2 am

Why have I never noticed how steep my stairs are? Oh god, what am I going to do? If I wake him, he might fall, if I go and take his hand, I might startle him and he might fall and take both of us down. And why didn't someone warn me? Sam? She's lived with him, she must have known about this?

She walked towards him, he was standing at the top of the stairs apparently staring down them, his eyes held a blank and unfocused look. Here goes. She stretched her hand out and took hold of his wrist, to her great relief he didn't flinch or jump, "Stu, hun, come back to bed." Gently she tugged on his arm and he stepped away from the edge and followed her.

Jo didn't bother steering him back to his own bed, one scare a night was more than enough for her. She pulled him into her room, folded the covers down, got him to crawl into bed and then climbed in after him. She shivered, he had scared the living daylights out of her.

Jo had no idea what exactly had wakened her. Sound instinct perhaps, or maybe she was simply attuned because Stu was sick and needed her. She had got Phil to help her get him upstairs to bed. His skin had been very hot to touch and she was worried. She had taken his temperature with the forehead thermometer that she had, not brilliant but it did the job okay, and she watched with a growing sense of dread as each little box lit up and went past normal temperature, 100, 101, 102. It stopped climbing at 102. 102, oh god, Stu, you're burning up.

He was still hot, Jo shivered again, and debated the idea of just waking him, wrapping him in a duvet and driving him straight back to hospital. She wasn't equipped to deal with this and the sleepwalking had almost been the last straw.

He grunted, and then shifted, a strong arm came round her waist and pulled her to him, without opening his eyes he moved his head to rest his cheek against her shoulder, nudging himself into a comfortable position, almost half his bodyweight curled into her, he made a contented noise and settled. Jo slid her arms around him, it felt a little strange lying in bed with a man in such an intimate position, but in a surprisingly good way, presumably because it was Stu. She doubted she would have felt anything approaching comfortable with anyone else. She gave him a little hug and settled herself, resting her cheek against the top of his head.

6.45am

Stu woke slowly, he was curled into a warm, soft, comfortable and definitely female body, her arms were round him, his cheek was resting against a nice, soft female shoulder, he felt comfortable and secure and cared for. It was a really really good feeling and he didn't want to open his eyes in case it vanished. He raised his head a little, nuzzling the side of a feminine neck, the scent of warm skin and something else triggered a memory in the back of his mind.

Stu cautiously opened his eyes. He was in bed, but not the bed he had gone to the previous night, he was curled up against a beautiful feminine body, and he recognised that scent. He looked. Jo. She was still asleep, her arms still round him, and he took a little heart from the fact that she was cuddling him. Very slowly, he eased back, and she made a little sound in her throat as he moved, to his soaring heart, that little sound was very similar to disappointment. Stuart Turner, get a grip, this is Jo, she's gay... your next few moments on earth could be your last... oh god, what happened last night... what did I do? He racked his brains to try and remember what had happened. Beyond Phil Hunter half carrying him up the stairs, and Jo's tutting and fussing about how hot his skin was, the only thing he could really remember was the look of worry and fear in Jo's eyes as she took his temperature with that forehead thing. Everything else was a confused jumble.

He sat up. He was in Jo's bed, curled up next to Jo. Something must have happened, he had no clue what. But whatever had led him there, he wasn't sorry. Being in Jo's arms was the best wake up feeling he had ever had. And a large part of him wanted to wake up that way every single day for the rest of his life. Yeah, right... as though that is going to happen... Stuart... you idiot... you're going to be extremely sorry if you've just mucked up the only real friendship you've had in years... and knowing your propensity for mucking up relationships... which is the most likely scenario... that your gay best friend who's been unfailingly kind, loving and supportive has fallen in love with you and wants picket fences, babies, hearts and flowers for the rest of your lives together... or that you did something really dumb last night and when your gay best friend wakes up it's going to be judge, jury and executioner... your track record?... you know the answer to that.

Stu groaned and put his head in his hands. A slightly disconnected corner of his brain registered that his skin felt a lot less hot, that the blazing headache from the infection he had picked up had died down to almost a whimper and that he could focus without blurred vision, but the rest of his brain was focusing on the strange constricted feeling in his throat and his chest that was nothing to do with being sick, unless being heartsick counted. He groaned again. She was going to kill him, he knew it.

