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English
Series:
Part 15 of Fictobers
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Published:
2024-10-01
Completed:
2024-10-31
Words:
3,100
Chapters:
31/31
Comments:
338
Kudos:
224
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4
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8,030

Fictober 2024

Summary:

It's October again! Time for this year's Fictober offerings. List of prompts can be found here.

Chapter 1: "That was good work."

Chapter Text

“That was good work.”

Strike quirks a smile, and Robin stops and stares at him across their partners’ desk. “What?”

“Nothing,” he says mildly. “Thank you.”

“No, what?” she demands.

Strike sits back. “We’ve come a long way,” he says, and Robin nods, puzzled, still not understanding.

“I just mean, I used to train you. You’d never have said that.”

Robin flushes. “I didn’t mean—”

“I know,” he says gently. “I’m not accusing you of being patronising. I’m flattered, genuinely. You’re a bloody good detective.”

Robin nods and turns back to her computer, but a smile pulls at her mouth.

 

Chapter 2: "It's been a long time."

Chapter Text

“It’s been a long time.”

“It really has.” Robin snuggles closer. “Years and years.” She’s forgotten now many, now. She sighs. She’s warm and cosy next to Strike’s huge bulk, but she must—

“Stay here,” he murmurs, scooping her closer still. “It’s our anniversary.”

Robin chuckles. “You making up more anniversaries? We’re not all retired, you know. And you’ve got shopping to do and dinner to make while I’m on surveillance.”

“Can’t you swap?”

“I’m the boss now, remember.”

“Exactly. Make a minion do it. You’ve got enough of them these days.”

Robin grins, but rolls away, ignoring his protests.

 

Chapter 3: “I know you better.”

Chapter Text

“I know you better.”

Robin stares down into her glass, unable suddenly to meet Ilsa’s piercing blue eyes.

“You’re not in love with him.”

“I—”

“You’re not. You’re in love with Cormoran.”

She knew I was in love with you. Charlotte wasn’t the only perceptive one.

“It’s not that simple,” Robin says quietly.

“It can be, if you let it.” Ilsa leans forward. “I know you’re trying to convince yourself what he said was ambiguous, but it really wasn’t. He doesn’t throw words like love around lightly. He loves you. You love him. Stop looking for problems that don’t exist.”

 

Chapter 4: “No, we’re not doing that.”

Chapter Text

“No, we’re not doing that.”

Robin’s words are final, her tone flat. But something in her voice—

The prospective client opens his mouth to protest, but Strike holds up a large hand. “Our decision is final.” He doesn’t understand - had been about to suggest terms - but Robin’s voice sent a chill down his spine that he can’t ignore.

Client ushered out, he turns to her. “You okay?”

Her frame is stiff. “Fine.”

“No, you’re not,” he says gently.

“I’m sorry,” she says, relaxing. “But we’re not helping him find her. He’d…”

Strike nods. He trusts her instincts, on this especially.

 

Chapter 5: It’s a new day, let’s go.”

Chapter Text

“It’s a new day, let’s go.”

“Strike,” Robin murmurs. “Jack’s awake.”

Strike groans. The rented cottage is barely light. “Whose idea was it to bring him to Cornwall?”

“Yours.” Robin says. “It was a wonderful idea.”

Strike groans again; she grins. “The Victory all evening with Polworth, though, not so much. Remember you both promised to take Jack fishing.”

“Just what I need, a morning on a boat,” Strike mutters. “Any chance…?”

“Nope,” Robin says cheerfully. “I watched Batman with him while you were out. I’ll have tea before you go, though, please.”

Strike chuckles and rolls out of bed.

 

Chapter 6: “I’m not giving up.”

Chapter Text

“I’m not giving up,” Strike mutters fiercely. Ilsa glares at him.

“Bloody looks like it.”

“I’m being pragmatic,” Strike replies. Across the room Sian catches his eye and grins.

“What about the whole being in love with Robin thing?”

“It’s been months, Ils. She’s still with him. And I’m hardly getting married, just having a little fun when it’s offered.”

In truth it’s lonely, going to bed alone night after night, knowing Robin is still with Murphy.

