Chapter Text
The wait felt eternal as Alya’s FaceTime tone rang out..and out....and out...until eventually the black screen peered back and the face of Rana’s former sister in law and Kate’s former flat mate filled the screen of their shared iPad.
“Hi...” Alya faltered. It was the first time she’d properly talked to Kate and Rana since the latter of the two had returned from hospital and even that had been a brief exchange of unpleasantries.
Rana encouraged herself to offer a smile as Kate remained steadfast.
“Hi Alya...” she mused “hows things?”
Alya nodded cautiously, or perhaps that was just the lag of the iPad.
“Erm yeah not too bad. Very busy....I didn’t expect you to get in touch to be honest”
For Kate, that certainly made two of them. She’d not exactly had any intention of trying to draw any kind of line in the sand with her former flat mate. Until now. Months of exchanging unpleasantries stemming from her having been determined to take Underworld from her family, the snide comments towards herself and Rana after she’d become aware of the adulterous relationship.
Maybe time did heal wounds....
Rana glanced towards Kate, noticing her tense and took ahold of her hand over her shoulder.
“Yeah...” she began “...to be honest you’ve got Kate to thank for that. It was her idea to try and put the past behind us and I hope we can because it’s not doing any of us any favours letting this animosity carry on endlessly”
Kate softened up and a smile creeped its way onto her face as she listened to her girlfriend’s brave admission.
Silence reigned for a few moments before Alya finally spoke up again “I’d like nothing more than that honestly and I can’t begin to tell you how sorry I am for my behaviour these last few months...I won’t try and make any excuses because there are none that justify my actions towards the both of you so I just hope this is an acceptable by way of an apology.”
Rana looked softly towards Kate with that smile that she knew was impossible to say no to “what do you think?”
Kate responded with a mere rolling of the eyes and a pouting smile, knowing that she couldn’t back out now even if she had wanted to. If making amends with Alya was what Rana wanted, so did she.
“Friends?” she suggested, moving her hand back and forth between herself and Rana and towards the face that filled the screen.
Alya took a moment to respond before breaking out a wide grin and nodding vigorously “yes! Of course! I’ve missed our antics!”
Kate watched as Rana and Alya chatted away, occasionally dipping into the conversation and more and more, she felt a realisation dawning on her. The realisation that Rana really was the one she wanted by her side throughout any challenge & hardship that life threw at her.
This really was her future. She was her future.
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As the day went on, Kate found herself being unable to shift her thoughts from anything that didn’t involve Rana. She pictured herself proposing to Rana, both of them walking down the aisle, having a child, buying their first house together, picking out schools, getting their first pet. It was all she could think about. How Rana seemed to fit into everything she wanted in life, like the last piece of a jigsaw puzzle. It just wasn’t complete without her.
She’d never known love like this before Rana and that sometimes scared Kate. It scared her because she knew that it occasionally made her a little possessive. More than she would've liked to admit.
The thought of anything coming between the two of them scared her witless if she was being honest with herself.
She’d already come terrifyingly close to losing Rana on more than one occasion. She never, ever wanted to feel that dread again. Not now.
"What are you thinking about?" Rana whispered as she snaked her arms around Kate's waist, pressing a gentle kiss to the taller woman's neck.
Kate smiled at the contact "...the future"
"Oh aye?" Rana smirked as Kate turned to face her "got plans have we?"
Kate shrugged as she poured two glasses of the Pinot that she'd bought a few days earlier.
"Not plans as such but after what that taxi driver said the other night...I realised there's stuff I want to do one day...me and you...I don't want us to just settle for mundane"
Rana took her glass from Kate and quickly raised it to her lips "we won't, I want us to have adventures too and do all the settling down stuff as well but I feel like we owe it to ourselves to live a little first, especially after everything that we've had to overcome to get here. We've got all the time in the world for long term commitments babe"
Kate nodded slowly but the look in her eye was clear. Disguising feelings had never been her strong point. She was clearly disappointed and it didn't go unnoticed to Rana.
