Jack Meadows put down the receiver of his phone and stared at it, frowning slightly.

"After all this time. Why is he ringing me?" Jack said to himself.

He got up and left the office and entered the general office, scanning it, looking around for the detective he wanted.

"Everything alright, Guv?" Debbie McAllister asked.

"Not really. You seen Mickey Webb?"

"No. What’s up?" Debbie continued.

"I need him to come and see someone with me," Jack informed her, still slightly shocked about the phone call he just received.

"I can come, Guv," Debbie said cheerfully.

"No. It’s gotta be Mickey."

"What’s gotta be me?" Mickey Webb entered the office with a cup of coffee.

"Mickey. Where you been?" Jack asked, but carried on before the DC could reply. "No, no, it doesn’t matter. We’ve got to go."

"Go where? What’s wrong, Guv?" Mickey sensed his DCI’s concern.

"I just got a phone call off someone wanting to meet us."

"Who?" Mickey pressed on.

Jack hesitated but chose to inform him. "Howard Fallon. He wants me to go to the prison, with someone who knows both Don and John."

Mickey looked confused at him. "Why?"

"I don’t know. Let’s go and find out."

*~*~*

As they arrived at the prison, Mickey looked around. "I’d hate to be in here."

Jack laughed. "Let’s hope you never break the law, then."

"Don’t worry, I’m not planning to," his DC assured him.

"Good." Jack led the way in, and soon they were waiting for Fallon.

"Mr Meadows. Long time no see," the prisoner drawled, his self-confidence not noticeably diminished by three years inside.

"Cut the crap. Why did you want to see us?" Jack had no time for the man who had been responsible for the break-up of his CID. It had affected all of them, some more than others – even Kerry, trying to make a clean break; her career would be forever tarnished. Mickey, Duncan, Danny, they had all stayed, wanting too tough it out. Geoff and Chris, they’d been humiliated, when, in fact, they were the only two who had been suspicious of Don. And then there were John and Claire. John, he’d had his life taken away from him, when he had been so young, so ambitious. And Claire had to deal with the death of the man whom she’d loved.

"Well, you see, Chief Inspector. I have a problem," Fallon explained calmly.

"Oh, yeah. What makes you think we would help you?" Mickey interrupted.

"Just a hunch," Fallon shot back, "you see, at the time the investigation was going, I was worried by the idea of prison. So I asked Don to help me out."

"This is all every nice to hear and all but we know all this," Meadows said.

"Yeah, let me finish! Well, Don messed it up by killing someone..." Fallon started.

"That someone is Detective Sergeant Boulton!" Mickey interrupted again with some heat.

"Yeah, whatever. You see I know he would do something stupid. So I took something for a back up plan."

"What?" Jack became worried about where the confession was heading.

"Let's just say someone who could've kept me out of here. If it wasn't for DS Beech!" Fallon snarled.

"Where are they now?" Jack could hardly dare to ask.

"They’re with friends."

"You mean you haven't killed them?" Mickey asked confusedly.

"Nope, I'll leave that to you lot," Fallon replied.

"So, you've held some against their will for 3 years!" Meadows yelled.

"Yep," Fallon said smugly.

"Where are they?"

"Oh, I can't tell you that."

"You what? Come on! Don't mess us around!" Meadows continued to yell.

"I think I’d like to go back to my cell now." Fallon stood up.

"At least tell us who it is?" Mickey demanded.

"You’re the detectives. You work it out." With that statement, Fallon disappeared back to his cell.

*~*~*

"It’s got to be that snout of Sergeant Boulton's," Danny Glaze, said helpfully as he, Mickey and the Guv were trying figure out what Fallon was talking about.

"What Lynette? Possibly." Jack was looking through the old case file.

"What happened to her?" Mickey asked, trying to think that far back.

"She ran away when that safe house was given up. No one saw her again because she refused to talk to anyone apart from John," Jack sighed hand an open folder to Mickey.

Jack sat down and rubbed his eyes. He didn’t know what to do next. He didn’t know much about the case either. It was John’s and Claire’s plus Chris Deakin was also helping out a bit so Jack didn’t think he needed to be involved.

"Guv, it says here that Lynette got a brother called Father Michael Olsen and that Lynette went to him when things got a bit crazy," Mickey said reading from the file his Guv’nor had just given him.

"Yeah, I remember. He went mad, saying that we never protected Lynette as well as we should have, he only allowed John to talk to her," Meadows thought back to a meeting he had with Brownlow after Olsen had rung up and complained. 

"Maybe he knows where she is," Mickey suggested.

"Yeah, ok, you two get over there now and have a word with him," Jack ordered.

"Guv," Both Mickey and Danny nodded and headed out of the office, until Mickey stopped, "Guv, no disrespect or anything but we need help on this, the three of us can’t handle it all."

Jack thought for a while. Debbie McAllister had offered to help earlier and there were some good officers in CID at the moment.

"Yeah, I know. I’m gonna go and have a word with Gina Gold about getting some of uniform to help."

"Uniform?"

"Yeah, well Fallon wants people on the case that know Don Beech and I don’t want to risk someone’s life by someone from CID."

Jack looked about at the file, trying to remember more about the case. He sighed. ‘What should I do next?’ he asked himself; he stood up and left his office.

"Jack. We’ll leave in about 30 minutes," he heard Adam Okaro tell him.

"Sir?" Jack asked confusedly.

"The bored meeting, we’ll leave in 30 minutes," Adam repeated.

"Sir, I can’t go. Something important has come up."

"Well, can’t Samantha deal with it?" Adam asked.

"Deal with what?" Samantha came up behind the two officers.

"No, Sir. She can’t," Jack refused to be taken off the case.

"Jack a word, please," Adam said marching into his office.

When Jack closed the door, Adam turned to face him.

"What’s going on, Jack?"

"Sir, you know all about what Don Beech got up to here, right?" Jack started.

"Yeah, what are you trying to say?" Adam’s confusion tuned into concern.

"Oh no, nothing like that," Jack stated, "I got a phone call of Howard Fallon, this morning."

Adam looked confused again, he had heard that name before but couldn’t quite remember who he was.

"He was the bloke Beech was working for," Jack informed him and Adam nodded for him to continue, "Me and Mickey went to see him and he told us that he took someone to help him stay out of prison because he didn’t trust Don."

"Took someone? You mean abduction?"

"Yeah, Sir. He told us that the person is still being held against their will," Jack told him, "and he only wants officers who know Beech to be on the case."

"It’s been three years right?" Jack nodded and Adam stood deep in thoughts, "he can’t pick and choose the officers on the case, Jack."

"I know, Sir. The thing is someone already has died because of this and I don’t want that happening again," Jack mumbled.

"I know but what we gotta ask ourselves is why only people who know Beech."

Jack stared at him stunned, what was he implying, "I have complete trust all the officers who was here at the time, Sir. Don Beech worked alone, no one else was involved."

"Jack, I didn’t mean it like that." Adam didn’t realise how strongly his DCI felt about the incident. Even if Jack had faith in the officers, Adam still had doubts. Not about the officers still at Sun Hill but the ones that were transferred, "what about Boulton?"

"What about him?"

"Was he involved?" Adam asked.

"No way, Sir! John Boulton was one of the best DSs that I’ve had. There is one way he could’ve be bent!" Jack protested.

"How do you know, Jack? CIB didn’t actually tell you a lot."

"How do I know? I worked with him for 5 years, I know what the guy was like!" Jack was all most shouting, he took a deep breath, "and as for CIB, both them and Don Beech told us that the only reason John was killed was because Beech couldn’t bribe him into helping them."

"Yeah ok. So what you going to do about it? You, Mickey and Danny can’t handle it by yourselves."

"I know, Sir. I was going to have a word with Gina, try and get some of the older relief to help out."

"Yeah, ok then." Adam nodded, "but Jack, I still want to be kept up to date."

"Sir."

*~*~*

"… And Cameron your with Des in Sierra 1. Gary and Honey are on beat 7. Kerry and Gabriel you’re in CAD. Ruby you’re in custody," Gina finished off.

Tony and Smiffy looked at each other, "Ma’am what about us lot?" Smiffy asked.

