Espresso

Answer Me This

"Hey, what's up?" Robin left Bailey to play blocks with Alfie and Jason, pulling her wife to one side so they'd have some sort of privacy. "Your Dad isn't here, is he?"

Ellie shook her head.

"Then what is it?"

"It doesn't matter."

"Don't lie to me; your ear is twitching and you're crying so what is going on?" Robin gave Elli's shoulders a squeeze, trying to comfort her.

The brunette wiped the tears from her eyes and took a deep breath. "I saw Mark," she said quietly.

"Oh, ok. Why hasn't he-"

"He's with Soph."

There was a pause. It was far longer than Ellie would have liked; it didn't help that Robin showed no expression making impossible for the brunette to know what was going through her wife's mind. The blonde didn't have a twitching ear like she did, unfortunately.

"That's his choice." Robin's voice was hushed, her gaze on the ground rather than Ellie's face. The blonde gave a half-smile to her wife and returned to the cake stall where Kate had been doing a job covering for Ellie.

"What's going on?" Jason came from behind the tree, Bailey on his shoulders. "I'm guessing it isn't good if you're crying?"

Ellie helped Bailey down from Jason's shoulders, cuddling him tight like he were a newborn again. "It turns out we can't run away from the past like we thought."

"Ok so I don't know what that means, but maybe you guys should head home. Kate and I can mind the stall for you."

The brunette smiled and kissed her brother lightly on the cheek. "Thanks, Jason; you're the best."

"Yeah, I know."

Ellie jokingly punched him and they burst out laughing. Bailey started to giggle too, making Ellie's smile even bigger than it was before. "Ok," she said. "I'll get Robin and head home but if you start to struggle or something happens, you have to call me ok?"

"Just go already! Family comes before cake, Ellie."

Back at the coffee shop, Bailey was quietly playing in the children's corner whilst Robin made a coffee for herself and Ellie. There wasn't any music playing in the background like usual, and there weren't any words to be said either, at least not yet.

"I need to know," Ellie muttered, taking her coffee from Robin and sitting down on the sofas where they'd first talked all those years ago. "When you came into my coffee shop soaking wet and sat down right there," she pointed at where Robin was curled up on the sofa. "Were you still seeing Soph?"

"Do we really have to talk about this?"

"Oh my god, Robin! Of course we do!" Ellie put her coffee down and bit the inside of her cheek; she wanted to apologise but they really did need to talk.

"Why? Why do we have to talk about something that happened over five years ago? The past is the past."

"And yet here we are, Robin, with the past spooking you every time she walks in the room. She's done nothing to hurt your or I apart from messing with our heads and yet she has scared you more than anything else in all the time I've known you. That worries me!"

"Dammit, Ellie!" Robin put her head in her hands and sighed. "What do you want me to say?"

"Just answer the question! It isn't hard? Were you still seeing Soph when-"

"Yes! Yes, I was, ok? I was fully aware that she was waiting for me at home when I decided to come in here instead. Are you happy now?"

The brunette slowly sunk into the sofa, staring at her wife in shock. "How could you do that?"

"Do what? Get a coffee?"

"We both know that isn't why you came in here, don't you dare lie to me now Robin." Tears were threatening to ruin Ellie's composure, or what she had left of it. The same couldn't be said for the blonde whos cheeks were already wet.

"I really don't know what to say, Ellie. I don't understand what you want to hear."

"Why did you come in here when you knew Soph was waiting for you? Just answer me that at the very least?"

"I'm not sure," Robin said quietly, wiping her eyes. "I'd walked past the shop every day for however many years and every time, I'd look through the window and see you working your hardest to please the customers. You were always smiling even that one time when a kid was sick in the middle of the room."

Normally Ellie would have laughed at the recollection of that memory, but joy and laughter had got lost amongst the other waves of emotions she was feeling at that moment. It was getting harder to decipher what exactly she was feeling; there wasn't one emotion stronger than the other, just a mish-mash of anger, upset and betrayal.

"I suppose I just couldn't face going home straight away and you were alone and-" Robin threw her hands up in the air, a new wave of tears pouring down her cheeks. "I really don't know, Ellie; it was so long ago I can't remember what was going through my head."

"But you still kept coming into the shop! When I was on a date with Mark, you came into the Italien with her and walked right past me, Robin! How did you justify what you were doing at the time? I can't believe this never occurred to me before now but it's no wonder Soph had a vendetta against you."

Ellie paused and put a hand to her mouth. "Don't tell me," she mumbled.

"What, Ellie? What else do you want to interrogate me about?"

"You were still seeing her when we first kissed, weren't you?"

The blonde bit her lip and remained staring into the brunette's eyes.

"Oh my god, you lied to me, didn't you? When you said things were over between you two, you were lying."

"We were on a break, Ellie. I've never lied to you."

"But she was still living with you, still wanting to get back together with you?"

Robin stood up and wiped her eyes again. "I can't do this right now, I'm sorry Ellie. I just need a minute ok? We can talk about all of this another time."

The brunette watched as her wife picked up Bailey and went upstairs, leaving her alone with only the whirring of the coffee machine for company.

A/N: I told you the feels were coming! Oh dear oh dear... Who knew one person could do so much damage?? Let me know what you think in the comments (I assure you I'm crying with you) and I hope you enjoy(?) if that's even possible.

P.S: *insert cheeky ad here* feel free to check out the other story I'm working on at the moment, "Loved by Stars" which is like 'The 100' meets 'The Maze Runner' but with strong LGBT characters throughout XD