Hi all, sorry for the massive absence! Thank you for your responses to the last part – it was a little different, so I was a bit worried about it but I'm glad you enjoyed it! As you might have guessed, this story was meant to be a lot shorter but also a way of giving Brian and Sandra a 'good end'. It has gone a little awry. However, I am still determined to finish it and apologise for the sudden change in style, which is due partly to the length of time that I've been working on it :/. Also, parts of this are totally melodramatic and awful but I needed to move it on. Anyway, enough blah, please enjoy the next part of Just This … Jessie xx

The Big Reveal

It has been said that a woman knows. Even if her husband does not.

"Are you still moaning?" Esther sighed with good humour. She set down Scampi's bowl and raised her eyebrows at a disgruntled Brian covered in the evidence of his afternoons labours. "My, you look a state. I hope you're going to have a shower before we go to Sandra's."

"I was plastering," Brian moaned, he rolled his shoulders to relieve a slight knot that had formed and placed the plastering paraphernalia on the worktop.

"You'd finished," she reminded him. She picked up the bucket and smoothing tool and handed them back to him.

"I was checking," he corrected himself. Putting the things back down on the counter and bending to fuss Scampi who was completely oblivious to his dinner being ready.

"You were fiddling on, hoping that you'd make us late enough not to go. That was at three o'clock," Esther picked up her husband's mess once more and thrust them at him. "Now go and put these things away properly and have a shower. Come on, it's important."

Brian pulled a face at Scampi who, if he could have would have shrugged and, did an about turn as he picked up the scent of his bowl. "Why?" he asked the space where his wife had been standing.

~o~

Earlier that day, at the station

"I'll see you at two," he kissed her cheek. "What?" he added as she hesitated.

She looked at him peculiarly, then glanced about their surroundings, raising her eyebrows.

He laughed softly. So the reception area was probably a little conspicuous. He'd probably be drawn into a lengthy and heated debate about it with his superiors as soon as word reached them. But, shrugging, he reasoned: they'd not got to bed until four am, it was now just after half past nine, and at two pm he was going to see his child. If he wanted to kiss his fiancée, he would. Whether or not she could genuinely read his mind, the time-delay of her smile suggested she had followed his thought pattern in real-time. "Two," he confirmed before practically skipping to his office.

Shaking her head she forgot to stop smiling as she spotted Gerry coming through the door.

"What are you bloody grinning at?" he growled. Relatively it was a very early start for the gruff Cockney who would never deny that he enjoyed his kip. That his boss could raise a smile after however few hours sleep was beyond his aching comprehension.

"Nothing," she consciously wiped the smile from her face and led the way to their offices. "Are you doing anything tonight?"

"Why?" he grumbled. Dear god, he hadn't had his second coffee of the day yet and she was asking him about a time well beyond the third. He was getting too old for this.

"We were thinking of having everyone round to dinner, at my house. What is wrong with you?" Sandra frowned. She wasn't unused to his pendulum moods, though she suspected there was little more behind this morning's performance than simple exhaustion.

"I'm bloody shattered that's what's wrong with me! Who's everyone? And why?" Gerry fired off his questions as he held the door for her.

"I did say that we could sort the paperwork on Friday," she reminded him sternly. Casting a weary eye over the state of the offices, abandoned mid-flow yesterday afternoon with the results of the evening's work merely piled on top; she diverted her usual path to the back of the room to head straight to the kettle.

"So why are you in?"

"I've got a few things to sort out," she replied vaguely. She looked at him as he halted at the door and sighed. "My … student is coming in this afternoon."

"Oh," he paused. Then he laughed. Shrugging his coat off on the way towards his desk he grinned to himself. He'd noted her quiet choice to say 'student' rather than 'replacement', even though that, technically, would be the true nature of UCOS's latest addition. He knew that the conscious avoiding of the word that spelt the end of her tenure was as much for her benefit as for his. He wasn't as sentimental a fool as Brian; but he was not so much a martyr to say that he wouldn't miss her. A lot. "Anyone we…"

He was cut off from completing his question by the arrival of their two colleagues; entering at the specific point when both those already in the room would look at them as the usurpers of two very dear friends' positions. Oblivious to the significance of their arrival the two men presented themselves with their most welcome of offerings.

"Coffee!" Nick announced proudly setting the cardboard carrier of coffee shop cups on his (Gerry's) desk.

