"I know it's your birthday soon," I said the next morning as we lay naked in bed, her head resting on my stomach with me tenderly stroking her hair, "But what date is it?"

Jessica said it was in ten days time. I had been thinking about this for ages after she had fallen into an exhausted sleep, I wanted to do something very special for her to celebrate not only her birthday but a new beginning. "How would you like to go on holiday to London for a few days for your birthday and maybe meet my daughter, I just know she will love you."

Her head whipped round, "D'you mean that?"

I laughed, "I never say anything I don't mean."

Also I hadn't seen my daughter Stacey in nine months and thought she would love a surprise visit. Jessica grinned up at me, there was a glint in her eye as she idly stroked her fingers over the sensitive skin at the very junction of my thighs, "I've never been to London before."

"Well you're going now?" I grinned down at her, my body starting to tingle and respond where her fingers were lightly touching. This girl is insatiable I thought to myself.

"Are we going to stay in a posh hotel," she asked, a devilish smile on her face as she scraped her fingernails up and down my thigh, each stroke getting nearer and nearer to its goal. Then skin on my thigh rippled and I could feel a wetness inside me.

"Good God girl," I laughed, "How rich do you think I am?" My voice broke as her fingernails scraped up my stomach, skirting my pussy and poked inside my belly button, "We'll stay in a Travelodge or something."

Jessica stretched upwards and kissed me lightly on the corner of the mouth at the same time as her fingers started to move tantalisingly slowly downwards making me tingle all over, "You're the richest lady in the world," she grinned at me.

My hand went round her back and I stroked it up and down and she shivered and giggled, "Ooooo that tickles,"

"What do you think your hand's doing to me then?" I grinned back at her, then my voice broke again as her finger circled my pussy, almost but not quite touching it.

She ignored that question, "Can we go to London Zoo? I love zoos." She said as her fingers parted my pussy lips.

"Of course we can," I croaked. My hand went down to her smooth creamy buttocks and squeezed, my middle finger slipping down the crack between them.

Jessica looked deep into my eyes, this wasn't an inexperienced child anymore, she knew exactly what she was doing, "And go for a boat ride on the river, and go to the tower of London?" Her lips made contact with my nipple and she flicked her pink tongue over it.

"Anything you want sweetheart," I could hardly recognise my own voice as my finger delved deeper into the crack between her buttocks as I tickled her puckered little hole with the tip.

My thighs parted as Jessica slipped a finger inside me, she ran her tongue sensuously over her lips, "And eat in fancy restraints?"

She groaned, her eyes still on mine, as my finger slipped inside her anus, "I've got something down here that tastes better than any fancy restraint." I said, parting my thighs even more.

Jessica giggled, "Oooo! Can we go and see the Queen as well?" Now her thumb started on my clitoris. I don't know who taught her all this stuff but they taught her real good, I wanted to meet her.

"Anything you want," I sighed and pulled her on top of me, her hand on my pussy trapped between our bodies. Our mouths met and we kissed passionately. Tiny moans issued from her mouth into mine as I fingered her arse and I groaned into her mouth as her finger slipped in and out of my soaking wet pussy. We spent the next hour or so just bringing each other off with our fingers, I lost count of how many orgasms we both had.

---

That night at work I asked the boss if it was possible to have a few days off starting the following Saturday, three days before Jessica's birthday. He surprised me by saying yeah sure take a whole week if I wanted to.

I phoned Stacey straight away from work and she was overjoyed that I was coming down to see her but she was less enthusiastic when I told her that I was in the process of fostering Jessica. She just said that she hoped I knew what I was letting myself in for. I replied that she should wait until you meet her before you make any judgements. Then I phoned a Travelodge right in the center of London just to make sure they had a free room for the following Saturday, they had so I booked it there and then for a week.

The following Friday night Jessica was so excited about the trip to London that she couldn't sleep. It was a long drive and I had intended to start off about six in the morning. But by the time midnight arrived I got so fed up with her chatting away and pacing the apartment that I said, "It's going to be a long day tomorrow, if you don't go to sleep I might leave without you," I gave her a bug grin, "Or we could leave now."

"Come on then," she said seriously grabbing my hand and trying to pull me out of bed. Jessica was already fully dressed, she had no intention of going to sleep.

I laughed, "Hold your horses young madam and let me get dressed first."

"Well hurry up then and let's go," she giggled.

I quickly got dressed but just as I was about to lock the apartment door she suddenly stopped, "I've got nothing to wear."

