Smithy walked into the canteen; it was time for refs. He was hoping he would see Alex. He looked around but there was no sign of her. He sighed and walked up to the counter.

"Hello Helen. Can I get a cup of tea and a sausage roll please?" Smithy asked.

"Are you alright today Smithy? Only you look like you've got a lot on your mind." Helen asked.

Helen was really nice. She was quite a tall woman in her late fifties with short, graying hair. She made it her job to mother every officer in the station; making sure they got a proper meal. She was always there for anyone who needed a chat or some motherly advice.

"I'm alright thank you Helen. I've just got a bit to think about today, but it's nothing that I can't cope with." Smithy smiled as he took his tea and snack to a table.

Smithy sat and thought about Alex and what had happened in the office. He really liked Alex. She was a really close friend and he thought a lot of her. Why had he kissed her? He had always considered her his closest friend and thought of her more as a sister. That was before; so what had changed now? Smithy thought for a minute. He realized that before, Alex had been married to Paul, now he was dead. Was that what was different?

At that moment Smithy looked up to see Alex walk into the canteen. She also saw him and walked straight back out again. Smithy got up quickly and chased after her as she walked out of the door. When Smithy got to the entrance to the canteen he was stopped by Reg.

"Oh Sarge…" Reg started to say, only to be cut off.

"Not now Reg, catch me later…" Smithy said as he tried to push past him.

"But Sarge, there's a Mrs Baxter in the front office for you. She says she wants to see you urgently." Reg finished.

Smithy sighed as he watched Alex disappear around the corner. Clearly, he wasn't going to get a chance to speak to her any time soon.

"Thanks Reg, I'll go and see her now." Smithy said as he made his way into the front office.

He was going to talk to Alex as soon as he could; tell her what he was thinking; tell her… well he wasn't sure what he was going to tell her, he just knew that it had to be said.

Alex walked round the corner away from Smithy. She couldn't face him just yet. What must he think of her? Alex really liked Smithy a lot and had a very close friendship with him. She wasn't sure if she wanted to take the risk of having a relationship with him, what if it ruined that friendship?

You are such a hypocrite Alex MacDonald. You told Sam last night to take a risk because life was too short. Now you're in the same position as she was and doing nothing about it. Alex thought bitterly to herself.

Alex had been so lost in her thoughts that she hadn't noticed Phil standing in front of her.

"Easy, don't want to crease the suit. Cost me an absolute fortune." Phil said as he straightened himself up.

"Don't know why, you could have got a nicer one from Marks and Spencer's a hell of a lot cheaper." Alex mocked.

Phil just glared at her as he straightened his collar.

"Well, since I've got you here; the interpreter arrived about half an hour ago. She's in there now." Phil said pointing at a room behind Alex.

"Right, shall we go in and see what she has to say then." Alex said quickly. She wanted to do anything that took her mind off Smithy.

The interpreter looked at the footage a few times and wrote down everything that the men were saying. It was exactly as Alex had suspected. They were arranging another drugs deal. This time it was a lot larger than Max Green normally received. The delivery was due in two days time.

"Well if this is as big as they are making out then it's probably going to be very high profile. Alex have you had any luck in finding out who the other guy is?" Sam asked.

"Yes, his name is Marcus Black. He is wanted in this country for a number of offences and outstanding warrants. He moved out to Spain about four years ago and has been there ever since." Alex explained.

"Do we know how many people are going to be involved in this deal?" Phil asked.

"No, but like Sam said, it'll be very high profile. Both Max Green and Marcus Black have very high profile and well known associates. In fact they're often just pawns in someone else's little game." Alex informed the rest of her colleagues.

She had been after Max Green long enough to know his every move. Unfortunately he also knew Alex well enough to know her every move too.

"Right, I want to set up a sting operation. Phil if you can get hold of the National Crime Squad and inform them of what's going on; Alex, we'll probably need SO19 and SO16 so if you could organize that…"

"Gov' I don't think we should do our usual sting procedure. Max Green knows me and our methods all too well, so he knows exactly what we will do."

"So what do you suggest we do?" Sam Asked.

"What if we let the deal go ahead? No cars, no surveillance. Green will be expecting us to be there at the drop off sight. I say we pick them up somewhere else. If we lure them into a false sense of security first, then they'll drop their guard." Alex suggested.

"That sounds too risky Alex. Suppose you're wrong and they don't suspect anything; how do we know that they wont change their plans slightly, and then we end up losing them and thousands of pounds worth of drugs?" Sam said.

