"It ever seem to you that when the Gov and Tyler are fightin' they're gonna start to snog?"

Annie and Chris looked up and turned their heads to stare at Ray. The room was dead silent. Sam and Gene were out following up a lead on a current murder case they had, the others had long gone home and it was just the three of them in there now.

"WHAT!?" Chris and Annie shouted.

Ray stood up, "Come on, you've got to have seen it."

They just stared at him.

"You know how they get into their fights and are always up in each other's face. Half the time it looks like they're just gonna go and close the gap, I mean you gotta see how damn close they get every time."

"They do do that..." Chris said chewing on the end of his pen.

"But snog?" Annie said standing up as well and leaning on the side of her desk.

"Come on," Ray said. "I fight with Tyler but 'e never gets that close to me, same with the Gov."

"And the Gov usually only gets close to people when 'e's gonna knock 'em one," Chris continued starting to become more animated.

"They always 'ave those face offs too," Ray continued walking over to Chris, "where they just stare at each other, waitin' for something."

"They never look away either!" Chris said, pointing at Ray and grinning widely.

"'old up!" Annie said walking over to the other two with her hands up. "So they disagree sometimes, that don't mean they're just gonna…" she paused and whispered, "snog!"

"Come on, Cartwright!" Ray said throwing up a hand. "They spend all their time 'agether."

"They do," Chris put in.

"And Tyler always gets the front seat in the Gov's car."

"He does," Chris said.

"And they are always grabbin' each other's arms to stop the other from walkin' away," Ray made a disbelieving face.

Annie pursed her lips and crossed her arms. The other two men stared at her, half smiles on their faces, watching her think.

"You know…." Annie started.

"See!" Ray said.

"It's kinda uncanny…" Chris added.

Annie snapped her fingers and pointed at them. "But they do get in fights! Real ones. One of them snaps half the time and just beats on the other, especially the Gov!"

"That's 'ow we men show affection," Ray said.

Annie just stared blankly at him.

"Well, we do hit people we don' like as well," Chris said.

"But fights also mean affection," Ray said.

"What are you sayin', they're in love?" Annie said, sounding half hysterical

"No!" Ray replied indignantly. "Just that they'll snog."

Huffing, Annie sat on the edge of her desk, "You're bloody mad."

Ray shrugged and looked at Chris. He nodded as if to say, 'I'm with you.' Both turned to regard Annie again. She was staring at the floor chewing on the edge of her lip looking rather like she wanted to throw up.

"All right," she said still looking at the floor. "Say I believe this for a minute, its never gonna actually happen."

"It's got to," Ray said.

"What?" Annie said standing up and waving an arm around to indicated the room. "Right here?"

"It's where they fight most,"

"They fight everywhere," Chris said with a helpful smile on his face.

"Yes, so... well..." Annie's face slowly started to come to life, bright and excited like the other two. "Oh god and they do always disappear into 'is office like who knows what's going to happen in there and the Gov always takes Sam when he's goin' anywhere! It's bloody inevitable that they'll just...." she made a dog-like hand gesture, "pounce on each other!"

"Told ya," Ray said with a smirk.

"Bu' which one of 'em would do it first?" Chris asked suddenly.

"Sam-Gov," Annie and Ray said at once without hesitation then looked at each other.

"Sam," Annie insisted.

"No, the Gov," Ray insisted right back.

"It would 'ave to be Sam,: Annie said. "One: 'es prettier."

"What does that-" Ray started.

"And!" Annie said cutting him off, "Usually its him starting the fight because he doesn't like the Gov's method."

"Yeah," Ray said, "But the Gov is more forceful, more likely to do extreme things."

"'e usually goes for the punch, though," Annie said. "Sam's more... diplomatic."

"Naw, 'e'd be too chicken," Ray said shaking his head. "The Gov's got the balls for it."

"Sam's sweeter!"

"The Gov's braver!"

"Chris?" They both said turning to the man between them.

He glanced back and forth between their earnest faces quickly looking nervous. He backed up a step and help up his hands.

"I 'ave to go with Ray 'ere, Annie."

"Ugh!" She exclaimed throwing up her hands and pacing.

"The Gov is definitely the action man," Chris said, nodding assuredly.

Annie shook her head and crossed her arms.

"Sam's the one more in touch with 'e's feelings, though and the Gov has his wife as well, remember."

"Don't matter," Ray said, not missing a beat. "This is different, not to do with 'is missus."

Pursing her lips Annie walked back to her desk confidently and slowly sat down. She crossed her legs and then crossed her arms, fixing Ray with a determined look.

"Care to put some money on that then?"

"What?" Ray said.

"5 quid it's Sam," She said.

Chris and Ray both stared at her as though they were still processing the fact that it was Annie who had just wagered money over this. Finally, Ray held out his hand. Annie took it and they shook once.

"Done."

They looked at Chris and he held out his hand.

"5 says its the Gov," he said.

Annie shook his hand and nodded.

-----------------

Gene had Sam held by the collar so high that Sam was on his tip toes, barely touching the floor. The others were standing at attention, ready to jump in should Gene start to strangle the life out of Sam or who knows what.

"I'm telling you," Sam said, voice completely calm and slow as he stared straight at Gene. "I'm right if you would just believe me."

The Gov leaned his face in closer to Sam's and tightened his grip on Sam's collar, teeth set. They stared hard at each other, another face off. Annie, Chris and Ray all tensed. Then Gene let go of Sam, the other dropping unsteadily back onto his feet.

"Fine," Gene said putting his hands on his hips. "Let's go then, Dorothy."

Sam turned on his heel, grabbed his leather jacket off his chair and the two of them burst out through the swinging doors to follow Sam's lead.

Ray cleared his throat noisily. Chris and Annie both looked over at him.

"What you say we make it 10, eh Cartwright?"

He grinned slowly at her.

"I'm game," Chris said.

Annie narrowed her eyes and nodded.

"Fine then, make it 10."

-----------------

Gene and Sam came back from the kidnapping case, wet through from the rain and shaken by the near miss with the little girl. The kidnapper had come so close with the knife and Gene had barely missed getting sliced himself when he got the girl out of the way. Upon their return Annie had made sure the girl was well situated in the break room, sleeping on the couch while they waited for her parents to come. It had been a very close call.

"Here Gov," Sam said pulling off Gene's wet coat. "You're gonna bloody die of pneumonia."

Gene let him take it off and just nodded, too thrown still by the case to seemingly care.

"Hey," Sam said leading Gene into his office with a steady hand on his shoulder. "May as well break open a bottle."

"Good idea," Gene replied as the door closed behind them.

Annie looked over at Ray and Chris. She raised her eyebrows at them and grinned. Ray just crossed his arms.

"15," She said.

"You're on," Ray and Chris replied.

"Definitely Sam," Annie said turning back to her desk.

"Gov," Chris and Ray said in time.

They would just have to wait and see.