Chapter Text
“Kate, another beer!”
Kate muttered under breath as she looked across the bar to where her annoying cousin Ryan was swinging his empty pint in her direction. She rolled her eyes as she approached him, snatching the empty glass out of his grubby hands.
“A please would be nice, Ryan.” She snaps at him coldly but Ryan just ignores her. “And just so you know, I’m adding all these drinks to a tab.”
Ryan pulls a face. “My mum owns the place.”
“Doesn’t mean you can drink the place dry for free.” Kate replies pointedly as she finishes up pouring his pint. “Why are you sitting here all alone on a Friday night anyway?”
Ryan shrugs and takes a sip from his freshly made pint before a smirk crosses his lips. “Rana’s busy tonight.” Kate glares at him while reaching over the bar to punch him on the arm. “Ow!” He gasps and rubs his arm in pain, surprised by his cousins strength. “Relax, it was a joke.”
“Ha…Ha…Ha.” Kate replies sarcastically. “You are hysterical.”
“Take it as a compliment, your girl is hot.” Ryan grins with a wink.
“You don’t need to tell me that, I know. And emphasis on the fact she is my girl.” Kate smirks at him. “You could only dream. She’s way out of your league.”
Ryan scoffs. “Yeah and yours.” He fires back.
Kate shrugs, believing she can’t argue with that one. Rana is beautiful, she knows how lucky she is and she plans on spending every day of the rest of her life showing it.
She turns away from Ryan to head over to a table needing her attention, by the time she takes their order and hands it over to the kitchen Ryan’s attention is now on two petite blondes having drinks at a table by the door. Kate rolls her eyes and pulls her phone out of her back pocket and fires off a quick text to her girl.
Can’t wait until this shift is over. I miss you xx
It doesn’t take Rana long to reply.
I miss you more. See you soon my lovely xx
Kate smiles at the response, feeling her cheeks heat up as she stares down at her phone.
“Oh god you are smitten aren’t you.” Daniel comments with a smirk as he passes her on his way into the kitchen, his hands full with empty dirty plates. Kate’s blush reddens and she quickly slips her phone back into her pocket, especially when she spots Robert eying her up with a disapproving look.
A couple of hours later Kate sighs as she eyes up the clock, she still has another 2 hours left of her shift and her feet are killing her. She’s always disliked working Friday nights, hating how busy the Bistro can get but lately it feels a lot worse. Rana has been working overtime at the medical centre, completely running herself ragged, especially since they are in the middle of a law-suit. Between her girlfriends extra hours and her unsociable shifts at the Bistro, they’ve barely had any spare time to spend together just the two of them in what feels like ages.
So much so that tonight Kate had actually booked the night off, hoping to have a quiet night in with her girl with a takeaway and Netflix. Unfortunately, Michelle’s been off sick with a stomach bug meaning that the bistro was short staffed and she had her older cousin pretty much begging her to cancel her night off and work a double shift instead.
She nearly jumps out of her skin when she feels a pair of hands cover her eyes. “Guess who.”
The butterflies in her stomach and the way her heart starts pounding uncontrollably immediately give away who is on the other side. She turns around with a huge smile on her face to see Rana grinning.
“Hi,” her girlfriend greets her with bright eyes.
“Hi,” Kate can’t stop her beaming smile as Rana wraps her arms around her neck and leans up to press her lips against hers in a soft kiss. “This is a nice surprise.”
“Well, I’ve just caught up on some paperwork so figured I deserved a glass of wine.” Rana replies pointedly. “Plus, there’s a waitress here who I really fancy so figured I would try my luck.”
“Right,” Kate laughs before kissing her again. “God I’ve missed you today.”
“I’ve missed you too.” Rana kisses her again quickly. “Work was a drag,”
“Still no better?” Kate asks sympathetically as she pulls away, walking around the bar to get her girlfriend a drink. Rana climbs onto a stool at the bar and takes off her jacket while shaking her head. “Sorry babe.”
“It’s ok.” Rana takes her large glass of red from Kate, a quick thank you passing her lips before continuing. “It’s just a terrible situation. I feel for poor Jack, and the Webster’s, I really do. But sepsis is such a difficult illness to diagnose initially anyway, it’s so unfair to blame it all on Dr. Gaddas.”
“And you,” Kate replies pointedly, her face darkening as she remembers the incident in Roy’s which left her girlfriend with a busted lip. “They are being unreasonable.”
