"I just feel weird about doing it formally in a meeting," said Caroline as her and Kate laid in bed on Sunday night.
"Doing what?" asked Kate, confused.
"Telling the staff about us." Caroline sighed, "Sorry I'm talking about it so much, it's just playing on my mind." She leaned over and rested her head on Kate's chest, listening to the comforting sound of her heartbeat.
"How about the staff drinks on Tuesday night?" suggested Kate, "It's more casual and it's in the pub rather than in school."
"I've got a meeting in Leeds that day so I'll probably turn up late." explained Caroline, sadly.
"Well then when you arrive I can give you a big kiss in front of everyone. Then we won't even need to tell them." Kate suggested with a cheeky smile. Caroline giggled and blushed, but then Kate raised an eyebrow implying that it was kind of a serious suggestion. Caroline looked at her for a moment, admiring her face, then kissed her.
"Ok," she said simply, blushing at the thought, but excited too. "I love you," she said, stroking Kate's cheek and kissing her again.
"I love you too," whispered Kate as she turned off the light.

Tuesday morning came around and Lawrence was sat at the breakfast bar eating his cereal, still half asleep. Caroline was rushing around sorting out papers for her head teachers meeting in Leeds. "Lawrence, you've remembered that Kate is driving you in today?" she asked. Lawrence grunted in reply. Kate passed Caroline a cup of coffee then checked the schedule on the fridge - Caroline made them keep an up to date weekly planner there at all times.
"Lawrence, are you going to Angus' straight after school or do you want a lift back here first?" she asked.
"I'll go straight to his," muttered Lawrence with his mouth full.
"Then have you got your overnight stuff?" Caroline asked, "Toothbrush, pyjamas, change of underwear." Lawrence grunted, finished the last spoonful of cereal, then stormed upstairs to back his bag. Caroline sighed.
"This meeting is going to be either incredibly boring or incredibly stressful, depending on how argumentative people are." Kate felt sorry for her so she gave her a kiss.
"Are you looking forward to this evening though?" she asked. Caroline made a rather uncharacteristic nervous squeak. "We don't have to if you don't want to," offered Kate.
"No," said Caroline, "I do want to. I want to a lot! I'm just nervous." She kissed Kate.
"Ok," said Kate once their lips had parted, "You promise that you'll text me if you change your mind." Caroline nodded. "Because unless you text me, I am going to kiss you like this," she kissed Caroline so tenderly that it left them both feeling weak at the knees.
"Get a room," complained Lawrence. Kate smiled, still looking straight at Caroline, only inches away from her face.
"We do have a room," said Caroline cheekily, "In fact we have many. I own this house." Lawrence puffed and went to wait in the hallway so that he didn't have to watch the romance.
"I should probably go to work," said Kate sadly, kissing Caroline again. "I hope your meeting isn't too rubbish. I love you."
"I love you too," Caroline kissed her. "Have a great day Lawrence," she called to her son, "And don't forget to do your homework at Angus' later!"

Kate relaxed into her seat at the pub. It had been a long day and she could really do with unwinding. She didn't generally socialise a great deal with her colleagues from work, but when she did she generally enjoyed herself. Currently she had butterflies in her stomach as she thought about Caroline arriving soon. They'd texted a few times throughout the day when Caroline had been particularly bored, but Kate had missed their supposedly accidental meetings in the school corridors. "Are you ok Kate?" Ruth asked, waving her hand in front of Kate's face. Kate shook her head.
"Sorry, I was a million miles away." They started chatting away. Ruth and Kate were good friends, they'd started at Sulgrave Heath at about the same time and, despite being a history teacher, Ruth had helped out on the year 10 French exchange several times. Michael Dobson and several other staff members joined the conversation. They were all catching up on each other's personal lives, which they didn't often do during school hours. They finished interrogating Owen about his new girlfriend and then Owen said,
"Kate, are you seeing anyone these days? You've been glancing at your phone quite a bit," Kate blushed.
"Oh my gosh, you are!" exclaimed Ruth. "Tell me, tell me."
"No comment!" said Kate firmly but with a smile on her face. "How is Carl?" she changed the subject quickly.

