A/N: Finally, another chapter! Thanks for all my reviews so far, the encouragement I got from them has been great! This has taken me a while to write, because I wasn't sure what direction I wanted to take this in, but I've gained some ideas that you'll hopefully like!! Chapter 2 is set in the persepective of Carol and looks more into why she broke up with Joe and how she feels about it now. OK, read, enjoy, review and watch this space for more!!

Carol perched on the edge of her bed, pondering the conversation a few hours earlier with Joe; the lie she had told him still burning in the back of her mind. Her uniform dress lay just as she had taken it off, strewn onto the floor along with various other garments, while her feet played thoughtlessly over them. Her mind was distracted, she knew that.

This wasn't like her, she knew that too. Something was wrong, she also knew what. She'd been sat like this for 2 hours, staring from her window across the rolling moors, what else was there to do? Afternoon surgery? That had been a lie. Come on Carol...Pull yourself together.

Snow was beginning to fall outside, a few flakes drifted past the window and settled on the sill. Carol remained where she was. Normally snow excited her, brought out the child in her, made her welcome the beauty it brought with it. Today it made her angry.

Years ago, in the orphanage, she'd hated snow. She used to sit just like now and look out into the garden, watching the white precipitation cover everything in it blanket, relentlessly carrying on its work into the night. That bit had been perfect, watching the light gleam off of the surface, well into the night; snow took away the dark, even when the sun was gone. That she liked.
Morning had brought the boys, years older than her, ruining the beauty, taking away the light, drowning her in a sea of ice; murdering her snowmen. It was only later, when she could preserve it's beauty, at nursing college, did it make her feel happy. Today, however, it was like the orphanage again, the boys were waiting to destroy the happiness.

There was so much to think about. This morning everything had been so clear, now it was just a hazy mess. She'd grown up with the theory of 'All or Nothing', now it seemed at best she would get half. That morning she'd gone to sort things out, talk to Joe, tell him everything, and then she'd seen Rachel.

What had he been thinking? She wasn't angry...at least she didn't think she was...no, it was disappointment, not what she'd been expecting. Was it her fault? Probably...she'd waited too long to sort things out...it had been wrong to argue with him, but she was upset, confused and now she worried that she's done the same thing all over again.

The item that had started all of this off leant against the window pane, the foreground to the snow scene outside. Sat, still unmoving, Carol stared at it coolly, like the day that it had arrived.

She'd come in from a tough day at work, she'd had her disagreements with Joe, now all she was looking forward to was a drink in the pub, with or without him. She'd gone home to get changed: and there it was, as she pushed open her door, sat on her doormat; a cream envelope, no stamp, with swift black handwriting, each letter and dot perfectly placed:

Miss Caroline Rose Cassidy
4, High Street,
Aidensfield,
Ashfordly,
Yorkshire.

If it wasn't for her middle name, so prominently placed, she wouldn't have given it a second thought, but in that second she'd wanted to weep, with happiness, with joy, with sadness, she wasn't sure. All she knew was that the only person who knew her middle name, was the only person, save Joe, that she had ever loved.

She'd not opened it. She hadn't needed to; she had Joe. But that night, in the spur of the moment, she'd broken up with him. Whether it was because she'd been angry with a trait of personality that she would have normally overlooked, or whether she was still in love with someone else, she wasn't sure. This morning she had decided, and this morning she had been forced to think again.

The letter had sat in her drawer for a month now, in the hope that she'd never need to read what was inside; but this morning made up her mind, right or wrong, she was going to open it.

Carol reached up to the window and lifted the letter, brushing her knuckles on the cool glass, reminding her briefly of her own existence. In the month that had passed, the glue on the envelope had dried, and the tab easily opened. She took a deep breath, realising that this could be anything, and slid the crisp paper from inside. Unfolding it, she noticed that her fingers trembled, but ignored it and began to read:

Carol,

I've never had to write anything like this before, so apologies if it takes a while for me to get it right. It's been a year since I left, and Lord knows I've wanted to write, but I was thinking about what you said, considering what it meant. When I left, and you didn't come, it hurt that I had to leave you behind, but I understood.

I'm in the area searching for a job, Ashfordly is not a place I can go back to, there are too many memories, but I'm hoping that I will find somewhere.

You might have started a new life, with someone else, and it's fine if you have, but Carol, darling Carol, if there is any chance for you and me, for that love again, please, let me know.

Yours Forever
Love
Rob

Life is a series of choices, but which one do I make?