Sweet Apology

Disclaimer: New Tricks belongs to the BBC, I'm just borrowing for a bit.

Rating K

Episode: London underground, series 11.

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Sasha Miller walked steadily towards the glass doors of the UCOS office, the absence of lights inside signifying the fact that she was the first to arrive. She paused at the door, fighting a feeling of nausea and willing the hammering in her skull to ease, just for a second. She was still slightly hungover from the evening before when she and the boys had celebrated their 'victory' over the murder unit, and her own more personal battle won against her ex-husband.

'Boys' She laughed at the notion as she saw the lift doors open, letting the three ex-coppers wander out into the little lobby, all looking a little worse for wear. They were hardly what she had envisioned as her perfect team when she had started out on the ladder of promotion, but she realised with a feeling of contentment that she wouldn't swap any of them for a dozen of the fresh faced, new off the production line, Hendon graduates from upstairs.

"Morning Guv." Gerry rasped, his voice husky and dry. She grinned.

"Only just." She replied. Steve laughed, before wincing.

"You're telling me, could have done with a couple of extra hours in bed." Danny nodded slowly, then closed his eyes as he regretted the action.

"Come on, we'll have a quiet paperwork morning." She offered, pushing the door open and entering the outer office. She looked around at the paperwork scattered on all the desks, and her eyes flitted to her own desk, she went into her office and hung up her coat and bag, glancing at the files and photos on the wooden surface. She remembered the day before, when she had sat there and been torn apart by Strickland's harsh words. She felt a wave of betrayal, she had thought he was in their corner, and had taken her side against Ned's games, before he had proved that it's all boys together and given her a dressing down. She sighed 'just another man letting me down' she thought to herself and lifted the top piece of paper, but she stopped in her tracks when she saw the object hidden underneath. She picked it up and returned to the outer office.

"What's this?" She asked, the three men all looked at her. Danny frowned.

"It's a KitKat." He answered as if it was obvious. She rolled her eyes.

"I know that, I mean why is it on my desk." She saw Steve look at Gerry. "Do you know something about this?" She asked the scot. He shrugged.

"Well, I think I might.. I know what it is and what it means, but..." He looked at Gerry for help. He grinned.

"It's an apology." He told her. She frowned.

"Apology, what are you apologising for?"

"Not from me. It's from Strickland." He stood up and wandered over to the kettle, switching it on he started lining up the cups.

"Will somebody please tell me..."

"Guv, I know about it being a sort of sorry, but you'll have to get the full story from him, it's before my time." Steve offered. Sasha looked at Gerry, her arms folded. He sighed.

"Some years ago, Jack went awol for a while, it's a long story but we ended up having a bit of a bust up with Stricker's over it. Sandra and me resigned and Brian nearly had a meltdown. Anyway, Jack turned up and we all went back to business as usual, except Sandra couldn't quite forgive the boss over the way he had spoken to us. She had it out with him one afternoon, and he explained that although he had every intention of giving us time to get Jack back, he had to give the appearance of playing it by the book to keep those upstairs from interfering. She made some comment about needing a break. Just one of those throw away comments, you know..." Sasha nodded. "Anyway, a few hours later, a KitKat appeared with a note saying 'sorry, I need you too much, this will have to do'. You know, the KitKat advert..."

"Have a break, have a KitKat." Danny furnished. Gerry nodded.

"Whenever Strickland had to play politics or if he was out of order, he always left a KitKat for Sandra, it's his way of saying sorry without losing face, making peace if you like."

"Probably for the telling off he gave you yesterday." Steve offered, she nodded.

"Even though he had no choice." Danny added. Sasha looked up at him sharply, she noticed that the others were suddenly looking anywhere but at her. Danny shrugged. "You were openly rude to a senior officer, even if he deserved every word it." He explained. Steve nodded.

"If you had heard another DI talking to another DAC in the same way, you'd have expected the DI to get a bollocking."

"Rock and a hard place, that's where Stricker's has spent the last ten years. UCOS is the rock, and everyone else is the hard place." Sasha turned and looked at Gerry, she gulped.

