This idea would not leave me alone. So here it is, an AU that is set probably in 91. I don't want to say too much without giving away the plot, but let me know what you think :)

It was her laugh he heard first. Breaking through the non-descript chatter that surrounded him it was like music to his ears, it was carefree, as though she wasn't concerned with who heard it and bordering on slightly dirty, and as far as he was concerned a woman with a laugh like that was worth checking out.

Twisting his head away from the bar, Robbie peered through the smoky haze of the pub, searching while at the same time praying that she looked as good as she sounded. His eyes landed on her, or rather her back, she was at the opposite end to the bar from him, obviously deep in conversation with someone. Trailing his eyes down her frame, his smile widened, she had a good figure and legs he'd quite enjoy having wrapped around him. Now if she'd just turn around so he could see her face then he might very well have found his entertainment for the evening.

The fates must have been smiling on him, because she did precisely that, turning to look down the bar - probably looking for the elusive barman. It was only for a brief second, but that was enough, one look at the big, sparkling brown eyes and pale creamy skin contrasting with the long dark curls of her hair had him abandoning his post at the bar.

Sidling closer to her, he slipped in to a small gap a person behind her so he could hear what she was saying. He glanced sideways and noticed with some dismay who she was talking to, a tall blonde man, the type that catered perfectly to those who liked that boyish look. He sincerely hoped that wasn't her type, because he wasn't that, not that that had ever bothered him. Tilting his head sideways he listened into the conversation. It was her voice he heard first, "Don't you sometimes wish you drank?"

"Nope," he replied with a hint of amusement.

"Really? Then I really don't understand how you get through these things," she replied wryly. "Although admittedly it probably saves you a lot of time at the bar."

The blonde man gave a small chuckle. "Exactly, you see I don't need to put up with that, especially when it's your round."

"You're going to leave me here, aren't you?"

"Uh huh."

"Git."

"One of the joys of being the junior member of the team, you get to get the drinks in."

With that he patted her arm and left her there, his shoulders shaking with laughter as he did so. Robbie couldn't help but feel relieved at that conversation, they were work colleagues and he was confident that that was all they were, after all no man would just abandon their girlfriend at the bar, not if they didn't want their life to turn into a nagging, living hell.

His mouth twisted thoughtfully, now he just had to decide how best to approach her, he had a number of routines but the trick was in picking the most effective one. Again though it looked as though someone was smiling down on him tonight because just as the man between them stepped away, someone barged their way past her, sending her stumbling sideways. He caught her just as she was about to go over on her ankle. Long, elegant fingers curled into the material of his shirt for the briefest of seconds as she gave a muttered, "Thank you." Even as she sent a death glare in the direction of the mass of human lard that had sent her flying.

"Not a problem," Robbie replied smoothly. "Never was one to leave a lady in distress."

Her head whipped round to look at him, properly this time, her attention having been diverted from the pratt now situated squarely in front of them. For a brief second her eyes scanned over his face, then she made a small 'hmmm' noise in the back of her throat before glancing around them.

Robbie frowned, craning his neck so that he could try and see what she was staring at. "Looking for someone?" he finally asked.

"Just trying to locate your white horse and charger," she replied innocently.

He laughed, he couldn't help it. Shrugging, he admitted, "Ok so that wasn't my best line."

She looked back at him, her lips curling up into a smile, one that made her eyes even brighter as she leaned closer into him and whispered, "Well that is a relief, I can sleep easy tonight."

He was quite surprised to find he liked her quick wit. "I'm Robbie," he told her.

"Jackie," she replied lightly. "You here by yourself?"

"With some friends, got here late though so I'm the only one without a drink, you?"

She pulled a face. "Here with people from my work." she nodded her head in the direction of the table that was pretty much filled with rather grizzled looking men. Her companion hadn't been kidding when he'd said she was the junior.

"How did you get roped into that?" he breathed out, his eyebrow raised.

"It's a long story," she sighed.

"Well," he glanced at the harried barman again. "It does look like we have some time."

Jackie shrugged, a slow, easy smile tugging at her lips. "Maybe I can just think of better things to talk about."

He leaned closer into her, his head tilting slightly as he looked at her. "Really?" he asked, making sure that his hand brushed just ever so slightly against her wrist.

Her eyebrow arched. "I think you'll find I only said maybe."

They slowly edged closer to the front of the queue and Robbie quickly realised that the easy conversation they were having was soon to be rudely interrupted by one of them finally getting served. His hand cupped her elbow and when she met his gaze again, he told her, "I know somewhere quieter than this that we could go, you could get the drinks for your colleagues and make an excuse."

She drew her bottom lip between her teeth in a strangely endearing move, looking thoughtful she looked up at him again. "I suppose that I could," she finally replied. "But what about your friends?"