Rana shrugs and takes a sip from her wine. “I’m hoping the case gets dropped, otherwise I don’t think the Medical Centre will financially be able to stay open otherwise. I don’t want to think selfishly, Jack is the one who’s in the real pain here, but it’s my job, you know? We do so much good for so many people, it’ll be a damn shame for one bad mistake to cause more harm to others.”
“Absolutely.” Kate agrees, reaching across the bar and squeezes her girlfriends hand reassuringly. “It’ll be ok, and if the worst was to happen, we’ll deal with it together as it comes, ok?”
“Ok.” Rana smiles, lifting up Kate’s hand and pressing a kiss against her palm. “You always know how to make me feel better.”
“Well, I don’t want to brag, but I am the best girlfriend ever.” Kate smirks, her smile widening at the sound of Rana’s giggle. “But, unfortunately, this best girlfriend is currently getting glared at by her boss for ignoring all her customers.” She reluctantly pulls her hand away, Rana laughing as she spots Robert glaring as he pops open a glass of prosecco a few feet away. “Be right back.”
The rest of Kate’s shift went by a lot easier since Rana was around to make it a lot more bearable. Much to Robert’s dismay, she would often stand by her girlfriend for a short chat or a passing kiss between waiting tables. Rana knew she was a distraction, and this probably wasn’t helping their already off-balanced relationship with her soon to be ex-husbands best mate, but she had barely seen her girlfriend all week and she would take what she could get.
By the time the Bistro was ready to close, Robert had had enough and told Kate she may as well just go home since she wasn’t doing much work anyway. Kate rolled her eyes at the comment but didn’t argue, especially since Rana looked so beautiful propped up at the bar waiting for her.
“Come on you,” she smiles as she helps Rana put her jacket back on. “Lets get you home, you look wrecked.”
Rana stifles a yawn as she slips her hand into Kate’s, waving a bye to Daniel before ignoring Ryan’s playful whistle as she passes by.
The couple both stroll home holding hands, each taking turns to discuss small parts of their day. When they pass by the old Nazir house, they catch Alya on her way in but after a shared glare between the trio they kept on walking without another word.
The flat was quiet by the time they got in, Craig must have already gone to bed or was out for the night. Kate was glad, because all she wanted was to have Rana to herself with no interruptions.
“Cuppa?” Rana asked while she was already switching the kettle on. Kate stayed still in her place by the door and Rana twisted her head back around curiously.
“I have a better idea.” Kate offers, her heart rate quickening as Rana bites down on her bottom lip.
“Oh yeah?” Rana replies flirtatiously. “Like what?”
“Come to bed and find out.”
Rana giggles loudly as Kate quickly crosses the room and lifts her over her shoulder, slapping her on the bum as she carries her girlfriend towards their bedroom.
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Rana was tired, she was hungry, she was frustrated and she was stressed. When she arrived to work this morning, she was already feeling a little rough for a Monday. Her and Kate had ended up having a late one in the Rovers over a couple of bottles of red, and then took their party for two back to the flat for some alone time which lasted until the early hours of the morning.
She was running on very little sleep, so when she showed up at the Medical Centre this morning to be greeted by Moira and one of the surgeries lawyers advising that Dr. Gaddas has took a last minute recommended holiday to lay low she knew immediately it was going to be a bad day.
All of Dr Gaddas’ appointments had been shared out between the other GPs however the cases which were deemed a little less severe landed straight on Rana’s desk.
Her stomach rumbled desperately as she said goodbye to her latest patient, glancing at the clock to see it was well into the afternoon and she hadn’t even had five minutes spare to rush down a sandwich.
She thanked the heavens when she saw she had a 15 minute gap until her next patient so decided to take this time to catch up on some important paperwork while wolfing down the sandwich Kate very kindly prepared for her this morning.
“Make sure you eat enough, and drink enough water. Look after yourself.” Her girlfriend told her with a kiss on her way out of the door.
Unfortunately for her, her plan was succumbed when her phone rang. She let out a loud sigh, knowing it was most likely Moira squeezing in a last minute appointment but she knew she couldn’t ignore it.
“Yes?” She answered bluntly as she picked up the phone. She rolled her eyes at Moira’s dramatic response about her attitude before the office manager informed her that she was needed at reception. Rana hung up without another word, praying that this wasn’t an awkward patient that was demanding to see her over a small case of a common cold or a back pain.
