"Oh!"

Connie collapsed down into an arm chair as she heard the front door close.

Finally. Everyone was gone.

She sighed again and closed her eyes as she raised a hand to her forehead, using her fingers to rub away the tension.

She listened to the almost silent pad of Rita's sock clad feet on the tiled hallway floor, and the creak of the floorboards as she made her way back into the sitting room.

She heard Rita sigh, and the soft sound of her sitting down in the chair opposite.

She opened her eyes and lowered her hand to her lap, meeting Rita's gaze.

"Thank God that's over."

Rita murmured. She looked exhausted, as though her eyes might just close at any moment whether she liked it or not.

Connie smiled slightly and cleared her throat. There was so much that she wanted to say, so much that she though that she should say.

"I'm not sure I'm what they were expecting."

She said finally, and Rita smiled a slow tired smile and gave a shake of her head.

"No."

She said simply.

Connie cleared her throat again. The air about them seemed heavy and tired as they were themselves, as though it too had been caught up in the stress of the day.

"I think we need to talk."

She said quietly, and Rita frowned slightly, a flicker of something passing behind her eyes.

"Not that sort of 'need to talk'."

Connie placed both hands upon the arm rests of the chair and lent her head back against the seat, looking over at Rita.

"Sounds ominous nonetheless..."

Rita in turn lent one elbow on the arm of the chair and cradled the side of her head. Upstairs she could hear the gentle hum of Grace's music, the vibration of it through the ceiling was somehow soothing, and at any other moment would probably have sent her off to sleep.

"I just think there are a few things we should discuss...things we should have probably discussed before now."

Connie spoke quietly, her hands motionless against the grey fabric of the chair.

"It's the child thing isn't it."

Rita asked through a yawn, tilting her head to one side so that she could shield the yawn without moving too much.

Connie nodded slowly. She knew that perhaps now, after all that had happened probably wasn't the best time, but she knew that if they didn't talk it through she would be left worrying about it.

"I just hadn't thought..."

She drew up her shoulders slightly.

"You want children?"

She changed tact and Rita gave a frail smile, as though she were hesitant to answer in case it should change their future forever.

"I've always wanted children."

She said softly, and Connie glanced down to her right hand, her eyes following the rise and fall of the soft blue veins beneath her skin.

She thought for a moment. She thought of Grace, her career, her life...

"You don't...do you."

Rita ventured when Connie didn't say anything. Her mouth was taught and behind her eyes was the unmistakeable mask of fear.

Connie drew in a long breath and smiled a vague smile.

"Oh I think there is enough evidence here already to prove that I should never have been a mother in the first place."

She paused, still she stared down at her own hand.

"I don't know if I could go through that again with a second child?"

She looked up finally, just as Rita looked away, down to the soft grey fabric of the arm rest that dimpled about her elbow.

"Perhaps you'd feel differently...if it was us? I mean you wouldn't be on your own this time. And you wouldn't have to carry the..."

Even as she spoke, Rita realised she was fighting a losing battle, and when she looked across to Connie she could see it in her eyes, the confirmation that she needed.

"So what do we do now?"

She asked, her voice so faint and faraway, as though she could barely bring herself to form the sentence.

Connie raised a hand to her lips, they felt brittle and paper dry beneath her fingertips. She didn't know, she realised. She had absolutely no idea.

-.-

More to come...would love to know your thoughts as always..on this chapter and the topic covered in it especiallyxxx