Disclaimer: Not mine, never will be.
This is my first fic. Just a little christmas fluff.
Twelve days of Christmas
Day one; Tuesday, twelve drummers drumming
"Ice skating!"
Sandra's exclamation rang around the office, Jack and Brian looked up from their desks and glanced at each other with quizicle expressions, Brian shrugged.
"No idea." He said
Just then, the owner of the exclamation marched out of her office and stood in front of the white board, glaring at it as if it had insulted her in some way.
"Problem?" Asked Jack.
"Ask him." She replied, pointing at Gerry, who had just followed her from the office and headed straight for the fire exit.
"Well, " He started, lighting up, "You know they have put an ice skating rink in the park for Christmas?"
"Oh I've seen that, Esther wants to go, they've set up a Christmas market and everything, you know, carol singers, chestnuts the works, very traditional" Brian butted in.
"Bah humbug!" Jack replied, then both went silent as Sandra glared at them.
"Exactly!" Gerry replied "Paula has been on working double shifts most of this week, someone called in sick, she's exhausted, so I told little Gerry that I would take him on Saturday, you know, give Paula a bit of quiet time, let her catch up with all the Christmas stuff she has still got to do."
"Very noble" Jack quipped, "And the problem is?"
"Well, I went along this morning to see if I had to get tickets, and they asked me how old Gerry is, when I told them he is six, they said he can't go on alone as he's under eight, something to do with health and safety, he needs an adult skating with him." Gerry rolled his eyes, "Anyway, I remembered that Sandra mentioned how she used to skate a little while back, so I bought an adult and child ticket."
"I was fifteen!" Sandra shouted, "I havn't been near a pair of skates for thirty years!"
Jack and Brian laughed.
"I'm sure they will refund your tickets." Jack reasured Gerry.
"Oh thats not the end of it." Sandra put in, "Go on Gerry, tell them the rest." Gerry looked a bit sheepish.
"Well, I may have already called Gerry and told him he is going skating on Saturday." Gerry put out his cigarette and took his place behind his desk, hoping it may act as a sort of shield.
"Well you had better start working your charm around the station, because there is no way I'm going to risk broken bones for you."
"Oh come on Sandra, You can't disappoint little Gerry." Jack knew how to tug on Sandra's concience, she hated letting people down.
"I'm sure it's just like riding a bike, you'll soon remember." Added Brian with a grin.
"They're right, you'll be brilliant!" Gerry put in, hopefully.
"If it's so easy, why don't you do it?" She retorted.
"Look, if I was taking Gerry to the dog races, or I poker game, I'd be fine, but skating is way out of my league. To ice skate you need a certain poise and balance, the ability to be as graceful as a swan, like a ballet dancer..."
"Ok, Ok! just stop with the buttering up. If you can't find anyone else, I'll do my best, but no promises." Sandra held her hands up in defeat and retreated to her office, trying to ingore Gerry punching the air and Jack and Brians laughs. "But if this paperwork isn't done, forget it because you'll all be working on Saturday!"
Day two; Wednesday, eleven pipers piping
This is so stupid!
Sandra's thoughts rang around her head like alarm bells as she sat on a damp bench and tied up her rented skates, she had images running around inside her mind of turning up at work tomorrow with both arms in plaster or on crutches, or both.
Can you use crutches with your arms in plaster? She wondered for a moment, before shaking her head, right, time to concentrate. She stood up and instantly felt her legs wobble and her knees turn to jelly.
"Come on feet, lets go, we can do this." She tried to give herself a little pep talk, willing herself to move. She half staggered, half tripped her way to the ice.
She paused for a moment at the barrier, scanning the crowd for anybody who may recognise her, feeling sure she would remain anonymous she pulled her wooly hat further down over her head and gingerly stepped out onto the ice, then instantly started doing a strange version of the can-can with whirling arms before grasping the barrier with all her might.
"Really stupid!" She said out loud before moving forward, keeping one hand on the barrier. She had got about six feet before two boys brushed against her, sending her into another pinwheel, she grasped for the barrier, but instead found a pair of hands which halted her fall and steadied her.
