Title: How I Got Here
Author: luvsbitca
Prompt Song: Forevermore by Katie Herzig
Characters/Pairing: Gen (with hints at future James/Robbie)
Rating: General
Wordcount: 915
Warnings: Nothing
Summary: Robbie Lewis knew exactly how he'd ended up here. He just wasn't entirely sure how he'd come to this point.

How I Got Here
by luvsbitca

Robbie Lewis knew exactly how he'd ended up here. He just wasn't entirely sure how he'd come to this point.

He was sitting across the table from a very lovely woman named Lucy. She owned his local hairdressers and occasionally trimmed his hair while flirting with him a little. She was a lovely woman from Liverpool who'd been married twice, had a couple of grown up children, and thought Robbie was nice. They were on a date. They were at a bar that was too little like the local pub and not enough like the hole-in-the-wall places that James took him to for Robbie to be comfortable. There was a recycled wooden railway sleeper bar and battered stainless steel tables. He had wine in front of him in a stemless glass because this was not the sort of place to order a pint. It simply wasn't the type of place he'd have come to on his own. Lucy was straight-forward though and Robbie was enjoying her company even if he didn't entirely know what to make of the bar or the woman in the corner singing.

He knew why he was out on a date that he didn't really want to be on. He'd pushed James again; the lad spent half his time as a copper not seeming too happy to be one, and the rest either asleep or with Robbie. It suited Robbie just fine and for the most part he was selfish enough to enjoy it and deliberately not think about what was eventually going to happen when somebody, he still wasn't sure of the answer there, saw through the haze of cigarette smoke to the pretty amazing man underneath. Occasionally, mainly after talking to his Lyn who always seemed a little surprised at just how much time he was spending with James, he'd start to feel bad for taking advantage of the lad. Then he'd say something to James about expanding his horizons and suddenly the comfortable life that Robbie had was thrown off kilter until James forgave him and went back to doing it all the same again.

This time though…this time James had turned around and looked at him, that one particular look that always made Robbie worry, and had called him on his double standard. Why didn't Robbie have to go out and meet people? Why was it okay for Robbie to have a comfortable, maybe a little boring but definitely not empty, life but that wasn't good enough for James? Robbie hadn't had a good reason because yes, he'd lost Val, and yes, he had kids who were grown up and enjoying themselves, and yes, he was a little on the grey side of middle aged but he knew James wouldn't accept any of those reasons.

So here he was. On a date he didn't really want to be on with a woman he rather liked…just not in the way that he was supposed to on a date. Listening to a woman sing about love and he couldn't stop thinking about what his James would say.

"…come out and play with me,

And bring your dollies three,

Climb up my apple tree,

Slide down my rainbow into my cellar door…"

She had a lovely voice, Robbie had to admit, but it certainly didn't make sense with the tone of the song. Rather blue as his sergeant would say. Robbie could almost hear James' laconic comment about Disney and sex. He'd probably get a lecture on the sanitation of fairy tales from the original folk tale.

Robbie knew it wasn't unusual to think about other people on a date – the mind was an amazing thing and he knew more about stream of consciousness now than he had before he'd met James. He knew he shouldn't be wishing his sergeant was here though.

He had come to enjoy having James' company a little more than he was comfortable admitting at the moment. He disliked the idea that James would find someone else to spend his evenings with, someone else to say things to that were in turn lazy and biting. Robbie was not sure what any of it meant…or wasn't willing to admit anything if he was but he was a selfish bugger at heart and he just wanted to return to his flat, find James there, and spend the evening with him.

Robbie knew he was a terrible date but Lucy liked the singer so much she didn't seem to notice that he was a million miles away. When they said goodnight she smiled at him gently and suggested he come to one of her divorced and widowed outings. He knew it for the offer of friendship it was and thought he might take her up on it…one weekend when James was off being a humanitarian or at a festival.

Robbie walked home alone and let himself into a dark and empty flat. It was the exact opposite of what he wanted to find. He knew he shouldn't but he pulled out his mobile anyway and called James. It rang out. Robbie sighed and went to bed. The next day he woke up to a message from James asking if he'd like to go to the pub for brunch. He smiled and slowly typed out a response. He was going to tell James that he liked things just the way they were and he wasn't going to say anything next to Lyn made him question their friendship.

The End