Author's note:- Three chapters based on "Walking on water" Series 3 Ep3/4. First part centred on Grace and "Maria", Second on Boyd and Tynan and the last just a fluffy sum up of the whole thing! Rated for Sexual content, language, adult themes yada yada yada. I own nothing.
Opinions are like – Part 1 Quid Pro Quo
"Come in Maria and thanks again for agreeing to talk to me." Grace smiled standing aside and watching Mark Lovell move into her office sitting on the sofa as she sat on the chair facing him.
"No problem like I said I never pass up an opportunity to talk about myself. You want to ask me about Mark? About his family and his time in prison?"
"Yes and about you if that's ok with you."
"I could be." Mark replied looking coyly through his eyelashes in a move that Grace knew was designed to make him seem more feminine but really only highlighted how hard he was finding the transition. "I'll tell you anything you want to know if you'll answer a few questions for me too."
"I can't discuss the case with you Maria its ongoing..."
"Not about the case, about you."
"We're not here to talk about me Maria." Grace said quietly watching as he shook his head and she had a sinking feeling she was going to have to give just a little to get the information they needed from him. "Tell me about prison."
"No, quid pro quo, fair exchange is no robbery Grace what can it hurt to answer a few of my questions at the same time you get the information your team needs?"
"Ok. If that's what you want but you first. Tell me about prison."
"Now you." Mark said quietly after he'd detailed his early experiences in prison, how he'd learned to cope, the friends he'd made the "star" he felt he'd become. "You and the dishy detective superintendent, how serious is that then?"
"What do you mean?" Grace asked briefly struck by the fact that in a different time or place Mark Lovell might actually have made a good psychologist. He had a way of seeing through the fog around people to the heart of things and saying what he saw in plain and sometimes stark terms. It was a pity his own clear issues would have made it impossible.
"Well it's obvious you're sleeping together. I see you're wearing a ring is it his or is there a dead husband somewhere in the background or even a living one? Is he your bit on the side?"
"What makes you think we're sleeping together?" Grace asked, genuinely interested. Their relationship wasn't a secret, they were married how could it be, but they rarely had visitors to their unit who immediately put them together as a couple. Then again she thought Mark Lovell had a very different perception of relationships which could explain it.
"The way he reacted in the interview yesterday. I don't think you normally sit in the corner of the room when you are there together. I think you did it because you knew he was uncomfortable with me and you wanted to make him face up to it. No matter what he said or asked he looked to you. He hated that you weren't beside him."
"Very perceptive Maria. We are together, I am married to him no dead husband or illicit affair to spice things up. You're right normally I would sit beside him if we were conducting an interview together I did want him to face his discomfort around you and he did hate it. He likes me close where we can communicate sometimes without actually speaking. It's something we're good at and impossible if I'm behind him and he can't make eye contact with me." Grace replied slightly surprising herself with her own honesty but knowing really she was interested in what the man in front of her had to say. "Now you tell me about Mark's relationship with Thomas."
"So in the end he hated everything about that place." Mark concluded after detailing how much of a disappointment he was to his father and how he grew to resent him in a way that meant he was always going to be a prime suspect in his murder. "Is he possessive? Jealous? I saw at least two male officers, both younger and fitter than him, look at you with thoughts that were less than wholesome when we got back her last night. Does he see it? You didn't take his last name does that bother him? He's the sort of man I would imagine that bothers."
"That's more than one question."
"Not really it's all the same question just different parts of it."
"I have taken his name in everything but a professional sense. I've been doing this nearly 40 years I have a reputation and part of that is my name. In every other way I'm very much Mrs Boyd." Grace replied bristling a little at the question but pushing on anyway. "He is possessive but not in an unpleasant way. He says he likes the fact other men still look at me and he knows I only love him. As for jealous I suppose he is at times but aren't we all? I don't mind him being a little jealous or possessive it reminds me that no matter what else is going on around us I am his number one priority. Did Mark ever feel like that? Like he was the most important person to someone else? Penelope maybe? Did they get on?"
"He's younger than you. Not by much I'd say maybe 6 or 7 years?" Mark asked when he had told her how much he resented his sister and felt she resented him then even though he now realised it was different. Hindsight being a wonderful thing.
"8 Years. Tell me about Stephen your trial notes say you and Stephen were close."