"Oh yeah, Sgts Ackland and Smith and PCs Stamp and Hollis, you lucky four have been chosen to help CID out," Gina smiled sarcastically, "go and get changed back into your civvies and be back in here in 15 minute, DCI Meadows will brief you then."   

The relief nodded and became to file out of the briefing room.

"How come they get to help out CID?" Gary Best moaned.

"That’s a very good question," Gina said coming up behind him.

"So what are we actually doing then?" Tony asked.

"I don’t know, Tony. I haven’t been told anything. All I know is that it’s an old case," Gina explained.

*~*~*

"An old case? Wonder what all that’s about," Tony said to Smiffy, June and Reg as they walked back towards the briefing room.

"It must be from ages ago if all of us was involved," June added.

"So what is it a uniform case or CID?" Tony asked.

"CID properly, cos the Guv got Mickey Webb and Danny Glaze on it to. I guessing it from three years ago, before all that Don Beech crap," Smiffy predicted.

"What was three years ago?" Jim Carver asked has he and Polly Page joined the four other officers.

"This case we’ve been roped into helping CID with," Smiffy explained.

"You lot are on it as well then?" Polly frowned.

"Yeah. See, its gotta be from way back," Smiffy said as they entered the briefing to find the CID officers there pinning up photos.

"Guv, what’s going on?" Jim asked.

"I’ll tell you in a minute. Take a sit." Jack indicated to some chairs and returned to pinning up photos.

After about 2 minute Jack turned his attention back to the officers. "Right, you all properly wondering why you’ve been chosen for this investigation and the reason for that is that you were around when this case was first investigated." Jack paused and surveyed the officers; he held up a photo, "You’ll all recognize this man, Howard Fallon." 

"To right," Smiffy said before he could stop himself.

"The thing is, he is claiming that he is holding someone hostage," Jack continued ignoring the sergeant.

"Why is he admitting something like that?" Jim asked.

"He’s had enough and wants to come clean."

"Hang on, how can he be holding someone hostage if he’s inside?" Smiffy interrupted.

"He says it took them before he was arrested," Jack explained.

"What for three years?!"

"That’s what he’s claiming. He said that this person could have saved him from going to prison if it wasn’t for Don Beech setting him up."

"Who is it then, Sir?" June asked.

"We don’t know yet but we expect that it was the informant."

"The one that only talked to John Boulton?" Smiffy remembered the case; he and Nick Klein had helped them out with a few things.

"Yeah," Mickey said, "me and Danny went around to see her brother this morning but he hasn’t seen her for three years."

"So, what we gotta do is found out if its her or not. If it is, we need to find her fast and if it isn’t we need to find out who it is," Jack said. "Danny, Smiffy? I want you two to go and see Fallon, try and get some more info from him. June and Polly can you get down to the Starlight club were she use to work, see if there’s anyone down there know where she is. Tony can you get on to CIB and explain the situation and get them to give you as much information they can. Jim and Reg, I want you to check out all the properties own by Fallon and then check all the unknown bodies."

"You think they’ve killed her?" Jim asked.

"No, but if its not her then she must be somewhere. I just wanna make sure we’re not looking for someone who is already dead."

"Guv," they all nodded and headed towards the door.

"Where we going, Guv?" Mickey asked.

"To see someone more important."

"Who?"

Jack looked at his officers waiting for his answer; he took a deep breath, "Don Beech."

*~*~*

"So you think this Fallon guy is telling the truth?" Tony said to Jim and Reg.

"Don’t see why he would be lying," Jim answered.

"To mess us around?" Reg suggested.

"Maybe, I don’t know. Better to be safe then sorry."

*~*~*

"Mickey, don’t go into hard, ok?" Meadows said in the small interview room as they waited for Don.

"Guv?"

"Just remember we need him to help us."

"So you want us to be all nice and act like nothing happened!"

"No, just don’t go punching him or anything!" Jack raised his voice slightly.

"Guv!" Mickey replied, they stayed in silence until the prisoner came.

When Beech finally entered Jack was surprised to find it was him who had the urge to kick the hell out of the ex-sergeant.

"Right, I want you to tell us all you can about Fallon!" Meadows demanded.

"Guv?" Don gave him a confused look.

"Please, remember that you’re not a police officer no more so I’m not you Guv’nor," Jack spat out his words. Don hung his head slightly, while Mickey tried to keep a smug smile off his face.

"What did Fallon say about Lynette?"

"Lynette? Fallon? What‘s going on?" Don asked.

"Just answer the question."

"He wanted to know where she was so that he could get her not to give evidence in court. He asked me to find out where she was."

"And did you tell him where she was?" Jack said calmly.

"No. John wouldn’t tell me."

"So you killed him!" Mickey muttered.

"No! It wasn’t like that! He was my best mate!" Don shouted as he stood up.

"Oh nice way of showing it!" Mickey continued.

"Shut up! You don’t know what it was like!"

"All I need to know is that you killed him!" Mickey also rose to his feet.

"I didn’t mean to," Don mumbled, then rose his voice again "any way what do you care? You didn’t know him!"

"Nor did you if you thought you could bribe him!" Meadows yelled louder then the other two men, "now sit down!"

Mickey and Don stared at each other until Don gave up and slowly lowered himself back into his seat.

"What else was Fallon planning to do?" Meadows said, although it was in a quieter, you could detected the harshness in his voice.

"Nothing." Don rubbed his eyes.

"Oh come on! There must have been a back up plan."

"Well, if there was, I wasn’t told," Don informed them in his old cocky voice that they were used to. He sighed when he saw them glare at him. "Fallon told me to get John on side so that we could find Lynette and I told him John wasn’t bent. He then told me that he would get some of his men to pick him up and then he would talk. I had to talk to him or they would have killed him."

"So you decided to kill him instead then?" Mickey started again.

"No!" Don stood up again. "He was my best mate. He was the only person I cared about at Sun Hill! I understood him, no one else did!"

"No one else understood him!" Meadows yelled with fury, "What about Claire? You think that she didn’t understand him? And me? I was the one who he used to come to when he was upset or worried about something. I understood him more then you could ever imagine!"

"How come he never told you about him and Claire then?" Don shot back.

"Because he gave her his word. He loved her enough not to risk that. You destroyed that love. You destroyed Claire. Worst of all you destroyed John!"

Don dropped back to his chair. Put his head his hands and sat in silence.

"Mickey? Lets go," Jack said.

*~*~*   

Jack stormed into the CID office ahead of Mickey. Mickey hadn’t seen his Guv his worked up before not even on the Ron Gregory case.

"June did you get anything down the club?" Jack asked as he approached the area June, Polly, Smiffy, Danny and Tony sat, talking.

"There are only two girls left from three years ago, a Hannah Prichard and Rebecca Clark. They both remember Lynette and Rachel Booker but neither was close to them. Lynette hasn’t returned there either," June explained.

"Danny, what’d did get out of Fallon?" Jack demanded.

"He wasn’t very helpful either, said that we should go through the case with a tooth comb and then why might find something interesting." The DC shrugged.

"Tony?" Jack turned to face the PC, hoping he found something.

"They said it was classified information and told me to ring if we find anything."

"Is that it? Where are Jim and Reg?"

"Their still checking on the bodies there’s been a lot in the last 3 years," June added.

"Right, ok," Jack paused to think, "ok, Danny I want you to go through all Fallon’s accomplices. Tony, help Jim and Reg. June and Polly I’m gonna put you two on to doing Fallon’s properties, then run them past Danny list to see if there’s any connection. Smiffy, Mickey, go through the whole case, Rachel’s death, John’s death, Lynette going missing. I don’t want you to miss anything."

With that Jack walked out the office into his own needing time to plan what he was going to do next.

"Guv’nor in a good mood then?" Phil Hunter said just after the DCI nearly knocked him flying.

"Is he alright?" June asked concernedly. Phil, Debbie, Juliet, Eva and Ken all wondered over, interested in the gossip.

"Don’t know. Beech started sounding off about Boulton. Saying he didn’t mean it and how much he cared about John. Then he turned and said that he was the only one who understood him."

"Meadows get on well with this Boulton then?" Phil asked.

"Yeah, they were quite close," June committed.

