It's been a while since I updated this as I wasn't sure if my idea of where to take it was just plain ridiculous or worth pursuing, however I promised a certain someone that I'd write at least this chapter, so I hope they enjoy it and I hope anyone else reading this does too. Not sure if to continue with this story so if anyone would like to see more, please let me know. Anyway, enough of my ramblings.. please enjoy :) xx

Chapter 9

'Kevin!' Gill's voice resounded through the office and a few seconds later Kevin sulked his way into her office. Rachel peered over her computer screen to glance at Janet.

'Wonder what all that's about.' she said idly, privately just relieved that it wasn't her name being screeched for all to hear.

'I think his mother called to ask Gill if he could leave early to go to the dentist.' Janet replied, rolling her eyes. Rachel laughed quietly before glancing at the clock and sighing. 'Stop stressing about tonight,' Janet smiled. 'It's just tea with your sister, anyone would think that she was a first class sociopath the way you're reacting!'

'Just a bit nervous, that's all.' Rachel said quietly, knowing that in the middle of the office really wasn't the place to elaborate. 'The one time I wouldn't mind working til all hours and for once we've got a slow day.'

'Don't jinx it!' Mitch called good humouredly as he walked past. 'I can't believe I might actually be getting home at a normal hour today. I'm sure the kids have almost forgotten who I am in my continual absence!'

It was a fairly quiet day in the MIT office. The Jacqueline Hall murder case they had been working on had wrapped up quite nicely, much to the relief of the the team. Today was mostly about tidying up loose ends and working on the cases that had been classed as lower priority throughout the previous investigation and therefore the atmosphere was unusually relaxed.. well, as relaxed as it could be when you worked in MIT anyway. The day before had been a stressful one- not helped by the fact that almost all of the team were still experiencing hangovers from their rather raucous night in the pub though for once this pleased Gill; no one seemed to have any lasting memory of her drunken antics which she was very appreciative of. It was mid-afternoon now and the entire team seemed to have run out of steam. Kevin was in Gill's office and if the odd shouted word was anything to go by, Gill was telling him just how little she approved of his mother calling her as if she were a teacher, Lee and Pete had headed upstairs on the pretense of making sure disclosures was all filed properly though really they were trying to sort out Lee's current love life dilemma, Mitch was en route to the exhibits room to give it a tidy and Rachel and Janet were typing up the last bits needed for the Hall case. If things continued to run as smoothly for the rest of the day, they would be done in the next hour or so and only Rachel seemed disheartened by this.

'Ugh. That's it.' Rachel stood up suddenly causing Janet to look up with a sense of alarm. 'I need a cig. I'll be back in five.' She threw a small smile in Janet's direction before grabbing her bag and heading outside. As she leaned against the wall, cigarette in hand, she mentally scolded herself for getting so wound up. It was just a meal with her sister, that's all. No need to freak out about it. Yes, it was going to be the night that she told Alison about her and Janet but the news was going to come out eventually and actually some small part of her was excited about it. They were working so hard to keep their new found relationship under wraps, it would sort of make it more real to Rachel if someone else knew about it. Ah, she was driving herself mad at the minute with all her conflicting emotions; she never did handle stress well and both her private and professional life had had its fair share of stresses as of late. She forced herself to think of something that would hopefully lower her anxieties and soon found herself smiling as she recalled the very nice morning activities she had shared with Janet just a few hours before and she reminded herself how lucky she was as she finished her cig and headed back upstairs.

Walking into the ladies toilets for a quick pit stop before getting back to the office Rachel almost collided with her girlfriend. 'Oops.' Rachel said, immediately feeling breathless at the sight of Janet. 'Fancy seeing you here. Do you come here often?' she grinned, not caring how cheesy and frankly stupid it sounded, just happy that she was in the midst of an uninterrupted couple of minutes with Janet.

