Just to prewarn any readers.. this is longer than my usual chapters, I'm not sure how that's possible.. though I'm coming to the conclusion that I have next to no self-control when writing. Also, a huge thanks to the two fab members who reviewed my last chapter, I especially hope that you both enjoy this one too. You've made this newbie feel very happy and accepted, so thanks! xxx

Chapter 7:

Rachel walked towards the table and was only about four feet away when Sean finally noticed her. His face already held an expression of worry and she knew it would only get worse from here. It had always been her in this position, her wondering what she'd done to drive away her partner, why they didn't want her anymore, what was so repulsive about her. It was always her who watched as the person she thought was the one walked away without a second glance. It was her who dreaded the message saying that they needed to talk. And now she was doing this to someone else. Sean wasn't a bad guy, he was one of the very few good men left. But she didn't love him. Never had. So what would be the best thing for him? Being with a woman he loved but who would never love him? Being with a woman who was dreaming about another person when they held hands, cuddled in front of the television, had sex? Or was it better to hurt him now, to make him feel like absolute shit now, to make him feel all the feelings that she had felt for all of her life now, in the hope that he would find someone that he deserved? She sat down opposite him, feeling like she had the world on her shoulders. She didn't want to make someone feel the way she had felt. She didn't want that sort of power. But she knew she had to follow through on this. Not just for her, but for him also. She looked at his face, looking for something to make this conversation easier, but there was nothing there except apprehension.

'Hi Sean.' she said simply, turning to the waitress when she approached. 'A cup of tea please.' The waitress nodded and turned on her heel, not addressing Sean as he already had coffee in front of him.

'Hey babe.' he replied, and Rachel knew he was trying to keep that familiarity in place under the illusion that maybe she wouldn't do this if she remembered his pet name for her, if she remembered their intimacy. Ugh, he wasn't making this easy for her. Then again, why should he?

'Sean, look, we have to talk. About serious stuff.' she looked around the room as she spoke in a desperate attempt to avoid his gaze, not wanting to see the emotions playing out across his face as she said what needed to be said.

'What is it?' He asked, voice small. He sounded like a little boy lost.

'Sean,' she sighed, not knowing how to word this in a nice, positive way. 'Okay, I'm just going to tell you straight. This... us...' she gestured at the space between them, as if hoping her hands would do all the explaining, 'it's just not working. I'm so sorry.' The waitress arrived, tea in hand, and placed it in front of Rachel. 'Ta.' was all Rachel could say, both grateful and annoyed at the interruption. When she turned back to Sean, he had his head in his hands.

'Why?' was all he said.

'Because we were never going to work. Honestly, how long have we known each other? How long have we hopped into each other's beds over the years?' she looked at Sean, waited for a response, and when she realized it wasn't coming, continued, 'I'm not pointing this out to hurt you. I'm just explaining that if we were ever going to work, we would have worked long before now. We're too different.'

'There's someone else, isn't there?' he suddenly jerked his head up from his hands, the accusation clear in his voice.

Shit. She didn't know how to answer this one. She didn't want to lie, like Nick and others had lied to her, but she didn't want to hurt him, make him think he wasn't good enough. In the end, she knew honesty was the way to go. He didn't deserve being lied to. 'I... I have feelings for someone else, yes. Nothing has happened between us, I told the other person involved that I didn't want to do that until you and I had had this conversation.'

'Oh, well how kind. Should I bow down to you, is that what you expect? You want me to sing your praises for not fucking someone else while we were together?' The anger was emanating from him, it showed in his eyes, making her look away in discomfort. She knew he was just doing this out of hurt, but it still wasn't nice to have such intense hatred aimed at her.

'I don't expect anything from you, Sean. I just felt you should know the truth. Sean, you're a really nice man, honestly. You are. And you're going to-' she stopped when he raised his hand.

'Don't you fucking dare.' his voice was shaking, 'Don't you DARE patronize me. Did you look up these lines on some sort of break-up website or something?'

Rachel sank in her chair, aware that a couple of other diners had started to look. 'I'm sorry. It.. it's the truth though. I just wanted you to know that.'

