AUGUST 14TH 1999
POLLY'S APARTMENT - 7:30 PM

"Happy Birthday dear Polly, happy birthday to you!"

P.C. Polly Page carefully blew out the candles on her birthday cake as her father took photos. She then began cutting the cake into small pieces, which she then passed to various members of her family.

"Polly, you'd better give me one for Heather, otherwise she won't stop crying," Polly's sister-in-law Samantha begged, as she struggled to comfort her five year old daughter.

"Sure, here ya go," Polly smiled as she quickly handed over the rich piece of chocolate mud cake.

Continuing to pass plates around, she noticed that everyone seemed to have their hands full. Her Mum was washing dishes, her Dad taking videos of the children, her two brothers, Ian and Alex breaking up a fight between two of their children, and her other sister-in-law Karina feeding her two year old son Jack birthday cake.

Sitting down to enjoy her piece, it was at that moment that Samantha's youngest, Susan, chose to wake up from her nap. Samantha just looked over at Polly in despair. Quickly noticing Ian in the midst of being kicked by his son Richard, Polly stood up and headed for her bedroom where the baby was.

She'd been having a truly miserable day. It wasn't even her birthday until tomorrow and she was feeling depressed. Everyone in her family had someone, a husband, children. Something other than their job.

Picking the screaming infant out of her stroller, Polly succeeded in at least reducing the screaming to a quiet whimper.

Bringing the baby out, Polly noticed that Samantha was having no luck with her other children. Suggesting a feed, Samantha handed Polly the bottle.

Realising that she wasn't going to get any of that cake for a while, Polly made herself comfortable, Susan contentedly sucking away.

Everything seemed to settle down after a few minutes. The men returned to the table, Samantha got Heather to stop crying and to find the others, and Ann munched on cake, having finished the dishes.

Polly started to feel self-conscious. Every member of her family seemed to be smiling at each other approvingly. She looked down and noticed that little Susan had fallen back to sleep. Offering Samantha her child back, she received an indication of what they were all thinking from her father.

"Oh, Poll, leave her. She looks quite happy with you," he encouraged, and received agreement from the rest of the table.

Polly was fed up with her father. She promptly stood and made her way back to her room, where she returned Susan to her stroller. Her father had to ruin it, didn't he. Every time she got within three feet of a child, he started. Subtly, of course. Constantly reminding her that she still wasn't married, that she still was the only one in her family not to have their own child. She knew her Mum would be getting stuck into him at this very moment.

Putting on a brave face she returned back to the table where everyone seemed to have changed the subject, discussing family holidays when they were kids.

"'member when the boys had the room to themselves and they ran up all those phone calls?" Ann reminisced.

"Or the time Dad came back frantic when he thought he'd lost them on that camping trip. They were following him the whole time," Polly put in.

Interrupted by yelling between Alison and Richard, they turned to see what was going on.

"Can too!" Alison screamed.

"Not!" Richard responded.

This ended with Alison yelling, "I'll prove it!" and running off.

Ian called his son over to ask what they were arguing about.

"Alison said girls can be policemen. But that's why they call them policeMEN, coz they're men!" Richard answered.

"But they call girls policewomen," Polly smiled as she informed her nephew.

"See!" Alison yelled from the hallway, as she proceeded out, sporting Polly's coat and hat.

Richard widened his eyes in excitement as he noticed the new toys she'd found.

"Give it here!" he screamed and chased after her.

"No, it's mine!" Alison yelled and ran back to the bedroom.

Everyone continued laughing, but Polly suspiciously followed them.

She got to her bedroom to find Alison hitting Richard and screaming, "You're under arrest!" at the top of her lungs, with Richard ripping the hat off her head and swiping her with it.

This, of course, woke Susan, who immediately began screaming. Polly didn't know which to rescue first; The baby, her hat, or Richard, because Alison was practically suffocating him. In the end, she picked up Susan, took the baby out to Samantha, and returned to find her hat crushed with Richard and Alison fighting over it.

"Put it down or you'll both be nicked!" Polly demanded. She wasn't angry, just miserable, and having to fork out another �80 for a new one wasn't an appealing thought. Both children immediately dropped the hat, which fell to the floor, and Alison carefully took off the coat and handed it to her aunt.

