Thanks for all the reviews guys! All your comments really mean a lot to me. So thank you very much.

And yes Brindy, the similarities to your Tall Soldiers is totally unintentional. It just sort of came out that way. And yay for converting someone to AJ.

Anyway, here's some more.

Part 3

Tom tiredly shrugged his police jacket off over his shoulders, wincing in pain slightly. He stopped with the jacket still clinging to his left arm, rubbing at his chest with his right arm weakly. It didn't really hurt as much as just felt uncomfortable. Not right.

He'd spent most of the day musing over Amy's worries and concerns over the state of his health. She was right, of course she was right. Amy Fox rarely wasn't, especially where he was concerned. That girl worried more about him – and Evan as well – than she did about herself. She was so much like Maggie Doyle these days that it wasn't even funny. God, if Maggie had worried about herself as much as everyone else, she'd probably still be alive right now. If Amy had worried about herself and her job as much as she'd worried about his health and his career, Adam probably never would have shot her and she wouldn't be in that damn chair.

He'd very reluctantly agreed to the drinks Chris had organised. The chance to catch up with Susie, Joss, Matt and sunshine Kelly had been too strong to resist. Especially when he considered it against the nagging memory of Nell's request for the ceiling to be painted. He honestly regretted not keeping in touch with the old crew. About the only person that still kept in touch was PJ Hasham, but that didn't surprise. Even then, PJ only ever called him every now and again, but he rang Amy nearly everyday. The bond between those two was nothing like PJ had with Maggie or Amy had with Evan, but it was damn close. He could still remember PJ's choking voice as he'd left Amy alone in the hospital room with Evan to ring him and tell him what had happened. It had taken all of Tom's pleading to convince PJ that his place was in Cold Case not back in Mt. Thomas.

Beyond the mess room out in the main station, he could hear the others heading off slowly to the pub. Alex was probably arranging for Rory to stay the night with a friend, while Amy and Evan seemed to be sharing quiet thoughts on what their old friends would be like when they came face to face in an amount of time so short that it scared them. Tom couldn't help a smile, despite the niggling sense of dread and the familiar feeling that something was wrong.

He hoped that his old charges were happy, wherever they were and whatever they had become without him in their lives. He was becoming an old man, faster these days than ever before. He'd never say it to anyone, but he knew that his time was running out. All he could hope for was to leave his old friends behind with as good lives as possible.

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Alex glanced out the patrol car window, watching Rory discreetly out of the corner of his eye as he climbed out of the car. He couldn't believe how much the kid had grown up on him. When he'd first met Rory, he'd only been a nine-year-old kid with a Star Wars obsession who didn't like the funny voices when he read to him. It had taken everything Alex had had to learn about his son and forge a bond. Now it seemed, just as he had worked out how to connect with Rory on a deep and meaningful level, someone had changed the rules on him. Rory was more interested in video games and hanging out with his friends than tossing the footy around with his father. Suddenly, his son was little more than a stranger again.

"You'll have a good time, won't you?" Alex asked, piping up just as Rory was about to slam the car door shut. The boy stopped, staring at Alex through critical eyes. That look that Alex hated. It was the look that told him that he didn't know his son at all any more. That the rules had changed.

"Bye, Dad," Rory mumbled, closing the patrol car door without truly answering Alex's question. Alex didn't leave straight away, perhaps as Rory would have liked. Instead, he remained parked outside the house in the quiet Mt. Thomas street, staring at the boy on the veranda, waiting for someone inside to let him in. His little boy. Little boy, he mused dejectedly, perhaps that was half the problem. Rory wasn't a little boy anymore.

The door to the house finally opened and a woman a little older than Alex ushered Rory through, shooting a weak smile of perhaps sympathy out towards the patrol car sitting in the dark. Alex smiled back, waving a hand towards the woman even though the door was well and truly shut. It was just a little gesture that meant nothing, really. Perhaps just a sign that he wasn't alone.

Over the car radio, he could hear some St. Davids coppers discussing a call-out to what appeared to be a rowdy buck's party. He had to stifle a laugh at how his fellow police officers referred to what was most likely a less-than-savoury gathering. He got the feeling that they were only newbies on the force, they probably hadn't learnt yet that you didn't have to always operate to the letter of the law in the country. They could probably do with some "policing is people" lectures, as PJ had once referred to them as.