"You know, how the Guv favours Mickey, its nothing compared to what he was like with John," Danny added.

"Meadows don’t favour me!" Mickey protested.

"He does!" They all told him, he ignored them.

"What was he like then?" Eva asked.

"Who? Boulton?"

"Yeah."

"Lets just say that he was quite handy with his fists and didn’t care about how he got a result, as long as he got one," Tony informed them.

"Although I hated disagreeing with Robocop," Smiffy added.

"Robocop? You got to be joking. I bet this guy was a wuss!" Phil laughed.

"That wuss, had 6 complaints made against him in just 2 months. He was up on a murder charge once. He’s had the whole nick against him but still stuck in there. He has received about 4 commendations for bravery and to top all that of his girlfriend lied to him and his best mate killed him," June told him.

"Alright, calm down." Phil held his hands up in defense.

"Call him what you like but he properly one of the bravest DSs that’s been at Sun Hill," Tony added.

*~*~*

It had been a long day. Jack was confident that they could get a result, but how long that would take, he didn’t know. Plus it was hard having almost an entire new relief and CID team, who knew nothing about the famous John Boulton. He passed the cemetery as he drove home, half thinking of paying John’s grave a visit.

"I’m reopening the case, I owe him this much" he thought, as he got out of the car.

He walked down the path, and saw her sitting there. She hadn’t changed at all. Her long blonde hair fell down her back, as she placed a bunch of deep red roses at John’ headstone. He gave her a few minutes of peace before he walked over.

"Hello, Claire"

"Jack"

"How you going?"

"I’ve been better. Every time I come here, I think about how I could’ve saved John’s life by pulling out of the CIB operation. I lied to him for a year, for the whole 8 months we were together. I feel so guilty sometimes. How’s it going back at Sun hill anyway?" she asked.

"Well, as you probably would know, we have a whole new CID team, and a heap of new relief. But a lot of them came after the fire"

"Yeah, I hear about that, I’m sorry"

"It’s been a hard three years, but we’ve stuck together and gotten through it. Listen Claire; I need to talk to you about something. This really isn’t the place, do you fancy a coffee?"

"Yeah sure, why not"

*~*~*

"I need your help on something. I went to see Howard Fallon this morning. He wants to come straight about something, but Fallon being Fallon, won’t tell me in anything but riddles. You had a deeper interest though with this case, can you help us out?"

"I don’t know Guv. After Sun Hill finding out I was CIB, I don’t know how everyone will take it having me back"

"Look, like I said," reassured Jack, "there’s so many new people who don’t know you, and the rest who do I have assigned onto the case. They want to crack this, for John but for you as well. They knew that you were only doing you’re job, but they also knew how much you loved him, and how hard it was for you to do it. Kerry even knew about John’s proposal"

"How?" Claire frowned.

Jack couldn’t help a smile spreading across his face, "Funnily enough, John told her. He asked her, her advice on how to do it and so on."

Claire began to cry after Jack said those words. She had to do it; she knew she did, to do something for John. It had been a painful three years, and this was too good an opportunity to turn down. She wanted to prove to John how much she loved him still.

"Count me in, Guv," she said "I have to do this for John. He died not knowing the truth, and I have never been able to live with myself ever since"

*~*~*

"So, Jack. You brought back the women who brought down your department, three years ago?" Gina asked, slightly amused as she stood by Adam in his office, the next morning.

"Yeah, I was talking to her last night about it."

"You sure about this, Jack?" Adam asked.

"Yes, Guv. We need all the help we can get. She only one we got who was on the case originally."

"Huh? I thought you was on it?" Adam stared at him.

"No, sir. There was no need. There were three sergeants, a DI and DC handling it."

"Three sergeants?" Gina asked.

"Beech, Stanton and Boulton. Then there was DI Chris Deakin and DC Kerry Holmes.

"Have you talked to them all?"

"Boulton, Deakin, Holmes; no, Stanton; yes. Beech kind of."

"What do you mean kind of?" Adam asked.

"I started to but I thought I better leave before I punched him," Jack explained.

"Right, well ok but don’t you think you should talk to the others?" Adam inquired.

"Yeah, Sir, maybe. Look I got to go and see what them lot have come up with," Jack said making a quick escape.

*~*~*

Smiffy, June, Jim, Reg, Polly and Tony talking quietly about the case they were working on, in the canteen.

"You lot are so lucky working with CID," Gary Best moaned when he, Kerry, Ruby, Gabriel, Des, Honey and Sheelagh joined them at the table.

"Trust me mate, you’re better off out of it," Smiffy told him.

"Yeah right."

"He’s right, Gary. Do you know how hard it is re-opening a case where a colleague has died?" Tony asked.

"Nah, you’re right. Sorry."

"So all these rumors about John Boulton? Are they true?" Des asked eagerly.

"Depends what rumors you’ve heard," June replied.

"It being his fault Dave Quinnan got stabbed," Des continued.

The six officers looked at each other nervously. That problem was never really resolved and nobody talked about it any more.

"Things just got a bit out of hand, that’s all," Reg tried to explain.

"Oh yeah?"

"Boulton just pushed this informant to far and things went pear shaped," Tony added. The 5 other officers stared at him; out of them all, they thought Tony would be the last to defend John over that matter. Being so close to Dave.

"What about Anthony Pain?" Gary joined in.

"What about him. He fell into the river and John tried to save him," June explained.

"God, the way people been talking about him, you would have thought that he’d done something wrong," Kerry laughed.

"He was a right bastard sometimes but I got to admit he was a brilliant copper and could be an all right guy," Polly said.

"Oh god, you remember Twanky?" June laughed, "him and Geoff ambushing Rod with those water guns."

Tony, Jim, Polly and Reg laughed, the others looked at them weirdly.

"A panto they did a few years back," Smiffy explained.

"I could have killed them!" Polly said.

"You know, I don’t think Tosh Lines did the right thing in convincing John to be in it. All he did was mess around," June said after she finished laughing.

"Yeah but the rest of us had a great time watching him pull stupid stunts then you two and Tosh chased him around the stage," Jim added.

"Oh what about all that stuff with the London Dock Hotel?" Polly reminded them.

"What about the London Dock Hotel?" Gary asked eagerly.

"He was working on these car thefts at the hotel and once it was all over they gave him a night free in one of the rooms for him and his girlfriend…" Jim started.

"His girlfriend was a DS here called Claire Stanton," Tony interrupted, "next thing they know, me, Di, Cass and Nick are there because some rooms got broken into…"

"And because Claire didn’t want people to know about them, they sneaked out of the room and ran around the hotel half dressed, trying not to get caught," Polly finished him off.

"Seriously?" Gary said, wide eyed.       

"Yep, then the next day he got in heaps of trouble for missing one of my first aid courses, trying to solve the break-ins, so that no one know who he was with," June told them.

"Did he solve it?"

"Yeah, but he let Duncan Lennox take the credit and just said he didn’t feel like the course," June sipped her coffee, "the DI went mad at him."

"So he was smart, brave and gorgeous," Kerry said shyly.

"How do you know?" Polly asked her.

"There was a photo in the briefing room of him," the PC shrugged.

"Yeah well. I guess Claire seemed to think so to," Smiffy said.

"Did they last long?" Gary was back to asking is eager questions.

"After that hotel incident they broke up but then got back together and he asked her to marry him."

"And she said yes?" Gary leaned forward, ignoring Des and Gabriel sat behind him taking the mick.

"I don’t think she had chance, it wasn’t long before he was killed."

"Ohhh." Gary sat back disappointed. Tony was slightly amused by the way the young PC was reacting to the stories of Boulton.

"You know, it’s a pity you never meet him, Gar. You would have liked him," Tony smiled slightly.

"Yeah, I think would have too!" Gary beamed.

*~*~*

Jack sat back in his chair and sighed. This was, without a doubt, one of the hardest things he had ever had to do. It was not a matter of professional courage here, but personal courage, his own pride. Compared to this, breaking up with Laura had been a picnic. Finally, taking a deep breath, he reached forward and picked up the phone.

"Hello?"

Jack resisted the temptation to hang up. "Chris?"

