AUTHORS NOTE: So I have no idea where this pairing came from seeing as half of it is in my head and the other half rarely gets screen time but I do love the new M.E so I decided to give him some limelight and seeing as you all wrinkled your nose at my original pairing for Duncan (it will happen one day I tell you!) this is who won. Loosely for the prompt "mud". I also have no idea if there is shower rooms down there in the autopsy lab but now there is...

DISCLAIMER: I don't own the characters

[Of Mud Baths and Clean Showers]

It was a warm Friday afternoon and Duncan was finding sanctuary in the nice cold autopsy lab, his last body finished and placed back into the fridges waiting for the family to claim the body of their loved one. Sitting down at his desk, he grabbed hold of his pen so that he could handwrite notes onto the report that he'd written before turning to his computer to check his e-mails.

Hearing the doors open, Duncan jumped when he saw someone covered in mud standing there. "Detective Scott?" He queried only recognising her from the random red flash of hair between the mud that was pretty much covering her from head to toe.2

"Oh yes, sorry." She said moving towards him. "I didn't mean to scare you but Stuart mentioned that you had a shower down here and that you wouldn't mind me using it..." She said indicating her muddy state. The doctor smiled at her before nodding his head knowing that the woman wouldn't cause too much harm in his beautifully organised lab.

"Detective Scott, do I want to ask how you ended up so filthy?" He asked leading her through another door that she'd never seen before which revealed a stall of showers. She stood at the door while he moved forward to a small cupboard and pulled out two towels, soap and a small bottle of shampoo.

"Well let's just say that the next time we chase a couple of perps down the bank of the Clyde after a heavy rainfall, Stuart is chasing the twat that decides to run down the bank." She said motioning to the ruined heels before smiling at the man. "I think everyone watching had a great laugh at my expense as I slid down that hill," she laughed shaking her head causing him to smile at her. "And now I'm struggling to wonder why women enjoy mud baths because this is awful."

"Mud baths are kept warm so that the mud doesn't have a chance to set," he explained before leading her towards the shower in the middle and then handing her all of the things he'd pulled out the cupboard. "Okay so I'll leave you to shower..."

"Doctor..." She said as he started to walk away and he smiled. Detective Scott was afraid of autopsy and he guessed she didn't like the idea of being alone in the showers. "I know it will be awkward but could you please..." she stopped as he nodded his head and moved to sit on the cupboard, his legs crossing as he stared ahead while she moved into the small cubicle to undress. "Can you remind me why I left my lovely clean psychiatrist office to take mud baths chasing after idiots that believe they can get away?"

"Because you get to talk for the people that no longer can," he pointed out playing with the ankle of the jeans that he was wearing due to having finished his days work so there was no need for scrubs unless there was a call in because there had been another body found but he was praying that the murderers of the world would allow them to have the weekend off, "but then again you were making a difference beforehand."

"How do you mean?" She asked over the shower spray, his eyes watching as she massaged the shampoo into her ginger curls.

"Well you were there for people who no one else would listen to," he pointed out leaning back against the wall, "such as the insane or just people who wanted to whine about this that and the other. Sometimes all people need are someone to talk to so that their mind can be at rest. It's sometimes the power of the conversation that can save a mind from going mad and committing the crimes that we see everyday."

"Well Doctor," she said and he could hear the grin, "I think you entered the wrong profession. You sound more like the psychiatrist than me!" The woman laughed as she moved under the jet of the water and started to wash out her hair. "I always felt as if I had no one to talk to until I met this team. Everyone is so amazing," she admitted out loud and Duncan immediately agreed with her.

He didn't know what it was about this team but they were a lot more like family than any other team that he'd worked with. Burke, as gruff as he was towards the young medical examiner, still took care of him like the grandfather – no reference to his age. He was set in his ways and didn't budge for nothing just like your grizzly old grandfather would. He would be nasty to you but also extremely nice when he decided that you deserved it. Duncan had felt awkward at first around the older detective but at the same time felt a sort of affection towards him and had enjoyed the constant irritation the detective seemed to have when Burke saw him.

