The training day had been on the calendar for over a month but Andrea felt no more comfortable about it now the day had come than she had when she was first notified of it.
"Old stomping ground," Louise Martin comments, the Communications Officer for the Canley borough and Andrea's boss has a quick wit and approachable manner and made Andrea feel immediately welcome and appreciated. Andrea warmed quickly to the woman she worked side by side with, easing the hesitation she had at taking the job.
"Mmm but it feels like I'm returning to a place I was stomped all over for some reason." Andrea muses getting their gear off the back seat.
"Come on, hold your head high." Louise encourages heading towards the front doors, Andrea follows her unsure of what she should expect.
"Louise Martin here to see Inspector Gold for the media training day," Louise introduces herself. "With Andrea Dunbar," It might seem formal but Louise is a stickler for doing things right and therefore only once. JT picks up the phone, looking for Andrea who steps away from the double doors of the stairs to CID and from behind Louise.
"Hello." Andrea says hesitantly, still unsure of the reaction she's going to get but JT is smiling, it must be o.k., all rumours go through the front desk.
Andrea finds herself sitting on the chairs in the waiting area where she'd collected so many concerned family members or took down complaints; she'd escorted Bruce upstairs from here once. Wryly Andrea wonders if the automatically locking door still operates on the same code or if they changed it after she left. Louise seems much more relaxed, surrounded by media campaigns her office designed and sent out.
"Louise Martin." Gina Gold says affectionately, Andrea puts her head up and surprises the Inspector with her presence. "Andrea back so soon, miss us already?"
"Ma'am," Andrea says not really knowing what to say.
"I think it can be Gina from now on." The Inspector allows but Andrea still flashes a guarded smile, she still has a secret after all. "Andrea knows the way to the briefing room; I'll round up the relief."
Inside the corridors she's walked so many times Louise offers. "That wasn't so bad." Andrea knows there's only one person in the building who holds that much power over her to be able to make this visit bad. Thankfully he won't be present at their training day.
"Oi," Gina joins Yvonne in the canteen line. "You're at this thing today aren't you?"
"Yeah, why?" Yvonne pays for her tea.
"Louise Martin is running it with Andrea Dunbar as her assistant." Gina whispers.
Yvonne sighs, "With all due respect ma'am, they're no longer a threat to the MET or this station."
"Due respect aside Yvonne, I'm still curious, I want to know if he so much as glances into the room." Gina walks away before Yvonne can protest.
"Can you distribute the booklets?" Louise asks looking at the stack of bound paper that needs to be put one on each chair. Andrea obliges; anything to not feel so useless and new.
She starts on the left side of the room, back to the door and the corridor and doesn't see Neil pass. He lingers when he sees her, quickly stepping out of sight as Andrea drops a booklet onto each chair at the back of the room. She has line of sight as she finishes with the chairs under the window that looks out over the corridor, her eyes don't look up until she's done and then she looks back to Louise for guidance for what to do next.
Louise facing the front of the room looks over her shoulder towards the corridor and smiles briefly, Andrea turns after her but there's no one there.
"You didn't tell me you used to work with DI Manson." The sound of Neil's name spins Andrea back to Louise.
"I didn't technically, I was in uniform." Andrea attempts to distance herself.
"We worked together a long while ago when he and I were in uniform. I had a huge crush on him and he liked bossing me around and thinking women weren't up to the job. He was kidding himself; he had bouts of self doubt like the rest of us when we were new." Andrea might in any other circumstances cling to the new information about Neil from a new perspective, even if it is ancient history and she already knows what Neil is and was like. "Is he still ambitious and an old school statistics man?"
"He's mellowed a bit." Andrea says in an off handed way.
"Can't have been his wife then," Louise says with a laugh in her voice, Andrea doesn't because despite everything she has respect for Philippa, anything else would be unfair…though her actions with Neil may indicate otherwise.
"It was me." It just comes out, not thought about, raw, having not run through her head for a second. With Louise she feels she can be honest, it's her easy going nature, she's the type of woman you could sit for hours with and share your deepest secret with knowing she'll keep it locked up.
"Are you kidding me?" Louise says astounded.
"It was part of the reason I left here." Andrea looks down; about to divulge one of her deepest secrets, the other will go to her grave.
"Neil Manson doesn't look sideways at any woman, ever, you must be something special." The words come out and then Louise's face falls. "Oh, you said was."
"He's divorcing but we're not together anymore." Andrea searches through the boxes for no other reason than keeping herself distracted and busy.
