It's been so quiet here lately that I am sure you'll be glad to see a new chapter of a story posted here again!

Come on, folks! Don't let this page die! :)

In November I flew to London again just to see Michael on stage in the White Christmas Musical (two shows at the premiere day!) and I met him after the show, together with Brandonbabies :) So if you saw Michael's post on Twitter "The Girls are here" - it was us! :) It was the second time I met Michael in my life (first one was in May this year) - and it was wonderful again. He was so lovely and so relaxed after the premiere and the standing ovation at the first show :) he gave us a big hug, talked a lot to us… and I kissed him! :) And he seemed to like it! :)

I wish you all a Very Happy New Year!

Chapter 32

The phone rang just as Dempsey left the bathroom after a quick morning shower. He rushed to answer it, throwing himself completely naked on the couch.

"Yo!"

"Hey sweetheart, it's your mother" a woman's voice boomed out in his ear. "Remember? Short, dark-haired, makes wonderful pasta…"

"Mom!" James exclaimed with a real joy. "Hi, how're ya? Long time no hear!"

"Yeah, sure, would've been different if you'd answered my calls. What's been happenin' to ya son? I've been trying to catch you for the last four days, mornings an' evenings! Now I got ya when it's two in the morning here! You OK?"

Dempsey sat more comfortably. "Sorry Ma. Been at my girlfriend's, just came back home for a while" he couldn't help but grin, a wide grin lighting up his face. Never had the word girlfriend sounded so fine to his own ears.

"Oh, didn't know you gotta new one." His mother was not impressed.

Hesitantly, James cleared his throat "Well, she's not new… but she's definitely the one."

He really didn't know how such words had slipped out of his mouth involuntarily!

"OH MY GOD!"

"Mom?..."

"Who are you and what you have done to my son?!"

"Mom?!"

"Jim, I've never ever heard such words from you. THE ONE? What's going on? God, are you in love? Santa Maria! Tell me now!"

"Mom…"

"Is she nice? Well of course she is, since she is going to be my daughter-in-law!"

"MOM!"

"Who is she? Jim?"

Dempsey sighed and rolled his eyes. He couldn't believe he was having this conversation with his mother, sitting naked on the sofa… And that he had to answer all her intrusive questions!

"Mom, I've gotta go, it's seven thirty here, I need to be at work in an hour…"

"James Grayson Dempsey, I demand your answer NOW. It will take you two… well, all right, ten minutes. If you don't tell me, I swear I will cut you off. Your sister will inherit everything."

"MOM!"

The silence on the other end of the line was so heavy...

"All right Mum, you win. It's Harry."

"Harry?..." she echoed.

"And now you're thinking I am gay. Nothin' like that. Just think, Mom. H-A-R-R-Y."

This time the silence was pretty short. "Ooooh! Harry! That Harry!"

"See, 't was so easy."

"That beautiful girl you sent us the photo of! Your partner at work! Ooohh!"

Yes, that was what he'd done. He sent them some pics taken at the X-mas party last year. Him, Harry, Spikings and Chas. Him, Harry, and Spikings. Him, Harry and Chas. Him and Harry. Him and Harry at the bar. Sitting together at the table. Talking in the pub garden. Laughing together at the taxi rank outside. Well, just a few pics. Nothing special.

"Oh I knew it. I knew! It was Caitlin who opened my eyes. She said Mom I think he's not comin' back here, jus' look at them. Oh, Madonna, I'm as happy as you are son. Listen, you both have to come around, for Christmas maybe? I need to meet my to-be...".

Dempsey moaned inside.

"Mom, sorry, I gotta be going now. I'll call you. Speak to you later" and he desperately hung up. He remained on the sofa for a while.

He laughed. Good God, that was his mother all over! Now she would go to bed planning his wedding, a color of table clothes and ribbons in particular!

The record rooms were high, gloomy in the light of glowing lamps, and very dusty. Harry sneezed for the tenth time and pulled another file out of a shelf. She looked at it with disgust. Had nobody ever cleaned it? The smell of the dust covering old documents was awful. And a nylon apron she had to put on was not the most elegant or comfy outfit she could dream of. She looked at her watch. Where's Dempsey? He should be back from the forensics lab now, where he had gone earlier that morning.

Indeed he was soon back, walking in the room about ten minutes later, looking around for her. He looked up and raised his eyebrows quizzically.

"Harry. What are you doin' up there?"

"Si… si… sitting on the ladder?" she prompted, trying desperately no to sneeze again.

"Well, obviously not swimming in the Atlantic Ocean! And why are you trying to speak Italian to me? Si, si! ? Climb down, I need your help."

