And finally - my favourite 'something'.


"Can I buy you a coffee, Laura?" "Coffee?" "Maybe something stronger?" "Sounds a bit more like it." As they turned and walked down the street Laura asked how the dressing change had gone "it was OK, I've just got to get the stitches removed in 7-10 days. And my arm is throbbing a bit more from being poked at but the tablets will kick in soon." Robbie rolled his shoulder as he spoke, trying to ease out the ache from sleeping in an awkward position. "Sorry Robbie I wasn't thinking - you can't have a drink, can you?" Laura thought about the conversation she wanted to have, and where they could have it, before suggesting "why don't we go to mine? We can have an early lunch, something easy to eat one handed perhaps?" Robbie smirked as he quoted her own words back to her "sounds good". They continued talking, keeping the conversation light as they walked towards Laura's house. Finally, as they turned on to her street, Robbie broached the unspoken reason for this get together. Looking at his feet he said "we need to talk, don't we?" Laura briefly considered feigning ignorance before settling on the truth "we do, but let's get inside first". She led the way up her path, and as she opened her door she turned to smile at him with what she hoped was a reassuring, confident look.

As Laura went into her kitchen, Robbie carried on into the sunroom. As he waited for Laura, he opened the door leading out to her garden. "Don't you want to sit in the lounge?" Lost in thought, he hadn't heard Laura step into the room. Turning to face her he gave a wry smile "this room is where I messed up, I'd like to try and fix it here". Laura moved to lean against the open door frame, "it wasn't just you who messed up. I took offence when you were just doing your job". "That's the point, I shouldn't have been 'just doing my job' - I should have been your friend first. I should have come round without James, told you that I needed your statement. Made sure you knew that asking questions didn't mean I thought you were involved. I should have handled all of it better". Laura had watched Robbie as he explained. She could see how sorry he was, how much he wished he'd done things differently. He may be good at hiding his emotions when interviewing suspects but this was personal, and she had seen everything Robbie felt. The look on his face, the way he lifted his hand towards her and the pain in his voice told her all she needed to know, and with a sigh she let her hurt and anger about that day go. Smiling she said "we could all do things better with hindsight Robbie. I should have told you how I felt, instead I let my doubts push us apart. Let's just agree to put it all behind us". Robbie nodded his agreement, not trusting himself to speak. Once again Laura was proving she was one of a kind. She was giving him a second chance, and he wasn't going to waste it.

Taking hold of her hand, he took a deep breath "speaking of telling someone how you feel, I spent last night thinking about how I feel about you. I started thinking about the bank holiday weekend, when we ended up with fish and chips by the river, remember? I think that was the night I fell in love with you. You were so... Laura are you OK?" Robbie hadn't known what her reaction would be, but it wasn't gripping his hand so tight that he couldn't continue talking. Laura couldn't believe what she was hearing. The pair of them were hopeless; each falling in love on the same night, each taking forever to realise it. "Laura?" Robbie's voice broke into her thoughts and she laughed. "It seems I had the same thoughts last night. I was going to say 'I love you' today too, but you beat me to it." She relaxed her grip on his hand, and placing her free hand on his chest, carefully avoiding his arm she added "in the spirit of confessing, I should tell you that after our chip supper I dreamt about you". Robbie could feel himself blush as he whispered "me too". This time, when their eyes caught there was no James to interrupt. Robbie took a step closer, he didn't want any more misunderstandings so he had to check "you love me?" He felt her fingers fist into his shirt as she smiled and nodded, so he dipped his head, his lips brushing hers in a gentle first kiss. As he lifted his head Laura pulled him back, kissing him again - not so gently.

With a groan, Robbie broke the kiss; for a moment he'd forgotten his arm was hurt. He would have stepped back, but Laura held him in place. Biting her lip, she looked up at him. "We're smart Robbie, why did we not see this?" Stroking the back of his fingers up and down her face Robbie said "I think we did, we just weren't ready to do anything that could risk what we already had". Laura couldn't help leaning into his touch, almost closing her eyes as she questioned "why last night then?" Robbie took a moment to enjoy the feeling of his fingers trailing down to Laura's jaw, of his thumb tracing her bottom lip before responding "because the last couple of days have proved that not doing anything was risking what we had anyway. We were damned if we do..." Laura completed the thought saying "and damned if we don't". Leaning forward Robbie asked softly "is it wrong to say I'd rather be damned with you?" It was Laura's turn to whisper "me too" before pulling him down into another kiss.

Once again Robbie had to pull away, gesturing to the arm in a sling he sighed in frustration "our timing stinks. Its not funny Laura" he said as she laughed at him "I want to hold you, touch you and this is just... stopping me". Laura moved forward, sliding under his good arm to settle against his side "I know, I'm sorry," she said as she wrapped her arms carefully around him. Closing her eyes as she snuggled against him, she added "I should warn you that in 7-10 days I have plans for you; plans involving a certain dream and my bed upstairs," she hesitated a moment before adding "that's if you're happy about that". She heard Robbie chuckle, and felt his good arm tighten around her as he dropped a kiss against her head before he replied "I'm happy about that".