"I can see your point, but they'll have armed thugs placed all over so that we can't get anywhere near. You can't always see where they are either, otherwise that defeats the point. They would expect us to have a covert surveillance operation and place their guys in the appropriate places. Our best bet is to study the area where the drop is to be made. If we make sure we have every eventuality covered then we should get a result. These guys are really dangerous and shouldn't be taken lightly." Alex explained.

Sam thought this information over for a minute or two. She trusted Alex and her judgment, but she felt concerned that she was too close to the case.

"Alright Alex, we'll go with your suggestion. I want us to be fully protected throughout this operation, so I would rather go in heavy handed than under handed, right? If you uncover anything that you think is useful, no matter how big or small, let me know. Alex, I want you to come up to my office with me and study the area map. Phil if you could inform all of the appropriate departments." Sam said, giving her orders to everyone and watching them move into action.

Alex sat in Sams' office looking at the map. She was picking off possible escape routes for the cars to go down. They had agreed on a mile radius around the drop off site. It was close enough to keep an eye out for them but not too close that they would feel suspicious.

"Right, so the delivery is to be made to Jamaica Docks. He has had one or two drops at this location before; due to the large scale of this deal he'll be wanting somewhere familiar. Now, there are high building blocks here, here and here." Alex said as she pointed at the map. "I think he'll place some of his guys here because he would have an advantage over us. He will also have some guys placed on the ground. Now if we place a van here and here…" Alex said, pointing at two roads that lead to the back of a warehouse. "Then they can see the shipment coming in, but, anyone placed on the roofs won't see them. Then we could place an area car here, so that they can drive after anyone who tries to escape; at least there they will also be able to help us if we need back up. They would be on the main road so they're closest either way."

"Well Alex you have certainly done your homework on this. How many of uniform will be available?" Sam asked.

"As many as we need. We will need to make sure everyone is well informed. The deal is due to go down at 3.00pm but I say we should be prepared a good couple of hours before hand. Max Green has been known to get jumpy and change times etc. I'll be back here of course directing you up and down any possible escape routes."

"Right Alex, if you get together as many officers as you can from uniform and meet me in the briefing room in about 20 minutes. If you could find Smithy and bring him up to speed." Sam asked. Then she noticed the look on Alexs' face.

"Smithy…" Alex started to say.

"Is that a problem?" Sam asked suspiciously.

"No, that's not a problem at all." Alex said moving towards the door.

Walking towards their office, Alex felt very nervous and uncomfortable. She hadn't seen Smithy since they had kissed.

She walked into the office but he wasn't there. She was just about to turn round when Smithy walked in behind her. For a couple of seconds they just looked at each other. The atmosphere was very awkward between them. Finally Alex decided to speak.

"The DI wants you in the briefing room as soon as possible." She turned to head out of the door when she felt a hand grab her wrist.

Smithy closed the door to the office and made Alex look straight at him.

"I'm really sorry for earlier. I shouldn't have done what I did, and I'm sorry if I've upset you or offended you. I don't want our friendship to be effected because I was very stupid." Smithy explained.

"You haven't upset or offended me. I haven't been myself lately, and I think we need to talk about it. I'm going to be very honest with you now. I have developed feelings for you; very strong feelings. When we kissed earlier, I wanted it to happen…" Alex started to explain.

"I feel the same about you. To be honest, I always have. At first I thought nothing would ever happen between us because you were with Paul, so I settled for your friendship. If you say that you don't want us to go any further than friends, then we won't…" Smithy explained.

"How do you feel about the fact that I have three children?" Alex asked.

"I really love your girls. I think they're really good kids." Smithy said.

"Yeah but you have to realize that they will always come first in my life. If anything was to happen between me and you, they would always come first. It wouldn't just be us in the relationship." Alex explained.

"Is that what you want with me, a relationship?" Smithy asked.

"Yeah, I think I would. Is that what you want?" Alex asked suddenly feeling very nervous.

Smithy didn't say anything. He looked at Alex and leaned forward to kiss her. This time Alex didn't pull away. They embraced and lost themselves for a couple of minutes. Finally Smithy pulled away and placed his forehead against Alexs'.

"I can't make any promises Smithy…" Alex whispered to him.

"I know. We'll take things steady and see how it goes." Smithy said as he kissed Alex again.

Alex pulled away this time and smiled.

"Oi, you'd better stop that before someone sees. I don't do public displays of affection thank you. Anyway, we'd better go do what we're paid for." Alex said as she walked towards the door. Smithy smiled and followed her up to CID.