"Declan,don't be so ridiculous" Anne laughed "we don't need you to buy us a house"
"But I want to Mam" Dec stated,feeling slightly hurt at his mothers reaction.
"I agree with your Mam Dec" Fonsey smiled "we're just fine where we are"
"But you've been in this house for years" Dec pointed out "since we were all little"
"Yeah,we have pet" Anne nodded "and that's why we love it here,it's got all our memories of you kids growing up and now that you've all left home,we've got more space"
"But I can buy you something nicer" Dec insisted.
"This is as nice as we need Declan" Fonsey smiled "we're simple people,your mother and me,you know that,we don't need anything fancy,do we dear?"
"No,we don't" Anne nodded "and we know the neighbours here and all our friends are nearby,why would we want to move away from that?"
"I didn't say you have to move away" Dec sighed,feeling increasingly dejected "you don't have to go very far to find a bigger,better house"
"We don't need anything bigger son" Fonsey smiled.
"What about when all the kids want to come and stay?" Dec enquired,referring to the regular occasions when his nieces and nephews wanted to have sleepovers at their Grandparents place.
"We manage just fine as we are" Anne replied "listen Declan,this is such a lovely offer and I know what a generous boy you are,but we don't want or need anything from you,your father and I are very set in our ways and besides,it's your money,you've worked hard for it so we want you to enjoy what you've earned,you deserve it"
"Yeah,you do" Fonsey agreed "reap the rewards of your hard work son and don't worry about us"
"I just wanted to do something nice for you that's all" Dec sighed,still finding it hard to hide his disappointment,he'd been so excited about this idea and it never even crossed his mind that his parents would refuse his offer.
"Just you visiting is nicer than anything money could ever buy" Anne gushed affectionately and kissed Dec on the cheek.
"I tell you what though?" she continued.
"What?" Dec enquired.
"If you want to do something really nice for me?" Anne smiled.
"Yeah,of course I do" Dec replied curiously "what is it?"
"You could try phoning your poor old Mam a bit more often" Anne laughed.
"Yeah,alright Mam" Dec shook his head "not this again,I will do my best,I promise"
"Good" Anne "smiled "that's all I ask,now how about we give cooking a miss for tonight and go out somewhere for dinner?"
"Yeah that would be good" Fonsey smiled "a nice,generous portion of steak and chips with a cold pint of Guinness would go down perfectly right now"
"Ok" Dec smiled "but this definitely is my treat,I won't take no for an answer"
"And we wouldn't have it any other way" Fonsey grinned.
Ant and Dec both had a great time up north,spending a lot of time catching up with friends and family,but of course they also couldn't resist seeing each other at least every other day.Their friendship by now was so unbelievably close,that it didn't feel right to be apart for very long.
They spent many happy hours on the golf course where they had first been introduced to the game with Fonsey and his friends.
Dec had informed Ant of his parents reaction to him wanting to buy them a house over a pint in a Newcastle pub one day.Although Ant understood why Dec was disappointed,he totally saw it from Anne and Fonseys point of view too.
This brought Ant onto the subject that he and Lisa had been thinking about recently and that was moving house,much to Decs surprise.
"Moving where?" Dec asked nervously.
"Same area" Ant smiled "but I want to buy a bigger place and do it up how I want to,you know,put my own stamp on it"
"Oh yeah,that makes sense then" Dec smiled relieved "I was worried you were thinking of moving away"
"Nah,why would I?" Ant replied "Chiswick is a lovely area,I like it there.I'm just planning ahead"
"For what?" Dec enquired.
"For the future" Ant smiled "one day me and Lisa might get married and then..." he paused for thought for a moment.
"And then what?" Dec asked curiously.
"Well..." Ant grinned "and then we might just hear the pitter patter of tiny feet"
"You're gonna get a hamster?" Dec joked.
"Shut up you fool" Ant grinned "you know what I'm talking about"
"Yeah,I do" Dec smiled.
