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 :)

'Sounds like it's all moving along,' said Paul.

'It is,' replied Connie.

'Argh!' exclaimed Charlotte. 'The smell of paint is making me ill!'

'Hmm,' replied Connie. 'It's annoying me too, shall we go shopping for accessories?'

'Sounds better than this,' she remarked. 'Better than working.'

The men quietly laughed to theirselves, but it caught the attention of the women.

'What's so funny?' asked Charlotte snappily.

'You haven't been working,' stated Paul.

'The two of you have been watching the two of us paint,' stated Jack. 'Will's been helping more than you!'

Little William, sitting on the floor with a paintbrush in his hand beamed a cheeky smile. 'Paint!'

'See?' said Jack. 'He even knows what it is!'

'Your humour astounds me,' retorted Charlotte. 'Oh tell me great master of comedy, how did you become such an idiot?'

'By painting,' shot back Jack.

'Okay, sibling rivalry and sniping aside, we're going shopping. Are you coming Grace?' asked Connie

'Yeah!' she replied.

'Do you want us to take Will as well?' asked Connie.

'Nah,' said Paul. 'Leave him, he's enjoying himself.'

'Okay,' she replied. 'We're off. All we need is curtains, bed clothing, a rug and general clothing...'

'I'll brace myself for the credit card bill,' replied Paul. 'Connie Rose and clothes don't mix for the credit card of those like me.'

'That rhymes,' said Jack.

'What a revelation,' remarked Charlotte as she, Connie and Grace left the room.

'Time to leave the brawn behind,' remarked Connie.

'Brawn? Don't make me laugh!' said Charlotte as they giggled together.

'So, is the morning sickness still getting to you?' asked Connie.

'A bit,' replied Charlotte. 'But now I'm craving so many bizarre things. Like last night, everyone was in bed, it was around 2am, and I woke up desperate for chocolate and pickled onions together with ice cream, so I raided the fridge.'

'Whoa that's disgusting,' said Connie.

'I never would've considered it before, but it was quite nice,' remarked Charlotte. 'My classmates thinks it's weird...'

'Do they know you're pregnant?' asked Connie.

'Yeah,' she said quietly. 'Some are really supportive about it, but I've got a lot of stick from it. The teachers aren't too keen on me now either, apart from a few.'

'They'll get over it,' replied Connie. 'They're just narrow minded idiots who can't see beyond mistakes. You're going to make something amazing of your life Charlotte, nothing can stand in the way of how clever you are. If Jack can get to Oxford, you can whilst standing on your head juggling a baby and 5 billion textbooks.'

'Imagine that,' remarked Charlotte. 'Anyway, moving on, did you find out where Jenny is?'

'I spoke to Sarah again yesterday,' said Connie. 'She said that Jenny's staying at a hostel in West Holby. It's not far from here, so I'll go and see her tomorrow I guess, before I go to pick up Brady. Technically, my leave starts from here on...so I've got the time...'

'You should definitely go and see her,' stated Charlotte. 'You both probably have questions for each other. You might leave feeling like you understand her more.'

'Where did my young Charlotte get her wisdom from?' asked Connie.

'Pregnancy,' replied Charlotte. 'It has stimulated my wiseness as well as my wideness.'

'Firstly, wiseness is not a word,' said Connie. 'Undermining your whole point, and you're not wide, you're pregnant and not even showing!'

'Pfft,' replied Charlotte. 'Now let's do some shopping!'

Returning from their shopping spree with their arms laden with bags, Charlotte, Connie and Grace were exhausted.

Using their last ounce of energy, they made the bed in the brown and cream teddy bear themed room, put up the curtains, laid down the rug and put all of the newly bought clothes into the wardrobe.

Collapsing down on various sofas and armchairs, they all gave a sigh of delight, knowing that the room was 100% ready for when Brady came in 2 days time.

'Early night?' said Charlotte.

'Ahh, read my mind,' said Connie. 'Let's all go to bed, I'm pooped.'

'You'd have to be to use that adjective,' remarked Paul with a yawn.

Not having the energy to slap him, Connie simply said, 'You'll pay for that later...'