"Yeah. Who’s this?" Chris Deakin sounded suspicious, and well he might. His life hadn’t been easy since he’d lost his job as DI at Sun Hill.

"Jack Meadows." He paused for a moment. "Don’t hang up, Chris, I need to talk to you."

Chris sighed. "What about?"

"John Boulton. Don Beech. Howard Fallon, lots of things. Just let me talk."

"Fine. Talk."

"Listen, okay, actually pay attention, please." Jack sounded desperate, and Chris noticed.

"Yeah, okay. Go on."

Jack told him everything that had happened, about Fallon, about the unsolved case, about talking to Don, talking to Claire, and finally that he needed his help. "I’m calling you, and I’m going to call Kerry Holmes as well. I’ve got all of uniform who were here at the time on it, and they’re giving it their all – and God knows how much gossip is going around, but they’re getting the job done at the same time, and that’s all that matters."

"Why are you calling, what do you want me to do?"

"Come back. Help us with this case. Look, Chris, you’re out of work, I know that. And I know that you could do with something to do, and probably with the money if you’re anything like me. So just come on, we need your help."

Chris laughed. "Fine. I’ll come back. We had a lot of unfinished business, and besides, it’ll be good to see the old place again." He paused. "I think I left some of my stuff there as well, you know."

Jack smiled. One down, one to go. He picked up the phone again, and dialled.

"Yes?" was the reply.

"Is that Kerry Holmes?" he asked, unnecessarily. It was Kerry’s voice, certainly.

"Yes, this is Kerry Holmes," she replied. "Who is this?"

"Jack Meadows."

He heard a sudden intake of breath, and a silence ensued. Eventually, she spoke. "Nice to speak to you, Guv."

"And you."

Kerry sounded uncomfortable. "So… why are you calling? Don’t get me wrong, it’s nice to talk to you, but… you didn’t ring for no reason, I’m sure."

"No, you’re right, I didn’t." Jack paused. "Does the name Howard Fallon ring any bells with you?"

Kerry thought for a moment. "Oh. The bloke who… Sgt Beech…"

"He’s not your sergeant any more," Jack informed her. "And besides, aren’t you a DS now?"

She laughed self-consciously. "Only last week, Guv. It’s hard to remember. Anyway, Fallon was that guy that Don worked for, right? The one who…"

"Yeah. Him."

"Why’d you ask?"

For the second time, Jack found himself explaining what had happened. "And I’m calling back everyone who’s still around from that era."

"Era?" Kerry repeated, amused.

"Trust me, Kerry, it feels like a different lifetime. Wait until you see the changes here."

"What? You want me to come back to Sun Hill?" she demanded, annoyed.

"Yeah, we need help on this case, help from people who knew Don and John and Fallon. I’ve got all of uniform that were there at the time on it. Claire’s agreed to come back, and Chris Deakin…"

"Claire? Claire Stanton? Oh no. I’m not coming back if Claire Stanton’s there."

"I thought you and Claire were friends?"

"Were friends? Before I found out that she’d lied to us all and betrayed our entire team, Guv."

Jack sighed. "Look, Kerry, this isn’t a matter of your personal vendetta against Claire Stanton. We’re doing this for John, yeah?"

"Yes, because John Boulton and I were just the best of friends," Kerry commented.

"Kerry, the bloke’s dead. Show a little respect!"

"Fine. I’ll come back, I’ll do it." She sighed. "It’ll be nice to see some of the old faces again, anyway. Cass, Vicky, Sam…"

Jack paused. "Kerry… Vicky left, and Cass and Sam… are dead."

"Dead?" she repeated, shocked. "When?"

"Sam died in the fire, when we were firebombed… surely you heard about that? And Cass, she was killed by the serial killer." Jack hated having to break bad news.

Kerry took an intake of breath. "God. Wow, I didn’t know." She sighed. "Okay, well, I’ll still do it. Surely some of the relief are still there?"

"Yeah… Mickey, June, Jim, Tony, Polly…" Jack began to list them, relieved that Kerry had agreed. He had his team. Now he just needed to get on with the investigation.

*~*~*

When Jack entered the briefing room everyone stopped talking and stared at the three officers behind him.

"Right, I’m sure you all remember each other," Jack said moving towards a clipboard with all the information they had on it.

"Welcome back." June smiled at Chris, Claire and Kerry.

They all smiled back politely. Claire hung her head when everyone continued to stare at her. 

"Right, lets get on with this, shall we?" Meadows said coursing everyone to move their attention to him, "I’ve asked Claire, Chris and Kerry back here because they all work on the case. We need all the help we can get."

"So what, we got then?" Chris asked, looking at the board. Glad to be back at Sun Hill and glad to be back working as a detective.

"Not a lot." Jack sighed, "Fallon is claming that three years ago he abducted someone to help stop Lynette given evidence. We think that it’s her."

"When did he take her?" Claire asked curiously.

"He said sometime before John was killed," Mickey informed her.

"You sure?"

"Yeah, he told us that he took her as a backup because he didn’t trust Don," Jack frowned.

"It can’t be her then," Claire said.

"Huh?" Jack was confused.

"She came into the station. Reg, surely you must remember." She looked over to the PC.

"Me?" Reg’s head snapped up. 

"Yeah. You were on front desk. When CID was suspended. She came in looking for John," Claire said, while Reg tried to think, "Mr Monroe had to come out and tell her, he was dead. She started scream that it was Fallon and all."

Reg shook his head, he couldn’t remember. Everyone’s eyes were on him.

"Then she was saying it was my fault. That’s when you found out about me and…" She stopped her sentence but managed to continue, "about me and John."

Suddenly it hit him, his memory came back. Tony, June, Smiffy and Polly all sighed, they all remember Reg telling them about a young blonde girl wanting to see John then shouting things about him and Claire. They should have realised before.

"Ah yeah," Reg mumbled.

"Oh don’t believe this!" Jack yelled.

"Who else can it be then?" Kerry said.

No one said anything. Claire thought hard, trying to remember anyone who had information that could get Fallon sent down. She couldn’t think of anyone.

"The only people it could have been are me, Lynette and John. Its not any of us." Claire sighed.

"Right, Chris. You can come with me to see Fallon. Just to make sure the time he took this person," Meadows said, "the rest of you try to find Lynette."

There was mumbles of ‘Yes, Guv,’ as he left the room followed by Deakin. No one moved after that.

"So what we gonna do then?" Jim asked Claire.

"Why you asking me?" She replied, surprised.

"Well, you know more about this case then us lot," Jim informed her, "plus you’re a DI."

Claire smiled; she hadn’t expected them all to accept her onto the case so well.

"Umm… well, ok then. Kerry, June and Polly. There are a few girls who Lynette and Rachel were close to, so if you can go and interview them. Danny, you still sorting through Fallon’s mates?"

"Yeah, he got loads," he quickly explained why he hadn’t finished it.

"Ok, do that then run it past the list June and Polly made," Claire said. Danny smiled and nodded.

"What you three up to?" She asked Tony, Jim and Reg.

"We’re still going through the dead bodies," Jim explained.

"Ok, you and Reg can carry on with that." It felt good handling a case again back at Sun Hill, "Mickey, the DCI said you went to see Lynette’s brother."

"Yeah, but he hasn’t heard from her."

"Ok, you and Tony get back there and see if there’s any other family she would have gone to."

"Right, ok." Mickey nodded, "good to have you back."

Claire smile widen as the others agreed. They all began to fill out to do the jobs they were a signed too. She look at a picture of John pinned up on the wall. Her smile fade.

"Sarge, you ok?" Smiffy said.

"I’m fine," she slowly said, "anyway why you calling me Sarge? Thought you got promotion?"

"Yeah, sorry habit."

"Right, come on. Lets go and settle a old score," she said heading towards the door.

"Where we going?" Smiffy asked.

"To see Beech."

"Is that a good idea?"

"Why wouldn’t it be? He might have an idea on who Fallon got."

"Yeah but what he did to John and all," Smiffy said as he followed her down the corridor.

"Smiffy, I chased the bloke around Australia. Then he held me hostage. I think I can handle seeing him in prison, where he belongs."

