Gerry positioned himself in the chair opposite Sandra's, leaning on her desk. This in itself spoke volumes to Sandra, he was normally slouched back and relaxed, he genuinely was worried too.

"Do you have any idea what's up with him?" Sandra questioned Gerry. She knew that sometimes the boys didn't tell her everything, after all she is the Guv and they know how she can get stressed out about her work.

"Don't you think I'd have told you if I did Sandra? He hasn't said anything to me at all." Sandra knew that despite Gerry's slightly hostile tone he wasn't attacking her personally, just the situation they were in.

"I know, but I have to ask. This must have something to do with Jack, there's no other explanation I can think of as to why he's suddenly behaving oddly, well more than usual."

"Every time we mention him, just wondering how he's getting on he goes all quiet and awkward. He must know something about why Jack retired so suddenly."

Sandra nodded in agreement, it was exactly what she had thought last night when she couldn't sleep. Despite how her and Gerry seemed to disagree constantly at work, they did agree on the important things.

Gerry could see the sadness in Sandra's eyes, they looked sore and red; he couldn't make out whether this was just because she was tired or whether she had been crying.

"Never mind about Brian, Sandra, how are you coping?" the delicacy of Gerry's voice startled her a little, it wasn't how he normally spoke to her.

She could tell that Gerry had noticed that she wasn't her normal self. She knew that he would notice; out of the three of her boys Gerry did seem to be the best at picking up on her feelings.

"I'm fine," she replied a little too quickly, and knew instantly that it wasn't going to convince Gerry.

"Sandra" he spoke sternly as he stared into her eyes.

No matter how hard she tried to hold it together, she knew it was no good. She felt a tear slip from her eye and wiped it as soon as it appeared.

"I told you I'm fine Gerry." Sandra's voice told Gerry that he was on thin ice now. But that's what you do when you're friends with someone, you tread on that ice.

"Yeah, course you are," he replied sarcastically, "You are allowed to be upset Sandra. Don't worry, I won't tell anyone!" He joked, and smiled to see that it had briefly made Sandra smile too.

"It's just.." she paused not sure whether she should admit her feelings, she was normally so good at keeping them bottled up.

"Yes" Gerry encouraged.

"It's like losing my dad all over again. I know he wasn't my dad, and that no one could ever replace him, but he has been my father figure for so long now, and I miss him." Sandra felt the tears stream down her face as she revealed how she really felt.

Gerry took hold of Sandra's hands and stroked them gently. "It's ok, you let it out."

"I'm sorry."

"What for?" Gerry really was confused as to what she felt she had to be sorry about.

"For crying in front of you. For being silly."

"Hey, you're not being silly." He leaned closer and wiped the hair out of her eyes. She'd have normally slapped him, but she was grateful to have somebody there for her. "And you can cry in front of me as much as you want. Well actually no, I don't want to see you cry again. I want to see you smile. I don't want you to be upset." He'd give anything just for Sandra to be wearing that gorgeous smile of hers again, but he knew that Jack's departure was tough on her.

"Anyway Gerry, what are we going to do about Brian?"

"I think we should talk to Esther, see if she knows anything."

"Well won't she then tell Brian, and then he really won't trust us?"

"Surely not. Anyway, we need to make sure that she looks out for whether he's drinking again, we can't watch him 24/7."

"Yeah you're right. Shall we go this afternoon, before he gets home?"

"Yeah, you better ring Esther."

"Yeah I will do." It was then she realised that her hands were still encased in Gerry's. "Thank you. You know, for coming in early, and for listening to me, it's the first time I've been able to speak about Jack properly."

"Anytime," Gerry stoked her hand gently before deciding that he probably better let her have them back. He got up slowly from his chair and looked down at his Guv, she still looked worried, but there was a slight weight had been lifted off her shoulder. "Another coffee?"

She smiled up at him, "Yes please!"

Hope it was okay, feel free to let us know what you think! :) x