Ok, here it is. Thanks as always to Aileen, Krissie, Hollie, Jo, Meg and littlebit100. Your reviews mean everything to me :D Enjoy!

You touch these tired eyes of mine
And map my face out line by line
And somehow growing old feels fine

The next day, Jess and Sally were back in the station reporting on how Beth was. They also told the DI and the Inspector exactly what Beth had told them, about how it was Mike and Charlie who attacked her, and how they got away through the back door. Jess and Sally had just put their uniform on and were walking up to the CID briefing room.

"So, how serious do you think Beth and Max are?" Sally asked casually.

"Well, being the mighty matchmaker and general relationships expert that I am, I think Beth wants it to be more serious than it is but Max won't let it for some unknown reason." Jess said wisely.

"Hmm, I think you could be right. But Beth always wants things straight away doesn't she." Sally said with a laugh.

"Yeah, but that's just what she's like. Right, let's go see if we can arrest those two blokes yet." Jess said as they walked through CID. They took their seats at the table next to Sergeants Smith and Stone and listened as the DI spoke.

"Right everyone, Michael Whitaker and Charlie Smith. These two men are the ones who beat PC Green up and caused her to have to have brain surgery and be intubated. They are two vicious men who we have been trying to arrest on drugs charges, but they've always been too clever to incriminate themselves. That was where PC Green came in. She was sent undercover to try and catch them out, but they realised they had a grass and beat Jay Marsden up so bad that he felt he had no choice but to give Beth up." Neil said.

"There's always a choice." Jess whispered to Sally. She felt Smithy looking at her and shut up.

"Now, these past few hours CSE have been at Beth's house gathering enough evidence so that when we finally arrest them we can hopefully get it to stick. So, the Inspector is going to put you into two teams, one to go to Michael's flat, and the other to go to Leon's." Neil said, handing over to the Inspector.

"Ma'am, shouldn't be going to Charlie's flat, not Leon's?" Sally asked.

"The three men spend most of their time at Leon's, and then at Michaels. It's highly unlikely they'll be at Charlie's, but we'll have three officers down there anyway. Ok, team 1 will be going to Leon's flat, and that will be Sergeant Smith, PC Brown, PC Gayle and PC Valentine. Team 2 will be going to Michael's, and that will be PC Roberts, PC Taylor, PC Stamp and myself. Sergeant Stone, I would like you, PC Stone and PC Armstrong to go to Charlie's, just in case they are there. Ok, everyone out to the vans please!" the Inspector shouted over the sudden din that filled the room. Everyone trooped out in their teams.

"Oh lucky you, getting stuck with me." Jess said with a smile at Callum.

"I don't know if lucky is the word." Callum teased, holding the door open for her and Sally.

Jess mock slapped him, "Don't be so horrible! Come on Sally, let's wait at the car for him." Jess said, waving as she walked down the corridor with Sally.

"Women." Callum sighed as he walked into his office.

I listen close for I'm not smart
You wrap your thoughts in works of art
And they're hanging on the walls of my heart

Smithy's team were to go to first. PC Valentine bought up the big red enforcer, and after Smithy's nod he swung it as hard as he could at the door. The sound of the lock shattering announced that the door was now open, and Smithy shouted police as they all ran into the flat with their batons out.

"Clear!" Milly called from the front room.

"Bedroom's clear!" Ben called.

"Kitchen's clear sarge." Roger said, walking into the hall to where Smithy was standing.

"Ok, thanks you three. Just double check round again, see if there's anything incriminating here." Smithy said, pulling out his radio. "Sierra oscar 1 from 54?"

"Go ahead 54." Gina said into her radio.

"Ma'am, there's no-one here. We're double checking to see if there's anything incriminating, but there definitely isn't anyone here." Smithy said.

"Ok, thanks Smithy. We'll go ahead now. Over." Gina said, signalling at Tony to use the enforcer on the door. This door was a lot harder to open than Leon's, and it took three hard swings until it finally came off the hinges with an almighty crash.

"POLICE!" Nate shouted as they ran into the flat. But like with Leon's, no-one was home.

The Inspector sighed, surely they weren't at Charlie's?

I may not have the softest touch
I may not say the words as such
And though I may not look like much
I'm yours

Outside Charlie's flat, Callum was giving orders to Sally and Jess.

