Secret’s out!

Rubbing at his eyes, Smithy went into the living room. Andrea was still tucked in the duvet, in the same position she was when she’d fallen asleep. One of her arms was wrapped around her stomach protectively. Smithy bit his lip and stared at her. He was beginning to hope, or rather wish more than anything that he was the baby’s father. But he now knew it was between him and a senior officer. If Manson turned out to be the dad….Smithy scowled. He didn’t know if he could handle seeing him day in, day out. He filled the kettle and switched it on, jumping when Andrea spoke.

“Morning.”

“Alright?” Instead of looking at her, he looked at the floor.

“Yeah. Thanks for letting me stay.” She folded the duvet up. “What’s the time?”

“Half past seven.”

“Are you alright?” Andrea touched his arm, starting when he jerked away.

“I'm fine.”

“You're not annoyed about yesterday are you? I'm sorry, I didn’t mean to make you think that…the abortion…I'm sorry Smithy…”

“You told him yet?”

“Who?”

“Manson. Have you told him that the baby could be his?”

“I…” Andrea stepped away from Smithy. “Smithy, you're….”

“I'm wrong am I? So tell me Andrea, why would he be ringing your mobile in the middle of the night? And why would you have a million and one missed calls from him going back weeks?”

“You….you had no right to go through my phone!”

“For god’s sake Andrea, you're having an affair with a senior officer!”

“We’re not together anymore!”

“That’s not the point! He’s married! How could you be so damn stupid?!”

“Excuse me?” Andrea's voice was dangerously low; her eyes were narrowed into slits. “Smithy, it’s none of your business who I see!”

“None of my business? Andrea, you could be carrying my baby!”

“Yeah, could be! You don't know for certain!”

“And what d'you think the other senior officers would say about this? The DI and a probationer?”

Andrea recoiled. “Is that some sort of threat?”

“Of course it isn't!” he snapped. “I just didn’t think you were the type to sleep with someone who was taken.”

Shaking with anger, Andrea glared at Smithy, but her voice calm when she spoke. “You’re a fine one to talk. Forgotten about the Kerry fiasco already?”

“Don't you dare bring that into this!” Smithy's face was turning red in fury. “It was completely different!”

“No, it’s exactly the same! Kerry was with Cameron when you two slept together! How is it different?”

“KERRY WASN’T A SENIOR OFFICER!”

“No, you were, weren’t you? You’re such a hypocrite!”

“Yeah? Well at least Kerry didn’t get pregnant, and be left not knowing who the father was!”

Hurt, Andrea took a few steps backwards, then turned and left the room, breaking into a run. Grabbing her jacket from the hooks, she left the house, slamming the door hard behind her.

Smithy was left standing by the kitchen counter. It occurred to him that he might have gone too far.

“Back to normal duties today then?”

Andrea turned at the sound of the cold, snide voice. Gina was standing in the doorway of the locker room. “What?”

“Back to normal duties? After yesterday, there's no need to stay on light.”

“There'd be no need Ma'am, if I actually did go through with the termination.”

“What?”

“I didn’t do it.”

“Right.” Surprised, Gina softened her tone. “And Smithy…”

“He knows.”

“Alright, go to CAD today. Is it alright if I tell the happy news to everyone?”

“Yes Ma'am.”

“I’ll just leave the paternity bit out of it.”

“Thank you.” Andrea watched Gina in the mirror until she left, then slowly sank onto the bench. She knew she shouldn’t have brang Kerry into the situation, but it was still a similar thing, sleeping with someone who was already spoken for.

“Seen Andrea today?” Smithy asked Gina as he caught up with her in the briefing room.

“Yeah, she's in CAD. You must be relived. Her not going through with the….”

“Yeah. Did…she seem alright to you?”

“Yeah. Why?”

“Just that we had a bit of a…actually, more like a very big argument.”

“She's seemed alright. Looked a bit pale, but she seemed fine to me. Come on, June’s about to start.”

“Morning Ma'am. Smithy.” June looked down at her clipboard. “Umm…Gabriel and Steve; Cockthorn Estate; Amber and Honey; Jasmine Allen; Andrea, they wanted you in CID today to…” June trailed off as she looked up. “Where's Andrea?”

“She’s in CAD today,” Gina said. “And unfortunately for PC Dunbar, she's condemned to the station for a bit.”

June raised her eyebrows. “Why’s that? Has CID gone and ‘borrowed’ one of our PC’s again?”

“Not exactly. In a couple of months, she's set to be a mummy.”

