Hi everyone. I am so glad you are still up for some Robson action. I really do appreciate your comments – they keep me writing! Things will start to hot up from here – well, to a point, there's still quite a way to go with this story before we get to the really good bits – and Bingsrule, don't worry, I will not need to force Robbie into a relationship with James or Innocent, although I have to say, (and although it doesn't float my boat at all) some of the best written Lewis fic I have read does pair them up. Anyway, I digress, so don't worry, this is most definitely Robson fic, despite how ruggedly good looking Iain is. I think we all know who Laura will eventually end up with. . .

There is a little bit of mild swearing in this chapter. Also, it's a bit of a longer read, so I hope you enjoy it while I get round to writing the next chapter.

ML x

Sunlight filtered through the larch trees of the woodland that formed part of the Stone Edge House estate. Dressed in a camouflage jumpsuit, over her jeans and tee-shirt, Laura crouched behind a large gritstone boulder. Feeling the cool stone on her back she listened carefully to the sounds of the woodland around her. In the distance she could hear the shouts of the other combatants as a battle between Team Red and Team Blue unfolded.

Laura's camo over suit was covered in bright blue paint. Five minutes earlier DS Thompson, Team Blue, had discharged his paintball gun at almost point black range onto Laura after she had made a dash from behind a tree. She had become separated from the two other team members she had been with and had decided to shelter behind the broad smooth trunk of a beech tree. After a few minutes of respite Laura had made a run for it and that had been the moment Thompson had sniped her, at very close range.

As a consequence, Laura had fallen onto the woodland floor where, despite her swearing, Thompson had continued to shoot at her before running off. When she was sure he had gone, she had picked herself up off the ground, and covered in leaf matter, bark, larch needles and dried mud she had limped to a large gritstone boulder to recover for a few moments.

Laura rubbed at her arms and carefully touched the area under her ribs. She knew there would be bruises from the paintball assault. She hadn't been surprised by the ferocity of Thompson's attack. That morning during the introductory seminar Laura had delivered a succinct diatribe, in the politest way - as requested by the consultant - of how Thompson's lack of certain skills in the field had wrought havoc on many a forensic case. With carefully selected words, and with great articulation, Laura had made it clear to all, that at a crime scene, DS Thompson was less than diligent if not bordering on sloppy. Clearly Thompson had taken great issue at the exposure and had exerted his own brand of revenge with his paintball gun, despite it being against the gaming rules of play.

Fuming with rage at the injustice of it all, Laura gave herself a few more minutes to gather her wits. She took some deep breaths, squeezing her face into a tight frown under the ridiculous protective visor. She managed to calm herself down, despite the stinging under her ribs. She had, it seemed, found a relatively quiet spot in the woodland.

The wooded area of the estate was a remnant of an old medieval forest and the trees were mixed. Huge, graceful beeches with their smooth pewter bark towered between hazels, birches, alders, larches and large holly trees. Scots pine with their deep green feathery needles darkened the canopy of green that stretched overhead. The fresh greens of the newly opened beech leaves filtered the mid-afternoon sunlight almost like stained glass in a church and Laura had taken a few moments to forget about the paintball fight and instead took in the beauty of the ancient woodland. On the ground beneath her, dried beech masts, leaf mould and last autumn's fallen larch needles created a thick and springy surface underfoot. For a second she listened to the distant cries of the ongoing paintball battle, alert for any sounds that might indicate the battle was advancing nearer again.

Thankfully, it sounded far away.

She tuned in to the ambience of the wood again. There was a slight breeze in the larches that made a soft neutral sound that right at that moment calmed her irritation.

She took a lungful of air, fragrant with woodland aromats.

In the distance she heard a pheasant call, and the clap of a wood pigeon's wings. A small green bird flew in between the larch branches above her, its call a shrill almost rasping sound and Laura wondered what the bird was. She felt her feet sink into the soft carpet of larch needles beneath her and her nose filled with a pleasant earthy scent as her boots crushed the leaf matter underfoot. She looked around her; she realised she was in a small hollow. The woodland was on a gentle slope that led in parts to small gritstone cliffs of only a few feet and easily climbable. The main paintballing action was taking place on the higher slopes so Laura was glad to realise it was an excellent place to hide for a moment before she gathered some energy to go back into the fray.