"Right, I'll go in first, and if you come face to face with either of the suspects, protect yourselves ok. Shout straight away and the others will come to assist." Callum said seriously, looking intently at Jess, knowing what she was like.

"Sarge." Sally and Jess said together.

"Right then, let's open up." Callum said, thrusting the enforcer at the door as hard as he could. The door crashed open, hitting the wall behind it hard.

"POLICE!" Sally shouted, running into the kitchen. Jess ran past her to the living room door which was shut. She took a step back and kicked the door in until it finally opened. In the living room was Michael attempting to get out the open window at the front of the flat. Jess ran over and pulled as hard as she could, trying to get him back into the living room.

"Get in here! CALLUM, SALLY!" she shouted as loudly as she could. Michael heard her shouting for back up and tried even harder to get free. He kicked out behind him, colliding with Jess's stomach. "Right, that's it." she said, gritting her teeth. She pulled him as hard as she could, and he tumbled back into the living room, knocking Jess over as he went. She was quickly on her feet when Callum and Sally ran in. "Nice of you to join me." she said sarcastically, helping Sally roll him onto his back so that they could cuff him.

"You're welcome." Callum said with a smile, "Michael Whitaker, I'm arresting you on suspicion of grievous bodily harm of a police officer. You do not have to say anything but it may harm your defence if you do not mention when questioned something which you later rely on in court. Anything you do say may be given in evidence. Do you understand?" Callum roughly grabbed the Michael's handcuffed arms and dragged him upwards and pushed him out the flat.

"This is against my rights!" he was shouting as they led him down to their squad car.

"Callum, I think Charlie and Leon managed to escape before him, they have to be around here somewhere." Jess said.

"They'll be long gone by now." Callum said, pushing Michael's head down as they placed him in the squad car.

"Ok, I'll call this in. Sierra oscar 134 to sierra oscar 1?" Jess said into her radio.

"Go ahead PC Stone." Gina replied.

"We've caught Michael Whitaker, but we think that Leon and Charlie made their escape through the front window while we were in the flat." Jess said, getting into the back seat next to Michael.

"Ok, well bring him in. One is better than none. Over." Gina said, calling off.

And though my edges may be rough
And never feel I'm quite enough
It may not seem like very much
But I'm yours

As they were driving out of the estate back to the station, Sally spotted two familiar figures.

"Sarge stop! That looks like Leon and Charlie to me." Sally said, looking closely.

"Yeah it is, you're right. Callum, drive round and try and cut them off, me and Sally will give chase." Jess said, not listening to Callum as both her and Sally dashed out of the car and towards the two men. As Leon and Charlie spotted the women, they made a run for it.

"Jess, where they're heading is a dead end, we can get them there. Call it in to Callum." Sally shouted as they ran.

"Sarge, they're heading to St John's close, it's a dead end. We should be able to get them there, over." Jess said quickly into her radio. They could see Charlie and Leon ahead of them, and they were nearing the dead end.

"I vote we just keep running until we hit them." Sally said with a smile.

"I second that." Jess said, laughing.

"STOP!" Sally shouted at the two men.

The men started to realise that they had just trapped themselves. But by the time they had decided what to do, Jess and Sally ploughed into them and they fell on the floor in a heap. They both expertly flipped the two men over and Sally cuffed Charlie.

"Charlie Smith, you are arrested on suspicion of grievous bodily harm of a police officer. You do not have to say anything but it may harm your defence if you do not mention when questioned something which you later rely on in court. Anything you do say may be given in evidence. Do you understand?" Sally asked, sitting on Charlie's back until Callum could get there.

"Get off me! What the hell are you doing?" he protested, trying to wriggle free.

"Leon, I'd like you to come down to the station to answer a few questions for us please." Jess asked, getting off the floor next to Leon and leading him away from where Sally and Charlie were.

"Why?" Leon asked.

"You'll be told more when we get down to the station." Jess said. "Sierra oscar 134 to 54?"

"Go ahead Jess." Smithy said.

"Can we have two more cars down here? I've got Leon Jones, he's willing to come to the station to answer some questions, and Sally's cuffed Charlie Smith." Jess said, checking Sally was ok with Charlie.

"You got him? Good work, two cars will be there in a minute over." Smithy said.

Callum turned up in the squad car a minute later. Jess walked over to him and leaned in the window.