Ilsa sighs. She can’t argue, and she knows it.

“Right,” she says firmly. “Time someone told Robin she’s about to miss the boat.”

 

Chapter 7: "Follow me if you want to live."

Notes:

Credit for the idea to StrikenRobin19 - thank you! I was very stuck...

Chapter Text

“‘Follow me if you want to live’? He actually said that?” Robin laughs.

“Yup,” says Midge, scorn dripping from her voice. “Idiot thinks he’s James Bond.”

“So did ye follow?” Barclay asks, enjoying the tale. The meeting is forgotten; even Pat is agog.

“Did I fuck!” Midge retorts. “I’m not following some greasy bloke who thinks he’s my knight in shining armour down an alley so he can try and cop a feel.”

Dev snorts into his coffee. Midge winks. “Decided I’d take my chances. I can dodge a bar brawl.”

“Anyway,” Strike says, grinning. “Item three on the agenda…”

 

Chapter 8: “Are we happy?”

Chapter Text

“Are we happy?”

The sickening lurch in his stomach is not a feeling Strike has associated with his relationship with Robin. Until now he’s been blissfully happy. Happy in a way that frightens him.

She gazes at him, standing in the living room of the flat they’re viewing, and he supposes that if she’s going to back out, before they buy is better.

He has no words.

“Well, I’m not,” she says. “We won’t fit a spare bed and a desk in that box room. And the kitchen is too small. Next?”

Bemused, flooded with relief, he follows her out.

 

Chapter 9: “Don’t listen to me, listen to them.”

Chapter Text

“Don’t listen to me, listen to them,” Strike implores, waving a hand at the door to the outer office where their staff are waiting, pretending they’re not listening.

Robin’s fists clench. “It’s the only way.”

“It’s not,” he insists. “We can send Barclay or Shah in, it’s much safer.”

“They won’t be able to get what I can.”

Strike knows this, but he also knows he can’t bear another Chapman Farm, another tense wait, not knowing what the hell she’s going through…

“It’s too risky,” he says. “And that’s not just me. You heard them.”

Robin sighs, relaxing slightly. “Okay.”

 

Chapter 10: “Is this normal?”

Chapter Text

“Is this normal?” Dev waves a hand at the closed inner office door. The day is over, and Robin just left in a fresh blouse and a waft of perfume. Strike closed his door hard after her departure. Pat is putting on her coat while Barclay washes their mugs.

“For them, aye,” the Scot says laconically. “In general, not so much.”

“And nobody says anything?”

“They’ll work it out,” Pat says. “Night.”

“Night, Pat,” responds Dev. He glances at the closed door again. “Not rocket science, is it?”

Barclay grins. “You tell ’em, then.”

Pat’s snort echoes in the stairwell.

 

Chapter 11: "Well, that worked out great."

Chapter Text

“Well, that worked out great.”

Sarcasm, Strike thinks but doesn’t say, is the lowest form of wit. He glares at Wardle. “I know.”

“What was supposed to happen?”

“Nothing. My guy was told to listen and get information.”

“And he thought he’d do that by staring and writing down everything they said?”

Strike sighs. Short-staffed though they are, it’s time to sack Nutley again. The man just isn’t up to the job.

“Staffing issue,” he says. “It won’t happen again.”

“Good. Don’t want any more potential witnesses scared away. Another?” Wardle raises his empty glass, and Strike grunts and nods.

 

Chapter 12: "Did you hear that?"

Chapter Text

“Did you hear that?”

Robin freezes, her head half turned, listening. Strike’s breath is hot and heavy at her ear, his body pressing hers hard against the office door, his hands gripping her hips. She can’t hear anything over the pounding of her own heart, the rush of his breath.

“It’s nothing,” she murmurs, her fingers tightening in his hair, tugging him closer.

“This’d be a lot easier,” Strike mutters into her neck, his lips drawing waves of goosebumps from her skin, “if we just told the staff.”

“I like the secrecy,” she breathes. “It’s hot.”

Strike grunts in agreement.

 

Chapter 13: "That's not the point."

Chapter Text

“That’s not the point,” Robin says, trying to look stern, “and you know it isn’t.”

