"Alright Steve, how's it going?" Jim Matthews asked as Steve appeared in the AC-3 office. He'd driven there after dropping Kate off for a update with his boss.
"Did you know AC-12 are investigating Edgeburrow?" Steve asked, ignoring his boss's question.
"AC-12?" Jim asked, checking he had heard right.
"Yeah," Steve replied.
"No," replied Jim honestly. "What the hell are they doing in Edgeburrow? It's not even their patch?" He pointed out, totally mystified at the actions of the other anti-corruption unit.
"Thought I was getting somewhere being part of the team and then Kate shows up and everything goes to hell," Steve sulked.
"Kate?" Asked Jim. The way Steve said her name, it felt as if Jim should know who 'Kate' was but he had no idea.
"My old partner at AC-12,".
"Ohh," said Jim, beginning to see the problem. "That is tricky,".
"Tell me about it," Steve concurred. "I can't concentrate on my case. Too worried about what she's doing and what she's gonna report back to AC-12 about me,".
"You want me to have a word?" Jim asked.
"No," said Steve. "I don't want them sticking their noses in any more than they are at the moment," he explained. "But you can try and find out about Lizzie Littmann, the officer that committed suicide. I think that is what they are investigating,".
Across town a similar conversation was taking place over the phone.
"How was your first day?" Ted asked.
"Shit," replied Kate feeling very sorry for herself.
"Ach come on lass," Ted said, "you do yourself down. You are a fine undercover officer," he encouraged. Ted knew Kate was doubting her undercover abilities at the moment after several of her most recent cases didn't go so well.
"I got knocked over and have reinjured my four broken ribs," Kate retorted, arguing with her boss. She wasn't in the mood for his platitudes.. "And Steve is here under cover,".
"Steve Arnott?".
"The one and only," Kate confirmed. "He's making my job a damn sight more difficult than usual,".
"What's he doing there?".
"I don't know," Kate replied. "He won't tell me,".
"Do you want me to find out?".
"No," sighted Kate. "He already hates me enough as it is without making it worse," she added. That and she thought she might have detected a slight thawing in relations after her injury. "I'll try and get it out of him somehow," she told Ted before hanging up.
Their next shift was a night shift. It had been a while since either Steve or Kate had done one. Anti-corruption was mainly daytime hours unless they were really busy.
"How's your ribs?" Steve asked as they settled themselves in their patrol car at the start of their shift. He hadn't seen or contacted Kate since her accident.
"Slightly better," Kate replied. She'd spent her time off work mainly in bed recovering, annoyed that no undercover work could really be done.
Steve was driving again and they set off patrolling the city, making sure all the residents behaved themselves. From the chit chat coming over the radio from other units there were a lot of drunk people out celebrating the home town football's team win.
"261," the dispatcher's voice came over their personal radio's.
"261 receiving," Kate answered as Steve was at the wheel.
"We've had reports of a domestic dispute that's getting a bit out of hand from a couple of worried neighbours," the woman informed Kate. "They've requested police presence,".
"261 on way," Kate replied once the address had been given.
The house was easy to find. When Steve and Kate entered the street, there were many residents watching the drama unfold in the front garden of the house in question. A woman was in tears in the front garden as a man was shouting at her and throwing things out of an upstairs window.
"I can't believe you'd do that Jacks!" Steve heard as he exited the police car. Once Kate was out the pair walked up to the scene together.
"The police are here Tom!" the woman yelled to the man in the house.
"Which one of you nosy bastards called them?" the man shouted at his neighbours as he stuck his head out of the window. "Bet you're loving this aren't you?".
"What's going on?" Steve asked the woman before narrowly avoiding an object that was hurled out of the window. It was a framed photo and the glass smashed on impact at his feet. Steve looked down. It was a black and white photo of the couple that appeared to have been taken on their wedding day. "Divide and conquer?" Steve suggested to Kate. She nodded at the idea. "You take her," he said, indicating the woman, "I'll try and calm down the gent inside,".
"Ok," Kate agreed before turning to the female.
