Undercover Operation
I know that I havent updated or published anything recently. But lately I've returned to reading Mallie fics….so please enjoy and review!
Chapter 1:
Millie sighed wearily as she rubbed the Velcro on her vest closed, exhaling loudly as she brushed down her hair with her sweaty palms. The humidity of summer had become Millie's new enemy. Her ginger didn't seem to sit flat and the thick layers of her uniform were simply cruel to her suffocating skin. She paused to glance at herself in the small mirror in the locker room. Her normally fair skin had developed a red tinge on her cheeks and Millie looked like a mad scientist with her frizzy orange hair, Millie let a small smile escape, she looked absolutely ridiculous, but she couldn't do anything to help it, the heat of summer always caught her body off guard. Her only consolation was that all the other uniformed officers were suffering exactly the same. She closed her locker and left the room, holding her cap with her right hand as she walked down the hall towards the cafeteria. As she walked inside, a cool rush of air washed over her hot face. Millie couldn't help but grin as the air conditioning worked quickly to relive her discomfort. She didn't know what was worse, the sub-zero temperatures of winter or the stifling heat of summer.
Putting her temperature woes to the back of her mind, Millie glanced around the food hall, until her eyes locked onto her target. She walked up to her colleague and good friend, PC Mel Ryder, who was sitting with another one of Millie's good friends, PC Ben Gayle.
"Slacking off are we?" Millie laughed as she sat down with her friends.
"Well this is the only place in the station with proper with air conditioning" Ben explained, greeting Millie with a warm smile.
"Unless you count CID upstairs" Mel added, "but I don't think they would be too happy with a couple of sweltering PC's hanging around".
Millie laughed and nodded in agreement "yeah, I don't think they would be too happy with us interrupting their very important work"
Ben chuckled "Plus we are hiding out here, hoping to escape Smithy- don't want to get the dreaded midday shift. I'm not in the mood to be chasing misbehaving teens on the Canley estate, not in this heat".
Millie giggled "well luckily I've already secured myself the morning shift- speaking of, where is Nate? We need to leave now".
"Last I saw of pretty boy, he couldn't pull himself away from the mirror in the boys change room"
Millie grinned and stood from her chair, "alright, well I better go see if I can pull him away- I never saw him as much of a Miss Universe contestant anyway".
Both Mel and Ben just laughed as Millie waved them goodbye and left the cafeteria. A wave of hot air hit her square in the face, Millie couldn't but wince slightly, she had just gotten used to the cool atmosphere of the lunch room. She made her way to the change room and paused.
Should she go in? Millie was never the confident one, she thought it both awkward and rude to just enter the male room, however, a quick glance at her watch changed her mind as she pushed the door open.
"Nate!" she groaned as she pushed the door. "We're going to be late!"
Instead of finding Nate, she came face to face with another man. Shirtless. She was looking directly into the eyes of DS Max Carter.
"Sorry" Millie gasped immediately, averting her eyes to the ground. She felt a pang of embarrassment in her stomach and she could feel her already pink cheeks turning an even brighter shade of crimson. But for some reason, she kept the door open and remained standing awkwardly in the doorway.
"It's alright" she heard Max murmur. She couldn't build up the courage to meet his eyes. Ever since her kidnapping, she had avoided Max. Sure, they had never really worked together before, but the kidnapping just made her feel even more anxious and weird around the man. Her stomach twisted itself into knots whenever he was around her.
"I'm looking for Nate" Millie explained softly, her eyes slowly rising. "You haven't seen him, have you?" she asked timidly, her eyes couldn't help but take in his features, his shirtless body, sure he didn't have a six-pack, but she could tell he kept fit. The arms that held the shirt were strong and he had a tall sturdy frame. Millie felt another pang of emotion in her stomach, she was getting more uneasy the more she saw.
"No" he shook his head, his eyes narrowed and looked directly into hers, as if trying to read her thoughts.
She couldn't handle it, so without another word, Millie swung around and left the room. She took a few steps down the hall, but stopped and lent against the wall. Taking a few breaths in and out and looked back at the door of the male change rooms, entirely unsure of what had just happened.
Suddenly she felt a hand on her shoulder. Millie jumped slightly as she turned.
"There you are!" PC Nate Roberts sighed. "I've been looking for you everywhere- we have a shift to start".
"Yeah…." Millie trailed, looking over her shoulder at the door.
"You ok?" Nate asked with a small frown.
"Yeah I'm alright" Millie swallowed "let's go" she nodded.
"You're driving" he grinned, giving her keys and turning to walk down the hall towards the exit
Millie just smiled meekly and turned again to the change room door. The door swung open and Max exited, he stood in the doorway and looked to his right, locking eyes with Millie. He had changed into a pair of jeans and a light blue t-shirt, his wet hair combed back. They held each other's gazes for a few seconds, both their faces emotionless, before Max ripped his eyes away, turned and walked the other way, back towards CID.
Millie just watched him walk for a few seconds before she herself walked in the opposite direction to start her shift.
"Get a grip Amelia" she hissed to herself "he doesn't even know you". She shook herself free of any DS Carter related thoughts and walked out of the station and into the heatwave. Little did Millie know, this was going to be the day that that all changed….