Sorry for the wait guys, hope it's worth it!!

Manchester – June 1973

"One of your WDC's is pregnant."

Gene looked up from where he had been doodling on the back of an envelope into the rather austere face of the police doctor, Michael Blair, who was standing in front of his desk holding a number of files. "What?"

It had been time for the annual fitness checks which routinely consisted of spending time with Dr Blair in a cold room in the station, half-naked, coughing. Gene hated it with a passion and had, for the last two years, managed to get out of it. This year, however, he had faced the same indignation as everyone else and had joined in the usual massive drink-athon afterwards, designed to foster silent solidarity and numb the pain and embarrassment they had all had to suffer.

"I said," Dr Blair repeated, "that one of your WDC's is pregnant." He waved the files. "Everyone else turned out fine. You, of course, could do with losing some weight and cutting down on the cigarettes, but I seem to be telling you that every year and you never seem to take a blind bit of notice of what I say." He sighed, "And I must say that DI Tyler appears to be in incredibly good shape. Puts the rest of you to shame to be quite honest."

"Who's pregnant?" Gene demanded. He knew it! Tyler had done the dirty with Cartwright and now a little Sam was going to be popping his head out in nine months time. Gene would crucify him!

Dr Blair's expression took on one of complete and utter disapproval. "Megan Ryan," he confided, "And I must say I'm surprised at her. Comes from a good family. Father a police officer too. I'm sure there will be fireworks in that house when he finds out." He laughed, then stopped, "Are you all right, Gene?"

"You're wrong."

"I assure you I'm not," Dr Blair said, indignant at the accusation.

"You 'ave to be bloody wrong!"

"I'm not!"

Meg. Pregnant. Shit, shit, shit… "I…I didn't know…"

"Yes well, she was rather cagey when I was asking her the routine questions. If you ask me, she's known about this for some time." He tutted, "How she thought she could keep it a secret is beyond me. Oh well, another promising career in the force cut short by Mother Nature." He glanced around and then bent over the desk, "You don't happen to know who the unlucky chap is, do you?" Gene stared at him until the doctor backed off, "Ah yes, I had forgotten she was your goddaughter. Well, no offence intended, of course. I'll leave these with you to be properly filed away. Until next year…" With that, he left the office, closing the door behind him.

Gene immediately grabbed Meg's file, which was lying on the top of the pile and opened it. The contents meant nothing to him, except the brief summary which Dr Blair always put at the end of every examination. Meg's read, 'Fit, healthy and seven weeks pregnant.'

He waited. She would know that he knew. The results were always passed to him once the examinations were complete. She would know that he would read them, or even that Dr Blair would tell him. She would know that he knew. She would come in and speak to him about it. He waited. He could hear the sounds of the others outside, muffled voices that he couldn't quite make out, but she didn't come. He waited. Twenty minutes, then another ten, then another twenty. Finally, he got out of his seat, her file in his hand, and opened his office door.

Chris and Ray were laughing over something in the paper while Sam and Annie were obviously going through the witness statements from the latest robbery at 'Tracy's', a posh boutique on the high street and trying to ignore the others. There was no sign of Meg.

"Where's Meg?" he demanded.

Annie looked up, "Bathroom, Guv."

Without further comment, he stormed out of the room and down the corridor, heading for the ladies toilet. He would have it out with her, ask her why she hadn't told him and then…then he wasn't quite sure what he would do. As he neared the door, he could hardly breathe with the stress of it all. He made to push it open when it suddenly opened from the inside and Phyllis appeared.

"Yours is down the corridor, boss," she said, "or is there something you've not told us?"

"Is Meg in there?" he demanded, in no mood for the older woman's brand of humour.

"Meg? No."

"Then where the bloody 'ell is she?"

Sensing he was clearly upset about something, Phyllis wisely chose not to make any further jokes. "Last I saw, she was 'eading to the canteen."

Gene turned and stormed back down the corridor and down the stairs to the canteen, oblivious to the officers he was pushing out of the way as he did so. Should he ask her to marry him? It was what men who got lasses in trouble were supposed to do but then Ted would know. Jesus…Ted…

The canteen was quiet, save for a few uniformed officers having a cuppa at the far end. There was no sign of Meg. He hurried over to them. "Either of you seen WDC Ryan?"

"Meg?" One of them, a skinny bloke with greasy hair replied, "She were in 'ere a few minutes ago."

"Where did she go?" he demanded.

"Don't know Sir," the other officer replied, "PC Wallace and I just told 'er that she looked nice today and…"

"PC Wallace?" Gene turned angry eyes on the skinny one again, "You're PC Wallace?" He nodded, "You're the tosser who asked Meg out on a date, aren't you?" He blushed. "Stay away from 'er," Gene said, "or I'll come round and kick seven shades of shit out of you, understand?"

