I hope those that have been reading these chapters have enjoyed it. Please read and review if possible, it'd be nice to know what people think about it, good or bad :) I hope you like this chapter too xx

Chapter 6

Rachel opened her eyes slowly feeling as miserable and pissed off as she did every morning. Why were mornings so hard? Finding the light from the sun too much to bear for now she closed her eyes again, willing sleep to take her. As she pulled the duvet towards her tighter, she felt a movement behind her and cursed to herself about how it was little wonder that she always felt so bloody tired when Sean fidgeted all the time. Preparing to kick him, hard, in the leg (or whatever part of his body met her foot first, she wasn't bothered really), she adjusted herself to apply as much force as possible. When she felt sure that she would be able to teach Sean a lesson once and for all, she thrust her foot behind her while muttering a 'Will you fucking keep STILL?'.

'Ow! Shit!' said someone who definitely didn't sound like Sean, or any sort of male, causing Rachel to twist around frantically and coming face to face with Janet. 'What the hell was that for?' Janet asked, rubbing her shin and looking much less than impressed.

'Oh my god!' Rachel squealed, the sleepy fog that had so far embraced her this morning finally leaving and allowing her to remember why Janet was in her bed. 'I'm so sorry! I was half asleep and thought you were Sean! Are you okay?' Rachel was bright red by now, feeling like a complete fool for beating the shit out of Janet by mistake.

'You thought I was Sean? I know you're not one for being overly complimentary, Rach, but I have to say this is a new low for you.' Janet couldn't keep the smile out of her voice as the pain in her leg began to fade. She'd probably have a bruise there tomorrow though; what a lovely keepsake of her and Rachel's first morning together.

'I didn't mean it like that! I just felt someone behind me and assumed it was him cos I was still half asleep,' Rachel protested, wondering how she always managed to find herself in these sorts of embarrassing situations. 'Seriously, are you okay, Jan?'

'Yeah.. though I think I should be compensated later for this. A foot rub, perhaps?' she grinned, letting the happiness she felt at waking up to Rachel - even in this rather painful way - wash over her. In fact, the kick probably did her good, at least it meant she didn't have to pinch herself to check that she wasn't in one of her fantasies again. But no, this was definitely reality and her grin widened as she looked at Rachel, who was wiping her eyes while looking at Janet in concern.

'Deal.' Rachel yawned and smiled shyly at Janet. 'I can't believe I just did that. What a twat.' she muttered, half to herself, more annoyed than the situation really required, pissed off that what was supposed to be a wonderful morning had started off with an angry kick.

'Hey.. don't start, kid! It's not my favourite wake up routine, but believe it or not I've had worse.' she smirked, trying to bring some light to the now rather tense atmosphere.

Rachel relaxed, not quite sure how Janet had the ability to calm her down and put things back into perspective - something very few people were capable of when it came to Rachel. 'You're right,' she said, leaning over for a rather chaste kiss, aware of her morning breath. And who said romance was dead, she thought to herself wryly. 'There, that's a better start to the morning, don't ya think?'

'Mmm.. okay, now THAT is my favourite wake up routine,' Janet smiled, feeling like a teenager in the throes of a first crush, feeling almost overwhelmed at the intensity of her emotions. 'How are you feeling this morning, love?' she enquired, secretly feeling thrilled at the intimacy of the situation.

'Tired!' Rachel groaned, pulling the duvet up over her head in mock annoyance. She peeked over the top, looking at Janet with eyes that clearly displayed the happiness she felt within. 'I feel good. Really good. This feels so... weird, but, like, a really amazing weird. If that even makes sense.' she smiled again as Janet pulled the duvet back down and moved in closer, while Rachel stretched out her arm, sliding it beneath Janet's neck and pulling her in to her embrace.

'Makes sense to me. I think you're right, it's surreal. Like some sort of dream.' Janet agreed, her head now on Rachel's chest, her brain desperately trying to not acknowledge this fact lest her libido took control. She settled for draping her arm over Rachel's body and sighing contentedly, unable to think of anywhere else in the world she would want to be at this moment.

'I guess so. The strangest thing to me though is how... natural it feels. I mean, I know I said it feels weird, but like.. only because I never thought this would happen. The fact that it has happened is the amazingly weird thing. But being here with you, in bed, feels natural.. normal, even. And it feels weird that THAT doesn't feel weird. Oh god, I'm not saying it properly. Just.. yeah. It feels weird and normal.. so..' she trailed off, pretty sure that if she continued it would just spiral into completely incoherent ramblings. Obviously the fact that Janet's head was resting on her chest with only a thin scrap of material preventing skin-on-skin interaction was scattering her thoughts far more than she would care to admit, and she was really regretting her morals regarding no sex until her conversation with Sean had taken place.

