"So, after Guyana, I decided enough was enough, and I returned to Edinburgh where thankfully there was a head pathologist post waiting for me"

Dr Iain McLeod cradled his whiskey glass in the palm of his hand and rotated it gently as he spoke. The ice made a soft tinkling sound as it slipped about in the base of the glass. Laura looked at him, she was sitting next to him on the big leather sofa, half turned to face him, leaning into the seat a little, her leg bent slightly onto the broad polished leather of the chesterfield sofa. She wore knee length leather boots under her dress and they creaked as they married with the leather on the sofa. The log in the fireplace had almost burnt out and the bar staff were collecting empty glasses from the tables. Some of the teambuilding participants still had drinks but most had retired for the night.

Suddenly Laura was aware that it was getting late. Time had flown, it seemed since Iain had walked, out of the blue, through the entrance to the bar only a few hours earlier.

Laura had been shocked when she'd seen him. Not just because she'd not seen him for so long but because she felt a rising of something inside. It was over 15 years since they'd last had any contact with each other. She remembered it all too well. It had been a sendoff party before Iain had gone off overseas. It was a big party, even their old mentor, Max DeBryn, came along, despite his failing health.

Both excelling in their general lab work and also their chosen specialities, Laura and Iain had been Max's golden couple. Not only had Laura and Iain partnered in the lab, but they had also been in a relationship for a while. Laura had tried to keep from mixing work with her private life, but she had found Iain irresistible and she had fallen for him, despite her better judgement.

When, not long after they had both qualified as pathologists, the opportunity came up for them both to work overseas as a team, Iain took it. Laura on the other hand stayed in Oxford despite being more qualified for the post.

Laura had excelled in her studies but in the end, she stopped short of applying for the post. Although long retired due to ill health, Max DeBryn had been delighted that Laura was staying in the Oxford crime lab, she shone more brilliantly than Iain even though they were both exceptional. Laura had thought long and hard about the overseas post and in the end, she had decided not to go through with it.

The main reason Laura had declined the post had been Iain.

Iain had hurt Laura badly. After a few months seeing each other, she'd moved in with him. They'd even talked of longer-term plans. It was almost as if they were waiting for an opportunity to arise so they could travel the world together. All of that had all come to an end when Iain had cheated on her. Devastated but young and resilient, Laura had picked herself right up and brushed it off. She'd told friends she hadn't cared that Iain had slept with an undergrad in their bed while she'd been on a late shift in the morgue. During the time they were together, part of her had almost had an inkling that Iain might betray her somehow. He was charming and charismatic but also charmingly dishonest; she'd seen him in the lab taking credit for work that hadn't strictly been his. She had pushed this intuition aside but it simmered beneath her composure without her being fully aware of it. The overseas post that, when it had presented itself, had thrilled her, suddenly filled her with dread. She realised she couldn't face working with Iain, not after what had happened, at least not in such a highly stressful job. So, she had decided not to take the post.

The split between the pair of them was amicable because Laura had made it so. The betrayal had been common knowledge. To her friends and contemporaries Laura wanted to make it look like she was invincible, as if Iain's deceit didn't matter. But it had hurt her deeply. Even so, and despite everything, she had remained stoically bright in social circles and in the lab, for her own benefit, making it appear she hadn't been affected by it all and that it was something she could just pick herself up from. A few months after Iain had left Oxford, and the dust had settled, she allowed herself to realise that she was privately angry at herself, that she had allowed her personal life to affect her career. Outwardly she kept up the appearance but inside she was still deeply hurt. She felt stupid more than anything else, that she had fallen for Iain and not realised his duplicity. She vowed to herself to never let a man interfere with her career ever again. She knew this also meant locking away her emotions, most of them if not all. This had been difficult to start with but with a cavalry of distinctions and outstanding exam results had helped her confidence.

Despite these accolades and brilliance, Laura often wondered, as the years passed, how her life might have been different if she had taken a different career path within pathology. The post that she could have taken, partnered with Iain, had been dangerous, political even. At first, Laura had been thrilled at the idea of the opportunity. She felt confident to take on a role that, although slightly risky, she felt ready for. Young and full of energy and fresh out of college she was ready to push the boundaries of what pathology could do to help others, both dead and living. But as the years passed she was sure she'd made the right decision not to take the job; indeed, throughout her career other opportunities had presented themselves, far and afield, and she had turned them down, preferring to remain in Oxford. She'd made peace about the whole decision a long time ago. She'd even reframed how she felt about how Iain had betrayed her. They had both been young, these things happened. This strength of character she possessed had served her well and although she often wondered about the decisions she'd made in her life, she had learnt that it did no good to anyone to look back in anger.