'Well, isn't that sublime? Anything else you just want me to know?' he almost spat in contempt as he said those words. 'I really loved... love.. you Rachel. And what, just because you've got your eyes on some new fancy man, you think it's gonna last with him? Really? I've tried my hardest with you, helping you in whichever way I can. And this is how you repay me? Running off with some other fella?'

Rachel knew that breaking the news to him that the person she was leaving him for wasn't a man at all would not be productive, and it wasn't his business anymore anyway. He would thank her for this someday, when he was married with 2.4 kids and realized that this was the best thing she could do for him. Or then again, maybe he wouldn't. Maybe he would hate her forever, but she couldn't help that. She'd tried her best, and she'd always known it would be horrible. 'I'm sorry, Sean. I really am.'

'Yeah,' he replied, bitterly. 'Me too.'

'I'm gonna go. I don't think it's doing either of us any good, me staying. I don't want to drag this out any longer than is necessary. It's not fair on you.' she kept her voice soft, wishing he could know how shitty she felt about this.

'Please, Rach... babe.. please.'

Oh dear god, Rachel could not deal with this. It was kinda like looking in on herself in situations where she'd been dumped. She wasn't strong enough to deal with this, it wasn't fair. 'I can't Sean. I'm sorry. I can't. I have to go.' she pushed the chair out from the table and stood up, trying to hide the tears that were welling up in her eyes. 'Bye Sean.' she said as she walked away, only stopping briefly at the till, shoving a £5 note in the cashiers hand and walking out of the door, not being able to stand waiting there for her change. As soon as the door closed behind her, the tears fell. Not a dainty lone tear, like it would be in a film. God, no. By the time she had walked up the road she was a snotty, snivelling, sobbing wreck. People were giving her strange looks as they walked past, somehow adding more fuel to the tears that were refusing to stop. She got a cigarette out and lit it, shakily inhaling and trying to regain calm. Knowing that she couldn't stay in the middle of a pavement, providing entertainment for the passers-by, she crossed the road and walked until she reached her car in the car park. She opened the door and climbed inside, knowing that she would calm down eventually, but not exactly knowing when. She was crying for Sean, for his pain, but she was also crying for herself, for the pain she remembered acutely while she caused the same hurt to Sean that had been bestowed on her too many times. She was crying for all the times she'd been left and hurt, the very first time when she was a mere twelve years old, the perpetrator being her own mother. This meeting with Sean seemed to have knocked down the dam she had built in her mind and now everything was flooding through.

She wasn't sure how much time passed, and to be honest she didn't care, but she jumped when there was a knock on the window. Immediately feeling embarrassed, she wiped her face roughly before turning to see who the hell decided that this was an appropriate time to have her attention. To her relief, so much so that she started crying again, she saw Janet there. The only person in the world who she wanted to see right now. Rachel gestured for Janet to walk around and get in the passenger seat, and while she did so, Rachel lit up another cigarette and lowered her drivers window. Janet slid in and, without a word, pulled Rachel towards her, stroking her hair and whispering kind words in her ear. Rachel held on tightly, feeling as if Janet was her lifeboat, the only thing to keep her sinking right now. They soon parted though as Rachel needed her nicotine fix, and for once, Janet didn't mention or make a disgusted face at the fact Rachel was smoking in the car. Janet continued to wait patiently, not wanting to push Rachel, and instead just rubbed her back in a methodical way.

Soon enough, Rachel calmed down and was reduced to the occasional sniffle and sigh. She had a headache now, which wasn't helping matters, but she was sure she still had the aspirin in her bag from the other morning; she'd get a glass of water when she went inside and take two then.

'I'm sorry,' she whispered to Janet, feeling stupid and embarrassed and pathetic for allowing herself to get this upset.

'Hey... hey! Look at me,' Janet commanded, and Rachel obliged. 'You have nothing to be sorry for, okay? Nothing. It's going to be okay, love. It really is.'

'How.. how did you know I was here?' Rachel suddenly wondered. She had been too upset to figure that one out before.

'Mitch was on his way back in, love, and he saw you were upset so came and let me know. I was in the office with Gill at the time.. so god know's what she's thinking. She probably thinks you're at deaths door or something, what with your supposed visit to the gyno.' she smiled gently, wanting to wipe the tears from Rachel's face, but knowing this was much too public a place to do such a thing.

