Thank you as always to Hollie! Enjoy!
Callum was propped up in bed, watching Jess. He was hoping that if he stared at her long enough she would wake up.
"Callum, stop staring at me." she mumbled, turning over.
"I'm not." he said innocently, in a non convincing voice.
Jess sighed and rolled over so that she was on her back. She slowly opened her eyes and stretched, "What time is it?"
"Six, an hour before work. I think we should tell people, or at least not hide it." Callum said suddenly.
"Tell them what?" Jess asked, confused. Callum indicated himself and Jess. A smile crept onto Jess' face as she said, "Ooohh, you mean we should tell them that you sleep naked?"
Callum did a double take before rolling his eyes, "No, tell them that we're a couple. I mean, I know Sally knows, but you said that other people are asking you about your mystery man, so maybe we should say something. Or even if we don't announce it, just stop hiding it."
"Why don't we just announce it in morning briefing." Jess said sarcastically.
"Fine, if you don't want to tell people..." Callum trailed off, pulling puppy dog eyes on Jess.
Jess rolled her eyes but smiled, pulling herself in bed, "Ok then, sure. But why now? Especially after you saying that we need to be careful so people don't think I'm using you for a promotion. Or that you're taking advantage of being my superior officer."
"Well, because I've been thinking of something." he said slowly.
"Care to share?" Jess asked.
"Move in with me." he stated, holding his breath while he watched Jess' expression go from shocked, to confused, to happy.
"Seriously?" she asked, a broad smile on her face.
"Seriously." Callum said, nodding, "We've been going out for nearly seven months now."
Jess' mouth dropped open, "No!"
Callum nodded, "It doesn't feel like that long does it? But it wasn't long after you lost the baby."
"Of course. Wow, that's gone quick!" Jess said with a laugh, but at the same time thinking that if she hadn't lost the baby she would be the proud mum of a little girl right now.
"So? Will you move in with me?" Callum asked seriously.
Jess nodded, a beaming smile on her face, "Yes I will. How about I inform the Inspector today that I'll be having a change of address, and when she sees it's the same as yours it'll confirm her suspicions, and no doubt it'll get round the station then."
"Ok, and how about we go out tonight to celebrate? We can invite everyone out, and then we'll make out in the middle of the dance floor, then they'll figure it out." Callum said cheekily.
"Cor, any chance to make out with me, huh Sergeant Stone." Jess said with a wink.
Callum leant over Jess, pushing her flat on the bed and trailing kisses from her neck down her body, "I need to take every chance I get PC Hunter."
"Why are you so cheerful today?" Will asked curiously as he slowed the car to a stop at traffic lights.
"No particular reason." Jess said with a smile.
"What are you on?" Will asked.
"Will, I'm not on anything! I'm just happy, very happy." Jess said contentedly.
"Come on then, share!" Will said with a nudge.
"Well, my boyfriend has asked me to move in with him, and I said yes." Jess said, thinking back to that morning.
"You're moving in with him? But I haven't even met him!" Will cried.
"Will, you're going to see him tonight...although..." Jess trailed off, wondering whether to reveal Callum as her boyfriend now.
"What?" Will asked curiously.
"You know him already. That's all I'm saying, so don't even bother asking me who it is! You'll find out tonight, we're going out to celebrate." Jess said happily.
"Does Sally know who it is?" Will asked, his eyes on the road.
"Of course she does." Jess said, rolling her eyes and making a duh face at him. It was then that a man appeared at the side of the road, waving the police car down.
"Wonder what he wants." Will mumbled as he pulled the car to the kerb. Jess got out of the car, placing her hat on her blonde hair.
"Are you ok sir?" she asked, quickly checking him for any injuries or weapons. The man was approaching middle age, and was taller than Will with a middle aged spread.
"I'm fine, but you need to come with me, some lad has been beaten up!" he said quickly, pointing at an alleyway.
"Thank you. If you wait here, we need to get your details in a minute." Will shouted behind him as Jess and Will went down the alley.
"Will, here!" Jess yelled, kneeling next to a young black boy who was on his side, his face a bloodied mess, a rucksack by his side. He appeared to be unconscious.
