Jackie swallowed back a wave of nausea as she tried to listen to Burke droning on and on. All she could smell was Stuart's burger, and as she glanced to the side and watched him take a massive bite out of the grease laden food she felt her stomach lurch. Stuart caught her watching and waved it under her nose, asking – in what was probably meant to be a friendly gesture – "You want a bite?"

Shaking her head, Jackie felt her stomach roll, and pressing her hand against her mouth briefly she got to her feet and quickly made her way out of the briefing room, breaking into a run the moment she knew she was out of sight.

"Where the bloody hell does she think she's going?" Burke barked in annoyance. "I wasn't finished."

Stuart looked down at his burger and muttered, "A no would have worked just as well." He took another bite and added through it, "She didn't look that well though, looked a bit pale."

Robbie crossed his arms across himself, he'd barely spoken to Jackie in the last two weeks, he'd wanted to but his head had been too screwed up and so unless it was to do with work he'd avoided her. Seeing her go that pale and bolt out the room made him feel incredibly guilty that he hadn't been checking up on her more often, after all she was having his kid. "Want me to go check on her?" he offered.

"Robbie, pigs will fly before I give you permission to stalk out the ladies, I would like you to at least keep part of your mind on work after all. Stuart can go."

Stuart looked up in surprise at that declaration. "I can?"

"Out of the three of us do you see anyone more suitable?" Burke questioned in annoyance.

"Well no..."

"Then get going."

"But my food will get cold-" He cut off when he saw the glare that crossed his boss's face and the way Robbie shifted, looking incredibly antsy. Getting to his feet, Stuart reluctantly put his burger back onto its wrapper and dragged his feet towards the corridors and the ladies toilets. He hesitated at the door, unsure whether or not he should knock, after all it was eleven at night, and they were the only team in the CID office at the moment so it was unlikely that there was anyone else in there.

After another second he took a deep breath and pushed the door open, frowning in concern when he heard the sound of Jackie retching from one of the cubicles. He moved towards the door and knocked at it. "Jackie, are you alright?"

There was a pause and he heard her cough, her voice slightly hoarser than usual as she answered, "I'm fine. Be out in a few minutes."

"No offence, but you don't sound well," Stuart told her bluntly.

"Probably something I've eaten."

He heard the sound of the toilet flushing and stood to the side as the door opened and Jackie stepped out, shooting him a weak smile as she headed to the sink, washing her hands and rinsing her mouth out with water. "Have you got any gum?" she asked him.

"Yeah." He fumbled in the inside pocket of his suit jacket and pulled out the packet, holding it out to her.

"Cheers." Sighing, Jackie leaned back against the wall, closing her eyes for a brief second as she chewed. Opening her eyes and telling Stuart, "I'm fine now, you go ahead, I'll be back in a minute."

Stuart didn't move, instead he asked, "Everything alright?"

"Everything's fine, I told you it'll be something I've eaten."

"I didn't think that crackers and toast could have such a spectacular effect on someone's stomach," he remarked dryly.

"I had soup for lunch," she replied.

"Jackie...today's not the first time you've disappeared into here. And you threw up into a bin at the crime scene yesterday."

"I didn't think anyone had noticed that," she admitted.

"If it helps it was just me that saw it. But it means that I know it's not something you've eaten today." He took a deep breath and added, "So anything you want to tell me?"

She did want to tell him the truth, but it was so early on that she didn't want to jinx herself, she wanted this kept quiet, at least until her first scan. She wasn't sure if she could keep it from Stuart though. It was her excitement won out though and she told him with a smile, "I'm pregnant."

Stuart's eyes widened. "You're what?" He looked down at her stomach and back up at her. "You don't look it."

"Well its early days," she admitted. "I'm only about six weeks, which is why I want to keep it quiet."

"Yeah of course." The surprise fading from his face and being replaced by an excited grin, Stuart pulled her into a hug. "Congratulations, Jackie. I didn't even know you were seeing anyone."

"It's complicated," she admitted cagily. "He's not going to be involved."

"Oh." Stuart stared at her slightly awkwardly, unsure of what to say next.

Jackie patted his arm as she told him, "It's ok, I've gotten past that, it's not important."

Stuart tilted his head, he knew what it was like not to be wanted by a parent and he wouldn't wish that feeling on anyone. "Are you sure about that? I mean like you said it's early yet, so maybe he'll change his mind."

She shook her head. "I don't think so."

"It would be better for the baby if they knew who their father was," he pointed out.

"Maybe when they're older, but nothing's going to change anytime soon," she told him bluntly before adding, "I don't really want to get into this right now though."

"Ok." He nodded, knowing that pushing the issue now would just ruin what was meant to be a happy moment, and he was happy for her, he just wished that she had the whole picture. "Well at least I know why you keep running off and disappearing," he joked.

Jackie gave a dry laugh. "Yeah in the last week I think I've had almost every symptom in the book, and since in the first week I had none I had thought I was going to avoid them."

"Unlucky," Stuart remarked.