'Oh god. She'll probably send me flowers and put me on leave,' Rachel tried to joke weakly. 'Mitch didn't tell the whole office, did he?' she tried so hard to be the toughie in work, spent years convincing everyone that she wasn't a crier, that no one could touch her. She didn't want all that to be undone with a piece of mindless office gossip.

'No, of course not, Rach. He wouldn't do that. He only told me because he said you looked like someone had died and he knew we were close. Is this all because of Sean?' she asked, worried that if it had this effect on her, maybe she was more attached to him than she would admit. She certainly hadn't cried this hard about Savage, and he fucked her over big time.

'Kinda. Not really. I mean, I felt awful about Sean, really I did. And I started crying because of him, but then I was crying over all that pent up emotion I had over every bastard that hurt me like that. I'm pretty selfish like that,' she said, feeling like that were true.

'Nonsense,' Janet said briskly. 'Not listening to any of that shit, lovey. It's probably a good thing you got it all out, you know? You bottle things up big time, so allowing yourself a good old cry was probably the best thing you could do.' she gave Rachel's knee a squeeze. 'Now, just to be absolutely sure, and just so you are aware you can back out of this at any time-'

'Shut up, wench!' Rachel interrupted, almost sounding like her usual self. 'It's you I want. I did this for us. So don't start winding yourself up about it all, okay? Bloody hell, we're as insecure as each other, ain't we?!'

'Yeah, yeah.' Janet replied, feeling better about the whole situation now that she knew Rachel didn't regret anything that had happened between them. She looked over at Rachel in concern. 'You okay love?'

'Yeah, I'm fine. Actually.. I'm rather excited.' and she turned to Janet with the impish smile that Janet loved.

'Excited? Why?'

'Er- tonight. You, me... all night to get acquainted. You catching my drift yet, Scott?!'

'Oh! Ohhhhh! Yes.. well.. yes!' Janet looked flushed, her face showing the desire she felt.

'Come on, you. Back to work. Can't keep everyone waiting can we? Like you say... the sooner we start, the sooner we finish. And I for one can't WAIT to finish.' she winked as she wound up her window and got out of the car. She refused to feel sorry for herself anymore. She'd had her little wallow and she wasn't prepared to keep that up. That's how people fell, and she'd fallen too many times to let it happen again.

xxx

'Rachel.' Gill's voice rang through the office. She never asked Rachel in, there was never a question in her tone, which probably would have been more inviting, instead it was an order, as in 'get in my office right now'. Then again, it wouldn't have sounded right if she approached her team differently.

Rachel had been in the office for about twenty minutes and was certain that Janet was right about Mitch not spreading like wild-fire the fact that Rachel had had a bit of a funny turn as Kevin was still being his usual obnoxious self, and Pete (probably the most kind-hearted of the men) hadn't come to see if she was alright. When she heard Gill calling for her, she hastily stood up, glanced briefly at Janet, and headed to her office.

'Alright boss?' she asked when they were both inside the office.

'Yes.. I just wanted to make sure you were okay.' Gill replied, her voice laced with her rarely shown warmth.

Rachel felt weirdly guilty about Gill probably thinking the worst. Godzilla rarely allowed people to witness her more sensitive side, Rachel felt as if it were being wasted on her, as if Gill only had a limited supply of niceness and one of her offerings were being squandered away. 'I'm fine, ma'am. Thank you, though.'

'Are you sure? Did your... appointment go okay? You know you can tell me if something is wrong, Rachel. I will help you as much as I can.' Gill leant forward and smiled, which probably unnerved Rachel more than anything else.

'It was fine. I was upset about something else. Sorry I got upset at work, boss.'

'Rachel, I know how I'm viewed around here. The scary dragon who is basically a bitch. And that's okay, I don't mind it because it means my team works to their highest abilities, afraid of the consequences if they don't. Well, apart from Kevin of course, though maybe making paper airplanes IS his highest ability.' she pondered that for a moment before continuing with her speech, 'What I want to say is that if you have a problem, you can come to me. Anytime. You're one of the best officers I have ever had. I know I'm harsh on you sometimes, but it's only because I KNOW you can do better at times, and I know you just need a push. I won't ask anything more about what's happened today, I just want you to know that I do care, even if I don't show it all the time.'

