Title: When she works out what he needs
Author: Loz
E-Mail: loz06(at)yahoo(dot)com
Rating: K+
Category: Neil.Andrea...Who else? Oh and the supporting cast, can't forget them.
Series: Story number twenty six. What follows are titles and story ID numbers:
(1) After he's at her door – 2486705 (11) When they're back together – 2619492
(2) When the mighty fall – 2506192 (12) Life almost in balance – 2630121
(3) While his wife's away – 2525486(13) Life under pressure – 2666280
(4) While they're away – 2543010 (14) Trying to have a life together – 2699235
(5) When love's not working – 2543013 (15) Outside influences on their lives – 2704730
(6) Boundaries when broken up – 2562611 (16) When things start falling apart – 2727112
(7) What happens on the train – 2579012 (17) When they're approaching the end again - 2750079
(8) When they work together – 2595808 (18) Trying not to drift apart – 2891564
(9) When she wants him back – 2598312 (19) When the truth comes out - 2912317
(10) When they're stuck together – 2611364 (20) How things are going to be – 2954769
(21) When they work together…again – 2959211 (22) When Andrea moves on – 3181250
(23) Heart decided – 3188794 (24) When work takes over – 3198959
(25) When the truth is told – 3199261 (26) When she works out what he needs -
Spoilers: So minor it shouldn't ruffle any feathers.
Archive (if applicable): www(dot)fanfiction(dot)net(slash)loz06
Feedback: The good, the bad and the very ugly it's all appreciated.
Summary: Neil continues to struggle with his teenage son's moods, Suzie is there to support him. Andrea tries to end things with Smithy and ultimately works out the best way she can help Neil.
Authors' notes: I had a really crummy second half of 2006 and wrote like nothing. Here and now I'm trying to start fresh and again.
Thanks: For your patience if you've been waiting for this part
Disclaimers: I've worked out I need a lot more money than I have to own The Bill, so for now I remain a fan.
Neil catches the last of Colin making a hasty retreat to his room as he opens the door to the flat the following week. It couldn't have been more obvious what was going on if he'd been caught in the act.
"You know I don't like you doing your homework in front of the television," Neil calls noticing in the scramble Colin managed to switch it off.
"I wasn't," Colin calls back but Neil Manson's son has never had a poker face and never will...his homework has been hastily shoved in the middle of a pile of books and magazines on his desk. Neil visually collects the evidence.
"Are you packed?" His son's suitcase lies open on the floor, items of clothing tossed into it.
"Yeah," Colin says surveying the state of his bag; ironed clothes aren't a high priority.
"You need me to buy anything to take?" Neil looks around at the rest of the room. "Where did you learn to be so messy, it's like you tossed your clothes in the direction of the suitcase hoping they'd go in. You certainly didn't get that from your mother or I."
"It's an organised mess," Colin excuses; he surveys his desk seeing something he needs to distract himself with and proceeds to pick it up.
"So?" Neil prompts, "Do you need me to get anything?"
"No," Colin says slowly as though Neil is mentally impaired. He flips through a magazine taking little notice of the contents of the pages.
"You don't seem so enthusiastic about going," Neil's had this sense for weeks and something tells him it's not just about Julia.
"It's a half term break, it's only a week. There hardly seems a point to going. I'll just get there and have to turn around and come back again," A slight exaggeration Neil knows but not entirely untrue.
"How about she's your mum and you haven't seen her since Christmas," Neil argues, the only reply he gets is a shrug of Colin's shoulders.
"Is there a reason you're so reluctant, is there something going on?" The question he's been going to ask for months and needs an honest answer to.
"No, there's not," Colin says starting a new magazine. Neil grows in confidence that he's lying.
"You haven't spoken much to your mum lately," It was obvious to Neil.
"She's busy, she's not always home when I call. She has her own life," Colin's flippant attitude starts to irritate Neil, his determination growing to find out what's going on.
"She's your mother not a casual friend," Anger seeps into his tone.
"Dad," Colin says as though Neil has gone over the top.
"I get the feeling there's something going on and you can't tell me or you don't want to tell me," Colin stops flicking the pages over, telling Neil one of the two is correct.
"It's nothing dad, really," Colin's protests don't have the weight to knock out his last action and reaction. Neil doesn't have the inclination or energy to fight. He's tired, he doesn't want to farewell Colin with tension between them and he gets the feeling things will come out during this trip.
