Thank you to Hollie for always leaving such lovely reviews, they make my day! Enjoy!
A week had passed since Claire had been to the Stone's house and had the chance to start really getting to know her little brother. She had visited once during the week with some remedies for Jess' morning sickness which she had found had helped when she had been pregnant with Lindsay. Jess was very grateful, not to mention pleased at how well the relationship with Claire was forming. Callum had been so happy lately, now that he was building up the relationship he should have had with Claire so long ago, and now that Jess' bump was really showing, he couldn't stop touching her and kissing her. He was already a proud dad, and the baby wasn't even here yet. She couldn't wait for the moment their baby was placed in his arms for the first time, the thought making her well up. Damn hormones.
It was Sunday morning and the couple were lounging in bed in their pyjamas. It was too hot outside for Jess, it made her feel uncomfortable and ill, so they decided to have a duvet day, the fan lazily spinning, apparently cooling the room down. Jess was lying on her side with Callum on his back when she sat up, a smile on her face.
"What are you smiling at?" he asked her curiously.
"Nothing, back in a minute." she said with a grin, hurrying out the room. She returned with a cardboard loo roll tube. She laid down on the bed next to him, lifting up her pale pink cotton pyjama top. She pressed the tube against her stomach, "Put your ear against that." Callum did as he was told, gently placing his ear against the tube. He couldn't hear anything for a while, but as Jess placed it on different areas of her stomach, his face split into a grin.
"Is that the heartbeat?" he asked incredulously.
"Yeah, amazing isn't it." she said happily. She relaxed back against the pillows, smiling as Callum placed one of his hands on her bump.
"Hey baby. It's daddy," Callum whispered to Jess' stomach. He took his ear away from the tube, gently pressing his lips to her stomach, "Me and your mum can't wait to meet you. You're going to be such a spoiled baby, but you're going to be kind and strong like your mum, and handsome like me." Jess swatted his head playfully. She shut her eyes and fell asleep again to the sounds of Callum murmuring to their baby.
Jess was abruptly awoken to the sound of the phone ringing. She patted the bedside table, trying to find the damn thing. Her hand finally found purchase, and she placed it against her ear.
"'Ello?" she mumbled, slowly waking up.
"Jess darling? Is that you?" Michelle said chirpily. Jess smiled. Her mum and dad had been on a cruise around the Caribbean for the past month. They had left just before Jess had found out she was pregnant, so they knew nothing about their newest grandchild.
"Hi mum, yes it's me. Sorry, I've just woken up." she said apologetically.
"Just woken up? But it's nearly half past two in the afternoon! What are you still doing inside on a day like this?" Michelle asked, sounding exactly like she had when Jess was a teenager.
"Erm, well, I just am. Did you have a nice holiday? Are you and dad nice and brown?" she asked, propping herself up in bed.
"Oh it was beautiful! You've never seen anything like the colour of the sea there, it's crystal clear. Me and your dad went swimming in the ocean, and it was just like dipping into a hot bath, absolutely gorgeous. You would have loved it darling. It did get a bit too hot sometimes, but there was plenty to do inside. Your dad is more lobster coloured than tanned, he said he didn't need to put on a high factor sun cream. He's paying for it now though." Michelle said with a laugh. Jess smiled as she heard her father grumbling in the background.
"Listen mum, there's something I need to tell you and dad. Could you put me on speakerphone?" she asked her mum.
"Is everything alright?" Michelle asked worriedly.
"Yeah, just put me on speakerphone and I'll explain." Jess said again.
"Ok darling, you're on. Fire away." Michelle called.
"Ok, just after you left for your cruise, Callum and I found out that we were having a baby." she said, a tad worriedly. She didn't know what her parents would think, knowing it would stir up emotions about Luke, and the conflicting feelings of excitement and fear.
"You're having a baby?" Robert asked, checking what he thought his daughter had just said.
"Yes dad, me and Callum are having a baby." she said, frowning. Why weren't they saying anything?
"Oh darling, that's such wonderful news! We're so happy for you both! When are you due?" Michelle asked excitedly. Jess breathed a sigh of relief; this was the reaction she had expected.
