A Generation of Delible Dentist Appointments

Author Note- This story is for fan purposes only. All of the characters and the italicized text are the property of their respective owners (not me) and are used here without permission.

Chapter 1- The alarm code is 0000.

Robbie: Miranda and Connelly, in love with each other for 20 years and never said a word.

James: Scared of rejection.

Robbie: So they bury themselves in their work, become very successful, and very alone.

James: Now who does that remind me of?

-Generation of Vipers

Laura Hobson made her way across the pub and onto the back terrace. She was approaching the table where DI Robbie Lewis and his sergeant James Hathaway were seated, already enjoying a pint. She had let them hide out at her house for a few hours, and Robbie intended to repay her kindness over drinks. Laura was within earshot as Robbie and James ruminated on the case's implications.

She stood stunned for a moment by Hathaway's audacity, waiting for Robbie to react. He said nothing. Barely even twitched. Hathaway must have sensed her presence because he turned around and greeted her. "Speak of the devil! Good evening, Dr. Hobson." Robbie choked a little on his beer.

"Evening, James, Robbie." She realized that she would be smarter to let it go, but she was never very good at holding her tongue. "That's not a fair comparison at all, James."

"No? " Hathaway smiled at her with feigned innocence. He stood up and motioned for her to take his chair next to Robbie. She remained standing.

"Drop it, lad." Robbie hissed, more mortified than angry. James did not, instead doubling down on his smug grin this time directed at his governor.

Laura was incensed. "Oh you've got it all figured out, haven't you, cleverclogs? Let me remind you that while you were doing your O levels, I was building my career. I wouldn't spend twenty years pining away for any man, let alone someone else's family man."

"My mistake, Doctor. Not twenty years, just the last ten." Laura took the carafe of water from the table and jolted it upward, splashing James in the face. She turned on her heels and stalked off so quickly that she didn't hear Robbie call her name.

Hathaway's remarks were still haunting her an hour later as she was trying to relax with a glass of wine at home. She was going to escape into a novel but noticed that the bookshelf was actually neater than she had left it. Knowing that Robbie wouldn't have bothered with her bookshelf, she recognized this as Hathaway's handiwork and silently cursed him again. The tidy tomes mocked her as if to say, "Hathaway was right!"

Right, Robbie. She knew him back then as the happy-go-lucky sergeant; she knew him today as the weathered inspector he had become. Twenty years ago they would have been horribly suited for each other, but circumstances change and she reckoned that they fit together right nicely now. Today, she had let her emotions get the best of her and was embarrassed by her own overreaction. But that hadn't been the start of her folly.

When she had learned through social media that Robbie would need to lay low for a while, the wheels in her head started turning. What had she been thinking when she had left her keys for Robbie? That he would be there waiting when she came home from work? That he would need to spend the night? It was more a strategy than a plan, of course, but either way it was doomed from the start. She should have aborted the whole idea when she couldn't actually find Robbie to give him her keys, but Chief Superintendent Jean Innocent had seen her hovering around his office. So Laura left her keys with Innocent, and much to her chagrin and/or paranoia, Laura swore that she could hear the Chief Superintendent making snogging noises behind her back as she left. Innocent would never do that- or would she? Deciding that she was cracking up, Laura said aloud "I've got to give this up before I completely humiliate myself." Robbie was a loyal friend, and that was enough. She didn't need a man, never did, and never would. But it might be nice…

Laura's phone began to vibrate on the coffee table. 'Lewis' blinked on the display. As much as she wanted to pick up, she was paralyzed by her wounded pride. The phone stopped its insistent buzz and it sat for another minute in silence before another buzz indicated a new voice mail.

She decided to take a bubble bath before facing Robbie's message. When she finally caved into her curiosity and checked her voice mail, there were two messages waiting. "Laura, it's me- it's Robbie- but you know that. Anyway, I just wanted to…" He trailed off, at a loss for what to say. "Just so you know, I don't take anything James says seriously." Long pause. "And your alarm code shouldn't be 0000." Another pause. "Good night, Laura."

"Good night, Robbie," she sighed.

The second message was from DI Alan Peterson.