Charity's not eavesdropping. Not intentionally, at least. But she's cleaning a table just behind the booth that Rhona, Tracy and Vanessa are sitting in, so she can't help but overhear the conversation. It's not her fault Tracy's got a gob on her like the Mersey Tunnel.

"You should come with us tonight, V! It's been ages since we had a good little night out."

The twist in her stomach when she hears Tracy's invitation surprises her. She's not usually one for being clingy and she normally wouldn't bother if Vanessa wanted to go on a night out with her sister and her mate. But they've got plans tonight. Nothing special, but plans nonetheless. She resigns herself to a night in front of the telly by herself, but when Vanessa's response comes, the ache in her gut disappears.

"Can't, sorry. Charity's got the evening off, so we're spending it together."

A lifetime of never being anyone's first choice still makes her assume the worst; assume that people are looking for someone better. Vanessa tells her regularly, both in action and with words, that she'll always choose her. She's learning, slowly, to accept that it's the truth.

"Oh, you heading out?" Rhona asks.

"Nah. We've no-one to look after the boys, so we're gonna get a curry and watch a film. Plus, Paddy and Chas are going out, so we're taking advantage of having the back room to ourselves for once."

Tracy's laugh is a bit condescending for Charity's tastes. "Wow. Didn't think the two of you would turn into an old married couple before you actually got married."

It's a struggle to keep in the sound she wants to make in response to Tracy's remark, but she manages it. Once again, Vanessa voices her own thoughts.

"We have not! We're just busy, working mothers with businesses to run. And two toddlers and a teenager to keep track of, thank you very much. An evening with nothing to do but watch telly and have a cuddle sounds like heaven to me."

Charity smiles to herself as she finishes cleaning the table and heads back behind the bar. It sounds like heaven to her an'all. Maybe being an old married couple isn't such a bad thing. Even if they're not old or married quite yet.

About ten minutes later, Tracy and Rhona start getting ready to leave and the three of them slide out of the booth. Vanessa heads around behind the bar and the other two stop on the other side, zipping up jackets and sorting bag straps.

Rhona raises her eyebrows. "Sure you don't want to come, Ness? Last chance to save me from being the solitary old person."

"Oh, give over. Bernice is coming and she's well older than you." Tracy turns a bright smile on Charity and Vanessa. "But both of you should come." Tracy nods rapidly. "Get dad to look after the boys. He's got no life at the moment anyway."

"What's this?" Charity feigns ignorance. "Someone going out?"

"Oh, they're going out to some club with half the village." Vanessa rolls her eyes as she comes over to stand next to Charity. "I've already told them it's our date night and I've no intention spending it yelling conversation over crap music in some sweaty dive."

"Oh, come on, Charity." Tracy leans across the bar, pouting in a way Charity's sure gets her what she wants most of the time. "Since when do you say no to a few cheeky cocktails and a little boogie?"

Vanessa moves closer, resting some of her weight against Charity's side. "Oh, I still like to partake now and again." She wraps an arm around Vanessa's shoulders, pulling her closer and sending Tracy a wicked smile. "But I'm planning on ravishing your sister on every available surface in that back room tonight, you see, and dancing to Wham with you just doesn't compare."

Tracy's nose wrinkles as Vanessa turns her face into Charity's shoulder to hide her smile. "As if they'll be playing Wham where we're going." She sighs. "Fine. Be old and boring. See if I care. C'mon, Rhona."

"Behave yourselves, both of you!" Vanessa calls after them, but Rhona's too busy asking Tracy what kind of music will be getting played at this club to notice. Charity squeezes Vanessa's shoulder to get her attention.

"You could've gone with them, you know." Charity thrusts her chin in the direction the other two just took. "If you'd wanted." She lets go of Vanessa to pick up a couple of empties from the bar. She can feel Vanessa's eyes on her as she moves around. Can feel her smile too.

"Yeah. I know I could have."

