ChubbyMonkey wrote: Surely she could have done the mending in her room, so that nobody would ever have known? 
Kathie says you're to stop making suggestions like that before Nancy hears you 
Thanks for all the comments 
I did try and hint that I was going to write... well, you'll know it when you see it, but for some reason nobody believed me. Can't imagine why.  
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"I probably should," Nancy said honestly, "but as it happens I wasn't planning on it. Why?"
"I was half expecting a lecture on discretion," Kathie admitted, as she settled herself more comfortably, taking up rather more than her share of the bed in the process.
Nancy's eyes twinkled as her gaze lingered over the figure of her companion. "Not that you don't look particularly fetching at the moment, my love, but anything less discreet than you creeping out into the corridor in that state, just when everybody else is likely to be coming up to bed, I simply can't imagine. Besides," she couldn't resist teasing, "I want to find out for myself exactly how difficult it is to wake you up in the morning."
"I wouldn't have to stay here for that," Kathie pointed out severely, as Nancy embarked on a stealth campaign to reclaim her full share of bed space. "You could always get up early and come to my room."
"True." Their skirmish over mattress rights seemed to have reached an impasse. "Although, if you stayed here, you'd be saving me all that extra effort."
"We definitely don't want you to overtax yourself," Kathie agreed solemnly, relinquishing her claim to the extra bed space and deciding instead to sprawl across Nancy herself, a solution which appeared to be acceptable to both parties.
"Good. Because I really want you to stay." Nancy's voice had taken on a wistful note. "I want to fall asleep with you and wake up next to you. So I thought, just this once, I might indulge myself, even if it's only for tonight. I know we won't be able to spend every night together -"
This, Kathie decided, was her cue to interrupt. "Actually, Nance, thinking about it, I don't see why we can't do just exactly that. Maybe not every night," she forestalled Nancy's objection. "I haven't forgotten that you're on duty for half-term for starters, and I think it would definitely count as indiscreet if I were to turn up asking to share your room - but I don't see why we shouldn't spend most nights together."
"I like the theory, my love," Nancy said affectionately, "but somehow I doubt it's going to be that simple."
"Oh, but it is, Nance, I've thought it all through." Eager to share her ideas, Kathie's face was alight and her eyes were sparkling. "Obviously we can't count on too many free evenings together, but once everyone goes to bed, what difference can it possibly make to anyone else where you and I choose to sleep? If this was a day school, we'd go home in the evenings and our time would be our own. I know boarding school works differently, but even here no one is paying us to be on duty overnight."
Kathie was looking so pleased with her reasoning that Nancy gave serious consideration to simply voicing her agreement, but her natural honesty forced her to admit, albeit somewhat reluctantly, "Actually, Kathie, that's just what they are doing. As housemistress for Ste Therese, they pay me extra for, among other things, being available at night when necessary."
Kathie frowned somewhat at this reminder, but she had not yet given up on her argument. "This housemistress business, no one's expecting you to stay up all night, are they? As long as you're here in your room, so you can be found in case of need, then you're fulfilling all the duties required of you. And no one's paying me any extra salary at all, so where I choose to sleep is my own business. Or rather," she corrected herself, "our own business." She looked at Nancy triumphantly.
"It sounds logical, put like that," Nancy assented cautiously, "but I can't help feeling that Hilda would be unlikely to view it in the same light."
"Let's not borrow problems in advance," Kathie said firmly. "Time enough to worry about that when Hilda voices a definite objection."
"Which, as she doesn't know about us, seems a somewhat remote possibility at the moment."
"I see that as a positive thing, myself. Come on, Nance," she wheedled, "you know you want to give in to me."
"Are you taking advantage of the fact that I love you to coax me into being irresponsible?"
Kathie grinned at her. "Not really irresponsible. A bit reckless maybe. But, yes."
"Oh." Nancy considered for a moment. "Alright then."
"You're not very difficult to persuade, love. Could it be," Kathie suggested, "that you wanted me to talk you into this all along?" Nancy's pink cheeks and sheepish expression seemed sufficient answer to this, and Kathie looked positively smug. "So now we're agreed that this bedroom is as much mine as yours for the foreseeable future, you might lend me a pyjama jacket, my lovely. That way I'll look at least half respectable if Matey decides to walk in on us again."
"You would have to think of that just as I'd got comfortable," Nancy complained, even as she extricated herself from the warmth of their bed. "I know what you're doing. You just want a chance to steal my share of the mattress again."
"Only if you take too long." Kathie was getting impatient. "Stop dithering about, Nance, and get back here. And you might want to bring some pyjamas for yourself too, unless you want to give any unexpected guests a free show."
But Nancy had paused in her task, struck by an idea so beautifully simple that she couldn't believe it hadn't occurred to them before. "Or," she suggested, turning to face Kathie, "we could always break the habit of a lifetime and try locking the door?"
Kathie gazed at her in admiration of this stroke of genius. "What a good idea, love. However," she added sternly, "it might have helped if you'd thought of it on Sunday night."
"At least I thought of it now," Nancy retorted. "Which, if you'll allow me to mention it, is rather more than you did."
"Oh, alright." Kathie gave in, knowing she wasn't going to win this one. "You're obviously much cleverer than I am, my love. Although," she asked provocatively, "what happens if someone needs you as housemistress in the middle of the night?"
"They can learn to knock," Nancy said firmly, as she turned the key.
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at RCS 4 - seem to remember RCS 6 is rather nasty to Nancy and Kathie too...