She moved. He took his head of his hands, she was definitely waking up, he flinched. Waiting for the axe to fall, his stomach churned again. Oh god, he moaned, so concentrated on watching her wake up that he was unaware that he'd actually voiced that sentiment.

"Stu? How are you feeling?" her eyes opened and she sat up next to him. He closed his eyes as her cool hand brushed his forehead. "Oh thank god for that, the fever's broken." She sounded genuinely relieved, he couldn't detect a note of disgust anywhere. He cautiously opened his eyes and looked at her.

"Jo... I" he tried to look apologetic, even though he had no idea exactly what he was apologising for, and watched the expressions chase themselves across her face. "I guess something happened last night." He hazarded, everything was kind of favourable and the last thing he wanted to do was arose her ire, but he wanted to get any caning he was due out of the way quickly.

Her expression was a mixture of confusion, worry and a little bit of anger. "You might have warned me." She said.

"about what?" he felt extremely wary, what did I do?

"Oh nothing much, you went walkabout in your sleep and I just caught you before you fell down the stairs is all... nearly scared me to death." there was the faintest suspicion of a little wobble in her voice and for once in his life, Stu recognised the signs. Jo was worried about me. And then he connected the dots.

"I sleepwalked?" he looked as stricken as he felt, he hadn't done that in years, not since... he flinched and slammed the door hard on that memory. Remembering that time was not part of the deal, unaware of the sudden deep pain that came into his eyes. Jo stroked the back of his neck, as she connected a few dots of her own, sleepwalking is a stress response... she guessed the stress that had just forced its way into her partner's mind was the stress of losing his mother, she had seen that look in his eyes once before, and it had come about the night he'd told her about his family. For a few seconds Jo pondered her chances of actually tracing Stu's errant parent. He hadn't seen his mother for over twenty years, since the night she had packed her bags, waited until her thirteen year old son was asleep and walked out of his life for good.

A stress response didn't fully explain why she had found him at the top of the stairs at two o'clock in the morning though. He was ill, running a high temperature, and she guessed that had something to do with it. But stress was about the mind not the body and she knew that she wanted to get to the bottom of it. Stu was intensely private at the best of times, getting information out of him was like prising the barnacles of the bottom of a boat with her bare hands, but Jo was determined, and he usually yielded to her determination.

He lifted the covers, he was in serious need of a comfort stop, and he got to his feet. His knees almost disappeared and he flopped back down onto the bed.

"STU!" Jo got to her feet and moved round to help him. "That was stupid, next time wait for me." she fussed over him, and he couldn't help the little leap of joy in his heart. She really, really cares... yes, idiot... she does... but not that way... so get your mind out of the gutter and wake up... He put his arm round her shoulders and tried not to lean too heavily on her as they made their way to the facilities. When he was done, she helped him back to bed, not to the bed he'd had the night before, but her bed. And this time he really couldn't control the frisson in his heart and the smile that came to his face. She plumped pillows, and tucked the duvet round him. "Now for god's sake, stay put. I'm going to get some breakfast."

"Yes, mum."

"Sauce..."

He grinned, and turned over, snuggling into the warm space that smelled of Jo's perfume, making contented noises to himself.

Jo sighed, give Stu an inch and he takes a yard. Not that she actually minded, it seemed right somehow having him there, waking up next to him. Jo pondered that feeling of fitting together for a moment. It felt good. Different. But good.

She headed downstairs to get breakfast.

8.15am

Jo made the phone call. They would have to do without her for one more day at least. Stu was not well enough to be left on his own, and she had no intention of just leaving him to his own devices.

She was in luck, Jack Meadows was in.

He listened to her in silence. "Okay Jo, other than the report that you are going to have to write, and Stuart needs to write his too by the way, there isn't anything that we can't cover."

She thanked him, and rang off.

For a moment he sat staring at the phone. A fanciful thought popped into his head. She sounded more like a slightly panicked girlfriend than the cool-under-fire Jo Masters that he was used to, Stuart Turner and Jo Masters... now there's a thought. He wasn't sure if it was a good one or a bad one though. He shook his head. Impossible. Cocky smoothie Stuart and gay tomboy Jo?... not a chance.