"I told you two to watch where you are going, now appologise and be more careful." A very familiar voice spoke to the boys, who both came back with sheepish looks on their faces. She felt herself shrink back into her hat and collar, hoping her white knight wouldn't pay too much attention to her and she could escape from the ice with her dignity intact.
"Sorry." Said the older boy who was about twelve.
"Yeah, we're really sorry" Said the other, who was a couple of years younger, they both looked at the voice for affirmation that they could get away.
"Go!" The voice said "And slow down!" he called to their retreating backs. "I'm really sorry about them, I hope you are alright." He moved around in front of her, keeping one hand on her elbow to stop her falling.
Sandra realised she was going to have to reveal herself to her saviour if she didn't want to appear completely rude to him. She looked up into the face of a very surprised DAC Robert Strickland.
"It's ok, and thankyou for helping me, but I think I'm going to call it a day, this is obviously not for me, I'm going to end up in casualty at this rate." She joked half heartedly.
"I didn't know you skated."
" Well, obviosly I don't!" she replied a little sharply, then felt a pang of guilt as he flinched slightly, after all he was only trying to help her. "At least not now, I used to many moons ago and I foolishly thought I could relearn in time for Saturday." She added more softly.
"Why Saturday?" He asked, she sighed, she may as well come clean.
"Gerry promised he would take Little Gerry skating this Saturday, but he needs someone to chaperone him on the ice. Sometime ago I must have mentioned how I used to skate, so Gerry volunteered me."
"And because you don't want to disappoint anyone, here you are." Strickland knew Sandra's one weakness was her inability to show any weakness, especially when it came to the people close to her, she would go above and beyond to avoid letting anyone down. It was one of the things which equally infuriated him and endeared her to him, her stuborn refusal to back away from anything.
"Here I am, doing my best not to break anything."
"You need to relax, you're too tense."
"You skate?" She stared at him in surpise.
He smiled at her "My father was Canadian, he came to Oxford to study, met my mother there and stayed. Ice hockey was a passion of his, I was skating as soon as I could walk."
Sandra stared at him, she had learned more about him in the last ten minutes than the last six years of working with him.
"Your boys skate too I see." She watched the two boys larking about a little distance away.
"Yes, but they sometimes forget that not everybody can, I'll be back in a moment. Promise you'll still be here when I get back?"
"I'm not moving from this spot without help, trust me!" She laughed. He smiled and glided off to where the boys were darting about. He stopped them and said a few stern words, then stopped and looked back towards her before saying something back to the older boy, the younger one then said something before they both moved off. Strickland skated back to her, shaking his head.
"I swear they get worse." He mumbled to her.
"Your eldest said something about me?" she queried.
"Thats Adam, he asked if I had pulled." He replied, his face flushing with embarrasment, "Ben told me it was about time, I'm not getting any younger. Cheeky buggers." She couldn't help but laugh.
"What did you tell them?"
"To mind their own business and bugger off." He replied with affection. "Anyway, as I was saying, you need to relax, bend your knees slightly, if you feel like your going to fall, just lean forward a bit and put your hands on your knees, like this." He glided away from her a bit before leaning forward and put his hands on his knees, then he straightened up and glided back to her. She noticed he was wearing a very smart but well worn pair of hockey skates, he must know how to skate well. problem solved! she thought.
"Maybe you could chaperone Gerry on Saturday, save me from broken bones." She pleaded in a quiet voice. He laughed.
"You think Gerry would trust me with his grandson? I'm ok for buying the odd pint or two, or being the office bad guy, but we both know how he feels about me." His mouth turned up slightly at the corners, but his eyes showed the hurt he was trying to hide.
"It really bothers you, doesn't it, what they think of you?"
"Of course it does, they are three of the best officers to have ever walked the beat, especially Jack. Between you, you have managed to solve cases which have bested all the rest." He flushed. "Anyway, if you have promised Gerry, then we had better get you skating."
He held out his hand for her to take, she paused for a moment before grasping it and let go of the barrier. Here goes nothing. she thought.
