Matt only needed to spend a few days in hospital after getting his appendix out. Once he was able to get up and walk, albeit like an old age pensioner, he was allowed to go home into the care of... someone. He wasn't allowed to be alone for another week in case he had some post-operative complications. The situation alone could have potentially been a complication. Ronnie had initially offered for Matt to come stay at his place, but this was before Vee had come and intended to stay. The compromise was offered that she could stay there, or they could go back to Matt's and Ronnie stay there too if he wanted to play watch dog. That wasn't actually Ronnie's intention, though. He just had Matt's well-being in mind, and relented, okay with Matt going back to his own apartment and into Vee's care. Matt was okay with it, even if he wasn't completely sure how he felt being mostly reliant on Vee. It was going to be a learning curve for him. He had never really had to rely on anyone like this before.


They just arrived at the apartment and Matt was already buggered just from the journey from the hospital. Vee had his overnight bag, and he just moved stiffly to the sofa so he could sit down. He glanced around and then his eyes landed on her with a slight hint of guilt. "You cleaned up," he realised. "I'm sorry. I know it was in a state."

Vee stood there awkwardly for a moment before she dropped down onto the sofa next to him and pushed her fingers into his hair as she pressed a kiss against his temple. She was starting to realise just how easy it was to keep touching him, to keep wanting to touch him. All those little moments that became subconscious as people grew closer. She'd come back to his place just like he'd told her to when she first arrived back in England. She'd managed to clean up the bed enough to pass out on it, only working on everything else when she'd rested.

She kissed the corner of his mouth, and smiled. "Don't be sorry. You were the one with the appendix bursting. I was hardly expecting the place to be spotless. I know how it gets. At least with the being too busy to clean, and not feeling like it when you're sick. I've never had an exploding body part. Except when I have a bad curry," she added with a smirk.

"You've been spending too much time with Ronnie," Matt said with a strained laugh. "Kind of feels like the same thing, only there was very little let up in the exploding from all angles. Moving was almost impossible. I knew it was serious when Ronnie rocked up with Natalie. The good thing is, you can only get your appendix out once, and thank bloody hell for that. I'm usually a pretty neat person. I figure I left it looking like a bomb hit it, so apologies for anything questionable you found."

Vee held up her free hand. "Stop apologising. You couldn't have helped it. You also didn't know I'd be coming. Neither did I. And I had to try and spend some time with Ronnie. Not sure he would have let you into my care otherwise. I keep feeling like he's waiting for my head to start spinning, and my devil side to come out." She laughed a little as she rubbed her fingers against his scalp. "I wouldn't be here if I didn't want to be. Just so you know. And just so you stop apologising for being sick."

Matt shook his head as he reached over slowly to get a pillow to put behind his back. "Nope, just whore yourself and smuggle coke into London," he corrected. "Or people. I didn't actually clarify what his smuggling theory was. You want to marry me for citizenship to run a smuggling ring into the country whilst still being a cop. Nevermind the fact he was the one who put my name into that singles site and tricked me into verifying it. He encouraged me to originally take you up on your offer, too." He started to awkwardly ease the pillow in behind his lower back, scrunching his face up as it twinged in his wound site.

Vee's hand went to his side and she frowned. "Are you okay? Here, let me help you." She shifted, instincts kicking in as she managed to get the pillow behind his back. She hadn't lied when she'd told him before she'd never taken care of someone like this. Euan had been hungover a few times and had Man Flu, but it wasn't the same thing. He'd mostly just wanted to be on his own. Not her Irishman. She sat back down, and rest her head against the back of the sofa. "Maybe he didn't realise just how effective his encouragement would be?"

"He wanted me to get a shag. He didn't anticipate you would come back for a second shot," Matt guessed and let out a heavy breath, resting his own head back. "I feel like I'm about seventy. It is really bloody nice to be out of hospital, though. I'm just not sure how I feel about being off work so long."

Virginia sighed as she nodded her head slowly. "Tell me about it. I don't know what to do about the second shot, or being off work. I mean, I know this is what I need to do. I don't regret this part. Also managed to talk the Chief into not firing my arse. Extenuating circumstances. I can really talk a lot of bullshit when I want. As for you, and your time off work... I'm sure we can come up with a few things."

