A/N: Another chapter I'm not happy with, because I've planned later parts so well but need to get the character's in the right places first! At least I don't have to worry about Richard being OOC…

He hadn't managed to mask the shocked look on his face, and his patient seemed to pick up on the fact that there was a problem. Dr Cadet schooled his features and decided it was best not to put off the neurological exam any further.

"Okay, Sir, how are you feeling generally?" Cadet began.

Another shrug, "Like I said my head hurts."

"Are you alright if I ask you a few questions?" He received a small nod and carried on. "Okay can you just confirm your name and date of birth for me?"

He looked down at the medical records before him, as his patient rattled off "Richard Poole, 12th October 1971." However when Cadet looked up, he realised that Inspector Poole had been reading it off his medical bracelet.

"Do you know where you are?"

"Hospital?" he replied, almost uncertainly.

"Do you know where that hospital is?"

Richard shook his head, and winced in pain, "I think I might be able to save you some time Doctor, I'm pretty sure there is something wrong. I don't know where the hospital is, I don't know who that woman was and I can't remember much of anything before I woke up, except being in a car with a fireman trying to get me to talk to him."

"Okay Richard, well I don't want you to be too concerned. You did suffer a head trauma and this could all be temporary. I'm going to need to finish the examination and then I may send you for a few more tests? Okay?"

"I'm not really worried," he replied. "More disappointed."

Richard read the confusion off his Doctor's face, "Well you knew something was wrong after I commented on that woman. So I guess she'd not my girlfriend."

Dr Cadet, having dealt with this man so often, was starting to find this a little surreal, "Well it would seem your skills of deduction are still intact."

"You make me sound like Sherlock Holmes," Richard replied.

"Right can you follow my finger please?" Dr Cadet decided to change the subject.

There rest of the neurological exam showed now other issues apart from the memory loss, which was a tad confusing. The MRI scan also showed no damage to any of the memory centres. He'd had a chat with a neurologist on Guadeloupe (Saint Marie being too small to have one), who'd also agreed the complete lack of any other neurological issues was not normal and felt that leaving it a day and seeing if memory began to return might be best. He also reminded Dr Cadet of what the most likely answer was, but he really didn't want to face that as an option and was hoping he was wrong.

The day after, he'd decided not to allow any visitors. He could tell he worried the officers who came to visit, but Cadet had never been in a situation like this before. I mean, how would Richard know if he wanted visitors or not? With the patient's permission, he'd spoken to his parents. Mrs Poole was apparently concerned enough to have arranged to fly in the next day after a five minute conversation with her son. When the day ended and Richard Poole maintained a complete blank about anything before the accident, and was still remarkably calm about the whole issue, Cadet knew he was going to have to talk to his superiors.

A phone conference with the Police Commissioner, somebody quite high up in Metropolitan Police human resources as well as several Doctors resulted in the formation of a plan. There was no denying the results, Richard Poole's only current medical problem was his lack of memory and some bruises. There really wasn't any reason to keep him in hospital, and there was no medical experts likely to be able to deal with the likely diagnosis on Saint Marie.

Dr Cadet went to explain the decision to Richard, who for the first time ever actually showed some concern over his condition.

"Are you telling me I've gone a bit mental?" he asked frankly.

"No, Inspector Poole…" Richard interrupted him before he could continue.

"Don't call me that, it's weird," he sounded genuinely annoyed at the use of his title. "Stick with Richard, I give you permission or whatever it is you need."

"No, Richard, you haven't gone crazy. It's just that as far as we can surmise there is no physical injury causing your memory loss," the doctor explained patiently. "Post-traumatic amnesia brought on by cranial injury is not unusual, but individuals do not normally lose more than a week. Your situation is more akin to a fugue state, which are normally brought on by a stressful event."

"So I just chose to forget everything? Because I crashed a car? That sucks."

"You didn't choose to Inspe…Richard. And we can't be 100% sure that is what is happening. However I am positive that returning to the UK for treatment is the best option. Your mother will be here soon I'm sure she'll be glad to have you home."

Richard looked at him, "Do you think I'll recognise her?"

"I don't know."

He seemed to be thinking hard about the whole situation, and the doctor felt he should probably leave him to it, "If you have any more questions, just ask one of the nurses to page me and I'll come down when I can."

As he turned to leave, Richard called him back, "That woman, who was here just after I woke up, she was one of the police officers I work with?"

"Yes, Detective Sergeant Camille Bordey. She's called a few times to check on you, see if you were up for visitors."

"Are you going to tell her I've gone mental?"

Dr Cadet resisted the urge to roll his eyes at the terminology, "The police commissioner is aware of you situation. It is likely he would brief your team, but I could talk to them if you like. Or would you like too?"

"Why did she think it was her fault?" Richard answered the question with a question.

"Oh, I believe you had a bit of an argument that evening. She thought you'd crashed the car because of an argument, but it was a tyre blowout. In fact the fire and rescue team said you had excellent reactions and things could have been much worse."

"I think maybe I should see her, them, before I go, don't you?"

"There is no reason you shouldn't. How about I have them come for visiting hours this evening, you could spend the afternoon with your mother and then maybe get out into the garden. I'm happy to stick around a few hours after shift in case they have any questions. I also think it would be better if I gave them a warning first, are you okay with that?"

His patient nodded, still looking thoughtful, and this time Cadet made it out of the door.