Janet laughed quietly in response, resting lightly against the sinks as she eyed Rachel, the usual hammering of her heart signalling that her breathing was already getting hitched. She shook her head slightly, wondering how in Hell Rachel had this effect on her all the bloody time. 'Only when I'm trying to get lucky!' she replied to Rachel's rather unsubtle attempts at.. well, could it be called flirting?! Yes, at a stretch.

'I think you're in luck today.' Rachel smiled, noting Janet starting to breathe slightly harder and also aware of how that affected her. 'Is that a pen in your pocket or are you...' she trailed off, mentally kicking herself and wondering why her attempts at flirting were so awful today.

Janet laughed loudly before covering her mouth with her hand. 'You're a tit!' she said warmly, eyes twinkling as Rachel flushed. 'And just so you know..' she crossed the small area until she was stood close to Rachel and leaned forward to whisper in her ear, 'I'm very pleased to see you. Always.'

Without warning Rachel stepped back so she could position herself correctly as she grasped Janet's head and pulled her in close, lips searching energetically until they found her girlfriend's, both ladies gasping slightly as their hands attempted to explore one another once again. A noise outside the room caused them to jump apart, eyes moving wildly to the door, breaths held in alarm.

'You're going to be the death of me!' Janet grinned after a few moments, both women now convinced that no one was bursting into the toilets to catch them out. 'I thought we were supposed to be being careful when we're at work?!'

'We are..' Rachel replied, a coy smile playing across her face. 'You need to stop being so damn sexy and distracting me from being good and we should be fine.'

'Yeah, yeah,' Janet said dismissively, finding it near-on impossible - as always - to accept compliments. She was supposed to be the one in awe of Rachel not the other way around, or so she thought. 'You feeling better after your fag?'

'I'm feeling better after you.. seriously, you should start charging for your anti-stress techniques!' Rachel teased, turning to look in the mirror and re-tying her hair. 'But yes, I'm feeling a bit less tense. Thank you for asking. I'm just feeling all over the place lately.'

'I suppose that's normal,' Janet started, her hand reaching out and resting gently on Rachel's shoulder. 'You know that I'm here if you need to get anything off of your chest though, don't you?'

'Yes. Honestly, thank you. You're.. amazing.' Rachel smiled, her voice ringing with sincerity. As soon as her hair looked as good as it was ever going to (another bad hair day much to her intense frustration), she turned for the door and opened it for Janet before they both headed to the office.

'Alright Kev?' Janet asked as she passed a particularly sullen looking Kevin on the way to her desk.

Kevin grunted in response before shoving an entire donut in his mouth causing Rachel to roll her eyes. As they both settled back in front of their computer screens, Gill popped her head around the door. 'Once you've finished that, you can go if you want ladies. I think we all deserve an early night..' her eyes flitted to the back of Kevin's head, 'well.. some of us more than others anyway. If you see any of the others, pass the message on. I'm about to head home now.' She disappeared back into her office and Janet cast a reassuring smile to Rachel who was starting to feel nauseous once more.

xxx

Rachel knocked on her sister's front door rather tentatively, looking over at Janet with an expression of trepidation. Within seconds the door had opened and Alison stood there with a welcoming smile. 'I'm so glad you could make it! I was sure something would happen to cause you to cancel.' she stood back to let them enter. 'Hi Janet! How are you? It's nice to see you.'

When they were all safely inside Alison took their coats and shepherded them into the kitchen where the cooking food was smelling lovely. Holly was sat at the table with some colouring pencils and a pad of paper. 'Auntie Rach!' she squealed with a big smile on her face as she climbed off the chair and ran over for a hug.

'Hey Hols,' Rachel grinned, bending down and reciprocating the hug. 'How have you been doing? Being good for Mum?'

As Holly launched into a rather long monologue about what she'd been up to, Alison turned to Janet. 'So, how's things?' she asked, stirring the bolognese as she awaited a response.

'Oh, not bad, thanks. You know how it is.' Janet smiled. 'Is there anything I can do?'

'Actually, would you mind just checking the garlic bread? It's in the oven. Oven gloves are just on the hook opposite the sink.'

