Disclaimer: Not mine

Rating: PG

Summary: Take a walk in the Bill characters shoes. Warning: third person narrative.

Notes: I have more of these. Will post them soon.

Head Trips

By NorthernStar

----- Mia -----

You leave the door ajar, because you know they'll get suspicious if you close it. You have access to most of the Yard, but you know people will wonder why you came in here if they see you. Press Officers deal with people, not computers.

You've got your excuse all ready - that the Xerox machine downstairs isn't working, and you know it isn't because you kicked out the plug just enough so it looked like it was still plugged in, but not enough to connect to the power. So you need to use the one in here instead.

You place the copy of your last press release into the copier, and start it up. You've got until the machine prints off 100 copies.

You look the computer screen. It's almost like its tempting you.

Daring you.

You told yourself that you weren't really going to do this. But you know you are.

The mouse feel right under your fingers, so do the keys. You know the codes. You already knew them, but you had made a point of watching the last time someone did this and taking note. You want this to be as speedy as possible. You don't know how long you'll have.

You know it's wrong. You know you should either ask the questions, or forget about them. But you can't. You have so many and it's so unfair to ask them. You don't want to hurt Mickey like that. You can't bear to watch him cry again.

You type in the name.

Martin Delaney.

The file comes up.

You already know some of the facts. You hadn't started working for the Met until after Delaney was sentenced, but the rape case had been national news. And as Press Officer for Hampshire Constabulary, you had taken an interest. It was cases like that that made you want to join the Met in the first place.

You smile at the irony.

You have already gone through the press cuttings that are freely available to you. You read headlines like Male Cop in Rape Horror, Male Detective Makes Rape Claim and Male Rape Copper Kept Silent for 3 Days and it didn't satisfy your need to know what had happened. The last one you read made you angry. It made it sound like Mickey had lied.

Delaney's file takes a lot of clicking through. He's been a busy little criminal and you're aware that time's getting on. A quick glance at the copier tells you that you have maybe 30 pages of time left.

You finally get to the bit you want – Mickey's statement.

One click of the mouse will bring it up. And you'll never have to wonder what Mickey went through again. You think…you hope…that knowing will help you to help him. And you acknowledge that small bit of morbid curiosity you keep hidden.

The copying comes to an end.

You look at the door.

Do you have time to read it?

Maybe you should print it off, read it somewhere safe, somewhere better than here.

But you know that you could get caught with the pages. And you really don't want to get caught.

You know Mickey will never forgive you.

But you open the file anyway.

You don't hear the footsteps until it's too late.

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