"Oh God is that all your worried about?" I laughed, "I'll buy you some new clothes when we get to London." I had a bit of money saved up and I had received a cheque for child maintenance from the fostering society a couple of days ago, and I was going to blow the lot in London.

The lift down to the ground floor wasn't anywhere near fast enough for Jessica, she kept on muttering, "Come on, come on, come on," and almost jumping up and down in her impatience. I couldn't help laughing at her.

In the car it was a different story, she fell asleep in the passenger seat, a little smile on her cute face, by the time we reached the outskirts of Aberdeen, so I drove through the night in silence except for the muted music coming from the car stereo. Jessica didn't wake up until we reached Newcastle about five hours later, she yawned hugely and murmured "Can we stop somewhere please I need a wee."

I pulled in at the next service station and we relieved ourselves and had a bit to eat. Jessica wolfed hers down in record time then started to stand up, she pulled at my hand, Come on then."

"For God's sake," I laughed, "Let me finish my breakfast first.

She sat back down an fidgeted the whole time I was eating. I deliberately took my time just to tease her, an extra five minutes wouldn't make any difference. The second I finished my second cup of tea she was up and pulling at my hand, "NOW can we go please?"

As luck would have it, it was a good job we started off when we did, the roads were almost empty and we made good time. The whole journey south From Newcastle she sang along with every song that came on the radio and I fell in love with this little girl a little bit more with every side-ways glance I gave her. But then we reached the outskirts on London, right in the middle of the rush hour. It took us almost the same time to drive the twenty or so miles to the Travelodge than it did to get the 500 miles from Newcastle. Jessica didn't notice, she just stared out of the window at all the sites of the big city and chatted away, totally oblivious to the time the last stretch of the journey was taking.

Eventually we reached the hotel and booked in. I was absolutely exhausted having had no sleep he previous night and collapsed on the bed. Jessica was having none of it, she tried to pull me to my feet, "Come on, let's go sight-seeing,"

I had to put my foot down, I would give this girl literally anything she wanted but right now all I wanted to do was sleep. "Jessica please, I'm sorry but I'm just too tired, that's a long drive." A crestfallen look came over her face and I relented slightly, I handed her the key to the room, "I'll tell you what, there's a shop in the lobby that sells gifts and souvenirs and stuff, why don't you go down and buy anything you want and charge it to the room, but whatever you do don't leave the hotel and PLEASE don't talk to strangers." Jessica giggled and skipped out of the room. I fell asleep almost straight away, fully clothed on top of the bed, the thought running through me that I might have made a mistake telling her she could buy whatever she wanted, imagining her coming back with a trail of porters carrying box after box after box.

I woke up a couple of hours later, Jessica was sitting cross legged at the bottom of the bed, a brightly coloured hat with kiss me quick around the rim on her head and reading a comic and humming to herself. Sitting beside her must have been the biggest teddy bear in the world dressed in a union jack waistcoat, it dwarfed her small frame and had a huge, almost stupid grin on its face. She had her arm around it and was totally engrossed in the comic, she hadn't seen my eyes open.

"Who's your friend?" I grinned.

Jessica literally squeaked and almost jumped out of her skin, the giant teddy bear flew across the room as she caught it with her arm and landed in the corner. I burst into fits of laughter "Sorry, I didn't mean to make you jump like that."

"It's not funny," she huffed as she bent over to pick up the teddy bear, I noticed she had a new skirt on, very short and very bright, almost fluorescent green that made me almost dizzy just looking at it. "You scared the life outta me," Then she giggled and held up the giant teddy bear, it's feet touched the floor and the top of its head was at least a foot higher than Jessica's, "Meet Jack, he's my new friend, and he wants to be your friend as well,"

She held out the teddy bear's stuffed paw and I giggled as I shook it, "Pleased to meet you Jack,"

Jessica giggled again, "I had to ask the lady in the shop if she could help me carry him up to the room."

I laughed, I'm not surprised, the damn thing must have been even bigger than the shop assistant. I pointed to her skirt, "And what the hell's that you're wearing?"

She grinned at me, "That's my new skirt, D'you like it?" And she gave a little twirl, it flared up and I caught a fleeting glimpse of her knickers.

"Bit bright isn't it?" I grinned at her, the colour was starting to make me feel slightly queasy, I felt as though I needed sunglasses just to look at it.

"Yeah," Jessica grinned back at me, "I like bright things," and gave me another twirl.

"So I noticed," I laughed.

"Can we have something to eat please, I'm absolutely STARVED." She asked.

"Come on then," I said taking her hand in mine, "Let's go down into the restaurant and grab something to eat before they close for the night."