"He's due just after Christmas, so I'm not buying anyone anything this year, he is the gift." Jess said with a chuckle.
"He? Do you know it's a boy? I thought they couldn't tell until five months?" Michelle questioned.
"They can't, and we don't know yet, but I'd rather call him a he than just it. Anyway, I haven't told Callum this but I think it's a girl." Jess said. She'd had a feeling recently that the baby she was carrying was a girl; it felt different to the time she had been pregnant with Luke. But only time would tell whether her feeling was right.
"Oh Jess, a granddaughter?" Michelle sighed happily.
"That's what I think, but we won't know until he or she is born. Neither of us wants to find out, we want it to be a surprise." Jess replied.
"Have you had your first scan?" Robert chipped in.
"Yeah, a couple of weeks ago. I'll send you the scan picture, it's incredible. You should have seen Callum, he's gone all soft." she said fondly.
"Well, how about me and your dad come down for a visit soon? We haven't seen you since the wedding anyway, and now that you're pregnant, it seems like the perfect time. What do you think?" Michelle asked.
"I think that would be brilliant. You can stay with us." Jess offered.
"Thanks darling. Me and your dad will check if we've got anything on in the next couple of weeks, and if we don't, we'll let you know when we're coming down. Is that ok sweetheart?" Michelle checked.
"That's absolutely fine. I can't wait to see you both, I've missed you." Jess said, embarrassed to feel her eyes welling up.
"Oh darling, that's just the hormones talking, I bet you haven't missed us really." Michelle said with a laugh. "Ok then, your father and I are off to go and see Andy. We'll ring you later in the week ok? Take care of yourself. Love you!"
"Love you too mum. Bye dad. Talk to you soon." she said, pressing the end call button, unable to help the smile thinking of her parents. The worst thing about moving to Canley with Dan was moving so far away from her parents, and because of the job she didn't see them as much as she would have liked. But they were always there for her whenever she needed them, and that was the main thing.
The following day, Jess was sitting in a quiet room trying to catch up on all her paperwork that seemed to have multiplied on her days off. She muttered in frustration as she realised that there was no way she would be able to go on patrol today or even tomorrow, not with all this paperwork. That was the one thing she hated about her job; all this political correctness crap for one, and also that all the paperwork cops were required to fill in took them away from their prime role; to protect their community.
She sat back in her chair, massaging her temples. She shut her eyes, taking a deep breath, trying to get back into the right frame of mind to plough through all this paper. She jumped to a start as there was a knock on the door, which was opened to reveal Smithy. He looked around the half dark room, spying all the sheets of paper in front of Jess.
"Having fun yet?" he asked with a cheeky smile.
"Excellent. I don't know why I don't do this more often." she replied sarcastically, brushing her hair off her face with her fingers.
"Well, I may have a temporary respite for you." he offered, coming into the room and perching on the desk she was working at.
"And what would that be? Is it going to be worth the extra paperwork?" she asked him.
"I think it would be. And if you want, I'll take the paperwork." he said with a smile.
"Ok, go on then, what is it?" she asked, intrigued now.
"Julian Tierney." Smithy said, watching Jess' face for recognition.
"It rings a bell..." she said, straining to remember.
"He abducted his daughter a few weeks ago, and was shot in the leg while he had you up against a wall?" he pushed, jogging her memory.
"Oh yeah of course! Ok, so what about him?" she asked, getting comfy in her chair, resting her folded hands on her stomach.
"He's supposed to be in court today, but surprise surprise, he hasn't turned up. I offered our services to go and find him and bring him to court." Smithy explained.
"First stop his flat right?" Jess questioned, getting to her feet and stacking all her paperwork tidily.
"Yep. Now I'm sure I don't need to remind you to please be careful, Callum and the Inspector will have me if he manages to get you against a wall again. Grab your hat and I'll meet you at the car." he waved as he left the room.
Jess glared at her paperwork.
"You better not have multiplied anymore by the time I get back, cause so help me you're going in the incinerator if you have." she cursed, giggling that she had just told off her paperwork. She was going insane.
