The next couple of days were spent together at Steve's as he had the bigger flat. At first there was a lot of sleeping going on as it was difficult to get more than a few hours at a time with Kate still feeling the effects of her HIV medication. As Kate improved however, she began to feel a bit suffocated with Steve's constant hovering around her. By now her bruises and split lip had healed so you would never be able to tell she had been attacked. She looked normal but it wasn't normal to have a babysitter all the time. She wanted normal back.

"You should go to work tomorrow," Kate suggested one evening.

"Are you sure?" Steve asked.

"Yeah," Kate repeated. "I think I'll be fine watching the TV by myself," she pointed out. It was what they had been doing most days.

"OK," agreed Steve. "I'll let the gaffer know," he said as he reached for his phone. He was getting a little bored staying indoors but he wanted to be supportive for Kate. If she was letting him go outside she must be feeling better which was a positive.

"You'll ring won't you if there's a problem,".

"Of course I will," Kate replied.

"See you later," Steve said to Kate the next morning as he left for work, giving the top of her head a kiss. Kate was sat at the breakfast bar finishing her breakfast.

"Have a good day," Kate said cheerfully.

"I'll try," Steve replied before finally leaving the flat.

Finishing off her breakfast, Kate headed for a quick shower. With that done she got changed. In to some work clothes. She was going to go to work. She hadn't told Steve as he would only fret and worry. But if she was going to get better she had to go back to work.

"Kate!" exclaimed Jo Davidson a little later when Kate sauntered in to MIT. She was surprised to see her DI at work so soon after her assault. She had thought she would call to tell her when she felt up to coming back, not just show up. "This is a surprise," she admitted.

"There's only so much daytime TV I can sit through," Kate replied as she shrugged off her jacket whilst greeting the rest of the team. "It's ok isn't it?".

"Yes of course," Jo replied looking at the other members of MIT. They too seemed a little surprised at Kate's sudden appearance at work having been told she'd been mugged by their SIO. "Are you sure it's not too soon?" she whispered quietly to Kate.

"I'm fine, Jo," Kate reiterated. "Please let me work. I need to do something other than sit around and think about my assault over and over in my head,".

"OK," agreed Jo reluctantly. Kate might have told her she was OK but something wasn't sitting quite right with the DCI.

"So what have I missed whilst I was on sick leave?" Kate asked Chris Lomax as they sat in the car watching residents of a housing estate come and go. Whilst Kate had been off, a prostitute had been murdered and MIT had received a tip off from the member of the public about the possible perpetrator and his address. Members of MIT were currently all doing surveillance in the vicinity of the address, hoping to arrest him that afternoon.

Chris Lomax shrugged. "Nothing much," he admitted.

"So me stressing at home with a serious case of FOMO seems to have been completely misplaced," Kate teased.

"Person matching description just left Churchill House," came over the car radio from another team.

"Maintain contact," came Jo's staticky voice next.

"DC Jones following on foot," came the voice of DS Khan who had remained in the police vehicle. "Suspect heading west,".

Kate and Chris looked at each other. The suspect was heading towards them so they scanned the area with renewed interest.

Suddenly Chris nudged Kate. "Eyeball on suspect," Kate said in to her radio, having seen what Chris had. "Possibly heading to bus stop," she added, having quickly assessed the direction their suspect was walking. "Shit!" Kate said suddenly as she saw their suspect realise he was being followed by DC Jones, and took off. Kate quickly threw her radio down and exited the car to give chase, as she was far nearer the suspect than DC Jones.

"What's going on?" Jo's voice came over the radio.

"He's clocked us," Chris informed Jo as he too left the car and proceeded to run after Kate. "DI Fleming and DS Lomax in pursuit," he informed Jo.

"Which direction Chris?" Jo barked, upset this op was going south very quickly.

"North," Chris said, "along Chatterton Boulevard,".

Her lungs were burning but Kate kept hot on her suspect's heels. She was not going to let this bastard out of her sight. This man who had thought it was OK to batter a fifteen year old woman to death. Who thought it was ok to treat any woman that way?

She followed him down a concrete stair case and he then ran out of her line of sight. The next thing she heard was a car horn tooting and the squeal of breaks as she made it to the bottom of the stairs. Her suspect was lying on the road, badly hurt after being hit by a car at quite a speed.

The driver of the car sped off once he saw Kate appear. Kate didn't care. Her main focus was on the man on the ground. Ordinarily she would have been straight on to control getting an ambulance for her suspect, but that was before her assault. Somewhere during her chase, the red mist had descended and Kate was screaming at the man about karma and getting his just desserts when the rest of MIT appeared on the scene.

"Get her out of here now!" Jo ordered Chris quickly before Kate did anything worse to their suspect that a member of the public might see.

Chris did as he was told and was soon trying to take Kate by the arm and lead her away.

"Get your hands off me!" Kate screamed at Chris.

"Kate!" Jo shouted at her friend shocked at her DI's behaviour. "I am ordering Chris to take you away from the scene immediately," she informed Kate. "You will wait for me in my office, is that understood?!".

"Yes Ma'am," Kate replied.