"Butties! Muffins!" Steve added to the feast, placing two logo'd paper bags on his (Brian's) desk.

Gerry glanced at Sandra. If he hadn't known her so well he might not have spotted the tear at the corner of her eye. Quickly averting his eye, he set his phone and lighter atop the in tray of his (Jack's) desk and greeted the two men. "I knew there was a reason I liked you two! Guv?"

"Absolutely," Sandra hoped to whatever deities might have been listening that no-one had heard the slight tremor in her voice. She'd categorically told the boys that they could have the day off; yet here they all were. The two newly fitted pieces to the jigsaw had in two simple gestures of food and drink had just proved their places to her. Flicking the switch of the kettle back to off, she smiled at Gerry. She knew he'd spotted her waver, hence his address of her. "I'll just hang my coat up."

"Damn straight, I nominate we hole up for the day. Except possibly for lunch," Nick winked at her as she passed.

"Absolutely," Steve looked around. "Get this place back to order. I'm sure we can weddle that out as a day's work!"

Sandra couldn't help smiling as she deposited her effects in her office. Leaning across her desk, she clicked her computer on, before returning to her companions and breakfast in the main office of her unit.

~o~

Early evening, at Sandra's

Mia watched the two adults in Sandra's kitchen behaving like children with a frown firmly fixed on her face. Due, no doubt, to the fact that each had expected the other to lose the bet which had taken on so many conditions and additions since it had began; neither had planned what they might cook should they lose. Or what to say. Both of which issues had in the last half an hour become issues.

"You do realise that Charlie and Dee are vegetarians?" Sandra criticised her partner's suggested menu for what by now felt like the hundredth time.

Rob let out a long sigh and leant on the counter. "I didn't think Dee was coming? And Charlie eats chicken, I checked."

"When?!" she exclaimed.

"Is that really important?" Rob asked exasperated. "How do you cook in this kitchen? There's no … thingies!"

"What the bloody hell is a thingy?" Sandra threw down her rolling pin.

"It doesn't matter," Rob whistled through his teeth. They'd been having such a lovely day too.

~o~

"Right," Sandra hesitated in the doorway to UCOS. She hadn't planned on the others being in the office today and therefore had no decent excuse for her necessary absence. "I've got to –"

"Sandra, you ready?"

She spun inconspicuously around to see Rob standing behind her doing a very poor impression of a man trying to hold in his excitement. One look into his eyes told her that he was currently having precisely the same thought about how insane they two senior officers looked in front of a group of people from whom they were currently holding a secret and whom they hadn't expected to see that day.

"Ready for what?" Nick decided to ask.

Damn his curiosity. She'd quickly realised in the few weeks she'd been working with him that his very glowing references and record was at least partly due to his habit of questioning everything. She also realised that she was probably over-reacting to his current query; and that she still didn't have an excuse.

"Er…yes…well…"

She bit her lip trying not to laugh at him. "We've got a meeting," she grinned at the team, who looked suitably convinced.

"Ah," Steve nodded. "Well, if you've come to take her out for lunch sir, sorry but we already booked that ticket. Just got back."

"That's fine," Robert tried to regain his composure and flailed for a response. "I've already eaten."

"Good," Sandra said quickly before anyone could laugh. "Then we won't be late, come on. I'll be back in an hour or so. Gerry, can you pull up the records for the Trafford case while I'm out? Thanks."

"I thought the boys were having the day off?" he murmured in her ear as he attempted the 'lets-grab-Sandra-while-no-one's-looking' game as soon as the UCOS doors had closed behind her.

"So did I," she grinned as she batted him away. "What?" she added in response to his curious glance. She knew that whenever his head cocked to one side it betrayed him wanting to ask one of those simply adorable, honest questions.

"You're going to really miss them," he said.

Or make an equally endearing observation of the bleeding obvious.

"Well, yes," she answered as they reached the car-park.

"I'll drive," he gestured to his car. "You don't have to leave you know."

"Rob," she sighed, pausing with one hand on the roof of the car, looking at him over the closed sunroof. "I can't stay there forever. And I don't want to find myself in a few months stuck behind a desk doing all the paperwork while someone else runs my unit for me." She shrugged. "It's only a temporary contract anyway."

