Thanks to Vikki, Becki, Ami, sn0zb0z and $pa$cene for reviewing.

Sam/Phil in this chapter as promised

Chapter 14

Half an hour later, Phil was standing in the front office, wondering how he was going to get Hendon, when Mickey appeared from somewhere behind him.

"You busy?" he asked

"A bit. Why what do you want?"

"The DCI's looking for that report you owe him. You done it?"

"I was going to last night, but Chelsea was playing." Phil said sheepishly

"I'll tell him you had a family emergency." Mickey smirked, "that should buy you another few days."

"Thanks mate."

"No problem. The second goal was great wasn't it?" Phil nodded, and noticed Sam come down the stairs.

"Phil." She beckoned him over

"I'm busy."

"You're talking about football." She sounded exasperated

"Football's important. What do you want?"

"I need to talk to you." She glanced at Mickey, hoping he would take the hint and leave

"I'd better go tell the DCI about that report" Mickey broke in, seeing the glance.
"What's the rush?" Phil asked, determined to make life hard for Sam, "He can wait another few minutes, and anything you want to say to me can be said in front of Mickey, Sam"

"Phil." She said, sounding almost like she was pleading. Phil didn't say anything, noting how uncomfortable both Sam and Mickey looked. Finally she said,

"I broke up with Stuart."

"Oh." He hadn't been expecting that, "You'd better go see the DCI, Mickey. He said, half shoving him towards the stairs.

"Want to go somewhere quieter?" he asked and she nodded. He led her into one of the empty interview rooms. She sat down in one of the vacant seats and he leant against the door

"Why?" he finally asked

"I realised that he isn't what I want"

"And what do you want?"

"I don't know." She said, looking at the wall, the floor, anywhere but Phil.

"Why did you tell me?"

"Because you're the guy I come to to complain about Stuart." she said. He nodded, remembering that conversation. He'd been so close to telling her how he felt, before Stuart had interrupted. He knew that chances were if he were to tell her now, no one would come in to spoil the moment, but something made him hold back. He'd been rejected by this woman so many times, the most recent of which was that afternoon. He didn't want to go through that again when the pain was still fresh from the last time.

"You were always on my side, even when I tried to kidnap Abi back." She said out of the blue.

"And you stopped me from abducting Madison. You're such a hypocrite" he teased.

"You always knew how to make me feel better, even when she was missing. You knew exactly what to say." She went on.

"Thanks." He mumbled, unsure where she was going with all of this.

"Why didn't you ask me out back then?" she asked, "When Abi was missing, I would have said yes."

"Because that would have been taking advantage." He said

"And you never asked me out after that either."

"I…" Phil began, about to remind her of his invite to spend New Year with him, and of that time they nearly went out, before Kate interrupted

"I know what you're thinking Phil, and those don't count." She smiled for the first time since entering the room with him.

"You never asked me out either." He reminded her.

"True. I wanted you to make the first move though."

"And then your darling Stuart turned up." Phil said, remembering how he'd felt when he'd first seen them together.

"He's out of the picture now."

"So where does that leave us?" he asked her, "I don't want to be the rebound guy."

"You aren't." she promised. Phil stood up straight, knowing it was time to make a choice. He could either tell Sam exactly how he felt or he could lose her again, perhaps this time forever. He took her hand and pulled her up from her seat.

"When I first met you. I hated you." He said, "Then I liked you, a lot. And now I think I might love you…" he waited for her reaction, still scared, despite knowing that she'd been the one to start this conversation. She smiled and quietly said,

"I think I might love you too." Phil pulled her body close to his and finally kissed her, after two years of wanting her. They were forced apart as Phil's ringtone sounded

"I'll leave it." He mumbled, leaning in to kiss her again

"Answer it. It might be important." She said

"Now that I'm dating you, am I actually going to have to do my job?" he asked in mock horror.

"Sorry, but yes." she smiled. He reached into his pocket, and saw Stuart flash on the screen of his mobile.

"It's Stuart." He said, confused

"Oh, in that case, leave it."

"He never calls me." Phil said, answering anyway

"Do you know where Sam is?" Stuart asked immediately.

"Sorry mate, haven't seen her." He lied

"We just broke up… I just wanted you to know you're welcome to her." Stuart hung up

"He said…" Phil began

"I heard." Sam interrupted

"How did he know we're together?"

"Because when we broke up, we were shouting at each other, and I sort of told him that you were better in bed than him." She said, blushing a little

"Well we all knew that anyway." He smirked, leaning down to kiss her again.

reviews are always appreciated.

BTW- 5 more chapters to go