DISCLAIMER: Last Tango In Halifax is not mine and never will be everything here (except grumpy) belong to BBC and SW

Constructive criticism is welcomed.

Caroline.

Caroline drove back home while thinking that for the first time in months Caroline was happy. She was happy because her mother was, because William had a lovely girlfriend, because Laurence was again being himself, even happy because John seemed to be off of her life for good... but mainly it was Kate who was responsible of that happiness. The younger woman had offered her a new chance and this time, Caroline snotty bitch Elliott had said yes without any doubt. Caroline giggled to herself like a teenager in love and sighed reminding herself that the first thing she needed to do in order to have a future with Kate was driving safe. If she had a car crash Kate and her mum would find a common objective in life, killing her for being a fool.

Dr Elliott arrived home and the first thing she did was to make sure that Laurence, William and his girl were all sound and safe at Gillian's. It was funny how different Raff and her boys were, but as happened between Gillian and her they had managed to find common things and easily became friends. After making sure they were all ok, Caroline decided it was time for a nice bath before heading to Kate's. She was dying to do all kind of naughty things to the brunette again, but Kate was right and a serious conversation about them was seriously overdue as they had never had a real chat about what they wanted and needed from each other.

Caroline got a bag ready to spend the night at Kate's. She took a look at her clothes for something comfortable to wear after the bath. A long hard chat was ahead of her and she was not the best at sharing her feelings so she needed to feel safe. The term comfort food came to her mind and decided she was going to change that into something more practical: comfort clothes. That meant a woman on a mission as she had to start digging inside the wardrobe until she found what she was looking for. As soon as the piece of clothing was on her hands she smiled, it was the oldest and most worn out Oxford t-shirt ever seeing. No one ever would believe that the perfect Doctor Caroline Elliott would keep a t-shirt that she bought the last year of college, but there it was, colors lost in the past, a few small tears here and there, but mostly in one piece. Obviously she was wearing a matching Oxford hoodie over it though the hoodie was a new one she had ordered online last year plus a pair of lovely jeans that always made Kate ogle her bum. When she was with Kate she allowed herself to be herself, she knew the brunette would not judge her for keeping that shirt though she would eventually end up taking the piss now and then, but deep down Kate loved that side of Caroline and she knew it.

Caroline undressed and got into the bathtub, leaning there she closed her eyes enjoying the smell of the bath salts and the warm caress of the hot water. The memories of the previous night were wonderful, it was going to be hard to move along with a lesbian relationship but it felt so good being in Kate's arms that for once she was willing to fight for her. Dancing and kissing in front of everyone had being scary, but it was worth it. She wished Kate was there with her enjoying the relaxing bath but things needed to be placed in order, and the sooner the better.

Thinking about the last night Caroline's brain navigated towards John. They were married for... well for too long and they had had sex way too many times. She could remember that at first it was kind of exciting but eventually became boring and the last years it was more a house chore than a need. Though John was not a bad lover she never felt the lust she experienced when looking at Kate, just looking at Kate made Caroline feel lucky. Despite everything she was responsible for part of the bad sex in the marriage, she never looked at John the way she looked at Kate or the way she looked a Helen during college, so it was fair John never looked at her the way they did.

Caroline smiled daydreaming, Helen... she was lovely, she was hot,... life could have being different if she had fight for her instead of being what she was expected to be and started dating guys to finally marry John. Seeing that she got William and Laurence marrying John was not that bad, and thanks to marry John she ended up working at Sulgrave, and meeting Kate... it was not that bad giving up on Helen as she was never really in love with her. Caroline thought that John was some kind of detour until reaching her final destination, Kate McKenzie

Sulgrave and Kate... The headmistress still remembered the first time she was introduced to the new teacher, as soon as she first lay eyes on Kate something woke up inside her. Kate, for some unknown reason Caroline would never understand, instead of hating the headmistress as the rest of teachers did decided to judge according to her own experiences. When they crossed paths on the hallways Kate always had a smile and a greeting, a few weeks later they were stopping to ask each other how they were doing, days where they finished late they shared a tea at Caroline's office,... and someway along the way they kissed and the tornado started.

Caroline licked her lips at the memory of that kiss. None of them knew who started the kiss and both of them would always say it was the other, but it was amazing. It was a kiss that literally blew Caroline's mind. After the kiss none of them knew what to do and they kept on chatting about marking exams, as if nothing happened. It was shocking and they needed time on their own to understand what happened. For one week every time the headmistress saw the teacher around the school was knocked out, she ogled her, she longed to feel her lips again, to taste those lips again,... it was driving her crazy the feeling of not having control but it was even worse wanting to kiss her and not being able to do so. On the other hand, when her brain was being rational she could find a million reasons to avoid getting involved wit a teacher, a colleague, a fellow teacher... After one week thinking pros and cons Caroline reached a final conclusion, she wanted to kiss Kate, she wanted to touch her, she needed it. That day they were as usual enjoying a nice chat at Caroline's office after finishing her classes, knowing the school was almost empty and that there was no risk of being caught the blond got herself together and gently kissed her. She grabbed Kate's face and moved closer, she licked her lips and softly placed them over Kate's who almost immediately kissed her back. It was the beginning of the roller coaster that their relationship was for weeks.

