Vanessa felt something tickling her nose and when she opened her eyes she realised it was just hair. Blonde hair that was not her own. She scooted back in the bed, panicked, and had a chance to realise what she was looking at. Charity was sleeping in her bed. Next to her. She tried to remember how that had happened. There was a faint memory of seeing her in the street when she returned home, then another of letting her in to sleep on the couch, but she didn't remember inviting her ex up to her bedroom. Vanessa raised her hands to rub at her tired eyes and noticed something else unexpected. She was wearing her engagement ring!

For a moment she stared at it in horror, quickly pulling it off her finger. With it in the palm of her hand, she allowed herself to remember how it felt when Charity had proposed - the second time. She recalled the times Charity would take her hand, staring at the ring as if she couldn't believe she was still wearing it.

Vanessa looked back at Charity. Whatever had happened last night, she wasn't ready for this. She didn't know why Charity still had the ring, why she hadn't sold it or thrown it away, but the fact that she was carrying it around wasn't something she wanted to think about. Had Charity been waiting for her to come home last night? Had this been planned?

Moving quietly, she slipped out of the bed and went downstairs, grateful that she was at least still wearing her pyjamas. She found Charity's jacket on the sofa and quickly slipped the ring into one of the pockets, before heading over to the kitchen area to put the kettle on. Once she had a cup of coffee she sat on the sofa to drink it, too scared to return to the bedroom and face Charity.

She was just rinsing out the cup when Charity came downstairs, and she could feel her body tense as she turned to face the other woman.

"Morning," Charity was rubbing the sleep from her eyes, wearing the same clothes she had worn the night before.

"Good morning," Vanessa greeted her warily.

"Don't suppose you remember how I got upstairs last night? My head is a little fuzzy."

"No, I remember you offering me some whisky but that's about it."

"Well I'm sorry if I ended up in your bed without your permission. Must have been sleepwalking or something and ended up there out of habit."

"Mmhmm."

"Probably a good thing, my back can't handle sleeping on couches anymore."

"Do you want some water? Might help with the headache?"

Charity smiled at her, "always so polite. Must make sure all visitors are looked after, whether they were invited or not."

"Clearly you're feeling better. Feel free to head home before the village gossips start opening their curtains."

"Look, about last night..."

"Nothing happened, nothing was going to happen and nothing will happen. We're over Charity."

"I thought you said we could be friends?"

Vanessa sighed, "you seem to be having some trouble understanding the line between friends and ex's."

"Well it's not like I haven't ended up back in relationships with ex's before. Look at me and Cain, I've lost count of the times we got together and split up again."

"Because that was clearly an example of a healthy relationship."

"And we fell out a fair few times too, always managed to get back together before."

"You cheated on me Charity."

"It was only a kiss, one stupid little kiss. Unplanned and..."

"And yet it was enough to show me that we didn't matter, that I didn't matter..."

"Of course you matter. I was going out of my head with worry about you! I was scared the cancer would kill you or that you'd break up with me and I couldn't handle it."

"Then you should have talked to me."

"How? You were living with your mum, avoiding my calls. What was I supposed to think? I knew something bad was coming and so I did what I always do - the wrong thing. The worst possible thing, so at least I had some control over everything getting screwed up," Charity began to cry.

She hadn't intended on it happening, but once she'd started she couldn't stop. Vanessa hesitated before going over to comfort her. The vet placed her arms around Charity, letting the taller blonde rest her head on her shoulder.

She gently rubbed a hand over Charity's back until the sobbing ceased, hesitating before pulling away.

"I should get back," Charity told her. "I said I'd meet up with Ryan to go over some things with him this morning."

"Sure."

Charity smiled, "sorry about last night."

Vanessa shrugged, "we said we'd try and be friends. I guess it'll just take time to get there."

"So that's what it was for you last night? Letting me in and all that?"

"We're living in the same village now, our kids like each other, we should try and figure something out."

"Right," Charity seemed to find her confidence and headed for the door. "I really am sorry, you know."

"Charity, you don't have to say that anymore. It's in the past, we're moving on."

Charity just nodded. Vanessa saw her to the door, then shut it behind her. Her shoulders sagged in relief, and she closed her eyes feeling tired.