"No, but, I mean, if you want to go, I could look after the boys." She shrugs, eyes on the beer mat she's fiddling with. "I mean, we can do a night on the couch any time, can't we?"

The beer mat is removed and replaced by Vanessa's fingers, twisting through her own and holding tight. She looks up and finds a pair of blue eyes watching her intently.

"Charity, if I'd wanted to go to the nightclub, I'd have checked it was okay with you and then I'd have gone." Her hand is squeezed. "I didn't want to go." She lifts her eyebrows. "Believe me, I am not missing out on anything. Rhona'll be complaining about her sore feet by half nine and hinting about phoning a taxi. And Tracy'll be up screaming along with Love Machine one minute and crying into her gin about never finding love again the next." Vanessa shakes her head with a soft smile. "Believe me, I'm better off out of it."

"Really?" She's not sure why she's picking at this. Vanessa's already said she doesn't want to go. "'Cause, you know, Rhona's always going on about what a party animal you were at uni and I don't want to be stopping you from going out if that's something you-"

"Charity." Vanessa squeezes her hand and smiles. "That was a gazillion years ago." She leans in closer, her arm pressed against Charity's where they're both leaning on the bar. "And I never liked it all that much at the time, truth be told. I was frightened out of me wits when I first got to uni, and drinking helped loosen me up a bit." She shrugs. "Somewhere along the line I got a reputation for being this crazy party girl. So that's who I kept being." Sighing, Vanessa toys with Charity's fingers where they're still loosely linked with her own. "I think...I think I probably talked myself into believing that's who I was. But looking back now, I can see that it was all just a front to stop me from admitting to myself what I was feeling about, you know-" She looks up at Charity, a slight blush darkening her cheeks. "-girls. Women."

There's a pang in Charity's chest, just like there always is whenever Vanessa talks about being scared to be herself. Vanessa's so bold and bolshy and brilliant, that thinking about her hiding any tiny part of herself away is genuinely painful. Nobody understands better than Charity how playing into what people think of you can lead you to think of yourself that way. She's just glad that Vanessa was brave enough to find out who she really was.

Because Charity adores who is really is.

She bumps her forehead against Vanessa's temple, waiting until she turns and their noses brush. She allows a moment of silent closeness to comfort Vanessa, after making her think about less happy times. She presses a soft kiss to her lips before pulling away a little and raising her eyebrows.

"So, that's a definite 'no' to going out with your mates, then?"

"No." Vanessa shakes her head and smiles. "It's a definite 'yes' to spending an evening with my fiancée."

Charity rolls her eyes, mostly to try and keep them from filling up because that's what being around this soppy cow all the time does to her. "Well, good. Because I wasn't saying that stuff about ravishing just to wind your sister up, you know. I already gave Noah twenty quid to go to the pictures and then straight upstairs when he gets back."

Vanessa's eyes darken at her words, and it's like watching the sea grow stormy. It makes Charity actually throb. When she responds, her voice is deeper too, and that doesn't help the situation.

"Oh. In that case, I better go and see to the little ones, hadn't I? Make sure they're fed and ready for bed." She moves closer, placing a kiss on Charity's jaw. "And then I'll slip into something a little less comfortable."

"Babe." Charity's throat has gone dry and she swallows with difficulty. "If you don't stop talking like that, we might not make it through the back."

Vanessa lifts a single eyebrow. "That would certainly be a new spin on Thursday night entertainment at the Woolie."

Charity shakes her head and slaps Vanessa's backside gently. "Go on. Get them boys sorted. I won't be long here."

"Can't wait," Vanessa whispers, going up on her tiptoes to peck Charity's lips before heading through the back with a final cheeky wink.

Charity leans her elbows on the bar, well aware that she's grinning like an idiot and not caring one little bit. She's definitely seeing the appeal of staying in like an old married couple. Knowing that she's got a lifetime of staying in to look forward to only makes her smile grow.