Caroline felt a creeping cold as she woke, still buckled into the front seat of the Jeep. Groggily, she turned and looked out the window. The lights were on in the entry and the upstairs of Eleanor's house.

The front door opened and Eleanor strolled toward the car, hands in the pockets of her jeans. She opened the passenger door as Caroline unbuckled herself.

She pouted at Eleanor. "You left me out in the cold."

"I tried to wake you and you said a couple of rather rude things. So I left you to your own devices while I tucked Flora in for the night." Eleanor stood with her hand on the car door and shut it after her. "And I could do without the snoring, after an hour of it."

Caroline shook herself against the cold and grinned bashfully. "Sorry about that."

"I'm a beast when you try and wake me in the morning. I know it. No hard feelings." She snuck a hand around Caroline's waist and they walked toward the house.

"All true." She shivered again as they passed through the foyer. She shrugged off her coat and hung it next to Eleanor's. "We never got that hot bath you referenced so long ago this morning." Betraying her own intentions, she yawned, mighty and gaping.

"Perhaps tomorrow night." Eleanor did what she did constantly, reached up and tucked the blond hair framing Caroline's face behind her ears, swept back her bangs.

A smile crept on to her lips as she held her hand out to Eleanor and they headed toward the stairs. "Okay. No bath. But I did have a nice nap on our way home."

"Did you?"

She pulled Eleanor through the doorway into the bedroom. "You were right about that walk and the glass of wine. I'm feeling much more limber than I was this morning."

"Are you?"

"Yes. But you also mentioned something about a good stretch. So how about you stretch my back – and properly?"

"I thought you'd never ask." Eleanor stepped into Caroline confidently, who stepped back from her approach.

"Easy, tiger." She turned and stood at the bureau, leaving Eleanor standing with her hands on her hips and a fiery expression of disapproval.

She smiled as she watched Eleanor simmer. She'd been winding her up all day. Not that she didn't still appreciate Eleanor's physical demeanor. Instead she was beginning to appreciate more the benefits of frustrating it, in the short term. 'I wonder how long I'll be able to get away with this little power play.' As she removed her jewelry and undid her ponytail she continued to watch Eleanor in the mirror, who watched her right back and began to undo the buttons of her plaid flannel shirt, slowly and deliberately, frowning at her with stern promise. Caroline smiled to herself. 'I suppose, actually, that I should instead wonder how long Eleanor's been on to me.'

She placed her hands on her hips and turned and faced Eleanor directly - who crossed her arms.

"This is ridiculous." She stepped forward, standing right in front of Caroline now, and pouted. "Why are you playing this game with me?"

Caroline frowned, started to speak, to insist it wasn't a game, but of course that wasn't true. She realized had no idea what she was after. "To be perfectly honest, I really don't know."

"Unless the answer is that you want to drive me to embarrassing heights of unrequited lust, I fear we're going to have a conversation." Eleanor spat the last word.

"And what if that is the answer?" Caroline grinned and hooked a finger through the front of Eleanor's bra.

Eleanor parted her mouth suggestively. She put a finger to her lower lip, and tilted her head down - then looked up bashfully at Caroline through her eyelashes, but didn't speak.

Caroline's dropped her hands to Eleanor's waist, pulling her forward.

Eleanor brought her hands up and pushed her back, swatted her shoulder. "Oh no you don't."

"Excuse me?"

"No, Caroline. Excuse me. I'm not your doe-eyed, vapid nymph." Eleanor dipped her hand into the waistband of Caroline's jeans and tugged her forward and back almost simultaneously. "I mean - I am a nymph. And a damn sexy one. But doe-eyed and vapid, not so much. And something feels wrong about you right now. So talk to me."

She fumed at Eleanor's condescension, but took her meaning. "All right then, nymph." She gestured at Eleanor's mostly naked body. "Shirt on."

"How about my shirt on, and your shirt off?" Eleanor widened her eyes suggestively.

Caroline laughed. "And who is it exactly that called for this conversation right as I was about to reprise that shagging you're so mad about?"

"Fine." Eleanor skirted Caroline closely and grabbed an oversized t-shirt from the dresser. She doffed her jeans and threw them at the basket. "Better?"

Caroline took in her mostly bare long legs and shook her head. "Sure." She turned and took off her own sweater and bra and put on her shirt and shorts for bed.

Eleanor grabbed a tie from the nightstand and began to braid her hair.

