It was, as ever, entirely plausible that Eve was going to regret suggesting that they play Oksana's game. And yet, she had suggested exactly that. At least, she supposed it wasn't one of the suggestions she had made to Oksana without even realising what she was about to say. She had thought about this in advance, she knew she was going to have to give a little in order to get anything at all in return when it came to Oksana. So Eve was giving her a chance to play her game.

"Do you remember it?" Eve asked, adjusting herself in her seat and reaching for her notebook. "We both get three guesses, and for each one you get correct—"

"You get another guess, I remember." Oksana finished eagerly. "I am going first."

If she were any more excited, she would be clapping her hands in glee.

"No." Eve said firmly, "I'm going first." It was petty, but she had to assert some sort of control over the situation. After all, that control was bound to be out the window in less than five minutes time.

"OK." Oksana agreed, surprisingly amiably, "You can go first."

"Thank-you." Eve said politely.

She had written some potential guesses in her notebook a few days earlier when she had been considering letting Oksana play her game and she was going to start small. Start with something she knew wasn't a big risk. Something she was almost certain was correct.

"You've never had pets." Eve said simply.

Oksana looked affronted.

"Eve. That is a very boring guess. This game is supposed to be fun." She said, unimpressed.

"It's a correct guess though, isn't it?" Eve replied nonchalantly.

"My father had dogs." Oksana said moodily. In all honesty, her father's dogs were certainly not pets. They were deterrents, and pretty ferocious ones at that.

"But you, personally, have never had, nor desired to have, a pet." Eve countered with the kind of cool confidence that was bound to irk Oksana.

"Fine." Oksana conceded. "You are right. But it is still a boring guess." She chastised lightly.

"Still got me an extra guess." Eve shrugged, eyeing Oksana and waiting for her to hurl an insult her way for that arrogant statement. No insult came.

"My turn." Oksana said instead, with a smile. "You have had sex with less than five people." she said smugly.

"Incorrect." Eve replied instantly.

"It is not!" Oksana exclaimed. "You are lying! How many then?"

"You only get guesses, not follow-up questions." Eve said firmly. "My turn again."

Eve referred back to her notebook.

"You are very prepared, Eve. Have you been thinking about me a lot?" Oksana smirked.

Eve closed her notebook with a snap, the edge of the page sliding along her finger as she did so and slicing into the pad of it.

"Oh sugar snaps!" Eve hissed, as she pulled her already bleeding finger into her mouth. Why were paper cuts so vicious?

"What?" Oksana burst out in amazement. "Did you say 'sugar snaps'? What are you, seven?" she asked through her stunned laughter.

"No," said Eve defensively, releasing her finger from her mouth and assessing the cut, "We don't all swear the minute we open our mouths."

Or rather, when you have children, you learn to quash that immediate instinct to swear, and Eve had done exactly that before realising that present company would not be the slightest bit offended by an expletive.

"But who says that?" Oksana howled, still laughing.

Eve waited for the laughter to abate while she inspected her finger. It was a clean, thread of a slit, almost unnoticeable until she squeezed it and watched a drop of blood form from within it.

"Eve," Oksana chuckled, "You are so weird."

Her tone was affectionate and Eve felt her stomach react pleasantly to that too. God, this was getting out of hand.

"Is your finger alright?" Oksana then asked abruptly.

"It's fine." Eve said, shaking her head and pulling a pack of tissues from her handbag.

She swiped the blood from her finger onto a tissue and then balled it up and crossed the room to the bin by the door. She was striding back to her seat when Oksana reached out suddenly, like a domestic cat swiping at a toy mouse, and grabbed hold of her hand.

"Let me see." She demanded, holding Eve's hand and pulling it towards herself before examining Eve's forefinger closely.

"It's just a paper cut." Eve said. Her voice came out hoarse and she wasn't sure why.

Oksana smoothed her fingers over Eve's own, back and forth, and then looked up into Eve's face.

"I think it's fine." She said, just above a whisper.

Eve found herself trapped, her gaze meeting Oksana's and being held captive. There was such life in those eyes, such intelligence, and Eve couldn't look away. Oksana smiled and released Eve's hand.

"So is it sugar snaps like the peas or…" Oksana trailed off, her smile becoming more of a smirk.

