A/N: There was a competition on another site, that sadly I missed, but I thought the theme sounded good, so I'm going to have a go anyway!
'Grateful? Grateful? You thought I'd be grateful?' Sam had attempted to not raise her voice, but she could no longer contain herself, the entire CID turning around to hear her latest feud with Jo.
'I was trying to help. I just thought that maybe you could do with a hand.'
'A hand? Well next time you feel like giving me a hand, give me a hand! Don't screw up my investigation.'
'That wasn't all down to me, Guv.'
'Wasn't all down to you? I'm sorry, I must be hearing things. You storm in, scare off my witness, alert the dealers we're on to them, and then if that's not bad enough, your actions result in DC Webb being hospitalised. In what way was that not all down to you?'
'Guv, DC Webb knew exactly what he was stepping into. I didn't put him under false pretences, he was well aware of the possible consequences and still chose to visit Feverton with no back up. That's not down to me.'
'Are you saying DC Webb's accident was his own fault?'
'No Guv. I'm saying I'm not responsible for it. The only person responsible for Mickey's condition is Feverton or whatever hired help he used.'
'Well, why haven't you arrested Feverton then DC Masters?'
'You know full well why. We've had to assume he's left the country.'
'And why is that?'
'Because I was too busy stopping Mickey from bleeding to death to put a call in for the ports and airports to be put on alert. Is that such a bad thing?'
'It is considering Feverton has probably fled the country unnoticed. How's that gonna look?'
'Not quite as bad as an officer dying because the new DI couldn't handle a major drugs operation I suppose. That's probably how it'll look.'
'Are you saying I can't do my job DC Masters?'
'I'm saying…'
'That's enough ladies.' Jack boomed, having walked into the CID office to find Jo and Sam screaming at each other in the middle of the room, everyone else either watching or attempting to busy themselves with some work.
'Guv, Jo has just ruined the best chance we had of catching Feverton.'
'Sam has just screamed her head off at me for saving Mickey's life.'
The two women acted as small children, each giving forward an argument for why the other was responsible. Jack merely sighed at the pair of them. 'My office. Both of you. Now!' He turned and left the room, Sam and Jo sheepishly following him.
'Take a seat.' he offered, signalling towards the two empty chairs opposite his desk.
Sam and Jo took a chair each, sighing as the other settled themselves.
'Now would one of you like to explain what that was all about back there?'
'Guv, she just…' both had started at the same time, stopping when they realised the other was talking.
'Jo just ruined my investigation.'
'Sam just yelled at me for saving DC Webb's life.'
'That's not true.'
'Oh yes it is.'
'Ladies, ladies, please. Could we exercise a bit of decorum? Now, I obviously wont get a decent version of events out of either of you if the other keeps interrupting. So, Sam can you please tell me what happened. Jo, you can have your say in a minute.'
'Jo just single-handedly screwed up my investigation. She frightened off the main witness, alerted the dealers to our investigation, and put Mickey in hospital.'
'Well, I've just been to see DC Webb, and he's adamant it was his own choice to go into the building alone, nothing to do with Jo. So, what have you got to say for yourself DC Masters?'
'I was trying to help Sam out because I knew she had a lot on. I went to speak to the witness and she caged up, I did nothing to aggravate her. It was not my fault that Feverton found out about the investigation. It was in fact Sam's carelessness that led to that, not mine, she just won't admit it. And I was not responsible for Mickey's attack, I'll accept that I could have been there as back up, but I wasn't informed of his intentions, so that would have proved quite difficult to provide back up.'
Sam's mouth was hanging open, 'My carelessness? My carelessness? You screw up my investigation and it was my carelessness that caused that?'
'Yes. I didn't bug the guy's phone, you did. If he hadn't found that he would have been none the wiser.'
'I only did that becau…'
'Wait a minute.' Sam found herself interrupted by Jack, but was sensible enough to remain calm. 'You bugged his phone?'
Sam bit her bottom lip, knowing full well what was coming next. 'Yes Guv.'
'Why did I not receive the form for that?'
'Because I didn't fill one out Guv.'
'Why not, DI Nixon? You know the procedures.'
'Yes Guv, I just had a lot on my hands and didn't have time to fill out a form.'
'But you still had time to find someone to fit the bug?'
'Yes Guv, sorry Guv, I just…'
'I don't want your excuses Samantha, just think more carefully next time, okay?'
'Yes Guv.'
'Right, now, you two. I thought you'd resolved your differences. You've been friends since before Jo went to Nottingham, what's changed? And don't say this investigation, either of you, because it's not this. I can tell there's something else, now what is it?'
Sam and Jo both remained silent. Jo knew exactly what it was that had changed for her and Sam through her eyes, she fancied Sam, maybe even something more than that. But she had to ask herself what had changed for Sam, she knew it couldn't be the same reason.
Sam unintentionally contorted her face into a puzzled expression, clearly thinking to herself. She couldn't figure out why she felt different around Jo since she returned from Nottingham, every single action of Jo's affected her, the more she mucked up, the angrier Sam was. The more cases she solved, the prouder Sam was; she really couldn't figure out why.
'Okay, well, let me see if I've got something that can fix this. I'll speak to you later when I gather the whole team. Now get back to your work, both of you.'
'Yes Guv.'
'Guv.' Sounds ominous, Sam thought to herself, hurriedly exiting the room behind Jo.
Jo leaned against a wall the moment she got out of the office, aggravating Sam who pushed past her with a huff. Shutting her eyes, Jo thought back to her argument with Sam. As much as Sam was annoying her, she'd hated yelling back at her. If truth were told, Jo had to admit she thought she had feelings for Sam. But how would that ever work out? She hated not telling people when she liked them, it made her feel like she was lying to herself, but if she told Sam she'd only give her more fuel against her. There was no way Sam was remotely interested in any woman, least of all her, and if she told Sam she knew it would end in no one's heartbreak but her own.
Sam flopped into her office chair; relieved Neil was out at the moment. She couldn't help thinking back to their argument. She'd said some horrible things to Jo, and she couldn't work out why. She liked her, Jo was a good friend, so why was she being so passionate in her hate for her now? the only possible conclusion she could draw was that somehow Jo had changed since she went to Nottingham, and that meant she was no longer the person Sam knew and liked. But somehow that didn't seem right. Sam didn't believe that Jo had changed, if anyone had changed it had been her, ever since Jo came back, but why?