Steve entered the house easily as the front door was wide open and quickly took the stairs to the upper floor. He found the man in what appeared to be the master bedroom. It was a mess with wardrobes and chest of drawers open. Clothes, all ladies fashion from what Steve could see lay everywhere waiting to be expelled from the house.
"You've broke my heart, Jacks!" the man continued as he threw a jewellery box out of the window. Steve heard it smash on the ground below.
"Calm down, mate!" Steve said as he took a step into the room.
"Calm down?" the man asked sarcastically. "Do you know what she's done?".
"No," Steve replied. "Why don't you stop what you're doing and tell me?" he suggested.
"Jacks has told me tonight that she's slept with another man. A work colleague," the man said as he sat down heavily on the bed.
"Is she your wife?" Steve asked.
The man confirmed Steve's question with a nod. "Married two years although we were friends before that. I thought we were good, you know. Gonna be together forever. But she's ruined everything,".
"I'm sorry, mate," Steve said as he took a seat beside the gentleman but not before he'd caught sight of Kate talking to the woman. They were sat on the kerb and Kate had her arm around the woman as she cried against her shoulder.
"It was a mistake apparently. A one off drunken mistake," the man revealed as he put his head in his hands and started crying himself. Steve reached out and tried to give a comforting pat to the man's shoulder. "She told me because she didn't want to keep any secrets from me,".
"Well that's...good isn't it?" Steve asked. He felt totally out of his depth. "The fact that she didn't want to keep secrets from you, I mean. Honesty is best in a marriage isn't it?".
The man looked at Steve. "You're not married are you?" he said . Steve shook his head. "Sometimes it might be best to keep secrets," he argued, "because all I can think about now is another man with his hands all over Jackie. Making love to her," he spat out before crying again.
Steve hoped Kate was having better luck with Jackie because he was fairly certain he was making things worse here.
"I still love him," Jackie was telling Kate. "I just hope he can forgive me. It was just one drunken night and I knew I'd made the biggest mistake of my life when I woke up the next morning,".
"He's upset at the moment and needs to calm down before he makes any decision," Kate said.
"How long will that take?" Jackie sniffed.
"I don't know," answered Kate. "Speaking from experience, men's brains work very differently to women's," Jackie smiled at that comment.
"They're idiots you mean?" Jackie asked.
"Yes," replied Kate with a smile of her own.
"So what do I do? I don't want to lose him. He's not just my husband but my best friend,".
Kate thought about how to answer. She thought about her current situation with Steve. "Well keep on saying your sorry, I suppose," she suggested. "And hopefully one day, in the not too distant future, it will finally get through his thick skull that you are telling the truth and he'll forgive you,".
"Do you think you can ever forgive her?" Steve asked Tom. Despite the poor start, Steve was doing better at consoling the distraught husband.
"I don't know," Tom replied. "I just know it hurts bad right now. She's betrayed me but I can't imagine my life without her. She's been the best part of it for so long,".
"Well I think you have a decision to make," Steve said. "What's worse?,". Tom looked at Steve. "Trying to forgive her and having her in your life for as long as possible or not forgiving her and being alone," he explained, knowing the question was not just for Tom. It applied to him and Kate as well.
"What would you do?" Tom asked Steve.
"Well I chose the latter with my best friend," he revealed. "I can tell you that being alone sucks,".
"Female best friend?" Tom guessed from the way Steve was talking. He was definitely speaking form experience.
"Yes," said Steve admitted. "She'd drive me round the fuckin' bend sometimes especially when she insisted she was right about something," Steve reminisced.
"Why do women do that?" Tom asked Steve rhetorically. It was one of the greatest mysteries of the universe. "The annoying thing is they usually are right as well," he begrudgingly acknowledged.
"I know," Steve agreed. "And now I miss her telling me off and all the 'Chrissake Steve!'" he added as he impersonated Kate getting angry at him. "At least she cared about me. I got nothing now,".
"So you're saying you'd chose forgiveness now if you had your time again?" Tom checked.
"Yeah," Steve agreed and there was silence as Tom digested Steve's advice.
"Do you think she'll take me back after everything I've done this evening?" Tom asked.
"Only one way to find out," Steve said. "Why don't you come downstairs with me and ask her?".