Note: I saw a video interview with EG on her site, and she was talking about Barbara's "new female boss". The plot bunny that popped into my head would just not go away, so here is a little story...

Note 2: My Havers and Lynley are the ones from the TV series... I find them a bit less "caricature" than the ones in the books. I do write canon more or less though, so this is after "Careless in Red".

NIGHTMARE

Havers woke up because the sun was tickling her nose, and sat up. She felt a wave of happiness and contentment roll over her, and swung her legs out of the bed and walked into her tiny kitchen. Some coffee, and then off to work. She smiled.

Lynley was due back in a week's time. He'd finished his walking, and thinking, and had started slowly to heal. He'd decided to come back to work, and Hillier had agreed. He wouldn't be Acting Superintendent anymore, since the Met had decided he was too vulnerable at the moment, and had advised they would appoint someone in his place. Stewart had applied, and Barbara was pretty sure he'd get the job.

Oh well. Not even Stewart as her boss could get her mood down today. Lynley was one of her most precious friends and she'd been so worried about him. She didn't delude herself that it would be easy, though. He'd been a man of a certain temper before Helen's death, and for sure he wouldn't be easier to handle now. Poor sod. Life would never be the same. She still missed her little brother, sometimes so much it hurt her entire chest. Time does not heal all, Barbara thought.

But still. Things might slowly resemble normality.

After finishing her coffee and getting dressed, she rushed over to Azhar's house to pick up Hadi. They had an agreement, she brought Hadi to or from school whenever she could, and he took care of her flowers and flat when she was away on a case.

Hadi was ready and waiting for her, so when she rang the bell, the little girl rushed out the door, jumping down the stairs and hollering:

"Bye, Daddy, see you after school!"

Barbara joined in:

Bye, Azhar, be good, ok?"

They giggled at each other...

Barbara arrived at work early. Hadi went to a school that had adopted the "continental hour", and started at 08.10 am, and Barbara was in the office at 08.30. She went to the ladies loo to comb her hair, which was all tousled up from chasing Hadi from the Tube station to the school, and pulled her polo shirt straight under her V-necked pullover. Winston had given it to her; it was a soft green colour to match her red hair. She discovered a chocolate smear on her black jeans leg, and luckily was able to wash it out with water and soap. Hadi was a very well behaved little girl, but she was still a little girl...

Barbara pulled her hair back and tailed it with a clasp Azhar had given her, and was ready to go.

2 minutes later she was already deeply involved in some very boring report writing, but it had to be done. Barbara had found that it was easier to work on the reports when the office was less crowded, and had started to do some extra early shifts and quite a lot of night shifts here and there. The night shifts helped keep her wallet filled, and since hers was mostly a supervisory position during nights, she got a lot of paperwork done. Plus, she was home in time to get Hadi to school, and could go and see her mother for an hour or two before getting home to sleep.

Another factor was that doing nights had kept her pristinely out of trouble. She'd had no run ins with Hillier whatsoever. He left the office at 6 pm most days, and Barbara had started pulling some 12 hour nightlies, the 7 to 7 being her favourite. Since she often had to work overtime anyway, why not schedule for it? Besides, Lynley had not been around, and she'd wanted to fill her days and nights...

After approximately half an hour, she could feel Winston approaching. Sure enough, he poked her gently in the shoulder:
"Hey Barb! Did you hear the news?"

When she looked up at him questioningly, he continued:

"They're presenting us with the new Super today!"

"Well, that should be Stewart, right?" Barbara grinned at him. "We can handle Stewart, right Wins?"

"Yeah, but I've heard this rumour that they're getting someone new, from outside, see. I was thinking maybe you'd heard something..."

Because Barbara was discreet and didn't gossip much, she was a person a lot of people talked to. But this time, she had heard nothing.

"Nah, we'll just have to wait and see. Please be a luvvie, and help me make the copies of this report? I'll get coffee for us in the meantime. "

She went into the little staffroom / kitchenette to get the coffee, and suddenly heard Hillier's voice boom over the office:

"This is the main office area, most personnel work in the open office area, and I'll show you to your office. Later I'll be introducing you to all the staff; I've called in everyone for a meeting at 10.00 am..."

Hillier's voice trailed off, and Barbara couldn't hear the new bloke's answer. So it was not to be Stewart then. He'd be bloody disappointed. He was a difficult chap to work with, but suddenly Barbara had a nervous, fluttering feeling in her stomach. What if the new chap was even more difficult?

She went back to her desk, where Winnie was waving excitedly at her:

"Hillier brought the new Super around! It's a lass! Not a bloke, eh! And young too! Who'd a thought that old Hills would pick a woman over Stewart eh?"

He stopped:

"What? Are you not excited? I thought you'd be pleased?"

"I dunno, Winnie. I just suddenly have such a bad feeling. I don't know at all..." She felt dreadful. What was wrong with her?

And then suddenly her worst nightmare came true.

Barbara wanted to sink under the floor and die. How was this possible?

Hillier walked back into the office space with no one other than a splendid looking Emily Barlow in tow.