Matt scrunched his nose up. "Yeah, probably a good time to tell you that I'm not allowed to have sex for at least two weeks," he admitted to her, throwing her a sheepish look. "Still, we did want time to get to know each other. Now we've got it, and Ronnie can't accuse you of just wanting in my pants if you stick around. How long do you have until he does fire you? You know, your partner might hit it off with your replacement and you don't get to go back to anything familiar."

"My partner's probably still sulking. I don't know how long I have. I think until my long service is up, and then he'll have to re-evaluate things. Maybe. I don't know. I didn't ask. A lot of things can change in three months. I realise I'm giving up U, and I'm giving up the whole familiar thing." Vee took his hand in hers, and rubbed her thumb against the back of it. "But I want the get to know you time, even if it means two weeks without sex. Do you realise two weeks brings us up to Christmas?"

Matt looked at her, okay now that he had a comfortable place to just be still. "But he's your friend, too. Have you really stopped to think about everything you could lose here? Because I'm not sure you have. Not that side of things. You told me once he was your closest friend. See, I do listen," he told her with a faint smirk and then groaned softly. "Thinking about Christmas makes me tired and despise Christmas carols."

"There don't have to be carols," she murmured quietly. Vee frowned as she started to think about Euan, and what she did stand to lose. "I never doubted your listening. Much. He is my closest friend. I was just... I don't know. I guess I thought maybe I'd lost a partner, but not my friend."

Matt pressed his lips together. "You might need to talk to him. Clarify if the two go hand-in-hand with him. For some people, it does. You upping and leaving might have just made his job really suck. Which does happen. I've seen it. I've just been lucky with Ronnie. If he left or retired, I don't even know where I'd start. It's hard to even contemplate, to be honest. I would hate to have a partner I didn't along with. My friend, Gee, isn't so sure about her first partner, but from what I've seen, the guy is nice enough."

Virginia wet her lips as she glanced at Matt. "Do you remember the London Bombings?"

Matt raised his eyebrows at the subject change and nodded. "Yeah, I do. Four years ago, about. It was tragic. No one could believe it happened to London. Work was chaotic for months. I wasn't near it when it happened, but it had a ripple effect through all the stations. Contacting victims families, the whole deal. Why do you ask?"

She sighed, and made a vague gesture with her hand. "U's parents were caught up in it. They died in one of the explosions."

"Bloody hell," Matt said quietly, looking at her in shock. He fell silent, processing the information with a small frown on his face, trying to put himself in the guy's shoes, but finding it almost impossible to do so. He liked to believe he had sympathy and empathy, but this wasn't something easy to empathise with. "No wonder he was so against you coming here."

Vee nodded in agreement. "Yeah, well... I didn't even think about it until just now. I'm not... I mean, we deal with death and crime every day. It's not as if we're not used to it. Just different when it's your own family. I'm not sure I'd ever feel the same about a city my parents got killed in, either."

Matt shook his head. "It's not the same. When you're a copper, you think about being in the victims' shoes, but you never quite think you'd ever end up in the shoes of the family and friends. You can never quite exactly know how they're feeling. And this was massive. Terrorism, and his parents were victims. You need to talk to him, Vee. It can't be easy for him knowing you're over here a stone's throw away from where it happened."

"I don't know what to say to him," she admitted. "It's not like I intentionally picked you and London because his parents died here. I can't bring them back. I can't change what happened."

Matt pressed his lips together. "Might not want to take that line of comments. It sounds like you're just wanting to ignore what happened to him for your own gain. Maybe not on both accounts, but he's your closest friend and this might actually be hurting him. Look, I..." He paused and let out a slow breath, frowing. "A couple of weeks before I met you, there was this case. A drug bust, the target got shot. Ronnie was one of the officers there to nail him. It turned out the other bloke who used to be Ronnie's partner when he... went through a bad patch in his past shot the target. I saw it. The bastard said the target pulled the gun first, but it wasn't like that. Turned out Ronnie's ex partner was working for one of the biggest drug king pins in London, who asked him to shoot the guy. Anyway, long story short, I pursued it, saw the guy was a crooked cop and wanted to bring him down, but it meant that a whole lot of Ronnie's past got dragged up, including an affair he had with a married woman who he actually loved. It was... I felt like shit for doing that to him. More than shit. I had no way to fix how much I hurt him. But I didn't realise what I had done until it was too late. Don't make a similar mistake to me."

