Tara Julianne Foley

By

Rapunzle1980

London, Friday October 4th 2002

As Detective Superintendent Peter Boyd entered the CCU basement, striding towards his office, his dark eyes noticed how Mel and Spence were both busy on the phone. He had just had a nice lunch with Grace before she had been due back in court. She had been scheduled to be in court all day, but during recess she had called him and asked if he was available for lunch.

Entering his office, he hung up his winter coat before taking off his suit jacket on his way over to his office chair. Just as he placed the jacket on the back of the chair, his mobile phone started to ring.

"Boyd."

He sat down, rubbing his hand over his eyes, feeling tired suddenly.

"Boyd," he heard a familiar voice say into his ear, the apprehension evident in it.

"Grace? Is everything all right?"

"Just as I was about to enter the court room, I got a call from Tara`s principle, Mrs Cartwright. There`s been an incident at school, involving Tara. She needs one of her caregivers to come down there to her office. They wouldn`t tell me what had happened, though. Not over the phone. And I can`t leave. I`m the expert witness!"

Tara Julianne Foley was Grace`s sixteen-year-old daughter, an only child. Her father had never been in the picture as far as Boyd knew. Grace had not told him much about him other than how she met him and how he had left her when she had told him she was pregnant with Tara.

Tara had finished her GCSE exams before the summer, top of her class. She had obviously inherited her mother`s intellectual brain. He had met the girl briefly after Grace had been attacked at home. Tara had not been at home that night, but he had met her at the hospital later that night when checking in on Grace.

She was the spitting image of Grace at that age, he was sure of it. She had her mother`s bright blue eyes, the same smile and the same head of blond hair. And even if Grace had said nothing about her grades at school, the brief meeting he had had with the girl at the hospital just a month ago had left him with the feeling she was just as intelligent as her mother.

"Give me the name of her school," Boyd told her as he rose from his chair. "I`ll go."

"Boyd, you can`t…" Grace started, but Boyd cut her off.

"Grace, just give me the fucking name of her school. And call the principle and tell her I`m on my way."

Thirty minutes later Boyd marched into Tara`s school and towards the principal's office. Tara was sitting alone in the corner further away from the door. She looked so small, Boyd thought as he studied her.

Her long blond hair was tugged tightly behind on her head, ending in a thick braid. She was wearing her school uniform, white shirt under a dark blue blazer, dark blue skirt, white socks and black shoes. Her hands lay in her lap, and next to the chair she was seated in was her school bag.

"May I help you, sir?" the woman behind the desk asked, looking at him through thick glasses. First thought that came to mind was that she looked more like a grey mouse than a specimen of the fairer sex.

"I`m here for Tara Foley. My name's Peter Boyd," he told the woman behind the desk in the outer office.

"Miss Foley`s father?"

Boyd nodded slowly, a slight mischievous smile on his face. Grace Foley had not liked how he had ended their conversation. He usually knew what would happen if he irritated her; revenge may be sweet, or at least a given.

"Mr Boyd," a young voice behind him whispered. Boyd turned around and met Grace`s bright blue eyes, only in the face of her daughter. "Why are you here, sir? I thought mum was coming."

"Your mother isn't able to come. So, I told her I could," he explained to her as he sat on the chair next to her. "What happened, Tara?" he asked her.

Blue eyes refused to meet his dark brown, her cheeks turning bright red as she looked down on her hands in her lap. Her left hand seemed to have bruised knuckles, he noticed as she refused to answer him.

"If I don`t know the facts, I can`t help you," he said, keeping his voice low. "Tara?"

"I was in the school library to study for a test we're having on Monday when Mark – he's seventeen – came and sat next to me," she began telling him as she started to fiddle with the button on the left arm of her school blazer. "He said he wanted to help me study."

Boyd instinct told him what to expect next, but he still hoped it would be something else until the girl continued her story.

"After a while he suddenly placed his hand on me," she whispered, fiddling with the button even more. "On my thigh. And he moved his hand further up…" She gave Boyd a quick look before returning her stare to the floor. "I told him to stop, but… I… He…"

Silent tears started to fall as her voice vanished. Boyd placed his arms around her, pulled her close to his chest, his chin on top of her head. "You punched him," he asserted, now knowing why her knuckles were bruised.

He felt her head nod against his chest as she cried quietly in his arms. "I`m sorry," she whispered. "I know I shouldn`t do that. Mum always says…"

"Bollocks!" Boyd said as the door to the principal's office opened.

"Miss Foley? Mr Boyd"

Tara and Boyd both looked up at the woman standing in the doorway. Boyd kept his arm around her as they both rose from the chairs and walked into the inner office. There they found the boy Mark with his father and mother already seated in front of a large mahogany desk. Mrs Cartwright walked to her side of the desk as Tara and Boyd sat in the chairs to the right of Mark and his parents. Boyd made sure Tara sat the furthest to the right, making him a human shield between her and Mark. Mark looked over at Tara, his left eye already turning a shade of dark blue.

"I`m sorry we have to meet under these circumstances," Mrs Cartwright began, looking at Mark and Tara in turns. "We are here because of an incident in the school library earlier today."

Boyd felt a small hand take hold of his as he watched the stern woman behind the desk. Mrs Cartwright could have been a beautiful woman, he thought, had she made an effort. She wore a black dress that did not do anything for her figure, and it made her skin look something between yellow and white. Her dark hair hung straight down on either side of her face, her grey eyes kept looking from Mark to Tara and back again.

"Maybe Mark could start to tell what happened?" she asked, her eyes stopping at Mark.

