Author's usual notes and disclaimer: I don't own any of the original characters nor the original Inspector Lynley Mysteries – they belong to Elizabeth George and the BBC. I have borrowed the characters from the TV-Show and solely own the ideas of my stories and the developments I've let them go through.
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Author's note and summary: This is a little folly. Don't take it too serious. Due to a certain kinkiness it might be a tad above T-rating. It's Barbara's birthday and she gets a few presents from her best friend Angela. Later Tommy paid a visit. Enjoy...
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Toyboys
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It was her birthday. Barbara got up late because it was the second of her four days off from work. She let the day pass with a few cups of coffee and a late luxurious breakfast at about 1 pm in a pub near her flat that served it all day. In the early afternoon after a long hot soak in her tub she was expecting her best friend Angela for tea and scones but other than that she had no obligations. Well, maybe also kill at least one of the bottles of champagne she had bought at Marks and Sparks in a moment of frolic.
Angela arrived in time when tea was ready. She brought a huge package wrapped in colourful paper.
They only had one cup of tea. Drinking the more interesting bubbly liquid the friends had a lot of fun unpacking all the stuff a woman of her age would need in the mocking opinion of Angela: a cooling eye mask, skin cream, a set of make-up, a stripe of ten vouchers for the tanning shop, a plastic book with artistically valuable black and white photographs of naked and half naked beautiful men. Barbara gave her friend a confused look.
"You can take it to the tub with you if you like. It's damp wipeable." Angela chuckled. Barbara joined her amusement and unpacked the next small thing. This one made her blush.
"Angela!" she exclaimed holding up a glittering pink piece of plastic in a ridiculously obvious shape.
"Turn it on!" Angela laughed pointing at the button at one end. The miserable midi-sound of the tower clock's bells suddenly filled Barbara's living room. She had to laugh so hard she almost slipped from her sofa.
The afternoon was filled with champagne and a lot of laughter from the women talking about men in general, Barbara's boss in particular and telling each other which funny things they had in their baths and bedrooms. And at the moment Angela, three years older than Barbara, fancied a very sporty young man at the age of 19. She was calling him her newest toy and had a lot of saucy stories to tell.
That young man surely was waiting for her right now and so she left Barbara's flat early in the evening.
"Just so you can try one of your new toys." she suggested after she had called for a taxi. "Or why don't you ring your boss?"
"Shut up, Ange, and get off!" Barbara was not really angry with her best friend. They packed her stuff and not ten minutes later a car hooted.
"See you next week, love." Angela kissed Barbara's cheek. "We're going to that massage, if you want it or not!"
"Yes, yes, we will." Barbara sighed with a winking eye. "Now hurry off to your lover!"
Just a minute after she had closed the door behind the tall woman Barbara's door bell rang. "Ange! Forgot something?"
"Yes, another sip of this!" Angela emptied one of the half full glasses and grinned into Barbara's quizzical expression before explaining "It wasn't my taxi. But you know what? I'll have a fag at the kerb while I wait. See you!"
She left again. Only one minute later the doorbell rang again. It was Angela extending her arm thus keeping the lit cigarette in her hand away from Barbara's door. "Sorry, I'm too distracted. I've forgotten my purse. Could you please...?"
Laughing Barbara brought her the little piece of pink leather and waved goodbye. She waited a few moments before she closed her door again and began to tidy up. There were too many toys lying around. It only would distract her from the old James Bond film she was about to see later.
Not another two minutes later the doorbell rang once more. Barbara laughed out loud and opened the door.
"What now, Ange? Oh..."
A huge bouquet of roses blocked her sight.
"Happy birthday, Barbara!" The voice of DI Lynley was heard behind the flowers.
"Umm..." Quickly Barbara tried to hide the thing she still was holding but there was no place she could put it and the flowers moved closer to her so he had no choice but to take them covering the ten inches of black rubber with her hand somehow. The Inspector should not see them.
Lynley waved a bottle of fine champagne. "I'm sorry, I'm a little late. Ardery had pestered me with another of her... ah... weird ideas."
"I suppose she knew you would want to drop by here." Barbara smiled understanding. She was too relaxed to fence off the usual restraint so then she told him exactly what she was thinking about their superior. Maybe one or the other drop of champagne could have played a small role in that too. "She hates me. She envies me for the friendship between you and me. And she knows about my birthday. She just wants you to herself and not here."
"I'm afraid this won't happen." He broadly grinned. "And today I'm all yours."
"Mmh, nice prospect." Barbara murmured turning.
"What?"
"Please come in."
Her telephone rang but she ignored it. She expected nobody important - Nkata already had called, Lafferty had sent his wishes via text message, Ange had been here, Lynley was here. And her arms were preoccupied with that bouquet anyway. That was the reason why she was unable to stop her old answering machine from blaring into her living room three rings later.
"Barbs! Why don't you pick up your mobile?" Angela ranted. Then she snorted a laugh. "Or is he already there? You wouldn't believe it, but I've seen your handsome Inspector's car coming my way."
"Handsome?" Lynley chuckled.
She had been on the way to her bathroom to get a bucket for the flowers but hearing Angela talking Barbara hurried to stop her revealing more of their conversations from earlier. Unfortunately handling the flowers, the hidden ten inches and the tiny button on her answer machine was too much all at once. Everything dropped and the voice of her friend still could be heard from the floor.
"He's surely dropping by. You could try your new toys with- oh, wait, no!" Angela's jingling laugh could be heard. "There will be no need fo-"
[SCRUNC]
Seeing Lynley raising a quizzical eyebrow at the words 'new toys' Barbara quickly had stepped on the answering machine. "I'll need a new one..." she murmured.
