*credit to Isailaway for the idea and to Wanna_be_goodr's story 'The Heat of the Moment'*

S1E7 - DiP Porn

DI Richard Poole is immaculate in suit, shirt, and tie, starched and pressed to a brilliant shine even down to his glossy brogues. Richard Poole is focused and intense, his eyes snapping cold green fire as he paces with controlled power, hands laced behind his back, on the hunt and stalking his quarry. Richard Poole is laying out his logic with irrefutable precision, backing his prey into an inescapable corner, homing in for the kill.

DS Camille Bordey can't take her eyes off him. He's mesmerizing. He's unbeatable. He's magic! She thinks that watching him pace back and forth, holding everyone's attention, his precise voice rolling through the room, is her personal version of Saint Marie porn!

She runs her gaze up and down his finely clad body and sighs. Hunky good looks, eye candy, she-bait, man-candy… all the rude and dismissive phrases that were bandied about in her youth coming back to taunt her. She has to admit the words fit him just fine… then flinches to think that if SHE can see it then other women can see it too!

She casts anxious eyes around the room. Nope, his audience is hanging on his every word with fascinated dread, sensing their future and freedom depends upon whatever DI Poole says next. They don't see him as a man; they see a fore teller of doom, if not for themselves then for someone else in the room. It's like watching a car wreck in slo-mo.

DS Bordey doesn't see a car wreck (she's never been on the receiving end of those green accusing eyes), she sees poetry in motion. With a faint shiver, her mind whispers, And I hope he never stumbles upon what I've kept secret for all these years. He wouldn't spare me, no, not at all, he would trap me just like he's going to trap today's guilty party... and it would kill me to see such disappointment in those eyes.

Giving herself a little shake, she returns to the present. He's changed. A LOT! And I like to think I had a hand in that. Fidel and Dwayne helped but, mostly, I think it was me. We were strangers when we first met but as I came to understand him, he became less strange and more dear. She remembers something she read in a magazine recently: 'Allure comes from within, when one person begins to open up, begins to thrive and grow in the eyes of the beholder.'

That's me, she thinks, I'm the beholder and he's the beholden. I wonder… she hardly dares think it… I wonder if he beholds me, if he sees me as dear? I wonder…

That's the exact moment his gaze meet hers from across the room and she feels as if struck by lightning. She experiences something she's never heard of – the consummation of eyes – eyes glowing with love full of fear, fear full of love. His look is likewise lightning swift before flicking back to his hypnotized audience. She can tell by the timbre of his voice that he's ready to blindside the murderer so she tenses up in case the guilty party makes a break for it.

It's Eddie - and when he DOES bolt, he doesn't try to escape, he charges right at Richard!

Camille is so shocked and appalled that she freezes and can only watch as the man she's just realized returns her feelings is imperiled by a brainless oaf that doesn't even deserve to breathe the same air as her man. Her nerves flame, her vision narrows, her body tenses, and she is about to launch herself at Eddie when he veers at the last second and grabs Richard's briefcase.

There is another lightning moment of eye contact as Richard seems to apologize for getting murdered right in front of her… but then he sees Eddie digging in the briefcase and his face flashes from anguish to anger. A matching look is on her face as indignation roars through her, just as hot and just as huge. Here now! Don't you go rummaging through there! That belongs to a better man than you and you won't understand a bit of it!

But Eddie isn't looking for incriminating evidence; he pulls out a CD and begins yodeling about having a number one hit and becoming a legend and how people will always know his name. As Eddie is led away, Camille deflates as her adrenaline levels plummet. Then she straightens up to perform her after-arrest duties, the wrap-up, cautioning witnesses not to discuss the case, taking statements, bagging up the evidence, etc etc. It takes hours.

Then there's the hours spent at the station, writing up reports and tying everything up with a pretty red bow. Its late by the time her boss snaps shut the last folder and stands to stretch. She keeps her head down, finishing her own paperwork, but hears his clothing stretch and slip-slide… or is that his skin? Either way, her own skin heats up just thinking about it.