Vee took Matt's hand in both of hers, her fingers sliding between his as she gripped it. She carefully slid her leg over his to keep connected to him while avoiding his aching side. She'd watched his face while he'd spoken, watched the little changes in his expression. The way his eyes flicked to show different emotions. "I'm sorry, that must have been hard. I know what you mean, though. Luckily I've never had to do that to U, but I guess I am now. Just in a different way. I just... I don't know what to do. And I feel like a seriously shitty friend right now. I just don't know what to say."

"You need to figure out something to say. I was upset, scared to talk to Ron when it was all over. I went to apologise, offered him chips," Matt said with a small laugh. "He forgave me, he knew I was just doing my job. For a moment there, I was worried I'd lost his trust, he wasn't going to back me on any of it. It was the first time our friendship had really been laid on the line. Ex old school partner who used to help Ronnie through his bad patches versus me, young stupid, seemingly reckless. I thought I was history. And it was scary. I figured I would lose a partner, but it was being faced with losing a friend that really scared me. I don't have many close friends, I don't want to lose any of them."

"Same. I don't want to lose Euan, but he really is going to think I just abandoned him, and I haven't. I could never do that. It's probably just not realistic of me to expect him to come here. He still hurts over his the death of his parents." Vee brought Matt's hand to her lips and kissed the back of it. "You're not stupid."

Matt exhaled slowly. "I felt stupid. I felt out of my league. How was I supposed to compete with a history like that? I went over his head. As you can see, it was all a huge mess, but he came through for me, took my side, so to speak. Euan's probably just upset, which might manifest as anger. I don't know what his personality is like. Ronnie got angry, a little territorial and protective of his past and his old friends. Understandable, again. Euan might just need to know you haven't turfed him to the side in favour of something better. He might need a chance to chew you out some more before he can accept what you did, what you chose."

Vee nodded. "I'll take the chewing out. I probably deserve it, anyway. I'm the stupid one." She looked up at Matt and gave him a small smile. "And you'd be the same as Ronnie if you ever have another partner yourself, and they start investigating your past with him. You can't really blame him... We do tend to form strong relationships with our partners. Sometimes it feels like we shouldn't ever share them. They belong just to us."

"I know. The longer you're with them, the more of them you know. It's like a platonic marriage," Matt agreed in amusement. "Only, in this case, it's more like Ronnie's my Dad sometimes. Always telling me to calm down, have a cup of tea. He lets me explode and then calmly reigns me back in again. When I put our positions in reverse in my head, I wonder how the hell I would put up with me if I was in his shoes. I can be a real pain in the arse. Only, in your case, there's grief. Grief can make things even harder."

"I can definitely get the protective vibe off him when it comes to you. He's already promised to lynch me if I hurt you. I do want to see this more reckless you in action, though. It sounds interesting." She just nodded again, her eyes turning up to the ceiling briefly. She needed to talk to Euan. She just had no real idea where to start.

Matt laughed and shook his head. "No, you don't. I'm telling you, I can be a forceful bastard when I want to be. It's not pretty." He sighead and searched over her face for a few moments. "Invite him over for Christmas. Here. He can go see his family and drop in here to you, a fly by stop in London. It will give you an open to talk to him, gives him an open road to face his demons."

Vee grinned. "You know that's just making me want to see it more. It's like when you know there's chocolate in the house and you can't eat it because it's someone else's. Just makes it more appealing." She caught her bottom lip with her teeth, meeting his gaze. "You'd be willing to have him here?"

"Sure, if you think it will help. Hopefully he won't kill me in my sleep," Matt joked, even if it was only half in jest. "I just want to be able to help. From what you're telling me, none of this can be easy for him and it's not going to help to keep him on the outer. You'll just end up pushing him more and more away. If you're like me, you don't wanna be pushing your close friends away."

She shook her head, a restless feeling over taking her as she tried to move again without disturbing Matt. Her head came to rest on his shoulder, his hand still safely tucked between hers. "I'd love it if he came here for Christmas. I do miss him, even if he thinks I don't give a shit. Probably thinks I don't give a shit. Did you want your, um, friend to come? Not Ronnie, the other one. And Ronnie should come too."