He unlocked the car and sat in the driver's seat. True, it was only a temporary contract at Hendon. She'd got to hear of it from a friend of his actually. Dot. She was taking some leave. Sandra had agreed to cover the period in question which would take her neatly up to the start of her maternity leave. After which they hadn't managed to agree on yet. He'd refused to allow her to resign her commission, she would remain a serving officer until a final decision had been reached. He'd find her a position without question if she wished to return to his world. Dot would find her a position, no questions asked, if she decided to join her world. Hours later they would be explaining this to Brian and Esther over the dinner table.

~o~

Before Dinner

"Brian?" Sandra found him in the hallway, staring at one of the few photographs she had on her walls and one of the few photographs she had of all four of the original team together. It wasn't a frequent occurrence for them to get the cameras out; and as is always the case, one of them would usually be behind it; but Esther had taken this one for them when they'd been out celebrating Gerry's win on a horse one night. The bargaining chip in Brian's attendance had been Esther hinting that there was something that Sandra and Rob had to tell everyone; the damned give-away had been them arriving as Gerry, Steve and Nick had been telling Charlie about their new boss-to-be.

"You're leaving UCOS," he said simply after a pause. Despite his reluctance to attend, he'd been in some way relieved to see her again. Sure, he'd met up with Gerry to go fishing, but even that felt like months ago. And annoyingly it was the only hobby they had found that they shared. It had been UCOS. It had always been UCOS.

"Brian…" she was hesitant to hazard a guess at what was going on in the man's head. She'd missed him. From the moment that he and Esther had walked through the door, she'd found herself desperate for five minutes alone with her old friend. Unfortunately with so many guests and the dinner cooking for them on her mind and demanding her time; the chance had come only when it was too late.

"First Jack," he marked each syllable with the tone of the calling bell. "Then me. Now you."

~o~

Late afternoon, back at UCOS

"Gerry, Steve, you remember DI Grant? Carrie," Rob's soul was still dancing with the events of the previous hours. Struggling to remain professional, he tried to focus on the formalities in front of him.

"Hello again," the young, thirty-something, brunette smiled at the two men she had met with before.

"And this is Nick Roberts," Rob nodded to the man.

"Pleased to meet you," Nick smiled politely.

"Carrie's an accomplished officer as you know, and she's taking part in the mentoring scheme that we are piloting," Rob explained what they all already knew.

"So what animal did you shoot?" Gerry weathered the antagonised eye of his guv and friend to make the joke. "You know, to wind up down here with us?"

"None. I asked for the job," Carrie replied coolly, holding back the wink and smile of her own punch line until the last second. She was aware of UCOS's history, its troubled birth. She was also savvy enough to know that no officer of her rank or status would consider it insulting to take over from one of the MET's most successful officers in one of its most successful achievements.

Repressing his mirth as much as possible, Rob continued to say too much. "Carrie's going to be taking over at UCOS when Sandra leaves, though Sandra will still be involved in assessing the success of the mentoring scheme until the start of her maternity leave-"

"Maternity leave?!" Gerry's voice burst through the minute pause that followed Rob's calm explanation. In essence he hadn't interrupted Robert Strickland, merely followed in turn; though the ruptured atmosphere in the room would suggest an occurrence to the contrary. "You're pregnant?! You're having his baby?!"

"Well I'm not having yours!" she snapped fearfully, angrily. Forgetting her place and position, all she could see was the immense betrayal in Gerry's expression. Her lie was exposed in the most appallingly indignance. Her childish reaction dismayed her as much as his infantile accusation. The worst thing was that his accusation was true. His reaction was honest. She'd lied. And it was a lie that she could never escape. It was a lie whose truth was changing her entire life. That would take her away from Gerry; from everything she knew; everything she'd created at UCOS; from Gerry.

~o~

Sandra's Hallway

"Why?" Brian asked.

"Why what?" Sandra frowned. She'd become lost in her own thoughts about how disastrous an evening it had become and missed the pause between them. Steve had arrived alone. And, she suspected, slightly drunk. Some massive row with Charlie apparently that had resulted in her not coming down. When asked why he wasn't on his way up there, he only shrugged and muttered and drank. Nick had been on edge all evening. He was probably nervous at being invited into their wider social circle. His partner hadn't been able to switch shifts. Sandra suspected that Nick hadn't even told his partner that they were invited. Gerry had proceeded to try and extract as much information as possible about the mysterious Dee. Nick was too polite to punch Gerry outright, though it was clear to everyone, except the sombre Steve, that it was only a matter of time before he snapped. And then there was her mother.

