I stopped in the entrance to the hospital waiting room. "Oh. That's quite an audience."

Dixon, Cassia, and Sebastian were huddled on plastic chairs, all of them oblivious to my presence. Dixon was making two calls at once, alternating between his tabphone and his earpiece. Cassia was talking to Sebastian, wearing a brighter smile than I'd have expected considering her sister had just fallen down a flight of stairs.

Alex was leaning against the wall by the entrance. He took me in with one sweep of the eyes. "And that's quite an outfit."

My right foot was clad in a large plaster cast, and my left forefinger was in a plastic splint. I also had stitches along my scalp and a massive headache to go with them. Despite it all, I smiled. "You know I've never been conventional with my work clothes."

Cassia looked up. "Amber!"

She abandoned Sebastian and came across the waiting room, giving me a fierce hug. I wobbled.

Alex caught me by the shoulders. "Easy, Cassia. Don't break her any more than she is already."

"Sorry." She drew back. "I'm just so glad you're okay, Ambie. We all rushed over when we heard you'd been hurt."

"So I can see," I said wryly. "You must have been waiting for ages. The station..."

"Is not going to burn down in our absence," Sebastian drawled, coming to a stop beside Cassia.

Dixon joined him. "We've dropped the murder charges against Ronan. It looks like he was telling the truth about the purpose of his cyanide. The PRBs are still examining the hotel, but they've already discovered the ski mask -- and the real cyanide. And Jasper has confessed to everything on video at the station." He looked at me, a hint of relief in his gaze. "Speaking of the station, I only let Sebastian come so he could see with his own eyes that you're all right. He can go back now. I think the mortuary would like Cassia again, too."

Cassia frowned. "But if Amber's been diagnosed with concussion, someone needs to go home with her. She has to be supervised for forty-eight hours."

"I haven't got concussion -- " I began.

"I'm sending Alex home early," Dixon said. "He can keep an eye on her until you've finished work. Now, you two skedaddle. I just need to talk with Amber about the time off she'll be having."

They left reluctantly.

I turned to my governor. "Sir, I don't need time off."

"For the love of God, Amber, surely even you can't argue that you're capable of arresting people like that."

"I can sit at my desk, sir."

He raised an eyebrow. "I'm not sure I'd trust you to stay there. But I'll think about it." His tabphone started ringing. "Sorry. Excuse me a minute."

He turned and left the waiting room, lifting his tabphone to his ear. I caught a snatch of barked instructions before the door swung shut behind him.

We were alone.

Alex took my right hand, intertwining his fingers with mine over the crutch. "I'm so glad you're okay, Amber. I wanted to kill Jasper myself when I thought you were dead."

My breath caught as I remembered my own worries for Alex. For a few minutes, I'd truly believed he'd been killed. Suddenly finding that I couldn't balance even with the help of crutches, I leaned back against the wall.

He followed me, bracing his hands on either side of my head. It was as if, now that we'd come so close to losing each other, we were like magnets: unable to stay apart. "If you do persuade Dixon not to give you time off, as only you would, will you really promise to stay behind your desk?"

I swallowed. With his breath fanning across my face, and his green eyes locked on mine, I would have agreed to anything.

"Even I can't argue that I'm capable of running around like this," I admitted. "So I promise. For you."

"Thank you." He smiled, his gaze filled with genuine relief. And then his eyes fell to my lips.

I didn't think twice. It had been a burning desperation since we'd reunited at the bottom of the stairs. I tilted my head up, and our mouths connected.

Sweet relief swept through me, and my knees almost gave out. God, Alex...I didn't want to imagine what life would have been like if the bullet had found its target and I'd never been able to touch him again.

Someone cleared their throat.

Alex jerked away. I stared at our intruder with horror.

Dixon had come back.

"Just a short phone call," he said coolly. "I didn't want to keep you waiting, but I see that wasn't a problem."

Silence fell over us, as thick and palpable as fog. We'd been caught, and by no less than our governor.

Alex stepped back completely, as if putting distance between us would help now, and turned away. I wasn't sure if he was angry with me or himself.

At last, Dixon said, "People usually defend themselves when I catch them like this. Or at least say something."

"Usually?" Alex repeated.

"You think you're the first officers to do this? We may uphold the law, but that doesn't mean we're any less likely to break it." He looked at me. "In fact, it often means we get cocky."

"We weren't getting cocky, sir," I said. "Our judgement was clouded by relief. But I won't apologise for it."

Alex glanced at me with surprise.

I met his gaze. "Well, except maybe to you for ruining your life and sending you to prison."

"Touching as that is," Dixon said with a note of bemusement, "I'm not arresting you."

I stared at him. "What?"

"If we all arrested every officer we caught in this position, England would only have half her force left. Most of us bend the rules. I tend to reassign the officers in question to different cities, at opposite ends of the country. The incidents never come to light again."

I swallowed and looked at Alex. I'd been expecting to see relief in his eyes, but all I saw was uncertainty.

"However," Dixon continued, "I'm going to give you a choice I've never offered anyone. As fond as I am of you both, I can't let this carry on in my station illegally. That's not an option. So you can break up, and I'll send Alex to New London. Or you can enter the Trials."

I gulped. Entering the Trials would give us an ultimatum similar to the one I thought we'd just escaped from. Win and spend our lives together, or lose and spend our lives behind bars.

"You'll be observed during a murder inquiry," Dixon said. "And you already know that when it comes to your cases, you make a good team. So think about it. Come to the station and tell me your choice tomorrow morning."