In front of her, the woodland came to a stop after around 10 meters and the larches and birch trees at the edge were corralled by a mossy stone wall, beyond which were fields and meadows that led down to the river Derwent. Laura could see a gap in the wall, an entrance and exit for sheep into the woodland from the pastures. Through the little gap she could see the broad silky brown ribbon of the river. The waterside meadows looked lush and peaceful. She took another calming breath, her heart rate had almost returned to normal when she heard it.

A loud whisper; a whisper calling her name.

She turned her head, had she imagined it? Then it came again, louder this time.

"Laura"

She turned her head again. The voice, from what she could tell, was behind her. She turned around to see what, at first glance, appeared to be a gritstone wall about 5 feet tall that formed almost a back part of the hollow, above which was a ridge that led to more woodland. To the sides were slopes that could be clambered up to reach the top ridge. There was a holly bush, tall and with glossy dark green leaves and it sounded like the voice was almost coming from the tree.

"Laura in here!" the voice came again, a loud whisper, and now she recognised the voice

It was Robbie.

Taken completely by surprise, Laura quickly saw that there was a battered old algae covered wooden door concealed behind the holly tree that stood adjacent to the mossy stone wall.

"Quick, come on in, Thompson doesn't know it's here, he's run past it twice!" Robbie whispered loudly, pulling the door open for her.

Looking behind her briefly, Laura quickly slipped into what she realised was a shepherd's bunker, a hold for sheep in bad weather. It was dark inside but some of the stones in the wall were missing and welcome shafts of pale green light illuminated the space. There was a wooden makeshift bench that spanned the bunker and she thankfully joined Robbie who had returned to sit on it after calling to her from the door.

"What are you doing in here!" She exclaimed to Robbie with a smirk, despite the pure relief she felt to find even more shelter from the paintballing fight.

"Sitting this whole load of nonsense out. Bloody stupid. I hate guns, even paintball guns" Robbie explained, with a note of irritation in his voice as he looked at Laura.

Laura started to laugh, Robbie was togged out in the same combat gear as everyone else but he looked so ridiculously uncomfortable in it that Laura couldn't help but laugh. He had taken his mask and visor off and his hair was sticking up and now Laura was almost uncontrollably laughing. Robbie was cross at first but Laura's laugh infected him and he was soon laughing too.

"You cheeky so and so" He said after a while "After I rescued you from Thompson's revenge as well"

Robbie had heard the discharge of paintball pellets and swearing that had played out between Thompson and Laura.

"I know" She said, finally composing herself. "Are you quite sure about this? You could get into serious trouble with the team leader. I'm the enemy after all" She said, a cheeky but thankful grin on her face. Robbie was on Team Blue and Laura saw there wasn't much red paint on his camo suit. He had clearly been in the bunker for most of the duration of the game.

"Bollocks to that" Robbie said, his eyebrows raised. "Anyway, it works both ways, you're fraternising with the enemy as well"

Laura laughed.

"Bollocks to that" she repeated through a chuckle which Robbie joined her with. "Anything to get a few minutes to recover" She continued. "Bloody Thompson and his balls. He shot right at me at point blank range, I swear he was aiming to hurt"

"Yeah, well that's no surprise, he's an arsehole"

"Robbie!" Laura exclaimed at the language. She had never heard him swear so forthrightly like this. The absurdity of the exercise and the morning's events had loosened his usual reserve. He was also annoyed that Thompson, a member of his CID team, had behaved in a childish way to fight back at Laura's articulation in calling him out for his sloppy attitude out in the field.

"What?!" He said almost surprised at her reaction "Well, it's true. It's not exactly front-page news to anyone, it takes things like this stupid play fight to show things up in people, to show their true colours"

Laura was quiet for a while, she looked down at her boots resting on the almost concrete hard mud floor. She sensed Robbie was looking at her.

