Hi this is my first ever Fanfiction so any reviews will be welcome, whether it be good or bad. In this Grace and Millie have a friendship that has developed outside of work. Hope you enjoy:
Second Chances
Sun Hill CID, 8pm
Sighing, I glanced up from the page I was studying and surveyed my colleagues who getting ready to leave the room.
Mickey and Terry were laughing loudly at something Stevie 'Motormouth' Moss was saying, all three completely oblivious to the world and its worries. Banksy, always the gentleman, holding the door open for them all to leave, smirking as if he was a teacher again with a bunch of unruly pupils. Even Jo had come up for the occasion, and was banging on the Guv's door.
"Come on, you two!" she yelled, punctuating each word with a fist on the door. She turned to the rabble waiting at the exit before continuing, "Actually guys, we should probably leave without them. We wouldn't want to interrupt anything." She continued with a wink, causing the group in front of her to burst into laughter.
"You might want to be careful, Jo." Smithy said as he walked into the room with Callum.
"Yeah," Callum continued, "He can get you demoted, y'know."
"Whereas I, on the other hand, am the same rank as him," chuckled Smithy as he strolled past her and started to thump on door, "Come on, Guv! We actually want to get to the pub tonight! You can do this later! In the privacy of your own homes, I might add!" he called through the wood, causing the group to snicker.
"What's taking so long?" shouted Kirsty from the stairs as a group of uniform came up.
"Guv's having his wicked way with our dear Grace!" replied Stevie, a huge grin plastered to her face as the rest of the group started laughing.
"Do you think they've climbed out of the window and left us all?" asked Leon.
They all jumped at the sound of the Super's Yorkshire tones as he answered Leon, "What? And shimmied their way down the drainpipe?" he turned to the door and rapped three times before bellowing, "DI Manson! DC Dasari! Out of there now!"
There was no answer.
"God, now I'm really worried about what the DI's done to our poor, innocent Grace!" muttered Mickey.
"Did I just hear 'innocent' and 'Grace' in the same sentence?" Neil walked into CID form the incident room, "We are talking about Grace Dasari here, right? 'Cause if so, then innocent is really not the word I would have used to describe her."
"Oi!" Grace hit him on the arm, but the affection and love that was clear on her face showed no harm was intended.
"Oh Guv!" exclaimed Stevie, "TMI!"
"What's TMI?" asked Roger, baffled.
"It means 'to much information'," explained Neil as he helped Grace put her coat on, "I only know 'cause Jake's just decided it would be cool to speak in 'teen-talk'. I think he does it just to confuse me sometimes."
"So where were you two?" asked Nate, "The interview room is full of windows! What were you doing? Giving the neighbours a show?" Stevie, who by this point had tears streaming down her face in a fit of silent laughter since she last spoke, completely lost it, cackling loudly as she collapsed against Smithy, who was also struggling to breath correctly due to laughing.
Neil spun around and started to admonish the young constable, "Actually, PC Roberts, DC Dasari and I were just – " Grace stopped him with a gentle hand to the arm.
"We were just clearing the board. We knew you wouldn't do it, so we did it ourselves." She said calmly.
I sniggered to myself at this. I had been in the CID for the past hour and knew that cleaning the board wasn't all they had been doing in the locked interview room.
"Y'know what?" Terry piped up, " I don't care what they were doing or weren't doing. I want beer and I want it now! Let's go!"
They all murmured agreement as they left the room, still giggling and talking. Grace and Neil were the last to leave, hand in hand. At the door, Grace looked back at me, "You coming, Sarge? We're buying in the first round." Our relationship had grown into a proper friendship after the whole Howards case when we had to fight off Jenkins. I guess it was an unspoken change that made us realise the other wasn't as bad as we thought.
"Nah," I said, "Ton of paperwork to do. Maybe another time." I looked back down to my work, but kept an eye on the two figures at the door.
She glanced back at Neil before letting go of his hand and approaching my desk. "Max," she said, and the use of my name forced me to look up at her. She smiled before continuing, "We would love it if you would come down tonight. We want to celebrate with our friends, and that means all of our friends." She lowered her hand to mine on the desk, "Please."
I sighed and raised an eyebrow at her, chuckling, "You really know how to wrap a guy 'round your finger, you know that?"
"Tell me about it!" said Neil from the door. I put down my pen, grabbed my jacket and switched off the light on my desk.
"Come on then, Gracie, darling'! Time to celebrate!" I let her lead the way from the desk and she took Neil's proffered hand at the door. We went downstairs, following the sound of our colleagues' voices out into the car park and towards the pub.
