Neo surveyed the scene with a grimace. It was already dark, but the floodlights showed off everything with cold clarity.

The remains of a body were being brought out piece by piece and assembled on a tarp. They had stabilised the tunnel behind the partition enough that Colin and his team were down there trying to gain any piece of evidence, though Neo wasn't hopeful.

He could see the flashing blue lights through the trees, the only sign that he was in civilisation. In one of them, Charlie was being seen to, her statement taken, since she refused to leave the scene.

'Chief,' Gwilt said gruffly.

Neo nodded in his direction but remained silent as he watched Barry comb over the body, though by this point, it was nothing more than a skeleton.

Barry sat back on his hunches for a few seconds before he rose and approached the two waiting officers.

'What are we looking at, Barry?' Neo's voice was laced with fatigue. He was fed up with finding nothing but death every time he went looking for the Bennett family. It felt like an ominous sign that he was struggling to shake.

Barry removed his mask and cleared his throat.

'A teenage male, passed the age of puberty. Difficult to say what caused death.' He pointed to the cracked skull. 'The tunnel collapse could have easily caused this skull fracture. It could have caused 97% of his injuries.'

'And the other 3%?' Neo watched as Barry considered his next words.

The pathologist walked back to the body and carefully picked up the radius bone. He pulled a magnifier from his kit and examined it once more. When he'd seen it the first time, he wondered whether the fading light had tricked him, but the marks remained whichever way he moved it.

He placed it carefully back on the tarp, trying to give the body as much dignity as he could.

'We're still missing everything below the forearms,' Gwilt pointed out. 'Though the teams are still excavating the collapse. It's possible they'll find more.'

'I highly doubt they will,' Barry responded. 'The marks on the boy's radius and ulna indicate they were likely sawn off. Hacked might be a better description,' he finished bluntly, painting a bleak picture for Neo and Gwilt.

'And there is no way that the tunnel collapsing could have done this?' Gwilt wiped his brow and stared at the remains uneasily.

'No. It would have been a sharp instrument. More likely an axe or large knife.'

'Would he have been alive when it happened?'

Barry looked at Neo, shaking his head. 'I don't know, Neo. I doubt we'll ever know. If he had been, then the blood loss would have killed him.'

Neo nodded, knowing that would have been the answer, but he'd hoped Barry would have said no. The idea that someone had mutilated the boy whilst he'd still been alive was hard to swallow, especially with his own kids waiting for him at home.

'So his hands were deliberately sawn off?' Gwilt grimaced. 'Why would anyone do something like that?'

'Why indeed?' mused Neo.

'How long until you can identify him?' Gwilt asked, throwing Neo a look of confusion at his statement.

Barry shook his head. 'It'll take a little while to piece the skull together to get dental records, but pieces of his clothing have survived. If we're lucky, we'll get some DNA we can use.'

'I want it checked against Jack Teece first,' demanded Neo, watching as the other two shared a look.

'You really think it's him?' Gwilt tapped on his phone, logging Neo's command.

'I think there's a reason the individual investigation never found a sixteen-year-old that had little money and no connections,' Neo replied vaguely.

The sound of crunching leaves behind them made all three men turn to see a shaky Charlie walking towards them.

She looked like a strong breeze could knock her over, a blanket wrapped around her shoulders and a blank expression covering her face. Her expression faltered as she took in the body laid out. Her lips quivered as she tried to form words, but just couldn't. Nothing she said could make it better.

Neo stepped up to her and waited till her eyes met his. 'How are you doing?'

She shook her head, looking back towards the police cars. 'I've never gone to pieces like that.' She screwed her eyes shut, shutting out the pitying looks she was receiving. She didn't want them and neither did she deserve them. It wasn't her skeletal remains laid out for the world to see. It wasn't her life that had been cut short. She wasn't the real victim.

Not caring who saw, Neo wrapped an arm around her.

'After everything that's happened, that's the most natural response. You're not letting anyone down by giving into your emotions,' he reminded her gently.

'Neo's right. There's only so much a person can handle. Sometimes we just need to let it out,' assured Barry.

Gwilt shuffled his feet before agreeing. 'Cut yourself some slack, you can't be perfect all the time.' He smiled at her, making Charlie's mouth drop open.

The last thing she expected was kind words from the Sergeant who had made no reservations about not wanting her on the case.

'Come on, there's nothing more we can do here. You're staying at mine tonight,' Neo said, allowing for no arguments. 'I'm not letting you be alone tonight.'

As Neo and Charlie left the scene, he saw Gwilt hand over a collection of notes to a grinning Barry. That was one bet lost.

                                                                                  ***

The car ride back to Neo's home was quiet. They'd only made one stop at Charlie's to pick up a few of her things.

Now, cradled in her hands, was the picture of her and her four friends. She'd teared up at the sight of the photograph sitting on her kitchen table. It was the same one that Willow had remarked on.

It was a reminder that they had been happy once, and in that moment, she needed the reminder because after all the lies and half truths her friends had told her; she was beginning to doubt it.

'Shit,' Neo cursed.

An unknown car sat in his driveway, and there was only one person who it could belong to. Samira.

'Neo, I don't want to cause more trouble. You can just take me home,' mumbled Charlie, her voice scratchy from all her crying.

'No. This is my home and I want you here. Fuck whatever Samira wants. I'm done dancing to her tune.'

Charlie looked at him as he looked at her. She nodded once and got out of the car, pulling her duffel bag from the back seat.

Neo walked in first as Willow came bounding from the kitchen.

'Dad. Charlie.' She breathed a sigh of relief. 'I was starting to get worried...' Her sentence trailed off when she took in Charlie's broken expression.

Not needing to think about her next steps, Willow rushed at Charlie and hugged her with everything in her.

