I only own Jessica Waite, her parents, brother and Daniel Waite
Jessica Waite, nee Hunter, was a twenty four year old police officer. She had blonde hair the colour of straw, and light green eyes with specks of grey, which made her eyes seem slightly see through in places. Jess had been a fully qualified cop for three years now, and she was a good cop, who was caring and funny. She seemed to connect with all the children on the estates, which made her good for community work. Previously, Jess had worked in Cornwall as a Family Liaison Officer, where she lived with her parents, Michelle and Robert, and her younger brother Andy. Last year, she married a CPS police lawyer, and they had decided to relocate to London, as there was a better pay and more excitement. Her husband, Daniel Waite, was twenty six years old, and had black hair and grey eyes, the colour of slate. They met three years ago just after Jess had qualified, and were married within two years. Jess loved Daniel very much, but he was controlling, and didn't like her talking to other men. Jess had been to London before when she was about fifteen, and she loved it. She'd always known she wanted to be a police officer, but after her trip to London, she knew that she would be an officer with the Metropolitan police. Her dream had now come true.
It was the first of June when Jess and Dan first entered the station. A surge of happiness went through Jess as they walked in to the station. They'd been scanning websites for job offers for a while now, and she'd jumped at the opportunity when she saw a job offer at Sun Hill police station, and luckily there was a position for Dan as well. She'd gone through an interview and thankfully she got the job. Dan had it in the bag, as he came with high recommendations. She walked up to the front desk and rang the bell. A very handsome broody looking officer with dark brown hair and the most intense pair of brown eyes Jess had ever seen, walked up to her. He asked them what the problem was.
"Oh, there's no problem, I'm the new police officer, Jessica Waite, and this is my husband Daniel Waite. Inspector Gold is expecting us." She decided if all the officers of the male variety were like him, she'd settle in very quickly, but Dan would get very jealous obviously. The officer walked around the desk and led her through a door.
"So you're the new recruit. I'm your new sergeant then, Callum Stone, nice to meet you." He held out his hand, and Jess shook it. He then did the same to Dan. She let out an inward giggle as she was led through the station by Sergeant Stone. They finally arrived at the Inspectors office.
"I guess I'll be seeing you later PC Waite", and with a small smile, he walked off down the corridor. Jess knocked on Inspector Gold's door and they entered.
An hour later, Jess had been given her uniform and was assigned a locker. She'd been briefed by the Inspector and introduced to her new colleagues. She liked the look of them, they seemed a friendly bunch, and there were some nice looking males in the mix, Sergeant Stone being one of them. Sure she loved Dan very much, but the way he treated her made her look at other men in a way that a married woman supposedly shouldn't. Dan had been given his own office, and seemed to be fine. Jess was given her first partner, a PC Sally Armstrong. Sally and Jess were going to go and patrol the streets around the estates, so that Jess could get used to her new neighbourhood.
A few minutes later, Jess and Sally had pulled up outside the Farmeade Estate. Sally was a chatty person, and Jess liked her already.
"So, what made you want to move down here?" Sally asked as they started walking. "Well, Cornwall is great, don't get me wrong, but I just didn't feel like I was working at my full potential. I worked in quite a small town, not a lot going on. I guess I got bored. Dan also wanted somewhere he could get exciting work and a better pay" Jess said with a shrug.
"Who's Dan?" asked Sally.
"He's my husband and the new CPS police lawyer." replied Jess.
"You're married? How long have been married for?" she asked, her mouth open in shock.
"We've been together for three years, but we've been married for a year. We celebrated our first anniversary last weekend." she answered.
"It's not my place to pry, but you don't sound very loved up." Sally said, cautiously. "Oh, I love him, maybe too much." said Jess with a sad smile.
"What do you mean by that?" Sally asked, concerned about her new partner who she barely knew.
"Well, let's just say he gets angry a lot, and he takes it out on me." Jess looked at the floor, glad that she'd finally told someone what had been happening, but at the same time guilty that she'd told someone she'd just met her shameful secret.
