Home, Dry and Wasted.

A face from the past is lurking, and Connie Beauchamp finds herself thrown in at the deep end. Will she take him in? Will she give her the help she needs? It's all in her heart...

Connie/Paul Rose pairing; little unusual, but I like their interaction :)

'How about I take you home, knock up my infamous pasta carbonara, crack open a bottle of wine and we can break the news to the kids?' asked Paul.

'The first 3, heaven,' said Connie in reply. 'The last one, can't it wait?'

'Sorry sweetheart, but I think that the sooner the better. It'll all move very quickly now,' replied Paul as Connie groaned.

As they came home from the hospital, Connie couldn't help but feel her mind overflowing with thoughts. She never could've imagined a ghost from the past like Jenny coming back to haunt her, she thought that everything had been buried so well. Apparently she was wrong in thinking that her past had been hidden expertly from the prying eyes of others.

If news of Jenny got out around the hospital, Connie would become a laughing stock with her colleagues, going about her every day job would be a nightmare.

'Sweetheart,' said Paul from the driver's seat. 'No one's going to care that you're a grandmother or that you had a child when you were a teenager.'

Connie huffed in reply. 'It's stupid that I'm feeling concern for my reputation when my grandson needs me.'

'You've a right to be confused,' replied Paul. After a short pause, he said, 'How are we going to tell the kids?'

'We tell Charlotte straight out, we tell Grace an abbreviated story so we don't confuse her, and tell William that a baby's coming to stay,' said Connie. 'We can ring Jack at Oxford later to let him know.'

'Sounds like a plan,' said Paul, pulling into the driveway of their home. 'Home sweet home.'

'Mmm,' said Connie. 'Indeed.'

'Right, we can tell the kids, and then I can get started on dinner,' said Paul.

'Right,' said Paul, getting out of the car.

Connie followed closely behind him into the house, hanging up her coat and listening to the sounds of her family life.

'Kids, we're home!' shouted Paul. 'Living room please.'

'We're already in here,' said Charlotte.

'Okay,' said Paul, following Connie into the living room and sitting on the sofa beside her.

'How've they been?' asked Connie to Charlotte.

'Good as gold, as always,' said Charlotte. 'Grace has been colouring in, and Will's been watching the TV while I've been feeling sorry for myself. The joys of domestic bliss.'

'Thomas the tank engine again?' asked Connie. 'And why feeling sorry for yourself?'

'Yup,' replied Charlotte. 'It's amazing that nearly every 2 year old boy will bend to your will at the offer of that. And I've just been a bit sick. So anyway...what did you want us all together for?'

'We need to talk to you outside first before we tell Grace and William,' said Paul, standing up.

'Okay,' replied Charlotte. 'Let's go then.'

Getting up, Charlotte and Connie followed Paul out of the room, and into the kitchen.

'What's going on dad?' asked Charlotte once they were out of ear shot.

'We wanted to tell you first Lottie,' said Paul gently.

'Tell me what dad?' asked Charlotte. 'You're scaring me.'

'It's nothing bad,' said Connie. 'Believe us. It's just something to get used to, someone new to get used to.'

'Oh God, the two of you are going to have another baby aren't you?' said Charlotte excitedly. 'That's it, isn't it?'

'No, that's not it,' replied Connie. 'But we are going to have to convert one of the spare rooms into a nursery.'

'If you're not pregnant, then why?' asked Charlotte.

'I have another daughter, one that I gave up when I was 18. She's having some problems with addiction, so, if it's okay with you and the others, we're going to be looking after her son Brady for a while, my grandson,' said Connie.

'Oh, right,' said Charlotte. 'You're a grandmother? That's really strange.'

'You're telling me,' replied Connie. 'Everything will happen so quickly, the social worker's keen to get everything sorted out.'

'It's good,' replied Charlotte. 'What's your daughter's name?'

'Jenny,' said Connie. 'She's going back into rehab to get the help that she needs, and she might come and stay with us for a while afterwards. Is that okay?'

'It's fine,' replied Charlotte. 'It'll be good to have a baby around the house again. So I don't get a new brother or sister?'

'Sadly no,' said Paul, chuckling to himself.

'Any chances of one in the future?' asked Charlotte.

'Maybe,' replied Connie. 'We're not promising anything.'

'Okay,' replied Charlotte, holding her hands up. 'So I gather you're calling Jack to let him know, and telling Grace and William now?'

'Yes we are,' said Paul. 'An abbreviated version.'

'Let's do it then,' replied Connie, leaving the room with the two of them and going back into the living room, where William was still watching Thomas the Tank Engine, and Grace still drawing.

'Grace, William, will you stop what you're doing for a minute?' asked Paul. 'We have something to tell you.'

'Okay,' replied Grace, putting the pencils down.

'Someone's coming to be living with us soon,' said Connie. 'He's only a little baby, but he's mummy's grandson. You have nan and grandad Rose and grandad Chase, but little Brady has me. His mummy's not very well, so we're going to be looking after Brady for a bit. Is that okay?'

'Yeah,' replied Grace with a smile.

'Thomas,' yelled William.

'Okay little man,' said Paul with a smile. 'We'll put Thomas back on.'

Turning the TV back on, everything resumed as normal.

'First thing tomorrow, I'll call Sarah,' said Connie to Paul. 'And organise the handing over of Brady.'

'Will you want to see Jenny?' asked Paul.

'I think so,' replied Connie. 'There are a lot of things I want to find out, and I'm guessing that she has many unanswered questions.'