Smithy pulled the car into a space in front of Julian Tierney's block of flats. There were some young boys on bikes riding around the forecourt, and as soon as they saw Smithy and Jess emerging from the car, they promptly gave them the finger.
"Charming." Smithy muttered, locking the car. They walked across the forecourt and into the flats. Since the last time they had been in here, one of the local gangs had graffitied their logo all around the grimy lobby area. There were empty lager and beer cans rolling idly around at the slight breeze coming down one of the corridors, and used needles and condoms littering the floor.
"This is a terrible place for people to have to live." Jess said sadly, following Smithy to the stairs. No way were they going to go up in the lift, with its puddles of urine and smell of decay.
"It's better than being out on the streets." Smithy said grimly.
The officers finally reached 43, Julian's flat. There was no one around anywhere, making a change from the bitter old ladies and the gobby youths. Jess knocked three times on the door, taking a step back. When a few minutes had passed, Jess knocked again and peered through the letterbox.
"I can't see anyone in there. Maybe he's not here after all?" Jess wondered.
"Mr Tierney, this is the police. Open up please." Smithy called through the letterbox. If need be, they could force entry, but he'd rather not resort to kicking down the door of the flat. Smithy banged the door with his fist, an unrelenting pounding. The door to their right opened, and a middle aged woman with hair rollers in came out about to shout at whoever was causing so much noise. She was trying to watch Jeremy Kyle for pete sake!
"What you banging for?" she asked the officers bluntly. Jess exchanged a glance with Smithy before answering the woman.
"We're looking for Julian Tierney. Do you know if he's in there?" Jess asked politely.
"I haven't seen him leave since yesterday afternoon, so I'd hazard a guess and say yes. Is he not answering?" she asked, leaning against her door jamb.
"Obviously not. I don't suppose you have a spare key do you?" Jess queried.
"Hmm. Let me go and have a look." she said, abruptly turning and slamming her door shut.
"What a lovely lady." Jess said with a sarcastic smile. A few brief moments later, her door opened again and she appeared with a key.
"I've had this since old Mary used to live there, so god knows if it still fits. But you can stop yer banging now thanks very much. Some of us are trying to watch TV." Smithy took the key from the woman, and she slammed her door shut to the shocked officers.
"Well, at least we got somewhere." he said with a sigh, inserting the key into Julian's door.
With a twist and a click, it granted them entry. Smithy moved against the door, allowing Jess to enter first.
"Julian? It's the police." she called round. The flat was in a state. There were dishes overflowing in the kitchen, the bin's contents were littered around the floor, partially empty food packets were covering the sides, their contents mouldy. Jess moved into the living room, nearly tripping on all the empty beer bottles. She could hear Smithy moving around behind her checking out downstairs. She made her way up the stairs, peering above her to listen for any signs that he was here.
"Any sign Jess?" Smithy shouted from the kitchen.
"Not yet, I'm just going to check his bedroom and the spare room." she shouted back.
She reached the top of the stairs, turning to head towards his bedroom. She pushed against his door, but there was something heavy in front of it, blocking her entrance. She pushed harder, really straining, but still it wouldn't budge. She took a step back, braced herself against the stair railings and gave a swift but hard kick. The lock on the bedroom door gave way, and the door swung open. She took a step into the room; a gruesome sight met her eyes. She rushed over to the motionless hanging body, quickly grabbing Julian's legs and pushing them upwards, trying to support his weight as much as possible.
"SARGE!" she screamed. She heard frantic footsteps, and then Smithy ran into the room.
"Give him to me." Smithy said urgently. Jess carefully transferred Julian's weight into Smithy's strong arms. She yanked at her radio.
"134 to control. This is an urgent radio call to flat 43 Halbroke House. Unconscious male found hanging. Requesting an ambulance ASAP." Jess said in a rush.
"Confirmed 134. Ambulance is on its way. ETA five minutes." the operator replied. As soon as the operator had confirmed her call, Jess grabbed the chair Julian had been standing on to loop the rope around his neck. She stood on the chair, reached on tiptoe, reaching for his neck, praying that she'd find a pulse. She held her fingers there for over a minute, but felt nothing.