Day three; Thursday, ten lords a leaping
The next morning, Sandra sat at her desk, she was early and had beaten the boys to work for once. the freshly made cup of coffee steamed in front of her as she stared at the papers on her desk, one thought rang through her mind, God I ache! Her legs felt like jelly, when she had woken up that morning she really thought she was going to have to call in sick, she had to have a hot bath to try to ease her muscles.
She remembered the previous evening. After the unexpected meeting with her boss, she had spent half a hour on the ice re-learning how to skate, it had soon come back to her once she had gotten over the sheer terror of falling and she had really enjoyed the company of her DAC and his cheeky but endearing offspring, he had introduced them properly and explained who she was. He was a different person in their company, totally relaxed and at ease, no pretense or show, no face to maintain. After the skating, they had wandered around the market and enjoyed a turkey and cranberry roll, she had learned that the boys were due to fly out to the states today with their mother and step-father to spend christmas in New York with his family, so Strickland had had an early Christmas with them, which had explained his absence from work for the previous day. They were exited to go, but sad to leave their Dad for Christmas. It was nice Sandra thought, that though his marriage had broken up when the boys were still relatively small, he was still a huge part of their lives, and they obviously thought the world of him, and he of them. And she had felt a little bit privaleged to be allowed to be a witness to that. The evening had ended with her agreeing to meet him at the ice rink tonight for some more practice. If I can walk! she thought.
"Morning!" Came a cheery voice from the outer room, Gerry poked his head round her door, "I was going to offer coffee, but I see you're all set."
"Yes thanks." She replied, "Oh and I've decided that I will give it a go on Saturday, so long as you havn't found anyone else."
"Brilliant!" He called back "It will be great, you'll see, you will soon pick it up again, I'm sure of it."
"Who will pick what up?" Brian asked, as he wheeled his bike through the door.
"Sandra has said she'll skate with Gerry."
"Thats great, perhaps we could all come along, you know, morale support like." He grinned.
"Who are we supporting?" Asked Jack as he came in and hung up his jacket.
"Sandra, skating on Saturday." Brian replied.
"With little Gerry." Added Gerry.
"Bloody hell, why don't you put a notice in the newspaper, just in case somebody doesn't know yet." Sandra called from the office. She walked out of her haven, hoping she was doing a good job of disguising the fact that her legs had seemingly turned to wood while she had been sat down.
"What's happened to you?" Jack asked. Great she thought, like I could get anything past them.
"Just a little stiff this morning, thats all." She replied with a shrug.
"Oh yes!" Gerry winked at her, "Anyone we know?"
"Oh shut up! It's nothing like that, a little too much exercise, thats all." The moment she said the words, she wished she could pull them back. She shut her eyes and waited.
"Exercise eh! I've heard it called some things.!" Gerry was in his element, teasing was a speciality of his, Brian and Jack were openly enjoying the moment. "So I take it there is a gentleman out there, equally achy this morning?"
"Three actually!" She stated as she walked back into her office, leaving them dumbstruck, she couldn't resist knowing that their minds were working overtime right now, she wasn't going to correct them. "And if these reports arn't cleared up by Friday, me and Gerry jnr will be going skating without you!" She closed her office door and smiled. If only they knew.
She glanced at the clock, ten to five, close enough.
"Right guys, I think we can call that a day."
"Somewhere to be?" Jack asked.
"I have to meet somebody."
"Just one?" Gerry grinned, he knew she was pulling their legs.
"Just one tonight, the other two are unavailable."
"Well, I don't mind, me and Esther are off out tonight." Brian was already putting on his scarf, "See you all in the morning." He called as he disappeared out the door, the back wheel of his bike the last to go.
"Night!" The other three chorused as he left.
"I'm off to Paula's, I'm cooking dinner for her and Gerry. Night all." Gerry said as he put on his coat "Don't do anything I wouldn't do!" He winked as he left.
"Not a chance." Sandra muttered as she rinsed out the mugs. She stopped and looked up as she felt Jacks eyes on her. "What?" She asked.
"I hope you know what you are doing, I know when you are hiding things from us."
Sandra sighed, she had known Jack most of her life, he and Mary had been a rock to her when her Dad had died.
