When she got to Liverpool, the last person Sam Ryan expected to see was Michael bloody Connor.

A million thoughts ran through her head.

Was he still married to Helen?

Was he divorced?

Had he divorced and married somebody else?

She briefly thought that he could still be married to Helen for David's sake, before she remembered David was probably about 25 by now. David could be married, for god's sake, and here she was with her heart doing somersaults at the sight of someone she had been in love with 25 years ago.

In love with?

When had she admitted to herself that she'd been in love with Michael?

"Professor Ryan, sorry for dragging you all the way up here" Michael said as he walked over.

"So it was you who requested me?"

"You didn't know?" He sounded surprised. Sam briefly wondered if he'd told them to say that DCI Connor requested her assistance.

"No, they just said a case up in Liverpool needs you, and now here I am"

"Well" Michael replied, "I've got to have the best, haven't I? I've been having some problems with my pet pathologist up here"

Sam smirked. He really hadn't changed a bit, apart from some grey hairs and a few more laughter lines. He took her through the crime scene to the bodies, and she got on with her work, but Michael was never far from her thoughts.

In fact, Sam struggled to think of anything other than Michael for the next few days.

She was only pulled from her thoughts when Michael asked her out to dinner, to catch up on everything that had happened in the time they hadn't seen each other. Sam wondered if she may get some answers to some of her questions. She hoped they were the answers she wanted.

She walked into the restaurant a couple of paces behind him, smiling politely at the waitress as they were seated in a quiet corner.

Sam looked down at his hand, and found no wedding ring there.

No more Helen.

"How's David?" Sam asked.

Michael looked up from the menu and smiled.

"He just graduated from university, a first in Classical Civilisations. I'm very proud of him" he replied, getting out his phone to show Sam a photo from David's graduation.

"Is that Helen?" Sam asked, looking at the female figure in the photo. She had guessed that Helen would have been at her own son's graduation, but she wanted to make sure it wasn't Michael's partner.

"Yes, she was very anxious that there should be a photo of the three of us" Michael explained, "despite the fact we've been divorced for ten years"

There was the magic word, as far as Sam was concerned. She didn't know why she cared so much, there was no way Michael would still be interested in her after all these years.

"I'm sorry"

"No you're not, you never liked her"

Sam laughed as the waitress came back over to take their order.

"It was never that I didn't like her, Michael" Sam replied, trying to defend herself. Michael smirked, and Sam grinned back.

"David lived with me, mostly. Helen had an affair, and David wasn't too happy about it. He was only about 13, but he decided he wanted to live with me, despite the weird job and strange hours"

Sam thought carefully about how to phrase her next question, and luckily the arrival of their food gave her some more time to think.

"Are you seeing anyone?" She asked, as they waited for their desserts.

Michael shook his head.

"You?" he asked.

Sam shook hers.

If this had happened when they were younger, freer, less nervous, Sam would have leant over the table and kissed him.

As it was, their desserts came, they ate them, they left the restaurant, and Michael walked Sam back to her hotel.

Sam wanted him to kiss her.

He didn't.

She was sure he wanted to. He leant in a little, briefly looking at her lips, before he stepped back and said goodbye, hastily getting into a taxi.

The case was solved, and before she knew it, Sam was being dragged to a bar for a drink with the team.

Michael bought them each a whiskey and they found a quiet table in the corner, watching the police take their mind off work and relax a little bit.

They chatted about this and that, the case, David's new flat, their respective careers. Never anything deep or meaningful. They teetered on the edge of something, but they didn't know what.

Nikki stood at the bar with Jack, watching the scene play out.

"Are they?" She asked.

Jack shook his head, "I don't think so"

"Well if they're not, they should" Nikki replied, sipping her gin and tonic.

Their question was soon answered as Sam walked up to the bar to get them another couple of drinks. She stood next to Nikki and flagged down a member of bar staff, ordering another pair of whiskeys.

Nikki had found her chance.

"Did you know DCI Connor previously, Sam?"

Sam smiled and looked down at the floor briefly, trying to avoid Nikki's eyes.

"I did, we worked together in Cambridge in the late 1990s," She started, pausing as she tried to work out how to phrase things, "he was married, we kissed a couple of times, I was in love with him, but nothing ever came of it. I moved to London for a professorship, I went back for one more case with him in Cambridge, when a cinema caught fire, but that was it. I hadn't seen him or heard from him since. It's all done with, anyway"

"Are you sure about that?" Jack asked, handing Nikki another drink.

"What makes you say that?"

"Because he looks at you like you hung the moon" Jack replied, nodding in Michael's direction.

Sam looked over and saw Michael looking at her, with nothing but love and adoration in his eyes. Her heart skipped a beat, unable to look away. Jack handed her the whiskeys and she walked back over to their table in the corner.

She sat down, placing the whiskeys down carefully on the table. She shuffled down the bench seat slightly, and kissed him gently. She was delighted when he kissed her back, arms wrapping around her waist and pulling her closer.

They pulled away, downed their whiskeys, and left the bar hand in hand.