"Sorry, Aunt Polly, but I knew I was right. Girls can be policemen." She smiled that irresistible five year old grin.

"It's all right, Ally, but these things cost a lot of money, and I need it for work tomorrow." Polly put the items on her bed and escorted the two children out, Alison holding Richard's wrists behind his back.

"You're under arrest for stealing Aunt Polly's hat," she stated in all seriousness.

"Now you have to read him his rights," Polly encouraged affectionately.

"Which are?" she looked confused.

"Repeat after me, you do not have to say anything..." Polly began.

"You do not have to say anything.." Alison repeated.

"Anything you do say.." Polly continued.

"Anything you do say.." Alison mimicked, with just the right amount of firmness.

By that time, the entire family was giving them their full attention.

Polly ended by telling Alison to let him go with a warning because it's his first offence.

At that point, everyone except Polly had finished his or her pieces of cake, and were packing up, ready to leave.

As everyone was wishing Polly a happy birthday for tomorrow, Alison quietly whispered, "I also arrested him for taking your badge, but he escaped prison," she handed Polly her badge back.

"That's all he got, wasn't it?" Polly asked worriedly.

"Yup," Alison smiled as she kissed Polly on the cheek and followed her parents out.

POLLY'S FLAT - 9 PM

After gradually working her way through a stack of dishes, Polly began returning her house to its pre-party state. Smiling to herself as she hung her coat back up, she was interrupted by a knock at the door.

Dave stood nervously on the pavement, carrying a wrapped gift and a bottle of champagne.

"Dave, what are you doing here?" Polly asked, surprised and delighted.

"I just wanted to wish you a happy birthday!" He presented her with the items.

Polly smiled and invited him inside.

After opening the bottle, they sat in the lounge and Polly unwrapped the box. Sliding the object out of the foam, she gasped with amazement as she looked at the beautiful frame he had picked out. In it was a photo, of Tony, Sergeant Cryer, Sergeant Ackland, Sergeant Boyden, Vicky, Debbie, Luke, Sam, Gary, Reg, Jamila and himself all piled on and around one the pandas.

"When did you organise all this?" Polly asked in awe.

"That day you and Liz interviewed my nephew for shoplifting," he smiled cunningly.

"I thought that was a bit fishy," Polly smiled back delightedly and sipped her champagne.

They struggled for something else to talk about.

"So you had a family show, yeah?" Dave asked out of interest.

"Yeah, they all left about an hour ago," Polly answered, not quite in the happiest of moods all of a sudden.

"Did it go all right?" Dave had picked up on the mood change.

"Yeah, it's just me Dad. I can tell he's disappointed by me."

"What possible reason would he have for that, Poll?" Dave asked, in disbelief.

"It's just, being the only daughter. Brothers are both married, got families. He thinks I put the job ahead of meself," Polly explained.

"What do you think?" Dave couldn't believe anyone would be let down by Polly.

"I love the job, but I suppose he's got a point. I keep saying one day, one day, but each birthday keeps coming," she sighed miserably.

"This job does make it difficult to get out and meet people. I know all about that. One mention of the word copper, and most women run off." Dave knew exactly how she felt.

"Men hate the idea of a woman being independent, just as strong as they are." Polly thought back to previous boyfriends. One way or another, it was the job that got in the way.

Dave looked at her for a while. He didn't know whether to bring it up or not.

"Poll, about the other week.." She cut him off.

"I know. I just needed some time to think." Polly looked over at Dave, remembering what had happened the last time he was in her flat.

"I'm sorry. I shouldn't be putting you on the spot like this. It's just, you know how I feel about you...." he trailed off, bearing his heart on his sleeve.

"I'm a mate, right? One of the team?" Polly asked, knowing he would deny it.

"Well, yes, you are, but, well, over the last few months I, I came to think that we may have been more. After the other night, I realised how I felt about you." He looked up at her nervously, trying to determine her reaction.

Polly slowly stood up and sat next to him on the sofa. "You did?" She spoke wishfully, but still quietly.

Dave turned slowly and looked at her. Polly looked back at him awkwardly.

He carefully brushed her hair back as he leant closer. Polly met him halfway. He kissed her passionately, relieved when she returned the kiss.