"Sort it out Colin please, while you're over there. She's your mother and I know she misses you," Neil walks away before receiving any type of reply or reaction.
He turns the television back onto what Colin was watching but it barely even keeps him company. It doesn't escape him that he used to confide in Andrea when he had a problem with Colin and it's exactly what he wants to do right now, the inclination is great. What holds him back is his absence from the arranged meet at Canley Arms; she deserves to know why he never came, an apology in the least an explanation at most. He's not able to do that yet; still he reaches for the phone dialling the number he knows better than any of his own.
His heart beats loudly as her phone rings; the phone slips a little from his grasp as it becomes obvious she's not there. He jumps when her recorded voice replaces the sound of ringing and just for a second he thought she'd picked up. His mouth is dry as the message ends and the tone indicates he should start talking; he leaves the sound of his light breath on her phone and then slowly depresses the button to end the call. Finally the phone slides out of his hand onto the carpet next to the sofa.
Andrea returns from her run with Cally, tired and sweaty she ignores the message blinking 'one' and goes straight for the shower. Only when she has regulated the water temperature to her comfort does the thought occur to her it might have been work calling and just because she isn't on call doesn't mean they wouldn't call.
Dripping on the carpet, wrapped in a towel, hair half damp she presses the message button to be greeted with nothing but regular breathing of another human being. The non message doesn't strike her with fear nor does it give her the creeps, she plays it again listening for clues in the background.
Nothing.
She takes a chance picking up the phone and dialling the short number, the woman's recorded voice relays the sweetest combination of numbers that last called Andrea and left the non message...Neil.
She holds the phone against her chest wondering if she should call back, forget the whys and the what for's, she's just glad for the attempted contact. Slowly she replaces the phone knowing she can't push anything, he obviously has things he wants to say but couldn't say them. She's patient, she'll wait, and he deserves to say what he needs to say in his own time.
Her towel is slightly less effective second time around, heavy with water already. It's slim pickings in her underwear drawer, a visual reminder that she's behind on her washing, the basket must be overflowing. She pushes the contents of the messy drawer around, looking for something to put on that doesn't have one leg hole in the garbage bin and that's when her hand brushes over it.
The frame was cheap, its metal cool from residing in the dark but its contents have not cooled in her mind. Andrea pulls out the frame looking at the happy smiles on her face and Neil's, she allows the memories to flow unobstructed. Her fingers press against the glass that covers Neil. It can't go back into hiding.
On her beside table she makes room, it may seem stupid or pre-emptive but she's gotten a tiny bit more hope though she has no idea what Neil wants to say, if anything. She can't bury the photo again, that would be symbolic of what she doesn't want from their relationship.
Out in the open and together again that is.
"Did you remember your passport?" Neil asks when they're ten minutes from home. Colin is moody, the look on his face well communicates the fact he's not happy about the cross the pond trip.
"Yes, dad," He says as though it's the last question in a long line of nagging ones he's bored with.
"You know no one's forcing you to go," Neil reminds him changing lanes. "You don't have to go."
"Reverse psychology, good one dad," Colin sees right through the attempt. "What about I should go because mum loves me and she misses me, I haven't spoken to her much lately'?"
"Are you angry with me for suggesting you should go and for booking the tickets or because all of those things are right?" Neil takes his eyes off the road for a second to look at Colin and ends up having to break sharply.
"Neither seeing as you're going to kill if this conversation continues," Colin over reacts to deliberately annoy Neil and goes back to sulking out the window. Neil leaves the rest of what he wants to say until he's pulled the car into a parking space outside the international terminal.
Colin immediately goes to spring out of the car and collects his meagre luggage from the back.
"Wait," Neil requests and slowly Colin takes his hand from the door handle. "You said the other day your mum has her own life."
"Oh dad," Colin growls, "If you want to know what mum's doing ask her yourself."
"That's not what I meant," Neil comes back quickly. "She spends time with you when you're there doesn't she?"
"She fits me into her schedule between her work and her..." He pauses and Neil hangs waiting for a reply, "Social life."
Colin makes a fast getaway not that Neil had more questions to ask. Before he gets out of the car and walks with Colin to the terminal he wonders what exactly 'social life' is code for, the two words his son had to pause and presumably come up with.
They move through the time consuming airport formalities, in silence and at the boarding gate Neil realises he's about to put his son on a plane when he's not exactly happy with him, he's running out of time to fix things the longer they sit and Colin sifts through a magazine.