The two women worked side by side in silence for a few moments, listening to Rachel's conversation with her niece, and before long the food was on the table waiting to be eaten.

xxx

A couple of hours later Rachel entered Alison's living room and sat on the couch next to Janet. 'Okay, she's promised she'll really go to sleep this time. Four stories later! Good job I love her isn't it.' she grinned to Alison as she picked up the glass of wine she'd been trying to consume for the past half an hour.

'She's been a nightmare ever since I picked her up from school this afternoon, she was so excited to see you! Let's not leave it so long til the next time, eh?'

'Definitely. If she wants, I'll have her overnight to stay soon. We'll have to sort something out.' Rachel replied, realising that she genuinely did miss her niece when she didn't see her. Janet sat quietly, wine glass in hand as she felt her nerves start to get the better of her.

'Sounds good, Rach. So, now the little monkey's properly in bed, how have things been?'

'Yeah.. yeah, it's been okay. Thanks.' Rachel said, suddenly very interested in the state of her nails.

'Are you sure?' Alison prodded, knowing there was something Rachel wasn't telling her.

'Positive. I'm okay. Good even. But..' Rachel looked over at Janet briefly before looking back to her sister. 'There is something I wanted to tell you.' she drained the last bit of her wine and proffered the glass to Alison. 'Can you top me up first?'

As Alison headed through to the kitchen, Rachel moved closer to Janet so their thighs were touching. 'You don't have to do this.' Janet murmured, knowing that it was a big step to take and aware that Rachel wasn't exactly the most open person in the world anyway. 'It's okay if you want to leave it for another time.'

Rachel shook her head fiercely. 'No. I want to tell her. I'd be nervous if we told her tonight or in a year, so don't worry.' As she finished talking, her hand slid across the seat of the sofa, resting lightly against Janet's back. Alison came back in with newly refilled glasses and sat down after handing them out.

'What is it you wanted to tell me?'

'Okay.. so.. er- the thing is.. right.' Rachel took another rather large gulp of her wine. 'Right. Okay. Here's the thing..' she paused again, her stomach flipping and turning at a worrying pace. 'Just bloody get it out!' she muttered to herself. 'Okay. I'm seeing someone.' She looked up to meet Alison's eyes.

'Bloody hell, woman! I thought you were going to tell me someone had died! I mean, sure, it's a bit soon after Sean but.. if he makes you happy, so be it. Who is the lucky chappy? You should have brought him tonight, who knows when you'll next be around and I won't be happy til I've given him the sister approval.' Ali replied, looking thoroughly relieved.

Janet turned to look at her girlfriend and saw that she looked a bit green. After waiting for a moment to see if Rachel would break the heavy silence she cleared her throat. 'You've already met Rachel's new partner.' she said, trying to look confident and positive that she was failing. 'And you seemed to like them.'

Rachel seemed to find her voice. 'I didn't say it was a 'he'.' she said quietly. 'Er- in fact,' she chuckled nervously, moving the hand that was leaning on Janet's back around so it was now clutching her girlfriend's hand. 'It's Janet.' as she said the words, she felt Janet squeeze her hand tightly.

Alison's eyes widened and her jaw dropped. She looked from Rachel to Janet and back again. She took a long sip of wine and then took another. 'Um,' she started a couple of minutes later. 'Did you say Janet? As in.. that Janet?' she gestured with a jerk of her head.

'As in the woman who is sat right next to me and who I am holding hands with?' Rachel replied sharply, interpreting her sister's response as rude and at once finding her voice again. 'Yes. Janet. We're dating.'

The room was silent for a short while as Alison and Rachel looked at each other and Janet looked around the room nervously. Just as Rachel was about to suggest leaving, Alison started laughing merrily. Rachel shot her a confused look. 'What's so funny?' she asked, looking at Janet with wide eyes as they waited for Ali to quieten down enough to answer.

