This takes place at the end of the season finale, after the island and the called in shooting they had to attend to.
I own nothing and this is mainly for wicked nachos who inspired me to write this today.
…
After having an extremely long 14 hour shift, Shannon was more than willing to go home and just go straight to bed with her girlfriend. Having been knocked around by Hayman and then having to be prime negotiator at the Colin Street shooting, Shannon was eyeing off the time waiting for her girlfriend to come back from the hospital as she had gone to visit Michael.
To say Shannon was slightly jealous was cutting it fine. She felt bad for Michael and was worried about him as he was a friend of her's but she also couldn't help but feel jealous as she stood there watching Stella and Michael's interaction while he was loaded into the ambulance as well as the torn expression on Stella's face when Lawson had told Stella they had to go to a shooting. The way Lawson had told her it sounded like he thought Stella was his girlfriend, but she knew she couldn't blame Lawson for that. He didn't know that she and Stella had been going out for almost 11 months now, only Josh knew and they had planned to keep it that way until they got to the one year mark in their relationship.
She knew she could trust Stella and that she wouldn't go there with Michael again since she was with Shannon so she pushed her thoughts aside as she rubbed her eyes while Christian walked in with Leon.
"Hey Shan, good work today." Leon said.
"Thanks Leon, good work on the competition, Kerry told me about it, hopefully you win third place." Shannon says with a smile.
"Yeah well I was thinking the whole team could go, but I think there will be a bit of tension now." Leon says.
"I'd say, if looks could kill." Christian said.
"What do you mean by that?" She asked curious as to what the tension would be.
"Oh well Stella gave Michael a kiss while the paramedics were tending to him on the island and Audrey saw, I don't know what that will mean, but I doubt Audrey is going to be so forgiving this time." Leon said.
"Oh yeah, me either." Shannon says distractedly.
"You right Shannon?" Christian asked as he noted the blank expression on her face.
"Oh yeah, do you mind if I get a lift with you, I left my car at home." She said standing up as Christian shut his locker.
"Yeah no worries." Christian said slinging his bag onto his shoulders.
"See you guys on Monday." Leon said.
"See ya." They said walking out to the car park.
…
Lying on the couch in her living room, Shannon's phone starts ringing on the coffee table. Sighing she leans over and picks it up, checks the cell display. Seeing it flashing with Stella she lets it ring through. Within a couple of seconds her phone rang again and she ignored yet. The third time though she realised Stella wouldn't give up and chance were Stella would most likely than come to her house to check up on her and she didn't really want that, especially because she had a key now to her house.
Sighing she answers her phone with a tired "Hi."
"Hey I have been back at base for the past twenty minutes now and I already showered and everything, where are you?" Stella asked sounding concerned.
"At home." The sergeant responded.
"Why, how did you get home?" Stella asked.
"Christian gave me a lift." Shannon said.
"What have I done wrong, what is with the one worded responses?" the senior constable asked sounding annoyed.
"Well why don't you tell me what you did wrong, because it seemed everyone else knew before your girlfriend did." Shannon sneered.
"What the hell did I do." Stella almost yelled through the phone.
"Are you really that clueless?" Shannon said angrily.
"Apparently so, so why don't you just tell me." Stella said frustrated through the phone while pinching the bridge of her nose as Josh walked in curious as to what had gotten Stella so worked up.
"Maybe he has something to do with the fact that you made out with Michael on the island infront of the whole team, infront of his what I am guessing is his now ex-girlfriend or ex fling, and then you looked torn as to whether you were going to go with him or not when we had to attend the shooting, or maybe it's to do with the little looks at each other I had to observe as I stood there waiting to leave, trying to push away my concerns about my girlfriend having romantic feelings stirred up for her ex fling, when I later discover at the end of the shift that you kissed him, and I had to find out from Leon and Christian, while I waited for you to come from the hospital, so excuse me for wanting to go home." Shannon ranted through her phone, groaning softly as she experienced her headache getting intense from the argument.
"Oh Shan, can you let me explain please, it was nothing…" Stella began to explain softly.
"If you really think that it was nothing, then I don't want to talk to you." Shannon yelled again.
"Shan, please." Stella begged.
"Stella I can't do this right now, please just let me be." Shannon says before hanging up her phone and closing her eyes as the tiredness snuck back up onto her.
…
"I'm presuming that was Shannon then." Josh says putting stuff into his locker.
"Yeah." Stella said sitting back down onto the bench.
"What happened Stel? He asked shutting his locker and leaning against it.
"She found out about the kiss between Michael and me and now she is pissed." Stella says.
"I bet she is, she has a bit of an angry side to her, once you piss her off, it takes a lot of work, she has every right to be pissed Stel." Josh said calmly.
