By 6AM, Constance had given up on the idea of sleep. Her head and heart were both hurting in a way they hadn't for a very long time. She had used the long hours to finish her crochet and was at a loss as to what do until the first years final exam. Morgana tried to offer comfort by curling up in her lap and nuzzling at her hand. Cuddling the cat closer to her, she closed her eyes as two tears rolled down her pale cheeks.
Downstairs, Imogen had just risen and was getting ready to go for a run. She was happy that she had finished her gift and although she had missed her girlfriend the night before she figured that they had gotten their wires crossed and would hopefully see each other before breakfast. Happy with her thoughts she picked up her iPod and chose a loud playlist to drive her forward on this cold December morning.
A couple of hours later Imogen and Amelia were sitting in the staffroom, eating breakfast and going through the list of girls who were going to the carol service later. They had just finished when the door opened and Constance walked in. Had she looked in Imogen's direction she would have seen her girlfriend smiling brightly in her direction. Imogen's smile froze quickly when she noticed that Constance was acting very strangely, there was clearly something wrong.
"Are you ready for the first years?", Amelia asked, also sensing the strange mood.
"I do not need to be ready and before you ask if they are in fact prepared, we all know the answer to that question is no." Constance, was irritated that she needed to go into the staff room in the first place but she had to retrieve her exam papers. Right now she was looking everywhere but in Imogen's direction.
"Sweetheart, what's wrong?" Imogen got up to move towards her clearly upset girlfriend. Knowing that they were safe in front of Amelia, she reached out to touch Constance's arm, hoping to offer some comfort.
Constance reacted by glaring at her hand and quickly shaking it off as she took her papers and made to leave the room.
"There is nothing wrong with me Miss Drill except that you are delaying me from getting to my exam group."
With that, she stalked out of the room leaving Amelia staring after her in shock and Imogen standing with tears in her eyes.
"What on earth?", Amelia pondered.
At that moment Davina walked into the room. Seeing Miss Hardbroom's anger as she passed by she commented, "I should have known it wouldn't last."
Imogen, who found herself thinking the same thing, took action by running towards the potions lab.
"Constance, what have I done?", she asked as she entered the room.
"Again, Miss Drill, you are delaying me. Kindly do not disrupt this exam, many of the girls have little enough hope of passing as it is."
Imogen could not believe that this was happening. Everything had been so good between them, they were in love, weren't they?"
As the girls filed into the room busy dreading the exam, they barely noticed their P.E teacher brushing past them, trying hold back her tears. Their Potions teacher in the meantime had to physically stop herself from running after Imogen once she saw the tears in her eyes but she could not let herself back down.
The exam was scheduled for ninety minutes and as the girls left they yet again encountered their Headmistress waiting to enter the room. Miss Cackle looked furious.
Closing the door firmly behind her she turned to address the teacher who was left behind. "Constance Hardbroom, don't even think of leaving this room through magic or any other means. Now, what on earth has gotten into you? Why did you act like that towards Imogen? She was devastated by how you treated her."
Despite her questions she was faced with a wall of silence. She moved closer to where her friend sat. "Alright, if you're not going to talk I am."
Looking over the grey head, Constance finally spoke with an edge of bitterness, "I think you've had enough to say already."
The principal who had no idea what she was talking about and was not prepared to be spoken to like that felt herself becoming more irritated. "What are you talking about?"
Constance was beyond angry at this stage, mainly with herself. "I heard you yesterday. You told Imogen we needed some time apart. You clearly didn't want us to be together so you should be pleased."
Amelia rarely lost her temper but felt her anger coming back with a vengeance now.
"Constance, there are a few things I'm going to say to you and by God, you're going to listen to me before you make the biggest mistake of your life. Firstly, you clearly heard the very end of a conversation, not the whole thing because if you had you would not be acting so irrationally right now. I was trying to make Imogen feel better about going away, she didn't agree with me in the slightest but was just trying to be polite to her employer, a lesson you yourself could badly do with learning.
"Secondly, you have an unfortunate habit of jumping to conclusions. I've left you get away with it in the past so maybe I'm partly to blame but you need to stop. The only thing that encourages me right now is that you didn't appear to follow through by running your mouth off as you normally do.
"Thirdly, that girl loves you and you love her. I don't know if you've said it or not but I can see it and I can also see how much good it's done you. If you carry on like this you will be throwing it all away. This is the greatest thing that has ever happened to you, don't ruin it."
