Episode 3: "A Gift From God"

Summary: Amy and PJ investigate the death of Susie's newborn niece at the Mt. Thomas hospital. A grieving man places the lives of Amy and Sophie Ash in danger.

Part 1

Lyrics in this part come from "In Loving Memory" by Alter Bridge.

Amy slowly stirred awake, rolling onto her side and brushing hair back from her eyes as she focused on the alarm clock on her bedside table. It was a little after three in the morning, the time that would always make her skin crawl. About two weeks ago, Tom Croydon was killed. It was enough to make her wonder if time would continue to always be measured as to when Tom died.

Beyond her closed bedroom door, she could see a crack of light. PJ mustn't be having much luck trying to get to sleep. Not that she blamed him. She pushed herself up and looked around her room. It was bigger than room seven of the Imperial Hotel, that was for sure. And nicer too. The alarm clock was on time, the TV had great reception and it was air-conditioned. What more could she ask for?

She picked up the picture that sat in pride of place beside her bed. It was of the police team from years back, the only photo she had with any of the team. She narrowed her eyes as she studied it intently. It was really old, there was no sign of Alex and Ben was still there. The group weren't nearly as cosy as they were in that photo she'd seen in a cardboard box in what was now Mark's office. Everyone seemed very uncomfortable with each other. If memory served her right, it might have been from Ben's farewell drinks. With the exception of Ben, Kelly and Joss, everyone else looked quite uneasy.

Her gaze fell upon Tom, who had really only come to the drinks for the sake of putting in an appearance. He looked cold and bitter, not the man she had joined her colleagues in sending off two weeks ago on a warm November morning. Yet, this was the only picture she had of Tom. She cursed herself that she had never thought to take more photos of her colleagues and – dare she say it – friends. Especially now, when all she had left of the man who had come to be quite like her father was an image of the twisted and bitter man who she had first met, not the kind and gentle Senior Sergeant she had missed. But she still would never be able to part with the picture. Not when it was the only one she had of the Boss.

I carry the things that remind me of you

In loving memory of the one who was so true

Amy set the photo back on her bedside table and padded out into the kitchen of the house she now shared with PJ, to find him sitting at the bench, tracing the rim of a glass of milk with his index finger. He looked up at her, his eyes brightening slightly.

"Sorry," he apologised quietly, "I hope I didn't wake you."

She shook her head as she joined him at the bench, leaning forward against it as she focused down on the bench's surface. "Nah," she said with a smile, "I can't really sleep. Too hot."

"Yeah," PJ agreed, taking a swig of his glass of milk. Condensation dripped onto the bench from the base of the glass, forming a small puddle in the centre of the circle marking where the glass had sat. "Horrible weather." He looked over to her, motioning towards his glass with his spare hand. "You want some?"

Amy shook her head, the smile fading. "I'll be right." She paused, just watching as PJ finished off the milk, leaving himself with a big white milk moustache. She reached up, gently brushing it away with her hand. She could have sworn that she could feel the electricity pulsing between them, the tenderness of the moment overtaking them as it had so many times before.

PJ rose a hand and wiped the rest that Amy had missed away with the back, smiling. Amy withdrew her hand, smiling weakly to herself. He turned away to the sink to clean his glass, while she lowered her gaze, wringing her hands with nervousness. No one said sharing a house with PJ was going to be easy.

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Amy wandered into the muster room as she headed for the CI office, rubbing her eyes in the hope that it might clear up the fuzz from her brain. She hadn't gotten much sleep last night after she'd gotten up. Even from her bed, she could tell that she wasn't the only one not sleeping. PJ had been moving around all night, turning on music so softly Amy could barely hear it, turning lights on and off and moving things around in the dark.

She looked over to Susie and Alex, who were having a very heated discussion about the rosters. Not that that surprised anyone. Ever since the funeral, Susie and Alex seemed to be constantly at each other's throats. It was no secret that Alex resented his recent promotion while Susie longed for it. Amy felt a bit sorry for Susie, really.

