Finishing off the last of her paperwork, Caroline decided that she should go and pick up William from Monday's afterschool choir rehearsal. It was two days after she had been to Kate's house, and the two women hadn't contacted each other since. Trying not to fixate on her nervousness, she left her office and made her way down to the hall a good few minutes before the practice was due to finish.

Caroline sneaked into the hall to find the choir singing something she vaguely recognised as one or other of Bach's motets, and as she sat on one of the pews she noticed that the piece was being performed without any musical accompaniment. While she had, on several occasions, admired Kate while she was playing the piano or organ, it was new to see her standing up and conducting the choir. Schooling her expression to look only slightly impressed, she took in the sight of Kate's graceful but commanding gestures and inwardly kicked herself for not attending any and all school musical performances led by this wonderful woman. From his position among the choir on the stage, William saw his mother and caught her eye and she smiled up at him, surprised not to feel ashamed or caught out at being in the same room as Kate.

The piece ended and Kate praised them fully, pleased with their progress. As she dismissed them, she looked surprised and pleased to see Caroline in the audience. Even as the students started leaving, though, she didn't make a move to come over. As William fussed about getting a sheaf of paper sorted into folders, Caroline realised that Kate was simply respecting the ground rules that Caroline herself had laid out – keeping a distance at school. Part of Caroline wanted to go over, to break her rules and speak to and be near Kate, especially after watching the beautiful performance. Even with students in the room. But it was dangerous, she realised, the careless attitude she was developing when she was having particularly strong feelings of fondness towards Kate. If she wasn't careful, it would be her undoing.

William was finally ready and came over to her. Not brave enough to talk to Kate, as she and William left the hall, she caught Kate's eye and tried to express her longing and apologies for her cowardice in a single look.

Kate must have understood some of it, because when Caroline rang her later, she wasn't as cold and disappointed as Caroline was expecting.

"Hi Caroline, what's up?" she asked, sounding more weary than anything.

"Not much; I'm enjoying five minutes peace because the boys have somehow found something they both like on the Playstation and are actually spending time together."

"Well, that's good."

"Kate, I wanted to say... I'm sorry about earlier. I'd really like to see you one evening this week."

There was a momentary pause in which, Caroline imagined, Kate was deciding whether to forgive her or not. "I'd like that, too."

"Does tomorrow work for you?"

"Yes, that's fine. Would you like to come over? Shall I cook?"

Caroline felt tentatively excited. "If you don't mind. Should I bring anything?"

"Just your lovely self."

The scene was a familiar one: Caroline was once again nervously standing in Kate's porchway, not really sure where the evening was headed, or even where she wanted it to head. When Kate answered the door - pleased to see her, beads of sweat on her brow from whatever she'd been cooking on the stove, casual clothes made even more endearing by the presence of a sauce-stained apron – Caroline was nearly overcome with the urge to just kiss her. She fought the urge and then agonised, as Kate took her coat and the wine she'd brought, over why she'd fought it. It wasn't like there was a possibility of rejection. It certainly wasn't that it wouldn't be a pleasurable experience.

"Would you like to come through to the kitchen? You're right on time and everything's ready to be served."

Caroline followed Kate into the pretty little kitchen, which smelled mouthwateringly of spices and roasted vegetables.

"What can I do to help?" Caroline asked, not willing to just be waited upon.

"Plates are in there and cutlery's in there, would you mind?" Kate said, gesturing to drawers and cupboards with a spatula.

Setting the table and helping Kate serve the meal only took a matter of minutes, but the domesticity of the scene both warmed Caroline's heart and created a delightful tension as the two sat down to eat.

"This looks wonderful, thank you." Caroline said, not even bothering to think of how long it had been since somebody had cooked for her.

"It's not a problem at all," Kate said, pouring Caroline a glass of wine, "it's lovely to have someone to cook for, to be honest."

Caroline took a forkful of risotto. "Mmm. You can cook for me any time you like, Kate; I mean it."

The two chatted pleasantly as they finished the meal, and Caroline insisted on helping with the washing-up. "I am not leaving you with all this to clean once I head home," she said in her best headmistress voice.

Powerless to argue, Kate handed her a floral teatowel, and the two continued their homely scene.

"I don't know if you've noticed, but I'm not very good at giving up control in the kitchen, even when the kitchen's not mine," Caroline confessed.

"I've been told I make a very talented sous-chef," Kate said, "and I'd be more than happy to play second-fiddle to you if it gives me a chance to have a go in your kitchen."

