Disclaimer: I don't own The Bill.

Chapter Four;
Nicholas

Stuart and Max joined the women at the hospital one hour later, leaving Roger and Nate to go looking for the women's attackers. They found Millie seated in the squishy armchair beside Hayleigh's bed, the DC scowling at her leg as Millie sat enthralled by something she was watching on a small hand-held DVD player. The thing wasn't loud but drew Max's attention and when he glanced over it to find Millie watching some kind of musical, he frowned. "I didn't know you liked musicals."

"Love them." Millie muttered simply, turning it to show him. "Jesus Christ Superstar."

Max gave a small chin-raised nod, failing to hide his disinterest, then turned back to Hayleigh who was now receiving twenty questions from Stuart about what the doctor had said about her bullet wound. "Want to keep me here 'til the painkillers wear off. I told them I'm fine to go but they said if I died on the way out of the hospital it would be their guts for garter." She grinned. "'Parrently your lot are pretty hard on them when something happens."

"Blame the Super." Stuart nodded to the DVD player. "And that was?"

"Because I was whinging 'bout being bored. Seems, however, this hospital hasn't yet discovered adult movies. It was musicals or BBC period romances from the Grandma collection or kids movies from the Childrens collection." Millie gave a half-hearted scowl at being referred to as a grandma. "So, anyone catch the jerks that did this?"

Stuart shook his head. "Nothing yet, but PCs Roberts and Valentine are giving the Maycroft the once-over. If it makes you feel any better we're off to scrounge through Brecht's belongings." Hayleigh scowled. "Thought you'd like that." He nodded to Max then smiled at Hayleigh. "Okay, give us a call when you get out of here and we'll send someone around to pick you up. You can return to desk duties, I know how much you love them."

"You put me back on desk duties sarge and you better start deadlocking your windows at night."

Stuart just chuckled. "Get better soon." He glanced at Millie. "Come on then Mary Magdalene, back to work."

Millie stood and put the DVD player down on Hayleigh's bedside table. "Have fun." With a cheeky smile she followed the sergeants from the hospital.

*

The door knocking proved fruitless. Anyone that did seem to know something was staying quiet and the rest were pretending they'd heard nothing; I was in the shower, the radio's very loud, I'm partly deaf in one ear being used as the best of the excuses. After a little over an hour of knocking Nate and Roger proceeded to give up, heading back towards the IRV. When they got there they found a small boy standing in front of it, looking at it with a look of sheer awe flashing across his face.

"Hey mate," Roger called, expecting the child to run off like all the estate kids did, but instead he just grinned at them. He was clutching a rather grubby blue toy that, as they got closer, was revealed to be a teddy bear. He wouldn't be older than five, maximum. "Like it?" The child tipped his head at the question. "The car?" He nodded, suddenly shy. Roger crouched down to his height, his knees aching as he did. Damn he was too old for this. "What's your name? My name is Roger."

"Nicky." He clutched the bear. "And this is Ted."

Roger smiled. "Well, it's nice to meet you Nicky, and you too Ted." He nodded to the bear. "Now," he pushed himself back to full height. "You shouldn't be out here by yourself, we've had a bit of trouble." The boy shrugged. "Where do you live? We can drop you home."

"Can you turn on the flashies and the 'woo woo'?"

Roger chuckled. "The Blues and Twos? Only for emergencies. But if you want you can sit in the front with me and my friend here," he thumbed back to Nate who suddenly frowned at the attention, "can sit in the back."

Nicky smiled and nodded, following Roger to the car as he carefully repeated his address. Slumped in the backseat like a naughty child, Nate checked the details on his radio and found the child's mother was a Valerie Delaney and the child they had now was Nicholas. Apparently they were already on Social Services' radar. When they reached the Delaney residence they knocked a few times before peering through the glass of the front window. The back door was wide open but the place didn't seem to be a mess. Roger glanced at Nicholas. "Nicky, were you here alone this morning?"

Nicholas nodded slowly. "I got bored so I went for a walk."

Nate shook is head, silently judging the mother, then called the station and asked if any of them could call Social Services in regards to the Delaney family. Meanwhile Roger and young Nicholas walked around to the back door and let themselves in, Roger first checking no one else was inside before letting the child back in. As he re-entered the living room, Nicholas said something that caught Roger's attention. Something about playing with toy guns. Roger frowned and glanced back at the child. "Toy guns Nicky?"

"Mummy says I can't have one, but they look so cool."

"Nicholas, did you see something happen down at the Maycroft?" Roger took a stab in the dark that seemed to pay off when Nicholas nodded. "Was it the fire?" Nicholas shook his head then started talking about wanting to be a fireman but Roger cut him off. "Did you see anyone with a gun?" The silence from the child was enough to warrant further investigation. Grabbing his radio Roger cancelled the call for Social Services to drop by – the PCs and Nicholas were headed back to the station, they could meet them there.