She was happy. She knew she was happy. It was what she had wanted after all, despite the occasional misgiving. She was Frank's wife. It was him and her forever now and who only knew what the future would bring for them but…

As the taxi made its way to the restaurant, she couldn't help a sense of fear and trepidation overriding what should have been the happiest day of her life. It would be foolish to think that the two Barton Street officers had just carried on the business of their day without telling someone about what they had witnessed. As lovely as she was sure the restaurant would be and as much as she wanted to spend the next few hours with friends and family, more than anything she wanted to go straight to Sun Hill and tell Meadows before, hopefully, anybody else would.

Whilst Frank's seeming lack of concern was, in part, comforting, it also disconcerted her and as she glanced at his profile, sat as he was beside her, she couldn't help but think he was simply putting a face on it for her.

"Let's just go to Sun Hill," she said suddenly.

"No."

"Please."

"No," he looked at her. "We're going to look a right spectacle if we rock up there in our party frocks. Probably cause more gossip than is necessary. It's fine. I'll tell Meadows later."

"Later?"

"He wants me back at the nick at five to discuss progress in the supermarket blag. I'll tell him then."

"I should come with you."

"No, you can wait at the hotel," he squeezed her hand. "I'll deal with it."

"It affects both of us and presumably he'll want to bollock both of us."

"Well, he can bollock you through me. Now, I don't want to hear anymore about it right now, ok?" She closed her mouth that she had opened, poised to argue more, and nodded. "Good. Right, we're here."

The next few minutes were taken up with getting out of the car, meeting the others, and getting inside the restaurant. As predicted, it was lovely, with a small private area set aside for the eight of them. A glass of champagne was pressed into her hand before Frank called for silence.

"On behalf of my wife and I," he said, the others letting out a small cheer. "I'd like to thank you for being good enough to come along today. I know most of you probably thought this day would never come or indeed should never come." He glanced at Viv, who mercifully smiled. "But it has, and here we are. So, to the future."

"To the future," everyone, including herself, echoed. The champagne was crisp and almost immediately, she felt it rush to her head.

"Right," Frank turned to her. "I've got to nip out for a minute."

"Nip out?" she frowned.

"Yeah. I'll only be gone twenty minutes at most. I'll be back in time to order and, if I'm not, get me the steak."

"But where are you going?"

"I've got to go and meet someone."

"Who?"

"Alan."

"Alan?"

"Yeah, look don't worry. Meadows tasked him to go out and about with me today and I had to ditch him before the service. I told him I'd meet him at the Jolly Rodger for an update, but I won't be long."

"Well…what are you going to tell him?"

"About this? Nothing."

"But…" she looked at him. "Isn't he going to think you're a bit dressed up?"

Pulling the flower from his buttonhole, he held it out to her. "Keep a hold of this for me. I doubt Woods has got the nous to realise this wasn't the suit I had on earlier. Stop worrying. Like I said, I won't be long."

"Frank…" but he was gone before she could finish her sentence, weaving his way back through the restaurant and out of the front door.

"Everything ok?" Viv said, coming up behind her. "Where's he gone?"

"To meet Alan, apparently."

"What, now?"

She nodded and sighed. "Christ Viv…I can't stop thinking about the fact that someone's probably told Meadows what's happened by now, not to mention probably the whole rest of the nick too. Frank said he would go and see him later to explain but…"

"Not much explaining you can do about this except tell the truth," Viv replied, "and brace yourself for the consequences."

"I know. I just wish I knew exactly what those consequences were going to be."

"Well look, there's not much you can do now," Viv said, passing her another glass. "Here, have another drink and try to enjoy the afternoon."

The second glass slipped down as easily as the first and she felt her head buzz. Perhaps this was the way to go after all.

XXXX

Alan was already waiting outside the Jolly Rodger when he approached, and he paused momentarily to gather himself together and focus on the purpose of the meeting before hurrying forwards. "Alan old son. Right on time, that's what I like to see."

"Guv." Alan looked him up and down. "Is that the same suit you had on earlier?"

"You trying to prove your powers of deduction to me?"

"Well…"

"How did you get on at the supermarket?" he deflected before the other man could finish his thought.

"Uh, well I spoke to the manager…"

"And?"

"And he gave me a name that could be interesting: Miles Tanner."

"Never heard of him."

"I dealt with him a few times on my old ground. Put him away for three years for another job not unlike this one."

"So, what's the connection?"

"Well, the manager said that Tanner did deliveries to the supermarket three or four times over the course of the last few months. He was working with GoFresh, the fruit and vegetable company. The manager said he dealt with him a few times and didn't get a particularly good feeling about him. Said he was nosy about things that shouldn't have concerned him."

"Like what?"

"Security, that sort of thing."

