thanks for your patience, slowly getting to the end of this story. hope you like this next chapter.

Chapter 35

It was Wednesday when Lynn had invited them over for dinner, Sam had suspected she had an ulterior motive but hadn't been able to wheedle it out of her yet.

On Thursday after work she went round to tell Lynn about Phil's undercover op. She was nicely sympathetic to how Sam was feeling but after a while Sam turned the conversation back to dinner.

"So, you going to tell me your ulterior motive yet?" she asked smiling over the cup of tea she'd been given.

"Oh fine, I know you always know when something's up but do you have to rub it in and do you have to be right all the time?" she asked annoyed. Sam didn't reply, waiting for an answer. "Ok, it's because I want to introduce you to my boyfriend. I thought that would be better in case he let something slip then you let something slip, ok?" Lynn said exasperatedly.

"Ok, so I know this guy?" Sam asked intrigued.

"Yeah, he's a police officer at Sunhill, he was at the conference I went to a couple of weeks ago" Lynn murmured.

"Really, who is it?" she mentally ran through the officers at Sunhill, mentally checking age against availability against possibility. She mind had already provided her with an answer though. It would be funny if it was Tony, after all Phil had predicted it. Lynn hadn't answered yet and after she finished her calculations she realised it could only be Tony, "It's Tony Stamp isn't it?" she asked grinning.

"Always the copper" Lynn mumbled as way of acknowledgment.

"Oh my God, that's so weird" Sam explained and began explaining the whole prediction scenario to Lynn.

When Sam arrived home Phil was already cooking dinner, she snuck up behind him and wrapped her arms around him waist.

"Honey, I'm home" she murmured. He laughed, turning around to kiss her.

"Isn't that meant to be my line?" he asked.

"Probably" Sam murmured kissing him back. "Guess what?"

"What?"

"You are psychic."

"And how do you figure that?"

"You predicted Tony and Lynn were going to get together."

"You're kidding?" Phil exclaimed as the reality of this struck him. "That's why she invited us over for dinner?"

"Mmhmm" Sam confirmed.

"Wow, congrats to them."

"No, it's kudos to them" Abi corrected.

"Whatever" Sam said glaring at her daughter with a twinkle in her eye. Abi stuck her tongue out and Sam laughed as Phil exaggeratedly pretended to steal it. Abi jerked away, easily given enough time to and smacked his hand.

"Well, who would have guessed." Phil said.

"Mmm –I'm glad she's found someone" Sam agreed, "And I'm glad it's a good guy," she added.

"Ah, but you don't know any of Tony's deep dark secrets, everyone at Sunhill has them" Phil announced mockingly.

"Give me examples" Sam demanded laughing.

"June, she had a son no one knew about. Sheelagh, she had that affair with Des, Debbie and the last Super, not to mention Juliet. Adam and Gina used to be an item. Neil and Andrea their affair. Do I have to continue?"

"No, Tony and his child abuse charge" Sam mentioned

"Ah but that's not deep and it's hardly dark considering it wasn't true" Phil pointed out.

"Well then that just goes to show that not everyone at Sunhill has deep dark secrets." Sam pointed out, she was glad he hadn't mentioned Hugh or Glen, or her at all. He knew that she had deep dark secrets.

"Anyway, there was something I wanted to talk to you about, you know that drink I was going to have with Gina to introduce you two? Well she rescheduled it."

"When for?"

"Tonight."

"Thanks for the warning."

"Your welcome, are you coming?"

"Of course, wouldn't miss it for the world, can't wait to see Gina's face."

Sam grinned, "Me either."

They arrived at the bar a couple of minutes late and Phil said he'd park the car while Sam went in to meet Gina. Gina was sitting at a table on the other side of the room and Sam ordered two drinks then walked over to her.

"Where is he then?" Gina asked immediately.

"He's parking the car, he'll be here soon" Sam answered taking a sip of her drink.

"So, give me a bit of background on him, what's he like, does he have any annoying habits, does he have any kids?"

"He has a daughter, she's almost seven, he does have few annoying habits, but they're cute annoying. I just laugh at them, and he's sweet, kind, funny, adorable." Sam answered Gina's questions in reverse order.

"Isn't that Phil Hunter? What's he doing here?" Gina asked as she turned her attention away from Sam to the door where Phil was walking in. Sam rose from her seat and beckoned Phil over, he saw her and grinned. Gina stared at Sam, what was she doing? She watched amazed as Phil walked right up to Sam, placing his hand on her waist and kissed her gently on the lips, "Hey babe" he said softly.

