This one's a bit lacking in everyone's favourite mystery, I'm afraid, but the next chapter will be a little interlude a la Stonem so hopefully that will make up for it?

Emily has come to play a bigger part in this story than I expected, so I've changed Pandora for her in the character list. Don't worry, we'll still have our [Pandora M, Thomas T]. I love them too much to leave them out!

That being said, Miss Moon does have a slightly larger role in this chapter... but I'll leave you to find that out for yourself.

Your reviews make me so happy; I have to thank you again for them all :)

That night, Katie cried longer and harder than she ever had in her life. Gone; gone were all those dreams of her little Megan Emily... or a boy, she didn't really care what gender it was, not in truth. She told Thomas everything, from Tony's injury, to Effy's 'fragility', to the elder Stonem's sexual advances on her. He held her and soothed her, typical Thomas calm for most of her story – although that latter piece of information made him angry, which helped Katie retain at least a little of her feminine pride. He even threatened to call up Tony's girlfriend and tell her, but Katie told him not to bother. She had got the feeling from seeing Michelle's sadly knowing eyes as they exited the kitchen that it wasn't the first time Anthony Stonem had tested the boundaries of fidelity.

She left several voice messages on Effy's phone, none but the first of which were acknowledged (and that one only with a brief text, simply no.) They were all the same anyway; they began with Katie speaking in a professional voice, apologising for her behaviour and sometimes even offering money, which she knew was illegal, and MDMA at twenty-one had been the last time Katie had even thought of breaking the law. They ended with tears. Mrs Katherine Fitch Tomone was shedding a lot of those at the moment.

Her friends were perfectly reassuring. Thomas was kind, caring and loving, Emily offered soothing words and far-fetched visions of hope (whilst Naomi simply suggested briskly but reasonably that they find someone else to adopt from, which made Katie cry again and Emily get all reproachful.) Even Pandora turned up at their doorstep, bearing a nervously apologetic look and a plate of biscuits. Out of them all, she was possibly the most re-assuring: her close connection to Effy made her comments on the girl's high-strung nature give Katie all the more of that self-righteous feeling which was more often than not her only refuge nowadays.

The one possibly positive outcome of this was the increase in intimacy between her and Thomas. They had always been a close couple – people say marriage takes the spice out of relationships, but that didn't seem to have been true for them – but somehow a further connection seemed to be developing between them that Katie didn't think had been there before. It wasn't just sex, either, it was more long evenings drinking and talking, more 'couple time': nights out at cinemas, days at gardens or museums, or just being snuggled up on the couch together with pizza and TV.

Still. It might have been good, but it was nothing like the life she had previously seen for the two of them – no longer just a loved up couple, but a mother and father. Katie had wanted this intimacy, this affection, this companionship in a relationship for a long time, but before that, more than that, she wanted a child. And although what Naomi said was true – adoption was still an option – it felt to her that all her hopes of motherhood had walked out of the door with the shadowy, perceptive Effy.

Maybe talking about children again at a later date might still have been on the cards, but as it was, just mentioning parenthood got Katie emotional. A less understanding husband might have tired of her irrational weepiness, but Thomas knew how much this meant to her. A lifetime of being misunderstood, of being labelled as a stupid slut whose only asset was her sizeable chest, led the elder Fitch twin to want something more than just a comfortable life and a loving husband. She wanted a way to create an imprint... a piece of her left behind on the earth after she was gone. And more than that, she wanted someone who would look up to her, love her unconditionally, respect her. Maybe that was why she had treated Emily the way she had when they were younger. Maybe she was simply a control freak. Thomas didn't know, but what he did know was that he loved his wife and that he wanted her to be happy, and so he stayed quiet on the adoption front.

Strangely, it was a rather unlikely hero who prompted Katie to get back on track. Her saviour came in the form of... a phonecall from Jenna Fitch.

"Darling?" Hearing her mother's voice, Katie just sighed.

"Yeah, mum?"

"We haven't spoken in a while." It was true, but Katie knew there had to be a better reason than that for the call. If you forgot the selfishness, the controllingness, and the vapid homophobia, Jenna was a reasonably well-meaning person – but selfishness, controllingness, and vapid homophobia were not easy things to forgot.

"No."

"How are you and Thomas?"

"We're fine."

"Good. That's good." She paused. "Katie, there's something I'd like to ask about."

"Right. Yeah?"