When Colin's flight is called Neil is the first to get up, looking down at his son who gets out of his chair slowly, not really knowing what comes next.
"Give your old dateless dad a hug," And while the joke goes over with Colin like a lead balloon, mid way through the embrace Colin holds him tighter.
"Do me one thing please," Neil requests as Colin picks up his carry on luggage. "Please don't greet your mother like this; she's looking forward to seeing you. Try and work it out if there's a problem."
Colin looks down to his shoes and nods, it's all Neil wanted. "Miss you dad," He says softly and Neil's face comes alive.
"Miss you too," Neil pulls his son in for another embrace. "Have a good time and I'll see you next week," He wishes before Colin disappears onto his flight.
Taking one hand off the steering wheel Neil touches his mobile phone in his jacket breast pocket, he wants to call Andrea.
More than that he wants to go to her, he's now certain there's something going on with Philippa that Colin is too uncomfortable to tell him, he considers it may even be directly about him. Usually he'd tell Andrea all about it, as he had every other aspect of his relationship with Colin in the past; he misses not being able to talk to her. To not be able to call her up or see her, having an outlet for his problems and a calm and soothing voice to tell him he's right and a rational mind to offer him advice.
By the time he pulls the car up outside the station the situation with Colin consumes his focus and outwardly he appears even moodier and internal than Colin was.
On the way up the stairs Neil stumbles on the third step, too distracted to notice something as benign as where he's walking, he'd almost called Andrea in the car he had his phone out but as much as he wanted and needed to talk about Colin, he couldn't. This thing with Smithy held him back.
"Something on your mind Neil?" Adam Okaro asks coming down the stairs.
"Sir," Neil answers getting back his focus, behind the Super, Sergeant Smith comes down the stairs, Neil immediately scowls.
"Guv," Smithy greets pleasantly only to be met with Neil's scowl, it's the only reply he gets as Neil takes two steps at a time past the sergeant to the top of the stairs. He scowls back at Smithy again who's only started back down the stairs again after looking confused towards Neil because of the snub.
Upstairs CID officers pass Neil in transit and greet him briefly. He hurries through being polite but brief; inside his office he shuts the door and buries himself in work for the rest of the day.
He only gets through about a half an hour of work before the interruptions begin, necessary but annoying he deals with everything quickly and without idle conversation though he should have welcomed the company. Alone with paperwork his mind can't help but wander to Colin and what's bothering him.
"Guv," Neil looks up with the loud rap on the door, he has no idea how long he'd been staring at the paper in front of him for, and as each hour passed he did less work and found himself lost in thought. "Ramani wants me on a job."
He picks up his pen again.
"It's a follow up on Linda and Peter Marshall, Linda Marshall was the victim of domestic violence that came in recently, she never pressed charges so her husband went home to her. Ramani considers her a very vulnerable person so she wants to go around for..." Suzie explains but is cut off.
"Stop," Neil says looking up at Suzie who looks a little shocked and put off. "Suzie I don't need all the details just go and do your job and do it well like you always do," The sharpness in Neil's tone dissipates the more he speaks.
He feels tired from thinking, analysing, pondering and he knows he shouldn't have spoken to Suzie the way he did, it's not about her. He puts his face in his hands knowing she'll call him on it, they've known each other for too long.
"Guv," Comes the reply and Suzie Sim walks out surprised and taken aback by the reaction she just received, it's blatantly obvious to her that there's something wrong.
"What?" Neil snaps answering the phone as soon as it starts ringing, he hadn't been able to watch Suzie walk away although there was no chance he could see the look on her face.
"This is Melanie Carter from Anderson, Fitzpatrick, Lawson, Mr. Manson," The bright and cheerful voice says, Neil sinks, this is the absolute last thing he wants today, and he stays silent, "Mr. Manson?"
"Yes I'm here," Neil says dreading what's coming next.
"Just to let you know your affidavit has gone to the court, we're expecting there'll be a delay before the date of decree comes through, things are backed up at the moment," Neil numbs, the date he'll have to go to court.
"I'll be expected to appear in court that day and Philippa?" He asks.
"No, it's very rare either party needs to attend, in this case it's almost certain to be unnecessary," Her words are no comfort to Neil.
"Thank you," Neil says.
"As usual I'll be in touch," The cheerful voice says and hangs up.