AUGUST 15TH, 1999
POLLY'S FLAT - 9:30 AM

Waking up slowly, Polly was momentarily startled to find she wasn't alone. Carefully getting out of bed, she left Dave to sleep as she headed for the bathroom.

Standing there under the warm water, she reflected on the events that had taken place. This would change everything. How was she going to work with him now? It wasn't long before she had a visitor next to her.

"Happy birthday. Sleep well?" Dave asked, as he slid his arms around her.

"Never better," Polly smiled back as she kissed him.

"So how do we handle this today? You're on at two right?" Dave was already thinking ahead.

"Play it by ear? Announce it at the pub tonight?" she suggested excitedly.

"You sure you're ready for that lot to start up?" he hesitated.

"Dave, the other week, we were both past it, what with Debbie's party. I didn't want to go making big decisions until I'd had time to make sure they were the right ones," Polly whispered as she rubbed shampoo slowly through his hair.

"I'm glad we waited, Poll." He smiled as he kissed her on the forehead.

SUN HILL CID - 10:30 AM

Rod and Liz were in the midst of a serious case. Both of their faces were fixed with expressions of determination and frustration as they tried to get inside the head of their latest rapist, Jacob Davidson.

"Okay, he's forty four years old, six foot three inches, with black hair and brown eyes. We can tie him to a minimum of four previous attacks, all dropped through either lack of evidence or by the victims themselves," Liz informed Rod, who studied the photograph of Davidson.

"The victims ranged in age from eleven to twenty-three, correct?" Rod asked, trying to understand this monster.

"Right. He's a nasty piece of work. Extremely violent," Liz continued.

"What do we know about the nature of the assaults?" Rod inquired, growing more frustrated by the minute. He knew they'd have to at least wait for this guy to attempt another attack before they could go after him.

"He seems to work with the help of a few mates. They help him restrain the women, and in the more recent cases, abduct them. They also get, shall we say, privileges in exchange for their services. None of the victims have agreed as to the identity of anyone but Davidson. He's probably got a lot of mates," Liz concluded.

P.C.'s LOCKER ROOM - 1:30 PM

Tony entered the room excitedly. "We're meant to be here earlier, aren't we?' he cautiously asked Dave, who appeared to be deep in thought.

"Dave?" he repeated louder.

"Oh, sorry Tone, I've just got a few things on me mind." Dave wasn't quite sure how he would react to seeing Polly today.

"Oh yeah, like what?" Tony began getting into his uniform.

"Can I get some advice from ya?" Dave paused and looked up at him.

"Sure, what topic?" Tone replied casually.

"Well, the thing is, Polly and I, we, last night, I went over, and -" Tony interrupted him.

"You wanna cut to the chase, mate?" Tony wasn't really paying attention.

Dave took a deep breath. "I stayed at Poll's last night," he blurted out, trying to gauge Tony's reaction.

Tony halted dressing, blinked his eyes a few times and sat down next to Dave.

"And?" he encouraged.

"Well, one thing led to another, and ah, I left at about ten this morning." Dave was suddenly having trouble forming sentences.

Tony's reaction surprised him. Grabbing him by the collar, he playfully roughed him up.

"You old dog you!" he smiled approvingly. Noticing Dave's long face, he continued, "What, regrets?" Tone stopped and looked him in the eye.

Dave snapped out of it, and returned the playful shove. "You kidding! " He jumped up, on top of the moon.

The two of them retreated to the behaviour level of fifteen year olds as they pushed each other around the locker room.

At that moment Luke and George entered, followed by Vicky, Debbie, and Gary, who wanted to know what all the noise was about.

"You didn't?" Debbie squealed in delight.

Dave laughed it off, blushing furiously.

Luke slowly broke in. "So, ah, where is Poll?"

They all stopped and quickly got back to their respective locker rooms, preparing for Polly's arrival.

"Drinks at the pub tonight!" Dave shouted to the guys, which was answered by more hooting and cheering.

W.P.C's LOCKER ROOM - TEN MINUTES LATER

Polly stumbled in, in a world of her own. When she realised it was a quarter to two and nobody was anywhere to be seen, she became suspicious.

Quickly changing into the rest of her uniform, she quietly searched up and down the corridor for any faint sounds of life. Hearing remote giggling coming from the briefing room, she smiled to herself and opened the door, only to be greeted by the entire group on late turn all yelling 'Happy Birthday' at her and presenting her with a very cute cake, a policewoman with a handcuffed criminal.

