Title: Pearls Goodwin: Catching a Break

Rating: PG

Spoilers: None.

Disclaimers: Trudy, Jessica, Sarah, Richard and Natalie belong to me, but apart from that, I'm just playing with the characters and promise to return them when I've finished.

Notes: This is the first story in my Pearls Goodwin trilogy, consisting of 'Catching a Break', 'Making a Mistake' and 'Happiness and Heartbreak'.

Jeff turned the key in the lock very slowly and very carefully and then pushed the door open as quietly as he could manage. It was nearly one o'clock in the morning and he was just returning home after his date with Samantha. Now he wanted to get inside without disturbing Lucy, who was probably already asleep in his spare room. That's why he was surprised when, as he turned back to the hall after shutting the door, she was standing in the living room door-way.

'Trying to sneak in?' she grinned.

'I thought you'd be asleep,' he replied, pathetically.

'So did I,' she said, heading back into the living room and beginning to clear away her papers from the coffee table.

'Something wrong?' he asked, following her into the room.

'Just paperwork piling up. Very boring. Tell me about your date,' she answered, arranging the neat pile of folders on one corner of the table and sitting down.

'Not much to tell really. We ate, we danced, we came home,' he replied, joining her on the sofa and praying that she wouldn't ask any more questions, but of course she wanted to know.

'So do you see a bright future for the two of you?'

Jeff searched for the right words, 'She's a nice enough girl.'

'But…' Lucy encouraged.

She's not you he thought to himself, but he didn't say it out loud.

Instead, he went for, 'She's not my type.'

'Oh yeah, and what exactly is your type?' she asked, just as desperate to hear his answer as he was to say it.

'Shouldn't you be in bed?' he dodged, chickening out.

She took the hint, 'Okay, I'm going. No more questions. See you in the morning.' She picked up her papers and headed for the door, but before she left, Jeff spoke.

'Lucy, you're a psychiatrist.'

'Well done. And you're a doctor,' she mocked.

'Haha,' he retorted, 'Tell me something. I had a great time tonight, Sam was gorgeous and lovely and any normal red-blooded male would jump at a chance with her.'

'Okay, I get it. She's great. Get on with it.'

'Sorry. Why then, given all of that, did I feel absolutely nothing for her?'

'As you said, she's probably just not your type,' she said, as quickly as possible.

'But even so, shouldn't I have felt something? In your professional opinion?'

Lucy was silent for a while, trying to decide how much to say. Trying to decide if she wanted to risk him knocking her back.

'Its most likely,' she began, slowly, 'a sign that you are still stuck on someone else. That you feel you are unable to commit to even just a physical relationship with her because you know it wouldn't be right, given your feelings.'

'So if I get over this other person, then I should be fine.'

'Don't see why not, but hey, don't take my word for it. Everyone is different. There may be thousands of reasons why.'

'Right, well thanks. I'll see you in the morning.'

'Yeah, night.'

Jeff sat and listened to her footsteps disappear down the hallway, and the door to her room open and shut. Then he kicked himself. She had given him several perfect opportunities to tell her how he really felt. To tell her he wanted to take her out, not Samantha, but every time he lost his nerve.

His comforting thought, was that he really should tell Sam there was no future for them before making a move on someone else. It was only common courtesy. Believing this, he was happier and decided it would have been a bad thing to tell Lucy before he had sorted things out, and would only have caused everyone problems.

'Right, better go to bed then,' he said out loud, and was almost sad when no-one replied.