When Gina finally got to them, she gave a wide smile. "Good to see you both in here, Dennis. Who is looking after Charlie?"

"Who's Charlie?" Mike asked as he accepted a drink from Gina.

"I thought Phil would have filled everyone in on that." Dennis took a sip of his pint.

"I've told him to keep his gob shut." Gina supplied, and was rewarded with a smile from the Inspector.

"Charlie is my son, Mike. He'll be 3 next week."

"3? That-"

"Shall we take these over to the ladies?" Dennis asked, and then turned to walk to the table as Mike turned to Gina with raised eyebrows.

"Don't push it, Mike. You'll find out soon enough." Gina supplied.

…

"7."

Dennis raised his eyebrows the next morning and looked down at his son. "You want 7 new footballs?"

Charlie nodded, arms folded as he watched his father fix his tie.

"Why?"

Charlie replied with a shrug, his face still red with the angry tears he'd shed minutes earlier instead of eating his breakfast.

"Can you carry 7 footballs?" Dennis gave one last glance in the mirror and then turned to pick up his coat.

"Yes." Charlie supplied.

"You'd better go Dennis, or you'll be late." Jenny spoke from the doorway as Charlie's bottom lip began to wobble.

Dennis glanced at the clock, and then squatted to his son's level. "Why don't you and your mummy come to meet me at lunch time and we will see if we can find you a new ball?"

Charlie thought about this for a moment, and then nodded, returning to mourn over the ball he'd somehow popped at 5am that morning, waking both his parents.

…

"Can I help you?" William approached the front desk where an attractive blonde stood.

"Is Inspector Merton in?"

William hesitated, remembering the Inspector berating him that morning for telling one of the women on the council that he was in his office.

"He's not available at the moment, but I can take a message?"

Jenny hesitated and was relieved when Phil appeared and gave her a wide grin. "Morning, Jen, what can we do for you?"

"The lady was asking to speak to Inspector Merton," William supplied, "But he said he wasn't to be disturbed."

"Well perhaps he'll change his mind when you tell him his wife is here."

"His w…oh." William glanced at Jenny then rushed towards Dennis' office.

"Sorry about William, he can be a bit slow on the uptake."

"Just like another constable was, if I remember correctly." Jenny teased.

"Excuse me, I will have you know I'm a married man now and completely at ease with responsibility."

"I bet you are." As Jenny smiled, they heard Dennis yelling at William, making them both flinch.

"…William broke the radio this morning and didn't bother to tell anyone, so we're all behind on work." Phil supplied, disappearing as the Inspector appeared and gave Jenny a distracted smile.

"Sorry. I told him I didn't want to be disturbed."

"It's fine, Dennis. He couldn't have known who I was."

Dennis gave a grunt as he joined Jenny in front of the counter. "Is there something you needed?"

Jenny hesitated, unused to the sharpness in his voice. After a long pause, she spoke quietly. "Can we go to your office, please?"

"Jen, I'm snowed under, I don't have time for-"

"I don't care, Dennis. Your office, now."

From his spot in the tea room, Phil smirked to himself as he heard the Inspector agree and plod to his office.

…

"Sit."

"Jen-"

"I don't intend to move backwards, Dennis. You can snap at your officers all you like, but you will not speak to me like that what I haven't done a thing!"

After a moments pause, Dennis offered a soft apology and rubbed his temple. "I'd just forgotten what it was like to run a station."

"You don't run a station, the sergeant does. You're here to oversee that all the stations can work well together. If something goes wrong, you refer it to the sergeant and give him some work to do instead of taking it all on yourself."

Dennis gave a slight smile. He'd forgotten what this Jenny was like. This time he spoke more softly. "What did you come to see me about?"

"Steve called and asked to meet me, he won't say about what. Gina offered to look after Charlie, and I should be back by about 4 to pick him up, but if I'm not can you go and get him?"

Dennis sighed, for Steve had been in and out of trouble for years and always seemed to rely on Jenny to get him out of it. Still, he'd learned in the past not to say anything about it unless Jenny asked him for help. "We won't be able to meet for lunch, then."

"No, but I brought you something so you've no excuse to go all day without eating." Jenny placed a box on his desk, and then watched as he took her hand and dropped a kiss to it.

"What would I do without you?"

"You would have blown your top years ago."

Dennis smiled and dropped another kiss to her hand before releasing it. "Ok, pick Charlie up at 4 if you're not back, eat my lunch on time and delegate some of my work. Anything else, Mrs Merton?"