She closed the CI office door behind her, looking over to PJ, who had dozed off on his own desk. He'd come in a couple of hours earlier than she had, after probably having given up on getting to sleep. She felt sorry for him.

"PJ?" she asked quietly, reaching down and giving his shoulder a shake. He jolted awake, looking up to her with tired eyes. "You look like you could do with a strong coffee…or maybe a scotch."

Judging by the small smile playing on PJ's lips, it was obvious that she wasn't the only one enjoying the irony of this situation, when it had played out in reverse all those years ago.

He pushed himself back in his chair as Amy sat herself down opposite at her own desk, brought in over a week ago. It still looked relatively bare in comparison to his own. While his was decorated with photos – the picture from Ben's farewell sitting in pride of place, oddly – her's clearly mirrored a successful detachment from a social life.

"I didn't sleep well last night," he explained as he surveyed her through weary eyes.

Amy laughed to herself, the laugh causing PJ's mood to lift slightly. It seemed to be bright. "I could tell." She smiled at him. "You know, your CD collection isn't half bad…"

PJ smiled broadly as he rested his head again in his hands. Amy came over and rubbed his shoulder. He looked up at her again with tired eyes.

"Go home," she told him firmly, "you look like the walking dead. Mark's a pushover, he'll let you go."

He motioned over their desks. "What if a new case comes in?"

Amy gently pulled PJ to his feet and pushed him towards the door. "Go home," she said, "I can manage on my own. I think I can handle CI in Mt. Thomas on my own for one day."

His smile faded as he grabbed his bag and headed across the muster room to Mark's office, where he apparently received the exact reception that Amy had anticipated. She smiled weakly as she looked over their office.

Well this would be interesting.

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Susie hurried through the hospital corridors, pushing nurses and doctors aside as she went, calling rushed apologies over her shoulder. She finally reached the room she was looking for, and her eyes lit up at the sight of a man standing outside, pacing the floor anxiously. His worried demeanor immediately vanished at the sight of Susie.

"Suse!" he shouted. Susie peered through the glass pane in the door, where she could see a woman clearly in labour inside. "I can't believe it, it's finally happening!"

She grabbed his forearms, holding him still. "Calm down, Lochie. You're going to be bouncing off the walls in a minute." She found it difficult to contain her own excitement. It was all she could do to keep it buried beneath a slight laugh when she spoke and a beaming smile. "Hey…settle down…"

Lochie pulled away, running an anxious hand through his golden blonde hair. His eyes were bright, constantly darting back through the glass pane. "I can't believe I'm going to be a daddy!"

"Hey!" Susie chimed, her heart skipping a beat in her chest. "I'm going to be an aunty, you know!"

Susie fixed her brother with a gaze that she hoped would calm him down, only to realise that she couldn't even keep herself calm. She instead pulled him into her arms, squeezing him tightly.

Two figures appeared from within the room, one was the familiar Sophie Ash, the other a male figure who wasn't so familiar to Susie. Susie pulled away from her brother, her excitement threatening to bubble over.

"Congratulations, Mr. Raynor," the male doctor said, his smile causing his forehead to wrinkle back up into his balding hair line. "It's a little girl."

Lochie shoved past the doctors and into the room to be with his wife. Susie stood on tip-toes to see the excited new parents crowding around their beautiful baby girl. Her smile suddenly attained a saddened, downtrodden quality. At this rate, she was never going to get to be the protective mother she wanted to be.

Sophie approached her, using the back of her hand to push a strand of blonde fringe back from her eyes. "Everything went well, Susie," she explained, "a textbook labour. You've got a beautiful niece."

Susie found pride creeping into her face. "Thanks," she replied, chuckling slightly.

Sophie nodded to Susie before leaving, the male doctor in tow. Susie stood in the doorway to her sister-in-law's room, watching Lochie gently stroke his daughter's head, pushing away thin strands of golden blonde hair. The baby girl in their arms watched them with wide blue eyes. Susie felt a familiar pang rush through her heart. Lochie's little girl meant that she was the only one without her own children.

