Note: This is the sequal-ish to my story, The Observation. It takes place both after and during that story and I hope to continue to stay true to the canon except that one part we dislike.

Caroline walked into her office, it was just an average Thursday in the middle of the month but at the same time, life had evolved, it was no longer average. The baby she didn't want, now had her wrapped around her little finger. It took time but Lawrence had learned to tolerate and eventually love his little sister and Kate, every day with her was better than the day before. Life was no longer average; it was so much better than that and Caroline found herself smiling more than she ever thought possible.

She was still smiling even though she had a meeting with Gavin. Over the years, they had worked well together, they were unified in their goals but over the last year, he had been a constant source of bad news. There had been some large donations made to the school and with that, her opinions, plans, decisions were constantly rejected in favor of the benefactors. In addition to that, her budget had been slashed, the Board hired and fired a group of teachers without consulting her and they changed the metrics for analyzing performances to an unreasonable level.

Over the past year, Gavin no longer looked himself, the stress he was under had taken its toll. From the moment he walked into her office, she knew this wouldn't be a good meeting. He struggled to find the words as he said her performance had been lackluster, nothing was said about all the changes the Board had made.

The lackluster performance was theirs, a combination of their poor decisions and unreasonable expectations. She was just the convenient scapegoat, as Gavin both praised and vilified her in the same breath. It had already been decided that the cause must be a shift in her priorities. She was after all, newly married with a young child at home. Years of exemplary service would buy her some time, months, maybe a year. She was disappointed with Gavin's behavior, but he was at least trying to give her a chance to get out before she was forced out.

There was some truth in what he said, what the Board thought but not in the way he implied. Her priorities had shifted, getting home to her wife, her children was more important than ever before. Watching rugby with Lawrence, bath time with Flora and when the opportunity presented itself, bath time with Kate. The big difference, while married to John, she was responsible for 90% of the parenting and household and there never seemed to be enough time in the day. The line between work and home was always blurred. Life with Kate was a true partnership, she had more support than ever before and didn't need to sacrifice time at work for family or vice versa, everything was just easier.

She could fight it, she could cause a fuss but to stay at a school which was going to implode, where she wasn't wanted, she needed to get out while she could. Five interviews and months after applying, she got the call, a new headship, they needed to move.

Caroline had just gotten a cranky Flora down for her nap. It was one of those days where she wanted to use that time to catch up on her sleep but there was too much to do to prepare for the move and not enough time to get it all done.

She walked into her bedroom, followed by her wife moments later. Caroline looked up and nodded towards some boxes, "Lawrence got those from the attic earlier, and I think they are yours, so I asked him to put them in here."

"Probably junk I should have tossed," said Kate but as she opened the first box, her demeanor changed. "Awwwww, these are some of the things I saved when we first became friends."

Caroline needed to see and while Kate was reminiscing while looking at a ticket stub from a trip to the cinema, she pulled a cd out of the box. Mumbling to herself, "it's not marked," as she opened it to see if there was anything written inside.

"Ohhh, that's a mixed tape I made, well, mixed cd."

"Should I be scared," joked Caroline, "I've seen your playlists before, you have…," she paused to find the correct words, "…very eclectic taste in music."

Kate mocked offense but smiled, knowing her wife knew her so well. "What, you don't like classical, heavy metal and bagpipes all one playlist," joked Kate, happy to poke fun at herself.

Caroline chuckled.

"When we first become friends, there were days where I'd have a song stuck in my head. Might have been something you said or did or what I felt. I would download the song to listen to it and eventually, I burned them to a cd. I don't think they are in any special order though."

"We are definitely listening to this," Caroline exclaimed as she popped the disc into the cd player. As the first song began to play, Caroline listened, and then smiled. "So why did you add this song?"

"It was about five or six weeks after we began meeting up and you had been so down each time. Steadily getting better but still down, melancholy."

(June 2012)

It was a Friday afternoon and Kate was in her classroom marking papers when Caroline popped in. "I know it's a last minute, are you up for getting a drink? Please, I hope."

