"I want to join the police." Ellie repeated as Hannah just frowned at her.
"No." Her mother said, shaking her head. "Absolutely not."
"Mum… I'm not asking your permission. I'm telling you that I want to join the police force. I'm going to drop out of University and then, after the baby's born I'm going to seriously look into becoming a copper." The teenager said seriously.
"Why?"
"What?"
"Why would you want to join the police when you've seen how dangerous it can be?" Hannah asked, unable to consider the idea of her daughter wanting to put herself in similar situations to those she had witnessed and been in herself.
Ellie shook her head. "Why are you a copper, Mum? How can you and Jo put yourselves in dangerous situations?"
"Because… because I love my job and I know Jo does too."
"Exactly." The teenager agreed. "And I want to do the same. I want to actually try and do some good and help people."
"So be a nurse! Work for a charity! Do something that doesn't have so much danger involved."
Laughing softly, Ellie turned to face her mother, looking into her eyes and seeing that she was scared. "I will if you will."
"That's not… Ellie… listen, love…"
"You're gonna be a Nan. Maybe it's time you did something that doesn't involve you being dragged out of cars at gun-point or being attacked."
Hannah looked disgusted at the thought. "Els, I'm only thirty-three; don't shove me in a care home just yet. If I didn't have the element of danger to contend with I'd go mad. I wouldn't be the same person if I wasn't a copper."
"Right." She nodded, squeezing her mother's hand tightly. "I would never, never ask you to quit your job because I know how much you love it. That's part of the reason why I want to have a go at being a police officer too. I really think I'd be good at it; with you and Mum around how could I fail? If I don't enjoy it, then I'll try something else. But at least let me try, Mum."
"You're going to do it anyway and I'm not going to get any peace until I give you my blessing, am I?"
The younger red-head grinned. "Nope."
"For what it's worth, I think you'll be brilliant." Hannah told her daughter, pulling her into a tight hug and pressing a kiss to the side of her head.
"Thanks, Mum."
"Have you told Jo your plan yet?"
Ellie looked at her, sensing that her Mum suspected that she would have. "No, I thought I'd tell you first. Mum won't act like a toddler if she's not the first to hear my news."
"I do not act like a toddler!"
"You so do!" The teenager laughed, wrapping an arm around her mother's waist and pulling her towards the doors. "Come on… Mum and Sam sent me to see where you'd got to. How was Court this morning? I heard Will and Nate discussing your 'great legs' earlier… maybe you should stick to trousers at work."
"Who are you, Gok Wan?" The detective asked, arching an eyebrow and deliberately avoiding the question. "You jealous, Miss McKay?"
"Not at all, Grandma."
Hannah winced. "Oh, don't!"
"Hey, look on the positive side," Ellie continued, enjoying winding her mother up, "if I'd followed your example you'd have been a Nan in your twenties."
"Well I'm bloody glad you didn't."
"I can't wait for everyone to find out you've got a grandkid… it'll be hilarious!"
The older McKay raised an eyebrow. "Ask Sam what she thinks about that."
"You, her and Mum can have a little Grandmas' club." Ellie suggested, barely managing to choke back a giggle.
"I love you, Ellie, but I swear to god if you call me Grandma or anything along those lines again until that baby is born, I will swing for you." Hannah threatened with a smirk.
"Alright, alright…"
Hannah wrapped an arm around her daughter and pressed a kiss to the side of her head. "By the way am I going to have an emotional teenage boy to deal with? Or his parents?"
"What?" Ellie screwed up her nose, not knowing what she was talking about.
"The baby's dad; d'you know who it is?"
"No."
Raising an eyebrow at the bluntness of the teenager's reply, Hannah smirked. "Is that an 'I don't know who Theo's dad is' no or an 'I don't know who Molly's dad is' no?"
Ellie frowned again. "But you do know who Theo's dad is, don't you? Isn't it Carl?"
"Of course it's Carl." Hannah agreed, overlooking the fact that she also knew who Molly's dad was. Ellie didn't know and she didn't need to know, either. "So do you know who your baby's dad is?"
"No, Mum, honestly. I was out in freshers week and we got drunk and it was a mistake." She replied before stopping and looking into her mother's eyes. "But with you and Mum around, this baby couldn't be coming into a better family."
x-x
Jo and Sam were in the DI's office when Ellie and Hannah made their way into CID a while later. They'd gone into the canteen because, in the absence of a cigarette, the detective was dying for a coffee. While they were there, the teenager had announced that she was starving so her mother had bought her a late lunch. Then Hannah had phoned Freya to check she didn't mind picking up the kids and filled her in on the latest developments.
Hannah had told Jo and Sam that Ellie had an announcement to make and then stood back, letting the teenager tell them her news. She had almost hoped that they would make Ellie reconsider her future career plans but, after listening to her justifying her decision to the two women, Hannah had to concede that she had obviously given it a lot of thought.
"Well, if you're really sure I'll speak to my friend at Hendon and see when you can get in." Sam offered.
Ellie shook her head. "I don't want favours." She told them firmly. "Thanks, Sam, but I want to do this on my own. I don't want to the fact that you three are detectives to play any part in how I get on."
"I'm proud of you, sweetheart." Jo told her softly, pulling Ellie into a hug.
"Thanks, Mum. The only thing I would ask, Sam, is that you pull a few strings so I can do my probation here. It won't be for a while yet, though… I've got to have this little one first." She murmured, stroking her stomach.
"Of course." Sam nodded with a broad smile. "I'm sure we can arrange that."
The three detectives discussed Jake's arrest for a while, each of them relieved that they had enough evidence for him to be convicted of all the charges laid against him. Hannah wasn't entirely sure how she felt about the situation. But when Jo reached out and squeezed her hand reassuringly, the younger woman decided that she couldn't wait to hear he'd been sent to prison for a long time.
A/N: Hey lovelies! Thanks for reading this!
There will be another one because, well, it wrote itself when I wasn't looking... Anyway, it's called Mistakes, so watch this space! :)
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