Kate bent down and peered into Flora's carry cot. She was breathing gently, her face the image of perfection. She smiled and looked over at Caroline.

"I don't think I will be able to sleep tonight with her so close to me."

Caroline winked.

"I don't think you will sleep much tonight with me so close to you."

Kate gave a nervous laugh and she picked up her nightie and went into the bathroom, aware that Caroline was watching her every move. She closed the door quietly and leaned on the sink, looking at herself in the bathroom mirror.

Unzipping her trousers, she pensively touched the scar on her stomach, a crude line that went vertically from the bottom of her belly button to the top of her underwear. The result of her beautiful daughter being born so dramatically but nevertheless an ugly scar she didn't think she would ever grow to accept as part of her own body.

Quickly, she undressed and pulled her nightie over her head, stopping briefly to pull her hair back into a pony tail. She picked up her toothbrush and took longer than usual to clean her teeth, all the while staring at her reflection in the mirror, a thousand thoughts running through her head.

Caroline was sat up in bed reading when Kate entered the bedroom. She looked at her over the top of her glasses.

"OK?"

"Mm mmm"

Kate nodded back and climbed into bed, pulling the covers tight over herself. She yawned very obviously.

"I can't believe how tired I am. I am going to try to get some sleep before this little one wakes me up. Night night."

Caroline leaned forward to kiss Kate but her mouth met the side of her head as she turned over to face the other way. She suddenly felt awkward.

"Night then."

She was no longer reading her book, but just staring at the words on the page. Random words caught her eye and she tried to make a sentence of them but gave up. Caroline hadn't expected a night of wild abandoned sex but she had been looking forward to some cuddling and kissing. Oh well, perhaps Kate had exhausted herself. It had been a very emotional day for her and Caroline needed to be supportive of that.


True to form, Flora woke up within an hour of Kate dropping off to sleep. Caroline was still awake but she quietly placed her book on her chest and closed her eyes as though she had dropped off while still reading.

Kate sat bolt upright in bed and looked around confused. And then she grinned as she became aware of what had woken her up. Swinging her legs out of bed, she sat and looked into the cot, her eyes looking straight into those of her daughter.

"Hello little one. Are you hungry? Come on, let's get you sorted before you wake up your mummy and your big grumpy brother."

Caroline moaned and opened her eyes.

"Sorry, we didn't mean to wake you."

Taking off her glasses and picking up her book, Caroline smiled.

"No, no, I as just resting my eyes. I know how this little lady works. Do you want me to err, shall I help?"

"It's OK. We've got this thank you."

"Oh, OK. Shout me if you need me."

"I think I can manage to feed her on my own."

And Kate left the bedroom cradling Flora close to her. Had Kate just been off with her or was she over-reacting? She decided it was the latter and put her book down. Within minutes, she was fast asleep.


Caroline was just finishing drinking her tea when Kate came into the kitchen. Flora was crying very loudly and Kate was doing her best to quieten her.

"Someone doesn't sound very happy. Have you changed her?"

"Yes. She's all clean and dry.

"Rubbed her back? Sometimes she has trapped wind hours after she had fed."

"Yes."

"Well maybe she is just hungry."

Kate glared at Caroline.

"To coin your phrase Caroline. No shit Sherlock."

Caroline held up her hands in defeat.

"I am only trying to help. I have had more experience of looking after her than you have Kate. "

Kate looked open mouthed.

"Well perhaps you ought to take her and look after her then. Oh no, wait. You have a very important job to do, sitting in your office all day shuffling papers and "

She stopped, suddenly aware that she had gone too far.

"I'm sorry Caroline. I just don't know what to do. I hate seeing her crying like this."

Caroline stood up and opened her arms. Kate placed Flora in them and went to warm her a bottle. Walking round the kitchen, Caroline bounced Flora up and down gently and made little cooing noises to her. After a few minutes she quietened down and the only noises she made were little sucking noises. Kate was astounded.

"Wow Caroline. I am amazed. I have never seen you with a baby before. You certainly do have a way with children."

Caroline smiled.

"They know, you know. Babies know when you are upset and anxious. They can sense it. You just need to be calm and reassure them."

"You're not kidding. I'm sorry Caroline. I don't know what I got so upset about. I guess I'm not used to this. I just need some practice."

Caroline handed Flora back to her and Kate put the teat to her mouth. She opened her mouth wide and starting feeding.

"Are you sure you will be OK with her? My mother is just next door. At least I think she is. She didn't say her and Alan had any plans for the rest of the week. You can give her a shout."

Kate's heckles were up again.