"Since Emily appears to be – content – with that Naomi girl, and James isn't, ah, settling down, either... " James' early fascination with the female form had led most people to believe he would be firmly straight, but they had been wrong, and Katie had seriously thought her mother would have a heart attack when she'd learnt that not one, but two of her precious children were defying her heteronormative expectations of them. "... I was wondering if you two were ever thinking of... ?"

Oh, shit. Most days Katie was happy about her mother's continuing ignorace of her infertility, but right now, she wished she'd told her a long time ago. "Of what?" Katie asked in a brittle tone, not wanting to do Jenna's dirty work for her. Still, a sense of foreboding filled her. How the fuck am I going to tell her about this situation?

"Of – well, of continuing the Fitch lineage, darling. You know I want grandchildren."

"Emily and Naomi can still – "

"That isn't the same thing." Now Jenna's voice cut brutally across that of her daughter's, and Katie winced. She and Emily had had to learn to love their mother despite her faults, but at times like this, it proved increasingly difficult.

"Why not?"

"It isn't – biological."

"It can be, they're finding ways to – "

"Katie!" At that, Katie decided that maybe now wasn't the best to time to relearn something she'd been taught at a very young age – never challenge Jenna Fitch when she's latched onto an idea. "Are you telling me you and Thomas don't want children?"

Katie swallowed, trying to getrid of that raw sensation in her throat. Not only was this awkward, it was now becoming rather emotionally difficult, too. "Well, we've thought about it, Mum, but – "

"Yes?" Clear voice, clear intention. And Katie knew if she didn't say something then she was going to end up saying the truth, tears and all. So she just let go with the first thing that came into her head.

"Well, the thing is, Mum, I didn't want to tell you just yet, but – I'm pregnant."

x

Thomas was angry. He was actually angry.

That's not to say that Katie didn't think he had the right to be. Of course he did. She had told an enormous, unjustifiable lie, and it was going to be a long time before either of them saw the end of it. It was just that it had been such a very long time since she had seen him display any negative emotion – let alone anger.

It wasn't the sort of clichéd anger where he was now only talking to her when he needed her to pass the butter. Thomas and Katie just didn't do that. But when she'd first told him what she'd said – which had been awkward and painful enough as it was – he had shouted at her for five straight minutes, and only apologised when she started crying. He also kept asking her, in ominous voices, if they could 'talk'. And she knew it was her fault, knew that she had royally messed up over that phone conversation, but it was still strange. Thomas just didn't do angry and it made her feel pretty shit to know that she had fucked up to such a degree that that had, apparently, changed.

Katie had suggested, several times, that they just tell Jenna she'd miscarried, but Thomas' sense of right and wrong wasn't having it. "We'll have to tell the truth sooner or later," was his mantra, and although Katie disagreed firmly with that particular bit of wisdom, she saw his point. Even if she could, it wouldn't be fair or good to carry on lying to her mother forever... even if she could, and even if a part of her was saying Fuck fair or good, this is Jenna Fitch we're talking about here.

What she wasn't going to do was call her mother back and tell her straight out that she'd lied. Striking off those two options, she was pretty much left with Wait six months then pretend Mum forgot you were supposed to be having a baby. Not exactly a compliment to Jenna's intelligence, and thus neither was it viable.

In the end it was Pandora who saved the day. She'd been coming over quite regularly since the party; she wasn't in any way the bright, kooky bundle of energy that Effy had described, but she was a nice girl and got on well with both of them, especially Thomas. The two would spend long afternoons cooking and baking together whilst Katie was out at work, and then she could return to a tasty, home-made dinner, plus cake for pudding, as well as wine and conversation with her husband and a girl who was quickly shaping up to become a good friend. Katie was still intrigued by the discrepancy between Effy's description of the girl and Pandora herself, but didn't bring it up. After all, how important could it be?

"Panda," said Katie amiably one day, over a plate of crisp, delicious salad accessorised with garlic croutons, "do you think there's any chance you could get Effy to speak to us?" The girl looked faintly scared at the proposition, and Katie hurried to justify herself. "It's just that everything was going so well, and now – "

She faltered, and sensing this, Thomas cut across. "Do you know what she's planning to do regarding the baby now?" Again, Panda was pretty much silent. "Really, we'd just like a chance to apologise to her."

