The Early Hours

CHAPTER SIX

Her sharp hearing picking up Jo's shallow breathing, Sam came to her conclusion.

"Here's the playlist selection, just pick whatever the mood takes you. Whatever you want to hear..."

I want to hear you call my name Sam, I want you to shout my name as you come, I want to hear you tell me what you want, what you need...I want to hear you say "I do."

Whoa, easy tiger! You want to marry her! You do realise she might not even be meaning to flirt with you? Get a grip Masters! No, not on Sam, get a hold of yourself. Not like that... Just- just shut up and say something, Sam's looking curiously at you, did she ask a question? Oh bloody hell!

"Uhm, right, thanks Sam, I think I can handle that."

"Course you can," Sam agreed knowingly, letting her fingertips linger as she let go of the iPod, gently stroking Jo's hand.

Sitting down at her makeshift desk, Sam observed Jo fiddling with the iPod until the faint sounds of music escaped from the headphones. Satisfied that Jo was sufficiently distracted, Sam swept her own paperwork to one side, resolving to complete it on her day off instead. Flicking through Jo's notes, Sam familiarised herself with the case they had worked on, impressed but not surprised by Jo's accurate and informative note-taking.

After staring stupidly at her hand where Sam's had touched her, Jo shook herself out of her daze and flicked through the playlists programmed into the mp3 player, casually observing the building across the street. Meanwhile, unbeknownst to her, Sam worked her way through the pile of paperwork she had had to redo, the original set having been filed in the incinerator by the incompetent admin staff. Eventually deciding to set the player on random, Jo was happily letting her mind wander of it's own accord as she sat on watch, the street outside silently waiting for the arrival of their new suspect.

Despite being thoroughly engrossed in the paperwork, Sam's heart skipped a beat as she recognised the distinctive rumble of one of Abi's favourite songs playing through the headphones. Poison's 'Talk Dirty To Me' wasn't really Sam's cup of tea, and she realised she probably should have checked exactly what it was that Abi had downloaded last time she borrowed her iPod. Looking up to excuse her music collection, Sam had to stifle her amusement when she saw Jo vaguely nodding her head and mouthing the lyrics. Chuckling to herself, Sam returned her focus to the collection of forms in front of her, surprised by her colleague's eclectic taste in music.


Checking her watch, Sam was glad they had settled on 2 hourly watches, giving her sufficient time to make a real dent in the pile of work Jo had ahead of her. Deeply absorbed in her task, the 2 hours passed much quicker than Sam had realised.

"Sarge?" Jo caught Sam's attention. "D'you want to check if your jumpers dry before taking over watch, only there's a bit of a draught by this window, and you've only got one layer on at the moment..."

The thought of the single layer of clothing covering Sam's top half caused both women to blush, so inappropriate were their thoughts on the matter. Shuffling the papers into some semblance of order, Sam quickly ducked out of the room, making her way to the kitchen to check on her clothing. Upon finding her clothes not only dry but nicely warmed, Sam took off Jo's jumper, and began to get dressed. She had only managed to put on her bra, however, when she heard Jo calling her urgently. Grabbing the rest of the clothing, Sam raced back to the bedroom, wondering what on earth Jo could have seen that would need immediate attention.

Hearing the footsteps in the hall that heralded Sam's imminent return, Jo turned to face the door, ready to explain the need for urgency, when Sam dashed into the room, wearing just her turquoise bra and jeans. Staring open-mouthed at the vision in front of her, Jo realised her previous musings had nothing on the real thing, and Sam has next to nothing on! The helpful little voice in her head supplied. Shutting her eyes, Jo turned her head to face the window, beckoning Sam to join her.

"There's some bloke hanging around the entrance to the apartments. He looks familiar, but I can't place him. But I'm sure we've arrested him recently."

Looking intently through the camera at the man in the street, Sam racked her brain for a name to go with the familiar face.

"It's that bloke we investigated a couple of months back for credit card fraud, never did pin anything on him though."

"You mean Johnny Fenton? Do you reckon he's involved in this or it's just a coincidence he's here?" and please put your top on if you're expecting me to concentrate Sam, you're distracting enough when you're fully clothed on the other side of the room, let alone standing next to me with just a bra on!

