A/N: Hope this chap's good enough for you, had a little trouble with it.

'Tony!'

He turned to find to see Gary Best running breathlessly down the corridor. 'What the rush?'

'When were you talking to DS Nixon's daughter?' Gary asked.

Tony briefly wondered where this was going, maybe Manson had been sticking the boot in or something the boot in. 'Couple of hours ago, why?'

'Cos she's been shot!' Gary said.

'What?!'

'Apparently DS Nixon and the DI took her on an obbo except the guy pulled a gun,' explained Gary. 'She's in St. Hughes.'

'How bad is it?' Tony asked.

'Pretty bad, I think.'

He'd only been talking to her a while ago, how could she be lying in a hospital bed? Why the hell had she been taken on an obbo anyway? She was just a kid. He was going to have to check she was alright. 'I've gotta get down there.'


It was taking all of Sam's self-control not to hit Manson. Thanks to him, Abi had been shot, it was just lucky the bullet hit her shoulder, any higher and she'd have been dead. Cooper had been aiming for Manson but he'd swerved the car just in time to dodge the bullet, Abi hadn't been so fortunate.

While the doctors were tending to her daughter, Sam maintained a stony silence with Neil in the waiting room. It was unbelievable, he just sat there as if it had nothing to do with him. Mmm, perhaps she was being a bit harsh, he did look a bit sorry. Probably because it was Abi who had been hurt, if it had been Sam he probably wouldn't have cared at all.

A nurse came out of the private room. 'You can see her now.'

Sam stood thankfully. 'How is she?'

'Stable, the bullet only grazed her. It could have been a lot worse.'

Manson piped up; 'Well, that's good.'

'She shouldn't have been injured at all!' Sam said angrily.

'It was an accident, Sam.'

'Yeah,' Sam agreed. 'That bullet was aimed at you!'

'Abigail was asking for you,' the nurse put in calmly.

Realising that her daughter was the most important thing, Sam walked into the room to find Abi looking very ill, but at least she looked better than she had when the bullet had cracked through the window.

'Mum...'

'Hiya,' Sam smiled taking a seat beside the bed. 'How you feeling?'

'Like I've been shot,' Abi laughed weakly.

'I'm so sorry, Abi.'

'It wasn't your fault,' Abi said.

'I shouldn't have put you in that position.'

'You didn't,' Abi reminded her. 'That DI did.'

'Yeah.'

'He doesn't like you very much, does he?'

Sam looked at her in surprise. 'What's he been saying?'

'He was asking how much time we spent together, stuff like that.'

'He would,' Sam said grimly.

'What did you do to him?' Abi asked curiously.

'I wish I knew.'


Tony left Gary in the car park, asked at the desk and made his way to Abi's room. DI Manson was stood reading a wall notice, he looked up as Tony approached, a hint of something indecipherable on his face.

'Hi,' Tony said.

'PC Stamp, what are you doing here?'

'I heard about Abigail, I wanted to know how she was,' Tony explained and then wondered why he felt the need to explain himself to this man.

'Didn't think you knew that well.'

'Well, I don't,' Tony admitted. 'But I only saw he a few hours ago, I thought I should at least check she was alright.'

'She's a nice girl, isn't she?' Manson asked.

'Yeah,' Tony answered knowing exactly where this was heading.

'What did you two talk about when you were bringing her in?'

He shrugged. 'Not much, she gave me a description of the lad that nicked her bag, we didn't really get a chance to talk.'

'Shame,' Manson commented. 'You'll be wanting to see her then.'

Tony battled to keep his indifference. 'Not really. Like I said, I just wanted to check up on her.'

Manson opened his mouth to speak but a cough to his left shut him up and Samantha Nixon emerged from the room Tony supposed was Abi's. He wondered briefly how much of the conversation she'd heard.

'Hi, Tony,' Sam smiled wearily. 'What brings you here?'

'Just wanted to see how Abi was,' Tony said, glad to see that Sam seemed perfectly comfortable with his presence.

'She's fine,' she replied. 'Actually, she wanted me to thank you for helping her out earlier. I do too, some officers wouldn't have stopped.'

Tony was well aware that Manson was drinking in every word so he merely answered; 'Glad I could help.'

Sam turned to Manson. 'We should get back to the station.'

'I thought you'd want to stay with Abigail.'

'I'd rather catch Cooper, Guv,' she said smoothly. 'Now we've got a reason.'

'Fair enough,' Manson nodded. 'Let's go.'

'Fine,' Sam took a step then looked back. 'Oh, Tony, go see Abi, I'm sure she'd like you to.'

Tony was touched by this show of confidence. 'Thanks, I will.'

'Won't you be needed back at the station?' Manson asked.

'I won't be long,' Tony answered and walked into the room.