I entered the office and sat down, three pairs of eyes looked at me:
"Are you all right Claire?" Kerry asked
"Not really" I replied, "I've just rebuilt my life and now it's crashing back down again"
I heard John and Jack Meadows enter the office:
"I'll leave you for a while, while I update Mr Brownlow"
"John!" came Don's delighted cry as they embraced each other
"Where's Danny and Geoff?" John asked
"Danny's moved on to SO19 and Geoff... well..."
"Geoff's dead John" Meadows cut Don off
"What? How? When?"
"A couple of months ago, he died saving Claire"
"Yeah, he took the bullet intended for me and it killed him" I added sadly
John stood there shocked
"Anyway, we need to update our information, John can you give us what you know?" Meadows asked
"Guv?" I said standing next to him
"Yes Claire?"
"Is it all right if I don't pay attention?" I asked cautiously
"Yeah of course, Kerry'll fill you in Meadows patted my shoulder, I smiled gratefully and headed back to my desk. Sitting back down I laid my head on a pile of files and closed my eyes.
"Guv!" John protested
"John things have changed, while you've been away"
"But guv' surely sleeping at your desk isn't allowed?!"
"John, Claire has a perfectly good reason too and the DCI knows and has approved, so I don't see why it's any business of yours" Kerry exploded
"But..." John opened his mouth to speak but Mickey cut him off:
"Don't even think about picking on Kerry or Claire for that matter"
"Anyone else wanna have a go while I'm here?" John said icily
"Yeah actually, you can't waltz in here and start criticizing us and the way we run, you don't belong here anymore, you lost your place here three years ago when you callously dropped Claire and walked out" Duncan snarled.
John was speechless, he'd never heard Duncan talk like that, it seemed that Claire had the whole office protecting her.
"Can we get on please? John you're leading the briefing" Meadows snapped
I smiled gratefully at Kerry, Mickey and Duncan they were true friends. Out the corner of my eye I watched John as he began the briefing god how I loved that man.
I dropped off to sleep to the soft scouse tones.
I awoke sharply to find about a hundred post-it notes stuck to my arms
"Very funny guys" I said out loud, pulling off the post-it notes I realised there were only five but it felt like more.
I looked at our suspect chart and saw that it was covered with John's untidy scrawl; looking around the office I discovered it was empty apart from John who was sitting watching me
"What are you still doing here?" I said a little more sharply than I had intended
"Helping you lot with inquiries" He snapped back
"Sorry" I said quietly
"You seem to have a set of personal bodyguards" John remarked
"Yeah they've been protecting me since you left, where have they gone anyway?"
"They've gone to find food, Kerry said she'd bring you back something"
"So where's home then?" I asked curiously
"Back in Scotland I've got a flat but I'm so rarely there I've forgotten what colour it is. I guess the locker rooms at Squad headquarters are the nearest place to home"
"Busy up there I take it?"
"Sometimes, what about you? Where's home" John enquired
"Still the house with Mabel" I replied declining to mention two kids and a husband
"How is Mabel?"
"She pined for about a month after you left"
"Claire? Are you all right?" Kerry exclaimed, seeing me chatting to John
"I'm fine Kez, John's not going to bite me" I reassured her
"Does he know... Peter and the kids?" She whispered in my ear
"Nope" I shook my head "Didn't see the point"
Kerry nodded and handed me a kebab loaded with cheese, meat and dripping with fat, I looked at it scornfully before offering it to John:
"Do you want it? You must be starving"
"Thanx" John said gratefully as he took it
"I can't eat that Kez"
"Sorry Claire I forgot, give it to Mickey"
"Too late" I said indicating John
"Are you mad?!" She almost yelled
"Quite possibly!" I shot back.
