Laura didn't have to wait long. A breakthrough that afternoon meant that an arrest had been made by the end of the day and once the loose ends had been tied up and the necessary paperwork submitted, Robbie was free to go home to the woman in his life. He tucked into the meal which she had lovingly prepared, knowing that he hadn't had much time to eat anything at all over the last few busy working days. They ate relatively silently but Lewis raised his head to find Laura gazing across at him, a somewhat troubled expression on her face. "Everything alright love?" his question being all she needed to begin the discussion that she had been thinking about all afternoon. "Sort of" she replied "but I do need to talk to you about something."
Jean climbed into the passenger seat of the car which was parked at the side of the road a few streets from the station. This was their usual routine, not wanting to risk anyone at work seeing them leave together, or for her car to be seen at his place. She had been distracted ever since Laura left her office, only the positive result from the investigation cheering her mood slightly. "I can't wait to get you home." James announced, driving purposefully towards his flat. "I haven't been able to stop thinking about you since that kiss at lunchtime. I'm surprised we were able to make an arrest at all." Jean turned in her seat to face him slightly. "James, about that kiss," she began hesitantly, "we were seen, today, in the office, there was a gap in the blind and well..." James glanced across at her anxiously. "I see" he replied quietly "who?" She breathed out deeply "well it could have been a lot worse than it was, it was Laura, she had come up to find you or Robbie about the post mortem and she just happened to stop next to the office to take a phone call. "Oh...well... like you said, could have been worse. What did she say? Is she going to say anything?" "She was a bit shocked I think, and worried about what could happen if it all...well, you know... but no, I don't think she is. I think we can trust her."
"Hang on, so let me get this right – James and Jean, as in my young 'dishy in your words' sergeant and our married boss? An affair?" Robbie had finished eating and was staring at Laura across the table in disbelief. He couldn't believe what she was telling him, but when she told him what she had seen, and that she had confronted Innocent herself, there seemingly could be no doubt. "What on earth are they playing at man?" he asked out loud, not really aiming his question at anyone. Laura shook her head in answer anyway. "I don't know Robbie, but she seems to know what she's doing. Says if she loses everything else she'll still have him. What I don't know is if he feels the same. If when it comes down to it he really is willing to lose everything for her." Robbie shook his head, "he has women looking at him every time we walk into the canteen, he could choose any one of them, why did he have to get involved with her?" he asked. "I don't know, but I think one of us needs to talk to him, give him a chance to get out before things get out of hand." Laura said sensibly. "And if he doesn't want to get out?" the look of concern on Robbie's face reminded Laura that he cared a lot about the welfare of his young sergeant and she smiled at him knowingly. "We can only make sure that he has thought it through, that he does know what the consequences are and then, if he doesn't want to walk away, then we have to accept that it's his decision, his life." She walked around the table and put her hands on Robbie's shoulders. He shook his head, "I don't know if I can accept it though." His words were trimmed with disappointment in what his friend was doing. "Look, Robbie, I know how you feel and their situation is less than ideal for any of us, but if things had been different for us, if our relationship would have been against police rules, knowing how happy you make me, I wouldn't have listened to anyone telling me to walk away because of the possible consequences." He reached up and squeezed the hand that was resting on his shoulder. "That's a lovely thing to say, Pet, but there is also the issue of one of them being married." Laura placed a kiss on the top of Robbie's head. "You were married" she replied "and if at any point you had presented me with an opportunity to act on how I was feeling about you, I don't think I would have been able to put the feelings of your wife first." Robbie turned his head and Laura saw a surprised, almost shocked, expression on his face. "You felt like this about me when I was married?" he questioned. "Robbie, I felt like this about you pretty much as soon as I met you" was her reply. "I knew there was nothing I could do about it because you were married, and although I say now that I would have definitely considered an affair, I certainly wasn't going to try and instigate one. Then after Val died, well... you just needed a friend." He pulled her down on to his lap and wrapped his arms around her tightly, whispering into her ear. "Well now I want more than a friend. I want a lover, a confident, someone to wake up to every morning, to kiss goodnight before I go to sleep, to stroll around holding hands with so that the world can see how lucky I am, and so much more." His words made her heart race. "And..." he continued, "if you have truly been waiting for me that long, have put your life on hold for me, then I am going to have my work cut out trying to make that lost time up to you." He smiled and pulled her towards him, kissing her passionately. "Come on, let's stop thinking about their relationship and concentrate on our own, we can speak to James tomorrow." He stood up and led Laura out of the room to somewhere they could begin making up for lost time.
"I'll talk to her, tomorrow." Jean was lying with her head on his chest, her body curled into his and the sheet lying idly over them. His arms wrapped around her protectively, James could tell that her anxiousness, caused by the day's events, had returned. "Oh James, why could it not just have been simple for us?" she sighed. "Why do I have to be your boss? Why do we have to be in a job with so many bloody rules? Why do I have to be married to a cheating idiot who couldn't care less about me? And...why do we have to want each other so much?" The last of those questions made James sit up, moving his lover from her comfortable position against him. "You would rather we weren't in this situation?" his reply came in a voice that clearly showed she had hurt him. "You would rather not 'want me' so much? You want to go back to before all this started because it was simpler?" He turned his head away from her, suddenly not wanting to catch her eye, almost not wanting to hear her reply. "That's not what I meant darling, it's just... well, when we are racing back here, desperate just to get to bed and be with each other like tonight, it's like there's nothing and no one else in the world. For those hours everything is perfect and wonderful, but it isn't the reality is it? Everything is so much more complicated than that." She reached out to try to touch him but got no response. "Jean are you saying it's too complicated? Are you trying to tell me that you don't want me anymore?" he turned now to look at her, his questions seeming to hang in the air as she sighed before replying. "No James, I'm definitely not saying that. I couldn't give up on this, on us, even if I wanted to. I am in love with you and even if I lose everything else in the world, as long as I still have you I will be happy. That's exactly what I told Laura today." He pulled her close, the relief in his body language evident. "You said that?" he asked happily, the joy at hearing those words barely containable. "Yes, and I meant it, but I don't know if I can let you lose everything for me. I mean, I'm so much older than you, I come with more baggage than an airline and when you could have your pick of women, James, why would you want to?" He smiled broadly and looked deep into her eyes; holding his hand under her chin so that she was forced to hold his gaze until he had finished speaking. "Because," he started "you are the most incredible, funny, smart, wonderful, beautiful, sexy and all round gorgeous woman that I have ever laid eyes on. If you lined up every woman on this planet and let me choose, I would search the whole line until I found you. I know, that you are the only person I will ever love, because this feeling I have when I'm with you can never be beaten. And that's why...that's why I have made a decision." He paused briefly looking nervous about what he was about to say. "I am going to leave the police, leave the job, I can't risk your career, you've invested so much in it. It's the only thing to do."
To be continued. Reviews for this chapter would be great!