"Maybe, but it makes it all feel a bit more real. After another six weeks it might start to get pretty old though." She shifted slightly as she added, "Stuart what I've told you, it's to be just between us, ok?"

"Of course. Take it you haven't told the Boss yet then?"

"No, not yet," she admitted.

"Might be better if you do, you don't want to end up putting yourself in harm's way."

"I won't, and I know I have to tell him but I just want to wait for a little while. I hadn't planned to tell anyone until after my first scan."

"So just between us until then?" he asked, a grin on his face at the idea of being the first to know something for once.

She couldn't tell him that Robbie already knew, that would certainly prompt too many questions so she simply smiled and replied, "Looks like it."

Stuart puffed out, looking rather like an extremely proud pigeon as he remarked, "And just think, Robbie was all for storming in here to check up on you."

"Was he?" Jackie asked, trying to keep her tone casual.

"Yeah, Boss shot him down though," Stuart chuckled. "Come on we better get back before they send out a search party."

"Definitely, although you might need to start eating your greasy food a bit further away from me for the time being."

"I can do that," he agreed. "I can also help you with any cover stories you might need."

Jackie laughed, squeezing his hand. "That's good of you, I'm hoping I won't need them though."

"Yeah, well you know what they say, it's best to be prepared."


Lifting her head off the sofa at the sound of her doorbell, Jackie gave a yawn as she debated whether or not she actually wanted to move and answer it. The decision was made for her though when she heard her letterbox rattle and Robbie's voice call through, "I know you're in and I'm not going anywhere."

Groaning, Jackie pulled herself up and made her way to the door. Opening it she told him pointedly, "You might not be aware of this but pregnant women need their rest."

"It's six in the evening," he pointed out.

"Is that it?" She asked, "God my body's screwed up right now."

"Looks alright from where I'm standing," he quipped. He pressed past her, making his way into her kitchen.

"Ever the charmer, although that doesn't actually explain why you're here," she replied as she followed him.

"Noticed you've started having some morning sickness," he told her as he dumped a plastic shopping bag onto one of her countertops.

"Try any and all times of the day sickness."

"So I looked into it and found a couple of things you could try that might help."

"You looked into it?" She questioned, looking at him in confusion. "Why would you do that for me?"

Robbie shrugged. "Because you obviously feel like crap and I dunno," he ran his hand through his hair. "Felt a bit responsible so I thought I should help out."

Jackie smiled as she warned him, "Careful you're in danger of sounding sweet and caring."

He pulled a face. "And we can't have that."

"No, we definitely can't. So what did you bring me?"

He pulled out the items one by one as he gave a brief explanation for each. "Crackers for you to keep at your bedside, it's meant to help if you eat something small and bland before you get up. Eggs for your breakfast, because protein's meant to help, so does peanut butter, pasta and I brought you some ready salted crisps for you to carry around in your bag with you in case you start to feel sick while you're out or at work."

She smiled at him. "You've really thought this through," she stated, her hand covering his.

He turned his hand so that he could enclose his fingers around hers. He hadn't liked seeing her unwell, hadn't liked the fact he wasn't able to show that he did care at work and he wanted to make up for being such an ass to her the last two weeks. "Yeah, well I was hoping you could take it as my apology for the way I walked out of here the last time."

"You didn't need to apologise, it was a shock. Despite us planning this all it was still a surprise to me as well."

"So I'm forgiven then?" he asked hopefully.

"There was nothing to forgive you for, but I appreciate all of this." She leaned forward and kissed him on his cheek. "Let's just hope it works."

"I'll keep my fingers crossed...So other than the sickness, how are you?"

"Tired," she admitted. "I need to pee almost constantly and my breasts hurt. But since all of that is meant to be pretty normal I'm good."

"They look bigger," he told her, eyeing up her cleavage in her pyjama's cami top.

"They are a bit, my bras are starting to dig into me."

"So the view around the office is going to improve then."

Slapping his arm, Jackie laughed, "Don't be such a pervert."

"Can't help it." He squeezed her fingers as he told her, "You know that if I could have I would have came and checked on you the other day if I could have."

"I know. I ended up telling Stuart about the baby."

"What did he say?"

"He was surprised, but happy for me."

"He ask whose it was?"

"Not exactly, he just said I'd kept it pretty quiet." She looked up at him as she added suddenly, "I wanted to talk to you about what we said before, about you not being involved-"

He shook his head, stopping her midway through her sentence, she was going to tell him to back off and he didn't want to hear those words come out of her mouth. "Jackie, what we agreed on is for the best, I don't want to change that, I just want to make sure that you're alright...as your friend."

Jackie inhaled sharply, she'd been about to offer him the chance to be involved in this baby's life, that they'd compromise and make it work somehow, if that was what he wanted and he very obviously didn't. He didn't want the responsibility, she should just accept that. "I just wanted to make sure that we're on the same page," she replied after a moment.

"We are." He let her hand slip from his. "Anyway I better get going." He kissed her cheek. "Let you get some rest."

"Yeah, goodnight, Robbie."

He left the flat, digging his hands into his pocket as he braced himself against the chill of the November wind, and forced himself not to look back.