Disclaimer: Obviously I don't own The Bill, if I did, Andrea and all my other favorite charcters would still be alive and I'd be super rich.
Notes: Nothing to say about this one as of yet, maybe i'll think of something later. I'm just posting up all pre-written chapters of stories i'm working on so expect lots of errors.
Revealing All
"I've been going out with the DI on the quiet," I blurt out without thinking.
Yvonne, Honey and I are sitting in the pub having a drink and catching up.
"Andz, that's not even funny," Honey says, misinterpreting my admission as a joke.
"It wasn't meant to be," I explain.
"Right and next you'll be saying that you're telling us this because your seven months pregnant and the baby's his, come on, pull the other one," Yvonne says, agreeing with Honey that it's all a big joke.
"Fourteen weeks actually and your right, it is his."
"You don't honestly expect us to believe that do you?" asks Yvonne still sceptical.
"See, this is why I don't tell you things, I tell you and you don't believe me, or I don't tell you and you say I never tell you anything. It's a no win situation. What have I gotta do to prove it to you?"
"I've gotta admit, this is a good one, if I didn't know you, I'd actually believe it."
"Well believe it or not, you'll see that I'm not joking in a few months time, when my belly's out here," I state using my hands to gesture my expanding stomach.
"Ok, I'll go along with it for now, how long, have you supposedly been going out with him then?"
"Exactly eleven months last Wednesday," I state without hesitation.
"I thought the DI was married?" Honey asks.
"He was, but they're separated, have been for a while now. They still keep in touch, but, …"
"How come nobodies ever seen you together then, or anything."
"It's called a secret for a reason, we've been really careful at work and whatever to keep it looking professional, I doubt even the super suspects anything. We rarely speak on a personal level at work, to make it hard for anyone to pick up signals."
"Why are you telling us all this now?"
"People are bound to notice my slight weight gain soon, and being my best friend's I wanted to make sure you're the first to know. Hopefully then, I can avoid some of the more difficult questions, for now at least."
"I still don't really believe all this," comments Yvonne, "it seems a bit too far fetched for me."
"What does?" asks Inspector Gold, heading in our direction alongside Superintendent Okaro, DCI Meadows and the DI.
"This practical joke Andrea's trying to convince us is true," Yvonne explains, without revealing any details.
Neil looks at me in silent question, and I answer with a discreet nod of my head, we discussed, telling them a few days ago, and he seems to have picked up the meaning of the conversation.
"It's not a joke," Neil assures them before heading to the bar to get a drink, closely followed by his companions who are eager to find out more.
I hear Okaro ask him what all that was about, as they walk further away from us, but do not catch his answer, though judging from their faces he didn't tell them much.
Shortly after they approach us again. "Can we join you?" the Inspector asks.
A quick round of nods, confirms we're all in agreement. "Sure," Honey voices for us.
We all slide along the seats to make room for the extra people. Neil, making sure he's sat beside me.
I feel him run a hand along my leg, out of view of everyone else at the table, "You ok?" he whispers, when everyone else in engrossed in conversation.
"Yeah, fine, never thought they would think it's a prank though."
"Me either."
"So what's all this about a far fetched joke?" DCI Meadows asks, breaking through our thoughts.
I stay silent not sure what to say here, but thankfully Yvonne does the hard bit for me.
"Andrea was trying to convince us that she's pregnant, but I don't believe it, we'd have noticed something before now."
"I found out last week and wasn't sure how to approach the subject," I explain.
"So is it true or not? That's what I want to know," states Gold Dragon, and we'd face hell if she knew we called her that.
"It's true," both me and Neil say together.
"How did you know before us?" the DCI asks Neil.
We look at each other, to pass on a silent message on how much to tell. "It's a long story, but the short version involves me upsetting a few people, walking into an empty briefing room without knocking, and finding her crying in there. I asked a few questions and got the full story," Neil explains, clearly missing out the most important parts.
"That's not what we heard," points out Honey.
"That's a different story altogether," I state before she can elaborate, "but …"
"I think we need to have a little chat in my office in the morning," Inspector Gold says to me.
"Of course," I answer. I was expecting that to come up soon.
We continue talking about random things, from work, to the news, to the recent good weather we've been having and anything else we could think up in between. Neil, keeping his hand wrapped tightly around mine under the table out of view the whole time.
A few hours later someone makes a comment about heading home for the night, and we all take the cue to round up the conversation and prepare to head home for the night.
It's not till we're at home and wrapped up in each others arms that we even think about the conversation in the pub.
"I'm still not convinced they believe it," Neil mumbles, nibbling on my ear.
"Me either, I don't know whether it's a good thing or a bad thing them knowing about us, but of all the things in the world, I would have thought they'd believe it if they heard. That is why we've tried so hard in the past to keep things quiet."
"Maybe we didn't need to work so hard after all."
"So what next?"
"Well if you still want them to know, we could be a little less careful and start dropping a few hints around the station, nothing big mind you, just let them overhear the occasional conversation or something, the only problem being the rest of the station, they're bound to pick up the hints as well."
"People are gonna notice in a few months anyway, some things are impossible to hide."
"I know what you mean but that doesn't necessarily link directly back to us, as far as anyone else is concerned, the only way we know each other is on a professional work based level, I mean sure, Phil Hunter and Sam may have noticed you spending a bit more time up in CID than anyone else, but I'm almost certain they don't suspect a thing, they would have said something by now if they did."
"So we stick to what we agreed and maybe drop a few basic hints around the station then?" I ask to ensure we're both on the same page here.
"Yeah, I think that's the best option."
I rest my head flat against his bare chest, inhaling the familiar scent of him. Within a few minutes we are both fast asleep.
Authors Notes: Well? Should I continue or just leave it as it is?