He sighed, his smile fading at the sight of the empty car seat beside him. He missed having his old colleagues around, even when they were pains in the arse. Susie playing the ice queen, Joss being a total idiot, Kelly refusing to answer to authority and Matt…well, Alex didn't like going there.

But most of all, he missed his relationship with son. Somehow, in the changing world of Mt. Thomas and the station, his own little boy had changed. He wasn't a little boy anymore – and Alex knew he had to face it sooner or later. But he just wished that he could somehow just wrap Rory up again and play shooting games over the couch like he used to with Evan. They'd read the stories again, with or without the funny voices and they'd toss the footy around. And, most importantly, he'd know his own son again.

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Amy pushed herself along the darkened streets between the Imperial Hotel and the police station, Evan walking briskly along beside her in an attempt to keep up. Although she was smiling, her eyes told another story. Her mind was drifting away, focusing on just about anything and everything. Her colleagues, the wheelchair, but most importantly, Tom.

Evan had tried to assure her earlier that day with a tender kiss upon her lips, whispering words of comfort as they once again revelled in the pure pleasure of their skin touching. He'd said that Tom was a fighter, that he'd be right. Nothing could destroy their father figure. Nothing. Personally, she wasn't so sure. After all, not all that long ago, she'd thought herself invincible too. Twelve years in the job and she still hadn't worked out that one day; a bullet was likely to have her name on it. And one day, Adam Cooper's did.

She continued along the alleyway, her smile finally giving way to her old absentminded habit of biting her lip. As much as she loved Evan with all her heart and soul, Tom was still a very important part of her life. After her own father had died over two decades ago and her uncle had betrayed her in the cruelest way possible, Tom was the first person she could truly trust like a father.

She supposed she had PJ to thank for giving her back everything with meaning in her life. He'd been the one who had given her back friendship and trust after everything that had happened. Without the foundations that PJ had laid, Tom and Evan would never have found a way into her heart. While her old colleagues had each faded away into nothingness, PJ still kept in contact. Barely a day went past when she didn't pick up the phone to find PJ on the line. At times, it was almost like he lived through her. She desperately hoped that he'd find someone that he could love someday. And love them truly for who they were, not as a replacement for Maggie Doyle.

"How do you reckon they're going?" Evan asked from beside her, snatching her thoughts away from Tom and PJ. She stopped momentarily, glancing up to him, her eyes becoming thoughtful as she tried to bring an image of each of her colleagues to mind. Tom, Evan and Alex had had a chance to say goodbye, at least. The last time she'd seen any of them was when she had bustled Evan out of the station, calling over her shoulder that they'd be bringing Adam Cooper in.

Then everything had changed.

She shrugged as she resumed wheeling herself to the Imperial, this time a lot slower than before. "I don't know," she mumbled, more for herself than for her lover beside her. "But I hope they're alright, wherever they are."

Evan nodded, turning his head to the sky above him, his eyes narrowing at the empty darkness. The sight suddenly made his blood run cold. There was not a star in sight.

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Tom entered the Imperial Hotel, his eyes lighting up slightly at the sight of Amy sitting on her own at the usual copper's table, running her fingertips along the top of a beer glass, her eyes distant and far away as she watched Evan and Alex play a rather subdued game of pool. He joined her, scraping a chair along the floor, the sound snatching Amy's attention. Her heart raced momentarily in her chest, in the same way that all sudden noise seemed to these days.

"Sorry," he apologised quietly as he reached over to Evan's abandoned glass, sculling the remainder of the amber fluid in one gulp as Amy regained her composure. "Didn't mean to scare you."

She looked at him, a weak smile finding its way across her features. She shifted position slightly, shrugging. "Nah," she assured him as her smile broadened, yet seemed to become more uncertain and nervous, "it's right." Amy sighed as she glanced back over to Evan and Alex, biting her bottom lip thoughtfully. "I just can't help but wonder what's going to happen when they get back to town. I mean…"

He nodded in understanding, reaching over for Alex's glass to finish off what he had left behind. "Yeah," he agreed sadly, swallowing down Alex's beer, "it'll be interesting, anyway."