Amelia had said her piece now and sat down on one of the benches watching Constance's reaction. She hoped the words had gone through the seemingly impenetrable skull in front of her.
As she got her breath back Constance rose from behind the desk and made to leave the room simply saying, "Yes Headmistress." as she walked through the door.
Her defences that were previously watertight had all crashed down. She knew Amelia was correct, yet again, and currently all she could think about was making things right with Imogen. Leaving the previously important exam papers behind she moved briskly towards the staircase.
Imogen's door was slightly ajar as she reached it. Opening it fully, Constance found Imogen sat on her bed crying and cuddling Morgana who appeared to be glaring in her mistresses direction.
Hearing a whispered "Darling?", Imogen looked up to the doorway.
"What did I do? Tell me?", she asked again as she cried.
Constance moved toward her feeling the worst guilt she could imagine. She had vowed to destroy anyone who ever made Imogen cry but she was the one who had caused the tears. Reaching out to take her hand she said with as much sincerity as she could, "Imogen, you did nothing. It was me. I misunderstood something I overheard between you and Amelia and rather than talk to you, I jumped to conclusions. I'm sorry, please forgive me?"
Having been wracking her brains for the past two hours trying to figure out what was wrong, Imogen felt a number of things at hearing the words. She felt relived that she had not actually done anything. She felt anger and irritation that Constance had caused all of this for no good reason. She also felt slight amusement as she looked at Morgana who was now on her new friend's shoulder and giving her owner the evil eye.
"What can I do to make it up to you?", Constance begged as she tried to figure out what was going on in her girlfriend's head.
"Nothing."
Constance was speechless. Her heart felt like it had stopped beating. There had to be something.
"What I mean is, you don't have to. It's okay."
Imogen could see how much Constance was hurting and while she was no means a pushover she didn't want this bad feeling between both of them to continue.
"You know what they say about eavesdroppers, well its true. I don't care what it was you thought you heard, the fact that you know you were wrong and are admitting it is enough for me for now. I'm just glad you didn't pull your other trick of shouting the odds and saying something that you'd regret."
As she said this she pulled her girlfriend into an embrace. Thinking back over the only partial conversation Constance could have heard she had a fair idea what had caused the reaction.
"How can you forgive me so easily?", Constance asked.
"Because I adore you. Because I've seen the effort you've been making over the past few months. Because it breaks my heart to see you hurting and because it's nearly Christmas."
Constance wasn't sure what the final part had to do with anything but she wasn't going to push it by asking. "I love you too. I don't think I deserve you but I'm so grateful to have your love."
Imogen moved so they were both lying down now, Morgana in the middle. "I don't think you're going to get around the cat so easily" she said with a giggle as the Witch's familiar showed who was currently her favourite human.
"Rightly so. She appears to have realised I was in the wrong since this morning.", Constance replied as she eyed her angry cat.
"Sweetheart, if this relationship is as long term as I want it to be, we're going to have bumps in the road. Neither of us is perfect and we're going to row. It's only going to become a problem if we don't talk about things so I need you to promise me that you'll talk to me. This is too important to throw it away over a misunderstanding."
Nodding, Constance confided in Imogen, "Amelia said something similar to me. She was furious so now both she and Morgana hate me."
"She would never hate you. My mother would have said something similar."
Pulling back from Imogen's embrace Constance spoke, "She's not my…"
Having observed Constance's other main relationship for quite a while, Imogen pulled her closer and whispered, "Not in the traditional sense, no, but you have more of a mother-daughter relationship than many real families I know. Talk to her, apologise, tell her we're ok and she'll be fine.
"Now, i'm going to ask you one last time, are you sure you don't want to come with me over Christmas?"
After a kiss Constance responded, "I'm sure. I'm going to miss you more than you can know and I will think about you all the time but I know I'm not ready just yet and I don't want Abby to pick up on that. It's not that I don't want to meet her or your father but I want it to be right. Please understand."
Imogen did and hearing how considerate Constance was being of Abby made her so happy. "I do baby and I'll miss you too."
Constance who noted, and very much liked, the new endearment was pleased. "However, if you'll let me I'd like you to come to the carol service with you?"
Imogen nodded with delight, "Of course but what about your marking?"
After kissing her on the nose Miss Hardbroom smiled, "I think they can wait until January to get their results. It will give me something to do while you're gone."
Before meeting the others in the main hall Constance knocked on Amelia's door. Taking a deep breath she opened the door when invited to do so. This reminded her of the first day she admitted her feelings for Imogen. Amelia was sat behind the desk seemingly calmer than earlier.