"Fenton, that's the bloke, I remember him now. I doubt he's involved, he didn't seem like the sort to work with anyone, too much of a loner to team up, and too paranoid to trust anyone else. He doesn't match our attacker's MO either, he just didn't strike me as emotional enough to commit such a violent crime. The beatings our victims received are the mark of a fiery temperament. Johnny was a bit of a wuss really, he didn't have enough fire in him to even qualify as passionate, let alone violent."

I wonder how passionate you really are Jo, once you're all fired up...

"Right, ok, sorry Sam, yelling at you like that... I just thought he might've been relevant to the case, or something." Jo apologised, having the good grace to look sheepish.

"No problem Jo," Sam said as she pulled on her jumper, "it's just a shame this wasn't the break we so desperately need in this case. Thanks for the loan of the jumper by the way." Sam handed Jo back her jumper.

Stepping back to allow Sam to take up the position by the window, with the camera within reach, Jo updated the log of events, now that they knew the name of the man who had now given up loitering and walked off down the street. Replacing the notepad on the windowsill, Jo shivered as the slight draught from the window blew cold air across her exposed skin. Unrolling the sleeves of her jumper Jo unbuttoned her jacket in order to put her jumper on.

Catching the movement in her peripheral vision, Sam adjusted her focus from the view through the window to the reflection within it, her mouth going dry at the sight before her. Jo had taken off her jacket, now clad only in her black lacy bra as she eased her arms into the jumper, before straightening up and pulling the jumper over her head. Smoothing the jumper down over her abdomen, straightening out the creases, Jo checked her reflection in the window, looking straight into Sam's eyes, as the blonde woman realised she had been caught staring.

"You like?" Jo teased, pouting and posing like a supermodel as a blushing Sam attempted to formulate a response.

Sitting at the coffee table, Jo leafed through her pile of forms, surprised to find most of them now completed, albeit in Sam's handwriting. Carefully checking the documents, Jo was pleased to see that her Sergeant had remembered the case well, and the forms were filled out more or less as they had been before the first set were burnt. Methodically filling out the last few pages of regulations and references, Jo finished off the work she had brought with her to do, and still had an hour and a half before she was to take the next watch. Boredly glancing around the room, something caught her eye that she hadn't noticed before.

Crossing the room to the window, Jo knelt at the base of the tripod. Laughing, she looked up at a bemused Sam.

"Can you believe those men?" Jo rolled her eyes. "They couldn't adjust the tripod properly, so they propped it up with the manual for the camera!" Slipping the booklet out from under the tripod foot, Jo quickly adjusted the leg of the tripod so that the camera stayed level.

Turning to go back to her seat at the coffee table, the pile of completed paperwork reminded Jo. Creeping up behind Sam, she placed a light kiss on Sam's cheek.

"Whoa, what? er... Jo?"

"I just wanted to say thanks for helping me out with the admin, I really appreciate it.

Well if that's how you thank me, I'll happily do all your paperwork from now until eternity!

"No problem Jo, I'm glad I could help out." Sam smiled as she patted Jo fondly on the arm.

Sitting on the edge of the bed, Jo plonked the instruction manual down on top of the papers on the table, only for it to promptly slide onto the floor. Curious, Jo picked up the pile of papers and shook it, wondering what it was that had caused the slope. Something dropped out of the pile of forms and onto the table. Setting the papers down, Jo picked up the object, examining it closely. It was the two shortest straws from the lot drawing back at the station. Sam had fitted them together in a heart shape during a moment of boredom during her half-hearted attempt at completing her own paperwork. Looking up at the adorable detective, Jo observed with glee that Sam was now listening to her iPod. Having created an on-the-go playlist of some of her favourite mushy romantic songs, Jo knew that when Sam turned the device on, it would still be set on that playlist. Shrugging nonchalantly, Jo flipped through the camera instruction manual, intrigued by a few of the labels she had read above some of the many buttons on the camera. Finding the advanced features section, Jo read it thoroughly, unable to believe her luck.