She groaned as she hit her alarm into silence. She managed to roll onto her front, groaning when her shoes caught in her still made quilt.
She felt like she had been hit by a bus. It dawned on her that she hadn't even changed out of her clothes before flopping into bed, hadn't even pulled the quilt over her.
She managed to push herself upright and noted that at least her head wasn't pounding like it would have been had she been drinking instead.
She tried not to moan too much as she made her way to the shower for a relatively long soak.
It helped a little and she did a couple of light stretches to try and ease the rest of the stiffness. In fresh clothes she almost felt ready to face the world again.
A feeling that lasted precisely as long as it took her to realise that she had left the teabags and loaf sitting under her desk.
She leaned her forehead against the cupboard door in resignation. She would just have to stop somewhere for breakfast.
Fortunately this was Glasgow and she didn't have to put up with excessive cheeriness at this time of the morning, not in the wee shop she stopped at anyway.
Robbie wasn't in when she strode into the office. There was no sign of him either around the office. She debated phoning him for a second but pushed the thought aside and sat down at her desk. He would either be on his way and wouldn't answer or would just put her through to voice mail. Either way, there was no point in trying to nag.
She checked her emails, just in case there had been a compliant, or a development she'd missed. Nothing.
She wasn't sure whether to despair or cheer.
Usually at this point in a major case they would have had had more luck but it felt like they hadn't made any progress at all. She forced herself to try and look on the bright side as it was too early in the day to get angry and frustrated again.
There hadn't been a complaint put in yet, they had a good idea who was behind it and Burke was still doing okay, at least he had been an hour ago when she'd called before leaving the house.
She got up and checked her watch. She sat down again as she realised she would just have time to catch Mita before she would have to turn her phone off for the duration.
Mita answered on the third ring.
"Jackie, I'm really sorry about this,"
"Don't worry, these things happen. I was just phoning to see how you got on yesterday?"
Mita let out a sigh. "All that nerves and I didn't even get called. Technicality on one of the other witnesses."
"Uch. How are you feeling today though?"
"Strangely better." Mita let out a small sound of disbelief and Jackie couldn't help the slight chuckle that accompanied that.
"Good." She fell silent for a second. "I phoned the hospital earlier, he's still in there fighting."
Mita sighed, in relief this time. "Good." She echoed Jackie. "And the case?"
Jackie's heart sunk and she let out a groan.
"What's wrong?" Mita sounded worried.
"Nothing, just we've got a definite possibility and he's a slippery wee," She forced herself to take a deep breath but Mita seemed to get the idea anyway.
"Look, I can,"
Jackie cut her off. "Don't even think of it. We've got things under control."
Mita was silent for a minute then, "All right." She gave a frustrated huff. "That's the call, I need to go."
"All right, good luck."
She hung up after that and felt crap again. She took another calming breath and stood and walked over to one of the new PC's who was checking the CCTV footage. She winced internally when she realised she didn't know his name yet. He must have been one of the new intake.
She stared over his shoulder at the screen as he updated her that there was nothing to report yet.
She breathed a sigh of relief as she came away that she was now high enough up the food chain that she didn't have to pour over CCTV footage unless things were desperate. It felt like she was forever checking on the trawling through the footage and she wasn't even doing it.
There was still no sign of Robbie when she sat back down at her desk. Annoyance wrestled with worry and she had to force them both down.
He has a fully grown man, and he wouldn't appreciate either reaction at the moment.
She opened Lewis' bank records again and looked through them, surely there must be something that could help them.
She looked up when Becky offered her a biscuit. She took one gratefully, a little shocked to see it was nearly ten. She'd not had much luck with his bank records. It seemed he was more the withdraw cash at the beginning of the week type, so they couldn't even use the gaps in the records as proof of anything.
She checked around for Robbie.
No surprises, he still wasn't in. It was beginning to feel like before, when he would amble in after a late night.
Of course, he picked then to walk into the office. He didn't say much as he walked in, occasionally nodding his head in greeting when he was spoken to.
He headed straight for the kitchen and she grabbed her cup and followed.
She paused in the door way and gave him a look over. He was rougher than yesterday, his suit creased and obviously yesterdays. He hadn't even straightened his tie. She took the kettle from his hand and she could smell the faint lingering of cigarette smoke underneath his cologne.
She managed a weak smile when he said, "Morning,"
She couldn't find the words to speak as she felt like her stomach had dropped and she was going to be sick. He'd obviously been out last night and given the cologne was his emergency bottle he kept in his car and yesterdays outfit, she doubted he'd been home.
At least to his home.
He grimaced lightly at the taste of coffee took.
"Have you at least managed to eat something?" The words were clipped and it took a lot of effort not to make them more so.
"Don't start, Jackie, I feel crap enough as it is."
She bit her lip and finish making her own cup of coffee.
"I just went to the races, had a wee flutter. Kipped on a mates couch."
"I didn't say a word."
He managed a snort. "You didn't have to."
She put her cup down, louder than she meant to. "Robbie,"
"No, Jackie, don't bother." He strode off, back into the office.
She closed her eyes as she leant against the worktop. She took a couple of deep breaths before she opened them. Even then, she stared out the window and didn't touch her coffee.
Maybe if she'd went after him last night, she cut the thought off. He was a grown man, and he could have phoned if he wanted.
