A week later when things had settled into a nice, easy rhythm, (in which she found time to study in between bouts of seeing William) she found herself asking something she had been curious about for a long time. It was somewhat of a sensitive matter and she hadn't wanted to spoil the mood at all since their reunion. But she figured enough time had passed and it was okay now. Even so, she hesitated before beginning.

"William," she said as they lay on the semi-warm sand, propped up on elbows, looking out across the horizon and the beautiful display of the setting sun across the ocean, "how did you catch your...father's killer?"

He glanced at her sideways then and simply observed her, saying nothing. His face was clean shaven again and all evidence of weariness had vanished without a trace.

"It's just, the article in the paper was rather...vague about that part. And I- I was curious." He still said nothing. "You don't have to answer if you don't want to," she said hurriedly, regretting her decision to finally ask, feeling stupid.

"No, I don't mind," he said absently, seemingly half lost in thought. She viewed him closely and waited for him to continue. "How much do you know?"

That Elliot Reed bashed your drunken father's head in with a croquet mallet when he followed her back to the Davis property after seeing her at the track accompanied by Peter Bishop a day earlier. Harry had threatened to go to the cops with proof that Bishop was scamming everyone with fixed races. Reed claimed to have fallen in love with Bishop and wanted to protect him at all costs. Bishop had been horrified by her actions, but had still helped her bury the body (so shallow because the ground was quite hard and he was terrified of being caught). But after that, they had parted ways.

"Just that you tricked Elliot Reed and Peter Bishop into giving themselves away. But the article didn't say how you did this."

He nodded once and replied, "Have you heard of Angelo Mosso, the Italian physiologist?"

"Of course, he's been doing lots of studies on the correlation between breathing rate and blood pressure. Using a device he called a plethysmograph, he was able to visually illustrate their correlation. His studies conclusively proved that certain stimuli such as fear or joy (anticipation of kissing you) cause increases in both."

William smirked at her. "Yes, that is exactly right."

"But what does that-" She clued in then. "Wait, so you're saying you used a plethysmograph on them, to see if they were lying?" He nodded once, again. "But where did you get one?"

His smirk widened. "I made it."

"You made it?" she exclaimed, surprised. Suspiciously, "You're having me on, aren't you?"

He laughed. "Not at all, Julia. I telegraphed Mosso and asked him to explain its construction. He was more than willing to help when he learned the reason for my interest."

She just stared at him for awhile, open mouthed.

"That's quite unladylike, Miss Ogden."

Coming back to reality, she said, coyly, "We've been through this before, sir, I am not much of a lady."

"I don't recall that, ma'am," he said moving in closer to her, making her pulse quicken. Noses almost touching he continued, "I'm afraid you'll once again have to demonstrate what you mean."

"Be careful what you wish for," she breathed out, just before grabbing him by the collar and kissing him somewhat roughly. He seemed surprised at first, and even more so when she forced her tongue down his throat. After a second he responded quite enthusiastically. They were all over each other and somehow they began rolling in the sand. Due to the darkness and their increasingly vigorous activity, they didn't notice beforehand the person they now bumped into.

They looked up in confusion, or rather Julia did as she was lying on her back.

"How nice to see you enjoying yourself, Julia," said Isaac in a strained voice, smiling oddly.

Oh dear!

In a moment of weakness and sadness when she thought she would never see William again, she had cried her heart out to Isaac and he had patiently comforted her...and then they had kissed. It had been pleasant enough except that it had felt more like she was kissing her brother than a lover. That had been just a few days before William had shown up. After this she had done her best to avoid him. It was just her luck that he would come across them at such an inopportune moment.

Serves me right.

"Isaac, I-"

He waved his hand. "Oh, no need for explanation, Julia." In a bizarrely pleasant way he asked, "I assume this is your friend from Vancouver?" She nodded shyly. "Won't you properly introduce us?"

"Of course," she said awkwardly. William, helped her to her bare feet. She was distraught by the unfortunate situation and so didn't bother knocking the sand from her clothes, or attempt to fix her hair in any way. As a result, she looked quite wild. And she felt it too, like a cornered animal, like whenever her father had caught her doing something he disapproved of (which was most things). William had no such confusion of mind and brushed himself off as Julia introduced them.

"Isaac, this is William, William Murdoch."

"Murdoch," he echoed, hollowly. Then his fake smile appeared again and he held out his hand. "Pleasure to finally make your acquaintance, sir. I have heard so much about you."

William took it and said, "I'm afraid I can't say the same thing."

She wasn't sure if he was just referring to Isaac's last statement or to both.

"Ah, yes, Julia must be rather finished with me, now that you are here."

Neither of them said anything but Julia felt another pang of guilt. She would give anything to be somewhere else right now but she couldn't think of an excuse in order to leave.

They shook for far too long and judging by the face Isaac was making, he was attempting to crush William's hand but not succeeding. William appeared to be enjoying himself. Finally Isaac gave up on that endeavour and restrained himself from clutching his squashed fingers, at least openly. Julia assumed he now placed his hands behind his back in order to do this more discreetly.

"How long will you be staying?" Isaac asked, unable to keep his eagerness to be rid of William out of his voice.

William smiled then, looked at Julia and said, "Oh, I should think for quite some time yet. In fact, I really don't have anywhere else to be."

She knew exactly what he meant by this. He had quit his job before coming here and she had felt terrible about it, until he informed her that he had been planning on such a scheme long before she had ever come into his life. And after she had left, he would have quit straight away and gone somewhere else, but on the off chance that she contacted him again, he wanted to make sure that she could reach him. So he had stayed and waited and then his father's body had been found.

In many respects, she had been the reason for his current closure and peace with his past. It was likely that no one else would have cared enough or been clever enough to solve the case. Officially burying Harry's bones in a proper grave site had been difficult at first as he pictured all their bad times together and then cathartic, when the reverse happened and he remembered what it was like with his family, complete and happy, before his mother's tragic drowning and his father's horrible change. It was like Murdoch had released his hidden demons into the unknown, leaving him free to start over again...with her.

"I see," said Isaac quietly, clearly crushed at not receiving a more favourable answer. An awkward silence (at least on her part) ensued. "Well, I have somewhere to be," he said suddenly and abruptly left.

"What a nice fellow," said William, half seriously, half sardonically. He turned to face her. "What did he mean before, about being...finished with him?"

She was very uncomfortable now. "It's nothing really."

"Julia."

"We might possibly have, ever so slightly...kissed." She braced for his reaction, there was none.

"And?" he enquired. "Is that all?"

"You're not mad?"

He laughed. "Julia, you had every reason to court another. I have no right to be angry. But-"

"Yes?"

"I must say, I am ever so slightly...jealous."

"Don't be," she said, wrapping her arms around his waist. He did the same. "We're just good friends, that's all."

"And I believe you," he said, pulling her close. "Now where were we?"

He kissed her and she broke away. "No, not here, William. It's recently come to my attention that the beach is altogether too public for my tastes. Besides, it's gotten rather chilly."

"Well then," he said taking off his coat and draping it around her shoulders, "where would you like to go?"

Truthfully she wasn't in the mood anymore. With everything out in the open, she was feeling guilty.

"I'm tired, William, can you just walk me home?"

He hid his disappointment expertly. "Whatever you want, Julia, whatever you want. There's always tomorrow."

"Indeed," she said smiling, taking his arm, "there's always that."