"What do you think about Iain?" She said, turning her head to look at him.

Her eyes searched his, a look that tugged at Robbie's emotions, and he suddenly realised that his answer was important to Laura.

"Oh erm, well, y'know, he seems a decent bloke, career wise" Robbie chose his words carefully. He scratched the back of his head behind his ear. He needed to tread gently. He didn't want to lie to Laura, but he could be economical with the truth at least. "I don't know him well enough yet, jury's still out." He continued and he looked at Laura, his lips a little tight although it was with a smile for her. "He's certainly excelled in his work, that's for sure."

Laura knew he was being diplomatic. She could sense Robbie disliked McLeod. She looked down at the bunker floor and returned a smile but didn't look at him.

"He seems keen on you" Robbie said softly

"Well, we were together for a while, back when we were at college" Laura said, now looking up from the floor, feeling herself blush a little at the revelation.

"Oh. Right. So, er, are you going to rekindle anything?" The words were out of Robbie's mouth before he could stop them.

"The jury's still out" she said, looking him in the eye before quickly shifting her gaze back to the bunker floor.

Robbie smiled back at Laura guardedly. He felt jealous of the situation but looking at her he couldn't bring himself to display how he felt. Even kitted out in the combat gear she looked just lovely; he didn't want to convey anything about how he was feeling. Nor did he want to tell her about Iain and his possible lies. Afterall, it wasn't Laura's fault he'd suddenly come to his senses about how he felt about her. As well as the attraction he knew was there he could feel the longstanding bond of friendship between them and he sensed she was troubled by something. So many times they would chat like this but usually it was Laura sensing the trouble in his mind, not the other way round.

"It must be odd, seeing him again after all these years?" He offered, suspecting that whatever was bothering her might be to do with McLeod.

She looked at him. She was surprised at this question, it was almost like Robbie was employing his distinctive brand of gentle questioning, of the sort he used when he needed to get information from a vulnerable victim. Laura wondered why he had said it and she also found herself opening up.

"Yes. It is strange, actually"

"In what way?" Robbie said gently, encouraging her further

"Well, it's just that we both left college with the same qualifications and I suppose, well, I just wonder sometimes how it was that I ended up staying in Oxford, knocking about the crime lab all these years. No relationship to speak of to keep me in Oxford, or anywhere for that matter; and I have to ask myself is this the best I could have done? I mean, can't say having a family or being married has held me back" Laura looked at Robbie, the searching look in her eyes again, and Robbie realised she was opening her heart to him.

"Don't do yourself down, Doctor. You're a brilliant pathologist. All the answers you've given families and relatives, all the justice you've helped deliver for all those victims. I know I couldn't have done half of my job without having you at the helm of the pathology department. All the stuff you put up with as well, y'know, being a woman in a male dominated environment, not to mention the CID department. Iain's done this that and the other, but he's had all the blokey privilege that goes for any man in a high-flying career, you've had to fight against all that. Anyway, you don't need me to tell you this."

She smiled at him, aware as she often was that he always spoke the truth. Sometimes the preceding message was clumsy or misguided but at the heart of it, he somehow managed to convey what he felt and Laura realised when he did this, it was always with honesty and kindness. He also called her by her title, highlighting her status when he didn't need to. This she sometimes felt was out of necessity, when out in the field or in the office when they were working on a case. But sometimes, like now, she knew it was a way of saying, in not so many words, how much he respected her.

And along with this honestly and kindness, thought Laura, was also authority. Robbie's team might snigger behind his back but they knew he had an integrity that was rare. Because of this they respected his authority. She thought of how earlier in the seminar Iain had wowed everyone with his impressive tales of leadership. Who is the true leader here she thought?

"Listen, you're an asset to the force and the public, you know that," he said, gently bumping her shoulder with his to emphasise his words. Laura looked down at her boots with a smile. It always felt good to hear someone praising her but it seemed even more special to hear it from Robbie.

"Even so" She said softly "I still wonder if I could have made more of a difference to people, not just through my job but by doing other things, like Iain has done."

