Hello and welcome back to another instalment of 'Keeping it in the Family?'. Thank you so much for the fantastic response to the last chapter, and to Iaveina, cid girl, talkingtothesky, Innogen, RixxiSpooks and losttimelady for taking the time to review and give any pointers! I really do appreciate feedback, even if it's just to say you liked this chapter or you'd like to see anything happen. I'm sorry that this chapter is a little shorter than the rest and that it's a day late being posted - I was trying to sort my new laptop out and it took me nearly forever last night.
Anyway, onto Chapter 5...
He came round slowly, blinking as if his eyes were pressed together by staples; he just wanted to keep them shut. He lay there, motionless, listening to the buzz of mixed voices around him. What he thought were cars screeching, tills dinging, whispers surrounding him. With one almightily blink, his eyes budged open, his vision fuzzy. He tried to figure out exactly where he was, what he was meant to be doing.
He stretched his limbs, lying flat on his back as his eye lids fell abruptly into each other, a car wreck.
"Sam, are you ok?"
"M-mum?" he stumbled over his speech, his eyes flickering faintly.
"No, try again." the woman tittered in disappointment. Maybe he was in a worse condition than she'd expected?
"An-nie?" he mumbled, his palms wavering over the cold tiles. He felt them slip and slide, off balance like the rest of him until they rebounded away from the grease beneath his finger tips.
"And again."
He could hear the dissatisfaction heavily cloud her voice now. His eyes traced the light, still half shut and still unrecognising his current whereabouts. As he tried to open them once again, he felt a hand slither across his chest, catching his stripped shirt buttons as chipped, painted nails collided with his lightly hairy chest.
He urged his legs to bend upwards, trying to drag himself up. His body just felt too uncomfortable but oddly relaxed to be bothered though.
A door slammed open and then back shut as his eyes snapped open, recognising the male voice that towered grimly over him.
"Isn't 'e awake yet?"
One eye broke away from his dizzy state, trying to become accustomed to the dull yellow light that fell across him. "Kinda," he mumbled quite incoherently.
Gene stamped his feet, his lips curling in anger. "Come on Gladys's, you shouldn't be knocked out after a little tap like that!"
The girl beside him gave her Father a disapproving look; she wasn't quite used to his unique brand of sarcasm. She narrowed her eyes venomously. "Come on, DI Tyler; let's get you up, hmmm?"
He felt her tender hands gently grasp his left arm, his own hand pressing against the ground. He managed to get upright, still sat precariously on the filthy floor. He opened his eyes to find that it was Casey beside him as he felt her hands stroke his back, petting him as if he were a stray puppy.
Sam leant forward, his head pressed against his now tarnished hands as he tried to remember just how he'd ended up on laying out on of the floor in one of Manchester's many greasy spoon cafes.
As his fingers massaged his now beaten face, he felt a warm, sticky liquid trail across them. Although the bleeding was light, it was still enough to make him feel a little woozy. That and the sudden impact of a right hand.
"What happened?" he quizzed, his voice muffled as he tried to recollect the events with hands stuffed in his face.
"A bastard knocked you out." DCI Hunt remembered, his hands on his hips, as he spied the window to see if the thugs would dare return.
His fingers shuffled across his cheeks, spreading them out to make small gaps whilst reacquainting himself with his surroundings.
"Let me take a look at your eye." Casey half enquired, half subtly told, twisting Sam's neck as harmlessly as she could. She traced the fresh scar with her smooth finger tips. "It's not too deep," she stated thoughtfully. "I don't think you'll need stitches, nowt like that. Just a plaster."
Her hands stalked his jaw line as she smiled politely yet timidly towards him. Her new boss mimicked her, not quite as cosily as she may have liked.
Gene sighed aggressively; he'd got no time for all of this niceness. "Come on, Dorothy, we've got crimes to be solving," he yelled, his rough hands hoisting his Inspector to his feet.
Sam teetered a little, Gene now holding him up with his forearms draped firmly against his chest and back. He took a brief glance at his officer's scarred face, snarling openly. "Huh, I've seen me missus do worse than that wiv 'er rolling pin! Come on, beer o'clock, Tyler. See you tomorrow morning, bright and early WPC Carlisle."
Sam gave Casey a hazy wave as Gene supported him back to the Cortina. The Inspector leant against the metal of the motor, cooling his now aching head.
The Gov clasped his hands together, resting them on the roof. "You know, you didn't do too badly considering it's your first day back."
Sam braved brightness of the dipping sun and peered over to his Chief. "Really?"
"Yeah - you got a pain in the arse and a black eye!" he remarked, clambering back inside the car.
Sam snorted, recognising the pain in the arse Gene was talking about. "I guess she's keeping it in the family, then?"
The journey to the Railway Arms was barely five minutes long, a certain relief for them both. Gene was desperate to get another malt down him with Sam needing something to shift his stiffly aching head into a much warmer state of headache; a hangover.
They walked in, shoulder to shoulder, recognising the rest of the team already gathered at the bar, flicking through a newspaper. In all truth, there hadn't been that much going on in the town recently; after the catching of Mike Smith and Frank Morgan, there wasn't too much that any of the town's regular criminals would dare to do. They knew the Police Force was on red hot alert.
