AAHHHH IT'S BEEN TOO LONG I'M SORRY! I'M FEELING BIT BETTER, AND YOUR KIND REVIEWS JUST REALLY MAKE MY DAY! MORE GRACE AND FREECHAMP THIS CHAPTER. PLANNING A BIG FLUFFY/SMUTTY FREECHAMP CHAPTER IN A FEW CHAPTERS TIME? YAY OR NAY? ALSO COMMENT ANY SUGGESTIONS FOR THE CHAPTER AND I'LL TRY AND INCLUDE THEM :D THANK YOU AGAIN, ENJOY...
Rita awoke the next morning, Connie still snoring softly in her arms.
Rita's eyes focusing on Grace who had pulled away from her mother, and was now sitting on the floor with her legs crossed, watching the TV.
Rita could feel Connie's cool sweat against her own, the obviously slightly ill woman was too warm to Rita's touch.
"Morning Grace." Rita whispered, trying not to disturb her sleeping girlfriend.
"Mhmm…" Grace half acknowledged Rita's presence, still focused on her early morning cartoons.
Rita gave up trying to make conversation, not having enough energy to do so, instead nestling back down into Connie's embrace and closing her eyes.
Rita fell back asleep, but not for long as Grace's ear piercing screams woke her and her sleeping companion up with a jolt.
Rita looked across to see Grace tiptoed on top of the coffee table, squealing as a spider ran across the living room carpet.
"Grace?!" Rita exclaimed, Connie was shaking in her arms, and she seemed short of breath, partly from the shock of waking up and partly from feeling under the weather.
"It's going to kill me!" Grace continued to scream, jumping up and down, as the actually abnormally large house spider continued to pitter patter back and forth over the floor.
"Gracie please? I've got a headache!" Connie didn't even try to move, placing a clammy hand to her forehead as Grace crossed her arms and went to jump on her mother.
Rita got up quickly, catching the girl before she fell on her mother.
"Grace, do you think it's a good idea to jump at your mother?" Rita questioned, setting the little girl down, looking directly in her eyes.
Grace just shrugged rolling her eyes, seemingly having forgotten about the spider.
"Your mother is feeling poorly, and you woke her up by screaming about a spider." Rita continued, cross at Grace for not considering her mother.
"I was scared, and you didn't even care!" Grace huffed, her brows furrowing and crocodile tears forming in her eyes.
"Do not jump at your mother again." Rita told her sternly, Grace storming out of the room and clonking up the stairs.
"Oh God, I'm sorry, she's not my child to discipline…" Rita fell backwards onto the sofa, Connie was still cradling her head in her hands. "I just thought she was going to hurt you…"
"It's ok, I would have said the same." Connie's voice cracked and splintered as she talked, the gruffness making her sound even worse than she already looked.
"Oh sweetheart…" Rita kissed the crown of Connie's head, feeling so sorry for her love who sounded very worse for wear.
"Do you want to go upstairs?" Rita asked,
Connie starting to shake her head, but stopping when she realised how painful it was.
"Alright, listen I need to go to work in a few hours, is there anything you want me to do or get for you before I go?" Rita asked, Connie curling up in a ball on the sofa.
When Connie didn't respond Rita assumed that meant she wanted to be left alone.
She pulled a light blanket over the woman and then left to the room.
She nipped upstairs to have a quick shower, washing her short hair and getting changed into a clean pair of clothes before re-emerging.
When she arrived back downstairs she saw Connie in a restless sleep, the blanket having been kicked to the floor.
Rita needed to go, but didn't want to disturb the older woman to tell her she was leaving.
So she jumped back up the stairs, two at a time, which is a feat for someone as small as she was.
She located Grace's room and knocked on it, she then pushed the door open to see Grace playing on her iPad, completely ignoring Rita as she sat on the end of the bed.
"I'm off to work now, this is my number…" Rita slid the piece of paper next to Grace who didn't even look at it. "I'm sorry I shouted, I just…"
"Do you fancy my mum?" Grace asked, squinting her beady brown eyes at Rita's still partially damp hair. "Because I don't like you." Grace stated, Rita getting up off the bed and pulling at the sleeves of her shirt.