"Headmistress….Amelia, I've come to apologise. I behaved in an appalling way and everything you said was right."
Amelia looked her in the eyes and asked, "Has Imogen forgiven you?"
Seeing Constance nod she sighed, "Then I do too"
Constance sighed with relief and when Amelia stood up from the desk she did something she had never done in the twenty one years she had worked here, she hugged her dearest friend. "I am sorry, I owe you so much and not just for helping Imogen and I find each other."
Amelia returned a hug she had often wanted to initiate but never felt able to and said all she needed to, "You're welcome dear."
As they broke the contact, both slightly glassy eyed, Amelia looked at the clock. "Goodness, Imogen and the girls will be waiting for me."
Constance fixed her hair and surprised Amelia even more by saying, "And me."
Deciding not to ask the reason why Constance had decided to come along, she opened the door and led her deputy head out of the room.
The church wasn't too far away and the group walked briskly down the road towards it. The weather was was cold but thankfully there was no rain and the air felt refreshing. As they entered the church they sat in two pews, teachers in one and the pupils behind them.
Once they had settled, Imogen heard a loud whisper. "How did she not melt as soon as she walked through the door?"
Mildred really didn't do herself any favours at times Imogen thought to herself. She turned around to risk defending Constance who was bound to have heard. As it turned out she didn't have to.
"I'll be fine as long as they don't get too over zealous with the holy water Mildred but I do thank you for your concern."
Imogen and Amelia smothered their own giggles as the pupils behind them tried to pick their jaws off the floor following Miss Hardbroom's retort.
The service was lovely and although Constance did not know any of the hymns or carols, Imogen clearly did and she enjoyed hearing her sing along as well as reciting the prayers she had learned as a child. She could tell that the girls were surprised at their P.E teachers hidden talent.
Amelia did not seem to be and she leaned towards Constance at one point and whispered, "I wonder if she'd do a job swap with Davina?"
Constance smiled inside at the thought of Davina leading the pupils on a jog through the woods and made a note to share the image with her girlfriend later on.
After the service Imogen and Amelia stopped to speak to the priest and to Mrs Cosy while Constance stood next to the still agog girls. She caught Imogen's eye and gave thanks to a God that she had never really considered before that she had not ruined things between them by her own stupidity.
Sensing that the other two teachers wanted to make the most of their last night before the holidays, Amelia took charge of the girls when they got back to the school. "I'll look after their suppers. Imogen make sure you say goodbye before you go to collect your brother in the morning."
Imogen nodded, she would have done so anyway but there was something she needed to ask Amelia to do for her.
Seeing as Morgana was sill a bit "off" with Constance they went straight to Imogen's room. "Are you packed?"
"All done. It's mainly gifts. I'll only be at my Dad's for a couple of days and I already have clothes at the other house."
Constance thought of Imogen's other bedroom and felt strangely pleased that she would be able to picture where she was sleeping through a lot of her Christmas break.
"It will go quickly though. I'll be back before you know it Sweetheart."
Pulling her onto the bed, Constance agreed.
"I missed you last night, I'm glad you're here now." Imogen kissed Constance to emphasise her point as she reached to take down the long dark hair.
The kissing soon became deeper and after a while Imogen realised it had moved to a more frantic pace than their previous sessions. Constance had opened her shirt, those beautiful hands were cupping her breasts and the kisses were heading below the usual neck level.
Imogen groaned with pleasure but felt conflicted. She wanted Constance so much but she remembered what she had promised some weeks beforehand. While she would be here in the morning, she'd be gone later that day. She wanted the day after their first time to be spent in bed learning each others bodies. She needed her partner to know she was in this for the long haul and as tempting as this was, it was't the right time and she had a feeling it wasn't entirely for the right reasons. Drawing every reserve of strength and willpower she had within her she took Constance's hand and drew her back up.
"What? Did I do something wrong?" Constance was confused, she had wanted to show Imogen how sorry she was and thought that this would be the best way to do it.
"No, sweetheart. Don't ever think that. You have no idea how much I was enjoying that, how much I want you. I just think we need to slow down."
She was slightly embarrassed, "But I.."
Imogen kissed her and stroked circles across her back. "Baby, tell me honestly, are you doing this because you really want to or you feel that you have to?"
Constance started to deny it but realised that Imogen was correct. "A bit of both.", she muttered.
Still stroking Imogen smiled at her girlfriend in order to reassure her. "Well then, I propose we wait until you're a hundred per cent ready and I can fulfil the promise I made to you? What do you think?"
