A/N: First I'd like to thank you for the review of the previous chapter, I love reading them so please keep them coming :D
Not Beta'ed, you've been warned; there will most probably be spelling/grammar mistakes. Hope you like if you continue.
CHAPTER TWO
Joe stood in the station toilet rehearsing what he was going to say to his team, mumbling away as he washed his hands, shaved, washed his hands once again and massaged tiger balm into his temples.
He'd only been on the case a few hours and he could already feel the stress grounding down on him. The knowledge that he was stressed brought to mind the young man that was now under his command. He wasn't at all sure how he was going to handle the situation. He'd been careful in the past to keep that part of him out of his life, away from the real world. He'd learnt a long time ago that he wasn't meant to feel that way, do those things. Though he knew being gay wasn't wrong or disgusting, it just wasn't what he was meant to be. He couldn't have his dream, his father's dream, if he allowed himself to give into those desires.
But sometimes those desire were all that kept him from going completely crazy, and those were the times when he found himself waking up next to strange men flooded with a personal sense of shame and disgust. Usually though, those feelings were washed away, they didn't follow him out of the night and into the daytime. - Into his life and work place.
On top of that the man was a subordinate. Joe had never slept with someone of a lower rank in his life, male or female; it went against not only his own morals but against the official policy of the Metropolitan Police.
He massaged his temples again, still working though the speech he was going to give to the men while another part of his brain worried over the consequences of his one night stand. If anyone found out about him and the young man his entire career would be washed down the toilet. Everything he'd been working towards for years, gone in a flash. The rumor mill would run wild with whispers and he'd end up leaving the force all together, cause who would want to work with a man who'd not only slept with a junior officer but a male one at that.
Clenching his jaw, Joe forced his mind back to the case. Washing his hands a final time Joe put all his things into his briefcase and looked up into the mirror, staring at his reflection deformed by the cartoonish beard and glasses that had been drawn on its surface. He took a deep breath and told himself he could do this. All he had to do was solve the case and get back on the career path that would lead him to the top. All he had to do was pretend the other night had never happened. It was as easy as that.
~WHITECHAPEL~
Joe walked into the incident room oozing confidence and professionalism. His mind completely focused on the job ahead of him, nothing else.
"Right. Rob Lees has been eliminated from this inquiry. Consider this a new investigation." Joe announced before marching further into the room and towards the old fashioned blackboard at the front, ignoring the surprised, frustrated and amused glares of his team. Past the young man he'd spent the night with not forty eight hours ago, who was looking up at him with wide searching eyes.
Joe ignored the brown gaze as he laid his bag and coat on the desk, fidgeting with his coat twice before setting it down and turning to the board behind him. As he searching for the chalk his mind was under attack from cracked and unfocused memories of the one night stand he'd forgotten about, till now.
He didn't know what was frustrating him more, the barrage of images that seem to suddenly be flooding his mind despite two days absence, the inability to locate any chalk or the feeling of eyes burning into him. "I need chalk." He stated, turning to meet the stares of the men directly in front of him.
"I might have some." one of his men said before pulling a half-eaten chocolate bar out of his pocket that instantly made Joe's stomach lurch.
Clenching his jaw for a second and taking a deep breath, he stood his ground, refusing to be intimidated or derailed by these men. "I can wait."
While the men continued to challenge him, giggling and murmuring between them, he saw the dark hair man out of the corner of his eye, clearly weighing up which side to take.
"As long as it takes." Joe added.
When the young man got out of his seat and retrieved a box from one of the desk drawers, Joe felt his insides tightened. He heard the whispered jibe of "Teachers pet" aimed at the younger man and couldn't ignore the way his heart skip a little knowing what it meant for the man to give in to his request rather than stand with his colleagues in a show of united rebellion.
Joe pulled a stick out of the box as his heart raced, trying to avoid looking at him until he had to.
"Thank you…Umm?" Joe went black, with all the memories that had flooded his mind, he would have though the man's name would have come back to him, but it was a blank.
"Kent." the man offered softly.
"Kent." Joe repeated as a feeling of shame filled him. What kind of person forgot the name of someone they'd slept with? Not that he could have used it even if he'd remembered, that would have alerted everyone to the fact that he knew the man, which would undoubtedly lead to more questions.
"Thank you Kent." Joe repeated once more, a little louder, returning his focus to the case and his gaze to the blackboard. "Right, our suspect is in his forties, average high and build, dark complexion, wearing a hat with ear flaps. It's a distinctive look, so let's start with CCTV opportunities and find this guy." Joe announced with an air of command, tainted only a little by his nerves, his gaze fixed on the men directly in front of him, as far away from Kent as possible.
He turned back to the blackboard to write all the information down.
"Good idea, we'll start tomorrow." DS Miles replied with a slightly patronizing tone.
"No, we start now." Joe stated, glancing at the DS over his shoulder.
"End of shift." Miles looked at his watch. "Unless you're authorizing double time?"
All the men's eyes turned on him waiting for his judgment, part hopeful, part skeptical. Joe shifted slightly on his feet, his gaze shifting between them all. When he didn't answer Miles laughed and turned to leave, the men following in his wake. All but Kent, who stayed in his seat until an "Oi" from one of the departing men echoed the almost empty office.
Joe watched Kent reluctantly get out of his seat, retrieving his jacket off the back of his chair. He sent him a small apologetic smile and shrug before rushing off after his colleague, leaving Joe alone in the incident room.
~WHITECHAPEL~
Joe spent the night reviewing the Murder Investigation Manual page by page. Reading it over twice before exhaustion finally forced him out of Whitechapel police station and home to his empty cold flat.
It took him a while to get to sleep, his mind a buzz with so much new information. Going over everything he'd read in the manual, worrying over the obvious rebellious nature of his team, and replaying the crime scene in vivid detail.
Sometimes it amazed Joe how his mind worked, at times he could only concentrate on a single thing, obsess over it, while at others his mind was abuzz with a thousand different problems.
When he finally did fall into a restless sleep it was to be met with the image of dark curls and chocolate eyes.
TO BE CONTINUED...
Thanks for reading.