"I think I am more than capable of looking after my own daughter thank you."

"Kate, why are you being so snippy?"

She ignored her and went to sit on the sofa.

"Fine. Well, you only need to ring my mother. And you know where I will be. Beverly has my permission to interrupt me whenever so call me if you need anything."

Kate mocked.

"My permission. Oooo, listen to your mummy Flora."

Caroline was hurt. She put her cup in the sink and ran some water into it, splashing the front of her blouse.

"Shit."

Taking a moment to calm down, she walked towards Kate, determined not to slam out of the house.

"Right, well, I'll be off then. Try to get some rest when Flora is sleeping. You'll be surprised at how tired you will get. And ring me if you need anything. I'll check in at lunch time."

She leaned over and kissed them both on the foreheads and walked back up into the kitchen to get her bag.

"Bye girls. Have a nice day."

Caroline was reluctant to leave, unsure as to whether Kate was ready for all this. Twice she hesitated before finally closing the front door behind her and leaving the house.

Kate was oblivious to anything except Flora who lay in her arms, suddenly milk drunk.


Caroline felt anxious all day. Not because Kate was on her own with Flora but because of the tension that she had felt before she left for work. Kate had only been out of hospital 24 hours and she was new to the parenting role. She chided herself and promised to be more patient and understanding when she got home.

However, when she passed Michael Dobson in the corridor, all her pent up anger and frustration was vented and she almost bit his head off when he asked how things were at home.

"Fine! Yes, yes, they are fine. Why wouldn't they be? Christ Michael, if I didn't know you any better I would think that you were waiting for Kate to fail. For us both to fail. Well, hard luck. That is not going to happen. No. No way."

She straightened her jacket and with a flick of her head she carried on walking back to her office, nodding courteously at one of her sixth form pupils. Michael's eyes followed her down the corridor. He was unsure what to make of their exchange.

Once she was in her own sanctuary, Caroline shut the door and leaned heavily on it. She slowly closed her eyes and breathed slowly for a few moments. She didn't care about Michael bloody Dobson but she did care that she had publicly lost her cool and called him out in front of other people.

Standing tall, she smiled to herself at the one picture that suddenly entered her head. She was in her office with Kate, their lips were touching, and her hand was underneath her blouse on her breast. They had both been so overcome with passion, both so willing to take it to another level. Earlier that same day she had told John she was seeing someone and then later on that evening she had outed herself. That had been the turning point for her, the day when had finally admitted to herself that she was in love with Kate. And now she realised that she loved Kate more than ever.

Walking over to her desk, she picked up her phone.

"Kate. Hello. Listen, I just wanted to say"

"Sorry."

Caroline was floored by the response and she lifted the phone from her ear and looked at the screen.

"Sorry?"

"Yes me too."

"No, no, I meant, oh never mind. I miss you."

There was silence and she heard Kate gasping very quickly, trying to hold back her tears.

"Are you OK? Kate?"

There was a deep intake of breath and Kate answered.

"Yes. No. Oh I don't know. I feel so, I don't even know. After you left for work, Flora went down for a nap and I tidied the breakfast pots away. Then I sat and read for a little while. And Flora woke up so I fed her and cuddled her. And then she slept some more. And then I just sat and waited for her to wake up. The thing is Caroline, I should be doing something shouldn't I? All new mums complain about being too busy, that they don't have enough time to get dressed. That the house is a mess and no one is getting fed apart from the baby. Well I must be doing something wrong because quite frankly, I'm bored. How awful does that sound?"

Caroline laughed.

"Oh Kate. There's no need to feel like that. You just have a very good baby who behaves herself. Believe you me, when Lawrence was born, I don't think I got dressed for 5 straight days in a row. I didn't know whether I was coming or going. And I had already had one baby before him."

"Really? You in your pyjamas for 5 days. Oh, I can't imagine that Dr Mackenzie-Dawson."

Now it was Kate's turn to laugh.

"Listen, I need to get out of the house. The fresh air will be good for Flora. What do you want for your tea?"

"Surprise me. I will be home no later than half past five."

"OK. I'll take a walk down to the shops and see if anything takes my fancy. See you later. Bye."

"Take care. Bye. Bye bye."

Caroline hung up, suddenly feeling a lot more relaxed than 10 minutes earlier. Her job now was to support Kate and reassure her that she was a great mum doing a great job.


Kate bundled Flora into the pram and set off down the road, a new mum proud to show off her baby. She smiled at people who were passing and looked lovingly into the pram. In the months that she had been living with Caroline, she had never walked to the shops. She had always driven. She felt almost like a visitor on her own street.

