Title: Professional Standards
Rating: T
Category: Emotional hurt/comfort, Romance, Angst, Richard/Original Female character, Richard/Camille
Summary: The women in Richard's life always seem to make things more difficult. But it has never been this complex before.
A/N: I was going to write the whole thing and then post it, but Willowsticks convinced me to post part one.
It was Catherine who alerted Camille to the existence of Lian. "Why doesn't Richard ever bring his girlfriend here?" She asked Camille one Sunday, when they were sat outside sharing brunch. The question caused Camille to choke on her grapefruit.
"Sorry?" She asked, certain she must have misheard.
"The pretty Chinese looking lady? About your age, very long hair? Surely she is his girlfriend, I can't see a woman spending time with Richard for any other reason," Catherine said with a smile. It was true Richard wasn't exactly known as a ladies' man, one memorable time Dwayne had offered him lessons in how to attract women. Richard's indignation had lasted weeks.
"I spend time with him outside of work," Camille pointed out, largely to give herself time to recover from the shock of this revelation. She wracked her brain but had no clue what woman her mother could be referring too.
"Yes, well, he is your boss and when he got here he didn't know anyone else. It was a nice thing to do, but it seems like he is finally settling in now!" Catherine paused and looked closely at Camille, quickly realising the truth, "You don't know who I am talking about, do you?"
Camille shook her head, frowning, "Why would you think this woman, whoever she is, is his girlfriend?"
"Well I have seen them together a few times now. For the past month every time I have popped into the library on a Saturday I've seen the pair of them huddled together in the café. They always seem pretty cosy, enough that I am pretty certain Richard has never even noticed I was there," Catherine said with a small smile. "And I didn't wish to interrupt. Though if these are dates, I think Richard might want to start being a bit more original, no woman wants to be repeatedly brought to the same place. Mind, a couple of times I have seen them walking around the botanic garden as well."
This made Camille frown even more. She had offered to take Richard to the botanic gardens a few times, and he had never shown an interest. Whereas a moment before she had been sure her Mother must be mistaken, and something else was going on, she was no longer so sure. A certain amount of despondency was coming over her as well – Camille had thought she had made progress with Richard, had thought they were friends. She knew he was an intensely private person, but to have been presumably seeing this woman for over a month and to have not mentioned anything, not even in passing, well it hurt. Possibly more than it should.
"Are you okay?" Catherine asked, picking up on Camille's change in mood.
"Yes, fine," she said breezily, giving herself a mental shake. Camille couldn't criticise Richard, she hardly went around telling him about every date she went on. Though that was mostly because all the recent ones had been complete disasters.
By the end of the day, Camille had resolved to say nothing to Richard about his so called girlfriend. Monday morning her resolve lasted all of 5 seconds. He'd made his own way into work that morning, and he had barely sat down when she found she was unable to stop herself asking, "My Mother wants to know when you are going to bring your girlfriend to La Kaz?"
He gave her a dazed look, the sort that indicated he might not have had a strong enough coffee yet this morning. After the question had sunk in, he scowled and asked, "What girlfriend?"
The conversation had immediately gotten the attention of Dwayne and Fidel, who were looking between the two officers expectantly – both thought fireworks might be possible. Unusual for so early in the week – typically the two of them needed a few days before they really started to wind each other up – but not entirely unheard of. Neither officer felt sure they could predict how Camille would react if what she was implying was true.
"There is no point in being all coy about it, seems my Mother has seen you together on a fair few occasions," Camille said airily. "Perhaps it is time we all got an introduction?"
"I have no idea what you are talking about," he told her shortly. "Your Mother is clearly misinformed."
"Are you calling her a liar?" Camille snapped instantly.
"No, I am calling her misinformed," he spat back, but the way he was squirming in his chair and avoiding her gaze told Camille that he was definitely hiding something, and she was intent of discovering what.
