Luckily he'd warned her last night he was going away to meet up with some friend, if she'd woken up only to find Catherine in the house she might have had a bit of a breakdown in fear. Of course he'd asked her if she wanted to come along to meet this guy, whose name she'd already forgotten, but she knew all too well that she wouldn't have the energy to go much further than the living room today, plus she'd met his parents and that was enough for her. But regardless of the fact she had a complete lack of energy she was beginning to regret her decision. Despite the fact that Catherine had shown her nothing but kindness she was still terrified at the prospect of been with her all day without Andrew. She might act completely differently when Andrew & his father weren't around and it was something Duffy was excepting, not quite believing someone could be so open and kind after the history her and her son shared. She knew she couldn't if it was her son in this situation but then she'd also be furious with her son. Forcing herself off the bed, one hand her back, she guessed that she better face the music, she couldn't hide in the bedroom all day, even if that sounded like the easier option.
He hadn't really planned abandoning Lisa with his mum all day but when James called the other day pleading for a catch up when he was down he couldn't really refuse and he'd expected Duffy to go with him. To be honest he thought it would be nice for them to meet but hadn't really taken into consideration how much the travel down to London would exhaust her. But at least he could be more frank about what was going on in Holby without Lisa there Although there really wasn't that much happening with them right now and he wasn't going to betray Lisa by telling James what he knew about her now. Still it was a good excuse to catch up.
Catherine was already up, dressed and by the looks of it had all the housework done by the time Duffy sheepishly treads through into the living room. She didn't look any more alive or energised than last night confirming Catherine's suspicion that the trip had been a bit much for her, which tied in with the increasing guilt she felt for pressing Andrew to convince to take the trip. She wasn't quite sure when she'd gone to sleep, even if she did go to bed first, but she'd slept at least twelve hours.
"Hello love." Catherine peered up from the book she had her head stuck in as Duffy entered the room, rather nervously she noticed.
"Hey, sorry I didn't realise I'd slept so long. Andrew should have woken me up before he left." Rubbing her eyes as she struggled to sit on their rather low down couch she could of done with another 12 hours.
"Don't be ridiculous you must have needed it and no wonder after that trip. He was going to but I told him to leave you alone, tea?" She was off the armchair and half way through to the kitchen before Duffy even had a chance suggesting making it herself. Still regardless she threw in a comment knowing it was pointless.
"I can do that, you didn't need to get up."
"Don't be silly. You're the guest you're not making tea."
It didn't take long, as expected, before James had brought up Lisa. Their drinks had only just arrived and not much more than `how are you?` had been asked before he came out with it.
"So..." He began before taking another drink of his beer, eyeing Andrew for any hints. "How's it going in Holby?"
"Ha." Checking his watch he shakes his head. "You lasted a whole 30 seconds longer than I expected. Surely there's more interesting things to talk about? You never used to be interested in gossip." He didn't know why he really stalled the invertible, he did want to fill him in but was too wary of betraying Lisa.
"Hell no!" He shook his head and laughed, Andrew wasn't getting out of this one. "Come on Andrew! Last time I seen you you were moaning she wouldn't talk to you the next thing you've moved to Holby and taking her to meet your parents. It's a hell of a switch! You can't blame me for been confused. Anyway this isn't gossip."
"There really isn't much to tell." Not really true, it was more the isn't much he could tell. "She didn't want to even look at me at first but I persisted and slowly we started talking and it's just gone from there."
"You two back together?" He didn't know how to answer that one, he wasn't sure what they were right now but then that wasn't his focus.
"Not really..."
"Not really? What on earth does that mean?"
"I'm not saying there is nothing between us because there is but that isn't our focus right now. Of course I want to be with her but she's built a heck of a wall around herself since we broke up and she was bad enough before."
"She sounds very complicated." Screwing up his face as he spoke the words he wasn't sure why Andrew persisted in this relationship or whatever it was, if some bird had offered him a get out of jail free card he'd have been off no question more so if she was as complicated as Lisa sounded."Have another drink."
"I bet you're parents are looking forward to you having the baby."
She wasn't sure how they got on to this topic or half they'd talked about to be honest but this particular one was one she really wanted to avoid. Sighing she looks down to her feet, not that she could really see them with the size of her bump now. "I wouldn't say that..."
"No?" Why on earth wouldn't you be happy about a grandchild? What sort of family had Andrew got involved in? What was Lisa coping with?
"No...It's rather complicated but they won't be there. Mum's booked herself on a cruise when I'm due and to be honest I don't even remember my father." No matter how she answered she knew there'd be more questions and she was right.
"A cruise? It's not because Andrew is back is it?" Catherine didn't want her son to cause a family rift, it was the only reason she could think of why someone would go out of their way to avoid this.
"Oh no, no of course not. She actually persuaded me to give him a chance. She booked it well before Andrew and me were speaking again."
"She was going to let you give birth alone?" She was too focussed on what sort of mother wouldn't be there for her daughter going through all that alone but then remembered what else Lisa said and added "You wearn't going to?"
"She doesn't really approve of the pregnancy to say the least. It's very confusing but we haven't spoken a lot over the past few years. She keeps jumping from point of views. But I think it's because she was a single mother herself and didn't want me to follow her path. She was disappointed in me." She wasn't sure how to answer the next question, she didn't want to lie or go too much into it. "Umm...No I don't think I was. I was terrified and when I found out I was pregnant I think I realised how little Andrew and I knew each other. It's scary, it just seemed easier to cope alone rather than trust someone."
She never really expected to get much out of Lisa about the break up or her family and certainly didn't expect the answers she got. It was quite a bit later before Andrew turned up at the house to the point where Lisa, still exhausted, had fallen asleep on the couch. Ushering him into the kitchen, handing him a cup of tea at the same time she was desperate to find out how much he knew.
"Has she been asleep long?" Sipping on his cup of tea he reflected on his catch up with James, not really thinking his mum would have got much out of Lisa.
"No, not long." She didn't know how to continue with this or how to get onto what she wanted to say. "We had a good chat today."
"That's nice." It was pretty obvious his mum wanted to say something about her, it was easier to ask outright. "Come on what do you think of her then?"
"She's very warm and I think she'll be a great mum. I get the impression she's used to coping alone. I think I understand why she finished with you more now."
"What on earth did you two talk about? It took me months to understand her."
"Her parents. No wonder she didn't want to trust you with parents like that."
"Her mum does care, just in a strange way. But yes they do play a part in her trust problems."
"Poor girl. Still she's lovely." She couldn't help but add... "I think she really does have feelings for you."
"How do you know that?"
"It's in her eyes when she talks about you, her eyes give away everything."
"Hmm...maybe. But we'll just have to see with that one. We've got a much bigger focus right now and we don't want to mess it up with a complicated relationship."
"No I guess not..." She didn't see them lasting with that one much longer. Even if they didn't see it she knew it wouldn't be long before one of them took their relationship further once more...