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Susie returned to the station, clutching the keys to her car tightly in her hand. Mark rose his head from his pigeon-hole in the muster room, probably searching for his Senior Sergeant exam study papers, following her with his gaze.

"How are they doing?" he asked, watching as Susie tossed her keys onto her desk and flopped back down in her seat. Alex looked up at this, watching Susie forlornly.

"Both mother and daughter are doing well," Susie replied with a smile, "they've decided to name her Christine Susan Raynor."

Mark chuckled to himself. "I can think of a certain red-headed publican who would be happy to hear that."

Susie looked up at Mark. "I think the reason they picked Christine was because she was born so close to Christmas."

"Either way, it's a nice name," Mark said with a shrug as he gave up on finding his papers and headed back into his office, closing the door softly behind him.

Alex leant over his desk and closer to Susie's. "You alright?" he asked quietly, "you seem a bit…"

Susie fixed him with an impatient expression. "Overwhelmed?" she finished. "just hard to believe that time can fly so quickly, that's all. It only feels like yesterday that Lochie and Dianna were telling me that they were having a baby…"

"Yet it feels like an eternity since…" Alex trailed off, realising that he didn't need to say it. Susie looked away, biting her bottom lip nervously. They both knew that he was going to say 'since the Boss died', but both knew that it was the last thing that needed to be said. Now at least.

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Amy's eyes lit up as the phone rang on the corner of her desk. She couldn't hide the smile as she picked up the receiver and held it to her ear. "Mt. Thomas CI, Senior Detective Fox speaking…oh, hello Sophie…"

She sat forward, her brow furrowing as Sophie spoke on the other end of the phone. "Oh…I see…" Her eyes darted up and out into the muster room, where she could see Susie trying unsuccessfully to return to her work. "Oh my God…" Amy shook her head in disbelief, nervously beginning to bite her top lip. "How am I meant to tell her…she'll be devastated…Yeah, I'll be down as soon as I can. Thanks, bye."

Amy sat the phone down in its cradle, massaging her temples furiously with her hands. "Oh God…" After several minutes of stunned silence, Amy finally drew to her feet and opened the door to her office, beckoning to the blonde Senior Constable sitting in the muster room. "Susie, could you come here please?"

Susie looked up in surprise and nodded, unable to mask the spring in her step as she joined Amy in her office, closing the door behind her. "What's going on? A job?"

The look of utmost and sincere sympathy passed through Amy's features, causing to Susie to recoil slightly. "Amy? Is something wrong?"

Amy shuffled her feet awkwardly, struggling to retain eye contact with Susie. "Sophie just called from the hospital…"

Susie fixed Amy with an expectant expression. "And?"

"It's about your niece," Amy explained solemnly. "Apparently there's been some sort of accident."

Hot tears welled in Susie's eyes, threatening to spill out over her cheeks. Those were never good words to hear together in one sentence.

Amy reached out, gently holding Susie's wrist, knowing and expecting that an outburst of emotion was coming soon.

"She was found on the floor of the nursery," Amy finished quietly, "Sophie thinks that there may be brain damage. She's in intensive care."

Susie began shaking her head, sending strands of blonde hair flying around her face. "No, no…"

Amy grabbed Susie's other wrist, tightening her grip slightly. "Sophie thinks that she may have been dropped."

Amy's words went unheard by Susie, who was now thrashing to pull herself free of Amy's grasp. Amy held tight to her female colleague as tears began to pour down her cheeks and her voice lost all of the calmness that had made Susie such a good copper.

"How did this happen?" Susie begged as she finally gave up on fighting Amy and looked at her with pleading eyes. "She was fine half an hour ago! Amy! Tell me what happened!"

As Susie became a dead weight in her arms, Amy shifted her weight so as to be able to support Susie's as well. She gently pulled the blonde into her arms, rubbing her back awkwardly. She wasn't used to offering this sort of comfort to people.

"We'll find out what happened, Susie," Amy soothed gently, shifting Susie slightly in her arms. "We'll find out why this happened, I promise."