He prepared the tea, and by the time Barbara had finished the shower and dried her hair, he had a snack ready as well.

She drank the tea; holding on to the cup with both hands, but just had a small bite of the sandwich he'd prepared.

"I was so scared" she suddenly said. "Last week, and today as well. " I thought, if I die now, what had my life been? Just work and a mother who doesn't remember me half of the time!" Tears started welling up.

"That is NOT true Barbara! You have me, and Azhar, and Hadiyyah, and at work many people would miss you dearly! You've been a good daughter, taking care of your father and now your mother, and you were like a mother to you brother."

Lynley put his arms around her, and let her cry as much as she wanted. When the tears subsided, he helped her into bed, taking her morning gown off, leaving her with a tank top and knickers. She was too tired to get shy and just snuggled into the covers.

"Don't go, ok? "She mumbled before literally passing out on him.

An hour later, Lynley heard a soft knock on the door, and opened it to see Azhar standing there.

Lynley nodded him into the apartment, putting the kettle on again.

"Barbara was sick when we got here, and then she took a shower. She just had some tea before getting into bed. I had made some sandwiches, but she wouldn't eat."

"Don't worry, "Azhar answered, "I'll bring lunch over, or better, I'll prepare lunch and call you when it's ready. I've got left overs from yesterday. All I need later is 10 minutes to get Hadi from school later. Bolton wishes to see her, but I told him I'd check how she was before making an appointment."

Both men silently assessed each other over the cup of tea. Azhar spoke first:

"I was very sorry to hear about your wife and child. Please accept my deepest condolences." His serious dark eyes observed Lynley, who answered:

"Thank you. I'm still trying to come to terms with things. I've decided to go back to work full time, and I've requested for Barbara to be assigned to me again."

"She'll be pleased. She missed you and your working relationship, as well as your friendship."

The men finished their tea in silence, and then Lynley washed the dishes while Azhar went to his apparent to prepare lunch. By now, it was 12.00, and they started to feel hungry. Azhar rang Lynley on his mobile five minutes before lunch was ready, and Lynley carefully woke Barbara up. He hugged her, pillow and bed sheets and all, and said softly:

"Wake up Barbara, lunch is ready. Azhar has cooked for us. You just need to eat a little bit, and then we'll see if you're strong enough to talk to Bolton, all right? If you want, he can come here to take your statement." He held her until she was completely awake and nodded at him.

"Herm, Sir? Could you wait in the kitchen? I'm not wearing very much am I?" Barbara sounded tired still, but was smiling at him. He smiled back at her, and left the room. She was definitely feeling better, and some food would help as well.

Lynley and Barbara made it to Azhar's place in less than 10 minutes, and found a feast: Azhar had put out everything he had at home: some lamb curry and rice, and bread, and some salad. Barbara felt better just by smelling the delicious food, and suddenly realised she was drop dead hungry. As she finished the second plate of curry, she said:

"Sir, I think I can stomach talking to Bolton now. But if he could come and see me that would be really great..."

Azhar nodded:

"Actaully, Mr Dara broke down the minute we started talking to him. Apparently he was the one to insist on the wedding.

Benham had been betrothed to his cousin since she was 8 years old, to repay Mr Dara's brother for paying for Dari and his wife's move to England years ago. Mrs Dara had tried to stop it, saying it would be better to just pay for the young woman's university education here and find her a husband while she was here, but it's very difficult to get out of these arrangements once they're made.

Mrs Dara felt she could not tell her husband their son was probably gay, and after the wedding, at first things seemed to go well. But soon, the first troubles surfaced, and the young couple started fighting. The fights got worse and worse. Mr Dara the elder tried to talk to the two of them, but to no avail. He felt completely powerless after his son's arrest, and was still refusing to accept reality.

I believe getting arrested this morning was the wake up call he needed. His wife's down at the station now, trying to sort out things with a lawyer. Her son won't be free on bail, but her husband will be released, and they'll try to make their son's prison stay as bearable as possible. The young man is seen by a psychologist, by the way. He's still deemed suicidal. The Imam the Met works with is seeing him as well."

Azhar stopped. He shook his head. Importing ancient customs to England wasn't easy, and so many of the arranged weddings ended in horrified parents accepting divorced daughters with children in tow back home. He thought of his own older children, with a bang of sorrow.

Lately he'd been thinking of them more and more. He'd always missed them dearly, but had not wanted to disrupt their new lives. Seeing how Hadi suffered after her mother had left them, had made him think again. It had probably not been better for his children not to see him. He decided there and then to contact the Imam at the mosque they frequented to initiate contact. He hadn't seen them in a long time, and it wouldn't be easy, but he was determined not to be an "Angela" anymore. He'd made so many mistakes in his life, he wanted to make some of them right, or at least try.

Lynley got off the phone with the Met.

"Bolton will be here in an hour or so. I've talked to Hillier as well. You're off for another week, and by the time you're ready to get back to work, I'll start a trial period of two weeks with the psychologist's supervision, to see how things work out. You'll be assigned to me again."

Barbara started grinning. Lynley had sounded just like his old bossy self. Things weren't going so badly today, after all. All she had to do was talk to Bolton, and right now she felt secure and confident. Besides, Lynley and Azhar would be at hand, if she needed them, and soon Hadi would be home from school to brighten her day.

On top of it, she was getting Lynley back.

She felt ready to face the world, and all that it would bring, again.

FINIS ( for now )