Amy sighed yet again, craning her neck back to see the door of the pub. The thought of her old colleagues back in town scared her a little. She hadn't seen them since before the shooting and she didn't know how they'd react to a wheelchair. Their sympathy and pity frightened her. She didn't want them to label her as "poor Amy". As used to the wheelchair as she was, she still couldn't deal with being "poor Amy". She never would.

The door suddenly burst open and in bustled two very familiar figures – one was a blonde female who was scanning the public bar desperately for her old friends and the other was a male bogged down with the weight of several bags of luggage. The sight of the pair brought a smile to the faces of the four police officers and the publican in the Imperial, even Tom.

Kelly near sprinted across the bar to Tom as the older man dragged himself to tentative feet and she threw arms around his neck, her enthusiasm slightly overbearing. Although he was taken aback somewhat, Tom couldn't mask a smile as he ran his fingers back through her blonde waves of hair. "Kelly," he mumbled as he held her close to his chest, saying it more to himself than to her in an attempt to convince himself that this was real. He'd missed Kelly more than he'd dare say.

Matt let the bags' handles slide from his fingertips just as Evan and Alex approached him, offering out their hands in a weak gesture of remembrance of the bond that had once been shared. A slightly uneasy smile made its way into Matt's features as he took their hands, his gaze turning to the brunette in the wheelchair as she made her way towards the gathering.

"Constable Graham," Amy said with a nod, smiling as she looked him up and down. Although the smile portrayed joy at being reunited with her old colleagues, her eyes betrayed her attempts to appear strong and confident.

He nodded, folding his arms across his chest. He hadn't really thought about what would have happened to Amy and the others in his absence. The thought of Amy in a wheelchair wasn't one that he had ever forced himself to entertain, although he knew that Kelly did. "Senior Detective Fox," he replied, momentarily returned to the various run-ins they had shared years ago. Less than positive ones, if memory served him right.

Almost as though she had felt the tension brewing in the small police gathering, Chris bustled around to the other side of the bar, ushering them back over to the table that Amy and Tom had been sitting at just moments before. "It's great to see you again, Matt!" she told him, her voice a little too peppy for Matt's liking. She quickly took drink orders and headed back to the bar, moving Matt and Kelly's luggage out of the way as she went.

As soon as Chris had gone, Kelly and Tom returned, the grins on their faces clashing starkly with the rather uneasy expressions that the other officers were staring at them with. Kelly slipped in beside her husband, interlacing their fingers on his knee as their eyes met while Tom took up his old chair next to Amy, who was talking to Evan quietly. The pool game had been forgotten, it seemed.

"Here you go, guys," Chris chimed as she placed a tray of various drinks in the middle of the table, which was already beginning to look rather crowded even without Joss or Susie. She grabbed a chair from a nearby table, pushing in between Tom and Alex. She leant across, her eyes lighting up at the sight of the rings glinting on Kelly and Matt's fingers. "Why didn't you guys tell us?!" she exclaimed, almost tearing the couple's hands apart as she tried to get a closer look. "When did this happen?"

The others couldn't restrain a laugh at Chris' joy for the youngest members of their gathering. They all watched, ribbing the young married couple gently as Chris gave Kelly a warm hug and pumped Matt's arm enthusiastically.

"Oi," Alex said with a laugh as Evan gave Kelly and Matt a friendly tease, "you two can't talk, when are you guys going to just get it over with?"

Evan's mouth dropped open in mock surprise and indignation as he shared a brief glance with Amy, his heart lifting at the sight of the beaming smile on her face. Matt and Kelly each rose an eyebrow at the situation as Evan made a teasing remark in response. Amy, meanwhile, just watched as she took another sip of her beer.

She liked the atmosphere that the old crew had in abundance. Yet somehow, she had only detested it just a short year ago before they had all split up and gone their separate ways. Life in Mt. Thomas kept changing around her, even just within their little team. And if this was Matt and Kelly, then she didn't have a clue what to expect when Susie and Joss stepped into the public bar and back into her life.