Mark shot Tara a quick glance before he looked at Boyd. "Eh… I was going to the library to study. And since it`s Friday, there wasn't so many other students there. Then I saw Tara sitting alone, studying." He stopped and looked at Mrs Cartwright. "I asked her if I could sit next to her, and she said yes."

"Then what happened?" Mrs Cartwright asked.

"Everything was just fine," Mark said. "And suddenly she turned towards me and hit me in the face."

"Just like that?"

"Yeah, just like that," Mark nodded. "I don't know why."

Tara`s small hand took a tighter grip around his hand as Boyd spoke, surprising him since it was the hand she had bruised. "I understand that Tara was assaulted while studying," he said slowly, felt how four pair of eyes turned his way.

"Miss Foley hit Mr Carrington, Mr Boyd," Mrs Cartwright said, her grey eyes looking straight at Boyd. "We do not accept that kind of behaviour at this school."

"It`s Detective Superintendent, Mrs Cartwright," Boyd said quietly with a small smile that didn't reach his eyes. The people who knew him, his team at CCU and especially Grace, knew that the quiet voice was something to fear. Boyd was known for a lot of things, his barking out orders and such. But when his voice became quiet, it meant you ought to beware. "And Tara may have hit Mr Carrington, but only in self-defence."

"She hit my son, Mr Boyd!" Mr Carrington senior shot an angry glare towards Tara. The girl sank closer to Boyd, her hand still holding a tight grip around his. "I demand she be expelled!"

Boyd squeezed Tara`s hand gently, yet reassuringly as his dark eyes held Mr Carrington senior`s gaze until the other man looked away. "Your bloody son assaulted my daughter!" Boyd hissed the words. "If either of them is to be expelled, it should be him! Be glad I don't arrest him!"

"It`s her word against his!" Mr Carrington senior growled. "There`s no proof he did anything to her! We have proof she hit him! Look at his eye! He may end up with reduce sight on that eye, even go blind!"

Boyd turned towards Mrs Cartwright. "I ask you, Mrs Cartwright, how many times has Tara been to your office?"

Mrs Cartwright blinked, looked at the Carrington family before looking back at Boyd. "She has never been…"

"And how many times has young Mr Carrington here been to your office?" Boyd cut her off.

"Er…"

"How many?!"

"I don't have the exact numbers, Mr Boyd," Mrs Cartwright admitted slowly.

"It`s Detective Superintendent," Boyd growled before he pulled Tara up from the chair. "This meeting is over." He turned around, his hands on Tara`s shoulders, leading her towards the door.

"Detective Superintendent!"

Boyd turned towards the Carringtons, his eyes dark as flint, telling them not to push him. "What?"

"Keep your daughter away from my son!"

"No, Mr Carrington. It is your son that is to be kept away from my daughter! If I so much as hear him breathe near her, I will have him arrested. Do I make myself clear?!"

Mrs Carrington stood up, placed a hand on her son`s shoulder. Boyd could see that she was calmer than her husband. Yet, as a mother she would do whatever she could for her child. Like any other mother. "I will talk with my son, Detective Superintendent," she said, casting an angry glance at her husband. "I`m not raising my son to treat girls or women badly."

Boyd gave her a stern look, turned to give the same look to Mrs Cartwright. "I take it that as far as this incident is concerned, Tara is permitted to come to school Monday morning?"

"Certainly, Detective Superintendent."

"Very well," Boyd said before turning back towards the door, leading Tara out of the office without another word.

Tara picked up her school bag as they walked through the outer office towards the exit, taking hold of Boyd`s hand again. Neither of them uttered a word until they arrived at Boyd`s Lexus. Boyd stopped, turned towards her, his dark brown eyes looked down at her.

"You're not my father," she said quietly, still holding his hand.

"No, I'm not," Boyd agreed as he took her school bag and placed it in the back seat of the car. "I believe your mother got a little angry with me when I ordered her to call the school to let them know I would come in her place. She probably told them your father was coming. And I saw no reason to correct them in whatever they thought about it."

"Thank you for helping me today," she said as she stroked her bruised hand.

"Let me see your hand," Boyd ordered, holding out his own hand towards her. She placed her hand slowly in his, let him examine it closely. "Doesn't look like anything is broken, only bruised. But we should get a doctor to look at it, just to be sure. I know your mother would want me to take you to the A and E."

"All right," she nodded, knowing her mother just as well as Boyd did. She waited a few seconds, and just as Boyd was about to tell her to get inside the car, she walked closer to him, placing her thin arms around his middle, her head against his chest. Slowly Boyd placed his arms around her, stroking her back carefully.

"Promise me you`ll tell me if he ever comes near you again," he told her quietly, "or any other boy, for that matter. If you ever feel scared or need help, call me. Promise me, Tara!"

The girl nodded against his chest. "I promise," she said in a low voice.

"Give me your phone," Boyd ordered as she let go of him and took a few steps back.

Tara pulled her phone out of her school blazer and gave it to him, no question asked. She watched as the man in front of her worked his way with it before handing it back to her.

"That`s my number," he told her as they could hear a subdued ping from inside his winter coat.

Tara looked from the phone and met his dark brown eyes. They gazed at one another for a few seconds before she nodded, turned and walked around the car to seat herself in the passenger seat.

Dad.

He had registered his phone number under Dad before sending himself a text message in order to give himself her number as well.

Tara watched as Boyd seated himself behind the steering wheel and starting the engine. "I wouldn't mind if you were my father."

Her voice was barely audible, but Boyd`s selective hearing had heard her. He gave her a sideways look before focusing on his driving.

"And I wouldn't mind having you as my daughter."

B~G~B

London, Friday October 8th 2004

"How do I look?"

