January 2003 - January 2004
The next few months were as blissful for Laura Hobson as they were hellish for Robbie Lewis. Laura and Franco were now properly engaged and making plans to wed. At the end of March, however, it came time for Franco to return to Germany permanently. Laura had convinced him that they could sustain a long-distance relationship as she continued to seek a job or study opportunity- some way for her to join him without giving up the science that she loved. They saw each other about once a month for whirlwind weekends. She was making progress on her German too. Surely the passion that they kindled whenever they were together would be enough to see them through.
They continued to live in separate countries but together in spirit for the better part of a year, writing romantic letters, chatting online, and of course meeting whenever they could. After a certain point, however, Franco started pressuring Laura more and more to leave Oxford. The best offer she'd had was to be part of a lecturer exchange program between Oxford and Heidelberg, but Heidelberg was still hours away from Franco in Bremen.
Dr Hobson had always maintained an affiliation with the university, training pathology students and doing research. Along with her job in forensic pathology, she kept a rigorous research agenda. It was a selling point when she was on job interviews, she told Franco. Staring into her microscope one day, she realized that she had made a major breakthrough. She had finally succeeded in isolating a particular pathogen in a tissue sample. Suddenly there were journal publishers queuing up for the rights to the article she would write with her findings.
Hobson was elated. She called to share the news with the man that she loved, but instead of being proud of her and sharing in her success, Franco was silent. She could practically hear him brooding over the phone until he finally articulated what was bothering him.
"This… discovery of yours or whatever it is… it is just one more thing to keep us apart."
"I love you, Franco, and I thought you would be happy for me!"
"Why won't you just tell me the truth? You're never leaving Oxford, are you, Liebchen?"
Laura had never thought of it that way, but she saw the truth in his question. She was far too invested in her career to leave. After much soul searching, she did what had to be done even though it broke her heart. She mailed her engagement ring back to Franco in Germany. They tried to leave things as amicably as they could, but they were both raw from their emotional wounds.
She knew that she could call Ellen and sob, but that day she didn't want sympathy; she didn't want someone to commiserate; she just wanted to be numb. She wanted to be with someone who didn't want to talk about it as much as she didn't. She decided that she would go ask Robbie Lewis for a casual cup of coffee. A year must have gone by since the incident at his home, and she had forgiven him for what was said when he was not himself. She saw him periodically at crime scenes, and while he wasn't back to his former jovial self, he was at least functioning a lot better. She comforted herself in the thought of his casual smile. Yes, coffee with Robbie Lewis was exactly what she needed.
As she approached Lewis' office, Sergeant McLennan was sliding Lewis' name plate off the door. Concerned, she asked, "where's Inspector Lewis?"
"Transferred. His last day was yesterday."
"Has he gone back to Newcastle?"
"Heh, farther than that. It's the BVI, the lucky sod. It's a position training detectives coming out of uniform. No truth to the rumors that he's gone to detox, eh?" McLennan did a sort of 'wink-wink-nudge-nudge' motion that repulsed Hobson.
"I'm not interested in rumors," Hobson snapped. She struggled to contain her emotions there in the station. Robbie's gone and I didn't even say good-bye. She realized too late that if she truly cared for him, she should have been a better friend to him. I was so foolish, leaving him to the care of that hapless nitwit McLennan. Robbie just needed someone to be compassionate and patient with him during a rough patch, and here I tossed him aside like he was another addict of Alec's ilk. I've made so many mistakes in my life… Hobson went home that night, mourning what wasn't meant to be with Franco and what should have been with Robbie. She put away a bottle of wine and a pint of ice cream and wept bitterly.