It's not an exaggeration to say she's certain she's had more sex in the last month than she ever has. It would also be accurate to say she's never, ever had sex as good as it is with him. She always did have a feeling they would be compatible in that respect, it was a given, really, considering that sometimes he only has to look at her and she feels like climbing into his lap and screwing the living daylights out of him. She blushes slightly at the thought and glances up and over at him, relieved to see him still engrossed in the report he's typing and oblivious to her musings.

If their newly discovered sex life hasn't come as too much of a surprise, everything else really has. All of the changes he's slowly revealed to her over the last year seem to have amplified under the microscope of the shift in their relationship, and she finds herself revelling in it. He's sweeter than she ever imagined, he's attentive, and his romantic side is quite something to behold. He likes to hold her hand, he buys flowers, he kisses her goodbye, kisses her hello, and she catches him gazing at her with unashamed adoration when he thinks she's not looking. She sometimes wonders, not entirely seriously, if she should have just thrown herself at him the week they met, even though she knows she was more inclined to slap him than kiss him back then. She doubts it would have changed the way they work, they still disagree, probably always will. Their methods are so different, their personalities too, in so many ways, and she's fine with that, it gives them the spark that makes them such a successful team.

She's meeting Angela for a drink after work, a catch up, and a thank you too, if she's honest, for giving her the nudge she perhaps needed. Dempsey is going to join them a little later and take her to dinner. For a man who seemingly exists on such horrors as hot dogs and stale crisps he actually has a boundless appreciation for good restaurants, and she's realising there's something strangely sexy about watching him attack a great steak with his inimitable gusto.

"Earth to Sergeant Makepeace…" His voice cuts into her thoughts and when she looks up at him, there's an amused expression on his face. "You were miles away there, princess. Another few seconds and I was going to start rolling up balls of paper and throwing them at you."

"Am I to take this to mean you've finished your report?" She raises an eyebrow, smiling when he waves the typed pages at her.

"Our report, that I seem to have delivered with no help from my partner." He smirks at her as he makes his point.

"Well, you are always insisting you type so much faster than me." She gives him a deliberately sweet smile and finds herself unable to tear her gaze from his. "Unless it blames aliens from outer space for the slight screw up in the time it took us to make the arrest then I'll sign it and we're done."

"Glad I rewrote that part then." He slides it across the desk to her and she glances over it, briefly, but paying enough attention to see that it covers what it needs to. If Spikings wants more he's going to have to wait until Monday.

"Take it in there to him and then we'll make a break for it." She looks around the room, where a few members of the team are still working, and Chas is putting his jacket on to leave for the evening. "You need to go back to your place so you can pick up some things for the weekend. Assuming you don't particularly want to spend the weekend at home? Your home, that is..."

"Home is wherever you are, honeybunch." He grins and she rolls her eyes as she hands the report back to him.

"Alright, sweet talker." Their fingers brush as he takes the report out of her hand and she smiles at the touch. "Go and deliver your wonderful report and we'll get out of here."

When she arrives at the pub Angela is already there and a glass of wine is waiting for her, along with an expectant look on her friend's face.

"Sorry, you haven't been waiting for ages, have you?" She hugs Angela and sits down opposite her. "We didn't quite get away from work as early as I hoped and then I needed to get changed. And of course then I was ready but he wasn't-"

"It's fine, Harry." Angela smiles at her. "I just sat down with these drinks not more than two minutes ago."

"How are you?" She takes a sip of wine and relaxes. "It feels like we haven't seen each other in so long."

"Never mind me, I'm not the one with all manner of excitement in her life since we last saw each other." She feels herself blushing slightly which, considering she's not a teenager any more, is ludicrous. "How are you? And how's your lovely Lieutenant? Is he still picking you up for dinner? He'll join us for one drink before he whisks you away, won't he?"

"I'll start with just one of those questions, shall I?" She smiles at Angela's enthusiasm, knowing it's because she sensed something different from her when it came to Dempsey, and she's naturally curious. "I'm fine, thank you, and you can ask him yourself when he gets here but I'm almost positive my lovely Lieutenant, as you referred to him, is very well too."

"Oh, I'm sure he is." Angela smirks at her and pauses to take a drink. "You, I have to say, look happier than I've ever seen you. You're glowing, Harry. Happiness rather suits you. I'm guessing things are going well?"

"They are, yes, he's…well, yes, things are definitely going well." She thinks about the night at Stringfellow's, about Angela's advice, and she wonders if she would have found the nerve without it.

"I'm going to need details. I was the one who helped this beautiful love affair on its way, after all." Angela smirks and she does have something of a point. "You really need to tell me all the juiciest parts before he gets here, so...how are things in the bedroom, darling?"

"Now how did I know that would be your first question? I'm not going to give you all the details, but I will say…" Glancing quickly around at the neighbouring tables, she takes another mouthful of her wine before answering. "Quite frankly, I'm having the best sex of my life."

"Well, bloody hell." She doubts Angela is particularly surprised by that, but she may be surprised by how readily she shared it. "Good for you, Harry."