Rachel literally stared at Gill for what felt like forever, unable to digest this long declaration of nice-ness.

'Quit gawking Bailey. And if you even think about telling anyone else about this, I will come down on you HARD. I promise you that.' Rachel continued to stare, feeling shocked at how the day had turned out so far. 'Piss off, get out of here.' Gill said firmly, fully putting a lid on the brief moment of softness that she'd put on display.

Rachel finally got the picture and, in a daze it seemed, headed back to her desk, where she sat down and shot a couple of glances back at her boss through the glass who now appeared to be back to her Godzilla self, shouting at some poor bastard down the phone.

xxx

'Will someone, please, update me on what the hell has been going on?' Rachel moaned, immediately feeling embarrassed at how... boss-like she sounded. She was just frustrated that she'd been back for a while now, the office had been alive in a flurry of activity, and she still didn't know what developments - if any - that they'd had.

'Basically, Natasha has admitted being part of the murder. She said that Nicki had instigated it because Jacqueline had slept with her boyfriend and she wanted revenge. They lured Jackie back to Natasha's flat and partook in torturing her. As you know, we didn't tell Natasha about the burns found on the victim's body, and Natasha freely gave the information that her and Nicki had put out cigarettes on Jackie's body. We spoke to Nicki, telling her what Natasha had said, she broke down and said that Natasha was the one who instigated it because she wanted to punish her for sleeping with Nicki's boyfriend. So it's a bit of a who's who, in regards to the mystery of who actually was the main perpetrator. We'll soon find out, I guess, when it goes to court.' Mitch said, pausing his current task of searching for something on his computer.

'Fucking hell.' Rachel spluttered. 'Of course, no wonder you've all been busy, sorting out all that paperwork. I'm assuming you've charged both girls with murder? Apart from that is there any other developments?'

'Yeah, we've charged them both, so just waiting for that to be sorted. As for other news, we're still confused as to how Jonson's trainer was placed at the scene. Both girls have blamed each other and not even mentioned Jonson's name throughout the interviews, so we need to get to the bottom of that. We're in the process of re-arresting Jonson. If we tell him both of the girls have confessed all maybe he'll crack and tell us what he knows.'

'Right. Sarge?' she called across the room, not unlike the way the rest of the staff called after the new DS.

'Yeah? What's up?' Janet was across the room at the printer, hence the shouting match going across the room.

'Can I interview Jonson?' Rachel asked, feeling slightly left out of the proceedings and not liking it.

'You were assigned to that anyway, why don't you check the rota?!' Janet replied, not wanting to come across as favouritising Rachel. The entire office thought that Gill favoured Janet and she knew that they treated her differently because of that, apart from Rachel who thought that ripping the piss out of Janet was the way to go.

'Sorry, sarge.' Rachel said, feeling a bit silly for not checking in the first place.

'Not a problem, Bailey' she replied, trying to keep up the banter which was pretty difficult to do, seeming as every time she looked at Rachel her stomach flipped, her every sense heightened in anticipation of the night to come. Aside from that, she felt pretty excited anyway as it was Friday and hopefully, unless a major crisis happened at work, both her and Rachel would have the weekend off, the first one in weeks. Bringing herself out of her happy daydreaming she glanced around and saw everyone getting in each other's way as the entire team ran around like headless chickens. 'Alright, everyone,' she said in a clear, authoritative voice. They all paused and looked her way. 'Let's take five minutes out to chill. Rachel can you put the kettle on? Kevin where are the cookies I sent you out to get earlier?' Kevin looked up, an expression of guilt on his face. 'Kevin..' Janet repeated, sternly. 'If you've eaten them all, I'm not going to be happy.'

'There's still a couple left,' he muttered, a faint line of crumbs and chocolate framing his upper lip.

'And how many were in the packet originally?'

'Five..'

'Kevin...'

'Fine, seven..'

'Kevin!'

'Alright! God! There were twelve, but I was hungry!' he said, petulantly.

'Ugh, you're such a pig! It's alright guys, I've got some in my drawer so help yourselves.' Rachel called from the kettle area. Kevin was the first to make a bee-line for it.

