Author's Note: This story will encompass a few oneshots that never made it into any of my finished stories, namely from the RN-verse. I came across a few snippets a while ago, and have started cleaning some of the better ones up a little rather than just deleting them outright. That being said, they were deleted because they were either too fluffy, or because I couldn't fit them into a story. As a result, this entire thing comes with the following warnings: expect extremely saccharine nonsense; and don't be too surprised if the scene feels a little fragmented. Each scene stands on its own; no follow-ups were ever written for them.

Chapter rating: K+ for one word

"The more things change," Gina murmured to herself under her breath, as she watched the DI go through his paperwork. She knocked.

"What is it?" Neil asked absently, signing off on another report.

"What kind of greeting is that, Neil Manson?" she asked in amusement. Neil looked up.

"Gina!" he exclaimed in delighted surprise, getting to his feet. The former Inspector smiled broadly at him, giving him a light kiss on the cheek. "What are you doing here?"

"Again, what kind of question is that, Neil?" Gina repeated. "Jack asked me in to consult on a cold case. Thought I'd drop in on my faaavourite Sun Hill DI." Her words held a hint of the (in)famous Gina sarcasm which made it difficult to tell whether her words were genuinely meant.

"Well, I'd hope so, given I'm the only one here you've worked as much with," Neil replied dryly.

"Inspector Gold!" Stevie stopped short at the sight of Gina at the DI's door on the way into CID.

"I heard you'd been promoted," Gina turned to include the younger woman in the conversation. "Congratulations, Detective Sergeant Moss! How are you finding it?"

"Thanks, ma'am," Stevie replied. "It's...uh...challenging."

"She's doing all right," Neil said off-handedly. Stevie couldn't help but blush a little at the unexpected praise from her usually reticent boss.

"Oooh, high praise indeed," Gina said, raising her eyebrows. Her tone turned from joking to serious as she broached her next question. "I heard about little Jake, I'm so sorry. How's he doing now?"

"Thank you," Neil said tightly. Stevie quickly decided to move on – she'd seen how uncomfortable sympathy about Jake's illness made the DI on prior occasions.

"Good to see you, ma'am," she wished, briefly touching Gina's arm before moving on.

"He's recovering well," Neil continued. "He'll actually be back here in a minute or two – it's a pupil free day at his school, and he didn't mention it to me..."

"Yeah I did, you just forgot," Jake Manson defended himself as he walked back into the office, clutching a can of Coke like a priceless artefact. It was rare that he was allowed to have fizzy drinks at home. He'd long worked out that while outside home, Dad was far more likely to let him have treats, and naturally took advantage of this wherever possible.

"Not so little anymore!" Gina observed with some surprise. "My, you've certainly shot up, young man. You probably don't remember me, I used to work with your dad. I haven't seen you since you were six or so."

Jake grinned. "I was a lot shorter then," he pointed out unnecessarily as he moved next to his dad. "And see, I'm as almost tall as Dad!"

"Nowhere near, little legs," Neil commented in amusement, pushing down on his son's head and forcing him back onto his heels. Shrunken thus, Jake barely topped his father's shoulder. "This is Inspector Gina Gold, she was downstairs in uniform."

"Oh I remember," Jake announced. He frowned, examining Gina closely as Neil's hand fell from his head to around his shoulders. "You look very different without your uniform, Inspector."

"Just call me Gina," a chill ran down Gina's spine at Jake's mannerisms, an exact mirror of his father despite years of living apart. "I've been retired a good couple of years now."

"What do people do in retirement?" Jake wondered aloud, wrinkling his nose. "It sounds wicked boring, especially after working here so long, catching bad guys!"

Gina laughed. "Or you could think of it as a permanent holiday," she suggested. "I've been able to visit my friends, go travelling...it's a lot of fun."

"But don't you get bored?" Jake asked dubiously.

"Sometimes," Gina admitted. "That's why I'm here annoying your Dad."

"An unnecessary measure for today, as I've got a far bigger annoyance right here," Neil's light-hearted comment cut short Jake's laugh.

"Oi," Jake protested mildly, jabbing a finger into Neil's ribs. Neil merely smiled placidly down at him.

Gina had never described herself as a particularly motherly kind of figure: she was certainly not one of those women who tended to congregate around prams, or fall into a gushy mess when confronted with a man holding a small child, but the scene in front of her did warm her heart.

"It's so good to see you so happy, Neil," she said honestly. "I don't think I've ever seen you like this."

He reacted as she thought he would, with an embarrassed kind of cough. Jake merely beamed, hugging his dad around the waist before bounding back to the second chair that had been set up in the office. To cover the slight flush that was spreading across his face, Neil reached for the cup of coffee on his desk, raising it to his lips.

"All we need now," she couldn't resist the urge to tease him, "is to find some nice girl for you to settle down with."

Gina then had to quickly step back as Neil choked on his coffee, brown liquid spraying outward.

"Don't worry, Gina," Jake piped up from the corner. "I'll get him married off."

Gina laughed, watching with glee the very interestingly panicked expression on Neil's face.

"With you involved, I'll be doomed to a life of bachelordom," the DI retorted dryly once he'd stopped coughing, placing his coffee back gingerly and wiping his fingers on a tissue.

"Don't be silly, Dad," Jake scolded. "She loves me."

"She?" Gina exclaimed, probably too loudly from the way she caught a couple of DCs look up in amusement. In fairness, though, she had been in the building all morning, and it wasn't like she and Smithy never spoke. How could she not know something as juicy as the DI having a new woman in his life? Why hadn't anyone told her?

"Hope I'm not interrupting," Banksy spoke up, entering the room before either of the Manson's were able to speak. Gina narrowed her eyes at the slight grin on the man's face that practically screamed that the DC was actually all-too-aware of what he was interrupting.

"Banksy," Neil's voice held both immense relief and a stern note of warning.

"Guv," Banksy raised his eyebrows innocently, but obediently held his tongue. Damn. She wouldn't be able to ask Banksy now without Neil being an absolute bitch to the poor man. "Sorry, but the Superintendant has asked for you and Inspector Gold to join him in IBO right away."

"What a shame, we'll have to discuss this later," Neil said hurriedly, throwing a glare at his son. "Say goodbye, Jake."

As she returned Jake's wave and turned to walk downstairs, Gina caught sight of Grace sitting at her desk. There and then, the former uniformed Inspector resolved to speak to Grace before she left today; the younger woman had a good relationship with Neil, and would not be prone to exaggerating or passing unsubstantiated gossip. Yes, Grace would definitely be the best person to ask out about Neil's new lady friend.