discoveredinalj | Discovered in the Tinsel and Glitter - Day 19

Posting on behalf of

hagsrus, who's been having lj issues. Please do comment here to her, as I'm sure she'll be replying to comments! *g*

No Stone for Louise
by The Hag

"So this cat... this Jólaköttur...it lurks in the woods and eats you if you didn't get given new clothes before Christmas Eve."

"Not allowed outside Iceland, is it? Here, you doing anything for Christmas? Going to your Gran's?"

"She's off on a jaunt to Spain with the Women's Institute. If I'd known we'd be getting Christmas off... You?"

Doyle shook his head. "I dunno."

Bodie cleared his throat. "Thought I'd go down to the Silver Stag, you know, the one where we went fishing that time. Seems they had a cancellation, room available with all their festive..."

"Hang on a minute." Doyle had stopped outside a shop called Crystal's Collectibles. Bodie thought he was attracted by the pretty young redhead gazing into the window and sighed inwardly, but Doyle's attention seemed to be on the display.

"More junk?"

"No, look. Perfect for Louise."

"If you say so." Bodie contemplated the flat stone painted with a curled up sleeping ginger cat. "Haven't you got her anything yet?"

"Hoping I'd find something more interesting than choccies. That what you got?"

Bodie gave a semi-committal grunt of assent.

"Can't see what's on the price tag," Doyle complained. "I'll just nip in and see if it's anything reasonable."

The girl cast him a sideways glance and made for the door which Doyle gallantly opened for her. "Back in a tick."

A hand reached into the window and removed the painted stone.

Louise. Didn't do to forget her any time, especially at Christmas. Assigner of accommodation, arranger of security certified maintenance, merciless auditor of the condition of flats on moving in and out.

"You have a date with Mrs Pendleton, Louise," Cowley had said. "She'll sort out your accommodation." He paused. "A word to the wise, Bodie. She'll be very important to your everyday comfort. Treat her with consideration."

He remembered his first time he was admitted to her lair, dazzled for a moment by the vivid pattern of roses on the thick carpet, echoed by the lush trellises of the wallpaper, such as could be seen behind the crowded display of cat pictures.

A lady of generous proportions, bright auburn hair piled high, clad in a loose bright blue shift patterned with lurid flowers, sat behind a desk cluttered with ornaments. She was bollocking somebody on the phone, mercilessly detailing some dereliction of duty. She paused, smiling brightly at Bodie. "Come in and sit down, dear, just give me a minute." She returned to the phone. "And if that's not fixed properly by tomorrow morning the penalty clause kicks in."

The desk was a veritable treasure house of presents-from. Kittens were displayed in all the clichés of cuteness. Boots. Flowerpots. Baskets. His eyes rested on one refreshing exception, an almost abstract pewter figure of a Siamese cat. He extended a finger, not quite touching, to trace its elegant line.

"And don't say I didn't warn you! There." Louise plunked the phone down. "Yes, that's nice, isn't it. Your partner gave me that one."

"Partner?" He prickled to attention. Cowley hadn't mentioned a partner.

"Ray Doyle. Quite artistic. Haven't you met him yet?"

Partner? Artistic? Oh, lord!

"Now then," Louise was saying, "there's a nice flat..." And then there was a flurry of paperwork and a volley of instructions from which he emerged somewhat dazed, distracted by the dread of meeting this artistic partner with whom it seemed he was to be lumbered.

Was it too late to back out, to return to the safe haven of the SAS?

Doyle emerged from Crystal's, empty-handed, disconsolate.

"She got there first, then?"

"Yeah. Straight up to the counter. Shouldn't have let her go in first."

"You'd have stood back for her. Always the perfect little gent."

Doyle aimed a half-hearted kick at his ankle. "Have to be chocolates, then. Here, you don't fancy going halves, do you?"

Bodie hesitated, cleared his throat. "Well..."

"It's okay. I can -- " Doyle grinned, mood lightening. "You scoffed them, didn't you?"

"Have to go and get some more. Only a few minutes walk."

They went on in silence for a minute, then Doyle asked casually, "The Silver Stag, eh? Yeah, nice place."

Bodie's heart suddenly speeded up. "Lots of good grub."

A long pause. Tension stretched between them, full of memories of occasional nights.

"Just the one room, is it?"

"One of their king size beds."

A longer pause.

"You fancy going halves, then?" Doyle suggested.

"If you like."

Doyle halted, turned to face him. "You'd like?"

Bodie pulled in a deep breath. "I'll always like. With you."

"Even if it means sharing the choccies?"

"Well, you hardly ever eat more than one."

"Fifty-fifty on everything else, though." Pause. "Always."

"You can have all the rabbit food. Did you know Louise thinks you're artistic?"

"Bet she's heard you're priapismic. Now, about this clothes-eating cat from Iceland..."

[end]

Title: No Stone for Louise
Author: The Hag
Slash or Gen: Slash
Archive at ProsLib/Circuit: Presumably!
Disclaimer: Bodie, Doyle, and the CI5-verse belong to their makers, and we just borrow them.