Laura thought of all these things as she looked at Iain as he spoke to her from his close place on the sofa. Older now, of course but still with the arresting good looks that she'd fallen for all those years ago, she let her mind wander back to those early years. If anything, time had made him almost more attractive. In her twenties she'd found him irresistible and now, looking at him as he spoke, she felt the old flare of the flame that was once there, dimmed over the years but not quite extinguished by the passing of time.

As Iain finished the last of his scotch Laura wondered if he had changed. She knew she had. She was wise enough to know how things had shaped her life and steered her onto different paths emotionally, if not in her career. She realised she was looking back at the situation with Iain with fresh eyes and without any bitterness. She was a little puzzled at this feeling. Nonetheless it felt good to feel like this and she realised how confident and comfortable she'd become with herself and how adversity and life events had built her self-esteem into something strong in her personality.

"Is there a Mr Hobson?" Iain asked tentatively with a slight smile, knowing that Laura's attitude to marriage had been at best an aversion.

"No" she said, holding his gaze with an enigmatic smile that she didn't know she was wearing.

"What about you? I heard on the grapevine you had married" She asked, her face was neutral despite the question

"I did. Charlotte. We were married for 12 years""

"Were?"

"Yes. Actually we've just separated." Iain looked into the bottom of his scotch glass and frowned

"Oh, well I'm sorry to hear that" Laura said softly

"Don't be. Our relationship had been rocky for a long time, too much time away in hot dusty countries didn't do us any favours." Iain smiled sadly and looked down into his scotch glass again.

"Anyway. Enough about me." he said with a sigh. "Tell me what you've been doing for the last however many years it's been since we last saw each other"

Laura suddenly felt acutely aware of how little she had done with her career compared to Iain. She drained the last of her sparkling water, now flat and tasting more of regular tap water. A segment of limp pale lemon languished miserably at the bottom. Laura put the glass on the table before turning back to Iain.

"It's late, Iain, I should be getting back to my aunt's house"

Iain nodded and Laura noted a look in his eyes that she recognised oh so well, one that she used to go weak at the knees for.

"I'd better go" she said, standing up

"Let me walk you to your car" Iain said as he followed her in getting up from his seat. The bar had now emptied and the staff were wiping down tables and tucking chairs and stools tidily underneath.

Outside the night air was cool and fragrant with spring. A sweet scent of hawthorn drifted in the breeze. Laura's boots crunched on the gravel as she reached her car. Iain walked close, near to her, his hands in his trouser pockets.

"You really didn't need to walk me to my car, Iain"

"I know. You made it quite clear all those years ago that you can look after yourself"

"Yes well that's a good job, isn't it, where you're concerned"

"I know. I know I behaved appalingly" Iain shook his head as he spoke "Seeing you now, out of the blue, after all this time. . . I realise again how badly I treated you"

Laura felt a cool breeze creep over her slightly. She suddenly remembered the hurt she'd felt all those years ago. Despite this, she suddenly felt very much in the present and very self-assured. Again, she realised she felt no bitterness about how he'd behaved. She still wasn't quite sure why that was. She regarded Iain with a bold look that was at once challenging, strong and, as before in the bar, enigmatic. She didn't say anything, just kept her gaze on Iain's face. His hands still in his pockets, he looked down to the gravel at his feet. After a few seconds he lifted his head and returned Laura's gaze.

"After I split from Charlotte, I spent a lot of time soul searching, thinking about how things had gone wrong in my life, how I'd made wrong decisions, taken the wrong path sometimes" He kept his gaze on Laura's, steady and unflinching.

"I thought a lot of you, Laura, how I lost you" His blue eyes held Laura's gaze in the twilight

"Yes, you did" She replied, returning his gaze with the same cool look and confidence that seemed to demonstrate the emotional history between them both.

"It's good to see you, Doc. Really good" Iain said softly, his voice was low and he kept his eyes directly on hers

"Goodnight, Iain" Laura said and as she got into her car she gave Iain Mcleod a look that was both full of warning and also of something else, almost indecipherable, something that reminded Iain of their time together all those years ago.

And Mcleod watched, hands in his pockets, as Laura's car drive away from the hotel and into the night. He waited until he could no longer hear the car engine and then he walked slowly back towards the hotel, as he did so, he took a mobile phone from his pocket and tapping softly on the screen, he raised the phone to his ear before disappearing onto the side terrace of the hotel.