'Well' said Laura. 'After the kiss there was a bit of awkwardness for a while. We didn't see each other at all for over a week, then cleared the air a bit by going out for dinner.' She rasied her eyebrows as she mocked her earlier self. 'We didn't talk about the kiss, and we didn't kiss again. We did hold hands though, god, how childish does that sound?'

Lyn smiled encouragingly. 'It sounds nice. Better than no touching at all.'

Laura laughed. 'I'm not sure I can do this.' Lyn looked at her enquiringly. 'Do what?'

'Talk to you about me touching your Dad.'

Lyn laughed this time. 'So there has been touching? Interesting. Carry on.'

Laura smiled, then the smile slipped as she remembered. 'We had another "date" the following week and everything seemed to be going really well. We were relaxing around each other more. We even kissed again. Then I had the week from hell. Did he tell you about it?'

Lyn shook her head. 'No, what happened?'

Laura nursed her wine glass in her hand. 'One of my oldest friends was murdered, then a student living in the house we'd shared in college then another old friend was targetted. Robbie was leading the investigation and it nearly ruined us. He hated having to ask me questions and I resented him asking. Any trust we'd built up seemd to evaporate in an instant. I mean I knew logically that he was just doing his job but when he asked me for an alibi, God, it physically hurt. And it hurt to admit I'd needed a valium to sleep. Somehow admitting any weakness to him when he thought I could have murdered someone...'

Lyn tried to comfort her. 'I'm sure he didn't think that for a second. It was just his job to ask.'

Laura smiled thinly. 'I know. I knew that then but it still hurt. Robbie and I have never really spoken about it but James and I cleared the air a bit over a drink a month or so after. He wanted to make it clear that Robbie had never doubted me. That their boss had been on at him from the start to formally bring me in for questioning. That James himself thought I was a suspect and Robbie wouldn't hear of it.'

Lyn took a swig of her drink. 'Well I take it you didn't do it or you wouldn't be here now.'

Laura shivered. 'I nearly wasn't. The killers thought I was there mother. I wasn't though. My friend had used my name when she registered their births. They wanted revenge and very nearly got it. Luckiliy Robbie figured it out in time. Got them before they could kill me.' Laura looked up and saw the look of horror on Lyn's face. She remembered what Lyn had said about wondering if her Dad would make it home each night and thought maybe she should have left out this part of the story.

Lyn was more worried about Laura though. 'Oh my God, were you ok.'

Laura took a deep breath. 'They found me in time, so yes. I got taken off in an ambulance before Robbie could get away. I'd checked myself out and gone home when he came to visit and when he called I said I didn't want to see him. I had too much going on in my head. We didn't talk until I saw him ay my friend's funeral. I'd calmed down by then and realised that whatever else had happened, he'd saved my life. I thanked him and he did his usual 'it's nothing' or whatever. We went for a walk and cleared the air. We never talked about what had happened, still haven't, but we talked about other things. I asked him to come home with me. I didn't want to be alone. He came and just held me, all night. Nothing else happened, but somehow that meant more to me than any fumble.'

Lyn looked close to tears, the stories and alcohol getting to her. 'But you have, haven't you? Slept together I mean?'

Laura topped up her drink, and gave the tiniest drop to Lyn to seem polite, but thought mybe the young mum had had enough for one night. 'Are you sure you want to know?' Lyn nodded. 'I don't need any intimate details but yes, I want an outline of the facts.'

Laura looked up as she thought. 'Well, let's see. After that we had a couple more dates but nothing really happened. Then Robbie's friend Ally was murdered, part of a horrible case he working on. He snapped at me, which really was nothing, but he felt bad and took me out to dinner to apologise. Turned out Ally had made a move on him the night she died. He was a bit of a mess but I think it made him realise that he was, how shall I say it, available? Desirable? Horny? I don't quite know but it gave him enough of a push to take us a step further. We kissed again and, well did a bit more. It was a couple more dates before we actually... went all the way. It was worth waiting for, and that's all I'm saying on the matter.'

Lyn wiggled her eyebrows suggestively. 'Worth waiting for, eh? Go Dad.'

Laura threw a cushion at her. 'Shut up, you asked!'

Lyn giggled. 'That I did, serves me right. So when was that? How long have you been sleeping together?'

