"Put that box down, Gill!" Kevin shouted from the bottom of the drive.
"Don't be so stupid, Kevin, it's only a few boxes!" Gill shouted back from the doorway of her house.
Kevin went running up to the house and snatched the boxes from her. He didn't want Gill to have to carry boxes of his stuff in her 'condition', as he called it. Besides, it was his fault that he moving in. He wanted to be there for Gill if anything happened to the baby, even thought she was only 14 weeks pregnant. There was only her and Sammy in the house and Sammy was out most nights, so if anything happened, which was highly unlikely as Gill kept reminding him, he would be there like a father should.
In the past four weeks, their relationship had gone from strength to strength. Kevin had spent all of his free time at Gill's house and he thought it was silly for him to go home of a night, so he asked if he could move in. The time that he hadn't spent with Gill and his unborn child had been spent hanging out with Sammy, getting to know him and Melissa and helping him with his music. Kevin had asked Sammy if he wanted him to join his band but Sammy declined his offer. Gill had been for her first scan two weeks ago and Kevin had shown it to everyone in the station, even the uniform officers that he didn't know. It was his wallpaper on his phone, was in a fame in the bedroom that he shared with Gill and was stuck on the fridge with Batman fridge magnets. He'd even made copies for Rachel and Janet, the child's godmothers, and Gill had gone ape at him for using the office printer for personal use and for using all the printer ink.
Changes had happened in Sammy's life too. Gill had agreed to let Melissa move in after Sammy proposed to her in the local Italian restaurant. He claimed that she was 'the one' but Gill thought the relationship was moving too quickly. She was hardly the one to judge though, she'd gotten pregnant the first time she slept with Kevin and Melissa wasn't stupid enough to do that, so she couldn't lecture Sammy about things moving too quickly. Anyway, she thought that it would be good for her to have another woman in the house, someone who at least knew a tiny bit of what she was going through. Melissa had promised Gill that there was no way that she was getting grandchildren any time soon, so Gill was happy.
"It hardly weighs a thing, give it back," Gill told Kevin, holding out her arms for him to put the boxes back into.
"No, I'm not taking any chances," replied Kevin. "This baby means the world to me and I don't want to be the one responsible for it getting hurt. Go and put the kettle on and put your feet up, me and Sammyboy can manage from here." Kevin put his hand on Sammy's shoulder, who quickly brushed it off.
"Cute nickname, Kev, but I'd rather just be called Sammy," he told Kevin, who felt a little hurt.
Gill went inside and left the men to it. She found Melissa in the kitchen, already making cups of tea for her and Gill. She looked a little down, like something was bothering her.
"What's up, Kid?" Gill asked.
Melissa looked at the floor and shook her head. "Oh, nothing," she replied.
"Yes there is. What is it?" Gill bent down so that she could look at Melissa's face. Melissa was glad that Gill cared about her, even if she did care a little too much sometimes.
"Look, Gill. I know Sammy put you in an awkward situation when he asked you if I could move in. He should have probably spoken to you when I wasn't there, you could hardly say no to my face. I'd love to move in with you but if you feel it's too soon, then I understand. Or if you just want some space before the baby's here, I don't have to move in. Sammy sort of insisted that I did now that we're engaged and I had no say in the matter. I'd really like to, you're an excellent mother and I know you're going to be a lovely mother-in-law, but if you don't want me to move in, you can say. I completely understand." Melissa looked up at Gill, her vision blurred with tears.
"Eh, what's brought this on?" Gill asked, bewildered.
"I don't know, I just feel like I'm not part of the family. I mean, you've got Kevin and the baby and Sammy and yeah, I've got Sammy, but he doesn't really think about my feelings most of the time and he just assumes I'm happy just because I don't say how I feel."
Gill grabbed Melissa and pulled her into a hug. "I'm sorry if you've felt unwelcome, I had no idea. I know what boys are like when it comes to feelings, one mention of the word and they're straight out the door. Sammy's different though, believe me. If you just sit down and talk to him, he'll understand. He knows what you girls are like." A tear fell down Gill's face, she put it down to hormones because of the baby. "As for moving in," she continued. "I'd like nothing more than for you to stay. After all these years with it just being me and Sammy, I'll be glad of a full house. And yes, space. The only space I'll be needing is being away from Kevin. I adore him but he can be a bit of an idiot sometimes. I just wish I could sort of control him and what he says. I love you Melissa, I like you a lot more than I've liked any of Sammy's past girlfriends, you're like a daughter to me, the daughter I never wanted but still loved."
Melissa drew back from the hug. "The daughter you never wanted? But…?" she asked, looking down to Gill's abdomen.
"Oh." Gill placed a hand on her tiny bump. "This is boy, I can feel it." She winked at Melissa.
Melissa was miffed at how Gill could know that it was a boy but didn't bother to question it. "So what are you gonna do about Kevin then?"
"I don't like the way be speaks about women. He talks like they're slabs of meat, but we're more than that. I want him to realise how serious I am about him and then maybe he won't talk about other women like that. Well, while I'm in the room in fact," Gill replied.
"Hmm, he's a bit of a knob, isn't he?" Melissa asked.
"Yes, but a cute knob."
"So what ARE you doing to do?"