"He hits you?" Sally couldn't believe it. They turned the corner, and spotted a woman being hassled by an angry looking man. "Come on, your first experience of Sun Hill's finest. We'll finish this conversation later. Ok?" Sally ran to help the woman, while Jess, glad to have avoided more questions, ran after the man. Sally watched as her new partner ran off after the mugger.
Jess had been chasing the mugger for over ten minutes. She could tell that he was beginning to get tired, as he was starting to slow down, and she could see him panicking. At least she was hoping he was slowing down, she was getting out of breath herself. He was approaching the main road, and Jess knew that she would have him, as Will and Callum had confirmed her call for back-up and were less than a minute away in the squad car. The man quickly looked left and right, and then sprinted over the road.
"For God's sake, stop already." Jess checked both ways; there was no traffic so she stepped out into the road, but then she heard a screeching of tyres. Time seemed to have slowed down, and when she looked round, she could see a car speeding around the corner towards her. She heard sirens nearby, then someone shouted her name; Callum. She tried to move out the way, but she wasn't fast enough, the car hit her on her right hand side. She hit the windscreen, cracking the front of her head on it. She was then thrown upwards into the air over the roof of the car; she gained momentum as she fell back to the ground with a loud bang. Her arm twisted behind her back in an unnatural position. She could hear the car screeching off, or was that a car screeching towards her? She tried to move, tried to get out of the way, but she couldn't. She heard thunderous footsteps approaching, and tried to open her eyes, but she couldn't. It was as if her whole body was paralysed, but she was still conscious of everything happening around her.
"Jess? Jess! Can you hear me? It's Sergeant Stone. If you can hear me, can you try and squeeze my hand?" Jess felt a hand placed in hers, and she squeezed as hard as she could. "Good, well done Jess. We're going to get you to hospital. You're going to be fine." Jess could hear the worry in Callum's voice.
"He would have seen the whole thing," she thought "How terrible. I wonder how badly I'm injured?"
After about ten minutes, she heard sirens, and realised the ambulance must be there. She felt her body being turned, and then the pain hit her. Her arm; her arm felt like it was on fire. It seared with pain. It felt as if a million red hot knifes were being plunged in, then pulled back out again, over and over. She felt her head being supported in someone's hands. She opened her eyes slowly, and saw Callum above her. It was him holding her head. At that moment, Callum looked at her, and gave a grim smile. She shut her eyes again. She felt her arm being forced into something, and she screamed in pain. An oxygen mask was placed over her face, and after a few deep breaths she felt a bit better, well, her arm didn't hurt as much. It was another fifteen minutes before she was placed in the ambulance and taken to hospital, but by that point she'd lost consciousness.
Two days later, Sally and Dan were sat in Jess' room, hoping that today would be the day that she woke up. The hit and run driver had been captured shortly after Jess was taken to hospital, and he was charged with attempting to kill a police officer and dangerous driving. Jess had suffered a major head trauma, plus a compound fracture to the left radius and a few broken ribs. The doctors had warned Dan that she might be different when she woke up; she might not recognise people, or know who she is. Everyone at the station couldn't believe what had happened. She was less than an hour into her first shift at Sun Hill, and she was lying unconscious in the middle of a road. Sally and Will had been the worst affected, Sally as she was growing close to Jess and she felt like she should have warned Jess, it being her first day, what people on the estate were like, and Will because he had seen the whole thing close up. Callum was suffering as well, but he never let his emotions show. Inside though, he was beating himself up. He was a minute away, he could have stopped the accident; he didn't know how, but he could have, he should have.
As they were getting ready to leave Jess' room, she started to cough. She was waking up, but because there was a tube in her throat she was getting distressed. "Sally, get a doctor." Dan stood up, and walked to the side of Jess' bed. "Jess? It's me, Dan. Listen, you've got a tube in your throat to help you breathe. The doctor's coming now to get it out. You're ok now. You're ok." He held her hand, and she stopped fighting it. She opened her eyes and looked around. She was in a small room off of the main ward; she realised that the accident must have been serious if she had her own room. She saw the door open, and in rushed a doctor followed by a worried looking Sally.