"Not everyone does things for the good of others all of the time. Sometimes people do things for the benefit of themselves and for no one else."

Laura frowned, she thought this an odd statement for Robbie to suddenly come out with

"What do you mean?" She asked

Robbie looked at her, searching her eyes briefly and grappling with wanting to tell her what he had seen, what he thought he knew about McLeod. But she looked so lovely, full of a bright joy that he often saw in her face. Whatever the reason for her mood, he wasn't sure if he could bear to tell her, and what if he was wrong?

No, now was not the time to tell her about Iain taking off his wedding ring.

Although his mild indifference to McLeod had turned into seething dislike after what he had seen, Robbie knew it was still too early to know if McLeod's intentions were dishonest. Maybe he had taken the ring off and simply forgotten to put it back on. Robbie thought back to his wedding ring. He had not always worn it to work, but off duty he seldom took it off and he would certainly not have left it lying around in a hotel room.

"Ah, nothing" He replied "Ignore me"

Laura wondered what he meant but her attention was taken by the sound of the voice of the little green bird she'd heard earlier. It was calling again and though the gap in the wall she saw a flash of yellowish green and olive as it whirred by outside.

"What's that bird?" she whispered

Robbie listened to the bird's call

grummm sheeeeee ggggrrrrrruuuummmmm sheeee

"It's a greenfinch" he said with certainty. Then there was another call, a sweet sound, almost like liquid silver

dweeep dweeep dweeeep

"That's a nuthatch" he said to Laura, smiling at her expression of surprise at his knowledge.

"How do you know all these!?" Laura's question was with genuine and her face sported a quizzical smile

"I was first to get a birding badge at scouts I'll have you know"

Another bird was calling, it was familiar to Laura but she couldn't name it.

Teee churr teee churr teee churr went the call and Laura raised her eyebrows in silent questioning, waiting for Robbie to enlighten her

"It's a great tit" he said

"Well it's not the only tit in the wood that's for sure, and it's certainly not the greatest" said Laura with a smirk

Robbie chuckled softly. She laughed back, her eyes sparkling with merriment and together they laughed for a moment, simply enjoying the exchange, without any question or awareness other than just sharing the moment.

"Oh, looks like someone's hitched a ride" Robbie said. His attention had gone to Laura's shoulder and he reached his hand up. A woodlouse had found its way onto Laura after her fall onto the woodland floor. Robbie gently picked it off her suit and held it in the palm of his hand for a second.

Laura laughed softly, a little embarrassed but also lost in the unusual predicament they had both found themselves in.

"There's no flies, or woodlice on Doctor Hobson I'll have you know, she's far too canny for that" Robbie said to the tiny creature before carefully putting it onto a pile of dried leaves on the bunker floor

Laura laughed softly again and, perhaps where normally she would have given a frowning smirk to such a comment she instead found herself gazing at him.

"I'm sure he'll find his way home" Robbie said with a sweet smile, seeing her eyes shine back at him

"Yes, I'm sure he will" She replied, realising after a moment that they were looking at each other and not saying anything, just gazing at each other. Robbie's eyes darted between hers and he wanted nothing more than to reach forward and kiss her; hold her and tell her how he felt. But he knew he couldn't do such a thing.

Laura looked back, almost sensing what was on his mind and finding the signals sparking something in her subconscious.

Robbie reached forward with his hand, towards her face. Laura didn't flinch at his movement and he could see a brightness in her eyes, a searching look which accompanied a slight smile. There was a larch needle stuck in her hair and he gently pulled it out, and for a moment they shared a look that was at the same time excited and cautious but that felt oh so right and comfortable.

Suddenly there was a rustle of leaves from outside and a thundering of boots on the woodland floor along with a volley of paintball shots. The moment was lost.

"Oh god, sounds like the fray has made its way down here" said Laura quietly. They both listened to the unfolding fracas on the other side of the shelter wall for a few minutes until it moved in elsewhere.