Shit. She knew didn't always work like that but he'd ipromised/i. She tried not to feel like she was stamping her foot in a tantrum and she took a sip of her coffee instead.
She managed to dribble it down her front.
"Bugger." She swore out loud as she reached out to grab a towel. She mopped it up, wincing as she dabbed a little too vigorously. At least it distracted her for a minute but as she smoothed the towel back over the radiator, she couldn't still help but feel as if it was her fault. And unbelievably angry at him.
She couldn't work like this and she tried to swallow it down. She couldn't afford to make another mistake like yesterday.
She straightened up when the door opened again and O'Leary and Jenners walked in. They looked as if they were going to ask how things were going, but they took one look at her and apparently decided to leave things well alone. They pulled out the biscuit tin instead and offered her first pick.
She managed another weak smile and tried not to grimace at how badly she was doing at hiding her feelings.
She sat back down at her desk and Robbie didn't even look at her. He muttered under his breath a little instead and made a show of adjusting his monitor.
She was more than capable of taking the hint and she didn't have the spare focus to deal with him just now. She threw herself back into the back records again.
She noticed one or two charges at a couple of different coffee chains and pulled over the report that had been compiled on his family. Most of the charges looked enough for a couple of coffees, and she wondered if he was meeting anyone.
Either that or he just liked to have lunch with his coffee.
That option seemed a tad more likely when she remembered most of his family were dead but he still had plenty of friends and associates. She sighed. All of whom were still in London. She picked up the phone to ask another favour of the Met. She asked them to specifically focus on his last cell mate, who'd only been released three months ago. Had he mentioned anything in particular? What was his attitude like, especially inside after the death of his brother?
There were vague promises as to when they would get back to her, though they suddenly turned to within the next twenty four hours, assuming they could track them all down within that time, when she mentioned it was in relation to an attack on one of their own.
She hung up, feeling even more frustrated at the conversation. It wasn't terribly efficient but she would have much rather she, or at least one of her team, were doing the interviews. She let out another deep breath and pushed the thought to the side.
She was in the middle of updating the progress file when her phone rang. She picked it up rather absentmindedly. "DI Reid."
"Inspector?"
A second, then she froze, as it clicked that she recognised the voice as one of the nurses she had spoken to over the last couple of days.
"Yes?" It came out tentatively.
"It's Nurse Kone here. Don't worry too much, but Matt has been taken back into surgery."
"Is he all right?" It sounded like a daft question as soon as she said it.
"His blood pressure and pulse started dropping and he was showing all the signs of internal bleeding so they took him back in."
Her stomach dropped for the second time that morning. "Do we," she blinked back tears, "should we come in?"
She saw Robbie jerk his head to look at her, screwing up his eyes slightly at the motion.
"He's still in surgery so I wouldn't advise it at the minute. Probably best to wait and see how things stand after the surgeon has had a chance to look properly."
She felt numb, she knew the implication. If he survived the surgery.
"Thanks for letting us know." She managed to get out somehow.
Kone sounded understanding. "We'll keep you updated."
She hung up in a daze and Robbie all but pounced on her.
"What happened?" He sounded terrified.
She licked her lips, tried to find the words. "He's been taken back into surgery. They think he's bleeding internally."
Robbie's face dropped and clouded over. She didn't say anything else, didn't have the chance really as he stood and grabbed his car keys.
"Robbie,"
"I can't, Jackie," He sounded broken and that was the only thing that stopped her going ballistic at him as he walked out of the door again.
She tried not to start crying in front of everyone and slowly made her way to the board. She rubbed out the current status of Burke in the corner and slowly so she didn't drop the pen she wrote: BACK IN SURGERY. SUSPECTED INTERNAL BLEEDING.
She barely managed to put the pen back when the whole office quietened as someone noticed and it spread like wildfire.
No one talked to her directly as she made her way back to her desk and sat down and she was grateful. She kept taking deep breaths, trying to focus on the here and now. She opened the progress report again to see what she could, she felt like she would fall apart completely if she let herself think about it.
Not that she had the chance. She heard the tone of the background of whispers change and she looked up.
If it was possible, she felt even sicker.
Atkins. As if this day could get any worse.
"Inspector Reid." He gave a somewhat smug smile in greeting.
At least wanting to slap it off his face gave her something else to focus on for a minute.
"Atkins. How can we help?" She was impressed she managed to give a tight smile in spite of everything.
"DI Ross not about? I'd really like to have a chat with both of you."
"He's out at the moment."
Atkins sat on the corner of her desk and she dug her nails into her palm to avoid saying anything.
He didn't look like he was going to move any time soon. "It's a shame about Burke. Terrible thing."
She highly doubted he felt like that. He was probably dancing with glee on the inside.
She didn't usually hate anyone from Standards like this, she'd married Brian after all, but she was more than willing to make an exception for Atkins.
He smiled tightly after it became apparent that she wasn't going to start a conversation any time soon. "Just wanted a wee chat about the Lewis case."
She bristled and took a deep breath. No doubt he had referred to it that way on purpose. She forced a smile onto her face. "I'm sure he'll be back soon if you want to wait."
"I think I will." He smiled smugly as he stood off her desk and he widened his smile before he turned and grabbed an empty chair in the corner.