Tara Julianne Foley spun around in front of her best friend, Jackie Henderson. Her blond, curly hair was hanging loose for once, framing her heart shaped face. Her blue eyes seemed even bluer now that she had put on make-up, and she was wearing a pair of tight jeans and an even tighter top that did not even cover her belly. She was carrying her jacket over her arm, and a small handbag containing her mobile phone and her bank card.

"No one will believe that you are just eighteen," Jackie smiled at her. "You look like you're at least twenty-one. And in the right light, you may pass as twenty-five. How about me, Tara?"

"You look like you could be twenty," Tara answered. "Listen, Jackie. I don't know about this. I promised my mum that I wouldn't go out while she's away."

"Oh, come on, Tara," Jackie said, looking at her with eyes filled with irritation. "Now is your chance. Your mother never lets you have any fun. Maybe we can find you a boyfriend as well."

Tara was still not convinced that this was such a good idea, but Jackie was her best friend. And since Jackie's parents had agreed to let Tara stay at their place while Tara`s mother was in Denmark at a conference, she felt like she had to do what Jackie wanted. Which meant that they were going out this Friday evening to a club Jackie liked.

"Come on, Tara, let's go. I just have to remember to bring the door key." She found it in the hall and placed it in her handbag. "There, now we can go."

Fifty minutes later they stood in a line outside a club in London. They had met some other friends of Jackie's from school, and Jackie was now chatting with them while they waited for the line to move.

Tara looked around, suddenly feeling a little uneasy. She had always been her mother's good girl; had never done anything she was not supposed to. And the knowledge that she was now breaking her promise to her mother by going out with Jackie made her feel uneasy.

"Do you have an ID?"

Tara watched as Jackie got her ID out and showed it to the guard. She quickly found her own and showed it to the man.

"Good, you can go inside."

Jackie smiled widely at her as they entered the club. "This will be the best Friday ever. I wonder if Danny is here."

Danny was an older boy at school that all the girls liked. Including Tara. But she was too shy to even talk to him. And Jackie being who she was, Tara did not feel like competing with her best friend over a boy.

"There he is," she said, pointing towards the bar. "He's by the bar, Jackie."

"Good. Then he can buy us a drink or two."

"Drink?" Tara answered. "I don't drink."

Jackie just laughed at her. "Tonight, you do. Come on, before anyone else gets his attention."

Tara followed Jackie towards the bar, trying to look confident and older than her eighteen years of age.

"Hi, Danny!" Jackie called out over the loud music. "Care to buy me and my friend a drink?"

Danny smiled at her before he looked at Tara. "And who is your friend?" he asked as he nodded to the man behind the bar, indicating that he wanted three drinks.

"This is Tara, the bookworm in my class," Jackie said. "Her mother is away this weekend, so Tara is staying at my place. This is her first time out on a Friday night."

Danny looked at her. "Really? Old-fashioned parents?" he asked.

"Single mum," Jackie smiled at him.

"So, how do you like it so far, Tara?" Danny asked as he handed her a glass with what Tara believed to be beer.

"It's ok," she answered quietly.

"We have to find her a boyfriend," Jackie added, taking a large sip of her drink. "Then we can double-date, you know."

"Well, I'm supposed to meet up with Greg. We can ask him when he arrives," Danny said as he emptied his own drink.

Tara had not even touched her own drink yet. When Jackie and Danny looked towards the entrance, she placed her glass on the bar. She was breaking her promise about not going out while her mother was away, but she was not going to break the promise of drinking alcohol. Jackie could say what she wanted, but she did not want to drink.

A couple of hours later they had moved further into the club, found themselves a table. Danny`s friend Greg had arrived, and he seemed to like Tara a lot. He was trying to get her to talk, and he even asked her to dance. Tara, who loved to dance, had accepted. But when his hands had started to wander over her body, she had quickly backed away. And it seemed like Greg accepted this.

When they returned to the table, he asked if she wanted something to drink.

"Yes, please, thank you," Tara said. She watched him walk across the room before she looked around for Jackie. Jackie and Danny seemed to have vanished in the crowd.

"Here you go," Greg said, placing a glass in front of her. Whatever was in the glass was very blue.

"I don't drink alcohol," she said, eying the glass sceptically.

"It`s alcohol free."

Tara took a few small sips; the taste told her quickly that he had lied to her. She didn't normally drink alcohol, but she had tasted it. She placed the glass on the table as she scanned the room for her friend. When she could not find her, she looked at Greg. "I think I'll go home now," she said. "Thank you for the drink."

"But you can't leave now" Greg objected. "It's barely midnight. There's still lots of time to have fun."

"One more dance," she agreed as he took her hand in his and led her onto the dance floor.

Ten minutes later Tara knew something was wrong.

"I…" she started to say as her vision started to get blurry. Then it hit her. "Will you excuse me?" she said to Greg. "I have to go to the bathroom."

As soon as she got to the ladies' room, she locked herself inside one of the cubicles. She found her phone and hit the speed dial for her mother. All she got was her voice mail. "Mum, please," she whispered as she felt how she got dizzier. Greg had obviously put something in her drink. Then she remembered the incident two years ago at school, and how he had put his number into her phone.

Peter Boyd.

Dad.

She leaned her head against the back wall as she hit the call button. Seconds later a deep voice answered.

"Boyd."

Detective Superintendent Peter Boyd left his office as he put on his coat. He was the last to leave this Friday evening. Spence and Andy had left a few hours ago, and Grace had had the day off. She had gone to Denmark to give a speech at a conference.

Boyd looked around the main room of the Cold Case HQ and his eyes stopped at the door to Grace's office. He walked over to it, opened it and walked in. He seated behind her desk, studied her shelves, her desk.

