Barbara dressed and raced to the car park as fast as she could. She's already kept him waiting long enough. This was a bad start to their trip. Hopefully it would pass soon enough.

She glanced around the lot for his Bristol. It was nowhere to be seen. She did notice that some twit was honking his horn off and on at the crack ass of dawn. The honking drew her eyes to a white panel van parked at the end of the lot. If she wasn't off work she'd walk over there and write the git up for…being her boss? Lynley stepped from the van and began waving her over.

Hoisting her overnighter further up on her shoulder, she set off towards him.

She eyed the van suspiciously. "Where's your car?"

"At home." He opened the sliding door on the side.

"Why the van?"

"I told you, I'm going to pick up a few things."

"But a moving van? Oh, I get it. Quiet weekender in the country, get away from it all. You needed someone to help you move and I was an easy mark!"

"Havers."

No, I don't think so, Sir. Find yourself another pasty!" She turned to go.

"Barbara!" He grabbed a hold of her arm before she could flee.

"What!"

"I'm not going there to load up some two hundred pound sideboard out of the main dining hall if that's what you're thinking. I'm just going to get a few small items." She was still shaking her head no. "And…I've already made arrangements with the estate manager to help me load. So are you coming or not?" He let loose her arm.

He got his reply when she tossed her bag into the back of the van next to his own.

"Right, let's get on the road then." He slammed the door shut with a little more force than was needed.

It was 7:45 when the van's tires hit the main road out of town.

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It was a good twenty minutes into their trip before one of them spoke again. Barbara knew she had to say something before the two hour drive drove her crazy.

"Can we share the radio this trip?"

She saw him smirk. "You know the rules Havers, my car my music."

She knew he was going to say that and she was ready.

"Technically, sir; this isn't you vehicle."

He knew this was heading for an argument, and damn it, he just didn't feel like it. Not today. So, he capitulated.

"Fine, we'll share. One hour for you one hour for me. Agreed?"

Her baffled expression and half choked, "yeah" didn't surprise him as much as the feeling he got from winning an argument by actually losing it. He might just might have to try that one again one day.

"I'll finish up the first hour."

"Ok." She said quietly.

He liked this. He liked this, a lot.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

He had to wake her when his hour was up. Classical always did tend to put her to sleep. But he found it put him into "the zone" when driving long distances.

"Wha…we there?" She mumbled in reply to being shaken from her slumber.

"No, it's just your turn with the radio."

Dam him for upholding his end of the bargain, she thought. She would have been just as happy sleeping the whole way. But now that she was awake, she wasn't about to skip her turn.

His hand hovered over the radio buttons. "What channel?"

She didn't reply right away. Instead she reached down and picked up her purse from off the floorboard. He dropped his hand and watched as she rummaged around in its depths. She pulled out her cellphone.

"I've got my own music." She pulled out a jack that plugged her phone into the van's radio. "MP3 player." She smiled.

Lynley felt his earlier gloat of victory begin to slip away. What was he in for? It's only and hour, how bad can it be?

Surprisingly enough, it wasn't bad at all. Her tastes were eclectic, from blues to reggae to some techno and classic American rock. And he discovered he really like Amy Weinhouse. Who knew? He might even have to abandon his "my car my music" rule.

Barbara was surprised to see him enjoying most of her music. He was even asking after the names of some of the artists. What was that all about? There had been a small shift in the way their relationship worked. When did it happen? Did she miss something? She had! They hadn't argued. Why hadn't they argued? Oh, right…he'd capitulated. He'd let her win and she never noticed. He can't do that! Oh yeah? Well he just did. She was so confused by what happened or rather what didn't happen that she never noticed that the last song she'd put on was over. She glanced to her right. He was looking at her.

"You alright?" .

"Yeah, course…just thinking."

"Penny for your thought?" He pressed.

She snorted and spoke without thinking. "You'll need a credit card."

She saw his eyebrows arch but he said nothing. She hurriedly put on another song to cover the silence. Luckily, it wasn't much longer and they were pulling onto the long gravel drive that led to the front door of Howenstow.