her handbag and shut the car door. Bruce nodded towards a brightly lit area and they arrived just as a pair of steel lift doors opened. They stepped in and Bruce nodded at a second button panel on the wall. "seventh," he said and Sarah pushed the requisite button. The doors shut and the lift rose.

At the seventh floor the lift stopped and he stepped out, awkwardly trying to recover his keys from his trouser pocket without dropping Cathy. Somehow he managed and he pushed the door with his foot.

The flat was in darkness and a pile of mail sat on a small table just inside the door. The ambient light coming through the large number of windows was enough for Sarah to make out the general shape of the room, and allowed Bruce to lower Cathy on to the long sofa. He turned on a small table lamp the illuminated more of the room. It was huge.

The room was on several levels and included a lounge and a dining area. The Lounge had the long sofa that Cathy was now soundly sleeping on and Sarah could see her reflection in a huge television.

"You get the coffee," he said, "I'll just put her to bed." He lifted her up and carried her through a door way, "light switches just there." He said.

She pressed the first of six switches, and gradually the huge room was revealed. Trouble was she could not see the kitchen!

She began to explore and eventually found that a serving hatch off of the huge main room connected to the kitchen. She found the nearest doorway and there was the kitchen.

She found a kettle, a cafetiere and some of his excellent coffee. As she spooned the aromatic brown powder in the pot, she jumped as warm hands slid around under arms and settled on her tummy and across her breasts.

He hugged her tight,

"Oh, I have been waiting for that all week," he said. She giggled and let her head fall to one side allowing him to look over his shoulder and to kiss her neck.

"That tickles!" she giggled as he kissed from below her ear along the line of her jaw.

"Oh dear I am sorry," he turned her around in his arms, locking them around her once she was facing her, "That better?" he said.

"Oh yeah." She crossed her arms behind his head, forgetting the pack of coffee and the spoon. Their tongues swirled together, until the need for air forced them out of the embrace, followed closely by the clicking of the kettle.

She turned around and poured the boiling water into the cafetiere while he held her, careful not to disturb her with the boiling water. She put on the lid and started to push the plunger down into place. At the same time she felt her skirt beginning to feel looser, Bruce was undoing the zip!

"Bruce!" she giggled, "Boiling water!"

"No thanks, I'm hot enough already."

She turned around still in his arms, and put hers around his neck again.

"Oh alright, seeing as it's you," she pulled his face towards hers again. She couldn't remember what happened to the rest of her clothes, she remade coffee an hour later, naked.

The bed was far too comfortable, and she snuggled into the huge duvet. It was soft, the sheets had smelled fresh and aired, and they had languished in the Jacuzzi for almost an hour after making love before falling into it, the biggest she had ever been in.

"Daddy!" a voice yelled, and as Sarah came round a small blonde missile landed in the middle of the bed.

Cathy sat between them with her teddy, giggling cheekily at Sarah's surprised face.

"Grrrrrrrrrrrrrr!" A loud grumbly roar started from under the covers and Sarah watched the little girl freeze, surely not...

"Roar!" Bruce appeared from beneath the duvet with his arms up like a bear and Cathy giggled in excitement as Bruce descended on her, tickling and kissing.

Sarah was enchanted, the wild child image of Bruce was complete nonsense. The man she was getting to know was kind, generous, funny and the perfect father. Cathy, bearing in mind that her father was a millionaire quite a few times over, wasn't spoiled, precocious and didn't whine for expensive toys and was happy with a raggedy old teddy bear and the same dog eared story book they had read from almost a fortnight ago.

Sarah was content just to lie watching them both, enjoying their closeness. She had the sudden realisation that she was still naked under the duvet, as was Bruce. Her T-shirt nightie was in her bag and she couldn't remember where that had been left.

"Right," said Bruce, "Must be time for brecker. Cathy, you climb in with Sarah and keep warm while I go and get us some breakfast." He tossed a remote control to Sarah and leapt out of bed. He was naked but Cathy didn't pay the slightest attention to the fact, choosing instead to scuttle under the duvet and reach over Sarah for the TV remote.

"Watch this Sarah," she said, pressing the first button on the remote. The wall at the end of the bed split into six sections concertina fashion and slid back to reveal a huge plasma screen television bigger than the one they had in school.

"Wow!" said Sarah, "That's really clever."

