"Are the erm are the children OK?"

They had left the service station 15 minutes earlier and neither of them had spoken a word. The atmosphere in the car was dreadful and even Radio 2 did nothing to lift the mood.

"Look Kate, I am truly sorry about what I said earlier. It's just that I'm no good at this. I'm no good at relationships. I don't know why. Perhaps it's because I am too selfish and self-centered. God only knows that my parents were not very good role models. I try, I really do, and I don't mean to say the things I do but sometimes they just come out and I end up in, well, in situations like this where I hurt the person I care about, really care about. And I have to undo things. But they never get back to the way they were and I end up losing a little bit of myself in the relationship and …"

"Caroline." Kate almost shouted her name.

"I'm rambling aren't I? Sorry, I'll shut up now.

"Thank you." There was silence again.

"Oh, I would have expected you to say something. To tell me that all these things are right and that I am selfish and rubbish at this sort of thing.

Kate turned her head and looked at her.

"Why do you need me to tell you that Caroline? You obviously know all these things. But yet you don't try to change them. You just bumble along hurting people and riding rough shod over them and then moving on. Well, I won't let you do that to me. I don't think you realise how important you are to me, how much I like being with you, how much I want to be with you. I would do anything for you Caroline, give up everything to be with you. And here you are telling me that you don't think you can do this, that you don't even know if you are gay."

Kate was crying and Caroline wanted nothing more than to take her in her arms and tell her that she loved her and that she wanted to be with her.

"This is so hard for me and I need you to help me. I am the head teacher of a very successful school. We turn pupils away every year because we don't have enough places for them. How do you think that people would react if I came out and said I was a lesbian? That I have been living a lie for the whole of my married life?"

"Do you think people would really care though? There are hundreds of women out there, successful women, successful gay women, who step into the spot light each day. Do you think the public love them any less? Nicola Adams, Clare Balding, Ellen DeGeneres. It might define who you are but it doesn't define how good you are, how you are with people. What really matters is what is in here." Kate put her hand on her heart.

Caroline was pensive. She knew that Kate was right and that it really didn't matter. But it would take some time for her to change years of conditioning.

"How much longer until we are in Stratford? I erm I think I need to, I want to fix this Kate, to make it better. But I can't do this in the car."

"We should be there in about another hour and half. Do you want to come to my room and we can chat some more while the children are getting settled."

Caroline reached out her hand and felt for Kate's. She squeezed it and glanced over at her.

"I would like that very much."

Mrs Prendergast ushered the choir out of the minibus and into the hotel reception area. Caroline and Kate helped to get the bags off the mini bus. They were both emotionally exhausted but Caroline was optimistic that she hadn't been dismissed out of hand for what she had said in the car. However, what was important now was to check into the hotel and get the children settled into their room. They were the reason why they were here, to participate in the choir competition.

Miss Holden led the children up the stairs and gave them the keys for their allocated rooms. There were 15 children and they had been put into 5 family rooms. They were told to unpack and given an hour before they would meet in the reception area to go out for their evening meal.

When Caroline gave the receptionist her name, she was handed a registration card which she filled in along with the details of her car. She was handed an electronic card key.

"Would either of you ladies like a newspaper in the morning or a wakeup call?" She looked across at her and Kate.

"No, I'm fine thank you." Kate replied.

"Will that be all then? Can I do anything else for you?" The receptionist was glancing over Kate's shoulder at the other guests that were waiting to check in.

"Can I have my room key please?"

"Oh, do you need more than one madam? Miss er Mrs Elliot has the key." She looked at the registration card and slipped it back into the box.

Caroline and Kate looked slightly uncomfortable. They were sharing a room. Caroline had explicitly asked Beverley to make sure that all the teachers were in separate rooms, separate single rooms. Of course she would have liked to have spent the night with Kate but protocol determined otherwise.

"Is there a problem here ladies? The booking was for 5 family rooms, 2 single rooms and 1 double room. Is that not right? I could try to reallocate you rooms but we are very busy this weekend and I am not sure that this will be possible."

Caroline stepped forward.

"No, no it's fine. Really, it's fine. Come along Miss McKenzie, we have taken up enough of this lady's time."

The receptionist had lessened the shock but Caroline was still a little taken aback when she unlocked the door and saw the double bed. If this had been last weekend, they would have been very excited and this would have been more than acceptable. However, given what has just happened during the journey down, this was now very awkward.

"Which err what side, which side do you prefer Kate? The one nearest the window or the other side?"

Kate dropped her bag on the bed. "This one nearest the door will be just fine, thank you."

They unpacked their things, both trying not to get into each other's way. When Caroline walked into the bathroom with her toiletries, her stomach lurched when she saw that Kate had put her toothbrush in one of the glasses. She took hers out of her bag, placed it alongside it and smiled.

When she walked back in the bedroom, Kate was sat on the end of the bed looking down at her hands. She looked very nervous and was biting her bottom lip.