Eve shook her head to pull herself out of her accidental trance and returned to her seat, ignoring Oksana's question.

"That fight you got into when you were first in prison, when you broke a woman's nose, it was because she said something about your father." Eve said in a rush, as she settled into her seat.

She crossed her legs neatly, and forced her back straight and her shoulders down, hoping to bring back a sense of propriety to their meeting. Or at the very least hoping to hide the effect that Oksana's touch had had on her.

"Ooh," Oksana let out, "You have been reading my record too?" she sounded most pleased with herself.

Eve simply kept her gaze expectantly on Oksana, waiting for her to answer. Oksana's smile grew and Eve's heart sank.

"Wrong." She said breezily.

"Why then? What caused it?" Eve asked, unable to help herself. She was sure that could be the only thing that would set Oksana ablaze in such a way.

"Ah-ah." Oksana, shaking her head at Eve whilst still smiling, "Only guesses, no follow up questions."

Eve pursed her lips.

"My turn." Oksana said excitedly.

"Go on then," Eve let out, "You have two guesses left."

"I am your favourite client." Oksana said proudly.

Eve hadn't been expecting that. But perhaps maybe she should have been. Oksana did hold herself in high regard.

"I don't have a favourite client." Eve replied tensely.

"You can say." Oksana tempted, and then added in a whisper, "I won't tell anyone."

Eve laughed, she couldn't help herself. The idea that Oksana might divulge the fact that she was Eve's favourite client and cause some kind of stir was amusing. Who would she tell? Bill? He knew as well as Eve did that Oksana likes to think she's everyone's favourite.

"See?" Oksana exclaimed, "I make you laugh. Do your other clients make you laugh?

"Not often." Eve relented, and in fact she couldn't remember a single time that another client had made her laugh recently.

"So I am your favourite." Oksana decided.

"I didn't say that." Eve rebuked firmly.

Oksana stared at her, and Eve stared back for as long as she could manage before finding that she had to look away.

"An extra guess to me," Oksana said cheerily.

Eve let out a breathy laugh, and raised a single hand in defeat. She didn't have to actually confirm Oksana's guess. She could just concede the point and move on.

"My turn then." Eve said brusquely.

"Ha!" Oksana barked, "I knew it! I am your favourite." She leaned back in her seat victoriously. She motioned for Eve to make her next guess, but then thought better of it and spoke again before Eve could formulate her next guess.

"You're my favourite too." Oksana offered graciously.

"I'm your favourite psychologist?" Eve asked with a laugh, "Great. Good for me. I am your favourite out of one."

"No," Oksana said immediately with a frown, "Just… my favourite."

"Oh." Eve heard herself say. That was interesting. And confusing. "What about Mr Pargrave?"

A storm cloud gathered over Oksana's features

"He is not my favourite." She sneered.

"I thought you liked him," Eve said, confused. "Or at least, I thought you didn't dislike him."

"What do you think of him?" Oksana asked, her eyes narrowed suspiciously.

"He's a friend." Eve replied cautiously, something had rubbed Oksana the wrong way, and now she felt the need to tread carefully.

Oksana looked somewhere between mildly disgusted and outright furious.

"What's that look for?" Eve asked. "I told you before that Pargrave and I have never… been together."

"Good!" Oksana snapped. "He wants to though." She added, "It's disgusting. He's disgusting."

Eve now had no idea what was going on, how their conversation had taken such a turn, or what had happened to provoke such disdain from Oksana. Clearly the subject of Eve and Bill's friendship was something Oksana couldn't get to grips with.

"I'm married." Eve pointed out.

"I know." Oksana groaned, letting her head drop backwards animatedly.

Eve considered Oksana whilst she wasn't looking and decided on her next guess. It wasn't from her notebook, but she had a strong inkling that it was correct.

"You don't have friends." Eve said evenly.

"Ouch, Eve!" Oksana let out in mock hurt, lifting her head from the back of the chair and staring wide-eyed at Eve, "There is no need to be mean."

"No, that's my guess." Eve clarified, "You don't tend to have close friends."

Oksana pondered that for what felt like too long of a time as far as Eve was concerned. If it took that long to think about then clearly the answer was no. Or perhaps Oksana was having trouble defining friendship.

