Authors note: To TT...I know this isn't exactly what you asked for, and I do have a bit of something along those lines started, but this popped into my head, almost fully formed and I couldn't let it go.

I have quite a few ideas for these though, so once Uni work has calmed down a little, I hope to get a lot more chapters up. :) As for now, have some H/C

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"Sir, can I offer you a lift home tonight?" James waited for an answer, knowing that his boss' car was in the garage after he'd managed to puncture two of the tyres in one day. Lewis wasn't getting his car back for another two days, the garage was busy.

"If its not too much trouble Hathaway, it'd be much appreciated." James returned Lewis' grin and shrugged.

"Less trouble that listening to you moaning about the buses tomorrow." Lewis punched him lightly in the shoulder before both men went back to their paperwork.

.

At half past five Lewis got up and turned his computer off.

"Come on lad, if you're gonna drop me home, the least I can do is not keep you here for as long as I normally would have." James picks up his jacket and follows the inspector outside.

They get into the car and straight away, James turns on the CD player. Within minutes, Madness comes blaring out of the speakers and James hastily rushes to turn the volume down. Lewis snorts in amusement and James turns to regard him for a second before pulling out into the road.

"What?...Sir, What?"

"Nothing James. Just didn't see you being into Madness...far cry from your medieval madrigal whatsits."

"Ah well, there you go sir, you don't know everything about me" He can almost see the 'Tell me about it' written all over Lewis' face. He grins and then takes pity on the inspector.

"I can turn it off if you want sir."

"Nah Away man, I don't mind them...have you got 'One step Beyond' on this disc?" James fiddles with the controls a few times and the voice of Chas Smash comes bursting into the car. James grins as he notices that Lewis' fingers are beating out a tattoo on the armrest in his passenger door.

There's been an incident or something, a fire the radio had told them earlier, that had made driving in Oxford tricky that afternoon. The one way system wasn't helping and both of the policemen decided to find a nice pub somewhere and have dinner, in the vague hope that the roads would be sorted by the time they were ready to leave.

Unfortunately, everyone else had had the same idea, which was great for the publicans, but meant that Lewis and Hathaway had to drive a fair way before they found somewhere that had car parking space. Still, they eventually found a nice pub and sat outside, the warm weather meaning that they could comfortable sit in their jackets in the beer garden.

They talked while they ate, Lewis asking James about his plans for the weekend. Unsurprisingly, the younger man didn't have any, and Robbie found himself inviting James around to dinner. Before long, they'd planned to invite Jean and Laura as well and Lewis had managed to convince James that it was better if he cooked. After all, you could hardly invite your colleagues and friends over and then serve them a 'pierce and ping' roast dinner. James had agreed and Lewis had text Hobson and innocent just then, inviting them over on Saturday. That gave him and James 2 days to gethold of the ingredients. Well, it gave James two days for that. It gave lewis two days to make sure his flat was habitable.

After their dinner, they paid and James (who had been drinking orange juice all evening) turned to Robbie and told him that they'd better go and test the roads.

Once they wre in the car, Lewis went to turn the CD player on again, and James let him, but not before he'd turned the volume down further. After all, it was nearly ten in the night and James liked quieter driving the later it was.

The roads were quiet, as they headed back towards Oxford, which James liked, it meant he could drive quickly and confidently, without such a risk of hazards. Lewis appreciated his efficient driving, longing to get back to his bed. He also felt slightly guilty for agreeing to dinner, knowing full well that it meant James would get back even later than normal since he was dropping Lewis off. He looked across at the Sergeant, who was concentrating intensely on the apparently deserted upcoming roundabout. He was just about to say that James could drop him at the end of his street, save the lad having to come down it and then turn around, when he spotted something moving up the second left exit very fast. Robbie was shouting before he even registered what he had seen.

"JAMES WATCH OUT!"

It was too late, the speeding car slammed into the driver side of James' vehicle, shunting them off the roundabout and leaving the car rocking beside the road. His air bag had gone off in the collision and he batted it down angrily, adrenaline coursing through his system as he watched the offending car drive off, front bumper left behind on the road. He heard a groan and he immediately snapped around, fear for himself forgotten as a new, almost paralysing fear almost swamped him. Hathaway hadn't said anything.

