'Rob, in here a minute.'

Syndicate Nine's office was humming with the steady energy of a hot case on a Monday morning so Janet didn't immediately register the Boss's shout, seeing as it wasn't directed at her. The room was noisy with detectives discussing details, admin staff relaying information, several one-sided telephone conversations and the intermittent ringing of a phone that no one was answering. Janet herself was deeply embroiled in an internet search for exotic pet specialists in the area, so even when Gill's voice increased in volume it didn't register.

'Rob can you...?' Gill stuck her head round her office door mid sentence, her eyes already fixed on her Sergeant's desk. She stopped. No one there. A quick scan of the room revealed no DS Waddington at all. Gill tucked her chin in unconsciously, taken aback. Her eyes flicked round again.

'Janet,' she demanded.

'Yes boss?' Janet swivelled her chair slightly towards Gill but kept her eyes glued to the screen. Finally, she was getting somewhere, if she could just make sense of this description...

'Have you seen Rob?'

'He's err, he just.' Janet lost her place, found it again, stuck her finger on the screen to keep it and gave up. She turned around.

'He just ummm, he did tell me where he was going.' Gill frowned at her, fingers beginning to twitch impatiently. Janet's enormous glasses made her look particularly batty and she had been running her hand through her fringe while she struggled to concentrate which didn't help either.

'Are you all right?'

Janet blinked uncomprehendingly.

'Janet!'

'Oh, right yes.' Catching on and despairing of the computer entirely, Janet lowered her glasses and visibly refocused her brain.

'Sorry Gill. Yes. Rob. He went to see how Rachel was getting on interviewing McRoberts. That was about... five minutes ago.' She squinted at her watch. 'Maybe ten. Do you need him?'

Gill flicked her wrist up to examine the time for herself.

'Briefing in an hour. Full team. And tell him to see me when he gets back will you? Thanks cock.' Gill was already turning on her heel to disappear into her office again. She was in full Godzilla mode today, as Rachel had already commented twice. Even Janet felt like giving her a mock salute. She was glad she restrained herself, however, as a split second later Gill's head appeared again.

'And will someone answer that bloody phone?' She glared meaningfully at Janet.

'Okay,' Janet said to herself, keeping 'someone's got her knickers in a twist' thoroughly under her breath. Although, now she came to think about it, there had been a phone going on for a while now. She hadn't thought it was the same one – surely someone would have answered it? But if everyone was thinking the same thing, and everyone was pretty busy. It was still going. Janet looked round for the tell-tale flashing light. Rob's desk. Oh shit. She grabbed her phone, dialled the number to transfer the call though.

'MIT, DC Scott speaking.'

'Err what?' Janet frowned at the receiver.

'This is MIT, Syndicate 9. Can I help you?' There was a pause then a man's voice.

'Sorry. Yes. Is Rob err, DS Waddington there please?'

'I'm sorry he's not available at the moment. Can I take a message?' Janet was already reaching for her pen and notebook.

'Oh.' There was another pause, so long that Janet started to wonder if the man was still there.

'Hello?'

'Oh yes, sorry. I'm just...' Janet raised her eyebrows. It was highly unlike Rob to be getting strange phonecalls. Perhaps a CI? But then he hadn't really been around long enough to cultivate any contacts like that.

'Is there something I can help you with?' Janet's curiosity was piqued.

'Is everything?' The man sounded uncertain then suddenly worried, his words came out in a rush. 'Is everything ok? He's not answering his mobile either. Nothing's err happened, has it?'

Janet felt her eyebrows stretching as high as they could go. Curiosity more than piqued. Not a CI. Family?

'No, there's nothing wrong.' She kept her voice calm and reassuring, soliciting confidence. 'I can get him to call you back if you like...' Her voice lifted at the end of the sentence, inviting him to supply a name to complete the gap she left and it worked.

'Andrew.' Janet allowed herself a private grin of triumph. It always worked.

'Could you tell him that Andrew phoned and I've been trying to get hold of him for... Could you just tell him it's important? To phone me?'

'Of course.'

'Thanks. Thank you.'

Janet was about to ask him if she could take his number when the phone clicked and the dialling tone buzzed in her ear. She scribbled the note out of habit then ran through the details of the mystery voice in her head. A man, young-ish. Younger than her but not a teenager. It could be hard to tell with voices but she would guess twenties or thirties. Not a local accent. From somewhere down south, she couldn't pinpoint it, not a very strong accent either. So probably not close family. She racked her brain for what she remembered of Frankie Waddington back in the day. Not a lot. He wasn't the sort that she'd given much deep thought to, just another one to avoid dark corners with at the Christmas party. And Rob never mentioned anything much personal.