Slamming his fists down against the wooden bar, Nelson and the rest of Manchester's A Division turned to spy both superior officers.
"Right Nelson, two doubles please one for meself and me DI, 'ere who's in cloud cuckoo land."
Annie, up and till that point, hadn't noticed Sam's injury; she was sat on the opposite side to his bruise, flirtatiously sipping her drink; she preferred it when he was the one to come over to her. It was just so much sweeter than her bounding over to him.
"Sam!" she cried, rushing over after hearing the Gov's words. "Are you ok? What 'appened?"
"Some bastard clocked 'im in the face when he was trying to be the Good Samaritan." Gene interjected, taking a vast gulp of his Whisky.
Annie cupped Sam's face between her hands, massaging the area around the slightly swallow skin. He flinched every time she approached the graze, prompting her to ask the barman for a bag of ice.
"Come on," she urged, patting a stool at the far end of the bar for him to perch on. The other men in attendance rolled their eyes, some a little jealous not to be receiving the same kind of affection from such a naturally pretty lady.
Nelson handed DC Cartwright the small clear bag with as much ice as it could handle. She jogged it from left to right, trying to even the contents out before pressing it firmly but as painlessly as possible against her boyfriend's face. She let him continue to take short but regular sips of his drink, hoping the alcohol would ease some of the pain in his face.
DS Carling decided to inspect Annie's assets as she tended to the sick. He leered excessively at her arse, a little disappointed when Gene turned to talk to the plonk.
"Nice work, love. Keep it up!"
Sam flinched a little, not really embracing the attention given to him. "I'm fine, honestly," He declared, holding his hands up as a sign for Annie to stop her fussing.
"Rubbish!" she retorted, not aggressively just with concern. "Who knows what it could 'ave done to your brain if 'e punched 'ard enough to knock you out?"
"Not a lot." Ray twitched his bushy eyebrows, taking a quick drag on his fag.
Annie offered DS Carling a stern glare, returning her attention back to Sam. "Are you sure?"
"Positive." he confirmed, sighing in slight exasperation; his first day back had taken more energy from him than he could have imagined.
"Yeah well, could 'ave been worse," Gene reckoned, mulling of his words. "He could 'ave kicked the crap out of our new recruit. Now that would have been a tragedy, huh?"
The unsuspecting coppers raised an eyebrow. Sam didn't but he did dislike the Gov's directly harsh sarcasm towards his own flesh and blood. No matter what had happened before with him and her Mum, Sam just didn't feel comfortable with the way Gene chose to talk about her.
"What, is someone joining us?" DC Cartwright asked, slightly taken aback.
Gene nodded. "Yep. Starting tomorrow."
"It 'ad better be a bird." DC Skelton chirped.
Ray's eyes became largely animated. "Yeah! One with 'uge tits and a good arse!"
Sam could see Gene seethe, the DCI fearing this kind of thing would happen. His face turning redder, Gene slammed his tumbler down on the bar, Nelson cautiously obliging him with another double.
"Yes, our new colleague is a lady." DI Tyler confirmed, taking the bag of ice from Annie.
"Oh yes!" Chris and Ray cheered simultaneously, high fiving. Their grins were huge, lighting up the room as if they were Aurora Borealis!
"That doesn't mean you can go about wanting to get yer spade in 'er bucket as if it was sex on the beach!" Gene told firmly. He could feel himself ready to explode.
'Must remain cool.' he urged himself, amicably pinching a cigarette from Ray's packet.
"Ease up, ay Gov?" Carling spoke, slightly taken back by Hunts sudden outburst.
"Yeah, Gene." Sam agreed, his eyes stern as they locked with the Govs.
The Governor didn't directly respond. Instead, he became fascinated with his cigarette, admiring the flame flicker between drags.
It was then and there that Sam released how much Gene dreaded anyone knowing about Casey being his love child. Whilst it was perhaps unclear as to whether he truly loved her or not, it was clear that he wanted to protect her as if she was going to be targeted by a bunch of muggers at the station.
Yet, Sam also knew that Gene had to keep his anger in check; Sam was sworn to secrecy so it was only right that Gene kept it just as quiet. Tyler knew it would be difficult for him to ignore some of the looks Casey was bound to get from some of their co-workers. She was an obviously attractive young woman, vulnerable because she did appear a lot older than she was.
Deciding that he'd had enough of staring at Gene's solemnly hard face, Sam slung back the remainder of his drink, standing a little unsteady on his feet.
"I'm heading home." he announced, lacing a gentle yet secure arm against his girlfriends cuddly body.
"What, already?" she questioned, gazing lovingly into his eyes.
"Come on Gladys, even you can 'ack it longer than 'alf eight!"
"No. I've got a busy day tomorrow." Sam snidely replied, reminding Gene of their new colleague.
With the Govs low growling swarming in his ear, Sam - as well as Annie - bid fair well to the rest of the pub.
Yet, in spite of the short but pleasurable journey home, complete with hand holding and a couple of simply calm kisses, Sam was fully unaware that his evening was about to take a drastic turn for the worse...
To be continued...
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