Series-, Episode-: A Thousand Years

Date: Saturday 4th June 2016

Investigating Officers: -


"Happy, Mrs Masters-McKay?" Jo asked softly as she and Hannah escaped from the room before anyone else.

Her wife turned, beaming at her. "Incandescently, Mrs Masters-McKay. Are you?"

"I'll let you know later on."

"What?" Hannah laughed.

"We've still got to get through the rest of the day." Jo reminded her. "Max's speech, your family and mine… Stevie and Mickey."

"At least Stevie's not drinking." Hannah joked. "That's one less problem to contend with."

Laughing softly, Jo pulled her into a languid kiss before breaking away and nuzzling their noses together. "Have I told you how beautiful you look yet?"

"No, actually, you haven't and I'm a little bit offended."

"Ahh, well maybe we can sneak off for a little while and I can let you know exactly how attractive I find you?"

"Promises, promises…" Hannah murmured, pressing herself against her wife and biting her lip. Her eyes darted down to Jo's lips and she tugged on her hand, pulling her towards the staircase.

"Mums!"

In unison the couple sighed. Painting smiles on their faces, they turned to greet their children and grandchildren, lavishing them with hugs and kisses. Then there were other family members and friends to speak to and soon they found themselves swept into the main reception room where the tables were being set up for the dinner.

"You didn't actually think you'd get to spend any time with Jo at your wedding, did you?" Ellie asked when she finally managed to catch her mother alone.

"I think I've spent more time with virtually everyone else here than my wife."

"Your wife." Ellie beamed at her. "How amazing does that sound?"

"I know…" Hannah sighed. "Honestly, Els… how can we even begin to explain how much better our lives have been since I met Jo?"

"I think she'd argue the same about meeting you, Mum." Her daughter replied softly. "You two are soul mates and we all love you both so much."

Hannah cupped her cheek, pressing a kiss to her forehead. "Thank you, sweetheart."

They continued chatting for a little while. The younger woman laughed as she realised her mother was doing her best to hide behind her and prevent herself being drawn into conversation with anyone else.

"Where's Theo?" Hannah demanded suddenly. The rest of the children were accounted for – Caitlin running round the room with Harry and Freddie, Molly doing her best to imitate Madison's cool detachment at one of the tables and Finley being fussed over by Jo's sisters – but her eldest son was nowhere to be seen. "Oh god… what's he doing?"

"Relax; he was annoying Nikki and Harry about forensic pathology about twenty minutes ago. I doubt they've managed to escape from him yet."

"Ah yes, the reason we have friends is so you lot can badger them with stupid questions."

"To be fair, I don't think Theo will be asking them stupid questions. He's probably more likely to be badgering them to let him do some work experience or something."

"I'm sure they appreciate that… at a wedding."

Ellie laughed, unable to disagree with her mother's words. She laughed even more at the disapproving expression on Hannah's face as she caught sight of her son deep in conversation with her friends. She seemed to be debating whether or not to go and save them, weighing up the pros and cons of annoying her son by butting in.

All of a sudden, Hannah's face lit up as she spotted something or someone over her shoulder. Ellie turned to see what her mother was looking at and smiled too as she saw Gina approaching, standing aside as the older woman gathered the bride in a tight hug. Gina pulled back a little, cupping Hannah's face and murmuring something that only they could hear, before leaning forward and pressing a kiss to the younger woman's cheek.

"You look lovely, Ellie." The former Inspector told her with her usual brusqueness, although the young woman was sure there was an extra huskiness to her voice, which correlated with the tears in her eyes.

"Thank you. So do you."

Gina chuckled, before turning and touching Hannah's jaw gently again. Then she turned and headed away to re-join Jonathan at their table. Hannah sniffed quickly, wiping a finger under her eyes and then turned to smile warmly at her daughter.

"What did Gina say?"

"She told me not to go soft in my newly married state." Her mother replied quickly. "Speaking of… where is my wife?"

As Hannah moved away in search of Jo, Ellie watched her for a moment, bouncing Eliza gently. She didn't believe a word of what her mother had just told her, knowing her well enough to be able to tell when she was lying. She didn't know why Hannah wouldn't tell her the truth, though After a moment or two, Sharon appeared beside her, shooting her granddaughter a warm smile and bending a little to beam at the baby.

"Who was that?"

"Hmmm? Oh, that was Gina Gold. She was the Mums'–"

"So that's the famous Gina Gold." Sharon mused, watching the woman in question closely. There was something that looked a lot like jealousy in her expression as she stared across the room. "I've heard a lot about her."

Ellie nodded distractedly as her daughter started to fuss, replying without considering who she was talking to. "Yeah… she's like a mother to Mum. The kids call her Nanny G. Mums think it's hilarious because it sounds like they're calling her Ali G."

"And that Jack who gave her away?"

