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A/N / summary: And for dinner there are a few serious conversations, mostly lighthearted and completely full of love. Fluff as it should be. Part of the Emerald Series, Part 2. I mean, with a baby on its way there has to be a serious talk, right? Enjoy...


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...to the Stars and back

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Yesterday evening they had had dinner with his mother. Today they would not have spent the evening with anyone but each other. Early in the afternoon Tommy and Barbara finally had realised that they were going to become parents.

It had been a bit of a surprise because Barbara was so used to an irregular period that she had not spent a lot of thoughts on being very late this time. But a phone call with his mother and her correct assumptions about Barbara's morning sickness, and of course the positive result from the pregnancy test, which Tommy had brought home in his lunch break, had given them certainty.

DI Lynley had not been able to keep his mind on work completely when he had returned to the Met after a very extended break at home. Additionally he had missed lunch and had been hungry for the rest of the day at the office.

Later in the evening, before he returned from New Scotland Yard, where he and his team had started with that new case, Tommy went to buy a bottle of a very special champagne. He had called Denton earlier, so a light meal already was prepared and the butler had retired to his own rooms for the rest of the evening.


When Tommy came home waving the bottle of bubbly, he surprised Barbara, who was sitting in the living room in sweat pants, watching the umpteenth rerun of her favourite show.

"You know that I'm not allowed to drink alcohol?" she reprimanded him.

Ignoring her, Tommy filled two glasses. She raised a criticising eyebrow. "Don't worry. It's alcohol free." he explained with a broad grin.

"How insightful."

He kissed her sarcasm away before he toasted.

"To our parenthood." he gently said.

"Yah, well... To my pregnancy." she answered with a diffident smile. "I have to endure that first."

Tommy gave her a pensive look. Barbara held his gaze. She could imagine what sort of thoughts were running through his head. He had endured a pregnant woman before. It had not ended well on so many levels. Barbara raised a hand and gently placed it on his cheek. It made him sigh.

Only after a while he ripped his eyes from hers. "Come, Denton's prepared a light dinner."

"I know. I've chopped the herbs."

For a moment the image of Barbara in the kitchen helping the butler prepare dinner flashed through his mind. He knew that life with this woman would never get boring. "Oh, and have you eaten already?"

"No, I wanted to eat with you."

Just as usual, she let the TV run when she followed Tommy to the kitchen where they usually had dinner.


"What did you do all day?" Tommy asked, pulling the lids from a few food containers with cold delicacies.

Barbara set the table. "Ah, sleep, watch TV, have a nap, read up about what I'm allowed to eat or not, sleep again, think, doze, help Mr Denton, have another nap, watch TV again..."

"I assume you're going to turn the night into day?" Tommy chuckled. "So much sleep during the day..."

"Nah, I just had a few naps." she said when she sat down at the table. "There's enough tiredness left over for the night."

"Well, and what have you learned about your new diet?" He sat down on the opposite side and started to fill his plate with freshly baked white bread and delicious nibbles from the food boxes.

Barbara eyed him suspiciously but Tommy was not making any fun of her. He looked seriously interested.

"Well, no alcohol of course. Not too much caffeine." She groaned when he chuckled.

"Uh-oh. Havers without coffee? Now that will be fun..."

"Ha." She rolled her eyes.

"Anything else banned from your menu?"

"Raw eggs, raw meat, raw fish." Now she laughed. "I'm afraid we have to stop having dinner at the Sushi Bar."

"Sure. As if you'd go there at all."

She stuck out her tongue to him. "Certain sorts of cheese are also all for yourself from now on. Or that delicious Serrano." With a deep sigh she pushed the box with Italian delicacies closer to his plate. "I have to eat healthily in general, more vitamins and such, now that it's not just me getting poisoned by my usual diet."

Tommy gave her an amused smile. "And what about your Tuesday runs?"

"It's good to keep that and the odd workout. Just not too intense."

"A healthy diet and a reasonable amount of physical training." He picked an apple wedge from a bowl and fed it to her across the table with an amused wink. "What a strange new life that will be."

"Mhm." She munched on her piece of apple when he caressed her cheek.

"I look forward to all these new experiences." he quietly admitted.