'Are you serious, Kevin?! You're not having any more, so don't even think about it, greedy sod.' Janet shook her head. It really was like having a kid in the office.

xxx

Rachel stormed out of the interview room with Mitch close on her heels. Jonson still wasn't talking, and it was really starting to piss her off now. She wished it could be like it was portrayed in the films or on television, where she would go in, slam her hand down on the table and rant at him until he told her everything. The reality of it was very different, which had upset her when she'd first found that out in the beginning of her training. They were told to be gentle, open, not to express negative emotions, so that there was no way anything could be misconstrued when it went to court. However, today, with this man who remained resolutely passive and kept quiet except to repeat that he had nothing to do with it, she really wanted to scream at him, give him a bit of a shock. Hence her storming out of the room after almost an hour of going around in circles with him.

'Alright, mate?' Mitch asked, seeing the strain that Rachel felt.

'Yeah. Yeah, just... fucking hell. What are we missing? We've got the girls, we just need this and it's mystery solved, but he's not giving us anything!' She was leant against the wall in the corridor just outside of the interview room, looking thoroughly fed up.

'I know, I know. Just gotta keep trying I guess.' Mitch sounded as despondent as she felt.

'Yep. Right now though, I'm going out for a cigarette.' she straightened up, gave a brief smile to Mitch and headed outside into the rather cold weather.

After her cigarette she went back upstairs to the office. There was only her, Janet and Pete in the office at the moment, everyone else was out and about running errands.

'Forensics just called. It was definitely the same belt. DNA all over it.' Pete looked triumphant.

'Good. Bet Gill was pleased, wasn't she?' she glanced into Gill's office and could see her on the phone with a smile on her face... probably speaking to her best mate Julie.

'Yep. We're all going out for a drink after work, Gill's paying.' Pete replied. 'Be nice, won't it?'

Rachel and Janet both looked at each other with a huge feeling of disappointment uniting them. Pete picked up on the change in mood and looked around confused.

'Yeah, yeah that's great.' Rachel managed a weak smile. 'Just fancied an early night, y'know?'

'Ah, it'll be fine. It'll probably only be a couple of drinks and that'll be it.' Janet said hopefully. She turned when Pete snorted.

'Er- she said that she was getting hammered and then mentioned something cryptic about a repeat of the Sound of Music escapade or something or another.' he looked confused as he remember their exchange earlier. 'I don't know. She's getting on a bit, probably just rambling on. But she is intent on having a good time. I reckon it'll be a laugh. And not having to pay either? Gonna be a good'un.' he sauntered over to the printer merrily.

Any other time, Rachel would bloody jump at the chance of a free night on the piss. Although she wouldn't admit it to anyone else, she really loved seeing Gill drunk and hoped each time that Gill would do something funny, so that when they next saw each other it wouldn't be Rachel feeling all awkward for once. But tonight, she really didn't want to have to go to the pub with everyone and listen to, and be expected to participate in, their chatter. She wanted to go home with her girlfriend (it still felt weird thinking of Janet as her girlfriend) and spend a rather delicious evening with her. One glance at Janet told her that she felt the same way. She sighed, there was no making excuses to Godzilla, it would be worse than rejecting an invitation for tea with the queen. They'd just have to grin and bear it. Hell, maybe all the waiting would make it even more electric. She smiled at that thought, winked at Janet and went in search of her biscuits, which, of course, were in one of Kevin's drawers.

Janet sat down at her desk, sneaking a look at Rachel bent over at Kevin's desk, muttering all sorts of profanities. She allowed her brain to drift over the memory of this morning, of laying there with Rachel in bed, and a smile spread across her face. She thought of the weekend ahead and felt her muscles contracting in the pit of her stomach in anticipation. She bit her lip causing Rachel to stare at her hungrily which she was unaware of, and crossed her legs trying to refocus and at the same quell the lust that was roaring through her. She really was acting like a bloody teenager. She was a grown woman who had been married for... well, way too bloody long, had 2 kids, and yet here she was thinking about having Rachel on the office floor. She flushed and tried to look busy.

Mitch came into the office and approached Janet, thinking that she looked rather distracted but continued with what he wanted to say. 'Sarge, I was wondering if we could talk to the girls again, you know, about Jonson? He's not talking at all, maybe they will if we can make them understand that if they say nothing, they'll be taking the full rap for this.'