"They haven't seen me yet, anyway," he looked towards the table and shrugged. "I think I'd enjoy myself more in your company."

Jackie tilted her head slightly at the over confident smile. "I'm only having a drink with you, you do know that?"

He nodded. "Absolutely."

"And by someplace quieter you mean?"

"A bar," he laughed. "Scouts honour I'm not talking about my place, although if you really want to go there I'll have no objections."

"I'll bet," Jackie replied. "But it's definitely a better offer than the night I was facing." She turned away momentarily from him to place her order and then glanced over her shoulder at him again. "But they can't know I'm leaving with you," she told him.

Robbie glanced back towards the table, he could understand that, they didn't look the most enlightened lot. "Fair enough," he told her easily. "I can wait for you outside."

She nodded. "Ok, I'll see you in five."

Leaning forward so that his mouth could brush her ear, he whispered, "Can't wait." Before quickly disappearing from sight.

Jackie let out a low breath that she wasn't even aware that she'd been holding in, a smile tugging at her lips. Meeting men in bars and leaving with them after a short conversation wasn't what she normally went in for but there was something about him that just made her want to throw caution to the wind. She smiled to herself, after all you only lived once. Deftly picking the tray up from the bar, she made her way back towards the table, encountering Michael on her way.

"Thought you'd got lost," he smiled. "Was just coming to find you."

"Actually," she smiled at him brightly. "You have perfect timing."

His eyes narrowed suspiciously. "Why?"

"You know how you owe me one?"

Michael groaned. "I don't think I want to hear this next bit."

"It's not that bad," she assured him. "I just need you to step in for me, give Taggart a ride home."

He groaned. "I was going to go after this one, they've moved onto talking about old cases."

"You love it really."

"I don't," he replied shortly.

Jackie shrugged. "Well I don't care, you owe me and I'm calling in the favour whether you like it or not."

"Fine," he sighed through clenched teeth and then looking at her in interest asked, "Where are you going anyway?"

"Home, I have a headache and staying tee-total once again and listening to those three argue about anything and everything is driving me spare."

"So I have to suffer it instead?" he enquired politely.

"Catching on fast," she grinned. "Although as you've said yourself it's your choice to stay on the non alcoholic beverages, so you can't blame me for that one." She dumped the tray unceremoniously in his hands, ignoring his small and much exaggerated 'oof' before turning on her heel.

Moving quickly to their table, she grabbed her jacket and was away again before anyone could ask any awkward questions, disappearing into the crowd.

Taggart's eyes narrowed as he watched the young DC all but sprint in the direction of the door, he glanced up at Mike who was balancing the tray a lot less successfully than Jackie had been. "Where's she off to in such a hurry?" he asked shortly.

"Home, not feeling well."

"She's my lift," Taggart grumbled in reply.

"I'm driving you," Mike assured him.

"Ah well suppose it's cheaper than a taxi. Must'a came on a hell o a quick though, she ran out here like the hounds o' hell were nippin' at her heels."

Stephen gave a snort at that. "You know," he mused into his whisky. "That reminds me of a rather amusing story."

Mike groaned quietly and only just resisted the urge to slam his head off the table, he was going to throttle Jackie tomorrow for this.

Stepping out into the biting chill of the October evening, Jackie smiled, digging her hands into her pockets when she caught sight of Robbie leaning casually against the wall. He grinned at her, a wide confident smile that made her stomach swoop and reminded her just why she was behaving so unlike herself. She normally went for sensible and she could already tell he definitely wasn't that and yet she wasn't actually sure she cared.

He kicked himself off the wall, moving stealthily towards her, his arm loping through hers. "Thought you'd never get here," he murmured.

"You waited all of five minutes," she reminded him, laughing as she did so.

"It felt much longer," he assured her, and it had, for the first time he'd actually been concerned that she hadn't meant what she'd said. It had been an unusual and somewhat unwelcome feeling.

Her smile wide, he watched as she glanced down the still bustling street, the wind catching her hair as she did so, whipping it round her face slightly, not that it seemed to overly bother her. "So, just where are you taking me?" she asked.

Shaking himself out of his admiration, he tugged her along the pavement. "Ah, it's a surprise, thought you might like to try livin' on the edge."

Again she raised an eyebrow at him. "And just how do you know I don't?"

"You have that look," he told her.

"Of what? Puritan?" she asked, surprised.

Robbie chuckled. "No, definitely not that, for one thing your laugh's too dirty. I meant you look like you normally play it safe."

"And you're going to try and persuade me over to the dark side?" she asked, eyes twinkling with amusement."

"Try?" His mouth turned up in that supremely confident, bordering on arrogant grin again. "Darlin' I'm going to make it my new mission in life."

