Disclaimer: This story is for fan purposes only. The plot and characters belong to their respective owners (not me!) and are used here without permission.

Author Notes: 1) the thumbnail of Botticelli's Birth of Venus will come into play in the fifth and final chapter of this tale. 2) I have always loved Dark Matter because the episode writer, Stephen Churchett, portrays Laura Hobson at her sassiest- just the way we first met her in 1995. Indeed, Morse's legacy will also resurface in the final chapter...

Morse: I'm sorry, madam. The gardens are closed. (…)

Hobson: I'm not here for the bouncy castle.

-The Way Through the Woods

Dr Laura Hobson didn't like it when anyone stood in her way and didn't hesitate to let them know it. Inspector Morse found that out early on, as would a porter named Roger Temple. The pathologist who came to Oxford long ago looking for Inspector Mouse clearly hadn't lost any of her sass years later when she blew past Mr. Temple with a clarinet case in hand.

"Whoa!" Temple cried. "Name?"

"Hobson."

The porter of Gresham College continued to badger her in a patronizing tone as he consulted his list. Hobson wasn't going to take that attitude without giving it back. She fixed Temple in the eye; it was her turn in their verbal joust. "Clarinet. Sagittarius. Favourite colour blue." She may as well have added "femme fatale" with that smoky seductive tone. But she wasn't flirting; she was letting Temple know that she was not to be trifled with. She walked away rolling her eyes and thinking to herself, honestly, a security clearance for a community orchestra rehearsal? What a puffed up porter! Working as a forensic pathologist, Hobson knew that danger could lurk anywhere, of course, but she also knew that said danger was much more likely to come from within Temple's own college than to wander in off the street.

Indeed, the very next day, Dr Hobson had to trade her clarinet case for a forensics bag when she attended the corpse of the Master of Gresham College, Andrew Crompton. He'd fallen from a platform at the observatory- possibly innocent enough- but there were also signs of a struggle. One of Crompton's colleagues- a senior lecturer in Astrophysics, Lady Gwen Raeburn, was married to the composer Sir Arnold Raeburn, who conducted her orchestra. Inspector Lewis and Sergeant Hathaway detected a tangled web between the Cromptons, the Raeburns, and Sir Arnold's former protégé: star conductor Malcolm Finniston, who was slated to lead Hobson's orchestra at their upcoming concert.

When she wasn't at work (all scrubs and scene suits), Laura Hobson enjoyed dressing up. For today's rehearsal, she wore a v-neck dress in a green and white floral print that clung handsomely to her figure. Hobson knew that there was a possibility she'd run into Lewis and Hathaway as they investigated around Gresham College, and she wondered- if she saw Robbie Lewis at all- would he even notice the dress, or would she remain as chaste as Aker Bilk to him? Lewis, knowing that Hobson was involved in the community orchestra, indeed saw something more in Hobson than a mere pathologist. But not quite what she was hoping for…

"What do you take me for, undercover clarinet?" Any other officer she would have told to get stuffed when Lewis asked her to monitor Finniston and the Raeburns for him. "I'm too busy getting notes in the right order to spy for you." But the truth was that Hobson would do anything for Lewis, although she didn't want him to know that. She also wondered how far he was willing to go for her in return.

If she made Lewis buy two tickets to her concert, would he bring a date? Another woman, perhaps? There was only one way to find out. She'd have to be sure that Hathaway also bought tickets so that Lewis would be forced to look beyond his long-faced sergeant. (And Hathaway could use a little nudge into action too, she decided.) As the obliging gentlemen forked over one-hundred-some-odd quid, she shook her head at them. That was too easy; maybe Lewis would do anything for her after all.

But that was a hypothesis to continue testing another day. For now, Hobson needed to figure out how she would hold up her end of the bargain.