"It has lots of channels, look." Cathy sat up in bed, with the remote in her lap and pressed another button. The BBC News 24 channel came on and announced what had happened overnight. "Daddy always has that one on, it's boring!" she said profoundly, and proceeded to search through for one to her particular liking. The appropriate station found she settled back into the covers sliding across to snuggle into Sarah's warmth. Sarah, surprised by Cathy's ease with her, raised an arm and the little girl cuddled even closer, hugging the arm that held her. She started to narrate bits of the story to Sarah who giggled with the seriousness imparted by the little girl.

The door opened and Bruce appeared with mugs and a big plate of toast.

"Daddy!" Cathy burst out.

"Aah, my two favourite girls!" He had put on a towelling gown against the cool morning and the dangers of boiling water and hot toast.

He carefully placed the tray on the bed, put the mugs on the bedside table and slipped under the covers.

"So," he said, lowering half slices of toast straight into his mouth, "What are we going to do today?"

"Park!" said Cathy, jumping up and down in excitement, "The one where the Queen lives!"

"St Jim's?"

"Yeah," Cathy burst out again. She turned to Sarah, "It's a great park, it's got trees and a lake and everything. And you get to see the soldiers too. My Daddy played a soldier once."

"I won the battle of Normandy you know," he said.

"Did he now," said Sarah looking over the blonde locks into Bruce's smiling face.

"Really," he answered. "well, me and few hundred extras. Actually most of them were digital now I come to think of it."

"Then we can go somewhere nice for lunch, back to where the clowns are," said the tiny blonde tour guide.

"Covent Garden?"

"Pizza!" The little girl's bouncing was becoming more and more excited and Sarah put her mug of tea back on the table.

"You promise that you'll look after Sarah though won't you."

The little girl's face became deadly serious,

"Oh yes, Daddy." She took Sarah's hand, lent across to her and kissed her cheek. Her heart melted on the spot.

The trip down to the tube and seven stops had them at St James tube station and they came back out into the sunlight. St James Park was just as Cathy had promised, and the brilliant sun bounced through the trees and reflected of off the boating lake. He bought ice cream and they sat on the bench watching the world go by. They took it in turns to chase Cathy and she continually egged them both on to continue.

Bruce whispered into Cathy's ear and her face erupted in smiles.

"Yeah! Yeah! Come on Sarah! We have to go and see the soldiers!"

"OK then!" she took Cathy's hand and they headed for Birdcage Walk, and the Parade Square of Wellington Barracks. The summer sun had brought out all of the tourists and as they crossed the road, Bruce swept Cathy in the air and placed her on his shoulders.

He reached down and very gently took Sarah's hand; although they had been as intimate as any two people could be, this simple and tender act made her almost burst. She looked around her, they were just the same as all of the other couples, just holding hands, small child that the world assumed was hers. The fact that the man she was holding hands with was an A-list superstar didn't even cross her mind. He had on sunglasses and was letting his beard grow, no one gave them a second look.

The soldiers and the band had marched across to Buckingham Palace and did there thing, Cathy pointing in delight to the huge grey shaggy wolfhound mascot.

That finished they turned and walked back across to the Underground and down into the maze of the system before re-emerging seven stops and one change later at Covent Garden. Cathy dragged them both to a pizza restaurant and in no time they were sat around a pizza the size of a bus wheel.

Sarah took charge and ordered the pizza, the sides and the drinks and Bruce, with his back to the room was able to stay anonymous almost through the entire meal.

"Excuse me, are you Bruce Young?" said the young waiter, "only my friends and I..."

"Oh no not again, Darling I have told you about this." Sarah folded her arms crossly and stared at him.

"I..." he gasped lost for words.

"He's a look-a-like," said Sarah through pursed white lips, "And I'm getting just about fed up with it, bloody autograph hunters every ten minutes." Sarah turned to the boy, "If you must know his name is Peter Wells and he teaches drama in the West Midlands. He is going to stop being a look-a-like this very afternoon aren't you," she held up her left hand with the gold cygnet ring miraculously transferred to her left hand ring finger. She'd been given it when she was a bridesmaid for Caroline and by twisting it the wrong way around, it appeared as a thin gold band, "Darling?"

Bruce grinned an apologetic grin, and said "Sorry mate," in a Birmingham accent, "Only I woz workin' on the voice at the minute." He stood, took Sarah's hand and kissed it, "That's it love, once I've done the Wolverhampton gig, I'm goin' to give it uhp."

