This is the second WR fic I'm going to have on the go. I know that it's quite a depressing theme sorry. However I'm going to give it a go, Charlie and Karen are still together. However Rob is working at the school. R and R if you enjoy. Thanks for reading. Shoutouts to by proof readers. Laura, Nadia and Georgia. xx

Thumped

A headteacher, mother and wife. When Karen Fisher had been younger she wouldn't have believed that she would have wanted anything else. To the people on the outside looking in her life seemed complete. Yet she had her own secret. Things weren't quite as perfect as everyone else thought.

…

After a long day Karen turned the keys in her front door and walked inside. As she shut the door behind her she heard the noise of something smashing from the kitchen. She looked down at her watch. It was nearly seven and all of the kids were out. Should she walk straight back out again? She could go and meet the rest of the teachers in the pub. They would still be there relaxing after the hectic day they had all been through.

"Karen?" The sharp voice echoed around her and she found herself rooted to the floor. Her was screaming at her to walk back out but quite simply she couldn't. Instead she put down her bag, hung up her coat and walked towards the kitchen.

"I'm just coming." She took a deep breath. Maybe it would be different tonight? However as she saw the empty wine bottle on the side and the glass in his hand. She realised that she had been hoping for the impossible. From the corner of her eye she saw a broken cabinet door, the cause of the smash she had heard.

"So?" The word slurred as it came from his mouth.

Karen walked over and put the kettle on. "So what Charlie?" She didn't look at him. Instead getting a cup from the cupboard along with a teabag. There was a smash behind her that would no doubt have left the wine glass in pieces on the floor.

"SO? WHERE WERE YOU? SCHOOL FINISHED AT QUARTER PAST THREE AND YOU WALK IN THE DOOR AT SEVEN."

As he spoke Karen could hear the voice coming closer and closer towards her. She put both hands on the counter and took a deep breath. "I had to work Charlie. You know that the hours a teacher works aren't the same as school hours." As she finished speaking a hand slammed down on the counter next to her.

"Look at me Karen." There were nails digging into her shoulders and turning her around. She knew it was easier not to resist but even as she faced him she kept her eyes towards the ground. "I said look at me." He grabbed her face and forced her to look at him. Karen looked into the bloodshot eyes. "Now that wasn't hard was it?" He dropped her face knowing that she wouldn't look away.

"You've been drinking Charlie, you're angry and you need to calm down." Her eyes flicked to the clock. She didn't want the kids to come home to this.

"So what if I've been drinking? Don't try and tell me what to do Karen."

"Don't do this Charlie. I don't want the kids to come home to..."

"To what Karen? To what?" He pinned her arms before leaning forward and taking a deep sniff around her neck. In one movement he snapped his head back and slapped her clean across the face. She let out a cry. His ring had caught her face leaving a sharp scratch down her face. "Who is he you bitch? What's the name of the man you've been screwing?"

She looked at him. She didn't understand where it had come from. "Charlie I don't know what you mean. I'm not having an affair." She felt the tears start rolling down her face.

"Don't lie to me." Another slap came across her face. This one made her knees start to buckle and she had to reach for the kitchen counter.

"Charlie please." She looked up at him questioning the unprovoked anger. She saw the wine bottle on the side. There was no question in her mind that Charlie was no longer the man she had married and loved. She could no longer predict his actions or behaviour.

"Please what Karen? Don't try and turn this on me. You're the one having an affair!" He reached past her and put the kettle on.

"I'm not having an affair." She tried to step forward and away from him, but there wasn't anywhere to go and Charlie still had her pinned against the counter. "I'll teach you Karen. I'll teach you." He had hold of her arm and putting his weight against her held her arm over the spout of the nearly boiling kettle.

Karen winced as the steam started coming out. She couldn't move. "Charlie. Please, you're hurting me."

"Who is he Karen?" He pulled her arm closer towards the steam. The pain was getting worse and she couldn't think.

"There's no one else." Her quiet voice only just came over the boiling kettle. Finally he let her go and watched as she fell to the kitchen floor sobbing. She curled her knees round towards her chest. She didn't hear him leave or hear the kids come in. She didn't know what to say to them. She didn't know where Charlie was.

"Mum?" The voice rang around her. She tried to lift her head but it still felt heaving from the bruises that were forming. "Mum?" There were bodies crouched in front of her and arms around her neck. Slowly her eyes opened and the faces of her children came into her focus.

"I'm so sorry." She looked around at the three faces surrounding her. She knew that it must have been obvious that the relationship between her and Charlie had been getting worse, but this was a new step.

"Shh Mum. Come on, let's get you up." She heard Jess speaking close to her ear before she was being lifted up from the kitchen floor and guided towards her room. Jess and Bex got her into her nightclothes and into the bed. Karen struggled, she couldn't settle in the bed she normally shared with Charlie. So Jess, Bex and Harry climbed into the bed around her and eventually the four of them fell asleep.