TITLE: All For Believing  (part 3)
DISCLAIMER: See other parts…no, I wasn't clever enough to make these 
characters up myself, and if I was, they'd still be on telly!!



*     *     *

"Finally…" Angie mumbled under her breath in the com-v as she 
reached for the radio. "All units move in, I repeat, all units move 
in." She replaced the radio in its holder as Leo leaned back in his 
seat, stretching his arms over his head.

"Glad that one's over." He commented, to which Reg snorted loudly. 
Leo frowned as Ferret exited the vehicle, turning to Angie in 
confusion. "What's he on about? We've got Greg Harper now, don't we?"

"He's part of a suspected drug ring, Leo. We still have to establish 
who else is in the ring and who their supplier is." Angie reminded 
him, adding dryly as she stood. "It's only just beginning."

*     *     *

"I'm not saying a thing." Greg Harper protested once again in the 
interview room. Reg glared at his continued silence and Harper 
smirked at him, folding his arms firmly across his chest as he 
rocked casually on his chair.

"We've come to expect such, Greg. You've hardly been helpful to us 
these past few days." Harris stated as he paced, pausing to face 
Harper once again. "But we're giving you one final chance to help 
yourself."

"Oh yeah? How's that?"

"You see, Greg, we've got one of your mates. Caught him this 
morning." Reg claimed, standing also. 

"And he certainly doesn't seem as timid as you. It's only a matter 
of time before he tells us the name of your supplier." Harris 
continued. Harper shook his head.

"Nup, you're bullshitting. None of us'd say a thing to you pricks, 
not one of us."

"Well, Greg, he's about to tell. Now, we're giving you a chance here 
and I strongly suggest you take it, before he does."

"Which bloke do you have?"

"Oh now, that would be telling." Harris replied enigmatically.

"How am I supposed to know you're not just shitting me then?"

"You don't. But if you want to make things easier for yourself-"

"Easier how?" Greg asked smugly, eyebrows raised.

"A possible reduced sentence. A good word for helping out the force."

"Now, Greg, this leniency can go to your friend, or it can be all 
yours. It's up to you." Harris added.

"Come on, Greg. A young bloke like you…less time inside would give 
you another chance. But a full jail term…" Reg trailed off. Harper 
went quiet for a moment, thinking, before shaking his head slowly.

"I can't. He'll...they'll…get to me…they'll kill me…" He stammered 
as Harris moved to stand behind him.

"We can help you Greg, but only if you help us." He paused, leaning 
down closer to Harper, hissing in his ear. "What's his name?"

Harper was silent for a long time, hanging his head in shame and 
fear as he mumbled something unintelligible into his own chest.

"Repeat it for the tape, Greg." Harris instructed authoritatively. 
Harper glared up at him, not breaking eye contact as he stated 
clearly and firmly:

"Michael Hastings." 

*     *     *

"Michael Francis Hastings," Harris stated, pointing to a photograph 
of Hastings as he briefed his team. "Is an accountant, believe it or 
not, and is a partner at the firm Douglas, Dixon & Parry. His record 
is as clean as they come– not even a parking ticket to his name and 
no obvious connection whatsoever to the drug trade."

"Do we have any other evidence other than Harper's omission 
connecting him to the drug ring?" Angie asked, to which Harris shook 
his head.

"What if Harper's just pulling our leg? I mean, with a record so 
clean, how do we actually know this Hastings is our guy?" Pete 
contributed.

"Because, Peter, his record is *too* clean." Harris replied 
condescendingly. "Now Chris, Leo, what else can you tell us?"

"Um, well he lives in a pretty nice townhouse in North Road in 
Brighton with his fiancée," Chris began, pinning a photo of the 
house on the board. Hastings was walking down the garden path, 
holding hands with a dark haired woman; a woman who, over the years, 
Pete had been trained to recognise in disguise, in the distance and 
even in a blurred surveillance photograph. His heart sank in his 
chest as Pete recognised Mac and her fiancé, Mike Hastings. He 
glanced over at Angie, who hadn't yet twigged.

"His movements have been nothing out of the ordinary over the last 
couple days. He pretty much goes to work at 8 every morning and 
stays there until coming home at 6:30." Leo continued. "He went out 
a couple nights with his fiancée, but nothing strange."

"Now, what do we know about his fiancée? Is it possible she's 
involved?" Harris asked. Chris glanced over at Leo and they each 
shrugged.

"Could be." 

"Um, her name is…" Chris trailed off, flicking through her notes as 
Pete cringed in anticipation. He knew it was her, for sure. "uh, 
Ellen Mackenzie." 

