She sat beside him in the pub as she always did when they were with the others. A lot of the time they'd get confused with what the others were talking about and just end up talking to each other. He didn't mind. There wasn't much time for them to be together during a case and not talk about work. Yes, he was fine at times like this.

She was funny, she would say something she meant as a side comment, a back hand joke or just random story that no matter how far fetched he knew was true and it would make him laugh. She was beautiful too, even though she'd never fully believe him, she simply smiled at him when he complimented her.

She wasn't just beautiful outside though, she was the kindest person he'd ever met, so selfless. Most of what she'd done in her life was for other people. He always told her she should stop and just do one thing for herself, she just laughed. Said she was living, that's something she did for herself. She woke up every morning. She stopped being a defence barrister and changed sides for herself, though he was still unaware of the real reason she joined the CPS.

She tucked a piece of hair behind her ear, something was on her mind.

In a way he was in awe of her. He could be a very cold person and he knew it, in court he could come across as heartless and aggressive. But so could Kate. He'd seen it, pure deep anger, not very often, only on certain cases but he'd seen it. He wondered where all that came from, that anger. Where it went when they left the courtroom.

Even when they argued either about a case or like normal couples did she didn't let him see just how angry she could be. They couldn't stay mad at each other very long. He didn't know how much there was still to find out about Kate.

She laughed at Ron's joke but in truth she didn't understand it. There was something she needed to tell Jake. Okay, she didn't need to tell him, she didn't want to. She wasn't quite sure on what he'd say. It was a tricky matter, one she would've preferred to sort out alone, or not at all. She wondered just how long she would be able to keep things quiet, be able to keep things from Jake. As bad as it sounded she was doing it for both of them. It was better if he didn't know and she didn't want to have to tell him, or anyone. It was a part of her life best left forgotten even now. Now she had a letter in her bag from her father saying he was being released from prison on the 15th December. That was close, too close for her liking. She'd not heard from him for ages and now this, now he was being released and he said he wanted to see her.

He wondered what was bothering her...

Sometimes he would look over at her, when she wasn't looking at him and see something in her eyes. Something crossed between regret, grief and anger. He hated seeing it but he never questioned her about it, he knew she'd tell him if she wanted to. Did he want to know? Some things were better left unsaid and maybe this was one of them. She'd tell him if she wanted to.

He was quite content knowing she was happy. Even if there was the occasional wave of sadness, it happens to the best us. He would just have to remind himself every morning just how lucky he was to have her.

"What you thinking about?" She asked taking his hand under the table.

"You."

She laughed slightly biting her lip. "Why?"

"Am I not aloud?" He smirked and she simply smiled not knowing what to say.

Her father had been in prison for nearly 20 years, it would've been a shorter sentence if he had kept his head down and not made a fuss but of cause, he was Barker. Keeping your head down wasn't a family trait. It had gone from 15, to 20, then to 25 and now, obviously back to 20. He'd served his time...

She hadn't been to see him in prison, in fact she hadn't seen him since the day he was sentenced. She remembered it all very clearly. She had been 10 years old, she was too young to have had to go through all of that shit that she was put through. Her Dad hadn't been the nicest person but in the end he did care about her. Her sister was already gone by that time so it was just her and her parents. He'd changed after she was gone, for the better. It was like he'd suddenly seen the error of his ways. Her mum forgave him instantly but Kate wasn't so easily won over. She sometimes wondered if she had given into his new self sooner, been a proper 'daddy's girl' if any of it would've happened at all. She believed it wouldn't have. If her Dad hadn't taken her out for the day her mum wouldn't have been in the house alone, if they'd have been there, her Dad could've stopped her mother's killer.

Forget about it. She told herself. Forget it. She tapped her glass with her nails. "You gonna buy me another drink?"

He laughed getting up and going to the bar. She looked down at the floor seeing her father's letter in her bag. How could she even begin to tell him her Dad had killed the man who had shot her mother? Would he understand? He must've twigged it by now she was a bit weird. No family to speak of, she never even mentioned them, other than her sister who she had told him about. She decided, she wouldn't tell him, not yet, not unless she really had to. She didn't even know if she was going to speak to her Dad yet. Until she knew that, she'd say nothing.

She smiled as he sat down beside, she was going to put her life now in front of the shit she'd dealt with in the past. She couldn't let that ruin what she had, her friends, her job, Jake.

His hand rested on her knee, he didn't know that bad things were about to go down for everyone, himself and Kate included.

XxX

AN: Do I write more of this? Sorry for all the description but I wrote this after my English descriptive controlled assessment so I was still in overload there. It's kind of based on the song 'Kiss It All Better' by He Is We, it's a really beautiful song. SO Yeah. Thanks for reading xxx Beth.