Title: The Cuttlefish Conundrum

Rating: T

Category: Richard/Camille, Unresolved Romantic Tension, Humour, Cuttlefish

Summary: Camille decides to try and bond with Richard over his apparent interest in marine biology. Sequel to "A Cephalopod Crime Wave".

A/N: Shout out to HeatherTN for the biology advice (which will appear in the next chapter)! This is a sequel to "A Cephalopod Crime Wave" and I suggest you read that first.

Chapter One: Past Failures

Camille had decided one day that perhaps the best way to get her inherently shy and reserved boss to open up a bit more was not to try and force him to partake in activities of her choosing, but rather attempt to bond with him over his own interests. Interests other than murder that is. The more time they spent together outside of work, the more progress she felt she made in getting to know the real him. Also, it would show willingness to compromise if she did want he wanted for once, and she imagine if they ever did take that step from friendship into something more compromise would be absolutely essential to the survival of their relationship. So far though, all of her attempts had been a failure. Some could even be classified as a disaster.

Astronomy had seemed like such a safe bet. But Camille immediately ran into problems when it seemed Richard was oblivious to the hints she dropped about getting some 'one to one' tuition in the area. She would enquire about his plans, and if he mentioned some sort of astronomical event, try to look as interested as possible. She never got an invitation to join him though, much to her frustration. She was almost certain that it wasn't because he didn't want to invite her, several times she had seen him hesitate in a manner that strongly suggested to her he was considering doing so, it was just that something always stopped him. Probably fear of her rejecting him - she convinced herself it must be that because the idea it might be that he wasn't interested was just too painful.

On an evening she when she knew he was going to be using Lucy, she had decided to just turn up. He reacted quite positively to her presence, and Camille felt quite pleased with herself. In fact she was sure everything was going to go perfectly, Richard had even offered her a drink and invited her to stay and learn how to use Lucy properly. She had accepted immediately, and he went to fetch her a beer. Filled with nervous energy and unable to help herself, she had begun to idly fiddle with the telescope – until suddenly the image had completely lost focus. Stepping back from the telescope she frowned, and then realised that despite the fact she was no longer touching the device, something was still in her hand. Camille looked down at the unidentified component in horror. When Richard came back with beers for both of them, she immediately launched into an apology.

He only half listened, roughly grabbing whatever it was she had broken off from her hand and examining it closely. "Why were you fiddling with it?" He snapped, clearly frustrated. "I told you I would show you how to use it."

Normally Camille would bristle at a response like this, it was obviously an accident and didn't he realise that she was trying to show an interest in something that was clearly important to him? But the anger she expected to swell up did not do so – instead she felt like a small child, because she knew on this occasion she probably shouldn't have been messing about with an expensive piece of equipment. Camille was also very much aware of how much sentimental value the telescope held – Richard was hardly the sort of man to name any old object in his life.

She stared guiltily at the floor, and perhaps something about her stance indicated to him that she was really, really, sorry because he gave a small sigh and said, much more gently, "It isn't an expensive part or anything. I'll be able to fix it myself."

"I'll pay for the part," she said instantly but he waved the offer off. Still extremely embarrassed, and realising there would be no stargazing that evening and very little potential for anything else romantic, Camille made her excuses and left quickly. When she thought back on it she did think he had looked like he was disappointed she was leaving, but it was probably wishful thinking.

When Camille had learnt Richard had studied History at university – which surprised her, she would have assumed it was science – she decided to have a go at maybe learning more about the topic. Casual questioning over drinks one evening revealed his dissertation had been on the legal career of some Roman called Marcus Aurelius, hence why he knew Latin. Though Richard had actually managed to make it sound quite interesting, when she had tried to look him and other similar characters up she had found it all quite dry.

Hoping that Richard would be interested in multiple areas of History, Camille had decided to investigate one of those dates from school that stuck in her head and she knew was actually relevant to the UK – 1066. After learning everything she could about the Norman Conquest, Camille was feeling pretty smug. She had never realised how much influence the French had had on British history.

Perhaps her mistake was phrase it that way when she spoke to Richard.

The two of them had fought about it for an entire weekend. Richard had been indignant at the idea that the French had significantly influenced British culture. Camille pointed out that fifty percent of English words were derived from French, surely irrevocable evidence of the sway the French had had over the English. It had gotten far more intense than she intended, and though at points it had been rather fun, it was hardly what she was aiming for. Camille already knew they were good at fighting – it also seemed to be the main way they flirted. But what she was trying to get them into more situations where they had more deep and meaningful conversations.

Still, knowing one of the reasons Richard knew Latin had given her an idea. He also knew Mandarin Chinese, and since that was nothing to do with his degree he must be really interested in Chinese culture. When she studied in Paris, she practically lived off Chinese take away – had really gotten a taste for it. There weren't any on the island of Saint Marie though, but Camille had inherited at least 80% of her Mother's cooking skills. Those few ingredients she couldn't find on the island she simply ordered online, though at considerable expense.