'Sorry.' Alison said, holding her hand up in a gesture of repentance. 'Just.. was the last thing I was expecting to hear.' She looked over at her sister and Janet on the couch and couldn't help but notice the way they looked at each other, the tender touches they almost subconsciously gave one another. She forced her thoughts to calm down and sat quietly for a minute, thinking carefully about what to say. 'Well,' she started, feeling remorse for laughing in the face of something that was probably very difficult for Rachel. 'I can't pretend I'm not surprised.' She had another long swig of fortifying wine. 'Then again, I can't deny that it's easy to see how much you.. like.. one another. And, you know.. after everything that's happened.. you deserve to be happy, Rachel. If.. Janet makes you happy, then I'm happy for you.'

Rachel opened her mouth and closed it again before turning slightly to look at Janet. 'Er- thank you, Alison.' Janet said, smiling slightly and feeling the nerves slowly dissipate. 'It's early days, but we wanted you to know.'

'Yeah,' Rachel finally chimed in. 'Thanks for not.. freaking out. It means a lot.' She flashed a grin at her sister while giving Janet's hand another squeeze.

'You're my sister. I just want you to be happy.' Alison replied, glad that she'd started on the wine before this conversation had taken place. 'So.. how did it all start? Spill the beans!'

xxx

'Yeah, you're right.' Rachel yawned, snuggling into Janet as they lay in bed. 'It did go well. Good idea to suggest the wine early on.' she grinned into the darkness.

'Well, I'm nothing if not forward thinking.' Janet joked, pressing herself firmly against Rachel, the chill of the night making her shiver slightly. 'What time have you got the doctor's tomorrow?'

'2.30pm. I'm in half a mind to cancel it to be honest.' Rachel could feel her eyes closing despite wanting to stay up talking to Janet all night. 'All I do is go in there, he asks how my mood has been and how my stress levels are, I tell him everything is fine, he tells me to call if I feel my moods worsening and then I get the hell out of there.'

'If you cancel you know Gill will give you shit. And I will too. After all the stress of Savage and Dom you know the condition of you returning to work was that you had regular appointments with your GP for the first couple of months. I'll tell Gill if you cancel it.' Janet said, wrapping her arm tighter around Rachel's waist.

The only thing that stopped Rachel moaning about what Janet had just said was hearing the concern in her girlfriend's voice. She knew Janet was only saying this because she cared and she also knew that if the roles were reversed she would nag Janet to go too. In fact, she was in the process of trying to get Janet to see someone about her nightmares and she knew moaning about this wouldn't help her case in the long run. 'Fine,' she muttered, only barely hiding the sulk from her voice. 'Just for you though. I wouldn't bloody do it for anyone else.' she yawned again as she felt her tense muscles start to relax.

'Well then. I count myself honoured.' Janet teased. 'Come on, let's get to sleep. Been a stressful night. Oh, before I forget.. you should call Ali tomorrow too, thank her again for tonight.'

'You're like a bloody saint,' Rachel replied sleepily. 'It's a good job you're an amazing girlfriend. And great in the sack. You're determined to keep me on the straight and narrow.'

'I'm determined to make you happy and ensure you're healthy. Now, stop distracting me and get to sleep. Don't want to be too tired in the morning for.. a little excitement.' Janet smiled, her own eyes closing. 'Night, love.'

Before Janet had uttered the last word, Rachel was fast asleep, dreaming of the very naughty things she was going to be participating in when they awoke.

xxx

'What's wrong with Rachel?' Gill asked, as blunt as ever. Janet was sat opposite her and it was nearing the end of the day. 'She's been quiet all day.'

'I don't know. I've tried asking her but you know, if she doesn't want to talk, she doesn't want to talk. It's none of my business anyway.' Janet replied, feeling uneasy as actually, if there was something wrong with her girlfriend then it was her business. But when she'd asked this morning and then twice since Rachel had gotten back from the doctor, she'd been brushed off with an unconvincing smile and an excuse of tiredness.