"I have a little something up my sleeve, don't you worry about that," Gill replied, winking at Melissa.
xXxXx
"Kevin!" Gill shouted from behind her desk in her office. "Can you come in here please? Oh, and bring Rachel with you!"
"Oh, it's fine. We'll come to you, don't bother going to your door, or moving even," Kevin remarked sarcastically.
"Oi, Kev! Don't mean to you girlfriend!" Rachel punched him on the arm friendly as they walk into Gill office. "What's up, Boss?"
"Before I tell you, you will be getting overtime and you can say no if you want, I'll ask Janet and Mitch to do it. I just thought that you two would be better suited to do the job."
"Do what?" Kevin asked before Gill had finished explaining.
"I hadn't got to that part yet, Kevin." Gill rolled her eyes. "The Chief Con has just signed a document allowing two officers to go undercover with this gang case. I want you two to do it, Rachel's my best detective and the Chief Con wanted a woman and a man to do it, and Kevin, you're the officer closest to Rachel's age to make it look like you're boyfriend and girlfriend."
"Oh, so nothing to do with how good I am at my job?" Kevin asked.
"Nope, nothing to do with that," Gill replied dryly.
"How long for, Boss?" Rachel asked. "If it's only for a short time then yeah, I can do it, but I've got commitments at the weekend."
"Yeah, commitments with loverboy," Kevin teased.
"Kevin, enough! Rachel, it will be no longer than 4 days, you start tomorrow and will definitely be finished before Friday. If you get a result sooner than Friday, then obviously you will be finished sooner. I've had to jump through hoops to get permission to do this, DON'T," she looked at Kevin, "DON'T mess it up."
"Yes, Boss," Kevin said.
"Oh, and here's the clothes you have to wear," Gill smirked. She handed Rachel and Kevin some trackies, Rachel's bright pink, Kevin's baggy with graffiti on them. She gave Rachel a white vest top and a pink bra to be worn under a pink hoodie that matched her trousers. Kevin had a loosely fitting yellow top with a jacket that also matched him trouser. He was given a fake gold chain that said 'Rach' on it and Rachel was given tacky earrings and was told she needed to tie her hair up.
"Ah, one last thing," Gill said, and handed them both a packet of chewing gum. "All the youths nowadays seems to be chewing something, don't want you to be left out." She winked at Rachel. "We need to see them on before tomorrow, so I suggest that you go to the loos and get changed now."
"Yes Boss," Rachel replied as the exited the office.
xXxXx
"Come on, Rach. Let's se your outfit!" Janet called to Rachel.
"NO!" Rachel shouted from behind the office door. "I look terrible!"
"Nah, Rach, baby. You look sick and ting, innit though," Kevin replied and flicked his fingers.
Gill rolled her eyes and just let him get on with it. She guessed the clothes had influenced him.
Rachel stepped out from behind the door and Janet suppressed a snigger.
Rachel glared at Janet. "You didn't laugh at Kevin!" she argued.
"No, but Kevin usually looks like a knob, so there's no change there. Honestly, Rachel, you don't look too bad."
"Nice tits though," Mitch remarked. Everyone turned to face Mitch, shocked. He wasn't the type of person to say things like that. "What?" he asked. "They're more noticeable than they are usually because of her bra!"
"You do have nice tits, Rachel," Gill agreed, turning to look at her young detective.
"Erm, thanks," Rachel replied, slightly embarrassed.
"I'd tap that!" Kevin exclaimed. "If I didn't already have ma bitch, you'd be next in line to get some Kevin love."
"Shove off, Kevin!" Rachel sat down and blew a bubble with her chewing gum. She thought these next few days were going to be fun.
"Well, good luck. Both of you, I'll see you on Friday," Janet smiled.
xXxXx
The next three days flew by and before Kevin and Rachel knew it, they were in an undercover police car, heading for Manchester Metropolitan Police Station. The undercover work had been a success and they had managed to arrest the gang members in question.
"Hurry up, bled. I wanna see my girl," Kevin whined.
Rachel checked her phone. "Not yet, Kev. We've gotta wait down here for a minute or two. Go and get me a cuppa from the machine will you.
Kevin sucked his teeth at Rachel and walked off with his 'swag' to get Rachel a drink.
He came back and handed it to her. Rachel had only taken a sip of her drink when her phone beeped. "Come on, let's go see Gill," she said to Kevin.
"Nah, but I swear I just got you a drink and now you're making me go see my girl?" Kevin asked as a half question, pulling open the door to the office.
Gill was sat in Rachel's chair, her abdomen protruding a little. All around her were rose petal and candles. Kevin didn't know how many, there must have been thousands of little tea lights. He stood there, his mouth open.
"You knew about this?" he asked Rachel. She simply nodded and smiled. She patted Kevin on the back and left the couple to it.
Kevin stepped further into the office, still amazed at what Gill had done. "What's all this for, Gill?"
Gill got up and put her finger on his lips. "Shh," she said. "Just hear me out. I love you so much Kevin Lumb and I want us to do something to show how much me love each other. I don't think I've loved someone as much as I love you and I've always wanted another baby, that just wasn't possible with Dave, and you've given me that. For that, I will be eternally grateful. So…" Gill got down on one knee. "Kevin Lumb, will you marry me?" she asked.
"Are you stupid?" Kevin asked. "Of course I will!" he answered excitedly, and pulled her into a kiss.