"Hey, you took your sweet time" Sam replied grinning and moving down the chair to make room for him.

"Yeah, I didn't want to scratch the car again, you know what it cost last time because of your parking" he joked.

"I'll have you know that wasn't my fault, the other car was parked badly not me" Sam protested.

"He's your husband?" Gina asked incredulously. Phil whipped out the camera and took a photo, "Hey, give me that" Gina demanded annoyed.

He showed the photo to Sam and they both laughed, "Now you see why Neil's face was so funny?" Sam asked.

Gina smirked, imagining walking in on Sam and Phil kissing in a briefing room, that would have been funny. "Yeah, I see what you mean" Gina grilled them for a while but Sam eventually got sick of her and countered her questions back in relation to her and Jonathan. That shut her up pretty fast and a while later Sam and Phil headed home.

The next day at work Sam saw Tony talking on the phone, he was smiling and she could just guess who was on the other end of the line. "What was that?" she asked grinning

"None of your business" Tony replied grinning back

"Oh come on, give me three clues and I bet I can guess the person's name, eye colour, and hair colour." Sam bargained.

"Ok" Tony agreed grinning. "It's a woman, she like her coffee with milk no sugar and she can speak Spanish" he grinned

"Ok, I'm guessing her eye colour is…brown" Sam started with something easy.

"Correct" Tony nodded, "Good guess"

"Thanks, her hair colour is dark blonde" Sam continued.

"Wow, you're good" Tony commented

Sam grinned, she knew this contest wasn't fair, Tony could have no idea they were related because when their parents had divorce Lynn had gone to live with their mother and she had taken her name, Sam had lived with her dad and taken his name. "And her name is…Lynn Bennett" her eyes danced as Tony gasped in shock.

"How the hell?" he asked but Sam just winked and left the room with the parting words, "And she drives a Honda."

Tony tried catching up with her for the rest of the day without success. The closest he came was a brief meeting in the canteen where Sam had told him to just wait and see, all would be revealed in time. Lynn was going to slaughter her for this but it was fun while it lasted. she and Phil still hadn't dropped the top banana with Jo and Phil managed to use it three times in the one conversation. Jo blew her top.

"What is it with you two and that saying, I used it two –three times, and you weren't even there for two of them" she rounded on Sam.

"Mmm – I know, I wasn't there" Sam replied grinning.

"Would you like to explain what's going on or do I have to keep guessing?" Jo demanded.

"Keep guessing" Phil replied.

Jo sighed in disgust and stalked out of the room, she was sick to death of that saying and the two DS's double act. It was really getting on her nerves and she could imagine why they kept using it.

Sam and Phil had also started using the word babe to Gary a lot too but he didn't really seem to notice.

Suzie sighed, she was wondering the same thing as Jo, she had only used the saying three times, and Suzie had been there each time. She didn't see the connection but obviously Sam and Phil thought it was a hilariously funny joke. Every time the one said it and the other was in hearing range, they would share this look they burst out laughing. It was harmless but it was clearly getting under Jo's skin.

Sam and Phil arrived at Lynn's on time, Tony wasn't there yet and it appeared he hadn't had a chance to talk to Lynn since his conversation with Sam. Sam decided to get it over with quickly and explained the whole thing to Lynn. Surprisingly she wasn't too mad, she could see the funny side too and they were still laughing when the doorbell rang.

"I'll get it" Sam volunteered, "I want to see his face when I answer the door."

"Here, take this" Lynn said handing her a digital camera. "I want to see his reaction too."

"Ok" Sam said and grabbed the camera, sliding off the bench.

Tony stood there, facing the street, when he heard the door open he turned around staring to smile, his eyes widened when he saw Sam standing there instead of Lynn. "Sam?" he asked confused and she took the picture laughing. "What are you doing here?"

"Come in" Sam showing him through the house to the kitchen where Lynn was, Phil was no where in sight and she assumed correctly that he had gone to the bathroom.

Sam stood next to Lynn and wrapped her arm around her sister's shoulders, "Can't you see the family resemblance?" she asked grinning, then showing the photo to Lynn who cracked up.

"You're Lynn's sister?" he asked incredulously, "But, you don't have the same name."

"Mmm –I took my dad's she took mum's" Sam explained.

"Oh, right" Tony looked at the bench where there were five wineglasses. He assumed that one was Lynn's, one was Abi's who had just walked into the room and the one that had nothing missing was his. And one was Sam's, so who's was the other glass? It had to be her husband's. He had to admit that he had been slightly curious as to who he was, now he was going to find out. "So, when do I get to meet your Husband?" he asked trying to sound casual.

