A/N: Okay, there were little devils constantly talking into my ears. It made me work out something in my brain. Then it had grown into something bigger and suddenly there was another treat for you. I had to provide a little background story which is in this chapter. It even has something christmassy in it and I promise there will be more, very much more to it later. For now enjoy...


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An Epilogue

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"No." she firmly said and diverted her angry stare out of the side window of the car. "Simply no!"

"Why not?" he asked with a stubborn undertone but kept his eyes on the road ahead. "I really don't understand. It had worked for me as well"

"It had-?" The woman made a dramatic pause during which she turned her head towards the driver. Her eyebrow was as high as the Shard's top antenna. "Worked? For you? Yeah, sure... No, definitely not. And I don't want him to become an unworldly poncy prince too."

The man chuckled and shot a glance at her. "He'd still have his down-to-earth mother who'd keep him grounded. It had worked for me too."

"Oh, bullshit, Tommy." Despite her words and slight anger Barbara could not help but return the grin he gave her. Tommy squeezed her upper thigh. "Cedric will go to a common pre-school. He won't be taught at home but he will get his little chair and table in a very grounded state school."

"And Eton?" Tommy cautiously asked.

"Yes, and later your bloody Eton." She waved a dismissive hand through the air. "But in those early years he'll stay my little boy. My normal little boy." Then Barbara turned her head back to the road they just had left. Curiosity filled her eyes. "Where are you headin' to?"

"We're making a little detour." Being put into low gear on the narrow way up the hill the motor of the Landrover roarded.

Barbara groaned in annoyance. "Tommy, driving through the Dales instead of taking the A roads around it already is very much enough of a detour, thank you. We don't have to take the smallest roads you could find. It's already gettin' dark and I had wanted to be at your sister's for dinner. I don't want to get there when Ceddie's already in bed. He would be eager to see his parents."

"As much as it saddens me to say it, but I guess he doesn't care if we'll arrive later. He's with Judith - and mother!" both gave a short laugh knowing how Daze fondly spoiled her grandson. "Ceddie won't miss us at all."

Barbara sighed. "But I miss him." she admitted quietly.


They shared a smile full of memories. Their little boy had been received in his kitchen while they had baked Christmas cookies for the office's charity event. They had started a playful fight with cookie dough cannonballs and flour showers but it soon had gone out of hand and ended very passionately against the fridge. It had not been the first hard surface they had christened and it had by far not been the last in his house but for quite some time afterwards Barbara had not been able to look at the fridge without blushing. Her pregnancy had not been planned that way, or not at all that is, but in the end it had accelerated a few things and decisions had had to be made quickly subsequent to their accident.

After Cedric was born seven months into their marriage Barbara had taken a bit more than one and a half year off from work and while she had raised the baby she had finished all necessary courses and exams so she had been promoted as DI on the very day Tommy had started his own parental leave. Somewhere between attending the occasional function in her fairy-talish role as a countess, being the loving and busy mother to a toddler and having the exciting work as a police-woman in higher ranks at the Met Barbara had found her niche in the adventure called life.

Her promotion had been about half a year ago now and Tommy was about to return to the Met soon. They never would work together as a team again, DI Lynley even thought about retirement because he fortunately can afford it that early, and DI Havers, Lady Asherton that is, recently had turned out to be an excellent profiler which meant staying in the safe office with no need to walk the beat. It also meant visiting other CIDs with modern major crime departments for meetings, information events and an exchange of the latest theories or simply helping out less modern CIDs. The theoretical events always were rather boring for Barbara because she had not learned the topic but was some sort of natural talent. She was very intuitive but successful.

This time she had been in Leeds for five days full of dull lectures and workshops. Cedric and Tommy had come up north to visit Judith in her cosy home in Torver, near Coniston Water in the Lake District, where his mother had dropped by yesterday when Tommy had driven to Leeds to pick up his wife. They had spent a busy evening at a formal dinner party marking the end of this event and after today's final meetings Barbara had rushed to his waiting car and they drove into a spare weekend. Since they had quite some time but once again underestimated how long it would take they had agreed on a little detour through the Yorkshire Dales National Park. Now they followed a narrow line of asphalt winding up a hill. After one bend an old stone structure came in sight.

