The next day started off with a surprise; Lawrence asked to join her and Kate on their walk. Something to do with Pokémon, whatever they were. She had asked both son and girlfriend and when they'd laughed and not given an explanation, she didn't dare ask again. It was a pleasant day of blue skies, and lunch was delicious.
Sunday was spent doing the laundry and house cleaning that she had neglected in the last week. And another bath, separate but together.
Monday was choir day for Kate, and whilst she did that, Caroline stayed late to do extra work so she would be able to leave early on Tuesday.
Tuesday was spent much the same way as the week before; an early dinner and talk with Kate, a visit to her father, and then Caroline stayed the night once more, holding Kate tightly even in sleep.
Wednesday Caroline had her appointment with the psychologist which had made her grumpy enough to give one of the year 9s detention for being in her way for a brief second as she walked. Kate had heard the tail end of the telling off and had immediately, rather forcefully, taken the head mistress back to her office for what could only be described as a thorough make out session. It definitely helped Caroline's mood. That night, her and William went to Kate's for dinner again, this time staying until Caroline was almost asleep, though she was adamant she hadn't snored into her dessert.
Thursday was another busy day, Caroline having to rush straight home to organise everything for the three boys, Lawrence, William and John, for while she was away. There was another separately together bath, this time with a video call. Only with face and shoulders were in view, but Caroline's imagination went into overdrive.
And then on Friday Caroline found herself spending the day regretting agreeing to go all the way to London. She would have to miss Friday date night. She looked forlornly at her suitcase sitting neatly against the wall.
As if sensing her mood, Caroline's phone pinged with a message from Kate. "Do you have 10 minutes free to discuss something?"
Discuss what? Discuss meant something bad. Caroline was sure she was- Her phone pinged with another message. "When I say discuss, I mean do something that involves a closed door, pulled blinds and your mouth on mine."
Caroline smiled. "I could probably even stretch to 15 minutes if you're lucky."
30 seconds later she heard Kate's voice greet Beverley and chat for a short while before she walked into the room and shut the door. "Beverley asked me to tell you that she's just going for lunch."
Caroline stood and strode over to the blinds. Once closed, the only light in the room was the lamp on Caroline's desk. "Good."
"You've got your suitcase already packed." Kate watched Caroline as she walked slowly and deliberately toward her.
"I thought if I went home to collect it after work I might get stuck with John. Or my mother." Caroline stopped in front of Kate and lifted her hands, slowly undoing one button of her shirt, then the second one. "New top."
"A replacement for wednesday's, since I couldn't sew the buttons back on."
"Oops." Caroline offered unapologetically.
"Caroline." Kate warned when she saw what was about to happen.
The warning wasn't heeded as Caroline lowered her lips to the skin she had uncovered.
Usually she just looked, or brushed her fingers there, but now Kate held her breath and rested her head against the door.
Caroline's kisses started low and worked their way up to Kate's neck, then behind her ear.
Kate whimpered and then let out a shaking breath. "Caroline."
"When you video called me from the bath.."
"Mm?" Was all Kate could manage, her hands gripping uselessly at the sides of Caroline's suit jacket, her head still against the door and her eyes closed.
Caroline didn't say anything else, just moved her kisses across Kate's face to kiss her lips.
Kate was all for letting Caroline take the lead, because she knew the blonde was nervous, but there was only so much she could take.
Suddenly, without quite understanding how, Caroline found herself against the door, Kate's fingers undoing Caroline's top buttons.
Caroline could neither speak nor breathe.
Kate's unbuttoning went lower than Caroline's did, until her hands could splay over Caroline's ribs as she pushed her into the door with another kiss.
As Kate's hands moved up and caressed her, Caroline heard a long, low moan that she didn't immediately realise was her.
Then suddenly Kate spoke.
"You're beautiful."
"Am I?" Caroline asked breathlessly.
"And I'm being patient. I am trying to be patient." Kate's thumb slid briefly under Caroline's bra and brushed her nipple.
Caroline was panting now, all her senses focused on the woman in front of her.
It was Kate who moaned then, forcing herself to move away, to turn away and retreat to the window.
Caroline stood still pressed against the door, hair mused, shirt completely unbuttoned, mouth open, and incredibly turned on.
And she realised what Kate was trying to say. This was how Caroline left her every time they kissed, every time fingers unbuttoned her shirt.
