Selfies

Fandom: Emmerdale

Pairing: Charity & Vanessa

Rating: PG-13

Disclaimer: Not mine, just playing games with them.

Summary: Mini valentine's fic - Charity is on holiday with the kids on valentine's day, not that Vanessa would have expected anything anyway.

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Vanessa traipsed after Rhona into the veterinary surgery. The pair of them were covered in mud (even though they had worn overalls) and god knows what else after spending the morning plunging sheep at a farm on the dales with a bad case of blowfly. Literally all Vanessa could smell was sheep, even the chemicals in the dip had failed to cover the stench. It was a pretty rubbish start to her valentine's day.

It wasn't like she was expecting anything exciting to happen today anyway. Charity, her 'non' girlfriend, was in Lanzarote with her kids. Even if the Woolpack Landlady hadn't been on holiday Vanessa wouldn't have expected anything romantic. Charity just wasn't the card and flowers type. At worst, the blonde would have ignored the day completely for fear any acknowledgement of it would make their 'fun' seem too much like an actual adult relationship. At best, Charity would have turned up on her doorstep after closing time and rocked her world for a couple of hours. Vanessa would have been perfectly happy with the latter option.

Just as the front door of the vets swung shut behind her there was a distinctive buzz and beep from her phone indicating she had a text. She tugged the phone out of the right pocket of her jeans a smiled as soon as she saw the name of the sender on her lock screen. It was as if Charity had known she was thinking about her.

"You okay?" Rhona asked.

Vanessa's attention snapped up from the phone to her best friend and she tried to pull any face other than the dopey smile that had caught the Rhona's attention. From the look on the other vets face she hadn't been successful.

"Charity" Vanessa stated.

Everyone knew about them already anyway as the blonde made no effort to be subtle and had practically strutted out of Vanessa's house on the three nights she had 'slept' over in the week prior to going on holiday.

Vanessa swept her thumb across her phone to unlock it and handed it to her curious looking friend, so she could read the text for herself.

"Happy Valentine's day babe…working hard on a tan for you" Rhona read out loud, "oh…and a winking face and a kiss."

Vanessa knew that it was hardly the most romantic of messages, but it was a Valentines day message from Charity Dingle and that meant something. It certainly meant something to Vanessa who was falling harder and faster for the troublesome blonde than she was ready to admit.

"You do know there is a picture attached?" Rhona asked, her eyebrows nearly shooting up off her head as she finished the sentence.

"Wow…okay" the other vet finished hurriedly, thrusting the phone back into Vanessa's hands like it had burned her.

She turned the phone over so she could see the screen and was a little too thrilled to see a selfie of Charity. The blonde was wearing a burgundy bikini bra which did plenty for her figure and did indeed seem to be tanning very nicely. It had been taken on the beach and she had that stereotypical slightly windblown, air dried holiday hair which looked incredible on her. Vanessa couldn't decide whether or not she wanted to smile at the gesture (and her friends embarrassed reaction to it) or cry because it would be another three days before Charity returned and she could reward her handsomely.

"Erm…earth to Vanessa" Rhona caught her attention. "Stop staring at the half naked woman who blatantly is your girlfriend no matter what the two of you claim..."

"…and maybe message her back" the brunette added as an afterthought.

Vanessa could feel the blush rising in her cheeks, but she was a little chuffed that her friend was trying to support her in her slightly odd choice of…whatever Charity was to her. She opened the text window again and hit reply, briefly contemplating what to say before deciding to keep it simple.

'Happy Valentine's day x Really looking forward to enjoying the fruits of your labour 😉 Hope you and the boys are having a great time x'

Vanessa felt that it was suitably flirty but also left the door open for further messages between the two of them.

Just as she was placing the phone back in her pocket another text notification came through and she wrested it back out. Charity had messaged her back within seconds. It simply read 'we are babe x' but it had another picture attached. Vanessa opened it and her heart practically soared in her chest at the content of this selfie. It was of all three of them, Charity and both boys, all posing on a sun lounger together with big grins on their faces. The first selfie had been fun, flirty and so very 'them' but this…this was a little more meaningful to Vanessa. This was a more personal photograph and Charity Dingle didn't usually open up her personal life to people.

"Everything okay?" Rhona asked.

"Everything is fantastic" Vanessa replied instantly and a little too eagerly.

Blowfly infestation forgotten, this was turning out to be a better Valentine's day that she had expected.