"Hey Matt, we found one of yours wandering about downstairs, some Yank says she's looking for 'officer Devlin'. Be nice to her, she's a bit knocked down." The PC stood aside and pointed in the direction of the detectives' desks. "Right there, Miss. Blue shirt, ugly tie."

A smallish bedraggled thirty-ish woman carrying a huge satchel trudged into the office, dark wavy hair escaping in all directions from an unraveling pony tail.

"Oi Mattie," she called out in failed attempt at local patois, then dropped her bag with a thump and whined, "Are we there yet?"

"Annie! You made it!" He sprang from his chair like a kid going for Christmas loot.

"No thanks to my rat of a brother." She was unable to continue, overwhelmed by Matt's wild hug of welcome, which was returned with all the energy that could be mustered after twenty-six hours of travel delays and killer jet lag.

Ronnie Brooks and some other random MIU office denizens watched in varied curiosity and amusement as their colleague and the stranger exchanged kisses on each cheek and then a full-frontal smooch punctuated by a loud "mmmuh!"

The greeting ritual concluded, Matt spun Annie around under his arm to face the office.

"This is me spare sister Annie, guys. She's here to help my mate Gil run his computer business."

"Web publishing," Annie corrected. "You always bollocks that up."

He rolled his eyes in embarrassment. "I keep telling you, stick to the Yank slang, you make ours sound like... bollocks."

By now Matt's partner was standing in gentlemanly fashion, hand extended. "Hello, Annie, Ron Brooks. I'm burdened with being young Matt's partner. And I'd like to observe that you don't seem to be going spare at all."

"Oh I think he means the Yank sort of 'spare', like extra." Angie volunteered. She'd brought in some reports in time to hear Matt's introduction.

"No he doesn't," Annie muttered as she shook Ronnie's hand. "Honest mistake though. Matt talks a lot about you, Mr. Brooks." She cut a look at Matt, who was still hanging onto her. "He tries not to be a burden, I think."

"Then he's been lyin' to you," Ronnie told her. "And call me Ron."

"He made me call him D.S. Brooks when I first met him!" Matt accused.

"Well she seems sweeter than you, Sunshine. For godsake, Mattie, let her go and give her a chair."

"NO!" Annie pleaded. "Sorry, I mean thank you but no. One way or another I've been sitting for the past two days, train delayed to New York, flight delayed out of JFK." She turned to Matt again, "When I called 'your mate' to tell him I'd be half a day late he sounded relieved, said it would give him a chance to meet with that new client of his, that job he's been rushing me into. Thank God he gave me directions to get here, I think I've been on the tube as long as I've been in the air. All these nice elderly gentlemen kept offering me their seats; turned 'em all down."

Matt smirked in his partner's direction. "You can add this one to your list."

She yawned and admitted, "Well I wouldn't say no to a dark corner and a blanket. Don't you copper types keep a room with a cot somewhere?"

One of the other detectives remarked, "Think she's a bit old for that, Matt."

"Argh." Annie rubbed a hand over her face. "Right, 'cot' means baby crib. Uh... roll-away? Sitting's not my thing right now, but if I could lie down somewhere..."

"Sorry, luv," Matt apologized. "Guv doesn't believe in sleep rooms. Encourages slacking."

"And in you boys that needs no encouragement." D.I. Chandler had emerged from her office to discover the source of the non-work activity. "Might I know what's going on?"

"You must be Captain, uh, detec..." Annie trailed off, completely at a loss.

Matt rescued her. "Detective Inspector Chandler," he told Annie. "Guv, this is Annie Roland, you've met her brother Gil once or twice."

"Oh yes, Gil the American Web Wizard. Very nice to meet you, Miss Roland."

"Likewise." Annie shook hands with the "guv" and commented to Matt under her breath, "She got it right, see?"

A phone rang, Ronnie picked it up and took a few notes before hanging up. "Right, back to work Mattie, that shop owner in Brixton is back from holiday and we need to follow up on his break-in. Sorry sweetheart," he apologized to Annie who had finally sunk into the chair beside Matt's desk. "You make yourself at home, anyone'll show you around if you like." He winked at Matt. "'Officer Devlin' and I will be back anon."

Annie brightened a little. "'Exeunt, pursued by a bear'?"

"Hah!" Brooks exclaimed. "A fan of the bard. Nice to know at least some of the grafts on Mattie's family tree have wider interests than beer and football."

