Hello folks, hope you are all well. This is a shortish chapter but I'm hoping to write a bit more again soon, life and work is still bugging my time but I really want to get this story finished in a timely manner! Thank you all for sticking with me, I hope you continue to accompany me further, and as always thank you so much for reading and for your comments, they are much appreciated.

ML x

Robbie and Laura stayed in the snug warmth of the bed for a while longer until Robbie offered to get up and make some tea. After a quick shower he got dressed and went downstairs into the kitchen and put the kettle on, leaving Laura in bed for a little longer along with a lingering kiss.

Down in the kitchen Robbie looked out onto the snowy fields and the trees beyond. The sun struck the landscape and he looked out for any signs of a thaw. The snow looked like it had frozen after it had settled. Clearly it was still very cold.

For a brief moment Robbie thought of the figures that he and Laura had both seen. It seemed even more impossible in the bright light of the morning to think of vanishing people and unexplained bangs on the door. There had to be an explanation, he was sure of that, but as before, nothing plausible presented itself.

He went to the fridge and opened the door to get some milk for the tea. He had a quick glance at the contents. Laura had mentioned smoked salmon and scrambled eggs for breakfast and his stomach rumbled at the thought. He also became acutely aware of how wonderful it felt to think that Laura was going to make them breakfast. Such a simple thing felt out of this world and Robbie smiled to himself, basking in his own realisation of their new found situation. He also liked the idea of the Christmas dinner she'd got planned with the various provisions that had presented themselves from the abandoned food delivery.

As he waited for the kettle to boil Robbie felt his mobile vibrate in his pocket. He pulled it out and as he had suspected, saw it was Lyn.

He frowned. Should he tell her about Laura?

Despite the sudden and rapid escalation of events, being with Laura seemed so right and natural that he felt he wanted to share it all with Lyn, to let her know that he had finally listened to her and to his own heart. Then he thought of how Laura might feel and decided that perhaps he should talk to her first. He realised it was a wonderful predicament to be caught in - to be thinking about how Laura felt. He looked again at the phone screen and then with a smile he answered the call from his daughter.

Up in the bedroom Laura towelled her hair dry after her shower. She was dressed in fresh clothes, a thick corduroy skirt, tights and a lambswool sweater. The cottage was cosy but it had clearly been unoccupied for a while and the thick stone walls seemed to let in a residual chill from the winter weather outside. Looking out of the window as she scrunched her hair with her hands she found her attention going to the points where she had seen the girl. There was no one there but this time, Laura didn't feel a chill or a shiver of fear like she had done in the days before.

She went down into the kitchen, stopping short of going in; Robbie was on the phone.

"Yeah, I know pet, but don't you worry about your old dad, eh?. . .Oh, well, er yeah, that's nice of you to offer, I'm not sure what she might be doing though, whether she wants to go back to Oxford, but I'll ask her. . . Ok love, well, Happy Christmas and see you soon. . . I will do. . .Bye Pet, bye"

"Our Lyn" he said with a smile as Laura came into the kitchen and he ended the call. Laura returned the smile as she went up to him and put her arms around him. He followed suit and found his hands resting on the small of her back; already it was becoming a familiar sensation, as was her hands on his back, gently caressing him.

"How is she?" Laura said, her eyebrows raised with the question

"She's fine, having a great time I think, they've had a glass of bubbly already"

"Good for them" Laura said with a raised eyebrow

"She sends her love to you" Robbie said, his voice a little lower as he spoke, looking at her with a tenderness that didn't escape Laura's notice

She smiled back, touched suddenly with an awareness of how Lyn might take the notion of her dad being in a new relationship.

As if sensing what she was thinking, Robbie pulled her a little closer.

"She wondered, when we're back on the road, when all the snow's cleared, if you'd like to pop over to visit, with me, being as you didn't make it to your family for Christmas. But well y'know, I told her I wasn't sure what you were doing - " Robbie felt himself babble a little, conscious suddenly that perhaps it was the last thing Laura might want to do.

"I'd love to" Laura said, without hesitation, despite being starkly aware of the possible complexities that could unfold as they navigated new territory together. Even with an unforced positive conviction to Lyn's proposal she suddenly felt a little overwhelmed, more for Lyn and how she might feel about the situation.

"But I wouldn't want to intrude" She said, searching Robbie's eyes; he saw straight away a shadow of uncertainty on her face.

"You wouldn't be. Laura. . ." he hesitated for a second and Laura sensed he was drawing up something from a deep and long forgotten emotional reserve. "I. . . Well. . . I've not felt like this for a long time. I mean how I feel right now, with you"

He looked at her and she saw something in his expression that she hadn't seen before, at least not in the context she was witnessing now. Meanwhile she felt the warmth of his hands still on her back, his hands caressing her gently as he continued to speak.

"In fact I've only felt like this once before. And that's why I know you won't be intruding. And I don't know where all this might go, well I hope I do, but it's not all about me I know that. But well, that's about it" And he looked at her, hoping that he'd let her know how he felt, wishing he could have been more elegant with his words.

She was looking back at him, he could see an emotion in her face and he suddenly felt himself panic that he shouldn't have said what he had, despite what had happened between them; perhaps he thought, she didn't quite feel the same.

"I'm right here with you" She said and then there was no mistaking, how she felt, how they both felt. Laura knew he had said so much more than what he had verbalised and she smiled, and he saw her eyes shine as she pulled him in for a kiss, a tender kiss that filled him with a sweet reassurance and as they pulled apart there was a realisation between them both that although everything ahead of them was new, it wasn't necessarily uncharted territory and more importantly it was to be travelled together.

"I, er didn't get round to making any tea yet" Robbie said, relieved that the focus had passed onto something a little more trivial, scratching his ear and suddenly feeling quite inadequate for not managing to multi-task whilst on the phone to his daughter.

Laura smoothed her hands over his chest and laughed softly.

"Perhaps your skills are better deployed elsewhere" she said "Why don't you start a fire and I'll sort breakfast out"

"Whatever you say Doctor" Robbie said with a nod and he pulled her in close for another kiss.

"What about the tea do you want me to still make it?"

"Well, why don't we take a leaf out of your daughter's book and have a glass of champagne with breakfast"

"Ah damn. I should have thought of that this morning." Robbie said, pursing his lips with regret and irritation. "I could have brought a glass up to you"

Laura chuckled at Robbie's annoyance

"I was quite happy, champagne or not" she said

"Yeah, well so was I" Robbie said gazing at her, feeling her hands caressing his back

"I still am"

"And you're still hungry"

"Yeah, I'm still hungry" and with his stomach rumbling he pulled her in for another kiss.