Phoenix From the Ashes Part 3
"Hey Andrea, wait up!" It was Steve Hunter, he shouted out as he chased her down the corridors. "Andrea your back in today. We where worried about you" Andrea rubbed his arm,
"Thanks Steve, you heading down here?" Andrea asked pointing towards the canteen. Steve nodded,
"Yeah, I need to find Tony anyway." They walked down the mildly busy corridors, passing fellow officers Andrea realised how popular she was. As they saw her they asked how she was and said that they didn't expect her to be back so soon, she thanked them and carried on walking with Steve. "Phil I can't just give you five hundred pound to bait a guy who might be there and a say so of a drunk that he has five kilo's of coke - not without evidence" Phil sighed, "Ah come on Guv' trust me on this" Phil tapped Neil on the arm and raised his eyebrows. Neil shook his head and paid for his cheese and tomato sandwiches. Phil followed his DI over to the drinks machines trying to persuade his DI to allow him to get a big result, but all Neil did was get a can of coke.
Andrea opened the canteen doors and held them for a moment so Steve could catch up, Neil heard her talking to Phil's younger brother and was shocked that she was in work. He could see that she was still unwell - he had this urge to sweep her up and place her gently on her bed, only to tuck her in and give her a sweet dreams kiss. Yet all his mind could hear was Phil talking about his silly operation, 'later on I'll talk to her,' he thought, 'to straighten things out, and to let her know that I'm there.' But Phil was still buzzing in his ear. He Didn't want to give in but seeing Andrea in her state and wanting to talk to her so badly made him try to get rid of Phil as fast as possible. "Phil! Look I will think about it, now please leave me alone and get on with the rest of your work Please!"
But by the time Phi had left Andrea was sat with her colleges. So he made his way up to CID.
"You're a bit brave - coming back in so soon." Tony said to Andrea while drinking a mug of coffee. Andrea smiled weakly, "I can't stay at home doing nothing, it drives me insane." "Yeah I suppose if you are one your own, sitting around all you have to do is think about what happened, and that's not good for you." Reg added.
"Yeah thanks Reg!" Tony stated, there was a call on his radio about a suspect on the premises of a burglary, so he grabbed his partner Reg and headed off, leaving Andrea on her own.
But a stranger watched her from the far side of the canteen, wishing and hoping that next time - she doesn't come back so early, or not at all.