Janet looked up from the paperwork in front of her, the same paperwork that she had been staring blindly at for the past few minutes and asked Mitch to repeat his question. Once he did, she looked at him thoughtfully.'Yeah, but hold off for a bit. What time is it?' She glanced down at her watch. 'Bloody hell, it's 5.15. Where's the day gone? Okay, er- yeah you can try and set that up now if you want. You might wanna check with Gill first though, I don't know if she's going to leave it for the officers to do tomorrow.'

As if waiting for the perfect time to make her entrance, Gill swanned in as soon as Janet had finished replying. 'Mitch, leave Jonson. He can stew overnight. Now, where is everyone?' she looked around and noticed Lee and Kevin were absent.

'They're in the disclosures office.' Janet answered, looking around the room herself as if checking that they hadn't suddenly appeared. 'Do you want me to call up and get them down here?'

'Yes. Tell them to finish what they're doing and come down please. Call me when they're here.' and with that she turned and headed back into her office, sat at her desk and re-applied her lipstick, gearing herself up for a good few drinks and mentally making a note to tell Janet to keep her away from the karaoke.

xxx

'Right girls and boys,' Gill started. Everyone was present now and looking at Gill expectantly. 'Firstly, well done on all your hard work lately, I know it's been a struggle but I really am... proud... of the standard of your work. As you are aware, a few of you have the weekend off, and I want to reassure those affected that I will try my hardest to respect your time off. Unless there is some sort of crisis, you will be left well alone. Now, enough of that boring shite, you're all free for the day. And... we're going to the pub for drinks on me.' The team cheered in response, knowing this was the reaction Gill wanted. For the most part they were pretty chuffed though. It was nice to be praised in this line of work especially while working on a difficult case like this. And especially by Gill. They all respected her and wanted her approval, so when they got it, it lifted their spirits.

xxx

Twenty minutes later, Rachel and Janet were heading out of the station's main doors and into the rather chilly car park. The rest of the team had already headed to the pub whereas both Rachel and Janet had nipped to the toilets to touch up their make-up. Although they had hoped for a sneaky kiss, this idea was quickly quashed as officers from the floor below them seemed to think this was a perfect opportunity for them all to use the loo also.

'How long do you think we have to stay before we can leave without receiving a bollocking from Godzilla?' Rachel asked, almost jogging to keep up with Janet as both women were cold.

'I don't know, love. You know how she is. I think it's good of her to do this for us, it only happens about once a year.' Janet replied, hugging her jacket closer to her, trying to fight off the chill.

'You know me.. I would never usually say no to a good knees up, especially when Gill's paying, but there are... um... more pressing issues that I feel need to be addressed tonight.' with that, Rachel grabbed Janet's arm, twisted her around and planted a swift kiss on her lips before continuing to walk ahead. 'Come on slowcoach,' she called behind her, 'I thought you were cold!'

xxx

'.. and then he sat on the chicken!' Mitch ended his funny tale spluttering with laughter and his colleagues giggled along with him. They'd been in the pub for coming up to three hours and had all managed to put away a lot of drink. The atmosphere was light and the team enjoyed some banter.

'Riiiiiiiiight you lot. Another?' Gill asked, trying not to think of how much money she'd spent so far tonight and wondering if they were all immune to alcoholic, the amount they'd all had.

'A fosters!' Pete grinned.

'Vodka and tonic!' Janet exclaimed.

'Budweiser!' Mitch yelled.

'Strongbow!' Lee slurred.

'Vodka and orange!' Rachel screeched.

'Gin and tonic!' Kevin said demurely, immediately receiving another bout of jeers from the rest.

'Fucking hell, alright woman!' Gill said to Kevin, sticking her tongue out in an uncharacteristic way. 'Rach you'll have to help me carry these back to my fellow alcoholics.' Rachel stood up, swayed slightly, and went to join her boss at the bar.

'This is so nice of you ma'am' Rachel hiccupped slightly, wondering why the hell she had dreaded this gathering. 'You're a very nice woman!'

'So are you. You..' Gill pointed wildly at her officer, '.. are very good, Bailey. You may be thick as shit sometimes, but you know what? I like ya, kid.' They both cackled, enjoying this drunken conversation, unaware of just how pissed they actually were. The bartender approached them then, and Gill passed on the drinks request after running back to her table halfway through her order for reminders.

