S2 E8 – One Of These Days…
It is just after the arrest. The DS comes back into the red room where her DI is all alone. She glances around. This area of the house is empty. Everyone is busy elsewhere. She reckons she has maybe ten minutes and she knows she has to make these ten minutes count! She watches him putter away, packing his briefcase, calm and cool and collected now that he has done his duty and caught the killer(s).
She snorts… time to move in, girl!
She glides up to his left side and he looks up at her. She smiles and murmurs, "You were magnificent today. I am so proud of you. Those three didn't see it coming. They almost never do, do they?"
He huffs with satisfaction, "Well, no, they don't… and that's rather the point. The sudden shock of the reveal usually knocks the pins out from under them and they are caught off guard. I get more confessions that way." He pauses in his packing up, "Although, Aidan Miles saw it coming. Clever man, that, a very cool customer." He smiles and resumes his chore.
Camille begins her stealthy approach, "You. So smart. So clever. So controlled." She flips his tie with a finger and it does a little jig between them. "So immaculate in that suit."
He catches it and smooths it down once more, "Well, thank you for that, Camille. I like to think I'm impressive when cornering my quarry. I feel the most alive in that moment."
"Mmm-hmm, is that right? And do you know what else, Detective?" she purrs for his ears alone.
He isn't really paying attention as he snaps the clasp on his case, "What's that?"
She leans in. He sees this and automatically leans in too. She lowers her voice even further, "One of these days… one day very soon… you will SO magnificent and masterly and masculine…"
His eyes flare and he tries to straighten up but her hand snakes out and grabs his tie right below the knot. Now their eyes are only inches apart and she is diving deep into her Poole, "You will be all these things and…" She gives him a quick once-over, "Did I mention immaculate?"
This last word is enunciated very carefully. He nods, drops his eyes, tries to give a man-of-the-world shrug but her next words rivet his attention back onto her face.
"… that I will no longer be able to contain myself and I'm gonna…" She half-closes her eyes, half-pouts, and tips her chin up ever so slightly. She seems lost in her thoughts.
His eyes are now the bright green of a stag caught in the headlights of a Canadian logging truck barreling out of the night on a mountainside hairpin turn at 110 miles an hour. He is suddenly very light-headed. His confidence over his crime-fighting skills wavers as he feels the ground shift beneath him. His alarmed gaze takes her in. She has somehow taken this conversation into foreign territory, into a battle ground where he has no confidence at ALL. He tries twice to speak, "Wh… what… ?"
She tilts her head and puts an ear near his lips, "Hmm? What's that?"
Her perfume envelops him. Her hair lashes his face like whips and scorpions. The back of the hand holding his tie gently slides up and down against his shirt. He realizes that she is waiting for him to make sense and he has the uncomfortable feeling that she is willing to stand here stroking him until he DOES make sense. He shuts his eyes and strangles out just six words, "What are you going to do?"
She frowns a very French moue and draws her shoulders up in glee as she coos right into his ear, "Oooo, I'm just gonna have to follow my instincts. You know, storm the ramparts, take no prisoners, leave no witnesses… THAT sorta thing."
He pauses for a fraught disbelieving moment then hitches in a breath, dithers just the tiniest bit, and decides to take the bull by the horns, "Erm… does ANY of that result in my death? Or… do I somehow magically survive this complete defenestration?" He shifts a bit. Something must be bothering him.
"You got a problem there, Detective Inspector?" she smirks while running a saucy finger down his arm and onto his hand. She can hear the other officers talking nearby. She has only moments left with him in this suddenly charged and totally satisfactory situation.
He stills and regards her intently, "No, no problem, at least not one that I haven't had to manage a few times over the years… but… but I don't think I actually WANT to manage it anymore. Perhaps it's time…" His eyes flare up once more but now they step back from each other as Fidel and Dwayne enter the room. She quirks an eyebrow. He takes a calming breath and finishes, "… perhaps it's time I try a different approach."
She nods and smiles, "Yes, maybe it IS time. High time. May I come by your place later? To get the conversation underway? I think we have certain things to tell each other, don't we?"
He nods, smooths down his slightly askew tie and she can see the mantle of 'boss-hood' settling over him once more. If not for that brief moment of almost candidness, she would never suspect a thing. Her eyes dart to the other officers… as THEY obviously don't suspect a thing!
His eyes follow hers and when she looks back, he nods ever so faintly, "Yes, tonight… if nothing desperate happens in the meantime."
But… of course… something desperate DOES happen.
He is on a plane and off the island within hours.
No happy ending here…
END
**end note: Hah! Just wait.**