"I know but she wouldn't even let me explain." Stella said as she let a few tears roll down her cheek. Stella wasn't one to show she had weaknesses, especially when it came to being in front of the boys, but she knew Josh wouldn't hold this against her so she let her pain be seen.
Sighing, Josh walked over and sat down, placing a comforting arm around her.
"Put yourself in her shoes, she loves you, you have been together for almost a year now, and she finds out you kissed someone else, not from her girlfriend but someone else who probably made it seem bigger than it seems. Now you may have some unresolved feelings for Michael, I am not entirely sure and you may not be either, but I know for sure you love Shannon with all your heart, but you do need to give her some space before you try and work through this together, you will get through it but it may take time." He said.
"I know Josh, but I can't have her mad at me for that long, I can barely spend a night from her and it sucks when we have that odd shift where one of us works and the other doesn't, I just need to make sure she is okay." Stella said placing her head into her hands.
"The main thing is gaining her trust back, that is going to be the thing that takes the longest and you can't hold that against her, not for a second, you did the wrong thing primarily so you need to master your patience levels, now you're going to head home and leave Shan be, I will check up on her and let you know how she is doing okay?" he said patting her back before standing up.
"Thanks Josh, you're the best." Stella said wiping the tears away before standing up to give him a hug.
"Just don't stuff up again, I'm backing for you guys." Josh said rubbing her head before walking out of the room.
Sighing, Stella picks up her bag and walks out of base, knowing it's going to be a long couple of days followed by a long couple of weeks.
…
Drifting in and out of consciousness, Shannon is roused by a constant banging on her door. Thinking its Stella she curses and hopes she will either give up or just open the door so she doesn't have to listen to the constant banging that made her head pound.
"Shan, open up or I will knock the door down." Josh yells out.
Groaning at the fact it is Josh, she contemplates how to handle it. Realising he would be true to her word, she gets up and walks slowly to the door as her head starts to spin.
"It's open." Shannon says without any emotion or tone to her voice as she is greeted by the sight of Josh and Tash.
"Nice to see you to Shan, can we come in?" Josh asks.
"I guess." She says dejectedly walking back to the couch slowly as she loses her balance a couple of times before she sits down and leans her head back onto the couch and closes her eyes.
"How you doing Shan?" Josh asked as he sat down on the other couch while Tash put her bag down onto the coffee table and opening it up.
"I'm okay." Shannon says in a monotone.
"How are after the conversation with Stella?" Josh asked.
"Fine." Shannon says without much emotion.
"Stella was pretty upset when you hung up on her." He said.
"Well she did the wrong thing Josh and when you do the crime you pay the time." She said with her eyes still closed.
"Don't you care at all?" Josh asks, shocked at her calm reaction.
"Of course I care, I'm just too tired to show it, I can't feel anything at the moment." Shannon says.
"Shannon, how are you feeling physically?" Tash asks.
"I have a headache, I'm feeling dizzy and extremely tired, and I just really don't feel anything emotionally right now." Shannon says.
"Shannon, how badly was the fight on the boat?" Tash asked.
"I don't know, I can't really remember that part to clearly, it's a bit hazy." Shannon says opening her eyes.
"Do you think you may have knocked your head or gotten whacked over the head a couple of times?" Tash asked as she shined the light over Shannon's pupils.
"It's possible I guess, I was cleared for work though by the ambo's I know that." Shannon said.
"You told them you copped a knock or two as you had to duck and you copped a few punches and hits with the chain." Josh interrupted.
"Well it looks like you have a delayed mild concussion by the sounds of all your symptoms which we need to monitor that is why you can't feel anything emotionally at the moment but that will pass, I need to check your body for other injuries, make sure they aren't too serious." Tash says while looking over at Josh with warning in her eyes.
"That's my cue, I'm going to go get a glass of water." Josh says heading towards the kitchen.
"Okay, let's check the damage." Tash says as she helps Shannon lift up her top.
…
"Hey Stell it's me." Josh whispers.
"Why are you whispering, are you with Shan?" Stella asks sounding concerned.
"Yeah, I can't tell what the damage is between you guys at the moment, she can't feel anything emotionally at the moment which has been caused by a delayed mild concussion, so we have to keep her monitored so she will be coming to our place whether she likes it or not, I will keep you posted, I gotta go, chin up okay." Josh says.
"Okay, thanks heaps Josh." Stella says before hanging up.
….
Walking out Josh see's Tash standing with Shannon who has a small bag with her.
"We are ready to go home now." Tash says holding onto Shannon's free arm.
"Alright, let's go then." Josh says before walking out after them hoping that Shannon will be okay and he can help mend the damage that has been caused between the two people closest to him, so he was more than willing to be the messenger that got shot if it meant Stella and Shannon worked things out.