*~*~*  

"Mr Meadows, back so soon and with DI Deakin. Didn’t think you was still at Sun Hill?" Fallon snarled when he entered the interview room.

"Just shut up and sit down," Meadow said.

"So what do I owe this pleasure?" Fallon asked as he sat on a chair, the other side of the table.

"We want to know when, you took this person hostage?"

"Oh is that all. That would be on the 17^th of October 2000."

Jack and Chris looked at each other. When Chris looked at Fallon he had a massive grin on his face.

"Are you mess with us?" Chris asked.

"Now why would I do a thing like that?" Fallon looked at them with pure innocence.

"Tell us who it is?" Chris continued.

"Someone who could have stop me from ending up in here…" Fallon rolled his eyes.

"Cut it out! We know it can’t be Lynette!" Meadows yelled.

"Who said it was Lynette?"

"Oh come. She was the only person who could have helped you," Deakin said.

"No she wasn’t," Fallon smile widened, "lets just say that it’s more close to home then Lynette."

"What?" Meadows asked, "close to home?"

"That’s right. You better hurry up and find him because I don’t think he will be able to last much longer."

"He? Where and who is he!?" Meadows demanded.

"Like said before, I can’t tell you that. See you soon gentlemen."

Deakin stood to his feet ready to leave but Meadows stay seated. He was staring Fallon straight in the eye.

"Jack, lets go," Deakin said quietly. Meadows slowly moved his eyes to Deakin, and then stood up.

"I’m telling you, got to hurry," Fallon snarled, "you know, ever know, he also might get shot."

*~*~*

"Claire?" June said walking towards her.

"Yeah." She replied, being forced back into the present.

"You alright?"

"Yeah, just remembering the past and all. This place has changed," Claire sighed and looked around the empty CID office.

"Yeah, yeah it has," June, said. She knew that the other woman was thinking of the past but not the buildings past. June felt really sorry for her, it must have been hard for her losing John, especially seen as no one else knew about them.

"Umm was there something you wanted, June?" Claire asked.

"Oh yeah. Me, Kerry and Polly went to see those women you told us to," June informed her, "well, Donna Tarrant, Jody Evens and Kelly Morrison wasn’t much help but Melissa Forman, gave us an address for her. Polly and Kerry are picking her up now."

"Oh that great news!" Claire said, "The only questions now is, who the hell has Fallon got?"

"Don’t know maybe the Guv will get something out of him. Did you get anything out of Beech?"

"Nah, all he kept saying was that he was sorry."

"You know, we’re all sorry about what happened to John," June said putting a reassuring hand on Claire’s shoulder, "it must be hard coming back here, with all the memoirs."

"Yeah it is," Claire said trying to hold back her tears, "John loved it here. He would be devastated if he saw it now."

"A lot has changed. Its better then what it was with Chandler in charge."

Before Claire had chance to reply Meadows entered with Deakin behind him.

"Claire, we got some more information," Meadows told her.

"So have we. Polly and Kerry have gone to pick Lynette up now. We got an address for her." June smiled.

"That’s good work, well done," Meadows congratulated her.

"Well, it wasn’t me really. Claire was the one who gave us the names."

Claire smiled slightly and wanted the conversation changed quickly, "what info you got, Guv?"

"Well all we know is that we are looking for male who went missing on 17^th of October 2000. He also said he was close to us and is implying that he has been shot."

"A copper?" Claire suggested.

"Possibly. Where’s Mickey?"

"I sent him and Tony to see Lynette brother again to check if there was any family she might have gone to."

"Oh right, ok," Meadows was surprised to find Claire was more in control of the situation then he was, "what did you do?"

Claire look down at her hands and remand silent.

"Claire?" Meadows insisted.

"Me and Smiffy went to see Don."

"What! Why!"

I thought that he might have known who could’ve help Fallon but he never so that was it!"

You shouldn’t have gone. You should’ve let Mickey go with Smiffy!"

"Why is everyone so bothered about me seeing Don bloody Beech?!"

"Oh might be the fact the he killed your Fiancée!" Meadows yelled back before he had chance to stop himself.

"Yes and like I told Sgt Smith, I chased him around Australia. I can handle seeing him in the place where I tried to get him for years!" Claire said before storming about the office. She didn’t want them to see that the comment had caused her to cry.

*~*~*

Claire sat alone in the canteen, wondering if it was such a good idea to be involved in the case. She looked at the photo she had always kept in her purse since that night. Her and John on Christmas day, the both of them wrapped up in tinsel, laughing at the camera. The tears fell down her cheeks, like a torrent of water cascading down a cliff. She didn’t even see Kerry walking over to her.

"You OK, Claire" she asked, sitting down next to her.

"To be honest, no" she replied, still looking at the photo. "I thought I’d be good at this, I knew that I could do it, for John, for us" she sobbed "but now, being back here, seeing everyone again, its just…" she collapsed in tears, as Kerry wrapped her arms around her.

"Hey, it’s ok… I know how much John loved you, how much he longed for the two of you to be happy"

"Jack told me the other day, that… that John came to you to ask advice on how to pop the question"

"Yeah, he did. I’ll never forget it, sitting in that car for hours, teaching him everything that he had to do, and I’ll never forget that. He loved you so much, and you know what, he was like a kid at Christmas, he couldn’t wait to"

"I know, I figured that when he asked me"

"What do you mean?"

"He proposed to me in the middle of that burger joint, while we were waiting for Lynette to show"

"Well, that’s John for you. Always the impulsive type"

"Do you think you’ll be able to come upstairs now and continue on?" she asked

"Yeah" she replied. "I have to. John died not knowing the truth about me, I betrayed him, and so, I have to do this, to prove to him just how much I love him and still do."

"Hey, you know what? I bet John is somewhere up there now, looking down on you, and thinking, ‘I still love her too’"

The two women got up, and started to walk back up to CID.

"Kerry?"

"Yeah"

"Thanks. This really means a lot to me"

"Hey, we were the only two women in CID 2000. We gotta stick together."

They walked in through the doors, and Claire sat down at her desk, and stared at the photos on the board. She knew that something wasn’t right. There was something about this hostage that just didn’t gel with the rest of the case, and Claire was desperate to find out what it was, when Chris came up to her.

"Any ideas yet, Claire? Claire?" He followed her glaze to the photo of John’s body. Chris put a reassuring hand on her shoulder, "you ok?"

"You would have thought after three year, I would have been able to accept it," she mumbled.

"How can you ever accept something so evil and wrong?" Chris asked softly.

"I could have stopped it."

"You didn’t know what was going to happen," Chris knelt down in front of her, "how were you to know that Don, who suppose to be his best mate, was going to kill him?"

"I should have told him."

"Look, there no point in living in the past, that’s for dead people."

"That’s where John is, the past," Claire replied but before Chris could say anything Meadows came in.

"Right, everyone. I want us to go through everything we got," he shouted, the whole team moved forwards, "Danny, you found anything?"

"No, Guv, not yet. Still working on it."

"Jack?" Meadows spun around to see Adam Okaro walking into CID, "don’t mind if I join you, do you?"

"No, sir," Jack looked back to his team and continued, "right, what do we know?"

"We know that it is a male, who went missing on the 17 of October," Chris said helpfully.

Claire closed her eyes, the 17^th of October was the night he was killed. Suddenly a picture of John and Don flashed before her eyes. It was one of them laughing together with their arms around each other’s necks. She snapped opened her eyes and took a deep breath, hoping she didn’t start crying again.

"Fallon also said something about him getting shot, so we got to hurry," Meadows added.

Meadows comment reminded Claire of the time John had told her about his brother getting shot. They had been going out for about a month and Claire wanted to know about his family. At first John refused to tell her but then after she gave him the silent treatment for 5 minute, he gave in. He told her about his brother Mike, over in Sydney and his other brother, Tom. Tom wasn’t just his brother he was his twin. Claire was shocked when she was told because he never talked about or saw him and he explained that it was because he ran off when they were 18 and that he was a drug addict. He told her about how he was shot in his left arm when he got caught up in a shoot out while he was trying to buy drugs.

"Claire?" She suddenly realise Meadows was talking to her.

"Huh?"

"Did Don say anything, that might be helpful?"