Strike grins. “I think you’ll find it’s exactly the point.”

“This was supposed to be a weekend away—”

“We are away.”

“—to spend time together—”

“How much more together could we be?”

“We haven’t left the room!” Robin protests, laughing. “It’s a waste.”

“Oh, it’s not a waste,” Strike growls, pulling her into his arms. “That bathtub alone was worth the money.”

“We should at least go for a walk. I want to see the countryside.”

“Okay,” Strike concedes. “We’ll go for a walk. Later.”

 

Chapter 14: "Did you stick to the plan?"

Chapter Text

“Did you stick to the plan?”

“Well—”

Ilsa raises an eyebrow as Robin hesitates.

“Was it a plan, really?”

“Get rid of Ryan, seduce Cormoran. That was the plan.”

“And I have very definitely managed half of it. Well, two thirds.”

Ilsa grins. “Two thirds?”

Robin groans. “It’s not as easy as you make it sound, Ilsa. He’s being so…gentlemanly.”

“So throw yourself at him.”

“I kind of did!”

“Robin, he’s waited a long time. And he is a gentleman. Subtle won’t do it. You might have to grab him by the lapels and snog him.”

“Okay, new plan.”

 

Chapter 15: "Let's try this."

Chapter Text

“Let’s try this.”

“No, thanks.”

Diminutive Dave Polworth eyes his best mate speculatively. “Didn’t have you down as a goody-two-shoes,” he says, and then lights the roll-up, inhaling hard. The sweet, pungent fug of squats and communes, of misery and boredom, weaves around them.

Cormoran shuffles away along the sea wall. The smell conjures places and people he doesn’t give headroom to.

“I’m not,” he says. “I’m just not touching that shit.” He pulls from his pocket a crumpled pack of B&H that he’d found abandoned on a table at the cricket club and lights one of those instead.

 

Chapter 16: "No, I'm not okay."

Notes:

TW oblique reference to rape.

Chapter Text

“No, I’m not okay.”

Matthew pulls back at once. “Sorry. I—”

“No, I’m sorry,” Robin says, hating herself, her own skin, her body that has become an alien thing that won’t behave as it did before. “I thought I was ready, but…” Her voice tails away.

“Robs, it’s fine,” Matt says gently. “There’s no hurry. We can try again next time I come up, or the time after, or whenever you want to.”

He lies down next to her and she lays her head on his shoulder, tears leaking from her eyes. He’s so patient with her. She’s so lucky.

 

Chapter 17: “Strangest thing I ever heard.”

Chapter Text

“Strangest thing I ever heard.”

“Yeah.”

Sergeant Strike eyes his new partner speculatively. The man is half his size, barely five eight, probably only weighs nine stone soaking wet. But he has a keen brain and, it seems, the same instinct for the bizarre that Strike himself has.

He senses they’ll work well together. This suits Strike. The last guy they paired him with was annoying.

“Where’s the accent from?” Hardacre asks suddenly.

“Cornwall.”

The smaller man grins. “An oggy,” he says. “What’re you drinking, Oggy?” He stands.

“Same again, thanks…Hardy.”

They laugh, and Hardacre heads to the bar.

 

Chapter 18: “You always have a plan.”

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

“You always have a plan.”

“Not for this,” Strike says heavily. He’s beginning to realise how ill-thought-through the backup was. Chapman Farm is a sprawling mess of outbuildings; Robin could be anywhere. In fact, she could have been moved to another of the church’s sites and they’d be none the wiser.

“So what are we gonnae do?” Normally laid-back, Barclay looks worried, and it makes the knot of dread in Strike’s stomach tighten. With the rock gone, there’s no way to communicate with Robin. The plan to go in on a loosely appointed day seems woefully inadequate now.

“Nothing. Yet.”

 

Notes:

@hobbeshalftail3469 😂😎

Chapter 19: “This is getting ridiculous."

Chapter Text

“This is getting ridiculous,” Midge says, and bites into her Danish.

“What is?” Barclay asks, knowing full well.

Midge gestures while she chews and swallows. “Us, pretending we don’t know the bosses are shagging. Them, pretending to believe we don’t know.”

