This is my shortest story by miles. But I can't get this scene (from 4.6) out of my head - I just loved it! It seems to sum up why they work so well together. So writing about it seemed inevitable. Let me know what you think!
Mid investigation, and as so often in the past, Lucien just had to go and speak to Jean. Somehow everything was better, clearer, more certain when she was with him. The colours were brighter and the edges were sharper.
When his mind whirled, she was the still centre. When he drifted, she was the anchor. And when he hit a wall, she was the soothing balm.
"So you decided to murder all the dishes?"
Crestfallen, he realised he'd got rather carried away. Yet even as she frowned at him, he loved her more. She was magnificent, bold, shocked, yet underneath her annoyance, her love for him was obvious. Who else spoke to him like this?
"And what happened to Mr Pig?"
Only Jean knew the steps to this dance of words with him.
Now, when he had smashed her dishes and broken her heart, she still saw the funny side of it all. How could he ever consider choosing Mei Lin over this woman? She seemed capable of anything (though perhaps not shorthand); as he fired ideas at her (skull fractures, hate mail, handwriting) the swirling ideas in his mind began to come together, order came from chaos. As Jean tidied the mess in the garden, she also tidied the mess in his mind.
And then came her challenge; why did he keep changing the subject? It seemed Lucien was more afraid to talk about Mei Lin than Jean was. She was the realist, he had his head in the sand. He knew he would have to choose between them eventually but it was impossible. There was no choice. Mei Lin was the past, Jean was his future.
As the case inched closer to a conclusion, Lucien followed where Jean pointed him. He visited Mei Lin.
But there was no doubt in his mind; he'd be home in time for dinner with Jean.