Every time you make a move

Flashback Filler-soundtrack to a memory

Stafford Terrace, late at night...

Monica was careful not to slam the front door shut. She put her keys to the door in her pocket and switched the hallway light on, hung her coat and bag up, then tiptoed up the stairs to the bathroom; she was too afraid of waking Freddie, who had gotten home before she did, if she used the shower in the en suite.

The day she'd spent running around at her boss Christina's neice's wedding had left her feeling like an exhausted mess (the bride wanted her aunt to do the desserts, something which the hotel venue staff weren't too pleased about). Monica could almost swear people sat away from her the moment she stepped onto the tube home.

She unstrapped her shoes and went to the mirror, piling her unbrushed hair onto the top of her head and fastening it with a large claw hair clip sitting above the sink.

She froze when she heard the door open, but heard the small pattering of paws and in walked Mandy, greeting her with a meow.

"Oh, just you," she quietly giggled with relief. "I was afraid I'd woken up your daddy."

The cat hopped onto the bathtub edge as Monica pulled the shower curtain over, but jumped away when she turned the water on.

After angling the shower head a little lower so that it wouldn't wet her hair, she rushed downstairs and grabbed her clean blue cotton pyjamas hanging on the drying rack in the utility room, and put them on the heater when she got back up. Freddie insisted that they were too tatty and he buy her another set from "somewhere much more upmarket", but she knew he had something opulent and uncomfortable for sleeping in mind.

She switched the tap on, and stuck her hand under the stream of water until it grew warm enough. By now Mandy had darted out, the splatters of water alarming her.

Monica giggled as she stripped down, and lifted the sponge out of the shower caddy.

She stepped in and lathered the musky soap onto her wet, goose-bumped skin, looking through the curtain gap anxiously to see if Freddie would stumble in tired and annoyed. He was never fun when agitated.

Once she was clean and felt refreshed again, and fortunately uninterrupted, she turned the tap off, stepping onto the floor towel and drying herself off as Mandy lingered at her wet feet. The feline had gotten so big, and was twice the size she was the day she had first arrived at Freddie's home. Just another reminder for Monica of how much her life had changed since she first moved in with him.

She took the band out if her hair and let it fall to her shoulders before buttoning her pyjama top up.

"You coming?" She whispered to Mandy as she was about to pull the light switch.

The cat bounded over to her, and Monica giggled before tiptoeing into the dark master bedroom, gently shutting the door behind her.

There Freddie was, sprawled out and sleeping peacefully as she climbed in under the warm duvet on her side of the bed and curled up.

Or so she thought.

She heard him purr behind her suddenly, "Hello"

"Oh! I didn't wake you, did I?" She lifted her head from her pillow slightly as she felt his arms engulfing her from behind as he shuffled close to her.

"Not at all, I've been awake for quite some time" he whispered.

She smiled a little, "Well, at least I came home to a nice, warm bed."

He chuckled in her ear, and affectionately nuzzled her neck, "How was the wedding?"

"Oh, Christina was at her wits end," she rolled over in his hold to face him, and looking at the beautiful chiselled face in front of her she could tell he was knackered as well. "We were short of an icebox and the sorbets half melted, she got so frustrated."