A/N: Conversations taken from the series: Joe and Kent in the CCTV room. Miles and Joe in his office. Commander and Joe at the club. All other conversation are mine.

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

Joe arrived at work before everyone else, unable to sleep once he'd gotten back to his flat; he'd wound up sitting on his couch with a cup of coffee, dressed in a fresh suit browsing his case notes. When he'd left to come in at 5:30, he'd considered calling Kent and offering him a lift to work, as he didn't have his bike, but the idea was quickly dismissed. The pair of them arriving together would lead to questions. He was still relatively new to the station and he hadn't developed the kind of relationships where giving a colleague a lift into work would seem perfectly natural. So he'd brushed the idea off and headed in alone, hating the idea of Kent having to take the bus because he hadn't had time to repair his bike. Those thoughts had reminded him of their conversation about the moped and he found himself smiling once again at the image of the dark hair DC on the thing. It just seemed funny to him.

Reaching the station Joe had nestled himself in the office and sorted thought what needed to be done that day. Ed would have to be interviewed again; at least now Joe was calm enough to face the man without wanting to hit him. There was CCTV, a lot of CCTV to be viewed. I think Kent will enjoy that. Joe smirked to himself. Serves him right for leaving me hanging this morning. It had taken a very, very cold shower to get his body back under control. When he felt a twinge in his trousers at the mere memory he decided his thoughts were taking a dangerous path and forced them back to work. There were witnesses to be re-interviewed and he had made up his mind to charge those reporters that had led them on a merry chase around the London streets with obstruction or maybe wasting police time, anything he could get away with.

At 8AM the men began to pile in. Joe remained at his desk, surrounded by papers and trying to look busy, all the while keeping an eye on the door. When Kent finally strolled in at five past, Joe's chest tightened at the sight, and his breath hitched. Kent didn't look his way and Joe found himself feeling a little put out by it. He wanted those exotic dark eyes to turn his way, though he knew Kent was just doing what he'd asked him to, keeping things professional. He understood, but it didn't mean he had to like it.

The rest of the morning went just how Joe had planned it, interview after interview. He and Miles had decided to leave speaking to Ed until the Tech-boys had gone through the man's computer. At 1PM after speaking to countless men and women about what they'd seen at Mitre Square, all of which giving almost the same statement which equaled nothing, Joe made his way back to the incident room, while Miles dropped in on the techies.

Dropping his Jacket off in his office, he scanned the room briefly from his doorway, everything was finally running as it should and Joe was filled with pride that he'd made a ragged bunch of misfits into a half way decent looking murder team. As everyone went about their work, his blue eyes shifted to the door of the CCTV room. His blood warmed as he saw the small man with his back to the door.

Joe rushed into the room. "What have we got?" he asked, leaning in close to Kent who didn't so much as bat an eye lid, playing it cool and professional as he talked him through what he'd found on the CCTV. Sounding completely calm while Joe's heart raced and his thought turned down non-case related roads. Frustrated at himself, he pushed the thoughts away; he had to get a grip.

Turning to look at the screen he focused full on the case and what Kent was telling him.

"He enters the square through these shutters on the south east corner and drags Mary's body into the square."

"Jesus, we were minutes away." They'd been so close to catching him.

"These shutters lead to an underground car-park entered from Fenchurch Street…" Kent pointed it out on the map to his left. "…we're getting the tapes from the council." he concluded.

"He must have used a vehicle for his getaway, excellent work."

"Thank you Sir." Kent beamed up at him briefly before turning his attention back to the screen.

Joe's gaze however remained burning into the man's profile, taking in the smooth skin and cheekbones. He smelt so good. Kent's cheeks began to turn a little pink as he tried to ignore his boss's attention. Joe was just about to say something about grabbing lunch when Miles appeared at the door with the information from the Tech-boys. Reluctantly Joe left, listening to Miles inform him of the contents of Ed's message board.

Turned out there was a possible connection between Ed and the Ripper. Joe hated the idea that the man he'd trusted for the past month was involved, though Miles seemed overjoyed. Joe could see him dying to say 'I told you so'.

Knowing that his presence would be a distraction, Joe ordered Miles to do all of Ed's interviews, something that pleased Miles immensely. "Yes Sir." he said, almost gloating.

"I hope you're wrong." Joe quietly added as the older man left. And he really did because part of him still liked Ed Buchan.

Left alone with his thoughts, Joe's mind turned over the possibility that Ed was involved, an accomplice to Jack, but his instincts were telling him he was wrong. There was no way Ed was involved, not directly. But the evidence. His mind screamed. Sighing Joe placed his elbows on the table and began to rub his temples, lifting his eyes to stare out at the incident room, he saw Kent leaving the CCTV room, snatching up his jacket and walking out of the office. Joe didn't even think, he got out of his chair, grabbed his own jacket and headed for the door to follow the younger man. He'd barely exited the incident room when his mind slammed into gear. He had a lunch date with Commander Anderson. Shit.