"Sure. Everything okay?" Kate asked.

"Yep."

An hour later, Kate walked in to find that Caroline had already arrived and was seated. The blonde was smiling as she waved at her.

"Someone is in a good mood," said Kate as she sat.

"Yep, the kids are both staying over at friends tonight and I have no work to bring home this weekend. I have zero responsibilities for the next seventeen hours or so. Must be how John feels all the time. Wait, nope, gonna try not to complain about him today, too much."

"Good for you," said Kate. "We need drinks and then a toast to zero responsibilities."

A few minutes later, with drinks procured, Caroline began, "So, one weekend, many years ago, when Lawrence was crawling but not yet walking and William, not yet three, some friends from Oxford, who lived in the area, invited me out to dinner. John, to his credit, was looking forward to staying home with the kids, spending time together, 'just the boys' sort of thing. He had the whole evening planned, he was going to make fish fingers for tea, they were going to color, read, nothing too out of the ordinary, but he tried to make it sound fun for William."

"That's about the first nice thing I've heard you say about him," said Kate.

"Well, just wait. I arrived home, long after the boy's bedtime but not too late, maybe around 10:00. I found John asleep on the couch, Lawrence had crawled under a table and fallen asleep and William was still up. Unfortunately, well John always considered himself a bit of an artist, not just words and poetry but drawings and such so when he got the paper and crayons out for William, he left some markers out as well and William had colored all over Lawrence and John. My baby had purple and orange scribbled all over him and John was Christmas themed, red and green everywhere. I did have some lovely pictures that William colored when John was still awake. I still have them, all these years later."

Kate tried not to laugh.

"When he woke up, he was furious. Not sure what he expected when you leave markers out for a toddler. Anyway, the point is, I think that might have been my last 'zero responsibility' evening. I'm sure this one will be better."

Kate lifted her glass, "well, cheers to zero responsibilities and a distinct lack of indelible ink."

Caroline laughed as she clinked glasses with Kate. "Cheers. That was the best part, there was a mix of different marker types and the ink mostly washed off Lawrence without issue, but it was indelible ink on John."

"Whatever the reason, I'm glad to see you in a good mood but I must say, it seems much bigger, deeper than a zero-responsibility evening," stated Kate.

"Yeah, I guess…well, I'm still hurt by John's betrayal, furious at him but, this may sound ridiculous, but…," Caroline paused.

"What?"

"In some ways, I feel euphoric, falling out of love, maybe like puppy love but in reverse. I don't know…maybe not, it's been a long time since I felt like I was falling for someone but somehow, somedays, I feel like I am."

"When relationships end, there is no right or wrong way to feel, to mourn. Why can't it be puppy love in reverse?" Kate asked rhetorically.

Caroline stopped Kate, "wait, did I really say all of that? I recall telling you the story about the boys but not the whole puppy love part."

"Yes, maybe not those exact words but I remember 'puppy love' since it got me thinking about the song."

She smiled at her wife and gently teased, "and I said I was falling for someone. How did you not know I was falling for you?"

"In hindsight, maybe I should have but the whole situation was just…different, surreal. I could never quite get a read on you. I had my feelings to contend with and you were all over the place, happy one day, angry the next, sad the day after that. The fear you felt, I thought it was indifference towards me. Your words and body language didn't always match up and..."

Caroline pushed her wife back onto the bed and began to kiss her, "I need to be careful then," as she moved to kiss Kate's neck. "I don't want you to get the wrong idea about me," as her hand slid down Kate's body. "I was and still am, madly in love with you," as she whispered in Kate's ear. "And I'll happily use my words and body to show you."

Note: It's been a while since I've made a mix cd but I read they hold 80 minutes of music so I will track the length of each song and when I hit 80 minutes, I'll stop. I currently have a handful of songs in mind so hopefully I'll make it to at least 15 songs/chapters. Happy to take suggestions if they work with the story ideas I have.

Puppy Love – Originally written and released by Paul Anka in 1960.