"I suppose we should join back in with it all" said Robbie with a sigh

"I suppose so" Laura replied.

"I'll go first, you follow a few minutes after?" Robbie proposed, his voice almost a whisper, and Laura nodded her head with a smile. "Our little secret?" He said smiling back at her

"Yes" she said, "our little secret" and she watched as Robbie tugged his visor back over his head and slinging his paintball gun over his shoulder carefully opened the door of the shelter and slipped out into the spring woodland.

Laura waited a few moments to give him clearance and also to soak up a little bit more of the solace of the bunker. She listened for the shouting and popping of guns fade and then left the bunker and made her way back up to the base camp.

The blue team, it seemed, had won. DS Thompson had personally captured the flag from Team Red and was triumphantly waving it around his head as Laura returned to the base where both teams had reconvened now the game was over. The group then filtered into the paintball HQ, a large log cabin where they were able to relinquish their camo boiler suits and hand over the guns and visors. Laura saw Robbie and Hathaway, peeling off their suits as she entered the cabin.

"Sir, your suit is remarkably paint free" Said Hathaway as he unbuttoned his own suit

"Yes, well, Sergeant; guile, wit and general speed helps in a combat situation" said Robbie and he winked at Laura as she passed by them both.

She smiled at his deception and the smile turned into a secret chuckle as she watched the pair of detectives hand over their guns, suits and visors before leaving the cabin and making their way on foot through the estate land back to the hotel.

Laura was still smiling as she unbuttoned her suit when she felt a hand on her shoulder. She was about to turn around when a voice, close to her ear said in a low voice

"Shame we weren't on the same team"

It was Iain.

Laura didn't turn around but continued to pop the buttons on the thick canvas camo suit.

"We worked so well together, remember, Doc?" Iain highlighted this statement with a sensual squeeze of her shoulder. Laura was slightly irritated at Iain's arrogance and boldness in just assuming he could walk up to her, after all these years, after all that had happened and act in such an intimate manner; but at the same time she felt a flush of desire as his hand lingered on her shoulder.

"Did we?" She said as she turned round, a look of warning on her face, but also she couldn't help but acknowledge the rising of the heat she felt inside. She really didn't want to reveal that to him.

But Iain saw it in her eyes, even though it was brief.

"You know we did" he said softly and Laura was irritated again as she felt the rush of desire rise again and briefly, memories of the past rose in her mind, and her body, as Iain gazed at her. She held her nerve and stared back at him, hoping it would offer a warning to him. She still didn't know how she felt about seeing him again, particularly when he seemed to be raking up past embers and especially when she realised that she felt and was responding to the very heat he was stoking.

"There's something in your hair" Iain said and he reached forward and plucked something from behind Laura's ear. It was another woodlouse that had tangled itself into her hair.

"Oniscus asellus" he said before flicking the tiny creature to the floor of the cabin

Laura frowned

"Actually I need to have a chat to you about terrestrial crustaceans, and insects for that matter." She said.

"Oh?"

"Yes. The data-analysis software you mentioned this morning when you were talking to the group, it could be very useful to my students' research project."

"Why don't we talk about it over dinner?"

"It doesn't warrant a dinner date, Iain."

"Well, let's not call it that then. I'll see you later"

And he smiled as he walked off, and Laura felt there was a slight note of triumph in his tone. She cursed silently to herself. It was she after all, who had called it a date and he had craftily made it seem like the whole thing was in her mind not his, despite his flirtatious caress and invitation to share dinner. She suddenly regretted asking him for professional advice. She could have quite easily found out about the analysis software from elsewhere. Idiot she thought to herself.

She scowled to herself again as she watched Iain leave the cabin. He was still as handsome and as charming as he had been at college all those years ago and, it seemed, still with his own brand of arrogance that she had always been aware of, a trait that when she had been younger she had found exciting and dangerous. Last night she had thought he had seemed a little less arrogant, sadder, but just now she wondered that maybe he hadn't changed. She swallowed hard. She could still feel the thrill rising inside her that had resulted from his touch on her shoulder.

She really didn't want to feel this way.