'Will you stay?' she glanced up from the pile of washing up that she was surveying with foreboding. Never in her life had she realised that one person could create so much mess when making simple pasta and sauce out of a jar, but then Ric had taught her many things that she didn't realise were possible.

'You only say that so you can get out of doing the washing up' he remarked, glancing down at the stack of pans, wooden spoons, plates and other utensils in the sink.

'If I had realised quite how much mess you were going to make, I'd have done the cooking myself. My hands are my fortune – you can't seriously expect me to risk damaging them with washing up liquid' she whined slightly, running one of her delicate hands up and down his chest, smiling as he shuddered at her touch.

'Wear rubber gloves' he spluttered eventually, extricating himself from the situation before desire overcame him and he was forced to ravish her on the kitchen floor. He didn't think she'd complain but he suspected that she'd make him wash the floor afterwards.

'Spoil sport' she chided gently, turning back to the sink and turning the tap on the stack of pans, blasting a lot of the burnt on tomato sauce away with the pressure of the water and making a half assed attempt at scrubbing the remainder with a washing up brush 'next time you want to do something nice for me, a take away works just as well'

'Not as romantic though' he pointed out, wrapping his arms around her and nuzzling his face in her neck as she worked, slamming the final couple of pots onto the draining board and turning to him triumphantly.

'Not as much washing up' she corrected with a smile as she planted a kiss on his lips, frowning slightly as the phone began to ring, immediately making her heart speed up with fear. There was only one person in the world likely to phone her at this time and he was standing beside her so she was forced to draw the conclusion that it was bad news.

'Hello?' she answered softly and Ric's brow furrowed with confusion as the colour drained from her face and she dropped the phone with a crash as it landed on the polished parquet wood floor. He watched with morbid fascination as her knees buckled and then his legs started to move, almost on autopilot, driving him forward as he caught her before she crumpled to the ground.

'Connie?' he looked down at her ashen face and trembling body with panic and reached for the phone, cursing as he realised that it had been broken on impact 'what's wrong?'

'My dad' she whispered, pulling herself to her feet and smoothing out her skirt, her face clouding over as a her defence mechanisms kicked in.

'What about him?' he asked gently, fearing that he knew. Anything that knocked her off her feet in that manner was unlikely to be good news.

'Stroke…' she winced 'he didn't make it to the hospital. He's been gone for hours and Leah only just thought to call me' there was bitterness in her voice as she groped around, her blinded by tears that refused to fall as she searched for her car keys.

'Where are you going?' Ric spotted the keys at the same time as she did but his reactions were faster and he swiped them from beneath her grasp, putting them safely in his pocket. There was no way she was driving anywhere in this state.

'The funeral is tomorrow morning. There are things to be arranged' she stated numbly, glaring at him for a moment with her hand outstretched, waiting for him to return her keys.

'I'm coming with you' he stated in a tone that brooked no argument

'Why?' she asked sullenly, rooting through the drawer for her spare set but again she was too slow and he whipped them from beneath her hand

'You're in no state to drive'

'I'll call a cab'

'You're upset'

'Its perfectly normal' she retorted, wiping a tear that finally escaped from her eye 'considering my father just died'

'I'm not saying it isn't' he moved forward, putting his arms around her and feeling her stiffen against his touch 'but you need someone to take care of you Connie. Come on, why not?'

'You have a shift in eight hours'

'I'll call in sick' he shrugged 'who's going to care?'

'People will talk if we both take days off together' she protested weakly, finally relenting and melting into his strong embrace, leaning wearily against his chest.

'Let them talk' he stated sombrely 'I don't care'

'I do' she attempted with desperation. In light of her earlier lie, she couldn't risk Ric meeting any of her family, especially not en masse at a family occasion with an open bar where getting utterly slaughtered was permissible. Added to which, he'd realise pretty quickly that her stepmother, while being almost criminally boring, was sweet more than she was vicious. If she let him come with then she'd be living in constant fear that someone would open their mouth and say something that would ruin everything.

'You shouldn't' he told her gently 'they'll talk anyway – most of those nurses live for gossip and where there isn't any, they'll make it up'

'You're not going to take no for an answer?' she stated resignedly and he shook his head, closing his fingers around her car keys in his pocket and holding them out to her.

'Do you trust me to drive it?'

'More than I trust myself right now' she sighed gently, allowing him to lead her out to the car and sit her in the passenger seat before moving wordlessly round to the driver side and climbing in, pushing the seat back to accommodate his longer legs as he started the car.

Pulling up outside her father's house he glanced sideways at her, reluctant to wake her. After a fitful hours crying in the passenger seat, trying to hide her true state from him, she had dropped off and he thought that she could probably do with all the sleep that she could get. Slowly me moved around to the passenger door and opened it, helping her to her feet, leaning her against him and half dragging her into the porch, ringing the doorbell and hoping against hope that someone was in.

'Hello?' a small elderly woman wearing a beige housecoat and a miserable expression answered the door and looked at Ric with surprise 'do I know you?'

'No' he gestured towards Connie and she nodded in understanding and reached out, helping the pair of them into the stiflingly warm house and shutting the door behind her.

'I'm Leah' she smiled, holding out a hand to him

'I'm Ric' he took her frail hand in his strong one and shook it gently 'I'm a friend of Connie's'

'So I see' she frowned slightly as she watched him lower his sleeping lover to the sofa and stroke her hair tenderly 'just friends?'

'Yes' he frowned slightly as the woman's watery grey eyes looked right though him. She was certainly very intense but he couldn't believe that she had a malicious bone in her body. She certainly didn't fit with the picture of a child-hating monster that Connie had described.

'Has she been drinking' Leah asked accusingly, gazing down at Connie's sleeping form and then leaning over her, apparently smelling her breath

'She had a glass of wine earlier' he shrugged 'no more than that'

'Hmm' the woman snorted in disbelief 'a glass of wine is always how it starts. Just keep an eye on her. She's meant to be on the wagon'

'I uh…' Ric trailed off, stunned. He wasn't aware that Connie had ever been off the wagon but watching her stepmother retreating into the kitchen to make tea, a picture of docility and kindness, he suspected there were many things that Connie had not been entirely honest about.