Real life has been getting in the way of late - new job, flu bug and an essay to write - but I have time again. This is a little something that came to me when I was procrastinating. No link to Insane Commitment, which might get finished one day.
I'm hoping to follow this up with another but I have no idea for the next snapshot.
Title: A Walk In The Park
Pairing: Grace/Boyd
Rating: PG
Spoilers: Up to and including season six is fair game
Feedback: Notes: This follows on from First Impressions
Disclaimer: Waking The Dead belongs to the BBC, the characters aren't mind except to play with and return unharmed.
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Grace pulled her woollen coat tighter around her frame and stamped her feet. It was November and bitterly cold. Probably not the right weather for a walk in the park but Boyd being Boyd had called her and asked her to meet him. There was something about him that made it almost impossible for her to refuse him although now he was running late she was beginning to curse him.
They hadn't seen each other in nearly six months and she had to admit he wasn't great at keeping in touch, except of course when he needed something. Grace could only imagine what he wanted this time.
"Grace."
She turned at the sound of her name and smiled.
Boyd finally trudged his way to her side, looking even colder than she felt. "I added the milk myself," he announced, handing her a cup of coffee.
"Thank you. Hello, Boyd." She waited for him to catch on to the niceties of conversation, clutching the mug for warmth.
He rolled his eyes. "Hey, Grace." He brushed his lips over her cheek and glanced around nervously.
"How have you been?" she asked, sipping the hot liquid and enjoying the warmth as it slid down her throat.
"I'm good, and you?"
"Great." She widened her smile as he continued to pull faces. "See that wasn't so bad."
Their friendship was a strange one, he had decided early on, but one that seemed to last despite his faults maybe because of them. Grace felt it was her role to groom him, at least as much as he was willing to let her, and he liked her intellectual mind although he could live without her constant questioning.
"So, what do you need?" she asked, starting to move along the path and hoping he would follow.
"What makes you think I need anything?" he asked, oblivious to his own transparency.
"You haven't called in six months, and then it was only because you wanted me to consult for you."
"I've been busy. Work and . . . I've met someone." He hesitated, still not entirely sure on what their friendship was based, or how much she needed to know about his personal life.
"And?" she held up a hand in question.
"She's, Jo's great. And there's a little boy."
Grace smiled genuinely, happy that he was over the end of his marriage and moving on. "You've certainly stopped aging quite so fast. So, is it a consult?"
Boyd took a long sip of his coffee and watched her over the mug before he spoke. "I'm finally heading up my own unit. Cold Cases. Spence is coming along for the ride and I have a forensic officer in mind but what I really want is a forensic psychologist." He continued to watch her as he allowed the words to sink in.
Grace stared back at him. "Are you offering me the job?"
"Yes."
"Me?" She sounded unconvinced as she started to move again, her mind spinning with possibilities.
He rolled his eyes dramatically. "You know it was easier to get you into bed."
She stopped walking, glaring back at him.
He sipped his coffee, acknowledging that he had mentioned the unmentionable. "You'll still be on the Home Office payroll so you'll still be earning more than me. You can write your books, your thesis, and do all the things you do. You'll just have an office next to mine and access to police files. . .," he trailed off.
Grace narrowed her eyes, considering the possibilities for a moment before answering. "No."
Boyd blinked. "No?"
"It wouldn't work." She started to walk again at a brisk pace, forcing him to catch up with her, hoping the conversation would be over.
"What? Not cushy enough?" he challenged, hoping to rile her.
"Yeah, Boyd. That's the reason." She turned slowly, controlling the anger he seemed to invoke in her. "If this is the way you hire staff you should seriously rethink it."
"Look," he sighed. "I want the best team I can get. I want you."
She allowed herself a small satisfied smile. "Well welcome to the world of adulthood where we don't always get what we want."
He wanted to scream and shout and throw a tantrum but he knew that would never work on Grace. "Grace, there's a basement full of boxes full of unsolved cases. Thousands of families who don't know why their loved one died. You'd get to visit the crime scenes, to see all the evidence, work as part of the team."
Grace wrapped her free hand tighter around her and sipped her coffee. "You're appealing to my . . . "
"You're a mother, Grace, wouldn't you want to know?" He pulled a face knowing he'd aimed a little low even for him. "Just think of it this way. You get to catch them rather than counsel them."
"It wouldn't be a walk in the park, Boyd. I'd badger you, I'd tell you when you were wrong. We'd argue almost daily. I'd probe areas of your psyche that even you want to keep hidden."
"So it would be a bit like being married to you?" Boyd teased.
"Except there won't be any conjugal benefits."
He looked slightly miffed, remembering their one encounter with fond memories.
"Boss," a voice called from down the path.
Boyd turned and held up his hand. "I'll be right there." He turned back to Grace. "I need to go. That's Spence. You'll like him."
She shook her head.
"What if you help us out on one case? See how it works. And it's probably only for a year."
"And somehow it morphs into seven," she predicted.
"If you're as good as you say you are."
Grace raised an eyebrow in question.
He was too embarrassed to admit he'd read her books and had learnt everything he knew about forensic psychology from her. "Well at least you'll have tried it." Seriously, he thought, it was easier to get her into bed.
Grace stopped moving finally and stood before him. "I don't know."
Boyd stared back at her.
"You're struggling not to beg me. The word please is on the tip of your tongue." She allowed herself a grin, knowing it was a word he couldn't or wouldn't use.
"Indulge me."
She had once, which was why she was standing in a park in November in the first place. "And if it doesn't work out?"
Boyd's lips quirked up into a smile as he turned and began to walk away. "You can say you told me so and walk away."
"And you'll admit you were wrong?"
"Don't push it, Grace." He waved his hand. "I'll call you."
Grace watched him go, still not sure what she was agreeing to, but knowing Boyd it wasn't going to be a walk in the park and she probably wouldn't come out of it unscathed.
The End