Sheelagh sniggered. “I knew it! I asked her about it yesterday, but she denied it.”

“Well, it’s for certain, Sheelagh.”

“I didn’t even know she was seeing someone,” Honey said wistfully.

“Well, it’s her choice to keep that quiet. She’ll tell you if she wants to. But the good news aside, get to work!”

“Gov?” Sam knocked on Neil’s office door. “We’ve lost PC Dunbar to CAD today.”

He looked up quickly. “Why?” he asked, trying not to sound like he cared.

“She's pregnant.”

Neil stared at her. “What?”

“Yeah, I know. The Inspector just told me, but no-one even knew that Andrea was seeing someone!”

“Well, we can manage without her.”

“Yeah. See you later, gov.”

“Yeah.” Neil dropped onto his seat. “No wonder she's been acting so strangely. Why didn’t she just tell me? Did she think I wouldn’t want the baby? I love her, and if the baby is what she wants, then great!”

“Andrea? Andrea?!” Dean shook Andrea's arm. “Oi!”

“What?” Andrea looked around at him.

“Go and get some refs, you're due a break!”

“I'm not hungry.”

“You're eating for two, Yummy Mummy!”

Andrea mock-glared at him. “Yes dad, I’ll go and get some food!”

“Good girl!” he called after her as the door shut.

Down the corridor towards the canteen, a rapid movement in front of Andrea made her jump. Startled, she looked up to see Smithy inches away, staring at her. At the same time, they made to speak.

“Smithy…”

“Andrea, I'm…”

They both laughed awkwardly.

“In here,” Smithy said, opening the door to a nearby room. He let her go in first, and then followed her in. “look…I'm sorry, I shouldn’t have said any of that this morning,”

“I'm sorry too. I shouldn’t have brang Kerry into it.”

“You wouldn’t have said it if I hadn’t had a go at you.” he sat on the table in front of her. “Look, I’ll be honest. I want the baby to be mine.

“Really?”

“Yes. Have you told him yet? The DI?”

“No. But no doubt he'd have heard by now anyway.”

“You should still talk to him.”

“I know.”

Neil took a deep breath before buzzing up to Andrea's house.

“Hello?” her voice crackled over the speaker.

“It’s me.”

There was a long pause, then she said, “Come up.” She buzzed him in.

Neil found the door to her flat open. Andrea was sitting on the sofa, evidently waiting for him. He slung his jacket over the sofa. “Hi.”

“Hi.”

“Andrea, why didn’t you just tell me you're pregnant?” He sat next to her. “Did you think I wouldn’t want to know? Look, if the baby is what you want, then…” he placed his hand on hers. “I wanna be there.”

“Great.” Abruptly, she pulled away. “But the thing is Neil; the baby might not even be yours.”

“What d'you mean?”

“What d'you think? The-baby-might-not-be-yours. Or putting it a different way, another man could be the father. Are you keeping up with me?”

“You-you cheated on me?”

“We’d broken up. It wasn’t cheating.”

“Andrea, how far gone are you?”

“Three weeks.”

“So who is it? This other man?” he asked with a hint of jealousy.

Andrea stared at Neil for a long time before saying; “Smithy.”

“Smithy? As in Sergeant Smith from the station?”

“How many other Smithys do we know?

“D'you love him?”

“What if I said yes? Actually, what would you say if I told you he knows about us?”

“What, you told him?”

“No! He saw your calls on my phone.”

“If he says anything….you do realise….my…”

“Career. I know. Well, by all means, Neil, the door’s right over there.”

“If he…”

“Oh for god’s sake, he won't say anything!”

“Are you sure?”

“We’ve been here before about Kerry! Remember what happened then?”

“I said I'm sorry about that!”

“She died that day!”

“I'm sorry!” Coming forwards, he pulled her into a hug.

“Get off me!” Andrea tried to pull away.

“No. Calm down. Please calm down.”

“Let go!”

“Ssshhh. Calm down. Please.” He held her tighter, not letting go. “Just calm down Andrea. I'm sorry alright?” he sat with her on the sofa, and after she’d calmed down, pulled her away. “Andrea, I love you. And if that means I'm involved bringing up someone else’s child then…you mean that much to me.”

“D’you mean that?”

“Yes. I really mean it. Just give it another chance. Please.”

“One more. Just this last time.”

“Thank you. Come here,” he said, pulling her closer again. “You won't regret this, I promise.”

Her head resting on his shoulder, Andrea really hoped she wouldn’t regret giving their relationship another go.