"Moving in together? Really?" Caroline smiled at Jane. She'd beaten Caroline to the punch, so to speak. Conway Drive was still frustratingly all her own.

"Well you don't have to act totally shocked about it." Jane laughed at her, leaned into Zoe sitting next to her.

This celebratory dinner at Phoenician had been called by the kids, as she referred to the young couple now, only hours ago. Caroline had groused about proper notice and scheduling until Eleanor had shamed her into changing her mood.

Eva appeared with four plates stacked up her arm and began serving. Lamb shank for Eleanor, moussaka for Zoe and Caroline, and sirloin kababs for Jane. She put her hands on her hips and took them all in. "I hear we're celebrating our Jane and Zoe."

"Indeed we are. They're moving in together. I suppose we'll see what happens." Eleanor replied, eyes all over Caroline before they moved to the tall Lebanese woman. She proceeded to wink at Eva, who laughed heartily and pointed at her.

"No time to waste when you're young and in love. Speaking of, when are you making an honest woman out of this one here? Because if you don't, I will."

Eva moved closer to Caroline and laid a suggestive hand on her shoulder. Caroline blushed. Though she and Eleanor were back on solid ground after London, and Emma, they were still getting their footing. It seemed to be rather a thing, when they came to Phoenician, to try and put her out of sorts. If the food weren't so good she'd stop coming.

Eleanor laid a hand on Caroline's other shoulder. She slid her hand down her bicep, lowered her voice, smiled coolly and raised an eyebrow. "Oh but I'd love to see you try, Eva."

The dark woman chuckled and clapped her hands. "I should have known better! You win."

The dueling women laughed together, and Zoe and Jane exchanged a look and a remark. Caroline, glad to have her shoulders to herself again, sat quietly, fuming in good humor.

Eva stepped to the side and wrapped her arms around Jane over the back of her chair, kissed the top of her head. "Be good. And pick up your socks."

Zoe poked Jane in the shoulder. "Yeah. Pick up your socks."

Jane wiggled out from under Eva with a pout. "Oh enough both of you."

Caroline beamed at them both and crossed her arms. "Not to stir the pot, but what happened to 'I don't do long term,' Jane?" She gently kicked her good friend under the table, and turned her smile up a notch.

Jane kicked her back. "Yes. Thanks for bringing that up."

Eleanor nudged Caroline with her own shoulder and raised her wine glass. "Can we have a proper cheers then, if you two are done?"

Jane and Caroline dropped the act and picked up their wine glasses in salute.

Eleanor continued. "Jane, you know Zoe is family to me. And I'm delighted for you two. May you never fight over stacking the dishwasher."

Glasses clinked, and a hardy chorus was raised.

Eleanor and Zoe bent their heads together over the table, excited by some apparently blooming conspiracy.

Jane looked over to Caroline with a sly smile. "You have an air about you, again. The air of a woman ravished by love."

"Well you should recognize it."

"Sure. Look at this one – how could I resist?" Jane cocked her head to the side and took another sip of wine. She glanced over to the adorable long-haired young brunette on her right. Thick rimmed glasses with an air of unassuming intellectualism, big features that overstated her confidently demure nature. "But I'm glad to see this version of Caroline and Eleanor again. It was getting dodgy there."

"It was, I'll admit that. And I'll admit I owe you another debt of gratitude. You've put me to rights more than once with Eleanor."

"Listen. I like you. You know I do," confessed Jane. "And I didn't like that you got a raw deal with Kate - and you deserve to be happy. Didn't know if there was something for us when I asked you out, I thought I'd give it a go. But the minute I met Eleanor in that tea shop - saw the way you looked at each other like dinner was being served. I knew I wasn't even really standing on the pitch anymore. Nothing to do with me. Everything to do with the two of you. And look at us now. Fast friends who are at the mercy of two of the best women in Harrogate. We've landed on our feet." Jane offered her wine glass and Caroline met it.

"I like you too." Caroline's eyes twinkled and she sat back and crossed her arms. "So you're moving in then. How'd all that come about?"

"After what happened at your hen party, me and the bartender, Zoe and I had it out. She gave me the old 'fish or cut bait.' It was commit or walk away. Fair enough of you, giving me a hard time about the long-term thing. And I don't, as a rule. And we're still taking things one day at a time. But seriously Caroline. She's irresistible. All the cute and the smarts and the giggles? Id've been a fool to let that go. Keeps me honest."

