Never Leave Your Heart Alone

Summary: Winter is setting in at Sun Hill and the coppers are depressed and loveless. Can they find someone to love and will the new CPS lawyer create some sparks? Will end Christmassy.
Pairings: SamPhil. SmithyKerry. AndreaNeil. SuzieZain. DianeOC. HoneyDan.
This is the taster chapter of my new fic, I hope you like it and please review, your input is always really helpful! Xxx.
Rated for language etc as this fic progresses.

Chapter One: Early Winter

It was raining. Again. The roads around the borough of Canley were grid locked with traffic, as everyone in the city seemed to be using their cars today. Phil Hunter pressed down hard on the steering wheel, his car horn sounding loudly. After a full five minutes of the traffic lights being red they had finally turned to green. However, the traffic still wasn't moving. The song on the radio came to an end and the nine o'clock new began. Phil swore out loud, he was late again and had been late every morning this week. The DI would love him for this. When he finally found a parking space outside the station and made it inside, his expensive suit was drenched and his mood was dampening too.

Up in the CID suite he took off his wet jacket and made himself a cup of coffee. He was back at his desk and checking his emails when he became aware of another presence. He looked up and saw that Detective Inspector Samantha Nixon was standing over his desk. Phil groaned inwardly.

"Sergeant Hunter." She said coldly. "What time do you call this?"

"Sorry guv, traffic was awful." Phil said flippantly, turning his attention back to his computer screen. But Sam wasn't finished with him yet.

"I believed you on Monday but five days in a row? It's not good enough!" She said, her voice rising.

Phil looked up at her, his eyes narrowed. Ever since she had been promoted to DI she had been acting as though she was in charge here.

"Oh, piss off Sam!" He said, finally losing patience with her.

Her reaction was almost as if she had been slapped

"Hunter, my office. Now!" She said, struggling to keep a lid on her anger.

Muttering to himself under his breath, Phil followed her across the room.

"DI doesn't look to happy." DC Zain Nadir commented, stapling sheets together and placing them in a file.

Suzie Sim looked up from her desk opposite his. She smiled.

"I actually feel sorry for Phil." She admitted.

Zain laughed. "I'm sure he can hold his own, even if the DI does hate him."

"What do you think of her so far? She's really different to when she was a DS, don't you think?" Suzie asked.

Zain nodded thoughtfully. "I'm sure she's just getting used to it, I think she'll make a good DI though."

Suzie smiled ruefully. "But you've always had a soft spot for her, Zain!"

He blushed, rivalling the colour of his pink shirt.

"Shut up, Suzie." He retorted jokingly, concentrating on his paperwork again. It was true that he had a bit of a thing for Sam a while back but that was over now, he actually liked someone else but he'd never be brave enough to tell her.

"PCs Young and Noble, this is our new CPS lawyer Guy Nixon." Sergeant Dale Smith introduced the tall man with floppy dark blond hair dressed in a black suit and lilac shirt.

Kerry and Diane exchanged a look for two reasons. One, they were both wondering if he was any relation to DI Sam Nixon and two, he was pretty attractive too.

Kerry and Diane shook hands with him and smiled. Smithy pretended not to notice Kerry's interest in Sun Hill's newest recruit. He placed his hand on her shoulder and leant close.

"I'll see you later." He whispered, his breath close to her neck making Kerry suppress a shiver.

"I hear I'm quite an act to follow." Guy said, a twinkle in his eye.

"We really don't need another psycho around here." Diane joked back; she really liked this man already.

Kerry ignored the conversation between them; her thoughts were still with Smithy and where their relationship was heading, if anywhere at all.

Like her colleague Phil Hunter, Andrea Dunbar wasn't having a good morning either. It may have been Friday but it didn't mean that she was in a good mood but she was certainly looking forward to weekend. If she had her way she'd spend Friday night getting slaughtered and the rest of the weekend watching re-runs of ER and relaxing on the sofa. It was thoughts like these that stopped her thinking about how horrific the working day ahead of her was going to be. If the events of the morning were anything to go by things couldn't get much worse.

To begin with she had overslept and then the other tenants had used all of the hot water so she had had to have a cold shower. The traffic had also been against her and Inspector Gold was already on her case. Just to make matters worse she had been assigned to assist CID today and none other than DI Neil Manson, her sometime lover. The only upside was she had been paired up with PC Honey Harman which was a blessing as she had a way of cheering you up when you were down.

"Are you okay, Andrea?" Honey asked as they climbed the stairs up to CID.

"Having the day from hell but yeah thanks." She replied.

Honey smiled sympathetically. "At least it's Friday. You up for a drink tonight?"

Andrea nodded enthusiastically. "You don't know how much I'm in need of a good supply of alcohol." She said as she and Honey completed their climb upstairs. They made plans to meet at the Canley Arms at seven and were silent as they made their way to Manson's office.