"Can Jack come as well?" Jessica pleaded.

"Good God no!" I laughed, "He'll eat everything in the restaurant , and besides, I'M not carrying him."

Jessica sat Jack plumb in the middle of the bed and planted a kiss right on the end of his shiny black nose and said seriously, "Won't be long Jack, I'll bring you back something to eat." I couldn't help smiling at her childishness and innocence, knowing how completely un-childish and un-innocent she could really be.

In the restaurant, I telephone Stacey and told her we had arrived safely and we arranged to meet at London Zoo the following day. Jessica and I sat down at our table and once again I was in awe at the way she put down the food, even the waiter who served us blinked in astonishment when Jessica ordered a second and then a third dish of ice-cream sundae. Second mistake of the day, telling Jessica that she could order whatever she wanted. She must have hollow legs.

We got back to our room and Jessica flopped down on the bed rubbing her tummy, "I don't feel well," she moaned. "And whose fault is that?" I laughed; "You shouldn't have made a pig of yourself in the restaurant" She did look a little green around the cheeks. "You're not going to be sick are you?" she shook her head, "Want me to see if they've got anything for an upset tummy at reception?"

"Mmmmmm, yes please," she moaned.

I went down and returned about ten minutes later with some antacid tablets but I was too late. Jessica had fallen asleep on the bed, legs and arms akimbo, looking like some weird multi-coloured starfish. I just left her like that and undressed and curled up right on the edge of the bed, it was the only little bit of space left for me, Jessica took up all the rest and I didn't want to disturb her.

---

"Morning" I greeted her early the next day when she opened her eyes, she was still lying in exactly the same position as when she fell asleep. Her skirt had ridden up round her waist, I had to literally drag my eyes away from the sight of her panties or we would never get to the zoo in time to meet my daughter.

She smiled sleepily, "Morning,"

"How do you feel this morning?" I asked sitting next to her and brushing the hair from her eyes, "Any better?"

"Hungry," grinned up at me.

"You WHAT?" I exclaimed, "You can't be hungry. What you ate last night would keep a whole family fed for a week."

Jessica giggled. There were some small items of food in the little kitchenette in case any of the guests wanted a midnight snack, I held up a box and a cereal bowl, "How about a bowl of cornflakes?"

She wolfed down three bowls of the cereal, and we took turns in the tiny bathroom for a quick shower and to brush our teeth. I was truly glad the shower wasn't big enough for two or we DEFINITELY wouldn't make it to the zoo in time I thought as she emerged naked from the shower except for a towel wrapped around her hair.

We walked hand-in-hand towards the underground tube station. At the entrance Jessica pulled back, "We.re not going down there are we?" She looked almost frightened.

"Yeah," I smiled at her, "It's the quickest way to move around London. Why?"

Her little hand tightened in mine, "Please! I don't want to,"

"Why on Earth not honey?" I asked, "It's perfectly safe."

Jessica shook her head, a single tear appeared in the corner of her eye, "Please? Can't we walk there?"

I was totally mystified, "But why honey?" I pulled her over to a bench and sat down with her then held both her hands in mine. She was almost shaking with fear. "Come on please tell me<" I almost pleaded.

It's just that...." That single tear dripped off the end of her nose and she wiped it with the back of her hand. She closed her eyes tight, "It's just that was where he....and she...in the cellar, I-I just d-don't like underground p-places."

The penny suddenly dropped, that BASTARD I thought, if ever I get my hands on him...or her....Instead I hugged her tight and whispered in her ear, "It's OK sweetheart, you're safe now, if you want to walk we shall walk it's only a couple of miles anyway."

Jessica gave a palpable sigh of relief and stood up, all smiles again, I shook my head i disbelief at her rapid changes of mood and we set off again hand-in-hand. She chatted incessantly the entire walk to Regents Park, excitedly pointing out the landmarks and laughing at some of the street entertainers and gawking at some of the more eccentric of the capitals characters. The sun beat down strongly on us and lightened both out moods. Gone was the lost little girl that had reared its ugly head outside the tube station and in its place was a happy and excited young child.

At the entrance to Regents Park Zoo I saw my daughter waiting patiently by the turnstiles. I turned to Jessica and pulled her out of sight behind a bush then sat her down on a bench, she still had that puce green skirt on and the "kiss me quick" hat, I didn't want that to be a shock to Stacey's system. "Do me a favour honey and wait here for a couple of minutes, let me greet my daughter on my own," she smiled, "We'll be three minutes tops, OK?" Jessica nodded distractedly, she was listening to the monkeys screeching in the monkey house just the other side of the wall.

