Author's usual notes and disclaimer: I don't own any of the original characters nor the original Inspector Lynley Mysteries – they belong to Elizabeth George and the BBC. I have borrowed the characters from the TV-Show and solely own the ideas of my stories and the developments I've let them go through.

Please write a PM if I did something terribly wrong. Thanks!

Please read and review! More thanks!

Author's note and summary: Another short one. Tommy eavesdropped. He heard things that could make the imagination run the wrong way. Shame on you, Tommy!

...there are so many things in my head... -.-

.

...with a hint of seaweed

.

Tommy stopped at the door to the coffee kitchen and secretly listened to a conversation between his sergeant and another man whose voice did not sound familiar at all.

"It's really all about acute senses, Barbara." the man said.

"Oh, I believe that." Barbara answered and laughed.

"And, really, your voice is lovely. You're singing, aren't you?"

"Oh, yes, under the shower." She laughed again.

"I'd love to hear that."

Under the shower? Under Barbara's shower?! Tommy thought.

"No, no, no! My bathroom is locked. No audience, not even you!" Barbara sounded a bit flirtatious. Who is that man there in the kitchen with her?!

"Then maybe next Friday in the karaoke bar? Anyway I'll treat you, if you don't mind?"

"Haha - you can buy me a drink, boy, but you'll never get me onto the stage."

"What a pity. Ah, coffee's ready. Smells good. And if I may say so, you also smell entirely good."

"Oh, stop it." Barbara mumbled. Tommy almost could sense her blushing and he smiled. Wait! Did this man actually told Barbara that she smells good? Well, she does, but who is he to tell her so?!

"No, indeed. Most women smell too intense. And you've got just the right touch of... something... soothingly unobtrusive..."

"Well, thank you. And it's just a simple soap."

"Yes, but with a very appalling scent of vanilla and a hint of... seaweed?"

"Exactly. That's amazing!" her voice sounded excited. Tommy remembered a wave of vanilla wafting through his office when she quickly dropped by this morning with still damp hair and too late for their appointment. He smiled when he remembered that he had sat at his desk and had had the faint image of him sitting with her at the cliff, wind in their hair, salt on their lips, the smell of seaweed in their noses. Yes, it had been Barbara's scent that had brought back the memory.

"It really fits to everything I've learned about you so far. A tough police officer and, like how you handled that poor taxi driver earlier - like a real lady. You're a wonderful woman. "

What?! She is, but - WHAT?!

"Don't be ridiculous, Steven. I'm a very ordinary police woman." Tommy heard them sipping at their hot coffee before Barbara could be heard again. "I think I understand how all this could work."

How what works? And who's that bloody Steven? There is no Steven in the team! Tommy could not quite hear the next whispered words. It sounded like not alone anymore and someone's listening and cold tea with milk and horses and musky spice and then Barbara giggled. She giggled! After a pause this Steven went on. And how!

"You see? If one's missing, the others improve. Now may I have a closer look at you, Barbara? Please don't be shy. Just keep still, will you? It's the only way for me." His voice was a bit shy but very soft. Too soft for Tommy's liking.

"Sure." she answered.

"Close your eyes."

"Ok." Another pause. Tommy's mind was driving a roller coaster. What are they doing?!

"Oh, that feels... different." He heard Barbara saying. What the hell is he doing?!

"Mmmh, you look beautiful, Barbara." This man said.

"Oh, tush!" She giggled again.

"And there must be shea butter in your soap. You've got such a soft skin."

How dare he! This is my sergeant. My Barbara! Tommy fumed. It was him who wanted to touch that soft skin and have a closer look and make her feel different! Ah, well, she was not exactly his, probably she never would be, he thought, since she did not even know that he wanted to deepen their friendship in this vague direction for quite some time now. And it probably was too late now anyway. Before he crushed the porcellain mug between his fingers Tommy stepped in and said hello, then warily eyed the very young man that was just pulling his hands away from Barbara's face. She blushed a bit and felt the need to introduce him.

"Oh, umm, Steven, this is my DI." she smiled at Tommy. Steven could very well hear the sudden softness in her voice that she did not know of herself. "And this is Steven Ellerby, Sir, he, umm, he's just helping us with that Batterson case. You know with the blind girl witnessing-"

"I know that case very well, thank you, Barbara." his voice was icier than he had intended to sound and Tommy hated himself for his jealousy. Steven could hear it behind the cold hurt. "I'm DI Lynley. I'm leading this case. Thank you for your support, Mr. Ellerby. Now would you please excuse my Sergeant? We have some things to go through. I'm really sorry to interrupt your little flirt." Tight lipped he smiled and only made a vague attempt to sound lighthearted but nonetheless he offered his hand to the handsome and indeed very young man who grabbed it with a firm grip and without hesitation.

"Oh, it was indeed a nice flirt, Sir, but I really have no chance, I think." While they shook hands the young man's eyes firmly held the gaze of Tommy's right ear.

Mr. Ellerby was blind.

Suddenly the images in Tommy's head changed their colours, suddenly everything he had heard made a very different sense and ashamed of his earlier suspicion he deeply blushed.

"Grab him, Barbara." the not more than 19 year old man whispered on his way out of the kitchen. He was so silent that Tommy could not at all hear what he said. But he was very pleased with what he saw. His sergeant briefly looked at him and there was hope and yearning in her eyes.

When she passed Tommy he deeply and audibly inhaled her scent through his nose. "Exactly..." he breathed. "A hint of seaweed."

"Huh?!"

"Indeed, you smell entirely good." He smiled at her.

Now it was Barbara who deeply blushed.

.

.

R&R! ;-)