"Tommy!" Barbara cried out in joy. "I know where we're heading. It's the Dentdale. Oh, you romantic, you." They drove through the Dentdale viaduct and the road made another bend. "Stop here, Tommy, I have to kiss you."

"As you wish, mylady." They parked the car where about three years ago the crime scene had been. Only this time they were not Inspector and Sergeant and searching for a murderer but husband and wife searching for each others lips. "Right, time for you to pay it back." Tommy eventually whispered.

"Hm?" With closed eyes Barbara was unable to see his grin.

"Get out and push the car."

"What?" She sat upright and wriggled out of his embrace to stare at him. Then she gave him a whack at his arm. "Oh, you...!"

"Fasten your seatbelt, precious, we're driving on." Without any problems this time the engine immediately started.

The way through the Dale was much more comfortable than three years ago and of course they arrived in Dent a lot earlier. It was not even really dark. Just when they had crossed the Dee Tommy stopped the car and turned off the engine.

"Just for the memory." He smiled at his wife's quizzical look. "Come on, let's have dinner."


Hand in hand they walked up the road. The village shop was closed at that time of day and the clock rang eight times when they passed the church yard.

"Oh, what a pity, look - the pub's already closed... 'evening." Tommy nodded a greeting to the smoking patron who could not understand why the visitors laughed so silly - the Lancer and Beast was brimming over with guests and was in fact everything but closed. The couple walked a few more yards and arrived at the Moon Inn. Chivalrous as he was Tommy held the door for Barbara. Of course this time there definitely were more guests than three years ago when it had been in the middle of the night and after pub closing time. A man in one corner of the bar looked up from his beer and watched them.

"Why don't you take a seat at the table over there, Barbara. I'll order us drinks and bring the menu." While Barbara sat down and looked around in the still unchanged room Tommy stepped up to the bar. "Good evening. Would you give me two pints of the Beck Ale and the menu, please? We'd like to have dinner. Oh, and we'd like to have a bed for the night. The attic would be lovely."

"Hawly shit!" the old man exclaimed with a lit up face.

"Oliver, shut up!" an angry voice from the kitchen was heard. "Or at least mind tha words, for heaven's sake."

"I'm sorry, Sir." the young woman behind the bar apologized. "They're pafty. And I'm even more sorry but we don't let the suite just for one night."

The man with the voice from the kitchen stepped up drying his hands with a kitchen towel. "Well, Sir, this is a lovely village, why don't thee stay for a... Wait, I know you! You're the Lord who was Detective Inspector and investigating poor Millie's death a couple o' years ago! Didn't you have that car incident up at the viaduct? Oh, and isn't this your Sergeant?" Tommy nodded but only could inhale before Martin went on. "Sir, I hope you're not out on an investig-"

Tommy shook his head but again was not able to give an answer because the old man in the corner cut their conversation short by clapping his hands. His wrinkly face was spread into a broad grin. "Aw've known it! The couple that ain't a couple. But tha fin'lly wed, aren't thee? On tha honeymoon, huh?" Oliver crashed his prank onto Tommy's back. " 't's maw treat, tha drinks."

"Thank you, Sir." Tommy blushed a bit. "And yes, we're married. For three years now, so it's not a honeymoon."

"Well, that's been quick." Martin winked. "Melanie, would you please set the suite? This gentleman needs a room for the night and he's getting our best. Nobody should be able to complain about the Moon Inn's hospitality, shouldn't they."

"Blahblah..." Oliver murmured and rolling his eyes he put a hand on Tommy's arm resting on top of the bar. "Say, lad, haw many barns d'you 'ave?"

"Oliver! Leave 'im alone."

"One boy. He's with his granny at the moment." Tommy just smiled. He had heard many people telling them that it had been obvious that there had been something going on between them for a long time before they both finally had recognised it. Oliver's bright eyes of course had seen it too. "Thanks for the ale, Oliver."


Tommy carried the glasses over to Barbara's place and told her Oliver had bought them. "Because we're married."

