A/N: The Sky Safari mentioned in the previous chapter is in Sydney.

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Wrestling turtles and very sweet ice-cream

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After having some fun with feeding camels, marvelling at the impressive tigers and watching the old turtles copulating it was time for ice cream and coffee.

Wait, what?! Barbara almost had walked by without noticing it but the boys stopped at the glass wall of the huge loricate animals' corral and laughed. It actually sounded ridiculous and it did not look very reputable.

"What are they doin'?"

"Are they wrestlin'?"

"Sort of." Tommy grinned and watched Barbara blushing. He was curious how she will get out of this delicate situation.

"Oh, brilliant!" she hissed and glared at him. While Tommy gave her one of his naughtiest smiles, actually a smile she had never before seen on his face that made her shiver as if he had made an inappropriate but admittedly not entirely unwelcome suggestion, she searched for words to explain the scene to the boys. She did not know how far Emily already had explained the facts of life to her sons.

"Well, I don't know what your mum's already told you but I'd say they're making love. And if it was successful there'll be a bunch of little turtles in a few months."

"Baby turtles?" Ian asked keeping his eyes fixed in the corral. "Because of this?!"

Barbara cleared her throat. "Yes." She felt Tommy's eyes boring into her face and strictly kept hers on the turtles' act. It was not at all distracting her thoughts onto safer territory.

" 'n' why are they makin' such awful noises?" Josh asked kneeling down to have a closer look.

Barbara blushed even deeper when suddenly an arm encircled her waist. By now she knew her voice was gone completely or at least would sound obnoxiously raucous if she would open her mouth now. As if he had felt it Tommy answered instead of her but only she could hear the small excited tremble in his voice.

"It's a noise of pleasure." He had not expected himself to be so bold but he found himself so close to Barbara that his heart suddenly had started to race. It thumped even louder against his chest and pumped happy hormones through his veins when she softly leaned into him.

"Hmmm." he hummed approvingly. Loudly Barbara exhaled. She had not been aware that she had held her breath for a while.

"It just sounds as if they're workin' hard." Ian could not believe that making baby turtles was a pleasure.

Entirely confused Barbara sucked in some air once more when Tommy's fingers gently pinched her side.

"Well, love could be hard work sometimes." he mumbled close to her ear.

It had the desired effect that not only was she having goose-pimples but now knew for sure that he was talking about them, or rather tried to mention his attempt to make another step towards each other. Or rather signalising what sort of dirtiness was on his mind? Barbara was confused and flattered at the same time. And a bit excited too.

Yes, Tommy thought. Love could be hard work. He was asking himself why with her it was not as simple as all his other relationships. The decorated Detective Inspector sighed. Why had he fallen in love with probably the most complicated woman in the world? Although he believed - and thought to feel it right now - that Barbara mirrored his affection Tommy also knew he could ruin their entire friendship with one wrong word or misplaced movement. And of course he had to convince her that they were made for each other no matter where they came from, what their education was, how much money there was on the account. He had to convince her that in fact it was the difference that made it work so well, that made it even possible whatever it was that had developed between them. And physical proximity was the latest modification, he thought. Totally forgetting the kids his mind already thought about a nice romantic evening tonight.

His hand slid to her hip and squeezed her without any assistance of his busy mind.

It made funny things with her belly and she stopped breathing again. It was more than she could endure without turning towards Tommy and pulling him onto her lips so she harrumphed again and indeed very crackling Barbara asked if anybody would want some ice cream now. She earned howling approvals from the boys. Situation solved!

Side by side, almost perfectly moulded into each other, the adults followed them towards the kiosk. Tommy only pulled back his hand from her waist when they arrived at a seat in the picnic area.

There in the reflection of a window pane he finally saw how she looked at him without her noticing it. Her eyes were longing but her face looked slightly sad. Tommy had gone to get them some treats and seeing her now he cursed himself for not having made more of the previous situation. His usually prickly reacting sergeant really had seemed to enjoy his proximity and he had to ask himself why he had not finally given in to his desire to kiss her.

Barbara was pondering on the same question.

A few minutes later everybody was sitting in front of an ice cream cup or cone. Paula squeaked with pleasure every time she could dive into the cold stuff with almost her entire face. The boys and Barbara had their own and sitting on the opposite side of the table Barbara watched Tommy enjoying himself with the baby girl on his knees. It was adorable.

"Oh, we're a bit smudgy, little Lady, aren't we." Tommy did not at all care about the ice cream his little Lady had spread on his sleeve but wiped Paula's face with his handkerchief making funny faces and letting the girl grab his beard with her ice-creamy little fingers again.

"She loves your beard." Barbara said. She had to say something or she would have broken out in tears of joy or cries of frustration.

