A/N: Firstly, the reviews - they are LOVE! Thank you all so much to everyone who's reviewed! Keep 'em coming ;) Also, I feel I should apologise - I totally forgot that a similar story about Stevie and a past druggie boyfriend was covered on the show if I'm right in thinking? (Correct me if I'm wrong, which is most likely) I made it up thinking it was like my own story but was probably actually influenced by a back memory of the show, so apologies for that. Anyway, I hope people are liking the way this is going and if anyone has any suggestions or prompts they'd like to be try and include, I'd at least give it a go if I think it's feasible and realistic :) Could be as little a thing as I don't know, a red postbox haha - just thought I'd make it a little more interesting haha. And as always read, review and enjoy! :)
"So, we're planning on arresting as many involved as we can. Obviously we're going for the big guns, but this is a big system they've got going on; drugs, weapons and we need it to stop. We know they're looking to enrol new members, which is where Stevie and Smithy come in." Jack stopped and turned to face Smithy and Stevie. "We've managed to secure a meeting for Smithy to be visited, see if he's suitable to join their operation."
"And if I'm not?" Smithy asked, rubbing his eyes in an attempt to stay awake; his plan to get a good night's sleep really didn't run at all smoothly. Not only were their neighbours having domestics at half three in the morning, but each time Smithy found himself unable to sleep, he also found himself fighting his longing to wrap a protective arm around the girl sleeping just inches from him. So Smithy eventually took to a bit of weightlifting by the side of the bed until he felt tired enough to block out the shouting from next door.
"We're screwed," Neil answered, putting it bluntly. But Smithy knew it was true - there'd be no point in the undercover operation if he didn't pull this off.
"No pressure, then?" Smithy tried to joke but given the severity of the situation, it was hard to ignore how serious things were rapidly becoming.
"Stevie, today's easy for you but tomorrow it starts," Neil explained, turning to Stevie. "Providing your boy does a good enough job of it today. Use today to get your story straight, sort out the house; just make things as realistic as you can. As soon as we get the all clear from Smithy, that'll be it; no going back. Are you both sure about this?"
Stevie took a dubious glance at Smithy, wondering if he was thinking the same. It was always the same before a large operation; the nerves pummelling through each and every nerve cell in the body, the sweaty hands and that ominous feeling that this could be the end… of everything.
"We're sure," Smithy confirmed speaking on behalf of them both. Stevie nodded, only slightly, but Smithy noted it and gave her a mock salute. "See you tonight, baby cakes."
With a kick on the backside, Stevie sent him out the spare interview room as Terry and Mickey accompanied him out the station, to sort out his last preparations.
"'Baby cakes'? Really?!" Neil's puzzled look added to Stevie's amusement as he held the door open for her. Stevie shook her head and laughed; it was a new one on her too. Handing Neil her phone and taking her substitute one, Stevie ventured off to her new house alone, fully submersed in her new identity, hoping Smithy would be able to pull it all off. If not, then all this would be a waste of time. Shutting the front door behind her, Stevie look dismally at the house she was to call home for the foreseeable future.
"Not exactly picture perfect," Stevie mused as she set about adding a few homely touches ready for Smithy's return. If she was going to have to endure the undercover work, she was sure to suffer with a touch of class, that was for sure.
-
"Stevie? You home?" Smithy's voice echoed through the seemingly empty - but now nicely decorated - house.
"Over here," Stevie's muffled reply appeared to derive from under the sink, where Smithy found Stevie, head first, in the cupboard under the sink. Pulling herself out from the cupboard looking somewhat dust-ridden, Stevie got to her feet and turned to face Smithy. "So?"
"We're in." As Smithy spoke the words, Stevie felt her stomach jolt with a pang of nervousness; this was it now, no chance of turning back. "You alright?"
"Dandy," Stevie grinned, the excitement and anticipation beginning to build. "You?"
"Never better," Smithy winked, retrieving his phone to let Neil know. But they both knew that this was only the beginning - it was only going to get harder from now on.
"What're they like?" Stevie asked, handing Smithy a cup of coffee as they sat around the kitchen table.
"They don't take any crap, put it that way." Smithy winced. To say he was having doubts was something of an understatement.
"What, you think we're in too deep?" Smithy exhaled in a low whistle as Stevie observed his face with interest. It wasn't fear etched across his feature; concern maybe, Stevie mused, but it was foreign to her eyes to say the least.
"Maybe," Smithy rubbed his hands around the cup with a certain degree of anxiety. "This is big, Stevie, there's all sorts of scum involved and we've got to make them believe we're one of them. I don't know if we can do it."
Hearing Smithy admit it oddly made Stevie all the more determined that they would do it, regardless of the factors standing in their way.
"We can," Stevie affirmed, staring at Smithy until his eyes were forced to meet hers. "And we will. One day at a time."
"And what? We can pull of this couple malarkey? Stevie, we couldn't do it for real, how the hell can we prove to complete strangers - dangerous strangers - that it's for real?"
Stevie shrugged, almost admitting defeat, until her mischievous side began to surface. Getting up, closing the curtains and taking Smithy by the hand, she lead him upstairs away from the spying eyes of everyone back at the station.