"Friends are people you don't have sex with." Eve pointed out dryly.

"Hmm…" Oksana hummed, dragging out the sound and looking thoughtful for another moment, "Then no. You are correct."

Eve nodded. That made sense. Well, it made sense in terms of what she knew about Oksana. It didn't make sense in the general human behaviour kind of way.

"You would never have an affair?" Oksana said, her tone rich with interest.

"I…" Eve started and then furrowed her brows. "Is that a guess?"

"Obviously. That is the game." Oksana replied as though Eve's query had been a stupid one.

"But you asked it as a question." Eve countered

"I did not."

"You did. Your voice went up at the end." Eve argued.

"Whatever." Oksana let out, irritated. "Why does it matter?"

"Well… If it's a question, I don't have to answer it." Eve explained.

"Then it is a guess." Oksana decided. "So you do."

"I would never have an affair," Eve repeated, "That's your guess?"

"Ugh!" Oksana huffed, "Yes. That is the guess."

Eve considered the statement carefully. She had never cheated on Niko. She had cheated on partners in the past. Well, one. But she hadn't cheated on Niko. That didn't mean she never would though, she supposed. She couldn't tell the future, after all.

"Incorrect." Eve said slowly.

Oksana's face brightened and she twitched in her seat as though her whole body was taken aback by that response. And then she appeared to collect herself and eyed Eve dubiously.

"Are you just trying to stop me getting an extra guess?" She asked warily.

"No!" Eve replied. "It's just that I can't say for certain that your guess is correct because that would require me making a prediction, which I can't do." Eve explained.

"So you would cheat on your husband?" Oksana summarised.

"I can't imagine doing that." Eve said, "But it is within the realms of possibility. It has to be. Just like he could cheat on me."

"He would have to be a fucking idiot." Oksana said at once.

Eve laughed.

"Sometimes I think he would be within his rights." Eve murmured. And why? Why did she say that? Was possessed her? Had she forgotten where she was currently?

Oksana looked confused.

"Why?" she demanded.

"I shouldn't have said that," Eve muttered, and she wasn't sure if she was telling herself or Oksana.

"But you did." Oksana insisted. "Why would he want to cheat on you?"

Eve sighed. Was she really doing this?

"Marriages aren't easy, you know?" She said softly. "People change throughout their lives. What works at the start doesn't necessarily work forever. Circumstances change…"

"So break up." Oksana shrugged. "But he would still be an idiot to cheat on you."

"It's not as easy as…" Eve started, Oksana didn't know there was a child involved, didn't know that most of their marital disputes were Eve's fault. "He's not an idiot. He just wants more than I can give sometimes." She reasoned.

"He makes you do things you don't want to do?" Oksana growled.

"No," Eve laughed, "Jesus, nothing like that. More that he wants to spend time with me, wants me to be there more for him and—" Eve stopped herself just in time. "I work a lot." She finished safely.

"He doesn't work?" Oksana asked.

"He does." Eve replied, "he just has different…. priorities."

Was Eve actually admitting, in a round about way, that she cared more about her work than her son? Was she admitting that to a client, of all people? She had officially lost her mind.

"Like what?" Oksana asked.

Now that Eve couldn't answer without bringing Leo into this conversation. And the conversation was crossing enough lines as it was.

"He's a painter." She said instead.

Oksana stuck her chin out and gestured for Eve to continue as if that statement was so uninteresting that it must be leading somewhere else.

"He… uh… He's good. He does mostly commissions now, and…" Eve was rambling. She had begun to spill her guts in the most inappropriate way and now she was stuck. Oksana had a knack for teasing information out of Eve. It was a knack that Eve only wished she herself possessed. She glanced at the clock on the wall; surely Bill would be along soon to save her from the mess she had made for herself.

Their session should have ended 20 minutes ago, according to the clock.

"Where's Bill?" Eve shrieked. "It's twenty past!" She stood abruptly and flapped her hands uselessly for a moment.

"Is it?" Oksana said calmly. "That didn't feel like a whole hour."

"It was more than an hour!" Eve exclaimed. "Shit! I am going to be so late."

