Sorry, forgot to include this on the first chapter, just to say that i don't own the Bill, or any of the characters in this story... hope you enjoy!
Yvon Hemmingway liked to think she was a compassionate person. It wasn't hard, her life was filled with acts of unprompted kindness, but it had taken all her self control, and her memories of past mistakes, to bring her to the bedside of Andrea Dunbar.
The woman, who only a few short weeks ago, she would have considered one of her closest friends, had become something she hardly recognised. Perhaps, and the thought was an unwelcome one to Yvon, she wouldn't be here if the nurses hadn't told them there was little chance of recovery.
It was two days since the accident and still Andrea remained dead to the world, and for all Yvon could tell, dead to herself as well. Her dark hair fell in loose ringlets about her face, and she seemed to have shrunk to little more than a child. The rasping of her respirator and the monotonous beeping of the machines by the bed were all that lay between Yvon and her thoughts.
"Why Andrea?" Yvon whispered the question she might never have a chance to ask.
"Crazy isn't it?" Yvon spun round to see Sgt. Smith standing in the doorway. One arm in a sling and a dark cut across his forehead, he leant against the door frame, whether for support or out of choice, Yvon couldn't tell. "You think you know someone, and then they turn around and slap you in the face."
"I don't think she ever meant for this to happen, things just slipped out of her control," Smithy smiled wryly at Yvon's assertive defence.
"Yvon, nothing will change the fact that Andrea spent months befriending us, all so she could sell our most embarrassing secrets," There was an intensity in Smithy's face that Yvon had never seen before. Obviously, there was slightly more to this than his words permitted.
"Well if you feel like that, why bother coming?"
Smithy hesitated in his tracks. "This is an official matter." His words were short, but there was a pain in his voice and his eyes strayed to the bed.
For a moment, they were both mesmerised by the laboured rise and fall of Andrea's chest, where each breath seemed a momentous effort. Life was so tenuous; a thread ready to snap at the first application of pressure, but somehow, despite the odds, still in one piece.
"The doctor's report says there were signs of assault – before the other injuries…" Yvon's eyes caught the dark bruises on the side of Andrea's neck, she herself had been wondering how they had come about. "Seeing she was in the station, the Super thought it advisable that someone look into it."
Yvon's eyes softened. "What happened to you Andrea?" Her thoughts were echoed by Smithy's own, but he was still not ready to admit to them. Instead, he tried to keep his mind official. There was no point getting caught up in the sordid lives of PCs. Surely he had learnt that by now.
"You don't know of any family she might have had do you Yvon? We haven't been able to find any." He moved to the other side of the bed, where the second hospital chair was packed with Andrea's clothes and belongings. He lifted them, so that he could sit, but at that moment, a singed piece of paper caught his eye.
Carefully he drew it out from amongst the pile of material. It was dirty and one corner burnt altogether, but it was still clear. In the middle of the newspaper cutting was a photograph of Gabriel, arm in arm with the sniper.
The breath caught in Smithy's chest and he sat suddenly on the seat before him. So, she had succeeded at last. Here was the proof that had nearly killed her – and still might. He had suspected a connection, even gone so far as to say there was one, but now that he held conclusive proof in his hand, everything came to him at once: all the people who had suffered so much, all the lies, all the doubts and recently, all the disregard, with which he had treated Andrea.
He had to find the Super. Quickly he rose from his chair before a confused Yvon. He was about to make an excited dash for the door, when it opened of its own accord, and Bruce Malcolm walked in.