Guns and Shadows
When she had taken on this undercover job, DC Stevie Moss had known that it would be hard, but she had never envisaged this. She was lying on a cold floor, a dull throbbing ache surrounding her shoulder. She could smell blood and the resonance of gunpowder in the air, but this fact did not seem to bother her too much.
Somebody was standing above her, the shade interfering with the sunlight. The person knelt next to her; she could see a shadow moving and guessed they were talking to her, but there was no sound reaching her ears.
There was a vague sensation of someone touching her unhurt arm, gently squeezing it. A memory rose to the forefront of Stevie's mind. It was of last night, when she and Smithy had been playing at the 'boyfriend/girlfriend' thing they needed to for the undercover op. Smithy had cooked a lasagne with garlic bread for their dinner, after which they watched one of the many movies on Sky. They had snuggled up together during the film, to then stay like that while talking after it had finished. She could not remember the exact comment, but she had turned to face Smithy, about to make a related joke; but the proximity of his face to her own had completely cleared her head of any thoughts. He had been squeezing her arm then, just as the person next to her was doing now. Stevie could remember the soft texture of his lips on her own, as they melted into each other.
Everything started to go black as she faded out of consciousness. However, all that filled Stevie's mind as she was loaded onto the ambulance, was Sergeant Dale Smith.
As Stevie collapsed to the floor, time slowed down for Smithy. He had seen the muzzle of the gun protruding from the guy's jacket. He had begun to shout a warning, but it was fired before any sound got past his lips. The gunner disappeared, but Smithy wasn't bothered about that. Blood was seeping from Stevie's shoulder as he stood above her. He knelt, squeezing her uninjured arm, not wanting to touch her other one before paramedics arrived. An ambulance was already here, the crew running towards them. Her expression was vacant, looking into the distance. He was talking out loud, as much to himself as to her, trying to reassure them both. Her eyelids fluttered – she was losing consciousness. Smithy urged the paramedics to hurry up.
Really, it was all his fault. If he hadn't mentioned a girlfriend to Wallace, then Stevie wouldn't have become involved. Equally though, last night would never have happened. Smithy had never really got over Louise. Kezia had been a little blip in his life, a failed relationship that had no lasting impact on him. But Stevie was different. He had felt it during their afternoon in the interviewing room; dare he say, at the risk of being clichéd, a connection between them. And last night… their bodies had fitted together perfectly during the film; no unwanted elbows sticking into ribs, or other such problems. Smithy could feel himself getting lost again. He didn't want to try stopping it – it was an amazing feeling. Instead, he was all for giving a relationship with DC Stevie Moss a go. If she both wanted to, and was able to after this. He was in the ambulance with her, watching a tourniquet being applied and lots of tubes being attached. Somewhere underneath all of that, there was the Stevie he knew and wanted…