"Jack Meadows? Yeah, he was the obvious choice when Max couldn't do it. He's pretty much Mum's dad… although how he puts up with her at work I have no idea. I think it's only because he thinks of her as a daughter that she hasn't been fired or arrested by now."

"Right…"

Ellie sighed, finally giving up on any semblance of a conversation with the writhing, squirming baby in her arms. "Sorry, I need to go and…"

She trailed off without finishing her sentence, leaving her grandmother behind with a sad look on her face. By the time she'd fed and changed her daughter, everyone was taking their places for the reception. Ellie smiled at her mothers and took her place at the table with Callum, Freya and Alex, Jen and the children.

There had been a lot of debate about who would sit at the top table with Jo and Hannah. In the end they'd decided on Jo's parents, Max and Jack. It only seemed right for Jack to be there, considering he was standing in as Hannah's father-figure and, considering Max was making a speech, they wanted him as close as possible.

The meal passed uneventfully. It was only when the speeches started that things started to go downhill. Hannah shot her wife a look, dread coursing through her as her brother shot her a cheeky smirk and stood up, tapping on his wine glass with his knife to get everyone's attention.

"So… first up, I've got a massive apology to make." Max announced, grinning around as the room went quiet. "Hannah and Jo… I'm so sorry that I was an idiot and broke my leg two days before your wedding. I should have listened to you – as always – but I didn't."

"What's new?" Jo pointed out, earning a laugh from their guests.

"Fair point." Max agreed, chuckling. Then he turned to the man sitting between him and Hannah. "Along with the apology comes a thank you to Jack. Thank you for stepping in to give Hannah away. I knew you were the only person I could ask to take my place; the only person that she would accept in that role."

"Thank you, Jack." Hannah agreed, leaning over and pressing a kiss to his cheek. "It means so much."

Max nodded at him, before turning back to the rest of the room. "Hans was eighteen when I was born… nineteen when she took sole responsibility for me and Freya. For the last twenty years Hannah has been our parent, our sister and our best friend. For the last eight years, Jo's been those things to Freya and me as well. We're so incredibly lucky to have these two amazing women in our lives and we'll be eternally grateful to everything they've done for us.

"But now to the fun bit where I get to talk about my sister and embarrass the hell out of her." Max grinned wickedly at the redhead who narrowed her eyes and shot him a warning look. "Hannah has done some extremely questionable things in her life. She has made some shocking decisions and had a horrific taste in men. When most people break up with their exes, they argue. Hannah's exes try to kill her."

"Max!"

"What?" He demanded, shrugging at her. "It's true! Jake tried to shoot you and that other bloke ran you over."

"Oi!"

"Right, sorry…" Max pulled a face. "Jeeze…"

"Seriously, Max? Stop being such a dick."

Laughter ran around the room at the domestic taking place at the top table, before Jo shook her head slightly and muttered something in her new wife's ear. Hannah rolled her eyes but nodded, leaning back in her seat and motioning for her brother to continue.

"Most of you know Hannah as a copper." Max said, shooting his sister a frown and continuing. "DS Hannah McKay from Sun Hill CID; determined, tenacious, hard-working–"

"Stubborn!" Mickey called from his seat.

"A complete pain in the arse!" Stevie added.

"You two can shut up and all!" The redhead shouted back.

"I mean, they're not wrong, love." Jo replied with a small shrug. "Max, you could have also said reckless, dangerous, rash, a complete liability…"

Turning to her, Hannah pouted. "Seriously, babe?"

"Can I carry on yet?" Max demanded, folding his arms. "This is actually my speech, you know?" As Jo held up her hands in acquiescence and Hannah motioned, slightly reluctantly, for him to continue, the young man nodded again. "Most of you know Hannah… blah blah blah… right. But lots of you probably aren't aware of the full extent of how much of a disaster zone she is.

"When I was ten, we went on holiday. Theo was four and Hannah was pregnant with Molly… and I mean she was pregnant. We'd gone to this B&B in Bridlington for a week and the woman that rang it clearly had a problem with us. Freya and Ellie were fourteen and, honestly, they were wild back then. You'd never know it now, but they were feral."

"Oi!"

"So anyway, there we were – me, Theo, Ellie, Freya and a massively pregnant Hannah – and this woman decides that she doesn't like us. A couple of days pass and she's making all these snide comments until Hans finally has enough." Max glanced sideways and saw that his sister was sitting with her head in her hands. "So Hannah decided she was going to deal with the situation like the completely rational person she is. She packed up all our stuff and we legged it without paying."

"Not true!" Hannah defended herself quickly. "We got to the station and I felt bad about it, so I sent the girls back to pay."

"Yeah… we kinda didn't." Ellie informed her with a shrug.

"We kept the money and spent it on cigarettes and booze." Freya agreed with a shrug. "Like Max said, we were wild."