Charity lay down on her bed and stared up at the ceiling. She reached for her necklace, to the rings she wore there. Sometimes she felt comforted touching them, remembering the good times, and sometimes they was just a painful reminder of what she had lost. Her fingers traced down the chain, stopping at the end. She counted one ring. Puzzled by the lack of the third she looked down. Figuring the missing ring must have slipped along the chain she sat up and felt along the whole of it's length. When she still didn't find the ring, she undid the clasp and removed the necklace. Vanessa's engagement ring was gone! In a bit of a panic, Charity looked around thinking the ring must have fallen off when she removed the necklace, but she couldn't find it.

She checked her jewellery box where she kept her own engagement ring, and that was still there. The ring on the necklace was the one she was supposed to give to Vanessa on their wedding day. She'd kept the two rings together, a small hope that one day she would be able to give them to the woman she loved. Charity hadn't asked Vanessa if she'd kept her wedding ring, only the engagement ring had been sent back to her in the post.

She spent the next two hours turning the room upside-down looking for the ring, but didn't find it.


A few days passed. They saw each other in the village, made polite small talk and carried on with their lives. It wasn't until Vanessa ran into Charity outside the church that she noticed the other woman looked distracted.

"You okay?" Vanessa asked.

"Yes," Charity's reply was short, but her eyes softened when she saw Vanessa and she managed a smile, "sorry. Long day."

"Are you busy later? We could grab a coffee and plan another play date for the kids."

"Really?" Charity's eyes lit up.

"Johnny will be back at half-term, it's all sorted for him to start at the school. He'll probably have a million questions for Moses."

"Good luck with that, it's like pulling teeth trying to get him to talk about school at home. Sometimes he'll tell me what he's had for lunch, but that's about it," Charity rolled her eyes. "Don't suppose you wanna exchange that coffee for a pint later?"

"If it's just the one, sure."

"Lightweight," Charity teased her.

"Uh, I could always keep up with you missus, at least with the pints. You're in a league of your own with the vodka."

"What can I say, I'm a woman of many talents," Charity winked at her.

"Oi, no flirting remember?"

Charity offered a mock-salute, "yes friend."

Vanessa smiled, "half-five okay for that pint? I should have finished work by then. Do you have Moses today?"

"That's fine, Moz is with Ross. Meet at mine?"

"Yeah, sure."

Charity gave her another smile and headed off, still looking distracted.


Before Vanessa was due to arrive, Charity had a bit of a cleaning blitz. She picked up all the toys Moses had left lying around, washed up all the dishes that been sitting in the sink since breakfast and ran the hoover over the carpet in a hurry. There was barely enough time for her to change clothes and re-apply her lipstick before the doorbell rang just before five-thirty.

"I'm so glad you suggested that pint," Vanessa told her as she removed her coat, "after the day I've had I don't think coffee would be enough."

"What was it this time? The animals or Paddy?"

Vanessa laughed, "definitely the animals."

"Have you been wrestling sheep again, trying to make them take their medicine?"

"I wish. Farm animals are much better behaved than pets, look," Vanessa rolled up her sleeves to show Charity the scratches on her arm.

"Bloody hell Ness, what did that?" Charity moved in for a closer look, "shouldn't you put something on them?"

"They're not too bad, I cleaned them at work and I've got some antibiotic cream and bandages at home if it gets worse."

Charity shook her head, "I'd better get you that drink."

She motioned for Vanessa to sit on the sofa and headed to the kitchen. The cans were in the fridge, but she only took one out preferring to have a glass of wine herself. Once they had been poured into glasses she went back to the sofa. Vanessa had pulled her sleeves backdown

"So what days will you have Moses at half-term?" Vanessa asked her.

Charity pulled out her phone, flicking through to the calendar to check - Ryan had suggested she set it up to help her keep track of the childcare arrangements with Ross. As they discussed the best dates for the kids to meet up, Charity kept stealing glances at Vanessa, so pleased that they were talking. She was disappointed when they'd finally agreed on two different days, expecting Vanessa to get up and leave straight away, but the vet took a sip from her drink and looked calmly back at Charity.

"How's Noah doing?" Vanessa asked, trying to make conversation.

"He's still a teenager, not sure he'll change for at least another ten years. He gets caught up in more drama than Debs ever did and he..."

"Hey, he's a good kid."

Charity rolled her eyes, "sometimes."

"I should get going."

"Stay if you want," Charity offered.

"Maybe we can grab lunch sometime. As friends."

"I'd like that."

Vanessa smiled at her and Charity followed her to the door, passing Vanessa her coat. For a moment Charity thought that Vanessa was going to give her a hug, but the moment passed and Vanessa turned away. Charity was left staring at the front door as it closed behind her, wishing she knew the right words to get Vanessa to stay.