The next morning, the cold winter sunlight woke the both of them, seeping through the drape curtains with the beautiful curtain rail which had two large gold crystal balls on the end.
"morning baby" chris said through a big yawn and stretched out his arms satisfyingly, then placed a few soft kisses on her warm ears, and laid and stroked her hair gently until eventually she woke.
"morning my sexy" Karen said sleepily, opening one eye and gazing up at him lovingly.
"you were amazing last night babe..." he said wistfully, memories from the night before coming back to him.
"so were you baby" she whispered lustfully.
They laid in each others arms for at least a good hour, just chatting quietly to their hearts content, with no work,no kids, nothing to disturb them and no cares in the world.
"are we going to move then" Karen asked, feeling the need to get up and do something, she certainly wasn't used to just lying in bed with nothing to all day, it was a wonderful treat for them both, fully deserved and definately needed, before all the hard work started with all the dancing on ice training, and soon the live shows would be starting of course. They had a challenge ahead of them to tackle the press when they found out about their relationship, but they'd be time to prepare for that, and they had each other to get them through it.
"but we do not need to move, this our special treat weekend okay, and we're going to enjoy every minute of it, we can do whatever we like, and that means staying in bed all day, with not a care in the world..." he said letting out a sigh of happiness, lying in the softess, most comfortable bed in the world, with his special princess lying in his arms, the sunlight shining onto both of them.
"mmmm okay that sounds lovely, I still can't believe you arranged all this without me knowing, it's the most wonderful thing I could ever imagine" she replied relaxingly, and tilted her head up for chris to place a romantic kiss on her soft plump lips.
"I love you so much I never want you to leave my arms..." chris mused staring deeply into her eyes, like pools of magical sea water.
"I love you dearly too, I never want you to leave me, I still can't believe we're together, you're so amazing to have made this happen, I never want us to part"
"well I have you to thank too honey, it takes two baby..." he began to sing, causing Karen to let out a cute little giggle, almost hysterical, and then they shared another beautiful kiss, still resting in each other's arms.
"mmm what time is it" Karen asked still sleepily, as she realised her eyes were gently resting closed, showing chris her long, perfect lids and lashes. Chris turned around to glance at his iPhone, which read 12:43 across his background image of him and Karen, taken a few days ago.
"almost 1" he said rounding it to the nearest hour.
"what do you say we have a bath..."
"together?" chris asked hopefully into her ear, kissing the side of her face.
"of course, what would be the fun in it otherwise" Karen said cheekily.
"well I did wonder..." chris agreed, and grabbed the corner of the duvet, flipping it off them so it ended up in a heap behind them. Karen got up and took chris's hand, he chased out the bedroom door and into the bathroom across the hall. It was an amazing bathroom, extraordinary, much better than any other hotel bathroom. A free standing bath was in the middle, large with fancy taps, Karen noticed, there was a walk in shower in the far corner, a larger-than-normal sink, and to their surprise, a jacuzzi!
"this is stunning, i want to take it home" Karen said in admiration ad they walked in, and hugged chris.
"what do you say we give the jacuzzi a go once we're finished in the tub?" chris said hopefully again, daydreaming about it already.
They both quickly stripped down and enjoyed some raunchy kisses while the bath was run with lots of bubbles made with bath bombs and fizzers, bubble bath and whatever liquids they could find lying around.
"erm chris honey" Karen said between kisses "I think the baths going to overflow in a second"
"I guess it's time to get in then baby" he said laughing and carrying her over to the bath, placing her gently into the hot bubbles, and then getting in himself, sitting at the tap end, but there was plenty of room for both of them, it was the biggest bath either of them had ever seen.
"i have to say I'm really not normally a bath person, but you definitely make it worth the while, this is amazing"
"how can you not love a bath... It's pure bliss.." Karen said extremely satisfied as she laid back in the now just warm pool of bubbles, wading her fingers through the pure clear water. "you seem to be enjoying this bath enough" karen said flirtily, finding chris's body in the water, covered in soap and bubbles.
"oh believe me it's not the bath Im loving... More the wet naked lady..." he said laughing and then leaning forward to kiss her tentively.
"oh is it now..." Karen said through laughter, feeling like the luckiest woman on earth as they pleasures each other in the comforting pool of warm soapy water -heaven.
