DISCLAIMER: 'The Bill' characters depicted in this story are copyrighted to Thames Television/Pearson Corp

Heart Of Gold P2

The sun was shining, the sky was clear blue and there wasn't much crime reported last night. In the CID office Debbie, Kate, Danny, Duncan and Paul all sat at their desks working out some sort of never –ending paperwork. "Man, it's hot in here!" Danny stated while getting up to find a cup of water from the cooler. "That's because I'm in the room!" Kate said while stretching. Debbie laughed "Kate you are so cheesy I can smell you from here!" Debbie and the others laughed. Cullen walked in and glanced around at his non- working detectives. Then proceeded to his office. "Guv' the super's looking for you. He said it's important." Alex stopped, parallel to the frames of his office door. "Right. Thanks Debbie" He turned around, placed his briefcase at the edge of his doorframe, then one foot in front of the other he walked to the Superintendents office. Tom sat at his large desk, playing solitaire on his computer. There were two knocks on his door. "Yup come in!" Tom glanced up towards the open door. "Alex, come in mate. Take a seat." Alex walked further into his superior's office, closed the door then proceeded to sit in a comfy looking chair opposite the large desk. Tom stopped playing in his computer to then looked up towards Alex. "I just wanted to know if you'll OK, you know with yesterday and everything?" Alex stared at Tom. Blankly. He gave in. "A woman I was seeing a while back, who...um...who became pregnant by me." Alex suddenly felt nervous about his past and so he started playing with his fingers under the table. "She had a boy, my son Jake is six now." Alex took a large swallow and continued. "When he came here for my help how could I turn him down? He's my son, my own flesh and blood. I didn't want him when he was born, but I love his mother so much..." "Love?" Tom asked. "Huh?" "You said love! Not loved. So is that why you where so long yesterday." Tom gave his friend a playful look "Look Alex if you need some more time off, then you can! But if you don't I would really appreciate if you showed up to work on time, your forty -five minutes late. Jack needs you to sort out some old case files. He's gunna be in court today. All day." Tom looked down at his computer and moved the mouse to get rid of the screensaver. "So, off you go" On those words Alex stood up, put the chair nearer the desk then turned towards the door. Just as he opened the door Tom spoke once more. "Romeo" Alex gave him a stern look then proceeded. Tom shrugged the warning off and continued playing solitaire. While Alex made his way back to CID he couldn't help thinking about his reputation, no doubt Danny has told anyone, or any other of the officers there. How could he be so stupid. Raiding a house with no proper reason; just a small child with a tear in his eye... but it was his child. He lost all sense of time while thinking. He found himself sat at his desk, staring down at a pile of papers. "Guv', Guv'" Kate looked down at the deep-in-thought-DI, "Guv' are you alright" Alex looked up, "Kate I'm fine, would you please leave me alone...what makes you think I'm not alright?" Kate seemed amused by it all, "There is no door Guv'. You're sat at my desk" She was right. He was, he searched around him; no walls, no file cabinet and most of all no drinking bird behind him. He sighed, "Sorry Kate" Kate smiled, "That's alright, I don't mind if you wanna do my paperwork. I mean finders keepers..." "No. No I'm sure you would like to tackle Mount File on your own." Kate lost her smile and clenched her teeth, "Thanks Guv'!" Alex stood up and walked the golden mile to his cave, his church, his treehouse... his place of hideaway and freedom. His office. Once he had sat down, he began thinking again. It started to become a hobby, but it was a hobby that needed to be done. Like knitting, in the winter. Alex did as he was told and started on the case files: an old burglary, like when Mark stole Charlotte. No, no. Get her out of your head Alex! This when on for sometime, he would find a case and as an act of creativity he would find a resemblance to her. It got pretty old soon enough and he was forced to call home to see if she was fine. He picked up the black phone and dialled his number. Nervously. He got nothing but the answer phone, so he left a message, "Um... It...It's me Alex, uh, if your there Charlotte can you give me a ring on my mobile? The number is next to the phone. Well that's it, give me a call."

*** ***

It was the same. Open the door, sigh, place the car keys on a near by table, yawn, walk into kitchen and find a lager. But this time when he was about to walk back down the hallway and into the frontroom then he saw Jake. Alex's eye's lit up like Blackpool, or a swimming pool, as it was a very bright room and any more illumination would cause the sun to expand in competition. "Dad! Your home, me and Mummy tried to look for a home, but it's way too expensive, and mummy can't afford it, so we are back here again." Jake looked up at his tall father with the biggest smile on his face that Alex had ever seen. "Well that's good news" Alex looked around the room, "Where's your mother?" "In the bath, she fell down the stairs, after you left. She said that she had grazed her back or something. She looked like she was in a lotta' pain as well!" As Alex climbed the stairs: the nearer he got the more he heard Charlotte wince in pain. He knocked on the door, clearly, forcefully and quickly. Her voice came within the door, "Yes! Jake I'm nearly done. Give me a few more minutes then you can use the toilet!" Alex laughed, "Charlotte it's me Alex. Are you alright? Jake said that you had fallen down the stairs, are you injured badly?" He pressed his ear to hear her. Then she opened the door and a cloud of thick steam passed him. "Alex! I'm so sorry it's just I thought you were Jake. What's wrong?" Alex was mesmerised – Charlotte was wearing a towel. Just a towel, her brown hair was now even darker and resting lightly on her shoulders in a tangled mess as she wore a large light blue bath towel around her body. "Nothing! Nothing, so are you injured?" He watched her. She looked down at the floor then looked back up at him, "I feel so stupid, and to make it worse it really hurts, plus I can't reach most of it with the cream!" Charlotte turned around and loosened the towel so that you could see her back. Alex pulled the towel down a little bit more, only to see a large graze. A painful looking large graze. "Wow!" "Isn't it" "No I mean the site wow!" Charlotte giggled and put the towel back on. She heard laughter behind her so she turned around. But as she did she stepped on the edge of her towel. Falling over it and pulling it off her. She saw the floor and put her arms out to stop her. But she felt a warm embrace instead of a cold carpet floor. She looked up to see Alex holding her; she had fallen into his chest. She looked up as he looked down. They stared into each other's eyes for what seemed like eternity, until they heard Jack running up the stairs. They quickly pulled apart from each other. Alex leaned up against the wall as Charlotte picked up the towel, and ran into the bathroom, she had forgotten that she had been naked when Alex caught her. Well that made her feel more embarrassed. Jake reached the top of the stairs, "Mum, mum I still need to use the loo! Are you finished yet?" Charlotte opened the door once more, wearing the towel and holding her things, she nodded at Jake. "Thanks mum" Alex was still trying to come to facts when Charlotte spoke to him, "Thanks for holding me back there" Alex smiled. "Anytime" Charlotte smiled and turned towards her room, only realising what he had said when she placed her clothes on the bed. 'anytime'.