She sighed. She turned back to her computer and opened up a document. She stared blankly at it for a minute, then gently eased her other hand into her pocket containing her phone. Trying to be discreet but not too suspicious, she typed out a message to Robbie, warning him not to come back until he had cleaned himself up.
As much as she felt like a jumble of emotion about him right now, she really didn't want him to go down because they had made a stupid mistake and Atkins was out for his blood.
She hit send and tried not to feel sick. She managed to check up on, or annoy, CCTV, depending on your perspective, without faltering under his gaze. Nothing new there.
She was going over the reports for one of her other cases, leaning over Semple's shoulder when Atkins approached her again.
"I'm due for a meeting with CS Campbell so I'll be back this afternoon for our chat. Let Ross know." He started to turn away. "Oh, and I will be keeping my eye closely on this case." He gave her a pointed look before he left, properly this time.
"Sometimes I wish I wisnae polis and I could slap folk." Semple didn't look amused at Atkins' antics and despite everything she couldn't help but let out a short chuckle.
She gave Semple a pat on the shoulder and walked back towards her desk. She organised a couple of interviews for one of her other robbery cases, something just didn't ring true about one of the statements. She was fidgeting too much though, from everything really and she needed to see Robbie.
It wasn't a good idea though so she threw herself into her work.
It didn't work and she stopped after she found herself reading the same paragraph for the fourth time. She debated with herself for a minute, then grabbed her bag and left the office.
She made her way to Robbie's flat. Every set of traffic lights she had to stop at and every hold up in the traffic seemed to make her angrier and by the time she managed to find a space vaguely near his flat she was spitting mad.
She pushed the lift button far too hard, hissing as her thumb bent the wrong way from the power of it. She got to his door and started knocking, not letting up when he didn't answer the door immediately.
"Jesus," He shouted as he swung the door open. He looked annoyed and rather large part of her was pleased.
He relaxed ever so slightly and finished buttoning up his clean shirt. "Jackie, look thanks for the text but,"
She barged past him. "But what?"
He let the door swing shut and he slowly turned to look at her.
"Don't tell me you didn't need it because,"
"I didn't," he cut her off, indignant.
"Really, because him catching you drunk, reeking of smoke in yesterday's clothes was going to go so well?" She didn't mean to raise her voice as much as she did, but it felt good anyway.
She watched his fist clench and took a step closer.
"I wasn't drunk!"
"Really? She asked again, this time with an incredulous snort and his face twisted with anger.
"I'm just under a hell of a lot of stress just now, and I don't need you adding to it!
"And I'm not?" Her voice raised further, almost a screech and she gestured violently with her hands as she struggled to contain herself. "I'm just as upset and furious about everything, only one best friend is on the other side of the country and the other one is drunk and I'm having to worry about him more than me."
"For the last time, I'm not drunk!" He got out between gritted teeth.
"Prove it." Her voice was low this time and she took a step forward as if to dare him.
She saw him tense for a second and he took a step forward, coming toe to toe with her. She had to tilt her head slightly to keep looking him in the eye, intending to keep shouting at him. He took advantage of that and brought his head down and kissed her.
He reached out and grabbed her hip as he used his tongue to pry his way into her mouth. She let him, only half because she wanted to.
True enough, she couldn't taste the aftertaste of any drink, just old cigarette smoke. She let the kiss carry on for a moment longer before she brought a hand up to his shoulder and pushed.
He pulled away. "See?"
"Yeah." It came out more of a whisper than she would of like and she was hyper aware of just how close she was, how his hand still felt on her hip. She was still humming with anger, and everything else and fuck, she just wanted to forget.
She didn't resist the urge to kiss him again and he let out a surprised humph before he eagerly started kissing her back. His fingers curled deeper into her hip, almost painful, and her own hands landed on his neck, holding him where he was.
She ground against him and he was just as eager.
A hand ventured down, and untucked his shirt from his trousers, feeling the skin of his back. He groaned and he shifted his hand from her hip, moved to her backside and squeezed, his other hand cupping the back of her head. The kiss deepened further and her breathing grew heavy.
He moved his hand from her neck, trying to ease her jacket off her shoulders and she shrugged, giving a groan when she had to move her hands to let it drop to the ground. He pulled her flush with him as soon as the movement was finished and started kissing his way down her neck. Her eyes closed properly and she melted against him as his other hand dipped under the waistband of her trousers. She could feel him getting hard against her stomach and she squeezed his arse, teeth catching his earlobe, he was too busy kissing her neck for her to reach any more.
He squirmed against her and she bit him again. He bit down on her neck in retaliation and she went for his belt buckle. He took a step forwards, backing her against the back of the couch and trapping her hand. He groaned again and it was her turn to squirm. She hooked a leg behind his knee and wriggled her hand out, going down the back of his waist band instead. She humphed as he tried to push her further back, the edge of the couch digger into her back. She used her weight to shove him forwards, forgetting her leg was hooked around his and she stumbled at the same time he did. They ended up in a heap on the floor and he bit down on her neck and groaned at the sudden landing.
It didn't stop him from rolling them over so he was on top. She had to shuffle them down slightly, as her head almost clocked one of his cabinets. She pulled his head away from her neck and kissed him deeply again. Her hands starting pulling at his trousers, his doing the same to hers. There was a brief shuffle as she had to lift her hips to let him pull her trousers and knickers down, and then she finally undid his belt and pushed his down.