"Thanks, you lot. You really shouldn't have," Polly exclaimed, her face immediately brightening up.

"You kidding? You've done the same for all us over the years." Debbie nudged her to blow out the candles, and cut the cake.

Sergeant Cryer resentfully stepped forward to announce that briefing should really commence. Everyone reluctantly came to order, still munching on birthday cake, while he read the postings.

"Alright, I'll get this done quick, we're behind schedule. Tony and Dave Sierra One, refs at six. Polly beat twelve, refs at five. Debbie and Luke, the Sierra eight-four, and George beat two, refs at five." He looked up to see everyone still eating away, and began passing photos around. "CID have put in a request that we be on the lookout for one Jacob Davidson. Davidson's a serial rapist, never been charged with any of his four attacks. We know that he usually works with the help of a few other men, and the assaults are extremely brutal and prolonged in most cases. Be on your guard. That's it from me." Cryer was sure nobody was paying that much attention, everyone seemed to be on top of the world, except Polly.

As everyone wished Polly happy birthday on their way out, Cryer quietly called her over.

"Polly, are you all right?" he asked worriedly.

"Yes, Sarge, why?" she looked back innocently.

"You didn't appear too ecstatic during briefing," he continued.

"It's just, well, I've been a big down about the whole birthday thing. Another year, you know?" Polly didn't want to bother him with the whole saga.

"Do I ever. Are you sure that's all that's bothering you?" he reiterated.

"Yes Sarge." She muttered slowly, and made her way out to the corridor, only to be met by a grinning Dave.

"Look, words out about us. Everyone's coming to the pub for drinks."

"Should I be blaming Reg?" Polly smiled, as they walked outside, all the while receiving comments and cheers from the rest of the team.

"No, afraid I confided in Tone, but the gang overheard," Dave apologised, relieved that Poll didn't have a problem with it.

As Tony met up with Dave, Polly continued walking off towards her beat.

BACK IN CID

Liz and Rod continued their investigations.

"We've informed uniform?" Rod asked Liz.

"Yep, Sergeant Cryer will pass the photo around at briefing," she replied.

D.I. Deakin approached them rapidly. "You guys still on that serial rapist?" he asked swiftly.

"Yeah, guv, why?" Liz continued.

"We've got a possible abduction, six year old girl." He showed them a photograph of the child.

"Can't uniform handle it?" Rod asked impatiently.

"Not under the circumstances. The girl's older sister Rebecca said Lisa's day-care teacher, Mr Davidson, met them in the park and offered to drive Lisa home in fifteen minutes or so because Rebecca had to go to a friends house and Lisa wanted to stay. That was almost an hour ago, when the sister returned home, she found out that Lisa didn't have a day-care teacher, Mr Davidson." Deakin anxiously informed them.

Rod became interested again. "Could the sister describe the man?" he asked.

"Yep, identified Davidson out of fifteen other photos," Deakin answered bluntly.

"He abducted a six year old?" Liz raised her eyebrows in disbelief.

"I want you guys on it immediately. Uniform will give you all the help you need," Deakin spoke urgently.

"Which park was it?" Rod questioned as he began getting stuff organised.

"Memorial, Sergeant Ackland passed the message onto the beat officers," Deakin finished.

"Let's get out there," Liz spoke as she put on her jacket.

NELFIELD STREET - 2:25 PM

"Thanks for getting me the hamburger, Mister. I suppose you'd better take me home now though." Lisa finished her hamburger and stared up at the anxious man.

"Sure, just after we play a game. You'd like that, wouldn't you?" he raised his voice and smiled down at her. Children were so easy to please.

"Yes please, what sort?" Lisa's eyes grew bright, and she smiled a big childish grin.

"A play pretend game, you know?" he continued.

"Sure, like when my sister and I pretend we're famous actresses?" she asked.

"Sort of, accept this one involves more people. We're going to pretend that you've found a sick dog in this alley. Now, when I tell you who to go up to, you say to them that you've found a sick puppy, and you need them to help you get it fixed. How's that sound?" Davidson concluded, contentedly.

"Okay, but there's no sick puppy, right?" Lisa confirmed with him.

