Chapter 2
The next morning, Gerry woke up early.
He lay in silence for a while, watching Sandra sleep.
Their sleep last night had not been interrupted by Sandra crying out due to bad dreams, thankfully.
The sound of the alarm clock going off to signal the start of yet another working day made him jump.
Sandra stirred beside him. "What time is it?" she asked. "
"6.45." Gerry answered.
"Five more minutes, then."Sandra replied happily, snuggling even deeper under the covers.
"Oh no you don't! Come on, lazybones!" Gerry teased.
Sandra rolled her eyes and sat up. "At least it's Friday. If you want a shower, be quick about it because I want one too." She informed him.
"Yes Guv!" he answered, getting out of bed.
They went to work in Sandra's car.
"Sandra, I've got to speak to Danny about something." Gerry said when they got to the Met building. "Okey doke, I'll get our morning coffees then." She answered, giving him a kiss.
"See you later, love you" Gerry told her, getting out of the car. "And I love you. See you in a minute" Sandra smiled.
Gerry made his way swiftly to the UCOS office.
Danny and Steve were already there, discussing the case that they were working on.
"Er, boys, could I have your attention for a minute?" Gerry asked, clearing his throat.
They turned to look at him, their faces full of concern when they saw that Sandra was absent.
"Where is Sandra? Is she ok?" asked Danny.
"She's okay, just getting our coffees. I need to speak to you two about something." Said Gerry.
"What's up?" Steve asked, looking worried.
"Well... you know what time of year it is, don't you?" Gerry asked.
Danny and Steve nodded. Gerry had told them a potted history of UCOS, he'd included facts about Sandra and the circumstances around her dad's death.
"Well, she is having nightmares, bad dreams about the night her dad died. I've been pleading with her for weeks to get help and last night, she agreed." Gerry told them.
"Oh, what type of help are you thinking about?" Danny enquired.
"Well, anything really. Apart from hypnotism. I tried that about 5-6 years ago. It wasn't pretty! Nah, I'm not having my Sandra going through any of that." Gerry replied.
"So, just general therapy then?" Steve enquired.
"Yeah... I was wondering if you two had any ideas?" Gerry asked hopefully.
"Well, I've got a couple of contacts..." Dan scribbled something on a scrap of paper and handed it to Gerry.
"Ta, mate, I owe you one." Gerry thanked him.
"A drink would be preferable" he continued as Sandra walked into the room. "Morning boys, here's your coffees. Let's get started on reviewing this case, I was musing over it this morning and I think I've realized something." She said.
Gerry smiled at this. Despite the bad dreams, despite everything Sandra was still the sharp, beautiful, policewoman that he knew and loved.