He was watching her sleeping peacefully with the little girl cuddled up beside her. It was a sweet beautiful picture which ended their case in the most positive way.
Barbara and he had gotten this case although it wasn´t their special field: Kidnapping.
But the parents, Linda and Sam, were friends of Judith and had insisted on them.
Their little girl Lilian had disappeared on her way home from her grandmother only one street ago from where she lived.
There had been no sign of her or her kidnapper for two days and there wasn´t any demand for money or whatever. They were still groping in the dark when a letter arrived only saying: "Lilian´s okay!"
When checking the letter Barbara noticed that it was stamped in Durness.
They went to talk to the parents but both couldn´t think of a connection with Scotland at all. It was Judith who came up with a hint. She remembered that an old school friend of her and Linda always went on holiday to Durness with her family as they had a cottage there. Now Linda remembered that she had met this friend, Jane a few weeks ago and talking about her three kids Jane told her that she wasn´t able to get children herself.
With this knowledge Barbara and Tommy drove up north and with the help of the local police they found the cottage. They observed it for some hours and when Jane left the house she was arrested by the locals and Barbara and Tommy went in the house and found the little girl locked up in a room under the roof. Luckily Lilian looked unharmed and talked to them without fear. Somehow Jane had convinced her that it was a big adventure.
Now still watching them sleep Tommy remembered how wonderful his sergeant had been. After they got the pieces together she was the one who forced the whole thing up as always when children were involved. Tommy remembered her saving little Leo and how caring she had been with Nicki at the caravan park.
Here it had been the same, the moment they had found Lilian Barbara was the one the girl trusted immediately.
So Barbara went to a medical check with the girl while Tommy interviewed Jane. In the end she confessed that she kidnapped the girl because she desperately wanted a child and as she couldn´t conceive a child herself and she thought after meeting Linda that having three she could spare one. Tommy somehow felt sorry for her being so desperate to take a step like kidnapping….
So after the check up and also giving their statements Barbara and Tommy only wanted to drive home and bring Lilian to her anxiously waiting parents.
Then it had happened: Due to a heavy snowstorm they only made it to Stirling before driving became impossible and too dangerous.
As it really was no option to drive on Tommy stopped at the first hotel and was just in time to get the last vacant room which luckily was a family room. It was quite big with a seating area, a double and a single bed and an en-suite bathroom.
Being totally worn out and tired as it was already 7 pm and they hadn´t slept much the night before Barbara didn´t object that is was a quite expensive and noble hotel.
But being her practical self she made a fast dash to the nearby superstore to buy at least a toothbrush for the girl. As it was quite a big store she also got a pyjama and some fresh clothes for Lilian together with a little stuffed bear.
Tommy looked mesmerized at her when she returned as he hadn´t thought about this things at all.
After a small supper in the hotel restaurant they went upstairs and after talking to her parents on the phone and telling them she was okay (she was really though for a seven year old girl) she went with Barbara to the bathroom to get ready for bed as it was 9 pm already and they wanted to start early the next morning if the weather would allow it.
When they came out Tommy got in to get ready too. He could hear Lilian begging for a bedtime story and to his total amazement Barbara started with a story without hesitation.
He tried to do everything as silent as possible to listen to Barbara´s voice. It was a fairy tale by the Brothers Grimm he vaguely remembered. It was about two brave and courageous girls called Snow-white and Rose-red who rescued a prince and his brother from the spell of a very nasty little dwarf.
At one point he stopped doing anything at all and just listened until the end.
When he got out both Barbara and Lilian were fast asleep. Tommy didn´t know how long he had been standing there watching them but going over to the single bed now he thought it was a shame that Barbara didn´t have children of her own. She would be a terrific mom at least in his opinion.
After lying down for a few minutes it suddenly hit Tommy like a lightening. He only liked the idea of Barbara having children when they were also his children.
He sat up again looking over to the peacefully sleeping Barbara.
There was no longer a way to deny it, he was in love with his sergeant and had been for quite some time he now realized.
It was something he had to think about more and then try to find out if she feels the same for him perhaps with a bit persuasion from his side. Thinking already more about it, it was something he already looked forward to.
With this thought Tommy also went to sleep with a smile on his face.
A/N: This is just a short story that came to my mind the other day, not that much of a crime plot but I hope it is not that bad and as always thanks for reading.