Again she laughed, that ripple of delight that had hooked him in the first place. "You are far too charming for your own good but…" She leaned closer to him, almost whispering the last part. "If I were you I'd lay off the pet names."

"That I can do," he assured her.

It was late when they eventually left the bar, although it hadn't even felt as though they'd been there that long, the conversation had flowed, easily and without any uncomfortable gaps and silences. Yet despite that she'd have been hard pushed as to recall the subject matters, she certainly didn't know much more about him, or he about her for that matter and yet she felt strangely comfortable around him. Although admittedly every time his hand brushed her bare arm - in what she was pretty sure were calculated moves - she felt herself wanting to lean even closer into him, bask in the warmth he was radiating. It wasn't a feeling she was used to, she'd never experienced lust like this before, it had always been an acknowledgement that she'd found them attractive and the feelings grew from there, so this, this was surprising.

Her stomach grumbled slightly, wrenching her from her thoughts she glanced up at him. "I don't know about you but I need food."

He smiled down at her, looking slightly surprised, "There's a good chippy just round the corner that stays open late."

"Perfect," she smiled, her mouth already watering at the thought.

Robbie chuckled under his breath, he was used to woman that didn't eat, or if they did counted salad as a meal, this was a refreshing change. Something that the entire evening had been, he'd expected her to fall for his lines and she hadn't, meaning he'd found himself with only one option, to be himself and strangely that had seemed to work.

He paid for her chips and once again was surprised by the fact that she'd argued the point, only stopping when he'd placed his hand over mouth and told her firmly, "I'm getting them."

As they walked she hummed quietly under her breath as she ate, and every so often his hand snuck out to steal a chip. Finally she gave a somewhat irate sigh and looked up at him. "I know since you paid for them I shouldn't complain but I really feel you should have got your own."

Again he laughed, looping his arm around her shoulder. "Maybe you're right, but isn't it more romantic to share."

"We're not sharing, you're just stealing my food," she protested, although he could tell from her tone her complaint was meant in jest.

He tutted. "Such selfishness."

She rolled her eyes. "Fine, I only have one left, do you want it?"

Knowing she was expecting him to say no, he nodded and grabbed it before she could protest and he had to admit that he quite liked the look of surprise that crossed her features. Jackie merely grumbled at him as she threw the now empty tray in the bin, watching as he neatly bit one half off and offered her the other.

Smiling she went to take it, and he shook his head. "Nuh uh." He tapped it lightly against her mouth.

"You do realise," she stated in amusement, "That you're meant to feed me strawberries or chocolate if you want to be romantic, not chips."

"Tell you what then," he countered. "If we're ever somewhere more romantic than Sauchiehall Street, then I will do my utmost to find you strawberries or even strawberries dipped in chocolate, but since we're not…" He waved the chip at her once more and she leaned forward, taking it gently from him, her lips brushing lightly against the tips of his fingers, causing him in inhale sharply.

She smiled up at him, and he found himself stepping closer to her, one hand curving around her waist, the other tangling into her hair, tilting her head slightly before his lips brushed hers. The kiss deepened quickly and the hand from her waist slid to her hips, fingers splaying against her ass as he tugged her even closer into him. Her fingers were in his hair and then ghosting across the skin of his face and down his neck, and he felt like she was leaving a trail sparks wherever she went.

He pushed against the cold wall of the building they were in front of, his hand travelling to her thigh when the moment was ruined by a group of passing drunks. "Get in there Mate!" One shouted, no doubt thinking he was being helpful, followed by a cacophony of obscene comments from his friends.

Jackie groaned, this time in embarrassment her hands dropping slowly from him to her sides. "Perhaps this wasn't the best place for this."

"Maybe not," he admitted wryly.

She glanced at her watch. "I should go," she told him reluctantly. "I have work tomorrow."

"Your place then?" He asked hopefully, his confident grin back in place.

Jackie shook her head, a small smile playing about her lips. "I seem to remember agreeing to a drink, I'm not taking you home with me after just a few hours." Noting the look of disappointment on his face, she grabbed a spare bit of paper and a pen out of her bad, scrawling down her number and pressing it into his hand. She kissed his cheek chastely, telling him, "Goodnight Robbie." Before stepping out of his grasp and managing to hale down the first passing taxi, jumping in it.

He watched as she went and despite the fact he wasn't getting what he'd wanted tonight, he smiled as he unfolded what he now recognised as an old receipt with her phone number written across it. He was usually one for taking what he could get and then leaving it at that but he reckoned she might be worth the effort of the chase. So tucking the crumpled piece of paper into his pocket, he started whistling to himself as he decided to just walk home tonight.