"Yes sir."

"Good!" With that, he turned and stormed back out of the canteen and was about to head back up the stairs to CID when he met Sam coming down.

"There's been another robbery," he told him, "same gang of girls as before, they reckon. Plod managed to detain one of 'em at the scene."

"Only one?" Gene snapped, "Told you Plod were bloody useless!" Sam looked at him, "Where's Meg?"

"Soon as the call came in, she legged it over there. She seemed very keen. Anyhow, it'll be better 'aving a woman to talk to the girl. You know, a sense of solidarity." Sam stopped. "You all right, Guv?"

Gene, who hadn't been listening to a word his DI had said after confirming Meg was no longer in the building, snapped back to reality. "Flaming marvellous. Come on, let's get over there."

XXXX

The target this time had been 'The Amazing You' another posh boutique which specialised in women's clothing that was well out of most people's price range. It was the third shop to be hit in the space of a week. The word on the street was that the perpetrators were a group of young girls who attacked the shop in a pack, grabbed what they could and then made their escape.

"It's called steaming," Sam had patiently explained the day after the first robbery.

"Should be called 'off their 'eads'" Meg had replied, "'ave you seen some of the stuff they've nicked? Stuff me Gran would wear if she were still 'ere."

"The point isn't to wear the clothes," Sam had said, "they sell 'em on at cheap prices on the black market. It's all about making money."

Now, here they were at the latest crime scene, with at least one of the culprits in custody. Gene screeched to a halt outside the store next to the Plod car. He could see a young girl sitting in the back seat. Plod were canvassing the area and he saw Meg talking to a posh woman wearing so much makeup Gene was convinced her face would crack when she opened her mouth.

"I'll speak to uniform about the statements," Sam said, getting out of the car.

"Whatever," Gene replied distractedly, his full attention concentrated on Meg, who hadn't yet clocked him. "Meg!" She turned and looked at him. He could tell by the look in her eyes that she knew he knew. "Get yourself over 'ere right now!" She walked calmly towards him, trying to look defiant, but only succeeding in looking more childlike and vulnerable. She stopped in front of him. "You got something you want to tell me?"

"Mrs Brown 'ere is the owner of the store," she said, "according to 'er at about 'alf past three…"

"I'm not talking about the bloody robbery as well you bloody know!" he said, his voice low and full of anger.

"I don't know what you mean," she replied, but her voice wavered.

He stared at her, "You 'ad your medical this morning." She nodded. "Dr Blair is very thorough. Not much gets passed 'im. Found out one of the lads 'ad scabies in 'is scrotum once, so a pregnancy isn't really much of a stretch for 'im." Meg swallowed hard. "Now do you 'ave something to tell me?"

She glanced around, "I don't really want to do this 'ere…"

"Funny, that's not what you've said in the past."

"I wouldn't 'ave thought you'd want to do this 'ere either," she pointed out. "Not exactly good for the image 'aving a fight in public with the girl you've gotten up the duff, is it?"

Now it was Gene's turn to swallow hard, "So…it's mine."

Meg's eyes flashed angrily, "Whose did you think it was, you bastard, Robert Redford's?"

"Guv!" Ray shouted over from the Plod car, "We're ready to take 'er to the station for questioning!"

"Be there in a minute," Gene replied, his eyes never leaving Meg's face. "Why didn't you tell me?"

"Now's not the time or the place," she turned to walk away but he grabbed her arm, forcing her to face him. "Let go of me," she said quietly, "please."

"We need to talk about this," he said.

"I know," she replied, wriggling free, "later."

He watched her walk over to the Plod car and climb in beside the suspect. The car pulled away and swung around past him, heading back to the station. As it passed, Meg deliberately kept her face turned away.

XXXX

When Gene walked into Lost and Found an hour later, Meg was already sitting with the girl, the tape recorder on the table.

"Well I see you took the liberty of starting without me," he commented, sitting down beside her. When he had arrived back at the station, he had embarked, yet again, on a hunt for her. Going from the cells, up to CID, the bathrooms again and then to Lost and Found, she had managed to evade him for a good hour. And he didn't like it.

"We 'aven't started yet," she replied calmly. "Helen, this is DCI Hunt." The girl nodded. "Helen Williams, Guv."

"Right then Helen," Gene barrelled in before Meg had a chance to continue, "Do you want to tell me what you and your little gang of bitches 'ave been up to then?" Helen glanced fearfully at Meg before looking back at him. "Cat got your tongue love?"

"I don't…" Helen stuttered, "I mean, I 'aven't…"

"Take your time," Meg said encouragingly.