Neil is slow and measured in how he puts the phone down.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, where are you going?" Louise asks Andrea as she tries to bypass her at the reception desk.
"Off to round up some horses," Andrea says dryly in response to Louise's 'whoa's'. The office receptionist who was working on something with Louise as Andrea tried to sneak past now seems to take pleasure in the fact Andrea has been busted for sneaking out of work early.
"Cute," Louise says wryly, steering Andrea by the elbow to the top of the stairs where their conversation will be private.
"Come on, it's an hour, do you have any idea how much unpaid over time I do?" Andrea makes her case.
"Oh I didn't mean that," Louise waves her hand to indicate she could care less about the early mark. "I'm just checking you're not off to meet one of two handsome men at Sun Hill maybe both."
"What I have to consult you now?" Andrea teases and then her look falls, "I'm going to catch Smithy before the end of his shift and tell him things are over between us."
"If you want to get a drink after...talk," Louise offers.
"Thanks Louise, you've been a really great friend to me, I'll call you if I do," with the briefest of smiles Andrea heads downstairs.
"Guv," Suzie knocks hesitantly on Neil's door, expecting the same reaction as before.
"Oh, you're back, how'd it go?" Neil asks still grumpy.
"Fine," Suzie answers cheerfully, it's as much detail as she's willing to go into and all she expects Neil wants to hear.
"What do you need?" Neil says in the same tone, hoping to move things along.
"I've just been handed this case but..." Suzie says hesitantly, she holds out a thin file for Neil to look at.
As Neil quickly scans the witness statement and uniformed officers notes his frown becomes an angry scowl.
"Who gave it to you?" He shakes his head disbelieving as he reads on.
"Amber Johansson." Suzie says, careful to not put bias in her tone.
"Who's the duty Sergeant?" Neil asks closing the file and looking to his DC.
"Sergeant Smith Sir," Suzie says from memory.
"Leave it to me," Neil says as he moves hastily out of his chair and strides out of the office, with each step she can see his blood reaching closer to boiling.
"What is this crap your department has given mine?" Neil starts out calm, letting the slap of the file on the desk in front of Smithy do the indication of how angry he is, "Just because you're downstairs doesn't mean that's where the standard of your work can be."
"Sir?" Smithy says as Neil back tracks and slams the office door, Smithy jumps with the bang as he looks over the file.
"This is the most shoddy set of notes I've ever read, there's no indication of exactly where the incident took place, there's a vague description of the attacker despite your officer apparently coming face to face with him and there are more holes in the witness statement than a censored war letter not to mention the fact they're so large I could drive a lorry through them," It doesn't take Neil long to work up to a yell.
"I don't..." Smithy starts feebly but is cut off.
"And that's all before the spelling and grammatical errors," Neil continues. "We caught up with the fella and he was kickin' the other guy in the guts. He tried to run away so we tackled him to the ground," Neil cites from memory. "Then we arrested him, arrest is spelt a-r-e-s-t."
"I don't know what to say," Smithy says closing the file and staying calm.
"How is my department supposed to pick up a case and solve it when you're pitching me this shit?" The expletive surprises Smithy while it's obvious the DI is over reacting, Smithy hardly ever hears an expletive used by anyone under any circumstances.
"Look," Smithy says standing up.
"Get it fixed Smithy and get it back to me ASAP or it's going to look really bad for you and your officers, on top of which you'll have a snowflakes chance in hell of getting a conviction," Having said what he needs to Neil turns and heads for the door. "What on earth do you do down here all day if something as major as this gets past you. The MET must really be scraping the bottom of the barrel for its bright and young stars these days, thrust into the limelight before they're ready."
Leaving Smithy stunned at the insult, Neil opens the door and strides out, not bothering to close it behind him.
"Gabriel," Smithy calls when the uniformed officer walks past moments later.
"Sarg," He says standing in the doorway.
"Get Amber in here, in two minutes or she can choose another career," Smithy says through gritted teeth. He flops down into his chair, waiting to lambaste Amber for making him look bad to the DI.
Upstairs in his office, Neil shuts the door and forces himself to breathe in deeply twice. He knows he overreacted, that he just tip-toed across the line and lost his balance, falling over it. He also knows it's about the divorce news, about Colin's secret and about every time he looks at the young sergeant he can't help remembering he's been with Andrea and for that he may have no one to blame but himself.