Doctor Grace Foley was a valued colleague and a good friend. One of his few friends, he thought as he picked up a framed picture from her desk. A pair of smiling blue eyes looked back at him from a face that looked so much like Grace. She even had her mother's beautiful smile and blond hair. Only difference was that this girl had long, curly hair.

From what Grace had told him when he drove her off to the airport the day before, young Tara Julianne Foley was staying at a friend's house while her mother was away.

He placed the picture back as his mobile started to ring.

"Boyd."

"Dad," a female voice said in his ear. He could have sworn it was Grace's voice, only younger. "I need help, please."

"Tara?" he asked as he rose from Grace`s chair, ready to leave if he had to.

"Yes."

"Where are you?" he asked, trying to remember what Grace had told him on the way to the airport.

Tara said the name of a club. He could hear on her voice that something was wrong. She seemed tired, like she was not all awake. "I'm in the ladies' room," she mumbled. "I think… I think I've been drugged," she added before her voice vanished. Boyd could hear the phone hitting the floor before the connection was lost.

"Damn," he muttered before he ran out to his car. Grace would not be very happy with her daughter when she came home, but it would be even worse if the girl got herself into more trouble than she already was, he thought as he turned on the blue lights concealed behind the car's grill before he drove as fast as he could to the club that Tara had mentioned.

As he arrived at the club he flashed his warrant card at the bouncers at the entrance, leaving the car by the curb, blue lights still flashing in the dark night.

"Where is the ladies' room?" he asked the first girl he saw. Her eyes told him she was clearly drunk as she pointed him in the right direction.

As he entered, he saw a young man kicking the door to one of the cubicles. "You touch that girl, and it will be one of the last things you do as a free man," Boyd said calmly as he walked towards him. "I probably already have enough to charge you with putting drugs in her drink."

The young man looked from Boyd to the girl in the cubicle and back at Boyd. He backed away, walking around Boyd in a huge circle.

"You`re not going anywhere", Boyd growled as he grabbed the young man`s right arm as he tried to walk away. A few seconds later, Boyd had handcuffed him to a water pipe further in the room. Then he walked over to the cubicle. There he found Tara lying seemingly unconscious on the floor. "Tara," he said, taking her pulse. It was strong and good.

"Mum?" she mumbled as he picked her up in his arms.

"She will not be happy about this, honey," he said as he carried her out of the lady`s room, leaving the young man there.

"What the hell do you think you are doing?" a voice said behind him as he walked towards the exit. He turned around and faced a young woman with short, blonde hair and green eyes. "Let my friend go."

"Your friend is going home with me," Boyd said. "There we will call her mother, letting her know what nearly happened here tonight."

"Who are you?"

"I`m her father," Boyd said with a deep, angry voice. "And I work with Tara`s mother."

"You're a copper," Jackie said, turning pale.

"Correct!"

Jackie looked at him, her eyes sceptical. "How can I be sure you are who you say you are? Where is Tara`s mum? And your name? Besides, Tara doesn't have a father!"

"Grace is in Denmark and will not be back until Sunday afternoon. My name is Peter Boyd. Detective Superintendent Peter Boyd. And if you check Tara`s phone log, you will see that the last number she used was mine. I believe it is listed as 'Dad' in her contact list.

He had picked up Tara`s phone from the floor as he had picked up the girl.

Boyd placed Tara in the passenger seat, fastened her seatbelt before he turned to one of the two bouncers at the entrance, noticed that Jackie was looking at the phone he had handed her.

"There is a young man in the ladies' room. Call the police and have them pick him up. He`s been putting drugs into that girl`s drink this evening. Tell them DSI Peter Boyd will want to talk to him tomorrow."

The bouncer picked up his phone as he turned around to go inside. Boyd figured he was going to see for himself about that young man in the ladies' room.

"May I have Tara`s phone back?" he asked, watching the blonde girl in front of him.

"You are taking her to your place?"

"The hospital first, then my place, yeah," Boyd nodded, placing Tara`s phone in his pocket. "I will call Grace and let her know the change of sleep-over arrangements."

He walked around the car and seated behind the steering wheel, pushing the buttons that turned the blue lights off before he started the car. He looked at Tara. Her eyes were closed, but her breathing was even and strong, not causing him to fear for her well-being.

Quickly, he steered the car into traffic, heading towards St. George`s Hospital.

St. George`s Hospital

"I'm here with Tara Julianne Foley," Boyd said as they arrived at the emergency room at the hospital, meeting the eyes of the nurse sitting behind the reception. Tara had become more awake as they arrived at the hospital, walking on her own with Boyd`s arm securely around her shoulders. Now she was resting her head against his shoulder. "She believes she has been drugged, and I would like to have her blood checked for the usual drugs."

"And you are?"

"I'm… Peter Boyd," he said, deciding that throwing his professional title was not the way to go this evening.

"And you would be her…?" the nurse continued.

Boyd sighed inside. "I'm her father," he answered, blaming Grace for that title.

The nurse looked at him for a short while before looking at her computer. "I will take you to an examination room." She rose from her seat and walked around, standing in front of Boyd. "Follow me."

"A nurse will be with you shortly," she told Boyd as she left them. Boyd made Tara sit on the bed in the room, stroking away some of her hair from her face, watching her pale face.

"Mr Boyd?"

He looked up at the nurse that had entered the room. "Yes?"

"How old is your daughter, and why do you believe she had been drugged?" she asked as she placed what she needed to take Tara`s blood on the table next to the bed.

Boyd thought she looked too young to be a nurse but did not say anything about it. "Tara is eighteen," he told her. "And she called me tonight and told me she believed someone had drugged her."

"Where was she?"