Janet gave herself a little shake. She was just being nosey. She had a job to do. Positioning her glasses on her nose again, she turned her attention back to the computer. She had just found her place again when Rachel strode in the door, followed by Rob juggling a clutch of manilla folders.

'Ooh Rob.' Janet jumped up.

'All right Jan.' Rachel threw herself in her chair and stretched backwards.

'Hiya Rach.' Janet gave her friend a smile then turned back to the Sergeant who was passing.

'Rob.'

'How are you getting on with the sources of venom?'

'Fine, yes, well getting there. I'm making a list. But Rob...' His mobile was buzzing in a pocket somewhere, he was shifting the folders from one arm to the other, struggling to find it.

'Sorry Janet, this thing hasn't stopped.'

'Yes that's what I wanted...' There was a rapping on the glass of Godzilla's office window. Rob spun on the spot, Rachel shot upright in her seat. Gill, with the phone glued to one ear, pointed sharply at Rob then jerked her thumb, softening the gesture with a smile like an alligator. Janet raised her hands to the heavens.

'You've got a message.' She tried again.

'Sorry, errr is it important, can it wait? Only the boss...' He was already leaning on the door handle.

'Andrew phoned.' Janet looked down at her note to double-triple-check the name. 'Said it was important.'

'What?' There was a crash as Rob lost control of the files under one arm, tried to save them with the other, only for his mobile to fly out of that hand, hit the window with a crack, and clatter to the floor on top of the slithering mass of files and paperwork.

Everything stopped.

Everyone stared.

Gill's door flew open and Rob nearly toppled in on top of her. Beetroot, he righted himself and stepped back.

'What the hell is going on?' Gill looked from Rob to Janet to Rachel to the rest of the office.

'Nothing Ma'am. Sorry.' He dropped to his knees and started scrabbling papers together. Gill watched him as if she was suspicious he was about to grow an extra head.

'I'll be in in a minute Ma'am.' She gave him a get-on-with-it nod and vanished again.

'Oh Boss.' Rachel leapt up, skirted the mess and hopped past Rob. 'Can I have a quick word?' She clicked the door behind her.

The office ground back into action again. Janet knelt and wordlessly passed Rob his mobile, started gathering the scattered sheets with a practised hand.

'Shit shit shit.' Rob let his head fall forward and let his breath out in a huff. 'What a mess. What a twat. Me, I mean.' Janet patted his arm, pointed at his phone.

'Do you need to make a call?'

He glanced from her to Gill's office, to the phone, then to the remains of the mess on the floor.

'I'm not trying to pry or anything,' Janet continued, 'but it sounded important.'

Rob bit his lip, clearly torn.

'Go on, I'll cover for you.' She gave him a little shove.

'Thanks Janet.' Rob stood, set off, paused, looked back, hovered a moment. 'You're a mate.'

She smiled and shooed him away. Whatever was going on, she was definitely going to get to the bottom of it later. Just as soon as she'd tidied these files back together, finished her research, headed Gill off, been to the briefing, fended off Rachel's questions, and goodness knew what else got thrown at her this afternoon. Janet shook her head. There was always something.

.

To her immense surprise, it was only ten minutes later that Janet got her chance. After a bit of joined up thinking about the best place to make a private phonecall, she found Rob in the smokers' alley.

'Yeah, yeah, I know.' He was still on the phone, standing with his back to the door, his voice both tender and concerned. Janet tapped on the door, not wanting to eavesdrop on something that was obviously very personal. Rob, characteristically, nearly jumped out of his skin. He put his hand to his chest in relief when he saw who it was.

'I'm sorry,' he said into the phone, 'I've got to go. Ummm.' He looked at his watch and Janet recognised the signs – What time are you going to be home?

'I don't know. It'll be a late one. I know, I'm sorry.' It was a conversation every copper had had. One that MIT officers probably had most weeks.

'Yeah.' Rob's voice dropped and he half turned away again. 'You too.'

Janet's eyes widened as she guessed the other half of the dialogue again – Love you. And the classic not-in-front-of-my-colleague response.

'Sorry.' Janet held up her hands as Rob hung up. 'I didn't mean to interrupt.'

'No no, it's fine.' Rob shrugged his shoulders, feigning nonchalance. He wasn't very good at it. 'What did Gill say?'

Janet scrutinised him. There was a tension in his shoulders that she had never seen before and a frown that he couldn't seem to smooth away. Rob was always a bit jumpy but that explosion of nervousness back up in the office was off the scale, even for him.

'Do you want to go for a coffee? My treat.'

'Shouldn't we be getting back? Gill wanted to see me.'

'It's fine. She was going to call a briefing but Rachel asked for more time in with whatshisname, McRoberts, nasty bastard. Reckons she's getting somewhere. So anyway, Gill's put the briefing back till six-thirty.'