Laura frowned again. 'Well it's not that simple. We're a bit on and off. The first time was just before you told him you were pregnant.'

Lyn frowned in thought. 'Hang on a minute, were you there when I called? I was so excited at the time I didn't think but there was a voice in the background. A female voice. I put it down to the telly at the time but it was you wasn't it?'

Laura smiled impishly. 'Yes, I was offering him tea in bed and he was waving me away. He was so happy for you. He loves being a Grandad. Anyway, we slept together but then things cooled again for a bit. Robbie got distant again for a while. I think your news made him realise how old he was getting. He started talking about retirement, organ donation, cheerful things like that. I know you wanted him to give up work and move closer to you.'

Lyn felt guilty. 'I did, but I didn't know he had anything to stay for. I didn't suspect anything about you and him until he and I went to Italy. He talked about you a lot. I hadn't realised that he was such good friends with James either. I thought they were just colleagues but since I've got to know him I get that they're actually really close. It'd still be nice to have Dad a bit nearer, see him a bit more often, have a baby sitter I trust. But I'm not so worried about him now I know he's not alone down here. You got through it though? Him being distant?'

Laura sighed. 'It took a while. It didn't help that just as we were seeing more of each other again I had dinner with an old boyfriend who was back in town. He called out of the blue so I hadn't had a chance to mention anything to Robbie. James saw us at dinner and I assumed he'd tell Robbie so I went blundering in trying to justify myself. Turns out James was trying to keep out of it and hadn't said anything. He gave me a bit of a talking to, James that is. Told me I should sort it out. God, the look he gave me in the restaurant! You're right, they are close. They're very protective of each other. A real Sherlock Holmes and Dr Watson. Anyway, I took his advice and called Robbie ad asked if we could talk. He'd just finished a case and was wearing a sling. I think it was one of the times a woman attacked him with kitchenware, not sure if it was a knife or a frying pan though. I apologised for not telling him about my date and he said it was ok as we, well who knew what we were. He took me out for a drink and for the first time we actually talked. Talked about how we felt about each other, what we wanted, our reservations, ground rules. We agreed we were both too set in our ways for anything serious. We'd both lived alone for too long to want to give up our personal space, we didn't want to be in each other's pockets, that sort of thing. But we admitted that we cared about each other, that was a big step. We didn't spend the night together because Robbie's arm was in a sling and, well the logistics would have been tricky. We even agreed that we could see other people if we wanted, though I think we both made it clear that we would get jealous if the other actually did. After that, once we'd actually talked things through, well, we had some fun. I invited Robbie over to dinner at my place and we, well you can guess. It's ridiculous how much he makes me feel like a teenager sometimes. I was excited and terrified when he frst came over, which was ridiculous. I mean we'd known each other for years, kissed, had sex. But this was proper. This was our first proper, planned date and we both knew how we wanted it to end. It went well though I won't give you the details of because you definitely don't want to know.'

Lyn was feeling very drunk and sleepy now and merely nodded her agreement. She certainly did not want to know what her dad did to make a date go well.

Laura continued her monologue. 'Anyway, since then we've ticked along pretty nicely. There's been a few bumps along the way but we've always made up. We had a few fallings out over cases. I disagreed with his interpretation of my findings and things like that. He got jealous when I went to a lecture with another copper, who's tries very hard to be a charmer but ends up just being cheesy. Robbie backed off for a while. He didn't want to call me or see me for a bit. When I finally pinned him down it wasn't just that he was jealous, though he was. It was also that he thought Petersen would be better for me. Younger, working his way up the ranks. He thought he should step aside and "do the right thing". I actually had quite a go at him for that. I'd already told him I didn't want to go out with Petersen and didn't apreciate him making decisions on what was best for me without consulting me. I told him what was best for me was that he take me home and apologise, hard, in bed. Turns out that slightly-jealous make-up sex is fantastic. And since then everything has been good, we're pretty happy. We see each other a couple of times a week if we can. Stay over every couple of weeks and generally enjoy each other's company. Neither of us has to be lonely anymore if we don't want to be.'

Lyn frowned. 'That sounds very cosy and all, but do you love each other?'

Laura inhaled deeply and exhaled slowly. She looked Lyn in the eye as she answered. 'I love him, I know that. I think he loves me, too. But no, we haven't said it to each other.'

'That's sad' slurred Lyn. 'You should'.