"This is an ambulance call. Ambulance needed at the alley way which connects Luton Road with Queen Street. IC3 male, unconscious, severe head and upper body injuries." Will called in. Once the call had been confirmed, he bent down next to Jess.
"Look, he's coming round." Jess said to Will before turning to the boy, "You're ok now. Don't move, you're quite badly hurt. Just stay still until the paramedics get here. I'm PC Hunter, can you tell me your name?" The boy's eyes went from Jess to Will before shutting again.
"Is he unconscious again?" Will asked, searching the boy's rucksack for a form of identification. He pulled out a wallet and began to flick through.
"Yes he is, poor kid, someone's really done a number on him." Jess said softly.
There was a sudden running up the alley, and the two officers spun around ready to react, but they relaxed when they saw it was the paramedics.
"What have we got?" the first asked, an older man.
"Noah Black, 15 years old. A member of the public flagged us down about five minutes ago, he found Noah here. He's got serious head injuries, and he's been unconscious for the most part, but a minute ago he came round briefly." Will reeled off.
"Right, thank you. If you could just move back a bit." the other paramedic asked. The two paramedics surrounded Noah, placing an oxygen mask over his face and carefully rolled him onto his back. They placed bandages and gauze over the most serious lacerations, all the while still trying to rouse him.
"How is he?" Jess asked.
"The facial injuries look worse than they are, they'll need a few stitches. He most likely has a concussion, and there are some bruises to his upper body. But the doctors can tell you more at the hospital." the younger paramedic said, going back to the ambulance for a stretcher.
"Are you going to follow the ambulance?" the older paramedic asked, making sure the oxygen mask was on Noah's face securely.
"Yeah, if that's ok. We just need to go talk to our witness, but then we'll follow. We'll take his rucksack and that. Thanks." Will said with a smile and nod as the paramedics loaded Noah up onto the stretcher and wheeled him towards the ambulance.
"How is he?" the man asked and Jess and Will approached him.
"He's in better shape than he looked, but still very poorly." Jess said with a grim smile. "Can I ask you your name sir?"
"Of course of course. My name is Edward Hunt, and I live at 16 Mayweed Road." Edward replied politely.
"Thanks Mr Hunt. Now, can you tell us exactly how you came upon Mr Black?" Will asked, pen poised.
"Yes. I was coming back from the shops, and I normally take this shortcut down the alley and then cut across the estate to get to my road. So as I was walking down there I spotted the young lad on the floor, groaning for help." Edward began.
"So he was conscious when you found him?" Jess confirmed.
Edward nodded, "Yes he was. When I checked that he wasn't going to immediately die, I ran to the road, and it was just my luck that you were driving by when you did. Then obviously by the time you got to him he must have fallen unconscious."
"Was there anyone suspicious hanging around that you noticed?" Jess asked.
Edward thought carefully before shaking his head, "No, but then I was concentrating making sure that he was ok. I heard raised voices before I walked down the alley, one of them was male, which I'm assuming was the young lad, and the other was female."
"A woman?" Will asked curiously.
"Indeed a woman. But I can't tell you anymore than that I'm afraid." Edward said apologetically.
"No, thank you Mr Hunt. You've been very helpful. Could we take a phone number in case we need any more information?" Will asked.
"Of course, yes, here you go." Edward handed Will a piece of paper with his number on. "Bye now."
"Bye Mr Hunt." Jess said with a smile, and watched him collect his fallen shopping bag and continue down the alley. "Right, let's get Eddie down here and tell CID they have a new case."
"Yep, I'll call him now." Will said, walking to the side so he could ring Eddie.
Half an hour later, the alleyway was a hive of activity. It had been sealed off at both ends to allow Eddie to gather up as much uncontaminated evidence as possible. Banksy and Grace had been assigned the case, and were just going through Mr Hunt's account of what happened with Will and Jess.
"So he has no idea who the female is?" Banksy asked.
"Nope. None. And we've looked through Noah's rucksack, it looks like he was going somewhere. He had several changes of clothes, a wash bag, a few hundred pounds on him, and an address for somewhere in Scotland." Jess said, giving Grace the address.
"Scotland? That's a long way away. Do we have a home address?" Grace asked.
"No. We're heading back to the station in a minute, so we can look him up, find his home address and then go and inform them if you want?" Will suggested.
