Just before 10, Laura Hobson's phone beeped. She was re-examining the stomach cavity of the embalmed corpse, and was quite literally up to her elbows. Cursing under her breath, she completed her checks and it was another twenty minutes before she had stitched up the cavity and cleaned herself up enough to look at her phone.

'Morning beautiful. Did you sleep? Can I bring you coffee?'

She tapped the phone against her lips and smiled, feeling about 17 again. Get a grip, Hobson. As she pulled off her scrubs, she cast a glance over the roster on the wall. She had meeting scheduled at 11 to discuss the lab reports for the week's PMs, then a tutorial at 3 with the new PhD student from the Radcliffe. All in all, it would be a relatively quiet day, and she wouldn't be on call until tomorrow. She walked back into her office and eyed the phone, wondering not for the first time this morning whether to call him. Sighing audibly, not quite ready to make that move, she sat down, opened the laptop, and attempted to read some emails. After five minutes she realised that it was useless trying to pretend to work, and that her only option was to carry out Plan A. She clicked the laptop shut, and slipping on a cardigan, walked back out into the mortuary corridors.

She had woken again at 4am, nauseous and shaking, the coldness of her nightmare chilling her to the bone. As she'd sat in the grey early morning light of her kitchen, nursing a cup of tea, she'd fretted about how they might take their relationship further. Laura had never struggled before in relationships, she was always the confident one who took the lead. Indeed, that had often been the issue. Men found her too demanding, too controlling. But this was Robbie. She couldn't just front it out with him, she cared too much to risk intimidating him. And anyway, she didn't want to be like that with him. He brought out a different, gentler side to her. But how could they move beyond years of easy familiarity into a proper relationship? She was attracted to him, of course, but for years they had deliberately maintained a careful physical distance. Could they just break that down in a simple conversation? Yesterday had been awkward and frustrating. As he'd left the mortuary, she had felt tense and frustrated, and had taken it out on Amy. It wasn't fair, and it wasn't professional. And the longer this went on, the more difficult it might get. She knew she was tired, and she knew that she was overthinking things…but that made no difference. She had to know. She had to know what it felt like, what he felt like. She had to know if he would have second thoughts when the reality of their situation became tangible.

Checking her hair in the small bathroom mirror, she was struck by how tired she looked. These last few months, since Ligeia's death and the horrors of that night, had not been kind to her. Thank god for highlighter and industrial strength concealer. She ran her hand nervously through her hair and tried to muster some confidence. It was now or never, sod the consequences. She took a deep breath and headed off in the direction of CID.

Sat in his office, Robbie Lewis was still mired in paperwork. The corpse still had no name, and from what he could see from the records he was skimming, no bodies had been reported missing from the local mortuaries. In spite of all that though nothing could wipe the smile off his face this morning. He kept glancing over at his phone nervously. Maybe she hadn't seen it yet? Probably up to her arms in some dead bloke, lucky bastard. As his sniggered at his own joke, there was a light knock at the door.

"Come in"

She stepped in briskly, and carefully shut the door behind her, noiselessly twisting the lock, before turning to face him.

"Laura?"

She smiled nervously, scrutinising his face for any objections and seeing none walked around his desk and perched on the edge, close to where he was sitting.

She looked distracted but was watching him closely. He felt a little unsettled himself by her serious demeanour, but realised that she was clearly thinking hard about what she wanted to say. He put his pen down, and stretching back in his chair, looked up at her,

"Everything ok, Laura?"

She nodded very deliberately, trying to smile, but her eyes serious,

"I've been thinking…"

He took a shallow breath, suddenly feeling serious himself,

"And can I try something?"

His brows furrowed in concern, but he nodded his assent.

To his surprise she carefully leant forward and stroked his face, her thumb smoothing over his lower lip. He didn't flinch, enjoying the warmth of her fingers on his cheek. Her eyes were still serious, and he smiled his reassurance. Slowly, very deliberately, she lowered her face, and closing her eyes, lightly brushed her lips against his. A shiver raced down his spine at the delicate contact, he could feel her breath against his lips. Almost before the kiss had begun though, she slowly moved back to look at him, gauging his reaction, the look of concern never quite leaving her eyes.

