I was woken up early the next morning by the noise of cartoons on the tv. I turned around to see Dylan and Jessica sitting in front of the tv, watching Pokemon I think, eating toast.
"Hey guys." I said, quietly, "where did you get the toast?"
"Daddy made it." Jess explained.
"He's awake?"
"He was, but he went back into bed."
"Oh, you two stay here, I've got to talk to him for a minute."
"Ok." Dylan said, not looking away from the tv.
I got up off the sofa and walked towards the stairs. I stopped at the bottom, and looked up towards the bedroom. I didn't want another fight like last night, but we needed to talk and sort some things out. I think last night was the first night we realised that the regular fights were affecting the kids too. I walked up to the bedroom and slowly walked in. I could hear Bryan sniff a little, made me wonder if he'd been crying or something.
"Bryan?" I said, quietly. He rubbed his eyes and sat up. "Can we talk?"
"Of course we can."
"Look, last night...." I started.
"Yeah," he looked down. "Last night."
"Happens a lot, doesn't it?" He nodded. "We can't keep doing this." I sighed, and sat down on the edge of the bed.
"I know." He sighed too, both of us admitting defeat.
"But, what about Dyl and Jess? We should try to save this, for them at least."
"Bryan-"
"You don't want to try?!" He cried, almost yelling again.
"We've been trying, but now..." I sighed heavily, "we know that all this fighting, it's not good, for them, didn't you see last night.?" He turned away, trying not to listen to the truth. "Your 4 year old was so scared by the shouting..." I didn't have to continue.
" I know. What does this mean then? You want us to get a divorce now? What?"
"No, not that. Just, separate for a while." He thought for a few minutes, taking it all in.
"Ok"
"Ummm, well," he'd given up easier than I thought, "I'll get some stuff together for us, and we'll move out for now."
"Us?"he asked.
"Me and the kids." I answered.
"Ally, think this through."
"I have Bryan, this is best."
"Where are you guys going to go?" He got up off the bed and pulled on some clothes.
"I called Derek last night, he said we can stay there as long as we want." Derek had moved to Dublin after the break up of his band to be closer to Dylan.
"Well, there's a surprise." He mumbled sarcastically. "Back to the ex."
"It's not like that."
"Isn't it?!" He yelled. I walked out of the room, not wanting another fight.
I walked downstairs and told Dylanto get dressed and Jessica to do the same, then I put some of their stuff into bags.
"Where are we going?" Jess asked as she saw the bags, "are we going on holidays?"
I looked at Bryan who had appeared at the top of the stairs.
"Don't go."
"Hey, you know where we are, anytime you want to see us, ok?" He smiled a little, and nodded.
"See you guys later." He walked down the stairs and gave us all a hug, tears in his eyes.
"You're not coming too?" Dylan asked. Bryan shook his head. "Why not?"
"I have to stay here, that's all."
"I don't want to go!" Jess started to cry. "Where are we going anyways?"
"To stay with uncle Derek." Bryan said, "I'll come and see you later."
"OK!" She seemed happy with that explanation.
"I'll call you later. Sort out some things." I said, as we walked out to the car.
"Yeah, take care."
"You too." And I walked away, trying not to cry.