Lewis had absolutely no business in the lab. No results were pending. There was no autopsy to quiz someone over. And still, there he was. He just couldn't stand the notion that they were fighting.
"We aren't fighting," Karen explained at a whisper after hearing his assessment of things. "You got a little pouty. I was being oversensitive. I handed you your coat. That's all. Let's just chalk it up to PMS, on your part, at least, and be done."
Sometimes she talked so fast, he couldn't process much of what she said. Sometimes, like now, and that half missed comment on PMS, he thought that was probably for the best.
"Friends then?" he summed up still sounding confused.
"Oh, Lord, Robbie," Karen said with a grin. You are adorable, she thought. "I'll get you coffee, and we can make up properly."
...
Laura, her mood too light, came over to Karen's desk later that day.
"I feel like I should congratulate myself when I see the two of you together," the ME said.
Karen only shook her head at first. "It's not a game, Laura. And Robbie and I are two real, very broken people. I don't know that you'll understand that even when things go bad, and we both end up worse off than we were."
"Things don't have to go badly," Laura chided, gently.
"No, that don't have to. But from where the two of us sit, they do too often."
...
It was the weekend and they had just spoken the night before, so the inspector was a bit surprised to have Karen call. Especially given the late hour.
"Robbie? I'm sorry to bother you..." Immediately, he could hear something in the edge to her voice, even over the phone. Even through his sleep addled brain.
He stood now next to the couch where he had dozed off. Adrenaline was starting in him instinctively. "She should have been home by now," Karen was telling him.
"Lizzie, you mean?"
"Yes. Sorry. She has me frazzled."
"I'm sure she's fine," Lewis said as calmly as he could. "But I'll come over. If she isn't there by the time I am, we'll call around."
And Karen knew what he meant. He would call the hospitals, the lock ups. She shivered.
...
"I'm sorry," she apologized again as she held the door of her house open for him.
"Don't be," he told her, firmly. "I know it's frightening." And when she wrapped her arms around him, he returned the hug. He let his lips settle in her hair. He felt good that there was something he could do for her.
"She's out with someone?" he asked while still holding her.
"Oliver," Karen supplied. "That boy from the carnival. I called, and his parents haven't heard anything, either. She'll tell me I need to get her a cell phone," Karen tried to joke.
Lewis gently released her. And then looked quickly around, expecting to see her son. "Where's Tim?"
"He's over at a friend's for the night. I called him. He hasn't heard from Lizzie. He's a good kid. He offered to go out and look for her. But I told him, I don't need the two of them out there at night."
Robbie nodded and smiled. He stroked her arm then and told her softly, "Let's put on tea while we talk and we'll make a plan."
"I can make my own tea," she complained weakly. But he had beaten her to the kettle.
"Let me," he said, and he gave her a thin smile meant to reassure her.
They heard a car pull up then. It clearly had hit the garbage pail that was out by the street from the sound of things. Karen started for the door, but Robbie somehow beat her to it.
The inspector was down the porch stairs two at a time and at the driver's side before the lad could react.
Karen pulled open the passenger door and said only, "In your room. Now," to her already cowed and frightened looking daughter.
Karen could hear Lizzie's date, Oliver, complaining with a drunken slur. "Oi! Give me back my keys!"
"Not likely," Lewis informed him.
The boy was angry, and he came out of the car swinging for Robbie. But the inspector was ready. He side stepped Oliver and grabbed his jacket at the shoulder then. Oliver found himself spun around and pressed up against the car bonnet.
"You are walking home," Lewis informed him, shoving him into the car one last time. "Your parents will get your keys back tomorrow."
"Alright. Alright!"
Oliver stood up as Robbie backed away. The boy jammed his hands in his pockets and moved quickly down the street.
Lewis' chest was heaving, and he was staring up at the sky now with his hands on his hips. His reaction was off, too much. And he had no doubt Karen knew it, too.
Karen felt guilty suddenly. She had dragged him here, gotten him into the middle of this. It could be that this situation with a drunk driver made him think of the accident that killed his wife. It could be that he feels he is getting more attached to Karen and her kids than he wants to. No matter what it is, it's obvious tonight has triggered something in him. And she's responsible.
"Robbie?" she tried as she walked over to him.
"Idiot kid," he said.
"I know. He'll be fine walking home, by the way, in case you are worried."
"I was beginning to regret the way I went off on him."
"You see too much of this. It wasn't fair to ask you to come over. Really, I'm..."
He turned then and took her arm. "If I'm not of any use to you when you need me, Karen. Then I've stopped being human, I figure."
"I feel horrible, Robbie."
"Because I'm a mess?" he said with frustration in his voice. "You didn't do this to me. I've done it myself."
She wanted to touch him. To wrap him up and run her hands over him. She remembered the easy way she had fallen into his arms and had him hold her when he had first arrived.
In a different world, she could see herself admitting to him that she wanted him to stay the night. Whether for the sex or the company or the comfort, she didn't even know. But the world she lived in was so horribly complicated. It involved their overlapping jobs. It involved her kids. One of whom needed a talking to tonight.
Besides, the man in question didn't seem up to any of her fantasies at the moment.
But she hugged him anyway. Quickly, before it could become awkward, she released him. "You're wonderful," she told him with a small smile. "And I don't just mean tonight. Always, Robbie."
He only shook his head and stepped away. Then, he fished his keys from his pocket by way of ending the scene.
Half way to his car he turned back to her with something that looked like a second thought. "Karen? Thanks. For the things you say."
"Of course," she told him. But the thought that intruded was, I can't help it, Robbie. I think I love you.
And she walked for the house.
/