Matt was tired, so he let his head rest against hers now she was in the perfect position to act as a psuedo pillow. This was nice, actually. It had been awhile since he had relaxed like this with anyone and just let things roll. "I'm not even sure what Ronnie's doing. I have to ask. I know he sees his kids, but he isn't on the best terms with his exes. Might just offer him dinner, then he doesn't have to think about getting anything on his own and he doesn't have to feel obligated to stick around when its done. You mean, Gabrielle? I don't even... I assumed she'd be with family."

"Yes, Gabrielle," Vee murmured, trying not to let a momentary flare of jealousy colour her tone. She couldn't help it. She understood somewhere deep down that Matt was friends with Gabrielle, but Vee was still new to this. She was still finding her comfort zone with Matt. "Well, she could always just come for dinner, too. Might make Euan feel slightly less outnumbered if there's a few innocent bystanders. Plus, if she's single... He could probably use the distraction while he's here. U's always better when he has work and sex."

Matt laughed, resting his head back against the sofa. "You gotta stop that. I know a lot of female colleagues. A lot. My boss is female. One of our main Crown Prosecutors is female who Ronnie actually tried to set me up with. I know a lot of women, okay? I certainly don't sleep with them all. I've known Gee since she was a uniform. There's never been anything but mates between us. Hell, I even think Ronnie might know her father, if I remember rightly. On some level. It's going to get awkward if you keep thinking they all want in my jocks." He raised his eyebrows uncertainly. "Is that safe? She'll kick his arse if he tries to crack onto her and she's not interested. What am I supposed to say to her. 'Hey, we've never eaten together on special occasions before, but come to Christmas dinner so Vee's partner can have dessert'?"

"I'm stopping now, I swear. No more jock thoughts." Vee glanced up at him, her blue eyes sparkling with mischief. "Sure, why not? Works for me. Just be honest. I'm not trying to set her up. Just... you know, let her know Euan might want dessert because otherwise it's awkward as all fuck when half the table think something is going on, and the other half are obvlious. We're not officially a couple, so we don't get away with playing cupid. We do get away with forewarning of potential dessert booty calls. That's all I'm saying. She's very beautiful, and if she's your mate, then she's a good person, and U could use a tumble with a good person to remind him not all women are... what's an English term for it?"

Matt shook his head, still laughing. "I can't do that. I don't know her well enough. I hate being set up myself, so I'm not shoving her in the same position. She might hate your partner. How would she feel if she does and I've told her in advance she's there because the guy might want to bollock her? Bugger that. No offense, love. I'm staying out of messes like that. And to be honest, your partner sounds like a piece of work."

"Okay, okay. Forget dessert. Euan won't even be thinking about it anyway, probably. He's not a total piece of work. He's just... Euan. I think you'd actually like him if you met him." Vee kissed his hand again. "You should still ask her. It'd be good for you to have your friends around. Maybe it's time to increase the close circle of friends."

Matt looked down at her tiredly, smirking in amusement. "If this all goes arse-up, I'm pleading feeling sick and seeking solace in bed away from the explosion," he warned deviously.

"Only if it's naked, and I get to follow your arse," she replied.

Matt snorted with a laugh. "Ah-uh. Not with a houseful of guests, Vee love," he teased back. "Still want a lovely family feast, hm?"

Vee let out a melodramatic sigh, as she acted like she was put out by the idea. "I'm sure I'll cope somehow. Just because you can't fuck right now doesn't mean I can't find some way to molest you during the family dinner."

Matt bit down on his lips. "The thought of having an orgasm right now just makes me want to cry," he said with a laugh. "It hurts to even go to the bathroom, to cough, to laugh. This is like the best form of contraception ever, second only to trying to shop in Tesco with a screaming toddler tearing around your feet and taking a pee on the floor just to be a little shite. Maybe we should try and keep Christmas innocent?"

Virginia crinkled her nose at the idea of the pissing toddler. "But we can still kiss, right?"

"In a room full of single people? Let's just take it as it comes. It might not even happen yet," Matt pointed out, suddenly extremely unsure of the whole situation. He put it down to pain medication and tiredness... pointedly ignoring the fact it was probably because it had been a very long time that he had gotten this comfortable with anyone and it was still up in the air about how it was all going to fall into place.



Word Count | 3,907