A/N: Hope you enjoy this and please feel free to review.

Disclaimer: I don't own New Tricks.

A Week in the Life

Sunday

Ten a.m

Her deep, dream-filled sleep was rudely disrupted by the shrill ringing of her phone, amplified by the deep droning sound as it vibrated against her wooden bedside table, cutting through her hazy tiredness and the hangover from hell that struck her almost as soon as she hesitantly opened her weary eyes, still smudged in yesterday's make-up and watering from the bright rays of Spring sunlight that attacked them. Her manicured hand blindly searched the table for the object, finding its target just before the noise came to an end.

"Hello?" she answered wearily, presuming it was either Brian or Jack, having not had time to check the display. They were the only people she knew who were sober enough to be up at this ridiculous hour, anyway.

"Ah, Detective Superintendent Pullman, I was hoping I'd get through to you."

She frowned, the mist of alcohol and tiredness being frustratingly slow to shift from her mind. She knew that voice though; drawly, irritating, mildly patronising. A vague memory came to her of seemingly endless meetings, the same voice droning on for what felt like hours and hours…shit. It was the Assistant Commissioner.

"Oh. Hello sir," she replied, frantically sitting up and combing the stray wisps of hair from her face as though he could somehow see her over the telephone. "What can I do for you?"

"Well, as you are probably aware, our annual audit is coming up this week, however DAC Strickland is unfortunately stuck in Italy for the foreseeable future due to the volcanic ash cloud which is preventing his scheduled flight from taking off."

She snorted. The way he had said 'unfortunately' made it sound as though Strickland wasn't the luckiest bugger on the planet. Not only was he having an extended holiday, in Italy of all places, he was missing audit week as well.

"I'm sorry to hear that, although I'm sure we'll manage perfectly well without him, sir."

"Yes, well, that's what I wanted to talk to you about. You see, DAC Strickland has six departments under his command, and his absence this week will inevitably result in a huge amount of work being missed."

She had an ominous feeling that she could already see where this was going.

"With all due respect sir, what does that have to do with me?"

"Well, Detective Superintendent, here we reach the crux of the matter. I was hoping that you would be able to take over DAC Strickland's duties, just for a week." He announced, clearly aware that she would not be best pleased, and bracing himself for the oncoming storm.

She closed her eyes and rubbed the bridge of her nose, never wanting to open them again. She'd presumed that the heads of all six of the departments would chip in, not just her. How the hell was she expected to oversee six departments, do Strickland's work, make sure her own boys were doing the audit by the book and help them with it?

"How am I expected to take on all this extra work when I have my own department's audit to conduct? More's to the point, why is it just me? Couldn't one of the other Detective Superintendents help?"

"I'm sorry Sandra, but I had to reach the decision. All the other departments have over ten personnel, whereas yours only has three, excluding yourself. Your audit shouldn't take as long as the others, so you should have free time in which to conduct the DAC's duties. Besides, you are more than capable of taking this task on, you've been offered promotion more than once and I have every faith that you can do this."

She sighed, her eyes still closed as she heard the AC turn to flattery as a persuasive method. Well, that wouldn't work, when yet again she was being punished for having a small department of retirees rather than a large one of career coppers, who were only driven by the prospect of climbing the greasy pole right to the lonely top.

"What about the other DACs?"

"Similarly, they all have their own departments to oversee. I'd like to just make this clear that this isn't a request, Detective." He said, finally resorting to bluntness.

She paused for a moment, mentally weighing up whether it was worth arguing with the older man. Eventually she decided to back down. She was tired, and Jack could always make sure that Gerry and Brian were on the right track. Besides, how difficult could paperwork be? Boring, yes, but achievable.

"Okay. I'll do it." She replied finally, yet still with an edge to her voice that conveyed she wasn't pleased at the prospect.

"Right. Good. Well, I will see you at eight thirty tomorrow morning in the DAC's office for briefing," stuttered the AC, who had clearly been expecting more resistance.

"Bright and early," she muttered as he hung up. She placed the phone back on the bedside table and let her head fall back onto the pillow. It was going to be a long week.

