Life was good for another two weeks. Steve was pleased to note that Kate continued to arrive at work with a smile on her face. Despite his feelings for her, he was happy that she was happy. He was beginning to think he was going to have to get over her and find someone else to go on a date with.
"Steve. Kate. A word," summoned Ted from his office one day. They both filed in to his office and stood to attention.
"New case, sir?" Asked Steve, wondering why they had been called in to see the boss.
Kate silently hoped it wasn't. Not with her weekend away booked for next week. Mark would not be impressed.
"No," replied Ted, and Kate felt a great sense of relief. "I'm sending you two away on a management course," he revealed.
"When?" Kate asked.
"Next Wednesday, Thursday and Friday," Ted informed them. Fuck! Thought Kate. Friday was when she was supposed to be leaving with Mark and Josh. "Although Friday is only until 11am," Ted added. Thank god! Kate thought. Plenty of time to get home before leaving. "It would look good on your CV for having attended when it comes to job promotion," Ted hinted. He wouldn't tell them but they had impressed him with the Tony Gates case and he considered them one of the best if not the best team he had in AC-12.
"Thank you for thinking of us, sir," replied Steve, pleased he was getting on with his new SIO after his spectacular falling out with his previous one.
"I'll put both your names down for attending?" Ted asked. Steve and Kate looked at each other and held a silent conversation.
"Yes," Steve replied.
"Excellent!" Ted said before dismissing them.
The news didn't go down so well with Mark who turned grumpy when Kate mentioned she'd be away for a couple of days before their trip.
"What's the problem?" she asked him. "It's probably better than if I was working. I'm guaranteed to be back here by early afternoon and we can leave soon after," she promised confidently.
"Whatever," Mark said sullenly.
"Talk to me Mark," Kate begged. "I don't understand why this will be a problem,".
"I just don't see why you need to go," Mark replied.
"What do you mean?".
"You don't need to worry about promotion," he replied. "We're trying for another baby. Once you get pregnant they won't consider you anyway,".
"I think something called the Pregnancy Discrimination Act would stop that happening," Kate argued. "And since when did I agree to having another baby? I thought we were still thinking about it?".
"Well you better think quickly because we haven't used any contraception recently," Mark retorted angrily.
Kate bit her tongue. She so wanted to tell him that she was but didn't want to anger him any more than he was already so she dropped the topic.
From then on, life at home returned to being a little frosty until she left for the course, but nothing that Kate couldn't handle. Thankfully there was no locking in any room or any violence, just no interaction between them. Mark simply ignored her.
"As you can see from the projected crime figures...," the lecturer was saying in the most monotonous voice. He had been going on for over an hour, and looking around the room, Steve saw that he had lost his whole audience.
Whilst Ted had said it was good for their promotion prospects, he had failed to mention that it was the most boring of courses.
He leaned closer to his partner. "Just kill me now," he whispered to Kate. She laughed quietly. "At least it will be quicker than this torture,".
"Shhhh," Kate gently scolded. Although she was bored she was glad to be away from Mark's bad mood.
"You're not seriously listening to him, are you?" Steve asked in surprise.
"Course not. Just don't want to draw attention to ourselves," she explained in a quiet voice.
"I thought the gaffer sent us on this because he was pleased with us. Maybe I'm wrong. Have we pissed him off? Is that why he's sent us here? As punishment?".
"I never piss the gaffer off," Kate reminded Steve, truthfully. Since Steve had joined AC-12 it did seem to be him who annoyed their boss, with Kate taking on the peacemaker role. "It's totally unfair if you are the reason that I have to be here,". As she said her last sentence she felt her phone vibrate in the pocket of her jeans, alerting her to the fact she had a message. Shifting in her seat she reached for the device as she wondered who had tried to contact her. When she saw it, she wished she hadn't. "Excuse me," she said before getting up and leaving the lecture room.
Steve was going to make a joke about how lucky she was to be able to leave, but he had seen the look on her face before she had stood up and had instinctively known it wouldn't be appropriate. Twenty minutes later and Kate still wasn't back in her seat beside him. Worried, Steve also got up and left the room as well. A quick scan of the corridor outside the lecture theatre didn't reveal his partner so he set off in search of her. After a thorough search of the building he still couldn't find her and was starting to get increasingly worried about what had happened to her. Casting a quick glance out the window he spotted her talking on her phone. Judging by her gesticulations, she wasn't at all happy with who was on the other end of the line.
"Is everything alright?" Steve asked as he approached her. She had finished her conversation by the time he had got to her and he could see she was nearly in tears. She didn't have to answer him, before she found herself in his arms in one of his hugs.
"Fucking Mark," Steve heard her say into his chest.
"What's he done now?" Steve asked concerned.
"Taken Josh away for a few days to a holiday park," Kate revealed. "We were supposed to be going at the weekend when I got back from this but he's decided to go a few days early," Kate continued. "There is a child's swimming pool with lots of water slides that Josh has been bugging us about for ages. I promised him I'd take him on them but Mark's done it instead," she said sadly. "Josh had a really nice time apparently," she finished before bursting into tears again. She had really wanted to see her son having an amazing time, but Mark had denied her that. She knew it was because he wasn't happy that she was on her course.
"I haven't met him but I really don't like your husband," Steve admitted, upset for his friend that her partner was being so spiteful.
"I don't either at the moment," Kate admitted as she composed herself.
"Let's get out of here," Steve said once her tears had stopped. "Find somewhere to have something to eat and you can get it all off your chest. There is no fucking way I'm going back in that lecture room now we've escaped!". Despite her tears, Kate smiled and took Steve's proffered hand and together they made their way to their car.
"Thanks, mate," Kate said later that evening as she gave Steve a hug. They had had a nice dinner before having a night cap in the hotel where they were staying. They had been placed in adjoining rooms and were saying good night to each other outside their rooms before heading to bed.
Despite being upset at the start of the evening, she was feeling much better after a heart to heart with her friend. Out had poured all her marital problems. How Mark hated her job and was trying to use Josh to get her to quit. She had no idea if they could ever resolve their differences on this matter amicably.
"Your mum's right," Kate added, still hugging Steve. Steve had encouraged her to talk after quoting his mother and telling Kate that she had always told him how 'a problem shared is a problem halved'.
"Yeah, I'm not going to tell her that!" Steve replied as their hug ended. "She wouldn't let me live it down!".
Kate smiled before the moment turned serious and found herself staring into Steve's eyes. He had been an amazing friend that night, listening to all her woes and trying to cheer her up. It had been good to have pleasant adult male company and his undivided attention all night. Something that had been seriously lacking with Mark. Before she knew what she was doing, she reached up and kissed Steve. It wasn't a friendly good night kiss, but one of lust as she held his head in place as she deepened the kiss.
Steve was shocked at Kate's actions at first, but didn't pull away, in fact he became an active participant in the kiss as his hands wrapped around her waist and kept her close to him.
Kate's brain registered Steve's hands and that was when she realised what she had encouraged. She pulled away, deeply embarrassed. "Sorry," she said quickly as she turned away and quickly let herself into her room before closing the door behind her.
Alone, she collapsed against the wall. What on earth had she been thinking? She was so confused. There was a strong attraction to Steve despite being married. She stood fixed to the spot, wondering how on earth she was going to be able to face him tomorrow, when she heard an gentle tap at the door. She eventually answered it and saw that it was Steve. He hadn't moved. They looked at each other again before Steve crossed the threshold to Kate's room and instantly wrapped his arms around her as he continued their kiss, whilst pushing the door closed behind him with his foot. He didn't want any of the other officers on the course to witness this.