Shaking herself out of her reverie Abby climbed up the steps of the porch and placed her hand on the rough wood of the door. With a steadying breath, she pushed it open.

As it turned out the door wouldn't open. Abby pushed against it once and rattled the handle. Nothing. She had all but given up when the door had swung upon. She was greeted by the smiling face of Connor,

"Window was open," he said looking pleased with himself, "nobody's in."

Abby walked past him and smiled whilst Jenny gave him a narrowed eyed stare for trying to scare them. Abby looked around in time to see Jess crossing the threshold with a smile on her face. She still didn't know what it was but she knew that she didn't trust that girl.

~o~o~o~

As Jess walked in she couldn't help but feel slightly awed by her surrounding. It wasn't just that the house was big, though it was, it was more the feel of grandeur that still pervaded the walls even though the furniture lay either rotting or in tatters.

Whilst the others talked about why the house must have been abandoned she edged towards one of the side rooms and poked her head round the corner. Just like the reception area the room was spacious and must have once been luxurious but now it was empty with paper peeling from the wall and a general air of unkemptness.

Jess was brought back to her situation by the other's voices drifting from behind her.

"-it stinks in here." Said Connor as he took in the large spaces and high ceilings.

"Could be the sewers, or maybe the damp." Jenny said quietly as she too looked around the room.

"It's more like they've been keeping animals." Voiced Abby as she looked around with her nose scrunched up against the smell.

Jess walked back to the rest of them unwilling to go on by herself, she didn't know what was going to appear here but Abby's comment about the animals brought it back to her.

"Right," she said glad that the others didn't notice that the pitch of her voice seemed just slightly too high, "shall we have a look around?" In truth she didn't want to look around at all, her every instinct was telling her to get out of that room, but the sooner they got out of there the happier she would be.

Abby and Jenny both took the upper floor while she and Connor made their way to what once must have been the kitchen. There didn't seem to be anything out of the ordinary but Jess opened a few cupboards just to be sure. Just when they were about to leave having found nothing but dust an ear splitting scream rent through the air,

"CONNOR!" The voice was unmistakably Abby's and without even thinking through what could be waiting for them Connor and Jess ran for the stairs. Connor ran ahead taking the stairs two at a time in his haste to make it to Abby. When he reached the landing he wrenched upon the door to which the scream had come from and was confronted with an empty room.

"Abby?" He called walking into the middle of the room as he looked for her. Jess walked through the door to stand beside him but she couldn't see her future flatmate either. She tried to remain calm, after all she knew that Abby would walk away from this but it didn't make the waiting any easier. "Abby?" He called again standing still in the middle of the room as he strained to hear an answer.

A sudden noise made both of them turn sharply. Soot fell from the fireplace at the other end of the room and cautiously Connor made his way to stand by it with Jess hovering just behind him.

Jess turned away and walked over to the other end of the room to check under the furniture coverings before a sudden cry out made her look back to Connor.

Her fear was soon assuaged by the sight of Abby snickering as she looked at Connor. It was obvious that Abby had just jumped out at Connor and couldn't stop laughing about it but Jess was just relieved that she was fine.

She couldn't hear what they were saying since they talked so softly but there seemed to be some sort of awkward exchange between them as when she looked on she saw Connor stumble over his words and then be effectively silenced when Abby stood on her toes and pressed a kiss to his cheek. Even when Abby danced out of the room she left a shell shocked Connor in her wake. He caught sight of Jess in the corner of the room and turned an even brighter red.

Jess was just about to follow after Abby when she heard Connor speak,

"Jess?" He said hesitantly and almost…shyly.

"Yeah?" She said wondering what he was going to say and why it would cause him to go beetroot red.

"Do we.. I mean do me and Abby ever…" Connor trailed off before clearing his throat, "Are we ever a couple?"

Jess looked back at him at a loss of how to answer. She didn't want to lie to him, not when it had evidently cost him a bit of pride to ask her but at the same time she didn't want to tell him. After all if you took all of the surprises out of life where would all the fun be? She smiled as she came up with the solution,

"Oh yes," Said Jess, her voice dripping with what was almost Lester like proportions of sarcasm, " you even get engaged!" With that she walked out of the room only sparing a glance to Connor who looked so confused as to what believe that she knew she hadn't really given him an answer.

She met with Jenny and Abby back downstairs in the reception area and smiled at them both. Jenny gave her a cordial smile in return while Abby just looked away. Jess sighed inwardly, she was going to have to tell Abby the truth soon but she doubted that that was going to make her trust her any more than she already did. As Connor caught up with them they made to leave the house,

"Well, that was eventful." Said Jenny, unable to completely mask the relief in her voice

"It's a nice place isn't?" Interrupted a new voice. It's owner was holding up a police badge as he rested casually against the wooden struts of the porch with his back turned to them. Even though she couldn't see this person's face she knew immediately who it was,

"You care to say what you're doing here?" He carried on as he turned to face them.

As Danny Quinn stood facing them all with suspicion etched on every line of his face as he regarded them, Jess couldn't help but think that her day was just going to go down hill from there.

….

A/N- Thank you all for reading, and for the responses for the last chapter, I was blown away! Anyway I've stuck to the actual show so far but in the next chapter we have a Abby and Jess confrontation, some awkward conversations with Danny about his brother and some Becker thrown in! What more could you ask for?

If you liked this chapter please leave a review, it's great to hear from you! Also since I'm edging the 100th review I'd just like to say that whoever actually puts the 100th review can PM me with a Jess/Becker quote, idea or moment J

All the best,

VE