Caroline lifted those fingers now, hands shaking a little as she did up her buttons, flattened her hair, and tucked her shirt back in. Then she approached the woman by the window and did the same to her, unable to look her in the eye.
"Come with me. Us. To London. Come with me and come to bed with me."
"Are you ready? Really ready? Or are you just as constantly turned on as I am?"
Caroline huffed out a laugh at this, some of the tension easing. "Both?"
"Ok." Kate smiled.
Caroline wondered if she would ever be able to answer things as simply as Kate could. "Would.. could.. if you still have it, will you pack the blue shirt?"
"Consider it packed." Kate replied as she reopened the blinds, then suddenly she turned with dismay. "I told William he could come and stay with me on the weekend if he needed to.."
"Ah. Well. You might want to kiss me again now, because John was being..well, the long and short of it is is that William is going to stay at the farm for the weekend to help his..cousin, I suppose? Do up some caravan. He's very excited. I've said he can have two drinks, and he'll stick to it because he's seen what his dad is like."
"I do. Want to kiss you again."
"You'll have to wait." Caroline whispered with a smile as Beverley could be heard returning to her desk.
Kate kissed Caroline's cheek and then left the office, taking a deep, calming breath as she did so, while the blonde enjoyed the nervous anticipation that now bubbled inside her.
Claire had been delighted that her friend would be joining them too and spent a lot of the train trip catching Kate up on their mutual friends lives.
Caroline had given up trying to follow the conversation and was instead enjoying the scenery as it flew by, watching the people they passed. She was also very much enjoying the fact that Kate was holding her hand between her own on her lap, stroking her thumb back and forth over Caroline's palm in a way that was beginning to make her squirm in her seat as she remembered that thumb slipping inside her bra.
"Caroline?"
"Hmm? Sorry?" Caroline looked to Claire who sat opposite them across the table on the train.
"I asked if either of your sons have got a girlfriend yet. Well, or otherwise. My son is 14 and he's just been on his first date."
"Oh. No. Not that- what?" Caroline looked at Kate as she made a sudden noise. "Kate? What?"
Kate took one of her hands from Caroline to rub her ear nervously. "William. He sort of. Does."
"William? My William? No he doesn't! He would tell me!"
"It's early days. He's only been on one date. But I know he likes her a lot and the feeling is mutual."
"How do you know?" Caroline removed her hand and turned more in her seat so she was facing Kate. "Kate?"
"He's..the thing is Caroline…"
"Who is it? Is it someone I might disapprove of? Is that why he didn't tell me?"
"It's Roxy."
"Roxy? Who's Roxy? We don't know anyone called Roxy!"
"She works at the library on weekends. The library where he spends most of his time."
"I didn't realise this would open up a can of worms…" Claire said apologetically.
"It's okay." Kate assured her. "Caroline's just having a panic. She does this."
"He's never mentioned a Roxy to me! He would have told me!"
"When? Not in front of his brother or father, and he spends most of his spare time at the library."
"…well, when did he tell you? He had time to tell you! Why did he tell you and not me?!"
"I'm going to go and get us all a cup of tea." Claire grabbed her wallet and scurried away down the train.
"I saw him at the library one day and we talked."
"Why were you at the library? Do you have a secret library girlfriend, too?" Caroline asked rather sulkily.
This made Kate smile. "No. One stroppy girlfriend is enough for me, thank you very much."
"I'm his mother! He would have told me. You've got the wrong end of the stick."
"I mean, I drove them to their date and back so I don't think I have, but sure."
"You..when?! Why haven't you told me?!"
"Because he asked me not to. He was nervous about the date, and then he was nervous of your opinion of Roxy, because he values your opinion more highly than anyone else's."
"He's my son. You should have told me."
"He's my son t-" Kate paused, having realised what she had been about to say. "..I love William, too, Caroline, and I wouldn't let any harm come to him. I would have told you if I needed to. Your boys both confide things in me that sometimes they don't feel comfortable telling you or John."
Kates's words quietened Caroline for a moment. And then suddenly tears made her eyes glassy.
"Caroline, please don't cry. He wouldn't want to upset you."
"They think of you like a parent. The boys do. You're the safe parent. Because you always respond in just the right way; calmly."