“We don’t, officially.”

Midge snorts. “How often are we supposed to believe they bump into each other in Starbucks at half eight?”

Barclay laughs. “Don’t knock it. We’re gettin’ free coffee.”

“They’ll tell us when they’re ready,” Pat says sternly. “Don’t gossip.”

“Yes, ma’am,” Barclay replies as the door opens to admit Strike, Robin and a tray of cups.

 

Chapter 20: “I saw your eyes light up.”

Chapter Text

“I saw your eyes light up.”

“When?” Robin says, settling into her seat, excitement fizzing in her veins. She’s never been to the Horse of the Year Show.

“When Brass Tacks went and Barclay was telling us about it.”

Robin turns to face her big partner. “Strike, that was two years ago!”

He smiles. “And I thought to myself that one day I’d like to take you. As friends, or—” he picks up her hand where it’s resting on her lap, and tangles his fingers with hers “—more than friends.”

Her eyes fill with tears. He never stops surprising her.

 

Chapter 21: “We’ve done worse.”

Chapter Text

“We’ve done worse.”

Nick stares at his friend. “Pinching a few fags is hardly the same as stealing a car.”

“We’re not stealing it,” Cormoran points out reasonably. “We’ll put it back. Your dad’ll never know, they’re not home till tomorrow.”

“Can’t we get the train?”

“They’ll be much more impressed if we pick them up,” Cormoran wheedles. “Come on, mate, we might both get lucky.”

Nick still looks doubtful. “Okay,” he says finally.

“That’s the spirit!” Cormoran claps him on the shoulder. “Next - condoms.”

“You are not shagging Rachel in my dad’s taxi!”

“You never know,” Cormoran says, grinning.

 

Chapter 22: “Why are we doing this again?”

Chapter Text

“Why are we doing this again?”

“Because we’re happy for Midge and Tasha, and it’s time we had a maternity policy,” Robin says firmly. “What?”

Strike sighs. “Just—” he waves an arm “—lesbians don’t get pregnant accidentally, do they? The timing could’ve been better.”

“Most people don’t plan their lives around their jobs, Strike.”

“Why couldn’t Tasha have had it, anyway?”

Robin raises an eyebrow. “She earns more. And you don’t ask.”

“I wasn’t asking her. I was wondering aloud.”

“Just sign the card,” Robin says patiently. “And read that thing about employers’ responsibilities again.”

Ungraciously, he takes the pen.

 

Chapter 23: "We can fix this, I know we can."

Chapter Text

“We can fix this, I know we can.”

Strike stares at Robin, his heart a tangled mess. He feels… He feels wretched, and hopeless, and desperate, and still in love with her to the depths of his soul. He’d known it would be hard, dating and running a business together. But not this hard.

He really wants to believe her, but when has he ever not fucked up a relationship?

He sighs. “Can we?”

“We have to.”

“Why?”

“Because,” she says, her eyes full of tears and her voice cracking, “I can’t fucking well live without you now, okay?”

“Okay.”

 

Chapter 24: “You didn’t do anything wrong.”

Notes:

In which Lula plays the part of Vanessa, and wonders if she’ll ever be able to forgive Nick enough to write him again…

Chapter Text

“You didn’t do anything wrong.”

“I know that,” Ilsa says, voice wobbling, and wipes her eyes. “And so does Nick, when he’s not being a twat.”

“Hm.” Robin refills the three glasses, and keeps her thoughts on that to herself, moving to put the bottle back in her fridge. She grabs another bag of Doritos.

“He does,” Ilsa insists.

“You’re defending him,” Vanessa says, “when he told you it was your fault that—”

“He was just upset.” Ilsa retorts. “He’s apologised.”

“He’d better have fucking grovelled,” Vanessa mutters darkly.

Ilsa hides a tiny, sad smile in her wine. “He did.”

 

Chapter 25: "It consumes me."

Chapter Text

“It consumes me.”

