A/N: I've pretty much been obsessed with prompt tables since I started writing; I believe this one has been saved since about 2009, from somewhere on LiveJournal.

Chapters will jump around the timeline. All chapters set in the future will obviously be AU, but there will be ones which comply with the canon we've had up until now.

Disclaimer: I don't own EastEnders.


In Spite of the Uneven Odds, Beauty Lifts from the Earth

1. Crash

Suki is jolted out of a deep sleep by a crash like thunder. It's still dark outside. The clock reads five-thirty. Heart pounding, she reaches behind her, expecting to come into contact with Eve's body, but she's met only with cool sheets.

There's another bang.

Cautiously, Suki swings herself out of bed, reaching for her robe. She edges towards the bedroom door, and almost collides with her son as he comes out of his own room.

"Mum?" Vinny sounds sleepy and disgruntled, his hair sticking up every which way. "What's going on?"

"That's what I'm going to find out," she says, then switches back to English. "Go back to bed, Vinny."

Grumbling, he does just that, slamming the door pointedly. Suki rolls her eyes. Vinny still acts like a sulky teen when his sleep is disturbed.

She knows who the culprit is.

Light streams from under the closed kitchen door as Suki makes her way down the hall. She opens it and leans against the doorframe, taking in the bombsite before her.

Eve hasn't even noticed her presence, swearing colourfully and scrambling about on her hands and knees. Smashed eggs and a broken bowl decorate the floor.

"Okay, you wanna tell me what on earth you're doing at this time in the morning?"

Eve jumps and swears again, smearing egg yolk on her t-shirt as she puts her hand over her heart. "Jesus, don't sneak up on me like that!"

Suki raises an eyebrow. "As opposed to you not waking the whole house with…whatever it is you're doing?"

Eve clears her throat, abashed. "I was…trying to make breakfast."

"And failing. I thought we had an agreement about you not going near the kitchen after the samosa incident."

"That was more Nugget's fault than mine."

Suki feels her lips twitching despite herself. "He's sixteen, Eve. And even then I forget sometimes just who is supposed to be the responsible adult."

"We both can't be the boring, responsible one," Eve teases.

"Boring?" Suki arches her eyebrow. "Keep talking like that and this might be our last anniversary as well as our first."

"Okay…how about 'enthusiastic rule follower'?" Eve pauses. "Hang on, you remembered."

Suki shakes her head, affronted. "Oh, come on, now I'm just insulted. You seriously didn't expect me to remember our anniversary?"

Eve has the grace to look embarrassed. "Well…I just thought with so much going on right now, it might slip your mind."

"I raised four kids. Remembering homework and money for school trips and juggling it all alongside running the businesses was part and parcel of the job."

"Right, right, I forgot you were Wonder Woman."

"Less of the sarcasm, you."

"No sarcasm. Besides, Wonder Woman is hot. Definitely a staple of my teenage fantasies."

"It's a shame you didn't spend less time on those teenage fantasies and more time listening in cookery classes."

"Hey! I was trying to do something special for such a momentous occasion! If you're just gonna take the mick, I'm not gonna bother putting any effort in next time!"

Suki looks at the mess around them and feels a surge of tenderness. "You were making an anniversary breakfast."

"Yeah. I mean, it wasn't going to be anything too fancy, I can't cook like you can. I was thinking along the lines of scrambled egg on toast, with a little wildflower in a glass vase. We used to have that in Leeds, remember?"

"As if I could ever forget," Suki murmurs. Peaceful, sleepy moments up north, where it felt like they were the only two people in the world, ensconced in their bubble with room service, and she had found herself falling deeper in love with every day that passed. "It was a nice thought. Truly."

Eve gets to her feet, wincing as her knees crack. "Maybe I should have done a few practice runs first, got the Slaters to be my guinea pigs. But you know me, I've always been a 'wing it and see' kind of girl."

"Don't I know it," Suki says affectionately. She can laugh about it now that Nish is out of her life for good, but Eve had caused her enough sleepless nights with her impulsivity and protectiveness. "I appreciate the sentiment. It was a lovely thought."