Caroline told Beverly after a month and a half that she was dating Kate. Beverly knowing Caroline for years was not surprised about her falling for the brunette. Beverly was probably Caroline's best friend and was one of the few people able to handle Caroline Elliott when she was being narrow minded or too stubborn about anything. Half serious half kidding she only asked who took the first step reasoning that she knew Caroline good enough to know that probably Caroline tripped, Kate held her and they kissed by accident.

Beverly would never know how right she was, Caroline tripped and Kate held her, she held her for months. Her life was crumbling down and Kate's smile could make the day better. After they kissed and started seeing each other Caroline felt like she could not move along without Kate by her side and when they broke up and she was feeling miserable she realized she needed Kate to held her hand and keep her safe. It was a new discovery for her, she never needed anyone to hold her hand till then and it was a new concept for her, what Caroline still needed time to figure out was the fact that her need was shared by her partner and that a relationship to survived needed for partners to need and support each other.

Caroline would do anything to keep her children safe, but she never needed to do that for any other grown up. The ultrasound day, at the hospital Kate grabbed her hand and it was then and there when Caroline Elliott saw herself for the first time in her life holding someone's hand. She wished she could do anything to avoid that someone from hurting in any way. Looking at Kate scared and small and watching the baby on the monitor gave the older woman the clue to understand what went wrong between them. She never held Kate's hand with the same assurance Kate held hers.

For quite some time Caroline could not understand why Kate broke up with her the weekend of her birthday. Her reasoning was that coming out was a process that took time and that Kate was years ahead of her and had to wait for her to reach a point where she felt ok and it felt like Kate was not willing to wait for her. After the hospital day, Caroline understood that it was not that. In a place where no one knows you and where you are paying for their services, no one is going to care about a couple of women sharing a bed. No one is going to to care unless you yourself do care. On the other hand the funny thing was that she tried to hide she was gay and the people from the hotel ended up thinking that she was some female version of Don Giovanni. Her behavior at the hotel was something that was still itchy but as Kate had said the previous night, with the kiss on the dance floor amends were made or in the way to be made.

Caroline was still relaxing when her phone rang, swearing a bit she grabbed the phone and checked the ID. There was a lot of background noise and Caroline went straight into mother mood thinking something might be wrong at the farm "Hello Laurence, is everything ok?". A few shush and whispers were heard until the boy spoke "No, yes, no... I mean. I have the speaker on mum, its me, and William, and Raff, and the girls and Gillian, and Alan, and grandma and Robbie, we kind of wanted to ask you something.". Caroline sighed and did as if she was shooting herself "OK". Laurence cleared his throat "OK, well, you see... we know you were... a few months ago you and Kate... you two were... I mean she was not pregnant and now she's pregnant, and we know, you know, you can't, women cant, I mean..." Caroline could see her youngest blushing and all lost trying to ask her how Kate got pregnant and tried not to laugh when William took his place "We were talking about the wedding and we asked grandma and Gillian if you two were together again and they said we needed to ask you this. We just wanted to know, if you are and if you are and she is pregnant. What is with the baby and us?, we mean, is Grumpy going to be our new sibling?..." Caroline's eyes were now wide open wondering what was going on there a little worried. She needed the kids to accept Kate and the baby or things were going to be messier than what life would make it. "Yes boys, we are together and the baby will be mine too" explained Caroline trying to not get into slippery themes. "What is it?" asked Laurence "we need to know what is it". Caroline was already getting out of the bath starting to feel totally lost, as if she was having a conversation and they were having another one until she heard Gillian's voice "They want to know if Grumpy is a boy or a girl. Lawrence says there are too many boys in the family, and that would be nice if Calamity could have a friend, plus the fact and I quote I'm kicking every lad that gets close to her, it can be fun. If it's a boy I can't kick lassies."

Grabbing a towel Caroline stepped out of the tub and grinned, her youngest son was often a mess, but she was as lovely as his older brother. "First off, I wouldn't call the baby Grumpy when Kate is around, ask later Gillian, grandma or Ellie about angry pregnant women. Second off, I need to figure things out with Kate yet, but as we told to your grandma this morning I plan on raising that baby with her. Third off, stop thinking about kicking people Laurence I've raised you better than that. Finally, Grumpy is a girl.". She could hear William, Raff and Lawrence laughing and making jokes and plans about the baby when finally Gillian grabbed the phone "They are happy for you. It might take sometime for Lawrence to stop feeling embarrassed when you and her are together, but he told us that he used to be embarrassed the few times he saw you kissing John so don't worry" Wrapped on a towel and sitting on the edge of the tub Caroline nodded "They are good kids, they get used to it, probably sooner than I got used to it. Thanks Gillian. Gotta go. She's waiting for me. Bye."

They hung the phone and Caroline started to get dress and ready to go and face Kate. Kate and the baby were hers, and she was going to fix things.