'I..' Rachel was whispering with a conspiratorial look on her face, 'I call you... Godzilla. Because.. well, I don't remember. I think it's cos you can be a bitch. But I take it all back!' her voice now crept louder. 'Now I shall call you Gill Murray, my best friend in the whole wide fucking WORLD!'

'Yes!' Gill threw an arm over Rachel's shoulders. 'Do you want to come to tea one night next week?'

'Fuck yeah!' Rachel had a tear in her eye at the joy of it all. 'Let's get take-out!'

All the drinks were poured then and, after Gill had paid the barman and left a rather generous or ridiculous (depends which way you looked at it) tip, they carried the drinks back, greeted by some merry cheers. As Rachel went to sit down, she noticed Janet wasn't at the table. Suddenly feeling it was of upmost importance that she found her, Rachel sauntered over to the ladies toilets. As she pushed open the door, she checked the cubicles, only one was occupied and so she stood in front of the mirror, marvelling at her bloodshot eyes. The toilet flushed and Janet opened the cubicle door, spotted Rachel and giving her a small smile before heading to the sink and washing her hands.

'You are looking fine!' Rachel said as she looked Janet up and down. Janet giggled self-consciously and tucked a strand of wayward hair behind her ear.

'Thanks hon. It's a good night isn't it?' she responded, all of a sudden feeling quite breathless under Rachel's gaze.

Rachel didn't hear Janet's question. Whether this was selective hearing or not, she didn't know, all she knew was that she really.. really.. wanted Janet. Janet, having picked up on Rachel's sudden spike of lust, shifted back until she was leant against the wall and waited to see if her girlfriend would make the next move. Alcohol had lowered both of their inhibitions and the fact they were in a pub, with their colleagues, didn't seem that important. Rachel took one look at Janet, her back against the wall, her lips slightly parted, her breathing hitched, and stepped forward until she was right in front of her. Rachel could feel her muscles clench as desire coursed through her, and she pressed her lips firmly against Janet's. Janet responded out of sexual need and immediately slipped her tongue into Rachel's mouth, their tongues dancing tenderly at first, but picking up speed and enthusiasm as the seconds passed. Rachel placed one knee between Janet's legs and allowed it to travel upward until it was wedged tight between Janet's inner thighs, watching as Janet let out a sharp gasp and grinded fiercely against her, creating friction and causing Janet's eyes to flutter at the feelings such movement created. Her hands pulled the tucked in shirt out of Janet's skirt and Rachel let her fingertips travel over Janet's naked waist until she found her bra clad breasts. With the pleasure of it all, Janet pulled away from Rachel's eager lips only to continue harsh, but very sexy, kisses along Rachel's jawline and then her neck. Both women moaned and panted, not caring about where they were, as long as this could continue. Janet's hands were everywhere all at once. They flitted between the small of Rachel's back to the base of her neck applying force to try and get Rachel as close as possible. Their gasps accentuated the air, their lusty sweat mingled and still they continued, Janet still furiously moving against Rachel's knee, Rachel with her head thrown back, throatily groaning at the kisses on her neck.

If they hadn't been interrupted by the toilets door opening, who knows where it would have ended up. As it was, though, the ladies let go of each other and by the time the other female had turned the corner to where the sinks, mirrors and cubicles were, Janet and Rachel were a couple of feet apart from one another. The stranger looked at them both, a small smile playing across her lips before wordlessly entering the cubicle and closing the door behind her. Rachel and Janet grinned at each other, both panting heavily and each turning to look in the mirror, Janet also tucking her shirt back into her skirt as she did so. Oh wow, they both looked wild-eyed, with lipstick smeared over their faces and, in Rachel's case, down her neck and over her jaw. Rachel wetted a paper towel and set about trying to hide any traces of evidence of what had just occurred and Janet followed suit.

They were still trying to get their breathing back to normal when the unknown girl came out of the cubicle and washed her hands. 'Looks like you two are having a good night!' she smiled as she left the room leaving Janet and Rachel alone once more.

'Christ, that was... wow.' Janet looked at Rachel wearing an expression of awe. 'What an earth came over you then?' She was still tingling and her lips felt slightly swollen, not that she was complaining. At all.

