Jo lay in Stu's arms, and idly stroked the back of his neck with her knuckles. They lay huddled together, reluctant to let go. The emotions of their lovemaking hadn't quite caught up with the physical reality. Jo rested her chin on the top of his head, as his lips nuzzled her neck. His arms wrapped firmly around her waist, his full length pressed against her body. He felt solid, heavy and very masculine, something Jo had never imagined she would want to experience. Yet she had given herself willingly, and he had held nothing back.

His dreams had come true...... he couldn't let go...... because he didn't want to lose the feeling. Stu ignored the pain of their combined weights pressing his burnt arm into the mattress and concentrated on holding Jo as close as he could get her. Perhaps he could freeze frame this into his memory so deeply it would be with him always. It was a moment of revelation for both of them, a hallelujah.... the revelation which showed him what he really wanted, and that was Jo by his side for the rest of their lives..... having lived the dream he wanted it forever...... and if he couldn't have that, he wanted whatever Jo was willing to give.

Sun Hill was a different world. Reluctantly he thought about what he'd promised his senior officer. They had been out of touch for almost thirty six hours and he needed to do something about that.

"I have to call Neil." he muttered, though that meant getting up, and he was certain he didn't want to do that.

"You do."

"You don't have to agree with me."

"I know. But we have to face facts."

He closed his eyes and nuzzled her neck again, facts were things he didn't want to have to face. He wanted to stay like this forever, cuddled up to the one woman who held his heart gently in her hands and didn't crush it. Jo pressed her lips to his forehead, "Stu," she whispered "we have to move." He made a negative noise and burrowed down, his cheek resting against her shoulder, his face buried in the side of her neck..... "Now"

He made another negative noise, he was warm and comfortable, the pain in his arm had settled down to a steady throb and the thought of moving from the little slice of heaven he had found for himself was really too much.

Jo sighed. She really didn't fancy moving herself, it felt surprisingly good to be cuddled up to Stu, she didn't want to let go either.

Another half hour Stu processed that thought, and snuggled even closer with a contented sigh. Just the act of getting up was going to be too much. Vaguely he wondered if he could successfully fake some dreaded lurgy so that he could stay in bed like this forever. He relaxed and let himself drift.

Jo lay still, her arms around his neck, listening to him breathe....... until she realised that he was snoring. "Stu......" she cautiously poked him, "oh no you don't..." she poked him a little harder, he twitched slightly, like a horse getting rid of a fly. She sighed. Short of being really rough with him, she had little chance of waking him. Given the experience he had been through, the evidence of which was still all over his body, she let him sleep. She eased backwards carefully, "that's all right, you stay there...... I'll ring Neil." He grunted slightly as she pulled free, and then settled into the warm space she had left. A smile on his face.

She tucked the covers around him, and bent to drop a kiss on his head. And sighed. Give Stu an inch, he takes a mile. She slipped quietly from the room and went in search of the phone.

Neil Manson put the phone down and stared at it for a moment. Jo and Stuart were safe for the time being. Which helped. But CID were no closer to catching the two women, than when this all started. No clues, no leads, they appeared to be able to appear and disappear at will. He hoped and prayed that they would get a break soon, before anyone else got hurt.

Jo loaded up the lunch tray and headed back to the bedroom. Stu was lying almost exactly where she had left him, cuddled into the warm space that she had vacated, fast asleep, still with a smile on his face. She parked the tray on the bedside table, and slid back into bed next to him. He looked so peaceful and relaxed, she was almost loathe to wake him.

"Stu...." she shook him gently....... he made a quiet grumbly noise and shifted slightly.

This called for something a little sneakier. She put the tray down on the bedside table, and lifted the covers, sliding back into bed next to him. His inbuilt Jo radar made him snuggle closer. Jo picked up the sandwich, home made bread, lovely fresh ingredients, she sniffed appreciatively, it smelt really good. As he burrowed in next to her, she waved the sandwich just under his nose.

Stu was certain he could smell food, and his stomach was rumbling at the thought. He peeled open an eyelid and focussed on the sandwich being wafted around, his brain processed the aroma of home made bread and he opened his eyes and made a grab for the sandwich. It was whisked just out of his reach, a hair's breadth before his fingers closed over it. "Sit up." Jo was looking at him with that fierce look again.

He made a grouchy noise, and levered himself up into a sitting position. Rubbed an eye with the heel of his hand and blinked a few times. "I've got to call Neil."

"I did that already." She handed him a sandwich and he demolished half of it in one bite, and eased back down again on his side, and pulled Jo closer.

"So we don't have anything else to do today..."

Jo pursed her lips slightly at the suggestive gleam in his eyes. Unlikely lovers they now were, but that smelt a little like taking her for granted, and she wasn't having that. He grinned, and lay back, nibbling at the remains of the sandwich in his hand, the look in his eyes indiscreet. Jo huffed a little, Stuart in a teasing mood was hard to be cross with, particularly when he did that thing with his tongue......damn it... I am not going to be suckered in just because he's chosen this moment to be cute...

Stu polished off the sandwich and lay there watching her, taking in the fall of chestnut hair, the way her odd coloured eyes sparked when he teased, the smile on her face as she was amused by his teasing and trying hard not to be....

"Another sandwich...?"

He nodded, she handed it over, and this time he bit into it more slowly, savouring the contents..... at peace with the world. They were running away, but they were both safe for now, and he could pretend. He liked it like this. Safe, their own little private slice of heaven. His great aunt was on her way back to Marseilles, and they had the run of the place to themselves.

Jo settled back next to him, and pondered her next move, she wanted to get to the bottom of what had made him do what he'd done the night before. She'd seen the small faded marks on the inside of his left elbow, and she knew that he'd done it before. That was one thing that she'd never expected, that cocky, arrogant, super cool metrosexual Stuart had self harmed in the past. She wondered if that was key to the front that he showed the world.

"Stu?"

He moved down slightly, lowered his eyes. "I know" he said, "I owe you some sort of explanation for.......... that!" his eyes skittered sideways in the direction of his elbow and then past, as though he didn't want to admit it to himself.

Jo looked at him. "How did it start?" She said simply.

"I...." he looked down, away from her. "I was fourteen..... my mother had gone....." he looked up again, a confused look in his dark eyes, "and I thought..... I thought if I could...." he tailed off, the confusion and pain evident in his voice.

"You thought that if you punished yourself, somehow that would make her come back." Jo finished quietly, gently taking his hand in hers.

He looked up at her and nodded. Jo slipped an arm around his shoulders and pulled him closer. "And last night....?" she prompted tentatively.

"Last night...." he evaded her gaze again.

Jo waited.

Suddenly he turned, slid his arms around her and lifted her down onto his eye level. She looked into his anxious face, he studied hers. "Last night, I did something that I haven't done in nearly twenty years because I wanted the woman in my heart so badly.......and I thought there was no way she could or would ever want me."

Jo looked at him in wonder, and a little confusion.

"Stuart....."

"Jo....I know I've done almost everything all wrong since the day we met......"

Her breathing seemed to come to a stop.

"Stuart.....what are you trying to say?"

"I.........." he gathered her closer, they were almost nose to nose "I love you, Jo."

Jo looked into his eyes, and read between the lines. "Oh Stuart." She wrapped her arms around his neck, as he captured her lips with his.