Boyd hid a smile as he knew what the nurse was doing. If he were in fact Tara`s father, why would Tara believe she had been drugged? "My daughter was at a sleepover," he told the nurse. "However, her friend wanted to go to a club to meet up with some friends. Tara called me when she realised that something was wrong with her. I found her just in time before the bastard who drugged her managed to take her away from the club."

"And where is he now?" the nurse asked as she took Tara`s blood.

"Probably in a police holding cell, considering I told the bouncer outside the club to call them. I handcuffed him to some water pipes in the bathroom at the club, if you must know." Boyd took a hold of Tara`s free hand, felt her squeeze it carefully. "My main concern was Tara," he added as he watched the girl on the bed. "All I wanted was to get her out of there."

"You know that we might not find anything, right?" she told him as she packed up and looked at Boyd. "And even if we do there isn't much we can do." She looked at Tara. "Do you want a doctor to check if she was raped?"

"He never touched her," Boyd told the nurse. "Of that, I am certain."

The nurse nodded. "Very well. I will send this for analysis, but I wouldn't get my hopes up. As soon as the result comes back, one of the doctors will call you. Do you want to wait here?"

Boyd touched Tara`s forehead gently, watched her tired eyes. "Will there be any harm in taking her home?"

The nurse shook her head. "I can have one of the doctors call you when the result is ready. Do we have your phone number?"

Boyd gave her his phone number as he gently picked Tara up in his arms. She placed her arms around his neck, her head once again reasting against his shoulder. "Thank you for your help," he told her as she opened the door, letting Boyd carry Tara through.

"Like I said, the result will probably not show anything, sir," the nurse said again.

"I know, but better to have checked than not," he told her before he thanked her again and walked back towards the exit and to his car.

As he arrived at his house, Tara had fallen asleep next to him. He parked the car in front of his garage, releasing Tara`s seat belt before he got out of the car and walked around to the passenger side. Gently, he picked her up and carried her up to one of his guestrooms. He managed to take her jacket and her shoes off before he tucked her in. He was just leaving the room when his phone started to ring. One glance at it, told him it was Grace.

"Grace."

"Peter, what happened?"

He could hear the fear in Grace`s voice as he walked back downstairs. "First things first, Grace," he said. "Tara is just fine. She`s asleep in my guestroom as we speak. She will probably wake up feeling a bit confused tomorrow, but hopefully that will be all. She managed to call me before anything terrible happened."

"My little girl! She was supposed to be safe at the Henderson's while I was away. What happened?"

Boyd hung up his coat and got Tara`s phone out of the pocket before he walked into his living room and sat down in his favourite chair, checking Tara`s phone. It had apparently died somewhere between the time they left the club and they got back home to his place. He would have to get it charged later. "Apparently, the other girl manged to talk Tara into going to a club. There she was drugged."

"Was she…?" Grace asked anxiously, Boyd hearing the fear still in her voice.

"No, I got there before he got to her," he assured her. "Tara is safe and sound here at my place."

"I`ll take the first flight back tomorrow," Grace told him.

"No, Grace," Boyd answered. "You stay until Sunday. Nothing has changed. Tara is just fine. I will look after her until you get home. Don't worry, okay?"

"Peter, that is my baby-girl you have in your guestroom," Grace said quietly. "And I know she will be safe with you. But I just wish I was there with her."

Boyd smiled. "I know you do. But this conference is something you have looked forward to. Tara will tell you the same tomorrow. Now try and sleep. Tomorrow Tara will call you, and you can hear for yourself that she is just fine."

"Thank you, Peter."

"Anytime, Grace," he said, hearing a sob on the other side of the phone, knew what Grace had feared. "I`m waiting for a phone call from one of the doctors at St George`s as well. Not that I believe that they will find anything, but I got her blood tested anyway. Eh… The nurse at the A & E was a bit scary."

"Scary?" she echoed him, a small laughter in her voice. Boyd smiled, felt happy that he had turned her sob to laughter.

"I was afraid she wanted to kick me out, so I told her I was Tara`s father," he explained. "In fact, I just used your words, come to think of it. So, I wasn't lying."

"Mrs Cartwright still believes you are," Grace smiled. "I met her the other day at the store. She asked about you."

"I hope you told her off," he grunted back.

"She asked if I knew if you were seeing anyone," Grace said casually.

"I really hope you told her off," he grunted again. "I`m a one-woman-man."

"Since when?"

"Since I found myself in your bed two years ago, and you know it, woman." His voice became deeper than usual.

Grace laughed softly in his ear. "I know," she smiled. "I just like hearing you say it."

Boyd smiled before he sighed. "I`m going to teach Tara how to defend herself," he said quietly. "This is the second time a boy – young man – has tried to force himself on her. There will not be a third!"

"Peter…"

"I know I`m not her father, Grace, but this is not negotiable. That girl is going to be able to defend herself if I`m not able to be there."

"Peter!"

"What!?"

"I love you," she whispered.

Boyd closed his eyes, the emotions her words created in him washed over him, warmed him in a way he thought he would never experience again after he divorced Mary. "I love you, too," he whispered back at her. "We`ll pick you up at the airport on Sunday, then the three of us go out to eat."

"Sounds nice, Peter. I`d like that."

"Now, go to bed, and don't worry about Tara. We`ll go pick up her things from the Henderson`s and do some father-daughter bonding."

Grace chuckled. "Be nice, all right?"

"Of course, Grace."

They said good night and ended the call. Boyd placed Tara`s phone to charge before he walked upstairs, check in on Tara and then went to bed himself.

Around noon the next day

Tara opened her eyes slowly, her head spinning a little. As her head calmed down, she looked around the room, realizing it was not Jackie's room. She sat up, noticed that she was still wearing the clothes from the night before. Her jacket was lying on a chair by the end of the bed and her handbag on the nightstand.

