Sorry about the long wait but here is the next instalment. Sorry it's a bit shorter than usual but hopefully next chapter up soon.


The loud rumbling of Martha's stomach was Clive's cue that he really should get out of bed and get the breakfast he had promised her earlier. He had got distracted having her in his bed and they had made love again recently, both were now dozing in contended silence until Martha's stomach had reminded them both of its presence.

"So how about I take Molly for her morning walk and I pass by the cafe and pick us up some bacon sandwiches, croissants and coffee for breakfast?" Clive suggested.

"Sounds good," Martha agreed before searching out Clive's lips for their first kiss of the day. Clive slowly withdrew from Martha and headed for the bathroom to clean up a little, Martha checking out his naked body as he went. He soon reappeared and threw on some sweat clothes before heading to the living room...and meeting disaster.

"Fucking hell, Molly!" Clive exploded when he saw the state of the room and the vandal that had caused the damage. Molly had obviously not been very impressed at being shut in the living room all night and had taken out her displeasure on one of the cushions in the room. At her feet there now lay the tattered remnants of the cushion and scattered all around the room was the white stuffing.

Molly threw Clive a haughty look of contempt before walking past him, out of her temporary prison and towards the kitchen looking for some food and water.

"You have just booked yourself a place at doggy obedience lessons, young lady," Clive threatened Molly's retreating form. "You have been a very naughty girl," he continued as he surveyed the mess in his living room.

"Are you talking to me?" Martha said as she approached Clive. She had heard Clive's annoyed words and curiosity had got the better of her. Finding Clive's discarded work shirt she had thrown it on, done up a couple of buttons to maintain some modesty and headed to the living room.

"No," Clive replied, "although you were a naughty girl as well last night," he said seductively. "That shirt looks much better on you than me by the way," he said as he pulled Martha into an embrace and kissed her. "Look at the mess Molly made last night," he said as they broke apart.

Martha looked at all the bits of stuffing now littering the living room and the mangled torn cushion. "She wasn't very impressed at being kept out of the bedroom then," she remarked.

"Seems fairly accurate," Clive agreed.

"I'm telling you she is jealous Clive," Martha said. "Where is she?".

"In the kitchen,".

Martha walked towards the kitchen. She could hear Molly lapping at her water as she approached.

"Morning Molly," Martha greeted cheerily. Molly looked at Martha but didn't move. "We're sorry for throwing you out the bedroom," Martha apologised as she approached the dog and started stroking her. "But we needed some time alone. You'd understand if you had a boyfriend," she continued as she sat down beside the dog. Molly stopped drinking and turned to Martha and started sniffing her, no doubt picking up her masters scent on her. Martha continued stroking her and paying her attention. "Are we still friends? I'm not replacing you I promise. We just have to start to share him,". Molly accepted Martha's apology with several licks to her face.

"Right you," Clive said appearing at the kitchen door with Molly's lead in hand. "You don't deserve it but it's time for our morning walk,". Molly understood and happily went over to Clive for her lead to be attached. She loved walk time.

"I'll let you two have some time together and mend some bridges," Martha said, standing and walking over to the pair. "I'm going back to bed. I'll have brown sauce on my sandwich please,".


"Good walk?" Martha asked as Clive entered the room a little while later. Molly wasn't far behind, eager to try and get a bit of extra breakfast from the humans. Clive gave Martha her sandwich before disrobing to his underwear and hopping back into bed. Molly jumped up and managed to settle herself down between the pair.

"Not bad," Clive answered. "Nicer being back though. Bought some papers as well. Thought we could spend a leisurely morning in bed before tidying up the living room," Clive said, throwing a pointed look at his dog. Molly was much more interested in keeping track of the bacon sandwiches to notice she was being talked about.

Martha relented first and gave the dog bits of her sandwich and pastries which were all wolfed down in seconds. Feeling full the dog happily fell asleep in her position between the couple, enjoying their company whilst they read the newspapers. Her position wasn't liked by Clive however as it prevented him from being in close contact with Martha.

Once he had finished reading the papers he decided to take matters into his own hands and left his side of the bed before squeezing in beside Martha. "That's better," he said once his skin was back in contact with hers. It didn't take long for the new couple to become amorous again and soon Clive was once more hovering over Martha and penetrating her.

