Connie set out cupcakes on a plate. On her way home she had stopped off at the little bakery by the hospital that she knew Rita was fond of. More than once the nurse had bought in arrays of frosted doughnuts and cupcakes for the staff members. Now it was her turn.

She placed the plate down on the coffee table, and set down a mug of tea for Rita and a black coffee for herself.

Rita's eyes widened at the cupcakes. She recognised the wrappers, surely Connie hadn't known that they were her favourites?

"Help yourself."

Connie said, as she folded her body into the sofa, slipping her legs beneath her and reaching for her coffee before she leant back and allowed herself to relax back into the cushions.

Rita looked from one cupcake to another for a moment, each had a different colour icing, complemented by pastel coloured sprinkles. Connie watched her deliberating for what seemed like far too long to make a decision about a cup cake when they were all the same flavour.

Finally she settled on the cupcake with the pale pink icing...the colour of kisses...

Rita nestled the cupcake into the dip between her thighs, pushed the wrapper down at the edges and broke off a piece of the icing, pausing as she bought it to her lips, seeing the crumbs flutter from her fingers to the sofa. She swallowed and glanced at Connie.

"You are allowed to make crumbs, Rita."

She almost whispered as she spoke, as though she needed to clear her throat to regain her voice.

Rita smiled, a guilty smile. She realised she hadn't thought to offer Connie a cupcake after she had taken her own, so, leaning forwards, she took up the plate in one hand and held it out to her. But Connie gave a wave of her hand and shook her head.

"They're for you..."

She murmured, noticing how Rita's wrist flexed and her fingers tensed as she paused, and then placed the plate back down onto the table.

"All of them?!"

Rita almost laughed. She glanced again to the cupcakes, there were five more on the plate. Connie dipped her head, a smile escaping her lips.

"Well, I didn't know which you'd prefer..."

Connie let her sentence trail off as she watched Rita press her thumb to her lips to lick off a stray smear of pink icing.

"I didn't realise you were so generous."

Rita spoke before she had meant to, and immediately she thought better of it. She coughed and stiffened in her seat.

"Have you eaten?"

She asked abruptly, when all else failed to come to her mind. But her voice came blunt and harsh and she could feel herself growing uncomfortable again. She was suddenly aware of every swallow, how loud it was, how her breathing might be too noisy, and how her body might be taking up too much room.

"Sorry...that wasn't meant to sound so accusatory..."

She held the cupcake in her lap and looked down at it, deflated.

"I'm not that hungry."

Connie said quietly. They were standing on thin ice again, both women could feel it, they were skirting around the real issue much like novice ice skaters skirted the edge of an ice rink – holding on for dear life, desperate not to fall.

There was a pause, the seconds ticked by, they could hear the beat of the clock from the hall, like the heartbeat of the house.

"Rita...?"

Connie's voice was barely a whisper, the tremble in her throat only slightly audible.

Rita looked over at her, her forehead beginning to throb. Connie looked so beautiful sitting there, curled up into the corner of the sofa, all tones of grey and white apart from the soft rose pink of her lips.

"I want you to stay with me..."

She paused and found herself looking down at her fingers whilst Rita held her breath.

"I don't want to be alone. Not tonight."

Rita nodded ever so slowly, and with her finger she began to pick at the paper wrapper that held the cupcake, it flicked back and forth against her skin. How had this happened? She wondered. Connie appeared to be a different person from the one she'd known before. Somehow, just by allowing Rita entrance into her own private world, she had rewritten everything, their history together, their friendship...and now where did they stand? As far as Rita was aware, Connie merely thought of them as having been thrown together by fate, destined to unravel together, fighting time until this was all over, and they began to feel normal once more.

But to Rita, something else had happened. It was as though, all of a sudden, whilst staring at the cupcake within her hands, she had realised that they were meant to be together from the start, and every single thing they had ever done in their lives had been leading to this moment. However sad, however terrifying it was, this crisis was what had united them, and if she thought that way, she could fall asleep without regret. She could put her whole life in place, with all the sadness and sorrow, and still feel that at last she had everything she ever wanted.

In spite of everything, she was here, and she had seen something within Connie that she never thought she would see. And for now, at least, she felt as though those men who had raped Connie so violently, hadn't quite destroyed everything, instead they had given her the glimpse of what could be.

More to come this evening once I've written the Thursday update for my other Connie story, Heavy Rain.

Thank you again for the reviews...there will be fluff to follow! :) xxx