"Ok Jess, my name is Mr Cullen. You've got a tube in your throat because we had to intubate you to help you breathe, and for when you had your operation. I'm going to get it out now ok? But I need you to stay still. As I pull it out, I want you to breathe out with it. After three: one, two, three." Jess breathed out as hard as she could. She could feel the tube being pulled out; it felt horrible. As it was pulled out, she sat up, coughing. She looked at her arm, it was plastered up. She turned and smiled at Dan and Sally, a sad smile.
"Jess, you might not be able to talk for a while, as your voice box hasn't been used." The doctor swept out, leaving Jess, Dan and Sally. As the doctor left, Sally threw herself at Jess, tears running down her face.
"Oh Jess! I thought you were going to die, and it would've been my entire fault. I was so scared! Thank God you're ok." Sally released Jess, looking her over. "Well, you certainly look better. You were all pale and pallid looking, and your face was covered in blood. It was horrible. Ok, I'm going to stop babbling now. I'll go and get you some magazines; I'll be back in a minute." With one last look at Jess, Sally walked out, wiping her eyes.
"Oh Jess!" Dan held his wife in his arms, shaking from his relief. "Jess, I thought you'd died, and I felt so bad about all those times that I've hurt you. From now on Jess, I'll be the perfect husband. I won't lay a finger on you. I love you so much Jess." Dan kissed the top of her head. Jess had heard it all before, and he'd never stuck to his word before, so why would he now? But then again, she thought, I've never nearly died before have I? Maybe he really will be different. Jess sighed, knowing that he wouldn't change, but she couldn't help having hope. Jess heard the door open, and saw Callum enter.
"Oh sorry, I didn't mean to disturb you." Callum turned to go.
"No, it's ok." Jess' voice was hoarse, and it hurt when she talked. She gulped down some water, and then tried again. "Please, come in." She smiled at him, and he smiled back and entered the room.
"Dan." he said, acknowledging her husband.
"Callum." Dan nodded at him.
"Uh, I brought these for you. They're from everyone at the station. We all wish you a speedy recovery." Callum placed the flowers in the water jug that was next to Jess' bed.
"Thanks sarge, and thank everyone else as well. I appreciate it." Jess said, her voice not much more than a whisper.
"So, we caught the man that you were chasing. He saw you get hit by the car, and felt so guilty he turned himself in. And the hit and run driver was also caught up with not long after you were brought in here, he's been charged with attempting to kill a cop and dangerous driving, so he won't be out for a long time." said Callum.
"Well that's good, I'm glad we got a result. I thought I'd botched it up. And thank God the driver was caught; no way do I want this happening to anyone else." Jess said with a small smile, relieved that he had turned himself in and her possible murderer caught.
"Jess! You nearly died trying to catch that evil man. How can you be so blasé about the whole thing?" Jess recognised his tone of voice; he always used to use that tone before he hit her.
"Look, I just meant that I'm glad that we got a result, as otherwise the accident would have been in vain." Jess' voice shook as she replied, and as Callum looked between them, he came to the conclusion that Jess was being controlled and intimidated by her husband. He'd seen it so many times before; controlling husbands who couldn't bear the wives to think for themselves or do things for themselves, and when the wives did try and do something themselves, the husbands let rip. Callum had also seen domestic violence end in death, and he wondered how badly Jess was being hurt, whether she was at that risk. Jess saw Callum looking at her, and tried to pull down the sleeve of her gown, trying to cover up the black and blue bruises she thought he was looking at, from the last time Dan had lost his temper. Callum noticed though.
"How did you get them?" he asked, signalling the bruises.
"Oh those..." she started to say, but was interrupted by Dan, "I grabbed her by the top of her arms as she was about to fall down the stairs." Dan was wary of Callum; he was worried that Callum would find out the truth. Callum could tell straight away that he was lying. He nodded, and then turned to go.
"Well Jess, I better go, my shift starts soon. I expect you back at work tomorrow. Bye." Callum turned his head, trying to conceal his smile.
