1.
Connie found herself stood at the train station on the fringes of Holby; beside her was the neatly packed case, the last one to be leaving with her, for she was on her way back to London to rejoin Michael who'd been relocated there, his leaving instantaneous as soon as he heard, her summons arriving months later. She'd spent the past few months with Ric feeling the true feelings of love and lust, knowing that it could all end in an instant, at Michael's doing. She knew the goodbye was going to be bittersweet, Michael was her first true lover and holder of her heart, she needed to go and be with him as wife and lover, but she also yearned to stay with Ric and carry on their lusting relationship, their souls only beginning to entwine in recent weeks, learning each other like a map, teaching the other to be who they were and who they wanted to be As the sound of the engines revved up behind her Connie took Ric in an embracing hug, kissing him once, tenderly on his now slightly bristly cheek, before leading him by the hand towards the door of the train, not letting go as she stepped onto it daintily, the motions of the train jolting them apart as she closed the door and stuck her head out of the window, waving him goodbye and sending him a last air kiss, which he reciprocated and she caught, holding it close to her for a lifetime, it wasn't until the ragged country side drew into view that she moved towards the warming comfort of the first class carriage. She slung her thick white winter jacket onto an available hook before taking up her seat in an empty compartment, finding the perfect moment to flick through the latest copy of Vogue, a rarity in her life now. Finding a magazine boring within the hour Connie took to gazing out of the window at the scenery whizzing past her, causing her mind to wander aimlessly
"Connie come here I want to show you something" Ric gestured towards the open gate, leading to a concealed, secret garden in the grounds of the magnificent Frances Park in Holby's city centre, the relics beheld in the walled garden at its core were known to few, it had been kept a private memory for the family who had once owned the grounds. Connie felt his sweet smelling hands encroach across her face, covering her eyes as they walked through the rusty gate and onto what Connie could feel as grass, tickling the sides of her bare flip flop clad feet, directing her further into the garden until he stopped dead and released her face "Ta da" he smiled as she took in the beautiful spread before them, a very English afternoon tea with tiny sandwiches, sweeties, cakes and of course scones to wet their appetites, all set before a cooler of the most expensive champagne even Connie had ever seen.
"Wow, Ric its…its incredible" Connie replied feeling the strength in her knees dissipate away as she fell onto the soft thick rug, warmed by the mid summer sun high in the sky,
"Thought you might like it"
The train jolted to a halt at the first stop on its three-hour journey, bringing Connie out of her happy reverie, the smell of the engine wafting in causing her too loose the faint traces of Ric's aftershave still present on the sleeve of her jumper, the one still physical memento she was clutching to him. Just as she was about to slip into yet another peaceful happy memory she felt the faint vibrate of her phone in her pocket, ruffling till she found it a feigning smile came across her face as she read its contents
Love you, miss you want you backRic would be the only one so thoughtful to send a message to her, Michael though her husband would never be kind hearted, only on an odd soppy day did her ever pay the slightest iota of attention to her, she was merely a pawn to his bigger game of chess, their marriage was beside the point, but it was this, the one word she'd dreaded for all eternity that made her leave the life she was growing to love each day behind and join her husband in a big city where the credit to her name would be lost, she would be another face in a crowd and for Connie Beauchamp this wasn't enough, she needed to be someone, a person not the nameless wife of Michael Beauchamp, yet she was going to follow him, do her duties and become a person she wasn't. This tainted all her thoughts till London, it could quite easily have been two hours, she wasn't sure, but every small thing she would come across reminded her of him, of Ric.
As she stepped off the noise train, onto the equally noisy and bustling platform where Michael was stood, a smile broadening on his face as he spotted her through the crowd, the gem in his eye, she walked forcefully towards him, bag in hand, till they were inches apart, her head coming to rest on his chest, his arms encroaching round her until she relaxed into his hug, lifting her head up to give him a kiss, like a good wife which she was, reciprocating her he took her head in his hands and cupped her cheek gently caressing it with his fingers "I've missed you" he whispered softly as the moved off, his arm protectively round hers as the walked out of the station and into his new beautiful Beemer sat waiting for them both, Connie didn't bare to utter anything to him for fear of mistaking him for Ric, he was still plaguing her mind. Instead of speaking she let a smile play on her face, he wasn't to know that she was thinking about someone else, for only she knew of her thoughts.
"So how have you been?" he said eventually as the car ground to a halt outside a very nice look designer shop, Connie concentrating more on that than the impending awkward conversation, he placed a tentative hand on her thigh to bring her attention back to his question but he could clearly feel the tension within it, he put it down to the tiresome journey no doubt after a night partying, in celebration of her leaving, not to the fact she'd fallen haplessly asleep in Ric's arms, happy.