"She does a bit of French too," Matt noted with little enthusiasm, "you should get on famously." He called to Angie as she was leaving. "Hey Ange, do me a favor and take Annie in hand... she's fluent in computer, just like you. She'll understand every word you say, unlike the rest of us Luddites. Angie here is our queen of computer forensics and research," he explained to Annie. "Together you might rule the world."

"I'll clear my calendar for that." Angie smiled warmly. "What a treat, nobody needing translation. C'mon, we'll get you some tea first."

Annie nodded but cast a nervous look at Matt. "I should try to call Gil again. His cell and his phone at the flat have been going straight to voicemail. I wish you two would tell me where his new place is, I could just get a cab there and crash."

"Sworn to secrecy," Matt declared. "He really wants it to be a surprise. Two bedroom flat, guest room, office, and lots of work space for Dreamboat Annie."

Suddenly all ears pricked up again. "Dreamboat Annie?" echoed Angie, and looked to both Annie and Matt for explanation.

"Stuck in the 70's," he explained, "mad bonkers for the Wilson sisters. Gil made the mistake of giving a greatest hits CD box to her for Christmas when we were still at uni..." He shuddered in mock horror. "The day we arrived for a two week holiday. Took me years to get over the trauma."

"Matteeeee," Annie wailed, "you promised you'd keep quiet about that Dreamboat Annie crap!"

He shrugged. "Never trust a copper. Thought by now you knew better." He grabbed Annie and gave her a rough hug then kissed her cheek. "Be a good girl and don't muck up any of Angie's stuff, and I'll take you out for curry tonight before we have a whack at Gil."

She blinked at him with bleary eyes. "You know I can cook better than you can buy."

As the two detectives left Ronnie called back over his shoulder, "It's clear you have not visited his pantry of late!"

As they took the stairs to the car park D.S. Brooks chided his partner. "She seems a nice girl... and you were relentless. Judy would lay you out if you went on at her like that. And poor Annie jet lagged half to death."

Matt trotted ahead of him,laughing. "'Poor Annie' has had her shots at me, Ronnie. Ten years' worth." Suddenly he couldn't contain a genuine smile. "She's like family, Ron, and Gil's over the moon she finally agreed to come. They just sold the family house since their mum died last year, and she's been working with him from the States, but it'll be better for them to run things together. Anyway, years ago Gil and me swore we'd look after them, he'd look after Judy and I'd look after Annie, y'know, when we're all old and grey and one of us goes first."

"That sounds great, son. You can always use more family, especially when you can choose 'em. So she's like her brother then, programmer?"

"No, she does the other stuff. How to design 'em and put 'em together, the bits and pieces for websites, and how to find the right way to give the customers what they want, like that. Gil's the builder, and she's the presenter, I guess. Which reminds me..." He punched up his cellular as Ronnie waited by the car. He snapped the phone shut after a minute and got behind the wheel.

"Still no answer?" Ronnie asked.

"No. She didn't say so, but it's not like him. Oh his calendar goes off sometimes but he's been so keen on moving Annie into the new flat... gotta be some reason he's not answering."

Ronnie thought for a minute as they drove toward Brixton. "Well, maybe he's just off getting some last minute stuff... like curry spices." He nudged Matt, hoping to lighten his concern.

"Ha, ha, Bruce. But I'm telling you, if he hasn't called me or Annie by the time we're off shift, he's gonna have to answer to both of us."

"Funny, you don't seem so protective of Judy when someone pisses her off. Of course Judy's older, but Annie's about your age, right?"

"Yeah Ron, but she's, well Annie's kind of different, you could say. Not daft or challenged or anything," he hastened to add. "Just a bit more inside her head than some. Gil's like that too, a bit anyway, but he's more out in the world. Annie, she sticks to home and connects through her computer. You saw her, she's friendly and smart and all, but she'd be just as happy with her web design stuff and marketing strategy and all. Gil really had to work on her to get her to come."

"Some people are easier with their own thoughts, Mattie. Maybe the wide world outside scares her."

Matt shook his head as he pulled to the side of the road near the shop. "No, it's not that either. She's not afraid so much as she's happy where she is. She just doesn't think of 'out there' until she sees it. She'll do fine here, she's the curious sort and just needs to have the door flung open sometimes so she remembers there's something outside."

He glanced at his phone as they walked to the shop door.

Ronnie clapped his shoulder. "Relax, Matt. You just fling the door open tonight and I'm sure you'll find Gil waiting for Dreamboat Annie and Officer Devlin."

I bloody hope so, Matt thought to himself.