Caroline arrived at Gillian's a bit after 6.30pm. She'd had time to put Flora to bed and read her a story before changing and hopping into the car. She knew Gillian was babysitting Calamity so that Raff and Ellie could have a Friday night out, which meant their more private plans were on hold until Calamity went to bed.

Caroline knocked on the door and went in. "Gillian, I'm here," she said not too loudly. She wanted to announce her arrival so she didn't scare Gillian, but didn't want to wake Calamity if she'd just gone down for her sleep.

A squeal of delight and a high-pitched "Aunty Caz!" meant that the toddler was still getting ready for bed. Caroline smiled to herself and walked towards the stairs, dropping her bag and the wine on the kitchen table on the way.

She found them in the bathroom, Gillian helping Calamity to brush her teeth. She picked up the toddler for a hug and received a toothpaste kiss on her cheek. She laughed. "Are your teeth really clean, little miss? I hope so." She smacked loud kisses on Calamity's cheek and received squirmy giggles in return.

Dropping Calamity gently to the floor, Caroline looked at Gillian, a broad grin on her face. "I've been looking forward to seeing you all week."

"Me too, Caz. Me too." Gillian had just as big a grin on her face. "I'll just get this one to bed. Why don't you check on the dinner for me and I'll be down in a few." She held her hand out and Caroline held on to it for a moment before squeezing it gently and letting go.

"Okay." Caroline looked at Calamity. "Good night Miss Calamity. Sweet dreams." She smiled and kissed the toddler again on the top of her head and left them to their nightly routine.

After checking on the stew, Caroline poured them both a glass of red and sat on the sofa nearest the stairs so she could listen to the quietly soporific tones of Gillian reading a bedtime story to Calamity. There was something very soothing about being part of the nightly routine and she was lulled into calm by Gillian's voice. She felt happy, a mutable and rare state.

When Gillian came down the stairs, story time finished, Caroline was nearly asleep. Gillian leant over the back of the sofa, running her hands down Caroline's arms and nuzzled under the blonde hair to reach Caroline's neck. She spoke softly into the warmth, "I've missed you."

Caroline captured Gillian's hands and pulled them over her chest and held them to her. "Me too. It was lovely hearing you read to Calamity. You're very good at it. I loved all the voices."

"That's part of the fun of it, isn't it?" She kissed Caroline's neck gently. "I baked some bread for us, the sourdough I know you like."

"Now you're spoiling me. You know I love it. Thank you."

Caroline turned her head and their lips met tenderly.

"Let's have dinner and then we can play." Gillian could feel Caroline smile into her lips.

"Good plan. I'm hungry."

They dished up the hearty stew and added the fresh bread to mop up the juices, sluicing it down with the bold red Caroline had brought from home. They talked about their week and the goings on within the family, laughing about Celia's continual dropping into character from the Noel Coward play.

"It's like she's found her true self. It's hilarious." Caroline was chuckling. She'd been enjoying her mum's turn as Judith Bliss, who was more fun and less acidic than the Celia of old.

After dinner, Gillian did the washing up and Caroline entertained her with her Celia-as-Judith Bliss impersonations while clearing the table. The kitchen clean, they moved into the lounge room with their wines. Sitting next to each other, they were close, their shoulders touching and their hands caressing. It wasn't long before Caroline took things further, kicking off her shoes and sitting astride Gillian for a proper snog. Gillian had one hand in Caroline's glorious blonde hair while the other snuck under her top, searching for the divine bre*sts she knew she'd find.

At a local restaurant, not far away, Raff and Ellie sat with William. They'd picked him up from the station in Halifax at 5.30pm. They were going to stage an intervention, of sorts.

.

.

The sound of her Land Rover finally broke through into Gillian's consciousness. "F**k! Sh*t. That's Raff. Sh*t. Caroline!"

Caroline was dumped rudely on the floor as Gillian leapt up, scrabbling to find the clothing they'd abandoned in their lust-fueled haze. Caroline sat bewildered for a second before the words sank in. "F**k!" Gillian threw her the bra that had been launched playfully onto the other sofa and her shirt that had landed under the coffee table. Caroline dragged herself up off the ground and had managed to get her bra on and pull her shirt over her shoulders before she heard the door opening. She faced the fireplace, but it was obvious she was still doing up her shirt and her hair must have looked exactly like Gillian had been grabbing handfuls of it while they were snogging. She glanced at Gillian who was in better shape to greet the coming posse, apart from the smudged makeup all over her mouth.

"Hiya. You're back early. Everything okay?" Gillian wore the overly happy facade of the clearly caught.