"Oh, it's shit now? Not sugar snaps?" Oksana said with a grin.

"Where the fuck is Bill?" Eve asked, glancing at her watch as though it might give her a more favourable answer than the clock.

"Outside probably." Oksana shrugged. "I told him not to come in this time."

"What?" Eve gasped, "Why?"

"For you." Oksana said simply.

"What are you talking about?" Eve asked, "Actually no, whatever it is, forget it. I have to go."

Eve grabbed her jacket from the back of her chair and started shrugging it on. Halfway through the task, with one arm twisted around her back, she realised her sleeve was now inside out and tangled. Oksana chuckled softly and stood from her chair. She crossed over to Eve in one stride and took hold of her upper arms gently.

"Here." She said, turning Eve on the spot and untangling her sleeve for her.

Oksana helped Eve pull her jacket on and then just as Eve was about to step away, she gathered Eve's hair with one hand and pulled it out from inside her jacket. Oksana fluffed Eve's hair once and let it fall over her shoulders; Eve could swear she heard Oksana take a deep breath in as she did so. Eve stood frozen in place until Oksana was in front of her once more and Eve cleared her throat awkwardly.

"Thanks." She croaked.

"You're welcome." Oksana smiled.

Eve remained still for a moment, suddenly oddly on edge at having Oksana so close to her.

"Aren't you running late for something?" Oksana asked finally.

"Shit!" Eve exclaimed again. She grabbed her bag from the floor, slung it over her shoulder and headed for the doorway.

"See you next week Eve!" Oksana called happily.

Eve couldn't bring herself to turn around, to look at Oksana again, so she raised a hand over her shoulder in a backwards wave and pulled the door open, throwing herself out into the corridor.

"Ah, there you are! I was just about to knock—" Bill let out, pushing himself off of the wall where he had been leaning, waiting for Oksana.

"Can't stop!" Eve yelled, "Sorry Bill, running late."

"No shit." Bill muttered, shaking his head with a smile.

He took a deep breath and readied himself for another interaction with Oksana who was now strolling serenely out of the doorway.

It took Eve over an hour to get home. She watched the digital clock on her dashboard tick further and further away from the time she had promised Niko she would be home by. She had promised to have Leo bathed and ready for bed early tonight, before the Austins arrived for dinner. There was no time for that now. She had promised to be there to greet them when they arrived and chat to them while Niko finished the supper preparations. That time had slid by too.

By the time she reached home and all but screeched into a parking slot, leaving the car with one tyre on the pavement and the rest of the road, Eve's heart was pounding painfully. It was too late and she knew it.

She turned the key in the lock and let herself into the house. Her ears were met with the sounds of clinking glasses, murmured laughter and Leo's high-pitched voice that was reserved for when he was at his most over-tired and over-excited. Eve braced herself and strode into the kitchen.

"You're late!" Leo shrieked with a manic smile.

"Leo," Niko said warningly.

Eve threw on an apologetic smile.

"I am so sorry," She gushed, "Traffic on the M25 was an absolute nightmare."

She held out her hand to Mr Austin to shake.

"Oh, that road is a pig. Always accidents on it at this time of day." He said knowingly, shaking her hand.

"Exactly." Eve nodded, "Huge accident." She lied.

She turned to Mrs Austin and smiled, leaning in for a quick hug.

"You must be dying for a glass of wine," Mrs Austin said sympathetically.

"You have no idea," Eve joked. She tried to catch Niko's eye but he was studiously avoiding her glances. "But uh… Let me just get Leo sorted upstairs first." She added.

"No!" Leo whined.

"'fraid so." Eve nodded.

"But I want to stay up." He said, stomping his foot petulantly.

"Come on Lionman, we had a deal." Niko said warmly. "You could stay down until Mum got home."

"And I'm here now," Eve added, "So come on, I'll uh… Read you a story?" Eve suggested, casting a questioning look at Niko and finally getting some eye contact.

"A quick one." he nodded. "Dinner is pretty much ready."

"OK." Leo sighed and began traipsing towards the door. "Night Mr and Mrs Austin." He said politely and then headed into the hall and up the stairs.

"Won't be long," Eve murmured, smiling at both of the guests, and then at Niko. He held her gaze but didn't return her smile.