Robbie and Jackie were obviously the bickering parents even though they didn't know it. They bickered about everything, right down to Robbie getting her food order wrong because he simply wasn't listening to her again. He could still remember the first time he'd seen them bickering over the dead body over him stealing the last stick of chewing gum out of her handbag and couldn't help but smile as he remembered how she'd said that no one should go through a lady's handbag and he'd retorted that it was a good thing he'd just gone through hers then. However, despite their constant arguing, the way they took care of the team members and each other was astounding. They covered each other when something was wrong, were there as a shoulder to cry on when someone had died and always there to share the last laugh when something happened.

Stuart was the wise quiet older brother that you could go talk to about anything but he never said anything out of line even if it was sometimes what you needed to hear. He, despite being one of the youngest, was more wise to the world since coming out of the closet, finding out about his biological mother and then falling in love with the number one gang lord on Glasgow's Most Wanted list. Despite all these things happening around him, Stuart was one of the best detectives Duncan had ever met and one of the best advice givers he'd ever known. Duncan would like to think that he had a friendship with Stuart but at the same time he wasn't sure.

Then Jenny, the last member to join the team before Duncan, was a psychiatrist turned detective so she came across more as the creepy little sister that liked to get up in your business but at the same time had quirks that made you wonder why she should be in this career. She, however, was the only over friendly one out of the lot of them. She could make everyone up and it was because of her previous training. She could lull you into a sense of false security and you'd open up to her believing that you'd found a new best friend. Duncan, however, had recently worked out that he had more than friendship feelings for the shy little psychiatrist turned detective. He didn't know what it was about her but there just was something about her that made him blush like a teenage girl when she arrived at a crime scene first or if she was the one to attend him through an autopsy as Burke was trying to help her get over her fear of the cadavers.

"Duncan," the sound of his name caused him to snap out of his train of thoughts and he smiled sheepishly as he noticed that the shower had turned off, "is there any chance that you have something I can change into? I think the only thing that I can save is my underwear," she admitted truthfully causing him to jump off his seat. The thought of the woman in just her underwear making him want to high tail out of the confined space.

"Of course," he said moving towards the lab again so that he could grab his gym gear. "It's my gym gear, Detective, but I haven't wore it so you should be okay to wear..." he stopped talking as he moved back into the shower room to see Jenny standing in the middle of the shower room wearing nothing but a Wonder Woman matching bra and girl short set. He couldn't help but smile. "Wonder Woman?"

She jumped as she turned back to see him standing there, a blush washing over her face as she looked over at him. "Oh god, how embarrassing..." She admitted holding out her hand for the jog pants that would be too long in the leg and put them on, resting at the hips as they were too big to sit up on her waist like a pair of jog pants should. Duncan couldn't help but look at how toned she was, the red band to her shorts hanging up over the jog pants, and the love handles that were very visible. She smiled. "Don't stare too obviously, doc." She teased before grabbing hold of the vest top that read "Doctor Clark, Medical Examiner" on the right breast and then putting on the zip up hooded jacket that he also handed her. She smiled as she smelt the man standing in front of her wrapped around her in the clothes.

"I'm... I'm sorry, detective." He stammered, blushing at the idea of being caught staring at the detective. She, however, just grinned and put on the pair of pumps that were part of the M.E uniform so there were plenty to spare in the morgue.

"Hey. There's no need to apologise," she teased moving towards him and taking hold of the tee shirt. "Thanks doc," she whispered with a smile before reaching up on her tiptoes so that they were pretty much nose to nose, "I thought I was going to have to look like something out of a bad horror movie." She pressed a small kiss to the corner of his mouth before leaving, a smile on her face as if sensing what mess she would be leaving Duncan in with such an innocent action. And that mess was Duncan slipping to the floor and smiling after her.

Yes. The evidence was there. Dr Duncan Clark was in love with Detective Jenny Scott. Damn.