As they stepped out from the gloomy pub into the pale afternoon sunshine, Laura's eyes were momentarily dazzled. He was looking back at her, waiting for her to catch up, a mischievous twinkle in his eye. They crossed Broad Street and as they walked through the wrought iron gates of the Sheldonian, she felt him fling his arm casually around her shoulders,
"Are you really ok? Jean wasn't giving you a hard time?"
She smirked, wrapping her arm around his waist,
"No…quite the opposite actually"
He didn't probe further, apparently content with her answer,
"Good"
They walked around the smooth curve of the Sheldonian, past the Bodleian and out onto Catte Street, getting caught up in the flood of students finishing their lectures and heading back to their Colleges. They both knew Oxford well, and took advantage of the shortcut through the back of Exeter college to wind their way towards the station. Robbie's arm soon tired, and he clasped her hand in his, his fingers wrapping around hers,
"Robbie, are you really starving, 'cause I'll still need to make some of the dinner when we get back…"
She sounded concerned, and as they waited at the traffic lights, he pressed a quick kiss to her temple,
"No, I'm fine. Just wanted to get away while we had the chance"
She smiled knowingly, and squeezed his hand. They'd been walking for five minutes in silence, both of them knowing where they were going, quietly confident in each other's company. The lights changed and they joined the crowd of students crossing the road, before peeling off down a side street to the station. Curling their hands up, Robbie checked his watch. Nearly seven. The station car park was never really empty, and for a moment he wondered if Laura might want him to…
"Don't you dare"
He smiled sheepishly, struck not for the first time how well she could read him, and squeezed her hand. A whisper of a smile curled her lips, and she nodded towards the car,
"Any chance of a lift?"
He pretended to contemplate it,
"I think we could manage it. But I've got to feed his Lordship before I come over. Do you want to come with me, or would you prefer if I drop you off on the way?"
He fished in his pocket for the keys, and disabled the alarm.
"You can drop me off…that way I can get the dinner ready for when you arrive"
He grinned, perhaps a little too enthusiastically, and nodded,
"Excellent choice"
Ten minutes later, Robbie pulled up at the kerb outside Laura's house. She'd been quiet most of the short drive home, looking out of the window, obviously preoccupied with her thoughts. A couple of times Robbie had glanced over, wondering if something was up, but she'd just relaxed back into the seat and looked at him pensively, a smile playing across her lips. As they came to a stop, he didn't turn the engine off, and she rummaged in her jacket for the house keys. Eventually she found them and turned to open the car door,
"Right, I'll see you in a bit then?"
Robbie smiled to himself and placed his palm deliberately on her thigh, just above her knee. Surprised, Laura turned back to face him, still unaccustomed to such gestures. His face was almost expressionless, impossible to read, and he solemnly pointed to his cheek.
"No free rides in this taxi"
She grinned and shaking her head at his idiocy and kissed him on the point indicated. He smiled broadly, raising an eyebrow knowingly and stealing another quick kiss from her retreating lips,
"Better. Now you may go… I won't be too long"
At a quarter to eight, the doorbell rang and Laura carefully put down the large knife she was wielding. Dinner was almost ready and she had even had five minutes to refresh her makeup. Perfect. It was uncanny, they'd been here before, a number of times even, but tonight things felt different. She felt different. Their awkward dinners of the past, with the stilted conversations and pointed silences could be forgotten. She felt relaxed - a fact not entirely unaided by the gin and tonic in the pub - and contented. She wouldn't need to spend the whole evening persuading herself that he probably wasn't interested, that he was just lonely and humouring her. As she reached the door, she took a peek through the spy hole and smiled at the figure illuminated by the porch light. He was dressed casually in jeans and a jumper, smiling to himself, bottle of wine in one hand and something that looked rather like…?
She swung the door open,
"Robert Lewis, are those carrots?"
He grinned, cradling the fluffy green bundle in one arm and handed her the bottle of wine,
"Sorry pet, I don't really do flowers in my garden"
She pushed the door to behind him and took the proffered wine, before inspecting the produce,
"They've very impressive, but I'm afraid I've already added the carrots…you'll have to make do with Waitrose's finest tonight"
He attempted to look disapproving, failed, and simply shrugged,
"Well, we'll have to have them tomorrow night then…"
She raised an eyebrow, daring him to presume more,
"You're very sure of yourself tonight, mister…"
She turned towards the kitchen and he slipped off his shoes and followed, placing the carrots on the nearest counter top. Laura opened a cupboard and extracted a couple of glasses, setting them next to the bottle. She looked at him, leaning lazily against the fridge, a mischievous look in his eye, and took in his attire. Casual suited him far better than a crumpled suit, and it pleased her that she might see him dressed like this more often. She glanced sideways at the carrots on the counter and smirked, shaking her head a little in disbelief,
"You brought me carrots?"