At the pub, 8:13pm
"We'll be in in a second, Max. Just gotta have a word, kay?" Neil said to me, pulling Grace back from the pub door. I nodded consent and walked into The Seven Bells. Everybody was at the bar, ordering their drinks and putting on the Guv's tab. I went up and opened my mouth to order, but was cut short by a voice behind me.
"Pint, Sarge?" said the voice. My heart leapt into my throat as I immediately recognised it. It was the voice of my dreams; the voice of the person who consumed every second of my waking thoughts; the voice that sent shivers down my spine. I daren't turn in case it was my mind playing tricks on me, and I'd turn around to an empty space. I sighed and gave in, hoping against hope that it was real.
It was.
Earlier that day
The phone woke me from my slumber. With my head still buried in a pillow, my hand flailed on the bedside table, searching for the phone. I finally found it and holding it to my ear, murmured something even I knew was incomprehensible down the phone.
"Hello?" came the voice from the other end of the line. I shot up in bed, suddenly wide awake.
"Hi! How are you? Sorry, I just woke up." I said, embarrassed of my behaviour.
"Oh, God! Sorry for waking you! I just have to talk to someone." she replied. I was immediately worried and a torrent of questions flooded out.
"Why? What's the matter? Are you okay? Is Neil okay? Did Jake go into hospital? Do I need to come? Is everything – " I was cut short by a man chuckling down the phone in the background. "Neil? Why are you laughing? What's going on? Would one of you kindly explain what is going on, please!"
"Good morning!" he exclaimed, cheerfully, " And it is a truly wonderful morning! Absolutely bloody fantastic!" I could hear the smile in his voice, and knowing there was no emergency, I started to breath again.
"Thanks, you two! You just nearly gave me a heart-attack! I hope you're happy!"
Neil chuckled again and, hearing the rustling of bed sheets, a yelp of surprise from Neil, and a giggle from Grace, I was not surprised to find that she had commandeered the phone again.
"We need to talk. ASAP!" she spoke quickly, as if she was running out of time to talk. I brushed the mental image of what Neil was doing to make her speak like that out of my head and looked up to the ceiling as I focussed on my mental diary.
"I'm free all day, actually, so whenever's best for you." I said after I had finished consulting my diary.
"How about lunch? We can meet at The Archer Café for a sandwich and coffee, if that's okay with you?" she asked.
"Yeah that's fine. I'll meet you there about half-twelve." I responded.
"Okay, see you there, bye!" The line ended and I snickered to myself, knowing that Neil Manson was the only person who could get Grace 'cool-as-a-cucumber' Dasari all flustered.
I glanced at the clock and discovered it was only seven o'clock. Setting my alarm for 11:30, I settled back into bed for a few more hours of beauty sleep.
The Archer Café, 12:32pm
I walked into The Archer Café and immediately spied Grace sitting at a window table drinking a massive hot chocolates, complete with whipped cream, marshmallows and chocolate sprinkles. She saw me and put the drink down next to another identical one and waved me over, grinning. I stifled a laugh as I sat down.
"What?" asked Grace, bemused. I lifted my mirror out of my handbag and gave it to her. "Oh, God!" she exclaimed, turning bright red, and started to scrub at her whipped cream moustache with a napkin.
"Nothing I haven't done, Grace, so don't worry about it." I said, placing the mirror back in my bag and turning back to her, "Anyway, what's the matter? Is it juicy gossip? 'Cause I'm kinda having withdrawal symptoms from Sun Hill gossip!"
"Well..." she said teasingly, "it is juicy, but no one at Sun Hill knows about it. Actually, there is only a handful of people that do. You're one of the first."
"So, spill, woman! The suspense is killing me!"
"Well..."
The Pub, 8:15pm
"Millie..."Her voice came out of my mouth as a whisper.
"Evening, Sarge. Pint?" she offered again, pushing one into my hand. Snap out of it, Max! Be cool!
"W-What are you doing here?" Goddamnit man! Pull yourself together!
"I'm here to celebrate, like everyone else. Grace invited me. Why? Aren't you glad to see me?" she sounded despondent and my heart fell at the disappointed look on her face.
"No! God, no, it's great to see you!" Her face lit up. I took a deep breath, psyching myself up. "The truth is I've really missed you, Mills. Even though you argued with me non-stop, I've missed you. A lot." She looked up, shocked, and met my eye. My heart was thundering, so loud the whole pub must have heard it.
"I missed you too, Sarge." She said, shifting closer.
"It's Max. Let's start this again." I suggested as moved closer to her, and held my hand out for her to shake, "Maksymillian Joshua Carter," I said as she took my hand, "My first name is the Polish spelling."
