NOTES: This story has been so special to write. I found myself reminiscing about my first real crush as I wrote Chapter 2. I thought back to the first boy I really "like-liked" when I was 11 years old. His name was Bruce and he was a 12 year old neighbor boy. We hung out with each other every minute we could. I still think of him fondly — he had light brown hair that his dad groomed into a flat-top crew cut that I loved. I remember one day he was sitting in a chair in front of me. I leaned over the back of the chair towards him to look at a comic book he was reading. I started swiping my hand across the bristley hair on top of his head. After a few minutes of that irritation, he grabbed my wrist and turned to look at me while pulling me forward until our faces were close. We were laughing but then our eyes connected, and it was like the air had been knocked out of my lungs. He leaned towards me and I'm sure we were about to kiss. Unfortunately, his mom walked in the living room and yelled, "Cheese sandwiches! Come eat!" I smacked him on the head with my other hand and headed to the table. I still remember his gorgeous green eyes and ear to ear grin. I moved away from that city a few weeks later and the moment was never revisited, but I smile whenever I think of him. It was that memory of mine that lead to this AU story.

I hope you, dear readers, enjoy reading it as much as I have enjoyed writing it. I would love to read about some of your first crushes/loves in the comments.

Barbara parked her car at the curb in front of Detective Inspector Thomas Lynley's house. "No," she thought. "DI Thomas Lynley and the soon-to-be Mrs. Barbara Lynley's house. Lord and Lady Asherton's house." She grinned and shook her head. As much as she teased him about his poncy background, she really liked the way that sounded. Seeing the small Polaris ring on her left hand next to the emerald and diamond engagement ring that Tommy had given to her on bended knee a month before, her heartbeat quickened.

"Tommy! I'm home." She carried the box of keepsakes on her hip as she closed the door to the Belgravia house. Barbara loved this house. Tommy had moved back into the family home in Belgravia after the double tragedies of his goddaughter Julia's murder, and his wife Helen's death. Tommy told Barbara that he could rent out Belgravia, and he would gladly have the two of them shop for a house together that held no memories for either of them. A fresh start, he called it. Barbara told him no, though, "I lived through all that with you, Tommy, and I have wonderful memories of us here, too. Memories make us who we are. I love this house." He could tell she was being honest with him — when was she not?! So, here they were; setting up house together in Belgravia. "Who would have ever thought it would happen?" Barbara asked Tommy

"Me!" Tommy had answered her. "In my best dreams." Barbara sighed thinking about his sweet reply.

"What's the sigh about, Love?" Tommy pulled her into a hug so he could look at her face.

His overly concerned face made Barbara giggle. "Oh, nothing to be worried about. I was just thinking how sweet you have always been to me." Predictably, Tommy kissed her smiling lips and would have pursued a more intimate embrace, but Barbara giggled again. "Slow down, m'lord! I have something I want to show you before I get too distracted!"

Leading him into the lounge, Barbara gestured for him to sit on the sofa and she sat on the rug in front of him, placing the keepsakes box between them. She began taking items out of the box and telling their stories.

Tommy was enchanted by the stories Barbara shared with him. He gave her precious mouse stuffie a small kiss on its worn out nose. He cried with her as she told him the story for each keepsake from her little brother Terry, and he slid down onto the floor beside her to hold her in a close embrace. Barbara continued to tell him about each keepsake item and Tommy found himself laughing with her over the debate prize ribbon; he told her he wasn't surprised in the least at her victory! He crooned over her childhood photos at the caravan park and asked if he could have them framed to hang at Howenstowe, an idea she loved immediately. When they looked at the earrings, Tommy said, "That must be why you don't complain when I buy you earrings!" He kissed her tenderly behind her ear.

When they were done looking at all the items, Barbara placed the lid on the box. "I want to show you one more keepsake, Tommy, a really precious one!" She smiled and held her left hand out for him to examine. At first, Tommy looked confused, thinking she was showing off her engagement ring. Then, his eyes opened wide and he grabbed her hand, looking closely at the ring on her pinky finger.

"Barbara! Where did you find that? I thought it was in my keepsake box on the top shelf in my study."

Barbara's smile expanded as wide as it could and she chuckled. "Tommy, this was in a plastic prize ball in my jewelry box and it has been there for a long time." She pulled the ball from her pocket to show him.

"Wait right here, Barbara!" Tommy ran from the lounge and down the short hallway to his study. After what sounded like a chair being dragged, she heard a crash and several thumps as books fell to the floor. Tommy came running out of his study.

Grinning, he held out his hands, fists closed, and Barbara was immediately transported back to that day at the museum when she met a special boy.

This time, she gently touched his left hand, and just like the first time, electricity coursed up Tommy's arm. He slowly turned his hand over, and they looked first at the prize ball and then into each other's eyes. Green eyes and brown eyes spilled unwiped tears as Tommy opened the prize ball to reveal an identical ring to Barbara's. Tommy placed his ring on his own left pinky, but couldn't move it past the first knuckle.

"I wore this ring for a year on this finger until my finger grew too large, then I put it away to save forever. For years, every time I went to the Natural Museum, I found myself restlessly wandering from exhibit to exhibit, looking for you in the crowds. I was in so many ways a lonely boy then. But, after that day at the museum, I felt like I had someone special, even though I had forgotten to ask you your name or where you lived. Every time I saw the Big Dipper and the Little Dipper, I thought perhaps you were somewhere looking at them, too. I hoped the North Star would someday lead me to you, Barbara, and it has."

"Oh, Tommy! It really was you! When I first saw the ring today, I hoped it was you! But I thought my memory was just playing tricks on me. That it was a case of confabulation— my mind filling in holes of a childhood memory with someone I wanted to have shared the experience with. Please tell me I'm not crazy."

Tommy smiled a cheeky grin, and in a pompous voice began, "In the gallery of the Energy Hall, you will find a plethora of steam engines, including the oldest example of James Watt's beam engine …"

Barbara closed the distance between them and silenced Tommy with a kiss. "Tommy, I looked for you my whole life, too." The kiss became an embrace and the embrace became something sweeter still.

Later, lying in their bedroom as the sun set, they both felt a completeness they had never experienced before. As the room darkened, a silent look passed between them. Once out of bed, but still wrapped together in the duvet, the moved to the window. They both looked up at the night sky.

"Look!" Barbara whispered. "There is Ursa Major!"

"Yes, my dearest one, and beside it is the Little Dipper." Tommy whispered back.

"And there is Polaris."

"And there is the North Star." They spoke softly; their words falling over each other's.

Tommy and Barbara held each other close. Neither felt lost or lonely. No. In fact, they both sensed they were together at home, in such a way that would never be defined by a place or time, but only by one another. Their's was a special closeness, knowing they were one another's true North Star, and that together they would never be lost again.