Thanks to Claire, Cassie, Lisa, Leah, Laura, Sam, Laura, Vikki, Tee, KattyKit2003, Gemz, Jodie and Emz for reviewing the first chapter.

When She Smiles;

“Hi Phil.” She replied, her voice trembling slightly.

“Phil?” Ronnie asked from behind them.

He wrapped her up in a hug and Sam had the distinct feeling he was giving Ronnie a look as if to say; ‘don’t ask.’

“Ronnie, you can take over for a while yeah?” He asked, before his tone dropped to a gentle one. “C’mon, let’s go somewhere quieter.”

He led her through the packed club and they went back up the stairs, out into the entrance. He carried on walking through streets and she just followed, unable to tell where he was leading her. Eventually they ended up outside a café; Kathy’s.

He opened the door and let her enter first, he following behind. They stopped at the counter and he turned to her; “You go grab a table, I’ll be over with two coffee’s in a mo, OK?”

She nodded before walking over to a table at the back of the café, waiting in anticipation as she watched him. He got the two coffees and took them over, sitting opposite her. She blew the steam off of her drink, and took a sip of the hot liquid.

“So,” she said. “How’ve you been?”

“Good thanks -”

Before he could carry on the woman who’d served him behind the counter walked over with a coin in her hand. “Here Jack, you gave me ten pence extra.”

“Oh, cheers Jane.”

He took the money and pocketed it, as the woman walked back he turned back round and saw his friend’s quizzical look. “Ah, yes.”

“Jack?” She asked.

“Yeah, Jack Branning. That’s me now.” He replied.

“How?” She asked, her tone wasn’t accusing but confused.

“Well I actually always was Jack Branning, technically.” he mumbled before sighing, if anyone, she should know the truth. “Phil Hunter was my adoptive name. I’ve known since I was a lad but kept it quiet, but after leaving Special Ops I decided that tracking down my biological dad would be a good idea. His name’s Jim Branning, I have loads of brothers and sisters. But that was the problem, they couldn’t afford to have another kid, see?”

Sam covered his hand with hers and gave him and gentle squeeze. “How are you feeling about all of this?”

“OK actually, Steve and I still talk. We’re probably closer now than we ever were before!” He let a small chuckle. “And now I have so many more roots, it really helped me to settle in with my new life.”

“Oh, well that’s good then. But,” she couldn’t stop herself from saying it. “What about your old roots? Your colleagues … friends?”

“If they want to find me then they can, you did it easy enough, after all.” He shrugged, and she couldn’t help but feel he was a little too easy going with it all and had managed to detach himself from many people. She decided not to linger on the thought though, preferring to move on.

“So, is it Phil or Jack now? I mean, what would you prefer?” She asked.

“Jack when in public, but I’ll always be Phil to you.” He said, flashing her a grin.

She smiled back gently.

“So, I’ve talked about myself. But what about you? I thought you’d be back in Sun Hill getting ready for the um …” he swallowed hard. “Wedding. He watched her eyes mist over with tears and shake her head. “Oh god, I’m sorry. Have you had a row or something?”

She shook her head again before croaking; “He’s gone. Dead.”

A sob tore through her body before tears slid down her face and dripped off of her chin, he slid his chair over and put an arm around her. “What happened?”

She sniffed, and gulped air down into her lungs. “We’d been chasing a suspect …

Max burst through the door first, followed by Sam. They were on the roof of the car park, where only a few cars were actually parked, Sam looked around cautiously. There was no sign of Damien Porter, their suspect.

“You don’t think he -” she gestured to the far wall which was waist height, this side the car park, the other side a far drop to the ground. “Do you?”

Max shrugged, and his face visibly paled. They walked slowly over to the wall and peered over, there wasn’t a body below them, mangled and bleeding. There was only the uniformed officers that were guarding each exit in case he ran again.“Yeah right,” Damien scoffed. “Any minute now I’ll probably have a bullet in my ‘ead from one of your guys!”

“Oi!”

A voice behind them made Sam jump as she spun around, facing Damien who was holding a long blade in his hand, and stood a mere ten feet away from them. She felt Max’s hand on her back as he drew her closer to him, his hand staying on her lower back for support.

“C’mon Damien, don’t be stupid now.” Max said, calmly.

“I’m not stupid!” He screamed at them.

“I know! I know you’re not, I’m just saying don’t do anything stupid.” Max replied a panicking edge to his voice.

“You can put the knife down Damien, we’re not going to hurt you.” Sam promised/

“Not if you put the knife down, c’mon Damien think about it. They’ll only shoot if they think you’re a threat, if they don’t think you’re a threat then you won’t be shot. If you put the knife down and end all this now then the police will try and help you, if not, and if one of us gets hurt then the police will be more angry with you.” Max pleaded.

“OK, OK I will.” He said, his eyes fix on the pair of them as he went to drop the knife.

“Drop the weapon and put your hands in the air!” A CO19 sergeant shouted at him, jumping out of the spot where he'd hidden, undetected. Damien suddenly stood up and looked around wildly.

He turned to Max. “You promised! YOU LIAR!”

Sam helt herself tumble away from Max as he pushed her to the car park’s concrete flooring, there was a shot, and two mingled cries …

Sam wiped away her thick tears. “CO19 shot Damien as he ran at Max with the knife, with the force of the shot, Damien fell into Max and they both toppled over the wall. I managed to get up and I tried to grab Max’s foot as he went over. But it was too late, he plummeted to his death. I’ll never be able to forget the sick way his body crumpled as it hit the ground.”

Jack turned in his seat and hugged her close, breathing in the familiar scent of her perfume, and felt a strange sense of homesickness. Properly missing Sun Hill for only the second time since moving away.

“I was wondering, well kind of hoping, could I stay with you for a while? I just, I need some headspace and thought you’re the only person who wouldn’t keep going on about it all.” She said.

“Of course.” He answered quickly.

“Only if you want me to though, don’t feel like you have to.” She carried on.

“It’s fine.” He said, his tone settling the matter.

She gave him a weak smile. “Thanks … Jack.”

“No problem.”

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