A/N: Update's in! Thank you Lou, Ave, and EsmeraldaSnarkle for the lovely comments and to everyone for reading. The title comes from a great Pete Yorn track of the same name. Hope you enjoy it x
"I could easily forgive his pride, if he had not mortified mine."
―Jane Austen,Pride and Prejudice
Just Another (Girl)
"Come on boys! Let's go!" It's hard not to hear George Castle's loud voice cutting through the air as Matt tries his best to move the ball closer towards their goal area. He manages to side step past the Vice back when he suddenly feels the back of his knee cave as a stab of pain shoots up his whole leg. He falls and lands heavily on his leg. Biting back on the swear words he half turns and sees DS Markham backing away, hands in air, adopting a look of innocence as the ref jogs over. The stands erupt with angry jeers from Matt's department supporters.
His teammates help him stand up but it's an effort with the pain. He clenches his jaw, trying to play it down as he shakes his leg and stretches it out. He can't help glaring at Markham who is being chastised by the ref and yellow carded. All the while with an irritating grin on his face.
"Soz mate", he says as saunters by Matt, lightly banging into his tender leg on the way. This time Devlin turns and pulls his arm and forces him to turn around and face him. Markham moves closer until they are almost chest to chest. Immediately the other players move closer.
"You got a problem Markham?" his voice is deathly quiet.
"Matt! Oi! Leave it!" the other players tell him. DS Kent moves in between the two of them.
Markham merely laughs in his face.
"Looks like you're the one with the beef! You heard what I told the Ref. An accident. Didn't see ya.."
Just as well, the referee arrives at that moment and pushes them apart with a stern warning. It's enough to cool Matt down.
The rest of the game goes by without any more drama. Unfortunately though, Vice will be taking the interdepartmental cup this year.
Walking towards the car park afterwards with the team and supporters Matt listens to the post match analysis and wishes he had his headphones on so he could tune it out. Once again, he fights the urge to check his phone. It's been a few days. Okay, four days to be exact. Not that he's keeping track. No calls. No emails or texts. Not even a bloody WhatsApp message. It's all good. They're mates. Mates sometimes have arguments. It'll be fine. Everything is good. Brilliant.
Wining the internal phone checking fight, he settles for pulling out his headphones instead.
"See you 'round Sunshine", Markham calls out to him as he leaves with his team. He's smirking as he says it.
DS Ronnie Brooks joins Matt and they both watch Markham as he walks to his car.
"What's got his goat?" Ronnie nods in his direction.
Matt shakes his head.
"You okay?" he eyes his younger partner.
Matt scowls and shrugs.
"Ron…Sorry about the game," he replies instead.
Ron smiles and pats him on the shoulder.
"We'll get it back next year mate. Come on. Time for chips".
Alesha Philips sits behind the table listening to the MIU team finish briefing them on the case. It's been a non-weekend for her, prepping for this case. It's also Monday so she doesn't feel guilty for dreaming of a slice of pizza from the café down the road with a side of chips when both hands reach the 12.
She also tries not to look in Matt Devlin's direction. Which surprisingly, is not as hard as she thinks it will be. He helps her by also avoiding eye contact. Fortunately, they aren't required to talk to each other directly and she thanks the Fates for team meetings.
They haven't spoken at all since their car park shouting match. That was five days ago. It shouldn't make her feel like crap on some level that she can't remember a day where they didn't talk (or at least message each other) for over a year. But it does. Just a little.
"…So Alesha will come down and see you at 2 Ron? She has to get those final statements signed off anyway".
Hearing her name, she looks up. They are all looking at her, except Matt who seems to be rereading the report.
"Er…yes. I'll come see Ron at 2", she nods at Natalie.
Ron shakes his head.
"'Guv? I'll probably still be at the lab around then, but Matt will be there won't you Matt? Yeah, he's actually the one following up with the paperwork so see him instead Alesha".
Matt finally looks at her. His blue eyes cloud for a second, before he nods and gives her a tight smile but he doesn't say a word.
The meeting ends not long after and everyone files out with Matt following them, walking rather gingerly, apparently due to a niggle from the interdepartmental football final which they had lost to Vice. She hadn't gone. She had chosen to work all weekend. Work had overruled life. Obviously.
Ronnie is leading the charge down to Barrington street for the weekly 'pie day' so that's where they'll have gone to, George included.
Alesha busies herself at her desk instead.
"Coming?" James hovers at the door.
She shakes her head and smiles.
"Not today. You'll have to watch George's salt intake alone today I'm afraid". More rifling.
"Really? You live for pie day…" he muses, looking at her sideways. Analysing.
"I'm good thanks. Go on. I'll just get something later", she hopes that sounds way more cheerful than she actually feels.
Thankfully, it works.
"Okay. I'll bring you a mince and cheese one – just in case", he waves to her from the doorway.
Letting out a sigh of relief she leans back in her chair.
Ronnie Brooks makes it back in time after all and he is able to witness the quickest meeting between CP Alesha Philips and his partner to ever take place. Complete with all the awkwardness of two people meeting for the first time. And possibly disliking each other upon first sight.
"Yeah, this is all of it. All of them signed off. Ready for CPS to get onto", Devlin passes her the folders. Inserts hands back in his trousers pockets. Doesn't look at her, but somewhere past her shoulder.
Alesha grabs them from him and nods. She does a lightening smile thing, then fusses with the papers.