'Just the hold you have over me, I guess.' Rachel grinned, her heart going haywire. 'Though maybe I should try and exert some self-restraint.. when we're in a public place anyway.'

The door opened again, Gill this time carrying their drinks. 'Where have you beeeen?' she asked petulantly. 'I was stuck with the boys talking about... boy stuff. And Kevin who was talking about his love of lego and coco pops.' she slurred, leaning drunkenly against the sinks.

'Just came in here for a breather,' Janet said airily before Rachel had the chance to put her foot in it. 'It's been a good night, Gill, was saying that to Rach just now.' She had a swig of her vodka.

'It has, hasn't it? It's about to get better! They're setting up the karaoke! I think... I think I'm going to try some Eminem. Gotta live on the wild side. Maybe I'll find out why all these kids seem to fawn over him.'

'Gill..' Janet warned. 'No. No karaoke for you.' She glanced at Rachel who was stifling a drunken giggle.

'But.. but.. don't be so mean! You're one of my closest friends, don't be nasty!' Gill looked genuinely upset, the alcohol taking complete control of her.

'It's BECAUSE I'm your friend that I'm not letting you do it. God, you seem to revert to being a child when you're pissed!'

'How very dare you.. how rude can-' she hiccupped, ruining her denial of being drunk. She blew a raspberry. 'Oh! Shall we go clubbing? We can be like those young things who basically run around in their underwear! It'll be fun! Oh.. pleeeeeeease?'

Rachel, who was just now laughing at her boss, turned to Janet. 'Can we? Don't be a meanie! Please? Godzilla is right! Seriously..' she turned to Gill, 'how come I never knew you were fun before? You're fucking amazing!' and with that, she downed the two drinks, flung an arm around Gill's shoulders and they both proceeded to give pleading looks to Janet.

'What is WRONG with you two?' she said in exasperation though she couldn't help the smile on her face. She'd been interspersing her vodkas with water as she knew that the night would end with her probably having to practically carry Rachel who never knew when to stop drinking. She still felt pretty tipsy, just not as hammered as the two supposed adult women in front of her, who were now hugging each other tightly and talking about feta cheese. 'Okay, time for bed I think. Come on, we'll share a taxi. Don't fret about your car Gill, I've got mine at home so we'll pick you up tomorrow and you can pick it up from work then.' Gill didn't seem to be fretting at all as she asked Rachel for a piggy back. 'No! Come on, let's go! You're both drunk as skunks. Rachel! Put her down right NOW!'

They left the toilets and returned to the table where the men were. They all looked pretty worse for wear, and Kevin had actually fallen asleep. 'Right lads, we're off.' Janet said, feeling pretty pleased with herself for being able to talk with almost no slur. 'We'll see you Monday if we're lucky and don't get called in. Thanks for a good night. Can one of you get Kevin home to his mother's? I don't want another call at 3am from her wondering where he is.'

Rachel and Gill waved rather ferociously at the boys, causing all of them to giggle and shout jolly bye's to one another. As they left the bar - it took them a while as Gill tried to nick the microphone from the stage while shouting profanities... when asked why, she simply said she was 'doing that M&S bloke', it took a few moments to realize she meant Eminem.. - the cold air hit Janet and she found herself unsteady on her feet, suddenly feeling the fair amount of alcohol she'd consumed. They traipsed down the street and into the kebab shop before hailing a taxi and settling in for the ride home. When they pulled up outside Gill's house, she hopped out waving frantically. Janet and Rachel waited for her to open the door - it took a while - and get inside before driving off. They held hands and giggled like kids and soon enough they were home.

After paying the driver, they tumbled out of the taxi and made their rather unsteady way to Rachel's flat. As soon as they got in they devoured their kebabs, leaving the containers on the side to clear in the morning and Janet poured them both a glass of water. 'Come on, sexy. Bed time.'

Rachel staggered to the bedroom closely followed by Janet and collapsed on the bed. After some gentle prodding and maneuvering, Janet finally managed to get Rachel in a comfortable position, get changed and climbed into bed beside her, turning out the light when she got settled. 'Good night, sweetheart.' she whispered softly to an already asleep Rachel, curling up to her and falling into a very contented sleep.