sex and violence in this chapter although nothing too graphic
Putting the key in the ignition, the engine of Steve's car roared to life and he gently eased the car out of its space before pointing it in the direction of home. His mind drifted back to the kitchen in his old flat after Kate had propositioned him. Maybe it was the alcohol. Maybe it was something else, but Steve found himself accepting. After discussing some ground rules, the most important one being that they would still be friends in the morning, the partners were heading to Steve's bedroom.
That night wasn't romantic at all. For Steve it was a chance to see if he had fully recovered from his assault. For Kate it was just an opportunity to have sex again, and being a single divorcee she didn't know when she would next partake in any.
There was no kissing or foreplay but Steve was a gentleman and made sure Kate enjoyed the coupling as much as he did. He even wiped her clean afterwards when he pulled out and realised he'd forgotten to wear a condom. Luckily Kate revealed she had a coil inserted so they didn't have to worry about getting pregnant.
Too tired to go to her own bed, Kate had spent the night next to Steve. "Still friends?" Steve asked anxiously as they lay together in the dark waiting for sleep to claim them.
"Still friends," Kate confirmed as she found one of Steve's hands and gave it a squeeze.
They were still holding hands when the tooting of a car horn outside the flat woke them the next morning.
"Morning," Steve had greeted shyly, hoping that in the cold light of morning and now sober, Kate didn't have any regrets.
"Morning," she had replied as she stretched.
"How's your head?".
"Not too bad," Kate replied after checking herself over.
"We're still ok?".
"Still ok," Kate confirmed. "Still best friends. What time is it?".
Steve looked over his shoulder at the clock by his bedside. "10:30,".
"Better get up," Kate decided.
"Yeah," Steve concurred.
"Umm, do you mind looking the other way?" Kate asked, realising she was still naked under the duvet. She didn't want Steve watching her in the nude this morning.
"Sure," replied Steve as he turned away, even though he had seen her body the previous night.
"No peeking," she warned before Steve felt her leave the bed and scurry from the bedroom.
True to their promise, they remained best friends after their night together. They didn't discuss it again as both knew it had been a one off. Their work as partners didn't suffer either. No one at work would have guessed they had slept together as their pursuit of corrupt police officers continued. The OCG case took a bit of a back seat as they had no new leads and the more mundane work of chasing down unpaid parking tickets or undeclared freebies was their main work.
One such day after interviewing a scared police constable who had forgotten to pay for a sandwich one lunch time, Kate and Steve decided to enjoy a nice lunch together themselves on the way back to AC-12.
Being the senior officer, Kate decided to treat Steve. He chose a burger and chips whilst Kate had a healthy salad, although she nicked half of Steve's chips, much to his chagrin.
"Err excuse me?" Steve said as he witnessed a particularly long and chunky chip swiped from his plate. "Get your own!" he teased, just as a young woman burst in to the cafe.
"Help!" she screamed. "He's got a knife and stabbing people,".
Although it wasn't AC related, Kate and Steve were still police officers and their sense of duty immediately kicked in. Rushing outside with the woman they saw a trail of carnage up the high street with several people lying in the pavement at intervals.
"Him!" The witness pointed to a young man in the distance, with a large machete type knife in his hand.
"Go back inside," Steve instructed her. "Lock the doors and call 999,".
Looking at each other, Steve and Kate knew they were going to have to help. Rushing to the car they found their stab vests and put them on before assessing the scene. In the distance, a host of police sirens could be heard getting nearer. Word had obviously already reached the call control centre.
Running after the assailant, Kate was distracted by a boy of about Josh's age lying on the pavement, a victim of the knife man.
"Steve!" she said. Her partner looked down and saw the boy was injured. Kate knelt down beside him and found the stab wound before pressing down on it with her hands, hoping to staunch the blood flow.
"I'll get help," Steve said as he looked up and down the high street, wondering where best to go.
"Don't do anything stupid," Kate warned as she watched him run off.
It wasn't long before the street was awash with lots of members of the emergency services. Steve found some paramedics and pointed them in Kate's direction before trying to find Silver Command and give them his statement including where the assailant had gone.
An hour later, Steve headed back to Kate. He had helped in the capture of the knife man and was now trying to find his partner. He found her where he had left her, sat on the pavement beside a large blood stain on the concrete, phone in her hand.
"Did he make it?" Steve asked as he reached her. Up close, he noticed she looked a little traumatised.
"Only as far as the ambulance," Kate said sadly. She'd helped the paramedics get him in to the back of the vehicle before the boy had deteriorated suddenly before their eyes and gone in to cardiac arrest. Despite trying for a good while, they could not get an output again and he had been declared dead shortly afterwards.
"Have you phoned the gaffer?" Steve asked, referring to the phone in her hand.
"No," replied Kate. "Just called Josh. I had to hear his voice and make sure he was ok,".
Steve nodded. "You wanna get out of here?".
"Please," Kate said as Steve helped her to her feet. He noticed a few streaks of the victim's dried blood on her hands that she had missed when cleaning them.
Slowly they made their way back to the car and headed to AC-12. News had reached the unit about what had happened and how Steve and Kate had been caught up in it. The gaffer sent them home immediately with orders to not come back to work the next day until they were ready.
"You ok?" Steve asked Kate as they wearily entered his flat. She had hardly spoken a word during the journey and Steve could tell there was something wrong.
"I don't know," Kate admitted. The loss of the boy had hit her hard.
"Need a hug?".
"Please," Kate admitted before she found herself in Steve's arms. Wrapped tightly in his embrace, Kate could smell his familiar cologne and she felt safe. It was exactly what she wanted. Before she could stop herself she was kissing up his neck, the feel of his beard against her lips as she sought comfort in his arms.
"Kate?" questioned Steve. She hadn't done anything like this before. It was like the night they had spent together.
Kate pulled back and looked him in the eyes. "Please," she begged.