Hiya! Sorry this update is a little late – I've had a bit too much work to do recently and not enough hours in the day to do it! A big, huge thank you goes out to Iaveina, talkingtothesky and sparks733 for reviewing last chapter – I always appreciate any feedback what-so-ever, be it good or not so good, so don't forget to leave some at the end of this chapter...please?!
Thank you and enjoy!
Casey Carlisle did as she was told, stomping as patiently as she could back to the vehicle. Gene's unrelenting stare followed her, his body following momentarily. Sam sighed as silently as humanly possible; things certainly didn't bode well for the newest member of Manchester's A Division.
She sulked in the back of the Cortina, arms folded subtly over her chest, as if she'd surpassed the moody teenager stage of adolescence. The Gov slammed the copper car's door shut, rattling the motor as he shifted his weight inside, ready to start the engine.
DI Tyler jumped in next to his commanding officer, trying to be as invisible as possible; the issue that Gene had should be left between himself and his daughter. He decided only to step in if absolutely necessary.
Sam could see from the corner of his eye Gene's over the top exasperation. He'd experienced this stage of silence before, the one he would like to call the calm before the storm. However, with Hunt, it was more like the storm before the hurricane; the thundering glancing and lighting sneers before the whirlwind of abuse.
He changed gears.
"What the fuck do you think you're playing at?" he cried, his teeth clashing as he words spat from his mouth quicker than he could speak them.
Casey smirked, trying to veil her nervous tendencies. "Is that rhetorical?"
Sam didn't know whether Gene know what rhetorical meant but couldn't stand the thought of an ear bashing so kept his trap shut. For a while, at least.
"I thought I told you not to be bloody cheeky to your superior officers?!" Gene shouted, the Cortina roaring off down the road.
Casey lost her cool. "Yo- I did..."
"What was all of that shit with Skelton? 'Olding 'is 'and classes as getting close to one of my officers..."
"You said not to have a relationship with one of your officers. 'Olding 'is 'and doesn't class as fucking him, 'Dad'."
Sam gulped at Casey's two grave mistakes. Although extremely funny, her impression being spot on, it was just something that you shouldn't do to your superior, no matter whom you are or where ever you worked. But definitely don't do it to their face.
Secondly, he noticed Gene's eyes narrow at the mere hint of the word 'Dad'; he couldn't tell whether the blues of his eyes softened, trying not to get so frustrated at his own offspring. Yet, his usual anger dominated over all else.
Gene snorted, his eyes stammering shut. That one word reminded him of his greatest misgiving; spawning something intelligent enough to speak and react to him. Oh, and to be brave enough to give him as good as he gave.
"I suggest, WPC Carlisle, if you want your job to stay secured, that you keep your trap shut and obey my orders, do you understand? What I say goes - same goes for Dorothy over there."
Gene's discomfort at yelling at his own daughter so aggressively was vaguely apparent. Yet, the torture of their secret was even greater; the denial was becoming harder to deny. Whilst she was a big pain in the arse to the team, Gene was determined to keep her close - and for her to become a damn good copper in the act.
They pulled up at the station without another word being said. Casey decided that it was a good idea to stop pressing the Gov's buttons for fear of one recoiling back in her face.
As the Gov marched on ahead, his face frozen in ignorance, Sam hung around, waiting for Casey to make her way up the stairs. He was semi-shocked to see her expression mournfully fearful, somehow expecting her to be the miniature version of Gene Hunt; never letting anxiety take control.
She clutched at her bag nervously, flustered as she flicked her hair back over her shoulder; she was nearly shaking in agitation but hid this by her stiff, rigid expression and walking as if she was one of the last of the 20th Century Russian Monarchs.
"WPC Carlisle, wait up," Sam urged, now walking beside her. "Are you ok?"
She bit her bottom lip, trying to stop the tears from falling. Nodding, she gave him an awkward, secretive look. Sam'd seen that on the Gov's face just the day before...
"Yeah."
Noticing how insecure she sounded, Sam stroked her arm friendly, without getting too close for comfort. "Just do as he asks and it'll be pretty easy for you."
"I don't think he would ever make it easy for me," she sniffed, her eyes aimed at the ground. "I guess I'll just have to accept it or move on."
Sam smiled kindly to the young woman, trying to sympathise as best he could. "Trust me, it'll get better. Once you get to know everyone, things will be better."
"What, like it was for poor Chris earlier?"
Her sarcastic, self pitying laugh made him exhale loudly; he found it extremely difficult to deny. "Yes, well, Chris...he's always going to have that feel about him. Don't worry, it won't happen to you."
The genuineness of her boss' voice was hard to ignore; the legitimate fashion in which he spoke almost fooled her into believing it was true.
"Well, I hope you are right."
They stopped walking and turned to face each other, their eyes dodging contact as Sam decided to flee on ahead to check on his superior.
Casey wondered behind, feeling very much alone. Although she wanted to remove all modes of cynicism from her being, she couldn't help but think that Sam was merely playing Gene's lapdog. Although he may stand up for himself - and others - at time, he seemed almost like a disillusioned housewife; he knew his place and was almost thankful of there being no line to cross.
The way he sometimes wondered behind the Gov, head hung low compared to Gene's posture exuding confidence and self awareness, it seemed as if he'd once been in Gene's position. It was as if he couldn't stand to look at him sometimes for fear of remembering the times gone by.
With her eyebrows raised, she lifted herself up, knowing that she would be the only person to do so.
Finding her desk directly behind the absent Inspector, she sat down, trying to make sense of her scribbled and, for the most part, nonsense notes. Quickly becoming bored of the reading the same two paragraphs over and over again, her attentions diverted to Gene's office.
