Solid Ground

One

A/N: Afternoon all! Here's the start of Diana and Steve's journey. As stated before, these won't be in order - just this one and the last, which are set in Season Six.

"So, you saw her then? Is she alright?"

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It was a typical Friday night - for Steve and I, anyway.

After a gruelling day of doing practically nothing, Steve and I found ourselves back at my house. Consuming copious amounts of takeaway. I was slightly tipsy from a bottle of red, whilst Steve was two bottles deep into a pack of six Peroni's. Both of us curled up on the sofa. Steve always took the left, I the right.

Taking a rather elongated sip, Steve just seemed to huff in response, "She's fine. Who wouldn't be? Over at Polk, away from the likes of us."

"Don't be bitter Steven."

"Believe me, I've tried not to be but-" Steve couldn't finish. Instead, taking another drink of beer. He focused his attention back on the television, where a crappy, and rather uninteresting talk show played.

But I wasn't done, "Kate wanted a change. There's nothing wrong with that. We should be thankful that for once, she's happy."

It took him a moment, then Steve shifted, his gaze meeting mine. I raised a brow, causing him to chuckle softly and return to watching the television.

On the other hand, I found myself just staring at Steve, unable to tear my eyes away. There were a number of things occurring in my brain. Maybe it was the wine? Surely that wasn't causing the flutterings. No, that had been there for quite some time.

He's my best friend. There's not much more to it than that. Steve Arnott was the waist coated light of my life, and when I say that I couldn't live without him, that wouldn't be an exaggeration. He liked beer and football. A hot curry after work. I hated beer, had zero interest in football and couldn't stand curry. But that didn't matter. Not to us. That's what made our friendship so special. If Steve could handle the odd episode of Married at First Sight (the Australian version, not the British,) then I could withstand attending a football match or two. We're different, but so alike. That's what made us. I knew that, regardless of if he had a relationship, I was his rock - his one constant, as he had been mine for so long.

But now he wanted to transfer, leaving AC-12 behind, just as Kate had done eighteen months before.

The thought of Steve relocating made my chest hurt. It was selfish of me, but I didn't want him to go. There was still time. He hadn't made up his mind just yet. Work had been kicking his arse recently. This was due to unsolved murder of journalist, Gail Vella. It was an incredibly tragic murder and naturally, the handling by DCI. Davidson was starting to botch. Over the last two years, I'd had a few dealings with the DCI in question, majority of them ending with the biting of tongues and keeping my mouth shut. I wasn't Steve. I couldn't get myself in trouble, not again. Rather than get caught up in my thoughts, I found myself reaching for my glass of Merlot and settling into Steve's side. He was warm and luckily, didn't mind the intrusion; his arm going around me like it was supposed to be there. After all these years he was used to it.

//

Steve tried to focus on the tv. He tried his hardest, his very hardest, but no matter what - he couldn't. Not with Diana nestled to close to his side. After six years, he'd grown accustomed to seeing her, at AC-12, socially on the weekends and one thing was for certain, that without her, he'd be lost. Unable to properly function. It never mattered what he did - Almost ruined the cases; ended up in hospital after being thrown down stairs (he still hadn't lived that one down, physically and with Diana); the many failed relationships and after all that happened with Dot, she was there. Still by his side.