"And why do you think I am here? Catch!" Harry threw a stack of files down and he struggled to catch them.

"Hey!" he protested as dust covered his hair and jacket.

"Checking your reflexes. These old documents may be useful for the Donnaugh case. Bring it to the office please? I will check some more and we'll meet there, ok?"

"Wait a while, honey" he was dusting himself down with irritation. "You owe me some laundry! There's something wrong there, in the office."

"Worse than usual?" she noticed coolly.

"It's Chas. He's acting weird, like a wounded elephant"

"Like what?!"

"Wounded elephant, ya know? Furious, roarin' and shakin' his trunk"

"Dempsey, I've got a feeling you are talking complete nonsense. What are you talking about? The words 'Chas' and 'furious' do not coexist in my vocabulary!"

"Yeh, Yeh. Come on, are you going to get off this ladder someday?! Tell ya, something's wrong with our mate Chas and I'd like to know what it is. He's acting… God, I don't believe I'm saying this word… unprofessionally, not like him! And you know, my nose tells me it has a lot to do with his sweet babe that hasn't been so sweet lately."

"So what is he doing, precisely?"

"Well I just asked him where you were. Ya know, he always knows everythin'. Sometimes I am scared of him. He is the Bible of SI-10. And he started yelling at me."

"Yelling, Chas?"

"Yup. He said - no, he shouted - he was not your bodyguard and I should have a better idea of where you were."

"Chas said that?"

"Yes, Chas! I've been talking about him and only him for the last ten minutes so stop interrupting me!" Dempsey felt a bit uncomfortable, standing with his head looking up to the ceiling, he was already feeling an ache in his neck, talking to Harry who was sitting about ten feet above him. "Chas losing his composure, it's like Statue of Liberty crying and swearing. Or Admiral Nelson sitting down to the top of his column and spitting at Trafalgar Square. Or…"

"Stop it please, I've got it!" Harry frowned. She also thought about Mona and her nervousness during their latest meeting. "Anyway, we can't stay here forever, so would you please take the files and bring them to the office…"

"I might as well wait for you and we can go back together" he offered.

"No."

"Why not?"

Harry was losing her patience. "Dempsey, I don't have all day to sit up here and chat. Go back to the office and don't even think about any silly antics in this room, at our workplace!"

He cast her a wounded look. "To be honest I didn't think about anything like that…"

"Yes you did. You always do."

"… but I am glad you did, it's so promising, and thanks for the inspiration, Sergeant!" and seeing another file flying towards his head he ducked out and left the room in hurry, chuckling, opening the door he previously had closed, which had not been unnoticed by Harry.

They liked quiet, cosy evenings they spent at his or her's, cuddling together on the sofa, reading, watching telly, talking lazily, drinking wine and giving no damn about the world outside, until it was bedtime. Whether it was to end up with making love (which it usually did!) or just sleeping soundly together until the morning hours, they didn't care that much. It was just their time together.

They sat in Harry's lounge, watching a documentary about immigrants in the USA before World War One. Harry cuddled into his side, her head on his chest, her feet leant against the cushion, his arm around her waist, his legs on the coffee table - Harry had decided not to object, it wasn't an antique after all.

The documentary was interesting, however they both watched it with one eye, quite tired after another busy day. Harry showed more interest when the narrator started talking about how the people had got to live in their new country, how they had made it their home. Irish, Poles, Italians, Ukrainians, Jews. He talked about their traditions they had brought from the Old World.

"I guess you must have been missing Christmas while living here?" she asked. "Your American Christmas I mean, with your family?"

James moved a bit, opened his eyes as he was nearly falling asleep. "Wat? Ummm, no, not much." he kissed her hair. "Last Christmas at your castle was terrific."

"It is not a castle."

"Yeah. But it was terrific, anyway."

"And, before that, how did you use to spend Christmas in London?"

"Umm, just drinking in pubs. Watching Liz's speech. No, Christmas was ok" he fell silent. "But I gotta admit I felt real bad at Thanksgiving."

"It's a specific American holiday, isn't it?"

"Yep, the last Thursday in November. In fact, it's the most important family holiday in America. And yes, that day here was always difficult to me"

She felt horribly guilty. Yes, she had invited him for Christmas last year and it had been a very good idea - they both had had fun together and James had so impressed her family that she had been really proud of him. But the thought of him spending the most important American family evening in London completely alone was so unbearable.

I will make a perfect Thanksgiving party for you this year, she thought.