"Oh it's very good for me. He's just so...well he's good at all of it, I've never felt like this with anyone else. It's like he…" She thinks about it, how it was good right from the first time and just keeps getting better. "It's like he always just knows what I need, every time."

"I'm almost sorry I asked, it's making me rather envious." Angela grins and she knows she's not serious. "Are you actually going out to dinner tonight or are you just going home to bed?"

"No, we are actually going out." She smiles behind her glass, knowing that Angela is quite right though about how their evening will end.

"I can't quite believe I'm the one moving this conversation on from your ridiculously fabulous sex life, but I'm about to…" Angela grins again, clearly enjoying every minute of her interrogation. "Apart from the non-stop shagging, how is it? Has it made things tricky at work?"

"Well I did have to put a 'no sex at work' rule in place...just in case." She returns Angela's grin. "Seriously though, it really hasn't changed much at all, thankfully. He still drives me mad sometimes, I still have to stop him charging into things without thinking, and we still argue over almost everything, but I...it's good. It's really good."

"It sounds to me like I really ought to start thinking about my wedding outfit." Angela takes a sip of wine but keeps her eyes on her from across the table, no doubt trying to gauge her reaction, probably waiting for a panicked response, one she's not going to get. "Just make sure you do it in the summer, Harry, so there's marginally less chance of us all having to turn up in coats and wellies."

"I'll certainly bear that in mind." She picks up her glass and watches as Angela's eyebrows raise, clearly caught out by her complete lack of denial. "I have a feeling he wouldn't show up anyway if it were to rain."

"Oh please, by the sounds of things, I think he'd show up even if he had to crawl over broken glass." Angela rolls her eyes and she knows she's probably right. Not that she really even knows for sure that he ever wants to get married, it could be his absolute worst nightmare, for all she knows.

"Anyway, I would suggest you don't waste too much time worrying about what to wear at a wedding that isn't even in the offing." Briefly she thinks about her wedding day and the sinking feeling that followed almost immediately, the polar opposite of how a new bride is supposed to feel.

"Yet, Harry." Angela really doesn't want to drop the subject, it seems. "Isn't in the offing yet. I would put good money on you showing up here one evening no more than a year from now with a lovely big ring on that left hand of yours."

"Well, I suggest you save your money, Angela, I wasn't exactly very good at being married when I did try it." She shrugs and reaches for her glass, not missing the look in Angela's eyes, the look that appears whenever the subject of her disastrous marriage comes up.

"You would have been perfectly good at marriage had your bloody husband bothered to remember that being faithful is actually quite an important element." She knows how Angela feels, how she's always felt, and she respects her for being the only person who actually raised her concerns before she got married instead of joining the queue of people who couldn't wait to tell her afterwards that they never had thought it would work. Angela had pulled her aside three days before the wedding and told her she didn't have to go through with it if she didn't want to. She wished for so long that she'd listened to her. "Not that he ever deserved you anyway. He should have been counting his blessings every day. Arsehole."

"I don't suppose he had much time to spend counting his blessings. Far too busy shagging Susannah in my bed." Thinking about it doesn't upset her now, doesn't even send the tiniest ripple of anger through her anymore. She can see now that if that's how little he thought of her, of their marriage, then it was never going to work. What she feels now is relief. Relief that she found out so soon, that it didn't drag on for years with her never knowing he'd been cheating almost since day one.

"Now he absolutely deserves her." Angela shakes her head. She never made any secret of the fact she didn't particularly like Susannah either, with good reason as it turned out. "Anyway, your lovely Lieutenant is different, I just know it. And you've never had that look in your eyes when you've talked about anyone before, just so you know."

"Are you just going to refer to him as my lovely Lieutenant from now on even though he has an actual name?" She smiles because, actually, it is quite sweet. He is her Lieutenant and he is rather lovely.

"Count yourself lucky I'm not referring to him as your private dick, darling." She laughs because Angela's right, she absolutely could have decided that was his new nickname and there would have been no changing her mind.

"Fine, I'll never complain about you calling him my lovely Lieutenant again." She smiles and again thinks of that night in Stringfellow's and then about Angela's advice the next day. "Thank you, for giving me the little push I perhaps needed."

"Oh, I think you would have got there eventually." Angela finishes her wine and grins across the table at her. "Just make sure I'm your maid of honour and godmother to your firstborn, that should be thanks enough. God, the two of you are going to have the most beautiful babies, I mean-"

"Alright, that's enough. I'm going to get us another drink." She heads for the bar, her head spinning from Angela's complete certainty that she and Dempsey are destined for forever, her stomach fluttering slightly at the thought.

Thankfully they've moved onto topics that aren't Dempsey themed when he walks in. She sees him before he spots where they're sitting and she takes a moment to cast an admiring glance over him, not caring that he's probably going to catch her red-handed. His eyes land on hers and when he smiles she feels a now familiar bloom of something in her chest that she recognises as happiness, quite simply.

"Hey…" He reaches their table and leans in to kiss her like he hasn't seen her in weeks when he actually dropped her off less than two hours ago.

"Hi…" She smiles at him and runs her thumb across his lips, wiping off a trace of lip gloss. "You remember Angela?"

"Sure do." He turns to Angela and smiles. "It's good to see you again."

