Emmerdale : Bleeding Love (Ross Barton/OFC fanfic)

That Time When... Mr. and Mrs. Sugden

It was a little after one pm when Ross arrived at Home Farm. There were dozens upon dozens of expensive motors lining the length of the driveway that lead up to the big house. The Whites certainly knew a lot of people. He knocked at the door and waited, remembering the last time he'd been here.

The Raid.

And it made him feel uncharacteristically uncomfortable.

There were only three other people who knew the truth about that day and two of them had enough reasons to stay quiet about it. The third, Ollie, convincing her and buying her silence - that had been a lot harder. But if anything good had come from the entire mess, it was that when she'd learned the truth it had somehow strengthened their friendship. They had no more secrets from each other.

Through the paned glass door Ross could hear music and loud chatter. By the sounds of things the wedding reception was already in full swing. But there was one villager who wouldn't be here.

Katie.

Robert made it clear he didn't want his brother's wife anywhere near the wedding and risk having her upset Chrissie's big day. Naturally Chrissie agreed with him. Which had upset Ollie, because Katie was her friend. But it wasn't her wedding and she had no say on who should and shouldn't be invited. Andy had gone along with Robert and Chrissie's wishes - which, in turn, had upset Katie.

She and Ollie had been texting just that morning and although she knew Katie didn't care about celebrating the marriage of someone she despised, and was planning to spend the day out riding; it had to be tough on her that Andy hadn't boycotted the wedding in support of his wife. Safe to say, since the trouble with Robert, their marriage was experiencing a little turbulence.

Katie had something important to share with Ollie, something she didn't want to discuss over the telephone, but meeting up with her friend before the wedding would be impossible. So they arranged to meet later on, after Katie insisted she didn't want to drag Ollie away from the celebrations too early, and give Robert and Chrissie anymore reason to dislike her.

When Ollie opened the door to Ross she was pleasantly surprised, and a little impressed. Her eyes ran over him, appreciating that he had made the effort. He wore a smart light grey suit complete with a white open-necked shirt, no tie; and had even shined his black shoes. His hair was slicked back in the usual way and his beard had been given a neat trim.

He gave her a grin as he stretched out his arms wide. "Well, do I exceed all of your expectations, and then some, Mizz. Stanford?" he asked.

"You do scrub up rather well, Mr. Barton." She gave him an affirming nod. "Very handsome." She reached out to finger the lapels of the jacket and he slapped at her wrist.

"Hands off the merch. Told you, I'm not that kind of bloke."

She smiled. "Oh, stop playing hard to get. You know I'm better at it." She stepped aside and swept out her arm. "Won't you come in, Sir."

He came inside and as she closed the door behind him, he took the opportunity to slide his own admiring gaze over the strapless, satin and lace dress she was wearing. It sat just above her knee and there wasn't much of it, and Ross couldn't stop himself from thinking how easy it would be to get her out of it.

"You don't scrub up too bad yourself," he said. His dark eyes lingered in all the usual places men liked to linger. "Not your usual style. Bit over the top, like. Froofy."

"I'm Maid of Honour, you idiot."

"Ah." He met her smiling eyes with a smirk. "Course you are. Give us a twirl then." She obliged him, ending with a delicate curtsy. "Very nice. Reckon y'should wear those legs more often. Seems a shame to hide them away."