The movement of the bed as the couple headed to climax woke Molly. Recognising what was going on she quickly left the lovers to it and jumped off the bed and headed to her bed in the kitchen to finish off her nap in peace.


"Is he still here?" Martha asked as she entered the clerk's office on Monday afternoon. Billy didn't have to ask who she was talking about, everyone was talking about the accountant that day in chambers.

"Still upstairs with Mr Reader," Billy informed her. "He's been up there a while,".

"Is that good or bad?" Martha asked.

"Don't know," Billy answered.

They didn't have long to wait before they heard Clive walking the man in question down the stairs and showing him out of the building. Knowing lots of people were waiting to find out how the meeting had gone in the clerks room he decided to put them out of their misery and headed there.

"How was it?" Martha asked.

Clive decided to milk the situation a bit and kept silent looking concerned, but seeing all the worry on the faces of the people in front of him he couldn't keep it up. "It's all good," he said breaking into a smile. "We've one of the healthiest looking bank accounts in Temple and considering all the changes going on at the moment in law he's very positive,".

"Didn't I say it would be fine," Martha said as she stepped forward and hugged him.

"I know," Clive replied. "And thanks everyone. I'm so grateful for everyone's hard work,". Without thinking he kissed Martha thoroughly, forgetting where they were due to his current relief at the accountants assessment.

Billy and the other clerks looked at each other. This was unexpected and completely out of the blue. Martha and Clive broke apart and started heading out the office, only to be met with a quickly closed door by Jake who had been instructed by Billy to do so.

"What's going on?" Clive asked as he looked at Jake.

"I think we should be asking you that, sir," replied Billy and Clive and Martha turned to look at him. "What was that?".

"What was what?" Clive asked completely mystified.

"That public show of affection we all just witnessed," Billy informed him. "When did this change in your relationship occur?". Clive started to open his mouth to answer but was cut off by Billy. "Before you say, sir, get the diary Jake,".

"Is this this stupid bet thing?" Martha asked as she watched Jake carry out Billy's order.

Jake found the book in question and handed it to Billy who started rifling through the pages until he found the current date. "Ok," Billy said once he had found the current date, "So when did you finally throw caution to the wind and become a couple?".

"Don't tell him," Martha said quickly to Clive.

"Don't be like that, Miss. There's five thousand pounds in the pool now, you could make someone very happy today," Billy revealed.

"Five thousand pounds?!" Said Martha shocked.

"Give or take," said Billy. "So when was it, sir?". Billy asked again, knowing he would be the easiest to crack.

"Friday," said Clive.

Billy flicked back a few pages to the date in question. "Damn!" He muttered. "No one has chosen that day," he said looking at Clive disapprovingly like it was his fault no one had won.

"What a shame," Martha retorted. "Maybe we can forget all about this stupid bet then then and the money can go to charity or something,".

"We could do what the lottery does and have a roll over," Jake piped up. "Bet on when they move in together or something,".

"Excellent idea Jake," Billy replied.

"You do know we are still here don't you, Billy?" Martha asked. "I can't believe you are trying to make money from this relationship!".

"We're all for the relationship miss," Billy argued. "If we weren't, we'd be betting on when you were going to split up or something," he continued thinking he was being helpful but realised Martha wasn't seeing it that way when she shot him her special look that she saved for when he was treading on really thin ice.

Knowing he had to act quickly to try and calm her down he decided to take her side. "You're right miss, I apologise. I've been completely insensitive," he said, closing the diary with a definitive snap. "I'll call a halt to the whole thing and give everyone their money back," Billy offered. An angry Martha Costello bearing down on you wasn't pleasant as he had discovered a few times in the past. He just hoped this worked. Treating his lawyers like toddlers and giving in to their demands before they threw an almighty strop usually worked- and it looked like it was going to work again.

"Thank you," Martha replied before leaving the room with Clive.

"We're still betting aren't we?" Asked Jake once the new couple had left the room and were out of earshot.

"Of course we are. We just have to be more subtle about it," Billy confirmed. "Right then, you know them. What do you think will be the next step? Living together or something more traditional like marriage?".

"Why don't we do both?" John suggested. "Cover all bases,".

"Good thinking. Right then anyone want to hazard a guess on when either of those might happen?" Billy asked as he reopened the diary and started writing down people's guesses.