"Did he give the name to uniform?"

"No, he said he'd only recently thought to mention it."

Frank paused, "You get any bad vibes off him?"

"Like what?"

"Like him being involved."

"What, the manager?" Frank nodded. "No, he seemed straight as a die to me, Guv. Why would he bother mentioning Tanner if he was involved?"

"It's a fair point. So, what else do we know about Tanner? Address? Place of current employment?"

"I'd have to go back to the station and check…"

"What did I tell you about steering clear of there? If Meadows finds out we've split company, it'll not end well for either of us."

"But I'm only doing what you told me to do."

"Yeah, well that's as maybe." Frank shifted. "You must be able to make some enquiries into Tanner without darkening Sun Hill's door."

"Well…"

"Good man. Now, I'll see you back at the nick at five o'clock. Meadows will want an update at that point."

"So, I'm supposed to stay out and about for another four and a half hours with no transport?" Alan looked at him as though he was insane.

"It's not raining, is it? You've managed this far, I'm sure a few more hours won't hurt."

"So, how did you get on?"

"How do you mean?"

"Well, you said you were going to be speaking to some people. Did you get any useful information from any of them?"

"You know what's it like. Job like this comes off and folk clam up a bit."

"I thought you had methods of dealing with reluctant snouts."

"I do, don't you worry about that. You just concentrate on Tanner for now and I'll see you later." He turned to go, only to turn back when Alan said his name. "What?"

"That suit…"

"What about it?"

"I could have sworn you had a different one on earlier."

"Maybe you're needing your eyes checked Alan. Can't be an effective police officer if you've got dodgy eyesight now, can you?" Before the other man could reply, he turned and walked back in the direction that he'd come, hoping that Alan wouldn't do something stupid like try to follow him. After turning a few corners, he looked back, relieved to see no sign of the other man. In some respects, it was good that Meadows had chosen him. Someone like Tosh or Jim would have been much more difficult to fob off.

When he got back to the restaurant, the party were seated at the table, the waiter taking their orders, and he slid in beside Christina just in time. "I'll have the steak please, medium rare." He turned to look at her. "Told you I'd be back in time to order."

"Everything go ok with Alan?"

"Totally fine. He never suspected a thing."

Her eyes roamed his face, "Liar."

"I swear, he never mentioned anything about thinking that we were getting married."

"But he was suspicious."

"It doesn't really matter right now, does it? I told you, I'll tell Meadows later and then, if other people have to find out, so be it."

"Yeah, so be it," she echoed, draining the glass of champagne in front of her.

"Steady on."

"Why? It's my wedding day. Aren't I allowed to enjoy myself?" Her gaze depicted a challenge, one that he wasn't willing to engage in at that moment in time.

"Of course, but the last thing I want to be doing later is making love to a drunken corpse. So, go easy, all right?"

"I thought you were going to be seeing Meadows later?"

"I am, I meant after that."

"Confident, aren't you?" she reached over to lift a wine bottle and poured some into a glass.

"Well, it is our wedding night."

"Right, and a wife can't refuse, can she?" She drained half the glass in one go.

Around them the others chatted, seemingly oblivious to the undercurrent between the bride and groom. He met her gaze again. "What's wrong with you?"

"What's wrong is that everything's gone to shit. This was supposed to be a happy day, or at least as happy as it could be under all the circumstances, and now…"

"You said you wanted to tell Meadows after we got married."

"Yes, when we planned it! Not as a follow up to gossip reaching his ears."

"Well, you were the one who shot your mouth off to Barton Street."

"Actually, it was your sister who mentioned your name, not me!"

"What have I done?" Pat said good-naturedly, looking down the table at them.

"Nothing. Shut up," he said to her quietly.

"Or what? You'll make me shut up?"

"Don't be ridiculous. Look, have some water…" he reached across for the jug.

"I don't want any water!"

"So, what do you want?"

"I told you, I want to go and see Meadows!"

"And I told you, no. I'll talk to him later."

"So, we're just supposed to spend the next few hours pretending that everything's not falling down around our ears, are we?" She scraped her chair violently back from the table and got to her feet, swaying slightly as she did so. "If you won't go, then I will!"

"Christina…" she stalked away from the table before he could finish, tripping over her heels as she did so. "How much has she had?" he demanded, turning to Viv who had also risen from her seat.

"I don't know, Guv. She had a few glasses of champagne after you left, but I didn't think she was drunk or anything."

"Well, she's getting that way now, isn't she?" Before she could respond, he pushed past her in pursuit of his wife, who had by then made it to the front door of the restaurant. "Chris, wait…" he took her arm.

"Let go of me."

"No, I won't." He tightened his grip and pulled her round to face him. "You're making a complete spectacle of yourself."

"So?"

