It's amazing how quickly two and half hours can go by, especially when it's waited out in total silence. The radio came to life and they were directed towards a high school, girls on the roof, possibly suicidal.

"Great! It's probably just some students sunbathing and they decided to play a prank", Smithy huffed as he switched on the blues and twos.

"So when you were fifteen did you find it funny to stand on the top of a five storey building and yell that you were going to jump?"

"No…"

"Well that's probably what's going on here."

"But your missing the most important factor", Izzy looked at him expectantly, "Well there girls aren't they…it's probably a few broken hearts and PMT."

Izzy pulled a disgusted face. She was about to lecture her partner on how women were obviously more controlled and less emotional than he thought and as a modern man he was supposed to know this but they had reached the school building.

"Can you see anything?", he shielded his eyes from the sun's glare as he scanned the roof.

"No", she placed her hands on her hips and looked all around, "Sarge!"

Smithy turned and followed her gaze to where a young black girl was teetering on the edge, in more ways than one.

"Afternoon everyone", Debbie McAllister took her rightful place behind her desk.

"Right I'm off", Eva was delighted to say but Mickey's face fell as soon as he realised he would be waiting the rest of the day out with the Ice Maiden.

"You owe me one", he snarled as she walked by.

"I'll buy you a drink tonight, how about that?"

"Mickey! Come on, we've got to get down to the Jasmine Allen", Debbie tossed him his coat.

"Make it three and we're even", he held his hand out and Eva shook it grinning.

"Now!", Debbie popped her head back into the office and Mickey duly followed, using his fingers to form horns at the back of her head.

Moving onto the roof, Smithy knew he had to tread carefully. If he was to startle the girl then she could easily fall.

"Hello?", he said softly, moving closer. A negotiator had been called but until then it was up to the two uniformed officers.

"Who are you?"

"I'm Sergeant Dale Smith, and this here, this is PC Isabella Angel"

"Or Izzy", she chipped in.

"Why are you here?", she laughed, "Of course I know why you're here. He called you didn't he? He called you to say that his psychotic now ex-girlfriend is going to jump, well screw him! And screw you!" she yelled out to the entire world.

"This is over a bloke?", Izzy couldn't believe it.

"Didn't I tell you broken hearts would be involved, one at least."

Izzy made a shushing motion and moved forward, she was going to be of more use than her sergeant, that was clear to see.

"So…", she tiptoed nervously, "You wanna tell me what's going on? What this guy's done?"

"He's dumped me…he used me and then he dumped me!", her sobs could be heard as she covered her face with her hands.

"Ok…but it's not the end of the world, is it? He's just a stupid man…not even a man, a boy…a silly little boy who you can get over easily if you give yourself the chance", the girl seemed to start to take notice, "Now let me introduce myself properly, I'm Izzy, what's your name?"

"Nathalie."

"Nathalie?"

"Trishaw."

"Okay. Now that we know who you are…you want to tell us the story behind this boy?"

During this short time Izzy had managed to reach the edge of the rooftop and now sat a few feet from Nathalie, if she jumped, Izzy was confident she would be able to catch her.

"He just left me! Said I didn't understand or something stupid like that…didn't even give me a real reason the git!", suddenly she went quiet and spoke harshly, "I know what it is though, I know why he doesn't want me…why no one like him will ever want me…"

The girl looked down at her hands, at her skin and it was apparent what she meant.

"You think this has to do with your skin colour?"

"I know it does", she snapped.

Smithy gave a look as if to say 'be careful'.

"How do you know? You said he didn't give you a proper reason…"

"It was there all the time…hanging over us…the looks…the snide comments…everyone thinking it's there business to say that we shouldn't be together, that we should be with our own sort", she put inverted commas around the word 'sort'. She took a moment to look Izzy up and down, taking in her own dark brown skin, "Have you ever dated a white man?"

Izzy sighed, "Yes I have. As a matter of fact my last boyfriend was white, but I've been lucky. You see my friends and his accepted us. I guess it's different when you're a teenager…"

"And on an estate. There's always some sort of war going on, mostly to do with white and black…I thought we were beyond that. I thought it didn't matter what people thought, only what we felt." She lifted one foot from the ledge.

"That is all that matters! Words can only hurt you if you let them…don't let them win Nat…don't let them know that they have the power…come back from this, come back from the ledge and we can sort this out, I know we can!"

