I don't own The Bill.

Prologue

Six months after Curtis Jenson had been laid to rest, PC Millie Brown found herself yet again faced with one of those moments she always tried to avoid. She was walking out of the station at Sun Hill to the car with PC Mel Ryder, and she saw DS Max Carter coming towards her. She frantically tried to find a way to get out of having to face him. A trite remark she made to Mel failed to start a conversation, so she tried to think of something else. She pretended to concentrate on an imaginary spot on the brim of her hat. But when it came time for Max to actually pass them, she couldn't help herself but look up at him and catch his eye. With an expression that showed no trace of a smile, Max caught her eye and nodded. Then he smiled at Mel and walked on.

"Gee," said Mel. "After all you went through together with the Jenson case, you think he'd at least smile at you." Millie had never told Mel anything about her relationship with Max, so Mel raised the topic cautiously.

"I guess when you've gone through something like that with someone, it's hard to just be casual with them. I know I find it hard," said Millie sighing.

They hopped into the car, and a big smile came across Millie's face now that she knew Mel couldn't see her. She could feel herself blush. It was just amazing to her that after six months of being with Max both at work and at home, she still found those accidental encounters with him thrilling. Especially exciting were the times in Sun Hill's hallways where they had to pass even more closely, and there was an opportunity for a hand or arm to brush against parts of the other's body. Millie's blush grew deeper as she did up her seatbelt and thought of one time in an overfull briefing room when she had to manoeuvre her way in front of Max, who casually altered his standing position to move his hip forward so that she couldn't avoid but drag her rump against his crotch in order to pass him. Millie nearly swooned at the memory.

"You OK Millie?" asked Mel when she saw the look on Millie's face.

"Yeah, I'm fine," Millie replied. "Now, where are we headed?" The two PCs drove out of the yard, and Mel decided it was best to drop the subject.

DS Max Carter had a big grin on his face as he headed towards the entrance to the station. Those chance encounters at work with Millie really made his day. Apart from the reassurance of laying eyes on his beloved, for whose safety he was constantly in fear, he was aware that them seeing each other unsettled her a lot more than it did him. Teasing her was right up there on his list of Favourite Things to Do with Millie (the non-sexual one). Also, their charade could be used as the starting point for all sorts of erotic play once they were home alone. He thought about Millie running a finger along the brim of her hat just now, and decided to send her a text that said simply 'bring home hat'. Millie, still driving with Mel, received the text and smiled to herself and wondered what he had in store for her tonight.

Max and Millie had returned from their holiday not really intending to keep their relationship a secret, but not actively talking about it either. Although Uniform liked to tease Millie about Max, they treated her with sensitivity in light of her double kidnapping ordeal, so they weren't able to get much out of her. Jo and Co. in CID of course teased Max mercilessly any chance they could, very wrongly assuming that Max could take it because he was the more emotionally resilient of the two. One day it became too much for Max and he snapped at them, saying that although something had happened between him and Millie, they had realised they had just been thrown together by the Jenson incident and had ended things, and he really didn't want to talk about it so could they please just shut the fuck up! No one was really game to raise the topic after that.

This suited Max and Millie in many ways, but the facts of the matter were very different. Max couldn't believe how happy the whole situation with Millie made him. Waking up beside her, listening to her regular breathing while she slept, planning things with her, lounging around the house with her – everything they did just filled him with contentment. And they still managed to be passionate about each other too. Their instinctual physical understanding of each other still amazed him, as he had never imagined he would not get bored having sex with the same woman after a certain amount of time.

The idea of Millie getting her own flat had been actively pursued at first - mainly by Millie - but after a few months without success the subject was simply dropped. Millie had suspected at time that Max's ability to glare at real estate agents or ask really insulting questions about a property might have had something to do with her lack of success. Millie really couldn't tell if Max's sabotage of her efforts was subconscious or deliberate, but either way it was very effective. Gradually the boxes she had packed came out of the attic, and the prevalence of her pictures, knick-knacks, linen etc marked her as a permanent member of the household. Then appeared the things that were not just his or hers, but theirs, in that they chose and bought them together. Max never seemed threatened by all this, but Millie had uneasy feelings about settling down into domesticity so early in a relationship. Even in their happiest of moments, this worry was niggling away at her on some level, making her feel guilty about not striking out for her independence like she felt she should be.

Then, as Autumn set in with the promise of Winter, the idea of cozying up with Max in front of his open fireplace, and spending long Winter mornings in bed simply weakened her resolve. On mornings when she was there alone before working a late shift, Millie liked to sit at the table with her coffee cup in hand, surveying their kingdom. It certainly was a lovely, homey house - far too big for Max to be living in alone. It was hard not to imagine little Max and his cousins and sisters, and even his mother's generation of children, thumping up and down the stairs, laughing and playing as they darted from room to room and into the small but adequate garden area. Millie's mind would wander to the idea of a new generation of children running through the halls, and then she'd snap herself out it and remind herself that things were very new with Max, and these types of thoughts were unwise so early in a relationship.

That night, Millie had been working the afternoon shift, so she got home a lot later than Max. He peeked out the window at her as she got out of her car, and was pleased to see she had obeyed his instructions and brought home her hat. He took the two plates of dinner out of the oven, opened a bottle of wine and sat waiting at the table. He heard Millie's key in the door, and the sound of her bag thumping against the coat stand. Millie looked up at herself in the mirror by the front door, brushed her loose hair behind her ears, and pulled her hat onto her head. She had contemplated entering the room naked except for her hat, but damn it, she was hungry, and she wanted to eat before Max had his wicked way with her. So she stayed in her clothes but paused dramatically in the kitchen doorway before she twirled her way to the chair in which Max sat and hurled herself in his lap. She kissed him, took off her hat and placed it on top of his head.

"Well look at that! It doesn't fit you. Who knew Max Carter had such a big head?"

"Ah, you see I don't have a big head. You just have a dainty little Millie-sized one."

"Is that right?"

"It is."

"I see you haven't eaten either."

"I was waiting for you."

"Well shall we?" Millie jumped off his lap.

"Off you go then," Max slapped her behind playfully as he directed her to her own chair.

"So," said Millie between mouthfulls. "Anything exciting happen today?"

"Nothing much. I saw this very cute PC though, and I must confess to having impure thoughts about her."

"Right, so I'll keep Mel away from you in future, will I?"

"Funny girl. And while I was waiting for you to come home, I was looking around and it occurred to me, do you think we should repaint in here?"

"I don't know, but of course, it's your house."

"Our house, Mill."

"Well, our home. I don't even pay rent!"

"Oh, yes you do, in a way..."

"Meaning?"

"Well I was hoping you'd be making a payment tonight!"

"Using...what's that charming expression of yours, 'nature's credit card'?"

"That's the one!"

"Do you ever think of anything but sex?"

"Not when you're in the room my love."

"Well, before anything else happens, I'm going to have shower."

"Here, I'll come and hold your towel for you."

"You are so good to me."

"I know. I never, ever think about myself!"

"Come on then, towel boy!"

Millie smiled back at Max and reached out her hand which he took and followed her out of the room.