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Chapter 9

A White Flag

"I just called the Sarge, he said he'd be down as soon as possible" Allie called out to Jenifer who was sitting on the bonnet of the car. Crossing the road, she sat down next to her and placed her job diary behind her.

"Good, he needs to see this one" Jen pointed out. "We'll need to go back in there once crime scene is finished, see if we can get some idea who this woman was". The murder had taken place in an abandoned house out on the outskirts of Melbourne. Normally about now they'd be doing a death knock to the next of kin, but with no ID on the woman, she had been labelled as a Jane Doe, leaving them the puzzle of figuring out who she was before they could start searching for a killer.

"what a crazy day" Allie sighed, it was only two o'clock and already she'd thought she would lose her job, spent time in the sergeant's office as well as the Superintendant's, and now she could add a murder scene to the list.

"Yeah, it had been a big one for you". Jen mused; Allie was the last person she would have thought of as getting themselves into an inter-office relationship. "So you and Rhys... Didn't see that one coming".

"Mmm". Truth was Allie hadn't seen it coming either, the chemistry between the two of them had been building up for ages, but she had been determined that she wouldn't get involved or act on her feelings. But somehow, Rhys had won her over, and before long, he had captured her heart. "We got good at sneaking around, that's for sure".

"Yeah, you have to, to keep those kinds of secrets locked away".

Allie opened her mouth to say something, losing the words before they could come out. What was that supposed to mean? By the way she was talking it was almost as if she had been doing some sneaking around of her own.

"Can I tell you something in confidence?"

"Yeah"

"You remember when you asked me and nick if we were shagging?"

"Yeah" she nodded, suddenly realising where this was going, Jen and Nick? Surely not.

"Well we weren't then, but..." she paused, "once we went back undercover, things changed".

"So you two have been seeing each other then?"

"Well... We were" she started, "but then... Things got messy". She explained, before going on to tell Allie the whole story of what had taken place.

Rhys walked carefully as he approached his Aunties office. He'd been trying to get a chance to come and see her ever since lunch, only now two hours later finding the opportunity when Nick and Duncan had gone to speak with missing persons about anyone who had been reported that matched their Jane Doe. Raising his fist to the door, he knocked on the wood sternly, waiting until he heard the familiar voice call out. "Come in".

Turning the handle, he swung the door open, stepping into the room cautiously.

"Rhys" Bernice spoke, she hadn't expected to have this conversation until after work, she wasn't ready for this just yet.

"Have you calmed down enough so that we can have a civil conversation?"

"I guess so" she answered, watching as he came and sat down in the chair on the other side of her desk. There was an orquad moment of silence before either of them spoke, "So I assume that Sergeant Wolf has spoken to you both?"

"Yeah thanks for putting us in it" he shot back, forcing a smile as he looked up at her. "What's your problem? If this was anyone else there wouldn't be such a big issue over it".

"Rhys she is your co worker!"

"Yeah, she is" he sighed, folding his hands together on his knees. "But that's not what's got you so angry about this is it? You've got some vendetta against her haven't you?"

Bernice scoffed at this, "my opinion of Kingston has nothing to do with this".

"Yeah it does, the sooner you admit that, the sooner we can get on with this".

"Ok, so yes I don't like the girl". Taking a deep breath, she tried to think of what exactly she didn't like about Allie, truth was she didn't exactly know. "Why her?" she finally asked.

"What?"

"Why her? Out of all the girls you've ever gone for, why her?"

"Because I love her!" Rhys shot out, causing Bernice to suddenly go quiet at this revelation. "I love her" he reinforced the point. "Is it really too much to ask you to just give her a chance. I don't expect you to be best friends with the girl".

"And what exactly do you expect me to do? Bond with her over a cup of tea?" she asked sarcastically.

Rhys rolled his eyes at this; she could be a pain in the ass sometimes. "Look, I'm sure you'll figure something out".

"We don't even have anything in common".

"You don't know that because you hardly know her" he pointed out, "Look you both seem to take a liking to me, that's a start". He got no response to this, simply a small nod. "I've got to get back to my desk. Could you at least promise me that you'll at least go easier on her?"

"Ok" she managed to force out, realising that some of this mess was in fact her fault. With that Rhys nodded his head and gave her a small and grateful smile before he left.

Allie was in shock as she finished listening to Jen explain her and Nick's relationship. Nick had gotten down on one knee and offered her everything; marriage, kids, a whole life, but yet, Jen had turned him down for her job. "Wow" she managed to get out, still trying to get her head around the fact that she had turned him down, she had always thought that Jen; as much as she loved her job, was the kind of woman who would have jumped at the chance to become a mother.

"Yeah"

"So... that explains that foul mood Nick was stuck in for weeks a while back".

"Yeah, sorry, that was my fault".

"No don't be sorry", she told her, "what I don't get is why you ended it; he was willing to transfer out of homicide for you".

"Yeah I know, it was just..." she paused for a minute, "he was talking like he had everything figured out, you know. Settle down, have kids, I didn't think I was ready for that back then".

"And now?"

"I don't know".