Sam threw open the doors of CID, striding quickly down to where he had been instructed to go, Annie jogging to keep up with him. He turned the last corner sharply, a large grin spreading across his face. He glanced in, clocking his old DCI sitting in his office, smoking and drinking just like he did in Manchester. Sam laughed aloud as he threw open the doors, coming to a stop in the middle of the room. Ray froze, a smile threatening to take over his expression. Chris frowned, spinning round to see what had distracted Ray from their bet on how many crisps he could fit into his mouth. Chris grinned madly, crumbs spilling out of his mouth, his hand flying up to stop more from escaping.

"Oh shit!" He mumbled, desperately attempting to chew.

"Come here you div." Shaz appeared from behind him, holding out a few napkins, smiling pleasantly at Sam and Annie.

"You must be important. Takes a lot to shut Ray up." She smiled again. Annie laughed.

"He hasn't changed then?" She grinned.

"Oi!" Ray protested, the smile taking over his annoyed expression. "How are you, mate? Never thought I'd bloody see you again!" Ray stepped towards Sam, holding his hand out. Sam took it gratefully, a large smile spreading across his face. He turned to shake Chris's hand, only to find him occupied, smiling his stupid grin at Shaz. Sam dropped his hand, finding Annie's and wrapping his fingers around hers.
"Who's this then Chris?" He asked, smiling warmly at Shaz.

"This is Shaz. She's my girlfriend." Chris grinned again, taking Shaz's hand.

"Pleasure to meet you Shaz. Mind you, you've got your work cut out with Chris," Sam laughed, "I'm Sam and this is Annie."

"It's a pleasure to finally meet you, by what these lot have told us, it'll be good to have you in CID." Shaz smiled at Annie, who winked back. Ray's eyes widened.

"You mean you've transferred here?" Chris asked, turning to face Sam and Annie.

"Yeah, just not the same without you lot and the Guv. Speaking of whom…" Sam trailed off to stare into Gene's office. He frowned. Gene sat in silence, twirling his glass round in circles on his desk. The door was open, he must have heard the reunion, yet he didn't seem at all interested.

"Guv!" Sam said loudly. Gene looked up, a sad glint in his eyes. He smiled slightly, a hard mask appearing, as if to cover his real emotions.

"Sam, never thought I'd see you come down here to shovel southern shit with us lot." He grumbled, leaving his office to stand with the group. Sam didn't miss the fact that Gene had glanced over to a desk with the name Drake on it. He thought he'd seen something other than the hard expression he saw now when he had. No, Sam thought, Must be imagining it. But as he turned to Annie, he saw her gazing in the direction of the desk. Obviously she'd seen it too.

"Yeah well, Manchester's never been the same without you. Can't stand the new team, bunch of idiots. Thought I'd follow you down." Sam jerked his head in the direction of the Drake desk. "Who's this D.I Drake then?" Gene's expression was suddenly filled with pain, and something else Sam couldn't quite put his finger on, within an instant Gene had regained control.

"Alex. She's… She's in hospital at the moment. I… I shot her." Genes voice was thick, and he gazed at the empty desk. Sam looked at Gene blankly.

"You shot her."

"I didn't mean to. It was an accident." Gene paused, glancing at the clock. "Right. Lets all bugger off. I'll see you tomorrow."

"Want me to get you a pint, Guv?" Ray asked, putting his jacket on.

"No thanks Ray, Friday remember?" Gene muttered, grabbing his long black coat and striding quickly out of CID.

"What's so special about Friday that he'd pass up on a free drink then?" Sam asked Ray as they went to get the next round of drinks at Luigis. Ray gazed at him for a second before sighing.

"Today's the day Alex can come home; she wanted the Guv to come to her as soon as he finished for the day. To be honest, Sam, I think they're shagging each other."

"Trust you."
"What? Ask Chris or Shaz, we got this whole psychological profile on them, Shaz wants to be one like Alex. Complete bollocks if you ask me, but it confirms my theory so what the heck."

"Hm. Okay, I will." Sam picked up the drinks he had been ordered to carry and plonked them on the table. He sat down with the group, and waited for Ray to sit down.

"Right then. Tyler's asking bloody questions as usual, mind, not as many as Drake, so he wants to know about our little profile we made up on the Guv and Alex." Ray started.

"Well they're in love." Chris said, smiling at Shaz.

"Bugger off. The Guv? Don't be a div Chris." Ray growled.

"No seriously! When was the last time you can remember the Guv with someone? Anyone, even just for a night or a few hours? Or even joked along with us about a bird with a nice pair?" Chris hissed

"There was that… oh no that was before Alex… Oh no wait that bird in… oh no. Shit! You're right Chris!"