Hi everyone. Thank you to all those who reviewed A past so dark. This is the next story, introducing Alex Macdonald properly to Sun Hill. Please review this story as your comments are always welcomed. Thanks again.X
Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters in this story apart from Alex, her daughters and her sister Liz.
She walked into the station and approached the reception. There was a young police officer standing behind the desk doing some paperwork. The officer looked up and saw the young woman standing in front of the desk.
"Can I help you?" The officer asked.
"Hi, I'm in to see Gina Gold please." The woman replied.
"Who shall I say is looking for her?" The PC said as she lifted the receiver to the phone.
At that moment Smithy walked in through a side door. He saw the woman standing in the front office and a smile creased his face.
"That's ok PC Sharp I'll take her through." He said as he buzzed her in.
"Alex, good to see you. How you doing?" He asked as he hugged the new Sergeant.
"I'm great thanks Smithy. I'm really looking forward to working again. Sitting at home is all very well but it certainly piles the pounds on." Alex laughed.
Alex had been on maternity leave for the last six months. She was a Sergeant at Barton Street but she felt uncomfortable being there after her husband died. He had also been an officer at Barton Street, but died whilst he was dealing with an incident. Alex had been expecting their third daughter at the time; she went into premature labour the day her husband died, due to shock. She had decided to come back to work but have a fresh start at Sun Hill.
"Come on, I'll take you round to Gina's office. She's been really looking forward to working with you again, we all have." Smithy said as he led her through the station.
Smithy knocked on the door to the office and opened it to see Gina sat at her desk. Gina smiled when she saw Alex standing in the doorway.
"Hello you. How are you doing? All set for a hard days work?" She joked.
"I'm about as set as I'll ever be." Alex replied with a smile.
"Come on I'll show you to the locker rooms. We haven't had morning briefing yet so I'll introduce you to those who don't know you. Second thoughts, I don't think there's a single person in this nic who doesn't know who you are." Gina added.
At the morning briefing, Gina waited for everyone to pile into the room. Once everyone was settled she started the announcements.
"Morning everyone. Now there are a couple of things before we start the briefing. First of all, thank you to all those who stayed late last night to deal with the football fans. I know that it took along time to get the statements, and the situation was very volatile, but it was appreciated."
"You see they wouldn't have this problem if they supported West Ham." Smithy said smugly, leaning back in his chair with his hands behind his head.
"Yeah, they wouldn't have this problem because West Ham are crap, and no-one would dare to admit that they support them." Alex piped up. She enjoyed winding Smithy up, he was so easy.
"Thank you for that Alexandra. And my other announcement is sat right in front of me. Most of you know Alex MacDonald from Barton Street. She's taken over as our new Sergeant." Gina introduced the new Sergeant to the team.
After the briefing Tony, Reg and June walked over to Alex. They had known Alex since she was a little girl. Alexs' Grandfather had been the Chief Superintendent at Sun Hill before Charles Branlow took over. Alex used to head round to the station after school or during her lunch break. Alex had seen many changes at Sun Hill, and many officers pass through its doors, now, after nearly fourteen years in the service, it was her turn at Sun Hill.
"Well Alex it's about time you came here, just where you belong eh?" Tony said as he gave the young Sergeant a hug.
"Absolutely Tony. Granted I spent more time here than I ever did at Barton Street; but I'm here now."
"Well it's really nice to have you here, and we'll be sharing an office, which will prove interesting." June said, also hugging the younger officer.
"How are those girls of yours doing?" Tony asked.
"They're fine, we all are. It's taken us a while to get here but we're back on track now. Seems funny coming back to work though." Alex sounded a little sad. She was trying not to let her husbands' death affect her anymore, but sometimes she just couldn't help let her emotions get the better of her.
Tony saw the look on the younger officers' face. He placed his arm around her shoulders and gave her a gentle squeeze.
"We know it's been tough, but if you ever need to talk, we're always here for you." Tony said.
"Thanks, you have always been good to me. Even when I used to come round and annoy you." Alex replied.
June smiled. She remembered when Alex used to come round as a little girl. She was always asking them questions and telling them how she was going to be a police officer when she left school.
"Well we'd better get to work before Gina comes looking for us, hadn't we?" Alex said.
The four officers left the briefing room and walked down the corridor or out into the yard. Alex headed for Ginas' office.
"So Gina, what's first on the list today then?" Alex asked as she entered the Inspectors office.
"Well, first I thought I would introduce you properly to the Superintendent."
"Ok then, shall we head up then?" Alex asked, eager to get going.
"Yeah absolutely." Gina said as she walked round her desk. "It's really good to have you here you know Alex." Gina said.
"Well it's really nice to be here." Alex replied as they walked out of the office. They headed up the stairs towards the Superintendents office.
Gina knocked on the door and entered the office, closely followed by Alex.
"Sir, you remember our new Sergeant Alex MacDonald." Gina said as she introduced Alex.
The Superintendent offered his hand to the new Sergeant. "Of course, it's really nice to have you on board Sergeant MacDonald."
"Please call me Alex; Sergeant MacDonald sounds too formal for me." Alex replied as she took her Superintendents hand.
Alex, Gina and the Superintendent sat for a good hour discussing Alexs' role. At Barton Street Alex had been a community relations officer. This meant that she had been in contact with parole officers and had had a close relationship with residents on some of the estates. John Heaton was very keen for Alex to continue this role.
Even though there were officers in the community support unit (Formerly known as VPU), Heaton wanted a uniformed officer to help out, especially one as experienced as Alex.
"This of course won't be your main duty, but it would be good if you continued with this role. You've built up a good rapour with some of the neighbourhood watches in the area as well as the residents. Are you quite happy with this?"
"Absolutely Sir. Will I be working along side the community support unit or individually?" Alex asked. "I don't mind if you would like me to work along side them, but, I did work on my own most of the time when I was at Barton Street." She explained.
"No you can work on your own, just make sure you keep CSU updated with any developments."
"Of course Sir, that's not a problem." Alex said. She had really enjoyed being the community relations officer. She had made a real success of it and made a number of friends through the role.
After their meeting with the Superintendent, Gina and Alex walked back down towards the Sergeants corridor. They were discussing their plans for the day.
"I thought I would pair you with Smithy today. You can go out in the area car and then I'll come and join you later. How does that sound?" Gina explained.
"Sounds great to me Gina. So does this mean I now have to refer to you as Ma'am?" Alex asked with a mischievous grin.
"Well you never referred to me as Sarge, so why should you refer to me as Ma'am? Besides, I think it would sound strange coming from you." Gina replied, smiling back.
"Well that is true."
At that moment, Smithy appeared from round the corner.
"Are we all set then? Only I would like to get out of this place sometime today." He said.
"Ooo, get you, grumpy sod." Alex joked. Both Smithy and Alex just smiled at each other.
They had known each other for nearly ten years, so each knew just how to wind the other up.
"Come on then, we'd better go rid Sun Hill of its criminal scum." Alex said as she and Smithy made their way towards the yard. "We'll see you later Gina." Alex shouted back.
"Yeah see you later." Gina replied as she headed into her office.