It was a quiet day, all soft winds buffeting snow from one corner of the garden to the other. A lazy day with the fire constantly smouldering in the grate and the air warm with wood smoke and coffee from the machine that Connie had seemingly kept going all day.

Rita and Grace had spent the afternoon making lemon cupcakes with buttercream icing and edible glitter that they had bought specifically. Connie had sat at the kitchen table watching them from where she sat with a carefully selected pile of paperwork, but half way through, whilst Grace was measuring out the self-raising flour into a bowl Connie had stood up and with something half mumbled she had left the kitchen and hadn't returned.

Now the cupcakes were arranged on a pale blue cake stand , glittering beneath the lights.

"Not bad."

Rita wiped the excess icing sugar from her hands onto the thighs of her jeans and held up her right hand to Grace who slapped it hard before leaning against the table towards the cakes.

"Can we have one now?"

She asked, elongating the last word and tilting forwards across the table.

"Yep. Take one through I'll just go and take one to your mum, see what she's up to."

Grace eased out the largest of all of the cupcakes and hurried off into the sitting room with Rita hesitating. She knew Connie would have insisted she take it in on a plate...

She wiped her hands again on her jeans and cleared her throat before selecting the cupcake with the neatest icing and setting it down onto a plate before making her way to the door of Connie's home office.

She paused, suddenly unsure whether or not she should knock.

She held her free hand up to the door, made to knock, hesitated, and then finally gave in and gave a brief tap on the door. For a moment there was silence from beyond, and then came the gentle scrape of a chair being drawn back and Connie opened the door.

"You don't have to knock!"

She was almost laughing. She had tied her hair back loosely into a pony tail and one cheek was slightly flushed from where she had been leaning on one hand.

"I wasn't sure..."

"Oh don't be silly, I was just finishing up anyway."

She gestured limply with a hand and made to slip from the room and close the door.

"What were you doing?"

Rita asked before she could stop herself. Connie had seemed so very far away for most of the day, though she hadn't quite been able to ask why, until now, now that she seemed to have come back to her.

She paused, seemingly stuck between two conflicting thoughts, the door half way with her. Then with an exhale she pushed the door back open and gestured again with her hand.

"Come here."

She murmured, turning and walking back over to the desk where she had been sitting, a glass half full of water to one side, and a pile of freshly printed papers were neatly stacked and paper clipped together.

"I hadn't meant to spend so long..."

Connie began rifling through the papers, leaving her sentence hanging with no intended end. Rita suddenly remembered the cupcake she was holding and set it down on the desk by the water.

"Grace was in charge of decoration."

She said, seeing Connie catch her movement and glance across at the cupcake. She smiled again.

"They're beautiful."

She said quietly, and turned back to the papers, flicking through until she came to the one she wanted and handed it over without a word.

'Stem Cells and Same Sex Reproduction.'

The title was printed in black across the top of the page.

"I was just doing a little bit of research. I suppose I got carried away..."

She watched Rita's expression as the nurse glanced from the papers she held to the pile on the table, all of which she could see had similar titles.

"Is it even possible?"

Rita asked finally, flipping through the pages, one after another, scanning the words.

Connie drew up her shoulders and reached across for the cupcake.

"I don't doubt it's possible. It's whether or not the research continues...I suppose like everything it will come down to funding."

She paused and used her lips to taste the very tip of the icing from the cupcake in an move that Rita found oddly erotic.

"And I'm sure there will be ethical implications. There's always somebody who will disapprove..."

She said once she had licked her lips and swallowed. She frowned and looked at the cupcake with mild surprise.

"I wasn't expecting it to be lemon."

She said, losing her train of thought.

"I didn't realise you were looking into...this. I assumed we'd go down the sperm donor route...don't you like lemon?"

"Yes! My favourite."

Connie set the cupcake back down on the desk.

"I didn't mean to go over your head with this, I was just finding out about our options. Of course if you'd prefer to use a donor I'd-"

"No!"

Rita interrupted suddenly.

"No, sorry. If it's possible then of course I would rather have your baby..our baby... Can I read them?"

She added, feeling somewhat taken aback. Connie seemed to go from one extreme to another, or rather, she realised, when she set her mind to something she went at it all guns blazing.

"Of course you can, that's why I printed them off."

Connie said as she collected the rest of the papers and handed them to Rita before picking the cup cake up again and touching her lips to the icing in what looked like an open mouthed kiss, her tongue just glancing against the icing. Rita watched, eyebrows slightly raised, her lips parted, suddenly unable to form a coherent thought as she held the papers to her chest.

"Rita?"

Connie swallowed.

"Mm? Sorry, thank you."

She hugged the papers to her chest.

Connie smiled, the ghost of a smile twitching at her lips, and then, as though she were going to by pass Rita to go to the door she edged closer, leant against Rita's side and kissed her with one hot, soft kiss that took Rita off guard, finding herself nearly falling forwards as Connie stepped back and took hold of her hand, guiding her towards the door.

"We'll continue that later."

She said quietly as they left the office, with Rita licking the lemon from her lips.

-.-

Lollyblanc – what a lovely, lovely review! You made me smile xx

Weese – Thank you x I love writing the little moments between them, though the storyline will begin to progress a little bit quicker quite soon, leading up to some 'bigger', more dramatic storylines. Xx

becca – hello! No need to be worried about their future, look forward to a Freechamp wedding instead ;) xx

Amy-Julia-Clark – I'm glad you re-found the story and continued to read. I'm even more thrilled that you're enjoying it! I hope you continue to xx

Doelinator – Thank you, that's ever so sweet of you xx

LittleBlossom – I promise I won't permanently split them up...I also promise not to abandon it :) xx

And to everyone else, thank you so much for the lovely reviews! xxx