Disclaimer: This story is for fan purposes only. The characters are property of their respective owners (not me!) and are used here without permission.
Dr Laura Hobson was examining a corpse inside St. Peter's church when a PC informed her that the inspector had arrived. She looked up and smiled as she saw a tall silhouette in the arched threshold of the church. Enter Inspector James Hathaway- newly minted by CID.
Hobson thought about all the times she'd had to ask Robbie Lewis if Hathaway was OK after finding a body or getting tangled up with a suspect… she'd hardly been surprised when he'd chucked it in to eke out a living as musician. Yet here he was now, back on the police force and assigned to the case of a murdered priest. The crime had Hathaway written all over it, and Hobson could hardly imagine anyone else investigating. "Plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose," she called out to him and found that her voice echoed irreverently through the church.
Hathaway approached Hobson and said, a bit more discretely than she, "the more things change…"
"…the more corpses will turn up in Oxford just so that you have something to do." She finished for him.
"Good to see you, Doctor."
"Likewise. Where's your partner, James?"
"I could ask you the same thing, but adding the adjective domestic. We got the call together, but he told me to go on ahead; he'd meet me here. He said he had a brief errand to run. Probably forgot something he needs to fix your supper." He liked to tease Lewis about how he spoiled Hobson, who worked longer hours than he did these days.
"So it's not egg and chips again? No matter, I doubt he'll have time to cook tonight anyway; you're both going to be rather busy, I'm afraid." With that, she launched into the findings of her cursory examination of their latest victim, Father Ichabod Ulrich.
Once Hobson's initial impressions were filed away in his mind, Hathaway went to inspect the scene. He was looking at a curious pattern of dust under the pews when a PC came to tell him that Inspector Lewis was outside. "Fine, thank you." He acknowledged the PC without raising his head, so the PC cleared his throat nervously before continuing.
"I thought I should tell you, because, well, Lewis is just standing there staring at the church, sir."
"Understood." Hathaway rose and went outside where Lewis was stood.
Lewis had a look on his face not unlike the one he wore one night as the two men investigated a murder at Lady Mathilda's college. Lewis stared at the impressive structure, unable to move towards the entrance. Hathaway noticed Lewis' wistful expression and wondered what memory had him in its clutches this time. "Robbie?"
"I was married here, James, many years ago. Val wanted to get married in a church, nice and proper like."
"Ah." Hathaway then (correctly) surmised that Lewis had gone to visit his wife's grave before arriving on the scene. He remembered that Hobson was working inside. Hathaway knew what he would suggest next was risky, but he intended to turn the tables on Lewis' melancholy. "Plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose…"
"What are you prattling on about?"
"The more things change, the more things stay the same."
"I know what it means, but how do you figure?"
"Well, the woman you want to spend the rest of your life with is waiting inside that church, all dressed in white."
"Heh. Dr Hobson's not the marrying kind, but she does look smashing in a scene suit, doesn't she?" The return of Lewis' boyish grin told Hathaway that he had succeeded. Suddenly, Lewis was channelling all his nostalgia into a single new impulse. "Best not to keep her waiting any longer. Let's go, James."
Lewis entered the church full of purpose and strode to the point where the transept meets the nave. Laura Hobson was waiting there, still hovering over the corpse. She explained the mortal blows dealt to Father Ichabod, but she could tell that Lewis wasn't really listening. She knew that look by now- when he so wanted to hear the sound of her voice that he was incapable of comprehending a word she said. She shook her head and was glad that she had already given the details to Hathaway.
Lewis and Hathaway retreated to a small side chapel to interview a vicar. When Lewis noticed out of the corner of his eye that Hobson was preparing her things to head back to the mortuary, he excused himself and went to her side.
"Walk you to your car, love?"
"I'd like that." He took her bag of instruments with one hand and reached for her with the other. He pulled her back to him as she started to recess from the church.
"One more thing, Laura." He set down the bag and looked into her eyes and gave her that look of wanting that he had perfected.
"What, here?" She asked, and he answered her with a kiss. Not just any kiss, but he took her lips in his own purposefully, knowing full well that every SOCO and PC in the church was watching them; he wanted to make a statement. She was surprised by his lack of inhibition, though she could hardly be upset with him. She herself was known to give him quite a smacker in front of their colleagues every once in a while, though never at a crime scene or in a church. "What's gotten into you, Robbie?" She asked after catching her breath.
"It's a long story, Laura." And I'm glad you're a part of it, love.
Hathaway witnessed the couple walk out of the church arm in arm. About halfway down the aisle, the arms of Hobson's scene suit came untied from where they had been secured around her waist, leaving the top half of the suit to trail behind her like a bridal train. Hathaway was tempted to write "just married" with his finger in the dust under the pews.