"OK?"

Her hand was still resting on his cheek, and he brought his own up to clasp it, pressing a kiss to her palm and smiling broadly. He understood now what she was trying to do, what she was asking him.

"More than ok."

"Good. I've been thinking about doing that since last night."

She smiled shyly, her hand slipping down to rest on his shoulder, and stood up a little,

"Do you still think you'll have time for lunch later?"

He grinned, pleased that he had passed the test she'd set for them, "Yes - usual place?"

She smiled broadly now, holding his gaze, and nodded, her hand still resting gently on his shoulder, adjusting to their new intimacy. Her pager buzzed in her pocket, startling them both slightly.

"Duty calls?"

She extracted the device and read the brief message, her brow furrowing as she processed the contents.

"Hmm...one of the lab reports is back, and it looks like we might have to re-run some of the samples. Looks like something has interfered with the testing...what?"

He was grinning at her inanely.

"It's not funny - now I've got to do it all again!"

Still, he couldn't stop smiling.

"I'm sorry... I'm not laughing at you, pet. It's just this doesn't feel quite real yet..."

She met his eyes, and nodded, not sure what to say. She had known it might be awkward, it was why she wanted to take things slowly with him. To give him a chance, both of them a chance, to adjust to the reality of this.

"I have to get back to the lab"

"I know"

"See you at 1?"

"It's a date"

Suddenly self-conscious, she patted his shoulder affectionately and stood. Turning towards the door, though, she felt his arm sweep around her waist, pulling her back, down onto his lap. She shrieked in surprise as he nuzzled her neck, pressing his lips to her ear,

"Not so fast, young lady, I'm not done with you"

She could barely repress the giggles, all the nervous tension dispelled as he pulled her closer still, twisting her round to face him. They had hugged before, but this felt different. She felt surrounded by him, safe but also exquisitely on edge. He paused for a moment, trying to gauge her reaction to his sudden move, making sure she was comfortable. The ghost of a conversation passed across his memory, a drunk man on a boat, mocking his propriety. It felt like an age ago now.

"Can I kiss you, Laura?"

She smiled, her eyes twinkling, and nodded. This time, as their lips met, she felt his hand run up through the back of her hair, holding her firm. Gone was her carefully calculated restraint, and she relaxed into his kiss, teasing him with her lips, letting actions finally speak louder than her words.

As they broke apart slightly breathless, he kissed her nose and her forehead, carefully, deliberately, before wrapping his arms around her, rubbing her back, soothing her,

"Better?"

She nodded, holding his gaze for a moment, her eyes sparkling, and then she kissed him slowly, luxuriously, her hand sliding up to cup his cheek, needing this closeness. Finally. He moaned softly and she felt the breath catch in her throat. Pulling back and looking at him again, she smiled ruefully,

"I have a feeling that I'm not going to be able to concentrate on my work this morning"

The pager buzzed again, and she groaned audibly. "I really need to go, Robbie"

"I know"

He kissed her again, slowly, savouring the moment until his lips tingled with pleasure.

"Robbie…"

He smiled against her lips, and murmured again,

"I know…"

Finally, he broke the kiss, and she found herself laughing.

"What?"

She giggled again, and caressed his cheek,

"I'm sorry…."

"What?"

"I just didn't expect it to be this easy…"

He grinned, kissing the thumb that was caressing his lips,

"What can I say? I'm a cheap date…"

She grinned back, and as her pager buzzed again, pressed a chaste kiss to his lips, and eased herself up from his lap. As she reached the door, her fingers reaching for the handle, she turned. He was grinning broadly again, and she raised her eyebrow questioningly.

"Thanks for dropping by, Laura"

It seemed so ridiculous and yet so appropriate. "My pleasure, Robbie, see you at lunch".