"So do I." Barbara earnestly told him.

Only then she swallowed down the piece of apple she had chewed on and it made him smile. "But no more speaking with your mouth full, once our child is here." he said with a cheeky grin.


She ignored it and kept looking at him with a pensive expression. She had had a lot of time to think during the day but she only had made up her mind right now.

"Will you marry me?" Barbara quietly asked out of the blue, her serious eyes never leaving his.

"Of course I will." Tommy seriously answered and put another piece of bread onto his plate before he looked for another treat. "I've already-" He stopped short and looked up, his hand hovering over a bowl with olives. Then his eyes widened in surprise. "Have you just..." he stammered. "Did you... Was that..."

"Yes, it was a proposa- Mmmmmh!"

After it finally had sunken in what she had said and what he had answered, Tommy got up from his chair. He did not care that it toppled over backwards or that he pushed the ketchup bottle into the butter, nor did he recognise that his shirt hung into the bowl with pickled cucumbers when he leant across the table, took Barbara's face in both hands and silenced her with a boisterous kiss.

"Oh, wow..." she breathed after he had set her free again.

He gave her another hearty kiss. "And here I was, racking my brain how I could ask you again after I've told you I'd wait." Tommy searched for his chair and sat down again. He folded his hands and laid his chin on it to simply look at Barbara with a broad smile and lovestruck eyes. "You know, I wouldn't have accepted a no."

"I wouldn't have said that."

"But you did."

"Not after our lunch at the Green Gem."

"But there you did not say anything, as far as I remember. And you've still looked so undecided. What has changed your mind? Well, apart from the irresistibly romantic setting here?"


"Well..." For a while Barbara pondered on an answer. After a deep breath she explained it. "You know, I had wanted to keep my personal freedom as long as possible. Stay independent, have the chance to return to my former life if necessary. That is, return to it if you would have changed your mind about me, about loving me. Or realise that I actually do not fit into your world. Or if you simply would grow tired of-" When Tommy inhaled to object she raised a silencing hand. "No, sh! Please let me explain. When I eventually realised that I have moved in with you and given up my flat, that was when I realised I wouldn't be able to return to that life anyway, or at least not without a lot of difficulties. And I was ready to take the risk. Actually I don't think it's a risk, because I know you love me as much as I love you, and your family apparently accepts me how I am, and Hillier knows too, and... And now with that tiny worm in my womb..."

"Our child." he sighed. "The product of our love."

"Yes..." Barbara also smiled. Tommy was so cute when he let his love for her shine through without restrictions. She never would grow tired of this sight.

"You and me combined into a new little human."

For a few moments both only smiled at each other.

"You know," she went on speaking when he started putting away the dishes and the remnants of their dinner. "after I haven't said the yes I had wanted to say at the Green Gem..."

Grinning, Tommy turned to her and his face had become even happier. "Ah, that untimely waitress."

"Mhm... There had been a few opportunities at which I had hoped for another proposal from you, that you'd ask if I've made a decision, and I would have said yes, but your question didn't come. 't was my own fault, wasn't it?"

Tommy shrugged. "Sort of. I was too-"

"Ah, forget what I've told you about modern times, modern woman and such. I still don't need a license to be happy with you, but I want to marry you. Now more than ever. You just have to believe me that I had not planned this." Tommy stopped tidying up. "I had not chanced to become pregnant." Tommy came over to her chair. "I had not wanted to force you into marr-"

Tommy silenced her with another kiss. "Oh, shut up, keresik*!" he softly mumbled onto her lips. "Did I ever give you the impression that I believed you'd try to force me, Sweetie? In fact, after I've told you that I'd wait for your answer, I was too afraid of asking you again, of annoying you, or urge you. I feared that I'd make you feel forced to make a decision. And now with our baby on its way... Yes, I feared that you might believe I only asked again because I would feel obliged to do so. But I want you. In my life, in my castle..." His lips widened into a juicy grin. "... in my bed..." He held out a hand to her which she accepted. "...in my family register" Barbara got up from her chair and followed him out of the kitchen. "...and in the nursery of our children."

