The relief made their way to the pub after their shift finished. Alex was heading down with Gina and Smithy. Her sister Liz was joining them after having a tough day in court.
"Well Lizzie you were the one who chose to be a CPS Lawyer. Although, at least you work for the prosecution and not the defence; I really would dis-own you then." Alex laughed. She loved her younger sister and loved winding her up even more.
When they walked in, everyone was already sat around a couple of the tables.
"I'll get the first round in. What's everyone having?" Smithy asked the three women.
"I'll have a gin and tonic please." Gina said first.
"Mines a pint. Thank you Smithy." Alex ordered.
Liz smiled at her older sister. Alex enjoyed being one of the "Lads". It didn't matter how hard he tried, Smithy couldn't out drink Alex. Every time he tried, Alex managed to match him drink for drink.
"I'll just have an orange juice please." Liz asked.
"Wimp. Are you not having something a little stronger?" Alex mocked.
"No, I'm not. For the simple reason, that I am not an alcoholic; unlike some people." Liz retaliated.
"I don't know what you're talking 'bout." Alex replied. Both sisters burst out laughing and Gina just rolled her eyes.
After an hour of drinking and banter, Alex challenged Smithy to that game of pool he had promised.
"Come on then. Your unbroken record is about to be broken." Smithy said as he got up out of his seat.
Everyone walked over to the pool table to watch them play. Smithy set the balls on the table and lined up the white ball. He stepped aside to let Alex in.
"Go on, ladies first." He said.
Alex took her first shot. She potted two balls at first; then a third and then a fourth. Smithy looked on in horror as she potted one more each time. Finally she missed a shot, not before almost clearing the table single handedly. Alex gave Smithy a cocky look.
"Go on then Sergeant Smith, your turn." Alex said.
"You just got lucky that's all. Now you're about to see some real skill." Smithy replied as he took his first shot.
"You know you two are worse than a couple of kids." Gina said.
Smithy didn't do too badly. He had managed to pot a few balls before he missed. He was fairly impressed with himself.
Alex then took her next few shots and potted her remaining balls. She looked at Smithy with a smirk and held out her hand.
"Come on then, Fifty pounds I think it was." Alex said mischievously.
Everyone looked on with a smirk as Smithy reached out his wallet and handed Alex fifty pounds.
After the relief went back to their seats or sat around the bar, Smithy walked up to Alex. He was very impressed at how well she could play pool.
"How come you learned to play like that?" He asked as he helped her tidy away the pool table.
"My big brother Jamie taught me, Liz and Cameron how to play before he died. We used to have a pool table in the garage at home so we used to spend hours playing. He was generally good at everything he touched." Alex explained.
"Sorry Alex, I didn't realize you had an older brother. What happened to him? That is, if you don't mind me asking." Smithy asked.
"No I don't mind at all. We were on holiday when it happened; we used to own a little cottage somewhere in Scotland. There was a river about half a mile away from the house so we used to go swimming there nearly everyday in the summer. This particular day the four of us went down to river as usual. It was a really hot summer that year so the water was lovely. We'd been down for a couple of hours when it happened. Jamie swam out to this little island that sat in the middle of the river. We'd been racing to it all morning and I had left my sandals on the bank, so Jamie offered to get them. We were all really good swimmers but we hadn't realized that there was an under current. Jamie started to get into difficulty and wasn't strong enough to swim against the current. He went under and I tried to swim after him, but… he was gone. My mother has never been able to cope well with his death. I think it would have been better if we had found his body, but divers searched for hours without any success." Alex explained.
"Were the four of you quite close then?" Smithy asked.
"Yes we were. There isn't much of an age gap between us so we all went through the same stages at about the same time. There was only one year and six days between Jamie and myself; then there's fourteen months between myself and Liz; and then two years and three months between Cameron and me. That means there is about fifteen months between him and Liz." Alex smirked at the look on Smithy's face when she finished explaining.
"Blimey, your parents didn't waste much time, did they?" Smithy stated.
Alex just laughed and they went to rejoin the rest of the group.
It was Alexs' turn to buy the next round so she walked up to the bar. While she was waiting to be served she noticed Sam sitting nearby. Sam looked to be in a world of her own; Then Alex noticed Phil standing next to the bar, he was flirting with some young blonde. Alex walked up to Sam and sat beside her.
"You alright Sam?" Alex asked.
"Yes I'm fine, why wouldn't I be?" Sam said a little flustered. She hadn't realized that she had been staring at Phil.
Alex raised one eyebrow at her and then looked across at Phil. Sam realized that she had been caught out.
"Feeling a little jealous are we?" Alex asked.
"No of course not. I was the one who ended it with him, so he is more than within his rights to want to see someone else." Sam said.
"Tell me to mind my own business if you want Sam, but why did you end things with him?" Alex asked. Sam knew that Alex wasn't trying to pry so she opened up to the younger woman.
"It would have never worked between us. What Phil and I have is special, we're a really good team and I didn't want to spoil that." Sam explained as quietly as she could.
"Something I realized quite recently is that life is too short and that we only get one shot at life. Paul and I would have only been married for five years this year, yet we were together for ten. He had asked me to marry him quite early on in our relationship but I turned him down. I said no because I was scared. Paul isn't Cara's biological Dad. I had been married for a couple of years before I met Paul. My first marriage was breaking up, probably because we got married too young, but I felt like David was the love of my life. I was devastated when I found out David had been having an affair. I was scared to take a chance with Paul but I agreed to go out for a couple of drinks with him. He was really good with Cara; she was only a baby at the time. After a few months he asked me to marry him, and I turned him down because I was worried that marriage would ruin our relationship. He didn't ask me again until four or five years later. I can't help think that I should have said yes to him the first time. I wasted about five years because I was too scared to take a chance and now he's dead. Like I said Sam, life is too short to waste. If you love him, take the risk and give it a chance. If I could have my time with Paul again I would do everything differently." Alex explained. She then left Sam on her own.
Sam thought about it for a while and then walked over to where Phil was. She grabbed his arm and asked him to come outside.
"Phil… I… I love you. I wish I hadn't ended it with you. I've regretted it ever since I did it but I was scared. I've been hurt so many times; I can't be hurt again." Sam explained.
Phil didn't say anything. He just lifted Sams' chin so that she was looking at him, and then he kissed her.
Back in the pub the rest of the relief were in very good spirits. They were all having fun discussing their first arrests. They all enjoyed sharing their stories.
Finally as the night out came to an end, the officers left one by one. Alex, Liz and Gina agreed to share a cab home. Smithy lived in the opposite direction so he got another cab home.
He said goodbye to the three women and again he and Alex had a very awkward moment. Alex couldn't understand why they kept having these moments. Smithy was going kiss Alex but then thought better of it.
"Erm… I'll see you tomorrow I guess." Alex said as she quickly turned and got into the taxi.
Gina noticed the tension between the two friends. She gave Alex a look as she got into the car.
"Don't say a word…" Alex said as she glared at Gina.
Gina smirked, "I wasn't going to say a thing."
