"Kate?"
"Mm?" Despite having done very little that day, Kate was already half asleep by the time Caroline joined her in bed that evening.
Caroline couldn't help but smile and cuddle into her, forgetting for a moment what she had been going to say when a rush of happiness washed over her.
Kate drew in a deep breath to wake herself a little and rolled over to face the blonde. "What?"
"Hmm?" Caroline asked, beginning to drop small kisses all over Kate's face.
Only just beginning to get used to these displays of affection from Caroline, Kate too forgot what she was trying to ask as she closed her eyes and enjoyed the feeling.
"It was me, wasn't it?" Caroline finally asked.
"Hmm?" Kate nuzzled against Caroline's cheek with her nose.
"Who you saw let the cat out."
Kate smiled at this. "Maybe."
Caroline began the tickling kisses again, interspersing them with "I love you."
A few days later, Kate frowned down at the vegetables. Caroline had told her a list of things to buy for dinner, but she couldn't remember a single one. She couldn't even exactly remember what Caroline had said she would make. Had she said cucumber or courgette? Maybe it was capsicum?
She couldn't be blamed if she couldn't remember. She had gone to the blondes office quite innocently to ask if she could get anything for dinner during her free period, and she had found Caroline in a particularly playful mood. In fact, she had been in a playful mood since she had moved into Kate's. It was as though she'd had a weight lifted from her shoulders that she hadn't realised was there and was permanently giddy.
Kate smiled when her mobile rang, sure Caroline knew she hadn't a clue. "Was it courgette or cucumber?"
"Sorry?"
Kate pulled the phone away from her ear, her smile replaced with a confused frown. "What do you want, John?"
"…I can go to the supermarket for you, if you'd like.."
"No. Thank you. Why are you calling?"
"I was sort of..sort of hoping we might be able to meet. For a discussion."
"..you and me?"
"Yes."
"..why, exactly?"
"Judith is pregnant."
Kate's stomach dropped and she was silent for a few beats. "Sorry?"
"Judith. She's pregnant. Well, I think."
"Has…is.." Kate looked down at the ring on her left hand. "has she stopped drinking?"
"No. Which is why I was hoping you'd be able to convince Lawrence he really doesn't want to come over this weekend."
"Me? That's hardly going to go down well, is it. Or work. Caroline won't be happy. Perhaps it's her you should be calling."
"I can't."
"Why not?" Kate asked, though she suspected she knew the answer. "I'm not going to keep this conversation from her, John."
"Fine. Ok. Whatever." He knew Caroline would be furious, and he had been hoping Kate could be persuaded to tell her. It had been easier than he had expected.
…
Caroline walked with a spring in her step down the corridor. Twenty minutes before her next meeting, and she was even in enough of a good mood to venture into the staff room.
Luckily at this time of day, just after lunch, it was empty, and Caroline allowed herself a few moments to stroll around and look at all the bits and pieces she never had the time to take in. Including the notice board where people were asking for staff volunteers for various groups in the school. Caroline glanced around, then reached for the pen that rested on the table and crossed out Kate's name wherever she had put it.
"Doctor Elliot!"
Caroline jumped guiltily and took a moment to compose herself before she turned around. "Miss…" Caroline cursed herself for not remembering her name, but then remembered Lawrence grumbling about her. "Marsh! I hope you're enjoying your first semester with us?" Caroline discreetly put the pen back and moved toward the kettle.
"Absolutely! The kids are smashing and the staff have been very welcoming. I'm curious about why Mr. Dobson even chose to leave!"
Caroline dropped a tea bag into her cup. "…a difference of opinion. He was an id-"
"He had an offer from his old school, I believe." Beverley smiled. "I'll take over the tea. You've got a visitor, Caroline."
"Well he was an idiot." Caroline muttered to her secretary.
"Perhaps not the best way to describe someone to a new member of staff." Beverley replied.
Caroline made the 'whatever' sign with her hands and then shared a smile with Beverley before she left for her office.
The smile was still playing on her lips when she entered her office to find Kate resting by the window and gazing outside. Smile widening, she shut the door gently and approached her.
Instead of reaching for her however, she reached past her and closed the blinds.
"Wh-" was all Kate managed before Caroline turned her and captured her lips in a deep kiss.
"You're very pretty." Caroline whispered when she moved to step away a few moments later.
"You're..magnificent." Kate smiled back, reaching to grasp onto the blondes suit jacket so she could pull her back.
"Beverley will be back in minute." Caroline offered apologetically, her eyes flickering shut when Kate bypassed her lips to nip her ear, a new found pleasure of Caroline's that made her knees weak. "Kate."
Kate heard the warning and smiled, pulling back just a little. "I forgot what you wanted, so I guessed. Beverley's put it all in your fridge."
"Ok. I'll work with whatever you got." Caroline opened the blind again and ran her hands down her front to straighten herself again.
Kate nibbled her lip for a moment as she watched her. "…Caroline. I need to talk to you about something. To do with John."
Caroline's happy face began to fade. "What about him?"
Kate opened her mouth, then closed it, realising too late that this is what John had wanted all along.
"Kate?" Caroline prompted, feeling a headache beginning to come on.
Kate wrestled with herself internally for a long few seconds, but in the end she knew Caroline hated lying, even by omission. "He called me. While I was out. And he asked me to try and convince you not to send Lawrence there this weekend."
The headache hit. Caroline pinched the bridge of her nose. "Why?"
"…he's convinced himself that Judith is pregnant. He's trying to get her to do a test."
Caroline closed her eyes and stayed still for a moment. When blue eyes opened, there was a wall up behind them, and an emotionless voice asked "Has she stopped drinking?"
