A/N: This chapter was supposed to be going up tomorrow but having houseguests for the weekend and not being able to write for a few days meant my muse went a bit loco today and kind of exploded so I wanted to get this posted before I get way ahead and start confusing myself again! Be warned, from the next chapter things will become a lot darker. That's your early warning siren! Also, sorry if you got last night's chapter again. I got interrupted in the middle of posting ther chapter and just realised I selected the wrong one -x-

Chapter 10

The beeping of the alarm was met with an ungrateful thwack from Kim. Robin rubbed his eyes a little and looked at her.

"Poor thing, it's only doing its job," he said.

"Yeah well," Kim pulled herself upright, "alarm clocks, traffic wardens, dentists… all in the same category as far as I'm concerned."

Robin sat up and reached for his shirt.

"I was quite glad to wake up," he said, "Had a horrible dream."

Kim looked over at him. His expression was troubled.

"What happened?" she asked quietly.

Robin sighed and tried to rub the sleep from his eyes.

"Sort of vague stuff," he sighed, "Simon was there. I couldn't put my finger on what was going on. It was just like…" he shook his head slowly, "like he was so low and I couldn't do anything to help him."

Kim tried to give him a sympathetic smile but it was strained. She remembered how depressed Simon was in 1995 and 1996 without Robin.

"You don't talk about Simon very much any more," she said quietly.

"I feel like I'm all talked out," Robin said quietly, "and talking isn't going to bring him back. Doesn't mean I'm not thinking about him all the time." He sighed and shook his head. "Like every moment of every day."

Kim nodded slowly.

"I know," she said quietly.

She watched as Robin pulled on his shirt and climbed out of bed to fasten the buttons. She began to wonder why she'd thought it was a good idea to go to bed in her clothes, she looked like a scrunched up piece of paper.

"Just going to get some fresh clothes on and get showed quickly," she said, "you know where the kitchen is." She paused and gave a cheeky smile. "And if you happened to accidently make breakfast while you're there it wouldn't be the worst thing that's ever happened."

"Bloody cheek," Robin threw a pillow at her but missed by inches as she darted from the room, giggling.

He turned to the window and peered through the curtains. Outside, the world was still sleeping. He didn't know what the day would hold in store for either of them but he knew it was going to be a difficult one. Whatever they found, the chances of a peaceful resolution to the Layton situation were looking more remote all the time. A search of woodland awaited and he hoped that it would turn up nothing. The thought of what March suspected they would find chilled him to the core.

~xXx~

Kim closed her eyes as the hot water pounded against her skin. It felt good. Made her feel alive. But it didn't wash away the fear and the anxiety that were eating away at her inside. She felt so strange. She couldn't put her finger in exactly why but something didn't seem right. Things felt different and peculiar. There was something in the air.

She shut off the water and reached for her towel. The steam filled the air in the room as she wrapped it around her and began to dry herself off. She couldn't quite believe the path her week was taking. Just the day before it had been a normal day like any other. She had awoken, greeted her family and set about her daily routine just as any other. Now here she was in the middle of a manhunt for a crazed addict who had seemingly been through a personality transplant.

There was more to it than that. She knew it. But she wasn't ready to think about that any further.

She dried and dressed quickly, then went downstairs and padded through to the kitchen where a pile of toast sat on the table.

"What, no bacon and eggs" she teased.

"I can only work with the tools you have provided!" Robin told her, "You want bacon and eggs? You make sure you have them in the fridge next time I make an unscheduled stop-over!"

Kim sank into a chair and grabbed a slice which she started to butter with haste.

"I can't stop thinking about Layton," she said quietly.

"Ooh, romantic!"

"I'm serious, Rob," Kim took a bite of toast and chewed it quickly, "something doesn't feel right."

Robin nodded slowly as he buttered his own slice. He knew what she meant. But he was no closer to explaining it than Kim was.

"Let's just get out there and see what we find today," he said quietly.

They ate in silence after that, both too busy trying to sate their hunger to think about constructing a sentence. Neither had eaten since the previous morning and both were starving. As the toast mountain slowly depleted and the rate of the crunching slowed down Kim finally wiped her fingers on a napkin and gave a deep sigh.

