A few hours later, Neil headed down the stairs to the coffee machine. It had been a long day and it wasn't over yet. He groaned with anger and annoyance when he arrived and saw a sign proudly bearing the words 'Out of Order' stuck on the front of the machine. As he headed into the canteen, he met Phil coming out.
"Have you talked to Sam yet?" he asked.
"No," Phil replied, "I haven't got round to it yet. Why?"
"She keeps shooting me these knowing looks."
"Alright, I'll sort it."
"Thanks. If anyone wants me, I'm just grabbing a coffee since the machine is out of order."
O>
Amber let her head rest on the table in front of her, the voices swirling around her sounded like machine guns.
"Guys, can you keep it down?" she asked, closing her eyes.
"We are. You're just hungover," Yvonne replied, leaning in to the other woman's ear so she would get the full effect of her voice.
"No, I'm not. I'm just not feeling great," Amber argued.
"Funny how you never 'feel great' on the morning shift," Honey commented.
The girls, as well and Tony and Smithy, were sitting round a table in the canteen on their refs. It had been a fairly uneventful morning, as always, but no-body was looking forward to having to return outside. The sun was shining, but even though it was April and the beginning of Spring, the sun did not necessarily go hand in hand with heat.
They all looked round as the door to the canteen burst open quickly and a half excited, half flustered looking Phil Hunter ran through. He headed straight to the table where DI Neil Manson sat alone, sifting through an old newspaper.
"Guv," he greeted, "There's someone upstairs to see you."
"Who?" Neil asked, draining the last of his drink and closing the paper.
"I think you'd better go and see for yourself," Phil told him. Neil got up and was on his way to the door when it swung shut behind a new arrival. He stopped dead in his tracks and stared straight at them.
"Erm, she's not upstairs anymore," Phil commented over Neil's shoulder.
"What's she doing back here?" Yvonne whispered to Honey, who shrugged her shoulders, but, of course, knew what was going on.
"Andrea," Neil breathed, looking deep into her eyes. She started to walk towards him, so he followed suit and advanced towards her, but they didn't meet. They stopped a good table length apart, neither sure of the situation they shared.
"How are you?" he asked, not sure what else to say, checking that they were far enough away so that no-one could overhear them.
"I'm good," she replied, then put a hand on her stomach, "We're both good."
"That's, er, that's good."
"And you?"
"Yeah, I'm, er, good," he smiled.
She searched for something to say, "Did they…did they find out who caused the explosion?"
"Colin Fairfax."
"Ah, our friendly PCSO."
"Yeah, very friendly," he agreed, then stopped, "Wait, you know who he is?"
Andrea nodded, grinning, "Turns out not all memories are good."
"Memories? You remember? When?" Neil asked, unable to hold back a grin.
"I was clearing out a drawer in my room to start putting the baby stuff in and I had that blanket, the one you gave me before I left. I was holding it and the baby kicked. First time I'd felt it," she explained, fiddling absentmindedly with the silver locket around her neck, "I suddenly had this amazingly clear memory of the very first time you told me you loved me."
"Really?"
"I remembered how happy I was then, how happy we both were, how perfect the world was for that one moment. Like nothing else mattered because we had each other," as she lost herself in the memory once again, tears began to form in her eyes.
He stepped towards her, concerned by her tears, "Are you okay?"
She stepped back from him, "I'm fine. Just let me say this properly before I lose my nerve."
He regained their previous distance, "Okay."
She took a deep breath and stared hard at him, "Neil, I know I put you through hell, but I love you so much. Some things in my past are still hazy to me, but you… I remember every moment we spent together like it was yesterday. I know that I want to be with you and raise this child with you, but I also know that you may not be ready or willing for that. I know I've been away for a while and maybe you've decided we were a mistake and you want to stay with you wife or something. So this thing, us, is totally up to you. Everything's at your pace."
