Walking into the smoking room Carol immediately spotted her father. He wasn't an easy person to miss with his six-foot-four-inch frame. Growing up Carol had always been envious of the control that her fathers presence had in a room. Max Jordan was a Police Officer for almost 30years before a heart attack sidelined him to working as a training officer at the Police Academy. Carol weaved her way through the smoke filled room, hand tightly grasped in Tony's. Sneaking up behind her father Carol leant forward and whispered into his ear.

"Hi Dad"

The two embraced tightly, their relationship had always been close, strengthened when Carol had also joined the Police Force.

"Hiya kid"

Pulling back Max took in his daughter's appearance. "Geez Kid, I think you forgot some of your dress before you walked out of the door"

"Daaad" Carol turned to face Tony and grinned.

"Tony this is my father Max Jordan... dad this is my....this is Tony"

No matter how many times she introduced him Carol was still not sure as to what label she should put on their relationship. Friend, partner, collegue; the line was more than blurred with all of those categories. Carol moved back to stand beside Tony as the men shook hands.

"So Tony, how hard did my daughter twist your arm to get you to come to this thing?"

The older man offered a knowing grin as Tony glanced sideways at Carol. "I wouldn't say twisted sir; I think grabbed and dragged would be a better explanation"

The men's laughter was cut short when Carol punched them both in the arms. "If you two are going to make fun of me I'll go find the women and have them come in here and teach you a lesson." Of course the laughter stopped immediately.

"So dad what's the deal with this one? Animal, mineral or vegetable?"

"From what your mother told me this event is in honour of the Women's Society's Cancer fund...or something like that, last week it was fibromyalgia, the week before diabetes... every week it's something new, after a while they all kind of mingle in together. Speaking of your mother where is she? I haven't seen her since Patty Lamely dragged her off complaining about a disaster with the table lining or something dramatic like that."

"Last we saw she was off to mingle with the booster club"

After a further ten minutes of frivolous chatter the bells rang signalling that dinner was about to be served. The conversation around that table centred on local events, gossip about who said what about whom, and about what the latest stock market figures were doing. Carol and Tony had never felt more out of place than what they did at that very moment. They offered simple opinions keeping the chatter flowing, but not offering any real insights to what colour looked best in the dining room. It was after the clearing of the plates that the women mentioned earlier Patty Lamely turned the conversation to the couple.

"So I'm ever so curious as to how the both of you met?"

The pair glanced at each other and winced, the memories of the first time they met where filled with pain and embarrassment. However they knew they would have to offer and answer in order for the women to be satisfied.

"We met at work" Carol offered the short response, hoping that from the tone she used the older woman would not ask any further questions. Unfortunately she hoped in vain.

"Oh how sweet an office romance." Clearly the woman had no idea what the pair did for a living. "So tell me, exactly what happened... what it a chance meeting at the water cooler, like they have in the movies"

Sensing him tense beside her Carol reached her hand under the table and grasped Tony's thigh. It had been a silent agreement between them years ago to not talk about the few weeks in which their first meetings took place, but it was clearly time to say something that would get the subject changed." Leaving her hand on Tony's thigh Carol turned to Patty.

"Actually Mrs Lamely, Tony and I met over a case. You see I'm a senior detective at Bradfield CID, and Tony's a psychologist. I contacted him after we found the fourth victim of a serial killer who liked to castrate and burn men because he wasn't allowed to have a sex-change operation to turn him into a woman. I asked Tony to offer his expertise to help steer our investigation in the right direction." As soon as she had said the word castration the table fell silent, no-one knowing what to say to Carol's outburst. Within minutes the man sitting to Carol's left broke the tension.

"So did anyone catch the Chelsea V United game the other night?"

The talk of football and who was a better player continued but with Carol not uttering another word. A slight nudge with his knee brought her attention back to Tony.

"You okay?"

Carol grabbed her wine glass in one hand, Tony's hand in the other and led him away from the table to the patio on the side of the room.

"Carol?"

"Sorry Tony... I didn't mean to say that, I just.... well I don't know why I did it to be honest" Tony wrapped his arm around Carol's shoulder, offering his silent support.

Ten minutes later they headed back towards the table, overhearing the last strings of conversation. "Really Marie, I thought after all this time away she would have learned some sort of social skills. Clearly she's just as troubled now as she was before, if not more so. I don't know how you can stand it."

Max cleared his throat signalling to the table of his daughters return. Standing he pulled out Carols chair and waited until she was seated before returning to his own seat. "So Tony tell me are you a football or cricket man?" Tony answered, all the while curious as to what the other woman meant when she referred to Carol being 'troubled' in the past.