Title: Fundraising for Flounder
Rating: T
Category: Richard/Camille, Romance, Comedy, First Date
Summary: Part 4 of the Marine Biology series set after Fruits de Mer. The first date does not exactly go as planned.
A/N: This has been sitting on my computer for ages, but I am finally getting back to it now! Just one chapter after this one.
Richard didn't think women could get pissed off at you for being a gentleman. And he honestly did think he was being a gentlemen when he walked her home at the end of the evening, but declined the offer to come inside. He really, really wanted to – but Richard was an old fashioned sort of man and felt he should at least buy her dinner first, take her on a 'proper' date. Camille had been argumentative, pointing out that he had previously bought her dinner the night they found the pearl together. But he didn't feel that counted – after all he had only done that because he had lost a bet with her. When he had explained this, Camille had thrown her hands up in the air in frustration and marched into her house, slamming the door behind her.
He didn't get much sleep that night worrying that he may have blown his chance with Camille. Richard spent hours mentally trying to compose some speech to explain himself, since he had clearly done so poorly the first time, but it was all in vain. Around 4 a.m. he actually rose from bed to grab some paper in case he found he could express himself better that way, but his brain simply could not supply any words eloquent enough. He should have remembered that Camille was French, passionate, very impatient and, most of all, right in her argument that the two of them had shared a fair few 'date-like' experiences recently. It was ridiculous of him to have felt like he would be taking advantage of her somehow, she had clearly wanted him to stay and he had wanted to stay so why the hell had he said no? He wondered if he should seek psychiatric help. Harry might be a good listener, but unlikely to be able to offer any advice in this particular situation.
Camille turned up at his place rather early the next morning – not that it mattered his anxiety meant he had already been up hours pacing about. "Hello," she said from his doorway. The first thing he noticed was that she was wearing the necklace he gave her and his heart rate instantly soared – surely that had to be a good sign?
"Hello," he managed to reply.
"Look," she began. "I understand that you were just being…a gentlemen. Chivalrous and so very…English. And though I think the idea that you want to wait until we have been on a proper date is ridiculous, I also except that it is rather you. And I, well, obviously like you. So, you better hurry up and take me somewhere and it better be nice."
It took a moment for her words to sink in, and when they did he was overwhelmed with relief. "Of course it'll be nice!" He promised, perhaps rather rashly.
"So where are we going?" Camille asked immediately, stepping inside and glancing about expectantly as if he might be about to whisk her away that moment. "And when, and what should I wear?"
Those were all good questions, not that Richard could answer them. "Err…" He said rather usefully. "Well, I, um, need a bit of time, you know, to think about it."
"What, like, a day?" She raised an eyebrow.
"Um…" This was all going horribly wrong again. "Maybe a…a tad longer."
"You can have a week," she offered. "I don't think my patience would last any longer," she added with a quick smile that caused his heart to skip a beat.
A week. Surely he could come up with something in a week?
The next day Keenan wondered into the station when it was just him and Dwayne. His other two officers were up at one of the resorts having words with a bunch of holidaymakers who'd gotten a bit out of hand the night before. The resort's own security had dealt with them, but had called the station the next morning to say they felt it was a good chance the individuals had been fuelled by more than just alcohol. So he had sent off Fidel with some drug identification kits, looking keen to use them, and Camille who could sniff out somebody lying a mile off. He didn't think it warranted the whole team, and he needed time to think anyway…
"Hello there!" He greeted them both cheerfully. Richard stood up and shook the young man's hand, it had been some time since they had last seen each other. "I've been tasked with putting out these notices, can I stick one up on your notice board?" He held it out to Richard who took it automatically. It seemed to be an advertisement for some sort of charity gala.
"So you are going ahead with another fundraiser?" He asked, remembering how Camille had mentioned the other marine reserve staff had been teasing Keenan about the last fundraiser. She'd seemed to feel quite sorry for the kid. Richard read the advert carefully, it seemed like a pretty high end event, being held at one of the newer resorts in two weeks' time. Formal dress, a string quartet and such. It was the sort of event usually held in the USA, as opposed to the cake sales and bring and buys that remained a key way of raising money in the UK. "This looks quite fancy," he told Keenan.