"No, love, don't take your time," Gene said, "I've got somewhere to be this evening so 'urry up and cough to this so I can out of 'ere."

"Guv…" Meg shot him a warning look which he returned. Truth be told, he couldn't give a rat's arse about the girl in front of him, or this poxy investigation. He wanted to get Meg on her own. He wanted answers from her, needed answers from her and he wasn't sure how much longer he could go without getting them. "Helen," Meg said, turning back, "you were in 'The Amazing You' this afternoon, weren't you?"

"Yes."

"And you were in there to steal clothes, yeah?"

"No."

"You were caught running out of the store with these items," Meg lifted a bag from the floor and emptied the contents out on the table. They consisted of three blouses and a jumper. "Did you take these items from the store?" Helen looked away.

"Answer the bloody question!" Gene thumped the table making both Meg and Helen jump.

"Yes, I did!" Helen shouted.

"Why?" Meg asked.

"Because she made me!" the younger girl started to cry. "She told me I 'ad to."

"Who did?"

"Michelle."

"Michelle who?"

Helen looked up, her eyes wide, "I can't tell you."

"You bloody will tell me, love, or I swear to God I'll wrap this jumper round your little neck!"

"Gene!" Meg exclaimed, momentarily seeming to forget herself.

"I can't!" Helen shouted, "I can't, her dad'll kill us!"

"I'll bloody kill you if you don't give me some answers!" Helen started to cry noisily. "Christ's sake…" Gene muttered.

"Can I 'ave a word, Guv?" Meg said, getting to her feet. "Outside?" She nodded to Helen and then stormed to the door, Gene close behind her. Once outside, she rounded on him, "What the 'ell are you doing?"

"Trying to solve this crime which is more than you're doing," he retorted.

"By bullying a young girl?"

"If it gets the little cow to talk, then yes!"

"She's only a kid!" Meg said.

"Very good with kids, me," Gene replied, stepping up close to her. "Got a way with 'em. You should ask me about it sometime."

She shook her head, "Don't bring our personal issues…"

"What personal issues?"

"…into an interrogation. None of this is about us, Gene! It's about gaining 'er trust, getting 'er to open up to us. It's not about screaming in 'er face so that she confesses so that you can 'ead off down the pub!"

"You're starting to sound more and more like Tyler every day. Anyway, who said anything about going down the pub?" he replied, "After this is over, you and me are 'aving a little chat, sweetheart."

"Not if you're in this mood we're not. Now, I'm going back in there to try and salvage the rest of the interview and stop 'er from completely closing down on us. I don't need you pissing it up by acting like you're about to give 'er a good 'iding!"

He changed tact, "Why didn't you tell me?"

"Gene…"

"Why?" he persisted, "you're aving me baby, Meg, and you couldn't even be bothered to bloody well tell me?"

Meg sighed and ran a hand through her hair, "Please, Gene. Later…"

"I don't want to wait until bloody later, I want to bloody well know now!"

"I'm trying to do me job," she said, "come round to the flat later, yeah? I promise you, we can talk about it then." He had no choice but to nod. "Ok. Let me finish this on me own. Reckon you've scared 'er 'alf to death as it is." She gave him a quick smile before darting back into the room and closing the door purposefully behind her.

XXXX

At seven pm, he knocked on the door of the flat and waited. He had managed to get out of going to the pub, much to the shock of the others. "But it's fitness test day, Guv," Ray had said incredulously, "we 'ave to stick together." Gene had come up with some lame excuse about visiting his mother and had headed straight for Meg's flat. A few moments later, the door opened and Meg appeared.

"I figured it was you." She opened the door wider and stepped back inside. He followed her, closing the door behind him, into the living room. "Sandra's at the pictures..."

"Why didn't you tell me?" he asked, before there was time to start talking about anything else.

"Do you want a drink?" she lifted the bottle of whisky sat on the table. "Dad brought it over as a present for us moving in. 'adn't the 'eart to tell 'im I can't stand the stuff and neither can Sandra."

"I'm not interested in 'aving a sodding drink!" he retaliated. Then he thought better of it, "Actually, I reckon I need one." She poured him a glass which he downed in one. "Now, answer me bloody question." She looked at him and he immediately softened his tone. It wouldn't do any good to treat her like a suspect. "Please."

Meg started picking at the sleeve of her cardigan, "I didn't know 'ow…"

"Well it's only two bloody words."

"I didn't know 'ow you'd react."

"So you figured that it'd be better if I found out through your annual fitness exam?"

"I forgot about that," she said with a small laugh, "it was only once I were in the room that I realised I couldn't 'ide it and…" she sighed and sat down on the edge of the couch, "After I'd finished, I were 'alfway to your office and then I just couldn't…" she looked up at him. "I'm sorry. It should 'ave come from me, not Dr Blair."