It was an awkward angle and she had to kick her clothes down so she could spread her legs enough. He didn't waste time, and stopped grinding against her to quickly enter her.
She bit his lip as it burned, she wasn't quite ready, and he pulled back slightly to look at her. She pulled him back down instead of answering but his fingers found her clit anyway.
"That okay?" He asked roughly and she nodded.
"Just, left a bit," she nodded again as he found the spot she liked, "bit faster," and sighed when he found the right rhythm.
That certainly made things easier and she brought her knees up as much as she could to get a better angle. She could feel her orgasm close in and she dug her nails into Robbie's scalp as his thrusts got faster.
She came with a gasp and clenched around him. She could feel him follow a minute later and he collapsed on top of her. He took his weight on his elbows after a second, still leaning against her, but not quite so heavily.
She lay still, letting her breathing slowly return to normal. Robbie was looking at her, and she couldn't help the small smile.
He smiled softly as well, a real smile and for once she saw him without any of the bravado he normally showed the world.
His fingers stroked her hip again, easing over where they had dug in earlier. He placed a kiss to her hair and she stroked his back.
She almost didn't want to move, except the floor wasn't exactly comfy and his laminate floor was cool now that she wasn't distracted.
She really wasn't sure what to say next, this wasn't what had run through her mind on her way over.
She went with humour. "Well, that wasn't exactly the way I imagined it."
He pushed himself up onto his arms and grinned cockily at her. "And how did you imagine it?"
She poked him in the ribs and he let out a huff of laughter.
He rolled off her to lie on the floor beside her and as he slipped out of her, she realised they hadn't used a condom.
Bugger. She grimaced as she could feel herself leaking.
Robbie noticed. "I'm clean. I got tested a couple of months ago."
And he hadn't been on any drunken one night stands since then. She nodded. "Just remind me to stop by a chemists."
He nodded and they lapsed into awkward silence. At least she wasn't pissed anymore, she thought.
She cleared her throat. "Ehm, I'll just go and clean up." She felt Robbie nod and she pushed herself up off the floor, stiffer than she would have liked and hell, there really wasn't a dignified way to pull your trousers up and try not to get come on them.
A glance in the mirror showed at least the mark on her neck was covered by her shirt. One less thing she had to worry about.
Robbie had straightened up and was in the middle of tying his tie when she came out the bathroom. He nipped in after her and she put her coat back on, at a loss again.
When he returned, they danced about like a couple of idiots and she felt relieved when the phone rang.
Duncan.
Seeing his name was enough to burst the little bubble of avoidance that had formed and she felt the full weight of everything crushing back against her.
"Duncan,"
"Jackie, good news."
She tensed, almost unable to believe it.
Duncan must have realised and she could almost hear the smile in his voice when he spoke next. "We managed to find a trace of blood that has a different blood type from Burke. And yes, we have put a rush on the DNA analysis for it."
"Brilliant," She was smiling now and Robbie was looking at her, champing at the bit for her to tell him. "You'll let us know when,"
"When the results are in, yes," He sounded like he was grinning now.
"Thanks, Duncan," she paused, something suddenly occurring to her. "Where was the blood?"
"It was a small spot under one of his fingernails, seems he did manage to scratch his attacker at least a little."
She nodded, then spoke out loud when it dawned on her she was on the phone. "Okay, thanks again, Duncan."
"Not a problem."
He hung up and Robbie starting speaking as soon as she pulled the phone away from her ear.
"Well?"
She grinned. "One of the blood spots under his finger nails is a different blood type. Duncan is putting it through DNA analysis now."
Robbie grinned as well and the whole atmosphere changed. "We'd better get back then." He grabbed his suit jacket and shrugged it on as she grabbed her keys.
Back in the office, they discovered somebody had pinned a print out of the forensics report to the board and the whole office had a bounce in their step as well. She dropped her keys into one of her desk drawers and wandered over to George, Robbie trailing behind her. They were almost managing to act like nothing had happened.
She leaned against the edge of the desk but before she could open her mouth to speak, George spoke.
"No luck with any of the possibilities up here. I've double checked but all the likelys have solid alibis, or would have admitted it if it was them. I've gone down further down the list but again,"
"They all had solid alibis." Robbie finished.
They all sighed. "Right," Jackie stood up straight. "Go take a break for a couple hours." George looked like he was going to protest and Jackie rolled her eyes. "Come back when your eyes have recovered then."
"Aye, okay."
She nearly bumped into Robbie on her way back to her desk and she glanced up at him briefly but she couldn't look at him directly. She didn't know what to say so she mumbled a sorry and walked past him.
She ignored him as she sat back down at her desk. She could sense that he wanted to talk but she pulled out her phone instead and checked her messages.
There weren't any from the hospital and she wasn't sure if that was a relief or not.
She dialled the ward anyway.
It was a different nurse who answered this time, but he was just as understanding.
"No new news yet, Inspector, though the surgery is still ongoing."
"I just wondered, didn't want to miss anything." She could feel herself start to babble and pinched the bridge of her nose.
"Perfectly understandable, but we will give you a phone call as soon as he is out and we have more details."
She got the implied message loud and clear. "Okay, thank you." She hung up to find Robbie watching it. It took a whole new meaning since, well.
"He's still in surgery. I got the polite version of don't call us, we'll call you."