After an hour or so of soapy water fun, the water was now just passing as lukewarm.
"what do ya say we make our way over to the jacuzzi now then... Looks like you could have a hell of a lot of fun in there doesn't it" chris said climbing out of the bath leaving his sexy wet naked lady lying in the bath.
"do you know what you're doing with that thing do you know how t get it going" Karen enquired.
"course I do babe don't worry I'll have it going in a blink" he said, grabbing one of the pure White fluffy towels off the rack and wrapping it around his waist, before he started to investigate with all the buttons and switches and find out what they all did. He found a few which controlled the different fountain type things at the bottom of it, but couldn't figure out how to get the water in for one thing, or how to get the bubbles going...
"chris honey are you okay over there" Karen asked wondering how long it was going to take him before their fun could start again...
"erm no not really babe I haven't got a clue what I'm doing to be honest" he chuckled
"honey please come help me Ive got no idea what the bloody hell I'm doing here" chris finally admitted after a long 10 minutes, and Karen was now practically shivering in the now cold bath water, she couldn't wait to get in the hot bubbling jacuzzi that could soon be waiting for them, if they ever got it started...
"course... Could you bring me a towel please or I'll freeze..."
"course I will baby" he said quickly grabbing her a fresh clean towel from the pile on the rack, almost pulling every other item down with it in the process...
"thanks chris" she said as she climbed out the bath and her patted her soft silky skin dry s little before wrapping the towel tightly around her body and tucking in the end to secure it, and then went over to the jacuzzi to investigate what chris was doing wrong.
"right what you doing here..." she said leaning over, giving chris a lovely view in the process. She pressed a few random buttons and flicked a few switches having absolutely no clue what she was doing, no more than chris did, but 30 seconds later on came the water squirting out of the sides and filling up the small pool, 5 minutes later it was ready for them to enjoy themselves, so in a matter of seconds two towels were dropped on the floor and they both hopped in, splashing around behaving like two innocent little kids.
"oi stop the splashing you..." chris laughed
"aww why am I getting you a bit wet" Karen said flirtatiously and then jumped onto his lap splashing his face even more.
"why hello there sexy baby where did you come from" chris said at karen's close arrival, laughing, and they shared wet soppy kisses having the most fun either of them had had in such a long time, it was a great relief for the pair of them to be finally in peace and enjoying themselves.
"babes your turning me on so so much right now" chris gasped panting a little as the pace of kissing sped up more and more and the bubbles around them bubbling away creating a more exciting atmosphere around them as they explored each other's bodies and pleasures each other in the heat of the moment.
"oh I'm sorry did you want me to stop" she said even more flirtatiously than before as her hands wondered all over his body across his chest, he was loving every second and Karen was having plenty of fun herself.
"oh no don't stop please don't stop" he said still panting and beginning to let his own hands wonder more over Karens smooth curves as the bubbling water soaked their skin. Succulent kisses were now being placed all down her body, over her neck as she whispered words into chris's ear.
"oh boy do I love you right now" he said kissing her over and over.
"I love...you...too...." she stuttered, almost wearing herself out and feeling like the most relaxed woman in the world having the time if her life.
"I've never had this much fun" chris declared running his fingers through Karens now soaking wet silky locks that just touched her slender shoulders whilst wet.
"me neither" she agreed with passion placing another kiss on chris's dripping lips and wrapping her arms around his waist pulling her body closer to his, and their bodies tightly moulded together, a perfect match.
"that was amazing..." chris panted, they'd now wrapped themselves in big fluffy White dressing gowns and were sat incredibly closely on the sofa again in front of the fire, with the music channel on '50 songs to fall in love to' chris was stroking Karens forehead gently and running his fingers through her damp hair which smelt faintly of citrus fruits, Karen was rubbing chris's chest and had hedges resting on his shoulder, and her feet up tucked underneath her.
"mmm it was... Sex in a hot rub at 50 what can I say-"
"wow" chris said finishing her scentence, or answering her question.
"I've never had such an amazing experience" chris admitted kissing the top if Karens had as he did so.
"you hungry?" Karen asked,thinking she could really do with food, it was almost 4 o clock and all the excitement in the bath and of course the jacuzzi hot tub had made her starving.
"I was thinking the same thing... What do you fancy, whatever you like"
"I was just thinking of cheese and beans on toast actually, nothing complicated but enough to fill us up for a few hours" Karen decided, slowly getting up and searching the fridge.
"sounds good to me" chris agreed following her into the kitchen.
They had another little smooch while the toast was cooking under the grill with the cheese sizzling on top.
"erm babes I think it's gonna be burnt in a minute if we don't stop" chris said breaking off the kiss for a second and sniffing the smell of almost burnt toast.
"oh whoops" said Karen laughing and breaking away from chris to rescue the slightly browning cheese on toast, and shoving the beans carelessly in the microwave which only took a couple of minutes, before half the tin each was poured messily on top of e last and they took their lunch back into the front room and ate it off their laps as if they were at home.
"what now then baby" said chris as he took their plates into the kitchen and piled them in the sink with the plates from the night before as well, which eventually they would get round to washing up...
"I don't know why don't we see if there's any movies on or something" Karen suggested searching around for the remote which she eventually found she'd been sitting on the whole time, and began to flick through all the movie channels until she found a nice romantic film for them to sit down and watch.
"what's this then" chris said coming back in the room and sitting next to Karen again and taking her feet onto his lap and gently stroking and massaging them.
"I dint even know to be honest jaynes seen it though she liked it"
"okay then baby" he said laughing and kissing her feet.
Hahathey sure did! Sorry if some of it was spelt strangely or words changed! Done the last few updates via iPad and it's a nightmare typing on this thing!x
Once the film finished it was about half 6 and both them were no longer tired and felt like they had a lot of energy all of a sudden.
"hey what happened to going out to dinner then, how about tonight seeing as we never got round to it last night, and we'll be headed back home tomorrow..." chris said kissing Karens feet again.
"oohhh yes that would be lovely chris, I take it you have somewhere in mind"
"what makes you say that"
"well this whole surprise weekend away has come out of no where so I just figured... Shall I go and get changed then" she said playfully slapping chris's thigh.
"yep... Go glam yourself up" he said cheekily.
She went up to the bedroom and got out her dress from the bottom of the bag, hoping it wasn't too creased up, but wished she'd got it out and hung it up when they'd arrived last night, but it was too late for thinking like that. She got out her giant pot of dove moisturiser and applied it all over body, leaving her skin even more smooth and silky than it was in the first place. Then she slipped on the sexy black halter neck chiffon dress which had a ruched up bit of fabric that clinched in her tiny waist. The length of the skirt came about and inch above the knee, and the tight satin fabric underneath the chiffon hugged her slender figure tightly, and had about a 3 inch slit at the back. Karen then quickly ran the straighteners through her hair, flicking the edges inward towards her face, and gave herself a side parting and pushed her fringe to one side. Next: make up. A slight bit of light foundation, smokey eyeshadow and thick black mascara, finished with a bit of shiny lippy and she was all ready to go...
Walking through the living room door chris was blown away by his gorgeous girlfriend he really couldn't believe his luck...
"oh come here gorgeous! I really don't know what I did to ever deserve you..."
"right come on now you need to get yourself ready I don't fancy going out to dinner with you dressed in a dressing gown thanks!"
"yep course honey I'm going to get dressed now..." he promised and went to go and get changed and ready to spend a lovely evening with his amazing girlfriend. He put on his best smart jeans, which Karen had picked out and bought for him, they fitted him perfectly.p with a straight leg.he then pulled on his White casual shirt, and rolled up the sleeves just how Karen liked them, and left a button undone to reveal a bit more of his chest. He put on a bit of aftershave and grabbed his jacket before going down to meet Karen who was just putting her heels on and getting her coat.
"ooh come here sexy look at you in your new jeans I love them" she said kissing him tenderly.
"right come on let's go" he said quickly putting his shoes on.
"how come your driving?" karen said surprised as he opened the car door for Karen to get in.
"because we're only having dinner I'll just have a glass of wine with dinner and then we can come back and have another lovely evening... We better get some actual sleep tonight though so I've got enough energy in me to drive home"
"aw baby I can't believe all this, I've had such an amazing time it's been lovely to not have anything to worry about, we should do this more often..." she said giving him a quick kiss before they set off. "where are you taking me anyway"
"aw it's just a little place down the road it'll take about a 5 minute drive...it's magical"
Thought id be good to you all and do a little update before anyone else is up...x
Chris pulled up outside a smallish restaurant, it looked a bit More modern than where they were staying, and as they walked inside they were immediately greeted by a young man dressed in smart clothing with a name badge that read 'matt'.
"hello how can I help you?" he asked as he approached them at the front of the restaurant whilst holding an important looking clipboard. They could see the place wasn't at all busy, just a few tables taken up, but it was still early.
"we'd like a table for two please," chris asked, their arms were now interlocked.
"well as you can see we're not very busy so you've got a lot of options, how about the one by the window over there?" he said pointing in the direction toward the back of the restuarant, the table was almost isolated from the rest but it looked cosy, it was situated right by the fire which was on.
"yes that looks lovely, thank you" chris replied as they were soon directed to the table.
"would you like to order a drink for now? I'll be back with a menu in a second"
"yes please I'll just have a diet coke for the moment please"
"and the same for me thanks"
"so where did you find out about this place then" Karen said as they held hands across the table.
"like I said, I know people..." he said leaning over to kiss her.
"ok here's your menu for this evening and two diet cokes for you both..." matt said as he placed the two drinks in tall glasses into the middle of their small table, and passed them both a menu, which was printed on parchment paper and written in a scrolly font.
"just call when youre ready to make your orders" he said and then walked away.
"hmmm what are you having baby" chris mused over the menu carefully.
"I don't know...I'm thinking the steak and kidney pie.."
Chris called the waiter over about 10 minutes later after a long musing over the varied menu.
"have you made your decisions now"
"yes please I'll have the steak and kidney pie"
"and I'll have the rump steak please... And a glass of red wine for the lady, whatever you recommend... Thank you"
"thank you... It'll be about. 40 minute wait I hope you dont mind we seemed to have filled up a bit and short of staff tonight" he explained apologetically.
"oh no worries at all, honestly it's fine" and with that he walked away the order tightly in his hand.
"this is amazing..." Karen said again, she couldn't get over it.
"I know you keep saying it baby, and you're very welcome you know, what do you say we come back here when dancing on ice has finished eh..."
"I'd like that a lot" she admitted.
"well there you go then... It's a date, I promise" he said leaning over the table to kiss karen.
They chatted while they waiting for the food, getting all romantic together, their hands still held together across the table, and occasionally they'd take a few sips of their diet cokes in the long glasses, with specially requested straws.
"I love you so so much baby girl do you know that" chris said as they kissed intesly. Karen kicked off her shoes under the table and her beautiful slender feet lifted into the air, she wandered her feet up and down his thigh, playing happily and cheekily.
"sorry for interrupting you..." the waiter had arrived with their food, clearing his throat subtly.
"ooh,erm, I'm sorry" chris said slowly breaking off the kiss, and they both awkwardly turned around to stare at the waiter who was also looking a little awkward.
"thanks ever so much" Karen said blushing slightly and taking the plate gladly, the smell of the wonderful food making them both suddenly hungry.
"thank you" chris said kindly taking his plate and they both watched the waiter walk away.
"chris this is delicious" Karen said with her mouth watering, and chris agreeing.
The dinner was beautiful; they passed on dessert though, between them they had drunk the whole bottle of wine of the finest kind, about 3 medium sized glasses each.
"Chris I think you've drank far too much you've gotta drive back" Karen said taking the last gulp of her wine and looking at the bottle in front of her, not quite believing it was totally empty already.
"Oh I'll be fine don't worry we've only got to go down the road haven't we, it'll be fine" he reassured her, the wine hadn't gone to his head yet so it probably be safe to drive.
"can we have a bill please" Chris asked the waiter beckoning him over.
"yes here you go" he said 5 minutes later placing the bill on the table, with two little mints on the side which Karen took one of.
"Make sure you leave a tip" Karen reminded him as Chris put some cash on the little plate and then took his mint as well. He didn't even like them but he always took them just for the sake of them being there.
"okay are you ready to go babe?" Chris said standing up behind his chair and putting his coat on, then taking Karen's coat off the back of the chair whilst she stood up, then proceeded to drape it over her shoulders, a true gentleman on a date, thought Karen.
"Yep, quick before all that alcohol goes to your head, i know what you're like," Karen said chuckling.
"Okay okay" he said hurrying her to exit and ushering her towards the car. They were back to the house in about two minutes, it didn't take them long at all, and they both took their coats and shoes off and sat in front of the warm open fire again, switching the television on to see what was on - there wasn't much so they just stuck to the music channel Magic, and were much more interested in kissing and pleasuring each other both giggling like mad, but still having lots of fun.
"Can we move it to the bedroom pretty please..." Chris said playfully in between kissing his girlfriend.
"Sure baby, i love you"
And then he carried Karen up the stairs again, putting out the fire first this time, he'd a feeling they wouldn't be back downstairs till the morning. He laid her down on the bed and laid himself down next to Karen, stroking the side of her smooth face, placing kisses down her neck and chest. His hands wondered over her body over the chiffon fabric of her beautiful dress, resisting the temptation to rip it off her glowing body.
"i love you so, so much" he declared proudly, still giving her tender kisses as she laid and stared at him fondly, giving him the odd kiss back.
"Morning my sexy prince" Karen said as she woke up once more to the sunlight shining through the sheer curtains.
"Morning baby..." Chris mumbled, still half asleep as Karen was as bright as a button and it had just turned 9am. "What time is it"
"9"
"You're awake early..." he said with his eyes still shut, he couldn't bring himself to be exposed to the world yet, he was still worn out from the previous night... "did you sleep well honey?" he asked.
"Yes thank you... feeling it a bit though" she said flirtatiously placing a good morning kiss on his slightly stubbly cheek.
"I know, last night was fantastic, i love you"
"i love you too so much..."
"what time do we have to be out of here" Karen wondered, lying on her left side to face Chris, leaning on her elbow.
"oh there's no rush, i'm thinking we get going about 3 so i don't have to drive to far in the dark, so we have all day practically to relax and get packed up before we leave... how does that sound?" he said opening one eye and placing a kiss on Karen's cheek.
"That sounds perfect... just like this whole weekend has been..."
"Karen baby i'm shattered can't we have another hour in bed..." Chris asked cheekily letting out a huge yawn and closing his eyes falling back on the bed and pulling the duvet over his head.
"You can honey... I'm going to walk down the shop and get us some egg and bacon, and i'll come back and do you a lovely cooked breakfast in bed... how does that sound?"
"and when you get back can we get in the Jacuzzi again?" Chris asked with an innocent look on his face.
"of course... that will be lovely i'm sure..." she said imagining it now. "i'll be back in a while okay? you'd better catch some more sleep otherwise you won't be fit to drive us home all that way later will you?" Karen said understandingly, placing a quick kiss on his cheek, and tucking up the duvet around him, and then she quickly grabbed her clothes and went into the bathroom to have a quick wash and change, and do her hair, before quickly leaving the house with her coat draped over her shoulders to protect from the cold breeze, and knee high brown boots, that zipped up on the inside.
Karen strolled down the road quite briskly to escape the cold breezes and the mist that was hanging in the air, a dull January morning. She hurried down the shop as she got closer, it was freezing and her cheeks had turned a rosy red colour in the cold, and her hands were frozen, she had no gloves. She was incredibly grateful to get into the little handy shop, it was toasty and warm in there and looked as if it would have everything she needed to take back, so did a bit of shopping and then thought she'd treat herself to a magazine, as any woman would, so she made her way over to the news stand, reading the cover stories and trying to decide which one to get, which was a difficult task, so she picked up a few and took everything to the counter. Before she got there she realised she'd better take Chris back something seeing as she'd got the magazines for herself... she picked up a copy of the sun and a magazine about formula 1 cars, and then continued to the check out, flicking through the paper as she waited in the longish que.
"Chris? oh Chris please pick up the phone i'm begging you please..." she pleaded desperately as she found an article in the first couple of pages of the newspaper, not knowing what to do.
Eventually after 5 missed calls and voice mails waiting for him, Chris decided to pick up the phone, sleepily reaching over to the bedside table. He saw they were all from Karen along with about 10 text messages as well and couldn't believe it. What had happened? Where was she? What was the problem? Was she in the car? Still at the shop? Why had she rung so many times? She could have just come back home couldn't she and talked to him then? All these questions were whizzing around in his head as he sat and stared at his phone, then frantically trying to dial the number, but his hands were shaking which made it so much more difficult. Luckily it only took him a few minutes, and Karen answered within the first ring.
"Karen?!! Karen what's the matter? Tell me what's wrong I'm worried sick here!" he said almost shouting, getting more and more worried as he spoke.
