"When we get back to AC-12 I want you to start looking up everything you can find on PC Silverton," Steve instructed his DS. He was in the passenger seat of the service car whilst the junior officer was at the wheel.
They'd had a rather fruitful morning interviewing a witness who had given them a decent lead on cracking their current case and the familiar excitement that Steve felt when he knew the chase was finally on had begun to take residence in the pit of his stomach.
Steve was thankful that finally something seemed to be going AC-12's way. They were well overdue a break. He felt as if they'd been pissing in the wind the last two weeks as their suspect ran rings around them.
"Will do, sir," the DS replied as he looked in his wing mirror and indicated to overtake the car in front of them that was just tootling along. He too was keen to get back to headquarters as soon as possible and get to work.
The chirping of his phone took Steve's concentration away from the case and he pulled the noisy object from his suit pocket. It was his wife.
"Hi!" said Steve as he answered the call.
"Hi," replied Kate. "Is it ok to talk?" she asked, recognising that her husband appeared to be in a vehicle from what she could hear down the phone.
"Yep," said Steve. "Just on the way back to AC-12,".
"Great," said Kate. "Would you be able to call home?" she asked. "I've missed a call from Mel,".
"Sure," replied Steve. Mel was their regular child minder and was looking after their children for the day whilst he and Kate were at work. "Did she say what the problem was?".
"Not exactly but it sounds like World War Three may have broken out. I'm due back in the interview room any time so I haven't got time to deal with it. Sorry babe,".
"That's ok," replied Steve. "I'll give Mel a quick call now. How's it going?". His wife was on a big case in MIT and he knew today was an important interview.
"Ok," said Kate. "I think he's close to confessing," she continued.
"Great," congratulated Steve. "Does that mean you'll be home at a decent time?" He asked. Kate had had several late nights recently leaving Steve in charge of the kids at home. He was looking forward to having Kate's help with them and he was sure Josh and Ivy would be pleased to have some time with their mum. Steve knew he certainly would be looking forward to her company if she was around.
"Fingers crossed," Kate said. She didn't want to jinx anything. "Gotta go," she said as she saw her DCI approaching.
"Ok," said Steve. "Love you,".
"Love you too," Kate answered before hanging up.
Without putting his phone away, Steve called Mel's number on a video call. It didn't take long for her to pick up and Steve saw that Ivy, his and Kate's five year old daughter was on Mel's lap crying.
In a meeting of their DNA, Steve's genes had proved the more dominant and Ivy had inherited Steve's brown eyes which currently had a few fat tears falling from them.
His daughter had been fast asleep in her bed when Steve had left for work that morning and it looked like Mel had got her dressed in to a pretty sun dress and tamed her curly hair in to a pony tail although several strands had already broken free.
"What's happened baby girl?" Steve asked.
"We've had a bit of a falling out," Mel explained to Steve, talking about the brother and sister in her care. The children usually behaved well, but today was just one of those days where they were pushing each other's buttons. "And it's ended in Josh giving Ivy a little slap,".
Ivy heard her name and knew her father was on the phone so her tears fell a little harder. She had learnt from quite an early age that when she was upset, daddy would do anything he could to make her happy again.
Steve however could tell by now when his daughter was crying crocodile tears so didn't fall in to her trap. He could see that there had not been any major damage inflicted by her older brother.
"Come on Ivy," Steve cajoled over the phone. "It's not that bad," he said hoping he could get her to stop crying.
"I didn't hit her that hard," Steve heard Josh say in the background. "And she deserved it,".
"Hey Josh," Steve said, "where are you, mate?" he asked and didn't have to wait long before Josh's face appeared on screen beside Mel's. He had Kate's blue eyes and looked very much like his wife.
Josh was Steve's ten year old step-son but they had a very good relationship. Steve was the man that Josh called 'Dad' which Steve was very proud of. Josh had lived with Steve and his mum since Kate's marriage to his biological father had ended rather violently. He had been five years old when Ivy came along. He usually was an amazing big brother looking out for Ivy when his parents weren't around.
Josh's father, Kate's ex-husband, had spent a few months in prison following his assault on Kate and Steve. Josh had visited Mark inside prison and when he had been released, but it was always under the supervision of someone from social services. Despite maintaining contact, father and son were a little distant. After witnessing his father's violence, Josh had never fully trusted his dad again, always a little scared that Mark would possibly direct his anger at him.
"Why did you hit your sister?" Steve asked Josh. "You know it's wrong to hit anyone,". Josh had witnessed Mark hit Kate and attack Steve when he was three years old and since then, the two adults had made sure that Josh grew up to know that it was wrong and such behaviour wouldn't be tolerated in their home.
"I was just sitting and reading my book when Ivy came along and stuck her butt in my face!" Josh explained.
Steve saw his DS try to stifle a laugh as he heard about the going's on in the Arnott household that morning. Steve himself tried not to smile at the silly spat.
"Who do you think she learnt that off, mate?" Steve asked Josh. There was many a time that Josh had done the same thing to an unsuspecting member of his family, accompanied by a fart which he found extremely amusing. Apparently he didn't like being the victim of the same prank.
Josh didn't answer Steve as he knew he was to blame. Ivy idolised Josh and copied nearly everything he did.
"Say sorry to your sister," Steve instructed.
"Why do I have to be the one to say sorry?" Josh asked upset at the unfairness of the situation. "Ivy was the one that stuck her butt in my face," he reminded Steve.
"And I will be talking to her in a minute," Steve answered, "but you hit her Josh and you know we don't do that,".
"Sorry Ivy," Josh said eventually.