"Come on Chief, you shouldn't be embarrassed, she's very pretty from what I have seen!" Both Camille and Richard looked at Dwayne in surprise, though Fidel didn't. This told Camille that Fidel had known about this woman as well – was she the only person on the island who had been clueless?
"What woman?" He asked, frustrated.
"Oh I saw you last weekend wondering along the beach!" Dwayne said, with the sort of knowing grin that told Camille the couple might have been walking to or from Richard's place. That thought was a bit like a punch to the gut for Camille, but she quickly pushed the feeling aside.
"Just because you saw me, or Catherine saw me, with a woman does not mean she is my girlfriend," Richard pointed out shortly.
"Who is she then?" Camille asked, leaning forward. She hadn't missed the fact it was not an outright denial. None of them had.
"None of your business!" he snapped, which only roused her suspicions further. Unfortunately there had been an air of finality to his tone and Camille knew if she pressed anymore right now, it would only lead to a full blown argument and she wasn't sure she had the energy to deal with that at the moment.
Camille remained in a mood with him all day though. She felt she had asked him a perfectly reasonable question – perfectly appropriate for even somebody who was just a colleague to ask, and they were supposed to be friends! Richard, as emotionally dense as he was, could tell she was annoyed but he seemed equally angry at her, and the two passed a very tense day within the station. Camille sort of wished a call of some crime, any crime, would come in as having a case to focus on might have eased then tensions between them. But it remained quiet – and they remained stubbornly ignoring each other, only talking to each other when absolutely necessary. Both Dwayne and Fidel had, at separate times, made an attempt to get them talking again but to no avail.
It didn't surprise Camille when Richard chose to sit away from the rest of them that evening – he always did when one of them was in a bit of a mood. Her Mother raised a single eyebrow at her as she returned from delivering Richard's tea, and Camille just shot back a look that clearly said she didn't want to talk about it. It didn't make for a very nice atmosphere, and Dwayne and Fidel soon quit to head off elsewhere.
After that Camille received a significant look from her Mother, but when she failed to act on it Catherine came over and said, "Hey, you too have to cheer up or you'll drive all my customers away. Has he done something that bad?" Well the truthful answer to that question was no, as Richard was of course entitled to his privacy. The lack of reply was enough for Catherine to figure out that Richard was not entirely in the wrong on this occasion, and stared at her daughter until Camille sighed dramatically before standing and stalking purposefully towards her boss.
She hesitated when she reached the table though, and ended up asking, "Can I sit here?"
He shrugged one shoulder, "If you want."
She sat. "I suppose I shouldn't expect you to tell me who she is," she admitted, grudgingly. "Though I would hope that we were good enough friends that you would feel comfortable enough to tell me."
Camille was sort of hoping to guilt him into an admission. He gave her a sideways glance and then, with a small shake of his head, he told her, "Her name is Lian. And she is not my girlfriend."
She just about managed to keep the triumphant smile off her face, instead asking casually, "So what is she?"
"I can't…I don't think, its better you don't know." Camille gave him a disbelieving look, and he tried to explain himself further, "Look, maybe soon, but not now. Can you just, you know, trust me on it?"
Camille was very confused. She had never seen Richard act this way before, but he was asking her to not ask any more questions and to trust him and she supposed she had no reason not to. So she just nodded, and ordered another beer.
Camille's curiosity got the better of her. She was fine with not asking anymore questions, but Camille reckoned she could learn a lot even if she just got a look at the girl. Of course, Richard would hardly believe she had just 'dropped in' to the library if he spotted her – so there was no stalking him there. And yes, it did feel a bit like stalking. No, she was going to have to try and observe this Lian woman when Richard was not around.
She didn't prove hard to locate, the island of Saint Marie was not exactly overflowing with people of Chinese decent. And so after a couple of questions posed to a couple of people meant she had soon learned that this woman wasn't just in the library on a Saturday – she spent many days there. And could also be found in one or two of the Churches a fair amount of the time as well. That information only increased Camille's curiosity and she had to act on it.
