When Sam had finally applied enough make-up to hide the thousands of tears she'd shed, she ventured into the kitchen, surprised to see Jo happily slaving over a frying pan of bacon. She felt a pang of distress as she saw Jo's cheerful expression despite their emotional discussion mere minutes ago, perhaps she did mean it when she said she didn't love her.

Jo plastered the largest smile she could onto her face, trying to relax Sam as much as possible, hoping they'd be able to continue as normal until Sam returned to Sun Hill. 'Bacon sandwich?' she offered, not turning to face the blonde for fear of tears cascading down her face once again.

'Yeah, that'd be good.'

'Great, here you are.' She turned, looking down to the floor while handing Sam the plate, their hands accidentally brushing against each other for a brief second. Jo turned back to the frying pan as quickly as she could, a tear hitting the pan as soon as she was back facing it. She wasn't sure if she was going to last however long it was Sam would be here, these little minutes when they were near each other shattering her heart.

'Y'know, I had another thought.' Jo provided, her back still to Sam, her voice strong despite the tears currently trickling down her cheeks.

'What about?'

'My father. He had an allotment with a little shed. He used to go and hide himself away in there when he needed some space, maybe he's done that again now.'

'Mmm, maybe. We can go down after this if that's okay with you?'

'Yeah, sure.'

After a painfully silent meal, the two women were back in Jo's car and parked just outside the allotment, the awkward hush that had descended on them even more evident now they couldn't hide under the pretence of intently listening to the radio.

'You don't have to come in if you don't want to. Y'know, if it's too many memories in one day.' Sam offered, thinking more about herself and not wanting this atmosphere to continue any longer than she was about Jo's feelings.

'No, it's fine, I'll come.' Jo attempted to act as normal as she could, it was evident Sam was refraining from mentioning their previous conversation so Jo decided to follow her lead in forgetting it.

'Okay.' They both climbed out of the car, walking in deathly silence to the allotment; Sam stepped back allowing Jo to unlock the shed. When the padlock dropped to the floor, Jo took the lead, walking in and switching the light on, allowing Sam to follow her.

As Sam stepped into the shed, she peered around instantly, checking for any signs of life, after not finding any she climbed further in, flicking through piles of old gardening magazines and empty beer cans.

'Anything?'

'Nope.' Sam replied, slightly defeated as they came no nearer to finding his whereabouts, 'You?' she asked, noticing Jo rifling through a pile of papers.

'Nah, just old bills and stuff. Few pay slips. Ah-ha!'

'Found something?'

'Yeah, the overdue electricity bill I've been trying to find. I've been looking everywhere for this, I thought I'd lost it.'

Sam sighed, having hoped she'd found something useful. 'Is that all.'

'Well if I don't pay it, I'm screwed, so it's quite a big deal.'

'I just thought maybe you'd found something to do with your father, that's all.'

'Oh, right, yeah, no.'

'Right, I don't think there's anything here.' Sam placed the magazines she'd been looking through back down on the table; 'Shall we go?'

'Yeah, I guess so. Back to square one then.'

'Mmm, got any other ideas?'

'Um, no, I don't think so. I don't really think I knew him that well any more, the man I knew spent his life in his allotment or at home with his wife. Not faking his own death and then killing his wife.'

'We don't know it was him Jo.' Sam attempted to comfort the brunette the best she could, but she knew deep down that nothing she could say now would make Jo any more optimistic.

'Yeah we do Sam, we do know it was him.'

'Maybe.' Sam added, not really sure of what else she could say.

The car journey back was uneventful; both women lost in their own thoughts, neither daring to break the silence that had once again descended on them.

When they returned to Jo's house, the brunette ended up searching through old photos, attempting to recover happy memories of her father. Sam retired to the room she'd come to call her own, settling down on the bed with a book, though after reading the same sentence four times, put it down. Instead, she ended up getting lost in her thoughts and recollections of her earlier encounter with Jo, and abrupt ending to an almost non-existent relationship.

Her thoughts flicked back to the tension she'd sensed in the allotment, but then again, that was hardly surprising given the circumstances. The blonde's mind kept darting back to how she'd been with Jo in the shed, she felt guilty for snapping when Jo found that bill, it was obviously important, where would they be with no electricity? Sam's attention moved to the wall for a split second, briefly noticing it needed painting before the DI snapped out of her trance. She couldn't believe it had taken her this long to realise what had been staring her in the face all along. Sitting bolt upright, she ran her fingers through her hair quickly before venturing downstairs.

When she reached the lounge she cautiously knocked on the door, Jo looking as lost in her thoughts as Sam had been earlier. When Jo looked up and beckoned her in, Sam complied, sitting next to Jo on the floor.

'You all right?'

'Yeah, just looking through some photo's, that's all. What did you want?'

'Um, have you been to the allotment shed since your father, well…' Sam stammered, not really sure what to class Jo's father's predicament as. 'Well, since he disappeared?'

'Er, no, should I have?'

'No, no, it's just… had your mother?'

'No, she refused to, too many memories, y'know?'

'Yeah, yeah, well, in that case, how did the bill get there Jo?'

'Eh?'

'If you didn't put it there, and your mother didn't, how did it get there?'

