Millie sat with her phone in one hand and the card in the other. She was asking herself if Neil Manson really meant it when he told her to ring him for a lift next time she needed to get to St. Hugh's Hospital. Her scan was at two o'clock this afternoon. Wouldn't he be at work then? She really didn't want to be an inconvenience to him.

But then she looked outside at the unseasonably warm day. The heat had never worried her before she was pregnant. But now it turned her into a sweaty, breathless blob. If she were to be honest with herself, this was one time when accepting the offer of a lift was almost a necessity. She wasn't even sure she could make the distance if she were travelling on an overcrowded bus, with people in close proximity exuding odours that she wouldn't have noticed before she was pregnant. Then there was always the possibility of not getting a seat on the bus, because often these days people simply didn't bother offering seats to pregnant women. What would happen in that circumstance if she felt faint, or actually collapsed, possibly injuring her baby? It was that thought that decided things for her. She punched in Neil's mobile number.

"DI Manson."

"Neil? Hi, it's Millie."

"Oh, hi," said Neil with obvious hesitation.

"Sorry, have I rung at a bad time?"

"No, no, of course not…"

"But you're with people we both know, so you don't want to say my name?"

"Correct. How are you?"

"Well, not doing too well in the heat actually."

"You, um, need a lift?"

"Yeah."

"OK. When?"

"I have to be at the hospital at two o'clock today."

"That shouldn't be a problem. Should I get to you at about quarter past one?"

"If you're sure it's OK."

"Absolutely. I'll see you then."

"Thanks Neil."

Neil hung up his phone and looked over at Max in the seat of the car beside him. Thank goodness, he thought, that Max was too self-absorbed to bother listening in to Neil's calls. Even one that, Neil still strongly suspected, may in fact relate to him.

Right on time, Neil pulled up outside Millie's block of flats and made his way to her door. When she opened it, he could see she'd done the right thing in calling him. The heat was definitely not agreeing with her. She looked like she hadn't slept and almost seemed puffed out by the effort of walking to the door. But she smiled when she saw him and ushered him in.

Neil was surprised how empty Millie's flat was. The furnishings in the open plan sitting / dining / kitchen area were slightly worse for wear. A gadget lover himself, he noticed the television was near to obsolete and the stereo, which was currently shuffling songs, sounded tinny and cheap. This struck Neil as strange, because the number and variety of cds she had indicated she was fond of music, so why the second rate stereo system?

"I just have to get a few things together, so would you like a coffee before we go?" asked Millie, who Neil could see was clearly embarrassed at having someone see the way she was living. He hoped he hadn't made his surprise too obvious.

"Thanks, I'll get it if you like," said Neil making his way into the kitchen.

Millie smiled and made her way off into what Neil presumed was her bedroom, and shut the door. From his vantage point of the kitchen, he peered into the room beside it, and noted various things still in boxes and packaging in there. This had to be the baby's room. And it was clear that this was probably where Millie's money was all going. He couldn't remember using that much equipment when Jake was born. Of course, kids today were spoilt right from the word go. He remembered how, when Jake was little, he had put his foot down against Pippa's family's when they had attempted to fill the house with what he considered extravagances for their new baby. The child had to learn that life wasn't always easy, Neil had said, echoing the solid values with which he himself had been raised. He had managed to fend them all off until the time that, well, the time it all fell apart. God only knows what soul-destroying luxuries Pippa had bestowed on Jake once they left for Spain!

Millie came out of her room while Neil was still making the coffee.

"How do you have yours?" he asked.

"Oh, I'll have white tea thanks. I'm not drinking coffee at the moment."

"Right, of course not," said Neil. He wondered if pregnant women had always avoided coffee or if this was a new trend. Details like that of Pippa's pregnancy were long forgotten. Not that he'd seen that much of her during it anyway. They were both too busy with their careers.

His reminiscences put him in mind of something to ask Millie. "So, are you still working?"

"Yeah, light duties though," replied Millie. "And I'm not taking as many shifts as I used to. Mind you, I've had more days off than usual with this heat…"

"Well, that's what sick leave's for. Better to use it than overwork yourself or…" Neil stopped himself before he said the type of thing pregnant women don't want to hear.

Millie knew he was on the verge of saying something like, "or harm the baby" and was glad he didn't actually say it. All the things that could potentially go wrong constantly played on her mind.

Neil brought Millie her tea and sat down opposite her. Their eyes met and they smiled at each other, then both turned their attentions to their drinks. Neil's eyes flicked across at Millie occasionally as they drank, and the expression on her face troubled him.

"Everything OK, Millie?" he asked gently.

"Oh, yeah," said Millie, who had let her mind wander. "Just thinking about my appointment."

"May I ask what it's for? Nothing wrong, I hope?"

"No, but, you know, I'm just thinking of all the things that could be wrong. Stupid isn't it? Everything's been fine and normal, but…"

"But you worry anyway? Well, it's your first child and I think probably everybody feels the same with their first."

"That's reassuring. I was afraid I was just being neurotic. My mum keeps telling me that more often than not, everything's all right."

"Well, she's right," said Neil and continued drinking his coffee. Then he added as an afterthought, "I don't really know what good worry does. Things just come out of the blue, anyway."

Millie felt like kicking herself. Here she was, with everything on track with her pregnancy, moaning about imagined complications to a man whose child had cancer.

"Neil, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have been going on about what might be when you're dealing with..."

"...what actually is?" Neil finished Millie's sentence for her.

"Yes," said Millie in a small voice, even angrier at herself now for making Neil be the one to vocalise it.

