James was leaning on the car as he left Richie McGuire's house. He looked uncomfortable and for a moment Robbie is confused. As he gets closer though, James speaks and all is explained.
"How big?" It only takes a split second for Lewis to realise that Hathaway means the spider, someone must have told him. Robbie holds his hand out and makes a vaguely spidery shape with it.
"Oh Jesus!" Robbie grins as James turns away in disgust, he's started to get a handle on what's bugging the younger man.
"I don't have to take it into custody or anything do I?" Lewis just smirks. James isn't going to come out and admit he's scared, rather, he's covering up his anxiety by making quips.
"I hope it isn't indigenous to Oxfordshire, the Chief Constable wouldn't like that." Lewis humours him, pretends to ignore the fact that James is obviously less than happy with this turn of events.
"I wanna know if this particular creature comes from Venezuela."
"Yeah well, get someone to interview it other than me." That's an obvious expression of dislike. He can comment now, its clear exactly what James means by that.
"Arachnophobe Hathaway?"
"Card-carrying sir." That's as close to an outright 'yes' as he's ever going to get from James.
"So was Jo Race...but who knew that?" He doesn't miss the fact that James blows his cheeks out as they walk along and he wonders what state the younger man would be in if he came face to face with a spider, since the mere mention of them seems to considerably unsettle him. They walk towards the pond and the further they get from the house (and the spider) the more relaxed and back to himself James seems to get. And once James is back on form, it doesn't take long for his words to spark something deep in Lewis' brain that sends him rushing back into the house to confront the handy man.
He is glad that James doesn't notice the glass on the side on the room. He's really not sure how to cope with James having a panic attack as he suspects he would if actually clapped eyes on the Salmon pink Tarantula that was less than five feet from him and his arachnophobic sergeant.
.
Its a few days after the case and they are relaxing at James' flat. They've been drinking a little but its fine, since they have a day off the next day. Whatever mindless weekend drivel that they have on has just stopped for an advert break and Lewis gets up slowly.
"Sir? You don't have to go...I'll sleep on the sofa."
"Eh? I was going for a leak James.."
"Oh. Er, well the offer still stands."
"Cheers Lad. But I'm not taking your bed, I'll kip on the sofa."
"Your back?"
"Will survive a night on the sofa kid." With that, Lewis leaves to go to the bathroom, pondering on the fact that his sergeant doesn't seem to want to be alone.
.
Lewis is just washing his hands when something moves in the corner of his eye. There's a spider scuttling across the bathtub. Its not really a big one. All tiny body and long, spindly legs. If this was his flat, he'd leave it, not bothered by the uninvited house guest. But this is James' flat and he knows now, that if James sees this in the morning, he's in danger of having a heart attack. So he catches it in his hands and goes to eject it from the premises. Its then that he realises that there is no window in James' bathroom. Its cold outside and he knows that all of James' windows will be shut. He could attempt to open one, but then he's most likely to drop and lose the spider. Knowing like he does about how much James doesn't like them, he can't just leave the spider in the lad's flat.
"Ja-mes?" Robbie shouts through the flat.
"Yes?" James replies in a tone that suggests that he is slightly worried about what is coming next.
"Do us a favour lad and open your living room window." He doesn't wait for a reply before continuing; "Then stand away from it." He gets a very confused 'Ok' from James and he waits until he hears the window open before he moves into the living room.
The confused look is wiped from James' face as Lewis enters the room and the sergeant's finely honed detective skills jump to the obvious conclusion as to what Robbie holds in his hand.
"How big? Where was?- Actually I don't wanna know."
"Its only a littl'un Jim. Just figured you wouldn't want it watching you pee." The colour drains out of James' face and Robbie hasn't failed to notice that James has backed into the corner or the room. He also sees the minute dilation of the lad's pupils as he realises that Robbie and therefore the spider are between him and the door. Deciding that he probably wasn't far off about the likelihood of a panic attack, he quickly throws the spider out of the window with a quiet 'Sorry little fella' and then shuts the said window, ensuring that the spider won't get in again.
Its only when Robbie sits down again that James relaxed enough to come and sit down as well. He gave his sergeant a sidelong glance, seeing that the colour was returning to James' cheeks, but the younger man's eyes were periodically darting about the room, to all the places it would be likely to find a spider.
"You really don't like them do you son?" James shook his head.
"Wasn't joking when I said 'card-carrying' sir."
"I can see that Jim. Any particular reason?"
"Apart from the fact that they have eight legs and eight eyes, isn't that reason enough?"
"Squid's do as well, well the legs anyway, are you scared of them?" James shook his head in response.
"So what's the difference then?" James glared at him. "I'm not having a pop at you lad, I just want to understand that's all." The sergeant sighed, realising that Lewis was never going to let this drop.
"The difference sir, is that I've never been surrounded by hundred's of squid. Also they swim and don't crawl all over people." Lewis raises his eyebrow in a manner that clearly indicates he is intrigued and James resignedly starts to recount the tale.
.
They were all playing in the woods that were at the back of the estate. Paul had found an old shed there when he'd been looking for a good sword stick. He'd told James, Scarlett and another boy Mike, that James and Paul went to school with. James had never really liked Mike, not trusting him. No where near as much as he did Paul. But Mike had a good imagination and it made the teams more even when they played at sword fighting. So they had all traipsed into the woods behind Paul, excited at the prospect of a new place to play.
Eventually, they reached the shed and Paul stopped them.
"I couldn't get the door open last time. One of you will have to do it." Scarlett pouted.