"Listen to me" Rana explained "I'm going to give you everything you want I promise but I don't want to rush into these things. I want us to enjoy what we have now and live in the present. We'll get there eventually and it'll be worth it when the moment comes”
Kate offered a not so convincing smile and quickly dropped the subject from discussion, even though she knew it wasn’t going to stop playing on her mind anytime soon.
Rana approached the fridge and sighed when she couldn’t find anything particularly appealing to eat. Suddenly, lunch had presented itself with something of a question mark.
"Do you fancy a Pizza?" She enquired and gestured towards the nearly bare fridge beside her "we haven't got much in, we can pop to the shops later on"
I simple shrug was all Kate could muster in response to the innocent question "whatever you want"
“Come on Kate don’t be like this” she sighed, doing her best to keep her voice from breaking. The last thing she wanted was to get upset and them end up arguing again.
Kate turned and slumped her way towards the sofa, resting her head in her hands as she slowly descended to her seating. Rana followed her, taking Kate’s hand into her own as she sat beside her.
“It won’t be forever Kate. I’m not definitively saying no to all these things because I want them too at some point but I don’t want to rush anything with you...with us because what we have is so special and I want to cherish that before we get bogged down with mortgages and shitty nappies and school fees and all that jazz”
Kate couldn’t suppress her laughter at the comment about nappies and she could tell from the twinkle in Rana’s eye that she meant every word. It would happen one day.
She nodded slowly, knowing Rana was absolutely right “I’m sorry...I guess I just get carried away sometimes when I think about what the future holds for us”
“I know, babe” Rana replied, trying to sound cautiously encouraging “but that’s the thing about the future, you never know what it’s going to throw at you until it happens”
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After the couple had finally talked through the days turbulent turn of events over a pizza ordered to deliver from a local restaurant, Rana had popped out to the shops by the beach front to pick up some essentials, leaving Kate to read up on the surrounding agriculture & wildlife.
After about 15 minutes of what Kate could only describe as absolute boredom, she put her laptop on the coffee table and picked up the iPad and went straight to the FaceTime app, tapping on ‘Chelle’ and hitting call .
The marimba tone rang out for a few moments and Kate cringed as her own face reflected back at her before her face filled a very small box and the screen presented one Michelle Connor.
“Y’alright our kid? How’s San...whatsit?”
Kate sniggered “San Sebastian and it’s lovely”
“Alright for some ain’t it” she retorted and Kate could’ve sworn her eyebrows furrowed slightly “hows your missus?”
She hesitated to respond to Michelle’s question for a moment, debating whether to tell her about the difference of opinion they’d had earlier in the afternoon or just say everything was fine.
“Kate?”
The younger Connor was snapped back to reality by the voice emanating from the screen that rested on the arm of the sofa.
“Er yeah she’s okay...” Kate replied “we had a little moment earlier on where things got a bit heated but we sorted it out. She's just out getting some stuff at the shops at the moment"
Michelle raised an eyebrow, curiosity clearly burning its way to the forefront.
“Well don’t keep me in suspense” she mused.
Kate took a slow breath before speaking again, there was probably no avoiding it. Michelle was like a hoover for gossip.
“Just me being me” she admitted, a hint of self conviction in her voice “wanting everything to move faster than it needs to”
Michelle smirked “Rana”
Kate nodded in embarrassment. Was she really that transparent? Michelle had always said she was a terrible liar...
“Yeah” she confirmed “just after everything that’s happened with us and losing Aidan like that...I just want to know that I’m not going to lose her...that I’m not going to wake up one morning and find that she doesn’t want to be with me anymore. I’m scared that I won’t always be enough for her, Chelle”
The face on the screen seemed to contort into an expression of utter confusion and bewilderment.
“Are ya’ daft?”
Now it was Kate’s face that became a picture of confusion.
“Kate, she’s mad for ya darlin’. You and her are probably the most solid and loved up couple I know, quirks an all. I’ve seen the way she looks at you when she’s sat in the Bistro and honestly? I wish Robert would look at me like that once in a while. Trust me sweetheart, you’re worrying over nothing”
Kate’s heart fluttered somewhat as she listened to Michelle’s words.
“Do you really think?” she beamed.
Michelle chuckled “aye! In fact I’m surprised neither of you has thought about putting a ring on it yet........”