"Yes, thanks Will. We'll see you later then. Call with any news." Banksy said with a nod.
"Will do." Jess said as her and Will headed back to their car.
"So?" Will questioned, elbowing Jess in the ribs.
"So what?" Jess asked, playing dumb
.
"Is it Banksy?" Will said cheekily, ducking as Jess tried to hit him.
"Will! No it's not! I said it was someone you knew, not someone we worked with!" Jess said indignantly.
"Jess, the only people I know are the ones I work with!" Will countered.
"Well obviously you don't get out enough. Now come on, we have work to do." Jess said with a smile.
"Yes mum." Will said sarcastically as he got into the passenger seat.
"PC Fletcher, Hunter, how's the digging going?" Smithy asked, leaning against the door frame.
Jess sat back in her chair, exasperated, "It's not. We can't find him anywhere on the system. Either the name we got was wrong, or he's given no reason for being in the system. Will's looking through the misper's, seeing if any of them match up with Noah. I'm going to ring social services, see if they have any record of him."
"Ok, well keep it up. Let me know what you find." Smithy said with a nod. As he was about to leave the room, Will threw a look at Jess, a mysterious glint in his eyes, before calling Smithy back.
"Sarge, have you heard that Jess' boyfriend has asked her to move in with him? And it's someone we know!" Will said with a smile at Jess.
Smithy raised his eyebrows, "Someone we know? So he must work at the station then." Smithy said, as if it was a fact.
"That's what I said! But she denied it." Will said, swivelling in his chair, "I know it's not Banksy."
Smithy smiled, "Well, dig deeper PC Fletcher."
"Sarge!" Jess complained.
"Sorry Jess." Smithy said with a wink.
"I was going to invite you both out for drinks with me and my mysterious boyfriend, but I don't think I will anymore." Jess said, faux-sulkily.
"Oh alright, Will, get back to your proper work. Jess, I'll leave it...for now!" And with a charming grin at Jess, he left the room.
"I hate you Will." Jess said, throwing a paper ball at Will's head.
"Watch the hair!" Will growled, pointing a finger at Jess.
"We found him!" Jess said excitedly, barging into the Sergeants office, followed by Will.
"Yes of course, come on in." Smithy said sarcastically. "So who is he?"
"Well the name we found was not the name he's entered into the system as. His real name is Noah Cranwell, but he took on his mother's maiden name when he was placed in a care home. His father was a no-good drug addict, his mother couldn't cope with four young children all under the age of seven, so they were taken away and placed into care. Noah and his two brothers and sister have been in the system for nearly eight years. The address we found in his bag is owned by Nicole Cranwell." Will said.
"His mum?" Smithy questioned, sitting up straighter in his chair.
"Right. We rang up the care home he was in, and the care workers hadn't even noticed that he was gone. They said he does this a lot, disappearing for a few days, but he always returns. But this time it seems he was going to find his mother." Jess said.
"At least we know who he is now, but we don't know why he was beaten up or who the woman was." Smithy said, holding his hand out for the papers in Jess' hand.
"Actually, we know who the woman is. Nate and Sally were looking through the CCTV on the corner of Queen Street which shows the mouth of the alley, and after we see Noah going down, an IC3 female follows, who the care home have identified as Noah's sister, Hayley. Nate and Sally have gone to the care home and spoken to her, and she said that she was persuading him to come home instead of chasing after their mum, but it wasn't her that assaulted him. She left him just before he was assaulted."
"Wow, good work! And do we know why he was beaten up yet?" Smithy asked.
"Eddie just rang and said that it looks as if it was a mugging, but there's no traces of whoever did it." Will said.
Smithy sighed, "Ok, well is he going to keep trying?"
"We're going to give him the rucksack, see if there are any prints other than Noah's on there that would indicate it being yanked off him. Grace rang as well, and her and Banksy went down to the hospital to see Noah. He's conscious and managed to give them a statement which also indicated a mugging gone wrong. He did mention that his phone was taken from him, because he was texting as he walking along, and when the mugger tried to grab his bag, he took his phone as well." Jess answered.
"That's something then. We can try and trace it then. Good job you two, and Sally and Nate as well. Who needs CID eh?" Smithy said with a laugh.