Even as she’s telling him of her love, there’s a tiny part of Strike that isn’t fooled by her incredible beauty, by the poetic turn of phrase. A minuscule part of him that finds such a statement rather ridiculous. Years later, he will wonder if he always knew that this relationship was ultimately doomed to be wrecked on the rocks of her brokenness like a ship off the Cornish coast.

But she’s mesmerising, and the connection between them is electric - perhaps more so because he knows it’s hopeless. And so he somehow ignores his doubts, for years.

 

Chapter 26: "You were the first."

Chapter Text

“You were the first,” Robin says, her voice breaking. She pushes on. “The first to see me, to recognise that I could do this job. So…” She hesitates. “For years, I thought that was what I was feeling. Gratitude, friendship, admiration for your ability at the job that I’d somehow turned into admiration for you personally—”

She stops. Strike is not looking happy.

“I was wrong,” she says quietly. “I tried to tell myself it wasn’t love, that you’d never see me that way and I should move on.”

“Yeah,” he says, a slow smile spreading. You were very wrong.”

 

Chapter 27: “Let me remind you.”

Chapter Text

“Let me remind you,” Robin’s voice murmurs in Strike’s ear, “what you’re missing while you’re on surveillance.”

“Robin,” he replies quietly, one eye on Halfhand who is still dining alone, “I don’t need reminding.”

“I might start without you,” she teases. “I’m horny and bored.”

In spite of himself, his blood quickens. She’s alone in his bed, waiting for Halfhand to go home so Strike can escape and join her. “I’m in public,” he warns.

“And I’m naked - I just got out of your shower.”

“I’m hanging up.”

Her sultry laugh lingers in his psyche. It’s fortunate he’s sitting down.

 

Chapter 28: “Just say what you want.”

Chapter Text

“Just say what you want. You can have anything.”

Lucy’s eyes are like saucers, unable to take in the enormity of Hamleys, but Cormoran feels anxious. Why has Mum got money suddenly? Wouldn’t it be better to get Lucy a coat so she doesn’t shiver between shops?

“Come on, darling, they’ve got Lego.”

They wander through the displays, Lucy looking dazed. Cormoran tries to work out why his tummy feels bad and not happy, and then he spots an Army figure that looks like that picture of Uncle Ted.

“Oh, darling, not the Army. That’s so bourgeois.”

His jaw sets.

 

Chapter 29: “How did this happen?”

Chapter Text

“How did this happen?”

Linda is trying to sound polite and not disapproving, and it doesn’t help that Strike is determinedly not looking at Robin while she tries to frame an answer that isn’t we got drunk after I split up with Ryan and almost did it on the new office sofa.

“Well, I think we recognised we’d had feelings for each other for a while…” she begins, and Strike gets control of himself and comes to her rescue.

“I told Robin how I’ve been feeling for a long time now, and luckily for me she felt the same way.”

 

Chapter 30: “I won’t let you down.”

Chapter Text

“I won’t let you down.”

Strike grins, and raises his pint to Jack’s. They clink glasses. “I know you won’t.”

“I’ve got my degree, so I can go straight into the officer training programme after my initial training, and SIB will surely—”

“Mate,” Strike interrupts gently. “You’re going to be fine. They’re lucky to have you.”

Jack flushes. “Thanks, Uncle Corm.”

“Now let’s drink to your future instead of worrying about it.”

“Mum’s really worried,” Jack admits. “She thinks I might—” He stops, but they’re both thinking of Strike’s leg.

Strike shrugs. “Risks of the job,” he says. Jack nods.

 

Chapter 31: “It’s always been you.”

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

“It’s always been you.”

Robin stares at Strike, bloodied and battered with wires and drips attached, looking too big for the gurney. A&E is rammed, and they’ve put him in a corner of a crowded bay.

“Always?”

“Well…” He waves a vague hand, coughs and winces. “Lucy panics, and since the Herberts had Benjy, I didn’t think…”

“You didn’t reckon that adding me as your emergency contact was something I might like warning about?”

“Ah, yeah. Sorry.”

“It’s fine,” Robin says, turning her head away to hide her eyes which are leaking a little. “I’ll find us some tea.”

 

Notes:

And that’s a wrap! Thank you for all the lovely kudos and comments 💜

Series this work belongs to: