Harlots: We all ship Charlotte and Lady Fitz now, yes?

That tender moment between Lady Fitzwilliam and Charlotte Wells on last week’s Harlots has us all hoping for a happy ending.

Lots of shocking things happened on the sixth episode of Harlots season 2. Amelia got stabbed. Margaret confessed to murder and went to jail. Cherry revealed that she is loyal to no one but herself. Lydia discovered Charlotte’s long con. And Lucy… well, Lucy kept right on making terrible choices.

So, it’s saying something that one of the episode’s biggest — and most welcome — surprises didn’t have anything to do with any of those things. It was the small, sweet moment in which Charlotte and Lady Isabella Fitzwilliam finally kissed.

The two women developed a genuine friendship over the course of season 2, as Lady Fitz helped Charlotte in her (ultimately failed) attempt to bring down Lydia Quigley. And pair always had an interesting chemistry — Charlotte was openly fascinated by her, and Lady Fitz seemed oddly jealous of her brother’s interest in the harlot.

There was always a feeling of something between them, we just never quite had a label for what it was. Until now. Following Isabella’s confession that her brother was the father of the secret child she had sent away, the two women comforted one another about their current sad states in life. Their conversation ended with Charlotte offering to remove the Marquess’ hold over Lady Fitz, and kissing her.

It was surprising how inevitable this moment felt, once it happened. (And how strangely sweet at the same time.)

Even the official Harlots Twitter account seems to agree.

Bless Harlots for leaning so hard into LGBTQ relationships this season — Amelia and Violet are the only other real romance on the show right now — as beacons of hope in a dark, and oppressive time. These women live in a world where they largely have to take their joy as they find it,

Do Charlotte and Isabella have a real future together? Not likely. Even if they lived in a time period that was more open to same-sex relationships, their circumstances are too different, considering one is a society lady and one is a harlot. And that’s without adding in Lady Fitz’s awful brother, his abusive nature and his apparent desire to keep Charlotte for himself.

But in a season where so many awful things have happened to the characters we care about, it’s just really nice to finally see two of the most tortured get a genuine moment of peace together. Both Charlotte and Isabella are so often required to be people they aren’t, for the benefit or entertainment of others, that it feels like a gift to get to see them be themselves with one another.

Here’s hoping we get to do some more before the season’s over.

New episodes of Harlots stream every Wednesday on Hulu.