Disclaimer: Same as before

Gerry and Sandra pulled up outside the care home. They were surprised that her mother had not been moved to the hospital following her fall.

"You can stay here if you want?" Sandra asked Gerry. She almost hoped he wouldn't come in; her mum was unbearable enough when it was just the two of them, and she'd hate Gerry to have to go through that as well.

"Look Sandra, I came all this way, I'm not gonna just sit here."

They both made their way into the home. It had been a little while since Gerry had last been there. It had been when Jack went undercover several years back that he had last been inside the home.

"Hello I've come to see my mother, Grace Pullman, I had a phone call" Sandra rambled to the receptionist. Despite the hatred she often held for her mother, she was really worried for her this time.

"Ah yes, would you like to follow me please?"

Sandra and Gerry followed the receptionist down a long corridor towards where her mother was resting. Gerry had seen how concerned Sandra was, so he placed a hand on her shoulder to comfort her as they walked. He had become quite good at reading Sandra's emotions over the past eight years.

"Through here, Miss Pullman" the receptionist opened the door to Grace.

"Oh mum" Sandra rushed over to the bed where her mother was lying, "Are you ok?"

"Yes, yes, Sandra. Don't fuss. You didn't have to come you know, I'm sure you have work to do."

Even in these circumstances her mother's words were painful to Sandra.

Gerry and Sandra were almost ready to leave the home; they had only been there for about forty minutes but they'd had enough of Grace's hostile behaviour. Even when she was ill she couldn't even pretend to be nice to her daughter.

"I'll just wait outside Sandra" Gerry pointed towards the door "Give you two a minute".

"Why did you bring him with you?" Sandra had hoped her mother wouldn't ask that question, because she didn't really know the answer.

"Well, he just happened to be in the office when I got the call, and he offered to come with me."

"Since when did Sandra Pullman accept help?"

Sandra just rolled her eyes at her mother before leaned down to give her a kiss.

"Bye mum, let me know if you need anything."

"Bye Sandra." Grace replied glumly from her bed. She was feeling a lot better now and could probably have gotten up, but she thought it would be a bonus to make Sandra feel guilty.

"All ok Gov?" Gerry stopped pacing the corridor and walked over to Sandra. He placed his hand again on Sandra's shoulder, letting her know he was there if she wanted to talk. As she noticed his hand on her she suddenly felt calmer. This feeling in itself was enough to startle her.

"Yeah fine" she responded quickly, clearly not wanting to say anything more about her mother. "Come one, let's get out of here."

The drive back to the office was almost silent; they were both too deep in thought to converse with each other. Gerry thought it was so sad that she wasn't close to her mother, and it wasn't like she hadn't tried. Family was everything to Gerry, his four daughters, his grandson, and even his 3 ex-wives were still part of his family. Sandra didn't have anyone other than her mother, well apart from her half-brother Tom, but that hadn't really gotten off to a good start. Gerry realised that it was her three 'dinosaurs' that were her real family. He smiled slightly at the thought that he was part of Sandra's family in a strange sort of way, but hoped that she didn't notice him smiling to himself.

But Sandra was too busy trying to answer her mother's earlier question. When did she begin accepting help? She had always been so independent; she would never have let anyone go with her on such a personal visit like that. And especially Gerry Standing of all people. Since when did she actually find comfort in having Gerry around? Sandra tried to shake these thoughts out of her head as she pulled up outside the office.

"Cheers Gerry for coming with me."

"Ah, no problem Gov, anytime. Night." He called back as he got out of her car.

"Night Gerry."

Sandra drove home trying not to think about that evening's events. But no matter how hard she tried, she just couldn't stop wondering what it was that she had felt when she was with him.

Hope you're still enjoying it! More soon.

Team New Tricks