"Amelia Rose Brown," she replied, her hand still in mine. "Well, now the introductions are done with..." her hand slipped out of mine and around my neck, leaving the sentence unfinished. My arms encircled her waist as our bodies became flush against each other, fitting perfectly. Her breath ghosted over my skin as she spoke in hushed tones. My eyes glanced down to her lips to see her biting at them, an old nervous habit that I noticed when she worked with me. I met her eyes once more and slowly edged towards her, giving her the chance to pull away at any time.
Why's he taking so long? Does he want to kiss me? Is he messing with me? Oh, God, what if this is some sort of game for him? Does he know how much I love him? Oh, shit! Love him? Do I love him? AAAARRRGGH! Now or never Millie!
I closed the distance between us. Our lips touched in a moment of pure ecstasy, but it was also surprisingly shy and timid. His lips were unexpectedly soft and warm and his arms tightened their hold around me slightly as the kiss deepened. I felt his tongue glide over my bottom lip in a tentative request to enter, which I granted instantaneously. Who would have thought? Big, bad Max Carter being shy and caring and...WOW this is amazing! His tongue slipped into my mouth, sending an electric bolt up my spine and cutting off all thoughts in my brain. Our tongues danced together, neither of them fighting for dominance, just merely enjoying the kiss. I used my hands that were still wrapped around his neck and played with the short hairs at the top of his neck to bring him closer still and he unwound an arm from around my waist, titling my head up to change the angle of the kiss. His other arm attempted to pull me into him even more, even though there was no space between us. Hey! I'm not complaining! Our bodies fused together, seeming like nothing could separate us.
"CONGRATULATIONS!"
We jumped apart as if we had been scolded as the group around us was shouting and setting off streamers everywhere.. Peeking at Millie, I saw her biting her lip again and twisting her fingers into knots, yet another nervous habit I recognised. How much were you watching her at work? As I looked towards the door I saw the source of the outburst. Neil and Grace were standing near the entrance of the pub, he with his arm around her waist, both glowing with joy, Grace's finger sporting a very beautiful but simple ring. Neil's hand was splayed almost protectively over Grace's stomach. Protectively? I wonder if she's...nah! Couldn't be, could it? The whole pub was cheering and clapping for the happy couple, as the Super approached them, holding their drinks.
"Beer for you Neil, and a white wine for Grace." He held out the drinks towards them. Neil took his and then glanced at Grace. She smiled before raising a hand to her mouth and, placing two fingers inside, whistled loudly to get the attention of the crowd.
"Thank you, everybody." Neil said over the dying cheers. "Thank you all for coming to celebrate this day with us and for your continuous support of our relationship. There is just one more announcement we need to make." Neil took a breath, ready to tell us all, when a child with a small mop of black hair came barrelling through the pub door and straight into Neil, causing him to nearly fall over.
"Have you told 'em yet? Please say you haven't told 'em!" the child said, out of breath from running.
"No, Jake, we haven't told them." Grace said warmly to her future step-son.
"Good." Jake nodded and then turned to roll his eyes at the group of officers watching the family scene. "Call yourselves a bunch of detectives! Even I figured it out!"
Neil covered Jake's mouth with his hand and pulled him away from the crowd, "Now, now, Jakey. We would like to tell them."
"Tell us what?" someone shouted. Neil took Grace's hand and put his other hand on Jake's shoulder.
"Grace is pregnant! We're having a baby!" he announced with a shit-eating grin on his face. The whole pub started cheering and clapping once again, everybody eager to wish the family 'congratulations'. I felt a hand move into mine, and flicking my eyes to the side of me, I saw Millie holding onto my hand and beaming at me. I couldn't help but smile back and pulled her into me, my hand settling around her. I heard her gasp, and, lifting her head so our eyes met, I kissed her again. My lips burned as I drew away. I rested my head against hers as I spoke softly into her ears.
"I love you."
The words echoed around my head after they left his mouth. My mouth went dry and my heart skipped a dozen beats as what he said registered in my muddled mind. Our eyes met once again and there was no denying the truth is his words. I smiled nervously as I whispered back, "I love you, too."
Our lips fused together and the pub was cheering again, but this time it was for us, for our love, for our future whatever that might bring. And who knows? Maybe we'll be making an announcement one day. I smiled into the kiss. Max broke our connection to mutter, "Stop thinking" before joining our mouths again.
The words my Ma used to say to me spun around my head. "Każdy zasługuje na drugą szansę, Maksy!"
Everyone deserves a second chance, and I grabbed mine with two hands. I wasn't ever letting go.
Just incase this needs to be said, 'Każdy zasługuje na drugą szansę' means 'Everyone deserves a second chance'. Thanks for reading, and any reviews/comments are welcome with open arms.
Pixie
xx