"Oh my god Chris, you are going to hate this you really are... I was just going to get you the newspaper because I got myself some magazines and i'm in the que at the checkout now and then i was reading the newspaper and i wish i hadn't i really do i didn't want to see it Chris i didn't-"
"Karen calm down baby...Just tell me what's the matter! Do you want me to come and get you? Where are you?"
"It's... its Jill" she whimpered down the phone, she felt like collapsing as she stared at the open page, and she was next in the que, and the checkout woman was trying to get Karen's attention and failing miserably, she was too much in shock, so the lady took the phone from Karen's ear gently easing it away to talk to Chris.
"Erm excuse me?"
"Erm yes who's speaking please?" Chris asked confusedly.
"Sorry... I'm working at the checkout in the shop your wife-"
"Oh no we're not..."
"Sorry, your girlfriend? sister?"
"Girlfriend" Chris confirmed.
"Okay right well your girlfriend is in a bit of a trance here... it's something she's seen in the paper i don't know what..." the woman went on trying to work out what was bothering Karen.
"What's the matter? she was trying to tell me but I don't know what it is she didn't get that far. Do you want me to come and get her? We're staying in a private hotel just up the road and I know where she is, I'll be about 10 minutes, if you could just look after her for a minute or two I'd be incredibly grateful" Chris went on.
"Of course, I'll just sort the shopping out and then sit her down here, i think you need to hurry"
"Okay bye, thank you ever so much" Chris said quickly hanging up the phone and changing into some clothes quickly, splashed some water over his face to try and wake himself up a bit more, before pulling his coat and shoes on and running out to the car, driving as quick as he could up to the shop, luckily Karen was in the shop he thought she was.
"Karen! Karen what's the matter honey?" he said rushing into the shop as fast as he possibly could, to see Karen sitting in a chair in the corner of the shop which the lady had kindly put there for her, and packed up all the shopping, Karen had just about managed to hand over some cash to pay for it all.
"Right let's get you back quickly and you can tell me whatever's the matter" he said seriously concerned about her, taking her hand and thanking the woman who had managed to get back behind the counter and the que had grown again.
As soon as Chris had got Karen safely inside with 4 bags of shopping, he sat her down on the sofa after they'd both taken their shoes and coats off and he demanded to find out what the hell was going on, he was still shaken up himself with all the panic of Karen's overreaction.
"What is the matter? Is it something in the paper? Show me what?" he said as he found the bag with the paper in, and began to flick through the pages in a desperate hope to find out what had spooked Karen so much. About 6 pages in, he found it.
'I LEFT DEAN AND I'M PROUD OF IT, IT'S HIS LOSS'
Read the headline for the page. He stared at it reading the first few paragraphs.
'Yes it's true. We're not together anymore, no the divorce papers are not signed yet. Yes, the rumors are true, Dean is sleeping with that helpless, cold, slag, bitch, Karen Barber.'
Chris was shocked at the words but something still made him have the urge to read on, despite how already fuming he was with Jill his ex for saying these things about his beautiful Karen.
'I've moved on, I'm not going to let either of them get in the way of my life. I left Dean and I'm proud of it, it's his loss. I'm moving to Canada tomorrow with the kids and I'm engaged.'
It was this part that Chris stopped in his tracks. She couldn't take the kids away from him! A tear leaked from the corner of his eye, just thinking about never seeing his babies again. Surely it was illegal? He had to see his beautiful children, it'd been tough enough on him living without them for a few weeks, let alone the rest of his life, their lives. He'd always been there for them - even when dancing on ice was in season, he'd been there for them all the time, even with the long hours he spent at the rink, he'd still make time in his busy schedule to spend time with them. He wondered how his boys were doing, if they missed him... Of course they did. He had to speak to Jill before she left, wherever she was supposedly going to take them. If she actually meant tomorrow like it said in the article, when would she be leaving? Later that day? Or maybe the statement and the information had been published a week ago and it hadn't made it to the papers yet. Could that happen? he had no idea what was happening, he just had to get hold of Jill and convince her not to go, or at least not with the children. Him and Karen could look after the boys right? And she could take the new baby with her and they can live as a supposedly happy little family, far, far away. But no, he could never do that to his own children, have them never see their mum again? It was going to take a lot of thinking through...