"Same old, same old" she lied, shifting her position awkwardly to avoid his leering hand, this wasn't the time nor the place for affection, not now any way, she was still in limbo between Holby and London, yearning for her old life looking forward to her new life, of sorts. "My job is all set I assume" she added, finding the topic of work a more amicable point of discussion, at least this way she could avoid the feelings of lust for Ric
"Of Course, you start in a week, figured you would need time to adjust to being down here, University College Hospital needs to be ready for Mrs B to come" Michael smiled sweetly at his wife, too sweetly she thought, there was no doubt that some floozy had been filling her position of gratification give in her absence, she couldn't care less, Ric was a much better person to be with than Michael, their reunite had confirmed that for her, he was an overprotective fool, suffocating her soul so it couldn't breath and live, with him she was a puppet not a person.
"So what am I supposed to do for a week Michael, I could easily of started tomorrow y'know" Connie huffed, she would much rather throw herself into work than potter round an empty house for seven days, getting bored rigid and moody to the point her first impression would be bad, for her and for Michael.
"Its ok I have a few days off so I thought we could go look round the city together, so you know where you are going and everything" Michael took his wife's hand in his, squeezing it gently, Connie meanwhile was fighting every urge to tense and reveal her true feelings on the situation, no longer had she come to the decision to stop herself did Michael pull away as the car darted round the corner sharply, revealing a row of old Victorian terraced houses, set back several feet from the road, each separated by their own gardens, edged with a tiny walls. Pulling up to a house in the middle of the street Michael hopped out of the car enthusiastically, moving round to open Connie's door offering a hand for her to get out, she grudgingly accepted it, following him through the front door of the house, it was equally as beautiful inside as it was out, red tiles adoring the entrance hall where he'd put up a neat modern row of hooks, she could feel him ease of her jacket as she moved further into the house, taking the first turning she gasped at the décor within the living room, its neat cream sofa's softly lit by up-lighters, the hearth set with logs and papers ready for a warm fire, behind her French doors revealed the massive kitchen diner, deep mahogany wood in the kitchen contrasting the metallic splash backs and light wood of the table, set for two with romantic candles. Beside that a nook surrounded by bookcases, containing all the master pieces people ought to have, an old chic battered looking sofa in the foreground
" Michael its beautiful" Connie smiled once she'd taken the entirety of her surroundings in, it was a genuine comment, he'd clearly made the effort in getting everything ready for her, she could even smell the food cooking away in the oven as he led her out of the room and up the stairs heading first into the smallest room at the back of the house
"It's the spare room at the moment, but I thought it may have been time for us to start a family Con, make this a neat little nursery" he commented off handly, right now Connie was too emotionally drained to care what he was saying, all she yearned for was a cosy bed and a good nights sleep, the place where she could once again think about him, about Ric. Her prayers were answered when he showed her the master suit, an elegant four-poster bed filling the majority of the room with its tasteful throw cushions and velvet covers, on either side sat a cabinet, her favourite trashy novel and photo of the two of them waiting for her, he'd been planning this for a while she could tell and it was doing wonders for her expectations of him
"The food is on but it can happily bubble away for a few hours yet, if you're hungry we can have it now I don't mind" his voice wafted through her like a fresh summer breeze, touching her soul in the way the Ric had only done before, it'd only taken an instant to switch but for the first time in ages Connie had fallen for Michael and could quite possibly venture to suggest it was lust for him, she needed to find out
"I'm not really hungry right now but this bed looks like it could do with a try out" she teased moving over to give him a hug, making the first move, when she knew what she wanted Connie wasn't liable to wait for it, she could feel his arms snake around her like grabbing at her pert rear, sending a shiver up her spine, the two of them locking in a tender kiss, turning passionate then teasing as he nibbled her chin, her neck, moving her over to the bed and pushing her back on to it, the warmth of her jumper releasing as it was cast over, revealing only the lacy, demi-cupped bra before it a blue butterfly resting between her breasts, his eye catching on it for an eternity, intermittent with kisses, spindling up and down her torso, eventually his hands resting on the clasp of her trousers, undone and too cast off to the side, as were his own trousers, then his boxers, then her thong, till they were both fully naked, open to the chilling air surrounding them, uplifting them together as he slipped inside her, filling her to capacity and then some, her long drawn out gasps music to their ears as they swayed, not once, nor twice but thrice over, lost in a moment of reunited passion.
As Connie glanced over to the clock she could see the mellow blue lights telling her that it was gone half two in the morning, it didn't feel right, yet it didn't feel wrong, he'd proven her wrong, made the proposition of Ric seem less enticing, and made the trip to London worth it, but it wasn't what she'd hoped for, for some reason, she wanted to be able to make a clear cut decision and now she wouldn't