"I suppose we should set off."

Robin looked at her reluctantly. After the previous day the last thing he wanted to do was to set off on another day of Layton hunting.

"I know," he sighed, "I suppose it's too much to hope for that someone found him overnight?"

"I should have put the TV on," Kim commented. Still, it was too late now, The sun was starting to rise and it was time to head off on the trail of the man neither of them really wanted to see.

~xXx~

Nick Nailer wasn't really very pleased to be woken up at an ungodly hour and dragged from his bed to the telephone.

"I was just having a nice dream then!" he complained as the prison guard dragged him along.

"Urgent call from your brother," the warden told him.

Nailer hesitated and glanced at the guard. He felt his heart rate increase quickly and he swallowed.

"Oh really?" he asked.

"We wouldn't usually allow calls like this," the guard reminded him, "so don't be ungrateful and get your backside in there."

He opened a door and shoved Nailer into a room where a telephone sat on a table, the receiver off the hook. With a moment's hesitation he lifted it up and held it to his ear.

"Talk," he said quietly.

There was a pause.

"Nick Nailer?"

"Yes?" Nailer tried to place the voice.

There was another pause.

"Message about the lame dog, sir," the voice told him, "it's escaped from the pound."

Nailed hesitated. He swallowed and closed his eyes.

"Oh, has it really?" he asked through gritted teeth.

"He's been… biting people," the voice told him, "including a friend of yours."

Nailed swallowed.

"I see."

He heard someone clearing their throat on the line.

"Will you be wanting us to put him down for you, sir?"

Nailed took a deep breath.

"With haste," he advised before he cut the call and closed his eyes. Thoughts of a woman with long, red hair flowed around in his head and he felt an unprecedented lump forming in his throat. Anger and devastation began to rise inside of him but he fought them back, just as he always tried to. His job wasn't to get upset. He wouldn't allow himself to crumble for a woman who was never truly his anyway.

And as for the anger? Well, he'd leave that to his men on the streets who would be watching for that lame dog.

~xXx~

Robin and Kim walked slowly towards March who was surrounded by a large group of officers and detectives. However, the moment he saw them he abandoned the people he was instructing and made straight for them.

"Thank you both for coming," he said, his face looking a little haunted.

Robin froze.

"What's happened now?" he said immediately.

March looked from one of them to the other, trying to decide which looked the most anxious. Neither without good reason, he was quick to note.

"There have been two," he hesitated, "incidents."

"What kind of incidents?"

March took a deep breath.

"A dealer's in hospital. Looks like he was attacked fairly violently. He's in surgery right now, internal bleeding. Someone's given him a fair old kicking."

Robin hesitated.

"You think it was Layton?" he whispered.

"We found The Beard's car not far away, near a public toilet block," March continued, "there's evidence of drug use in the toilets and another car was stolen from just outside. Man and woman in shock. Didn't really get a good look but they picked Layton's picture out. Said he'd cut his hair though."

"Shit," Robin shuddered.

March looked at him seriously.

"Get your team ready," he continued, "we'll give you the directions to the woods near White's house." He turned to Kim. "I need you to get to the scene of the attack on the dealer."

"Hey, hey, woah," Robin interrupted, "she comes with me."

"We have limited manpower and resources," March told him, "we need you co-ordinating the search with the dogs, but we need her elsewhere." He looked to Kim. "I pulled up your record from your time in the force before. It was pretty impressive."

That surprised Kim.

"Oh?" she said, "thank you."

"Commented on your eye for detail," March continued, "and that's what we need. Now it's getting light we need a thorough search of the crime scene and I can only spare a couple of my men."

Kim hesitated. She didn't want to work apart from Robin, not considering the situation, but she did want to be as helpful as she could.

"If that's where I'm needed," she said quietly.

March nodded.

"I appreciate your support," he said, "I'll take you to DS Fullerton, he'll brief you about the attack on the way."

Robin felt anxious as Kim began to follow March. He reached out and grasped her shoulder.