"He was just outside the door and his look wasn't for me."
"That's nothing compared to the way I want to look at him…I was the reason for the split." It's the first time she's admitted it out loud, let alone to anyone else.
"Are you going to be alright today?" Andrea gets more caring and concern than she deserves.
"Yeah, people around here don't know, no one except you does so could you…?"
"Enough said." Louise comes back immediately.
"If you buy me a pint after this, if I get through this, lots of pints I'll be just drunk enough to tell you all about it." Andrea offers, it feels good to talk to someone else about it, even if it can't be the whole truth.
"Deal and I'll tell you about my last boyfriend who was obsessed with The Bill." Louise rolls her eyes.
"Do you have his number?" Andrea smiles widely.
"Oh no, not you too," Louise laughs and Andrea is reminded that Neil used to react the same way in the beginning as well.
"Andrea!" Honey near squeals after opening the briefing room door, she knows now that the rumours surrounding her departure can't have been that damaging. The two women embrace in a scene that's repeated as more Sun Hill officers fill the room.
"A car was involved in an accident in a street. As expected by the officers at the scene a large crowd gathered. In the crowd a newspaper reporter, anxious to get his story could not get near the car. Being the clever sort, the reporter started shouting loudly, let me through, let me through, I'm the son of the victim. The crowd made way for him and the police let him past the cordon they'd set up. Lying in front of the car, the victim of the accident was a donkey." A smattering of laughter goes through the group and Andrea thinks the joke is Bruce to a T.
"Wow tough crowd." Louise comments, her joke an attempt to loosen everyone up, the mood is far too serious, "How about this one."
"A police officer pulls a reporter over after he'd been driving the wrong way up a one way street. The officer says, do you know where you're going? The reporter says no but whatever it is it must be bad because everyone's leaving." The joke gets a few more laughs.
"In all seriousness the media is essential in our line of work, if not at sometimes painful but they are the most effective means of releasing statements, getting our message across, finding lost people or asking for the public's help and information. We just need to know how to have a balance between things we want them to know and things we don't and that is part of what today's about." Louise has everyone's attention now.
"Our aim is to actively keep the community informed and aware but not have so much information that they panic and flood us with misinformation." Andrea makes mental notes as she goes, watching Louise's technique.
"We're going to help you today with things like getting the press away from the scene and controlling them by helping one another. We like you to think before you open your mouth so you don't re-write MET policy on the spot." Laughter circulates the room. "We'll show you how to give the press the bare minimum of information, a broad stroke with a brush because if you wouldn't bet your life on something, if it could damage the case down the track or it isn't in the public's best interest you shouldn't confirm or deny anything." Even Andrea smiles at the words, "Also how to wrap things up, thank them because after all this is a mutual relationship, they use us, we use them. Finally important things like not answering anymore questions no matter who calls out to you, walking away and getting busy, even if you have a discussion with your colleagues about going to the pub when the shifts over, people worry and criticise when you're actively not doing something."
Later as Louise leads a role play, Neil stops outside the room watching Honey laugh as she gives a wildly inappropriate but funny answer to Louise who is pretending she's from The Daily News – a nice touch for Andrea.
Andrea doesn't see Neil and when Louise catches his eye he smiles briefly and he moves on. Louise looks across at Andrea who turns but again she misses Neil; she shakes her head at Louise indicating she didn't see him and for Louise to back off, no more.
Yvonne doesn't miss the DI's look or the exchange between Andrea and Louise.
"I told the Super I'd give him ten minutes, to debrief the day." Louise looks across at Andrea as they begin to pack up, part of the look says, will you be o.k.?
"You're leaving me alone because you think he's been walking past to see if I'm alone and now I'm going to be so he's going to come in." Andrea sees through Louise's plan.
"That and you need time to think about how you're going to lie to me about that." Louise points to the ring Neil gave Andrea.
"That'll cost you a few more pints." Andrea jokes.
"Money well spent." Louise says breezing out of the room.
Like she predicted Neil comes in five minutes later. He stands in the doorway as they hold one another's eyes for a moment till Andrea goes back to putting things away. He sits in a chair with his back to the corridor, the door still open. "How's the job going?"
"Good, I'm enjoying it. I just spent a week in Lincolnshire at a course run for newly appointed press officers. It was interesting to learn how other press offices are run, how we deal with events differently, I learnt a lot. They had people talk to us that had been involved in big events and we had some training in TV and radio." Andrea rambles through the details, nervous. She doesn't think she should have bought up the TV and radio training; Neil will cynically consider it unnecessary given what he knows she used to do.