She knew that Imogen was right. They could have gone further and she would never have regretted it but the thought of having Imogen with her for more than just one night was too appealing to ignore. "I just want to have you as close as possible tonight."
Imogen grinned as she moved back for more kisses. "Let's wait, just another little while, it will be worth it, I promise."
Content with kissing and holding her throughout the night, Constance knew that they had made the right decision. Though she was looking forward to her girlfriend coming back from holidays even more now than she had been previously.
The next day, having waved the girls off, Imogen stopped by Amelia's office. "I have something small for you and Davina, I can't find her anywhere can you give it to her for me?"
Amelia smiled and handed a small bag to Imogen. "Of course, and this is for you"
Imogen, hadn't expected anything but was pleased at the thought. "Amelia, you've done so much for me, especially over the last couple of months. If it wasn't for you I'd still be admiring Constance from afar. I'm going to ask you to do two things for me if that's ok? The first thing, look after her for me while I'm gone, make sure she's eating and sleeping.
"The second is, I have a gift for her but I don't want her to open it until Christmas, even if she doesn't see it as a Christmas gift. I'm a bit strange about people opening gifts before the 25th. Will you make sure she gets it?" She knew Amelia would help and at the nod handed over a neatly wrapped square package.
"Merry Christmas Imogen, God bless you."
After hugging Amelia she went to say goodbye to Constance.
She found her love in the staffroom and wrapped her arms around the small waist from behind. "I need to go now if I'm going to make it to the airport on time."
Constance nodded, feeling the loss already. "I know Darling, just give me a kiss before you go."
They kissed goodbye, exchanging whispers of love and making plans for when Imogen returned. All too soon Imogen was gone, leaving Constance watching as she drove towards the castle gates. Feeling someone hold onto her arm she turned to see Amelia next to her.
"Come on, lets open a bottle of wine. By the way, have you seen Davina anywhere?"
Though Constance missed Imogen desperately from the first moment she was gone, she tried to use her time well. Morgana had warmed up to her again to her relief and she passed the first couple of days with Amelia and Davina who had been found and was acting remarkably normally as well as being especially kind to her usual enemy. It was almost a relief when Miss Bat left the day after Christmas. The niceness was a bit too much to handle.
On Christmas morning Constance found a package outside her bedroom door that had not been there when she went to bed. Looking at it with curiosity she quickly recognised the neat handwriting on the note attached.
Dearest Constance,
I love you so much that I cannot always find the words myself to express my feelings. I do however know of some people who can say what I want to in a much more articulate way than I ever could. So, I have made this book for you. In it are lines from some of my favourite songs and poems. They all remind me of you. There are many because everything reminds me of you, I think about you all the time, while I'm awake and while I sleep. Even when I am with you, I'm thinking of you. I am beyond honoured that you have allowed me into your world and your heart and I look forward to moving to the next stage of our relationship. Please know how much I miss you and how proud I am of you every moment of every day. I cannot believe that you are mine but I am grateful to whatever force has made it possible.
With all my love,
Imogen.
Constance was overwhelmed by the gesture. As she sat on the bed she carefully opened the package to find a beautiful notebook where, true to her word Imogen had transcribed song lyrics that she knew were special to her. The first song transcribed, she recognised from the concert they had attended and she was touched that Imogen had remembered how much she loved it. There were also a number of verses and lines from poems and as she read them she felt as though her heart would burst. These were all the things that she also did not know how to say. She spent every night pouring over the book and memorising the beautiful words that had been put together for her.
Then, using her magical abilities, she then ensured that a special delivery was made a couple of days after Christmas.
Imogen did manage to enjoy Christmas with her father and brother. She offset the amount that she ate by running and cycling. The family played games together, watched TV and bickered as most families do at Christmas. On the 27th she found herself driving to the next stage of her Christmas celebrations. She was so excited to see Abby open the gifts that she had carefully stored in the car. As she pulled up towards the house the door opened and she soon found herself being hugged nearly to death by an excited 8 year old.
"Come on before she bursts with excitement, we've got hot chocolate waiting." Jamie gave Imogen a quick kiss before he went to get her bags from the boot.
As the trio moved into the sitting room Abby talked excitedly about the gifts she had received from her father and Father Christmas.
"Oh, well then, you've probably had enough for now. Maybe I'll take these back.", Imogen teased her.
Abby was outraged "No way!"
Knowing that they would get nowhere until she had opened her gifts they settled down with their hot chocolates and watched as the child opened the new books, stationery, shoes and coat that Imogen had bought her and the mainly impractical toys Jamie had given her.
