January 2003

Two women embraced in the international arrivals area of Heathrow. "So, how was Germany?" asked Ellen Jacoby, one of Laura Hobson's flatmates from their days at uni.

"Wunderbar!" Laura exclaimed as she hugged Ellen. "Thanks for picking me up." Laura would spend the night with Ellen before heading back to Oxford the next day. Franco had opted to stay with his family a few more days, though he would join Laura before the end of the week.

Back at Ellen's London flat, Laura uncorked a bottle of wine that she had brought back from Germany. She poured two glasses then started to pour her heart out. "I love Bremen, but I hate relying on Franco to translate everything. It was a bit exhausting trying to understand and make myself understood in a language of which I have a marginal grasp, but his family was really kind about it. I think they saw me as the nice English girl who doesn't really speak German but tries ever so hard."

"I'm sure your German will improve the more time you spend there."

"I'll certainly have the opportunity." Laura pulled out a gold chain from under her blouse. Ellen started to shriek with excitement when she saw a diamond ring dangling from the chain.

Laura relived those happy moments when she and Franco were wandering in the altstadt keeping warm with a helping of roasted chestnuts. She was struggling to pry open a particularly tough chestnut when Franco produced a small box from his pocket and said, "open this one instead." She found a diamond ring inside. She looked up from the ring to gaze into Franco's beseeching hazel eyes as he asked for her hand in marriage.

"Dare I ask why that's not on your finger?" Ellen asked after she'd heard Laura's tale.

"I haven't said yes yet. He told me to take as much time as I need to think it over."

"But this is exactly what you were hoping for! You were just telling me last week that you'd finally found Mr. Right!"

"It's not that simple, I'm afraid. You see, Franco has a business opportunity to relocate back to Bremen. He wants me to come with him."

"What about your career? Wouldn't Franco consider staying in Oxford for you?"

"That's just it, Ellie. He wants us to settle down. He wants… he wants his kids to be raised in Germany. He says I wouldn't have to work outside the home. I know that I love him, but I don't know how I feel about that arrangement."

"You'd either be insanely happy or insanely bored."

"I'm sure I'd keep busy. It would be fine. If Bremen is good enough for a vagabond dog, cat, rooster, and donkey, it'd be good enough for me."

Ellen saw through Laura's attempt at humor. "Really, Laura?"

"You're right, Ellie. I just feel a bit of trepidation because it's such a big change. I mean, I love my job, I finally bought a house, I'm established here. I love Franco, but… I don't want to give up everything that I've worked for. I only bought the house last year..."

Laura took a big gulp of wine. "There's something else too. I shouldn't even be admitting this out loud; it sounds so foolish. But… one of the inspectors I work with… we've always gotten on well, gorgeous smile, fun to flirt with, but I'd never have thought of him that way because he's married. Was married. He just lost his wife in a car accident. And suddenly I have to ask myself why I can't stop thinking about him? Do I fancy him? Have I always fancied him and never allowed myself to admit it? Am I insane for even thinking it? The poor man just lost his wife, and here I am thinking about … what am I saying? I love Franco. I am marrying Franco."

"Who are you trying to convince, me or yourself?"

"Oh, Ellie. What am I going to do?"

Ellen and Laura talked late into the night. They agreed that Laura couldn't very well make a move on the recently widowed Lewis, nor should she suddenly abandon everything she had in Oxford for Franco. She would investigate the possibilities of her working in Germany before giving Franco a definitive answer.

On her first day back at work, Dr. Hobson made a point of cornering Sergeant McLennan in the canteen at the police station. "How's Lewis doing?" she tried to ask McLennan discretely though she was full of purpose.

"Still on compassionate leave. I stopped by the house the other day, though. Bought him a bottle of whiskey; he said that was all he needed. It's hard to tell if the bloodshot eyes are from him crying out his grief, lack of sleep, or the alcohol. He's a wreck, Hobs. Don't tell Strange, though."

"I won't. Sorry to hear it, Sergeant. Give Lewis my best if you see him."