"Yeah," Keenan agreed. "The marine reserve have a new fundraising manager, it was all her idea. She managed to get a good deal on the resort because of a last minute cancellation. Actually a lot of places are already filled by prospective high end clients who are flying out from the continent. I think she might have brought a lot of, for want of a better word, clients with her from her last posting at some botanic garden. Just hoping to fill a couple of tables with locals I think."
"I am not sure you want the usual sort of people we get in here at this event," Richard told him flatly. Keenan began to laugh, which came to an abrupt end when he realised Richard wasn't actually joking. He accepted the leaflet back.
Keenan shrugged, "I've been told to get rid of all of them, and I think I have plastered every notice board on this island with them and I still have a massive stack left!"
"Is that really the job of a PhD student?"
"Well, you know, there was a clause in my contract that said I would dedicate a certain number of hours to doing work for the benefit of the reserve rather than for my PhD. I thought that would be all diving courses and exciting stuff, turns out its more leaflets and answering the phone…other people do the cool things." He seemed rather despondent.
"Hey!" Dwayne said brightly. "Let's have a look, I might have a special lady to take to the event." Keenan beamed and passed him a leaflet. Richard leaned back against his desk and waited for Dwayne to reach the bit about how much it cost. The reaction was as dramatic as expected, "$300! For some dinner and music? I could take a girl away for a whole weekend for that money!"
"Don't know a lady that is worth it?" Keenan asked cheekily. Dwayne just grunted in response – but Keenan's question had given Richard an idea – a blindingly obvious one that he couldn't believe he didn't think of earlier. He snatched the leaflet back of Dwayne and scanned it again, yes, this seemed rather ideal. The flyer was deficient in one aspect though, which meant Richard was forced to ask something he'd rather not in front of Dwayne.
"Um, so, how does one get hold of tickets?"
Keenan, quick as anything, responded, "Oh so somebody knows a lady that is worth it!" Richard gave him a look that made the young man cower and regret being so forward. Dwayne, who could not be intimidated by a simple look, smirked openly at Richard. Keenan coughed awkwardly and continued, "Actually they gave me, like, six tickets just in case somebody wanted to buy them. I can take the cheque now if you like, or you can come into the centre later and buy them later…"
Richard decided he might as well get them now, before Camille came back. He rummaged about in his case for the cheque book and dutifully wrote it out, handing it over in exchange for two slightly crumpled tickets. "Um, so we also need the names for the table plan?" Keenan asked rather nervously.
Richard sighed aggressively and was about to answer when Dwayne piped up, "One is for him and one is for Camille." Richard stared at him in surprise. "How long do you think something like that us going to stay a secret on an island this small, Chief? I'll tell you - not long. Especially when you have been caught going at it by Catherine!"
Keenan looked as embarrassed by that statement as Richard felt, "We were not going at it." He said, defending himself.
"Fine!" Dwayne cried, rolling his eyes. "Making out, smooching, snogging, sharing a passionate embrace! Whatever you young people are calling it these days! What do you want me to call it?"
"I want you to not refer to it at all!" Richard told him firmly. "We should be able to, to court in private."
"Court?" Dwayne repeated back at him, whilst Keenan did his best to hide a smile. "Seriously?"
Richard leaned back against his desk and whined, "Well 'dating' sounds so young. Younger than me. God, girlfriend does as well. I'm not sure how I am going to survive this."
"Well I strongly suggest if you want to survive until the end of the day, you never let Camille hear you said 'girlfriend' was too young a word to use to refer to her," Dwayne said wisely.
"Oh God, that is totally not what I meant to imply." Richard said in a panic.
"Don't worry, I haven't got any plans to tell her. Did I mention it would be good if I could knock off a little early today, got a big date myself?"
"Dwayne are you blackmailing me?"
"Blackmail!" Dwayne feigned indignation. "I'm simply asking for a favour."
Richard shook his head, but he wasn't really mad. "Yes, fine, you can go early. And we'll put that up if you want Keenan."
"But then Camille might see it. I am sure it will be better as a surprise!" Keenan asked, showing off his apparently hidden romantic side. Richard had to concede he was right. "Besides," Keenan assured him. "They'll be very pleased I actually sold some tickets, I think they will forgive me if I haven't managed to get rid of all of the posters."
"Will you be going, eh?" Dwayne asked, playfully elbowing Keenan in the side. "Bet there are plenty of lovely ladies on the island who'd want to accompany you?"
