That knock on the door in season 4 gave most of us palpitations of the worst kind, but what if it hadn't been Mei Lin?

As always reviews and comments welcome.

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Jean gasped as he showed her the ring, her heart leapt as he explained it had been his mother's. He hesitated, he wasn't sure how to phrase his question, and then the mood was broken by a knock on the door. 'Hell' he thought, or cursed, he wasn't sure, but it broke his concentration. He got up to answer it, even though he could see the thought on Jean's face, 'Leave it.' As he moved out of the room he mouthed, 'Marry me.'

He straightened his waistcoat as he strode through the hallway to answer the caller; it could be a patient it could be a passerby, it could be...

'Li!' He took a sharp intake of breath, his daughter stood in front of him, head bowed in supplication.

'Daddy,' she tried her best to get round the western tongue, one of the remnants of her upbringing, the one she had clung to, the echo of her early childhood, even after she had told him she wanted nothing to do with him on his last visit.

'Who is it?' Jean, his beloved, called from somewhere behind him.

'Li,' he intoned, 'it's my daughter.'

Li collapsed into his arms, she recognised the word 'daughter' and knew that he loved her.

Jean ran to help him as she saw the young woman fall.

'Lucien?' She whispered.

He looked at her, shocked, but Jean took over.

'Into the guest room,' Jean pushed them, it was close to the front door. Lucien guided his daughter into the room and laid her onto the bed. She looked so frail.

Jean loosened her clothes and took off her shoes and pulled a blanket over her. She took Lucien by the forearms and locked eyes with him.

'Lucien, Lucien!' She had to raise her voice to engage him, 'She is expecting.' The one thing Lucien had not noticed was her slightly swollen belly, but Jean had and she knew what was happening. Li had come to the one person she knew could help her, support her and most of all, love her. Jean was an observant sort of person, she noticed things; and in this case she noticed the absence of a wedding ring, so in all probability she was an unmarried mother to be, but Li had lived in China for most of her life and Jean had to admit she didn't know if wedding rings were the norm in China.

For a moment, Lucien failed to take in what Jean was saying, he was going to be a grandfather. Then he sucked in a deep breath, and went to his daughter. What had happened to the little girl he had loaded onto the boat with her mother? Where had those years gone? When he had last seen her they had failed to connect, Li had felt he had deserted her and did not want to see him again. When he had left her he said he would always be there for her and if she ever needed him all she had to do was call. And indeed they had set up a tentative relationship, he wrote and sent her money from time to time, it was a situation that had got him into trouble with Monro, who had decided he was on a watch list. He'd intercepted the letters which led to Li writing to ask why he had abandoned her, again.

She was pale and drawn, it concerned him.

'Lucien,' Jean took his arms and pulled his gaze to her, 'Li has come to you because she's scared and she needs someone she can trust.'

Lucien ran his hands through his hair, 'How did she get here?' He wondered.

'Only she can tell you that, but for now let's make her comfortable, my pyjamas will probably fit her.' Jean left the room to get pyjamas and put the kettle on, hoping that Lucien would start to check her over. She could help him get her into bed but he would have to stay there as Li did not speak much English, that she knew, and Jean spoke absolutely no Chinese.

Lucien started to examine his daughter, she seemed listless and dehydrated. Jean came in with a pair of her pyjamas and some tea. The tea was black, like Lucien drank it; he had once told her he'd learnt to drink it that way when he was overseas, and she thought that would be how Li would take it.

She looked over at the young woman in the bed and smiled at her.

'Hello, Li,' she whispered, 'I'm Jean.'

Lucien translated and Li smiled back, she said something to her father that Jean couldn't understand, but by the look on her face she was asking what Jean was to her father.

Lucien looked at Jean, he wasn't exactly sure what to say in light of the question he had hurriedly asked her ten minutes before.

'Er...,' he hesitated, he knew what he wanted to say, and his confusion made Jean smile and even more certain what her answer was.

'I'm his fiancée,' she put her hand on his shoulder.

Lucien grinned and translated, touching her hand.