He snorted. "Aye," hH looked back at whatever he was focusing on now and didn't say anything else.
She kept looking at him though, bordering onto staring. She glanced down at her notepad though when he glanced up at her, which only served to make her feel even more ridiculous. She fiddled with her pen as her thoughts jumbled around her head. She hadn't been so confused around him in such a long time, which when she let herself think about it, wasn't really surprising. She had long assumed that they had just settled into best friends who flirted a lot territory. Now that they had crossed that line, especially with everything else being so stressful, everything was in turmoil.
Jesus, she just hoped that someday they could get back to normal.
At that point, her phone rang and she had never been so grateful to be saved by a phone call again.
It was the officer she had spoken to earlier form the Met, a lot quicker than she though possible. He apologised for only phoning with half the pool talked to, but he thought she would want to know.
She barely had time to process it all as she scribbled down notes. He promised he would have the typed reports sent to her by dinner time but she wanted to get the information down anyway.
She hung up after thanking him profusely and let out a small smile.
Robbie looked up at her and looked questioningly at her.
"The Met have managed to speak to some of his friends. They're alibiing him over the last week in London, but they got the feeling they were lying."
"Can't prove it though."
She shook her head. "No. None of them would talk about if he was out for revenge, or if he'd been planning anything."
"There's a surprise."
She snorted. "Anyway, they managed to speak to his last cellmate. Seems he couldn't stand Lewis as he'd been bullying him. That and the fact he's scared of his own shadow meant he was happy to talk when pushed." Robbie looked expectantly at her and she carried on. "He said that Lewis talked about getting his own back on Burke after his brother died. Talked about it enough that he could remember Burke's name."
"Any thing else?"
She shook her head. "It seems he quietened down about it as his release date got closer."
"Planning to make himself look better." Robbie frowned and she heard him swear under his breath. "Seems like he did an awful lot of planning for this."
"Yeah." They fell silent, and she wasn't sure if she was reassured by how long he had been planning on making fools of them or not.
She didn't really have time to ponder it as she saw Robbie sit up straight and tense up. She found out why a second later when Atkins spoke.
"Glad you're both here now."
"Atkins." Robbie ground out and she closed her eyes briefly. She took a deep breath and fired a warning glance at Robbie. He glanced at her, and nodded imperceptibly. "Heard you wanted a chat." He forced himself to relax, leaning back in his chair, and if she didn't know him so well, she might be fooled.
She swirled in her chair slightly to get a better look at Atkins. He wasn't quite as smug as he had been that morning. She wondered exactly what his meeting with Campbell had been about.
"Why don't we use Burke's office? It's not as if he is just now." He smiled tightly and that just got her back up.
She deliberately didn't look at Robbie, she was sure they would only cause each other's anger to ratchet up a level.
She shut the door behind them, closing out the curious stares of half the office.
Atkins sat in Burke's chair, and it left a sour taste in her mouth.
She knew that was the point. Everything he was doing was designed to through them off balance just enough to lower their guard.
Did he honestly think they wouldn't see through it? They'd both done it themselves with suspects plenty of times before.
She took a deep breath and plastered on a smile. Robbie stood stock still.
"Your work yesterday, Ross was incredibly sloppy, yours too Inspector Reid. One would almost think the incompetence and misconduct was contagious. I would get out of this unit while I still could." He smiled as if he was trying to be helpful.
She could tell he was trying to rile them both, and it was almost working. She didn't put a hand out to calm Robbie like would normally have, Atkins would have taken that as a sign of weakness and carefully taken note of it.
"If, and I say if, Lewis is your man, then you need to be much more careful around him. We wouldn't want him getting away with it because of your incompetence."
He was beginning to sound a bit like a cartoon villain, too slimy to manage threatening, too eager to put Robbie out to pasture to be giving them a helpful warning. She clamped down the thought, laughing at him would just make things worse and, cartoon villain or not, he could make things very difficult for them.
Beside her, she could hear Robbie grit his teeth but he managed to hold himself back from whatever he was going to say.
Atkins smiled as he noticed. She thought he was going to say something else but he stood and perched on the edge of the desk instead. "You're both incredibly fortunate that no complaint has been lodged yet."
She relaxed slightly and immediately realised why he was trying to put them on edge so much. Without an actual compliant, or without being brought in by one of the higher ups, his powers to investigate them were somewhat limited. It seemed Campbell was still giving them the benefit of the doubt.
It seemed like he had just thought it would be a good time to rattle their cages and carry on his grudge against Robbie. She stood straighter, suddenly as it was harder to hold back.
Robbie straightened as well. "Is that all?" He managed to sound remarkably calm.
Atkins raised an eyebrow. "I'm usually wary of officers that eager to be rid of me."
"Well, we do have an investigation to run, and if there is no complaint…" She trailed off, her voice and eyebrow arched. It was a hair away from insubordination towards a superior officer, but it was also perfectly true.
Atkins picked up his briefcase and gave them both a tight smile. "Make sure the conviction will stick. If you make it that far." He warned, obviously trying for threatening, then he swooped out the office into the corridor.
She felt a little deflated, though impressed they had both managed to keep their cool.
"Slimy wee bastard." Robbie muttered and his fists were clenched.