Jess was sat in her bedroom after her shift had finished. Noah's assailant had been caught by Beth and Ben just as they were coming back to the station to go off shift, which was a streak of luck. Noah had been given the all clear, but had to stay overnight because of the concussion. His stuff had been returned to him, and he was going to be taken back to the care home the next day. So all in all, a rewarding shift for the uniform team. In fact, the Inspector had praised them all on their hard work as well, saying that she enjoyed it when her troops sorted a case out before the CID lot.
Jess had said goodbye to everyone at seven, reminding them to meet at the club at nine ready for some celebrating, not that they needed an excuse to go out and get hammered. Jess had just washed and dried her hair and was trying to pick out what to wear tonight. It was a toss up between a tight fitting, short black dress, or a slinky red midi dress that showed some cleavage. She was about to flip a coin to decide it when there was a knock at the door. She grabbed her dressing gown and tied it round her top, hurrying to the door.
"Come on! I'm dying for a drink!" was the first thing Sally said as soon as Jess had opened the door.
"Sure Sal, come on in!" Jess said with a rolling of the eyes.
Sally paused, walked back out the door and said to Jess, "Jess, can I come in please."
"Of course." Jess said with a laugh as Sally stuck her tongue out and entered the flat once again.
"So what're you wearing?" Sally asked, dumping her bag on the sofa.
"Ah, that's where I need your help. Come with me." Jess said, leading Sally into her bedroom. "It's a toss up between this lovely tight fitting black one, or this slinky cleavage showing one."
Sally examined the two dresses carefully, "Ok, I like both of them, and they'll both look fab, but, I think the red one would be better for tonight."
Jess nodded, "Boobs it is. Let me just put this on and get my make up on, then we can go."
"So are you ready for the big unveiling of Callum as the mystery man?" Sally asked, perching on Jess' bed.
"I'm a little worried about what people are going to think. But at the end of the day, we love each other, we're moving in with each other, people are going to have to deal with it. And they can hardly complain about him can they, he is the boss of most of them, besides Smithy." Jess said with a smile, pulling her hair out of her face so she could do her make up.
"Exactly. I'm so happy for you two. You're just...you're perfect for each other." Sally said happily.
"Thanks Sal, and thanks for keeping it quiet. I owe you a lot of drinks. So does Callum actually." Jess said with a laugh, finishing off with a few licks of mascara before she let her hair down. "Voilà, all done."
"Beautiful. Your hair looks nice when it's all naturally wavy like that." Sally said approvingly, primping in the mirror.
"Thanks! You look good by the way." Jess said, properly looking at what Sally was wearing. She had on a tight, low cut black top with wide leg trousers and strappy black heels.
"Thank you very much!" Sally said, pulling Jess towards the door. She managed to grab her bag and keys before Sally had got her out the flat and downstairs, into the waiting taxi.
Jess stepped into the club, immediately scanning to see if Callum was already there. She smiled involuntarily as she spotted him at the bar.
"Go on, I'll waylay the others for a minute." Sally said, smiling at Jess.
"Thanks Sal." Jess shouted gratefully over the music. She started to walk towards the bar, pushing past the crowd. She finally reached Callum, who was sat on one of the stools. She sidled up to him. "Is this seat taken?"
"Not yet, I'm waiting for my beautiful girlfriend to arrive, she can get jealous so I'd watch it if I were you." Callum said cheekily, raising a laugh in Jess. She moved so she was stood between his legs, his hands settled on her waist as he moved forward to kiss her. "Now that is a nice dress."
Jess laughed, "Now now Sergeant, I don't want you ogling me all night!"
Callum raised his eyebrows, "So can I ogle any other ladies then if I'm not allowed to ogle you?"
"No you can't! Who's here so far?" Jess asked, leaning with her back against the bar so she could see out over the club.
"Smithy, Will, Nate, Beth, Ben, Mel and Millie." Callum replied, handing her a vodka orange.
"Thanks. Are you ready for them all to know? And how are we telling them?" Jess asked, her brow furrowed.
"I don't know, I thought you had thought of that!" Callum retorted.
"It's always left to me isn't it!" Jess replied, rolling her eyes as she laughed.