"Now hang on a minute sergeant! She's just been involved in a serious road accident. The doctor has said that she's not allowed to work for another week or two yet." Dan said, angrily.
"Relax. It was a joke." Callum stared at Dan, thinking of what a nasty piece of work he was. "Bye Jess." Callum smiled at her as he left.
Out in the corridor, he ran into Sally, who was struggling with a pile of magazines, some bottles of water and some food. Just as she was about to drop them, Callum grabbed some of them.
"Oh, hi sarge. Thanks" she said, as he passed them back to her.
"Sally, can I ask you something?" he said.
"Sure, shoot." she replied, sitting on one of the plastic chairs outside Jess' room. "What do you make of Dan?" he asked, and judging by the look on her face, Callum could tell that Sally thought the same as him.
"Well, he seems ok, a bit moody, but yeah, ok. Why?" she tried to avoid his gaze. "Because he seems to be very controlling of her, and on her upper arms she has some bruises, which when I asked Jess about, he interrupted, saying that she got them because he grabbed her to stop her falling down the stairs. Seems like a textbook case of domestic violence." he said.
"Well, before she went after the mugger, Jess told me that Dan was controlling, and she seemed scared of him. She also said that sometimes when he got angry..." Just as Sally was about to finish that sentence, Dan came out of Jess' room. He looked suspiciously between the pair, and then said to Sally, "There you are. Jess thought you deserted her." said Dan with a laugh. Sally laughed back, but it was very forced. "Yeah, I'm just going now. See you later sarge." Sally raised her eyebrows at him as she entered Jess' room.
"What are you still doing here?" asked Dan.
"I was just making sure my officer wasn't late for her shift. Why? Can't I do that?" Callum stood up, and he was quite a bit taller than Dan.
"Yes of course you can." Dan turned and walked back into Jess room, but as he was about to shut the door, he said, "You be careful sergeant. Stay away from Jess." And he shut the door. "Yeah right" muttered Callum.
Two weeks later and Jess was back at work, much to her delight. She hated being at home, hated being dependant on Dan. Sally had visited her every other day, which helped, but she couldn't help being happy to be at work where Dan couldn't hurt her, or so she thought. Everyone seemed really happy to see her, much to the annoyance of Dan. Oh her first day back, she was changing in the locker room when she heard the door open. She turned round, and saw it was Dan.
"Oy you! What are you doing in here? This is the girls' locker room!" she said playfully laughing. She stopped laughing when she saw the look on Dan's face. "What's the matter?" she asked. Dan walked into the room, carefully shutting the door behind him.
"I just want you to remember that you're a married woman, whose husband has connections in high places." Jess didn't like the look in his eyes.
"What's that supposed to mean?" she said.
"It means I don't want to see you flirting with your male colleagues. Do you understand?" He pushed her back against her locker, his nails digging into her arm. "Ow! Dan you're hurting me. Get off!" she shoved against his chest, and he cut her arm as he fell backwards, leaving three long cuts running down the top of her arm. "Dan!" His eyes changed, he seemed normal again.
"Oh God, Jess. I'm sorry, I didn't mean to." he said, fear in his voice.
"You never mean to, do you. Now go, please." Jess had tears streaming down her face, and blood running down her arm. As Dan left the room, she realised she couldn't cope much longer. It seemed she wasn't even safe at work now. Jess took a deep breath in, and then out. She wiped her eyes, and tried to mop up her arm. Even though it was only a few cuts, it was deep and bleeding quite a bit. She wiped it again, hoping that it had stopped, and then put her uniform on. She was walking to the briefing room when she ran into Will.
"Jess! You're back! How're you feeling?" he asked, pulling her into a hug.
"Oh, hey Will. Yeah I'm good thanks." Jess tried to stem the tears that were threatening to fall again.
"Hey, are you ok? Have you been crying?" he asked, looking at her closely. Behind Will, Jess could see Dan looking at her. Her eyes widened in fear, and she turned around and carried on to the briefing room. Will turned round, and saw Dan staring at him. He turned round, then followed Jess to the briefing room, suspicious of Dan.
