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He Knows
By ralst

 

Sandra looked through the clear glass of her office door, wishing that she'd remembered to close the shutters before she'd sat down that morning. Usually, the inane chatter from her grey army was oddly soothing, in a borderline psychotic sort of way, but Gerry's latest rant and the object of his spittle-strewn tirade were proving strangely distracting.

"Gerry!" Pocking her head into the outer office, Sandra glared at the slack jowled ladies man, and his equally aged audience of two. "Get back to work," she growled. Her gaze turned to the fourth occupant of the office and her irritation faded. "Hello, Emily, good to see you again."

Emily glowered at her almost-father before turning a smile on Sandra. "DCI Pullman," she said with a smile. "Do you have a minute?"

"Emily," Gerry hissed, ready for round two of their argument, and infuriated that Sandra had intruded on a private moment, albeit one witnessed by the rest of the office.

Ignoring him, Emily slipped past Jack and Brian, and into Sandra's office, a whispered, "Not now, Dad," aimed at Gerry.

Ushering Emily into the vacant visitor's chair, Sandra closed all the shutters, before taking her customary place behind the desk. "What was all that about?" she asked, indicating the outer office with a jut of her chin.

Emily relaxed into the chair, the formality leaching from her body, to be replaced with weariness. "He knows," she said.

"He knows?" The colour drained from Sandra's face and she was halfway out of her chair before Emily could derail her panic attack.

"Not that it's you," she added quickly, "just that I'm seeing a woman."

Sandra retook her seat. "Thank God for small mercies." One a scale of one to shooting that bloody dog, getting involved with Gerry Standings almost-daughter was in a class of its own, and although Sandra was fully prepared to tell the world to stick it where the sun didn't shine if they couldn't handle the thought of her being the slightest bit gay, she wasn't sure she could stomach telling Gerry that she was sleeping with his little girl. "I take it he doesn't approve?"

"Yes and no." Emily was reluctant to say more but she'd spent enough time in the company of the grandfather brigade to know that it would be impossible to keep the details of her and Gerry's little tiff secret from Sandra for long. "He was a little hurt that I hadn't told him I was gay, but he actually took the lesbian thing rather well, considering he's out of the Ark, but the same couldn't be said for my reluctance to introduce him to my girlfriend." She smiled. "His word, not mine."

Sandra threw her hands up in despair. "Bloody marvellous!"

Emily's smiled faded. "You don't have to worry, I won't say anything."

"You won't have to," said Sandra, her eyes fixed on the shutters obscuring her view of the outer office. "He's like a ferret, your old man, and he won't stop sniffing around until he's found out everything, especially with the other two Stooges as backup."

Emily knew she was right. "He can't find what's not there," she said, even though it pained her to do so. "If we stopped seeing each other -"

"Is that what you want?"

"No. I just thought -"

"Well, don't." Sandra wasn't about to sacrifice the best relationship she'd had in years on the alter of office politics. Gerry would be angry, at first, but she knew that wouldn't last, especially when he realised the amount of ammunition it provided for his so-called sense of humour. "Come on," she said, holding out her hand for Emily, "it's time you introduce me to your dad."

"Are you sure?"

For just a moment, the steel left Sandra's spine and her features softened, as she cupped Emily's face and brought their lips together for a gentle kiss. "I'm sure," she promised, before her smile turned wicked and she added, "besides, if he makes too much of a fuss, I can always threaten to take him out into the woods and leave him there."

The End

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