"Good man," Steve praised Josh. "Right then where's Ivy," Steve asked, moving on to the next trouble maker.
Mel turned the phone screen so that Steve could see his daughter. Her cries had turned to sniffles now although she rubbed her eye and Steve saw a tear run down her chubby cheek.
"It hurts Daddy," Ivy informed her father.
"I'm sure it's not that bad," Steve said, "and Josh has said sorry. Why did you stick your butt in his face?". Ivy looked down at her lap looking very contrite and shrugged her shoulders. "It's not very nice is it?" he prompted and he saw Ivy shake her head in agreement. "I want you to say you're sorry to Josh. Can you do that for me?".
"Sowwy Josh," Ivy mumbled.
"Good girl," Steve congratulated his daughter and also silently congratulated himself on the excellent job he had done in ending this little fight. "Now I want you both to say sorry to Mel," he ordered his children. "She won't want to look after you anymore if you keep misbehaving,". Ivy looked alarmed at this news as she adored her babysitter.
"Sorry Mel," Josh said.
"Sowwy Mel," Ivy echoed as she gave the young woman a hug.
"That's ok," Mel replied as she returned Ivy's hug. She wouldn't tell them, but Josh and Ivy were among her favourite children to look after. They would have to do something really bad before she refused to look after them.
"Excellent," said Steve. "Try to get along for the rest of the day ok?" Steve begged his children. "I don't want Mel to have to call me again. And if you do behave we'll have something nice for dinner," he blackmailed them.
"Cool!" said Josh excited. Steve's 'something nice' was usually take away which meant avoiding his mum's cooking.
"Mummy might even be home as well," Steve added. Ivy smiled at this. She'd missed her mum the last few days. Daddy hugs were good but sometimes Mummy hugs were the only thing that would do. "Ok. See you all later," Steve said before hanging up.
"Bye Dad," Josh said.
"Bye bye Daddy," said Ivy before Steve ended the call.
"Sorry about that," he apologised to his DS as he pocketed his phone, a little embarrassed. If he'd known what the fight was about he would have called home in private once he was back at AC-12.
"It's fine," the officer replied. "Kids are certainly entertaining aren't they?".
"They certainly are. Didn't think I would ever have to sort an argument like that out before I had them. You got any?" Steve asked. The sergeant shook his head. "I love them to death but sometimes they drive me round the fuckin' bend," he admitted. "At least it's only a couple of days until school starts again!" Steve said gleefully. The school holidays had dragged on for Steve and Kate and they were both counting down the days until term started again.
When Steve entered the house later that day there was peace and quiet. Kate had beaten him home as her car had been in the driveway when Steve pulled up and he wondered where everyone was.
Walking in to the living room the children were watching TV nicely together. Ivy was sat cuddled up next to Josh who had his arm around his baby sister. They were both enjoying an ice pop as it had been a hot day. His wife had resorted to blackmail as well by the looks of it to maintain the ceasefire.
"Hi guys," Steve greeted.
"Hiya," Ivy answered after taking a large suck on her popsicle, draining the colour from it. "Want some Daddy?" she asked her father as she held her treat out to him.
"No thanks sweetheart," Steve replied and Ivy appeared quite happy at not having to share, returning the flavoured ice back to her mouth immediately. "Alright Josh?".
"Yeah,".
"You both behaved for Mel for the rest of the day?".
"Yes Dad," Josh said.
"Where's your mum?" Steve asked.
"Upstairs," Josh replied.
Steve took the stairs two at a time as he jogged up the stairs and headed to their bedroom. He found his wife in a state of undress. A pair of denim shorts had replaced her work trousers which showed off her toned legs nicely. She had removed her bra and a vest top was currently being put on as he entered.
Steve paused briefly to study the pleasant sight of his wife's breasts. It had been a few days since he had been able to enjoy being with Kate and he wondered if that would be remedied later that night. His mind drifted as he thought about how that might go.
"Steve?" Kate asked for the second time, the first having generated no response at all. She knew what he was thinking about as he was just staring at her chest.
"Huh?" Steve grunted, returning to the room. Kate's breasts now hidden by her top.
"I said what was the emergency earlier?".
"Ivy stuck her backside in Josh's face,".
Kate couldn't help the laugh that escaped her mouth and caused Steve to join in.
"Lucky you've just done that course in conflict resolution isn't it?" she said as she sidled up to Steve, wrapped her arms around her husband's neck and gave him a thorough kiss.
"It did require all my skills to sort the problem out," Steve murmured once the kiss had ended, his hands drifting south from Kate's back to take up residence on her backside and gave it a gentle squeeze.
"I just knew you were the right man for the job," Kate murmured back before giving Steve another kiss.
"You're in a good mood," Steve noted once their lips had broken apart again. "That and the fact you're home early I presume means that you had a good result at work,".
"Yep," Kate said, still clinging to Steve.
"So I was thinking pizza to celebrate the kids making it to the end of the day without killing each other?". Kate looked like she could be persuaded to agree to the suggestion. "And then we could have a little private celebration ourselves once they've gone to bed,".
"What are we celebrating?" Kate asked.
"The fact that we are both here tonight," Steve replied.
"I like the way you think Mr Arnott," Kate said before giving Steve another quick peck on the lips. "I'll get the kids to look at the menu and decide on their pizzas whilst you get changed,". It usually took Ivy quite a while to decide on her topping.
"Perfect," Steve agreed as Kate finally stepped out of Steve's embrace and headed out the bedroom.
Turning to his wardrobe, Steve undid his tie and pulled it from his collar as he decided on what he was going to get changed in to. All in all today had been a good day and it looked like it was shaping up to be an even better evening.