Well, cool for the most part. They stood for a minute until they could hear the buzz of the office take up again through the open doorway and she was aware of the glances being sent their way. She led the way out and quipped at Turner. "We live to fight another day,"
He chuckled and the tension in the room broke. He handed her a report and she glanced over at it. The idiot they had caught earlier in the week hadn't been granted bail. She grinned and clapped a hand on his shoulder. "Good work."
He grinned widely and turned back to his work, the tips of his ears turning a little pink.
She had to bite back a chuckle.
The rise in her mood lasted exactly as long as it took her phone to ring and her to recognise the number as the hospitals.
"Reid." She tried to brace herself for the worst.
"Good news, Inspector." It was the same nurse as earlier, though she had forgotten his name.
"He's out?" Robbie stared at her.
"Yes, and he's stable at the moment. The surgeon is optimistic."
She grinned again and she could see Robbie relax.
"That's good news. Will he," she had to pause, "will he relapse?"
"The surgeon doesn't think so, took some extra time to make sure he got all the sources of bleeding."
"All right, what about visiting?" She felt the need to make reassure herself he was still alive.
"Not until tomorrow evening at the earliest. He needs rest to recover."
"All right thank you."
"I would wait until mid-morning before phoning back to check, the doctor will have done his rounds by then."
Chastened she thanked him again and hung up.
She slumped in her chair, and winced slightly as her back protested. Robbie shot her a concerned look but she shrugged off.
She sat for a minute, feeling drained again, but much easier now he was out of surgery. She looked at Robbie as he stood and headed off but she turned back to her desk. She gave a sigh as she stood and walked across to the board.
There had been a couple of things scored through since the last time she had looked, mainly through the names of both the train stations. She gathered CCTV there had been a bust but she wanted to double check. First thing she would do after she updated Burke's status on the board.
There was a general sense of relief when she put the words up and she turned round to find Robbie holding out a cup of coffee at her.
He looked rather apologetic and she smiled softly as she took the cup off him. She took a sip as he looked over the board.
"Check on the CCTV next?"
She nodded.
She didn't have to move at all though, as PC Lowry pushed open the doors, grinning widely and practically bouncing.
"I think I've got him!"
Her eyes widened and she could see the look of surprise on Robbie's face as they both turned and looked at PC Lowry. She put her coffee down on the nearest surface and they all but ran through to the room set up with all the monitors.
They leaned over to the screen Lowry settled at and stared at the frozen footage.
It was Lewis, bustled in amongst a crowd.
Lowry had printed off a still and she grabbed it to look closer, Robbie standing right beside her. The image was a little fuzzy but it was definitely Lewis' features.
"When?"
"Just after seven am on the morning of the attack, most likely just off the London bus."
She nodded. "Brilliant."
She glanced at the image though. It was a little fuzzy for her liking and she could imagine all too clearly Silvers accusing them of wishful thinking, that it could be anyone with a similar build.
Robbie opened his mouth to speak, but the same queasy feeling settled on his face. She glanced at her watch. There was just enough time to get the footage over to the lab before they closed for the night.
She made a calculation, more than likely it would be the morning before they had cleaner stills back.
"Get the footage to the lab, I want enhanced stills back. Not going to let him weasel his way out of this."
Lowry looked a little taken aback at the vehemence at which she said it so she tried to soften it with a smile. "Get multiple copies made, I want the picture of him to be crystal clear, no doubt that it's actually him." Lowry nodded in understanding, obviously having heard about yesterdays run in.
"Then take a break. That goes for all of you." She raised her voice slightly to take in the other two PC's in the room.
"Don't look so happy, we need his further movements as far as can be tracked after that. We need to know when he went back down to London as well." Robbie added and the PC's took it with minimal groaning.
The PC's filed out, leaving them alone. She was too busy feeling ecstatic to feel awkward. She could feel the spring in her step as they headed into the main office.
"We'll need to update Campbell." She said and Robbie nodded.
While he phoned Alise to see when Campbell was free, she printed off another copy of the still and stuck it to the board.
She turned back to talk to Robbie.
"Last thing, she's still got a couple of late meetings to go."
She nodded and stared some more at the photo.
"I really want to pick him up now and make him sweat." He was staring at the board intently.
"I know but after yesterday." She hated to break the mood but it had to be done.
"Aye, I don't want the bastard slipping away again." He ran a hand through his hair. "I checked earlier and he's still in his hotel. Booked the lunchtime train home."
"Well that gives us time to get the enhanced stills and maybe DNA if we are lucky, before we pick him up."
"I'd like to see Silvers get him out of that one."
"Assuming the DNA is his." She had the sudden fear that things were progressing far too well and given the last couple of days, she was weary of that.
Robbie groaned. "Don't start with the doubts. We've broken his alibi, his motive is the strongest and we don't have another suspect." He was getting angry again.
"I know, I know, I'm just waiting on the other shoe to drop." He relaxed and nodded.
"C'mon, I'll buy you something to eat, stop you being so cranky."
"Oh, thanks."
Something to eat turned out to be a sandwich left in the vending machine. Fortunately she didn't mind cheese and onion.
She didn't know why she kept expecting anything better from Robbie. He had shown plenty of times over the years that his version of good food varied from hers. The only reason she hadn't protested was that both of them were loath to leave, feeling on the verge of a breakthrough, despite the fact they were waiting on results. Besides, it still would likely to have been the chippy or the burger van round the corner.