"Please Kate. Please don't do that. Every time I see you do that, I just want to cover your lips with mine and kiss you. I want to kiss away all the pain and the hurt."

Kate looked up at her.

"We don't have enough time Caroline. We have to meet the choir downstairs in." she checked her watch "45 minutes."

Caroline knelt on the floor in front of her and took her hands in hers.

"Don't be like that Kate. Please. I am sorry for what I said. I know that I need to change if I am to stand any chance of keeping you. I need you to help me change. I need you to be there for me."

Kate looked down at her and reached out her hands, cupping Caroline's face in them.

"If I promise to help you Caroline, if I promise to be there for you, what can I expect back in return? How will things be different?"

"I will start by telling people about us. Beverley already knows you know. That was a big thing for me, opening up myself to my PA. And I will start to admit to myself that I am who I am. I know that I can't change that. In fact, I won't change that. I am gay Kate. I am a lesbian and I have been since I was 19 years old."

The tears falling from Kate's eyes splashed on the back of Caroline's hands and she slowly got up and sat on the bed at the side of her. She turned to Kate and placed her arm around her shoulder, pulling her towards her. Kate willingly rested her head on Caroline's chest and the floodgates opened.

Caroline rocked her and smoothed her hair and held her while she cried. She held her like she would hold one of the boys when they were ill or hurting. She crooned and made little "shhh shhh" noises, all the while stroking her cheek or her arm or her hand.

When she was spent, Kate sat up and wiped her nose with the back of her hand.

"I bet I look a right state don't I?"

"Not as bad as I probably do."

For the first time, Kate noticed that Caroline had also been crying. Her eyes were red and swollen and the front of her blouse was wet from the tears. She wasn't sure who's tears but in the grand scheme of things, that didn't matter.

"Oh Kate. What do we do now? Where do we go from here?"

"That's up to you. You know how I feel. I want to be with you. I am falling in love with you." Kate looked up. "I want to kiss you. May I? Can I kiss you Caroline?"

Caroline closed her eyes and nodded her head, leaning forwards as she did so. The kiss was the most tender kiss that she had ever had, the gentlest anyone had ever given her. Yet it was the most passionate and meaningful one. She sighed deeply and as Kate pulled away and looked into her eyes, she saw her own love mirrored there.

On Saturday morning, Kate managed to get the choir together for a quick practice before the competition. The guests who were still eating breakfast at 1030am were only too happy to have their own impromptu concert.

As they drove to the venue, the silence in the car was comfortable. Caroline and Kate were confident that they had sorted out their differences the evening before and they were both convinced that their relationship was back on track. Caroline knew that she still needed to change and she had already drafted a list of who she would tell in what order when they got back.

She looked across at Kate.

"Happy?"

"Yep. You?"

"I have never been happier Miss McKenzie. And I have never been more happy to admit that to anyone who will listen to me."

When the choir walked into the hall, the tension was unbearable. Kate knew that this competition was the one to win and that the very best schools would be there. Schools who had been practicing their repertoire for months and months and who had some of the country's best solo performers in them.

The Sulgrave choir were visibly nervous and Caroline sat on the very edge of her seat, willing them to relax and to feel the music. There were a few mistakes but overall their performance was outstanding. However, the mistakes that Caroline spotted were also spotted by the judges and the choir were disappointingly beaten into second place by the national champions. But that didn't matter to anyone, especially the choir leader and the head teacher. They had won their own battle that weekend and they were happy with the results.

Caroline reluctantly dropped Kate off on Sunday lunchtime and left her to catch up on some household chores and exam marking. They had had a wonderful weekend together and now she was back to reality – and a long-standing coffee date in town with her mother and William.

It was a pleasant enough afternoon and Caroline listened patiently as her mother regaled her with a story about how William had helped her sign up to Facebook and how an old school friend had got in touch.

When Caroline did eventually arrive back home, she groaned at the sight of John's car in the driveway. She had asked him to ring before he dropped by but, as usual, he had ignored her. What could he possibly want?

Chapter 10 was going to be my last chapter but I decided it would be unfair to end the story with our 2 favourite women heading off on a weekend away and some very unfinished business. However, this really is my final chapter and it is with much sadness that I leave the story here ready for it to be picked up when Caroline says those important words to Kate:

"Look, I'm very fond of you, you know that. I just don't think I can do this anymore. Obviously we can be friends but erm the other thing it, it's not me. I mean it's not not me I'm just not ready to go there."

There was so much more that I wanted to do with this story but my original idea was to imagine how the relationship might have started and that is what I have done. I cannot possibly change the script that Sally Wainwright, who owns all the properties for the characters, has already written.

My next LTIH fanfic will pick up at Alan and Celia's wedding ceremony on Christmas Eve and will fill in the void from the dance to Valentine day. There is only a 6 week time lapse but there are so many things that could have happened between our 2 favourite ladies.

Once again, I would like to thank everyone from the bottom of my heart for taking the time to read my story. This is only the second one I have ever written and I am buzzing from all the reviews – so many kind words and words of encouragement. So thank you again!