"Stephen betrayed me!" Mark snapped as she realised she'd touched a nerve which was probably why he'd moved on without pressing her further on the age difference between her and Boyd. Listening she was struck by how hard it must have been for Mark back then. How alone and confused he must have felt when he didn't know what he was or where his place was in the world.
"Was there anyone in Mark's family he got on with?"
"Not yet Grace...it's ok to call you Grace isn't it."
"Yes of course, Mark's family..."
"No. Your turn again you jumped forward very quickly after you told me there was 8 years between you and him. Did I touch a nerve? I know you know you touched a nerve with me mentioning Stephen but I think I did too. Does it make you insecure? Do you worry he'll trade you in for a younger model? You shouldn't by the way he's clearly besotted with you but I think you still worry."
"I don't. It's just a number, mathematics nothing else. When we fell in love the year we were both born in was not an issue."
"Me thinks she doth protest too much."
"I'm not I know he loves me and just like he doesn't mind other men looking at me I don't mind the fact that younger women flirt with him and look at him. I know he doesn't want anyone else." Grace replied keeping her tone level and smiling as Mark nodded slowly. "So was there anyone in Mark's family he got along with?"
"April." Mark replied as she relaxed into listening to him talk about his aunt and knew he was ready to go. His attention was wondering, he'd found out what he wanted about her, given her the information he thought she needed and now he was done. Watching him get up and reach for his coat she moved too lifting the ringing phone from her desk.
"Yes...yes here with me now...ok I will." She said into the receiver before turning back to him. "That was detective superintendent Boyd they've found the Miss Maria."
"So what do those reactions tell us?" Boyd asked as he and Grace stood close together watching the boat shed being locked up with the Miss Maria now inside.
"Nothing. They were exactly what I'd expected them to be. Stephen and Martin reacting aggressively, Maria goading them. It's all a bit too textbook for my liking right now I can't help but feel we're somehow being manipulated."
"How did you get on with Lovell?"
"I'll tell you when we get home I'm tired and freezing. We are going home aren't we you're not going to make Frankie start work on the boat tonight in sub-zero temperatures are you?"
"No of course not the uniforms are standing guard overnight she can start in the morning. I'll drive your car back I'll get Spence to take mine back to the office." Boyd replied moving away from her for a second speaking to Spencer and handing him the car keys but never taking his eyes off her. Something had happened in the interview with Lovell. He knew it had and it was bothering her but he also knew he'd not find out what it was until they were home and she felt like she could properly relax.
"We ready?" Grace asked as he returned to her side putting his arm around her waist in an uncharacteristic show of affection while they were surrounded by their colleagues but one that evening she had no desire to pull him up on. She needed closeness that only continued on the drive home. He'd reach for her hand when the long stretches of motorway meant the car was cruising along, he'd smile at her when she looked his way but not push her to talk. Without realising it he was already starting to chip away at the insecurities her conversation with Mark Lovell had caused but chipping away wasn't going to fix things they needed to talk she knew they did.
"Go have a soak I'll make dinner then we can talk I want to know what that fruit cake has said to you that's worrying you so much." Boyd said quietly kissing her softly before releasing her watching as she headed up the stairs. "And Gracie?"
"Yes?"
"I love you."
"I love you more."
"Completely impossible gorgeous."
"So talk to me. What did he say in the interview? Has he said something that makes you think he's guilty? I know something's bothering you Grace, I know Frankie's evidence got him out and all that but it was the previous investigation that was at fault not her she worked with what she had and..."
"It's not that. If anything after talking to him I think he's even less likely to be guilty. I think back then he was an angry mixed up kid who didn't know what he was or even if he had a place in the world. I don't think he killed his family." Grace sighed pushing the steak and salad around her plate her continued out of character behaviour starting to seriously worry him. "Darling don't look at me like that it's nothing terrible it's just I had to talk a little more than I normally would in those situations to get what we needed from him and he said some things that made me think."
"Talk about what? He made you think about what?"
"Us."
"Wow what the hell, we're fine in fact we're perfect what the hell has he said?"
"He knew instantly that we were sleeping together, asked me if it was some sort of affair or if the wedding ring I was wearing was yours. When I told him it was he..."