Stopping at the crossing, she pressed the button and patiently waited for the lights to change and the green man to appear. Hearing the buzzer of the pelican crossing, she stepped out onto the road and had just started to cross. She had only taken a few steps when a motorist sped through the crossing. Jumping back, she pulled the pram towards her and stood once more on the pavement, her heart pounding. And then the tears came. She slumped against the wall, her chest heaving while loud sobs escaped her mouth. It had almost happened again and the accident that had almost killed her and her unborn baby started to flash before her eyes. She was shaking uncontrollably.

"Kate. Oh my God Kate. What's happened?"

Kate looked up and through her tears made out a familiar face that was bent over her. She gave her a weak smile.

"It's Elizabeth from the hospital. Surely you haven't forgotten me already?"

Elizabeth offered her hand to Kate. She took it and stood upright.

"I'm sorry. I didn't recognise you with your clothes on. I mean without your clothes on."

Elizabeth laughed at her.

"I know what you mean. Lots of people say how different I look when I am out of uniform with my hair all wild and windswept."

Kate wiped her eyes with the back of her hand.

"What brings you round here? You live on the other side of town don't you?"

Kate was regaining her composure and stopped to check that Flora was OK. She had slept through the whole incident.

"Yes I do. I was driving home from work and decided to swing by this way and check out that antique shop on the corner. And then I saw what happened so I pulled over. I didn't know it was you though."

"I was on my way to the shop and when I was crossing the road, I almost got "

And the sobs came again. She fell into Elizabeth's arms and felt the warmth of her embrace and the reassurance that everything would be OK.

"I know, I know. But you didn't. Everything is going to be OK. "

She stroked her head and Kate calmed down again, sniffing loudly. Elizabeth handed her a tissue.

"It's clean. Come on, I'll take you home."


As Caroline pulled into the drive, she frowned at the car that was parked behind Kate's, racking her brains as to where she had seen it before. She wondered whether the midwife had called round to see Kate now that she was back home.

"Hi. It's me. I'm home. Have you had a good day?"

She heard laughing coming from the living room and after hanging up her coat, she popped her head around the door. She was taken aback to see Elizabeth sat with Kate on the sofa.

"Oh. This is err, a surprise."

Elizabeth stood up and walked over to Caroline. She opened her arms and pulled Caroline into a hug. Peering over her shoulder, Caroline looked at Kate and widened her eyes to question why Elizabeth was in her house. Kate mouthed something to her but Caroline didn't have time to work out what she had said before Elizabeth was pulling away again.

"You have a beautiful house, you and Kate."

"Thank you. We like it. So err, what do you urm what brings you here?"

"Elizabeth came to my rescue today when I was out shopping. Some idiot jumped a red light while I was crossing the road and I almost got knocked over."

"Oh my God Kate. Are you OK? Were you hurt? What about the baby?"

"No, I'm fine. We're fine. Well, I am now. Elizabeth was passing as I was bawling my eyes out at the side of the road. She offered to drive me home. And I'm sorry but I didn't get chance to get anything for tea."

Caroline perched on the arm of the sofa and pulled Kate close.

"That's the least of our worries. It doesn't matter. I can make us some tea with what we have in the house. The main thing is that you are OK. Is Lawrence home?"

"He is. Well he was but then he went out with Angus. He said he would be back by 9pm but I said to make it 8pm because I was sure he would have homework to do. "

Caroline kissed the top of her head.

"See, you are learning about this mothering lark. I'll make a start with tea."

Just as she was walking towards the door, Kate spoke to Elizabeth.

"Do you want to stay for tea?"

Caroline spun round.

"Won't you need to get home to the boys and Dan?"

Elizabeth sensed that she had outstayed her welcome.

"Yes, I suppose I ought to go. Oh gosh, is that really the time. Thank you for the tea Kate. I'll see myself out."

She stood up and kissed Kate on the cheek before gently touching Caroline on the shoulder and leaving the room.

"Bye Elizabeth. Lovely seeing you again. Bye."

As soon as the front door was closed, Kate looked over at Caroline.

"Well, that was rude."

"What was? Kate, I've had a long and busy day. I just want to sit and relax with my wife. I do not want some woman who we barely know spoiling that."

Kate gasped at her.

"I cannot believe you just said that. Elizabeth was very good to me when I was in hospital. The least I could do was to ask her to stay for a meal."

"That is what she gets paid for Kate. To look after people. Just the same as I get paid to run a school. And anyway, I don't particularly like her. There is something not quite right about her. Now I am going to cook some tea. I will shout you when it is ready."