"Any minute, I think that sounds like him now," Sam said, going to the hallway and looking down it. She was right, "Hello you" she smiled and leaned out of his sight to kiss someone in the hallway. He saw an arm come out from behind the wall and wrap it around her waist and she circled her arms around the person's neck and kissed them again.

"Are you going to come and meet Lynnie's boyfriend?" Sam asked the person when they parted, he glanced at Lynn, silently asking are they always like that? She nodded back, silently answering they're newly married, what do you expect?

Sam slowly pulled the man out from behind the doorway and Tony gasped, "Phil?" he exclaimed "But…you…he…no…can't…how…?" Tony stammered, not doing very well on the 'finishing sentences' side of a conversation.

"Spit it out Tony" Sam encouraged, she still hadn't let go of Phil's neck, and his hands were still on her waist. Phil moved slightly, so he was next to Sam with one arm around her shoulders the other holding her hand.

"I need a drink" Tony muttered finding it hard to digest this new information. How could Sam and Phil possibly be serious? They couldn't be married, they hated each other, well at least that's how it appeared at work.

Phil grinned as Sam laughed, "It's ok Tony, I know this has got to be a bit of a shock, other peoples reactions were worse believe me." Sam said kindly "Look, let's go and sit down, and we can talk"

They moved into the living room where Maddie was, she was setting up the DVD to watch Finding Nemo. "So, umm, how long have you two been together?" Tony asked.

"We got together a couple of months after Hugh's trial" Sam answered. "So almost a year."

"Oh, right. How did…you get together?" He was curious, what could have made Sam change so much?

"Well I was helping support Abi, you've got to realise she was blaming herself for what happened to Sam" Phil started.

"Thanks" Abi said dryly.

"Anyway, Sam and I became friends because of that and…it followed on from there" Phil continued ignoring his stepdaughter.

"Come on, it was a bit more than friends, even at the start. You were both crazy about each other but you were both too stubborn to admit it" Lynn injected.

"What about you two?" Sam asked turning the conversation to safer ground.

"We met at that conference, for better victim relations" Lynn said smiling at Tony.

"Yeah, she asked me what I did, it told her I was a police officer and she asked where. I told her Sunhill and she told me that's where she lived maybe we could catch up sometime and that was that" Tony added grinning at Lynn. "Come on, dirt on your first date." He was beginning to feel more relaxed in their company now, maybe it was the alcohol but he was starting to enjoy himself.

"You don't want to be asking that, he'll top you any day," Sam said laughing.

"Really? Do tell" Tony said intrigued,

"Well, he took me to dinner at L'amour"

"Wow, you really went all out didn't you?" Tony said impressed.

"You haven't heard the best bit yet. Do you remember what happened a couple of weeks after the sky show, on the Friday?" Sam asked grinning

Tony thought about it, that had been his sister's birthday so of course he remembered what happened, everyone had been talking about it at work the next day. "The fireworks?" he answered.

"Yep" Sam answered, smiling at Phil proudly.

"What, you mean Phil organised those?" Tony asked incredulously.

"Yep" Sam answered again, she kissed Phil's lips gently, and he lovingly ran a hand through her hair, tucking it behind her ear. She in turn ran a hand through his hair, he hadn't had it cut since the coma and it was flopping into his face, it looked so adorable. "I have to trim that" she remarked smiling.

Tony was still trying to get over the fact that it had been Phil who organised those fireworks, he had been listening to the women on the relief talk about it for almost a week afterward. "Wow, I mean I knew it was you that sent the rumour round that it was a guy who organised it for his girlfriend but…wow. Ok, I admit defeat, you win."

"Told you so" Sam murmured, she was still gazing lovingly at Phil.

"Oi, snap out of that, dinner's ready," Lynn said in good humour.

Over dinner they kept talking, Sam told everyone proudly that Abi had come top of her class this semester at university. Eventually they returned to watching Finding Nemo. Sam fell asleep in Phil's arms and Maddie fell asleep on Tony, much to his surprise.

Abi went out to the car and opened the doors, Phil was much too drunk to drive so she was going to, Tony carried Maddie out to the car, putting her in the front seat where Abi told him to. Phil carried Sam out to the car and got in the back seat, there he settled her in his arms, she slept better if there was someone with her. He hated to think what she was going to sleep like when he left for his undercover job.

please reveiw.