Keenan blushed like a champion in response to the question. "I, um, I'll be there but I don't have a date."
"You don't have a date yet," Dwayne said cheerfully. "Boy, you've got a whole two weeks to find one."
Keenan looked like the chances of that happening were rather slim, and at that moment Richard did rather feel for him. He was reminded of himself during University when he had tended to find an excuse to leave the city rather than try to find a date for the May ball. "Well, they'll probably make me collect tickets on the door," he told them, though Richard thought Keenan might be planning to actually volunteer for the task.
Richard, wanting to tell Camille about the date he had planned when they were on their own, decided to walk her home after work. She seemed pleased by this action, and he made a mental note that is the sort of thing he should do again in the future. When they reached her place, he accepted the invitation to come in for a cup of a tea.
"So," he said, after gulping down some tea. For some reason his throat was rather dry – he was sure it was the heat, and absolutely nothing to do with nerves. "I have a surprise for you?" He didn't know why it came out as a question.
"Do you?" Camille asked with a smile that made his throat go instantly dry again. "I like surprises. As long as they are nice surprises." He was sure she did. He prayed this one fell into that category.
"I bought us these, it um, I thought, you know, it might make a nice first date," he pulled the still slightly crumpled (despite his efforts earlier to press them flat in a book) tickets from his jacket pocket and thrust them at her, along with a copy of the flyer that carried a little more detail. Richard found himself suffering flashbacks to the one time he had asked a girl to the Trinity May Ball with him. He hoped this went better than that had.
She took them and examined them curiously, a slow smile then spread across her features. "Tickets to the marine reserve benefit? Isn't this black tie – do you even own a tux?"
"In London," he told her – that little fact had slipped his mind. "But I can buy another or rent one or something."
"It's a small detail," she agreed.
Richard waited for her to tell him what she thought about the idea, but she seemed to be taking her time reading the material. Getting a little impatient, he cleared his throat and asked pointedly, "Is this a good first date?"
"It's an excellent first date," she told him, and he released the breath he didn't know he'd been holding. But then his heart plummeted as she continued, "There is one problem though."
"What?"
"This benefit is two weeks away. I believe I told you that you had one week to arrange our date."
"I did arrange it within a week!" He protested. In fact he had done it within the day as she had originally requested.
"Yes, but I meant I wanted to go on the date within the week," she explained. "I would have thought the comment about my lack patience would have been a pretty good clue." She had advanced towards him slightly, and Richard wondered if he was going to get jabbed in the chest with a finger for getting it wrong. But then her proximity became much, much closer and he realised that violence wasn't what was on her mind. "But its ok, I think I have a solution to that problem."
"You do?" he asked. His voice seemed to have risen an octave.
"I do," she said. "For you see, since you have already paid for the tickets, you have essentially bought me dinner – just not one I have eaten yet. Do you follow?"
"I think so," he said. His hands were on her hips now, they'd ended up there automatically when she got close enough. Richard was pretty sure he was following her logic, but having her this close made it difficult for him to think straight – well, except about how much he wanted to kiss her.
"Good," she said, slipping her arms around his neck and pressing her lips to his.
"You totally took advantage of me," he said afterwards, still somewhat breathless.
"Oh did I?" Camille replied. Richard couldn't see her – he was still on his back and didn't have the energy to roll over on to his side to face her yet – but he could tell from his voice she would have one of her eyebrows raised in response to his gentle accusation.
"Yes, you knew that is not what I meant by wanting to buy you dinner first."
"Well, you seemed to enjoy being taken advantage of," she teased him now. "It wasn't like you were entirely passive in the process."
"Hey!" he protested, finally finding that burst of energy to turn to face her. "I think we both know you were very much in charge."
"Prefer your women submissive, do we, Inspector Poole?"
"Oh no," he told her. "Not at all, you can be in charge as much as you like. I am perfectly willing to let you take the lead in such matters."
She shifted in closer to him, "Hey, it's not all about what I want you know. If you want to be in charge sometimes, I'll let you."
Richard thought about this offer. The idea of being 'in charge' of this beautiful, dominant, feisty and sexy woman was one that very much appealed. Though one thing would need to be made clear to Camille. "Oh, I think you'll find you won't be letting me be in charge Camille," he said, rolling towards her and pushing her into the mattress. "You'll want me to be in charge."
Based on vocal feedback, Richard succeeded on that front.