"It seems our man had somewhat unusual tastes too," Cowley said disapprovingly, flicking through a bundle of papers and photographs he'd unearthed in the top drawer of the desk during his search. "Come over here you two, and take a look at these. It might broaden your education a little."

Bodie, half buried in the clothes he was searching through in the open wardrobe, lifted his head, alerted by the unmistakable note of distaste in Cowley's voice. Doyle, busy with a bookshelf, and systematically opening and rifling though each book, turned at the same moment.

They glanced at each other and exchanged a quick 'What's the old man come up with this time?' look, before they joined him at the desk.

Doyle took another surreptitious look at Bodie, not surprised when the look wasn't returned, for there was an expression of intense, shocked disbelief on Bodie's face and a slight pink flush had appeared on his normally pale cheeks. Nevertheless, he too seemed to recover quickly enough, and in answer to an indignant, questioning stare from Cowley, smiled a cheeky smile filled with innuendo and said, "One of the perks of the job, Sir? Comin' across this kind of thing from time to time I mean?"

"Yew, you would think that, wouldn't you, Bodie?" Cowley offered disdainfully with a withering glance at him. "Och, lad, don't make jokes. Not about something like this. How any sane intelligent man could prefer ... och, never mind ..." He scattered the material even more loosely over the desk with a disgusted, fleeting brush of his hand.

"Each to his own, Sir," Doyle offered lightly, picking up one of the photos and apparently studying it in great detail. "Whatever turns you on ... and it's not illegal anymore, is it?"

"Whatever turns you on indeed!" Cowley protested, outraged. "You more than disappoint me, Doyle."

"Yes, sir," Doyle replied meekly, and replaced the photo carefully on the desk, though, like the others on show there, he actually considered it remarkably tame compared to a lot of the stuff he'd come across in his time, particularly when he'd been on the Force. More erotic than pornographic in his considered opinion ... even artistic, if, nevertheless, in an explicit kind of way ...

And no doubt, he reminded himself, that was exactly what Cowley might also have thought, if there'd been women in the photos too, and not just men ...

An abnormally quiet Bodie meanwhile, had returned to his task at the wardrobe, obviously not caring to see any more, and, after a moment, Doyle followed suit, busying himself at the bookshelf again.

But from the sounds reaching him from behind, he assumed, rightly, that Cowley was collecting all the 'incriminating' material together, preparatory to either ditching it or taking it away from further examination.

Doyle head him opening and closing the other desk drawers again too, as if searching for something in particular, and turned round in time to discover that Cowley had found a large brown envelope and was haphazardly stuffing the photos and written material into it. When he'd finished, he sealed the envelope, and jammed it tightly under his arm and glared disapprovingly at them both again.

"Right, I'll take this little lot back with me," he informed them. "And if either of you find anything else along similar lines during your search, you pass it over to me straightaway ... discreetly ... do you understand? If it's left lying around we'll only have the vice lads on our backs, and this is our case. I'm not having anyone else intruding on our territory. McNeil was a known terrorist and that comes first -- no matter what his other ... interests might have been."

"And," as he paused at the door, the precious envelope still stashed firmly under his arm, "I want you two back at HQ within the hour, is that clear? I'll have no shilly shallying on this one. There's a lot to be done."

They both gave twin sighs of relief as the door slammed behind him and they heard his footsteps clattering down the stairs.

"Christ, but you're a cool one, Doyle," Bodie said at last. "You handled that like a real trooper."

Doyle flopped down in a convenient armchair, his sudden relief at Cowley's departure all too evident. "Wrong," he informed Bodie. "Not cool at all, mate. Just too bloody used to coverin' up all the time." He ran an unsteady hand through the tangled mass of his hair and rested his head back on the chair, drawing several deep calming gulps of air into this lungs.

Bodie perched on the arm of the chair, slipped a gentle automatic arm under Doyle's neck and round his shoulder, massaging lightly, and stared ahead into the distance, not seeing his surroundings at all, his face uncharacteristically serious and pensive. "Yeah, brings it all home to you," he said, swallowing uncomfortably. "Makes you realise just what you've got yourself into. Doesn't make it any easier to cope with either."