"Kim," he said quickly. She looked around and he could see she wasn't sure either. "I'm not happy about this," he told her.

Kim shook her head slowly. She was no happier than Robin but didn't want to say so for fear of jeopardising her return to the force.

"I'll be fine," she said, "and you'll be fine. Look, it probably won't take all that long. Soon as we've finished I'll head to you and help with the woodland search." She noticed he still didn't look certain but he nodded nevertheless.

"Alright," he said, "but take care, Kim."

Kim flashed Robin an anxious smile.

"You too," she said quietly

Robin couldn't shake that dark feeling as he watched her walking away. He was getting paranoid now, but it was no wonder. With Layton still loose and attacking just about everyone in sight no one was safe – least of all Robin's sense of security.

~xXx~

The girl watched him as he hungrily ate the last of the pizza.

"Don't know what you're staring at," Keats muttered, licking his lips, "it's not like you'd want any. Aren't teenage girls always supposed to be on diets?" he laughed to himself, "of course, you can't answer that, can you? Forgot about the gag. Lovely and quiet around here."

Now the sun was rising he was able to see the rest of the barge a little more clearly. He was pleased to find a few useful items – a couple more lengths of rope, an old radio some tramp had left behind and surprisingly a selection of books by Barbara Cartland, one of which had a bookmark inside baring the slogan 'This Book Belongs To Arthur Layton'. Very worrying, Keats thought to himself.

His night had been a busy one. After stealing the car he'd gone on to mug a hoodie and taken his grey top to hide his features a little. A quick break in to a hardware store had also brought him some useful supplies.

"You see, girl," he told Molly, "the interesting thing about sharing a head with this… limp piece of celery is that he does actually have a few surprising pieces of knowledge inside this addled brain." He turned back to the half-constructed item on a plank of wood. "I never knew he had it in him. How he even remembered how to build a bomb after all that heroin is beyond me." He fiddled with it for a moment before getting to his feet. "Anyway. Might not even need that. We'll see how things go." He got to his feet and put up his hood. "I've got important business to see to so you enjoy the river views and I'm sure you'll have some company here before too long."

He left her on the damp barge alone as he set off on another journey. Things were hotting up now. He needed to press on. Now daylight was here he knew the net would be closing in and he needed to act fast. Otherwise there was another appetite that would remain unquenched.

~xXx~

Robin stared out at the misty woodland as his team worked their way through the trees. He heard the barking of dogs and the rustle of feet against leaves and branches. He felt like he was stuck in a perpetual nightmare. He didn't know what it was but something was playing on his mind. Threads of his conversation with Kim from the night before kept coming back to him. Layton was different. He was different. Now he'd been on another rampage, Robin couldn't understand where he was finding all this strength.

"Sir?" A uniformed officer came running up to him breathlessly and for a terrible moment Robin thought they had grim news about Molly.

"What?" he whispered.

The man held a shiny object in his direction.

"Here," he said.

Robin stared at it. It was a set of keys.

"What's this?" he demanded.

"Keys," said the man.

Robin closed his eyes and tried counting to ten but it didn't seem to be doing any use so he stopped at five and cried,

"I can see that much! What do you want me to do with them?"

"They're for your new door," the man said matter of factly.

Robin frowned.

"I have a new door?" he asked.

The man nodded.

"Your flat's all secure again," he said, "and here are your keys."

Robin took them a little warily.

"But," he began, "I didn't even choose a new door!"

The officer shrugged.

"It'll be a nice surprise then," he said and left before Robin could ask him any more questions about doors and keys.

Robin sighed and pocketed the keys. He was imagining some horrible stained glass monstrosity that he would find when he finally arrived home.

"Great," he mumbled, "now I'm worrying more about my door than about Layton!"

He fell silent as he followed his officers and the dogs further into the wild. His heart raced as he thought about the purpose of the search and nausea struck him hard. He begged silently for Molly to be found safe and well but as Layton didn't seem to discriminate who he attacked it didn't seem very likely.