"Just imagine it Decs" Ant beamed "a huge house with a massive garden,maybe even a swimming pool and lots of little sprogs running around,wouldn't that be amazing?"
"If that's what you want?I'm happy for you" Dec smiled.
"Yeah it is" Ant replied happily "Me and Lisa are gonna start looking at places as soon as I'm back,somewhere that will be our family home,I can't wait for someone to call me Daddy,it will be amazing to be a father,I'd certainly do a better job than my Dad did"
"Are you saying you're thinking about proposing to Lisa?" Dec asked excitedly.
"Dunno" Ant shrugged "maybe one day,we've been together a good few years now,but I've not really thought about it properly,so not yet I guess"
"You make a perfect couple" Dec smiled "I've always said so haven't I?"
"Thanks" Ant replied "and yeah,ya have.I can imagine being married to her and spending the rest of my life with her,but I still don't want to rush into it"
"You're hardly rushing" Dec laughed "you've been together for ages"
"I like to take things at a snails pace" Ant winked.
"Can you really imagine being with her forever?" Dec enquired seriously.
"Yeah,I can" Ant nodded "I love her"
"Yeah,I know you do,but I'm not quite ready for that level of commitment just yet" Dec smiled.
"Oh me neither" Ant replied "as I said,we're just planning for the future,then when we are ready,so is our home"
"That sounds like a serious level of commitment to me" Dec pointed out.
"Yeah it is actually" Ant laughed "don't know why I said that?I guess I am truly committed"
"Sounds like you have a plan anyway" Dec smiled as he raised his pint of lager and clinked his glass against Ants "cheers to our future families"
"Yeah,cheers to that" Ant laughed "whenever they may arrive and obviously I'll want your seal of approval on the house"
"Really?" Dec asked surprised.
"Yeah of course" Ant grinned "you'll be spending a lot of time there after all won't you?"
"So I'll still have my own bedroom?" Dec asked.
"Of course you will" Ant laughed "you're my family Declan,closer than family in fact,wherever I go,there'll always be a place for you"
"Thanks" Dec smiled,trying to hide the tears welling up in his eyes.This of course didn't go unnoticed by Ant.
"You're very welcome kidda" Ant smiled and rubbed Decs back reassuringly.
It wasn't long before Ant and Lisa were moving into their stunning new home.They had found an amazing place on a leafy Avenue.They had fallen in love with it the minute they walked through the door with the estate agent and knew moving in would be the beginning of many happy times here for Ant,Dec and Lisa.
But just before Ant and Lisa moved into their new abode,there was the small matter of filming their parts for 'Love Actually' this didn't take too much time out of their schedules,less than a day in fact,but they had fun and the scene they starred in with Bill Nighy was to come back to haunt them in years to come when the seasoned actor referred to them as "AntorDec"
They didn't mind though,it was funny and so typical of the fact that a lot of the public still didn't know who one was who,even after so many years in the public eye.They'd even tried a new idea with 'Saturday Night Takeaway' and 'I'm a celebrity,get me out of here' in which they stood in the order their names came,so Ant was always on the left of the screen as viewers faced it and Dec was always on the right,but even this didn't always work,it was usually only die hard Ant and Dec fans who knew which one was which,with other members of the public often greeting them with enquires of "who is Ant and who is Dec?" Or just assuming they put the right name to their faces when in fact they had got it the wrong way round.That was what made the line in the upcoming romcom so funny and if there was one thing Ant and Dec were really good at,it was laughing at themselves.
Ant and Lisa were extremely happy in their lovely,spacious new home.As expected,Dec was there most days and he actually found himself feeling slightly envious of their set up.So much so,that he vowed that his new years resolution would be to find himself his perfect forever home for his own future family.
