Watson was listening to one of the watchmen report about last night stake-out at the entrance of the property. He wanted to be sure nobody was lurking around and he nodded with satisfaction at the man's words. It seemed Dempsey and Makepeace, or rather the Dempseys, had been right about this place.

The door opened slightly and Thomas' head popped inside. He froze seeing Watson was in deep conversation with a man he had never seen before.

"It's ok Thomas you can come, we've finished." The cop invited him in.

Watson smiled when Jessica followed her brother inside. The girl had been quite lonely since their arrival and he was glad to see she was joining her brother now even if you could tell her mind was elsewhere. The bruise on her face had nearly entirely disappeared, but the wound in her soul would surely take much more time to heal. The watchman left the room and the snap of the door made Jessica jump. She looked at her little brother and gave in an impatient nod as if prompting him to talk.

"So... you've got any news?" The boy asked nervously.

Watson smiled sympathetically. "Not yet, no."

Thomas heaved a deep breath and let himself fall on the sofa. Then he directed his attention back on Watson. "Four days and no news... You don't think something... something happened to them?"

"Of course not!"

"How d'you know?"

Watson took a chair and sat in front them. "Well for one thing Chas would have let us known the very instant, believe me." He looked at them straight in the eyes so that they would be left in no doubt that he was telling the truth and not some reassuring waffle for children. "And for another thing... I used to work with them long ago and I know they're up to it."

"You mean you worked with them when they were working for the force?" Even if his parents had already told him so, Thomas would have liked Watson to tell them a bit more about it.

"Indeed. They were the best cops of SI10. The dynamic duo."

"Really?" the boy asked and Jessica was listening too now.

"Sure. They solved tons of cases together... well, when they weren't having a spat."

"What do you mean?" Jessica enquired.

"Well it wasn't easy to work in the same office as your parents sometimes. But it certainly wasn't boring." He grinned.

There was a small knock and the door opened again; Abbott entered. He looked around and his eyes stopped on the teens sitting on the sofa. He seemed to breathe again. Watson smiled, the old man seemed to have taken as a personal duty to check Harry's children were safe and sound at any time of the day, always popping up unexpectedly and disappearing almost instantly when he had found the brother and the sister. Abbott found back his composure rapidly.

"I hope I'm not interrupting. I was only wondering whether you would like a light meal or anything."

Tom opened his mouth, interested; now that Watson had reassured him about his parents, he wouldn't have said no to a cake or two. But his sister was quicker. "No thank you." She dismissed him. Abbott nodded and closed the door.

Tommy watched his sister, his mouth still half opened, but she was now focused on Watson and what he might tell them about their parents' live before they got married. Like Watson, the boy was glad to see Jessica was slowly coming out of her shell, so he closed his mouth and let her talk. "So go on. Tell us about your days in SI10."

Watson smiled and made himself more comfortable. It was nice to remember his first years in the force and the 'Dempsey and Makepeace' subject was certainly one of the most interesting parts of it.

"Your parents couldn't stand each other when they started working together. Our late boss partnered them without their consent and the first months were... explosive! With time they learned to work together but they spent two years teasing each other, there was a constant banter between them in the office. One day they seemed to be best friends and the next they were suddenly on a knife's edge, always at each other's throats. It was like working in a pewter tank, you could never know when it was about to explode."

"Really?" Tommy was a bit surprised.

"How did they end up married?" Jessica wondered.

"Well teasing your mum didn't mean your father didn't care for her. It was a kind of game between them." Watson explained then he grinned "You know we used to have bets going on in the service."

"Bets?" Jessica encouraged.

"To know whether they would or wouldn't."

"Would or wouldn't what?" Tommy asked

His sister rounded on him with a disbelieving expression "How thick are you?"

The boy frowned a second, then the penny dropped. "Oh!" then he smiled stupidly. "So, did you win?"

"In fact nobody did."

"How comes?"

A shadow passed over the man's eyes as he remembered twenty years old events "Three years after your father arrived in England we had a big case. Murders linked to drug traffic, bad people. Very bad people."

"Our parents were on the case?"

"Everyone was working on this case, it was big." Watson sighed. "Well to make a long story short, we spent two months hunting them down, and in the end, three of our people were killed, including our superior Gordon Spikings. Your parents left the force shortly after. It transpired that they had been dating for quite a while already without anyone noticing it so the bets were cancelled. Anyway after Spikings' death no one really felt like claiming his winnings. It kind of lost its sense."

Jessica nodded gravely. She knew the feeling too well. Thomas glanced towards his sister and noticed the change of mood. He was desperate to find something to prevent her from sinking back in wistful sadness. "So why did they quit?"

Watson was pulled out of his souvenirs and looked Thomas intently. "I don't know. We were never that close." He declared frowning. "They were good cops. The best team. What did they tell you?"

"Not much." Thomas answered. "But to be honest, I'm not sure I ever asked them about it."

"Mum said it was a crazy job. Not compatible with a family." His sister shrugged.

"The job sure isn't very safe. I guess their relation was already far more serious than we would have thought at the time. Maybe Spikings' death hit them harder than us. They realised they had to choose between their career and a family."

"You think they regret their choice?" The boy asked in a low voice.

Watson watched them closely. "Like I told you, we've never been that close. But if what you want to know is 'do they regret the job and jumped on the occasion when this case came up', then I'm quite sure the answer is no. I can tell you they would give anything for this all thing to be over and go back to their life. Which is the reason they're doing it."

Jessie frowned. "It's a bit contradictory, isn't it?"

"Yes" the cop chuckled.

"So how come you didn't keep in touch?" Thomas queried

"Your parents left the force and..."

"Yes" Jessica interrupted "But they still have contact with Chas Jarvis."

Watson shrugged, squashing his mouth. "When they left the force they kept out of SI10 for a while, they were getting in their new life. Soon after, they announced they were getting married and invited all of us, you know SI10. It was a great party. Took place here." He looked through the window at the gardens. "Around a year or maybe a year and half later, Harry gave birth to a little girl." He looked at Jessica. "You know what happened next better than I. For my part, I left SI10 to specialise in terrorist unit and met them only once or twice. That's all I can tell you, if you want to know more you'll have to ask them when this is all over." He clapped on his knees and stood up. "Ok, I should be going. Make a tour, make sure everything's alright. Your father would kill me if he knew I'm losing my time talking like a girl!" he grinned.