"No, all he said was that he was sorry." Claire returned to looking at John’s picture, that’s when she saw it. She stood up and walked over to the board.

"Claire?" Meadows asked concernedly.

"It’s John," she mumbled, taking the picture.

"Come on, I think, we need a break," Meadows said, thinking that it was all too much for Claire.

"No, you don’t understand," Claire walked over to where John’s file was and looked for more photos.

"I think she’s lost it," Mickey whispered to Kerry.

"I guess she’s not over him yet," Polly added.

"There!" Claire said pointing to a different picture. She couldn’t help the tears that began to fall.

"Come on, Claire. Lets go and talk, yeah?" Meadows walked over to her.

"No, look," she pointed again to the picture.

"Look at what?" Meadows said peering down at the photo, "it’s John."

"No! No! It isn’t!" Claire screamed, so that she could be heard.

"I shouldn’t have brought you back. I should have realised it would be hard for you."

"No, Guv. Just listen to me," Claire pleaded, "look at his arm."

"His arm?" Jack took the photo, as everyone crowed around him.

"Look, there’s a scar," Claire grinned, "it’s not him!"

"That’s ridiculous, I was the one who found him," Jim said.

"No, no, you found Tom," Claire said.

"Who’s Tom?" Kerry asked.

"John’s brother."

"No, John’s brother is called Mike and he lives in Sydney," Meadows insists.

"He got two. Tom is he’s twin brother," Claire informs them.

"What? John hasn’t got a twin."

"He has. He hasn’t seen since they were 18 cos he ran away," Claire takes the photo again, "he was shot when he was 16, in the arm."

"This isn’t making sense," was Adam’s input.

"Well, actually it is," Chris finally spoke. Everyone turned and looked at him, "Think about it. Someone close to home. John died on the 17^th of October. Fallon was talking about him getting shot as well. Don said that Fallon was planning to take John to found out where Lynette is. You said yourself that John was the only person other then Lynette that could help him. And to top it all off, John wouldn’t be parted with his warrant card."

"Huh. Warrant card?" Jack asked confused.

"Remember, his card was never found," Chris explained.

"Oh come on, Jack. You’re not believing this, are you?" Adam asked.

"Well…" Jack started, "we got to follow it up. Come on Chris, let’s go and talk to Fallon."     

*~*~*

"You know he was even jabbed in the hand with a needle by a junkie with HIV but was lucky that it was a clean needle," Gary told Des the story Tony had told him at Refs, while they was sat in the area car.

"Gary would you shout up about this bloke! You’ve never meet him, I’ve never met him but yet we still know all about him, thanks to you!" Des yelled impatiently.

"Ok whatever. All I was saying was that he seemed like a decent bloke." Gary crossed his arms across his chest.

"Yeah he might have been but he’s dead! You never know him. So get over it!"

Gary scowled and began to sulk. He didn’t care what Des said and decided that he won‘t talk to him for the rest of the shift. Even though his fellow PC might have been right about him not knowing the DS, it didn’t bother him the slightest bit. John Boulton was the kind of copper Gary wanted to become. When he had joined Sun Hill he thought that he would always look up to Tony Stamp but now things were rapidly changing and Gary found himself wondering if it was possible to look up to someone who he never meet and was dead.

"So you gonna shut up now?" Des asked but Gary continued to think and ignore him, "fine, do what you like!"

Gary let a small smile cross his lips, knowing that Des was annoyed because he wouldn’t talk to him.

"Any unit deal with a disturbance at 34 Malkin Street?" Sheelagh Murphy’s voice crackled over the radio.

"Sierra Oscar from Sierra One, show us dealing," Gary spoke into his PR grinning, knowing fully well that it could turn out to be a domestic and that’s one thing Taviner doesn’t do.

"What you playing at!?" Des yelled.

"Oh come on, just drive," Gary couldn’t help but smile.

Des stared at him but then started up the engine, muttering under his breath.

*~*~*

"So, do you think Claire’s right?" Chris queried, as they waited for Fallon to be led in.

Jack considered. "She seems sure about it. And it’s a lead. It’s more than we have had."

"So, what? We’re just going to go and ask Fallon if he’s got John holed up somewhere?" demanded Chris.

"Well, can you think of any other way to do it?" countered Jack.

Chris sighed. "Fine. But you’re doing the talking."

Fallon walked in, and smiled as he saw the two officers. "Nice to see you again, men."

"It’s a pity I can’t say the same for you," Jack replied. "Look, about this prisoner of yours…"

"Figured out who it is yet?" Fallon asked, a grin playing at the corners of his mouth. He sat back in his chair comfortably and yawned. Chris resisted the urge to punch him for his complacency.

"Look," Jack began again, but Fallon cut him off.

"Tick-tock…"

Chris glared. "Is it John Boulton?" he demanded.

Fallon glanced at him in some surprise. "He talks!" he mocked.

"Answer the question, Howard," Jack ordered him brutally. "Have you got John held captive somewhere?"

"Ah, now that’d be telling…"

"You’re in here for a long time," Chris commented, looking around the prison. "You could be in here for longer. I could pull strings, if that’s what you want… Do you or do you not have John Boulton?"

Fallon waited a full minute before answering. "Yes."

"Where?" Jack shot at him.

"Ah, now that, you will have to find out for yourself."

*~*~*

When Des and Gary arrived at the house they could hear two male voices shouting at each other.

"What!?" A man appeared at the door after Des had knocked.

"Sorry to interrupt your conversation but we’ve had a complaint about the noise," Des said. Neither Gary nor Des fail to notice the look of panic that spread across the man’s face.

"Oh really? Oh I’m so sorry. It’s just me and my brother having an agreement," the man stuttered in a scouse accent, "We’ll keep it down. Sorry to have wasted your time, officers."

"Can I have your name, please?" Gary asked before the door was closed.

"Mark Anderson," replied the man.

"Right, Mr Anderson. Can we just come in, please?"

"Why?"

"We just got to check everything is alright, just normal persuader," Gary informed him.

"Umm…" Anderson looked behind him nervously, "yeah come on."

Before Gary had chance to step inside the house, Des grabbed his arm.

"What you doing?"

"Come on, Des. Even you must realise that something dodge is going on in there."

"Alright, but we’re in and out as quick as we can." Des rolled his eyes and followed the younger PC into the house.

"Mark?" An older man appeared.

"This is my brother Shaun," Mark said to Gary.

"What’s going on?" Shaun asked, with the same panicked face as Mark.

"There was a complaint about the noise you was making," Des told him as he followed them into the front room.

"Oh, sorry about that."

"Do you both live here?" Des asked and then nodded his head to Gary, indicting to him to look around.

"Yeah, I moved down from Liverpool nearly 4 years ago," Shaun answered, not noticing Gary moving out of the room.

Gary looked around in the hall. He stopped by a door and strained to listen, he could hear a quiet banging. He tried to open the door but it was locked.

"What you doing!?" Mark shouted at him.

"Who’s down there?" Gary asked.

"No one."

"Then you won’t mind opening it then will you."

Panic spread across Mark’s face again and legged it for the door.

"Oi! Stop!" Gary grabbed hold of his arm but was forced to let go when Mark’s fist hit him in the mouth. Gary stumbled backwards but managed to grabbed hold of Mark’s shirt and pulled him down with him. Within seconds Gary was on top of him and putting the cuffs on his wrists, "right, I’m arresting you with assaulting a police officer…" Gary began to read him is rights.

"Oi! You can’t do that!" Shaun appeared.

"I can do what I like, mate," Gary replied.

"No, get off him!" The older brother jumped on Gary but Des managed to pull him off.

"I strongly suggest that you don’t do that!" Shaun said to Des when he started putting cuffs on him to.

"And I strongly suggest you shut up!"

"Don’t get on the wrong side of us. He’s got mates in high places!" Mark informed them.

"And I’m sure they’re the nicest bunch of people, but your still under arrest. Now move!" Des pushed them outside.

After 10 minutes of waiting, Honey and Cameron turned up, to help take them back to the station.

"You took your time, didn’t you?" Des moaned.

"Sorry," Honey started until she noticed Gary’s fat lip, "Oh Gary are you alright, Darling?"

