As Maddie looked back on it in the light of day, it all seemed a bit surreal. Like did it really happen? Or did her mind just make it up? Too much drink? She shook her head as she looked around the small hotel room. Nope she hadn't imagined it and worse yet she still didn't know what she was going to do.
Her and Kirk, sat down for some brecky in the morning before they set off.
"Oh do you know what? I was sitting in that pub and guess who I saw?! Sian Powers. Sophie's old girlfriend. She asked me about the street and I looked for you and you was gone and then she asked me where we was staying. And she looked just the same. Nice girl she always was even though she was from Southport" he rambled as he attacked a plate of bacon.
"And you told her?!" Maddie exclaimed.
"Well yeah! Was that wrong?" Kirk asked dumbfounded.
"Kirk!" she had shouted loud enough to create a stir.
They didn't speak about it for the rest of the trip back. Kirk drove and Maddie played with the radio or napped. Sophie and Beth Tinker were waiting at the factory for them when they pulled in. Maddie could only imagine what kind of conversation that those two were having together. Probably a mix of lesbian jokes and wedding queries, Maddie guessed. If she weren't so groggy from napping then she would have made a cheeky remark about it. What a missed opportunity she sighed. Some other factory workers came out as they jumped out of the factory truck.
"So how was the sleepover? Is the honeymoon already over?" Sean cracked.
"Shut up Sean! You're just jealous that I have a man to welcome back" Beth shouted at him over her shoulder.
Sophie came up and gave her a hug. The crowd gave a round of catcalls and awes.
"Enough of that! You all leave her be! Come on" Sophie took her by the shoulder towards the street. Maddie stopped her one moment and looked over her shoulder.
"Kirk! You can settle things with Carla right?" Maddie asked in her most exhausted voice.
He nodded that it was no problem. Maddie sighed and turned back toward home.
She just wanted to get home with Sophie. She had known the moment that she saw Sophie's sweet face that she had to tell her the truth. The question was how she would react to it.
"Come on let's get you some decent tea. I bet you couldn't get any in Newcastle. Flaming heck!" Sophie laughed and made a face.
They had decided to have a lie down. Maddie was knackered and Sophie had the day off. Kevin had taken Jack on a car ride, so they had the entire house to themselves. Compared to that single hotel bed in Newcastle, Sophie's queen bed seemed luxurious. They had flopped down on it together. Maddie had remembered falling asleep with her head on Sophie's chest. Yet when she woke up, they were in the opposite position. She never understood how that happened.
Since she happened to wake up first, Maddie took advantage. Looking down on her girlfriend's sleeping face she had a hard time breathing. Sophie had mocked her for watching her sleep a few times before. She said that it was a "bit creepy" but Maddie liked it. Right now she saw it as the calm before the storm.
She had to tell her. The sooner the better.
Maddie leaned down and kissed the top of her girlfriend's head. She started to stir groggily opening her eyes. Sophie sat up and stretched her arms. Maddie looked at her strong back muscles as they constricted. Only Maddie had seen the twisty scars that remained there. It was hard to imagine that anything could mar her girlfriend's perfect skin. At first she hadn't been able to touch those scars for fear that it would hurt her.
At the time she had thought that those were the only scars that Sophie Webster could possibly have. She had been wrong.
"Babe!" Sophie placed her hands on her cheeks startling Maddie out of her thoughts. "Where are you? In another world you space case?" she mocked smilingly.
Maddie took a deep breath. She moved Sophie's hands off her face and entangled them between them.
"I have to tell you something but it's really hard so don't interrupt me until I'm done" Maddie rambled fast.
Sophie's eyebrow arched. "You didn't cop-off with some girl did you in Newcastle? Is that why you didn't answer when I called?" she asked.
"No that's not it. But Soph I did see a girl...but she only wanted to talk about you" she said delicately. Maddie took another deep breath as Sophie look turned dead serious in a flash.
"Sian Powers was in Newcastle" Maddie said softly.
As she pulled her car up the street, Sian Powers had to admit that she had been a bit wrong. Sometimes places do change, but most of Coronation Street had stayed the same. Sure there was still Roy's Rolls, but now there was a gym & a community center. I guess nothing stays completely the same she sighed.
She parked the car and stepped out onto the cobbles. Looking around she started to fear that this had been a big mistake. Waking up that morning she had been so sure. She had jumped right into her car and drove nearly three hours to this place that she had fled from years before. Perhaps this whole thing had been a massive disaster in the making.
But then she remembered Maddie Heath. That damn girl.
If Sophie Webster could find a way to move on, well then Sian Powers would too. She just had to know how to do it. And she felt that somehow this place held the key.
A/N: I know I'm very cruel! But I guess Sian Powers is back in Weatherfield. So what do you think? Let me know in a review. It would be as lovely as a bacon buttie.