"What? I bought her a basketball as well.", he said when he saw Imogen's look.
After they had exchanged their own gifts Abby pointed to the three presents wrapped in purple paper that were left under the tree. "Who are they for?"
Jamie shrugged, "They were in the car so I brought them in with the others."
Imogen looked at the labels and felt tears come to her eyes. The gifts hadn't been in the car when she left her Dad's house, some magical force had clearly placed them there. She handed Jamie one and watched as he read the note.
"I can't package a hex but I hope this is useful to you."
Opening the package, he found a black crochet chunky knit scarf.
"This is great, did she really make it for me?", he exclaimed as he moved to the mirror in the hallway to check how it looked.
Imogen took Abby onto her lap as she handed her the gift that was labelled with her name.
"What is it? Who's it from?", Abby wondered as she opened it to find a lavender coloured hat, scarf and gloves that would go perfectly with both her chestnut hair and the navy coat that Imogen had bought her. "Oh cool, nobody in school will have anything like these." She looked at the note.
"To Abby, I hope to meet you very soon. In the meantime, I trust these will keep you warm. Look after Imogen for me please. From Constance."
Imogen was crying now as Abby asked, "Who is Constance. Why are you crying?"
Holding her closer Imogen answered, "Constance is my girlfriend honey. I was going to tell you about her but I guess I don't have to now."
"Yes you do! What's she like? Is she pretty? When can I meet her?"
Jamie, sensing that they should be alone went to make some supper.
"She's amazing honey. She's beautiful and so kind and I promise you'll meet her very soon. We just need to wait until the right moment. You two meeting is so important to me and I need to make sure it's perfect. Do you understand?"
Abby tried to and nodded, "I can't wait though." Snuggling close to Imogen she whispered. "I didn't really care about the presents earlier. I like them lots but I'm just glad you're here….I miss you."
Imogen was crying again at this point. "I miss you too honey, every day, but you know I live at the school now and you're still happy with your Dad aren't you?"
Nodding, Abby answered, "Yeah and I know it can't be like before, if I could see you just a bit more- that would be cool. I love you. Will Constance like me?"
Her godmother squeezed her even more tightly, resolving to look at her more rigid rules and talk to David and Amelia as well as Constance. "She'll love you, just as much as I do."
Jamie came back in at that point carrying some plates of sandwiches. "You girls are so soppy.", he said, deliberately lightening the moment. "You look lovely Abs, Imogen, what did you get?"
Realising she'd forgotten her own gift, she reached for it as Abby ran to get some food.
My Darling Imogen,
I started this on the morning after, or should I say of, our first kiss with no idea what I was beginning. Ever since then I have been working on it with you in mind. The colours are the ones I think of when I think of you. As you can imagine, I think of these colours a lot. I love you more than I ever could have thought possible. You have opened my mind up to so much and I look forward to exploring more of this new life with you. I cannot wait to hold you in my arms when you return. In the meantime I hope this will cover you while you sleep without me and I hope to share it with you as we move to the next stage of our relationship. A step for which I am more than ready.
Yours always,
Constance
Imogen opened the package to find a exquisite blanket made up of waves of yellow, blue, green and pale pink. Nobody had ever made anything like this for her and she guessed that there had been no magic involved in the process either. She had always known how kind Constance was and while the pupils may dispute it, this proved her point beyond measure.
The next few days passed in a blur of ice-skating, watching Disney films and playing basketball. On the morning of the 31st, Abby had gone home and although they were sad, both were excited about the new person in their lives and the possible changes to their routine. Jamie was planning his New Years Eve night out as Imogen packed up the car, taking extra care of her blanket, for the drive back to Cackle's.
"Of course I don't mind. You'd only cramp my style anyway.", he laughed as they said goodbye.
Traffic was fairly light and despite stopping for supplies, Imogen made it back to the school in just over two hours. As she entered the hallway Constance, in a rare burst of energy, ran down the stairs and into her arms.
"You're here. You're not due back for days? Why?" she said, covering the smiling face with small kisses, not quite believing she was back.
Moving in for a proper kiss Imogen whispered, "Sweetheart, if you thought I was going to start a New Year with anybody else but you, you were very much mistaken"
A/N Thank you for reading and reviewing. The next chapter will be moving to an M rating, providing they both want to of course. I was going to insert the lyrics that I thought would fit for Imogen's gift to Constance but I thought you would prefer to think of your own.