"Close the door on your way out." Grace finished, Rita not believing how sassy and controlling a 10 year old could be.
Rita worked slowly that day, she told Charlie she had a lot of paperwork to do, which she did have, but she also just needed to separate herself from everyone, even Connie, just for a while.
Her head was spinning with so many thoughts, since yesterday she now had a pregnant girlfriend, who already had a child who doesn't like her.
'GREAT!' Rita thought, not imagining it got much worse than how it was then.
"Hey Reets…" A small rap of knuckles sounded at her door, a similar length crop of hair poked through the door, along with Dixie's cheeky smile. "You alright?" She asked, seeing the stress on Rita's face as plain as day.
"I'm just tired Dix, come in, do you want a cuppa?" Rita got up, going to flick the kettle on, but instead she felt the warm hugging motion where she found herself encased in Dixie's strong arms.
"What's going on squirt?" Dixie asked, holding Rita out at arm's length, using Rita's pet name to calm her down as she started to breathe erratically. "Just take a second, whatever it is I can help you sort it out. Unless you killed someone, did you kill someone?" Dixie joked, glad to see a small smile pull at Rita's pale lips.
"I can't really say much, not without putting other people in an awkward position. I'm fine really Dix, everything just kind of got on top of me this morning and there is a lot of different things going on in my life at the moment and it's just scary." Rita admitted, Dixie using the pad of her thumb to caress Rita's cheek.
"Head up kid, don't fall off the bandwagon…" Dixie paused, her radio starting to chatter, signalling she had a call. "Text me if you need anything sweetyheart!" Dixie shouted as she ran from the room.
Rita's long and arduous shift of sifting through paperwork that should have been done by other months and months ago finally came to an end.
Rita slipped out her scrubs quickly, slipping her comfy jeans and hoody back on and dashing out to her car.
She sat in her car for a few minutes, deciding what her next move should be to fixing the damage she had already caused between her and Grace.
She picked up her phone, smiling as she flicked through to Connie's number, holding the device to her ear as it rang.
"Mrs Beauchamp, Holby…" Connie sounded bunged up, but the roughness in her throat seemed to have disappeared.
"Oh Mrs Beauchamp, it's Sister Freeman here." Rita chuckled as she heard Connie giggle childishly down the phone, a noise which still made Rita love this woman more and more.
"Can I help you Sister Freeman?" Connie asked.
"Well yes, you can Mrs Beauchamp. I have planned a small excursion…" Connie laughing down the phone at the strange old English tone Rita had tried to adopt which was slowly just turning to sound like the Queen. "If you and little Miss Beauchamp could be ready in 15 minutes sharp, I shall have a car sent to pick you up."
"I don't think Grace is going to move out of her bedroom anytime soon." Connie sighed, putting an end to their silliness with a sad tone in her voice.
"Just try Con, I'll be there soon… I love you." Rita paused as she heard Grace clonking down the stairs.
"I love you too, wish me luck." Connie said sarcastically, before hanging up on Rita.
Rita drove quickly to Connie's, not knowing how persuasive Connie's techniques of persuasion would be with little Miss Awkward.
She hopped up the three steps that led to Connie's house, knocking loudly on the door, after hearing raised voices inside. She heard the pad of bare feet make their way to the door, voices still shouting even as Connie opened the door to Rita.
"Do not walk away from me Grace Beauchamp!" Connie shouted at Grace who was making a bee line for the stairs, away from her mother and her friend.
"I hate you, and your new stupid girlfriend!" Grace screamed, hitting the wall repeatedly, Connie looking at Rita with wild eyes, Rita throwing her hands up.
"OK…" Connie took a deep breath, Rita coming in a step and closing the door behind her, only watching as Connie went over to her daughter who was determined to show the wall what she thought about everything.
"Ok, excursion off the table, I think we... You need to talk to her about everything." Rita said to Connie gently, who nodded sadly.
"I need to talk to you about some things Grace, it's adult stuff, but I want to tell you, but you have to stop hitting the wall baby." Connie said, talking Grace's hand in her own.
"Is SHE going to be there?" Grace questioned, throwing a signature Connie glare at Rita who took a step back at the look of hatred in the small Beauchamps eyes.