"I really was out of order, wasn't I?" She whispered, the realisation that Ned had played her hitting her like a train. She looked at the chocolate in her hand. She felt a hand on her arm.

"He'll have seen it, you know, how Ned was pushing your buttons, that's probably why he went to bat for us." Gerry's voice made her look up.

"Then why didn't he have a quiet word, you know, instead of a full on bollocking?" She frowned as all the men looked away. "What...What don't I know?" She turned to Steve. "What am I missing?" He looked uncomfortable but kept his mouth shut, making her more suspicious. She rounded on Danny. "Tell me." He sighed.

"He's afraid of you." Danny told her. Of all the things he could of said, that was the last thing she had thought of. She shook her head.

"What?"

"Well, not afraid of you exactly, he's afraid of what you could do to him." Steve elaborated. Sasha stared at them.

"If someone doesn't explain, I'm going to get violent." She growled. Gerry held out a steaming cup of coffee to her, he passed the others theirs before perching on the edge of his desk. He though for a moment before he cleared his throat.

"He's keeping you at arms length. Trying not to get to personally involved." He admitted. He sighed. "He let us in, the UCOS team, he let us into his life. Then Jack ups and leaves without a word of warning, Strickland had to deal with the fall out from that, we were lucky, Steve happened along at just the right moment, or the bean counters would have cut our budget, saying we could manage with three."

"And there was me thinking it was my Scottish charm." Steve grinned. Gerry shrugged.

"We needed you mate, you brought us back from the brink. But then Brian goes and pushes the boss into a corner. Stricker's had to sack him, he had no choice, and he hated it. He tried so hard to give Brian the chance to save himself. But in the end..." Gerry shrugged. Sasha looked questioningly at him.

"That's not everything, is it? There's something else." Gerry looked uncomfortable. Steve looked down at the floor. Danny sighed.

"You may as well tell her, she's not going to give up." He pointed out. Gerry nodded.

"Sandra." He said. Sasha nodded for him to go on. "You see, he always had a soft spot for Sandra. In the early years we used to tease her about it, but he never really made a move, a few drinks in the pub now and again, and he asked her out for dinner on a couple of occasions, but nothing ever happened. She never really noticed him, not properly. He scuppered his career for UCOS, gave up on everything."

"Rumour has it, he could have been the mets youngest Commissioner." Danny interrupted. Gerry nodded.

"Then she left, for a new exciting life, with one of his best friends. Max was his best man at his wedding." Gerry continued. "Sandra never realised of course, she'd never have intentionally hurt him. But, well, he's not been the same since, he's been more...distant."

"So this is him saying 'sorry'?"

"Probably more like he's telling you that he understands, he knows how Ned was trying to provoke you. I think he must really like you, I mean, this is the first Strickers like thing he's done in ages."

"What do I do?"

"Well, either you eat the kitkat, then you forgive him. And he will never mention the 'incident' again..."

"Or?"

"Or you ask him out for a drink, and 'give him a go'." Gerry added with a cheeky wink. Sasha rolled her eyes.

"I told you, that was just a joke."

"Maybe. But then again.." Danny grinned. Steve laughed. Sasha looked around them and shook her head. She opened the chocolate and broke it into four, handing a finger to each of her team. They smiled, enjoying the sweet treat, each of them returning to their previous distractions, leaving her lost in thought.

/

A few hours later she spotted the source of her day's distraction as he headed towards the lift, she jogged to catch up and slipped through the doors, just as they closed. She saw him raise his eyebrows at her but both stayed silent until the other occupants of the lift exited. When the doors shut on them again, she turned to him.

"Sir. I wanted to apologise. I was out of order yesterday, and I promise It will never happen again." She rushed. He smiled warmly.

"You were in a difficult position, one I will do my best to make sure that you never find yourself in again." He assured her.

"Are you on your way home?" She blurted out, he nodded.

"Yes, why?"

"I was wondering, if you'd like to join me...for a drink...or maybe a coffee?" She blurted, cursing the fact that she had suddenly lost the ability to string a sensible sentence together. He smiled, a genuinely warm smile which reached his eyes.

"A coffee and a kitkat maybe?" He suggested, she laughed.

"Perfect, but for the record, I prefer Toblerone."

/