"Don't worry about it, Millie. You're just as entitled to be concerned about your well child as I am about my sick one. I do know that the rest of the world goes on regardless of what I'm going through."

"Well, then I guess I wish I hadn't been the one to, um, remind you of it."

Neil rolled his eyes and gave a bitter laugh, "Actually, it's not something I'm finding easy to forget!"

"Do you think we should just get going before I say anything else insensitive?" suggested Millie meekly.

"I think that's a good idea," said Neil, who was determined to shift not only the conversation but also his thoughts in general away from a topic on which he'd rather not dwell. He collected their half drunk beverages and rinsed the cups and put them beside the sink.

Millie was standing at the door with her bag on her shoulder when he returned. He walked out and she locked the door behind them. There were only a few steps to descend, but Neil held out his arm to steady Millie as she walked. He noted she was moving a bit awkwardly.

"Something wrong with your back?" he asked.

"Yeah, sciatica. Another one of the many joys of pregnancy!" Millie was determined to keep things lighthearted after their recent discussion.

"Pippa had that," remembered Neil. "She said I had the magic touch. I used to massage her... back to make it better. " In reality the massage had taken place on Pippa's buttocks, and Neil was very grateful that he stopped himself from saying 'bum' in time.

Millie smiled but didn't meet Neil's eye.

It occurred to Neil as well that this might have sounded like an offer, so he sought a way to make it clear it wasn't. "Maybe you should get yourself an appointment for one...with a professional masseur," he added quickly.

Millie was glad she wasn't the only one with the knack of saying exactly the wrong thing. She was beginning to warm to Neil more and more.

"I see a physio, actually," she said. "You have to be careful with things like that when you're pregnant."

They were at the car by this stage, and Neil simply nodded and opened her door and helped her in.

Once again they drove in silence. Neil glanced over at Millie and was surprised to see she had a big grin on her face.

Millie saw him looking at her and was pleased to see he was also beginning to smile.

"OK. What?" he asked.

"It's nothing, sorry..."

"Maybe I neglected to mention, but it's a condition of travel in my car..."

"All right! I was just thinking about how you're very considerate. You drive me places without complaint, you help me in and out of cars, you steady me when I walk and you even tidy up and rinse out cups. Oh, and you have a nice car. You're actually the perfect man!"

Neil opened his mouth to speak, but didn't quite know what to say.

Millie knew she could befuddle him even further, "Are you sure you're not gay?"

If Neil had been eating at that moment, food would have gone flying all over the windscreen, because he actually spluttered. Then he said, "You wouldn't be asking that if you'd ever seen me shopping. I hate it!"

Millie laughed, "I thought I'd better add that in case you thought I was making a pass at you. You know, like before when you were offering to massage my butt."

"All right then, PC Brown, I think we've established where we both stand..."

"I knew that before, well I knew I wasn't interested in you!" said Millie, cheekily.

Neil gave her his best half-smile and nodded, "Likewise. Look at that! Thank God we're here."

"Should I, um, make my own way up to the hospital, seeing it's the middle of the day and it's busy here," asked Millie.

"That's probably a good idea."

"The place is probably swarming with officers from Sun Hill. By the way, that reminds me. Do people at work know about…"

"Yes, they do," said Neil abruptly. "But they know not to question me too much about it."

Millie just nodded. There was no missing the 'hidden' message in that statement.

Neil continued, "I suppose I should ask too if anyone at Sun Hill knows about your, err, situation?" The baby's father, for instance? Neil wanted to add. He couldn't let go of his suspicions about Millie and Max.

"No," said Millie shortly. "And I hope you understand I want to keep it like that."

Touchee, thought Neil. "I won't mention it to a soul. I just thought perhaps your pregnancy might have been the reason you left."

Millie gave him a puzzled look. He's only a man after all, she thought to herself. Sometimes even fathers seemed so ignorant of the whole reproductive process. As his words sunk in, however, her indignation rose. "Actually, I got pregnant well after I left Sun Hill, several months in fact."

"Oh, OK. Sorry, my calculation of when you left was a bit out. Shows how much I know," Neil was starting to wish he hadn't been so brazen. He could see that Millie seriously resented his question.

Millie felt the colour rise in her cheeks. She knew exactly what Neil was getting at. Even after all these months, the fact that everyone knew about her crush on Max Carter still humiliated her. She wanted Neil's friendship and appreciated his support, so she didn't want to make too big a deal of it. But nevertheless it was time to set the record straight once and for all.

"Just so you know, this is how it is. No one at Sun Hill knows about my pregnancy, no one at Sun Hill has anything to do with my pregnancy. As far as I'm concerned, you're the only person from that station who has any involvement in my life these days. OK?"

Neil was annoyed at himself for having aggravated Millie into such a state. She was after all almost in her third trimester of pregnancy, and it was an uncomfortably warm day. He wished he could take back his presumptuous comment, but falling short of that he did the next best thing and in an uncharacteristic gesture he reached across and squeezed Millie's hand.

"I bet few people have lost the title of 'perfect man' so fast," he muttered.

Millie smiled back at him. "Don't worry, it's reclaimable. All you need to do is provide me with food after my scan, then give me a lift home."

"It's a deal. Call me when you need me. I'll be with Jake."

Neil let Millie get a head start, and he watched from the car as she waddled her way towards the hospital. She seemed so determined to isolate herself from her friends at Sun Hill that he couldn't help but wonder what had happened to cause her to make such a complete break. But, for the moment at least, he had no answer to this, so instead of pondering it further, he got out of the car and made his way in to see his son.