"Oh." Raff stood there looking at his mum and the mortified Caroline, taking it all in. "Sorry. We should have..." He stopped, embarrassed to have caught his mum so obviously at it with Caroline.

William and Ellie had piled in the door behind Raff, running into him when he stopped suddenly. It was Ellie who started laughing, tickled by the idea that the always-together Caroline had been caught making out with Gillian. Raff turned to Ellie, who was losing it by this stage, and started laughing too. It wasn't long before all the young ones were laughing, nervously releasing the tension of the shock of it all.

"I'll pop kettle on," Gillian said as she grabbed Caroline's hand and dragged her into the kitchen. She planted a clearly still shaken Caroline against the wall in the kitchen, out of sight of their kids and gently combed her fingers through Caroline's hair, bringing it back to some sort of tidiness. "It's okay. It's just Raff and William." Her quiet, calming voice soothed the shocked embarrassment of her lover.

"Sh*t. I'm sorry. It's just..." Caroline closed her eyes for a moment and breathed. When she opened them again, all she could see was Gillian's tender gaze and they moved together for a brief kiss, communicating the trust and comfort they both needed.

Gillian looked at Caroline and could see the head teacher persona scaffolding click back into place, a bit sad to lose the private and tender Caroline with whom she was in love. Gillian blinked, wondering how that had blindsided her. She blinked the thought away; she would examine that little gem when she had more time.

Caroline pulled her hanky out of her pocket and gently wiped her lipstick off Gillian's face. She grabbed her bag and touched up her own makeup quickly. Feeling much more in control, she looked again at Gillian. "Right. Onwards."

"Tea. Right." She turned to put the kettle on and Caroline pulled out the mugs and found some cake Gillian had made for their dessert.

"Lucky you made this Gillian," she said wryly. "It'll come in handy for whatever this little jaunt is," she said nodding to the lounge room. Caroline suspected that this was probably William's and Raff's idea of an intervention. Clearly their secret was blown, but she had no idea why the boys were here tonight.

Tea made and cake ready, they looked at each other and mentally girded their loins, no idea what they were facing. They took a deep breath and launched themselves cheerfully into battle, Henry V's speech 'Once more unto the breach, my friends' playing in Caroline's head.

"Tea's made," Gillian said brightly as she stepped into the lounge, seeing the three of them, Raff, Ellie and William, sitting in a row on one couch. They handed out the mugs and cake and Caroline corralled Gillian onto the two-seater couch. Better to present a united front, she thought.

"Okay. What's going on?" Caroline got them rolling, in a tone that said she wasn't mucking around.

Raff and William looked at each other, but it was William who spoke.

"We, Raff and I, noticed a couple of weeks ago, at my birthday party, that you two seemed close. Well, closer than before. And tonight confirms it really." He looked directly at his mum, gaining confidence as he spoke. "We wanted to say that it's okay with us and we're here if you need us." Caroline glanced at Gillian before turning back to look at William. She smiled at him. He really was the pick of the family, she thought, so much kinder than the rest of us.

"And that's why you're here, all of you?"

"Yes. We talked about it and thought you'd want to know we knew, and that it was okay with us."

William was right. Caroline did want to know that the boys knew about her and Gillian, but she hated the thought they'd been talking about her behind her back. It set her teeth on edge.

"Thank you for coming to let us know in person," she said a little stiffly.

"So how long has it been going on?" Raff chimed up suddenly. He really wanted to know, to know if his mum had been mucking about before Robbie left. He liked Caroline but he felt protective of his uncle too.

Caroline glared at Raff, even though she knew he didn't deserve it. She didn't want to answer, but couldn't find a reason not to. She noticed Gillian looking at her, raising her eyebrow. Caroline nodded subtly.

Gillian answered, "It's only been a month. Very new for us. We're still finding our feet really." She reached across the couch to pick up Caroline's hand, but Caroline pulled her hand away. Gillian wasn't going to let her get away with it. She kept her hand out and looked intently at Caroline.

Caroline closed her eyes, remembering the damage her internalised homophobia and fear had done to her relationship with Kate. She let go of some of her armour and held out her hand to Gillian, who took it. They shared a look, understanding the decision Caroline had made and what it had taken for her to do this. For Caroline, it revealed again the emotional strength of Gillian, the one who was ostensibly still in the closet. It gave her a sense of déjà vu, remembering the strength of Kate in being visible, no matter the cost.

"So," Caroline cleared her throat, "Who else knows?" She looked at the three on the couch still unsure why they were here in force.