~xXx~

Hiding beneath his hood, Keats walked slowly down the street. He wasn't sure where to turn now. He had all these notions and plans in his mind and no way of putting them into action. He passed an electrical store and glanced at the window where some million inch super-duper surround sound smellivision TV set was standing in the window at the brilliant knocked-down price of several billion pounds, or whatever it was. Keats wasn't really interested in the financial and technical details to be honest. He was only interested in the images that played out to him.

The news played away. A ticker ran across the bottom of the screen attributing further attacks to the escaped criminal Arthur Layton. There was a lot of POLICE: DO NOT CROSS tape all over the place and the background was hauntingly familiar. It might have been dark and in the middle of intense desperation that he'd been there but he would recognise the spot where he'd beaten and kicked that ratty little dealer anywhere.

The sight of a woman trying to move the camera away from the site caused his heart to seize up in his chest that he felt for certain that he was having a heart attack.

It's the drugs! I knew I shouldn't' have let Layton get his fix! See, this is why I always kept my nose clean – literally! Oh shit -

But after a few seconds he realised his heart was still beating, fluttering wildly as his eyes stayed fixed upon the face on the screen. He felt sick and sweaty, his hands began to shake and his lips grew dry. He knew her. He knew her well. There she was, with the same dark hair he'd seen on the news the day before and in the photograph he'd stolen from Robin's lounge.

"Kim," he whispered.

Immediately he chastised himself.

Kimberley. Kimberly. Kimberley!

Nevertheless she couldn't tear his eyes away from her. As he stared on, the image on the screen changed and returned to a stuffy newsreader in a studio but inside his mind the picture of Kim still played. He couldn't see anything but her. She consumed his thoughts and consumed his vision and she was there, where he had been just hours before. He tried to moisten his dry lips by running his tongue across them but his tongue was dry too. His whole mouth was dry. He felt that heart starting to seize up again as he thought about how close she might be to him at that very moment. He wasn't a million miles away from the scene of that incident. He swallowed and tried to convince his common sense to overrule what the chipolata stashed in his pants was trying to persuade him to do. however, the chipolata won through.

It was with a burst of euphoria far higher than any drug could provide that he ran back to the car and let his heart control his actions. He knew it was reckless and audacious but he hadn't managed to achieve the feats of malevolence he'd been able to get away with both in life and death by being shy and retiring. If there was a way, he was going to find it.

~xXx~

Almost like I've never been away.

It had been eight years since Kim last entered an investigation. In fact, technically speaking the last one she'd been involved with was in 1996. After awaking in 2003 she'd left the force immediately to lay low, as per Simon's advice. Now here she was back in the thick of it, although there seemed to be a lot more marshalling away of camera crews than she remembered. Had there been much rolling news in 2003? She wasn't sure. But the constant rolling news in 2011 meant a lot of airtime to fill.

"A lot of air time to fill with pictures of me shoeing the twats away!" Kim commented to herself as she pulled another length of POLICE: DO NOT CROSS tape around the scene.

To her surprise a child of no more than eight or nine ducked under the tape, let off a string of four-letter words at Kim and ran back in the opposite direction.

For a split second Kim stood in shocked silence, unsure what the hell she was supposed to do, then a moment later she turned on her heels, narrowly avoided tangling herself in the tape and dashed underneath it.

"Oi!" she cried out. No little kid was going to get away with that she decided as she followed him down the side alley he'd fled along.

~x~

The exchange was swift and smart. Keats was already holding the ten pound note he'd found in his last victim's car out for the child to snatch as he turned the corner and ran by. From there, it was only a matter of time. Waiting. Listening. The sound of the footsteps coming ever closer, clomping along the ground. He closed his eyes for a split second, then thrust out one arm and caught the fast moving Kim around the neck. Her speed and momentum carried him a few paces but the second she felt a knife against the far side of her neck she stopped abruptly. He felt her swallow as he held his hand firmly to her throat.

"Kimberley," he breathed.

That was it. That was the moment she knew. The thought she hadn't let herself wonder, the possibility too dark to contemplate was right there, coming to life before her.

She knew who was holding the knife to her throat and it sure as hell wasn't Layton. Not the inside.

It was her past back to haunt her in the very strongest of terms.