At 7:50pm that day, Neil glanced at his watch, and swore softly to himself when he realised that he would have missed Grace leaving.

Why did I miss her today of all days? Something has obviously happened, he thought to himself, and without even glancing up into CID, which he assumed to be empty now, he continued with the paperwork that needed to be completed.

Hours passed, and at 10:30pm Neil had finally finished the paperwork that had been cluttering his desk for the past three weeks. Standing up and closing his eyes in tiredness, he stretched his arms above his head to try and ease the stiffness in his back that had occurred from sitting in the same position for so long. Then he turned to walk out of his office and went to grab his jacket. However he paused when he saw that it was still covered by a long blue coat.

Maybe she left it behind, he tried to tell himself, but he knew that wasn't the case, as she was far too organised to do something like that, and sure enough, when he turned around, Grace was still sat at her desk, furiously typing a report on her computer.

What is she still doing here? She should have left hours ago, he thought, and he walked over to her.

"Grace? What are you still doing here?" he asked gently.

"Working."

"Yes, I can see that, but shouldn't you have left about five hours ago?"

Grace, who hadn't stopped typing, even when Neil started speaking, faltered for a couple of seconds, before resuming her typing.

"No."

Neil frowned. What was wrong?

"Come on Grace, you must be starving. You look like you haven't eaten properly in weeks. You need to go home."

"I need to finish this."

"So is that your plan? Just to stay here all night? This isn't good for you Grace. You're going to burn out."

Grace shrugged. "Fine. I'll go home after I've finished this report."

Neil rolled his eyes. "No you won't, I know you Grace. Come on, I'm taking you to George's around the corner, and we're going to sit down and have some Fish and Chips. Then you're going to go home and get some sleep, okay?"

Grace nodded, and went to push herself up, but her legs buckled underneath her, due to lack of sleep and weight loss making her weaker, causing her to collapse back into her chair.

Neil stepped forward and helped her stand up.

"Come on Grace, we need to feed you up. You're all skin and bone. If you carry on like this for too much longer then you'll be invisible if you turn sideways!"

This remark managed to draw a small smirk out of Grace, but, once again, it didn't quite reach her eyes. Well, actually, it barely even reached her mouth, but it was a start.

Neil's arm had somehow found it's way around Grace's back, supporting her so that she could walk easily. When he realised, Neil immediately went to move his arm away, but stopped when Grace leant in to him slightly, obviously needing the support.

"Come on Grace," Neil said, "Let's go."

And off they went, Neil hoping that Grace would reveal something to him, but being left disappointed. Grace kept everything inside, and was very good at steering the subject into safer areas for her. But still, it was a nice evening, and it was only as he watched Grace drive off back home afterwards that Neil realised that at one point during that meal, he might have seen a bit of sparkle back in her eyes.

But only very briefly.

A/N: My uni exams start this week so I apologise in advance as I don't know how often I will be able to update. x