"Well, I wouldn't say calmly. I did Facebook stalk her and her friends."
This drew a soft laugh from Caroline who then wiped at her face. "Sorry. It's just…"
"Babies."
"Babies." Caroline confirmed. "..Claire's not going to dare speak to me again, is she? We will be discussing the weather all weekend."
"Probably." Kate laughed, lifting up her hand to brush away the last remaining tear on Caroline's cheek.
Suddenly, Caroline gave her a gift that Kate had not been expecting soon, if ever. She gave her a public kiss. A gentle, chaste kiss on the lips. "I love you."
"You're magnificent."
Caroline smiled. "You're very pretty."
When they finally entered their room that night, both women were exhausted.
As she always did while staying in a hotel, Caroline immediately unpacked her suitcase and put all her things away, while Kate left hers by the door and sat on the bed watching her.
"Caroline."
Caroline hadn't realised how much electricity there was in the air until that one word made her fumble with her iPad and drop it with a clatter on the bench.
"Kate."
Kate stood up, walking over to Caroline's turned back. "…I love the way you say my name."
"Do you?" Caroline kept her eyes trained on the iPad, her breath catching in her throat as she felt Kate step closer, close enough for the blonde to feel the warmth radiating from her.
"Caroline." Kate said her name again as she slipped Caroline's jacket off her shoulders.
Caroline put her hands flat on the bench.
"Sometimes..often, really, I have this dream." Kate's voice spoke softly behind her ear as nimble fingers began to unbutton Caroline's shirt. "It starts at the supermarket. You and I are there with a trolley picking out the usual items. Bread, milk, fruit. We aren't talking." Fingers finished unbuttoning the shirt and it slid slowly from shoulders. Caroline manages just to ungrip her hands so it falls to the floor. Then the hands are gone, but she can feel movement happening behind her.
"We have a brief discussion at the checkout, about whether we will go to the manned one or self service. We usually opt for self service because you're always convinced the person at the manned one will be an ex-pupil."
Caroline finds out soon what the movement was, as she feels more fabric fall to the floor, and then suddenly the warmth of skin on skin as Kate's body presses to her back, arms wrapping around her middle, the lace of her bra itching Caroline's skin.
"I always tease you about being embarrassed about an ex-pupil knowing you prefer navel oranges and grapes over in season plums." Kate's hands move over Caroline's middle, warm against the cool skin, and then one hand moves to her hip and taps gently against the skirt zip there, seeking permission. Caroline manages a small nod.
"So we get our shop and we carry it to the car, your car, and put it in the boot. Then we go to a cafe nearby, and you say we can't stay long because you brought prawns." Zip is undone, skirt falls to the floor. "So we get a take away coffee and some croissants. You say that we could have got them cheaper at the supermarket, but I say they wouldn't be the same." The same hand moves between them and presses to the small of Caroline's back as they now undo trousers. The body suddenly moves away briefly, and when it returns she feels the uninterrupted body press against her back, no longer wearing a thing.
The hands return to wrap around her middle, Kate's face nestling itself between shoulder and neck, dropping gentle kisses there. "Then we go home. And we put the shopping away. Then we have breakfast. I wake up then. And I always feel happy."
Caroline let out a shaking breath, forcing her voice out. "I don't understand…"
"I want to go to the supermarket with you. I want to go to the garden centre with you. I want to do mundane, everyday things with you. The thought makes me happy. Because I love you, and I want to spend forever doing normal everyday things with you. I dream about being mundane with you."
"Kate…"
"There is no need for nerves. It's just me. And I love you. I think you're beautiful. I think you have a beautiful body. And I have touched myself imagining it. So there's no need to be nervous."
"But-"
Caroline's legs almost buckled when her hand was suddenly moved behind her, to brush against a warm wetness.
"That's from you. Thinking about you."
"Kate.."
"I'm going to go to the bed now, and I'm going to get under the covers and turn my back to you. You can keep unpacking if you want to, or you can come and join me in bed. If you keep unpacking, that's ok. I won't be upset. We have forever together. But the next step is up to you." Kate moved away again then, though her hand lingered, briefly locking its fingers with Caroline's. "I love you, Caroline."
And then she saw gone. The bed sheets ruffled as she climbed in and rolled onto her side.
Caroline looked down at her hands. The dampness still glistened on two fingers.
She turned around.