"Ok you lot, that's enough, quieten down. Thank you. First, I'd like to welcome back PC Waite. Let's hope that this time she can maybe get a full day of work done." Inspector Gold said. Everyone started laughing, and Jess smiled weakly. "Second, there seems to have been some problems down the Albourne estate, so I want to have a high police presence. Sergeant Stone, with PC Waite. PC Armstrong, with PC Fletcher. PC Green, with PC Roberts. PC Valentine with PC Stamp and that leaves you, PC Gayle, with Sergeant Smith. Off you go then." The Inspector walked out. The officers all milled around, trying to find their partners.
"Right PC Waite, let's see if we can keep you in one piece today." Callum said with a smile. He noticed blood on her shirt, where Dan had cut her. "You're bleeding." he said, frowning.
"It's nothing, I just caught myself when I was putting my shirt on." she replied, avoiding his eyes.
"Come on, my office. We'll just plaster you up, and then you can change your shirt and then we'll go." Jess had no choice but to follow Callum to his office.
They entered his office which he shared with the other Sergeant, Sergeant Smith, and Callum shut the door behind them.
"Right, you're going to need to take your shirt off so I can wipe the cut and bandage it." Callum opened the first aid box that was on top of a filing cabinet and got the wipes and the gauze pad out, with a bandage. He turned around, and Jess still had her shirt on. "Is there something wrong?" he asked.
"No, no." she said, slowly unbuttoning her shirt. She pulled the sleeve off her left arm, and she could clearly see that the cuts were still bleeding. Callum walked over and started wiping her cuts.
"How did you say this happened?" he asked.
"I caught myself when I was shutting my locker."
"I thought you said you'd cut yourself while pulling your shirt on?" he replied, looking her in the eye.
"That's what I meant." Jess said, avoiding his gaze.
"We both know that's a lie." he said.
"Wh...what? Are you calling me a liar?" she said, sounding more confident than she felt. How did he know about Dan? Was it really that obvious?
"Yes I am. You told me two different causes of how you got it, but I know what happened. It was Dan wasn't it. He did this to you. He's abusing you isn't he." It wasn't a question, it was a statement. Callum placed the gauze on the cuts, and wrapped the bandage around her arm.
"No! I told you, I caught myself." As soon as he was done, she pulled her arm free and started buttoning her shirt up. "You're going to have to drive; I don't where I'm going yet." Jess put on her stab vest and her belt, then walked out to the front where the car was.
A few hours later, Jess and Callum were back at the station. Jess hadn't really talked to her sergeant much, not knowing what to say. Callum didn't want to push her, otherwise he knew that she would never tell him about Dan. When they arrived back at the station, Jess headed to the canteen, while Callum finished up some paperwork in his office. In the canteen, Jess located Sally and went and sat down with her. Making sure no-one was paying them any attention, Jess hissed, "Why did you tell Callum about Dan?"
"I didn't! I swear. At the hospital, before he left, he told me he had suspicions that Dan was hitting you, and that he was controlling. He figured it out himself. Why? Is he giving you grief?" Sally looked at her friend.
"Which he? It's both of them! Dan cornered me in the locker room this morning, warned me not to flirt with any of the men, cause he has "friend's in high places", I believe his words were. And he pushed me against my locker, and as I pushed him off, he scratched my arm. My arm was bleeding, but I just wiped it and put my shirt on. It was obviously still bleeding, cause Sergeant Stone noticed, and took me into his office and put a bandage on. I told him that I'd scratched myself, but he didn't believe me. Why is my life screwed up?" she asked Sally, with such despair in her voice that Sally pulled her into a hug across the table.
"Oy oy girls! What's going on here? Is there something I should know about the pair of you?" said Will with a wink, sitting next to Sally, and even though Jess was upset, she laughed in spite of herself.
"Thanks Will." she said.
"What for?" he asked, confused.
"Cheering me up. Right, I'll see you two later. I better get back to Sergeant Stone." she waved as she walked off.