Here's another look on how Caroline and Kate got together and everything that followed. I'll use bits and pieces from canon but I'm not going to follow it strictly (mainly because I can't deal with the pain) This is going to be a happy, fluffy story about our favourite couple. Please let me know what you think. Your reviews will encourage me to keep writing. Enjoy :)
After another day on autopilot Caroline found herself sat wearily on the edge of her bed staring into thin air, when there was a brief knock on her bedroom door. She looked up to see William, her eldest son peering into the room. She gave him her best attempt at a smile and he came to sit next to her on the bed. They sat there in silence for a moment, then he said quietly, "Mum, are you OK?" Caroline tried to nod but just burst into tears. William wrapped his arms around her protectively. It had been two weeks since his dad had left; it turned out that he had been having an affair for a while, and had decided to go and live with this other woman. Of course both William and his younger brother were devastated, however, while Lawrence just wanted their dad to come back, William realised that not many marriages could survive such infidelity, and that it was more important that their mum was happy. Clearly that would take time though. For the last few weeks his mum had been anything but happy, she had been more like ... well, absent. She'd still gone about their daily routine, both at home and at a school, but the sparkle had gone from her eyes.
Kate McKenzie was curled up on her sofa with a steaming cup of tea in her hand and a large pile of marking on her lap. The soft sound of recorded piano music danced around the room. She begun with the A Level essays, they would take the most energy to mark. As she went through them one by one, scribbling corrections and writing comments, she was generally pleased with the standard of work. However, just one paragraph into one of them she flicked her eyes up to the name. This essay was nowhere near as good as the high quality work William Elliot usually submitted. Kate liked William. He was a kind, intelligent, well-mannered young gentleman who was one of their most likely Oxbridge candidates. It was generally assumed that he would be following his mother into an illustrious Oxford college. William's mother... Kate shook her head, not letting her mind wander to the beauty of her magnificent yet unattainable boss. Instead she opened up her laptop and typed out a quick email to William, arranging a time for them to go through this essay. It was important that she caught any problems early and it was so unusual for William to hand in sub-par assignments, and thinking about it, he had seemed less engaged in their last few lessons.
The next morning Caroline made sure to quietly thank William for his kindness the night before. She felt a little better having finally allowed herself to breakdown. William gave her another big hug and kissed her on the forehead. He was taller than her now; he was so grown up. "Don't forget that your dad is going to pick you up from school today and take you out for dinner." She reminded both her boys as they ate their breakfast. Lawrence looked really excited, he missed his dad a lot. William however, looked as little less convinced. Caroline passed him the box of cereal, patting him on the shoulder as she did. "How are you feeling for your history test Lawrence?" she asked the barely-awake teenager. Lawrence grunted, shrugging his shoulders.
"What's it on?" William asked. Lawrence shrugged again, finishing his last spoonful of cereal and disappearing upstairs to get his bag. Caroline shook her head after him. William had always loved school, learning new things excited and interested him; in that way he was similar to Caroline. But Lawrence was different. He went to school because he had to, and wasn't really very passionate about any of his subjects. She picked up the biology exercise book that Lawrence had left on the table, he would forget it otherwise.
At the beginning of first period William knocked tentatively on the door of Miss McKenzie's classroom and she beckoned him in. He was clearly a little nervous, unused to being in trouble, especially for poor work. His essay, which Kate had decided not to mark until she'd spoken to him, sat in front of her on her desk. "How are you William" she asked kindly, as he sat down opposite her.
"Fine thank you Miss McKenzie," he replied politely. Then, looking embarrassed, "I'm really sorry about my essay. I know it's not very good."
"Are you struggling with this topic?" Kate asked, concerned.
"No, not really," admitted William, "I just forgot about it. I'm sorry. It won't happen again." Kate notice him surreptitiously blink away a tear. Something was up, it was obvious.
