A/N: I'm sorry I didn't reply to your messages as promised, but as soon as the term is over in a week, I will get on that! :) I hope you like this chapter anyways! _StrawberrySlushie_ made me a lovely banner, look on the side!!

Chapter 7: Sweet as a Gummy Worm (Lottie)

Once I got off work, I drove over to a park nearby where I could eat Ben's sweeties without Ginny snatching them away like I knew she would. I grinned at the packet. Even though he didn't know it, gummy worms were one of my absolute favourites, and that was what he had given me.

Add that to the fact that Benjamin Fisher had given me sweets, and I was on Cloud 9. I mean, sure it had been out of guilt, but that must've meant that he'd felt at least a little compassion towards me, right? And that compassion was enough to satiate me for the time being, since he obviously wouldn't have changed his attitude towards me completely.

Why did I even care about getting on his good side? I didn't really know, all I knew was that when I saw that glimmer of amusement in his eyes, it made me very, very happy, and I knew I wanted to see it again. Maybe even a smile if I was lucky.

But I had to be very, very lucky.

I sat down on the cool metal bench of the swing and gently pushed myself back so that I was swaying as I ate the gummy worms - savouring each sweet, chewy bite. First the head comes off, then each notch of the body, and then finally the tip. "I love sweeties!" I sang loudly, propelling myself higher off the ground.

"I love sweeties, too," a small voice cheered, and I felt the swing set rattle as someone plopped down in the other seat.

I turned my head with a worm dangling out of my mouth and blinked at the small girl rocking next to me with something sticky covering her mouth. "Hello!" I greeted with a smile. "How are you doing, sweetheart?"

She grinned a red-toothed smile at me and gave me a thumbs up. She had a bright red lollipop hanging between her lips and was sucking on it happily.

"Wow, you're a messy one, aren't you?" I stopped swinging and placed my hand on her rope to get her to stop. "Why don't I wipe your face, eh?" I knew it was weird that I was cleaning random children's faces, but who cared? I took out one of my travel-size wet wipe packs from my purse and used one of the wet wipes to scrub all the sugar off her face.

The cute little girl squirmed and batted away my hand. "No!" she squeaked, her little feet kicking at me energetically.

"I'll give you a gummy worm if you stop moving," I compromised, showing her my precious packet. As if I'd flipped a switch, she became as still as a statue, her spine stiff and her wide-eyed expression hilarious. It was almost comical how quickly she stopped moving.

I smiled, pleased, and knelt down next to this child, wiping away any last trace of lolly, and winking when I realised her big brown eyes were staring at me. "There we are!" I exclaimed cheerily, standing up and patting her head of unruly blonde curls. "And here you are!" I presented her with my beloved sweeties as promised, and laughed delightedly when her eyes bugged out in shock.

"I have these same sweeties!" she declared loudly, jumping up and down. She was so bouncy that she began smacking my thigh, kind of hard for a five year old. I grabbed her hand to get her to stop and she began shaking around the gummy worms instead.

"Oh really?" I asked lightly, cocking my hip. "Where are they?"

"They're right here!" she squealed, waving around the bag I had just given her.

I laughed again, and then frowned. "Where's your mummy, darling?" I asked curiously, glancing around the park. There were quite a few parents and kids lolling about, but none that I would've guessed to be this sweet little girl's.

"Mummy has gone out!"

"Then is your daddy here?"

She cocked her head, looking confused. "Daddy?"

"Queenie, would you stop running off?"

The little girl and I turned around and I spotted a very annoyed Ben stomping towards us.

"Benjy!" Queenie squeaked, taking off towards him.

My widened eyes were quickly accompanied by a gaping mouth when he opened his arms and caught her mid-jump, the momentum forcing him to stumble back. Queenie laughed loudly and hugged Ben's neck with one arm, the other tightly clenching the packet of sweets.

At the adorable sight in front of me, I couldn't help but let out a quiet "aww." Big, bad Ben was currently hugging a little girl. I didn't even think he knew what a child was, much less be so good at handling them. Was that his baby?