Shrugging into his overcoat Joe quickened his pace, rushing though the station towards the car park, feeling anxious and angry. He'd completely forgotten all about the meeting; between investigate Mary's murder and lusting after his junior officer. He reached the car park and glanced around. A group of uniform where stood across the yard smoking and chatting. Turning towards his silver range rover, Joe fished his keys out of his pocket, wondering where Kent had gone off to.

"I wasn't sure you were going to follow." Kent whispered, his back pressed against the side of the car, out of sight of everyone else.

Joe almost jumped out of his skin, his gaze shifting to take in the sight of the dark haired man. He felt his pulse race and was hit by the overwhelming urge to kiss him, pay him back for that morning. He looked over his shoulder briefly. "What would you have done if I hadn't?" his voice silky soft.

Kent shrugged. "Probably just gone to the pub for lunch."

Joe smiled at the pout on Kent's face, his heart skipping. He wanted to say he could do better than a pub lunch. He wanted them to sneak off and have a little privacy, but that was impossible, he had to meet the Anderson.

Joe sighs as he looked deep into those dark eyes. "I've got to meet the Commander." he informed Kent in a low voice and felt his stomach drop at the disappointment in the man's face.

"Oh, well." Kent shrugged with a regretful sigh.

"Maybe we could go out after work." Joe whispered, leaning in a little closer to the younger man.

Kent looked up at him with hopeful eyes. "Sure."

The pair looked at each other, Joe feeling the pull to kiss the man and screw the consequences. He could feel his body moving dangerously close.

"You better go Sir. Don't want to be late for your meeting with the Commander." Kent said, breaking the spell.

Joe snapped up straight. Fuck it. He swore silently. "Yeah." pulling open the door to his car. "Later though." he whispered in a lustful promising tone, winking as he closed the door and started the engine.

Joe cursed the Commander all the way to the club, which did nothing for his mood on arrival. He'd wanted to sneak off with Kent, settle the storm before it so much as batted an eyelid in his direction. Instead he was sat at a table with a group of high ranking officers, all of whom were eating lunch without a care in the world while he had to deal with a serial killer who had less than forty eight hours ago killed a community support officer.

The Commander himself was not helping Joe's already frustrated mood, or his anxiety. After giving him a talking down because he'd turned up at the club looking like he'd just come from a crime scene or in his case a murder investigation, he'd then repeated his position when it came to the investigation itself.

"I understand, you need to take a step back. Unless I catch the Ripper then you'll be standing by my side."

"No one asked you to sacrifice yourself. Work the shift and go home. You have a sergeant, use him, let him shoulder it and protect yourself enough so that when this is over you still have some standing."

Joe stared at the Commander with wide eyes. He couldn't believe what he was hearing. He'd always seen the man as a role model, a good man and a good policeman. He'd known his father since training. Joe had grown up thinking of the man almost as family. Yet now he was suddenly seeing a different side to him. Though was it really a different side? He'd always been about putting the career first, building a public profile and protecting it at all costs. Joe suddenly realised that this wasn't a case of seeing a new man but the real one.

"Do you even know their names?"

"Whose names?"

"The victims!" Joe snapped loudly, catching the surrounding people attention.

"Your problem is you can't see that's irrelevant."

"Mary Bousfield. He cut out her kidney and sliced her face off." Joe informed the older man loudly, well aware people where staring.

"People are eating!" The Commander shouted in a hushed tone.

Joe had had enough, the man just didn't understand, could never understand what it was like to have to stand over a body of a victim whose name you knew, who you'd spoken to only a few hours earlier and see the brutal way some man had torn her to pieces. He could never understand and worst of all, he didn't want to. Getting to his feet, Joe threw his napkin on the table and slammed the chair into it before storming out of the club.

Out in the street he took a couple of deep breaths and rushed back to his car. Getting behind the wheel he began to rub at his temples. The headache was back and it had Joe wanting to ripper his brain out just to stop it. His hands were shaking at little as he started the engine.

Get back to the station. Get back to the case. Get back to Kent. He told himself as he pulled out of the car park.

TO BE CONTINUED….

THANKS FOR READING AND REVIEWING. You make me so happy.

A/N: I didn't notice it at first but while watching it back to write this I saw that Joe stares at Kent a little too long after telling him "excellent job" really he does. It's a total slash look. Which of course not only help with my story but makes me very happy.