A/N: There was sad news this week. Clare Holman, our lovely Laura, lost her real life 'Robbie'. I wish I could write something appropriate, alas...


Felicity Prior had been unusually quiet during the family meeting. As everyone else stared at Cale and silently castigated him for his apparent lack of feelings and actions towards Caroline and Flavia, the oftentimes fierce solicitor leapt up from her chair to address the group.

"My client has come to exercise his parental rights. I am here to defend him and make sure he prevails."

No one spoke. Osborn, sitting at Carole's feet, as close to his baby as possible, starting barking. The dog was usually a good judge of friend or foe. Today, he was having trouble keeping up and wasn't sure who he should be 'speaking' to.

Robbie was unable to quiet him and put Osborn out in the back garden. Monty, upset by the hoard of strangers in his house, escaped outside to be with his canine friend. Robbie returned to the group, relieved that Osborn, usually a very friendly dog, would not be subject to a lawsuit courtesy of Ms. Prior.

Flavia sensed the tension in the room and the absence of the dog and she started to cry, a high pitched wail. Nothing comforted the child until Laura took her outside to be with the animals.

Back inside Mrs. Collinson refilled tea cups and magically produced another plate of scones. "You can't discuss the child's future without Laura."

Cale grumbled his agreement, "No we can't."

James had been quiet until now. "There is something we can talk about now, the supposed death by alcohol poisoning of Alec Pickman." Ellen let out a gasp and everyone turned to look at James. DI Hathaway directed his gaze at Mrs. Collinson. "Is Rawbone an agent too or do you just use him to provide fake autopsy reports?"

Mrs. Collinson finished pouring tea into Felicity Prior's cup then looked back at James with aging eyes that had seen more than anyone could imagine. "Angus is a consultant and has been very useful to the service."

Ellen could not contain herself any longer. "Does this mean that Alec is not really dead?" She had been holding onto a flickering hope for a life together with that man for decades.

Cale answered, "No Ellen, it does not. In a heroic twist of fate, the man who never wanted to be a father, spent his last moments on earth saving my life."

Robbie was both a great listener and observer of faces. He noticed that Cale called his mother 'Ellen' rather than 'Mum' and the look on her face at this most recent news revealed her true feelings, the fantasy of a life Alec was more important than the life of her own son.

Through her tears Ellen looked first at Robbie, then Mrs. Collinson. The older woman went over to Ellen and hugged her. "He meant a lot to you. Why don't you tell us about Alec, luv."

Ellen stumbled through the story. Her crush on Alec Pickman began when they were in college and roommates with Laura Hobson, Ligeia Willard, and Peter Hawkins. Alec was involved with Ligeia first and after he broke it off, briefly turned his attentions to the always waiting in the wings Ellen. At the after-finals bash, Alec told Ellen he was leaving her for someone else. Ellen vowed to remain a sad and lonely singleton until she could get him back. Then she found herself pregnant with Alec's child. At first she was excited by the prospect, imagining a family life with Alec until she remembered how vehemently opposed to fatherhood Alec was, how he told more than one mate about Holmwood Park Hospital, that it was the place to go when their girlfriends found themselves 'in difficultly'.

Ellen went to stay with an Aunt and Uncle up north until Cale was born. She wanted to name him Alec but her Aunt was able to convince her to give the boy his own name and she relented only so far as to move one of the letters. Ellen devoted herself to her career and staying up to date on Alec's movements and keeping herself available to him. The Aunt and Uncle raised Cale until he was old enough for boarding school. Ellen showed very little interest in her son, wanting him out of the way to keep her free to rekindle her relationship with Alec.

Cale did well at school although he mostly kept himself to himself and had few friends. As a teenager he conducted his own investigation into the father his mother refused to tell him about and discovered Alec Pickman. He went to see him one time and a drunken Alec quickly sent him packing. After his Aunt and Uncle passed away Cale found himself essentially without a family. He took a placement test for the intelligence service and got high marks. Mrs. Collinson interviewed him and knew his lack of emotional attachments would qualify him for the often lonely and dangerous work of an undercover agent.

Ellen was upset when Cale told her he found his father but assured her he never told Alec who his mother was, thus preserving Ellen's dream of a child free reconciliation. When she was told by another friend in Oxford that Alec had reportedly drank himself to death, she had a change of heart about her son and gave him many of the items she had saved from Alec over the years, mostly poems and drawings. One item, a charcoal drawing of a woman named Laura, captured Cale's attention.

Cale hung the picture in his small flat where 'Laura' greeted him every time he entered his front door. One day he went to get a coffee and he saw a woman about to pay for her drink who looked like his 'Laura' in the drawing. He leapt forward in the line to pay for her coffee. She thanked him and left the shop. Cale went back to the end of the line still shaking his head at his unusually impulsive act. He briefly considered foregoing his own coffee and following her. "That would be creepy," he muttered to himself. After finally getting his own beverage he left the shop. To his surprise, 'Laura' was waiting for him. She was intrigued by the handsome man who bought her a coffee. That was how Cale Pickman met Caroline Hobson.

After that day, Cale and Caroline met a few times for coffee then eventually for something stronger, and their relationship developed from there. Cale had little contact with his mother and never told her about Caroline. It wasn't until Ellen studied the photo of Flavia she took on her visit to Laura and Robbie that she noticed Alec Pickman's (and her son Cale's) distinctive chin, albeit a miniature version, on the child and realized she and Alec might share a grandchild. Of course she was unwilling to discuss the subject with Alec, but did ask Cale during a rare phone call. Surprisingly Cale was never bitter about Ellen's abandonment of him as a child. He had a good early life with his Aunt and Uncle and always was happy at school. Ellen Jacoby was the person who bought his clothes and paid his school fees, and otherwise ignored him, which is perhaps while he never called her 'Mum'.

Mrs. Collinson again suggested refilling the tea cups and Robbie offered something stronger to Ellen and the rest of the assembly. While they took a break before tackling the next matter at hand, Robbie went outside to check on Laura and Flavia.

As he stepped into the garden Robbie heard Laura humming a Bach lullaby, one of Flavia's favorites, despite his efforts to get her to like Morse's Wagner recordings. Laura sat in a chair next to the canoe, gently rocking it back and forth, just as Lizzie had done the day she got some experience minding a real child. Inside Robbie's beleaguered vessel lay Flavia, resting on Osborn, who slept with one eye open. Monty sat on the bow of the canoe keeping watch for intruders.

The sight of the two women in his life made him smile, then frown as he remembered the gathering of people inside. It also reminded him to ask about the part his canoe played the night Alec Pickman died.


A/N: A close friend of mine also lost her husband this week. I reminded Mr. Hobsonfan how much he means to me, even though sometimes he is a bad-tempered old grouch who smells of wood glue...