'Hush. Stop worrying about if you're being clear,' Janet said, nestling in closer, increasing the thrill for both her and Rachel. 'I know exactly what you mean. It's fine.' she couldn't help but notice the speed at which Rachel's heart was now racing, causing her own to kickstart into quickened action. They lapsed into silence, thinking of how far they'd had to come to get here, thinking of how worth it all the tears and angst had been.

The sound of the rather brash and intruding alarm caused them both to jump slightly, each silently cursing the damn thing for the unwanted, yet necessary, interruption. Janet shifted slightly and reached to turn off the alarm before tensing her muscles in preparation to get up, as much as she loathed to.

'Not yet,' Rachel whined, pinning Janet to her with a strength that she usually reserved for pricks she was chasing after while at work. 'Two more minutes.' relaxing her grip as she felt Janet nestle back into her fold. Neither of them needed much persuading to stay where they were, safe from everything out of these four walls, feeling secure and content in each other's embrace. 'Shall we call in sick?' Rachel asked, intending to masquerade the serious question in jokey tones but not quite managing it and instead sounding as wistful as she felt.

'Ugh, I wish!' Janet responded, surprised that for once she wasn't bounding out of bed in her excitement to get to work. They became quiet again, probably hoping that their silence would evade the constraints of time and allow them to stay in their cocoon.

'Come on, love.' Janet eventually said, checking her mobile and seeing that they'd spent a quite lovely ten minutes ignoring the prospect of a long day at work. 'We'll be late if we don't get a move on, and you already think Gill is on your case all the time.' She sat up, feeling almost pained at having to leave this perfect moment and face the world behind the bedroom door.

Rachel groaned and muttered something that sounded like 'Spoilsport!' before following suit and sitting up beside Janet. She kissed Janet briefly behind the ear causing Janet to shiver and got out of bed, heading to the bathroom to brush her teeth before Janet hogged the room. When she got back to her bedroom she saw Janet grab two towels and head for her shower.

Rachel looked in the mirror and groaned. She had no one to blame but herself really, she'd known that she should have dried her hair last night but in her rush to climb into bed with Janet she'd left it to dry naturally and now it looked.. comical. And comical hair was not a look an MIT officer should really have. How Janet had managed to have any sort of conversation with Rachel without laughing was beyond her. With a resigned sigh, she picked up he brush and wrestled with her hair until it looked semi-presentable in a ponytail. 'That will have to do.' she muttered, before making her way into the kitchen, putting on the kettle, making some toast and lighting up her first cigarette of the day. Trying to be mindful of Janet, she hung out of the kitchen window, the wind feeling more icy than finished, tea poured and toast buttered, she loaded her goods onto a tray and headed back into the bedroom where she found Janet sliding nylon tights up her calves. Rachel gulped, trying not to ogle but finding it almost impossible. When she wrenched her gaze away she looked up to Janet's face which had one eyebrow sardonically raised in an expression of mock anger. Rachel flushed, embarrassed at being caught out, and averted her gaze as Janet finished getting dressed, scalding herself by taking a large sip of the still piping hot tea. Janet smiled, still rather confused as to how Rachel found her attractive. It was a mystery to her, but aware of time ticking on, she let the thought pass and concentrated on trying to simultaneously eat toast and do her hair.

Rachel sat down at her dresser and deftly applied her make-up. Within five minutes she was done and so moved out of the way so Janet could do hers. As Janet got to work, Rachel took another (more wary and slightly smaller) sip of her tea and munched her toast, trying to distract herself from where her less than saintly thoughts were headed. Fortunately, or not so fortunately, the worry she felt about going into work made it easy for her head to almost forget about all the things she'd quite like to do with Janet, none of the activities based outside of the bedroom.

'Should we take two cars? People might talk if we arrive together. We don't want people to get the wrong idea. Well, the right idea, but you know what I mean. Should I leave now and you leave in five minutes so we don't get in at the same time? Would that be suspicious? What should we do?' Rachel babbled, nerves making her analyse everything. She didn't want work knowing about her and Janet just yet. She wasn't ready for that.