She felt dizzy as she tried to stand, making her sit down on the bed again. When she tried to move her arms, it felt as if her body was not following what her head told it do.

"Good morning," a dark voice said from the door.

Tara`s eyes grew wider when she saw the man in the door. "Peter?" she asked, wondering what he was doing there. She knew he was her mother`s colleague-slash-boyfriend, but they usually never spent the night at their house. They usually always stayed at his house. She wondered if they believed she didn't know.

"How do you feel today?"

"Fine, I guess."

Boyd walked into the room, taking a sip of the cup he was holding. "I've talked to your mother this morning," he said as he watched her try to stand again. He could see that she was dizzy, her movements uncoordinated. "I told her what happened last night."

"Oh, God," Tara mumbled. "Mum's going to kill me! I didn't even want to go there. It was Jackie who wanted me to come. I just…"

Boyd walked over to her, placed his hands on her shoulders. "Calm down, Tara," he said, making her looked at him. "Your mother isn't going to kill you. I won`t let her. Why don't you take a shower and change your clothes before you come downstairs? I`ll make you something easy to eat. Then you can call your mother. I`m sure she is longing to talk to you."

"I`ve never lied to her before," Tara said quietly. "She will be so angry, won`t she?"

Boyd turned Tara carefully around and steered her towards the bathroom. "Shower, get dressed and then food. I`ll leave some clean clothes for you outside the door."

Tara looked up at him, her blue eyes were teary. "Will she ever forgive me?"

Boyd pulled her into a hug, placing his chin on top of her head. "I will let you in on a little secret, Tara," he told her. "As a parent, I know that your mother is angry at you for lying to her. But I also know that she is just so glad that nothing bad happened to you. Last night could have ended so different from how it actually did. You mother will be just happy that you are here with me, safe and sound, and not at the hospital because of that bastard who put something in your drink."

"Water," Tara sniffed against him.

"What?"

"I drank water, apart from one little sip from the drink that boy brought me," she told him, walking slowly out of his arms. "I remember thinking that going to that club when I had told mum I wouldn`t go out was enough. I didn't want to do anything more than that."

"No alcohol?"

She shook her head. "No alcohol, apart from that one little sip."

Boyd dried away her tears. "I hope you never do anything like this again," he told her. "This is why we tell you to never drink something you haven't bought yourself."

"We? You have children?"

Boyd could have kicked himself as he realized what he had said. "I have a son. He ran away when he was seventeen."

"Do you know where he is?" Tara asked, her blue eyes large in her pale face.

"No, I don't," Boyd answered quietly. "I don't know where he is."

"I`m sorry," Tara whispered.

"It`s okay," he told her as he turned her around towards the bathroom. "Now, shower."

Tara walked into the bathroom and locked the door. She was still feeling dizzy, but if she moved slowly, it was not so bad. Slowly she undressed and walked over to the shower.

"Feel better?" Boyd asked as Tara entered the kitchen. Her hair was put in a wet braid, and she was wearing the same pair of jeans from last night, but the top had been replaced by a nice light-blue cardigan. Boyd believed that was what the top was called, anyway. It belonged to Grace and had been one of few she had left behind at his house.

"Yes, thank you," she answered as she seated by the kitchen table. "I still feel a little dizzy and my coordination is not all there, but I`ll be fine."

"Toast, okay?" he asked her, getting a small nod as a reply. "The hospital called while you showered."

"The hospital?"

"I took you there to get your blood tested. Just in case."

"Oh."

"They found Rohypnol in your blood," Boyd said quietly as he placed a plate in front of her. Butter and strawberry jam were already on the table. He knew she had a sweet tooth just like her mother. "They believe the dosage was very small. And according to what you told me last night, you just had a small sip from that drink, right?

Tara nodded. "That explains the way my body is acting, I guess." She could see that Boyd was a little surprised by her answer. "Last year, a couple of police officers visited our school. They told us about what type of drugs that are used as "date rape" drugs. They also told us about the symptoms."

Boyd nodded. "And yet you drank from the drink he bought you?

"I know," she said as she looked at the food on the plate in front of her. "It was stupid of me! I know better, and yet… Why did I drink it?"

"You're eighteen, Tara. And from what I gather, this is the first time you've done something like this. Right now, I think we should just be glad nothing else happened. Try not to think too much about it." He sat down opposite her, a fresh cup of coffee in his hand. "Tomorrow your mother comes home, and I told her we`d pick her up at the airport before going out for dinner."

"Thank you, sir," Tara said, her eyes still on her plate. "Thank you for rescuing me."

"Tara, look at me," Boyd told her, waiting until her blue eyes met his brown. "Call me Peter. It`s not like you don't know me, you know." He smiled at her, holding his hand out towards her, waited until Tara took it.

"All right," she told him. "But I still have to thank you."

"No, you don't," Boyd told her with another smile. "I`m thankful you called me. That is why I left my number on your phone two years ago, remember. Let's leave it at that, shall we? And now we won't talk about this anymore today. Remember this, but don't dwell. Take it as a life lesson, one of many that you will have in your future. Okay?"

Tara nodded, gave him a small smile before she started to eat. "I wish…" she started, but seemed to thing better of it.

"What do you wish?" Boyd asked as he finished his cup of coffee, getting up and walked over to the kitchen sink, rinsing the cup before placing it in the sink.

"It`s nothing," Tara said.

"What do you wish?" Boyd asked again as turned around to look at her.

Tara looked at him, her eyes studied him for a long time while she ate her brunch. "I wish I had a father like you," she said quietly, still looking at him, waiting for his reaction.

