The clunk of the central heating turning off woke Rita. She kept her eyes closed, listening to the water in the pipes – hissing gently with the tinny sound of running water. She yawned against the back of her hand and slowly, slowly she opened her eyes. The room was dim, though she knew they must have slept longer than usual as the heating automatically turned off every morning at nine.
She looked over at Connie asleep on the pillow next to her. Her lips were only just parted, her breathing laboured, and with every breath her shoulder that just poked out from under the duvet rose up and down.
Rita watched her, just enjoying the silence, and the chance to look at her with no other reason than to simply gaze upon her - to appreciate the smooth freckled skin, pale from sleep, her mouth, flushed and perfectly shaped, and the dark curved eyelashes that fluttered against her cheeks. Her hair was curled and sprawled up and about behind her. With make up she was breath taking, but without make up Rita felt as though she could stop breathing altogether and be happy to have this woman as the last thing she ever saw.
"What're you smiling about?"
Connie asked without opening her eyes. Her voice was low and spun with dreams, only her lips had moved, the rest of her remained at the tail end of sleep.
Rita's smile widened. She reminded her of a cat, all feline grace and beauty, aware of everything at all times...
"Just enjoying the view."
She murmured, and as she spoke she stretched, pushing her legs down as far as they could reach into the cold at the bottom of the bed. She shivered and recoiled, curling herself up again.
Connie opened one eye, squinting across the pillow, the beautiful stillness of her face morphing into motion. How it would move and smile and frown all day now...
She lifted her head briefly to smooth back her hair and opened both eyes before lying back down, shuffling closer to Rita so that she could lean in and kiss her gently on the lips.
"Good morning."
She whispered, and she smiled to herself, she had never noticed before how saying good morning seemed to make the morning good.
Rita kissed her again in response, her mouth soft and warm, her body moving in against her own. She sighed and pulled her close, parting her lips, kissing the blonde that wrapped herself around her with everything she could mustre.
A creak on the landing drew them apart. Little footsteps stopped outside of the bedroom door and the handle turned.
Connie cleared her throat and both women moved to sit up right, leaning back against the headboard.
Grace peered around the door, an oval tray held between both hands.
"I made you breakfast in bed!"
She announced, hesitating as she looked at Rita, her gaze lingering as though trying to gauge the mood.
"Grace!"
"I didn't use the kettle, it's just orange juice."
Grace said quickly, watching the floor as she stepped carefully over to the bed, deliberately making her way around to Rita's side and setting the tray down onto her lap.
"Thank you sweetheart."
Rita cupped Grace's cheek, rubbing her thumb against the rise of it. Grace grinned, and Rita arranged the tray so that it rested in between Connie and herself. Grace stood by the side of the bed, hands clasped in front of her, watching as the two women looked at what was on the tray.
There was a bowl full of raspberries and three slices of toast each spread liberally with Marmite with two mugs full of orange juice, once of which had slopped over whilst she was carrying it and now a pale pool of orange juice made a perfect ring around the bottom of the mug.
"Thank you..."
Connie looked over at her daughter, her brown eyes so full of expectation that she couldn't help but feel the warm swell of her heart beneath her chest. A feeling that she hadn't felt for a very long time.
She patted the bed in between them.
"Hop in."
She tugged back the duvet and Grace's eyes widened, she couldn't remember the last time that they had shared a bed. Connie gave a brief nod of her head and held the tray steady whilst the little girl gingerly crawled over Rita and scrambled in between them. The bed was warm and she leant back against the pillows with a happy sigh.
"Did you talk to each other then?"
Grace asked after a pause, her little body still between them.
Rita reached out for a raspberry and popped it into her mouth, glancing across at Connie just in time to catch the slow inhale and the flicker of a frown between her eyes.
"Yes..."
She exhaled and reached for a mug of orange juice, reaching for a tissue from the bedside table to wipe the juice from the bottom of it before taking a sip.
"And you needn't worry."
She swallowed and slipped a hand over the Grace's, her hands balled together in her lap.
"What are you going to do?"
Grace asked, and Connie took another sip, wincing as she swallowed.
"Well. I think we've come to the decision that eventually we would like to have a child together...a little brother or sister for you."
She said, the words feeling alien and swollen in her mouth.
Grace bit her lip, her eyes lighting up.
"When?"
"Oh not for a while yet. Let's not get ahead of ourselves. We haven't even discussed that yet."
Rita reached for another raspberry and rolled it gently between her fingertips.
Grace turned to look at her, her head tilted to one side.
"Do you think I could call you Mum now?...If you're going to be the mummy of my little brother or sister?"
She asked slowly.
Rita stilled the motions of her fingers that held the raspberry. She smiled slightly and once again she reached out to cradle Grace's cheek, stroking her hair.
"Course you can."
She let her hand fall to where Connie's overlapped Grace's.
"If that's alright?"
She asked, directing her question to Connie who looked as though she were suddenly coming out of a daze.
"I can't think of anything I would like more."
She murmured.
-.-
This is hopefully the first of two updates for today.
Also I'm planning a few Connie/Rita one shots so keep an eye out for them. I'm also open to suggestions for one shots.
Wowstars – I'm pretty sure they will be EXACTLY how you described them!
xxx