She looked down at her sandwich and sighed. It suddenly seemed drier than it had been. Robbie glanced at her.
She shrugged off again, though it took him longer this time to glance away. She'd somehow managed to put what they had done to the back of her mind while there had been breakthroughs and good news, though it seemed impossible to ignore it now.
Fuck. That had been incredibly stupid of them, of her really and what the hell was she going to do now?
She tried to keep chewing but she was feeling super aware of where Robbie was sitting beside her and she felt like every time she shifted on the chair she was bumping into him. He glanced at her again, half concerned, half something else she really didn't want to think about just now.
Jesus, he'd looked at her like that earlier afterwards, she cut the thought off and she felt like her cheeks had gone scarlet. She was a grown woman for god's sake and he was one of her best friends.
She forced herself to take another bite of her sandwich. She knew she should cut the atmosphere with some sort of remark, but she was too wound up in knots to think of anything.
She'd though she was long past Robbie managing to get her into this sort of state.
She flicked her eyes to glance over Robbie quickly and the only positive from it was that he looked at muddled as she felt.
The awkward silence continued and only the fact the Robbie was lost for words as well made it somewhat tolerable.
Mita stuck her head into the kitchen, grin on her face.
Her happiness was contagious. "Good result then?" Robbie asked before she could.
Mita nodded. "Guilty!" She got herself a bottle of juice from one of the machines. After little deliberation she turned back to them. "I heard you had a break through."
Jackie nodded. "Broke his alibi and we got a result off the forensics. Still waiting on DNA though."
"That's great! So why to the pair of you look miserable?"
Jackie nearly dropped her sandwich. She didn't think they were that obvious. She aimed for casual and shrugged her shoulders. "Long day," She replied, only Robbie spoke at the same time.
"Atkins."
Mita looked slightly amused as she looked between them both, though still curious.
"Congratulations on the case," She told Mita, who gave her a quick look, aware of the subject change but willing to go along with it.
"Thanks,"
Robbie stood. "I need to go check a few things." He strode out and left them alone.
They both stared after him, then Mita turned and raised an eyebrow at Jackie.
Jackie shook her head. "It really has been a long day. They had to take him back into surgery, and we had a bit of an argument." A bit of an understatement but she didn't want to go into details.
Mita accepted that, and Jackie was reminded of exactly why she liked her so much.
"We're just waiting on a few results and we're going to pick Lewis up in the morning. Less chance of him managing to get the better of us then. Hopefully anyway," She added after a seconds pause.
She looked at Mita, who seemed to be eager to get back to business. "Spend an hour or so getting up to speed, then go home, out, whatever to get off the court high, then come back bright and early tomorrow to help out with Lewis."
"Are you sure?"
Jackie nodded. "We're just waiting for things to slot into place now, not much you can do tonight."
"Okay." Mita stood, and looked once more at Jackie. She seemed to think the better of asking her if she was all right again and headed back to the office.
Jackie sighed into the now empty room. She took a deep breath and headed back to the office herself.
She checked her email as she waited for Campbell to be ready to see them. True enough, an officer at the Met had sent her a typed copy of the interview reports. It basically confirmed what they had said on the phone earlier, though there had been a few more associates interviewed since then. Aside from his cellmate, they had all said the same thing.
Alise waved them into the office before she could say anything to Robbie though.
Campbell was packing her bag, clearly nearly finished for the night. It was a bit of a jolt to see it was now after eight pm. She forgot sometimes, how time could blend together when they were working.
"I take it there is a positive update, since neither of you look nearly as tense as yesterday?"
Jackie smiled briefly. "No, Ma'am. We've had a couple of breakthroughs."
"First of all, is Matt all right? I heard something about going back into surgery." Campbell did look concerned and Jackie was reminded that for all Campbell could be a bit of a number cruncher at times, she was still a good boss.
"He had some internal bleeding but he came through the surgery. Doc's seem hopeful." Robbie answered.
"Good." Campbell stopped packing and stood still. "So, breakthroughs?"
"Forensics found a trace of someone else's blood on Burke and are currently analysing it for DNA. We should have the results sometime tomorrow."
Campbell nodded. "Anything specific about Lewis? I don't want to have another run in with Silvers if we can help it."
Robbie nodded and handed the CCTV still from earlier over. Campbell raised an eyebrow.
"It's footage from Buchanan Bus station on the morning of the attack. We've managed to break his alibi."
"Excellent." She smiled at them both. "What's you're next step?"
"We're having the footage enhanced, we don't want Silvers claiming it's just a look a like. He's booked on the train to London tomorrow lunch time,"
"So we're going to sit on him and pick him up when he leaves his hotel." Robbie took over.
"It's a bit risky him staying for so long, don't you think?" Campbell was frowning slightly.
"He's overconfident, especially after yesterday." As much as she hated to admit it, they probably had increased his confidence in not getting caught.
Campbell accepted the answer and nodded. "Good job, both of you."
"Thank you, Ma'am," they both chorused and they accepted the dismissal and headed back out.
The silence on the walk back to the office was awkward but she was too wound up to do anything about it.
She glanced at the board again. "The email from the Met came through. Confirms the phone call from earlier."
Robbie nodded and the fell into the bloody awkward silence again.
"Did you phone Stephen?" It suddenly dawned on her that after that argument, she hadn't asked if he had.