I walked over to where Stacey was standing facing away from me looking down the road and shading her eyes from the sun obviously watching out for me. I stood about three foot behind her and said, "OI! Is that anyway to greet your mother who's just driven almost 600 miles to see you?"

Stacey whirled around, her face split into a huge grin and then she threw her arms around me., "Oh Mum I've missed you so much."

"I've missed you too pumpkin," I whispered into her hair, "More than you can ever imagine."

She pulled away from me and held me at arm's length then looked me up and down, "You've lost some weight haven't you Mum?"

"You know exactly the right things to say as always," I laughed.

Then a puzzled look crossed her face, she looked behind me then all around, "Are you alone?"

"No, Jessica's just around the corner, I wanted to tell you a little about her before you met her." I answered.

As we stood there, I gave my daughter a very condensed version of the young girl's life, adding that approval for fostering was now only a formality. When I got to the bit where she had been raped and was terrified of underground places, Stacey closed her eyes and muttered, "Oh the poor thing, Take me to her please."

We walked round the corner, Jessica was still sat on the seat, only she had found a couple of slices of bread and was feeding the pigeons, she was almost covered in them, there must have been hundreds of the things and she was giggling insanely.

Jessica saw us laughing at her and suddenly stood up, the slices of bread falling to her feet. The pigeons fluttering all around her, she looked for all the world like a small female version of St. Francis of Assisi. "Oh my God isn't she just darling," I heard Stacey mutter under her breath.

She walked towards us and took my hand in hers, "Hello," she said shyly to Stacey.

"Hello Jessica, Mum has told me so much about you," Stacey replied smilingly, "But she didn't tell me how utterly gorgeous you are."

Jessica blushed and giggled, "Come on let's go in," I said. I bought tickets for all of us and we went through the turnstiles. We spent the entire morning until about two in the afternoon walking round looking and laughing at the various animals, in the lion enclosure the male lion decided he was feeling fruity and started to mount one of the lionesses, Jessica giggled but she watched fascinated nonetheless. Just as I was starting to have hunger pangs, I noticed Jessie hold her hand and to Stacey, Stacey glanced at me and smiled, then she took Jessica's hand in her own. I let go of the hand that I was holding and watched them as they started chatting to one another, shyly at first but soon they were chatting like long lost friends. The ice was broken.

We decided to go into the Zoo cafeteria for something to eat and Jessica said she wanted to go to the toilet. As she disappeared through the door Stacey said to me, "Oh my God mother, there's something about her you're not telling me, it's like...it's like..." she seemed to be searching for the right words, "It's like she's a grown woman in a little girl's body. When she held my hand for the first time it was like...I dunno...like something burst deep inside me.

I laughed, "Yes I know what you mean, she's been through a rough time but she's slowly getting over it,"

Stacey shook her head, "No, I didn't mean that," again she seemed to search for the right words, "It's like when she first touched my hand..." then she blushed slightly, "I sorta had a mini-orgasm just by holding her hand."

There must have been something in my eyes, because Stacey's eyes narrowed and she looked deep into mine, "You haven't? Have you?" I just raised one eyebrow, "You have, haven't you?" she exclaimed. All I could do was mutely nod my head, "Oh my God mother," was all she could say.

"Please don't judge me," I murmured, "It just happened is all."

Stacey smiled at me, "I'm not judging you at all, in fact I...."

Just then I saw Jessica emerging from the toilets and shushed my daughter. Her eyes narrowed again and she whispered in my ear, "We'll finish this conversation another time."

Jessica came over to us and took my hand then held her other hand out to Stacey, my daughter smiled at me over the top of Jessica's head and took it in hers and the three of us walked into the cafeteria hand-in-hand-in-hand. I stage-whispered to Stacey so Jessica could hear, "NOW prepare to be totally amazed and quite frankly a little scared, I'll bet you've never seen anyone put food away like this little girl, she should weigh about thirty stone by now."

Stacey burst into laughter and Jessica giggled as she looked up at the menu. "Well!" my daughter said winking at Jessica, "Hows about a contest? What's your favourite food on the menu?"

Jessica looked up and hmmmmm'ed, "Fish fingers chips and beans," she grinned at Stacey.

"Okayyyyy," Stacey said as she perused the menu, "I'll start with spaghetti Bolognese."

"Please don't do this Stacey," I laughed, "You'll lose."

She laughed back at me, "Shut up mother and get your purse out. This is a matter of honour."

