This has been in my head for a while now, and since I can't decide what multi-chaptered fic I want to go with next I thought I'd give this a go :)
I've always found the friendship between Michael and Jackie quite sweet, and I always wondered what he thought of her growing closeness to Robbie.
Michael had always slightly despaired about Jackie's taste in men, although that being said he was pretty sure she would have something to say about his taste in women.
The main problem being that she appeared to rocket from one extreme to the other, from the staid and slightly boring; Colin and Major Graham, to the charming and wild living, Greg Martin being the perfect example of that.
He couldn't help but wince at that memory, she'd changed after that incident there was no doubt about it, it had made her warier and less carefree and he had to admit to feeling more than a bit responsible for that. At the time he'd been so caught up in being allowed to run with the case that he'd ignored the signs that had been staring him in the face, she'd been in too deep and she'd ended up hurt and that had partly been down to him.
He had a sneaking suspicion however that Jackie silently preferred men with some edge to them, which may have been why she'd fallen so deep in the first place, and it was why he'd been so concerned by DI Ross's appearance on the team.
Admittedly he hadn't seen the attraction between them right away, a fact he put down to being too concerned with her attachment to Major Graham. That had rather unsurprisingly in his view fizzled out rather quickly, but again he'd still been slow to catch onto the simmering tension that was slowly building underneath his nose.
Gradually though it began to dawn on him that it wasn't just him that Jackie was laughing with anymore, wasn't just him she went for drinks with after work. He also began to notice looks that lingered longer than they should have and the way Robbie would drape his arm over her shoulder, their bodies angling towards the other as they stood so close he'd have been hard-pressed to jam a pencil in between them.
Still though he'd refused to give over to the small bubble of concern that grew inside of him. Jackie surely had more sense than to get involved with a colleague, especially one like Robbie Ross.
Even now he still wasn't sure when it was that alarm bells had started screeching at him, although he knew it was around the time of the Martin Strange case. Maybe it was when he'd heard the rumour that Robbie had told a prospective suitor of Jackie's that she was married, or quite possibly when he saw them sharing amused looks over Stephen's ramblings. What he did know was that by the time he'd discovered that Jackie had confided in him over Jim Taggart's 'ghost' he'd accepted that the situation was teetering on the brink of disaster. They were getting closer and closer and he needed to stop it before someone - well Jackie - got hurt.
Then as quickly as it started it stopped, just as he'd been about to brooch her about it the playing field shifted and it was as though they'd taken a step back. He had no idea what had prompted it but he was relieved, it meant he didn't need to talk to her about it and face her wrath.
When just over a month later Brian entered the frame he'd heaved a sigh of relief, Jackie was back to her calm and sensible phase. This time though it even looked to be serious, she couldn't seem to help but smile whenever he was mentioned and she certainly didn't spend as much time chained to her desk as she once had.
He was happy for her, everything had looked promising and calm; he liked calm. Then bloody Robbie's past had almost wrecked it all and he was alarmed to discover that underneath the attraction he'd noticed, a strong bond of friendship and loyalty between the two of them had also built up. He'd been preoccupied at the time but by the end of the case, he'd noted in dismay that Jackie was willing to take Robbie's side over Brian's, to put him first.
Again though, just when it seemed all was lost the game shifted once more and her relationship with Brian was suddenly back on and it was full steam ahead. When she'd confided the news that she was marrying Brian to him, he'd been thrilled for her, she'd looked happy and confident about her decision.
Then he'd seen Robbie's face when she broke the news and he began to wonder if maybe he'd underestimated the man's feelings, he looked devastated. In that moment, Michael had been aware of his gaze shifting over to Jackie and he'd seen in her eyes that Robbie's acceptance meant a lot to her. And he watched as Robbie did the polite thing of congratulating her as warmly as he could, stepping forward and hugging her before stepping back quickly. In the moments that had followed that, Michael had watched Robbie closely as well wishers had surrounded Jackie in a cacophony of questions and he'd seen the man struggle to rally himself.
Despite this display, he'd truly believed the problem was over, that they'd settle into just being friends. After all he didn't know Brian very well but he appeared to make Jackie happy, she was settled and seemed to be every bit the confident bride to be, secure in the knowledge she was making the right choice.
It was only now, as he watched her from above as she took her vows that he realised that yet again he'd misjudged the situation. He'd heard the words "forsaking all others" and seen her glance up - although thankfully a beaming Brian hadn't - her eyes meeting with Robbie's.
Michael inhaled deeply at the look, wondering just what he'd missed - because he was positive he'd missed something. He knew that Robbie couldn't speak up, not now, not when she was in the middle of marrying another man. He was sure that Jackie knew that too, that this wasn't so much a look of hope that he'd stop her, but a goodbye of sorts.
When she looked away, he saw Robbie's shoulders slump in a sort of defeat, the confident man looking lost for once. It was in that moment he knew that even Jackie's marriage had not ended this game, just changed it yet again. What would happen next he didn't know, he could only wait and see. What he did know however was that along the line someone was going to get hurt and he just hoped with all his might that it wouldn't be Jackie.