"I was practising ice skating last night, thats why my legs ached this morning, and my 'dates' were a friend and his two children who I happened to meet there." She explained.
"Oh, I see, and you couldn't tell us that?"
"Well, it was more fun this way, especially with Gerry trying to wind me up."
"Your secret is safe with me." Jack winked as he left.
Sandra couldn't help but smile.
It was nearly seven by the time she got to the park, they had arranged to meet at seven, but she knew Strickland would be early, he always was. She went to the desk to hand her boots in and collect some skates, she cast her eyes around looking for him. It was strange, but she was really looking foward to this evening, if anyone had told her a week ago that she would be looking forward to spending an hour alone in her bosses company she would have laughed outright at them, she just hoped that without his kids present he wouldn't revert to the Robert Strickland they had to deal with in the office.
She took the skates the assistant gave her, then went to the benches, they were damp again, the downfall of an outdoor rink. She laced them up and stood, still a bit shakey but better than yesterday. She looked around for him again, she hadn't seen him all day, she knew he had booked the day off to see his kids off from Gatwick, she hoped he hadn't forgotten about tonight. She was relieved when she caught sight of his familiar figure standing by the barrier and made her way over to him.
"Hi." she said as she got to him "Sorry if i'm a bit late." He turned and smiled at her.
"No, your not late, the session is only just starting, are you ready?"
"As I'll ever be, but I'll warn you now, I ached so badly this morning, I don't know how long I'll last."
"I'm sorry if we pushed too hard last night." He frowned, "Perhaps we should give it a rest tonight."
"Not a chance, I've been looking forward to this all day." She smiled at him, he smiled back shyly, but his eyes shone as though she had given him all his Christmas presents in one go.
"Lets get started then, but if you start to ache, let me know and we'll take a break." He pushed away from the side and waited for her with his hand outstretched, she followed, much more gracefully than the day before and took the offered hand as they started to skate.
"Brian, look at this, it would be a lovely present for Martha don't you think?" Esther held up a handmade scarf. Brian turned and looked at her,
"Who's Martha?"
"Oh Brian, it's Mark's girlfriend, you know, she came for dinner last month."
"I thought her name was Claire."
"Thats why I write the Christmas cards."
Brian shrugged and looked around, the sights and sounds of Christmas filled his ears, normally he didn't like crowds but he was enjoying this, everybody seemed friendlier, more at ease.
"Oh Brian look! there's the skating rink, lets go and have a look." Esther paid for the scarf and grasped Brian's hand and started to pull him towards the viewing area.
"Couldn't we have a turkey roll first?" Brian complained as they stood behind the barrier watching the skaters.
"There's plenty of time for that. Maybe we should come on Saturday to watch Sandra and little Gerry."
"I'm not sure Sandra will like that, I think she's felt a bit shanghied into the whole thing."
"It'll be fine I'm sure. Oh don't they look like they're all having such a good time, it's so romantic ice skating outside at Christmas."
"If you say so."
Esther watched the crowd skating, children and their parents, young couples, some not so young couples, all having a wonderful time, she hummed along with the Cristmas carol she could hear over the noise of the fair. Then she caught sight of a familiar face in the throng.
"Brian, Isn't that Sandra over there?"
"Blimey, your right, she must be getting a bit of practise in."
"Who is that she's with? He seems familiar."
"Brian looked at the man his wife had pointed out." He blinked then looked again. "Bloody hell! Lets get out of here before they see us." He turned to Esther to pull her away to find her waving at Sandra. He looked back and saw Sandra with a deer in headlights look on her face, gingerly waving back. He closed his eyes.
"What's wrong?" Esther asked innocently.
"That's Strickland! That's what's wrong!"
"Oh, your boss, of course, I remember now, That retirement party of your friend we went to last year, he was there. You introduced us. He was very charming I recall." She looked back at the couple now skating towards them. "They look very good together don't they?"
"Don't! Oh this is a nightmare, what am I going to tell the others?"
"Why do you have to tell them anything?" Esther looked at him, "you're not on probation." She smiled as Sandra got to them. "How lovely to see you here, and you Mr Strickland."
"Please, call me Robert." Strickland smiled.