"Thomas, we should get through with this one, to begin with." she told him on the stairs. "And then we'll take it from there. We're not in our twenties anymore. I don't think-"

"Ah, easy-peasy." he cut her short. "We're still young enough to make at least..." Tommy made a show of silently calculating. "...well, five to six little Barbies and Tommies."

Barbara laughed. "Don't be ridiculous."

Their happy conversation turned into happy kisses and ridiculous stumbling through the corridor until he stopped it in the door to their bedroom. He turned on the lights inside but kept his arms around Barbara when he leant against the door frame.

"What does the internet say about sex during pregnancy?" Tommy asked with the most lascivious voice. He pulled her closer to his chest.

Barbara switched off the corridor lights. "It's allowed." she hoarsely answered. "And I think I feel the pregnancy randiness already."

"How convenient." he moaned before they stumbled through the bedroom door together.

It ended somewhere between pillows and bedsheets, with entangled arms and legs and two very breathless lovers.

The main lights on the ceiling still were on.


"What a day." Tommy beamed happily. After he had regained some breath he had pulled up the covers over their satisfied bodies. He propped his head onto his elbow and watched her. Barbara opened her eyes and grinned at him. "I think I have to call my mother." he said. "She will be delighted."

"Thomas Lynley!" Barbara exclaimed indignantly. "You're not calling your mother from our bed. Especially not after we..." He did not say anything in reply but got up, closely watched by her eyes. "And not from our bedroom either!" she told him, but he only switched off the main lights and laughed.

"I didn't mean now, Barbara!" Tommy chuckled when he returned to bed and kissed the tip of her nose. "Tomorrow would be soon enough. And we could have sorted out some details by then."

"Details? Now? Like what?"

"Well, the date, for example. Or the approximate date at least." He gave her a shy smile. "To be honest, I'd want that child to be officially legal."

"Conservative." she gently teased him.

"Concerning this? Definitely yes."

"But I agree." Barbara yawned. "It should be before the child is born. Although I definitely won't waddle to the registrar as big as a walrus. So we should care for an appointment soon."


He switched off his bedside lamp. In the dark, Tommy only drew circles on her shoulder with his index finger for a while. "By the way, I have made a few calculations during the day." he slowly said. "After you've told me about when your period should have started, and after I've pointed out that we've been at it-" Barbara poked a finger into his ribcage to prevent him from saying it again. "That we haven't always used contraception... It made me think."

Barbara laughed hard. "It's a bit late now, hm?"

"No, it's perfect that way. But I wasn't able to recall a romp-"

"Oh, Tom!" she moaned.

Unperturbed by her cringe, he went on. "-without condoms after our jingle-jangle."

"Our wha- ...oh, that." Barbara laughed again. "You mean on the piano, right?"

"Mhm. I'm afraid we'll have to call him Amadeus."

"No way!" she objected. "And don't try to find a woman composer." It made him chuckle. "But you may be right. I've thought about it too. It probably will be a winter child. But, back to the walrus theory. I think, because we can't marry tomorrow-"

"Why not?"

"For multiple reasons, Thomas." she answered sternly. "I think the date should be before the fifth month. Otherwise I'm too... big."

"So, umm... August? Or September?" Tommy felt her nodding against his shoulder. "And correct me if I'm wrong, but you don't want a church wedding, do you?"

"Have you seen me going to church before?" she asked in return.

"Actually no. But no church wedding would mean my mother wouldn't be delighted."

She placed a hand on his cheek. "My dear, I'm not going to marry your mother." Barbara gave him a kiss. "And by the way, I'd prefer that she'd leave our bedroom now."

Tommy chuckled. "Alright, alright. Now sleep?" He could hear her yawn. "Understood. Then, good night, my fiancée."

"Good night, my sometime-soon-to-be husband." she murmured contentedly and they exchanged a gentle goodnight kiss.

"I love you to the stars..." he whispered with his lips still lingering on hers.

And she ended it with a breathed "...and back."

After a while, when they had settled onto their pillows and into each others arms, Tommy added a very quiet "Good night, mum-to-be."

Barbara only was able to inhale before his lips closed hers with another sweet kiss.


And downstairs the TV still was running.


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*keresik = Cornish endearment