Hey Everyone who is still here! I appreciate you following along with my stories. I've been very busy with real-life things but I've started a second Scott & Bailey 2019. Please Read SCOTT & BAILEY 2019 first if you haven't. This fic picks up after the events of that story!

(It's been a quiet Monday in the MIT office. Everyone is focused on paperwork and not being caught browsing social media as they watch the time tick by. Their interest is aroused when voices inside Rachel's office become a little bit raised. The office door swings open and Rachel, who has been back to work for only 3 days, holds it open. Janet slowly exits, clearly perturbed by being put out.)

Rachel: Thank you Janet. Maybe now that you're finished meddling you might actually get some work done. (She returns to her office before Janet can reply. Janet snarls and rolls her eyes in front of everyone who does their best to hide their amusement not wanting to be caught in the crossfire. Janet takes her seat in front of Anna.)

Anna: (leans toward and whispers) The bitch is back. (Janet laughs remembering when Anna said this when Rachel first came back from London years ago before she knew her and before she knew how accurate that statement was. Anna twirls her pen as she watches Janet put on her glasses and try to resume work. She also looks over to Rachel's office where she has just pulled the blinds shut. Anna whispers) I'm gonna pop to the loo. You coming?

Janet: (looks to Rachel's office and then back to Anna) Yeah.

(In the loo)

Janet: As long as we've been mates, she really should know better. If she doesn't want to hear my opinion on a decision she's making that I think is questionable, which is most of her decisions, then she shouldn't bother telling me.

Anna: On the flip side of that, if you know how she's going to respond why bother telling her at all?

Janet: Because sometimes she needs telling. She's a brilliant copper wouldn't have made it to the top if she wasn't. I don't know why she can't apply that same level of brains and logic to her personal life.

Anna: Oh, so she's got a new fella?

Janet: (sighs) I really shouldn't tell. I reckon, if I were to go bonkers mad, off my rocker and do something outrageous like light my desk on fire in front of everyone. She'd fight for me and my job until the end. But if I share personal information about her, and she were to find out, I might end up like Pete.

Anna: Pete was fine, she didn't sack him. It's alright. I promise what happens in the loos stays in the loos. Scouts honor.

Janet: Well, she's got this text asking her out to dinner. She shows it to me, teasing like she might be going on a date. I ask with whom, and it's only her bloody therapist. The one they forced her to go see after everything that happened recently. All I said was that it was rather unorthodox, a doctor asking out a patient, and that she should probably decline. She doesn't see anything wrong with it.

Anna: Apart from it going against all professional standards?

Janet: That's what I said but she wasn't hearing it.

Anna: It's unethical.

Janet: I don't know why I bother really. It seems like sometimes she's determined to make a mess of things and then ask me to help clean up once it's all gone pear-shaped. Ya know, I was really proud of her, sticking with the therapy program like she was, I thought oh, good she's getting help figuring out that mess that's in here. (taps her own skull) But, no, turns out she's getting more than her head fixed. (The door to the bathroom swings open and it's Rachel. Janet forces a fake smile at her.)

Rachel: Anna. You're done here?

Anna: Yeah.

Rachel: Good, you're coming with me. We've got a body just discovered at a gym. (Anna smiles, maybe inappropriately given the context of the conversation but pleased to be chosen to go along.)