Chapter 4: Saturday Night

The next few days pass quickly with us working to find the evidence to convict Beech's associates. We leave no stone unturned in our search, and often end up upsetting the wrong people.

We are sitting in the meeting room, working through some details when DCI Ray approaches us to see how things are going. Some of the others scatter when she comes in, knowing that she's got a temper worse than Hodges when, she's upset over something. She walks directly over to me and leans down close to my ear so she can say what she's got to say without disturbing anyone else.

"I've been thinking and seeing how you already know about Saturday, why don't you and John come along. You can fill me in on the latest case developments then, and not worry too much about ruffling any feathers, and besides, if you heard what I think you did, then I've got a bit of explaining to do," she says before stepping back to wait for my answer.

"Sound's like a plan," I say knowing she doesn't want this conversation to get out.

She disappears as quickly as she appeared and I'm left to get on with my work.

Saturday Night soon rolls round and I'm meeting Hodges and Ray, in a pub just off the patch along with John.

We spot them as soon as we enter the building and head over towards them, sitting down in the seats opposite them.

Hodges gets the first round of drinks in whilst we all settle down. Whilst he is gone we are joined by the famous Commander Patrick Ford.

"Hey stranger, where have you been hiding?" Marion Ray questions, giving him an awkward looking hug.

"The same place I always am, my office, bogged down with paperwork, so what have you been up to, or do I even want to know?"

"Nothing major, work, home, eat, sleep then back to work, you get the picture?"

"What happened to the fun loving, rule breaking woman I used to know?" he questions, with a slight sarcastic tone, tilting his head to the side to get a different picture.

"That was years ago Ricky, I've grown up since then, and I still know how to have fun."

"Yeah, usually at my expense," says Hodges returning to the table with our drinks, "I got your usual mate, I hope that's ok."

"Of course, So, what's the latest?" Ford asks, "and who have you bought along this time?" he adds, gesturing to me and John.

Hodges introduces us all, before saying anything else; "You still got that yellow sock?" he asks.

"Yeah, what was the big idea of dyeing my sock bright yellow anyway?"

"Revenge of course," DCI Ray smirks at him, "I told you I'd get my own back on you over that little incident beforehand, that I've been sworn not to mention."

"Oh, come on, It's not like you didn't get it back, if you was so worried about it, you shouldn't have left it lying around."

"I didn't leave it lying around."

"No, you ended up waking me up instead, to get it back for you," interrupts Hodges.

"I'm surprised you didn't kill her for that," comments Ford.

"Believe me I was tempted to."

"What did you have to recover?" I ask, not understating what they're on about, "or better yet, when was this?"

"My hotel room door key," explains DCI Ray, "We were all on a case out of town about 7 years ago when Fordo here decided to steal my key, whilst I was in the swimming pool. I had to walk halfway round the hotel in my dripping wet swimming costume, just to get it back."

"Yeah, but instead you gave up and came after mine instead. The next time you barge in on someone, knock first, you nearly gave me a heart attack" adds Hodges.

"Yellow socks? I like it," I say.

"Yeah, almost as good as the dinosaur in Crystal Park, south of the river," John adds, referring to our own hotel problem.

"So, what did you do to get back at her Ste?" Ford asks Hodges.

"I could tell you, but I'd have to kill you, and besides, that's something your better off not knowing," he replies, throwing a lingering gaze to DCI Ray, who struggles to hide her blush.

"Like that then is it? Did anyone find out about it?"

"Do you think we'd be sitting here now if they did Rick? I mean use a bit of common, if we so much as thought of anything like that these days, we'd be on a six month suspension at best," Hodges says.

"A ah, so you admit to it then? I knew you guys were hiding something, so how long did it last?"

"Again I am unable to comment without getting us all into serious trouble," says Hodges putting an end to the conversation.

"Six months," whispers DCI Ray, obviously knowing it was the only way to end the conversation.

"Wow that long huh, I never suspected that, I mean up until the end of the case sure, but, you took a really big risk there."

"Don't I know it," she mumbles.

"Besides, you're one to talk, if any of the new recruits so much as heard what you used to do, they'd never follow any of the rules," Hodges says backing her up.

"Now that was uncalled for, I was only trying to make a point. Are you sure it was only six months? The way you're acting I'm beginning to wonder here and I don't think I'm the only one."