She shoots him a covetous glance. Should I say something about those unspoken moments between us? Why can't we just talk like normal people? He could be hurt, even killed, and then what? Our chance would be gone. I HAVE to say something! She is just taking a deep breath to speak when…

"Camille, um, before the men get back from escorting Eddie to the Government House cells, I think I need to confess something." Her spine stiffens and her eyes begin to shine as she bites her lip and nods. He watches this for several moments before he begins pacing back and forth in front of his desk. Oh, god, she thinks, he's porning for me right now!

"Today… um, well, actually earlier tonight, I thought I saw something, something unexpected, something frightening… and I'm not sure what to do about it."

She bolts to her feet, "Oh! I know! It was inexcusable that Eddie got that close to you and you had no protection! I was so scared…"

His eyebrows go up, "WERE you? You looked maniacal to me, like you were going to rip him limb from limb. I've never seen such dangerous fury on your face before, not even during our worst arguments. My heart skipped a beat." He looks down, "But then I saw something even more frightening and I don't know how to interpret it."

She's afraid now. In her moment of fear and anger, she hadn't guarded her expression. In that moment, her feelings had been unchecked. What had he seen? Enough to convince him she was unsuitable? Deranged even? Too French for sure. She hangs her head in silent sorrow.

His voice is hesitant, "I saw… I THOUGHT I saw… rage. Something I didn't think you even allowed yourself to feel. Were you angry at Eddie… or… me?" That last word is gusted so low that she barely hears it.

But she does hear it and her head shoots up. What? Is he asking me to explain myself? Do I expose my feelings or do I lie, laugh it off? Her lips part and a sassy reply is ready to go when she pauses… and remembers the look of fearful love in his eyes right before he accused Eddie of the murder. He'd looked right at her, his eyes reflecting his soul for one brief shining moment… and she had answered in kind.

So, instead of covering up her feelings again, she decides on the truth. "You, Richard, it was for you. If you'd been hurt, if you'd been killed, my life would be a barren desert full of tears of self-hate for not telling you, not showing you, not trusting you…"

He can barely meet her eyes, "Not telling me, showing me, trusting me… with what?"

The raw anguish of his gaze galvanizes her into action. She leaps across the room, like she should have done with Eddie, but instead of knocking Eddie down and twisting his arm out of its socket, she sweeps her man up in a fierce embrace and growls into his astonished face, "That I love you! That you mean everything to me! That if anything happened to you my life would be empty and meaningless!"

He grasps her biceps and stares down into her fierce face and says, "Oh." Then he slowly slips his arms around her and she finally hears his heartbeat and it's as wonderful as she'd imagined.

"You were marvelous today," she murmurs against his shoulder. "I worried all the time that someone else would speak up before I found the nerve to tell you, to show you…"

He kisses her brow and sighs, "Well, you're showing me now. I can't quite believe it and I certainly don't deserve it but I accept it with great thanks."

She looks up at him sharply, "Don't say that! You deserve so much. You're a hero."

He nestles her back against him and gruffs a low laugh, "Am I? I'm glad you think so. I read something a long time ago that didn't make sense at the time but now I think I understand."

She snuggles into him, drinking him down like sweet wine, "Oh? What was it?"

He clears his throat, "A man who commands a hundred common hearts may be admired – but the man who has undisputed sway over the heart of a tiger is indeed a hero." He strokes her hair and adds, "Tell you what; I'll be your hero if you'll be my tiger, how's that?"

Her arms tighten around him with impossible strength for one so small then she loosens her hold on a man who has no wish to escape and nods, "Oh yes, please."

The sound of ascending footsteps causes them to step back from one another. There's just a bit more to do yet to close up the station but their eyes lock and promises are made on both sides before the officers enter and duty calls once more.

END