"I don't…" Rita shook her head, reaching for the door, only to have Connie stop her in her tracks.
"Yes, SHE is." Connie retorted, cutting Rita off and leading Grace into the longue.
"Ok, we have two things to talk about. Just try not to shout, if you don't understand or want to ask me questions as I'm talking go ahead, but no shouting and no being mean to Rita, ok?" Connie informed Grace as they sat down on the sofa.
"I have two things to tell you, one about me and Rita, and one about me and something else, which would you like to hear about first?" Connie asked, her voice was shaking with nervousness.
She was about to open up to Grace, the most important person to her in the world, and no matter what anyone else said, it really was only Grace's opinion that mattered to her.
"You and something else." Grace said, Connie sighing and looking over to Rita for support.
Connie knew Grace had probably guessed about her and Rita, the little girl clever enough to get the other point of information out of her.
Rita was sat on the edge of the sofa opposite the mother and daughter, Connie struggling to even start a sentence about what she wanted to tell Grace.
Tears started to trickle down Connie's face, Grace starting to panic slightly.
"Are you dying mummy?" Grace asked. "Rita said you weren't, was she lying?" Grace stared at Rita.
"No baby, I'm not dying. I'm having another baby." Connie said, Grace kind of confused about how Connie had phrased her fact. "I'm pregnant, I've got a little baby growing inside of me."
"But you and Daddy don't live together anymore." Grace looked confused rather than anything else, Connie biting her lip and trying once again to find the words to explain.
"Is Rita the daddy?" Grace asked, Rita shook her head, walking over to the other sofa and sitting next to Connie who was really struggling to keep it all together.
"Your mummy's baby doesn't have a daddy." Rita took hold of Connie's hand,
"But everyone has a daddy, we learnt about it…" Grace told Rita matter of factly.
"Well, this baby doesn't. It has a father, but that's not the same as a daddy, a daddy is someone who will love and care for the baby, and this baby doesn't have one, not yet, maybe it never will." Connie choked on a slight sob as Rita talked. "And that's ok. I didn't have a mummy or a daddy." Rita smiled, giving Grace a second to process it all.
Connie looking at Rita, who just shook her head, signalling it was a story for a different time.
"Will the baby come and live with me and Daddy in America, because of work?" Grace asked, Connie breaking down slightly more with every question Grace asked.
"No, it'll stay here with mummy." Rita said, knowing this was about to get very complicated very quickly.
"Will I stay here with mummy too?" Grace asked with an excited smile on her face.
"Not all of the time, you can come and visit." Connie said.
"So, you love this baby more?" Grace asked, becoming upset about everything that was happening around her so quickly, her facial expressions just breaking Connie's heart.
"No my darling, I love you with all my heart and I promise I would love for you to visit all of the time, it's just too hard for me to look after you properly." Connie said exasperated, trying to explain and failing miserably.
"But you can look after this baby, why can't you look after me?" Grace started to cry again, becoming angrier and angrier.
"I just can't Grace, please baby, I'm sorry." Connie opened her arms and Grace snuggled into them.
"Do you love Rita?" Grace asked her mummy, the two Beauchamps still in a tight embrace.
"Yes, I do." Connie answered honestly.
"Then Rita can be the baby's new daddy." Grace smiled at Rita who smiled back, a hand on the small of Connie's back, rubbing it gently.
"She can, if she wants." Connie nodded.
"I love you mummy." Grace whispered, her voice heavy with sleep.
"I love you too Gracie." Connie breathed out a sigh of relief, feeling Grace's body become heavier and heavier on her until it was apparent the little girl was fast asleep.
AWE ISN'T THAT A CUTE ENDING FOR A CHAPTER, YOU'RE WELCOME :P SO GRACE HAS ACCEPTED HER MOTHER'S AND RITA'S RELATIONSHIP, BUT WILL EVERYONE ELSE BE AS UNDERSTANDING? FIND OUT NEXT CHAPTER! WHICH WILL BE SOON BECAUSE I'VE ALREADY WRITTEN IT :D PLEASE REVIEW AS ALWAYS, LOVE YOU ALL, SEE YOU NEXT CHAPTER!