"Is there something wrong William?" she asked softly, "It's not like you to be disorganised." William looked at her, trying to work out what to say. He liked Miss McKenzie. She was clever, kind and caring. He took a deep breath.
"My dad left." He revealed, his voice barely a whisper, a rogue tear rolling down his cheek. He wiped it away, embarrassed. Kate felt a wave of deep sadness for him. Her parents had always been very happy, but after many years of working with teenagers she knew how difficult these situations could be.
"Oh William," she said softly, offering him a tissue, "I'm really sorry." William nodded sadly.
What William had told her played on Kate's mind all day. Period 3 she had set a revision worksheet to her top set year 10s so she was sitting at her desk while they worked quietly. She noticed Caroline Elliot peer through the door to check that everything was alright. Their headmistress regularly went around the school during lessons to see what was going on. Kate made a split second decision and didn't even realise what she was doing until she had done it; she glanced around her class to make sure that they were all working, then opened the door to catch the attention of Caroline. "Dr Elliot," she said, "Will you possibility have a few minutes at lunchtime to see me?" Caroline smiled politely but it didn't reach her eyes.
"One of my meetings has been cancelled so you can come to my office at 1:15."
"Perfect, thank you." Kate smiled warmly and Caroline couldn't help but smile back much more honestly that she had before.
"Thank you Mr Warton," said Caroline, shaking the man's hand and opening her office door to show him out. "Kate," she said when she saw the languages teacher waiting in the outer office, "Come in." She gestured towards the chair opposite her desk. The wide smile on Caroline's face had been fooling people for weeks, but Kate, sitting opposite her, saw straight through it. Caroline squirmed a little as she felt Kate looking at her so intensely, but it didn't make her feel as uncomfortable as it might have. "How can I help you Kate?" Caroline asked. Kate paused for a second before answering, unsure of how to phrase what she was about to say.
"I wanted to see how you were doing?" she asked, a little nervously, it was her boss after all that she was speaking to. Caroline looked taken aback and a little confused.
"Why," she asked, her voice quieter than before, her smile gone. Kate paused again.
"William came to see me," she explained, "He told me what was going on at home. Not that I hadn't heard rumours. I mean...people have mentioned it...in passing... It's not like people are gossiping about you," she babbled, not making eye contact with the other woman.
"William talked to you?" Caroline looked upset.
"He did," replied Kate, "He had a bit of trouble with an essay so I asked to talk to him and he explained why he has been a bit distracted of late." Caroline brought her hands up to cover her face, breathing in deeply, her eyes squeezed shut. Silence filled the large office.
"I thought he was coping," said Caroline, barely above a whisper. Kate saw a giant crack in Caroline's composure. "Obviously I knew he was upset, but I thought her was doing alright. He sat with me last night when I got upset. He was so wonderful. I didn't know that he was struggling." Tears started to fall down Caroline's cheeks and her voice started to shake. "I'm a terrible mother."
"No you're not." Kate interrupted. "You're not," she repeated adamantly. Caroline looked at her and wiped the tears from her face. "You're having a hard time. That's ok, it's understandable. I didn't come here to tell you what you should or shouldn't be doing to help your sons. I came here to ask if you are ok, if you need someone to talk to?" Caroline looked at her in a new way. People didn't generally treat her like this. People assumed she was invincible, that she didn't need help from anyone. And that was the image she liked to project. It was important for a head teacher to be perceived in that way. But it had meant that she didn't really have any friends. There wasn't anyone that she could talk to. "We could go for a drink or something," suggested Kate. Caroline would normally dismiss an offer like this from a colleague, but there was something about Kate that made Caroline feel like she could trust her.
"I'd like that," expressed Caroline, timidly. "Are you free tonight? The boys are going for dinner with John."
"Tonight would be wonderful," Kate smiled, "We could go for dinner too if you'd like?" Caroline nodded. "I'll pick you up at 7?" Kate suggested. She wrote her mobile number on the notepad on Caroline's desk. "I'm looking forward to it."