"Another time–"

"Yeah, I think that's more than enough from you, babe." Hannah interrupted her brother with a frown, ignoring the laughter from the guests. "We're going to be having a few words later on." As Jo's father stood to introduce himself and give his speech – a much more emotional, traditional offering – Hannah turned to look at Jo apologetically. "I'm so sorry, my love. If I'd thought for a second Max would go all McKay in his speech…"

"I wouldn't expect anything less." Jo replied calmly, leaning in and kissing her. "Besides, Dad'll have everyone crying in a couple of minutes and they'll have forgotten all about it."

As she'd predicted, there was barely a dry eye in the room when Henry finished his speech. He had made it abundantly clear how proud he was of his little girl, his daughter-in-law and all his grandchildren and great-grandchildren. It was the total opposite of the chaotic speech Max had made, if it could even be called a speech, that Hannah couldn't help laughing. In her mind it perfectly summed up the differences in their two families.


"Can I have the two lovely brides to the dance floor for their first dance, please?" The DJ called out, causing a wave of whooping and cheering to fill the room.

Ellie found herself standing next to Stevie, both of them free of their baby daughters for the first time that day. The blonde grinned at the young redhead, nudging her in the shoulder as they watched Jo and Hannah moving into the deserted centre of the room as a track started playing.

"This is not what I'd expected." Stevie admitted, listening to the music and turning to look at the younger woman. "What is this song?"

I want to spend my life with a girl like you

Ba ba ba ba ba ba ba ba

And do all the things that you want me to

Ba ba ba ba ba ba ba ba

Ellie laughed, watching as her mothers seemed to realise what song they'd chosen at the same moment. "It's The Troggs… With a Girl like You." She explained with a smile. "Gramps played it one Christmas when we were at their house and the Mums danced around the living room to it. Since then it's kinda been their unofficial song. When they asked us to choose their first dance, it was a no-brainer, really."

"That's actually pretty damn cute." Stevie conceded, watching her friends laughing as they danced. "Also, it was never going to be Adele or Ed Sheeran for those weirdos, was it?"

"No," the younger woman agreed, chuckling, "no it wasn't."

It wasn't long before the children were unable to stop themselves joining their mothers on the dance floor. Hannah swung Fin onto her hip to dance with him as Jo twirled Molly and Caitlin around. Taking that as their cue, others began to join them until the track changed and the floor was filled with dancing figures.

After a while, the brides left the mix, making their way over to a free table and dropping down for a breather. There were still lots of people they hadn't managed to speak to and they felt a little guilty as they planned their escape up to their suite for a little time on their own.

"This is where you're hiding, eh?"

"Hey, Stu, thanks for coming." Jo beamed at their former colleague as he leant down to press a kiss to her cheek. "It means a lot."

"Yeah, Stuart, thanks." Hannah agreed.

He grinned. "I could hardly miss it, could I? I mean... I needed to see this for myself. Hannah, I vividly remember a conversation we had about how asking Jo out on a date was the very last thing you'd ever do."

"Awww... bless her naivety." Jo teased. "Eight years later she legally can't get away from me."

"Hey now, Jo, I also remember you saying that you had far too much taste to fancy Hannah."

The redhead laughed. "I remember that, too!"

"How times change." Jo replied, narrowing her eyes playfully at her wife, leaning in to kiss her.

"I don't think it was times that changed." Stuart replied with a smirk.

"Yeah, whatever, Turner."

"Maybe one day I'll get as lucky as you two." He said with a wry smile. "Listen, I'm gonna have to– Hang on… is that Danny Powell?"

Hannah craned her neck in the direction he was looking, spotting the young man and nodding. "Aww, he came? That's nice. Tash wasn't sure he'd want to, considering the number of coppers who'd be here."

"Wait… what?"

"Tasha Powell, his mother, is Ellie godmother. We go way back… she's a good mate." The redhead explained with a shrug.

Seeing the disbelief on his face, Jo chuckled. "She's not the only one from Hannah's Larkmead days that's here. This place is full of cops and cons… some of the guests fit both categories. The Randell boys are here somewhere, too."

"Emma's a mate!" Hannah defended herself. "I couldn't invite her and Tash and say their kids weren't allowed to come, could I?"

"Nikki Wade's here too…"

"The cop killer?"

"Oi! She won her appeal; it was self-defence." Hannah reminded him with a pout.

"You will never cease to amaze me, McKay." Stuart laughed, shaking his head.

"That's Masters-McKay to you, sunshine." She informed him with a wink. "Now, buzz off because I would very much like to get my wife upstairs and out of that dress in the next five minutes, OK?"

Jo didn't wait around to hear his response before grabbing Hannah by the hand and dragging her out of the room. They completely ignored any attempts to catch their attention, knowing that the kids were sorted and everyone else could deal with their own problems. Jabbing the button beside the lift agitatedly, Hannah had already started impatiently on the zipper at her wife's back, pressing a line of kisses along her shoulder as they almost fell through the doors.