"Charlie?"

She found herself closing her eyes as he answered so relieved was she to hear his voice.

"Connie?"

He spoke her name and the breath caught in her throat, how she wished she had a father to turn to, how she wished that Charlie knew that that was what she wanted from him most of all...

"Are you ok?"

He asked slowly, though he knew by how she struggled to maintain her breathing that she wasn't. He listened to her silence for a moment, the gentle inhale and exhale, the bite of her lip, the murmur of a half-sound.

At last she sighed and raised her hand to her forehead, she could feel the lines running across it as she frowned against her palm.

"I just needed...I needed to talk to you."

She whispered, and then, with another sigh she found herself telling him what had happened – she told him about the arrival of Rita's parents and how disappointed they had looked when Rita had told them about Grace, and her situation, and how concerned they were – about how Rita, apparently, according to her mother who yet again she had forgotten the name of, wanted to have children. How would they...? How could they? She asked, though she didn't pause for Charlie to answer.

She told him how Ali had appeared – as a knight in shining armour – and, with heartbreaking honestly she told him how she had looked twice at him, despite his being Rita's brother, she would have to have been blind not to notice the colour of his eyes, or to wonder just how far down those tattoos that showed at his collar went.

She pinched the bridge of her nose between her thumb and forefingers.

It was just the flicker of attraction, she whispered, nothing more. The same as if she had walked down the street and brushed arms with a handsome man...but that was it, that was what caused her so much worry, she couldn't imagine the same thing happening with a woman. She couldn't imagine feeling the way she did about Rita for any other woman-

"Connie..."

He was speaking and she hadn't heard.

"I think you need to calm down."

He spoke slowly again, a voice that she recognised as the tone he used for patients.

"I'm just so confused!"

The words came out all at once – almost a wail - and she was left breathless and light headed again. It was all. Just. Too. Much.

"I think you're panicking because you've found yourself in a situation that you're not in control of. And you're not used to that. Now, don't think about this Ali chap, don't worry about other women and other men...you're in love with Rita, or so you said-"

"I am! I love her...I love her, I'm in love with her..."

She whispered, and she touched her fingertips to her lips – the lips that Rita had kissed so many times that she had lost count.

"Well then?"

"And I told her brother about...what happened. He's a police officer...though he only told me after I'd-"

"Connie!"

She stopped abruptly.

"Sorry."

She whispered through her fingers.

"Would it make things any better...any easier for you if I came to yours now?"

He asked. She could hear the affection in his voice and it made her throat ache.

"Yes."

She barely made a sound.

"Right then!"

She heard the creak of whatever he had been sitting on as he stood up.

"Get the kettle on, go downstairs – imagine you're at work for goodness sake, charm them! You're good at that. And I'll be over as soon as I can. Ok?"

He was smiling, she could tell, and she couldn't help but smile against her phone in return.

"Ok."

She murmured, and she hung up.

She opened her eyes and drew in a breath, Charlie was no longer there, but he was coming, he would be there to back her up, to look to when she felt as though she were only just treading water to stay afloat.

She stood up slowly, the bed creaking and groaning beneath her weight, and she looked at herself in the oval mirror that hung on the wall. She smoothed a hand across her cheeks and her hair before running the sides of her hands beneath her eyes to wipe away the faint tell-tale smudges of mascara. She blinked, sucked in a long breath and rolled her shoulders to relax herself.

"Mrs Beauchamp..."

She murmured, as she slipped into character before making her way back downstairs.

-.-

I promised Sarah an update...here it is! I hope it was ok. The next will have to be first thing tomorrow morning i'm afraid as the children went to bed later than I expected. (please forgive me...?)

And to everyone else, thank you! The reviews I have received for the last few chapters have been so, so lovely, they've made me smile! I really do appreciate the time you all take to write a comment – and some of them are so in depth too! Thank you, thank you, thank you xxx