Pete watched as Angie's eyes snapped up in shock, now instantly able 
to recognise Mac from the photograph. Her eyes immediately connected 
with Pete's, her mouth open and ready to speak. Pete held a discrete 
finger to his lips, indicating silence from Angie. She frowned at 
him, confused, but kept quiet nonetheless. For the moment, at least.

"Has she got a record?" Harris asked.

"Well, that's the thing, Boss. Sophie tried to pull her record from 
the computer, but the file was protected. We couldn't find 
anything." Harris nodded slowly at Chris' response, thinking of all 
the possibilities.

"Witness protection, possibly…" He thought out loud, but Pete and 
Angie each knew better. Undercover, their eyes told each other.

"Yeah, well she works for some photography business or something. I 
dunno, we'll look into it a bit more." Leo said.

"Very nice work, Chris and Leo. Keep an eye on Hastings for now; 
we'll be in touch throughout the day. Angie and Peter, you two try 
to find out more about this fiancée of his. That is all." 

Harris retreated to his office as Chris headed towards the elevators.

"Come on!" She called to Leo as he moved in the opposite direction.

"Car keys?" He called back, retrieving them from his desk and 
jingling them in his fingers as he caught up with Chris. 

Pete slid off the desk he'd leant on throughout the briefing, moving 
quickly over to his desk with Angie hot on his heels. 

"Peter, that was Mac!" She hissed as they came to a stop.

"I know!"

"What the hell's going on here, Pete?" Angie asked, exasperated, as 
Pete shook his head.

"Your guess is as good as mine!"

"Since when has she been in Melbourne? Since when has she been 
engaged to a bloody drug-lord?"

"I don't know, Ange. No bloody wonder she was in a hurry to get away 
from me the other day-" The words left Pete's mouth before he even 
knew what he was saying.

"Wait a second, `the other day'? You saw Mac..?" Angie trailed off. 
Pete nodded sheepishly.

"Yeah…about a week ago now."

"And you didn't tell me?" Pete shrugged, not responding. "Why not?"

"I don't know Ange. We just ran into each other, literally. She 
didn't exactly hang around to chat." Pete barely strung his sentence 
together, his hand finding a familiar resting spot on the small of 
Angie's back.

"Do you think she had something to hide?" Angie asked, waiting for a 
reaction in Pete. She didn't know what to believe anymore. His hand 
flew immediately from her back.

"No way! Mac would never get involved with-"

"-a drug-smuggling criminal?" Angie finished smugly. Pete sighed.

"Let's just get all the facts, okay?"

*     *     *

"Okay, Joshie, we're going to meet one of mummy's old friends today. 
Now just relax and be yourself, she's going to love you!" Angie 
spoke jovially to Josh as they walked through the soft sand of 
Brighton beach. 

She approached the familiar brunette inconspicuously, setting a 
towel down in front of her as Mac played with her camera, completely 
oblivious to Angie's presence.

"Off you go," Angie whispered to Josh as he began to crawl off their 
towel, through the short space of golden sand and onto Mac's towel 
behind them. Angie pretended to fiddle around in his baby bag, 
smiling to herself as she heard Mac's voice for the first time in 
years.

"Hello there," Mac said softly, smiling at the small child perched 
on her towel.

"Ma!" Josh called, pointing up.

"We'll get you back to mum, hey?" Mac said as she collected him in 
her arms, carrying him over to Angie's towel. "I think this little 
one got away from you." She said to the back of Angie's smiling face.

"Oh God, you turn your head for one second…" Angie began her 
rehearsed line, snapping her head up as she shifted her position. 
She feigned surprise as her face met with Mac's, and Mac's jaw 
dropped slightly.

"Angie?" Angie lifted her sunnies to sit atop her head, pretending 
to get a better look.

"Mac? Oh my God!"

"Wow, I uh, take it he's yours?" She asked, handing Josh back to 
Angie. Angie smiled as she sat a gurgling Josh in her lap.

"Yeah, this is Josh." She tickled his tummy lightly and he giggled 
in response. Mac smiled, a genuine smile that Angie hadn't seen in a 
long time.

"It's really good to see you again, Ange. You have no idea."

"I think I might." Angie smiled back at her friend. "Hey, do you 
want to get a coffee or something?"

*     *     *

Angie grinned nostalgically as Mac declined sugar in her latté, 
remembering her distaste for such. 

"Wow, look at that!" Angie noted the rather sizable diamond on Mac's 
ring finger as she picked up her coffee cup. 

"Oh, yes." Mac mumbled, flushing deeply. "What about you? Are you 
and Josh's father..?"