'Rach, calm down! You're being ridiculous. We don't always drive our own cars, and it's stupid that we do that anyway seeming as we do live together. If we make a big deal about us not being together, they'll think something's wrong. So stop panicking and try to act normal!' Janet said, amused but knowing that she had to talk some sense into Rachel. She didn't want to be subject to office gossip any more than Rachel did, especially after her and Andy. No thanks.

'You're right, you're right.' Rachel replied, instantly feeling calmer when Janet approached her and embraced her. 'Just worrying over nothing, as usual. You know what I'm like.'

'Yes,' Janet touched Rachel's cheek affectionately, 'yes I do. Now, let's go. Let's take your car, you still haven't finished your toast.'

'Hey! I used napkins to catch those crumbs yesterday, and anyway, why is my car the one that can be a mess?' she jested as they walked through the door.

'A) I found crumbs all over the floor last night, so napkins clearly aren't the solution, and b) your car is already a mess, so...' Janet left the sentence hanging as she gently slapped Rachel's behind.

'The cheek of it! If you don't watch it, you'll never be allowed in my car again!' Rachel smiled, unlocking the car and sliding in before putting on her seatbelt and waiting for Janet to do the same.

xxx

Twenty-five minutes later (bloody traffic) and they entered their office, surprised to find that, aside from Gill, they were the first ones in. As they approached Gill's office, Gill could hear them seemingly having a rather serious debate about chocolate. 'Gotten over your lovers tiff then?' she asked, causing Rachel - who'd just taken a swig from her bottle of water - to choke and lose grip of the bottle of still opened water, leading to it falling to the floor and spilling everywhere. Both Gill and Janet immediately went to Rachel as her choking showed no sign of stopping, Janet rolling her eyes at Rachel's rather ridiculous unsubtle behaviour, and Janet started banging Rachel's back mercilessly (Rachel had a suspicion this was pay back for the kick earlier) and soon the room was filled with Rachel spluttering wildly, trying to catch her breath. So much for discretion, she thought to herself drily. Gill looked at her as if she were a complete moron and Rachel flushed, feeling that it wasn't that inaccurate a description of her.

'So?' Gill asked, her patience wearing thin, wishing she'd kept her mouth shut and not tried to make small talk with her team. They always ended up the same; whoever she attempted chit chat with ended up looking like an imbecile and Gill was left wondering what the hell was wrong with the human race.

'So what, ma'am?' Rachel asked, the drama of her near death and the death stare from her boss making her temporarily forget what Godzilla's original question was.

'Yes, boss.' Janet said, looking at Rachel with incredulity written all over her face before shifting slightly so she could press down on Rachel's foot. 'Like I said, we were both tired, the case has been draining as you know, but things look pretty much back to normal now. Thanks for asking.'

'Oh...' Rachel suddenly understood what was going on and blushed again. 'Yes, boss.' she meekly answered, just a tad too late.

'Thanks Janet, at least one of you seems to have some sort of brain activity going on this morning.' She paused, allowing an uncomfortable silence to edge into the room. 'The lads should be here shortly but I'll inform you of the good news now. Guess what it is.' she said, attempting some cameraderie once more, though knowing she'd regret it later.

'Er- the murder's solved?' Rachel jumped in before Janet could speak, trying to make up for her stupidity just a moment ago.

'Don't be an idiot, Bailey.' Ah, task failed then. Gill turned to Janet as she continued speaking, clearly feeling that she was less likely to have an attack of the Kevins, as Gill liked to call it. 'We have uniforms arresting Sims and Hodges as we speak. DNA came in and it's theirs. So.. I reckon this is a good start.'

'Very good.' Janet replied, feeling sorry for, and strangely over-protective of, Rachel who was acting like a teenager by scuffing her shoe repeatedly against the floor. 'That all, ma'am?' Janet enquired, wanting to get away from Gill and console Rachel, even if Rachel had been having a Kevin moment.

'Yep. As soon as everyone gets in call me and we'll have our briefing.' Gill dismissed them and turned her attention to the pile of paperwork that had been left for her, wondering why on earth she hadn't chosen an easier job. Preferably a job that entailed no interaction with people.

xxx

An hour later and the team had been briefed, roles had been dished out and they were all preparing to get on with the day. Everyone seemed more refreshed, probably due to the early finish the day before.. well, early for them anyway. Just as Rachel was about to head downstairs with Janet to interview Hodges, a thought came to her and she stopped in her tracks and swore out loud.

'Watch out, Bailey?' Pete said, a second too late as he collided into her. 'What is wrong with you?' he asked before bending down to retrieve the papers he had been holding just a moment ago.