"Sarge, I'm going to cut him down." Jess said, scrabbling in her pocket for the penknife her brother had bought her for Christmas. She flipped open the knife and started hacking at the rope. "Ready to catch him?" she asked Smithy.
"Yeah, be careful he doesn't fall into you." Smithy warned. Jess nodded and pumped her arm faster, willing for the rope to cut soon. Finally it gave way with a snap, Julian's body falling to the side. She took his head, steadying herself before climbing off the chair and laying the body on the bed with Smithy.
"We need him on a hard surface to do CPR. The bed will just give way." Jess muttered to herself. "Sarge, help me get him on the floor." Smithy grabbed Julian's torso while Jess took his legs, gently laying him on the thin carpeted floor. As soon as he was down, Jess immediately got to pumping his chest. She heard a crack as the sternum gave way under her hands.
"Jess..." Smithy questioned.
"It's ok, the sternum sometimes cracks; it means I'm using the right amount of pressure." Jess answered. "Smithy get the pocket mask out my vest and get ready to use it."
Smithy grabbed the mask out of Jess' pocket, opening it up ready. Jess paused the compressions to allow Smithy to give two rescue breaths. She watched as his chest rose with the breaths, and then resumed compressions.
"Paramedics!" a male voice shouted from downstairs.
"Upstairs in the bedroom!" Smithy shouted back, rushing to the hall to greet them and brief them on the situation. As soon as the paramedics bundled through the door with all their equipment, the woman took Jess' place with the compressions.
"You've done a good job. Could you help us for a minute? I need you to squeeze this hard twice when Nina pauses in compressions while I take his vitals and hook him up ok?" the older paramedic said to Jess. She nodded, taking the blue bag from him and settling by Julian's head.
"I heard his sternum crack when I was doing compressions." she informed them.
"That's ok; I think he'd rather have a broken sternum than be dead. I think you got him down just in the nick of time." Josh, the older paramedic said with a small smile.
He applied a gel to Julian's neck where the rope had burned it, and then applied bandages over the top. As soon as he had done that, Julian began to cough. Nina immediately stopped compressions, turning him on his side. Julian was sick noisily onto the carpet, and when he was finished he began to cry.
"Julian? Can you hear me?" Nina asked him, making sure she was in his line of sight. His clear blue eyes turned on her, more tears welling and spilling onto the floor. His eyes were flat, lifeless.
"What did you do to me?" he asked, turning on his side, clearly in pain.
"We saved your life. Actually, these police officers saved your life." Josh explained, trying to gently turn him over onto his back. He fought them off weakly.
"Hi Julian. Do you remember me from a few weeks ago? My name's Jess, I'm a police officee." she said, coming next to him.
"You should have let me die. I wanted to die." he said in a clear, but frail voice. He stared up at the ceiling where the rope swung which the noose had been attached to. His eyes shut, his lip trembled, and he sobbed.
As Jess and Smithy returned to the station after leaving Julian in the capable doctor's hands at the hospital, they ran into Roger.
"I heard you've just been at Julian Tierney's place. You called for an ambulance, what happened?" he asked curiously, falling into stride with Jess.
"He didn't show up for his court hearing, we went to his flat, I found him hanging in his room. We cut him down, I thought we were too late, but he came to. He's on suicide watch at the hospital though." Jess said sadly. She felt like they had failed him in some way, and the feeling didn't sit well with her.
"Oh, well, that's one way to skip your court hearing I guess." Roger said dead pan. Jess looked at him curiously.
"You don't think this was him actively wanting to end his life because he couldn't bear the thought of never seeing Danni again?" she put it to him.
"Honestly? When you've been at this job as long as I have, you'll start to see patterns with cases. You've been a cop for what, five years?" he asked her.
"Eight years, I started when I was 18." she answered.
"And for at least a year of that you were off with your baby, yes? And really, you were a probationer for the first two years so, as a fully fledged police officer, you've been doing it for five years." he said, showing his logic.