'Right.' Rob took a moment to process all that and Janet took advantage of it to seize his arm, pull him gently along the alley.

'Come on I'm gonna get a coffee from the shop. A decent one. You look done in.'

Rob drew a hand across his eyes and sighed.

'Thanks Janet. Yeah, coffee sounds good.'

.

'Is everything ok?' Once they were seated in the red leatherette booth, warming their hands around proper mugs of drinkable coffee, and she had done a quick recce to make sure that nobody else from the office was in there, Janet thought she was safe to ask.

'Ohh not really.' Rob stared down into his mug.

'Look, you don't have to, and I'm not just being nosey, honest I'm not, but do you want to talk about it?'

Rob looked up, twisted round and checked the place out for himself, then leaned forward.

'If I tell you something... personal, will you keep it to yourself? It's not, I don't mean to go all cloak and dagger, it's not anything awful. I just don't want to broadcast it.'

'Okay.'

'My partner's mother is sick, very sick actually. She's probably dying.'

'Oh I'm sorry.' Janet's face softened.

'She's a lovely lady. Very kind, very funny. She's always, always welcomed me.' Rob cleared his throat. Janet reached out and patted his hand.

'Do you need to go? I'm sure Gill would understand if it's something like that.'

'No. We've got the case. I can drop by later, when we finish. Andrew's there. He just needed...' Rob rested his head on his hand. 'He just needed to talk. A break.'

'Andrew is...?' Janet was beginning to think she was catching on. 'Andrew's her son?'

'Yes.' Rob looked up and met her eye without raising his head. 'Andrew is my boyfriend.'

'Oh.' Janet tried to keep her face blank but couldn't quite help her eyes widening slightly. Then she noticed Rob wincing and her face softened into a smile. She squeezed his hand.

'Is that what all the secrecy is about?'

'Yeah. Silly really.' Rob twitched and glanced over each shoulder. 'It's not really that big of a deal, being gay, these days, is it?'

'Well...'

'Except, I've never met a gay Chief Inspector, not personally. Or a Superintendent. Have you?'

'Err... no.' Janet sought for something to add.

'And in the whole of MIT I've only met one detective who is, and heard about one other. You want to hear the things they say. Actually you don't.'

'Rob.' Janet's face creased in sympathy. 'You don't think we'd be like that, do you?'

'I don't know.' He looked at her bleakly. 'I've only been here a few months, I don't really know the whole team that well.' Then, seeing the hurt in her eyes, he softened a little. 'You wouldn't.'

'Thanks.' She shrugged it off.

'But the rest of them...' His eyes went blank again. 'I'm already the office clown.'

'You're not that.'

'Like today, chucking all that stuff all over the place.' His fist curled in frustration. Janet had a leap of intuition.

'Is this why you get so nervous? Worrying about us all finding out?'

Rob buried his head in his hands for a second. 'Partly.' He was blushing again. 'I'm on edge about the whole Sergeant thing most of the time. I mean, it's horrible giving orders to people with so much more experience who probably know I'm buggering things up before I do.'

'You're not buggering things up.' Janet smiled at him. 'You're doing fine. You just need to have confidence in yourself.'

'Funny.' Rob gave a small smile.

'What?'

'That's what Andrew says.'

Janet nodded sagely, with a twinkle in her eye. 'Sounds like a good lad.' Her face sobered. 'Seriously though Rob, if you need time off talk to Gill. She won't hold anything against you. She's not like that. I've known her a long time. She's fair.'

'Yeah. Ok. I'll think about it.' Rob looked at his watch. 'We'd better be getting back.'

.

As they headed back across the street, Rob touched Janet's arm.

'Thanks for that.'

'You'd do the same for me. Well, you have done.' Janet nodded back at the café, thinking of that time she'd had that awful falling out with Rachel.

'And you know I can keep my mouth shut.'

'Not even Rachel?' Rob surprised her by the teasing tone in his voice.

'Not even Rachel.' She said firmly. 'Ooh speaking of madam, I wonder if she's cracked him yet, old whatshisname.'

'I'll still need that list.'

'Oh God, more internet trawling.'

'For the briefing in half an hour.'

And the police station and the case swallowed them.

Ok so this is a bit random and nothing much happens so thank you if you made it this far and you're still reading.

This came about because lots of us have been speculating that this or that main character seems quite gay and this or that ship could soooo almost be canon, and what are they going to do in series 4 and so on. I mentioned all this to my cousin who isn't quite as involved in the fandom and doesn't really ship any of the main character, and he said the only character he could see the writers making gay was Rob, because we don't know enough about him to know that he isn't. This got me thinking... what if? And how could it be revealed.

I doubt very much this will really happen, so yeah, just random!