Li looked from one to the other, and saw they were both happy, so maybe they would make her welcome. Judging from the loan of the nightwear and the tea, that's just what they would do. When her father had visited her he had told her something of his life in Australia, his occupation, his home and said he had a housekeeper who kept him in line. Perhaps this was she, and if so, well her mother was dead so why shouldn't he find love again.

Between them they made her comfortable, Jean made Lucien turn his back while she helped Li change into the pyjamas, he translated everything the two women said to each other, and at times they all got the giggles. Li drank the tea, Jean had got it just right, not too strong, before she settled down into the bed and closed her eyes for some welcome sleep.

Jean took Li's clothes and the empty cup and left Lucien to sit with his daughter for a while. She took advantage of the time and washed Li's clothes by hand, not sure whether they would stand the machine. Before she put the jacket into the water she checked the pockets and found her passport, a few coins, some Australian some, she assumed, Chinese. She put them on the table to pass back to her. Inside the passport was a letter with Lucien's address on; that would have been the only way she could get to him. She sighed, 'poor thing,' it was a very long journey to take alone and troubled.

Lucien crept up behind her and put his arms round her, kissing her just behind the ear.

'Thank you,' he murmured.

'She's your daughter, Lucien, what else would I have done' She turned her head enough to return the kiss. She had to admit he had her at a disadvantage, her hands in the sink.

'...and thank you for agreeing to marry me, although I would have liked to propose a little more romantically.' He grinned.

'You were having trouble asking, you were a bit tongue-tied.' She wrung out the clothes, 'but I got the general idea. Anyway we couldn't possibly tell her I was your housekeeper today and your fiancée tomorrow, could we?'

She moved past him and put the washing on the clothes-airer on the sunroom. They wouldn't be dry by morning, but she was sure she could find something for Li to wear in the morning, unless Lucien confined her to bed, which she thought he might, just for one day.

When she had finished Lucien drew her back to the living room couch and sat facing her just as he had done before they had been interrupted.

'Jean, again, thank you for agreeing to marry me and so, I'd like you to wear this ring. You know it was my mother's and I want you to have it.' He looked earnestly at her, not sure whether he should have bought her a new one or not, but Jean meant so much to him and he hoped she would understand why he wanted her to have the ring.

She smiled at him, sometimes the poor man had trouble explaining himself and this was one of those times. She knew why he wanted her to wear Genevieve's ring and she was touched. He held the ring out to her and she looked at her left hand. She still wore Christopher's ring, and she couldn't wear both, so she slowly drew it off her finger and placed it on the coffee table. Lucien took her hand and slowly slid the diamond ring in the place of the wedding ring.

She held out her hand to better admire it, noting it fitted rather well, she raised an eyebrow. Lucien looked down at his hands and admitted the reason she couldn't find her 'old' engagement ring was because he had borrowed it to have the 'new' one resized.

Jean reached out and took both his hands in hers, 'It's beautiful,' she breathed, 'thank you.'

Lucien pulled her close and, for the first time since Adelaide, kissed her, slowly and passionately. She responded, sliding her arms round his neck as he slid his arms round her slight body, pulling her against him so he could feel every curve move with every breath.

They finally broke apart, almost breathless, smiling shyly at each other.

They sat for a while just holding each other close, Jean's head rested on his shoulder, his head rested ever so lightly on her head.

Jean sighed. She felt she could stay like that forever, warm and safe in the certainty of his love.

'Lucien,' she lifted her head to look at him, 'will you be able to stay at home for a couple of days, until Li settles in?' She was concerned about communicating with the girl, and really she had come to her father for help, not to be left with his fiancée while he went around solving other mysteries.

'I suppose so,' he understood her thinking, 'it would be a good idea. I can still take surgery and Alice, I'm sure, will take over as police surgeon until you and Li are comfortable together. In time her English will come back, she was fluent in both our languages when she was young. She just hasn't had to use English for seventeen years.'

'Thank you, I'm sure she'll appreciate it, I know I do.' She reached up and kissed his cheek.

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Hands up who thought I was resurrecting Christopher in the first paragraph? There will be at least one more chapter to this, maybe more.