Chapter 13

Robin gave Jake a sideways glance as he looked about ready to wind down the window and jump onto the road.

"Oh come on, I'm not that bad, am I?" Robin half-joked. He wasn't sure whether to be flattered or offended by Jake's behaviour. Jake, for his part, didn't know how he was ever going to get over this latest embarrassment. He should have refused the car ride and carried on doing his best at avoiding Robin. Why the hell hadn't he?

Oh yeah, he thought as he took a sideways glance at Robin's profile, that's why.

"Look, Sir," he began awkwardly, "I appreciate the lift. Just drop me back at the station."

"I just want to clear the air," Robin told him.

"I thought we did that earlier," Jake mumbled into his seatbelt.

"We tried," said Robin, "but then there were bombs and stuff." He could feel his own face burning up. He really didn't know how to deal with this particular situation. As far as he was aware no one had ever had a crush on him, aside from a girl in a school nativity who hit him over the head with an inflatable sheep and cried "I like you!" in his face when he was six. He looked a little uncomfortable. "You've been avoiding me ever since DCI Hunt's welcome back party. I don't like there being an atmosphere."

"There's not, Sir," Jake lied, "we don't work together much. That's not avoiding you, that's working in different departments."

That was a lie and they both knew it. There were plenty of times they'd run into each other; on cases, in the canteen, in corridors, even on a night out. The fact that Jake and Marci had become good friends with Shaz also brought him into closer touch with the canine division and their paths would cross a couple of times a day.

"Jake," Robin gave a deep sigh as he tried to work out what to say "first of all… I'm really sorry I ran off after Simon… DCI Shoebury," he corrected, "and told you to stay where you were. I didn't mean to just leave you there, they made me babysit the Guv when his drink and medication sent him doolally." He noticed a tiny smirk on Jake's face from the memory, "By the time I was relieved of duty it had totally slipped my mind. I'm sorry."

"I shouldn't have just sat there like an idiot," Jake mumbled, flinching at the memory.

"And just for future reference," Robin said awkwardly, "I'm not really much of a dancer so I wouldn't have said yes to anyone. Even Fox Mulder."

Jake closed his eyes for a moment and gave a tiny smile. Robin's X-Files obsession had found new life in the late nineties where most were watching the episodes for the first time. He'd built up a reputation for himself as being somewhat psychic as he accurately 'predicted' plots week after week and his friends around the station swooned in amazement. To Robin this was the funniest thing in the world. To Simon, who was pissed off that he didn't think if it first, not so much.

"Point taken" Jake said quietly, "can we drop it now?"

Robin hesitated.

"Not…. quite," he said. He felt himself flushing again. "Shit, I'm not very good at this," he mumbled. He turned to Jake as they stopped at a traffic light. "I'm really flattered –"

"Stop," Jake tried desperately to kill the conversation.

"When you asked about me and Simon, I thought you liked him," Robin flushed.

"Not really my type," mumbled Jake.

"So it was just a shock –"

"Please stop," Jake begged.

"And honestly, what I said earlier, I do have someone,.."

"I get the message, you're not interested."

"I didn't say that," Robin hesitated and blushed an even brighter shade of pink as he realised how that sounded, "Shit, I mean, that wasn't what I meant…" he couldn't work out which of them was feeling more humiliated by now. Why had he even started this? "Jake… what I meant was, I'm not saying I don't like you or I wouldn't have…" he closed his eyes and took a deep breath, "I have someone. It's serious."

"I got that."

"But we can't be together right now," Robin choked as he said so, "she's in… she's abroad." It was as good a lie as he could think of.

Jake looked at him in surprise.

"Oh," he said, "Sorry… for some reason I didn't think you were bi."

"I'm not," Robin felt the anxiety of their strange situation returning a little, "I'm gay, and so's she for that matter…" he saw Jake looking as though something had exploded in his head. He knew how that felt. " it's… one of those things." He shook his head. "I don't know if we're… ever going to be able to be together again," there was a horrible dark sensation falling over his senses as he carried on, "but right now she's all I can think about. I keep hoping that we'll be able to be together… but I don't know what fate has in store." He saw Jake hang his head slightly." Shit, now I've managed to depress you too."

Jake gave the tiniest smile and gave a vague laugh through his nose.

"You haven't, no, you haven't," he said, "honestly." He looked at Robin, his heart sinking slightly as he focused on Robin's hand and noticed his ring for the first time. He hesitated, "So," he began awkwardly, "your… wife?"

"Fiancée," Robin sad a little sadly. He glanced at Jake and saw his eyes on his hand. Flexing his finger he gave a sad smile. "I know it's not traditional to have an engagement ring as a man, but…" he shook his head, "we're not really a traditional couple."

"Yeah, I'm getting that," Jake said with a tiny smile. He pause. "Your fiancée. What's her name?"

"Kim," Robin said quietly shocked by how much his voice shook as he said her name.

"Oh," Jake nodded. He didn't even know why he asked the question. It wasn't like it made any difference. He tried to think of something to say, anything at all. "Like Shaz's dog."

Robin flinched.

"Yes," he said, a little through gritted teeth, "like her dog."

Jake nodded and turned to the window, The conversation was at an end, they both knew hat. Jake felt relieved to reach the end of the humiliation that was for sure, but there was a part of him that hoped they'd carried on for a little longer. However embarrassing and whatever Robin's marital status might have been there was more than a physical attraction as far as Jake was concerned. Forget the tattoos and the toned body, Robin had much more going on beneath the surface and with a horrible realisation Jake cursed himself.

Shit – you've only gone and got yourself infatuated, he cringed.