The blinds were partially open, enough for someone to see through if they were really looking. Her eyes followed Sam, his body, the way he seemed as he spoke to the superior officer.
Casey knew there was something very different about DI Sam Tyler, almost odd. The way he talked to her, trying to make her his equal, despite the obvious age and gender differences...it was so unlike anything she'd ever experienced before.
The way he spoke to her, it wasn't forced. Or at least, it wasn't apparent it was forced. Not like with Chris; the way he frequently corrected himself whilst speaking to her. But Sa-, DI Tyler...
"Oi, you tarts who came wit' us to that shit 'ole of a school get in 'ere for a briefing!"
No one could perhaps accuse Gene Hunt of being overly polite. Fidgeting in her chair, Casey pushed her blonde locks once again away from her face, waiting for the others to go forward with her.
Ray went in first, cigarette surgically glued between his finger tips as Annie trailed behind, smiling absently to her. Chris held the door open, nodding at her reflection in the door.
The four stood before Gene who was slouched in his chair, waiting for him to say something. Sam, leant against the radiator, felt this to be an almost pointless exercise; it was going to prove nothing other than the fact they had no bloody idea who broke into the school last night.
"Right, I know us three found bugger all out from the useless tosser of a 'eadmaster but did you three nancies get anything?"
"We already told yer Gov that there was bugger all at the crime scene," Chris mumbled, still sore from his recent humiliation.
Gene rolled his eyes, fed up of the soft, sissy approach. "Don't start getting yer pants all pissy Skelton - I just wanted to know if you say or 'eard anything, that's all."
"There was one thing, Gov, that I found a bit suspicious," Annie cleared her throat and stepping forward a little. "When we were outside, one of the caretakers came and started talking to us."
"Oh yeah, what did he say?" Gene quizzed, sitting more attentively in his chair.
"He said that he was there until nearly nine o'clock last night. Apparently, there was a lot of mud on the field as if someone had gone around with a car or something. So, to make it safe for the pupils to come in for sports the next day, they called 'im and asked 'im to clear it all up."
"Was it all broken in to then?" Sam asked, fearing it was a silly question anyway.
"He says not but there was something rather odd about him."
Gene raised an eyebrow. "Oh yeah, what kind of odd?"
"I dunno, Sir, he was just very...pedantic about the whole thing. He was saying stuff about how he was gonna get blamed for it but it wasn't his fault..."
"'E kept shifting from one foot to the other, as if 'e did 'ave something to 'ide," Ray hastened, taking an exasperated drag on his cigarette.
Sam licked his bottom lip, his face screwing up in concentration. "Annie, since you're the psychology expert, what would you say he was doing?"
DC Cartwright considered her Boss and boyfriend's question for a moment. "Well, I think he was trying to almost divert the attention away from himself. Either that or he knew who it was and is trying to protect them."
Sam nodded, knowing that it was both logical and sensible. "Did you get his name?"
"No, but I know 'is name already," Chris spoke, trying to refrain from his bad mood. "'Is name is Ivor, don't know about 'is last name."
"Well, that's at least a start." Sam shrugged.
Gene grunted the chair squeaking as he sat up further. "Even so, it's not really a solid start, is it? We know nothing."
DI Tyler frowned at his Gov's defeatist attitude. "Well, I think that now we've visited the school and got the samples we can at least make a start on the whole thing whilst we wait for forensics. Perhaps a job for you WPC Carlisle is to go through some of the files of pupils from the school to see if any of them have previous criminal records."
"Sure," Casey nodded, grateful to be given something worth while to do.
"Yeah and Cartwright, you can go wiv' 'er, make sure she doesn't get up to any mischief." Gene smiled, trying to mask his sarcasm as an almost innocent joke.
For the remainder of the day, Casey spent the her time with Annie, trying to get use to life in CID. Whilst she liked Annie and got on pretty well with her, she felt a common bond with her; they were both perhaps a little shy at times, both trying to fight against the modern notions of womanhood. They both had a strong will to make a big impression as Police Officers, settling for nothing other than grit and determination at their work.
As soon as Sam came in to tell the both of them to call it a day, Casey was for the most part pleased; she had never experienced such a hard day's work in many years.
She headed back to her desk to collect her bag and belongings together, humming as silently as she could to herself. She couldn't wait to go home and put her feet up for a while she waited for her Mother...
"Hey, Casey, isn't it?"
She felt a hand on her back, startled and squealing, she shot upright. "Sorry, I didn't mean to, Chris..."
"It's ok," he replied, voice soft, forgiving. "I was jus' coming to ask you, well, I were wondering like...if you wanted to, uh, go for a drink in The Railway Arms, our local...everyone will be in there, yer know, er, Ray, Annie, Sam, Gene?"
She smirked briefly, thinking of her Father's response; arm in arm with a fellow member of CID, in a pub, under the legal age of drinking...as tempting as it was, she could still hear DI Tyler's words swirl predominantly in her mind;
'We should be upholding the law, not breaking it!'
"Sorry, Chris, but I can't."
Visible upset, he removed his hand hastily from her frame. "Ok...why not?"
She smiled kindly to him, grateful for the gesture; he almost looked cute with his big puppy dog eyes. "Coz I'm underage."
Picking up her belongings and heading towards the door, DC Skelton didn't follow her. His face, trying to stay pleasant and positive, slumped into a bizarre concoction of distress and inquisitiveness. "Oh...how old are you then?"
With a grin capturing her lips, Casey had a few departing words for her fellow worker. "That's for me to know and you to find out...perhaps!"
And with a wink, she was gone, returning on her lonesome to her flat.
But how long would she be able to stay in a good mood for?
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