"You skate beautifully." Esther smiled at Sandra, who blushed.
"Thanks to Robert, we bumped into each here last night, He's been giving me lessons, until then I was like Bambi on ice."
"So that's why you were all achy this morning!" Exclaimed Brian, "Nothing to do with ..." He was silenced by a glare from Sandra.
"With what?" Robert and Esther inquired at the same time. Sandra sighed.
"When I turned up at the office this morning, barely able to walk, the guys may have jumped to a certain conclusion as to why I was in that state, and I may have allowed them to continue with that train of thought." She admitted, not able to hide the smile which she couldn't supress when she recalled their stunned faces this morning. Esther laughed.
"I'll bet it was Gerry who came up with that explanation."
"Yes, Jack has already rumbled me, though."
"You said there was three men." Accused Brian. Robert joined in the laughing.
"That would be Adam and Ben, my sons. I had them with me yesterday, though at ten and twelve I wouldn't label them as men yet."
"I didn't say men, I just said I had been doing too much exercise with three friends, you lot came up with the rest."
"Wait till I tell Gerry tomorrow, he'll feel proper daft." Brian laughed, but Sandra shook her head.
"No, you can't tell him yet, I've got a few days fun left in this. My way of getting him back for volunteering me in the first place." she grinned her most wicked grin, "I hope I can count on your continued support."
"Oh, you can count me in!" Esther replied, "And you'll keep quiet won't you Brian?"
"I'll try, but you know how useless I am at these things." He paused, then added, "I feel a bit mean, leading Gerry on like that."
"Don't worry, Brian. When Gerry does rumble it, he'll have a good laugh about it, besides Sandra's doing him a favour after all." Esther assured him.
Strickland stood listening in amusement, Sandra and her team really were like a little family, quite happy to tease each other, but always there to back each other up in times of trouble. He dearly wished he could be more a part of the little group, but his role as supervisor constantly put him at odds with the old school style of the three men, and so by default with Sandra, who would defend them to the bitter end. He was their shield, he put up with the constant meetings with the administrators over appropriate practices, he deflected the questions from the bean-counters over the units constant overspend, he rubbed shoulders with the good and great and downright annoying so that he would have a few favours to call in when the frying pan hit the fire. They would never know though, he was good at playing the buffoon, the upper class twit, laughing at all the right jokes, rubbing shoulders with those he would rather punch. He had spent most of his life hiding who he really was, and had got damn good at it.
But he was feeling something different now, these past two evenings he had spent with Sandra had felt liberating, he had been himself and had a good time, the only people he had ever felt at ease showing his true self to was his boys, because they had never demanded he ever be anything else. Sandra had seen a little bit of that, and she must have liked it because she had come back for a second evening with just him.
He had always had a soft spot for her, even in their first few months of working together despite the fact he had still been married back then, though that was already on the way out. He had known his wife had another man and it was only a matter of time. Sure enough, not even a year later he was divorced and Kay was on husband number two. He was still unsure what had gone wrong, he had done his very best to give his wife everything she had ever wanted, worked his hardest to climb the social and promotional ladder to please her high class parents and devoted himself to being the best father he could possibly be. Well one out of three wasn't bad, but it seemed to him that his best just hadn't been good enough.
"Goodbye, Robert. We'll leave you to enjoy the rest of the evening." Esther's voice brought him back to focus. He smiled as she and Brian moved off into the crowd.
"Are you alright? You seemed a million miles away for a moment there." Sandra asked with a worried frown.
"I'm sorry. I Hope I didn't appear rude, I just got lost in my thoughts."
"They didn't notice a thing. I hope I havn't embarrassed you with my little practical joke, it was spur of the moment, I just get so fed up of them thinking I'm over the hill I like to wake them up now and again."
"I can't believe they think of you as old, you're the most amazing woman I know." He flushed and dipped his eyes, astonished that he had just admitted that. Sandra beamed at him.
"Thankyou, that means a lot to me. I don't know what is happening here, but I am really enjoying myself, come on, lets skate before they kick us off the ice, then we can get something to eat."
She took hold of his hand again and they glided back onto the ice.