Jo Masters walked into the CID office with a fresh cup of coffee, she sighed as she looked around the empty room. This certainly was not how she was planning on spending her Christmas night.

She had known for a couple of months that something wasn't right between her and Tess. She had started acting weird around September but whenever Jo asked Tess about this she always managed to avoid the question somehow; either by changing the subject or by pretending that she had to be somewhere. But today Jo decided that enough was enough and that she wasn't going to let Tess go anywhere without making her tell her exactly why she had been so off with her just lately.

When Jo found out she couldn't believe it. Her girlfriend and her brother? How could she do this to her? Not only was she meant to be a lesbian but with her brother? How could her brother look her in the eye and pretend that everything was normal whenever he saw her? And, to make matters worse, she was 3 months pregnant with his baby.

Jo was now sat at her desk staring out of the window watching the snow gently falling to the ground. She felt a tear roll down her cheek but she quickly looked down and wiped the tear away as she heard to doors to the CID office open.

She didn't look up to see who it was that had entered the room because she didn't want them to see that she had been crying or that she was still struggling to hold back the tears. Everybody at work thought of Jo as a strong woman but this was just a façade she put up. She was really quite weak and vulnerable but she didn't want anyone to see that side of her.

Jo thought that she was doing quite a good job of looking busy and hiding her tear-stained face but then she felt a hand on her shoulder.

"Jo" Sam said, her concern for Jo showing in her voice.

Jo knew that she had to look up but she didn't want to. She had never let anyone see this side of her before, not even Tess.

"Jo" Sam repeated, sitting on the edge of Jo's desk.

Jo slowly looked up and put on a forced smile.

Sam smiled sympathetically, "Come here" she said as she pulled Jo into a comforting hug.

Jo couldn't control her emotions any longer and she just burst into tears. Sam had never seen her like this before. Jo always seemed to be so strong, so she knew that whatever it was that was making her so upset must have been something pretty bad.

"It's ok" Sam whispered as she stroked her friends hair, absentmindedly dropping a series of kisses onto the top of Jo's head as she did so.

After a minute or two Jo managed to pull herself together. She pulled away, apologising, "I'm really sorry, I feel really stupid".

Sam replied instantly seeing the look of awkwardness on Jo's face, "Don't be sorry, you have nothing to apologise for, and there is no need for you to feel stupid".

Sam took Jo's hand in her own and asked, "What's the matter Jo?". Seeing Jo look down at this question Sam quickly added, "You don't have to tell me if you don't want to".

"No, it's ok, I'll tell you. I kind of feel like I have to now anyway after I have cried all over you" Jo said, smiling a little as she did so.

Sam smiled.

"It's Tess" Jo sighed.