I held up my hands in a sign of exasperation and defeat, when my daughter's got her mind set on something nothing but NOTHING gets in her way. I've seen her eat some mighty meals and still ask for more, but pitted against little Jessica she was a rank amateur. "OK, on your own head be it," and ordered the food, this could turn out to be an expensive meal, VERY expensive I thought wryly.

The meals arrived; I only had a couple of tuna sandwiches because I wanted to watch this contest of wills. Stacey looked on in dismay as Jessica polished her plate of ten fish fingers, a huge pile of chips and so many beans they were almost overflowing the plate before Stacey was even half way through hers. "Right! This means war," she laughed as she polished off the rest of her Bolognese. "Ice cream please for both of us mum, the biggest dishes they do, vanilla for me please." And she looked askance at Jessica.

Jessica sat with a self-satisfied smirk on her pretty face, "Double choc chip please."

The ice cream came, two huge bowls, and went. This was followed by a selection of Danish pastries, three for each of my two favourite people in the world, then followed by two giant sized glasses of Pepsi, then by two large ice-cream sundaes and even more Pepsi, Stacey looked up at the menu, Oh no! I groaned, she's going to order something else. I had to put a stop to this or I would spend all our spending money just on this one meal but I couldn't, I was a fascinated spectator. She grinned at Jessica and said, "Strawberries and fresh cream?" Jessica nodded, I noticed Stacey eyes were starting to look a little unfocused. The strawberries and ice cream came, and went. If this went on much longer they would both literally explode. I chortled at the thought of what the cleaners would say.

I saw Jessica grin hugely, "You're going down," and she held up her clenched fist with the thumb pointing downwards like some Roman emperor passing the death sentence on a gladiator. Oh God please no, I thought to myself, I love you both dearly, please don't do this. She looked up at the menu then said with an innocent smile on her face, "More Danish?"

That was too much for Stacey, "Oh my God you're not human, you're an alien, you must be." I saw Stacey's cheeks turn almost as green as Jessica's skirt, her eyes suddenly went wide and she clapped her hand to her mouth and ran out of the room towards the toilets.

Jessica stood up and danced a victory dance around the table singing, "I win, I win, I win."

Suddenly the room filled with cheering and applause, everyone, even the girls behind the counter, had been watching. Jessica grinned and twirled, giving mock bows in all directions. Then I heard her gasp, "Oh shit," and she too clapped her hand to her mouth and ran from the room.

I gave the applauding crowd a sheepish grin then followed the two girls out into the toilets a couple of minutes later to make sure they were both alright and found them standing at adjacent sinks splashing cold water on their grinning faces and laughing. "Let's call that a draw eh?" I said.

"Uh Uh," grinned Jessica, her hair damp and water streaming down her face, "I won, Stacey puked first."

Stacey just nodded in defeat, she still looked a bit green. We emerged from the toilets to be greeted by another round of applause. The manageress came over with a huge smile on her face and handed me an envelope, "Thank you for that, we haven't had so much fun in there since a monkey escaped and started stealing everyone's food, this should cover the cost of the meal, also there's free passes to the zoo for the rest of the year."

I didn't know what to say, I opened the envelope and inside was £100, more than enough to cover the cost of the meal. "Thank you very much,"

We left the restaurant with applause still ringing in our ears. Stacey and Jessica's arms were around each other's waists and laughing together. The rest of the visit was spent sitting on a bench in the sunshine and watching the penguins at feeding time.

"Listen," I said to Stacey, "Why don't you come back to the hotel, I'll get a couple of bottles of wine for us and some soft drinks for little miss hollow legs here. I've had so much fun today |I don't want it to end just yet."

"Sorry Mum," she apologised, "I've got classes in the morning."

Jessica grabbed both her hands, "Please say you'll come Stacey, skip school or something,"

Stacey laughed at her naiveté, "I'm not at school, I'm at university."

"Whatever!" grinned Jessica infectiously, "Come on, it'll be fun, like a sleepover."

"OK OK OK!" grinned my daughter holding her hands up in mock surrender, "I'll come, I'll just have to call the university to say that I don't feel well or something."

"Yayyyyyyyyy!" yelled a beaming Jessica, throwing her arms around Stacey's waist and planting kisses all over her cheek.

We left the zoo and stopped at an off-licence to purchase a couple of bottles of wine and a bottle of Pepsi for Jessica, "Can we get some crisps and chocolate as well?" she asked as she looked over the displays. "That'll make it like a real sleepover."

OH for God's sake," I groaned, "Haven't you had enough food for one day?" She just grinned at me sheepishly, so laden with carrier bags full of bottles and crisps and chocolate we made our way back to the hotel.