"I don't let just anyone mess about in my kitchen," Caroline said, hanging up a ladle, "but I think you've proven yourself."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean," Caroline said, putting down the damp teatowel and turning to Kate, "I'd like you to come over to my house sometime. And I'll cook. You can help. I really enjoyed tonight, and I think I'd like to have more evenings like it."

"Do you mean-"

"I'd like to give this, us, a try. You know."

Turning from the sink to face Caroline, Kate pulled her washing-up gloves off and looked into Caroline's eyes. "I'd like that, too."

Fighting nerves, Caroline did what they had both been waiting weeks for; she leaned over to Kate and kissed her. The little flip her heart did every time she thought back to when Kate had kissed her before was eclipsed by the leap of excitement she felt as Kate eagerly kissed her back. Caroline's eyes fell closed; the heady exhilaration was counterbalanced by a feeling of peace, a feeling akin to coming home. It was something she'd not felt for decades, and as the kiss continued, she felt it warm her to her bones, like the reassuring scent of a childhood home; nostalgic but very real. She faltered for a moment, not sure what to do with her hands, but, feeling brave, she put them on Kate's waist. Kate moved even closer, so the two women were pressed together, closer than any sofa-snuggling had previously brought them. By the time the kiss ended, they were both short of breath. Caroline opened her eyes and gazed fondly at Kate, who was flushed and looked very pleased with events.

"Would you like to go into the living room?" Kate asked quietly.

Caroline struggled to get her thoughts under control. She desperately did want to just follow Kate, but knew that she needed some space to think everything over. "I would, I really would, but... I should be getting home."

Caroline saw Kate visibly resist the urge to protest, probably that Caroline had only been over for an hour and a half. She said nothing, but there was a peace between them that meant Caroline didn't feel like she'd utterly ruined the evening.

"I have had a really nice time," Caroline said as she put her coat on, "we'll arrange another evening soon."

Kate looked hopeful. "I can't wait."

Not 24 hours later, Caroline's heart sank like a stone when she pulled into the driveway and saw John's BMW parked in exactly the space where she'd been leaving her car for the past two months. Celia and William fell silent upon seeing it, and Caroline tried to muster up some fury at John's arrogance. To her great surprise, her main emotion was concern over what might have brought him back to the house, especially with no advance notice. She was always in command in her house, even moreso than at the school, but John's presence perturbed her so much that she didn't know what to feel. A month ago she would have demanded his key back and thrown him out of the door. When he asked to speak to her alone, she couldn't help but notice Laurence's body language, his face full of hope at the prospect of getting his dad back.

And then the penny dropped. John wanted to come back. To her, to the house, to the boys. Caroline felt blank. She had no affection for him, that she knew. But the boys; he and William needed to reconcile, Laurence would surely be much happier with his father around.

And Kate...

Their kisses had been nice. Wonderful, even. When the two of them were together, safe in the privacy of Kate's living room or Caroline's kitchen, Caroline genuinely felt like she was ready. Ready to throw herself into whatever it with Kate could be.

But then, with John's return, she realised just what being with Kate would mean and suddenly she felt foolish and naïve for thinking it would work. She'd have to tell the boys. Her mother would find out. Everyone at school would know. And for what? In terms of interpersonal relationships, Caroline was a human disaster; if Kate left after Caroline inevitably messed up, what would she be left with?

In quiet moments, just being with Kate was a thing that filled her to bursting with happiness, and managed to push out all the details, the worries, the reasons why she had denied that part of herself since she was eighteen years old. John and his presence, his speech about Judith; it was an awakening as sharp and shocking as shutters being flung open wide. Caroline wasn't ready. She couldn't go there. She could rationalise it; it was for the boys. They needed their father. John wouldn't have anywhere else to go, anyway. They could make it work. Nobody at school needed to know that John had even left. After all, the only person she'd told was Kate.

Kate. It would break Kate's heart, she knew it. Caroline looked morosely at John's pathetic face as he continued on, blathering about Judith and her ills. She needed to be a good parent. Even if it meant she wasn't a good person.

"Right." Caroline said expressionlessly after John finally stopped talking. "I suppose you'd better go and fetch some of your things, then."

Love was overrated anyway.

A/N: My original final author's note included a quote from Orson Welles: "if you want a happy ending, that depends, of course, on where you stop your story." - that still stands, although perhaps more in reference to Last Tango itself than this fic. I wholeheartedly trusted SW to give C&K their happy ending, and I feel bad now that I ended this on a sour note too. If it's any consolation, my other fic is cheery and takes place in a (literal) magical place where nobody's going to get hit by a car/terrible narrative decision.

Thanks so much for reading! :)