***

Alex walked me home in silence.

When we reached my flat, he left me with the promise that he'd return. I stood in my kitchen alone, my stomach knotting.

The empty space on the counter where my coffee machine had perched looked strange. The first time I'd used it had been the day after I'd met Alex. A few nights later, we'd hit it off so well that he'd stayed at my flat for dinner, and we'd laughed over how useless the stupid thing had been.

There was no point in ever buying another, because I knew I'd feel a pang of loss every time I used it.

No one in their right mind would agree to do the Trials. Not Alex, and not me. Our only option was to split and be reassigned.

When he came back, I didn't bother going to the door. I just waited for him to find me.

This was it. Our last moment together.

He appeared on the kitchen threshold with a bouquet of roses, a shopping bag, and a yowling cat basket.

"I made a detour to get Mitzy," he said. "Your mother would have been happy to keep her for several weeks now you've broken your ankle, but I had a feeling that this time, you wouldn't back down. So I saved you the trouble of fetching her."

He put the cat basket on the floor and opened it. A black ball of fur shot out and made an immediate U-turn, bolting between his legs and vanishing down the hallway. I had no doubt that she was going to reacquaint herself with her favourite sofa.

Alex stepped over the basket and offered me the bouquet. "Happy Valentine's Day."

The knot in my stomach slowly unwound, and I took it from him with a faint smile. "Thank you."

"As you're not so mobile," he continued, lifting the shopping bag, "and your sister will be here this evening, we might as well have dinner together now."

I blinked. He still wanted to have dinner? "Um...all right. But before we start that, could you put the roses in a vase? I don't think I can manage it like this."

"Of course." He raised an eyebrow. "And the vase would be...?"

"Oh, shit. I don't have one." I thought for a moment. "But I do have a jug in the cupboard furthest from the door."

Alex retrieved the jug and filled it with water, then plunked the flowers in. "Where do you want them?"

"Right next to me."

He put them on the counter. "You should really be sitting down."

"I know, but I can't. We need to talk."

"Yes." His expression hardened, and he finally stopped moving. "We do."

We stared at each other. The heating hummed to life, steady and soothing. My heartbeat slowed with it, a barrier of acceptance closing over me. It came with dull pain, but I was used to it: used to closing down when I looked at bodies; used to closing down back at school when people had taunted me; used to closing down after my father had lost working legs and I'd lost my uncle.

I would take the pain of losing Alex and simply bury it, because I couldn't cope with it any other way.

"You told me we can't have it all," he said slowly.

I nodded. "So this is it."

"I don't know. I nearly lost you again today, Amber. And now I don't want to let you go."

"But if we do the Trials, we're certain to fail. Everyone fails."

"One couple passed. You don't know whether the rest of them were good at their jobs or not. We are."

I blew out a sigh. "No, I don't know. I don't know anything. We were risking prison from the start -- but maybe I was cocky. I was confident we'd get away with it. Now..."

"Now we can find a way to make this relationship legal." Alex spread his hands. "Amber, I know I haven't been in Socrico very long, but we'd already agreed that what we have was enough to risk getting caught. Some people believe in love at first sight. Maybe I do, too. What I know for certain is that I've never experienced anything with anyone that feels the way it does when I'm with you." He held my gaze. "I choose you, Amber. I choose the Trials."

I stared at him.

He wanted this. He wanted to risk it all again for me.

He leaned against the opposite counter. "It's your call now."

I closed my eyes, my heart suddenly hammering back into action. God, what was I supposed to do?

Jasper's gunshot was still ringing in my ears with the roar of my blood, and I could still see Alex's face as he fell. The surprise, the defiance, the hint of fear. And I couldn't shake my own terror.

"Alex!"

Flying down the steps, bones snapping; panic crashing over me as I looked back up at the top of the staircase and saw no one there.

"Alex! Oh, God, no..."

"Amber."

I opened my eyes.

He'd come back to me, his head bent close. Not wanting to pressure me with his words, but asking with his touch as he ran his hands through my hair. His fingertips were light against my scalp, soothing.

Relief rushing through me when I saw him, alive.

"Yes," I said.

He pulled back. "Yes?"

"I was the one to start this. I needed you on New Year's Eve, and I still need you now." I balanced on one crutch and took his hand. "Alex, I know it's soon...but I think I love you."

"I think I love you, too." He cupped my cheek. "I believe in us. The Trials will be a challenge, but we can face them."

I released a shaky breath. "We can?"

"We can." He brought his lips down on mine. "We can do anything together."

He kissed me hard. I melted under his touch, my good hand pulling free of his so that it could rest on his neck. He tasted like Alex, familiar and right, and yet still so exciting.

Gratitude filled me with warmth. We were both alive, and we'd chosen to stay together. I knew now that this wasn't a temporary connection. It was striking us to the core; holding us together with a grip of iron. It was love.

Eventually, Alex pulled away, his hands on my waist. "Before we go any further: I'm still happy to have our Valentine's meal now instead of later. But if we're doing the Trials, we might as well follow our original plan and spend the night together."

I smiled. "I'll have to tell Cassia not to come and let her in on the secret, but I know she'll keep it until we apply. However, there's still one problem."

"What?"

I glanced at my ankle. "I don't think our original plan is going to extend to our night-time activities."

Alex lowered his mouth to mine again. "Really? I thought your cast was just another challenge..."