"If I had ever had a daughter, I wish she would have been just like you," Boyd answered just as quietly.

"Even if she went clubbing at eighteen and got herself drugged?" Tara asked.

"Even if she went clubbing at eighteen and got herself drugged," Boyd nodded. "I may not know you that well, yet Tara. Not personally, but your mother has told me a lot about you. And if only half of the things she has told me about you are true, I would have been immensely proud to have you as a daughter. And I do believe we had the beginning of this conversation two years ago."

Tara smiled at him. "Maybe I could adopt you," she said, her eyes had a little twinkle in them as she got up from her chair and walked over to the sink, stopping next to him. "Wonder what mum would say about that."

"Oh, I think she would say a big NO," Boyd said with a smile. "She knows me, not sure she would want me to be your father, I`m afraid."

"Why? She was the one who told my school two years ago that you were my father. That is what you are listed as in my contact list on my phone."

"Too much temper," he told her. "Amongst other things. And she told your school that just to piss me off when I arrived there."

Tara placed the plate in the sink. "Now what?"

Boyd walked to the kitchen counter on the opposite side of them where her recharged phone was placed. He held the phone out to her. "Now you give your mother a call. She is expecting you. After that, we go round to the Henderson`s to get your things that you left there before I have to go into work for an hour. I have to have a chat with that young man from last night," he told her, watching her blue eyes grow large in her small face. "And after that, you and I are going to do a little father-daughter bonding."

"Father-daughter bonding?" Tara asked with a soft giggle.

"I remember very clearly that I got a phone call last night from someone calling me 'Dad'," he smirked at her. "I think I ought to get to know this daughter of mine, even if her mother would put her foot down regarding any adoption."

"Well, I have one question," Tara said as she turned her phone on. Then she looked up at the tall man on the other side of the kitchen. "Did you really think I didn't know about you and mum?"

Boyd`s smile just grew wider as he hinted with a movement of his head towards the phone in her hand. "Call your mother." Then he left the kitchen to let her have her privacy.

B~G~B

The CCU headquarter, October 8th 2010

She walked towards the desk sergeant, willing her feet to move. What she really wanted was to turn around and run away. But she couldn't. She had to talk to him.

"I need to see Detective Superintendent Peter Boyd", she said coldly to the man behind the desk.

"Name? And do you have an appointment?"

"Tara Foley. He will want to see me."

The man told her to sit and wait while he checked with the DSI if he had the time. He had not even lifted his eyebrow upon hearing her last name. She had expected some kind of recognition, at least.

A few minutes later Boyd came walking towards her, a tall, broad-shouldered man with silver-coloured hair and a neatly trimmed goatee-beard. His dark hazel eyes smiled at her as she rose from the chair she had occupied, lifted her cheek for him to kiss before she turned her stare to the desk sergeant. "Do I need an appointment to see you?" she asked Boyd, still looking at the other man.

"Of course not," Boyd answered, taking her arm, giving Carl - the desk sergeant - a quick nod before leading her towards the basement and eventually his office. "I`m afraid the list of whom they can let in has not been updated for a while. I`ll make sure you are added to my list as well." By the time she left the building she would be on both his and Grace`s visitors-list, Carl would see to that.

He closed his office door and the blinds, felt the curious looks from his team before they were shut out. His dark eyes watched Tara as she walked over to his couch and sat down. She had her mother`s frame and colours, the image of Grace at that same age; Grace`s copy.

Ever since that Friday back in 2002 he had been a part of Grace`s small family. Their relationship, as he saw it, started that evening after he had picked Tara up from school. Their sexual relationship sometime later. It was now almost eight years ago, and no one on their CCU-team or higher up the Met ladder had the foggiest idea that their DSI and their forensic psychologist were an item. And that was how it would remain, if Boyd or Grace had anything to say on the matter.

"What can I do for you, Tara," he asked as he sat down next to her.

"Have you talked to mum today?"

"Grace is home today. And she was asleep when I went to work. Why?"

He did not think he would ever stop worrying about Grace, and especially not after the Linda Cummings case and the cancer. Luckly, Grace seemed to have beaten that horrible disease. Still, she got easily tired, and did not spend long hours at the office like she used to back in the day.

"Mum`s fine," Tara said quickly when she noticed Boyd`s expression. "I just wanted to know if she had told you anything about me lately?"

Puzzled, Boyd shook his head. "No?"

"Oh, good. Then she doesn't know yet."

"Know what?"

She stood up and started to pace, her arms around her middle, her face pale. "I had an affair with another doctor a couple of months ago," she begun. "It didn't end well. Turned out he was already married."

Seemed some stories want to repeat themselves, Boyd thought as he remembered what he had learned about Grace and Harry Taylor a few years ago, but he said nothing. "I`m sorry," he offered instead.

"So am I!" She stopped right in front of him, her bright blue eyes, those same eyes he woke up to every morning, looked down at him on the couch. "I`m pregnant," she whispered before the tears begun rolling down her pale cheeks.

Boyd stood up, pulled her against his chest, placed his chin on top of her head. "It`ll be alright."

"How do you know?" she cried. "Mum`s going to throw a fit when I tell her."

"It`s not the end of the world, Tara," he told her, stroking her hair absentmindedly. "And your mother will be happy: a grandchild, how can she not be?"

"Out of wedlock?"

"Ah, marriage," Boyd smiled. "Overrated, really."

"Right, I`m sorry. I forgot."

"Don't be," he assured her. "My marriage was a happy one, at first. Until it wasn't anymore. You need two to tango."

Tara looked up at him again. She was taller than her mother, but still shorter than Boyd. "Will you ever marry my mother?"

"That is quite a leap."