Three p.m

She'd decided to take it easy for the rest of the day in the hope that her hangover would subside, to prepare herself for the week ahead. She'd returned to sleep for another hour, had a shower and made a bacon sandwich, which had gone some way to alleviating her symptoms. As she'd watched the afternoon chick flick on the TV, she had tried to work out which other departments she would be overseeing on behalf of Strickland. CID and the murder squad were headed by other DACs, so at least that would be a weight off her shoulders. However, she had a feeling that organised crime and vice were under his remit, and perhaps the new unit related to online crimes. The annoying one that kept sending her emails reminding her to change her passwords regularly. Great.

The chick flick finished and she decided to make a few phonecalls. First on the list was Jack, who, she presumed as she scrolled to his name in her list of contacts, would find it hilarious that she had been selected to be Strickland's shoe-in.

"Hello?" he answered almost immediately.

"Jack, it's me. Listen, I've got a favour to ask you."

He chuckled. "Where have I heard that one before? Boyfriend troubles is it?"

"No, god no, nothing like that, not at my age anyway. It's about work, actually."

"Go on?"

"Well, basically, Strickland is stuck on holiday what with that volcanic ash cloud thing that's stopping all flights, and I've been asked to be his replacement for the week."

"But it's audit week." The older man replied bluntly, his mind already making an educated guess at what her 'favour' would be.

"Yeah, that's why I'm calling, really. Would you mind just overseeing the audit, keeping Tweedledum and Tweedledee on the right track this week? It's nothing major, just make sure they're doing what they're supposed to be doing. And make sure Gerry isn't fiddling his timesheets again, I could really do without a bollocking from Strickland when he gets back."

He sighed. "Yeah, alright. I'll try my best, but if Gerry says he's nipping out for a fag and doesn't come back all week, I'm not responsible. And you owe me a drink."

"Of course. I'll try my best to be there as much as possible but I've got six departments to keep an eye on and Strickland's work to do, it's bloody ridiculous." She sighed wearily, the enormity of the task ahead being reinforced.

"Why can't someone else help you out?"

"I don't know, apparently they're all too busy with their own audits, just the usual crap about us being the smallest department which somehow makes us the prime target to tidy up everyone else's mess."

"Well it's nice to know we're valued." He cracked.

"Hmm. Well I'd better get on anyway, I'll let you enjoy your weekend in peace before tomorrow. And I'll ring the troublesome two, let them know to be on their best behaviour."

"Good luck with that," he grinned as he hung up, his smile turning into a grimace as he walked over to his drinks cabinet, pouring himself a measure of whisky. He had a feeling he was going to need it.

Nine p.m

She'd deliberately waited until late evening to call Gerry, knowing full well that Sunday dinner with the girls would have been his main priority all afternoon. Hopefully he wasn't too drunk to listen to what she had to say. She had called Brian earlier and he'd seemed to take it on board, but then again, you could never be sure when it came to Brian. Besides, it was Gerry who led him astray most of the time. Selecting his name, she waited as the phone rung. Eventually, just as she was about to end the call, he picked up.

"Hello?" he answered cheerily. Too cheerily. He was definitely drunk.

"Gerry, it's me. Listen," she hurriedly gave the imperative before he had chance to interject with some overly happy greeting. "I was just calling to let you know that I won't be in the office much this week so I've left Jack in charge, and I want you to get your head down and do the audit as quickly as possible, alright?"

"Yeah, sure. You having a good weekend?"

"Yes, fine thank you. I take it the girls have been round for dinner?"

"Yep, they just went home now. Hang on…no, it was a couple of hours ago actually. Time must be running away with me today Guv."

"Hmm, well that's what happens when you have too much fun. Just remember what I said, okay? Best behaviour for Jack this week." She spoke slightly too slowly, as though she were speaking to a child. Still, she could be forgiven for mistaking an alcohol-filled Gerry for a child. The similarities were numerous even when he was sober.

"You've got it Guv, I won't let you down. Night." He slurred, ending the call bluntly. She simply shook her head in bewilderment at how alcohol could affect the human brain.

A cursory flick through the hundreds of useless television channels she paid for without any particular reason told her that there was nothing on worth staying up for, just endless repeats, as usual. She decided to get an early night before the oncoming storm of paperwork hit in the morning.