'Uh- nothing. Sorry Pete.' she joined him in a crouched position to help pick up the papers before hurrying back in the direction she had just come from and standing by her desk. Janet hurried up to her with a look of concern on her face.

'What's up, kid?' she asked quietly, noting the stress that had suddenly been etched on Rachel's face.

'I forgot to ask Godzilla about having a couple hours off this afternoon. You know, to have that conversation with Sean? And after this morning, I don't think she's likely to oblige, do you?'

'Is that it?' Janet asked, relief flooding through her veins. 'You stress far too much, woman. I'll go and speak to her, sort it out for you. Not a problem. What time roughly?'

'Er- Sean is either on 3-11 shift or not working today. So.. I dunno.. about 1ish? Just for a couple of hours at the most, it shouldn't take that long though.'

'Fine.' Janet looked at Rachel and really wanted to hold her. However, they'd never been touchy-feely women, so Mitch and Lee would probably wonder what was going on if they witnessed that. Rachel's hug would have to wait until later. Instead, she gave Rachel a swift squeeze of the shoulder and headed into the office. While she waited, Rachel got her phone out and sent a text to Sean; Hi Sean, need to talk to you ASAP. U in work today? If yes, what shift u on? Rachel. He'd probably pick up on the lack of a kiss at the end of that text but it didn't really matter now. She didn't have to wait long for a reply; Yeah.. in work from 3. Everything okay? S x . Rachel didn't allow herself to feel guilt about Sean, instead she replied briefly with; OK. Meet u in cafe across the road from work at 1.15. Talk later. Rachel. and shoved her phone back in her bag.

Only a few seconds more passed until Janet came out of Gill's office and signalled for Rachel to follow her out of their office. 'Okay, sorted. Had to tell Gill a white lie though, cos she was asking why you needed to go out. But you're free now from 1.15pm.' Janet said, looking warmly at Rachel.

'Oh thanks, love.' Rachel replied, knowing that Janet couldn't fight all of her battles all of the time, but thinking that as a one-off it didn't matter that much. 'Er- what was that about a little white lie?'

'Ah, it's nothing.' Janet flushed slightly. 'Don't worry about it.'

'Tell me! I have to know, what if Godzilla asks me about it afterwards? Forewarned is forearmed, as they say.'

'Oh. Oh.. I didn't think of that.' The blush was becoming more apparent now. 'I kinda.. well she put me on the spot so I just said the first thing that came into my head.'

'Which was?' Rachel asked, not liking where this was going.

'Er- I said you were going to the gynaecologist. For.. some help. I didn't know-'

'The gynaecologist?! You told my boss that I need help from a gynaecologist?! Why the hell was that your first thought?!' Rachel wasn't angry, just quite baffled. 'Why didn't you just say I was going to the doctors?'

'I don't know.. I didn't think. I'm sorry.' she looked around, checked no one was around, and briefly leaned forward to give Rachel a kiss.

Rachel smiled, at once not caring about anything but more kisses. 'Okay, you're forgiven. But I swear, if she asks me anything about my trip to the gyno, you're going to be giving me much more than a foot rub!' she took a step towards Janet, though immediately jumped back when she heard footsteps. Both women smiled and headed downstairs, Rachel with the intention of a quick cigarette before the interview, and Janet wanting to ensure the room was set up and the solicitors were ready to start.

xxx

'So, Natasha, I'll ask once again; can you explain to me why we found your DNA on Jackie's body?' Rachel inquired, the interview well underway, though it wasn't going as well as they'd hoped. Janet was scribbling on the notepad in front of her, the solicitor was looking bored out of his mind, Rachel was looking intently at the interviewee, and Natasha was looking anywhere but at Rachel.

'I told ya,' she said, with an air of menace. 'I don't fuckin' know.'

'Okay. Well, that leaves us in a bit of pickle, doesn't it? I mean, we have hard evidence that has placed you with the body, as I've already explained, so this is serious Natasha. We have Nicki being interviewed in another room, and if she talks before you do, who knows what she'll say. The only way to know the full truth is if you tell us.' Rachel leaned back in her chair, making sure she looked at ease and comfortable and studied Natasha's body language.

'Look, I dunno, alright? I didn't do it. It don't matter what Nicki says, cos I didn't do it. How many times do I have to say this shit to you?' Natasha stated, though her worried expression ruined the effect she was going for. A knock at the door paused the interview for a couple of minutes.

'I'm in the middle of something if you hadn't noticed, Kevin.' Janet said, frustrated at how unwilling to talk their suspect was. 'This better be important.'

