Thanks to all who read and review and as always thanks to Rolephant. I don't own Ashes nor the characters, and this is unbeta'd.

Shaz stood in the CID of Fenchurch West, still unable to believe that she had actually transferred here. The set up was the same, the same type of desks filling the room, the office in the centre in the back. She felt that something was missing. And she knew what that something was.

It was the old team. Not just Chris, although he was a part of it. She missed the Guv, and even Ray. Most of all, however, she missed DI Drake. Drake was her mentor in so many ways. She always encouraged Shaz to act like one of the detectives, even though she was just uniform.

Shaz felt that she had changed in so many ways since DI Drake had shown up that day. Now she was going to die. The date hadn't been set yet, the Guv had requested an appeal and was waiting to hear if it was approved. She hoped it would be. There was no way she could stand it if DI Drake died.

Shaz sat down at her desk and started working on some paperwork they had already given to her. Luckily it was very simple, and required no thought as she filled it out. She needed to get into the evidence room, to look at the case over Alex. Ray was certain they had planted evidence against her. She just had to find it.

"Granger! Get in here!" DCI Hackett's voice yelled at her. She got up from her seat and timidly walked into his office. He looked up as she entered.

"Right, Granger. First off I'd like to welcome you to the team. I haven't officially done that yet. Secondly, could you take this to evidence?" He handed her a file and sent her on her way.

Shaz was excited. This was exactly what she needed, this chance to get into evidence. She looked down at the file in her hands, and read the label.

Alex Drake: Murder of Martin Summers

Perfect.

*

Alex came round slowly; her first thought was that her side hurt a lot more than it should. It had been feeling alright for the past few days, only a few stabbing pains had plagued her. Now however, it was throbbing for some reason. As Alex tried to figure out where she was, she realised her head was throbbing in unison with her side.

She tried to remember what had happened. She remembered a blonde, saying things to her. Things she didn't like. She remembered leaping across the room at the blonde. There was a fight, Alex finally remembered. A boot had hit her in the jaw. Well, that explained why her face hurt so badly. What had happened to her side though? Why did that hurt?

She thought back to the fight. She was punching the blonde... what was her name? It started with a J. The blond started punching back. She had missed a lot. She kicked and Alex had ducked, then the blonde started attacking her. One hit her in the face... What had happened after that? The pain was making it difficult to concentrate. Alex finally opened her eyes in an attempt to make more sense out of what had happened.

She was lying on a bed in a room made of brick, which was painted dark green. Where was she? She looked around the room. There were beds down both sides of the room, some occupied, some not. Alex was frustrated. None of this was helping to figure out where she was. There was movement on her left. She looked over to see a nurse standing by her. The nurse looked down.

"Oh good, you're awake. Been out for hours, you have. Must've been a right nasty kick to the face that. Course, anyone could see that from looking at you."

"Where am I?" Alex asked, wanting to know that before anything else.

"Hospital wing. That little fight you got yourself into pulled your stitches. Bled quite nicely for a while. You got the worst of it. Still you must've held your own at least. You gave that blonde cell mate of yours has a broken nose."

Blonde cell mate. Alex felt more awake now, and things were starting to come back. She remembered the jab in her side, doubling over in pain as the blondes boot hit her in the jaw. The blonde. Alex could see her face.

"Jenette," she hissed.

"Yep, I think that's her name. Although to be fair, she pressed the alarm after she knocked you out. You were bleeding pretty bad. How recent is that anyway?"

"A few weeks. I was supposed to get the stitches out in a few days."

"Well, they're staying there for a little longer, now that it's been ripped open. We're gonna keep you down here overnight, and then we'll send you back up to your cell in the morning. I'm gonna give you some medication for the pain, right now." The nurse looked at her. "Boy you're covered in bruises! From what I hear, you've got a hearing in a few days. Won't be too impressive to them that you're all bruised up."

Alex inhaled deeply, then exhaled. She had forgotten about the hearing. The nurse was right. This wouldn't look good when she went to it. She felt the pain medicine kicking in. Alex was in no mood to try and stay awake. She drifted off to sleep hoping that Jenette's nose was hurting her badly.

*

Shaz looked down at the file in disappointment. There was nothing. No hint of anything shady. Of course, if there was something shady going on, the evidence file probably wasn't the best place to look for it. It was time to use Alex's training. She picked up the phone and dialled a number.

"Hello?"

"Chris. Meet me here tonight at nine. Bring Ray."

"Why?"

"We're going through people's rubbish."

TBC...