"Carrie, it's Mickey," he cursed himself, the case had been more complex than he initially expected and he hadn't had chance to call her before mid afternoon.
"Mickey," he could hear the relief in her voice and cursed again, feeling like he'd let her down already. "I thought you'd forgotten about me."
"Never could do that, it's been so busy here though, I haven't had a chance to do anything else all day, I called as soon as I could."
"It's ok, I'm just glad you called."
"Still want to meet up tonight?"
"Definitely. I'm not gonna be finished here until about half eight though," Carrie sighed in frustration, "we've got a conference and I just need to check that everything is ok before I can finish."
"That's alright, I reckon this one could be a late one too."
"Want to meet for a drink about half nine then? How about that new place on the high street?"
"Zuma? Sounds good to me." Mickey looked up to see Jo motioning to him to hurry up, "I've got to go Carrie, see you later yeah?"
"I'm looking forward to it," Carrie let happiness enter her voice.
"Me too. See ya later darlin'."
No sooner had he hung up than Jo was on the case, "we need to get back to the nick, uniform have picked someone up for the assault." Mickey nodded, briskly following Jo back to the car. "Arranging another date for tonight were you?"
"Why is my love life of such interest to the station eh?" He grinned. "Who have uniform got in custody for this assault anyway?"
"Our victim's brother, believe it or not. Family eh? And never mind that, don't change the subject. Spill the beans."
"Yes I'm seeing her again tonight."
"Hallelujah."
There was a little more gentle teasing on the way back but again Mickey didn't really mind. He'd done his own fair share of ribbing people in his time, not least Jo who had a very active social life when work allowed and the mood took her. The gentle camaraderie the team had was slowly being built back up after all the recent changes, and that would probably be worth being the butt of a few jokes for, Mickey reasoned.
Now all that was needed was a successful interview and the day would be over. Avoiding Jack would also be a bonus for Mickey.
As if life ever went like that. First off the suspect gave a no comment interview, then the victim couldn't, or as Mickey suspected wouldn't, pick anyone out of a line up and had suddenly decided that he wanted to drop all charges. It wasn't exactly the recipe for a successful day. To top it all off, he bumped into Jack walking down the corridor and he demanded not only last month's clean up stats, but also to know who the mystery lady was that had the station talking. Both demands were things that Mickey really didn't want to answer.
"I'll have the stats to you by the end of tomorrow, I promise guv. And the girl? I'm off to meet her now." Mickey made to leave, "I'll tell you about her tomorrow, yeah?"
Jack accepted that and walked on to his office, at that moment contented that Mickey appeared happy. It had been a while.
Mickey continued on, rushing home so that he could quickly grab something to eat before leaving to meet Carrie. The butterflies in his stomach, it had been a while since he'd felt those, and as nice as it was it played havoc with the appetite. All he managed was a quick sandwich, an even quicker change of clothes, and another rush to the bar so that he got there before Carrie did. He didn't want her to be waiting around for him.
Waiting outside he checked his watch five or six times, rolling his eyes as he noticed a familiar face in the patrol car that kept going past the bar. Didn't they have any criminals to catch?
"Hey you," the voice was music to Mickey's ears.
"Hey," they kissed, softly, Mickey touching her cheek affectionately. "Did you have a good day?"
"Oh it was a long day, shall we get a drink?" Carrie flashed a smile, "I could really do with one."
"Lead the way." Mickey went to the bar while Carrie found them somewhere quiet to sit where they could talk.
The wait at the bar was frustratingly long, but eventually Mickey was able to take a bottle of wine and two glasses back to the table. He poured them both a drink and held his glass up, "cheers."
"Cheers," the glasses clinked.
It was as natural as it had been the night before. The conversation was engaging, light, unthreatening. For both of them if felt like the right place to be. By last orders it was now or never time.
"Your place isn't far from here is it?"
"No, it isn't."
"Shall we go back there?"
"Are you sure?"
"Mickey, these last two nights have been really good, but I think there's stuff we need to talk about. History. And I want to come back to yours. I want to talk to you properly, I want you to kiss me again." There was a shy cheekiness to her smile that meant that as much as he wanted to, Mickey could not argue with her request.
He sighed, "you're right." A knot of fear formed in his stomach, pushing the butterflies away. History was the one thing that could make all this go wrong. He reasoned with himself, better to deal with it now than further down the line. "Shall we walk or get a cab?"
"We'll walk. It's a nice night." Truth be told, Carrie was nervous too. However much Mickey already knew about her, she worried that actually talking about the history they shared might drive a wedge between them.
"Come on then," He wrapped an arm affectionately round her shoulder, and she returned the gesture with her slim arm around his waist. Slowly, both of them wanting to enjoy the peaceful moment before the storm clouds might hit, they walked along the high street in the direction of Mickey's home.
