Holly Short was rudely awoken by her alarm clock. BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!

She rolled over, the digital display of the clock flashing 0615. Whilst another hour in bed greatly appeared to her, this was simply not practical; after all, as Root had always told her, criminals do not commit crime at a time suited to you. After allowing herself a pang of remembrance for her commander, Holly dragged herself out of bed.

Meanwhile, 3 miles away, Trouble woke (as always) to the sound of his brother's radio; 'You Raise Me Up' making his ears hurt. Westlife were his brother's favourites, though the same couldn't be said for him- the only human bands he liked were the ones who could actually play their instruments.

At 5 past 7, Holly walked through Police Plaza, arriving with 25 minutes to spare, 25 minutes which Foaly decided to spend 'chatting' about her and Trouble.

"Morning Holly, where's Trouble?" Foaly ducked as a floppy disk narrowly missed his head.

"Hey! That's worth a fortune-antique, a genuine Dell!" He retrieved the disk, making a mental note to store it in the Swiss account.

"How'd you know, anyway?" Holly smiled, allowing the memory of last night to wash over her.

"Oh please! I have cameras in every restaurant in Haven. I must say, that dress was stunning!

"Thanks...OI!" Foaly had begun to play the footage, the speakers were turned right up

"You look beautiful, Holly" the on-screen version of Trouble was saying.

Unfortunately, nothing more was to be seen as a second disk, this one a CD, tore the video screen.

Later, at lunch, Trouble stood in the canteen, his eyes scanning the room...there! Sat with Foaly. He walked over, aware of the assorted cat-calls and wolf whistles that would ensue.

"Hey" he slid into a seat next to Holly, who promptly dropped the cheese sandwich she had been eating.

"Hi" her face glowing, Holly quickly silenced Foaly with a swift kick under the table.

Still, he couldn't resist.

"Shall I leave you two alone, or shall I simply observe?"

About to retort, Holly felt her words escape as she read the piece of paper tossed at her earlier.

"Holly, are you OK?" Trouble saw the emotion leave her face as quickly as she then left the room.

"Oh dear," sighed Foaly.

Attention, LEP

You are formally invited to a remembrance service dedicated to the memory of Commander Julius root, who was killed a year ago by LEP Captain Holly Short.



Everyone who cared welcome to attend

20th January, 7:30 pm, Lower Elements Council ballroom

Across the bottom, someone had scrawled

BUT NOT YOU MURDERER.

Trouble ran after her.

"Holly?"

She was sat against the fire exit door, and when she turned to face him, hear face was tear-stained and red.

Trouble sat down and put his arm around her whilst she wept.