"Grace tell me or I'll get back in the car and beat it out of the little shit exactly what he said to you."
"He asked if you were possessive, if you saw the way some other men looked at me and if you hated the fact I hadn't taken your surname." Grace continued eventually pushing her plate aside knowing there was no way she was going to be able to eat.
"I hope you told him I am bloody possessive and jealous and I love the way men look at you because you're fucking stunning and I know you don't want them. I hope you told him there's no issue..."
"And the name thing? I could change my name on the professional register if it bothers you."
"Don't you dare!" Boyd said firmly pushing his own food aside and taking her hand leading her into the living room before handing her a glass of wine. "You know I love that people particularly on your side of our work don't know we're married and are always shocked when we go to those fancy university or publishers dinners and they realise you're married to a grubby copper. I'm so proud to tell the world that the eminent highly respected Doctor Grace Foley is my wife. You know that Gracie this isn't what bothered you. What else did he say?"
"He asked me about the age difference and asked if I was insecure about you...trading me in for a younger model and before you go postal and jump in the car to go beat his brains out he told me I shouldn't be, that it was obvious how much you loved me. It just got me thinking again..." Grace sighed as he shook his head firmly running his fingers gently down her cheek.
"We got past that years ago Gracie. You know I wouldn't care how many younger women were throwing themselves at my feet I'd step over them to get to you. I love you, no one can make me feel the way you do. Please tell me you aren't really worried about this."
"Not worried just..." Grace began before catching his eye and barely having a second to think before the wine glass was removed from her hand and she was pulled onto his lap. "Peter!"
"I don't want to hear another word from you unless it's to tell me how good your feeling or to scream my name when I make you cum like you know only I've ever been able to." Boyd said firmly undoing the sash of her rob smiling as he confirmed she was naked beneath it. She'd known that he would have to show her exactly how wrong she was that anyone could replace her and he didn't care. He would happily do that ten times a day if it was what she needed. Sliding his hand between her thighs he smiled as he felt how wet and ready she was for him. "Umm fuck I love how your body is so in tune with mine even when that amazing brain of yours is over thinking."
"That's because I still have some tiny bit of control over my mind you claimed my body as yours the first time you touched me."
"Yes I did and never forget it."
"How could I?" Grace moaned as he flipped them so she was lying on the sofa and before she had time to think his head was buried between her thighs. Sucking hungrily on her clit she felt him smile as she arched off the sofa with a strangled cry. He could do things to her no one had ever been able to before, she knew it, he knew it and she knew he loved it. "Peter...I want you inside me, remind me why you would never want this with anyone else."
Ignoring her plea knowing that he had every intention of giving her what she wanted when he was ready Boyd continued to tease her with soft nibbles and teasing licks of her clit until she wasn't objecting any longer and he could taste how close she was to climax. Replacing his lips with his thumb he slipped two fingers inside her thrusting them forcefully as he lifted his head desperate to see the moment she gave up. It was only seconds before he got his wish and moments later before he had released his cock from the confines of his trousers and thrust into her.
"Oh god so good I'm cumming again Peter please move! Now!" Grace cried as the pleasure that was ebbing away before she felt him inside her peaked again and she felt like she could actually faint from the waves of exquisite almost painful pleasure running through her. She could feel him speed up, knew that what he had done to her was enough to make it impossible for him to hold back and bringing her lips close to his ear she said exactly what she knew he wanted to hear. "I want to feel you cum for me, mark me, remind anyone who cared to check that I am yours and you'll always be mine. Let me feel the heat when everything you have to give is all mine."
"Oh fuck Gracie..." Boyd gasped the tightness her words were building in his cock exploding in a hot, forceful physical manifestation of just how much he loved her.
"I love you." Grace whispered moments later when they both seemed to have regained a normal breathing pattern.
"I love you too but you are going to be the death of me. God Gracie how could you ever think I would want anyone else. I challenge any younger woman to make me cum half as hard as you or make me love them half as much as you do just by being you."
"I know I'm sorry. I never really doubted you."
"Good because there's no reason to. I will always love you, always want you, always be possessive and jealous because I know how fucking amazing you are."
"Promise?" Grace smiled as he nodded and for a second they indulged in just holding each other, revelling in the perfect union that was them and she reminded herself again that no one and nothing could ever come between them.