"Who wouldn't?" Tommy quickly looked up with a cheeky smile catching her fond look at him. This time she did not look away. Her soft green eyes stayed on his. He rocked the baby. "Paula obviously knows how a man should have his facial fashion."

"I don't know..." Barbara openly studied him. He had changed over the years. His eyes still are those dark scintillating orbs that looked witty and somehow wise. She could drown in their warmth. Throughout the years his hair had been shorter, then longer, then extremely short and finally as nicely trimmed like now, with a neat side parting and the lovely unruly lock of hair that always and still fell into his forehead. His new beard makes him look gorgeous and she wondered how it would feel to rake her fingers throught it. She pondered on the question if it would tickle him when she stroked his tash with the tips of her fingers. Or if it would sting her skin when they kissed. There were a few grey streaks in his hair and some wrinkles in the corners of his eyes but he still looked quite handsome.

Apart from that she loved him.

Barbara's cheeks turned a bit rosy when she recognised her thought. Tommy cheekily grinned. Ignoring her lovestruck mind she answered his grin with an equally fond smile and tilted her head to one side. How long had she looked at him? She had to say something light to ease the tension of the situation. "You may be the 8th Earl of Asherton but honestly, somehow you look more like Henry the 8th."

Tommy who had loved to be watched by Barbara because this way there was an opportunity for him to frankly stare back at her beloved face. She had become more female over the years. Was she wearing oversized mismatching blouses and slacks once, she now had a completely different wardrobe. More fitting, if not even fitting tight. Her clothes did not hide her figure anymore. Something he appreciated very much, especially with one or the other added shape. Her strawberry red hair had turned lighter, almost blonde and was cut into a nice hairdo. Only her big eyes, with a few wonderful wrinkles nowadays, still were of the same deep green that had called him since the day they first had met. What Tommy liked the most was the fact that, although still a bit coy, she had become quite cheeky lately. With the comparison with the self-indulgent monarch ringing in his ears Tommy now straightened his back and visibly sucked in his belly.

"Am I that fat?" he asked mock-indignant.

"Of course not, Sir. Quite the opposite." Tommy raised his eyebrows at her usual name for him but Barbara did not react. Instead she tried to divert the conversation to something less dangerous. With her chin she pointed to a menu board. "Piece of cake?"

"Me?"

"M-hm...?" Still expecting an answer she nodded, unaware of what play of words he obviously had in mind. When Tommy started to grin even broader than before Barbara finally realised it and blushed but laughed anyway.

"Oh, nooo! You prig!" She playfully swatted his upper arm. The winking look he gave her was more than juicy. "Don't be so cheeky, Tommy. I mean if you want a piece of cake. Since you've let half of your ice cream melt away and the other half smeared into this little glutton. And your jacket, by the way."

Tommy laughed hard. "Well, no, Barbara, thank you. This cutie is sweet enough for me." Then his face turned serious and he watched Barbara swallowing down the last bits of her cornet. "In fact, today there's far too much sweetness for me than I actually could bear without any deeply harming effects."

That he still had locked his eyes with hers made Barbara even blush deeper but today she could always count on the curly headed rascals to prevent her from any more embarrassment. Out of the attention of the adults they secretly had started to try cutting their names with the plastic ice cream spoons into the edge of the bench they were sitting on. They had discovered that the wood it was made of was not in the best of shapes anymore and quite soft. Barbara had seen their misdoing in the corner of her eyes.

"Hello?! Whatever next! Will you please stop that?" she chided them with a still soft voice. The juvenile delinquents immediately stopped with guilty faces. They very well knew that they should not have done that. "You couldn't just destroy other people's things. And those benches don't belong to you, do they?"

"No, Ma'am..." Josh mumbled.

"That's why you bring back the tray to the station over there and the trash to the bin. Off you go. Vandals!" Barbara shook her head in disbelief.

"Yes, Sir..." Ian mumbled already turned away.

"I've heard that, Ian." Barbara called after him.

"I used to cut symmetrical patterns into the rim of my wooden bed at Eton." Tommy said conspirationally grinning when the boys were out of earshot. "With the Swiss Army knife my godfather had given me."

"Don't you dare telling them, Tommy." Barbara shook her head. "They might want to have a knife too." Sighing she put some order into the messy heap of coats and bags and Battenberg's feeding dish in the pram.

"I could tell them about the punishment I've recieved after the house master had found out."

"No violent tales either when I'm around!"

"Well, I've survived the additional work I had to do after lessons and at least I've learned how to build a wooden bed."

All the while Paula had been talking to the sniffing dog and patting him gently so finally Tommy let her down to the ground. Having an animated conversation with the puppy and Tommy she made a few steps with one hand in Battenberg's fur and one hand clenching Tommy's trousers. Secretly Barbara could not resist taking a picture of this sweet scene before she followed them with the pram.

They twins already were running ahead towards the Gorilla Kingdom.

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