Although she politely toasted towards the old man at the bar Barbara quietly asked "Since when do you have a beer when you're driving?"

"I'm not. We'll stay for the night." Seemingly paying no more attention to his wife Tommy put his reading glasses on and studied the menu. His expression was nothing but innocent. "I've booked the attic suite."

"Tommy, I want to get home, I want to see..." Barbara hesitated and then blushed. A romantic idea had crossed her mind. "The attic suite?"

Tommy looked up with a smug grin. Barbara blushed a bit more. She could not even suppress a light chuckle. Her husband obviously had similar romantic thoughts for the night.

He raised his glass. "To the day it is exactly three years ago that we've stayed here for the night. It was one of the most gorgeous nights I've had in all my life." He already had convinced her to stay. As much as she wanted to get to her son she knew there would not be any real private moment at his sister's house. Here they would be able to share a few romantic hours alone. She nodded. Now it was her turn to obviously pay more attention to the menue than to her husband.

"Night, well not exactly. But this time, my love, I definitely won't wait again until the next morning."

"Oh, neither do I, precious. Neither do I." His completely salacious grin made her finally blush to the roots of her hair.


They had a very good plain dinner and another pint and while Barbara had another half pint of that extraordinarily good beer Tommy sipped a whisky. Before they would settle for the night they strolled a bit up and down the high road, kissed on a bench in the churchyard and fetched their luggage from the car.

Tommy brought it upstairs and let Barbara fill in the forms. At a very early stage of their marriage she had had enough of the hotel staff always thinking she would be nothing but his Lordship's fling so they had started to check in under her name. Of course she was not Barbara Havers anymore, she only had kept that name in her old department at the Met because it would have led to a lot of confusion if there had been two DI Lynleys. For all other occasions and especially on forms like those for a hotel she was DI Barbara Frances Lynley, Css of Asherton. It also was her own credit card bill that covered the costs for all their travels. An interesting fact was that the bad treatment of Barbara had immediately stopped and sometimes even turned the other way around and Tommy was looked at as 'only her Ladyship's lover'.

At the moment her lover and husband almost had finished his shower upstairs when Barbara finally joined him in the suite. She had chatted a bit with Martin about what had happened during those three years so it took her a bit longer to carry the champagne bucket upstairs and start unpacking her things for the night. Fortunately the water still was running so Tommy was not able to hear her quietly cursing her stupid choice of nightwear. This romantic stop here had not been planned at all and for her stay in the hotel in Leeds she had wanted nothing but warm and cosy pyjamas. Nothing to wear for a romantic night with your husband, in fact it was completely ridiculous with its dancing chicks. Although Barbara had to admit that three years ago their nightwear had been not less ridiculous and it had not kept them from becoming romantic during their pillow fight.


Tommy's voice from inside the bathroom shook her out of her reverie. He had finished his shower. "Barbara? Are you there?"

"Yah. Just unpacking a few things."

"Have you seen it? They have a new door built at the foot of the staircase."

Barbara gave a short laugh. "Mhm. Probably to shut out the noise... coming from the bar..."

Tommy appeared in the doorframe, clad in nothing but a towel around his hips. Barbara probably never would get tired of this view. They shared a knowing grin. At their first stay here they probably could be heard throughout the entire house and especially down in the quiet breakfastroom.

"You'll be surprised about the refurbished bathroom." Tommy nodded over his shoulder while Barbara went past him taking off her jumper. "I guess we have to stay a bit longer and enjoy a long hot bath in that-"

"Blimey! Such a huge tub!"

"...huge tub." Tommy was behind Barbara, embracing her and leaving a kiss on her already naked shoulder.

"No, dear. In that badly soundproofed house I'm not going to... enjoy... a... get your fingers off me, Tommy!" He chuckled but obeyed and left her alone in the bathroom.

"Be quick, precious, and come to bed before they turn off the heater." He tossed a silver foil pack onto the pillow and removed the counterpane. Folding the red decoration lining his eyes fell onto two glasses and a bottle of champagne.

Tommy grinned. This was going to become a very romantic night. He went back into the bathroom.


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