"It's too late…", she looked once more at Izzy with tears in her eyes, "You're lucky. I envy you…I hope you make the most of that boyfriend of yours." She leapt. Izzy made a grab for her arm but all she got was the cuff of her jacket, which was now no longer on Nathalie.

The large clock positioned above the café's counter showed half five. Eva sat impatiently as the waitress kept a watchful eye on her, clearly she wasn't happy to have a customer who bought a cup of tea every thirty minutes when she could be serving up someone's lunch and earning some money for herself. One more minute and then she would go to the doctors.

She clicked to the waitress who rushed to her side.

"Did you want something?"

Eva thought this a ridiculous question, if she didn't want something then why would she call her over?

"Can you get me a glass of water, please."

The waitress' face fell, "Certainly madam".

Eva slipped the two small pain-killing tablets onto her tongue and swallowed them down with the fresh water. The pain wasn't new, she had been having it for some time now but it had never been as severe as it was this day. She thought back to when it had started, about eight months ago, the coming and going of the pain, the tenderness, the itching. At the very start she had thought it to be her fabric conditioner or perhaps even the bras she wore but she had changed her entire underwear selection. The clock now read twenty-five to six, she really needed to go. Putting money down she waved to the waitress (who wore a relieved smile) and left.

"You alright?"

"Me?"

Smithy stopped himself from saying something sarcastic and no doubt stupid, "Yeah"

"I'm fine. I just can't believe she jumped over something so ridiculous. I'll never understand why people have such a problem with mixed couple's, it is the year 2004!"

Smithy figured the conversation was over and kept silent, he didn't think she would really appreciate his input on the subject of black and whites.

"Damn it!", she noticed the little clock on the dashboard, "I was meant to be somewhere ten minutes ago…any chance you could drop us at the doctors?" She made her pleading face and Smithy decided with all that had happened that morning to let her go.

"Nutin wrong with you is there?"

"No, it's a friend of mine."

Eva sat behind the wheel of her car in utter shock. Referred to the hospital. What did it mean? Was it serious? Would it require surgery? She leant her head against the steering wheel and thought back to what had been said between herself and the doctor.

"Step behind the screen and remove your top please. How long did you say you've had this cough?"

"A while. It's only recently began to bother me though."

The doctor joined Eva, dawning white gloves and began the examination. Once it was finished she left Eva to dress.

"So what am I going to be prescribed? A bottle of that nice tasting strawberry stuff my daughter gets or that mingin yellow stuff my husband takes when he's ill", she laughed, blissfully unaware of the bombshell which was about to be dropped.

"Eva, I'm not quite sure how to tell you this…during the examination I discovered something that could have implications to your health and I'm afraid I'm going to have to refer you to St Hugh's hospital straight away for further tests. Try not to worry too much but what I discovered is a lump….in your right breast…I can't tell you whether or not it's cancer, I'm just not qualified to make that sort of diagnosis. I'm sorry."

"Try not to worry? You tell me I have a lump in my breast which will probably be can…and then you tell me not to worry?" She couldn't believe it. She wouldn't believe it. She had too much to live for, her husband, her kids, her friends and her job even. Cancer was something that happened to other people, people who weren't her. Eva had so many emotions running around her body that she didn't know what to feel. She could be angry that it wasn't happening to someone else, someone who deserved it, she could be relieved that it had been discovered and would be treated, she could be saddened, depressed even by the thought of death, or, she could be numb. She chose the latter, and as it took over her body she began to enter a state of, what could only be described as, barrenness. If she felt nothing then nothing could hurt her and if nothing could hurt her then she would be able to get through the rest of her life, something that suited her down to the ground.

The rest of the appointment passed in a haze. She was given a talk about the lump most probably being benign but it was better to be safe than sorry, a few leaflets should there be something wrong and a contact number for a councillor with support lines printed across the back, again, just in case. She left the office and some how made it to her car, where she had sat for a while. All she could think about was the possibility of cancer. She knew her breast had been a nuisance for a while what with the irritation and the pain and she had noticed the lump but it hadn't meant anything, not to her anyway. If she had had a genuine concern for her health she would have had it checked out earlier but a lump didn't mean cancer and neither did the pain.

"Shit", she thumped her head against the steering wheel, "Shit, shit, shit!"

Eva jumped when she saw Izzy crouched down, her usual dazzling smile across her face but this time she took one look at her friend and broke down.