Richard spent a very frustrating afternoon with his Mother, who was clearly very upset that her cuddle-muffin had been injured. He prayed to God that she never used that term of endearment again. At least the sense of frustration he had felt vaguely familiar, as if his mother often wound him up or embarrassed him with her behaviour. However he was pretty certain sure this would have been the first time she'd stuck pictures under his nose and repeatedly asked him if he remembered such and such or so and so. He remained patient, at least he knew his mother loved him if she flew all this way. She'd told him his Dad, some high-level civil servant, couldn't come due to a crisis to do with horsemeat in beef burgers.

As six o'clock approached, the time his team were supposed to visit, he started to feel a little agitated. He wasn't quite willing to face up to the reasons why. His mother answered a phone call, giving Richard a break from her attempts to prompt him to remember some wedding he'd been page boy at when he was six. She seemed pleased with whatever the person on the end of the phone was saying, and had a big relieved smile when she sat back down next to him.

"I've managed to get us tickets on tomorrow evening's flight, darling," She told him, pleased with herself. Richard wasn't sure he much liked being called 'darling' either, but at least it was better than cuddle-muffin. His mum seemed to mistake his grimace for a lack of enthusiasm for him imminent homecoming. "Are you not happy to come home, Darling?"

"I'm sorry Mum, of course I want to come home," Outright lie, as he didn't think it really mattered where he was, he was still mental.

They were sitting in a small, formally planted garden at the end of the hospital's car park. Richard spotted Dr Cadet walking with four individuals – one he knew to be Camille, the other the Commissioner Patterson who had dropped his mother off earlier and two men he presumed were Dwayne and Fidel from the briefing Dr Cadet had given him earlier. Unfortunately he didn't suffer from any sudden vivid flashbacks, part of him had rather hoped he would.

Something the Doctor had told Camille clearly upset her, as she stopped in her tracks and though still a good 100 metres away her voice was loud enough for him to catch her words, "Why can't he recover here?"

One of the men put a placating hand on the small of her back, and eased her back towards Richard and his mother. The Doctor and Commissioner were both still trying to convince her of something. She seemed to dismiss them, albeit as respectfully as she could with the Commissioner, and marched over.

"Do you want to go?" She asked him directly. He was at a complete loss for how to answer. He didn't really like the fact he kept upsetting people. He looked to his Doctor for help.

"Detective Bordey, Richard and I have already come to the agreement that he will get the best care in the UK," Cadet tried.

"There are Doctors on Saint Marie!" Camille protested.

"Nobody who is any kind of expert in this field, as I have told you."

Camille just turned back to him and gave him a look, clearly asking the same question.

"Look, I think it might be for the best…" he tried awkwardly. He glanced at his mother, who was looking at Camille intently.

"I think you should stay here, where people care about you. We'll look out for you, it's where you belong," she said decisively.

At this statement, his mother finally stood from the bench she'd been sitting on and looked like she was bristling with anger, "Excuse me, why would he be better off here than at home, with his family? Are you saying I can't look after my son?"

Camille had actually forgotten Richard's mother was there, and though she felt a little guilty for perhaps the way she had phrased things, she still thought what she said was true. She took a calming breath before trying to diffuse the situation.

"No, of course not Mrs Poole. I just think that Richard…" before she could finish Mrs Poole interrupted her.

"Inspector! He's your superior, don't forget it just because he's lost his memory. See, you might take advantage of him!"

Richard might not have any memories of time of Saint Marie, but he was pretty sure that was a ridiculous idea, "Mum, I really don't think…"

"Be quiet Darling, this doesn't concern you," his mother cut him off. "He is returning to the UK because it's his home. He should never have been sent out here, look at what has happened! I can do my research, I know that these fugue states are brought on by stress and I doubt it was just the car crash. How could be happy out here, so far from his family and home?"

Camille looked like she'd been kicked in the gut, hard. Dwayne and Fidel were giving him an expectant look, clearly hoping he was going to clean this mess up.

"Mum, I doubt that's true," he tried to reason.

"You don't know that!" his mother replied, and the problem was he really didn't. He couldn't deny it, and when he didn't Camille just deflated completely. His head started to pound again, and he started to rub his forehead without even realising. Dr Cadet didn't miss the action.

"Richard, are you suffering from a headache again?" He said, coming over and pulling that blasted penlight out of his jacket pocket. Richard was rather hoping he would have another fugue-whatever- it's-called and forget the last ten minutes.

Dr Cadet told everyone very firmly that he thought his patient should get some more rest now, and even made his mother leave much to Richard's relief. He watched his team walk away, and wondered if he ever would have known what to do to make it better.

The next day, his mother helped him pack things up at the beach shack he apparently lived in. She wrinkled her nose in disgust at a bowl of mashed up mangoes, which she threw away whilst complaining about insects having crawled into it and died. She was rather firm in telling him he would not be leaving food out like that once he was home.

At the airport, just before check in, a young officer ran in and clearly looked relieved to have caught them before they passed through security.

"Sir!" he cried happily. "I wanted you to have these before you go. Just so you have a few reminders of Saint Marie. I hope you get better soon, Sir."

Richard took a rather stuffed padded envelope off the young officer and really wished he could remember his name. He'd just been told yesterday for God's sake.

"Thank you," he said uselessly.

The young officer looked about as awkward as Richard felt, so at least at that moment they had that in common, "Well, have a safe trip Inspector." And he walked away.

Richard may have then spent a good 15 minutes successfully avoiding going through security until his mother insisted they really had to. He tried not to be disappointed Camille hadn't come.

A/N: The Mother-in-law/Daughter-in-law relationship is acknowledged as the most fraught of all familiar relationships. Looks like Camille and Richard's Mum decided to get an early start on that in my head.