"Do my eyes deceive me or is Stevie Moss early?"

Mickey had obviously startled the detective as her head of blond waves shot up from where it had been resting in her desk, she barely avoided knocking the large coffee cup she had balanced on the desk.

"I do believe your right she's actually here, at here desk, before 10am" Terry Perkins rough voice did little to help the thumping headache that had been raging in her head since she got up this morning.

"Oh hush up guys" she moaned before taking a large gulp of the scalding hot liquid, shuddering as the caffeine induced rush began to wake her up "Its not that unusual for me to be early!"

Mickey doubled up with laughter at her comment. He spun his chair round so that he faced the window instead of her, so he wouldn't have to see the genuine look that was plastered across her face. Out of the window he could now see the last of the night relief leaving the station. Their shoulders hunched up and half of them with their eyes half-closed. He watched as Ben and Nate ran up to the station doors, their jacket hoods pulled up over their heads to protect them from the rain. Not that there was any point, they'd be out in the rain soon enough, walking the streets of London.

"The last time you were early was your first day here Moss! After that you were never seen before 8am again" Terry chuckled from his place at his own desk, opposite Mickey. "The Guv's lucky you turn up at all on a Saturday. And when you do turn up its usually with a banging headache and a hungover Mickey in tow!"

Mickey laughed even harder at the mention of Stevie's and his Friday night antics. Most included a bay of chips and a large amount of alcohol. Last week he'd been so drunk he'd ended up crashing on her sofa, not that that had been the first time he'd slept there.

Out of the window he spotted Grace Dasari parking her car. No surprise that she was early, but what did surprise him was that the DI wasn't with her. He was like her shadow most of the time, especially in the mornings before work.

Finally, as Mickey grew bored of watching the now empty car park, he let his curiosity get the better of him.
"So, why are you so early?"

During Terry's spiel about Stevie's inability to be on time and how she was influencing Mickey and ruining his liver she had only grinned at him in response to their Friday nights. He could see her toothy smile in the windows reflection but as he turned round in his chair to face her again he realised how tired she looked. Her usually straight hair framed her face in soft waves, making it look as though she'd just got out of bed, which she probably had. The make-up that was always applied so carefully wasn't there, leaving what looked to be bruises under her eyes uncovered and the scars she still had from the bashing she'd received from Devlin stood out against her unnaturally pale skin. And even though she looked shattered and hungover she hadn't stopped smiling since they had arrived. Even when she'd been complaining about the effect their loud chatter had on her head. He faintly heard her latest remark about Curiosity killing the cat but his mind was working overtime on his first case of the day. And then it clicked in his mind, he know understood why people used the light bulb sign for an idea.

"You've got a new fella! Haven't you?"

"Keeping secrets from us now are we? He must be a bad influence!" Terry added. Stevie watched Terry's face as he pieced together the clues in his mind, she saw as it brightened when he figured out how Mickey had come to that conclusion "But that would explain the smile that hasn't faltered yet!"

"Stevie has a new man?" Grace's quiet voice questioned as she pushed the doors to CID open, dropping her own cup of coffee on her desk, opposite Stevie who was silently cursing herself for working in an office full of detectives who got to work early. This was turning out to be the worst kept secret in the history of SunHill!

"I don't Grace. Just ignore the guys!" she protested, well she protested as loud as her pounding head would allow. It felt like a heard of elephants were tap danicng in the little space that hadn't been consumed by memories of last night. She busied herself looking through a case file she was meant to have completed the paperwork for a few weeks back. She'd just never got round to doing it.

" She's lying. She hasn't touched that file in weeks" Grace had definitely earned that degree in Criminology. It was like the woman could analyse every move she made and read the signs that led to the being guilty as charged.

"Max alert!"

Mickey had taken to warning anyone in the vicinity to whenever Max was about to enter the room. This was new to Stevie as she'd never been in work this early in the morning but from the looks on Terry and Grace's faces this was a regular thing. The sigh that escaped Grace's lips also signalled how much of a dreaded occurrence this was.

"So...Who is he? Is it that geezer from the pub Friday night?" Mickey continued as if he hadn't just announced the imminent arrival of the most difficult man in SunHill. "If it is I'll tell you right now he's married!"

"Or...Is it the guy from the jewellery robbery last week? Because I've heard..."

Terry was cut off by the obnoxious voice of Max Carter.

"Morning all" he smirked at them "Stevie, your in early for a change" he paused to look around the room, his cold stare finally coming to rest on Grace who was doing everything she could to avoid his gaze. She'd even resulted to Stevie's failed plan, thumbing through a file that hadn't been touched in weeks. Her long nimble fingers traced over the words lightly, making it seem as though the words on the page were actually registering in her mind. "No Neil this morning? He hasn't got bored of you already has he Gracie Darling?"
His words sliced through the air which was filled with tension that hadn't been there 5 minutes ago.