"Yeah, he didn't say much, but I didn't really expect him to." Robbie sighed. "I don't think he knew what to think so I just left him my number if he wanted to talk."
She nodded her understanding, then looked closely at him. It had clearly hit home. "Have you spoken to Jamie lately?" She asked softly.
He shook his head. "Nah, I just don't know what to say. He's enjoying himself and I just," he trailed off and shrugged his shoulders when he couldn't seem to find the words. She squeezed his arm gently and he smiled weakly at her.
They fell quiet again, not nearly so awkward this time though. The office bustled around them and it was somewhat comforting.
"Look, Jackie," Robbie spoke first and he curved himself towards her, standing incredibly close again. Normally it wouldn't be a problem but she flashed back to earlier, and his face had a more office friendly version of the open expression it had earlier.
She wasn't sure if she could cope with it.
He blew out a breath and she had to stop whatever he was going to say before someone got hurt.
"Robbie, I can't, not at the moment." She could see him start to close down and bugger it, that wasn't what she wanted. "I'm just such a jumble at the moment," She gestured with her hands to demonstrate, which brought a small smile to his lips. "You know what we've been like the last couple of days. I don't want to add to the jumble and risk snapping someone's head off or doing something irreparable."
He chuckled softly. "Aye, you're right, you're always right. Besides, it would probably be my head." He brushed his hand against hers, surprisingly sweetly, to show he did really understand. It almost made her weaken because there was nothing more she would like to do than go home and cuddle up with him. He pulled back and started putting his jacket on.
"I'm going to stop by the chippy, get something decent to eat, want anything?"
She couldn't help but laugh at that, far louder than she wanted, causing a few heads to glance her way. There might have been a touch of the hysterics about the laughter.
"What?" He looked bewildered.
She shook her head. "Nothing. I'll see you in the morning."
He nodded, still looking a little confused but he left her alone anyway.
She grabbed her jacket and keys and arrived at her car not long after she saw him walk down the street.
She kicked her shoes off as soon as she got in the door and put the kettle on.
Cup of tea in hand, she wandered through to the living room and stood staring at her DVD collection, feeling something like a loose end. She wasn't used to being at home this early at night when they were in the middle of a case.
Logically she knew it was better to wait at home and at least get some rest than fidget down the station and end up annoying everyone.
She flicked on the TV, nothing in her collection taking her fancy. She ended up channel surfing as she drank her tea. Hell, she couldn't sit still and she wasn't sure if it was because her emotions were still one giant jumble, or because she was waiting, especially this close to resolution. It didn't help that she was achy and thinking about it kept making her think back to his flat.
What exactly had she been thinking of? And the floor? She threw her head back against the back of the couch and let out a groan. She wasn't going to think about it, she wasn't. It would just get her more wound up and that was the last thing she needed.
She stood up suddenly and headed towards her fridge. She needed a drink.
It wasn't until she had her head stuck in the fridge that she remembered she'd drank the last of the wine and hadn't bought more. She shut the door and leaned her forehead against it. Probably for the best, she really shouldn't be drinking when she was this desperate.
She managed to push herself off the fridge and rummaged in her cupboards instead. She put together a jam piece and slowly ate it. Hopefully the food would settle her down.
Only it didn't and she found herself flicking through the channels again, as she threw the book she was reading to the side because she'd just gotten to a sex scene and she really didn't need that at the moment.
She turned the TV off in disgust and the flat fell silent. She wasn't sure what else to do, or even if doing anything would make this knot of tension better. She didn't want to call Robbie and have him distract her because that was partly what got her in this state in the first place.
She sighed and then she remembered the aromatherapy kit one of her sisters-in-law had got her jokingly. She stared at the packaging. The bath oil promised to relax and soothe. She shrugged her shoulders. She didn't really have much to lose at this point and the hot bath alone would help ease her aches at least.
She poured it into the running water, grateful at least that the hot water was working and still hot. She slipped into the water slowly, hissing as the hot water stung her skin. She gritted her teeth for a minute until it settled down and she lay back, submerging most of her body underneath the bubbles.
The harsher sting at her genitals was just another reminder of what they had done. Shagged, she thought, she couldn't keep making it sound as if they had something else. She closed her eyes tightly and tried to make her mind go blank.
It wasn't really working. She ended up playing with the bubbles in a bid to distract herself. She shifted and she could still feel the ache between her legs. Anyone would think she hadn't had sex in ages.
As much as she tried, she couldn't quite bring herself to regret it, despite how complicated it was making things between her and Robbie. She trusted their friendship enough to know that things would eventually settle down, at least once this case was over and Burke was up and about again.
She groaned and clunked her head back against the edge of the bath as she realised she hadn't stopped by a chemists. Bugger. She would need to do it on her way in in the morning.
That definitely took away the last hope the bath had of being relaxing. The water was still hot though, so she lay there and let it work on her aches, trying not to get herself too tied up in knots again.
She stayed until the water started to cool and then she pulled the plug.
She dried herself off, feeling drained, probably from the heat and the fact that she had stood still long enough for the last couple of days to catch up with her.
She stumbled through to her bed room and plugged her phone into charge, and only just managed to remember to set up a reminder to go to the chemists in the morning.
She fell into bed, and lacked the energy to toss and turn and simply stared at the ceiling instead.