"I should hope so." She said, slipping her hand back under the table. Almost unable to suppress her laughter she stood and took Cathy's hand and headed for the bathroom.

The disappointed waiter, grinned a lopsided grin, and as she walked away she heard,

"Quite good mate," he said, "You've almost got the look off pat, you REALLY need to work on the voice though!"

Back outside again they had a bit of job trying to explain to Cathy what the strange conversation in the restaurant had been about. It was obvious that Cathy had been unimpressed with Sarah looking so crossly at her darling Daddy, but once they'd paid the bill and walked up the steps back onto the street again, their hysterical laughter had convinced her that all was well. After all, Daddy was an actor and she was quite used to seeing him cross, angry, being shouted at, hit and everything else and she took it in her stride.

They watched street entertainers, jugglers and bought doughnuts from a vendor. Bruce was just as much fun with his daughter as he was with Sarah, and she couldn't help but smile at the pair.

"She is so cute!" said Sarah to him as Cathy munched through her third doughnut, her cheeks covered with sugar.

"I think so," he said with a happy grin.

"She is so well behaved, I haven't heard a single gripe from her, ever."

"Oh she is quite capable of the occasional moan from time, but yes she is, every inch her Mum."

"Well, you have every right to proud, she's fantastic." He smiled a wistful smile.

"Best I've ever done, everything else fades to insignificance. I'd give it all up for her."

"You soft old thing," she put an arm through his and kissed him, "But she is worth it."

Back at his flat she headed for the kitchen and made more coffee, and started looking for things to cook for tea.

"Oh help yourself," said Bruce, picking up his coffee and making a milkshake for Cathy, "There's tonnes of stuff there, most of it should be in date, why not check the freezer, I've forgotten what I have in there."

It wasn't that she wasn't talented in the kitchen, there were a few things that she just didn't know how to cook.

In the end she settled for some very nice looking fresh sausages they'd bought the night before, peeled potatoes, sliced an onion, opened a tin of beans and within forty minutes was plating up the food.

As she placed the plates on the table, Cathy and Bruce entered the kitchen, Cathy's eyes widened,

"Wow, Bangers and Mash! My favourite!" She ran up to Cathy and hugged her around the waist. "Can Sarah come again?"

"Oh yes, please Sarah?" He said making doe eyes.

"Oh well, if YOU ask me Cathy."

The meal was cleared and a cheesecake followed in a similar fashion.

At Bruce's suggestion Sarah helped Cathy into the huge bath, and soon had the Jacuzzi switched on, laughing at the bubbles.

Dried, hair brushed and into soft pale pink pyjamas, Cathy yawned and put up no resistance when she was put into bed.

"I've had a lovely day, Sarah," she said, "Will you be here tomorrow?"

"Oh yes Darling, just you wait and see." She kissed Cathy and Bruce did likewise, and turned off the small bedside light.

"She is gorgeous!" whispered Sarah as they walked from the bedroom.

"Well, you bring out the best in her, I normally have to sort her out for bed before the sitter gets here."

Sarah grinned, she guessed it was all of her maternal hormones going into overdrive, and she decided that on the whole she really didn't mind the feeling.

"Terrible thing is though; I had decided to take you out on the town tonight for our first date; seeing as we still haven't had one yet. A show, drinks, dinner, dancing, the whole 9 yards. Trouble is, we've eaten already and I don't know about you but I couldn't do another thing."

"Let's stay in, have you arranged a babysitter already?"

"Cancelled just after you put Cathy in the bath. I could tell you were both enjoying yourselves so I phoned them."

"So, you've got me all to yourself this evening then."

"Oh yeah," he said lifting a bottle of wine from the table, "Would you like to help me with this?"

They had got a little over half way down the bottle and were seriously snogging, their clothes half undone and in disarray when the front door opened, held back by the chain.

"Hello? Bruce? Hello? Come on mate take the bloody chain off eh?"

"I don't bloody believe it..."

Bruce tried to keep The visitor in the lobby but he stormed in anyway, looking around him suspiciously until his eyes fell on Sarah.

The man was of medium height, with brown hair cut very short. The shortness of the hair contrasted badly with the bushy eyebrows and a moustache that was just too big for his face and made him look like a Hell's Angel in a suit.

"So," he said, removing a long, dark wool coat, "You must be..."

"Staying here with me," interrupted Bruce. The man hung his jacket on the rack by the door.