"Why are you leaving UCOS?" Brian turned on her with open eyes and open heart. He was ready for any lie she might throw out to spare his feelings. Ever since Jack had announced his retirement, Brian had been waiting for Sandra to follow him out of the door. Then, when he had given her his own notice, he'd watched her take another step away from them. It had only ever been a matter of time for her. The punishment, the initial excitement… He wasn't stupid; he knew that for a time, the four of them together had been more than colleagues and more than friends. But it had changed. She'd only been waiting for him to clear his desk to ease the wrench.

She looked back at his honest face. He had no reason to feel the guilt and sadness that she knew he was entrenched in. It wasn't meant to be a sad thing. She wasn't meant to feel bad about it. Yet she knew how it looked. And the atmosphere in the house that night… She bit her lip as she felt about in her cardigan pocket for the picture which she pulled out and showed him.

~o~

"Oi… au," Rob stopped himself just short of adding 'E' into the disordered vowel sounds he was making in the void of being able to prevent the ripping of the fabric of the love between the two people in front of him. He was horrified at what he had done. The atrocity of his action, however unwittingly made, was to hurt the woman he loved. Because the look of anguish on her face as she took the full force of Gerry's response was enough to break his heart.

"Er…Sorry," she took a breath and brought herself back to the room. Rob's wordless sound had managed to break through the crashing columns in her mind. She could hear the sound of the air-conditioning over the uncommon silence of the room. Every detail of the room was suddenly bright and in focus. The fridge in the kitchenette quietly whirring, the whiteness of the case board in the corner of red chairs. The young DI waiting to be inducted into the team. Her fiancée making daft vowel sounds. Gerry's confused and hurt expression in front of her. "Nick, Steve, will you bring Carrie up to date with the case. Gerry, my office."

"I…"

"I'll see you at home," she responded to Rob's failed attempt at communication. She turned abruptly as the tears brewed. She wouldn't let him see her cry. It wasn't his fault that her and Gerry were reacting the way they were. And she would explain that later. She knew because she could feel his repulsion at the unintentional revelation, how terrible he felt; though she would never want to cause him the pain that even in that moment she knew he would feel that afternoon, there was nothing she could do but send him away. She needed to be with Gerry. Shaking her head slightly enough to rid the tears she closed the door behind her.

Whatever either of them might have said was forgotten in the moment that he turned around as the door closed. As their eyes met, the fury melted away. Knowing that they were losing each other gave way to knowing the truth. She hated herself for lying to him. He hated himself for the tears that he saw caused in her eyes. Moving in exquisite synchronisation, they embraced. Arms around each other they held the other close. Tight enough only to assure themselves that the other was there. Words lost in the action that handsomely said everything that they could never find. The exhaustion of arguments; fear; secrets; lies: giving way to the love of two good friends in one simple embrace.

~o~

"Here they are!" Esther's voice disturbed the emotional intermission in Sandra's hallway as Brian took the black and white evidence of the baby growing inside his friend and studied it intently, taking in the reason behind her leaving the place where she had found her family.

Sandra turned to see her mother accompanying the petite lady.

"We thought you might have run away together," Grace joked lightly. "Everyone is so serious tonight."

Sandra met Esther's kindly eye and nodded. Somehow she knew the older woman knew. Leaving only her mother to tell.

"What is going on?" Grace asked impatiently as the stillness lingered.

Sandra gently took the picture from Brian's tender grasp and held it trembling in her hands as she faced her mother. "Mum…" she tried to keep her voice level and calm. "You're going to be a grandma."

Grace Pullman looked down at the photograph in her daughter's hand and faltered.

"Come on," Esther took her arm. "I think dinner's ready."

Grace stepped forward and kissed her daughter's cheek before allowing her new friend to lead her back towards the dinner table.

Returning her eye to Brian, Sandra was hardly shocked to see the old Yorkshire-man lost for words. There wasn't much that could ever stall the man, but then, there wasn't much that would silence her mother either. Or cause her and Gerry to be having an emblazoned row one moment and be crying together the next.

Still unable to bring words to his lips, Brian lifted his arms awkwardly and invited her into a rare hug. Suddenly relieved that her secret was out, she accepted the gesture with all her heart and found the strength to admit her weakness. "I miss you," she whispered tearfully. "And I miss Jack."