"What are you doing here?" he abruptly asked me.

I blinked twice and shook myself out of my daze. Ben gave me a weirded out look and set Queenie on her feet, before glaring at me.

"What are you doing here?" he repeated in a low, angry voice. "Are you following me?"

I was taken aback at how mad he seemed. What did I do this time? "Why would I be following you?" I replied, puzzled. I hardly knew him, how was I to know where he went on a daily basis?

He looked down at Queenie and frowned. "Where did you get those, Queenie?" he asked, taking the packet of sweets from her small hands.

"Hey!" she complained, batting at his knees. "Those are mine, the nice lady gave them to me!"

"Queenie!" he scolded, holding the bag out of her reach. "Why would you take them from her?"

"I gave them to her," I interrupted, grinning slightly at how fatherly he was behaving. "It was a reward for keeping still."

"Yeah!" Queenie exclaimed, stomping her foot and wrinkling her nose. "The nice lady gave them to me for staying still while she cleaned my face!"

Ben snapped his head to me, and I widened my eyes at how cross he still was. "Do you ever keep anything for yourself?" he asked crossly.

I shrugged and smiled. "I had a few and then gave it to her if that makes you feel any better."

Ben scrutinised me, causing me to squirm slightly under his gaze. "It doesn't," he said brusquely, before passing me the gummy worms.

"Hey, it's okay, just let her have them-"

"I'm taking her out for ice-cream, she doesn't need any more sugar," he interrupted, waving me away. "Come on, Queenie, let's go."

I sighed and turned around to leave. He really didn't like me, did he? That shouldn't have hurt as much as it did. I mean, I'd only known him for three days, and he glared at me every time he saw me. It was kind of down-heartening.

"Wait! Can the nice lady come?" Queenie pleaded suddenly.

I swivelled around, and upon seeing Ben's horrorstruck face, I smiled widely, even though I was beginning to feel my self-esteem be crushed. "No, honey, I can't, I'm already set." I waved around the sweets and gave her a thumbs up.

She frowned at me, and then tugged on Ben's sweater. I knew it was going to be a problem, and I didn't want to bother Ben more than I already had, so I waved quickly and turned around again to walk away.

"You can come."

My head snapped up and I stared at Ben, who appeared quite as ease as he regarded me. "I shouldn't, I can't," I tried. It wasn't helping that I was really craving ice cream right now.

"Queenie likes you for some reason, so would you just stop being so stubborn and come?"

I hesitated and looked down at the ground. "I don't want to be a burden," I replied, almost silently.

Ben sighed heavily. "Would you just come? Jesus, it's ice cream, I'm not taking you out to dinner."

My cheeks flamed up, but I managed to meet his look with a wide smile. He was willingly letting me come with him and his little friend? Willingly? Okay, maybe it was for Queenie, but still. My smile widened and I clasped my hands together. "Okay," I agreed a little breathlessly. I wasn't sure why I was so happy, but it didn't matter at all. Benjamin Fisher wasn't glaring at me for once. It was something to put in the history books!

I'd probably been standing still for too long, because Ben's easy expression became a glare again. "Hurry up, we have to go now."

I ran after him and Queenie, who was currently eyeing my sweeties with a hungry look on her face. I bent down to her level and whispered, "Maybe I can hide some in your ice cream."

She beamed widely at me and began running faster. "Come on, Benjy! I want to eat ice cream now!"

Ben scooped her up in one swift movement and silenced her with a stern look. "Keep your mouth closed, Queenie, otherwise I'll lock you in the boot!"

I smothered a giggle at his tone, and bit my lip hard to keep from smiling, but when Queenie started complaining, I couldn't help it. Ben glanced at me at the sound of my laugh, and when I thought he was going to snap, he didn't. He didn't even frown. In fact, he actually sort of smiled. It was a hidden one, and it was one that looked like he didn't want it to surface, but nonetheless, it was an upturning of lips. It was a tiny little baby smile.

Now I knew why I was working so hard to be his friend.