"What sort of impression do you think you're going to make on Meadows if you go haring into the station now? I doubt very much he's going to be won over by anything you have to say if you can't even stand up!"

"And what is he going to say if he hears about this from someone else before he hears about it from us?!" she demanded. "He is going to think even less of us than he would if we were the first people to tell him!"

"I couldn't care less what Meadows thinks about me!"

"That's not true and you know it! All this bluster about you being the one to run the department, always trying to pull the wool over his eyes, always thinking you know best…deep down you want that man's approval, you need it, only you can't admit it! You stand there and tell me that you're not worried about his reaction to all this. Go on, tell me!" He said nothing, almost painfully aware that her words were the truth. "You can't, can you? You know as well as I do how much trouble all of this is going to cause!"

"Of course I know that!" he replied. "We've been round the houses about this so many times! Tell Meadows don't tell Meadows…I don't know deep down what's for the best any more than you do! The only saving grace, as you pointed out before, is that we're married now. We've got each other, whatever the outcome might be. That has to count for something, surely?"

"I just…" she paused. "I just wanted some time for us to try and pretend to be normal."

"How do you mean?"

"I mean…we're supposed to be in love with each other and we just got married. I wanted to enjoy that…that feeling…that little bubble before we go and pop it and the shit all hits the fan…again. I just feel like our hand's been forced all because I got in that panda car…"

"It's not your fault they were Barton Street officers."

"I should have thought of another way to get here! I've messed it all up and now I just want to go and face the consequences!"

"We can't just disappear and leave everyone here," he reminded her, glancing back over his shoulder to where the others were watching from the table. "If we go to the station now, we might be there some time. Look…" he sighed, as she opened her mouth to protest. "If you really want to come with me to see Meadows, I won't stop you. But you'll have to be a damn sight more sober and with it than you are now." She nodded. "Right, so let's have some food and try to enjoy what we can about the day, all right?"

"Ok," she said finally. "I'm sorry."

"I'd do anything for you."

"I know."

"And anything I have done, or anything I will do…is because I love you."

She frowned. "What do you mean?"

"I just mean…" he paused, well aware there was so much that didn't know, could never know. "I'd never want you to think that I'd ever do anything to hurt you."

"I could never think that. I'd do anything for you too."

"Including letting me make love to you later?"

She rolled her eyes, "I suppose so."

"Good." He kissed her quickly. "Now, I don't know about you, but I'm starving."

XXXX

She tried hard to behave, tried hard to be a good hostess and forget all the issues rumbling along in the background. She ate her food and drank sparingly. She made conversation with Viv and Pat and tried to quell the nervous anxiety in her stomach. It wasn't meant to have been like this. She was meant to have arrived in the taxi, flushed with the bloom of a bride, meant to have married the man she was in love with and enjoy the celebrations of the day and yet, instead, all she felt was dread. In her mind, she had played out their meeting with Meadows so many different times in so many different ways. In one vision, he congratulated them. In another, he screamed at them. Somehow the latter seemed more likely than the former.

"I need to go," Viv said, as the plates were cleared away. "Meadows is going to be wondering where the hell I've been all day."

"Thank you for coming. I really appreciate it."

"I know you do," Viv squeezed her hand comfortingly. "Are you coming to the station later?"

She nodded. "He needs to hear it from us before he hears it from anyone else, if he hasn't already."

"Well, I'll be playing dumb at any rate. Good luck."

"Thanks." She watched her friend leave, wondering whether, the next time she saw her, she would still have a job.

"You fit?" Frank said suddenly in her ear, causing her to start. "We'd best get our stuff to the hotel and get changed before we head into the station.

"Yeah, of course," she replied. Farewells exchanged with the others, she finally found herself in a taxi heading back to her flat, time allowing for her to change quickly out of her dress and collect her bags, before the same journey was made to his flat. He had refused to tell her where they were staying for the evening, so when the taxi eventually pulled up in front of the Dorchester, she was stunned. "This place costs a fortune," she said in hushed tones as they made their way to the reception desk.

"Only the best for my beautiful wife," he joked, giving their names to the girl on the desk and, a few minutes later, she found herself standing in the honeymoon suite, marvelling at the opulence, not to mention the views.

"This is incredible," she said, moving around the room to inspect the luxurious furnishings, not least, the huge bed in the centre. The bathroom was equally impressive, and, for a moment, she forgot all about the fact that they had a terrible task to fulfil before they could enjoy it. Despite how fervently she had campaigned for them to go and see Meadows, now all she wanted to do was stay in the room, lock the door and pretend everything else was just a bad dream.

"Sure you haven't changed your mind?" he asked, as she emerged back into the main suite.

"About what?"

"Coming to the station with me. I can do this on my own you know."