"Ah, no. We were married, but we were just kidding ourselves. I 
think we both knew from the start that things weren't ever going to 
work out."

"Really? How come?"

"Trust me, it's a really long story." Angie stated flatly as she 
turned the conversation back towards Mac and Mike. "So when's your 
wedding?" She asked brightly.

"Uh, next year, probably. We haven't set a date yet."

"So who is this guy? Jeez, he must be on quite a salary! Look at the 
size of it!" Angie commented again, trying to suss out what Mac knew.

"Oh, Mike. He's a partner at an accountancy firm." Mac replied 
assuringly. `Sure, that's all he does', Angie thought sarcastically 
to herself. "His work's actually the reason we moved back down to 
Melbourne."

"Really?"

"Yeah, I tried to contact you guys, but I didn't have much luck." 
Mac paused, sipping her coffee. "I, um, ran into Church not long 
ago." Angie nodded.

"I know, he told me." Mac raised her eyebrows, surprised.

"Oh, you two still keep in contact?"

"We still work together." This time, Mac almost choked.

"You're both still in undercover?" Angie nodded. "Wow…and Danni..?" 
Angie shook her head this time.

"No, she left not long after you. We haven't heard from her since." 
Mac nodded pensively.

"How come she left?"

"Ah, she had a few issues with the boss."

"The boss?" Mac enquired as Angie gritted her teeth slightly.

"Like I said before, long story."

"Oh," Mac began, cottoning on to what Angie was implying. "So are 
you still at the factory?"

"No, no. I drove past it not long ago, though. I think it's actually 
being used as a factory these days!" Angie laughed and Mac joined 
in. "No, we're based at HQ these days."

"HQ?" Mac asked, stunned. "How on earth does that work?"

"Who knows? Budget cuts were behind the move, I think." Angie 
replied, reaching over to try to distract a grizzly Josh. "What are 
you doing these days?"

"Oh, a bit of photography. Actually no, a lot of photography!" Mac 
laughed as she corrected herself. "I've gone into business with my 
mum."

"Really? Your parents have moved from Sydney?"

"Ah, no. My birth mum has lived down here for several years now." 
Angie's eyes widened. "We got in contact a while back..." Mac 
trailed off, glancing at her watch. "Oh, I really have to run. It 
was great seeing you again, Ange."

"Yeah, you too, Mac."

"Listen, here's my card. Give me a call sometime and I'll take some 
portrait photos of Josh for you."

"Oh, you don't have to do that!"

"No, I want to. Don't worry, I promise they'll turn out better than 
those shots I did of you for *your* parents!" Mac joked, remembering 
that alcohol-fuelled night. "There won't be a wine bottle in sight!" 
Angie laughed.

"I should hope not!" They each stood, hugging warmly and bidding 
goodbye for now.

*     *     *

"Now, have you had any luck with chasing up Hastings' fiancée?" 
Harris asked Angie and Pete as they closed his office door. They 
eyed each other carefully, silently discussing how much they should 
tell Harris.

"Angie met with her today." Pete said slowly, watching as Harris' 
eyes widened.

"You met with her?"

"Yes." Angie replied self-assuredly, only giving as much as he gave.

"And how did you manage to do that?" Pete and Angie's eyes caught 
again, not going unnoticed to Harris. Something was happening there 
and he didn't like it one bit. "Was she…known to the two of you?"

"Yes." Harris' eyes insisted that Angie elaborate. She sighed, 
continuing. "Detective Senior Sergeant Ellen Mackenzie was the head 
of an undercover unit in Melbourne for several years."

"*Our* undercover unit." Pete added.

"Right…" Harris took a moment to take this revelation in. It 
certainly solved the protected files mystery. "And did you inform Ms 
Mackenzie of our operation against her and her fiancé?"

"No, but….hang on, what do you mean *her* and her fiancé? Mac is 
*not* involved in any of this." Angie stated flatly, no question in 
her voice or her mind.

"Oh, *Mac* isn't involved? You two are compromised here. You're 
letting your personal affiliation with the suspect interfere with 
your judgement-"

"I worked closely with Mac for years, Luke. I knew her better than I 
knew myself some days. She was genuine, she wasn't hiding anything-" 
Angie protested.

"She was heavily involved in undercover for years, Angie. She knows 
how to succeed at lying-" Harris bellowed.

"*We've* been in undercover for years. We know how to pick liars. 
She's not involved." Pete stated unequivocally, shutting down the 
argument.