After a long governors meeting, Caroline got home to her empty house. She sighed heavily into the silence; it had been a long day. She made herself a cup of tea and sat drinking it at the kitchen counter, feeling at a loose end without the boys to organise. She glanced at the clock, it was 5:30, Kate would be here in an hour and a half. Caroline smiled as she thought of the kindness that the younger woman had shown her. She would make an effort to really relax and enjoy this evening. Just then, her mum knocked on the kitchen window, waving to be let in the back door. "Hello love," said Celia, giving her daughter a tight hug.
"The kettle's just boiled if you want a drink," Caroline said, pulling out of the hug and heading back into the kitchen. They talked for a little while, but both of their lives were rather uneventful, so there wasn't a huge amount to say.
"You look tired love," said Celia, seeing the exhaustion in Caroline's eyes. "You need to relax more." Caroline sighed.
"I'm going out for dinner tonight with a..." she paused. Colleague? Co-worker? Friend? "friend," she settled on. Celia smiled, glad to hear that her daughter was starting to get her life back. The breakup had been so hard on Caroline. Celia knew just how it felt to discover that your husband was messing around behind your back.
"Have a wonderful evening," Celia said, kissing her daughter on the cheek before going back to her own flat. Caroline glanced at the clock again. 6:15. Forty-five minutes until Kate arrived.
Kate sat on her bed staring into her open wardrobe. What does one wear for this kind of occasion? It wasn't going to be a date - she had to keep telling herself that, but it was dinner with her boss, she had to look smart. Smart but not sexy. Well, maybe just a little bit sexy. She did like Caroline after all. Kate had chosen a restaurant - nice but not too romantic - and had called ahead to make a reservation. She had butterflies in her stomach. "No Kate," she said to herself, "No. You are not allowed to think about her like that." But she couldn't help it. Checking her watch, she realised that she needed to leave soon. She picked out a long green wrap dress off its hanger and slid into it. She liked the way it fit, showing off a little bit of cleavage, but not too much. Her black heels would have looked fantastic with it, but she decided that she'd probably fall over and make a fool of herself so she went with the patent black pumps. She put on more makeup than she usually did, it had been a while since she had been anywhere nice enough to warrant making this much effort. Finally she slipped on her jacket, grabbed her handbag and went to the car. Trying in vain to quell the butterflies in her stomach.
When Caroline heard the doorbell her heart skipped a beat. She took a deep breath, checked her appearance in the full length mirror in her room, then descended the stairs slowly, trying not to be nervous. Why was she even nervous? She was just going for dinner with a friend. When she opened the door her nerves vanished instantly when she saw the smiling woman waiting on the doorstep. "Hi there," said Kate her smile warm and genuine, "You look wonderful." Caroline blushed. Kate mentally kicked herself for being that flirtatious; that's not what this evening was supposed to be about. Caroline followed her to the car and Kate opened the door for her. Caroline giggled like a teenager.
Over time, Thursday nights were established as John's night with the boys, and Caroline's night with Kate. They would go out for dinner and repeatedly prove the old saying 'time flies when you're having fun'. They sat in the restaurants for hours, talking and laughing. It was so natural and uncomplicated. They shared stories of their lives, embarrassing themselves by telling the tales that they didn't tell most people. Their conversations flowed easily from light-hearted anecdotes, to in-depth discussions of politics or global issues. After one night when Caroline was too exhausted to go out, they swapped the restaurants for evenings in one or the other's front room, with a home cooked meal and often a DVD. Soon it stopped being just a Thursday evening thing. They would go for coffee at the weekends if Lawrence was playing rugby, and even, on the rare occasions that Caroline ate in the staff dining room rather than her office, they'd have lunch together at school. Not long had passed until they were undeniably best friends; but the closer they got, the harder Kate fell. Maybe friends wasn't enough.