'You think… he wouldn't have. No. He couldn't… he's been in here? In this house?'

'He must have been Jo, how else did it get there?'

Jo sat silent for a few minutes; Sam seated beside her fiddling with her hair, waiting for Jo to speak.

'Do you think he'd come back?' Jo broke the atmosphere, a confused expression on her face.

'I don't know. Not when we're here though. But maybe, yeah.'

'Couldn't we get him that way?'

'What, pretend to go out and see if he falls for the bait?'

'Yeah.'

'I suppose. It's worth a try, isn't it?'

'Yeah, I suppose.' Jo responded as certainly as she could muster, not sure if she liked the idea of her suggestion.

'Okay, we try it.'

'When?'

'No time like the present, is there?'

'No, I suppose not.'

'I'll be back around 5-ish, okay?' Jo called loudly, leaning slightly around the front door she'd just exited, sticking to the agreed dialogue.

'Oh, I'm just going out myself actually,' Sam yelled from inside the house, rushing around to find her handbag, just in case he was watching them at that moment. 'I've got something to do,' she shouted, 'Won't be back until about 6, do you want me to pick up a takeaway or something?' she added as she neared the door, their planned conversation intended to sound as natural as possible.

'Yeah, that'd be good.'

'Right, okay, see you later.' Sam ended, on the doorstep herself now, kissing Jo lightly on the cheek before they both headed down the path, going opposite ways when they reached the street.

'Bye.' Jo called over her shoulder, heading in the direction of the corner shop.

'Bye.' Sam followed the route Jo had told her, rounding the corner at the end of the road before turning right and seeing Jo at the other end of the street, glad for once that the block Jo lived on meant she could walking circles.

'What now?' Jo asked as they met in the middle, staying as out of sight as possible.

'We wait. That's your house there, right?' Sam pointed out a building just slightly obscured from sight.

'Yeah, you got visual on it?'

'Not quite, give me sec…' Sam took three steps back before standing on tiptoes, 'Perfect.'

Jo tried her hardest to fight back the giggles as she watched Sam balancing the best she could on her toes, but sadly failed miserably.

'What?' Sam asked as Jo broke down into hysterics, the blonde still wobbling slightly.

'No, nothing… it's just… would you like a step or something?' Jo managed in between laughs.

'No, I'm fine thanks, well I would be if I could just… grr.' She mustered as she toppled sideways, regaining her balance just in time to stop herself falling over. 'Look, you're taller, it should be you here, not me.'

'All right, all right.' Jo took Sam's previous position, minus the tiptoes, watching the house silently, waiting for any signs of movement.

Sam sighed, shining her key torch at her wrist, illuminating her watch. 'Jo, it's half five, he's not gonna risk it now, let's call it night, I'm cold.'

'Just ten more minutes.'

'Jo, he's not coming, I'm sorry. It didn't work, we'll just have to try something else.'

'Okay.' She agreed reluctantly, turning back towards the house, 'Do you still fancy that takeaway?

'Yeah, why not, cheer us up.' Sam smiled, still struggling to act normally around the brunette she'd fallen for.

Sam flopped back onto the sofa; 'I'm stuffed.'

'Mmm, me too. You want a glass of wine?'

'Yeah, why not.'

Sam sighed as Jo left the room, the way the brunette was carrying on as normal was really hurting her, but she knew she couldn't let it affect her frame of mind if she was expected to sort out Jo's mess. Her heart felt like it had been torn out her chest, but if Jo didn't feel the same way, she knew she couldn't allow the possibility of that happening again. She accepted that maybe if Jo did feel the same way then she might be persuaded to take a risk for once, but with Jo making it perfectly obvious she didn't care, she just couldn't jeopardise her emotions.

Jo hit out at the kitchen table, she couldn't bare the atmosphere in the room with Sam, and she couldn't even work out if the blonde had noticed it, or whether it was only her feeling like her world had collapsed. She wished that Sam would take that massive risk for once, the one she feared, allowing someone into her heart, because Jo knew that if she ever made it in there, she would make damn sure she didn't muck it up. But without Sam prepared to take that leap of faith, she knew there was nothing more she could do but act normal and try to forget the kiss never happened.

'One bottle, two glasses, and I'm hoping that soon, there will be two very drunk women!' she joked, striding back into the room with the wine and glasses in hand.

'I hope so!' Sam exclaimed, taking the glasses out of Jo's hand to allow the brunette to open the bottle. As she took the glasses, their hands accidentally collided for a second, shivers running through both women at the craved contact. After a split second, Sam pulled herself out her trace, holding the glasses out ready for Jo to pour the wine into.

'Here you go.' She gave a small smile as she handed one glass back to Jo, taking a, rather large, sip from the other.

'Thanks.' Jo returned the smile, taking the glass before sitting opposite Sam in the armchair, picking up the remote to change the channel and find something to pretend to be watching before the atmosphere got any more tense, if that was at all possible. 'CSI?

'Yeah, why not.' Sam replied, grateful of something to take the focus away from the evident uneasiness between the two of them. She let out one last sigh to herself, she couldn't figure out how she'd managed to single-handedly ruin such a great friendship.