Disclaimer not mine

Wide Awake?

"Shh." Matt rocked Alesha as the tears continued to flow. She shook in his arms as he closed his eyes and tried not to cry. All he had wanted was for her to remember him and Cameron. He hadn't given a thought to the fact all her other memories would return; not all pleasant.

"I remember. Stuff." Alesha mumbled into his shirt.

"Stuff?"

"You hate tomatoes."

"Yeah." Matt nodded.

"Ronnie and Natalie are always dancing around each other." She watched as Matt smiled.

"At their ages too. Do you remember anything else?"

"Snatches of memories. Cameron smiling for the first time. You looking after me, when. After." She paused. "After Merrick."

"Don't even think about him." She sighed as he spoke. He knew it was probably no use but he had to try to get her to concentrate on the positive memories he knew they had shared. "Remember when Sam started with us? When Jake and James stopped trying to outshine each other?"

"They've never stopped." She sniffed as he nodded.

"True. See, you do remember things. It'll come."

"Yeah, it will." Alesha smiled. "It will."

#####################

"Ronnie." James ran up the steps of the Crown Prosecution Service, surprised to see the detective waiting for him. "What's happened?"

"Alesha has started to remember things. Natalie is going to question her tomorrow." Ronnie watched as James smiled at him.

"Her memory?"

"Not 100% I grant you but she's getting there. Matt called me ten minutes ago." He watched as the Senior CPS man tried to take in the news.

"That's."

"Bloody fantastic."

"Yeah." Jame unlocked the door to his office as Ronnie followed him inside.

"One problem." Ronnie leant against Alesha's abandoned desk as James walked around the office switching on lights and digging mugs out of the top drawer of the filing cabinet.

"Tea?"

"Yeah, ta." Ronnie nodded. "Like I said, we have a bit of a problem. Patrick Philips is still on trial but not for poisoning Alesha. I believe her mother did it."

"Irene?" James turned as the kettle in the corner of the office boiled. "Evidence?"

"A hunch." Ronnie ran a hand over his short hair. "No, I saw the way she was with Alesha and Matt at the start of the trial. I ain't ever going to win a parent of the year award. Never going to have Dad of the year that's for certain but if someone even considered hurting one of my girls I dunno what I'd do."

"But that's conjecture. You can't arrest anyone on mere conjecture."

"True." Ronnie nodded. "Very true, and course, you're right. But then I got our Angie to talk to Joy in forensics."

"Joy?"

"Blonde, face like a ripped dap but twice as miserable!" Ronnie shook his head.

"I know," James smirked. He knew the police man and the forensic officer had never really seen eye to eye.

"Well she came up trumps. Found the toxin in the dermal sample we asked her take from Alesha. She was poisoned by something I can't even pronounce. Point is, it's transmitted by touch. Just like you said to Irene when she was giving evidence. She wouldn't touch anything Alesha had before her. She knew." Ronnie stared at his old friend. "She knew what we only guessed at."

"Ok." James sighed. "I'll talk to George but I need to know we have solid evidence."

"I'll get it."

"Don't turn this into a witch hunt, Ron." James watched as Ronnie narrowed his eyes. "You're too good a copper for this to be your last case."

"Thanks." Ronnie huffed before placing the mug back on Alesha's desk and leaving the room.

###########################

It was getting dark when Natalie finally got back in to her office. Paperwork she knew had to be finished piled high on her desk, as did the list of things she had to finish. Sighing heavily she threw her suit jacket over the back of her chair adn sat down. The phone call from their 'friend' still played heavily on her mind. The thought others could be about to suffer the same fate as Alesha made her feel sick. She had no idea if the toxin Joy had found would be used on anyone else or if someone was just trying to scare her. Shaking her head sadly she opened the first file on her desk.

"Ever heard of knocking?" She spoke without looking up, expecting Sam, Angie or Ronnie to be stood in the doorway looking sheepish.

"Yeah." She froze as she heard the now familiar voice. "Sorry about that, I've been waiting a while. We need to talk."

"Who are you?"

"Shut up and listen. That way you may just be able to prevent another Alesha Devlin getting hurt or worse." Natalie raised her eyes to the person in front of her and nodded mutely. She had a feeling she was in serious troube if she didn't do as she was told.

A/N Maybe two chapters left. Please review.