'Oh I hate it when she braids her hair before bed. It's like a giant keep out sign.' She passed her gaze over Eleanor's legs one more time. 'And I'd better come up with a reasonable explanation for this whole thing.' She racked her brain. Was there anything she was feeling other than excitement at marrying Eleanor? Anticipation?

They were still talking like kids at Christmas about the whens and the wheres of everything. But neither of them was in a rush. Their commitment was made, and she felt more solid now than ever about their partnership. Moving her from being another trusted adult for Flora to being a Mum and a co-parent. She drifted for a moment in her thoughts, imagining actually marrying Eleanor. She glanced over at her again, distracted and fussing with her mobile as she waited for Caroline.

She watched her squint and smiled at her stubborn refusal to accept that she needed reading glasses all the time now. Watched her unconsciously put a hand on her hip and frown at something she clearly didn't like, but her expression change a moment later to a smile that Caroline never stopped thinking of as provocative.

That provocative smile made her imagine their wedding night. Would they go away immediately? Wait awhile before the honeymoon? Expectantly she thought about going away with Eleanor after the wedding, and all of a sudden felt something – shift. And she thought of Kate. The vacation they had planned to America and had never taken.

She walked slowly over to Eleanor. She stood next to the bed and regarded her with loving exasperation. "I'm really not going to be able to get away with anything, am I?" She reached over and tugged her braid gently. "Even if I confess, am I damned to miss out this evening?"

Eleanor turned with a sly smile. "Confessions are always looked upon with merciful consideration and granted immediately clemency by the court."

"Good." Caroline exhaled up through her bangs. "Though I don't really want to talk about it."

"Of course not. Neither do I. I hate talking. I loathe it." Eleanor frowned.

"But." Caroline nodded. The ship had sailed. "Yep."

Eleanor tossed back the duvet dramatically. "How about a spoon full of sugar, darling. Always works for Ms. Poppins." Eleanor returned to the dresser and donned pajama pants. "I'm trying to keep us focused," she replied to the unverbalized question.

"Ah."

"This all started with mention of a good and proper stretch. So let's do it. You focus on that while you talk, and we'll muddle through together." Eleanor pointed at the bed and Caroline laid herself flat out on her back.

Eleanor jumped back onto the bed and straddled one of Caroline's legs. She lifted the other, propped it on her shoulder and began to lean forward. Caroline winced at the increasing intensity until Eleanor finally stopped.

"I see the difficulty in staying focused. Sort of." The grimace stayed on Caroline's face, but her back was actually very grateful when the pressure eased.

"Now. What's up." Eleanor placed a hand on Caroline's chest and looked at her directly before turning her head and making a show of focusing on Caroline's leg again.

"I've been thinking about our honeymoon lately."

"Mmmmmm. Me too."

"And I've had a hard time being as excited about it as I'd like to be. As I think I ought to be."

Eleanor gently set Caroline's leg down and moved to the other, duplicating the stretch and balancing the muscles. "Oh."

"But I didn't really think about why, until just now." Caroline winced again and let out a great sigh. "The wedding. It's making me think of Kate." 'There. I've said it. And I wonder how long she's going to be patient with me talking about the way Kate fits into our marriage?'

Eleanor was quiet, but slowly released the tension she'd been holding against Caroline. She sat back on her heels, placing her hands on her thighs. "Of course it has." It was her turn to sigh. "I've said it before. We each have a past. You've met mine. She's destructive, and whatever presence she has is very little to do with love. But I'm moving on - with your help." She looked down at her hands, but right back up. "Your past – Kate. She's love. That's what your ghost is. Love. And that's a good thing." She smiled softly.

Caroline felt at that moment as if she could die for loving her so strongly.

Eleanor continued, her voice firm but quiet. "It's also a hard thing, because I don't want to share you. And the way Kate died, so unfairly and soon - well she'll always be a little bit perfect for you, won't she?" Eleanor's eyes were still soft, but Caroline saw the hurt and the challenge, a little frustration. "So in some ways I do share you. I told you how it is with first girlfriends. I think you might believe me now." She leaned forward again, hand on Caroline's chest.

Caroline laid hers over it. "We can't help what we feel. We can't help having our ghosts. But we can talk about them, I suppose, and try to put them in perspective." She ran a hand down Eleanor's arm.

They stared at each other for a while, until Eleanor huffed. "Can we be done talking now?"

"Please."