Disclaimer _ I don't own New Tricks. All copyright belongs to BBC Television and Wall to Wall. No copyright infringement is intended nor should be inferred.
Reflections
Sandra walked around her living room quietly picking up various debris from the curry night she had shared with her team that evening. She had been relieved when Gerry had suggested they do something to celebrate her anniversary of being cancer free. She sighed, knowing that just because the cancer wasn't detectable and she wasn't on any treatment other than daily tablets she would never really feel free of it. She closed her eyes, thinking of how she and Sasha had laughed as the boys had regaled them with stories of their early days in the force. Not for the first time she was amazed Steve, Gerry and Ted had not ended up in prison themselves.
"You ok?"
She turned to see Gerry watching her from the kitchen doorway.
"Yeah." She smiled. "You?"
"Yeah." He watched her for a moment, unsure if she was really telling him the truth. Sandra Pullman had a way of keeping everyone out. She rarely, if ever dropped her guard with anyone. Occasionally Jack would see through her or Esther would say something but even with the change in their relationship he wasn't always sure he knew what was going on with her. She turned away, picking up glasses from the coffee table.
"It was good night. Nice to have us all together."
"Yeah."
"Can you say something other than yeah?" She teased as he rolled his eyes.
"I'm doing the dishes." She shrugged as he disappeared off into the kitchen. It had been a good night, she had loved having the people closest to her there that night but she couldn't shake the feeling that she was missing something. She didn't know what, but something wasn't quite right.
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Ted walked into the office the next morning, relieved that he wasn't the first there. He was keen to get to work on their latest case but seeing as Strickland hadn't given them anything since the court case for their previous case had finished he wasn't really sure what to do with himself.
"Morning Jack!"
"Kettle just boiled." Jack answered. The elder statesman of the team Jack Halford was rarely not the first to arrive. "Last night."
"What about it?" Ted turned to him. "Gerry makes a mean Vindaloo. I thought my Pat was going to be up all night. Doesn't usually do spicy food. Seems ok though."
Jack pulled a face, not wanting to know anything about Ted's husbands misadventures with spicy food. Ted smirked.
"Gerry and Sandra."
"You think something was off?" Ted asked as Jack shrugged his shoulders. "Just something Esther said when I was giving her and Brian a lift home last night. Dunno, probably nothing. I don't think I will ever stop worrying about that girl."
"Do we ever stop worrying about our kids? Look at me and our Kelly."
"I'm not Sandra's father." Jack raised an eyebrow.
"No. Not biologically maybe, but neither is Pat and he worries sick about our Kelly." Ted explained as he filled his mug with boiling water. "You're more of a dad to her than you realise." Jack looked in his mug, as if it held the answer to everything. Ted settled down to his paperwork as he waited for the rest of the team to arrive.
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Strickland walked in to the UCOS office a few minutes after the last person, Steve arrived. The team were still in high spirits from the night before as he waited for them to settle. Sandra had disappeared into the office as soon as she had arrived, leaving Sasha and the boys to their own devices.
"I need to speak to Sandra." Strickland stated. Dan nodded towards the office.
"Good luck." Gerry huffed. "She's in a funny mood."
"Oh and why is that?" Jack asked. Strickland didn't wait to hear his reply, he had a fairly good idea why his Detective Superintendent wasn't a happy woman. He headed towards the office she shared with Sasha knowing that whether she liked it or not they would be reopening the case he had told her about the previous day. He just hoped, that on reflection it didn't break the team.
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A/N please review.