"Fine, you want the full story, I'll tell you," says DCI Ray with anger lacing her tone, "That six months was just the beginning, Every similar out of town case since, we've been at it like rabbits, Do you want details?"

"Mar don't," Hodges cuts in.

DCI Ray slumps back into her seat defeated. Hodges, glowers at him, in annoyance, "You happy now?"

"Not really, I only wanted to know if my suspicions were right, I didn't intend to cause a fight."

They all take large sips of their drinks in a bid to break the tension.

"Can I ask you something?" Ford breaks through the silence, "If there were no rules about it or anything would you …?"

"What is this, Truth or Dare?" asks Hodges irritably.

"If you want, so…?"

"Possibly," he answers with a hint of mystery.

"In that case, I dare you to kiss her, right here, right now."

"Are you crazy? That's just asking for trouble,"

"Ste, Ste, Ste, where's your sense of adventure gone?"

"Alright," Hodges whispers with a discreet glance at Ray to make sure she's in agreement.

He turns to face her, running his hands gently up the side of her face, giving her plenty of time to pull away if she's uncomfortable with this. She doesn't pull away and her lips meet his in a searing kiss. They gradually deepen it, temporarily forgetting where they are.

We all watch transfixed for a few seconds, before deciding to snap them out of it before it goes too far.

"Alright," Chimes Ford, "I only wanted to prove a point,"

"What point exactly?" asks Hodges when he's regained his normal breathing rate.

"That there's still a spark there, whether you admit it or not, and no matter how much you fight it, nothing will change that."

"Well of course not when you come up with stupid idea's like that."

Out of the corner of my eye I notice DCI Ray, struggling to hide her emotions. Taking matters into my own hands, I proclaim a toilet break. Picking up on what I'm doing, she follows my lead, joining me in the ladies toilets a few minutes later.

"Thanks for that," she says to me.

"No problem."

"Why did you do that? Why did you get me out of there like that?"

"I know what it's like being caught in an awkward situation like that," I say, "and I could see that you needed a break. It was the best I could come up with on the spot."

"I owe you one," she says, washing her face under the faucet to cool her emotions.

"That really affected you didn't it?" I ask hoping I'm not overstepping the mark.

"I haven't felt like that in years," she confesses, "I mean sure we muck about sometimes, but it's all in good fun ya know, there's never anything serious about it, not like tonight, I don't know what happened back there, it's like someone's flicked a switch or something."

"Hey don't worry about it, we've all been through it before, its just hormones, you'll have probably forgotten all about it by next week."

"I hope so, but I highly doubt it," she explains, "the last time something like that happened, we couldn't stay away from each other for months. That's why I took up the case in Manchester; I needed to get away for a bit to clear my head. I thought that things would go back to normal once I returned, but now it's worse than ever, and I don't know how to deal with it."

"Maybe it's a sign, I know there's rules and everything, but maybe it's trying to tell you something, I won't say anything if you don't, if that's what you're worried about, but it may be worth thinking about; and if anyone does say anything, blame it on the alcohol."

"I'll have to think about that."

We return back the table to find the others laughing over a joke.

"You ok Mar?" Hodges asks, noticing her pale face.

"Yeah, I'm fine," she reassures him, sipping from her drink.

We settle back into an easy going, laid back conversation, ranging from the recent weather to more controversial events. By closing time we are all very tired and drunk.

On the walk home, I think over the events of the past week or so and how quickly thinks have changed. In less than a week it seems I've revealed my biggest secret to John, found enough evidence to trap Beech, learned enough about my boss to get along with him on non work related matters and made some new friends. Then to top it all off, I'm not busy hiding everything from everybody, probably down to avoiding Sun Hill, and my relationship with John has improved slightly.

I'm still surprised at how well he's taking the information that I'm CIB and his best friend is bent. He even seems to be getting along with the CIB officers in my department, something nobody could have foreseen. It's like he's a totally different person, from who he was last week, and yet, I like it. Not having to hide things from him makes my life much easier, and it seems to have had a positive impact on our relationship too. I mean, we've still gotta be careful, it is against regulations after all, and if anyone from Sun Hill, finds out I'm CIB, and about how close we are, it could put us both at risk. There's no doubt in my mind that they're gonna be pissed at CIB's disruption to their lives, but it had to be done. I just hope that I'm not putting John too much at risk with all of this.