"We got them both. Leon is going to come to the station to answer some questions. Smithy has sent two more cars for us, so you can go now." Jess said with a smile.

"Oh so now Smithy is coming you don't want me anymore?" Callum said with mock sadness.

"Correct. Sorry honey. See you later." Jess said, smiling at him as she walked away with Leon.

You healed these scars over time
Embraced my soul
You loved my mind
You're the only angel in my life

At the hospital later that afternoon, Beth was pleased to learn that Charlie and Michael had been arrested for her assault.

"They're gonna get off." she said to Max.

"What? No they won't, there's too much evidence to place them at the scene. They can't get away with it." Max said determinedly.

Beth gave a weak laugh, "Leon will provide them with an alibi, and they're too smart to get caught."

"Don't be so pessimistic!" Max chided.

"Says you!" Beth retaliated.

"I thought you said something yesterday about not starting WW3?" Max said.

"Well yes, but that was yesterday." she said with a smile, trying to sit herself up. Max immediately got up and helped her sit forward while he arranged her pillows for her. "Thank you."

"You're welcome." he said, settling back down in the chair. "Listen, I've been thinking..."

"You shouldn't do that, you'll give yourself a headache." Beth interrupted cheekily.

"Shush, I'm being serious here. When you get out of here, the doctors said you're going to need some help, it'll be hard for you at first. Now obviously you can say no if you want to, I won't be offended, and maybe you would prefer Jess or Sally helping, but you know it's up to you..." Max said, starting to babble which was highly uncharacteristic of him.

"Max, just spit it out please." Beth said, a small smile at her lips.

"Well, how would you feel about me helping you, like cooking for you and cleaning the house and generally helping you get back on your feet?" Max asked her, starting intently at her.

Beth thought about it for a few minutes, and Max thought she wasn't going to answer when she finally said, "I've got a guest room, you can sleep in there if you like. It might be easier than traipsing from your flat to my house over and over."

"Beth, my flat is only across the road." Max said with a laugh.

"I know, it's only an idea, don't worry about it." Beth said quickly.

"No, no, that would be more useful than having to keep coming and going. But only if you're comfortable with that." Max said seriously.

Beth reached out a hand to him which he took. "Max, I'm very comfortable with that, as long as you can cook, do the washing, ironing and generally cater to my every need."

"I think I can do that." Max said with a nod.

"Oh Max, you don't know what you've just set yourself up for!" Beth said with a smile.

Max didn't care, he was just glad she was awake and teasing him again.

The day news came my best friend died
My knees went weak and you saw me cry
Say I'm still the soldier in your eyes

Over a month later, Max had all but moved in permanently to Beth's house. As promised, he had catered to Beth's every need when she first came out of hospital; she wouldn't have been able to do anything without him. He cooked for her, he cleaned her house, he washed and ironed her clothes, took her out shopping, and eventually they became a couple. Max didn't know if it was the thought that he had nearly lost her that encouraged him to go for it, or if it was the fact that being with her was so easy, it allowed him to be himself. But whatever encouraged the change of heart, Beth didn't care, she only cared that they were together now. They were laying in bed one morning, Max with his arms round Beth, and they were discussing whether to tell everyone about them.

"Can I at least tell Sally and Jess? They're my best friends!" Beth whined.

"Oh god, don't whine! I know that most of the time when you whine I cave in, but not with this. I don't think anyone should know, not until we've been at this a bit longer." Max said.

"Been at this?! We're in a relationship Max, we're a couple! We've already been together for just over a month! How much longer am I to wait before I can tell people?" Beth asked, craning her neck to look up at Max. He was staring at the ceiling.

"Look, people might think we're together because you want a promotion, and they might be iffy about the age difference. All I wanted to do after you were beaten up was to protect you, and that's what I'm doing by not letting you tell people." Max replied.

"No-one would think I was with you for a promotion, although that is a good idea, I don't know why I didn't think of it earlier." Beth said laughing.

"Oh so you think that's funny do you?" Max asked, leaning down so he could grab a pillow which was on the floor.

"Oh come on Max, lighten up!" Beth said, kissing his shoulder.

"Fine, if that's what you want." Max said in a sulky tone before proceeding to hit her on the leg with a pillow.

Let's just say by the time they were done there were feathers covering the whole room.

I may not have the softest touch
I may not say the words as such
And though I may not look like much
I'm yours

Song- The Script: I'm Yours