"No one. Not that we know. I'm sure Lawrence doesn't know; he'd have called me. And Granny doesn't or we'd all know about it." William chipped in.

"And Grandad doesn't know. He would have told me, or Celia, for sure," Raff added.

Ellie stayed quiet, letting the sons do the talking. She was there in case Calamity needed someone while the others talked. She thought it was better drama than the Friday night crime night on the BBC. At 17, she was trying to picture the two women in bed together and wondering what old people did. Gillian and Caroline, at 48, seemed ancient to her. A pity she couldn't tell anyone about it yet, but she'd been on the wrong end of gossip herself and wouldn't inflict it on Gillian.

"Yes, well, the less they know the better." Caroline looked at the three stooges, as she was beginning to think of them. "Can we keep it that way, please?" It was a directive, not a question and they all knew it.

"We've known for weeks and we haven't told anyone Mum. We know Granny isn't going to be nice about this, so we were wondering if you had a plan." William went to the heart of the matter; Celia.

"No. Not yet." Caroline sighed. She knew they needed one. It was going to get ugly when Celia found out. "It's early days for us. We'd rather it stay private for the moment. Once your Granny knows, everyone in the family will know. Actually, other than snarky comments, she might ignore it if she can keep it from public knowledge." She turned to Gillian, "And I know you're worried about your dad. I'm worried that Mum might take it out on him. Blame him or something. Normally I can guess how she's going to react, but this is...beyond any experience I have of her."

"She normally blames you Mum," William stated sadly, knowing how much it hurt his mother when his granny was nasty. "But she blamed Kate when you two got together, so maybe she'll blame Gillian instead of you. She will blame someone and it won't be pleasant."

Caroline was aware of how much her young lad had grown up. Over two years in Oxford and William was clearly a young man and no longer a boy. She couldn't quite imagine how she and John had managed it actually; William was kind and thoughtful, and very perceptive. It was beyond her understanding that one of her lads could turn out like William and the other like Lawrence. It brought the nature vs nurture arguments into sharp relief.

"Yeah. Probably." Gillian thought about it. "The thing is, I remember when she first heard about Kate at the farm. That was classic denial, right?"

"Yep. If she's not directly faced with it, she'll ignore it unless she thinks someone 'out there' will notice. She's a stickler for appearances because of my dad... she really cares what people think. She's terrified, terrified, that people will gossip about her."

Remembering how awful Celia was about Kate, she dreaded her mother knowing about Gillian, not convinced that her mother had changed. Kate dying and Caroline not having a publicly acknowledged girlfriend for two years meant that Celia could effectively render Caroline as*xual in her head; not the same at all as having a daughter who was a lesbian and had a partner. Celia's constant needling for Caroline to find a nice man was telling and it drove Caroline up the wall.

"So, if we did nothing and you dropped little hints, would that work? Me Grandad might get it first, though," Raff suggested.

"I don't know. I know she likes Gillian but the fact that we're not actually related may not soften this for her." Caroline looked inquiringly at her sister-in-law. "Gillian?"

"It could be okay for Celia. She might need time to get used to the idea. To be honest, I'm more worried about me dad having a heart attack."

"So do we tell him first?" Raff asked.

"No. Not yet. I don't want anyone to know yet. We don't even know what we are yet." Caroline was starting to feel really pushed, and was more and more uncomfortable as the conversation went on.

"But haven't you been having dinner nearly every Friday night for a year or so?" Raff piped up again. He was looking at his mum, trying to see what had changed for her.

"Yeah, we have, but only as friends." Gillian looked a bit sheepish, "It wasn't until after Robbie left that anything happened."

"Is that why he left, Mum?" Raff felt he was getting to the heart of it. He'd never really understood why Robbie had gone. And gone to Canada, of all places. It wasn't like he'd moved to Hebden Bridge. He'd really gone, gone.

"No. No. It really weren't. It were something else. It hadn't been working for us for a while. A long time really." Gillian started to fidget. "Us splitting were really more about your dad, actually. We were never meant to get married, not after your dad. I loved Robbie, but it were a mistake." She didn't really want to tell Raff that it might have been more about recreating history for him and penance for her than anything else.

"So if you've been seeing each other every week for months, were that like dating?" Ellie suddenly joined the conversation, interested to see how two people could be friends for so long and then suddenly change.

Caroline was dumbstruck with this realisation. Ellie was right. They had effectively been dating. She could even see how much Gillian had grown on her over the time, to the point where she was now telling her things, things she wouldn't normally tell anyone. The level of trust she had with Gillian had been growing for a long time now. How could it not, considering the enormity of what Gillian shared about Eddie all those years ago? This new information flummoxed her; how had she not recognised this?