He was somewhat relieved then, when he saw that Hathaway's eyes were open and the younger man was definitely breathing. Breathing too fast yes, but he was definitely breathing. His hands were still on the steering wheel and the knuckles had gone white. Come to think of it, the lad had gone an interesting shade of grey.

"James? Y'ok son?" Hathaway didn't answer straight away and Lewis was suddenly worried that he'd misread what he'd originally seen, that his brain had tricked him into thinking that the sergeant was alive. But then James slowly took his hands off the wheel and mumbled.

"Think my right leg's broken sir. Are y-you ok/?" He sounded calm, but there was a shake in his voice that Lewis couldn't miss.

"Yeah, I'm fine...I'll call the ambulance James. Stay calm ok?"

"Th-There's more sir...I...my n-neck...it really hurts." Lewis swore mentally. He knew what that could mean, he wasn't stupid. There was every possibility that his sergeant's neck was broken, or at the very least fractured.

"Ok...Ok, I'm going to get out of the car now Jim. I'm going to call an ambulance and then I'm going to report the incident. Its going to be fine ok. Just try and stay calm." Lewis talked as calmly as he could, aware from the speed that James was breathing and the wideness of his eyes that the younger man was on the verge of full-blown panic. James gave him a very shaky thumbs up, obviously too scared to move his neck.

Lewis didn't move too far away, staying close enough to the car that he'd hear if James spoke to him. At first he dialled an ambulance and explained the situation, being told that they'd bring a way to get him out of the car. Then he rang Innocent.

"Ma'am?"

"Robbie? What is it? You're not still in the station are you?"

"N-no. There's been an accident. I have to report a traffic accident." He gave the location of the crash and Innocent said that he was right to ring her and get it called in.

"What are you even doing there Robbie?"

"Me and James, went for a pub dinner in order to avoid all the traffic." Another thought struck him and he walks over to the abandoned bumper of the other car that was involved. "Tell uniform to look for this car." As he recites the plate, he looks over at James and he can see the panic in the younger man. He tries to give him a reassuring smile but he can hear his voice shaking as he gets to the end.

"Robbie? Robbie...How involved were you in this incident?"

"Speeding car ma'am, smashed into James' car on the way..."

"God, are you ok? James?"

"I'm fine...I'm fine. I think James' leg is broken..." He knows that his voice is giving away all his feelings, but he doesn't care.

"Robbie, there sounds like there's more."

"Y-yeah...Er...his neck hurts...Fuck...I think he's broken his neck ma'am."

"Bloody hell! Have you called the ambulance?"

"Yeah. I-I don't know what to do. He's bloody scared Jean and, I'm not much better."

"Just sit there, stay in the car if it is safe, and keep an eye on Hathaway. I'll get a patrol car looking for the bastard that did it. You just sit tight and wait for the ambulance alright?"

"Yes ma'am." Robbie ends the call and heads back into the car.

"Jim?"

"Sir?"

"You ok?"

"...No..." Lewis sighs in his mind. Its never a good thing when James actually admits to not being alright.

"Does it hurt anywhere else?"

"No just my leg and my n-neck sir." he looks so impossibly young as he tries valiantly to sound like he isn't terrified. Lewis reaches a hand out to grab the one of James' that's resting behind the gear stick.

"You're going to be alright kidda. Course you are. Paramedics'll soon patch you up, you'll see."

"M'scared"

"Aye, I know lad. Me too. but it'll be ok." Lewis hears the sirens, a split second before the car starts to flash blue.

The paramedics rush out of the ambulance and head over to the car. The fire brigade arrive with them, bearing the tools needed to cut James out of the car. After 10 minutes of just him and Hathaway, Lewis can feel himself starting to panic. He's been holding it in for the boy's sake but there something about those metal cutters that sends the fear of God through him. It's like it only just hit him that James can't just get up and walk off. Like he's only just realised how serious this is, even though his mind has been screaming 'Broken neck!' at him for the last 8 minutes. Since Hathaway's terrified murmur.