"That's good." Neil says slowly, almost as if he doesn't know what else to say.
"I like working with Louise Martin." Andrea adds and then kicks herself; she shouldn't have bought Louise up.
"She was a good street cop." Neil says as Andrea continues to pack up, she knows that's all she'll get out of him. He's not so dumb to realise Andrea's talked about him. "It took guts to come back here."
It makes Andrea look instantly up to him. "It's the right way for me to be here." She goes back to packing. "You look good, happy." After she's said it she wonders if Neil will interpret her words as being happy to be free of her. In reality it's a mask that hides immense pain, so is hers.
"Colin's back living with me." Andrea looks back at Neil again, pleased for him.
"How is he?"
"Good, older, wiser, happy to be back in the UK, missed his friends and his dad." Neil says 'dad' with a smile.
"That's good." Andrea says with a small smile but it's about as positive as she can be.
"He's got a girlfriend."
Andrea takes a moment to analyse the underlying tone, there's uncertainty there as if Neil thinks Colin will be gone again only just having got him back.
"He's a good kid Neil."
"He's not a kid anymore." Neil corrects regretfully. "How's Cally?"
"Misses you," It's meant to tug at his heart strings and when Andrea looks at him she knows she's been successful. "She won't sleep in her bed anymore, always at the foot of mine." Sleeping in her bed is hard for Andrea too when so many nights the bed had Neil in it as well.
"I'd like to see her..."
"Sure." Andrea cuts him off, in the corridor she sees Smithy approach and slow.
"You want to come for a drink tonight Dunbar, a big group of us are going, we'll make it the send off we never got a chance to give you." Smithy leans through the doorway and Andrea takes her focus from Neil.
"I can't tonight, Louise and I are having a girl's night, you've got my number right? Another night?"
"I'll hold you to that." Smithy promises.
"Well I shouldn't hold you up, it was good seeing you." Neil rushes his words and out of the room.
"Neil." Andrea calls in protest but he's too far gone, Smithy came too close to his former territory just then, even though he was miles from anything Neil ever had with Andrea. He wonders if that means somewhere inside of him he wants her back.
Upstairs Neil opens the intranet and finds Andrea's photo under the title of her new job. She's smiling the way he loves her too. He bookmarks the page and almost saves the photo to file.
"So tell me." Louise places a pint in front of Andrea, the first for the night.
"It started as an affair and gradually we were seeing more of one another until I got tired of having him only part time."
"The curse of the married man, he's split between two." Louise takes a mouthful of her beer.
"Or the commitment-phobe's dream, so we sorted that out and we were happy again, then we came back from a weekend away and his wife is taking a job in the USA and taking their son with her and wants a separation."
"It's never a rosy time, despite what the novels may say." Something about Louise's voice tells Andrea she's not surprised by Philippa's career move.
"So I accuse him of wanting to go back to his wife, I tell him I'll go to the USA, I apply pressure and he feels trapped, caught. I feel resentful that I'm losing him again, when he decides to stay I decide I can't fight anymore so we agree step back till the dust settles. Then I go and betray him and now it's over." The abridged version, Andrea takes her first mouthful of her beer.
"Oh it's not over, I saw the way he looked at you today, the Neil Manson I know has never cheated much less had a quick fling. The way he used to talk about Philippa is the way I bet he talks about you. If you've lasted with him this long the man's in love with you," Louise is definitive.
"There's no trust between us anymore, I blew that." Andrea admits, "There's no water under the bridge."
"Then why do you still wear that?" Louise points to the ring.
"Call it naively living in hope, maybe its arrogance or denial that he'll come back. I think mostly it's because he asked me to wear it and I owe him that, it's the least I can do." Andrea twists the ring on her finger. "I used to wear it here." She points to her middle left finger.
"Still you must still care about him to do what he wishes. I mean you're apart so what if he wants you to do something." Louise argues and Andrea looks at her drink.
"I'm going to need a lot more of these if I'm going to keep talking or you're going to have to take over." Andrea suddenly sounds down.
"We'll come back to you." Louise promises.
The End…To be continued in the next story…story ID – 2959211
Author's end note: Not much Neil.Andrea I know but it was necessary to set the scene for the way things are going to be and to introduce Louise, look for more Neil.Andrea in the next part.
