For some unknown reason, Caroline had woken in a mood. Well actually, she knew too bloody well why she was in a mood, but it wasn't helping ease anything at all. Poor Lawrence, sitting grumpily at the breakfast bar and then in the passenger seat, had been given the brunt of it and the instant the car pulled up at school he was out the door without a backwards glance. Sighing, Caroline moved back against the headrest and shut her eyes, willing a cheery smile to appear on her face to give at least some semblance to her stern but kind reputation.

"Hello, stranger."

Caroline's head turned to the side and her eyes drew open, but no words left her mouth immediately. Instead, she just gazed at the woman who stood beside her open door. The woman looked back, a smile pulling gently at her lips. It was the bell blaring that finally made Caroline sigh some words. "You are a sight for sore eyes."

"Was your weekend really that bad?" Kate tilted her eyes, her smile fading a little as concern creased her forehead.

That long hoped for smile now rose on Caroline's face and she found herself shaking her head gently. "No, not really. I just missed you."

"I was only gone for 2 nights! And you were the one who booked me on that language conference." Kate pointed out, though her smile returned, eyes shining as she unclicked Caroline's belt for her and then stepped to the side so she could exit the car.

Sighing again, Caroline swung her legs out of the vehicle and stood (in such an elegant yet sexy way that Kate was sure she'd never tire of watching it). "Yes, but that was when we weren't talking, and I thought you'd say 'oh Caroline, how thoughtful and lovely of you, please come back with me to my house to make love'."

Kate let out a laugh that made the few straggling students jump. "Really?"

"Well, not perhaps in quite that way." Caroline admitted, taking her bag from the backseat, along with a stack of files. "How was it?"

"The conference itself was really interesting, there was a lot of discussion on different teaching techniques that help certain types of students." Kate fell into step beside the blonde, glancing sideways at her. "Although I must admit I was interrupted several times by phone calls from your son."

"William?" Caroline paused.

"Lawrence, actually. Asking me to, I quote, "please come home". Apparently, you're a…what was it? A mardy cow when I'm not around." Kate gave an almost triumphant smile before she shot ahead to hold the door open.

Caroline muttered to herself about her son spending too much time listening to Gillian as she swept into the entrance, any student nearby falling silent as she passed them on the way to her office. "Well, if you must know, it wasn't the lack of your actual presence that made me a 'mardy cow', lovely as it is. It was who you were on the conference with."

"Jealous?" Kate tapped Caroline with her elbow, then almost fell into her when Caroline stopped abruptly.

"Should I be?"

Kate's smile softened now and she reached out a hand before remembering where she was and instead moved it behind her back to hold her other one tightly. "No. Can you walk a bit faster in those shoes?"

"Why?" Caroline huffed, annoyed that she'd admitted so easily what had been playing on her mind all bloody weekend.

"Because I want to kiss you and tell you what I did aside from work on this weekend, neither of which are quite appropriate for the hallways." Kate increased her pace, and after a few seconds of watching her wife, Caroline rushed after her.


"I feel like a teenager."

"Really? You definitely feel like a woman to me." Kate breathed, one hand on Caroline's cheek and the other trapped beneath her shirt pressed to warm skin with a racing heart underneath.

Caroline considered a reply, but instead captured Kate's lips again, pressing her a little more firmly against the door.

"B-Beverley will be here any minute." Kate reminded the blonde, though she didn't pull away, one hand brushing Caroline's cheek and jaw gently.

The headmistress, however, seemed to have just slightly more control and finally moved her hands from Kate and pressed them either side of her on the door instead. "I'm sorry."

Kate smiled softly, though unsure what exactly she was apologising for. Making an assumption, she ventured. "It's okay. It's understandable, with what..what happened with John?" When Caroline gave no response, she felt she'd understood correctly. "But I would never. And especially not with Gavin! Can you imagine being in the middle of wild, passionate love and saying Oh, Gavin!"

Caroline let out a laugh that instantly eased the tension of the last couple of days, leaving her wondering about quite what she'd been worrying about. "I have a meeting with him later and now that's all I'll be thinking about."

"Oh, it gets worse. He told me he's dating a woman called Griselda. Imagine their poor neighbours. Oh, Gavin! OH GRISELDA!"

By the time Beverley brought the tea in, Caroline was sat at her desk still smiling broadly to herself at the image of herself and Kate giggling together like the school girls they so often reprimanded.

She should probably do something for Lawrence to apologise for being a mardy cow. In fact, she might send him to a language class on eloquent swearing as a treat. Smirking to herself, Caroline thanked her PA, sat quietly for a moment and then began her day's work.