Thank you for all your feedback so far, this is the final chapter of this particular story so do let me know what you think! Series Two has finished and I hope you will appreciate the jump-forward into that timeline for the finale...

Susan and Millie shared the Grey family home settee that final morning. Timothy had taken the children to the park one last time, leaving Susan to make the last preparations to leave their beloved home. Millie had insisted on coming round to help, choosing to face the twinge of despair she had been previously ignoring head-on. To immerse herself in the pain would be to relinquish the power it had over her. The announcement of the move had been ushered into their lives slowly, greeted by short answers, laboured silences and unexpected confessions. Things had never quite been the same since Crowley, and yet Millie had never expected that Susan would be taken from her life again so soon.

She thought back to when Susan first admitted that Timothy was more than just a passing fancy. Leaning back in her chair in the canteen at Bletchley, she barely concealed the dejection she felt or the glazed look in her eyes as she listened to Susan talk of her coming nuptials, his bravery in the war and his impressive career prospects. She realised now that her initial contempt for Timothy surpassed mere petulant jealousy, but festered within her heart a thumping, pulsating ache that knocked at her very soul. He had captured what she had long desired. He would begin waking up to her and returning home to her beautiful mind and dazzling genius. He could incite her opinions and challenge her even-tempered countenance. Millie saw a million repetitious scenarios laid out in front of Susan: greeting her war hero husband at the door, practically genuflecting in her reverence to him. Of course, as Millie soon gathered upon their reunion, her selfish imaginings were not dissimilar to the truth. Susan delighted in the little rebellions which over time had led her back to Millie: when The Times Crossword puzzle was no longer a challenge but a trigger for buried memories, when the bumper book of brainteasers purchased by her husband in the train station kiosk had became means to subdue the burgeoning boredom of a restive housewife. To undermine Susan's chosen life would be to undermine what made Susan so endlessly fascinating to her: She was both multifaceted and yet resolutely straight-forward in her commitment to Timothy and the life they had begun together.

Susan delighted in her own eccentricities, but she could never be like Millie it had transpired. She never made that train they planned to catch together. Susan played along with the delusion of 'the big adventure' dutifully, pinpointing routes and imagining the Venetian sun on the Piazza San Marco on the coldest of Bletchley evenings. Millie could sense Susan's reticence keenly as they held each other on that same creaking bed they had first talked of going away. Then, just as now, Timothy was an unspoken tether, drawing Susan to a world beyond Bletchley and into the Arcadian avenues of suburbia. As long has Millie held the fantasy however, Millie had Susan by her side in whatever uncharted province of the globe she could imagine. And so, dear Susan was whisked away on every whispered tale of adventure and lipstick line course, with Millie's heart breaking just a little bit more each time.

"I think you'll like Bombay," Millie finally croaked; her mouth absurdly dry.

"You think so?" Susan replied, lazily turning her head towards her friend and confidant. "Timothy has been telling me about the other Foreign Office bods posted out there...they appear to be the most unlikely sort. I suppose in between sunning myself, I have the cocktails and dinner parties to look forward to!"

"The last of the Imperials," Millie sighed "Still holding onto the far-reaches of an empire no longer complying. I can see you now, floating under the Gateway to India to reclaim your suzerainty!"

"Hardly," scoffed Susan and nudging her companion gently, "but I suppose I am embarking on the big adventure after all..."

The atmosphere of the room became solemn, the parcels of belongings stacked neatly throughout the room suddenly echoing the trepidation that had arisen.

"I know you'll have a wonderful time. It is a beautiful place and I'm sure you'll blossom." Millie finally responded, quite kindly. Taking hold of Susan's hand, they sat contentedly, letting the ghosts of all that had gone before between speak for themselves. Millie had resolved to let her feelings be signed and sealed with a warped devotion comparable to that official document that had preserved their fates so many years before.

"Anyhow," Susan lurched forward, hands clasped on her knees and a sudden sense of purpose, "it will be Alice starting her own adventure later today. We should be there to watch her start it."

"She reminds me of you sometimes." Millie said nonchalantly, gathering her handbag and retrieving her sunglasses from the brown leather case within. "I'll be reminded of you beavering away in the huts again when she joins our little clan of ex-Bletchley bombshells!"

"Ha, that's if she'll even have you!" Susan joked, feeling fleetingly envious of Alice.

They laughed, the first time they had done so in while. It felt good. Together they rose from the settee, with Millie fixing her hair momentarily in the mirror and assembled in the hallway ready to meet the others.

Susan turned to Millie, one hand on the door knob to leave: "We'll save our goodbyes for later?"

"Yes of course, I'm sure Jean and Lucy will like to see you off too- wish you well."

And with one hand grasped firmly on the future, Susan leaned in and softly kissed Millie on the lips. Too stunned to move, Millie was struck instantly by the gesture. Over in a flash, she stared into Susan's eyes, thanking her silently for the acknowledgement of their former connection, a final adieu to a love they would both remember forever: a big adventure they had both shared as one.

FIN.