"Yeah, I’m good," Gary gave her his best smile, "look I’m going to go back and have a look in the basement."

"And why would you wanna do that?" Des rolled his eyes.

"I told you. I heard someone down there!" Gary walked back into the house.

"Well, hurry up. I wanna finish sometime this shift!" Des yelled after him.

Gary searched around on a table near the basement door for a key but fail. He used his shoulder to break it open and after a few attempts the door swung open.

"Hello? Anyone here?" Gary yelled into the darkness. The only reply he got was someone banging.

Gary slowly made his way down the steps, searching the wall for a light switch. When he came to the last step he find it and flicked it on. The light filled the room and revelled a man lying on the floor with his back to the PC.

"It’s alright, you’re going to be fine," Gary moved towards the man. The man rolled to face him, Gary stopped in shock, "oh my god, you are.."

The man couldn’t say anything; he had black tape across his mouth and his hands were tied behind his back. Gary removed the tape.

"Do you know who you are?" Gary asked shocked.

"Yeah, I think I remember. I haven’t been in here that long." The man was slightly amused by the young PC. 

"How long have you been in here…?" Gary started.

"Gary!! What’s keeping you?" He heard Des’s voice and turned to see him at the top of the stairs.

"Des, get DCI Meadows!" Gary ordered then turned his attention back to the man, "do you need an ambulance?"

"No, surprisingly I’ve been treated well." He rubbed his wrists once Gary had un-tide them, "what’s you’re name anyway."

"Oh, I’m PC Gary Best from Sun Hill," Gary said proudly.

"Sun Hill? How long you been there?" The man frowned.

"Just over a year. You‘ve been gone 3 years."

"Do I know you?"

"No but I know you. Jim, June Smiffy, Polly and Tony was telling me about you today."

"Telling you what?"

"All about you. About what a great copper you was… are… And all the stuff you got up to. They think you’re dead!"

"I know I saw the paper." He pointed to a pile of newspapers in the corner, "Just like I read about the fire, Cass Rickman and Matt being killed and that twat Tom Chandler!"

"You know him?" Gary asked.

"No, but he was always in the paper and seemed like a right pratt."

They both turned to look at the stairs when they heard someone walking down them.

"Des you never guess who it is!" Gary said excitingly.

"Yeah I know, Detective Sergeant John Boulton. Meadows told me, they worked it out. There all on their way down now."

"And who are all of them?" John asked.

"Umm… Mr Meadows, June Ackland, Polly, Tony, Jim, Smiffy, Mickey, Danny" Des said, "some other people you know."

"I know?"

"Oh yeah," Gary interrupted, "DI Deakin, DS Holmes and DI Claire Stanton."

"Claire?" John asked, trying to stop tears forming in his eyes.

"Yeah, I bet you’ll be glad to see her." Gary smiled.

"Yeah, mate don’t worry she’ll be here soon," Des added.

"Can we wait outside? I haven’t had some fresh air in ages," John asked.

"Oh yeah sure," Gary jumped up.

Once outside, John sat on the front door step. He couldn’t believe it was all over.

"You think he’s alright?" Des whispered to Gary.

"Yeah, course he is!"

3 minutes later 4 cars came to a screeching halt.

"Where is he? Is he alright?" Meadows said immediately when he got out the car.

"He’s fine, Sir," Des told them, "said he didn’t want an ambulance."

"Yeah, well. I always had to drag him down to the hospital before so I take it things hasn’t changed."

"He seems fine," was Gary’s input.

"Yeah well ok," Jack said, "where is he?"

"Just on the step…" Gary spun around to see no one there, "he might have gone inside."

They all followed Gary into the house. Mickey stopped.

"Claire? You coming?" He asked her, noticing her standing by the car.

"I can’t," she whispered, "it’s been three years. What if…?"

"There’s no what ifs about it," Mickey walked back to her, "you still love him. I’m sure all he thought about in there is you."

"Yeah, you’re right," Claire said and began to walk slowly to the door.

"He’s gone! How could you let him go!" Meadows yelled at Des and Gary, on his way out the door.

"He was just there a minute ago…" Des tried to explain.

"Guv? What’s going on?" Claire asked.

"He’s gone."

"What do you mean gone? Gone where?" Mickey interrupted the conversation.

"We don’t know, he was here a minute ago, apparently."

"Claire, can you think of anywhere he might have gone?" Chris asked.

"No, no." Shaking her head, in disbelief, "hang on. I know where he would go."

"Quick come on, I’ll take you there," Meadows opened the car door.

"No, Sir, you can’t."

"What? Why not?" Jack asked.

"Because it’s a place where me and John went when we needed time on our own."

"Oh come on, Claire…"

"No, Sir. Please its our place," Claire pleaded with him.

"Ok, ok." Jack sighed, "ring when you find him."

"Yes, sir," Claire agreed before jumping in the car and driving off. 

*~*~*

She pulled the car into the side of the street, and sat there for a moment. This was it, she knew he would be here, but what would it be like being reunited with him after 3 years? He needed the truth as well, and she didn’t know how he would take it. Would everything be the same, she thought, walking up the metal stairs.

John stood there, looking out on a city that he hadn’t seen for 3 years. He was happy to be out, but scared of what might happen. Taking a few deep breaths, he thought about what it would be like to finally be reunited with Claire. Would everything be the same, he thought. He heard footsteps clanking up the metal stairs…

She stood the entranceway to their little sanctuary, tears filling her eyes almost immediately when she was that familiar head of ginger hair. She put her hand to her mouth to stop her from crying out loud…

He turned around and saw her standing there.  She had not changed at all in three years. Her long, blonde hair flowed down, and still she wore that navy jacket over her blue sweater. His eyes filled with tears…

She couldn’t stop herself from crying anymore, words couldn’t describe how she felt…

"John? Is that y – y – you…?" she stammered, almost unable to get the words out.

He nodded

"Oh my god…" she whispered, as she moved over to him, and placed her hand on his cheek.

He took her in his arms, as the tears ran down his cheeks. So happy that he was holding her, that they were finally reunited, something both of them thought was impossible. He kissed her, ever so softly on her lips, reminding her of the last time their lips touched, just as he was leaving to meet Don. And here they were, together again.

Meanwhile, back at Malkin Street, Jack, Adam, Chris and Gina felt that the best idea would be to head back to the station, and wait for Claire there, while uniform stayed behind to wait for Crime Scene. As drove down past the river, Jack suddenly stopped the car and looked up. There they were. Illuminated by the setting sun, they saw John and Claire finally reunited. Gina wiped a tear from her eye, happy that such a good result had been achieved from such a tragic case. And not just for the station either.

She pulled back from him, both of them sobbing.

"I can’t believe it, it’s really you," she whispered

"Yeah, its me" he replied, in that familiar Scouse that had echoed in her mind since that night. His arms were wrapped around her waist, and her head rested upon his chest, as they collapsed onto the ground of their place, sobbing in each other’s arms, as they were finally reunited. This was true love, thought John, and no one, not Fallon, not Don; no one could take this precious moment away from them.

*~*~*

"Can I help you?" Robbie Cryer asked the man wearing a suit, who stood in reception.

"I’m here to see Jack Meadows," he spoke in his Yorkshire accent.

"I think he’s busy at the moment…" Robbie started but became more interested in the bloke who just walked him, "Duncan!"

"Hiya, Robbie," Duncan grin broadly. He looked at the man stood next to him, "Sarge! What you doing here?"

Geoff Daly smiled and stuck out a hand to the DC that he hasn’t seen in three years, "I got a call from Chris Deakin, telling me about John Boulton. I had to come and see if it’s true."

"Yeah same here," Duncan replied.

"What? I thought you was still here?" Geoff asked.

"Nah, I left about a year ago," Duncan informed him, "Robbie any chance, a word with Jack Meadows?"

"Sorry, Duncan. He’s not in yet," Robbie spoke looking at Geoff.

"Oh sorry," Duncan said, realising he hadn’t introduced them, "Robbie this is Geoff Daly, he was a DS here a few years ago. Sarge, this is Robbie Cryer."

"Cryer? Not related to Bob Cryer?" Geoff asked.

"Yeah, he’s my uncle."

