Welcome to my new Bill fanfiction :) Unsaid fans will see more of their favourite couple, plus some Grace/Niel and some Ben/Sally later on. This story is set a year or so after the end of the series. There'll be a few new faces entering in the future - and a few old ones! If you want to read more, leave me a review and tell me so!


"Mickey, do you have a moment?"

Mickey lifted a slightly shaggy sandy head to see DI Manson standing in the doorway of his office. "Course Guv." Ever-obliging Mickey rose at Neil's gesture to continue the conversation inside and followed him in. Neil's desk and work area were much like the man himself - plain to the point of being impersonal, neat, tidy, and not a paper out of place. The perfect professional image. But Mickey had worked with Neil for some years now, despite an earthquake-prone shaky start, they had progressed to work together effectively. Mickey knew Neil had matured - in a word - during his time at Sun Hill. Sure, there were still signs of the uptight, sexist, and surly man he'd seemed upon arrival, but they didn't show themselves very often. The DI still wasn't one however, for beating around the bush. No sooner had Mickey's feet come to a standstill in front of the desk was he speaking. "Inspector Smith requested help with a case he informed me about this morning." He began. Mickey wryly wondered if Smithy had indeed asked for CID help, or if Neil had swiped the case for them to investigate. Either way, he was smart enough to keep his suspicions off his face as the DI continued. "Uniform found a pair of bodies in a dumpster, looks like two working girls from initial investigations. Eddy's been taking a look, but so far we've got no ID and no missing persons. Take DS Moss down to have a look, and check in with Smithy before you go - he's got Uniform asking around the area, businesses and homes."

Mickey nodded through the conversation then headed back outside to collect Stevie. He found her absent from her desk and blew out a semi-annoyed breath as he tried to pinpoint where she might be. If there was one thing Neil hated it was his team standing around after he'd just given them a job, so Mickey hastened out into the corridors and in search of Stevie. He wasn't all that annoyed with her, though. Mickey got along well with everyone in CID with the exception of Max, whom everyone knew was a loner anyway. Mickey knew a fair bit more about him that soured him on the stoic Detective Sergent, but Max had sworn to him he was clean now. Mickey didn't trust his word as far as he could have picked up the station and thrown it into the Thames. But Stevie was another matter - she had that sort of infectious enthusiasm he found hard to resist for long, and she was good to work with, both in terms of being easy to get along with and a lot sharper than she might first appear. He was under no illusions though - their relational was strictly platonic. It wasn't himthat Stevie had her eye on, Mickey thought with a grin, thinking of one of the station's best un-kept secrets.

Stevie Moss was in the cafeteria in full girl talk mode with DC Grace Dasari and Sergent Jo Masters, the former an old CID college. Mickey almost winced at the thought of breaking up the estrogen party but told himself to stop being such a girl. All but laughing out loud he ambled over and politely waited for a break in the chatter - coming mostly from Stevie's end, naturally. "Hey Moss, DI's got a job for us." He announced, including Grace and Jo in his smile of greeting. Stevie pulled a quick face. "What's he consider Uniform too unqualified for this time?" She asked, simultaneously poking fun at their superior and at Jo's team. "Oi!" The Sergent flicked an uneaten chip at Stevie's seat, but she slipped nimbly out of the way and flashed her lively grin at her old friend. "Missed. I don't suppose I've got time to finish my cuppa first if Neil's commanded us off. Best scatter before he finds some paper from 1996 for us instead." Grace laughed softly. "He's not that bad." she stood up for the DI, and Mickey had to hide his grin as the mention of Sun Hill's second-most un-kept secret. But he knew the right carrot to dangle to get Stevie moving. "Okay, well I've just got to go see Smithy to see where Uniform's at with this case, then I'll swing back here to pick you up." Stevie downed the rest of her cup in one gulp and spoke without seeming to swallow. How she'd done so without burning herself was a mystery to Mickey, who pictured her as a carton tornado, whirling about so quickly regular people saw only a blur. "Nah, I'm finished here. Catch you later girls." Grace caught Mickey's eye for a moment and the ghost of a smile flickered - she didn't miss anything. Mickey grinned back and sauntered after Stevie, who was already out the doors and moving at her usual fast clip.

Smithy had his hands full with the newest member of the relief when Stevie and Mickey peered through the window to his office. A dark-skinned young man stood in front of the Sergeant, thick black hair perfectly smoothed back, emphasizing angular cheekbones and a smooth-shaven jaw. It was easy to place the features of PC Miles Gayle alongside that of his older brother, Ben, despite the fact he kept his beard shaved and his hair longer in an obvious effort to be physically set apart from him. Miles' loud voice was clearly audible to the two CID members on the other side of the door. "-telling you, I'm fine with PC Roberts! We were making real progress on this murders thing, why am I being dumped with Ben?"

