"Boyd? Boyd weren't you listening?" Spence was trying to bring his boss back into the real world: the real world in which the team were sat in a cold corridor of the City Hospital. Correction, most of the team.

"Sir…" Stella lightly shoved Boyd's shoulder.

Boyd's head snapped up and he was instantly himself again.

"Err… Yes?"

"Were you listening? We can go and see her now." Felix spoke gently but was looking concerned.

"We can! That's great, how is she?" Boyd positively jumped up.

"You weren't listening were you?" Spence was smiling, but as soon as he began his next sentence the smile faded. "She umm… isn't good, Boyd. She took the full blast, she's not conscious yet and she's connected up to all sorts of stuff," Spence saw Boyd's face fall and trailed off, "but the doctors say it's not as awful as it looks and well…"

Boyd smiled faintly at Spence, "Let's go then…"

"Hey, Boyd," Felix exchanged glances with Stella and Spence, "Why do you go first. We'll join you in a minute."

Boyd looked at her gratefully. He really did need a minute alone to compose himself. To be with Grace. But of course he couldn't let on, even if they had guessed already about his feelings, which he reckoned they had. So he controlled the situation by asking, "Why?"

Felix caught on to this plea for a cover up and said, "Well, I don't know about everyone else but I could murder a coffee! No pun intended!" There was some polite laughter at the joke but no one agreed with her. So she did the only thing she could to save the situation. She elbowed Spence in the ribs.

"Oh err… yeah, coffee great! You coming Stella?"

Stella had caught on too, "Sure. I love coffee!"

They all made a quick exit leaving Boyd on his own. He sighed, pulled himself together and walked off down the corridor.

Felix sat next to Spence, a polystyrene cup of lukewarm liquid in her hand that almost tasted like coffee. Stella had gone to off to find the toilets and she and Spence were left alone.

"What a mess." Spence was being his usual optimistic self.

"Hey, it's not so bad. Yes Grace isn't looking her best but I'm sure she'll be fine, and yes Boyd isn't coping well but I'm sure he'll be OK too, and yes we're totally neglecting the case but we'll come back to it after this is all over and yes we will be the same as before."

Spence grinned at her, "I love the way you see the bright side in everything."

"I love the way you don't!" Felix was being sarcastic but Spence knew that there was some deeper meaning in this conversation; it was just that neither of them wanted to say it. They sat for a minute in silence before Spence plucked up the courage to ask Felix a question, "Hey, you know you said when 'this is all over', well how about when 'this is all over' we go for a drink, or dinner or something? Or I mean it could be lunch or you know, breakfast if you really wanted, not sure how we'd do that though…"

He was blabbering but Felix interrupted, "Sure, Ok."

Spence smiled, "Really?"

Grace lay in a mass of wires and tubes and monitors. There was a gentle beep… beep… beep… from a heart monitor and the faint whirr of a million other machines. She had on oxygen mask on her face and she was covered in gashes and bruises. Boyd thought she had never looked so peaceful. Despite being swamped in machines and bruised and bloodied she looked calm and innocent, as though she was asleep. To many she may have been a mess. But to him she was beautiful.