"Give it a rest Max" Terry's voice cut through the silence, cutting off whatever insult he had lined up "Don't even think of playing your mind games with Grace" a rare tone of authority coming was laced though his voice as he slipped into the big brother mode. A mode that Mickey released was becoming more and more of a regular thing when Grace was involved. Even though the whole team knew that Grace was feisty enough to stick up for herself no-one could deny how sweet it was when Terry stuck up for her. They all knew how worried Grace was about her relationship with the DI becoming public knowledge so to hear Terry say it was OK was what she needed to hear.

"Ooh I bet its the nut job from next door!"

Grace laughed softly as she spoke for the first time since Max had entered the room. "You know Stevie's neighbours?"

"Grace, I should have my own key the amount if time i spend at that place. I sleep on her sofa every other week" Mickey chuckled back, glad to see that Max's remark hadn't gotten to her too much. Speaking of Max, he seemed to have gone into one of his moods, probably because they'd all chosen to ignore his digs at Grace. They all thought it was about time they got together anyway. So Mickey let him sit there, a sullen look on his face, and he turned back to the conversation.

"Can we be sure it's not Mickey over here then?" Terry's question shocked him out of his thoughts.

"No. That'd be all kinds of wrong. No offense Moss"

"None taken. Trust me it's not Mickey." she shuddered at the thought of Mickey being the face she'd woken up to this morning "And it isn't the guy from the pub, nor the one from the robbery case. And it definitely isn't the nut job from next door!"

"So you admit there's a new guy?"

She mentally kicked herself as Mickey tricked the admission out of her.

"Stevie has a few fella? What happened to the last one?"

Stevie groaned once more before covering her face with her small hands as Jo Masters walked into the room, mid-conversation. She listened as Mickey brought her up to speed with how the conversation had panned out so far.

"Wait, he has to work here then" They all turned to stare at Grace in disbelief, questioning her silently, Stevie just groaned again. Wasn't there anything this woman couldn't figure out. "Well if she's early to work because of him then he must have a shift to start here too. Its the only way she'd have got out of bed for it. To stop him being late. And it would only matter to her if she knew how much his boss wanted him to be on time. therefore he must work here" This also rules out the Superintendent, seeing as he is the boss. He can't give himself a shouting at if he's late."

Jo mimed being sick at the thought of the new man being Jack Meadows whilst Mickey grinned at Grace. She was fast learner when it came to being sarcastic as well as the fact that she was a genius for figuring it out. Once Jo had finished faking being sick she turned to stare at Stevie.

"Nate Roberts. Even I can appreciate how good looking that boy is.

Stevie couldn't help but nod along in agreement. Nate was definitely a good looking guy. A bit young but good looking all the same.

"Don't even think of agreeing with that Grace Dasari!"

They hadn't heard DI Manson enter the office or by the look on Max's face he just hadn't told them he was coming in. Stevie watched as Neil slipped an arm around Grace's shoulders, and as she leaned into his side. Probably without realising she was doing it. Everyone else in the room had noticed though, this was the first show of public affection they'd shown around the station and all eyes were on them. Except for Terry's. His gaze was fixed on Max, almost as if he was daring him to make a sarky comment. If looks could kill Max wouldn't have made it through the next few minutes.

"As sweet as that is he'll have forgotten about you by next week Gracie Darling. Now if you don't mind I'm going to go throw my breakfast up" Max taunted before pushing his way through the group and out of the double doors.

"Ignore him Guv. I think it's about time" Mickey had noticed the arm around Grace tightened, almost like he was reassuring her that it wouldn't happen. Either that or he was reassuring himself it wouldn't. However he was determined to disperse the dark cloud that was left behind in Max's wake. "Nate's too young!" he joked, smirking as Jo who was perched on Terry's desk laughing.

"Wow guys, I can't remember the last time we all had a group conversation like know, everyone together. Including my boss!" Stevie groaned at them sarcastically. she was mostly talking to herself though. Mickey and Jo were still to busy laughing together to hear a word she'd said. She had no idea how the conversation had been steered into this particular subject. And in front of the DI too.

"Smithy"

Stevie's jaw dropped as she openly gawked at Neil Manson who was standing there as if it was no big deal. Mickey watched as Stevie flushed a deep red, her mouth opening and closing several times, yet the words seemed to escape her.
It was Smithy! He knew the Inspector had to be in early to relieve the night staff of their duty's and to brief the morning relief on the night's goings on. Smithy was a uniformed officer too which meant if he'd stayed at Stevie's last night he wouldn't be seen in yesterdays clothes no matter what. And there had been the whole thing with the undercover operation and the Devlin case.
It made obvious sense now that he knew who it was, yet none of them had been able to make the connection between the clues. None of them had linked any of it back to Dale Smith!

Stevie still couldn't find the words to express how shocked she was that Neil Manson, of all people, had figured it out. She never thought they'd actually guess the right man, it had been a long shot.

"How'd you guess Guv?" Jo was curious as to how he'd been in the room less than 10 minutes and had managed to figure out what Terry and Mickey had spent the last half an hour guessing at. Sighing exasperatedly, he gestured widely to himself with his free hand.

"Detective Inspector! Remember?"

This is only going to be a one-shot i think. Please Review :) Thanks.