A/N:

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Royal Indifference

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It still was quite dark when Barbara woke up. An unfamiliar breathing could be heard next to her ear and the warmth that radiated from the body next to hers was foreign to her but both was not at all unappreciated. Under her duvet close to her body there was the man she loved. Without opening her eyes she snuggled another bit closer into the alluringly naked chest. She vaguely remembered how she had peeled it free after Tommy had returned from singing Paula back into sleep somewhere in the middle of the night.

Barbara smiled. Tommy had been so sweet offering to get up instead of Barbara. And he had been the one who let decency rule when she only wanted to reward him after he had come back to bed. She only had been inappropriately wanton in that state of half-sleepy rapture.

The smell that surrounded her now was well-known but still new in intensity and with the underlying personal scent of Tommy. Since the hold of his arm around her waist tightened she knew he was awake too so she greeted him good morning but kept her eyes closed.

"Morning, sleepy head." He kissed her. "It's shortly before seven. How long do we have until the twins ravage through your flat?"

"Don't know." Barbara yawned and stretched against his body like a cat so Tommy was able to kiss her throat. She loved that. He loved her stretching against him. An early interest in something more intimate buzzed inside her belly. "Maybe half an hour? Even one? Maybe only fifteen minutes? Oh, good gracious!"

Softly but firmly he had pulled her pelvis against the bulge in his pants.

"I'm so happy, Barbara." he desperately whispered.

"I feel it." A short trembling laugh told of her nervousness.

"I never want to wake up without you again." Their desire broke free in a deep and sensual kiss.

"...m-hm! Yep, she's here." A young male voice cheekily laughed. "Right now they're making baby turtles."

"What?!"

Barbara pushed Tommy away so he quickly rolled off from her body. Like Josh who held her mobile against his ear she had heard the woman on the other end screaming.

"Josh! Is that your mother?" she asked shocked. Josh nodded and held out her phone to Barbara. "Em! What a nice-"

For a while Barbara tried to explain to her friend that they of course had not made love with the kids sleeping in the other room but Emily always interrupted her with another allegation.

In the meantime Josh had entered the bed sofa and playfully wrestled with Tommy. They were making such a noise that not only Ian came running and jumped onto Tommy too but also Battenberg began to bark so finally Paula woke up and started to cry.

Ah, well, the bliss of family life.

With the twins clamping on each leg Tommy got up and rocked the baby calm again.

"We haven't... no... It's Tommy... Lynley. My boss. ...no, I'm not sleeping my way up the ladder... I told you it's not... Emily, we're still in our pyjamas! Yes... of course... sure! We only kissed... No, we don't... No! ... Now, will you shut up please? We're still decently dressed!" Emily did not need to know how far this kiss really had gone.

"He's only in pyjama pants!" Ian shouted from behind. Barbara groaned.

"What do you think? ... No, he isn't! He has taken Paula from her bed and soothed her after your terrible sons have woken her up!" She threw a pillow after Josh who was about to jump onto the sofa again. "You have two seconds to get off that table, Ian! No, Emily, everything is under control here."

She was grinning now and patiently answered her friend's questions about "him".

"Yes, for aeons... For quite a while, it seems... Yesterday... We've been to the zoo... Emily! Of course not!" When Barbara entered her kitchen to see what Tommy was doing she actually giggled at her friend's words. "At the moment he's making the milk bottle for Paula... M-hm. He's a treasure. ... No, I won't, Em!" Loudly laughing she held out the phone to Tommy. "Tommy, say hi to Emily."

"Hi to Emily!" Tommy gave Barbara a loud peck on the cheek.

After Emily had told Barbara how well her job interview had been and when she would come and pick the kids up, and after Ian and Josh were shooed to the bathroom, eventually the flat turned calm again. Still in their sleep-wear they ate breakfast and after changing clothes they were tidying up.

The bed was changed, the sofa bed was stripped down and only a sofa again. Most of the toys were put into the boys' bags, Paula's mobile bed was dismantled and after they had eaten sandwiches for lunch they all peacefully sat in front of the TV. Leaned into Tommy's side and with Paula in her lap Barbara was reading a picture book with the girl and all three men were enjoying a three part documentary about antique racing cars until finally Emily knocked at Barbara's door in the early afternoon.

It was a loud welcome but Emily only gave a quick briefing about the interview. She was quite tired now and only wanted to get home.

"I think I did it." she said. "So probably we'll move to Scotland soon."