Yes,he'd made it very clear to Ant and to himself that he wasn't ready to be a family man just yet,but the thought of buying a house that he loved,where he would be happy to grow old and eventually raise a family,really did appeal to him,so he set himself the challenge of finding a place once Christmas and new year were out of the way.
And that was exactly what he did!Phoning round estate agents the minute they reopened after the Christmas break and telling them exactly what he was looking for.
"You'll come and look at places with me won't you?" He asked Ant one day as they sat drinking coffee in Ants plush new living room.
"Yeah of course I will" Ant smiled "but shouldn't you be taking Clare as well?"
"Why?" Dec frowned "she's not gonna be living there"
"Maybe not" Ant sighed "but as she's your girlfriend,I'd imagine she'd be there a fair bit won't she?"
"Dunno" Dec shrugged.
Ant really didn't like what was going on between his two friends.He thought things had been pretty strained between them for quite a while now.
Dec and Clare rarely joined Ant and Lisa for double dates anymore and even if they did,things were obviously distinctly frosty between the couple.
Lisa still saw Clare regularly,but not with the boys in tow.This made Ant incredibly sad as they had always had such fun going out as a foursome,it felt like those happy times would last forever,but apparently that wasn't to be.
Dec didn't even mention Clares name very often anymore and if Ant asked about her,Dec would either snap at him or quickly change the subject.
Ant was getting increasingly worried about his friend and what was going on in his relationship,it was so unlike Dec to bottle his feelings up and not confide in Ant and Ant had finally had enough and demanded that Dec tell him exactly what was going on.
"Nothing" Dec insisted "we're fine"
"No you're not Declan" Ant replied "and please don't lie to me,you and Clare are anything but fine"
"It's just not the same anymore" Dec sighed.
"What do you mean?" Ant asked concerned.
"I don't know" Dec replied sadly "we still argue a lot,we obviously don't enjoy each others company like we used to,there's always gonna be that elephant in the room about what I did,sometimes I actually think she hates me"
"I doubt that Decs" Ant smiled "no one could possibly hate you"
"Well,she has good reason to doesn't she?" Dec frowned "I doubt she'll ever forgive me"
"I'm sure she wouldn't still be with you if she hadn't forgiven you" Ant comforted "so what are you going to do?"
"What do you mean?" Dec enquired.
"Well,you can't carry on like this can you?" Ant asked "you've been miserable for months"
"No I haven't" Dec retorted.
"Yes,you have Declan" Ant smiled sympathetically "and I don't mean that you've been walking around with a face like a wet weekend all the time,but I know you Decs,I can read between the lines and I can see the sadness in your eyes even when you're smiling"
Dec didn't know what to say to that.Ant definitely did know him better than anyone else,even his own mother.
"I don't know what to do" Dec replied quietly with a small tear making it's way down his cheek "do you think we should split up?"
"I don't know kidda" Ant replied while pulling his emotional friend in for a comforting hug "only you can decide that,you and Clare,but you have to do what makes you both happy and I don't think either of you are at the moment are you?"
"I guess not" Dec sighed "I'm not sure I have the energy to deal with the breakdown of my relationship and find my perfect home at the same time though,that's a lot to deal with"
"Yeah it is" Ant agreed "so what are you going to do?"
"It's 2003,New year,new start" Dec stated.
"Which means?" Ant asked curiously.
"Either a clean break and start the year off single or give our relationship one last try" Dec replied.
"Which one are you leaning towards?" Ant asked.
"I just can't imagine my life without her" Dec announced sadly.
"There's your answer then" Ant smiled.
"Yeah" Dec nodded "I'm not going to give up on this relationship.No one ever said it would be easy"
"That's the spirit lad" Ant grinned.
"You sound just like my Dad" Dec laughed.
"Good" Ant grinned "now go and get back into that girls good books where you belong"
"I will" Dec smiled "but I've got something else to do first"
"What's that?" Ant mused.
Dec looked him in the eye with a confident smile on his face.
"I need to find my forever home!"