"'S never been easy to cope with," Doyle said bleakly, even though he was enjoying the soothing, rhythmic motions of Bodie's warm, firm, hand. "Christ, I thought I'd die when I saw that photo ... and saw you lookin' at it too ... and the expression on your face. I'll swear my legs nearly gave way."

"Didn't show," Bodie said admiringly. "Didn't give a thing away. 'Each to his own, Sir...' I liked that..."

He paused, a fleeting expression of frustrated anger passing over his face. "I showed it though ... for a minute anyway."

Doyle reached for Bodie's free hand, grasping it firmly, curling his fingers round it. "You were fine."

"Nah," Bodie said, shaking his head. "Was all there for him to see. Everythin'. Pathetic. I'm supposed to be the cool one, remember?" sounding angry with himself.

"Except that you never were, not deep down inside," Doyle reminded him.

"They do anythin' for you?" Bodie asked, suddenly changing the subject. "The photos, I mean? God, Cowley's attitude was unbelievable. They weren't that bad. Nothin' at all. Innocent really."

"Come on," Doyle said, sliding onto the floor in front of him and giving his knee a shake. "'S only what you'd expect from him. Doesn't understand, does he? It's probably how we'd have reacted too, up till a year ago."

Bodie merely shook his head again, helplessly. Doyle wasn't sure whether it was in despair or disagreement, or perhaps a combination of the two.

"So? Did they?" Bodie asked cryptically.

"Nah," disgustedly. "Why should they, when I've got the real thing and it's better?"

Bodie gave a little chuckle at the compliment, some of his habitual good humour returning. "Oh that good eh? You've never told me."

"Shouldn't need telling."

"You didn't fancy any of 'em then?" Bodie asked, obviously still not sure on that point. "Good lookin', Ray..."

"Yeah, but they weren't you, were they?" Doyle said very gently with a soft squeeze to Bodie's knee. "Come on, mate, give it a rest. You'll have me rollin' you on the floor in a minute, tryin' to prove the point, and we can't do that while we're still on duty, now can we?"

"Nice thought ..." Bodie mused with an inviting smile. "Come to think of it, wouldn't mind havin' a few photos of you dressed like that..."

"No way," Doyle objected. "Not even for you. And don't start smilin' at me like that either. You know what happens when you do. HQ 'within the hour', remember? And we've barely got started. Come on." Standing and hoisting Bodie to his feet, but still keeping hold of his hand.

"It's settled one thing anyway," Bodie said, smoothing loose curls back from Doyle's forehead. "Remember how we talked about maybe admittin' it to Cowley, wonderin' if we could get rid of all the underhand business and still keep our jobs? Well there's no way now, is there? Christ, if he can get so outraged about he's seen here, can you imagine what he'd do if ..."

"Oh yeah, I can imagine all right," Doyle cut in sharply. "Don't even think about it. We're on our own, sunshine. Just you and me, like it's always been."

"Yeah." Bodie smiled, risking a soft kiss to Doyle's mouth. "Dunno though." His smile broadened impishly. "The way he parcelled 'em up and went off with 'em so sharpish, you'd think he wanted 'em for himself. What d'you think, eh? How about a closet Cowley? That'd be a turn-up for the book ..."

"Within the hour ..." Doyle warned, chuckling, as he stepped back from the insistent mouth which was on the point of taking another kiss.

"Within the hour ..." Bodie agreed in his best take-off of Cowley's Scottish burr, unwillingly letting go of Doyle and returning to his half completed investigation of the wardrobe.

He was interrupted again only a few seconds later when Doyle's voice said, "Oi ... he's got some good books over 'ere too. 'S truth, would you look at that ..." with a raw appreciative little chuckle. "Just wait till you see this, Bodie. Come 'ere quick ..."

Bodie realised it was highly unlikely they would make it back to HQ 'within the hour', notwithstanding the threat of Cowley's wrath hanging over them ...

-- THE END --