It took Charlie aback, and she looked to Neo with blind panic, but he only squeezed her shoulder in comfort.

'Willow? Is that Neo?' Samira's voice broke the sweet moment a second before she appeared at the end of the hallway.

Her lips thinned when she took in her daughter hugging Charlie, though Neo could tell she was trying to smother the emotion.

'Charlie's staying with us tonight,' Neo announced. Samira blinked in surprise, but Willow only pulled back and took Charlie's hand.

'I'll get you settled.' She smiled and led Charlie up the stairs.

Neo was intensely proud of his daughter as she took command of the situation and also surprised. He could feel the edge of protectiveness in her gaze as it clashed with Samira, as if daring her to stop her helping Charlie. He hadn't noticed the relationship between Charlie and his daughter blossom into something more.

Samira remained silent as the two went upstairs before she turned to Neo with an ugly look on her face.

'So you and that Charlotte Hoggins then?'

Neo rolled his eyes, not surprised that Samira had committed the name to memory.

'She's helping me on a case and it's been a difficult day for her. She needs support.'

Samira snorted. 'Oh fuck off, Neo, you're sleeping with her.'

Dante shuffled from the living room, looking deeply uncomfortable. 'I ah um upstairs.' He choked before dashing for cover with Charlie and Willow.

Neo watched him go with a frown before taking off his jacket and hanging it up.

'Are you going to answer me?' Samira demanded.

Neo glared at her as he brushed passed her into the kitchen.

Dishes littered the kitchen, making him cringe. Samira had always been a good cook, but she'd always been messy. It appeared, despite their years apart, that had not changed.

He dumped the dishes in the sink since it was apparent Samira had no intention of doing them before pulling two beers from the fridge.

'I don't see that it's any of your business,' Neo replied easily.

'Not my business? Are you serious right now, Neo? This woman is in the house with my kids. How do I know she's even safe to be around?' Samira fumed.

Neo popped the tops off the bottles and pulled a few snacks from the cupboards. He was in no mood to faff around trying to prepare a meal. Not only would that require effort, it would require more time away from Charlie, and right then, she needed him more than a gourmet meal.

'She's safe. You don't have to worry about that,' Neo replied tensely.

'Really? Cause from what I see, I don't think my kids are in the greatest hands.'

Neo swivelled round to see her folding her hands across her chest.

'What the hell does that mean?' he growled.

'It means that if I hadn't been here, who would have seen to Willow and Dante? How many nights are they here alone? How many nights are you so caught up with work that you neglect what they need?'

Neo shook his head angrily. 'You really have the audacity to lecture me on neglect after you were the one who walked out on us?'

'You're the one that made staying in our marriage so insufferable and you turned my own kids against me,' screamed Samira, her wavy hair flying around her face.

Neo scoffed. 'It's not my fault if the kids see you for the poisonous person you really are. As for our marriage, you're right, it was insufferable. And now I want you out of my house.'

'You're going to stop me seeing my kids?' Samira raged.

'No, I would never hurt them that way. But that doesn't mean I have to put up with your attitude. After all, I don't have to anymore; the perks of a divorce.'

Samira grabbed her bag and scowled at him. She pulled a bundle of documents from her bag and threw them on the table.

'I want full custody of the kids. I've already filled all the relevant documents with the courts. And don't expect me to back down.' She smirked at Neo's crushed expression.

'What? Why would you do this?' The fight drained out of Neo as he watched Samira straighten, a predatory glint in her eye.

'Because they're mine and I always get what I want.' With that, she strutted out of the house, leaving Neo silent in the kitchen.

A minute after the front door slammed shut, Willow and Dante eased into the room.

Neo tried to rearrange his expression into something other than the absolute devastation he felt. The last thing he needed was to scare his kids.

'She's not really going to make us live with her, is she?' Dante asked. 'Cause I don't want to dad, I want to stay here with you.' He raced forward and clung to Neo. 'I don't want to go with mom.' He sniffled.

'She can't do this,' Willow whispered, tucking under Neo's other arm.

Neo hugged his kids tightly. 'We'll figure this out, don't worry about it,' he reassured them, though he felt less hopeful.

After some more reassurances, he convinced Willow and Dante to head to bed. Just as he was about to enter his bedroom, he realised the problem he'd created for himself. With Charlie in his room, that meant that he was relegated to the settee.

He was about to walk downstairs when his kids stopped him.

'We like Charlie,' Dante said simply, before shutting his bedroom door.

'I think what Dante means is that we're cool if you like her, dad. We want you to be happy as well.' She grinned at him and closed her own door.

Neo stood frozen as he stared at the two closed doors before he chuckled to himself. He had good kids.

He walked into his bedroom with at least one weight lifted off his shoulders. He could tell that Charlie was still awake and was proven right when she turned to watch him ease under the covers.

'I wasn't sure you'd be joining me,' she said.

'Well, I was going to bring you a snack and a drink, but things got in the way,' he admitted.

'I heard. Will Samira really take you to court over the kids?'

Neo swallowed hard. 'If I know her right, then yes. She doesn't make empty threats.'

Charlie was silent as she stared up at him. 'You know if you need anything, I'll do everything I can for you, Willow and Dante.'

Neo cradled her head against his shoulder and entwined their legs. It was intimate, and he loved it. He hadn't felt like this with any woman, not even his ex wife. He'd never met someone who made him feel so vulnerable and yet strong at the same time.

'I'm supposed to be the one comforting you,' he reminded her.

She chuckled softly. 'You are. I'm just returning the favour.'

And that was the difference between Charlie and Samira. Samira took everything simply because she could, whilst Charlie gave everything she had and more.

It reminded Neo once again of the choices he'd made, and yet he knew he'd make the same ones again. Because he was realising just how much he'd let Charlie Hoggins into not just into his case, but also his heart.