He keeps hold of Hathaway's hand as the fire brigade start to cut away at the car. He keeps up a gentle litany of comforting words and noises as the paramedics move James out of the car, as they strap him onto a stretcher and fasten a neck brace into position. He doesn't wince when the ambulance goes over a bump in the road and James cries out, gripping his hand so hard that Robbie can almost feel his knuckles grinding together.

When they get to the hospital, he sits outside the operating theatre, and the room where they x-ray and scan people, without complaint waiting for the doctors to come and explain to him what's happening.

A doctor dos eventually find him and let him know what's gone on, and then he's allowed into James' room.

The lad looks so young it hurts. His leg is in plaster and he has a white neck brace on, that looks incredibly uncomfortable. Even asleep though, James is grimacing, and Robbie knows that ad has a tricky few weeks ahead of him. As this thought is crossing his mind, James' eyes flutter open.

"Sir?... What hap-...oh, yeah that"

"James, how are you feeling kidda?" He knows its a stupid question, the boy is clearly in pain.

"Hurts sir..." There's something else, there's a lingering fear in James' eyes that Lewis knows needs to be addressed right now.

"You're ok son. Doctors say you've just got a nasty whiplash, necks not broken. Just your leg." James closes his eyes and takes a deep, shuddering breath.

"Thank fuck for that." he says quietly and then he grins. Lewis knows its a nervous grin, a release of emotion, but he doesn't care. Its good to see James smile.

"You're gonna have to keep that neck thingy on for a little bit though. And you're gonna need crutches."

"Better than spending the rest of my life unable to move sir. I think I'll deal." He pats James carefully on the shoulder and stands up to leave.

"I'll come and get you when they let you out lad. My car'll be fixed by then."

.

That Saturday, James is relaxing on the sofa (as much as you can when you can't move your neck and you leg is slowly throbbing anyway) and watching television when the front doorbell goes. He sighs and struggles upright, reaching for the crutches that's he's reliant on for the next few weeks.

Opening the door, he sees Jean, Laura and Robbie stood on his doorstep, each holding a bag. Everyone of the bags has droplets of water on the inside and steam rising from them, a sure sign that the contents are warm. As if the smell of a mixture of Indian and Thai food wasn't a give-away. Laura speaks first;

"We figured it'd be unfair to make you cook while you were injured and you could probably do with the company." James laughs and steps back to let them in. Jean and Laura head straight for the kitchen to get plates and cutlery, relieving Robbie of the bag he was carrying as they go. Robbie hangs back to help James close the door, crutches not being conducive to that particular activity.

"You ok Jim?" He asks, feigning nonchalance, trying to cover up the concern in his eyes.

"Yeah. Hurts and all, but I'm ok sir. Be even better once I've eaten." He looks towards the kitchen as he hears the ladies laughing about something and smiles.

"Thanks...for this...its nice and...I appreciate it." Robbie smiles, its adorable how awkward the younger man is.

"No worries kidda. Laura and Jean agreed that just 'cause you got injured, didn't mean we couldn't come and invade your house." He puts his arm on James' back and watches as the sergeant, swings himself into the kitchen. Robbie has to admit, he's gotten pretty good at those crutches.

.

Two hours later, and the meal has long since been eaten. A mixture of food, warmth and painkillers means that Hathaway has fallen asleep on the sofa. Robbie and Laura go back into the kitchen to wash up the dishes that they all used. One less thing for James to have to do in the morning. They figured it wouldn't be easy for the man to balance on one leg and wash up without the man moving his neck as well.

Jean finds a cushion and slides it gently under Hathaway's head, his neck is already hurting, it wouldn't do for him to get a crick in it on top. James shifts a little, mumbling something incoherent and Jean smiles, the sergeant hasn't looked more like a child to her. Robbie and Laura come back in and Laura moves his crutches to within easy reach for when he wakes up. Anod from Robbie and Jean pulls the throw over James, all three of them grin as he instantly brings a hand up to curl over the top of it.

They leave soon after, making sure that his painkillers are in easy reach too.

When James wakes up in the morning, his leg hurting, and sees the crutches and painkillers put within arms length of him, he smiles. And makes a mental note that he owes all three of his friends a drink or two.