Note: This is a (very) late birthday present for one of the twins - according to my messages, it was Alex with this prompt. Just pretend Celia and Alan haven't met, there is less physical distance between them all, and this had happened instead.
Prompt: teacher/single parent Caroline/Gillian AU
"I cannot keep ignoring that Raff is not settling into the social aspect of the school." This was the fourth time since the start of term that Gillian had been called in to the school - the problem was not being ignored as the headteacher liked to claim.
"Well then, I'll take him out of your posh school, how would you cope without his grades?" That was how Raff had secured the place at the school: a scholarship. Gillian was proud but was not going to force him into something he was not comfortable with. The first time they had met the head of school it had seemed like the right choice, and the woman in question could not have tried harder to make them feel accepted. Those feelings had changed within the first week but by then Gillian could not uproot him again.
"I want him to stay, I think he has a lot of potential. I am not going to hold you back though if you choose to go." Caroline Elliot infuriated Gillian to no end, she would always suggest options and let people make their own decisions. The fact she smirked while doing so was another irritating habit.
"You and your lot looking down on us is a joke! Why did you even give enough of a shit to offer him a class or is it just to look like you are the nice one of all the poncey lot?!
Caroline slid her glasses off and sighed as she glanced up, "Just because we have a history does not mean you are allowed to talk to me like that."
Picking at the ragged end of her sleeve, Gillian tried to not allow herself to relive said event. "One night is not a history, Caroline."
It had been the evening after the Christmas fayre three months previous. Gillian had been persuaded to assist on a stall as she was one of the few parents who paid little towards the school and had not participated in any other fundraisers. The group of adults that stayed until the end went to the local bar - one that was respectable enough for the staff members to be seen in. The two women had got into a disagreement over something menial and the tension had been palpable yet everyone else thought it acceptable to leave eventually.
When alone they had glared in silence for a long while until one started laughing and it had been infectious to the person across the table. After several more drinks and jokes about how dull the day had been Gillian moved so that they were next to each other and one thing led to another.
The morning after, they had awkwardly got dressed in the bedroom and en-suite before Gillian hastily left to walk to the school car park to collect her four-wheel drive. Caroline had attempted to argue and point out that she had to go in too and they could use her mother's car, but Gillian didn't want to let anybody else to see her.
"I don't want to talk about it."
"It was you that brought it up!"
Pressing a finger to her temple, Caroline tried to lower her voice, "Calm down, don't get on your high horse. All he needs to do is not punch somebody when he is annoyed. I don't want to expell him so can you have a word with him."
"Say the magic word, Caro." She couldn't resist using the shortened name, it simply slipped out.
Caroline could see the woman in front of her was not going to back down. "Please."
"Much better," she muttered as she took a step closer. Caroline wanted to move away but couldn't as their eyes were fixed upon the other's.
She brushed her thumb down the side of the taller woman's cheek, her other resting on the waist. Their lips met briefly, noses bumping together in what would be a comical moment if they were not so involved in the kiss. Until that second they had continued to stare but as they allowed their mouths to touch again both pairs of eyelids fluttered shut.
Caroline was the one to initiate a deepening of the kiss as Gillian pushed her back gently against the door. Her tongue ran along the soft lips before they parted. She had been surprised the first time they kissed at just how lovely Gillian's mouth was, she never expected there would be parts of her that were not tarnished by her rough work and lifestyle.
Although the one who was letting her hands go everywhere, Caroline moved backwards and separated their bodies. This was the last thing she needed after recently splitting up with her husband and dealing with her resentful teenage sons. Gillian was the mother of a student, for heaven's sake!... But she was attractive in her own way and she knew exactly how to excite Caroline, even if they were just disagreeing.
"We can't do this ever again." They stared at each other as they regained their breath, truthfully wanting to continue what they had began once more but knowing they were far too different. Gillian understood she was trailer trash compared to the impeccably dressed woman in front of her but she secretly liked her an awful lot. And not in a wholly innocent way.
She lifted her jacket from the back of the chair and turned around without looking back, "Fine, whatever. I'll see you around." She had to get over her feelings, they clearly were not reciprocated, and stop reminiscing in quiet moments on the farm about what she could recall of their night together.
"Please, Gillian, would you talk to Raff?" Whether or not she was heard by the dark haired woman was unknown before the door opened and loudly shut again. Caroline could imagine what sort of insults Raff would have to hear about her from his mother but she had to reinforce she was, first and foremost, principal of this school.