"You too." Angela is essentially beaming at him, and there's complete and utter approval written all over her face.

"I'll get some drinks." He slides his hand onto hers on the table and looks at their wine glasses. "White wine?"

"Perfect, thanks." Angela is still smiling, looking like she can't wait for him to disappear to the bar so she can say something.

"Same for you, princess?" He looks to her and she nods, smiling at him as he squeezes her hand before walking away.

"Oh Harry." Angela watches Dempsey as he heads to the bar. "If you do ever get bored with him…I'm joking, obviously."

"I should bloody well hope so." She rolls her eyes, knowing Angela wasn't serious, knowing too that Dempsey, frequently the most unpredictable man on earth, is going to be impossible to get bored with. "I've already had one husband run off with one of my friends. Once is unfortunate, twice would be my cue to give up on love forever."

"He's going nowhere, darling." The smirk on Angela's face refuses to leave. "I'd put money on that."

"You seem to be committing quite a lot of money to being right about my love life, do you know that?" She grins at her friend and shakes her head.

"You know me, Harry, I'm all for a gamble when it's clear I'm going to win." Angela glances up at where Dempsey is on his way back from the bar, drinks in hand. "And here comes your lovely Lieutenant now."

Dempsey is at his most charming, not that he needs to be. It's clear Angela thinks he's the best thing ever to have happened to her, and she may not be too far from the truth. Angela is her most discerning friend, her most blunt too, and if she doesn't like someone it's written all over her face well before she has to say a word. She stops short of asking Dempsey what his intentions are, like she's a wealthy nineteenth century landowner trying to marry off his last remaining daughter, probably only because she believes she already knows what his intentions are. Before they leave, Angela excuses herself to head to the ladies and Dempsey turns to her.

"So, does she think I'm the worst idea you've ever had?" There's a clear hint of uncertainty in his voice and it surprises her. "Are you about to tell me this was the biggest mistake you've ever made and run screaming from the room?"

"If you're fishing for compliments, Dempsey, you really don't need to." She rolls her eyes, but only slightly because she thinks there may be a tiny part of him that wonders if that really is the case. "She keeps referring to you as my lovely Lieutenant. You've nothing to worry about, I think she loves you almost as much as I do."

"Well..." She realises what she just said but he doesn't look like he's panicking so she holds her nerve and ignores her back-pedalling reflex as it tries to kick in. "When we eventually make it to New York for a visit I'm not letting my buddies anywhere near you because I know they're going to love you almost as much as I do."

"You can let them as near as you like. I already have my American, thank you." She grabs his hand and squeezes it. "He's my lovely Lieutenant, big tough guy on the outside but completely squishy on the inside."

"Squishy?" He looks suitably horrified and she laughs. "Oh, Harry, my poor reputation."

"Take me to dinner and let me eat half of your chocolate cake and I promise I won't tell a soul." She leans in to kiss him, unable to resist trying to wipe the look of horror from his face.

"Let me get the chocolate cake to take home for us to eat in bed and you might have yourself a deal." Her hand squeezes his again as she thinks about that delightful visual.

"Dempsey…" She's aware that she's almost purring at him but the thought of them naked in bed with chocolate cake is proving almost too much. "Now you have me questioning if we even need dinner at all."

"Oh, we need dinner, honey. We definitely need dinner." He grins and she leans in to kiss him again. It's ridiculous really, just how much she loves to kiss him now that the floodgates are open and she's free to.

"Good lord, Harry, do you ever put him down?" Angela's voice cuts in and when she turns there's a smirk on her friend's face.

"All day at work, actually." She feels his arm slide around her waist and his fingers curl into her side. "So we have lots of time to make up for in the evenings."

"Well, far be it from me to take up any more of your precious smooching hours." Angela picks up her jacket and smiles at them both. "I have to go anyway, it was lovely to see you, Harry, don't leave it so long next time. And it was lovely to see you too, of course, Lieutenant."

"She's not going to call me Lieutenant every time we see her, is she?" He looks vaguely amused by it and it makes her laugh.

"I couldn't say for certain but it really wouldn't surprise me." She stands up and tugs on his hand. "Let's go and have dinner."

"I get it…" He stands too and pulls her closer, leaning down, his mouth brushing her ear. "You're in a hurry because you want to get home so I can eat chocolate cake off your naked body, aren't you?"

"I don't recall you mentioning that vital detail earlier." She pulls back and looks up at him, smiling. "But now that I know that's the plan then yes, that's exactly why I'm in a hurry."

"Let's go, baby." He starts to lead her towards the door and she starts to wonder if she has whipped cream at home. "The sooner we eat, the sooner we...eat."

She knows somewhere deep down that Angela is right, that they would have got here eventually, but she knows too how stubborn they both are, and how the risk of ruining a partnership that had taken such effort and perseverance to build could have seen them waiting too long for fear of bringing it crashing down around them. She wonders if he would have made the move had she not, an actual move, not the flirting and innuendo he's been throwing at her since they met, and she wonders if Angela might just be right about everything else too. Maid of honour, godmother...well, she won't think about that just yet but she will bear in mind that nobody wants to wear wellies to a wedding.