"Marriage and babies. They kind of belong together."

"Not always."

She walked out of his arms, placed her arms around her waist again, sat down on the couch. "It would be nice to have someone to share it all with, you know. The sleepless nights, the diaper-changing, four o`clock feedings. Do you remember those, Peter?"

Boyd slumped down next to her, closing his eyes, pictures of a tiny baby boy flashed before his eyes. Happy times with Mary and baby Luke, before the arguing begun, before everything… broke. "I remember," he mumbled.

"May I ask you something?"

Opening his eyes, he studied her tearstained face. Touchy-feely had never really been his thing. Grace knew this, never pushing him, knew he would tell her things in his own way. Usually without using the actual words to do so.

Hell, everyone who knew him, knew that he did not show affection or any other feeling that would give away how he felt. But two people in his life, had over the past decade managed to put him around their little finger. "You may."

"If you got the chance, would you do it all over again? Knowing how it would end, with Mary? And Luke?"

Tara`s question lingered in the air for a long time. It seemed to echo of the walls in his office, creating new images in his head.

Would he?

After a while he stood and started pacing as well, felt the blue eyes following him. Like her mother, she knew when to push and when not to. This was the latter. So, she just watched him, waited.

"Yes, I would," came the quiet answer after some time. He stopped in front of her, reached for her hand and pulled her up to stand in front of him, placing his arms around her. "I might have tried to be a better father, tried to be there for Luke more than I was the first time around, but whether or not it would have done any difference, I don't know."

"Even though you knew about the pain and everything?"

"You`re forgetting something," he pointed out.

"What?"

"If I could do everything all over again, Mary and I would probably still end up divorced. Maybe I could have saved Luke, maybe I couldn't. But if I were to change everything to make sure it didn't happen again, I would not be standing here, in this office, holding you in my arms. I would probably have met your mother at some point, but we would never have ended up where we are today." He placed his hands on her shoulders, making her looked at him. "I`m certain that I`m where I`m meant to be at this point in my life," he admitted. "And that is together with your mother."

"And will you ever marry her?"

Boyd smiled down at her. "One day I will ask her and hope to God she says yes," he told her. "But we have both agreed that as long as we work together, marriage is not in our path."

Tara nodded, understood why. Her mother had explained it several times over the years when she had asked her about it, but she had needed to know that he was just as committed to her mother as her mother was to him. Marriage or not.

"Will you be there?"

"When?" he asked.

"When I tell mum?"

"Of course, I will. You have nothing to fear, Tara." He gave her another hug, keeping his arms around her. "Grace will love being a grandmother."

"And you?"

"What about me?"

"Come on, Dad! You`ll be the baby`s grandfather!"

For a split second he was completely still next to her, then his arms pulled her a fraction closer to him. Finally, he placed his chin on top of her head again, closing his eyes as he whispered: "I`ll love being the baby`s grandfather."

Brockwell Park, London. Late August 2014

"Grandpa! Look at me!"

Three-year-old Luke Timothy Foley ran as fast as his little legs could go, away from the older man following him at a slow pace. Then he turned and ran back towards the man again. His bright blue eyes shone with happiness as he flung himself into the man`s outstretched arms. "Did you see?! I ran soo fast!"

"You sure did," the older man smiled as he ruffled the boy`s dark hair before letting the boy go again. "We`ll make a good copper out of you in no time," he half-joked.

"Do I have to run fast if I want to be a policeman?" Luke asked, his eyes looking up at the man.

"Police officer," his grandfather corrected him. "And yes, running fast is a good talent if you want to become a police officer one day."

"Mum! He`s trying to recruit Luke again!"

"Peter!"

Retired Detective Superintendent Peter Boyd stopped, turned and met two sets of blue eyes, both pair smiling at him with a hint of indulgence in them. He smirked as Grace walked into his waiting arms, resting her head on his shoulder. "I thought you loved having a police officer in the family, Grace."

"One retired DSI is more than enough," she smiled up at him. "Besides, Luke is only three. There is plenty of time for him to decide what he wants to do when he grows up. Be that a police officer or something completely different."

Boyd smiled down at her before placing his chin on top of her head, his arms placed firmly around her as she turned around to watch her daughter and grandson. His eyes followed Luke who was still running around, his mother trying to catch him in a game of Tag-You`re-It.

It was a little of three years since the CCU had been closed down, since Spencer, Eve, Grace and Boyd found themselves out of jobs. Both Spence and Eve had quickly enough found other things to do, but Grace and Boyd had eventually decided to retire.

The birth of Luke in May that same year had made their decision easy. Tara was still a GP in training at that time, so Grace and Boyd quickly found themselves both being on call for grandparent-duty.

Not having the Met following their every move anymore, Boyd had quickly enough, with Tara`s blessing, made an honourable woman of Grace. Since August of 2011, they had been married, and decided to let Tara have Grace`s house. Grace Boyd had moved to Greenwich, which was why they were now in Brockwell Park with Tara and Luke.

"Happy, Mrs Boyd?" he enquired as they watched Tara catch Luke, lifting him up for a noisy kiss, his laughter making them both smile.

"Very much so, Mr Boyd," she answered.

"Nothing you would want to change?"

Grace turned in his arms and looked up at him, placing her arms around his waist. "Not a thing, husband. Not a thing."

Boyd bent down to kiss her, pulling her close to him. He knew he would miss the challenge the job at the CCU had provided for him for the last decade, but being here, in this park with Grace, Tara and Luke, felt just right. This was where he was meant to be now. This was who he was: a grandfather, a husband and an adopted father.

Retirement was not something he had looked forward to, but it had given him something he had missed for years. Something he had managed to keep hidden for years.

A family.

The End