"No," she shook her head. "We both need to do it. We're supposed to be a team after all."

He stepped towards her and slid his arms around her. "Whatever happens, whatever he says, nothing's changed, all right?"

She nodded, allowed him to kiss her and then followed him back out of the room and down to the front desk where he asked them to call a taxi. As they sped back through Canley, she felt the sick feeling in her stomach grow stronger and knew that the only thing keeping her steady was the warm pressure of his hand in hers.

They managed to get through the front doors and up the stairs to the CID office without seeing anyone, the room itself quiet, save for Alan sat at his desk, his brow furrowing slightly when he saw them. Frank knocked on Jack's door and opened it before quickly closing it again.

"No sign of Meadows?"

"I've not seen him since I've been back here," Alan replied.

"Typical. When you don't want him, you can't get rid of him and when you do want him, well, he's nowhere to be found. Right," he glanced at her. "I'll go and see if I can track him down, shall I?"

Before she could respond, he left the room, leaving her alone with Alan, who looked at her somewhat curiously. "Good day?" she asked, for something to say, sitting down at her desk.

"Well, I spent most of it running around with no transport but, apart from that…" he trailed off. "You?"

"Yeah, fine."

"Most people on annual leave don't come into the office."

"Uh, no I suppose they don't." She tapped her fingers on the desk in front of her, her attention suddenly taken by the flash of the rings on her finger under the light, the rings she had forgotten to remove. Immediately, she stopped moving and felt herself frozen for a moment, before slowly sliding her hand back towards her and slipping it under the table onto her lap. Glancing up, she met Alan's gaze again, with something in his eyes telling her that he had seen what she had been trying to hide.

"You seem jumpy."

"Do I?"

"Any particular reason?"

"Uh…no." In a way, she was almost glad that it was him rather than Jim or Tosh or Ted. Any of the three of them would probably have had it out of her by that point, but Alan was still a relatively unknown quantity. As she fought for something neutral to say, she suddenly heard the sound of voices at the other end of the corridor and, seconds later, Frank and Jack appeared in the office.

"Hello Chris," the latter said. "I wasn't expecting to see you today."

"No Guv," she hurriedly got to her feet.

"Frank says the pair of you want a word?"

"Uh…yes…" Forcing her feet to move, she came out from behind her desk and followed them both into Jack's office.

"How's the supermarket investigation going?" Jack asked, moving around to the other side of his desk.

"Not too bad so far," Frank replied smoothly. "Alan got a name from the manager; Miles Tanner. Apparently, he's got form for this kind of thing. He did some deliveries to the supermarket, and the manager told Alan that he was overly interested in their security arrangements."

"Sounds promising."

"Yeah, I asked Alan to do some follow-up work on it, and I'll liaise with him after this to find out how he got on."

"Good. What about information your end?"

"Well…you know what snouts can be like sometimes. They suddenly decide they don't want to be as helpful as they have been in the past."

"I thought you'd never had a snout back out on you."

"I haven't, not really. We'll get there Guv, it's just a matter of time."

"I'm sure it is. So…" Jack looked at her. "What was it you wanted to speak to me about?"

There was an elongated moment of silence. "So," Frank said finally, "you haven't heard yet then?"

"Haven't heard what?" Jack asked, frowning.

"Well…" she held her breath as he paused, feeling as though she might pass out and hoping he would seal their fate quickly. "Chris and I…we got married today."

For the longest moment, no-one said a word and it felt as though all the air had been sucked out of the room. Jack stared at Frank before turning to look at her again and she felt her face start to flame. Defiantly, she tried to hold his gaze, but found herself falling short and dropping it to the floor.

"I see," Jack said tightly. "Christina, can you go back to the CID office please?"

It wasn't the reaction she had been expecting from him. "Sir?"

"Now, please."

"But…" she opened her mouth to protest, to fight for her right to be there to hear the damning verdict, good or bad. "I should be here. This affects both of us."

"It's fine," Frank said reassuringly.

"You take orders from me, WDS Lewis," Jack said, his voice intimidatingly quiet. "And I've asked you to return to the CID office."

She looked at Frank and he nodded imperceptibly at her. Despite Jack's order, despite her husband telling her it was all right, that he could deal with it on his own, she still found herself rooted to the spot, unwilling to be dismissed, needing to be there to take whatever was coming. "Sir…"

"Get out!" Jack bellowed, causing her to jump.

Glancing once more at Frank, she turned for the door, her hand shaking as she reached for the handle and pulled it open. Stepping out into the corridor, she turned back into the office, only to find that Jim had now joined Alan, both of them looking at her.

"What the hell's going on?" the former asked. "What's Meadows yelling about?"

Taking a deep breath, she sat down slowly at her desk. "I'm guessing you'll find out soon enough."