"Rog, those two years that I was a probationer, I was still doing this job, I was still a police officer. Just because you've been doing it since dinosaurs roamed, doesn't mean you can say you're more experienced with these kinds of things." she said, a harsh tone creeping into her voice. Roger accepted what she was saying, raising his hands in a shrug.
"Sorry, but you know how many new cops we get in here fresh from probation thinking they know it all. I forget that you've been doing this longer." he said apologetically.
"I'll take that to mean you think I'm fresh faced still Rog. Apology accepted." she said with a smile and a twinkle in her eye as she walked into the room she'd been doing her paperwork in earlier.
As soon as the door had quietly shut behind her, Jess pitched forward, her vision suddenly blurred. She reached out her hands in front of her, trying to gain some kind of stability and avoiding crashing into something and hurting herself. Her hands brushed against the edge of the desk, and she leaned heavily against it, her eyes shut, taking deep breaths. She pressed the heels of her hands to her eyes, trying to clear her vision.
Nausea knocked her for six, causing her to weakly move down until she was on the floor leaning back against the desk, her knees against her chest, her hands over her eyes. The nausea intensified, and she pushed herself back off the floor onto her feet, her arms shamin as she blindly reached for the door. She yanked it open, hurrying down the corridor, trying to reach the toilets. Her vision had cleared some, but it was still blurred around the edges, like it hadn't quite focussed yet.
She made it to the toilets, barely getting on her knees in front of the bowl when all the food she had eaten that day made its way back up and out her body.
The nausea cleared as her stomach emptied; she got to her feet shakily, tentatively moving over to the sinks. She cupped her hands under the flow of cold water, splashing it over her pallid face. She bent her mouth down, swilling the water around, trying to rid the taste of vomit in her mouth. She towelled her face off, leant against the counter for a minute to try and gather herself together, and once satisfied she didn't look deathly pale anymore, left the toilets to head to the changing room and get some anti sickness and paracetamol.
She kept her head to the floor, her hand trailing against the wall for support. As she rounded a corner, she hit the solid mass of Callum. She almost fell on the floor she felt that weak. He grabbed her by the tops of her arms, catching her from falling. He took one look at her pale face and gently placed his arms around her shaking shoulders, guiding her into his office. Smithy was busy typing away when Callum came in, and he immediately got to his feet, helping Callum settle Jess in a chair. As soon as she sat down, she rested her head in her hands, staying silent.
"Jess darlin', you alright?" Callum asked in concern, squatting in front of her. He ran the back of his hand over her forehead. She was cool and clammy. "Jess? Talk to me."
She lifted her head slowly, taking deep breaths, starting to feel better. The nausea was gone, and her vision was nearly back to normal, but her head was throbbing. She accepted the glass of water from Callum gratefully, "I don't know. I think I'm ok now though."
Callum and Smithy peered at her, not convinced, "What happened?" Smithy asked.
"I don't know. I just went back to continue my paperwork from this morning and my vision went weird. I felt really sick, so I ran to the toilets and threw up. But I don't feel nauseous anymore, just a bit of a headache, but I'm ok now. I promise." she said sincerely when she saw their still unconvinced faces.
"Is it to do with the baby?" Callum asked, his hand automatically cupping her bump.
Jess seemed unsure, "I really don't know." Her hand settled on top of Callum's.
"Callum, take her to the hospital. Just to be sure." Smithy instructed.
"But what about Julian Tierney?" Jess argued. "I want to follow this through."
"Jess, your health, and the baby's health comes before your work. Now go to the hospital, get yourself seen, and I'll let you know about Julian, ok?" Smithy bargained.
She nodded her head, knowing that of course hers and the baby's health were more important than her work. But she didn't want to go to the hospital, because if there was a problem with her or the baby, she didn't want to know. She wanted to be oblivious just a while longer, just so she could relish the thought that she was going to be a mum again. She didn't want it taken away from her so soon.
Please God, let her baby be ok. Let them both be ok. Don't take her baby away from her. Please.