Title: Beech's Downfall
Author: Sara (aka Storm)
Rating: PG-13
Keywords: Claire/John. Beech. Corruption.
Summary: "John, where are you going?" I ask, sitting up and watching him pull his clothes back on. Claire convinces John to let her go with him to meet the snout at the Cement Works, but does this mean she can prevent him from being killed and still put Beech away?
Archive: Anywhere else that wants it, just let me know first.
Spoilers: Set at the end of 'Find the Lady'.
Disclaimer: The Bill, and its characters don't belong to me. They never have and never will. I'm just playing with them for a bit. Can I please have John and Claire? They're not in the show anymore after all.
Author's Notes: I was reading through my first story 'Corruption' the other day in the hopes of improving it a bit, and it got me thinking of other possible scenarios for the Find the Lady Eps, so this is what I've come up with.
I've included Marion and a few other characters from The Trouble with Beech Saga in this cause I like the characters and I'm useless at making up names and then remembering them later. Marion's easy to write and adds a different side to Hodge's personality. Any other characters you don't recognise are my own creation. Please ask before borrowing them.
Written for Gem6, for not letting me forget how much I love John and Claire, and also for Claire (Dolphingirl29), I know your favourite pairing is Andrea and Neil now like me, but I do remember you saying something about John and Claire.
This story is loosely related to the Trouble with Beech Saga in places, but is in no way part of that series. All comments, questions and complaints in a review please. Pretty please?
Does anyone still read/write John/Claire fics? I'm curious now because they seem to have dried up, same for Andrea/Neil too. Anyone?
Beech's Downfall
Chapter 1: Caught
"John, where are you going?" I ask, sitting up and watching him pull his clothes back on.
"To see what this snout wants," he answers me.
"You know, I don't think it's a good idea going by yourself."
"I'm not going by myself, I'm meeting Don there, what's got into you today, I've never seen you like this?"
"I'm just worried John, I've had this feeling all day that something bad is gonna happen," I cover knowing I can't tell him the truth no matter how much I want to.
"Relax, everything's fine, I'll be back in an hour," he says giving me a quick kiss, before straightening himself up and walking towards the door.
"Let me come with you?" I plead as a last resort.
"Are you serious? You know he'll bolt if he gets a whiff of anyone else hanging around."
"Please John; no one will know I'm there. I'll stay out of sight, the only people who will know I'm there is you and me," I beg, dreading his answer.
"What aren't you telling me?" he asks turning around to face me.
"I wish I could tell you John, I really do, but …"
"Alright," he says cutting me off, "you can come on the condition that you stay out of sight and don't interfere; deal?"
I jump up and quickly throw my clothes on, "Deal," I say, knowing that if he'd said no, I'd have followed him anyway.
"And your explaining what the big deal is when we get back," he adds, digging for more information.
I nod in confirmation before we both head out the door to the meeting place.
Within fifteen minutes we reach the place they had agreed to meet, an abandoned builders yard behind some factories. I nod in silent understanding, assuring him that I will stay over here out of sight until he gets back. He pulls me to him for a kiss before disappearing around the corner, behind the heaps of builder's sand.
I poke my head around the corner enough to see what's going on.
"Where's Steadman?" I hear John ask Don.
"He's not coming!" Don states, instantly gaining my full attention.
I'm almost scared to know where this is going now, especially after what Hodges told me at our meeting this morning.
"I called you because I need to speak to you," Don says when I tune back into the conversation.
"We work together Don; you can always speak to me at work you know."
I quickly set up the special function on my phone to record this conversation; this is something that Hodges is definitely going to want to hear.
"I'm in a great deal of trouble John," Beech whines to try and get John's sympathy.
"What kind of trouble?"
"I've been running Howard Fallon as an informant, unofficial, favours for information, but he's got me banged to rights for fixing the evidence on that creep Askew, if you don't help me John I'm finished. In the job and on the outside for that matter, so what do ya say John? Will you help me?"
"So what are you asking me to do here Don? You want me to give you the location of Lynnette, a woman who trusts me, so you can hand her over to Fallon and he can finish the job, is that what you're saying?"
A nod of his head is the confirmation that John needs to continue the conversation.
"You've gotta be joking right? No way Don, you're on your own this time."
"Oh come on John please, I'm putting my life in your hands here," Don begs.
"No way," says John, starting to walk in my direction.
Don jumps in front of him to try and stop him from leaving. "You're not leaving John, not like this."
"Get out of the way Don," says John trying to push past him, "get out of the way," he repeats when Don refuses to move.
Don Head butts him in the face and as John stands up I see blood pouring out of his nose. I take that as my cue to intervene. I step out from my hiding place and walk slowly towards them.
"Don Beech," I call out announcing my presence and startling them both.
They both spin round to face me. I ignore the looks they are giving me and quickly step behind Don putting him into an arm lock. "Don Beech, I'm arresting you for corruption," I say, whilst securing the cuffs "you do not have to say anything when questioned, something which you later rely on in court, and anything you do say may be given in evidence."
I drag him over to some metal steps to the left of our position and chain him to them so I can call for assistance.
"What in the hell are you doing Claire?" John asks me, confused.
"I didn't want to do this, John, really I didn't, but I've got no choice, it's out of my hands now," I explain as I pull my mobile from my pocket and dial the now familiar number.