~xXx~

"One drink."

"No."

"Just one little drink."

"How about one little fist in your face?" Marci threatened but this time Eddie saw the slightest hint of a smile. He raised an eyebrow. Maybe he was getting somewhere.

"It's Friday tomorrow."

Marci hesitated as she reached the door of the interview room. She turned back to Eddie, trying not to smile.

"I know," she said, "I'm twenty five years old. I know what comes after Thursday."

"How about we have a drink before you go clubbing."

"Who says I'm going clubbing?"

"The fact you've been clubbing every Friday night since the day you arrived," said Eddie.

Marci breathed in slowly. She didn't want to let Eddie see the smile she was trying to hide.

"I might be going," she conceded.

"Clubbing, or for a drink with me?" Eddie asked hopefully.

Marci hesitated again. Ashe left a long, heavy pause before she let the corners of her mouth twitch into the tiniest smile and said curtly,

"Both."

Then, leaving Eddie in shock and suspense, she opened the door and walked through. Eddie stood there, mouth open, not quite believing his ears. He tried not to let a grin consume him as he looked into the room at the scowling face if Leila but he couldn't help it.

"Fuck," he muttered, "I think I might have pulled."

~xXx~

Alex flicked through the clippings as Gene drove grudgingly along, groaning and grumbling at every last gear change.

"When this is all over and me Aston Martin is returned to its four-wheeled status I am going to spend some quality time with her," he muttered.

"I'm starting to get a little put out by your sudden insistence at calling your car 'her'" Alex informed him, one eyebrow in the air.

"You don't get jealous of my lump o' metal and I won't get jealous of yours," Gene told her as he concentrated on the road ahead.

"More Kim jokes?" Alex frowned in annoyance, "the hilarity just never begins, does it, Gene?" She shook her head, "no wonder she was always stealing your scotch. Compensation for the mental trauma you put upon the poor girl."

"No one should have that much metal in them, Bolly," Gene told her, "not unless they happen to be the six million dollar man."

Alex tried to ignore Gene's jibes and concentrated on the photocopies in her hands.

"Glenn Partridge," she sighed, "local conservative hopeful. He'd been an active member of the party for years when he decided to try his luck. He ran in the general election in nineteen eighty seven. I vaguely remember this but it was a decade ago… I wouldn't have remembered if we hadn't found these."

"So this particular Partridge flew the family nest?" asked Gene.

"A week before the election, a story was leaked to the press," Alex expanded, "He'd been seen with a five-hundred pound a night escort. There were pictures… tapes… it killed his political career. His marriage broke down, he lost his family and the conservatives lost the seat. It was a disaster for the man." She laid down the papers and glanced at Gene. "If it's the man I think it is he ended up jumping from a bridge and playing with the traffic on the motorway."

"Connection with tunnel-ears?" Gene prompted.

Alex shrugged a little.

"We'll see what we can find out," she said with a sigh, "and give these to Eddie and Marci. It will be interesting to see how the girl reacts to the contents of her bookshelf appearing before her."

"It's the contents of her bloody knicker drawer that worry me," Gene couldn't help but comment.

~xXx~

Kim felt a little as though she was walking through a nightmare as she found herself led through the corridors of Stopford House. She had already blanched at the sight of the memorial plaque in the car park, marking the spot where Sam Tyler's internal organs had been turned into a one-of-a-kind piece of street art. Beyond that, just the whole fact of being in Manchester was making her feel sick.

"DCI Cook has the details," the DC who escorted her through the building told her, "he'll brief you on the incidents so far."

"I like the way you say 'so far' like you've already given up hope of stopping the twats," Kim commented with a frown.

She felt a strange tingling pass up and down her spine. It wasn't like a shiver, it was something different. She tried to ignore it as she allowed herself to be shown into an office and hustled into a seat.

"He won't be long," the DC told her before he scurried away.

Left alone in the room, Kim felt somehow quite disturbed. There was something about the building something she couldn't place. Something that didn't quite feel right, she wasn't sure what it was but she didn't like it, It had started as soon as she'd pulled up outside and increased with every step to the office.

She reached for a drink but thought better of it. She needed to try to keep at least a semi-clear head if she was going to get through this and put the perpetrators behind bars. She tapped her fingers against her knee instead. Why did she have such a strange feeling? Was it the strange visions from the night before playing on her mind again? It felt like more than that.

As she sat there, darkness seemed to fall around her, just for a split second., The brightest of stars filled the black space and sent a terrible shudder down her spine before it faded away. She felt like her heart leapt into her throat and gasped in shock but couldn't do or say anything before right then the door opened and a tall gentleman stepped inside, hand stretched out, introducing himself.

Kim took a deep breath and scrambled to her feet to shake his hand, trying hard to ignore the pounding of her heart as the starlight flashed through her mind. What the hell was happening to her? The stars were a thing of Gene's world, not the real world. It made no sense to her, but then little had in recent days.

There was a horrible churning deep inside of her. The stars may have faded from the ceiling but not from her mind. Whatever they meant it was never going to be pleasant and she didn't even want to begin thinking about that.

~xXx~

A/N: I'm fighting another writing crisis. I'm going to try to be really focused and disciplined and produce a chapter every day because I have gotten into such a bad mindset about writing. I want to get back to posting something every day and enjoying it. I need prodding, and lots of it. Reviews, messages, or reminders on my tumblr (xxmisty) are all gratefully accepted. I *need* an arse-kicking, feel free to issue one.

Big shout-out and hugs to my amazing girl for being wonderful, otherwise I would have woken up to a blank FFnet profile and regret this morning x