Almost three hours later Connie finally closed the last file.
She cursed when she looked at the clock, debating phoning Rita to apologize, but realized another 30 minutes wouldn't make much difference.
She went to grab her coat, cursing when she remembered she had thrown it away, instead grabbing her thick cardigan and draping it over her shoulders.
She then grabbed her purse and used her phone to locate the nearest Chinese, where she ended up getting a rather large selection of food.
She eventually made it to Rita's door, a lot later than she had intended, knocking gently, in case she had fallen asleep or anything.
Connie fell silent, listening for movement inside. Her heart broke when she heard sobbing from the inside.
"Rita?" Connie called through the door, a sniffle signifying Rita was trying to listen. "It's me Connie, can you let me in?" She asked. "Please?" Connie tried, not hearing any movement. "Rita are you hurt?" Connie asked, suddenly panicking when she thought about what happened the night before.
There was a sudden padding of feet down the hallway, a smash of glass before the door was flung open and Rita ran into Connie's arms.
"Hey." Connie kissed the top of Rita's head. She didn't say anything but the whole house smelt of alcohol, and Rita's usually light body felt heavy against her own. "I was thinking we could head back to mine?" Connie suggested, Rita nodding happily at that suggestion. "Let's get you some pyjamas and something to keep you warm in the car."
"I don't ever want to go back in there." Rita whispered.
"Is there someone in there?" Connie peered in, a broken glass on the floor, but Connie was pretty sure Rita had dropped that on route to the car.
"It just reminds me of Mark…" Rita nestled her head into the crook of Connie's neck.
Connie took Rita's hand, leading the shivering woman to her car, strapping her in and kneeling next to the car.
"I'm going to go and get some stuff, enough stuff so you can stay at mine for a couple of days at least. Is there anything particular you want?" Connie asked, brushing a piece of hair out of Rita's tired eyes, Rita shaking her head as she did so. "Ok, I'll be back." Connie promised, shutting the car door and dashed into Rita's house to gather the stuff she needed.
Less than 5 minutes later and Connie returned, she smiled to see Rita half asleep.
Connie threw a suitcase of clothes into her boot, and then returned to the front with a thick blanket of Rita's couch.
She tucked it around Rita, making sure she was snuggly before driving off.
They arrived at Connie's house in less than 20 minutes, so late at night the traffic was much better, making the journey quicker than if they had gone straight after work.
Connie sat in the car for a few minutes, just watching Rita sleeping.
She resisted caressing Rita's cheek as she saw the faded tear tracks down her pale cheeks, the purple bruises still present on her delicate wrists and the smell of far too much alcohol filling the small car.
Connie blamed herself, she should have finished work with Rita, taken her home and made sure that she was ok.
Connie finally shook herself out of her trance, she quietly opened the car door, getting Rita's stuff out of the boot and placing it inside the house.
She then returned back to the car, not wanting to wake Rita, but knowing she needed to get her inside.
She gently slipped her arms under the crook of Rita's knees and under Rita's neck. Rita half disturbed, grabbing on to Connie as Connie took her carefully up to the house.
The next few weeks were relatively uneventful.
Rita's nightmares had become a routine where Connie would awake, hold the younger woman close as she cried herself back to sleep.
There sleeping patter not ideal, but it was the only way Rita was managing to get any sleep at all.
Rita's bouts of sickness were becoming more frequent, but Rita refused to let Connie believe it was any more than her own bad cooking.
Connie woke up one morning, knowing she had a delicate topic to broach with Rita, knowing they had the day off, and deciding she would see how
Rita was that morning before trying to talk to her.
Rita found Connie downstairs on the sofa, her hair was wet from recently showering and there was a cup of once boiling tea still resting in her hands.
"Morning." Rita half yawned as she fell onto the sofa next to Connie, their lips brushing gracefully against one another's, their now normal morning greeting. "You look serious."
"I need to talk to you about something I've forgotten… Well just remembered." Connie bit her lip, taking Rita's hands as she thought of the best way to say.
"Is it me? Is something wrong? Are you breaking up with me?" Rita pulled her hands out of Connie's, only to have Connie take hold of them again almost immediately.
"No, no, no. Don't be so silly. Grace is coming to stay tomorrow, I am so sorry I didn't mention it until now! Sam text me a couple of days ago, but up until that point I had forgotten." Connie said, Rita nodding.
"I can get all my stuff out of here…" Rita started, remembering their original agreement to deny all knowledge of their relationship to Grace to give Connie the best possible few weeks with her daughter.
"No. I want you to stay. I want you to move in, I want you to be a part of Grace's life." Connie blurted out, Rita at first taken back by everything Connie had just said.
"Really?" Rita's eyes were watering.
Connie nodded, but didn't get to say much else as Rita started to convulse and fit on the sofa.
"Oh my God. Rita?" Connie pulled her phone out of her pocket, phoning 999 whilst simultaneously rolling Rita onto her side to make sure she didn't choke.