"Sh*t. Oh Sh*t." Caroline muttered under her breath. Her mind was whirring at a million miles an hour trying to re-evaluate all her past encounters with Gillian through this new framework. She closed her eyes and briefly rested her head against the back of the couch.

Gillian could see Caroline needed space and decided to wrap it up before it went further south. "Okay, so we don't tell anyone else. If you want to ask us anything you can." Caroline looked sharply at her, but Gillian ignored it. "I might have a chat with me dad when the time is right, but not yet. And Celia, we'll work something out later. Sound like a plan?" Gillian was smiling, thinking she'd avoided the worst of it.

Caroline looked at William and quietly said, "Leave Lawrence to me. I'll tell him, but when he's home in the next month or two." She took a breath. "I'll let you know when I do. No doubt he'll want to call you about it." She got up and went to William, who stood up for a hug.

"Thank you William. I don't know what I'd do without you. You really are the pick of our family." She kissed him on the side of his face and held him tight. "I love you so much. Thank you for coming all this way for this."

All business again, Caroline stepped back as everyone stood up and prepared to leave. "Now, where are you staying? Are you coming home with me William?"

"That would be great, if that's okay with you, Mum."

"Of course. What a treat for me to have you for a few more hours. When are you due back?"

"11am train tomorrow."

"Okay. We'll have you on it." Caroline went to the kitchen to pick up her bag, rummaging around for her car keys. "William, you can drive. I'll meet you in the car in a minute." He knew the instructions were to send him packing, giving his mum time to say goodbye to Gillian. He smiled to himself as he took the car keys, gave Gillian a quick hug and walked out into the cold.

Caroline turned to Raff for a hug. "Thank you Raff." She gave him a squeeze and let him go before moving on to hug Ellie. "Thank you Ellie." Caroline sat to put her boots on and left Gillian to speak with Raff while Ellie went to get Calamity.

Gillian had followed Raff into the kitchen. "Do you want to have a cuppa tomorrow afternoon, just you and me?" She really wanted to talk to him about it all and make sure he was okay.

"Yeah, that'd be great. I'll see you after work, about 5. Could you pick me up?"

"Yeah. I'll do that. Then I'll drop you home."

"Are you okay Mum? I know this is a big thing, going out with a woman. A bit different to men."

"Yeah. Actually, not the first time, just the first time anyone's known about it," Gillian admitted.

"You what!? Really? When?" Raff's mouth dropped open with astonishment.

"It were a long time since, before you were born." Gillian figured there was no need for specifics. "So no, not that new for me; just been a while." She looked down at the floor, "But it will be new to your grandad. I don't know how he's going to take it."

"He likes Caroline. He thinks she's well cool, so I reckon you'll be right with him." Raff wrapped his long arms around her and gave her a big hug. "I'll see you tomorrow Mum. Love you."

"Are you okay love?" Gillian asked, worrying that he really wasn't okay about it.

"Yeah. I'm fine Mum. She's a catch is Caroline, and I know you're fond of her. So nice one!" Raff rubbed her back and laughed. "See you tomorrow."

Raff and Gillian pulled apart, and Gillian turned to Ellie, who had come back downstairs with a sleepy Calamity draped over her shoulder. "See you love. Thanks for coming tonight. And thanks for your support. It means a lot, it does." She gave Ellie a hug and kissed Calamity goodnight.

The young Greenwoods were out the door, leaving Gillian and Caroline alone. They stood and looked at one another. It was Gillian who walked to Caroline, wrapping her arms around her.

"Big night Caroline." She buried her face into Caroline's neck, breathing in her scent.

"Yeah. It feels different now that someone else knows. It's not just ours anymore, is it?" She stroked Gillian's hair and kissed the top of her head. The sense of calm that came over her when she was touching Gillian was a constant surprise, the relief of a port in the storm of life.

They both pulled back to look at one another, communication no longer verbal. They kissed tenderly, a kiss telegraphing affection and trust, and as soon as their tongues touched, lust. They stopped before it got too heated and rested their foreheads against one another.

"I'll see you soon. I'll call you."

"We'll make a time. Safe travel home, Caroline."

Caroline smiled warmly and turned for the door. Knowing that Gillian would be watching her on her way out, she moved her hips ever so seductively as she sashayed to the door.

"B*tch."

"Yep." Caroline laughed as she opened the door and glanced back with a smirk on her face. "Sweet dreams..."