Rana was surprised when she walked out to see a large bouquet of flowers being handed over to her. “Sign here please,” Tracey demanded impatiently, Rana did as she was told and Tracey was out of the door before she could even say thank you.
“I think someone’s got a guilty conscious.” Moira comments from behind her desk.
“Oh stop,” Jenny comments from her place sat down. Rana remembers seeing her name on the list of appointments for this afternoon. “You know what Kate’s like, a hopeless romantic just like her father.”
Moira scoffs loudly and Rana sends her a glare, opening up the note to see nothing but the words – for you – written on.
“I’m just saying, in my experience, flowers usually mean your other half has done something naughty. Or just you know…done someone.”
“Moira!” Rana looks at her in disbelief.
“You know what they say about those Connors.” Moira shrugs innocently. “And considering how the two of you started, it wouldn’t be the first time.”
“Ok, stop now.” Rana glares at Moira who holds her hands up in defence. “What happened with us was a little different, I was the one who was married, not Kate. Kate’s not like that.”
“And it’s unfair to brush us Connors all with the same brush, my Johnny has never cheated on me.” Jenny comments almost smugly, completely missing the smirk on Moira’s lips.
“That you know of.” She mutters under her breath. Rana rolls her eyes before taking a chance to take in the flowers in her hands. They really are beautiful, Kate has amazing taste.
“Speak of the devil,” Moira pipes up and Rana turns her head to see Kate approaching them with a curious look on her face.
“Hi babe,” Rana smiles widely and Kate presses a soft kiss to her lips. “Come to see if they arrived safely?”
Kate frowns confused, her arm wrapping around Rana’s waist as she eyes up the flowers in her girlfriends hands.
“Moira was just telling us how you must have a guilty conscience .” Jenny pipes up while motioning to the flowers.
Moira looks horrified to be called out. “I didn’t mean anything bad by it…”
“It doesn’t matter.” Rana brushes them both off, looking up at Kate with a smile. “They are beautiful, thank you.”
“Um…”Kate looks down at her girlfriend awkwardly before glancing at the flowers again. “As much as I would love to take the credit for this, especially since I now feel a bit shit for not thinking of this myself…but…I didn’t buy these.”
Rana blinks surprised and Moira gasps dramatically.
“Oooo, a secret admirer!” She is practically giddy with excitement. Even Jenny looks excited by the change of events.
“Sorry?” Kate cringes and takes the flowers out of Rana’s hands to eye them up. “Does it not say who sent them?” She picks up the note to see only those two words written. “That’s weird.”
“They definitely aren’t from you?” Rana questions.
Kate shakes her head. “No…sorry babe. I wish they were though.”
Rana shrugs and takes the flowers back from Kate before placing them down on the reception desk. “Maybe there was a mix-up.”
“A patient could have sent them, to say thank you?” Jenny offers.
“Oooo no, no, no.” Moira tuts, “accepting presents off patients is a big no no.” She looks around the room before whispering conspiringly. “Especially with the law suit happening.”
“Good job I’m not accepting them then.” Rana rolls her eyes and pushes the flowers towards Moira. “You can keep them, they brighten up the waiting room anyway.”
“But don’t you want them? They were for you after all. I’m sure your secret admirer would prefer them on your desk than mine.” Moira replies but is already re-positioning the flowers to get the perfect angle.
“Jenny’s right, they’ll be off a patient. Therefore I cant accept them.” She grabs a hold of Kate’s hand and turns to face her girlfriend away from the two older women who are now trying to guess between themselves who sent the flowers. “I’ve got about 4 minutes until my next appoint.” She sighs disappointed.
“That’s ok, I wasn’t stopping. Just wanted to see if you wanted to have dinner tonight at the Bistro with Carla, her treat apparently.”
“If I get out of here at a reasonable time then sure.” Rana agrees.
“Have you ate lunch?”
“Not yet.” Rana cringes at the look on Kate’s face.
“Rana, what did I say about looking after yourself.” Kate scolds her while running a hand down her arm. “You’re going to make yourself sick.”
“I’ll be fine. In fact, I’ll go eat that sandwich now.” She glances down again at her upside down watch. “I have 3 minutes.”
“Ok,” Kate smiles despite herself. “I’ll see you at the Bistro if I don’t see you back at the flat first.” Rana nods in agreement, the two parting with a kiss. Rana heads back into her office, hopefully to eat that sandwich, and Kate says a quick goodbye to Jenny but not before eying up the flowers nestled on Moira’s desk first.