"Just a shame I messed it up," Eve grumbles, moving to fetch the mop.

"Never mind. We can always celebrate tonight. Let's go out to where it all started."

For a moment, Eve looks nonplussed. "What?"

Rolling her eyes, Suki clarifies, "McKlunky's."

A broad grin spreads across Eve's face. "Suki Panesar, you old romantic."

"Oh, hush. I just thought it would be a nice way to mark the occasion."

"With beer and greasy fast food? You are genuinely the woman of my dreams."

And Suki can't stop her smile at those words. Because even now, a year on from their final reunion, it still feels like a dream that they're here together, out and open for the world to see, with her youngest son finally onside, her daughter supportive, and her eldest son proud that she wrenched herself free from the shackles of oppression and fear to pursue the happiness he'd wanted for her. And though she'd spent the majority of her life forcing down those feelings, too terrified to face what they meant, she knows that if she'd been brave enough to think about it, this is what she would have dreamt for herself. Love. Respect. Acceptance. It had taken her a long time to be comfortable with who she really is. But she couldn't have asked for a better partner than Eve. Someone patient, kind, positive, willing to weather any storm. Eve might not have been the person she'd dreamed about in youth, but she is the only person she can imagine spending the rest of her life with.

She steps further into the kitchen, moving to slip her arms around Eve from behind, pressing her forehead against the curve of her shoulder. She feels Eve's hum of contentment vibrate through her, before she abandons the mop in favour of spinning around and resting her hands on Suki's waist. Suki pulls back teasingly as she leans in for a kiss.

"Finish cleaning up your mess and come back to bed. I'll sort breakfast for us. But we can spare another half an hour before we need to get up."

"A lot can be accomplished in half an hour," says Eve, waggling her eyebrows suggestively.

"Mind out of the gutter. My son's probably still awake next door. But I'll see if I can convince him to go out tonight so you and I can have the place to ourselves."

The dark look of anticipation in Eve's eyes sends a thrill through her. "If that fails, I'll get Stacey to drag him over to theirs for Jean's sausage surprise. She can do a veggie version. The kids will force him to sit through that second Inside Out Disney film, they're obsessed with that at the moment. That'll keep him out of the house for a few hours."

"Which would give us plenty of time," Suki murmurs. She pulls back again when Eve leans in for another kiss. "Look, I love you, but I draw the line at egg on my clothes."

"Now you're just being cruel," Eve pouts.

"Don't pretend you don't love it."

"I'm a sucker for punishment."

Suki shakes her head, grinning, gently disentangling herself from her lover's arms. "Don't be long."

"You could help."

"Absolutely not. You'll never learn your lesson otherwise."

"I'm not sure I've ever learned my lesson. Must be how hot the teacher is, she keeps me coming back for more."

Laughing, Eve darts out of the way of the tea towel that Suki swats at her playfully. "You're impossible."

"But you love me anyway."

"I must be crazy."

"Yep. Crazy enough to love me."

They hold eye contact for a moment, the past washing between them. And then, with a soft smile, Eve turns back to her task. Suki slips from the room, leaving her to it, returning to the cocoon of sheets that have now cooled.

It's only five minutes later when Eve returns. She strips off her egged shirt with mechanical casualness. Suki lets her eyes travel across the toned abdomen now exposed to her gaze. How domestic. How ordinary this scene is.

When Eve has located a replacement, she clambers back into bed. Suki rolls over to face her.

"Hey," Eve whispers.

"Hey," she echoes, unable to stop herself from smiling as she finally allows Eve to close the distance between them for a long, long kiss. Her stomach flutters, and she suddenly finds herself counting down the hours until they can have the house to themselves.

But the seduction goes no further than that teasing kiss. Eve pulls back, moving to drape her arm over her waist, and Suki leans towards her, brushing the tips of their noses together, breathing in the scent of her skin, relishing the grin that lights up her lover's whole face, content to just be with her for the time they have left before their alarm signals the start of a new day.