It had been an unusally hectic Wednesday in the surgery but finally Vanessa could see an end to her day; she was just finishing off some paperwork while she waited for her last operation of the day to fully come round before leaving him. She had plans to pick Johnny up from her dad's and then curl up in front of the tv with a film and a bottle of wine. Her daydream of her perfect evening was cut short by her phone vibrating on the table next to her.
"Hello?" Vanessa answered cautiously, not recognising the number.
"Vanessa it's Chas, we need you here now...it's Charity" The voice spoke deadly serious.
"I'm coming" Vanessa replied, discarding the papers and forgettiing about the half sedated cat. She grabbed her bag and made for the door knowing something was seriously wrong and this wasn't just one of Charity's dramas.
"Something's wrong, I've got to go" Vanessa called to Rhona from across the street, worrying her friend as much as Chas had worried her only moments earlier. "Call my dad let him know I'll be late" She didn't hang around long enough to hear if Rhona had answered or not, she just had to get to her girlfriend.
Vanessa crashed through the doors of the Woolpack, not knowing what she was going to find. A sea of worried faces met her. Chas gestured her through to the back room and she joined her partner's silent, worried family in looking on in disbelief at Charity in the back room.
"What's happened?" Vanessa finally managed to ask, her voice breaking as she bit back the tears.
"I don't know, there was this woman who came into the pub, 60 odd, looks like she's had a hard life, they came through here and a while later she left, I came through to find out what was going on and found her like this" Chas spoke through tears, stretching an arm around Vanessa's shoulders.
"Can you all give us some space?" Vanessa asked rhetorically, her mind working overtime, realising the visitor must have been Irene. No one moved. "Please?" She asked a little firmer, and they all began to disperse.
Vanessa stood for a moment, trying to take in the woman she had fallen for, sat before her, broken like she had never seen before. She thought she could actually feel her heart breaking within her chest with sadness.
Charity sat against the wall in the kitchen area of the back room, staring into space, so lost in her own thoughts she hadn't even noticed her entire family had been watching her. Mascara stained her cheeks, her eyes red and puffy as she stared into the distance, her breathing shallow and audible. Her arms hugged her knees as if she were trying to bring herself some comfort and security. What hit Ness the hardest was that Charity looked broken and fragile and vulnerable, like an empty shell; things she would never have associated with her girlfriend.
She slowly began to walk towards where Charity was sat as not to startle her. Charity looked up to acknowledge her but looked away just as quick. Vanessa crouched to the side of her so they were looking straight at each other. Charity's eyes spoke all the words her voice couldn't and her sobs filled the room as her head fell into Vanessa's arms, a place she had found more and more security the past few months. Vanessa could only assume what had caused this, but no one had ever known anything to break thee Charity Dingle, it must have been something big.