"Do you know what’s going on with this case?" Duncan asked her.

"Not really, all I know is that they found him."

"Oh right. Anyone here that we can talk to?"

"There is someone a DS but I don’t know her," Robbie replied.

"DS? Not Claire Stanton?"

"No, I don’t think so," Robbie tried to think, "she got red hair."

"Red hair. No DS we know got red hair," Duncan said.

"Oh I can’t think of her name, June Ackland introduced us," Robbie sighed, "Kerry! That’s its Kerry something."

"Kerry!? Kerry Holmes? She’s a DS?" Duncan exclaimed.

"Well, well…" Geoff started.

"Do you want me to give her a ring?" Robbie asked picking up the phone.

"Yeah, cheers, Rob."

"It’s okay. Go and wait in the interview if you like," she began to dial the CID number as Duncan and Geoff moved into the interview room.

After a few minutes, Kerry walked into the room, with a huge smile on her face.

"Hey, nice to see you both again!" She said.

"Yeah you too," Duncan moved to hug her, "When did you become DS?"

"Oh only last week."

"So Kerry what’s going on?" Geoff asked her.

"It’s really complicated. First Howard Fallon says he has someone hostage, then we find out Don Beech didn’t kill John but his twin brother Tom…"

"Twin brother?" Daly raised an eyebrow.

"Yeah apparently he ran off when they were kids and never came back."

"So then what? How did you know where he was?" Duncan asked.

"Uniform was called to a disturbance and it kinda all went from there," Kerry said taking a sit.

"So where is he now?"

"Don’t know, Claire’s with him. I think they need sometime on their own."

*~*~*

The shift had ended but everyone was still at the station, sat in the canteen.

"Where are they?" Mickey asked for the fifth time.

"They won’t be long," Jack predicted.

"They’ve been 4 hours!"

"Mickey, they haven’t seen each other in 3 years, I think we can wait a couple of hours," Deakin said.

*~*~*

John stood at the CID office door. He couldn’t believe how much the station had changed. Claire had told him there was only eight people left that he would recognise, how could that be? Sun Hill was such a strong station, which when there was a problem everyone worked together to get through it.

He thought back to a couple of months ago when yet another newspaper was thrown at him. He knew it would be about Sun Hill, the only time he got a paper was when Sun Hill featured in it. He remembered the headlines clearly.

‘Sun Hill sergeant shot dead in street!!’

Then there was a picture of Matt Boyden below it. He couldn’t believe it. The there was all the stuff about the fire and all the dead officers and of course Cass. He’s fellow Scouser. The girl who he’d always got on with. She was only young. Too young to die in such a tragic way. A signal tear ran down his face.

"You ok?" Claire asked, coming up behind him and wrapping her arm around his waist.

"Yeah. This place has changed!"

"I know. Look everyone’s waiting for us down in the canteen. Do you feel able to see them?" She asked as she rested her chin on his shoulder.

"Yeah..."

"You know, you don’t have to. They’ll understand."

"No, I wanna see them all," John said quietly, he grabbed hold of her hand and began to walk down the corridor, "come on, you think I can remember the way?"

When they walked into the canteen, everyone stopped their conversations and stared at him.

"What you all looking?" John grinned at them.

All his old mates crowded around him.

"Good to have you back, Sarge," Danny said holding out his hand.

"What have you done to your hair!" John asked, it being the first time he had seen the DCs new look.

"Had to cut it. Making Mickey feel too short!" Danny grinned.

"Oi, get lost!" Mickey shoved him out the way, "alright, Sarge?"

"Yeah, cheers!"

After an hour of John talking to all his old mates and all the new faces Meadows pulled him to one side.

"I’m sorry to have to do this now but can you tell me about of what happened?" He asked him.

"Not a lot really, Guv. I got a call from Don and went to meet him. I remember opening my car door, then nothing. Next thing I know was Fallon asking about Lynette. Then they just left me alone, with a meal everyday. A newspaper sometimes and there was a sink and all in the corner. It was like a flat."

"So what they never beat you up or harm you?" Meadows was confused.

"Yeah they did on the first week or so but when Fallon got arrested they stopped."

"Stopped?  Really?"

"Yeah the thing was the older brother Shaun was in my class at school. He was a mate of Tom’s he told me that, Tom borrowed money off Fallon," John paused, "when he found out who I was he started to plan it all."

"Ok, if they were your mates, how come they never let you go?" Meadows asked.

"They were Tom’s mates. Plus they where scared of Fallon. All they did was keep me alive for 3 years. That’s why Fallon came clean, he’d only just found out they never killed me."

Meadows sighed, this wasn’t making much sense, "alright, I think we should leave it there, go on and enjoy yourself."

"Guv," John smiled, "Oh and Guv?"

"Yeah?"

"Thanks for looking out for Claire!"

Jack smiled and watched his sergeant walk away.

"Kerry, Mickey. Come here," John said dragging Mickey across the canteen by his shirtsleeve.

"What’s up?" Kerry asked.

"I need your help."

"You didn’t waste time in bossing us about…" Kerry started, jokingly.

"Oh shut up!" John smiled, "you gonna help me or not?"

The other two grinned at each other and moved closer to their sergeant.

"Right Mickey, when I give you the signal I want you to get everyone to sit down…"

"Why?"

"Because."

"Because what?"

"Mickey…!!"

"Alright only messing with ya." The DC grinned.

"Right…" John started again.

"What’s the signal?" Mickey interrupted.

"Mate! I’ve only been out a couple of hours, so do you really wanna me to kill you!" John asked.

"Hey, it’s not Mickey’s fault he’s an annoying little…."

"Hey!" Mickey protested.

"Nice to see one thing hasn’t changed," John commented.

"Huh?" Mickey asked.

"You two," John looked at them seriously, "don’t ever change."

"Sarge, you ok?" Mickey asked, forgetting his fight with Kerry.

"Yeah, yeah I’m fine," he mumbled but then continued to explain the rest of his plan "Kerry, I want you to…."

10 minutes later John was sat next to Claire. Her head was resting on his shoulder and holding hands.

"What’s he up to?" Claire asked John, nodding towards Mickey who was rushing around the canteen, whispering something to everyone.

"I have no idea," John said.

"Well, here’s our chance to find out, he’s on his way over."

"Alright, Sarge?" Mickey smiled at John. John could have punched him there and then, he was making everything so obvious.

"Mickey, what you doing?" Claire asked.

"Nothing, why?"

"You got that guilty look on your face," Claire explained.

"I haven’t!"

"Yes you have, hasn’t he John," Claire looked up at him.

"Umm… wait here I’ll be back in a minute," John quickly got up and moved over to the corner where Kerry had just sneaked into. Claire watched him; he was differently up to something. Although she failed to notice that everyone began to sit down and watch with great interest.

Music became to play and John was walking back towards her with a massive grin on his face. Claire couldn’t help smiling either, it wasn’t just any old song, it was ’Robbie Williams- Angels,’ it was the first song that they had danced to.

"May I have this dance?" John said reaching out, taking her hand and pulled her up.

There were cheers and wolf-whistles as John lead her to the middle of the canteen and pulled her closer to him. He closed his eyes as they began to dance to the music, he had been waiting so long for this and it was the best feeling in the world.

When the song ended, John lifted her chin gently with his hand, so that they were looking at each other.

"I love you," he whispered softly.

"I love you too."

"I was told that true love can survive anything and what happened in the last three years, just proves that we are made for each other. So with that…." John smiled and knelt down and produced a small jewellery box, "Claire, will you marry me?"

"What do you think!" She pulled him up, and kissed him. Everyone cheered and clapped. John grinned and slipped a ring on her fourth finger. They kissed again.

"Desmond? Are you crying?" Tony asked shocked.

"No! I got something in my eye!" Des sniffed and wiped the tears from his eyes.

"Aww don’t worry, Des I think it’s sweet." Polly patted on the arm.

"Shut up!" He said before storming off.

"Right, everyone! I think a toast is in order!" Meadows shouted over the noise and everyone fell silent. "Firstly to John! Who has survived the unimaginable. Then secondly to both him and Claire, hope they live happily ever after. They deserve it!"

Everyone shouted their agreement.