Thanks again for all your comments. They really encourage me to keep writing, so many thanks. I always felt like Abby and Carol have the type of relationship where there are no barriers between them and that if the shoe were on the other foot Carol would tease Abby for having a younger lover. Hopefully I conveyed that as I don't see Abby as being too hateful, just a little jealous! I know the direction the story has taken has become a little morose but bear with me there will be lots more happy times ahead.

I struggled with the key in the lock, weighed down by the bunch of flowers that I had tucked underneath my arm. With great difficulty I pushed the door open, noting that the apartment was empty and dark. The butterflies in my stomach faded in to a sense of disappointment and I pouted, fully giving in to a sulk. I was yet to lose the sense of excitement I felt when returning to Carol after a long day apart. Switching on the hallway light I took in the sight of my slightly crushed bouquet. I had selected a rather wild bunch, carnations and chrysanthemums vied for attention with bursts of colour, while bunches of baby's breath and greens provided a subtle backdrop. It was chaos and yet I knew she would compliment them, telling me they were a handsome bunch and that they reminded her of me. I smiled at the thought stepping in to the kitchen to look for a vase.

When i flicked on the light my heart gave a start in my chest. "Carol?" I gasped, holding my chest in shock.

She didn't say a word but remained rooted to the spot. I could see that she had been crying by the redness in her eyes. "Carol?" I asked again.

"What time do you call this?" She asked curtly.

"We had to run another story at the last minute" I explained, unnerved by the detached look in her eyes. "What's this about Carol?"

She drank down the last of her drink and shuddered at the taste. "Are those for me?" She asked but she did not soften and I could hear the bitter ice in her tone. "Are they a guilty conscience?"

I blinked back the surprise in my eyes. "Carol?" I implored, putting the flowers down on to the kitchen table. "What do you mean?"

She laughed resentfully. "I'm not an idiot Therese. All these late nights at the office…"

"You don't think…"

"Don't I?" She countered, getting to her feet unsteadily.

"Has something happened?" I questioned asking the question as much to myself as to her. The Carol standing before me was not a Carol that I recognised. I did not understand the anger and resentment in those beautiful blue eyes or comprehend the snap in her tone. This was not the immensely composed Carol, who under duress gave out emotions like blood from a stone. This Carol was angry, she was seething, but she was screaming out emotions in her rage.

"You tell me" She replied with a steely coolness. She stepped towards me until she was stood mere inches away and I could smell the alcohol on her breath and see the hazy look in her eyes.

"This isn't like you…" I trailed off, gently gripping her wrists in my hands to search her face for a hidden meaning, some suggestion of what was really going on here. She turned her face away from me, making a lame attempt to pull away from my touch. "I love you Carol" I reminded her, urging her to look in my direction. "I love you" I repeated and I wrapped my arms around her, pulling her to me in one swift movement. Inevitably she sank in to the embrace, hiding her face in the crook of my neck. I felt the hot spring of tears against my skin and the sobs rack through her body. When I pulled back to look in to her face her features were distorted with emotion.

"I'm trying to keep it together…" She cried. The horror I felt at the sight of her in such despair spread through me in a cold wave. I felt like a clueless fool, happily content in my own private day dreams while Carol was struggling with the weight of her sadness. How had I not seen this build up? I asked myself, smoothing strands of blonde behind her ear. "I miss her" She finally admitted with a gasp of fresh tears. "I miss her so much Therese"

Rindy. She was a topic i had steered clear of for some time now. After the first few visits had been cancelled and had dwindled to nothing more than a snatched hour a week, then a glimpse in a matter of months, I stopped asking her how things were. Naively I told myself that she was dealing with it in her own unique way. She was a stoic person, stronger than anyone I had ever known. Of course I knew she felt the loss. How could she not? I knew it and yet I suppose in a way it hurt me to admit the truth. She was hurting because of me. She had lost Rindy because of us. But it was no time to be melancholy and self-obsessed. I could take digs at myself in private. For now Carol was my only concern.

I held her tightly, kissing her forehead and smoothing the softness of her cheek. "Come with me" I urged, walking her in to the bedroom. I sat her down on the edge of the bed, slipping off her shoes and teasing free her stockings. Tossing them to the side, we slipped under the sheets, in the darkness of our own makeshift tent.

I lay there, on my back, with Carol sleeping along one side of me, her face resting against my chest and an arm strewn across me. She looked like a sleeping child who had fallen asleep after being scowled, features still holding all the tell tale signs of tears shed. My heart felt heavy at the sight of her. I had been so blissfully happy and caught up in the two of us that I hadn't thought about what this meant for Carol. All that she had lost was crashing down before us and I promised her sleeping form that I would do everything in my power to catch the pieces as they fell.