"Well you are a woman." Callum said, knowing this would get a reaction. And it did. She hit him playfully, and then stopped, looking up to those stormy blue eyes which made her melt. She gently placed her glass on the bar, along with her purse, and placed her arms around Callum's neck as he stood up. She stood on tiptoe, and pressed her lips against his, tasting the bitter tang of beer on his lips.
"Well I certainly didn't guess it was him!" a crowing voice said to their left. Jess tore her lips away from Callum and turned to the speaker, seeing it was Will, and the others were all standing behind him, grinning at them. Jess bit her lip, but she was smiling.
"You caught us." Callum said, his hands palm up as if in defeat.
"Well well well, Jess and Sergeant Stone." Beth said with a smile, walking to the bar to get a drink.
"This is the mystery boyfriend? How the hell did you keep that quiet for seven months!" Will questioned.
"I don't know, we just did. But now you know. Happy that he's not going to beat me up and hospitalise me?" Jess asked, giving Will a hug.
"Think carefully about what you say Will." Smithy said, clapping Will on the shoulder.
"No, of course he wouldn't. I'm pleased for you two." Will said sincerely.
"Right, I'll get the next round." Smithy said, getting in all the drinks, and when he was satisfied that everyone had their drink, he made a toast, "To Jess and Callum, may your cohabiting life be calm and successful."
"And lead to an engagement." Mel chipped in.
"Then to a marriage." Millie added.
"And then of course..." Nate began.
"A baby!" Sally finished.
Callum laughed, putting his arm around Jess' shoulders, kissing her head, "Well, they know now, they seem to be ok with it."
"Thank God." Jess said with a laugh.
A few hours into the night, and everyone was slightly worse for wear, although not so far gone that they didn't know what they were doing. Jess was searching for Beth, as she hadn't seen her in over an hour. She made her way through all the writhing bodies in the club, pushing past people and moving to the small booths around the outside of the dance floor. She slowly walked past each one, seeing if Beth was there. She finally found her in the last booth, slumped on the seat, and there was a guy next to her with his hand heading up her skirt. It didn't look like Beth knew what was happening, and Jess immediately saw red.
"Hey! Get the hell off her!" she shouted at the man, who looked up shocked. He was a lot older than they were, possibly even early fifties, although his slim physique made him look younger.
"What? She consented." the man said with a shrug of his shoulders.
"Like hell she did. Have you seen the state she's in! Stand up and empty your pockets." Jess demanded, blocking the man's exit.
"Why? Who do you think you are?" the man yelled.
"A cop who's gonna nick your arse if you don't empty your pockets!" Jess said menacingly.
"Yeah right. Get out of my way lady." the man said, not believing her.
Then a deep, menacing voice behind Jess said, "Do as she tells you before I arrest you, and I won't be as nice about it as she would."
Jess turned round, smiling gratefully at Callum before turning back to the unknown man, "Now!"
"Fine alright!" the man said, emptying his pockets. He placed a packet of small white pills on the table.
"What are they?" Callum demanded, pointing at the pills.
The man looked from Beth, to the pills, to the two officers in front of him. Jess narrowed her eyes, looking at Beth to the pills, and then her eyes widened. "They're um...ecstasy, yeah ecstasy."
"You don't seem too sure of that. And personally they look like rohypnol to me. Do you know what rohypnol is?" Jess asked, her voice dangerously low. But the man heard her perfectly.
"Nope, no idea." he said, trying to look innocent.
"Well let me tell you. It's a date rape drug. Sleazy men like you slip them into girl's drinks, wait until the drugs take effect, and then rape the girl. Because she won't have any memory for eight hours after she's spiked." Jess supplied.
"No it's not, I swear." the man said, starting to sweat. Beth began to stir behind him, and she looked groggily at the people in front of her. She looked at the man, then to Jess.
"Who's he?" she slurred.
"It's ok Beth, you don't need to worry about him." Jess said, sliding into the booth and pulling Beth along until she was standing leaning on Jess.
"Jess, you need to get her to hospital, they need to take a urine sample and do blood samples. I'll ring in for someone to come pick him up." Callum said, his eyes blazing with hate for the man who had nearly date raped one of his officers.
"Ok, be careful. I'll ring you from the hospital. I love you." Jess said, kissing Callum quickly as she passed him, supporting a limp Beth at her side.