Slowly, Claire became aware of a faint beeping noise. It felt as though someone was clamping her head in a wrench and tightening it to the beat of the sound. A faint groan joined the commotion. Someone had a terrible headache and that wasn't all, there was something else, something important.

Claire sank back in defeat and as another groan escaped her cracked lips, she realised that she was the one with the headache. Too groggy to work out where she was or what happened she let the drugs have their way and pull her back into oblivion.

Meanwhile John, back at the station, was staring in wide-eyed consternation at his best friend. He couldn't believe what he'd just been asked.

"So let me get this absolutely clear." He wanted no manner of miscommunication on this, it was hard enough to get his head around in the first place. "You're bent."

Don looked up at these words, and the blue eyes, which moments before had been fixed with a forced concentration on the stained cement of the yard floor lifted in an appealing, slightly defensive glance. "C'mon John, what d'you think I am? It's not as though I'm a criminal, I've just used my connections a bit. Look," The oily charm had returned to Don's words and he was starting to glimpse a small chance of salvation. "Look, come with me, there's something I have to show you. It's the only way you'll understand."

John swallowed hard. Just days ago he would have followed Don without question, but now, his friend's words were starting paint an all too neat little scenario. Somewhere in the back of his mind he could hear Claire's voice, "John, I'm CIB…" Could it just be a coincidence? His copper's head was callously crushing his already bruised heart and he paused, ready to make what could be the biggest mistake of his life.

It was three hours later when Claire finally returned to the realm of the living. This time, the headache had dissipated enough to face the light of day, and she slowly opened her eyes, accustoming them to the dim lighting of her hospital ward. She gradually drank in the details of her surroundings and with the half opened cloth curtain, the sterile white bed clothes and the ever present sounds of hospital monitors the preceding events came back to her.

Jack Meadow's had been waiting through what seemed like a never ending night, but at the slight movement from Claire's head, he shook himself into consciousness.

"Claire!" The relief filled his words, "You're alright. It's alright; everything's going to be ok."

"Gov, how long have I been here? What happened?" Then a look of panicked fear spasmed across her face. "Did you get my message?"

"Yes, Kerry rang. The baby's fine." Jack's eyes darkened momentarily. "Why didn't you tell me you were pregnant. I would never have let you do that obbo if I'd known?"

"I know Guv." Claire tried to smile off the serious gaze of her superior, but when Meadows refused to be brushed aside she sighed, "I don't know, maybe I just wasn't ready to face it." The DCI's looked turned to one of consternation and concern. He couldn't quiet work out the emotions his young sergeant was so good at hiding, but he could tell she had been hurt by something. Obviously this wasn't a child about to be born into a happy set of circumstances.

"Does the father know?" Meadow's chose his words carefully, ever aware of the vulnerability Claire would never acknowledge.

"No," There was so much she couldn't explain and in her mind Claire saw the face of the man she loved. The handsome profile with his charismatic smile and beautiful hazel eyes and in her mind, she watched those eyes transform with hurt and loathing as she told him who she really was. How could one sentence change so much? "I don't think he'd be interested." This time it was a battle to stop the tears that threatened to fall from the corners of her eyes, carrying more pain than she could explain in a thousand words.

Instinctively Jack reached his calloused brown hand forward to take Claire's soft white one. "Then he obviously doesn't know what he's said goodbye to." He leant forward and kissed Claire on the forehead. "Claire, you're going to be a great mother and you're a good person. If this man, whoever he is can't see that, he's a fool."

Claire smiled. If only Jack had any idea it was the prized John Boulton his words applied to. "But John's no fool." And the whispers of her mind spoke loud and clear into her thoughts, crushing the tiny flicker of joy that had kindled within her heart. This time, she could not stop them, as the tears trickled down her cheeks, each one a cry for the man she had lost.

Jack turned to fetch her a glass of water from the dispenser in the corner of the room and Claire took the opportunity to wipe away the evidence of her love.

"I presume you caught Finchly then." A slightly false cheerfulness infused her words and both officers mutely agreed that this discussion was over.

"Yes, you were surrounded. Actually, I thought everything was sorted, but Don Beech rang a couple of hours ago to say John was needed urgently at the station."

"Urgently?" Claire tried to sit up. How predictable, just when Don could really be up to something big, she was stuck in hospital, and to make matters worse, John could get caught up in it. Nothing would satisfy Hodges more than to bag two coppers at once. Then again, it was probably nothing. Don always thought his news was 'urgent'.

"Oh, just something about a snout. John didn't really say and I haven't rung since." His glance around the ward was enough to remind Claire she was supposed to be resting. And then the other implication on Meadows words hit her.

"John was here?"