A/N Because I obsess about this series waaaaay too much, the other day I was thinking about Nelson's PA Leah and whether or not she had a backstory. It resulted in a rather fun conversation with Elly Griffiths herself on Twitter and this little ficlet popped into my mind. Hope you enjoy. I'd love a review.
It's not so much that Nelson notices the flowers on his PA's desk as the fact that he notices he can't see his PA because of the flowers. He suffers a moment of panic thinking that he has forgotten her birthday, but then he remembers that a few years ago Judy took pity on him and entered it into his phone. So it can't be a special occasion then. Or if it is, it has nothing to do with him.
"You got flowers," he says.
"Mmmm, there's that brilliant detective's mind of yours," Leah says.
Nelson snorts once, "Who are they from then?"
"My boss sent them to me as an apology," Leah says with just the right hint of sarcasm to make her point.
"Ah," Nelson nods, "What's that arse done now?"
"He's been a complete grouch all week and I've taken the brunt of it."
"Well, you've known how he can be for years now," Nelson says. He pauses, managing a bit of a sheepish smile, "Still, he can't be all bad. That's a rather nice bouquet he's sent."
"It is. No, he's not all bad. His heart's in the right place even if he forgets how much the people around him do for him on a daily basis."
"He doesn't forget. He just gets caught up in things and forgets to show them."
"Not his best quality," Leah says reprovingly, "He's lucky we're all so loyal."
"He is that," Nelson says, reaching for his wallet, "How much did the flowers cost?"
"Don't worry," Leah smiles, "I charged them on your card."