It's All In My Head

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Chapter 1

Alex was awoken by her alarm clock at 7:30am, and for a moment she thought that she was going to be late for work. Day off, she reminded herself. She had booked the day off so that she could decorate the house and bake Molly a birthday cake whilst she was at school. It was going to be a happy day.

She had a feeling that her daughter wouldn't hear from her father, their phone calls had become few and far between ever since his new girlfriend had coaxed him into going travelling; first Australia, then New Zealand, Thailand and finally to Canada to visit some of her family who had emigrated there. Pete had wanted to take Molly to Canada with him, saying that she only had a couple of weeks left of school before she broke up for the summer holidays, and that it wouldn't hurt for her to go on a trip a little early. No way was he taking Molly abroad; he might never bring her back!

Out on the landing the sound of Molly talking could be heard as she went downstairs, clearly on the phone, and it didn't take long for her to identify who the caller was.

"Thanks dad! I can't wait to come visit you over the summer; it's going to be great!"

Alex gritted her teeth and pulled back the duvet, swinging her legs out of the bed and slipping her feet into her slippers. She retrieved her dressing gown from the hook on the back of the bedroom door, and stepping out onto the landing she saw Molly descending the last few stairs, her mobile phone pinned to her ear.

"Happy birthday Molly" Alex smiled, waiting for her daughter to race back upstairs and give her a customary morning hug.

"Thanks mum!

Molly carried on without turning back, heading into the kitchen to make herself some breakfast. Alex knew she'd be having harsh words with Pete later, an angry email would do it but an argument over the phone when Molly wasn't around would be even better. She hated how he still riled her up, even after being divorced from him for ten years!

After breakfast and a shower they left the house to begin the drive to Molly's school. The journey was quiet, Molly not being her usual talkative self.

"So, you spoke to your dad this morning?"

Molly nodded "Yeah, he's sent me a card and a present through the post; he said it might take a little while longer to get here though"

"Well, Evan will be coming round tonight for your birthday dinner, so you'll get a present from him too"

The radio in the car burst into life, the sound of a male officer's voice coming through "Charlie 75 to DI Drake? IC1 male on Westminster Bridge threatening to jump, negotiator required"

"I'm sorry Molls, you're going to be a little late today" Alex sighed heavily, taking the first exit instead of going on straight "I never can get a day off"

The first thing that Alex noticed when she arrived was that other than a cordoned off section nearby the man, the bridge hadn't been closed off and traffic was still going on pretty much as normal. There was a lot of attention being brought the man stood on the other side of the railings and anyone could tell the man was becoming more agitated. She told Molly to stay in the car, not wanting her to be out by traffic.

"Fill me in!" Alex called to one of the officers as she approached, ducking under the police tap and fastening her hair back into a ponytail "This needs to be quick, I'm taking my daughter to school and I'm not even on duty today"

"The man's name is Malcom Wilkins; early forties, recently separated from his wife, up to his eyeballs in debt and currently in the process of being made redundant"

"Jesus Christ, no wonder he's threatening to jump"

Alex made her way towards the railings, trying not to take the man off guard. She could smell the alcohol on him the closer she got, and once she was a reasonable distance from him, she spoke "Malcom, my name is Detective Inspector Alex Drake, I was wondering if you would like to talk about whatever it is that's making you feel like you have to do this?"

"I feel like this because I have nothing left worth living for! I've lost everything!"

"You can find another job" she spoke simply "When you're going through a divorce every little set back seems like too much to handle, trust me because I've been there"

They talked for a little while, Malcom getting things off his chest as Alex stood and listened. Before either of them realised, thirty minutes had gone by and she gave a little sigh "Come on, let's get you back over these railings and we can have a proper chat somewhere quieter, does that sound good?"

Malcom nodded, carefully beginning to turning so that he was now facing Alex instead of out towards the water.

"That's good; let me give you a hand over"

She reached out her hands to Malcom, and instead of taking hold of one he let go of the railings and gripped both of her hands in his. Feeling his weight shift backwards, Alex tried to brace herself against the metal bars as Malcom began to fall backwards, his grip on her hands tightening and pulling her up, over and with him as he fell, the pair of them toppling down into the icy waters bellow.

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I hope that somebody out there is still reading FF for this amazing show :) if so, leave a review and let me know if you want more of this! Thanks, TPAS x