He looked down at her, at her face, her eyes, seemingly pleading with him to forgive her. God, she's just a baby, he thought, a baby 'aving a baby… "What did you think I would do?" he asked more gently, sitting down opposite her. She shrugged. "Oh well that's great, that is. Can't even bloody talk to me. Some relationship we've got."

"Relationship?" she shook her head, "We don't 'ave a relationship Gene. It's more like a series of random shags. And let's face it, you don't really want anything more serious than that, do you?"

Gene stared at her, "What are you on about?"

"You wouldn't want me dad to find out about us."

"You said you were going to tell 'im!"

"And you knew that I wouldn't! That's why you didn't say anything when I said I would tell 'im, because you knew that, at the end of the day, I wouldn't 'ave the guts!" She shook her head. "Otherwise, you would 'ave taken the initiative and told 'im yourself."

"All right," he conceded, "maybe you're right. Forgive me for wanting to 'old on to me balls a little bit longer, but that doesn't mean…"

"I can't be a single mother," Meg said, "I just can't. Me dad would kill me for a start, not to mention what everyone else would say about me. Then there's me job. I'd 'ave to quit me job and I don't want to do that. I love me job, despite what you might think sometimes about me moaning. I'd 'ave to give all that up if I 'ad a baby."

"You've never been the kind of person who cares what everyone else thinks. That's one of the things I…"

"I am about this," she interrupted him. "It's 1973, Gene! I know we're living in a time of free love and all that crap but I 'aven't been brought up like some little tart and that's what I am. A tart who dropped 'er knickers for 'er boss and got 'erself in trouble. Clever old me!"

"It's not been like that and you know it."

She laughed mirthlessly, "Love me, do you?"

He held her gaze, "Yes."

She stood up and walked to the window, "Bollocks."

"What?"

"I said, 'bollocks.'" She turned and faced him, "You don't love me, Gene. You've never loved anyone in your life. It's all about sex for you and I've been stupid enough to be willing every time you've come calling. Lain flat on me back and opened me legs. Don't ask me why."

"Because I thought you…" his mind raced over their time together, the things they had said to each other. "I thought you…"

"What? You thought what? That I loved you? Jesus Christ, Gene, give us a break. It was as much about shagging for me as it was for you."

He stood up. "You don't mean that." She didn't mean it, he knew she didn't mean it.

"I do," she said defiantly, but her eyes were glassy. "I do mean it. You popped me cherry for me, thanks very much. I'll even go as far as to say that I enjoyed it, but that's it. So, if you've come 'ere to do the 'onorable thing, go on bended knee and ask for me 'and, forget it. It ends 'ere."

"And what?" he asked angrily, "you tell the kid what? That 'e or she were conceived during a random shag with your boss on 'is desk?"

"There isn't going to be a kid, Gene, 'aven't you been listening?" She looked away. "I've got another appointment with me doctor on Monday and 'e's referring me onto a clinic."

"Clinic? What clinic?"

"An abortion clinic. I'm getting rid of it."

He couldn't believe what he was hearing. All right, so kids had never really figured much in his life, but this was Meg. Despite what she thought, he loved her and he knew she loved him and this was their baby. "I don't want you to do that."

"I don't really give a shit what you want," she replied, "I just want it out of me so that I can start again and forget any of this ever 'appened."

"You don't mean that," he said again.

"Oh my God!" Meg put her head in her hands, "Stop telling me what I do and don't mean! You don't know me, you never really 'ave!" She took her hands away from her face and he saw that the tears had spilled down her cheeks. "You saw a pretty girl, you decided you wanted to shag 'er and you did. Congratulations. And me? I saw the man I've idolised probably me whole life and thought 'yeah I fancy a bit of that' and I got it. Mission accomplished for both of us. And now, this 'as 'appened and I 'ave to be the one to deal with it." She paused. "This is what I want, Gene, please don't make it any 'arder!" Her body started to shake and he instinctively took a step towards her to comfort her, but she stepped quickly back, "Don't come near me. Just please leave me alone."

"If you do this," he said, surprised to hear his own voice shaking, "you'll regret it."

"Maybe," she nodded, "but that's something I'll just 'ave to live with, isn't it?"

Nothing he said made any difference. Meg's mind was made up. He tried coaxing her to change her mind, he tried shouting at her, but all she did was shout back. After they had gone round and round in circles for the best part of an hour, Sandra had come home to find Meg crying on the couch and Gene two-thirds of the way through the whisky. She calmly asked him to leave and he did. He stumbled back to his car, got in and revved the engine noisily. Before he pulled away, he looked back up at the window and saw Meg watching him.

If only you knew, he thought, if only you knew how you're breaking me 'eart.