Josh and Ian pulled Barbara and Tommy into a big hug saying good-bye but then they sped out of the door. Reluctantly Tommy gave Paula back to her mother. He would miss the cute girl but he would have his own daughter soon, he inwardly vowed.

Finally the borrowed family was gone and the flat had turned silent. Hand in hand Barbara and Tommy slowly walked from the door towards the sofa. Both only wanted to walk past it but neither did. At the coffee table they stopped.

"What now?" he asked. He knew what he wanted now.

"Don't know. Watch some telly?" Barbara knew what she wanted and it was not watching the next part of the documentary.

Tommy encircled her waist and gently smiled. "I have a different but tremendously brilliant idea. Do you remember this morning before we were disturbed?"

Barbara only blushed and diverted her eyes. Of course she remembered.

"We could continue-" With that unfinished sentence echoing through the room his lips found better things to do than telling her what they could continue. They shared a deep kiss. His hands went to her bottom cheeks and pulled her closer to him.

Two times there was a knock at the door before the sound went through the haze in her ears into the dizziness of her brain and Barbara finally reacted. With wordy excuses Emily had returned because they had forgotten to put the children's seats off his and back into her car. It was done quickly but not without Emily constantly smirking. One look at them and she had known by Tommy's ruffled hair, Barbara's kiss-swollen lips and their flushed faces that she had disturbed them at something definitely not suitable for children.

Arm in arm Tommy and Barbara waved goodbye behind the leaving car before it turned at the corner and they went back to her flat. This time they made it barely inside. Barbara locked the door and turned and immediately was pressed against the wood by a passionate impact of his body.

"Oh, good g-" The kiss he gave her was equally passionate. Tommy pinned her at the door leaf and wasted no more time. There had been enough interruptions. Pushing his groin into her pelvis he started to pull her shirt out of her jeans.

Suddenly the sounds of a police car horn came from her jeans pocket. Her mobile rang. Insistently so after she first had ignored it. Tommy groaned.

"Stop that noise!" he breathed onto her lips. She answered the call after checking the caller ID. Tommy had hoped she would just dismiss it.

"Winston! Make it brief!" Her head bumped back at the door when she felt Tommy's lips at her throat and his hands finally under the shirt and on her naked skin.

"Barb! Hi. There's a body and we-"

"Winnie, I don't care. I'm not on call, and if it's not the Queen herself, then don't get on my nerves now!" She disconnected and pushed the turned off phone back into her pocket.

Within a moment they picked up where they had stopped. Tongues were fighting, hands were raking, body was pressing into body. Their shirts were carelessly discarded onto the floor.

The hollow sound of a mobile-ring-tone of Little Eyes and the vibrating alert of Tommy's phone buzzed against Barbara's hip. She groaned. Will they ever have a moment for themselves? She almost doubted that and snuggled her nose into his beard when Tommy answered his phone.

"Cut him off!" she breathed.

"Has something happened to the Queen?" His fingertips ran down Barbara's spine and up again finally one-handed fidgeting with the clasp of her bra.

"Umm... what? Well, no, err... We've just found a male body and-"

"Nkata, I'm not on call today and very, very busy at the moment, so please annoy another DI." With that he disconnected the call and threw his mobile onto the sofa.

Barbara chuckled while Tommy pushed one strap of her bra down her shoulder with his lips. "Poor Winnie." she muttered.

"He'll cope. And figure it out soon, I guess." Tommy whispered. The other strap went down. Her fingertips tickled the naked muscles of his upper arms.

"Of course. He's a good detective." She wriggled with her arms. Their foreheads bumped and they locked their eyes. A still slightly unconfident and nervous grin met a reassuring smile.

"Where were we?" he breathed. Her bra fell to the floor and both enjoyed the sensation of the first contact of their chests' skin. She deeply blushed.

"Shall we continue somewhere more private?" he asked.

"Yes, please."

After a deep breath Tommy scooped her up and carried her into the bedroom. It was the final proof for Barbara that he really was able not only to hold her with his strong arms but to carry her too.

About twenty minutes later they faintly heard his mobile ringing again in the living room.

"Your phone...!" she breathed tilting her head back into the pillow.

"Even if the monarchy collapsed, I wouldn't mind now." he mumbled with his lips on her sweaty throat.

Somewhere in the dirt of a dark back alley a Detective Superintendent was loudly swearing at her mobile phone cursing the naughtily smirking DC who was checking details with the SOCO.

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A/N: Thank you for reading this story and thanks for all your reviews. It was fun to write and then to read what you think about it. Cheers!

Tess