"Grace's father took that photo in the states."

Connie leaned in closer, her arm pressing against Rita's as she looked at the photograph, and as her body pressed against her own she couldn't help but notice the way that Rita seemed to stiffen as if she were holding her breath.

"She's beautiful, isn't she?"

Connie murmured, looking at her daughter. The way her mouth was open in a smile full of such joy hurt her heart to know that she was gone, on the other side of the world.

Rita swallowed hard, looking at Grace, alarmed that she had to force herself to remain focused on her, her eyes longing to trace the path of Connie's legs instead.

"Mmm."

She mumbled her affirmation. She could feel her cheeks growing hot. Connie remained silent, clearly remembering the time when the photo had been taken. She was flustered. She could barely draw in a breath though she was convinced that she must say something.

"She takes after her mother."

As soon as the words were out of her mouth she regretted saying them. Was she flirting? Or sucking up to her? Whichever result Connie decided upon would not be favourable. Rita could feel the skin of her cheeks burning up, the blush creeping up to her ears. Her mouth was dry, and she found herself glancing at the other woman out of the corner of her eye.

Connie was looking at her, an unreadable expression within her eyes. She merely gave a slight press of her lips, gave one last look at the photograph and moved away.

"Have you had lunch?"

Connie asked, it was a little after 1PM and though she wasn't hungry, she needed something else to say, to bring the subject matter around to something more safe.

Rita drew in a breath. She wished she had time to run around the block once or twice without being noticed; maybe then she wouldn't feel as if she were about to burn up or shatter if she so much as met Connie's eyes.

Instead she shook her head, and exhaled.

"I should be going, I suppose..."

She said quietly, braving looking at Connie, only to catch the flicker of something behind the other woman's eyes, a look which she could have easily mistaken as disappointment.

Connie twisted the ring she wore on her right hand. There was a moment of silence between them which seemed to stretch forever, until finally Connie let her hands fall to her sides.

"Charlie knows."

She said it as though she were announcing something as mundane as the weather, and immediately regretted her choice of nonchalance. The pink of Rita's cheeks began to fade back to their usual colour and her brown eyes sobered. She looked up at Connie, searching for something...

"You told him?"

She asked quietly, and Connie lowered her gaze and raised a hand to her forehead, rubbing the tips of her fingers against her skin.

"I didn't have to."

She said simply, and Rita nodded slowly. She felt as though she should be thinking something serious... She should be recalling last nights attack, or asking if Connie was ok, but instead she was thinking about the fact that when Connie stood before her, all she could think about was the way that her hair fell about her jawline, and the flutter at her throat of her heartbeat, just below the flesh, or the way she held her hands at her sides...and the way she could smell her perfume.

"I'm sorry."

She whispered.

"Sorry?"

Connie repeated, she frowned and folded her arms across her chest.

Rita puffed out a breath of air and widened her eyes. She wasn't really sure what she was sorry for.

"For...asking you out last night, for not doing everything I could to stop them..."

She found herself looking at Connie as she spoke, she saw the flash of hurt behind Connie's eyes and she thought how blue they looked all of a sudden. Perhaps it was the sky reflecting in her eyes through the window, but she thought how odd it was that they appeared to change colour despite the hazel that laced through them.

"You have nothing to apologise for."

Connie murmured, and she half turned toward the doorway that led back to the kitchen.

"Have lunch with me."

She said.

Oh! I had trouble concentrating on this. I painted a picture of Chloe Howman last night and tweeted it to Crystal Yu, asking if she would mind showing her. I just received a tweet from Chloe (using Crystal's account) to say thank you! One very excited me, at the moment.. (The picture I painted is now the picture for this story)

And THANK you for all of the lovely, lovely reviews! I've had a very long, tiring day looking after my two young children and their two cousins, so nice reviews were very much appreciated!

And as for what is going to happen next, Connie is going to ask Rita to stay with her again for the night. Would you like the evening to be full of fluffy stuff, or some more angst...or an equal combination of the two!? Let me know, and I will write a nice long chapter for you all later xxx