Mancunian

Thank you for reading and commenting. The surprise of the 'twist' was intentional, I'm happy that you found it interesting enough to continue reading and enjoyed the story. It's my first attempt at Sci-fi, but it may not be my last.

I'm still thinking Jill is pregnant, I wonder when the baby is due?

Just thugs.

What I like is that Brendan is making good memories with the children, they will need them and his love to help them through the bad days.

I think Greg is a shmuck for the way he dumped Brendan, the only good thing to say about it is that he didn't drag it out. What kind of guy puts money before love, he didn't even try to find a new job in the area. So the DA's office have asked their questions but not asked Jill the right ones, that has me worried. I can only guess they have never dealt with a case like this before, so why haven't they sought out help from someone with more knowledge as experience of cases like this? They sound incompetent, and that bothers me. The kids surprised me again by rallying round and supporting Brendan, they obviously have good feelings for him. Eventually it will be love, the healthy love that they should be sharing with an adult, not the sick love their excuses for parents showed them.

I've enjoyed the recap, now I'm waiting for the next chapter.

A great chapter, I'm keeping my fingers crossed that everything will still be good between these two couples when they next see each other. Though for Tim and Guy, the wait won't be as long as for Ben and Samantha.

Thank you @Cane23 for such a wonderful comment. Look out for the Therans, and maybe, just maybe, another story about Clay and his people.

Thank you for the comments, J. This is my first foray into writing for this genre and I was nervous about posting it. Reading some of the comments, including yours, I'm glad I did. I may post more to this story and if I do I will remember all of the constructive comments to try and help me improve it. Just keep your eyes peeled, you never know where the Terans may be. 👀

I think when using MS word the word count is given at the bottom of the window, but don't quote me on that. I use Open Office on my Mac and click on the tools section at the top of the screen, from the drop-down I then click on word count and hey presto I have the word count for the chapter. If I only want the word count for a section of the chapter I highlight it first and select word count for highlighted for the word count for that section.

I think it is better to think in terms of word count as opposed to pages. That is because depending on the font size used affects the number of words per page. For example, you may use a font that means one page is 500 words, whereas others may use a font that only achieves 300 words per page. Most stories have chapters of between 3k to 6k words, some do have smaller and larger word counts. Generally speaking, most readers tend to prefer smaller word counts so I would suggest a max word count of 10k words. Most of my stories have chapters with fewer than a 4k word count, but that's how the stories have worked out. This is an interesting point, so it will be interesting to see what others think.

Thank you, Gary. Comments like this from an author of your standing mean more than you can imagine. I think I will have to seriously consider writing more to this story.

I just keep copious notes and constantly refer back to them.

Thank you @RJRBD100 for commenting and appreciating the hard work that authors put into their stories. Can we tempt you to the dark side, sorry I meant to say Sci-fi stories.

I understand @Alexmugs, Sci-fi is not to everyone's taste, but thank you for giving it a try it is appreciated.

@centexhairysub, thank you for the complimentary comments they are very much appreciated. I tend to agree with you about the little green men, with the mess we have made of our planet who would want to stay here when they have a choice? I'll think about a follow-up, but I making no promises.

Thanks for the comments @Bill W, they are appreciated. I did consider the possibility of Rachel trying something sinister but thought it would be too much to fit in the story due to the word limit. I'm undecided about adding to the story but there appears to be a few of you wanting more, I'm not promising but I will consider it.

Thank you for your fantastic comment @Freemantleman. I'm unsure about adding to this, but anything is possible in the future.

Thanks for your comments @Lee Wilson, I'm glad I got you hooked. But please, don't sic the Klingons on me, I promise to correct the spelling error, honest.

Thank you @drsawzall, your comments make me happy. I'm undecided about writing more to this story, but, never say never, I may surprise you. @raven1's help with beta reading and editing was invaluable.

Thank you @Thirdly for the complimentary comments. I have to acknowledge the invaluable help I received from @raven1 who edited and beta-read for me, this would not have been possible without his help. I need to make sure he is properly acknowledged for his role.

@BentedWreath, thank you for the valuable comments. This was written with the theme very much in mind and I'm happy that found it entertaining, that was my goal. I appreciate the constructive comments, I'll be taking those on board for future reference. I can only add that it was not easy to include so much in a short, or maybe not so short, story.

Thanks for commenting @kbois. This is my first attempt at writing Sci-fi so I'm happy that you think I did a good job. I hope your noggin is back to normal, or as normal as it ever can be for you, lol, and I hope you are no longer glassy eyed.

Thanks for the comment @Mikiesboy. I'm happy that you gave the story a try and found something positive in it. I understand that Sci-Fi is not for everyone.

Thank you for the great comments. I may write another Sci-Fi story in the future. Are you sure there are no Therans already here?