"Right. I'd better get this along then. Thank you DS Devlin", she replies. Ronnie looks up from his fresh cup of tea at that point, fully paying attention now. He hasn't heard Alesha call Matt that to his face in…years.
He watches her hesitate for half a second, like she wants to say something else. Not that Matt notices, as he's already halfway back to his desk.
She is almost at the exit when Ron hears Matt's voice.
"Hey Alesha..?" he calls.
She immediately stops and turns around, looking at him.
"Yeah?"
A pause. Ron can see Devlin waver. Then, his normal expression comes back and he gestures to the folders in her hand.
"Just..The…the red folder has the phone records. I just…forgot to mention that", he finally says. Then turning, he goes back and sits down at his desk.
Alesha bites her lip and then nods slowly.
"Sure. Um. Thanks", she replies. Finally spotting Ronnie, she waves at him before turning and leaving the room.
Ron waits for a few seconds before swiveling around to face his partner who is now typing away furiously.
"What?" Matt doesn't even look up from his keyboard.
The older man shrugs.
"You tell me mate".
He stops typing and looks up.
"I dunno what you mean Ronnie. She was here to get the files for the case. Done!" His response is seemingly blasé.
Ron cocks his head to one side and studies Matt. He looks troubled. Fidgety. Annoyed even. It's not a common trait for Devlin. He doesn't want to push him though. If he wanted to discuss it with him, he would've. Still.
"You probably don't want to hear this but-"
"Yet here you are…" is the sarcastic reply.
Ron smiles and continues. He knows if Matt really wasn't interested in hearing what he had to say he would've made some excuse and gotten up and left or gone back to typing.
"-but sometimes, the hardest thing is not saying anything", he finishes.
Matt looks at him properly now, an amused look on his face.
"Wow. Well that was profound. Are you even sure you know what it means?" he retorts, trying to laugh it off.
Ronnie joins in the laughter and shrugs as if to say 'well it's all I've got right now'.
"Still. Think about it Son", he finally says.
After Ronnie leaves for the 'Guv's office a minute later, he almost grins when he notices Matt is still retyping the same paragraph. It would seem he is taking the unwanted advice after all.
Alesha moves back when the lift doors open so whoever's coming in has more space. Why are these things so small? She thinks irritably.
"Hiya Alesha!"
She forces a smile onto her face and nods at him. It's DS Trevor Markham. Great.
"Hi DS-er Trevor. How's things?" He may be a bit of a wanker but it doesn't hurt to be polite.
He moves closer until they are almost shoulder to shoulder. Alesha resists the urge to move away.
"Better now that I've seen you", he flirts harmlessly.
She contains her eye roll to a mental one and settles for an embarrassed shrug.
"I'm sorry we never got around to meeting up again Alesha. You're a hard woman to get hold of".
"Yeah…work is pretty full on", she offers.
"Still…I would like to show you a good time. How about this Friday? Dinner at this great Italian place…Wine…Food…What do you say?"
She smiles and takes her time considering how to answer. Come on Alesha, just be honest.
"I'm sorry Trevor. It was nice to get to know you a bit better out of the office, but I just don't think we're a good match. Not in a dating sense, at any rate", she smiles kindly.
He moves closer, lifting his hands upwards to touch her face.
She watches him, mentally cursing the fact she's weighted down with her bag and the folders. What is he doing? What should she do? Calm down Alesha! She frantically tells herself.
She moves back immediately. To her horror, she can feel herself starting to panic and her heart goes into overdrive.
"What…What are you doing?!" she asks him, thankful that her voice sounds stronger than she suddenly feels.
He stops and backs off, narrowing his eyes at her.
"Heeeey! Take it easy. I'm not gonna try anything. Not anymore. Hmmppff! Frigid or damaged – you're all the bloody same!", he retorts as the lift doors open up and he glides past, throwing her look of disdain on his way out.
As the doors close again, Alesha collapses against the wall. She forces herself to do her breathing exercises. One…Two…Three…One…Two..Three…
As she feels her heart rate subside, she lets out a loud sigh. She is not sure if she's having a panic attack or a breakdown. She just knows she has to get out of this bloody lift. She needs to sit down. To have a minute to calm down. God…Why can't she stand still?!
The pinging of the opening doors jolts her, and five people join her in the lift. One of them asks her if she's going up or down.
"Up! Major Incident Unit please", she manages to blurt out.
Holding her bag and folders in both hands now will help to stop the shaking.
Breathe Alesha. Breathe.
Matt Devlin has been staring at the same ruddy sentence for the last five hours. Minutes really. But it might as well be. Ronnie knew of course. He always knows. He is miserable. He wants to call her. Talk to her about what happened. But he's still mad. Sort of. It's stupid, but at least he's honest. Still. Ronnie has had a bit of life experience in that department so there could be some-
"Matty?"
He looks up and there she is. Back again. He's about to ask her if she's forgotten something when he notices her face. She's trying hard to speak. But can't. He moves as fast as he can over to where she is standing. Still holding her bag and folders he'd given her not ten minutes ago. It's at that moment he notices her shaking hands.
He moves to touch her and she shrinks back. His frown turns to worry very quickly.
"'Leash..? What's happened?!"
A/N: Soooo please don't kill me, I know this is a bit cliffhanger-y but there's method to my madness :) I do apologise if it got a bit darker. Thanks for reading, please let me know what you thought if you have time. Next update will be up soon, as it's kind of a twofer :) xx IslandGem