So, on a Friday, when the library opened late because of course all the cool kids would want to go to go to the library on a Friday night, Camille turned up to carry out her observations. She found her quarry in the library café, being given an encouraging smile by the lady behind the counter as she, very hesitantly, ordered herself a cup of tea. It was obvious she was struggling with English, and Camille wondered if all of this was simply Richard giving the woman English lessons – but then why would he be keeping that so quiet? When Lian started to carefully count out the money the woman behind the counter waved her off, insisting she except it as a reward.
"You are doing really well," She said. "Keep it up!"
Camille ordered herself a cappuccino and sat in a table close to the woman in order to be able to observe her. She had some woman's magazine that she seemed to be trying to work her way through it. Dwayne and her Mother had been right, she was a classically beautiful woman. And there was something else as well, Camille didn't think she had ever seen somebody look so, well, vulnerable. She was able to conclude one thing for sure: Lian, whoever she was, had a story. And it probably wasn't a fairy tale.
It had taken time, but she, Dwayne and Fidel had all felt like they had made headway with Richard – gotten him to be more relaxed, even if it was only a little bit more relaxed. When he returned from London there was a definite change – he had suddenly seemed more settled, and she had begun to think he might be planning on staying. Camille had liked the way he was suddenly smiling more often, and the fact he no longer tried to hide how pleased he was when he managed to make her laugh. In Camille's opinion, these were steps very much in the right direction.
Now Camille thought back over the past few weeks, she realised that Richard had seemed to be regressing. He had been grumpier, and she had just put it down to the heat – but it had not been significantly warmer than usual. More importantly, he had been more reclusive – almost reverting to the level he had been when he first arrived. She really should have realised sooner something was going on, and taken steps to find out what. Whatever Richard was doing with this Lian woman, it was not relaxing, that was for sure.
But then, once day, he came in to work actually whistling. The activity gained him surprised looks from all of his colleagues. It was like a weight had been lifted from his shoulders, and Camille couldn't help but comment on it.
"You're cheerful," she said, as she brought him a cup of coffee.
"Not particularly," he immediately denied, sending a spike of frustration through her.
"You're whistling," she pointed out.
"Sometimes I whistle!" He said, starting to sound defensive. Camille decided it might be worth leaving the issue be for now. There was a slightly sick feeling in her stomach when she contemplated the various reasons why he might be so cheerful anyway.
Later on, though, when they were alone in the station after Dwayne and Fidel had gone to investigate a break in, he had cleared his throat and asked, "Um, could you, um, perhaps come over on Saturday?" Her heart leapt, but then she realised it was probably not what it sounded like.
"Of course," she said, expecting him to elaborate on the reasons. But instead he just nodded and said, "Right, good, um, eleven would be good."
"I'll be there," she said, then waited again for further explanation. When none was forthcoming she verbally prodded him, "Any particular plans?"
He took a moment to consider his answer, "Um, I thought you could meet Lian." That came as a shock, and Camille wondered if this hesitation meant the status of their relationship had changed. She was reminded once again of how cheerful he had been this morning, and how much time he had apparently been spending with her. Could he spend that much time with an attractive woman and not have…things…develop.
She decided such thoughts were not productive and pushed them from her mind, instead replying politely, "I'll be there."
Camille arrived early. Normally, she wouldn't be shy about it, and would just bustle in without permission. Today she was worried what she might witness if she did walk in now. Instead she hung back on the tree line, squinting up at the little shack and telling herself not to be ridiculous. When there were only 10 minutes left, she set off purposefully towards the bungalow. As she rounded the corner she spotted Richard, and began to call out a greeting, but then realised something was wrong.
Richard was crouched down examining something and it only took Camille a moment to realise it was a woman. Not just any woman – it was Lian, and she was very much dead.
A/N: And now I am off on holiday for 2 weeks!