The Commissioner had dumped a considerable amount of paperwork on Richard, and Camille knew he would be working at the station late on it, so that was when she chose to surprise him. She packed up beef in black bean sauce, spring rolls, chicken fried rice and sesame chicken into Tupperware and brought it all along to the station, along with a few beers for good measure.

"Hi!" She called cheerfully as she entered. "I thought you might be hungry, so I bought you some food. Can't have you starving for the sake of a few forms."

"Oh?" Richard looked up curiously as she started to unpack. "What is it?"

"I made Chinese food!" She held out one of the tubs, "Spring rolls?"

"Oh," he said again, but this time with a small grimace. "I actually really don't like Chinese food. It just isn't to my taste."

Camille couldn't believe what she was hearing, "You don't like Chinese food? Not at all?"

"Not really. I mean I'm not even a big fan of rice."

"But, but…you speak Chinese!" She protested.

Richard frowned, "Well, you speak English but said you couldn't understand the appeal of Yorkshire puddings so I'm not sure that is a valid argument for why I should like Chinese food…"

Annoyed, Camille threw herself into a chair and snatched up a spring roll. Well if he wasn't going to eat them she would quite happily put them away, a bit of comfort food was exactly what she needed. "Well I assumed the reason you knew Mandarin was because you had some sort of interest in Chinese culture, which would naturally extend to the food."

"No, that isn't why." He said, before going back to his paperwork. Camille had expected a little more than that.

"So why do you know it then?"

"Um," Richard began. "I learnt it as part of an assignment."

"An assignment? With The Met?" She couldn't think of many situations where the language would be necessary, unless Richard had spent some time under cover but he really didn't seem the type.

Richard hesitated, and then said, "No, I learnt it whilst on secondment to another agency."

Now she was really interested, "Another agency? Perhaps an Intelligence agency?"

It was his lack of reply that gave him away, "Oh my God, you were a spy?"

"Christ, no, of course I wasn't a spy!" He spluttered. "I was an analyst, broke codes and things. I mostly whiled away the hours in a dark room it was hardly like an episode of Spooks or something. I was actually quite glad to get away and back into the Police. Look, I'm really not sure I was even supposed to tell you that, so I think we should stop talking about it right now."

"Oh they will hardly be watching you here, besides you haven't given anything away," she said in an effort to dismiss his concerns. "Did you make up codes as well? I bet you did you'd be good at that."

"Camille, I mean it, I'm not going to talk about it anymore! Also, could you put that food away, I never even liked the smell much."

"But…"

"Camille!" There was a firmness to his tone now that brokered no arguments. Disappointed, Camille packed up the food and left him to his paperwork. She resolved to do a little more research before she attempted to bond with him over anything in the future.

With those failures under her belt, plus a few she didn't even want to think about, Camille had started to wonder if perhaps she should stop trying so hard. Perhaps she should let their relationship just develop at its own pace – even if that pace was maddeningly slow. But then she had so enjoyed their outing on the boat, the trip to the lagoon afterwards and the drinks she had been delighted Richard had invited her to. Of course he hadn't followed up drinks by inviting her back to his place, she had never really expected that to happen, but she did feel like they had made progress. So how could she not keep pursuing it?

"When did you start getting interested in marine biology?" She asked when the two of them were alone in the office. He looked surprised by the question, and she supposed it would have seemed to have come out of nowhere.

After considering his answer for a moment, Richard replied, "Actually it came about when I got here and people started stuffing seafood under my nose all the time. I felt I should be able to both identify the food I am being offered and know something about its biology. And then I sort of just kept reading around the area, the biodiversity around here is pretty amazing."

"Richard Poole did you just compliment Saint Marie?" Camille asked teasingly.

He shook his head, but not because he was denying it, "I think you know perfectly well that just because I complain about some things…"

"Like the heat, the food, the snakes, the insects, the sand, the lack of real ale…"

"Yes, those are some examples, Camille," He said shortly. It was probably for the best he interrupted her, she could have gone on for some time. "That doesn't mean there aren't things I like."

She leaned forward expectantly, hoping he would start reeling them off, but he did no such thing. "So anyway, that is how I got interested in it in the first place. I'm actually quite glad I didn't eat calamari before, not sure I could now I know how intelligent octopuses are."

Camille considered pointing out that Richard liked Pork, and pigs were quite intelligent, but that could lead to yet another argument. Plus she was also aware that he did have quite high standards when it came to animal welfare – something that had initially surprised her. She would never forget the day he suddenly told her to pull over, and then got out of the jeep to inspect a field of pigs. After finding out who owned the field, he had proceeded to order her to drive up there, and she had watched in surprise as he gave a dressing down to the farmer for not providing his pigs with any shelter from the sun. Apparently pigs could get sun burn…

In asking the question about why Richard had an interest in marine biology, Camille had hoped to get some inspiration of another activity they could do together. Though the answer had been interesting, it hadn't helped in that regard. She'd just have to go away and thinking about it some more, perhaps do a bit of her own background reading. Plus she could always call up that nice Keenan boy in case he had any ideas…

A/N: Of course the real reason I couldn't have Richard and Camille bonding over Astronomy is that Katedf has already written that series and I couldn't possibly add to it! Check out the "Astronomy in Paradise" series on AO3.