"Will do, Doc." Sergeant McLennan was the one who was looking in on Lewis to make sure that he was still ticking during those dark days by order of Strange; as a general rule, Ali McLennan did not do things out of the goodness of her heart. She knew how hierarchy worked; the sergeant protected the inspector. Thus, when Lewis did return to work, she acted as his enabler as his life continued to unravel. Far from being motivated by sympathy for Lewis' plight, McLennan took advantage of the lack of supervisory oversight from Lewis to foray into the world of criminal extortion. Years later Lewis would be reluctant to accept that his old mate McLennan was capable of anything so sinister. In fact, Lewis himself had been an unknowing accomplice to her dubious behavior.

After work one night that week, Laura went to meet Franco at a pub when she was done in the lab. Franco was entertaining a fellow German business associate visiting Oxford. As she walked in, she noticed a crumpled figure with his head bent over a tumbler at the bar. She felt horribly guilty not acknowledging the shadow of Robbie Lewis as she settled in at a table filled with boisterous German laughter. Laura relished being part of an elite international set, but she found that she couldn't take her eyes off the Geordie at the bar.

The evening wore on. Franco, Laura, and his compatriot stood to leave. Franco was to take the visitor back to his hotel and Laura had her own car, so they said goodbye in the car park. An idea struck her; she knew it was dishonest, but she said it anyway. "Oh, I think I left my lip gloss at the table; I'm going to go back in to check. You boys go on. See you tomorrow, darling." She kissed Franco one more time before going back inside.

Hobson sat next to Lewis at the bar. "Hullo, stranger."

He turned his head to look at her. He nodded. "Doctor." Without another word he turned his head back to his drink.

She ordered a gin and tonic then attempted talking to Lewis again. "How are you doing?" He shrugged and said nothing. She attempted to fill him in on office gossip, but he was mostly non-responsive. Deciding that he didn't want her company, she finished her drink and said, "well, I should be off."

Lewis, to Hobson's surprise, took hold of her wrist and raised his head. He said to the bartender, "another gin and tonic for the lady, mate."

"So you were paying attention after all!" She said. She asked the bartender for two waters as well. She nudged his tumbler of brandy away and put a glass of water in its place. Lewis still didn't have much to say, but he seemed to make the switch to water all right. Hobson took advantage of the silence to take stock of her own life. Would I be this devastated if Franco died? No… but it's different if you have kids, she reasoned. Eventually, she spoke in an authoritative voice so that Lewis wouldn't argue, "it's time to call it a night. I'll drop you home on my way." Time to see where this goes…

Hobson pulled up to the Lewis residence, but the inspector made no motion to leave her car. He may have dozed off out of pure relief that someone was making sure he was safe. She got out and opened his door. "Come on, now, Lewis," she said as she offered him her hand. He accepted and they walked to the door arm-in-arm. He turned the key in the lock and an immediately recognizable odor wafted out from the residence. She laughed to herself and decided she could use his first name. "Cannabis, Robbie?" she teased. She may have been a bit of a wild-child back in the day, but once she'd obtained her myriad medical licenses and certificates, she wouldn't do anything to jeopardize them. She wasn't one to begrudge a little recreational pot use, though.

Lewis, on the other hand, was livid. He started to berate his son, who made no response other than to just sit there getting stoned. "Not in my home! I'm a bloody police officer! What the hell is wrong with you? We raised you better than that!"

Hobson pulled Lewis aside by the arm. She spoke softly, but she didn't pull any punches. "Don't be too harsh on him, Robbie. Everyone's got to dull the pain somehow. It's no different than your drinking."

Robbie Lewis yanked his arm away from Laura Hobson. Fire flared in his eyes. "Stay out of me life, woman!"

"Not much of a life if you push everyone away, now is it?" She answered just as vehemently. She softened before continuing, "Apologize to you son. He needs you. And you need your friends. Let us help you."

"Get out." He didn't yell this time, but rather spat his words at her.

Hobson shook her head and left.

She didn't blame Lewis for the exchange. She had always known him to be kind and gentle; his demons were stronger than he was right now. In her younger days, she'd thought she could save Alec Pickman, a handsome poet with whom she'd been smitten. But she'd learned the hard way from that experience and swore never again to be pulled in by someone struggling with an alcohol addiction. She'd tried to help Lewis and been rejected, so that was how she would leave it. Lewis, for his part, would have no recollection whatsoever of that evening. If he'd remembered how he'd acted, if he'd apologized to Hobson, maybe things could have been different.

Laura accepted Franco's proposal the next day.