"I'm the princess, princesses don't open doors. We get the knights to do it for us." Mike looked warily at the door.
"How do we know it won't fall over...it might even be locked." Paul nodded his agreement. James sighed in that way that kids do when they think every one else is being silly.
"Let me try. Us knights are good at this sort of thing you know." He pulled the stick from his belt and jammed it in the door jamb, heaving with all his might. He was so engrossed in the effort, he didn't see Mike pull Paul to one side and whisper in his ear. He also didn't see Paul shake his head sadly, or see Mike threaten to hit him.
Suddenly, with a loud crack, the door flew open and James fell backwards. Scarlett held out a hand to help him up and they all peered inside. The shed was damp and dusty and had obviously not been used for a number of years. But since there was a hole in the roof, it was relatively light in there.
"Some one has to go in and investigate."
"Not me, I'm a-"
"Princess, yeah we know" the boys chorused. They all looked at each other uncertainly, no one wanting to put themselves forward. After a while James spoke.
"I'll go. But you have to keep a watch for pirates and wolves...and ghosts" he added as an after thought. The other three children nodded and James held his stick out in front of him as if it really were the sword he imagined it to be.
He advanced slowly, not wanting to let his apprehension show, but not wanting run headlong into danger, even if he knew there wasn't really anything in there that could pose a proper threat. His child mind hadn't even considered the possibility that the wooden structure was unsound. It was lucky for him that it wasn't. No sooner was he in the middle of the room, when the door slammed shut behind him. He immediately rushed back to it, sword stick dropped forgotten on the floor.
"Hey...HEY! This isn't funny. Let me out!" He rattled the door handle and his fear increased slightly as it didn't budge.
"Mike?..Scarlett?...PAUL?" James shouted. He froze as he saw a dark shape moving on the door. The spider crawled down towards his hand and he jumped back, tripping as he did so. His hand connected with some planks of wood that were stood against the wall. He screamed as a big, brown spider scuttled across his leg and he could see where he'd dislodged more, another five leaving the wood pile and heading in different directions.
"LET ME OUT!" he shouted, unable to keep the fear from his voice. He started to pound on the door, the spider he had seen there forgotten. He could hear talking outside and he was sure he heard Mike laugh. Paul was saying something but James couldn't make out what it was. Scarlett was saying something too and she sounded angry.
"Please? Let me out. I'm...There's spiders in here. Loads of them. As big as my hand." He'd noticed three more while he was saying this to them.
"I HATE YOU ALL! OPEN THE DOOR" James didn't care if they heard the break in his voice any more, he just wanted to get out of the arachnid ridden shed and go home. He heard Scarlett reply;
"It was Mike, he's run away. Me and Paul can't get the door open James" His panic increased tenfold and he started to cry.
"I don't like it in here Scarlett. I want to get out, can't you break the door down?"
"No. I'm-"
"You're not. Not really a princess, just try."
"I can't James. Paul's gone to get an adult." James sat down on the floor. It was then that he noticed the huge spider in the corner of the room. James was convinced it was a tarantula, like he'd read about in his animal book. He'd thought they were cool before. But pictures in a book were different to the real thing.
"There's-There's a tarantula in here Scarlett. I-Its gonna eat me!"
"Don't be stupid James, you only get tarantula's in zoo's"
"Na-uh, you get them in sheds as well, I'm looking at one."
"It doesn't matter, Paul's back with your mum."James stood up again, shuddering as the spider in the corner moved closer to him.
"MUM!"
"Hang on James, just hang on a minute, we'll get you out."
Five minutes later, James was in his mother's embrace, covered in dirt, dust and cobwebs. There was a graze on his hand and elbow where he'd tripped and he was crying unabashedly.
"Shush now baby. Its ok." James rubbed his eye and nodded as his mother carried him back to their house, with Scarlett and Paul following behind. Between hiccuping sobs, James recounted the story to his parents while his mother made juice for them all.
Three days later when Mike mysteriously acquired a bruise on his face while they were out playing, none of the children would say how it'd happened. And if Mrs Hathaway guessed, her son went unpunished.
.
Lewis gives a low whistle as James finishes telling the story.
"How old were you Jim?"
"...Eight."
"Can imagine that was pretty scary, certainly goes some way to explaining things any how."
"Yeah...So now you know sir. I really don't like them."
"I can see that kidda. What happened to Mike?"
"He stopped coming to visit. I think Scarlett might have scared him off. If me trying to bash his head off didn't already do that." Lewis takes all this in and he feels almost sad for the little eight year old Hathaway that he never knew. A thought occurs to him.
"Are you scared of sheds then?" James rolls his eyes.
"No. Only the spiders in them."
"...I was only asking" Lewis says, grinning. "I dunno about you lad, but I could do with some kip." James gets off the sofa.
"Honestly sir, would you prefer the bed? The sofa really isn't that comfortable and what with your back..."
"You're not going to let this drop until I cave in are you?" James shakes his head, a smirk on his face.
"You wouldn't either if you had to listen to you moaning about your back all day at work." Robbie chuckles.
"Point taken James, point taken. Thank you."
"No problem sir" he says and they say their goodnights.
Before he falls asleep, James wonders if DI Knox would ever have removed a spider for him like Lewis did without being asked. He very much doubts it, he had never asked Knox back to his flat.
Robbie lies awake remembering his Lyn waking him up at three in the morning to get a spider out of her room. He remembers that he couldn't find it and he'd only pretended to catch it in order to put her mind at rest. That had come back to bite him in the arse when it had been found the next morning the wall above Val's head.
He rather suspects that James would have screamed louder than Val did.