"Aww... it was just becoming interesting..." the DI laughed and picked up the flowers. "So, I'm handsome, eh? Here. You've dropped your- oh..."
"Oh, nooo." Barbara groaned embarrassed and blushing from head to toe. Carefully Lynley placed the ten inch real shape dildo on the coffee table where she quickly snatched it off. "Sir, don't- ...you shouldn't get any wrong ideas. Really, I wasn't... err... In fact Angela has given me a rather... kinky collection of presents for my birthday. I..."
There was no need to tell him that this one here was in very regular use.
Seeing him smiling amused and still watching that ten inch thing now encircled by her fingers she shrugged and left for her bathroom. Any words would only pull her deeper into that hole of shame. Also these flowers needed water. Quickly.
A bucket would have to do for them because unfortunately she had no vase of that size. This unplanned visit by her boss was turning rather weird so a weird container was more than suitable. When she returned with the bright yellow plastic bucket full of water Tommy had sat down on the sofa and now was browsing through the plastic book with naked men that still had been openly lying there.
Barbara ripped it from his hands. "That's not for your eyes, Sir! It's for women only! And it's... private!"
With anger she tossed it into the cardboard box where the other toys already had landed.
Her boss nodded apologising. "I'm sorry, I didn't want to intrude."
"You shouldn't have seen it at all, Sir. You shouldn't have seen none of these things! It's..." She felt awful. Not that he now knew what sort of toys she had, he also would think she was lonely - which she was if she was honest with herself but that was not the point - and the secrets Angela had left on her answer machine only had made it worse. A change of the topic was very much indicated. "Can I get you something to drink?" she grumpily asked. The red colour never had left her face.
At first Lynley did not answer. He only bored a pair of sad eyes into hers. "You don't have to be ashamed, Barbara. You might not believe it but I am a lonely man and very well know how it sometimes feels late in the night. Actually I..." Realising what he was about to reveal he suddenly blushed. Then he shrugged and picked at an invisible lint on the cushion. "Well, whatever..." he sighed.
Barbara was shocked. "Umm... bubbly, Sir?" Her voice slightly pitched and she was too loud to sound normal but she tried to divert the conversation and so she raised the bottle of her champagne. They quickly had to step on safer and less embarrassing grounds.
"Sure." Lynley also seemed to be relieved that she had changed the subject. "But not this one."
Nonetheless he took the bottle from her hands, ignored her asking expression and filled the glass with the champagne only to empty it with one big gulp. There still were a few drops in the bottle so he poured them into the glass then and downed it too.
"Good." he finally said fighting with all the carbon dioxide that suddenly was searching a way out of his stomach. "Now for the good stuff."
Carefully he fidgeted with the foil of the cork on the bottle that he had brought with him.
It made Barbara laugh. "You know, Sir, every normal person would have taken a pull on the bottle."
"Aha?"
"Yes. But not you. You're decently using a glass even when you're just about to kill the remains. If my cheap champagne is so horrible why haven't you just disposed of it into the sink?"
"No champagne should be wasted." he said with utter conviction. "My mother would have killed me if I had done that! And to be honest - I had to catch up. You've already had a glass or two with your friend, right?"
"Yah, just celebrating with Ange and talking girl's stuff."
"...and exchanging experiences?"
Barbara's eyes widened in shock.
[BANG!]
The cork of the bottle flew away. Her boss' cheeky grin made Barbara blush again.
Despite the horribly embarrassing moments in the beginning the evening developed into a wonderful time for the very good, if not the best of friends. Actually it turned into a rather frolic and enjoyable night. They had the entire bottle of his expensive champagne and another bottle of hers and in the end they both even had a bottle of beer she had found in her fridge and two glasses of the Scotch she held hostage just in case Tommy would appear at her doorstep and needed to talk. And that's what they did for hours while they slowly got inebriated. They talked almost completely open about age, solitude, friendship, love in general and their exhausting job at the Met which sometimes made them think about retiring soon. They even playfully flirted at one or the other sizzly occasion but one of them both always stopped halfway on the way before it turned dangerous. It was a dangerous game anyway with a lot of rather weird moments.
Late in the night, long after midnight, they were rather drunk.
"You, Sir, aren't drivin' anywhere t'night." Barbara slurred getting up from the sofa when he had suggested to call a taxi and had kissed the back of her hand as a way of saying his goodbye to her. Unable to suppress her girlish giggles she held out the other hand to him. Her eyes twinkled. "Come, Tommy, my bed's big enough for two."
She swayed a bit and almost fell into his lap when he tried to get up too. She boisterously laughed but kept her stance.
"Woohoo." he exclaimed. Tommy was not much less drunk. He put an arm around her shoulders and kissed her hair. "Ah, I'll get me a glass o' water before I sleep. Hehe - it'd be bedder for the head..."
Three minutes later he followed her to her bedroom. She already laid in bed, clearly still in a shirt or pyjama top but offering the empty side with an invitating gesture so he undressed rather clumsy and dropped onto the mattress right next to her.
"Good night, Barbara." he murmured.
" 'night. Tommy." she answered.
Their heads moved close and as if they were doing this on a daily basis they exchanged a small sweet kiss. It only lasted two seconds. Then Barbara sighed with a contented smile and cuddled into his chest without re-opening her eyes. Just one deep breath later she was asleep. Tommy had to carefully reach across her body to turn off the lights.
Although she stirred she probably did not hear the gentle words he whispered into her ear nor did she feel the soft kiss he pressed onto her temple.
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