Sheelagh was sitting in her office the next day, just string at the paperwork she should have been doing. Gina knocked on the door and went in.

"You okay Sheelagh? I couldn't help but notice that you were not doing a lot."

'That means you were looking.' Sheelagh thought before answering, "I'm fine thank you ma'am."

"Is it Des?" Gina asked, not believing her sergeant.

Sheelagh nodded before putting her head in her hands in frustration.

"What's happened?" Gina became the caring friend again.

Sheelagh faced her superior with tears in her eyes. "Last night, I got home from seeing Patrick and Des looked upset, so I asked him if he was okay…" Gina nodded, "…and he said he was okay. Later, when we were in bed, he wouldn't let me kiss him good night. I don't know what I've done!" Gina put her arm round Sheelagh's shoulders.

"Ssssshhhhh, it'll be alright." she soothed, whilst quietly fuming.

Gina walked purposely towards the canteen when Des was on refs. She saw him sitting at a table, surrounded by his mates, laughing.

"Desmond!" she bellowed. "my office, NOW!" she watched him stand up and walk towards her before she turned round and walked back to her office. Des entered, after glancing into the sergeant's office and seeing only June Ackland in there, and found Gina standing, looking at him with a grim look on her face.

"Sit down." she said pleasantly. Her tone put Des's senses on alert. "Do you know why you're here?"

"No ma'am." Des replied meekly.

"Sheelagh is very upset that you wouldn't let her kiss you good night last night."

Des sighed and looked down at his hands.

"Look Des," Gina sat down opposite him and spoke more gently, "you can understand why I'm concerned about Sheelagh, can't you?"

Des nodded. "Because I'm unreliable and have a reputation of being a womaniser." He said sadly.

"What happened last night?" Gina asked softly.

"Her kids told me that Patrick had kissed her and I…er… " Des didn't look at her.

"Felt jealous?" Gina suggested.

"No, more like, thought I'd lose her to Patrick again." Des muttered.

"For God's sake Des!" Gina shouted, earning herself a glance from June. "You don't have a lot of faith in Sheelagh do you?"

"I just got scared ma'am." Des countered.

"Will you talk to her please Des? I don't like seeing her upset." Gina calmed down and Des nodded. "Okay. You can go now then." Des left the office and went to search for Sheelagh. He checked outside but she wasn't there, he then checked her office but she wasn't there either. He stood outside the women's toilets. He pushed the door open slowly.

"Sheelagh?" He called, "are you in here?"

"What d'you want Des?" Sheelagh's voice floated over the cubicle door.

"I want to talk to you, but not over a toilet door." Des heard the toilet flush and Sheelagh came out of the cubicle and washed her hands.

"Des, we'll talk about it later, I've got loads of work to be getting on with." She started to get past Des but he grabbed her arm gently.

"Please. Just five minutes."

Sheelagh stopped and turned to look at him. "Five minutes? Is that all you think it'll take?" She stared disbelievingly at him.

"No, course not, but…" Des stumbled.

"We'll talk later, we don't want to lose our jobs, do we?" Sheelagh pushed past him and went into her office. Des sighed and went back to work.

Sheelagh finished her shift three hours earlier than Des and decided to take a walk.

About half-an-hour later she found herself walking up Island Lane, she hadn't noticed where she was going, she had been too caught up in her own thoughts. She saw Patrick's cab drive passed her, he pulled onto his drive and got out. Sheelagh was now passing his driveway so he called to her.

"Hey, how are you?" He jogged over and Sheelagh stopped.

"I'm okay." Sheelagh replied unconvincingly.

"D'you wanna talk about it?" Patrick asked.

"You don't wanna listen to all my problems."

"Come on." Patrick took her elbow in his hand and led her to his front door.

Patrick made them both cups of tea and they went into the sitting room.

"So, what's happened?" Patrick asked, taking a sip of his tea.

"I don't know!" Sheelagh replied. "I tried to kiss him good night last night and he wouldn't let me." Sheelagh started to cry.

"Hey!!" Patrick put down his mug then took hers out of her hand and put it down. He took her head in his hands and wiped the tears off her cheeks. "There's no need to cry." Sheelagh stopped crying but there was still tears in her eyes. Patrick leaned forward cautiously and kissed her softly on the lips. Sheelagh kissed him back and put her hands on his chest.

The kiss lasted about two minutes until Sheelagh seemed to realise what she was doing and pulled away.

"Oh my…I…I shouldn't have done that…I'm…I'm really sorry Patrick." Sheelagh stood up and made to go out of the door.

"Sheelagh, wait…" Patrick went after her and grabbed her elbow gently. "It…it was my fault, I…I took advantage, I'm sorry." Patrick looked at the ground. Sheelagh took his face in her hands.

"Can we just forget about it?" She whispered.

"If that's what you want." he replied, secretly gutted but not letting it show.

"It is." Sheelagh turned and went.

Sheelagh walked all the way home. Des was waiting for her.

"Sheelagh, are you okay?" Des slipped his arms round her waist.

"You're gonna hate me!" Sheelagh sobbed. She put her arms round Des and cried onto his shoulder. Des was getting more concerned by the second.

"Sheelagh? What's wrong?"

"I…I kissed Patrick!" She stutted quietly.

"Come on, let's get you a coffee." Des suggested.

"You're not mad?" Sheelagh sniffed.

"We'll talk about it when you've dried your eyes and we've got some coffee in us." Des walked into the kitchen and Sheelagh followed him in, he knew she was there but he didn't turn round. He made the two coffees in silence and carried them through to the sitting room. Des sat down and handed Sheelagh her cup. She sat down next to him.

"What happened?" He asked, not looking at her.

"I was walking because of the time difference between our shifts, and I wasn't concentrating. I couldn't take my mind off wondering why you wouldn't let me kiss you last night. I found myself on Island Lane. Patrick came back at the time I was walking passed his house," Sheelagh was telling it as thought she had repeated it many times, "he made us a couple of drinks and he asked me what was wrong. I started crying and he put our drinks down and took my face in his hands, like he used to when we were married, and then he kissed me." silent tears started to fall down her cheeks. "And I kissed him back, not for long. I realised what I was doing. Then I left." Sheelagh brushed the tears off her cheeks angrily.

"Last night," Des started, "I…I…" he gulped and started again. "The kids told me that Patrick had kissed you on the cheek and that you had smiled at him," Des started to cry now! "I…I thought that I'd lose you to Patrick," he sniffed. "Then the Inspector had a go at me and said that I obviously didn't have a lot of faith in you." Tears were falling heavily down his cheeks. "That's why I wouldn't let you kiss me good night last night."

After Des had finished, Sheelagh got up silently and went into the kitchen. She brought a box of tissues in for Des. She handed him the box, he took it off of her.

"Thanks." He said quietly. Des blew his nose and put the box on the floor beside him. Sheelagh sat back down. "We've both made a mess of things, haven't we?" Sheelagh just nodded.