She stroked his cheek reassuringly and sat more comfortably, with her head on his shoulder. They both fell silent, enjoying the evening. Harry's eyelids got heavier, she was totally relaxed. A singer on TV screen was singing a slow, romantic song, Dempsey seemed to be falling asleep again, and then suddenly the phone rang. And it rang, and rang, and rang. They both looked at the clock on the mantelpiece. It was twenty past ten.

"What the heck" he growled with irritation "don't answer it, Tiger."

"I am not going to" she yawned. Well it could be something important, a work thing or Freddie… but it could be one of her friends as well, calling from Stringfellows; after all, the answering machine was on. And yes, it cut in after five rings.

For a moment there was nothing to be heard on the line, just silence. Then something like stifled sighs could be heard, and finally the answering machine spoke to them with the well known voice, yet distorted by irregular sobs:

"Ha-Harry? Are you there, Harry?"

Harry jumped off the couch and grabbed the receiver. "Mona?" she asked nervously. "Mona, is that you?"

Silence again.

"Mona?"

"Harry, yes it's me." A sob. "Harry I am sorry but" a bubbling sound like someone tried to breathe through a stuffy nose "sorry, but… would you mind coming over? To my place?" A sob again. "Now?"

Harry listened with a furrowed brow.

"Of course. Give me your address… OK, I'll be there in half an hour." She hung up and looked at Dempsey. "James…"

He stood up. "Wanna lift?"

"No, thank you, I'll drive." She was already grabbing her bag off the armchair at the door. "Seems to be an emergency. Sorry. Make yourself at home and…"

He put his denim jacket on. "I know. I think I will go to the office, Harry. Something's tellin' me I'll find Chas there. A pint might help while we talkin'. "

It was nearly three in the morning when Harry returned home, sleepy and tired. She smiled seeing the Mercedes parked in the street again. So he had gone back to her's, not to his place.

The house was quiet and the lights were off all but a lamp on the table by the lounge door, so Harry took a quick shower in the bathroom downstairs, put her nightdress and robe on and rushed upstairs. James slept on his - left - side of the bed. (As a matter of fact, it used to be her side of the bed before, she had liked sleeping on this side but had given it to him, that's what love is about! She smirked remembering his argument, that he needed to have his right hand free to hold her in their sleep.) With a sigh of relief she slipped under the duvet and lay quietly for a moment thinking with irritation there were only a few hours until they'd have to get up and go to the office. Next Saturday you're going to sleep till noon, she promised to herself, although she knew she wouldn't. Too many things to do on a Saturday off.

James jerked a bit and looked at her sleepily. "Is she ok now?" he muttered, wiping his eyes.

"Yeah" she nodded "her sister came and will stay with her. Nothing more for me to do."

"So what was it?"

"As we thought. He had proposed and she rejected him. She says that for a long time she's been expecting his proposal and it was a logical step in their relationship, but she realized that was his plan, him waiting for the right moment, she started to have second thoughts. She's twenty nine and just doesn't want to tie the knot now. And what did Chas tell you?"

James sighed. "That he proposed and she said no."

"Hugely informative as ever" was her sarcastic response.

"Well what else can I tell ya? He was at the office, we went to the Bramcote together, for a pint. That's it. He was mad as hell and upset, too upset to be told it had been a lucky escape" he grinned.

Harry snorted. "Yeah for her, maybe!"

"For her?" a real surprise in his voice made her annoyed. "What d'ya mean?"

"Yes, Dempsey, for her!" she didn't like his amusement. "Let's say they'd get married. Chas wants to settle down, to start a family. Who do you think would have to give up their job when they have a child?"

"Women have kids and work…"

"That's what I told her once but… Who would the family tell you have a kid now, you cannot risk your life as you did before, you are now responsible for this little thing? Who, finally, would have to stay at home when the kid got sick?"

There was real anger in her voice that told him he'd better take this seriously.

Was that the main reason of her divorce? That the bloody husband tried to keep her at home?

He didn't dare to ask now but he decided he would, one day. Now, just to calm her down and to comfort her, he said quietly:

"I would never demand such self-sacrifice from you, Harry."

An unexpected statement that might have sounded a bit brave but he hoped she'd understand what he meant.

"I know" she responded shortly. "Anyway I am sorry for her. For them both."

"Never liked the broad."

"And this feeling was fully reciprocated, believe me" she teased and looked at the alarm clock "let's catch some sleep, it's nearly four and we need to get up early…"

"Yeah" he yawned. "How about a date tomorrow?"

"A date?"

"Yup, a proper date. Me and you, dinner, and so on. Movie maybe. We haven't had many proper dates as a couple so far" he grinned, content to have surprised her. "I found a nice restaurant in town, you'll like it."

"But not McDonald's or Hard Rock Cafe?"

"Harry!"

"Deal."