Pandora sighed. "Well, I shouldn't, but – " She giggled indulgently. "I s'pose it would be good if – " Again, she gave that little laugh, but didn't elaborate any further. It was the most they'd got out of her for a while, so Katie let it be, until Panda unexpectedly decided to further the topic herself a few minutes later. "Blimey, this is bad, but I 'ave 'ad an idea if you're interested, like." A last little giggle.

"Yeah?"

"Well, I dunno. Let Panda work 'er magic, isnit?" She laughed again and went back to her food. Thomas and Katie couldn't help but exchange looks.

x

Katie was in a despicably bad mood. Not a low level, it's-been-kind-of-a-shitty-day bad mood, but a full on, Storm-Katie-is-due-to-hit bad mood. It had been four days since the conversation with Pandora and the brief hope of that interaction had been pretty much put out of her mind... her bad mood was focussed almost wholly on one particular target.

Naomi Campbell.

It wasn't like she didn't usually hate the bitch; they had never got on well, especially since she converted Emily to the ways of the woman. (Katie was as unlikely to admit that her sister would have been gay with or without the blonde as she was to admit that actually, she had absolutely no problem with homosexuality whatsoever.) But this? This took it to a whole new fucking level.

Jenna and Rob had invited Katie, Thomas, Emily and James back to their place for dinner, and as usual, Emily had insisted that Naomi be allowed to visit, too. Jenna had pursed her lips and set another place at the table. Even she had to admit that her arguments with the younger twin were beginning to get a little excessive.

So they were all sat around the table, eating and chatting as happily as was concievable for a family like the Fitches, when Jenna dropped the bombshell – obviously assuming that Emily and Naomi already knew about Katie's 'pregnancy'. (Which would have been a fair assumption... if Katie had actually been pregnant.)

It was just an off-hand comment. Rob poured out the wine, and Jenna reminded him not to fill a glass for Katie (this had the added side-effect of making Katie wince as she remembered her argument with Effy.) James, ever curious, asked "Why?" and Jenna grinned in delight as she informed him of how she expected to soon be blessed with grand-children, eliciting a reproachful sigh from Thomas.

Emily quickly caught on and acted her part perfectly... it was Naomi who was the problem.

"Don't be stupid," she said simply and clearly, "Katie's infertile. She's never going to have kids."

The rest of the dinner did not go particularly well.

So now Katie was marching along the street towards the Campbell-Fitch residence, not sure quite how she was going to do it, but determind to get her back on the treacherous blonde. Not fucking stupid, is she? Emily's dozy at the best of times, I mean, book shit aside, she never had the most common sense, and even she managed to work it out. God, does Campbell have a fucking death wish?

Katie had asked Emily for a key, but no such luck, which was beginning to worry her now. Her ideas of what lesbians got up to in their spare time were heavily distorted and she didn't want to have to wait at the doorstep whilst they finished 'licking each other out', as she so eloquently explained it to Thomas before storming out of the house.

In fact, Emily and Naomi were not at that point engaged in oral sex, because, as would shock Katie, that isn't all that lesbians ever do. Emily wasn't actually even in the house. As far as Katie could see upon the door being opened, it was just Naomi, eyes glassy with what Katie recognised as the 'hungover' look. Oh, fuck off, I don't want puppy dog eyes. I don't care if you drank enough to finish off an elephant last night, I need to fucking talk to you. Or rather, talk at you. To be honest, I'm not really expecting to allow you much participation in the conversation.

"Hello, Katie." Naomi's voice was that of a very, very weary person who has just been confronted with one last task to perform.

"Hey, bitch. Care to explain last night?"

"Oh, fuck off."

"Don't intend to."

"Look," Naomi sighed, "why don't we just cut to the chase. Come inside?"

"Yeah, I fucking will." She pushed Naomi out of the way and proceeded inside, turning left to enter the sitting room.

As it was, she was stopped in her tracks. A pale, slender form (but for a now pretty noticeable bump), clad in a disturbingly flimsy classic grey shirt dress, lounged on one of Naomi's charity-shop sofa, obviously much less surprised to see Katie than Katie was to see her.

"Effy."

Katie felt Naomi draw up behind her, but couldn't break eye contact with Effy to note her no doubt irritated expression. "The chase. That we were going to cut to." Both girls ignored her.

"Hello, Katie," drawled Effy. "Isn't this nice?"

Sorry.

I can't write cliffhangers.

This will have to do.