Caroline was jittery on the drive back from Leeds. As much as she tried not to play out scenarios in her head, she couldn't help it. She imagined every little detail of everyone's reaction for a lot of different angles, trying to predict the good, the bad, and the surprise. Her heard was fluttering and her breathing was unsteady. She turned the radio on to distract herself. BBC4 was playing one of their comedy panel shows which did quite a good job at keeping her impending 'coming out' off her mind. When she finally pulled into the carpark at the familiar pub, she stayed in the car, unable to move; her nerves seemed to have taken over. "Breathe," she said to herself out loud, taking in a big deep breath and releasing it slowly. "Breathe Caroline. You are a strong, competent woman. You can do this." She breathed hard again. "Kate," she said to herself, reminding herself why she was doing this. She tentatively stepped out of the car and walked towards the pub.

Inside, the group of teachers were chatting merrily; they'd all had a drink or two and were relaxing. Caroline hovered at the door for a moment, watching them. Then she glanced at Kate and that gave her the courage to enter the room. "Caroline," called Beverly when she noticed her. Caroline smiled at her, trying not to appear nervous. Kate almost leapt out of her seat. She wrapped her arms around her girlfriend and pulled her close, hoping the tight hold would reassure her. She looked at her for a moment, giving her a second to breathe, then leaned in and kissed her. It was a much more passionate kiss than she would normal give in public, but that didn't worry her right now. The kiss was breath-taking, magical and made them both feel warm and happy. When they pulled apart Kate looked up at Caroline to check that she was ok - she was - but neither of them dared look over to see the faces of their colleges. Instead they continued to look at each other, face to face.
"How was your meeting," asked Kate. Caroline sighed.
"Exhausting. I need a drink!" Kate took hold of her hand and guided her towards the bar, Caroline wrapped her arm around Kate's waist, feeling free.

When they returned to the table with their drinks, Caroline's arm still around Kate's waist for comfort, they finally saw the surprised faces of their colleagues. They both blushed, but couldn't help but smile. They took an inventory of the different faces and found that none of them were explicitly negative, they were mostly just astonished. Kate felt Caroline hesitate slightly, but she gave her a look which made her smile again. They sat down next to Ruth on the long sofa-bench, sitting close to each other. There was silence at the table; no one knew what to say. It was Beverly who finally spoke up. "I can't say I didn't have my suspicions," she said, beaming, "I'm very happy for you." Caroline blushed even more, squeezing Kate's hand.
"Thank you Beverly," she said warmly.
"Now," said Ruth, taking a deep breath, "I probably wouldn't be saying this if I was completely sober, but tell us everything!" She sounded like a gossipy teenager. Kate grinned and Caroline spluttered on her drink.
"This isn't story time," said Kate, not sure how comfortable Caroline would be with telling them the whole story, "But I can say that I am very happy."
"Me too," added Caroline, giving Kate a peck on the cheek.

Throughout the evening, as more drinks were consumed, the staff managed to draw out a few more facts about Caroline and Kate's relationship - how long it had been going on, the fact that they were living together etc... Many of the staff were admiring how content both of the women looked, especially Caroline who had been through a tough couple of years. None of them had ever seen their boss like this - relaxed, happy, and completely and utterly in love; they could see it in their eyes. Ruth and David were pushing Aiden to tell the embarrassing story of him getting attacked by a monkey at the zoo. He was bright red with embarrassment. "Please can someone else tell and embarrassing story to make me feel better." Caroline had definitely had a little too much to drink, and that, coupled with the fact that she felt a huge weight lifted on her shoulder, made her more open than she normally was.
"Well Gavin, the Chair of Governors, saw Kate in her skimpy pyjamas when he turned up at my house to do some paperwork. She was very embarrassed." Caroline chuckled.
"Thanks for telling everybody that," teased Kate, her face reddening. Everyone else laughed, partly in surprise at Caroline being so unheadmistressy.