Davidson shook his head.

"So what do I do when they come into the alley, and can't find the dog?" Lisa thinks ahead.

"That's where I join in the game, but it's a surprise, okay?" he reassured the girl.

"What about your other friends, are they going to play too?" She gestured to the four other men who had since joined up with Davidson in the alley.

"Maybe, okay, now you and I have to start finding someone to play our game with us. But remember to play the game properly, they mustn't know it's pretend right?" He led her back closer to the alley entrance.

"Right, only the people playing know it's a game," she smiled excitedly.

Polly met up with Liz and Rod at the park. Liz presented Polly with a photo of the child they're looking for.

"Why are CID involved Liz?" Polly questioned, surely uniform could investigate this.

"The man identified as the abductor is a known serial rapist," Liz informed Polly.

"He abducted a six year old!" Polly replied with a mixture of shock and disgust.

"Yeah, that's why we want this kid found. He's a dangerous and violent man in any case, even to his much older victims," Rod supplied.

"Who else is on it?" Polly asked, anxious to get going.

"No-one for about the next ten minutes. Dave and Tony are with the family, they head straight back out again after that," Liz wrapped up. The best thing now would be to start covering ground.

"Okay, let's split and find this kid." Rod finished the conversation as he and Liz went off in different directions in the park, leaving Polly to head back to the shops, and start questioning the public.

NELFIELD STREET - 5 MINUTES LATER

Lisa was getting bored. She had picked out lots of people she though would be fun to play with, but Mr Davidson said not just yet.

"I want to find someone to play with, Mister. We've waited for ages," she whined, as someone caught Jacob's eye. He began quietly mumbling to himself, and motioned for Lisa to slowly look out onto the street.

"Okay, see that woman?" He pointed to the one with blonde hair briskly walking up the street towards them.

"Yeah, the policewoman one. With the hat on. She looks too busy though," Lisa hesitated.

"No, no. See how she's looking around? She's looking for you. She wants to play with you," he smiled and gave Lisa a nudge out of the alley.

"Now you bring her back her, okay? Go on." He smiled contentedly as the naïve six year old ran up to the officer, stopping her dead in her tracks.

Lisa was extremely convincing from what he could see. She'd grabbed the woman's hand and was pulling her back towards the alley. He signalled for the other guys to get into position, as he quickly ducked behind a garbage bin.

Polly saw the young girl run up to her. She couldn't believe it. It was Lisa. That was easy.

Taking the girl's hand and bending down, she could hardly get a word in. "Lisa! Are you all right?" Polly tried to calm the little girl who seemed frantically panicked.

"Help me, please. There's a sick little puppy caught up in a bag, in the alley, please, come, he's crying and can't move!" Lisa loved playing pretend games; they were so much like real life.

"Wait on, I just have to radio back." Polly was trying to hold on to the girl with one hand and radio back to Sun Hill with the other.

She got as far as "Sierra Oscar from 469", when Lisa pulled away and took off down the alley. Polly immediately took off after her, continuing to inform the station:

"I've located the child Lisa George, inform CID, no sign of -" She didn't get any further because by that time, she'd reached the middle of the alley, when Lisa stopped running and turned around. Polly came face to face with Davidson.

Instinctively grabbing Lisa's hand, she reached for her baton, but that hand was grabbed from behind.

"Urgent assistance, Davidson - " Letting go of the girl, Polly quickly tried to mumble an assistance call but didn't get far, as she was knocked to the ground. She looked up to see five men staring down at her.

SUN HILL POLICE STATION - 2:40 PM

As soon as Sergeant Ackland received the frantic call, which ended with a sharp gasp from Polly, followed by a thump, and the sounds of male voices, she informed all units:

"You guys all heard that, get out there. Liz, Rod, where did you last see Poll!" Proper radio procedure had just gone out the window. She continued trying to raise Poll, but deep down, knew it would be to no avail.

"469 from Sierra Oscar receiving? Polly!" Sergeant Ackland waited, ears tuned. By that time, she had at least seven other officers around her. All waiting patiently for any sign that Polly was all right.

"Sarge, Davidson, alley off Nelfield Street," Polly gasped through, before her emergency assistance button was activated, and the sounds of plastic grinding with cement were heard.

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