"What are you talking about? What's going on? Who are you calling?" John questions as I wait for my call to be put through.
"I can't explain right now, but as soon as I can I will," I promise him before answering the phone.
"What's going on Claire?" asks the voice on the other side of the line.
"Just get to the office as soon as you can, your gonna love this," I say before hanging up and dialling another number, but then cancelling it before allowing it to ring.
"John? Go get your car, hurry," I say, "I don't wanna involve anyone that I don't have to in this," I add.
"Ok, back in a sec," he says running off to fetch the car.
He returns a few minutes later and I untie Don from the stairs before pushing him into the back of the car and jumping in beside him.
"Where are we going?" John asks me.
"Just head towards the river," I say, "then take a left turn down the old Fordhouse road," I add, giving him the directions to the CIB office.
20 minutes later we pull up outside the new CIB offices, and we all get out of the car. I lead the way into the building, easily bypassing the security lock on the front door. We wind our way through the maze of corridors until we come to a big open plan office area. I head straight to the office in the far corner and knock on the door.
"Come in," says the person I was talking to on the phone earlier.
I step into the office bringing Don with me, leaving John hovering nearby.
"What's all this about Claire?" asks Hodges, "and what's he doing here?"
"I arrested him Gov," I answer, jangling the handcuffs together, so they can be heard.
"I guessed that much but why?"
"You need to hear this," I state pulling my phone from my pocket and setting it up to play the recording of the conversation I witnessed tonight.
"Interesting?" Hodges says when the recording has finished, "What do you have to say for yourself Don?" he asks.
Don's face as gone a white as a sheet and he's looking nervously at his feet. "There's not a lot I can say is there?"
"Right, I'll take it from here Claire, go home and get some rest, you've done enough for tonight," Hodges says to me taking Don out of my hands and leading him off down another corridor.
I watch them leave, and then turn around to face John. I see him hovering near the desks, looking lost and confused. I let out a sigh I didn't know I was holding then head towards him. "John, lets get out of here," I say to focus his attention on me.
"I don't understand? Who was that? Where have they gone? What's going on Claire?" he asks me.
I don't know how to answer him, so I direct him back out to the car. "Lets go and get something to drink and get your nose checked and then I'll explain everything," I say.
I jump into the driver's side, knowing he's in no fit state to drive. We pull out onto the road in silence.
We arrive back at John's flat about 40 minutes later and I head straight to the kitchen to get the first aid kit. I pick it up out of the cupboard, and then grab a bottle of whiskey and two glasses before heading into the bedroom to find John. I notice the light on in the bathroom and assume he must be in there. I place the glasses and bottle of whiskey on the dresser and then with the First aid kit still in my hands, I walk into the bathroom. "Let me have a look at your nose then John," I say, dropping the kit on the closed toilet seat and walking up behind him.
I reach my arms around his waist and turn him to face me. "It looks worse than it is," he says.
I grab the first aid kit and pull an alcohol cleaning swab from it. I use the wipe to clean the area around John's nose so I can see the full extent of the damage. After discarding the swab, I rub some disinfectant cream over the area to help the healing process. When that's done, I lead him back to the bedroom and encourage him to sit on the bed whist I tidy up.
When I've put everything back in its proper place, I sink down beside him, lying back and resting my head back on the pillow.
I roll onto my side to face him before saying, "if you still want to know everything, I'll tell you, but I've gotta warn you; you won't like it."
"I need to know," he says lying down next to me and playing with the ends of my hair.
"Ok, I was sent to Sun Hill to find evidence of corruption and to see how far it had spread. Then everything changed when I started falling for you. The biggest rule of undercover work is to stay detached, but … it's impossible when you start falling for one of the suspects. I mean don't get me wrong, I know you're not involved or anything, but everyone's a suspect till proven otherwise."
"What about tonight?" John asks, moving the conversation along.
"Remember this morning when I was a little late?" I ask.
"Yeah, you said you had to visit your mother or something, I don't understand!"
"That's just a code. My mom died a few years ago. To avoid any difficult questions, anything related to the case is referred to as 'your mother'."
"So where did you go then?"
"You know that man who just walked off with Beech, his name is Detective Superintendent Hodges, CIB. He's my boss John."
I allow the information to sink in before I say anything else.
"But … then that means… your CIB?"
"Yes," I nod, "I can understand that you're probably really mad right now, but you can understand why I couldn't tell you before, yes?"
"I understand, I'm just … shocked, I mean how? Who? What's gonna happen now?"
"I don't know John, I really don't know. My orders were to find evidence to prove that Beech really is corrupt and to establish whether anyone else is involved. I've done that now, so even I don't know what to expect next."
"Where does that leave us?"
"That's up to you, I don't want us to change but I'll understand if you can't do this anymore," I say with a teary smile.
"I don't want to lose you," John says, wiping the tears from my eye's, "I love you and nothing will ever change that, but things are gonna be different now. I …"
"I love you too John, lets just take each day as it comes and see where it leads us."
"I can do that," he says, pulling me to him for a kiss.
We exchange kisses for a long time, until we both part gasping for breath. It's in that moment that I realise; this is where I want to be.
I was gonna wait till i've finished writing it before posting the first chapter, but I can't be bothered. I've got another 2 chapters partially written but after that you might have to wait for more.
Please send any questions, comments etc. my way. I need to know what you think and if anyone's even reading this.