"It's as good a reason as I've heard. I'd like to give it a try myself, if we could make it work, somehow, Eleanor and I." Caroline sighed and thought about where she wanted to go very badly, a place where she woke with Eleanor every single morning, and how hard it was to get there. "So when are you following through on this moving-in scheme?"

"We'll start to look this month. Hopefully October." Jane looked up and spoke through her food, a spark of a question animating her eyebrows. "Mmmm. That's right. My flat. We've got to get Lawrence in." She napkinned her mouth and continued. "If he can take over my lease it solves loads of problems."

Caroline set her fork down on her plate. "That is the best idea you've ever had."

"Better than aerating my wine in the blender?"

Caroline face-palmed. Eleanor laughed.

Caroline collected herself and shook her head. "Yes. Much better."

Jane looked around innocently and took another sip of the table wine. "So he's been completely non-committal about it. I need you to go all mummy dearest on him and get him to take the plunge."

"Lawrence will be in that flat by October," chipped in Eleanor. "Consider it done."

Caroline gave her a lingering, appraising glance.

She looked back innocently. "Yes? How can I help you?"

Zoe jumped in to the fray. "Clearing the decks, Dr. Strathclyde?"

"If you're trying to make me blush, you know it's a lost cause. I'm unflappable." Eleanor took a bite and slid her fork between her lips, raising a playful eyebrow at Jane, who chuckled.

Zoe fussed with the food on her plate for a split second before looking up. "Is that so?"

Eleanor put her square shoulders further back. "It is."

Zoe put a finger to the side of her chin and made a confused face. "Hmmm. Because I was just thinking about that time last year, when you two had just started dating. You were talking to Caroline on the phone while you were making dinner. And if I remember correctly, you mixed up the olive oil for the white wine in the salad dressing. But only after you'd forgotten to let the lasagna noodles cool before you tried to layer them and practically burned off your fingertips." She smiled sweetly. "And you knocked over your wine glass rushing to pick up your mobile in the first place."

Eleanor cleared her throat, crossed her legs and her arms and her lips became a thin line. She fidgeted with her knife and looked down at the remains of her lamb. "In fact I do remember that evening. And I thought we'd had a solemn vow of confidentiality?"

Caroline's eyes danced between Zoe and Jane. She let Eleanor twist, then laid her hand over hers on the table. "You're just mostly unflappable, darling." She leaned in and kissed her on the cheek. "I wouldn't have it any other way."

A hint of a blush finally began in Eleanor's cheeks, and she smiled. "Well I suppose that will do, then."

Eleanor sighed and flung herself across Caroline's big, soft, bed. She looked over at the monitor to check Flora one more time. She was finally down for the count. Her mother was downstairs fussing with something. 'She has 5 minutes, and then she'd better look out.'

She sat up and slid off her modest Ferragamos. 'I don't understand why Caroline refuses to wear these. Not that I don't love her in those sky high heels… but so much better for her back.' She got up and deliberately placed them on Caroline's side of her closet. Then, she glanced over at the space reserved for her things. Slowly ran her fingers over her three suit jackets and the few button downs hanging there. Then, she glanced back again at a long cotton dress left from summer. She thought about the thin material and how it fit on Caroline's body. A scarf draped over it and how it all came together in such a perfect way she was always so tempted to tear it right off.

She looked over as Caroline came in, leaned on the wall next to her, and smiled softly. "Browsing?"

"Variety is the spice of life."

"Is it now?"

"I suppose yes when it comes to fashion. But not women. I'll stick with blondes for a while. But I always like to see if I can get a rise out of you."

"Yes. I gathered that." Caroline took off her own heels and set them next to the hint Eleanor had left for her. "Subtle."

"I don't pretend that's ever been a trait you've admired in me."

"Oh - you can be subtle." Caroline hung her light blue cardigan and began unbuttoning her tan linen blouse. Eleanor blatantly studied her fingers as they worked. "Perhaps not very often." Caroline took her finger and tilted Eleanor's chin up to meet her eyes. "And not right now. But you can be."

"Mmmmmmm."

"Not your most subtle work, perhaps. But I didn't miss your comment about Lawrence tonight." Caroline hung her shirt next to her cardigan.

Eleanor rested a hand over Caroline's as she started to unbutton her jeans. "I want to talk about something. And if you take off those jeans, we'll never get to it. In fact, I think you're going to have to at least put on a shirt if we're going to make it any further at all with this conversation."

"Are we having a conversation?"

"Yes." Eleanor pulled her dark brown cashmere sweater over her head and hung it neatly next to her few other things. "I want to talk about moving in with you. It's been over a month now, since I've been back full-time in Harrogate. I feel things are more settled between us. I know how I want to move forward with my family. And I want to move forward with you, too. I want more of you. I demand it."