He looked sheepish and she stepped closer, her palm coming to rest on his chest, the soft wool of his jumper at once unfamiliar yet comforting. His arm slid around her back, and she looked up at him, amused to see the beginnings of a sulk,
"I happen to like carrots, Laura…"
She held his gaze deliberately, and pressed a kiss to his slightly pouting lips,
"I know…me too"
He pulled her closer and kissed her back, his arm lifting her slightly to meet him. She wrapped her other arm around his neck and was just deepening the kiss when he pulled back, sniffed the air theatrically, and beamed,
"I smell curry…"
She grinned, kissing his chin playfully,
"Too predictable?"
He wrapped his arms even more tightly around her, pulling her into what could only be described as a bear hug, his lips pressing a kiss to the top of her head,
"Did I mention that I love you?"
"I do have some feint recollection of it…"
The timer pinged, interrupting their moment, and Laura smiled apologetically. Returning to the various pots on the stove, she lifted one of the lids experimentally.
"Can I do anything to help?"
She shook her head quickly,
"Nope…everything under control."
And then wondered if she'd been a little too sharp, adding "I hope you're hungry, I've made rather a lot…"
Robbie stepped up behind her, surveying the bubbling curry, slipping a large hand around her waist,
"You know me, I'm always hungry"
He kissed her neck, as if to illustrate the point, and she added the rice to the water,
"Well, make yourself at home, this'll be about fifteen minutes…you know where the tv is"
He smiled against her neck, his breath making her shiver slightly,
"Are you kicking me out of your kitchen?"
Busted. She turned and kissed his cheek, extricating herself from his arms,
"Not particularly… but I do need to go outside, find some herbs and cut some kale"
She brandished a knife not entirely convincingly, and he smirked as she stepped out into the garden. It was already dark outside, but she didn't seem too perturbed. It was good to see her relaxed like this, letting him in. He didn't underestimate how strange this must be for her, having him around all the time. It was strange for him too, but this wasn't his home. He'd stepped into her space, and although he couldn't wait to share his with her, this was a real home, not some empty bachelor flat. Robbie opened a drawer experimentally and after a couple of tries located a serviceable corkscrew. He eased the bottle he'd brought with him open, and poured a couple of glasses. Picking up his, he wandered towards the living room.
Taking a deep sip, Robbie savoured the wine. It wasn't his usual tipple, but when he did partake, he knew what he liked. Mainly Hathaway's fault that. Morse would never have believed it possible that Robbie Lewis would actually drink wine voluntarily, and with accompanying food. He sat down on the small sofa by the window and placed his glass on the table. Gradually, he was relaxing, the challenges of the last week beginning to fade. It had been a complex case, there was no denying it, but he was pleased with how it had gone. And he was pleased with himself. Laura had been quite the distraction, and yet this time it had all ended so differently. He knew it was stupid to even draw comparisons to the monumental cock-up with the twins, but he couldn't help it. He had been right though, that mess had been a one-off. Laura wasn't the problem, and neither was he, not really, not any more.
He glanced at the pile of notes perched precariously on top of some magazines. He had absolutely no idea what glomerulonephritis was, nor what the various tables of data might mean, but he couldn't help but smile at her handwriting. It was small and precise, much like the woman herself, and surprisingly readable for a scientist. He'd never once asked about her research work, not really, fearing it would be far too complicated for the likes of him to understand. He scanned the notes, seeing a few familiar terms. It seemed to be something about kidneys, and the role of certain enzymes. He took another sip of his wine, and read on, wondering if the numbers proved or disproved her hypothesis. The opening section - the bit written in ink - was very formal, and clearly finished; but he was intrigued by the comments peppering the margins of the photocopied articles. Laura was clearly quite an animated reviewer and her acerbic comments made him smile. He was just leafing through a very densely and colourfully annotated paper on something called ACE inhibitors when a subtle cough from the doorway broke his attention. He smiled guiltily and make a conspicuous effort to tidy the papers.
"Dinner's ready…"
A/N Sorry for the slowness in writing this...I'm still not really recovered and my brain is struggling to keep up with the (paid) writing I'm supposed to be doing! But still, I hope this is ok. Apologies also for the eagle-eyed amongst you: in the episode, they really screwed up the continuity - it's meant to be Halloween (remember the costume bit at the beginning) and yet, for some unfathomably reason it's sunny when Laura and Robbie leave the pub after work... Unless everyone was in there drinking at 11am, it just doesn't work. So I hope you don't mind me 'fixing' it. I assume they filmed in springtime...