"No." Kate toyed with the ring on her left hand. "Caroline-"
"Why did he call you and not…actually, I think i know. And you played right into his hands." Caroline opened her desk drawer looking for paracetamol.
"Well, I'm sorry. I'm clearly not as used to mind games as you are." Kate folded her arms protectively, taking strides toward the door.
"I didn't mean-" caroline attempted, but she had already left the office. "Shit." Caroline dry swallowed two paracetamol and then grabbed her mobile.
…
When several kids faltered in their singing during choir practice that afternoon, Kate turned to glance where they were looking. Caroline was a semi-regular visitor to the choir, often sitting in the back doing her paperwork, but she could see why today's Caroline had thrown off the kids. Gone were the heels and the skirt, replaced by jeans, a blue shirt, flats, and her hair in a ponytail.
"Water break. Two minutes." Kate told the class before she walked reluctantly toward the doorway. "Did you need something?"
Caroline itched to curl into one of the hugs she now found so much comfort in, but with several students still watching them curiously and Kate standing a little further away than she usually did, she folded her arms instead. "I've spoken to John."
"It's none of my business." Kate shrugged.
"Kate. I'm sorry for what I said earlier. I didn't mean-" Caroline looked down at Kate's middle and let out a shaky breath. "You know I love you."
Kate folded her arm's protectively now, too. "Caroline-"
"And I love our baby. And I'm looking forward to having our baby. And I want this baby. As much as you do."
"You're scaring me now." Kate replied worriedly, moving a hand to her middle. "If you say he's asking you to give him another chance and you've said yes, I swear to god I will-"
"She's pregnant. Judith. They did the test. I went over earlier, and I've convinced her to go to rehab, and found one that will take her tonight. . It's a couple of hours away and I said I would go with them because John is worried about her changing her mind, so I don't know when I'll be back."
Kate released a slow breath. "Jesus."
"There will be a doctor there when we get to the clinic and I suppose he will be able to tell us more about her...condition. And chances." Caroline rubbed her forehead. "I was hoping you'd look after the boys so they won't worry. Or suspect anything."
Kate hesitated for only a moment before uncrossing her arms to reach out a hand and link it with Caroline's, drawing it back to hold on her middle. "Why did you mention our baby? I don't.."
"Because I've spent all afternoon thinking it would be better for her, for the baby, for all of us, if she lost it." Caroline admitted quietly. "After everything you went through, I know you'll be upset with me for thinking that."
Kate considered their joint hands. "I suppose I might have been once. But some children, born into certain situations..maybe it would have been better if they hadn't been born." Kate rubbed her thumb over Caroline's hand. "Do you want me to tell the boys?"
"I've told John he has to. I suppose it might be better coming from me, though, without his unnecessary drivel."
"I can tell them, if it will be easier for you."
"It's not your problem to deal with."
"Yes, it is. It's your problem, so it's mine, too." Kate reminded her.
"Miss McKenzie, it's been two minutes!" Called a student.
"…we can do it together, but not today. I'd better go." Caroline finally replied, lifting her eyes briefly to Kate's before she turned to head back down the corridor.
"Caroline."
The blonde turned back.
Kate opened her mouth to say she loved her, but seeing a few students still in the corridor, she hesitated and began toying with her engagement ring.
"Me too." Caroline smiled briefly and then was gone.
Kate sighed, resting a hand on her middle before she walked back into choir practice.
''I thought mum was making dinner tonight. Where is she?" Lawrence asked curiously when he walked in on Kate looking at a random assortment of vegetables and wondering what to make.
"She'll be back in an hour or so. Do you feel like pasta?"
Lawrence shrugged, opening the fridge and surveying the food he could have as a snack. "How long will it be?"
"Sooner if you help me." Kate muttered as Lawrence walked out without waiting for an answer, and with a container of cheese and crackers.
Kate pulled out her phone again, hoping for a message from Caroline, but there was still nothing. She had found herself growing more and more annoyed that someone like Judith could get pregnant apparently so easily. She would probably keep drinking and still carry the baby to full term without a care in the world, and it would probably be the perfect baby with no problems at all. With a huff, she put down the knife she had been going to use to cut the vegetables and instead went to the couch. The couch which was now covered in all manner of video game controllers, school books, and random cords. Tears in her eyes, Kate stomped up the stairs instead.
"Ma! Where have you been?! I'm starving!" Lawrence cried as soon as his mother entered the house just over an hour later.
"I told him he could just heat up some leftovers like I did, but apparently he thinks he's so important he needs a freshly cooked meal every night." William grumbled.
Caroline sighed and hung up her coat and bag. "...Where's Kate?"
"Gone to bed." William provided.
"Bed?"
"Are you going to make something or am I going to starve to death?" Lawrence questioned.
"She was already in there when I got home. I haven't been in. I figured Florence upset her somehow."
"I didn't!" Lawrence protested. "I didn't Ma, honest!"
The blonde drew in a deep breath and released it slowly. "Go and heat something up like your brother suggested. I'm going to go and check on Kate. And once you've finished eating, you can clean up after yourself in here! This wasn't acceptable at the old home, and it's not acceptable here." Caroline pointed to the mess on the couch and table. "Both of you." She added as William smirked at his brother, gesturing to the books before she made her way up the stairs.
When she got to the bedroom door, she studied it, her headache still pounding in her temples. Then she turned and instead went to the bathroom door. There was so many emotions flowing through her, none of them good, and if Kate was upset she was bound to upset her even more. Maybe a shower would calm her.
Hearing heels coming up the stairs, Kate waited a few beats and then got up, opening the bedroom door just in time to see the bathroom door close.
Hearing an argument starting downstairs, Kate looked at the shut door and then closed her bedroom door again, returning to her bed.