"Very well then," Harris mumbled, considerably quieter. He opened 
his office door, calling the rest of the troops, "Chris, Leo!" He 
paused, a look of condescension sweeping over his face and voice as 
he called dryly, "Bryan!"

"Yes Boss?" They asked as they each appeared in his office.

"The Hastings matter. We're going undercover at his firm."

"Why do we need to go undercover? Isn't Harper's testimony enough to 
nail Hastings?" Pete asked. Harris smirked at him.

"Because, Peter, we don't have a willing testimony from Harper. He 
was simply pointing us in the right direction. We need solid 
evidence to *nail* Michael Hastings. So we need to go undercover." 
He spun in his chair, now facing Chris. "Chris, how are your 
secretarial skills?" She shrugged.

"Up to scratch, I guess. Why?"

"You'll be doing some temporary secretarial work at Douglas, Dixon & 
Parry. Since Hastings spends most of his time in his office, he must 
be hiding something there. Find it." Harris instructed. Chris raised 
an eyebrow slightly, whispering sarcastically under her breath:

"No problem."

"Leo and Bryan, you will cover surveillance. Angie and Peter," He 
began, turning to face them again. "Since you hold so much trust in 
your familiarity with the `innocent' Ellen Mackenzie, it is your 
responsibility to inform her of her fiancé's involvement in a drug 
ring and get her on our side. Dismissed." Harris leaned smugly back 
in his chair, watching as Angie's eyes fell and Pete's back and 
shoulders stiffened. 

"Wait on, wait on. Ellen Mackenzie?" Bryan asked, 
dumbfounded. "Macca's back? She's involved?" 

"Macca?" Harris repeated slowly, eyebrows raised. "You're familiar 
with Ms Mackenzie as well, are you Bryan?" Bryan grinned, shrugging 
noncommittally.

"Oh yeah, me and, uh, *Ellen* had a bit of a thing going for a 
while…" He trailed off proudly. Pete groaned, rolling his eyes, and 
Angie stifled a laugh.

"That's wonderful, Bryan." Harris said patronisingly. "Did I mention 
you are all dismissed?"

They each filed out of his office, closing the door behind them.

"God, how's Mac going to be when we go back and tell her that her 
fiancé's a criminal?" Angie asked Pete. His eyes grazed the floor as 
he shook his head.

"Not good." 

"When you `go back'?" Bryan repeated as he caught up to them around 
the desks, watching as they collected their belongings before going 
home. "So you've seen Mac then?"

"Yes, Bryan. We saw her." Angie replied impassively. He turned to 
Pete, nudging him slightly.

"How's she looking? Good, I'll bet!" Pete glared at Bryan, sizing 
him up for a moment before shaking his head at him and walking away 
with Angie.

"Engaged!" He called over his shoulder. Bryan shrugged, smirking as 
he uttered under his breath.

"Yes, but for how long?" He checked out his reflection in the blank 
computer screen, smoothing his hair over the top of his head and 
smiling at what he saw. "Yeah…in with a chance mate!"

*     *     *

"Hey," Pete began as the elevator doors closed. "What do you say to 
dinner at my place tonight?" He asked, pulling Angie close to him.

"Dinner?" She asked as his lips settled on her forehead.

"Yeah. Some romantic music, good food, a bottle or two of wine…" 
Pete trailed off, kissing Angie gently, playfully. "…Josh at your 
parents' house…" Angie pulled back at that point, placing her hands 
flatly on Pete's chest.

"Listen, Pete. I just want to take things slowly…really slowly."

"Oh?" Pete pulled right away, taken aback.

*~*~*~*
Am I faithful, am I strong, am I good enough to belong
in your reverie a perfect girl?
*~*~*~*

"No Pete," Angie grabbed his hands in hers. "It's just that…every 
relationship I've ever been in, we've just jumped right into things 
without thinking it through. I want this to work Peter, I really do. 
I don't want it to be like the others."

"It won't be like the others, Ange. It'll work, I promise. But," 
Pete sighed, smiling as he did so, "if you want to take things slow, 
then that's what we'll do."

*~*~*~*
You will find the answer if you let it go
Give yourself some time to falter
But don't forgo knowing that you're loved no matter what
And everything will come around in time
*~*~*~*

"I'm sorry."

"Don't be sorry. Just let me know when you're ready, okay? God knows 
I'll be!" Pete laughed as Angie hit him playfully in the chest, 
holding him tightly. "So, dinner tonight? *Just* dinner?" Pete 
clarified. Angie tilted her head back, smiling broadly before 
kissing him.

"It's a date."

*~*~*~*
You'll find yourself with open arms
You'll find yourself, you'll find yourself
In time…
*~*~*~*