Caroline frowned. Her gaze lingered on Eleanor's, then traveled south.

"Eyes up here, please."

"Fine. Pajamas for both of us, then."

They broke apart and finished their evening rituals. Eleanor considered Caroline unadorned as she slid under the sheets next to her. Minus the make-up, and the suit, and the shoes. She was softer but no less compelling.

She leaned against the headboard, crossed her legs at the ankles. Caroline sat next to her; ran a hand through Eleanor's long hair and tugged at it gently. She turned and Caroline gathered it in both hands, ran her fingers through a couple times and separated it. She braided it loosely, turned and grabbed a tie from the side table.

Caroline pulled her knees to her chest.

Eleanor arched her brow. "So. Your place or mine?"

Caroline tilted her head down and smiled at Eleanor thinly, equal parts indulgence and exasperation. "I don't know what to say. I want to stay in this house. I've worked for it, I've earned it, and I love it. It's Flora's home, it's Mum and Alan's home…." She shook her head, hair falling into her face as she looked down, then back up at Eleanor. "I love you. I want to move in together and get this all going properly again." She gestured between the two of them. "And I know I'm being selfish, though I don't want to."

"But you're going to be selfish anyway." Eleanor grinned over at her, bemused. "All part of your glorious charm, darling. I wish I could be angry."

"Me too. But I'm not angry. Really, I'm not. But I can feel your reluctance to move in here. If you wanted to, we wouldn't be discussing. We'd be planning. Clearly this doesn't feel right to you."

Caroline fell silent. Eleanor watched her wheels turn, her bottom lip creeping further out as she worked the problem over. She had in fact chosen to approach the subject now for the exact reason that neither of them had the energy to work up a good head of steam about anything. She knew this wasn't going to be a straightforward process unless she simply acquiesced. She knew what the house meant to Caroline. It was her biggest asset, the most tangible physical symbol of where she'd come in the world.

But she wasn't sold on moving into Caroline's space, with Caroline's memories. Of John. Of Kate. Of the past. It all lived here, and Eleanor didn't know if there was room for her as well. Or room for 'Caroline and Eleanor,' apart from the rest of it all.

At least she's started her thinking about new possibilities. Eleanor still had another six months at Anadyne as they finished out the acquisition. After that, she wasn't sure. She'd been encouraged in talking with Catherine, but it was all amorphous. She knew she didn't want to be alone in the house after Lily left, at least without knowing what was next.

The best way to convince her stubborn girlfriend of anything, of course, would be to find an alternative that was inescapably logical. And for that Eleanor needed time - and a crack in the resolve. She was intent on securing both.

"We don't have to decide today. Lily still has through spring with A levels at Sulgrave Heath. With all the change in the house I don't want to force another one on her. But if we're serious –" Caroline shot her a stern, curious look "- which I am – and we are - then we need to keep this discussion going. Or at least decide when we're going to revisit it. I'm going to keep talking about our future. Continuously. Endlessly. Because I like saying it. Our future. I like saying it almost as much as I like saying your name."

Caroline didn't react - then, she smiled, shoved her over by her shoulders, and Eleanor laughed and fell back on the bed.

"You're impossible."

"No more than you are." Eleanor righted herself. She took Caroline's arm and draped it over her as she laid down over her chest.

"I suppose that's true." Caroline kissed the top of her head. "Keep talking about our future. I don't mind it."

She smiled and ran a hand up her arm. "I don't either. We're going to move in. We are. We just need to keep working at it."

"Well I'm tired now, and you've told me that's no way to go on. So I agree. And we will. And that's a comforting thing to have said." Caroline rested her head on Eleanor's, her tone softer. "Are you still going up to Cayton next weekend, to see your parents?"

"I am." She was torn about how to go. Whether to bring Lily. Whether to bring Caroline, and Flora as well. It started to feel overwhelming when she considered the entire lot of them up there. With Margaret.

"I'll stay with Lily, while you're gone, if that's what you want. Or I'll take us all up together. Completely your call."

Eleanor pulled her closer. "Thank you."

"I said I'd do whatever I could to help you. And I meant it."

"I know you did. I appreciate it. I love you." She smiled up brightly.

Caroline smiled back. "Love you back. I could say that to you every night. And every morning. But right now I think I'd rather we say other things. I know you enjoy saying my name, Eleanor. But I also very much enjoy hearing you say it."

"Oh that can be arranged - straightaway - Caroline."