'Right. Well, keep an eye on her, will you? She's looked alright lately, but I need to be on top of it if she's having some sort of breakdown or anything.' Gill looked up at the clock. Not long now until she could dismiss everyone and head home for a rather lovely and rather large glass of wine.

'I'm sure she's just having a bad day, Gill. But yeah, I'll keep an eye out.' Janet noticed that her foot was tapping restlessly against the floor and stilled it immediately, not wanting to give anything for Gill to notice. 'She disappeared up to the disclosures office earlier with a bunch of paperwork, so she'll probably be up there until we finish.'

'Okay. So, how are the girls?'

'Yeah they're fine thank you.' Janet gave a genuine smile, proud of her daughters like she always was. 'Settling down again wonderfully. They're good girls.'

'They sure are. Tell them I say hello.' Gill had a soft spot for Elise and Taisie and almost always asked after them, just like Janet usually asked after Sammy, and now Orla too.

'Will do,' Janet smiled again. 'Are we going to be finished for the day soon?'

'Yeah, I should think so. No point hanging around when we have quiet days like this, got to make the most of them. Soon enough we'll be kept here til all fucking hours again.'

'Ideal.' Janet said, surreptitiously checking her watch and wishing the minutes past. She really wanted to check if Rachel really was okay and she couldn't properly do that until they were in the privacy of the flat.

'Oh, fuck it. Let's call it a day now. There is at least two bottles of wine waiting in my fridge with my name on it. You can let the team know. I want everyone in tomorrow at 9am.' Gill said, not waiting to finish giving instructions before reaching down for her bag and slipping her shoes back on under the desk.

'Okay. I'll see you tomorrow.' Janet grinned, standing up and opening the office door. 'Good news, guys!' She called chirpily, pausing as the team cheered having already guessed what that good news might be.

xxx

'Are you going to tell me what's wrong or are you going to keep fobbing me off with lies?' Janet finally fumed late into the evening after putting up with Rachel's moodiness all night.

'It's not my fault you won't let things drop!' Rachel retorted angrily, at once turning away from the tv which gave little credence to the pretense she'd been trying to keep up about being engrossed in some wildlife program or another.

'Oh, so it's my problem now is it? God, why have you been so bloody moody lately? It's worse than living with Elise and Taisie when we're all PMTing!' Janet stormed around the kitchen, banging things down and slamming cupboards shut with unneccessary force. 'If I've done something wrong or you're regretting us then just be an adult and say it instead of leaving me guessing!' She wasn't even sure how this argument had progressed. She knew it was probably partly her insecurities that were coming to the forefront but no-one could deny that Rachel had been more up and down than a yo-yo on speed as of late. Janet hated having to second guess herself and Rachel really wasn't helping her paranoia.

'It's not you. And of course I'm not regretting us. I'm sorry. I just-' Rachel started but was unable to continue when she started crying uncontrollably. As soon as Janet heard the first sob she had whirled around and headed to the sofa, sitting beside Rachel and taking her hand.

'What's the matter, love?' she asked gently, wondering what on Earth was going on. 'You're really making me worry. Since Saturday you've been all over the place and this afternoon you've been as tightly wound as a coil. What is it?'

'I-' Rachel tried again, but the tears were refusing to stop. She leant into Janet's embrace, her shoulders heaving with the overwhelming emotions.

They sat in silence for a few minutes, Janet rubbing her girlfriend's back reassuringly as she waited for Rachel to calm down, racking her brains as to what could be the cause of this. Suddenly she went cold as a thought hit her as hard as a freight train. 'Oh God,' she murmured, the anger fully gone from her voice to be replaced by anguished concern. 'Did something happen at the doctor?' Rachel nodded miserably, not knowing how to proceed. 'Shit.' Janet whispered. 'What is it?' she asked again, urgency now colouring her tone.

Rachel wiped her eyes roughly as she pulled back from Janet's arms and looked into her eyes with an unreadable look. 'I'm.. I'm pregnant.'