'It is, sarge. Forensics have just got back to us about Hodges' flat.' Janet remembered Gill had said she had issued a warrant for the flat to be searched. She motioned for Kevin to continue. 'Well, they say that one of the rooms appeared to have been scrubbed clean in the past week. Isn't enough on it's own, I know, but also sarge, when they checked the bins outside, they found a belt. The belt is the same width as the one used to asphyxiate the victim. Forensics are examining it now, but I just thought you might want to know now. Get that batshit girl locked up.' Ah, Janet thought, he was doing so well until the last sentence. Even so, for him, he was doing good, and Janet told him so. Kevin left and Janet called Rachel out of the room to explain the developments. With the new information shared, they re-entered the room.

'Right, Natasha. As you're aware, officers have been searching your property. We've just discovered a belt in the bottom of your bin. A belt that is, in fact, almost certainly the same belt that was used in the death of Jacqueline Hall. Now, are you still going to pretend you don't know anything that is happening? Our forensics will have results for us from the belt in...' she checked her watch, 'oooh.. about 5 hours, I'd say. Do we have to wait until then? Or are you going to make things a bit easier for yourself and tell me what is going on now?'

xxx

The MIT office was full of good spirits. The team were sat around once again enjoying some sandwiches for lunch, trying to relax and recharge their batteries before having to continue with their work. The morning had been productive, Natasha had started to talk, Nicki was on the verge of talking and everyone finally felt like they were making some headway with the case. The lads were all having a bit of banter with Janet joining in occasionally, though she kept inconspicuously giving glances to Rachel when no one else was looking, as Rachel had been silent for the most of their lunch break so far. She looked pensive, Janet mused, and although Janet was really trying to reign in her paranoia, she couldn't help but feel that Rachel's pensiveness about this meeting of Sean was due to her not knowing if it was the right thing to do. Janet took out her phone and started to write a text.

'Are you sure? About Sean? J xx'

Less than a minute later a reply came through. 'Ofc I am. Just feel bad for him. Aren't I supposed to be the worrier in this relationship? :P xx'

'Just checking, that's all. I'll story worrying now. J xx'

'Shit. Stupid phone. Meant stop. Not story. J xx'

'Good. Btw, ur looking VERY hot right now. Fancy a quickie? ;) xx'

'DC Bailey! Later.. definitely later! Can't wait. J xx'

'Haha. Me too. Sending you a hug to tide you over til later! xxx'

They tried to join in the banter, though soon enough it was time to head back to work. Chatter died down and everyone got their stuff together to begin the afternoon. They were all hoping for another early finish tonight and so were determined to work as hard as they could. Gill popped her head around the door, 'Rachel.'

Rachel looked at Janet with a slightly nervous expression which wasn't helped when Janet could barely hide her irrepressible smirk. She hadn't meant to make things more awkward between Gill and Rachel, but it still tickled her slightly. Rachel walked in to Gill's office and stood in front of the desk, twiddling with the hem of her top wondering quite where this conversation was going to go. Gill pushed the door shut behind her, sat down at her desk and peered over at Rachel over her glasses.

'I won't keep you long. Just thought I'd wish you luck with your...' she raised an eyebrow, 'er- your.. appointment. I hope it goes well.'

Rachel would have been quite happy if the floor had opened up and devoured her whole right then. She flushed and cursed Janet silently. Seriously, none of her friends had these continual embarrassing situations. Why her? All the bloody time. She supposed she was just put on this earth to amuse people with her anecdotes of getting into really awkward situations. Gill cleared her throat which sharply brought Rachel out of her reverie, becoming aware that Godzilla was beginning to look pretty pissed again.

'Thank.. er- thank you, ma'am. Much appreciated.' she stammered, definitely planning on thinking up ways in which Janet could pay her back for this.

'That's all.' Gill said, effectively dismissing Rachel when she turned her attention back to her computer screen.

xxx

Fifteen minutes later found Rachel stood outside the cafe in which she'd agreed to meet Sean (or forced him to meet her there, whichever way you want to look at it.), smoking a cigarette. She felt sick. The last time she'd dumped someone (someone who wasn't a dick), was in college, and the only reason she'd felt okay about doing that was because the reason she'd dumped him was due to him kissing another lad. Rachel knew she had to do this, but she wasn't underestimating how hard it was going to be. She flicked her cigarette butt away, and pushed the door of the cafe open. She spotted Sean right away and sighed, dread seeming to fuel the nausea.

It was time.