When I came into my office this morning, there was a bunch of flowers on my desk. I'll confess, I didn't notice them right away. I'd just been on the phone to my mother about visiting her this weekend and in all honesty was still fuming about how she always rings me when she thinks I haven't been to see her recently enough. So after grunting 'good morning' to the boys and flinging my coat onto the stand I turned around to see this bunch of flowers on my desk. Now, I'm no expert on flowers, I couldn't tell you what they were, but they were a nice bunch. Big, too. I turned around and ventured back into the main office. Brian was fiddling about with a stapler, Steve was making the coffee and Gerry was perched on the edge of his desk, grinning at me. That's how I knew it wasn't him; if he was responsible for anything that he thought I was about to find out, he'd be beavering away trying to avoid my eye. Steve glanced over and raised his eyebrows at Gerry; clearly they had spent the time since they'd arrived gossiping about my love-life, which up to a few months ago now, even I was convinced had long since done a u-turn and sped off to find a more worth-while occupation. Brian looked up at me, straight at me; even if the thought had crossed my mind that it might have been him, the accusatory stare that said he knew that I'd been keeping a terribly romantic and therefore private secret from the team would have convinced me otherwise.
"Erm…" I pointed behind me.
"Yeah," Gerry replied, his grin widening and preventing him from offering any other useful insights other than the confirmation that there was indeed a bunch of flowers on my desk and that they'd all seen them.
"They were here before us," Steve's ability to maintain a straight face was being equally challenged by the floral invasion.
"You got a boyfriend?" Brian clearly decided to skip straight to interrogation mode.
"No," I replied automatically and somewhat indignantly.
"Morning all."
Shit. Case review time.
"Morning, sir," I decided to close my office door behind me, keeping the flowers out of mind just for a few minutes while I could listen to the sound of his voice.
"Results are back from forensics," he handed Steve, who was nearest to him, the file. "And I've had the all clear from the security services for you to speak to …"
I honestly couldn't care what we were investigating, who the secret squirrels had deigned to let us speak to or what bearing it would have on the case, whatever it was. He wasn't looking at me. In fact, he was looking everywhere else except at me. Brian's bike, tucked away in the corner by his desk; Gerry's cigarette lighter on the corner of his desk, his fingers inches away from it, tapping slightly as though he'd been about to go for one before I'd arrived but then thought it funnier to watch me; even the crack on Steve's mug was more interesting apparently than looking at me.
"They're nice," he said pointedly nodding through the window of my office as he left.
"Sir," I followed him out and up the stairs to the square foot of space we had found where no-one could see us either from the office or the top of the stairs.
He looked around to make sure we were alone, as if anyone would venture down to UCOS without any real reason or purpose. "Did you read the card?"
"I, er, no, I've only just got it, phone call with my mother," I rolled my eyes.
"Ah, well I hope she doesn't want to see you tonight?" he asked, a hint of puppy-dog sadness in his eyes as he stepped close enough to me that I could smell his toothpaste, and placed his hands on my shoulders.
"No," I grinned. "Tonight," I glanced around too, apparently even I thought that any number of rogue pedestrians might find themselves in UCOS's dungeon. Seeing none, however, I snaked my arms around his hips and lifting my head just those few inches to kiss him on the lips. "Tonight, you have me all to yourself."
"Good," he replied, kissing me back. "But, you really ought to read the card."
"Sandra?" Gerry's voice called from the foot of the stairs. "You still there?"
I rolled my eyes again and poked my head back around the banister. "Yes, Gerry?"
"Put him down, we've gotta go out, fire at Masons."
"Right," I didn't register what he'd said as he went back into the offices and the door shut behind him, Rob suddenly taking my attention back with an it's-a-shame-we-have-to-go-back-to-work-now-but-I'm-going-to-make-damn-sure-you-won't-be-able-to-concentrate-for-the-next-ten-minutes kiss before skipping up the stairs back to his own duties. I went back to the office, collected my coat and bag and hesitated for a moment before plucking the card out of the flowers and sticking it in my pocket.
"You comin' or what?" Gerry grumbled.
"Yes," I said sharply, returning to the main office.
"Not you, 'im!" Gerry was pointing at Brian who was on the floor, clearly looking for some part of the stapler that he'd taken apart and was in bits on his desk.
"Aye, alright," Brian grumbled. "Ah-ha!"
Triumphantly holding whatever it was in the air, he stood up and looked about him.
"Congratulations," Steve complimented him as Gerry shook his head and followed the Scot out of the office.
"Come on," I told Brian, who looked terribly despondent at his victory having been so short lived.
"Have you read the card yet?" he asked me as we walked to the car-park, watching Gerry and Steve as they argued animatedly about something ahead of us.
"No," I replied shortly. "And it's none of your business."
"Fair enough," he said calmly and as we reached my car went to the passenger door.
"Hang on, you know who they're from, don't you?" suddenly Gerry's comment rang in my ears, Brian's look at the thought that I'd been keeping a secret. They knew. They'd probably known for ages.
"Just, read the bloody card," he said as we sat in the car and waited for Gerry to reverse out behind us.
I felt in my pocket for the little envelope that contained the card which had been held in the bunch of flowers, perhaps not so mysteriously placed on my desk that morning. I slipped it open and read the words on the plain white card that was in it.
See you in ten minutes, Rob x
Well, if it hadn't been for my mother, I would have been in the office earlier and it really would have been ten minutes. I smiled and started the engine. Brian stayed very quiet. If I'd taken a minute to think about it, his insistence that I read the card didn't really make sense.
"This isn't the way to Masons," I frowned, nine minutes later. "Where the hell is Gerry going?"
Brian refused to answer my question as Gerry indicated and pulled over. I followed suit and still frowning but getting no response, got out of the car.
"Gerry, what the hell, this isn't Masons."
"In there," he pointed through the park gates that we stood in front of.
Seeing that I wasn't going to go without a good reason, he took my arm and steered me down the path. "Look, I know you think you're good at keeping secrets, and sometimes, you are. But bear in mind that all of us have been married, we know when someone is."
"This is about Rob?" I queried rather unnecessarily.
"Yeah, now I reckon there's at least ten reasons why you didn't want us to know, but he thought of one really good one why we should."
"And what was that?" I was almost fuming, but then I caught sight of Rob coming towards us.
"I needed them to know, so that they could bring you here, it's as good a place as I could think of," he took Gerry's place at my side and continued to lead me down to the water's edge. It was the place we'd had our first picnic, in October, just before it had gotten that cold that no-one ever wanted to go outside to eat again, unless they could turn themselves into a polar bear. I think the others held back and watched from a distance, though most peripheral activity I was by this point unaware of, as he knelt in front of me and pulled a little box out of his pocket. "Sandra Pullman, will you marry me?"
Suddenly, finding a mysterious bunch of flowers on my desk that morning was the furthest thing from my mind.
Oh, and I said yes.