Smithy's patience had obviously evaporated. He had dark circles under his eyes and his tone was more brusque than usual - It was just possible to hear his quieter voice as he lectured the upstart PC. "Jo assigned you for a reason, Miles. CID are taking over the twin murders, and it's not some sort of demotion to investigate a robbery. Now weather or not you work with your brother, I expect you to maintain your professionalism, am I clear?" Miles muttered some sort of reply and a moment later Smithy's office door flew open, and a scowling Miles stomped past without acknowledging Stevie or Mickey. "Charmer, that one." Stevie commented, going into Smithy's office before he could wave them in. He smiled tolerantly at her then seemed to notice Mickey behind her, nodding to the ginger-haired man as well. Mickey was as comfortable working with Smithy as he was with Stevie (though not, he suspected, as comfortable as they were with one another!) after many shared years together. Mickey had been the one to fight for Smithy when he landed in jail after a gangster framed him for a hit and run murder of his wife. Smithy was a lot of things, but bent wasn't one of them - something honest-as-the-day Mickey could spot a mile away. It seemed like so long ago. It was so long ago really, Mickey reflected, but snapped out of his nostalgia when he couldn't take Stevie and Smithy's banter any longer. "So what's with these two bodies then? DI said they were prostitutes?" Smithy nodded and pulled out a couple of files. Even after seeing all he'd seen over his career, Mickey flinched a bit when he saw photographs of the bodies. The faces had been badly mutilated, obviously in some sort of attempt to try and prevent easy identification. "Looks like it. Eddy will be able to tell us more in a couple of hours after he gets the forensics report. I've had Callum and Leon doorknocking but so far if anyone knows anything, they're keeping a tight lid on it." Smithy rubbed his hand over his face and sighed. His hair looked a bit on the unruly side and he looked tired. Stevie asked before Mickey could. "Everything all right?" There was probably a bit more concern in her voice than there would have been in his, Mickey thought, but he was genuinely worried about Smithy and stayed quiet to hear the answer. Smithy nodded once. "Yeah, right as it can be. Miles is causing a bit of a fuss in Uniform, and I've just gotten word we've got a new PC on the way next week, and I just don't know if another new face will make things worse at this point. Least this one's not related to anyone here already." He grimaced, not meaning to sound so grouchy about the matter. Ben had been as professional as anyone could want when his younger brother was posted to Sun Hill... but Miles was another story. "The drugs situation seems to be getting worse, traffic police are getting almost a 50% increase in drug-driving offenses and are pressuring us to get onto it. And to top it off these two bodies turn up in the trash. Do me a favour - find the bastards who did this-" He tapped the files he'd handed over. "And bring them in here so we can string 'em up."

The street was a fairly typical of one to be found Sun Hill. There was a pawn shop, a mobile phone dealer, Laundromat, and a poorly equipped fitness center next to a small supermarket. An alley divided it from a three-story block of flats, and it was this alley which was roped off. Eddie was already busy collecting samples and scoping out the dingy alley. He nodded at Mickey and Stevie as they approached and launched right into his recent findings.

"Over here we've got a partial footprint, worn tread on the left suggesting a bit of a limp. Size ten shoe." Eddie drawled in his usual slow, deliberate mode of speech.

"What colour was it?" Mickey asked innocently, earning a nudge in the ribs form Stevie and a cool look from Eddie. As usual, the Crime Scene Examiner had an answer for that as well. "I'm guessing red mostly. The footprint is there - in that patch of blood." He nodded to a roped-off area. Mickey winced. "So whomever it was wasn't too careful - probably not a professional at tossing bodies into dumpsters." He commented, while Eddie nodded. "Means the bodies were very fresh when they were thrown in, too. Drop by my office later, say after three, and I'll see what I got for you."

A disgruntled-looking Leon met them just up the street. "Absolutely nothing." He said in disgust, shaking his head. "The shops were all open at seven last night - that's when Eddie thought the poor sods were turfed into the bin - and the street was probably crawling with residents, but nobody saw a thing. So they say." Callum came to join them after another failure with a passer-by. "We're about done here, we're going to head back to the station and check out CCTV from the area." He reported, while Leon scowled briefly. Mickey caught the gesture and figured that meant Leon would be sifting CCTV while Callum disappeared on Sergeant-type duties. "Okay, keep in touch." Stevie nodded, as the two uniformed officers headed for the squad car. She began to stride purposefully in the other direction. "Where are we going?" Mickey trotted to keep up. Stevie glanced grimly over her shoulder, looking at the alley cordoned off with Eddie sniffing out more details. "We're going to talk to some old friends of mine, see if we can't find out who these girls were."