Home, Dry and Wasted.

A face from the past is lurking, and Connie Beauchamp finds herself thrown in at the deep end. Will she take him in? Will she give her the help she needs? It's all in her heart...

Connie/Paul Rose pairing; little unusual, but I like their interaction :)

Chapter 1

Connie sighed as she flung herself into her comfortable cushioned office chair, making it slide back slightly. Sighing once more, she manoeuvred the chair a little further back, far enough so that there was room for her to stretch out and rest her legs on the desk. That might give her a little more comfort after a hard day of being the boss and a hardworking surgeon.

Yawning, she realised that there was only an hour or so to go, then she could go home with her husband, eat dinner with him and her children, and spend some quality time together. It was a small pleasure, but one that she yearned for and enjoyed almost every single night. The smiles on her son and daughter's faces made even the most difficult day at work seem like a mere daydream, a walk in the park. All of this her beautiful children did with a small hug and some of their time.

You'd be right in thinking, Connie had became a mother once more. William Elliot Rose was his name, and he was 2 years old. And you'd also be right in thinking once more that her husband was none other than the senior anaesthetist, Paul Rose.

Connie often found herself thinking about what it was about Paul that first attracted him to her. She figured that it was probably because he was always there for her when things went south. Yet she'd never noticed him there, lurking in the shadows, being her anchor when she needed to be anchored, supporting her when she needed support. Perhaps she never noticed him before because he wasn't really her type; he was slightly older than her, divorced with children and of equal ranking to her within the hospital. She usually went for the no complications toy boy, lower in rank to her. So she never really noticed him before. But she noticed him that day.

She'd briefly reunited with John Grayson after Jayne had left, foolishly of course, but she couldn't resist him. He left her, yet again, and she got over him, plain and simple. But old wounds were reopened around 8 weeks later, when she sat in her bathroom with a positive pregnancy test in her hand. The day she found out that she was pregnant. Although the situation wasn't ideal because of John and Jayne, Connie was thrilled at the prospect of being a mother once more.

But her happiness was to be short lived. A week after she found out that she was pregnant, she collapsed in her office with severe abdominal cramping and bleeding. Paul found her a little while later in a crumpled heap, sobbing her heart out at the tragedy that was taking place inside of her. Wiping the tears from her eyes, he held her close, before gently lifting her into his arms and carrying her to a bed on the ward.

Connie saw Paul as her hero after that day. She was extremely grateful at how gentle and attentive he had been towards her, and didn't want him to leave her. And so he stayed, through all of the scans and tests, he remained glued to her side.

After taking her home, he promised to stay with her for longer. He made her dinner, made up her bed and sat with her, making sure that she was okay. They even ended up staying up late, having a heart to heart conversation over a bottle of wine; talking about everything really. Consequently, they fell asleep on Connie's sofa, cuddling closer together as the night progressed. The result was another heart to heart in the morning, followed by the decision to be together, to be an item, a couple.

And here they were now, 6 months into their marriage and the proud parents of William, born a few months after their first anniversary. All of them were a very close knit family; Paul, Connie, Grace and William.

Her thought trail was broken by a curious Paul in the door way.

'Long day?' he asked with a sincere smile.

'Yeah,' she replied, taking her feet off the desk, leaving her chair, going towards her husband and hugging him close.

'Wow, really long day,' he remarked.

'So I need an excuse to put my arms around my husband, the love of my life?' she asked with a wink.

'Never,' he replied, pulling her closer and locking his lips with hers in a passionate kiss, putting his arms around her in a close embrace, deepening their kiss.

'Mmmm,' she said softly. 'After the day I've had, I need more of that, a hug from the kids and a huge glass of wine.'

'Ah, preaching to the converted sweetheart, believe you me,' he replied. 'I am going to settle some paperwork, so I guess I'll meet you back here at the end of shift and we can go home and finish what we started.'

'Mmm, indeed,' replied Connie.

Giving her a chaste kiss on the lips, Paul left the room, shutting the door gently behind him. Smiling softly, Connie sat back down at her desk and began to fiddle with an elastic band to pass the time.

Her thoughts were interrupted once more by a brisk knock on the door.

'Come in,' she said monotonously, the thoughts of a big glass of Merlot echoing in her mind over and over.

A woman in her 50's entered the room. She was wearing dowdy clothes, her hair slightly askew, but a warm smile graced her face.

'Constance Rose?' asked the woman questioningly.

'Yes,' replied Connie, looking up. 'And you are?'

'Sarah Candlewell,' she said, moving towards Connie and shaking her hand. 'I'm a social worker with Holby Child Protection.'

'Has a complaint been made about me?' asked Connie, fearing the worst. 'Because my husband and I would never hurt our children.'

'No,' she replied hastily. 'No, nothing like that. I'm here because of Jennifer Richman.'