Sometimes you, sometimes me. A Valentine behind bars
Isainparadise
Summary:
Sometime between their first return from the past and between the birth of the twins. The action takes place during a hot "spring" day at the Saint Marie Police Station, in the old, when Richard was still roasting because the ceiling fan did not work.
Work Text:
Chapter Text
It's Friday, it's very hot. It's usually hot, but technically it's summer proper now! Which means that it is even more unbearable. Camille is next to the coffee pot, which continues its process to make a regular coffee: one drop after another drop ... Camille looks almost desperately at this process, she urgently needs her dose of caffeine. Today Richard is more unbearable than ever. As Camille watches as the coffee is finally finished, she turns to watch him closely. She also realizes how serious Fidel is by comparing two documents that she believes must be driving him crazy. Dwayne is almost relaxed on the phone asking for "essential" information. Of course, seeing him leaning with his elbow on the table, it seems that he is chatting with one of his many friends. She knows that the pose is not indicative of unprofessionalism. Everybody knows. He looks back at Richard. He is very focused on his work. He's writing a report just for him! while constantly checking data from three or four different documents that you have neatly arranged on your table. He hopes that by reading and checking them for the umpteenth time, he will be able to pick up on some information that has escaped him before.
She sighs and turns her attention back to the coffee pot, she is preparing one cup after another and, as she has them ready, she is serving them. First to Dwayne, who still without stopping talking on the phone, winks at her thanking her for the detail. Then to Fidel, who looks at her almost with surprise to find her there working, as absorbed as he is in his work, but then she is directed by one of those wonderful smiles that he has. Finally she serves one for herself and one for Richard. She walks directly over to his table and puts the mug on him, careful not to spill on any documents in the corner of the table. Then she lightly brushes her fingers over his hand. He also looks at her with surprise and, unlike Fidel, with some irritation, but when he looks at her more closely, he sees a look of deep love for him and deep respect for his work, for his great honesty, for his rectitude and for their intelligence. He half smiles at her apologizing for his bad mood, but she is very afraid that this spark will only last half a minute. He needs to use all the resources at his disposal to prevent a dangerous con artist and murderer from leaving the island.
She walks over to her table and continues with the account tracking: email accounts, bank accounts, whatever she can.
"There is no way like that!" Richard jumps up from his chair feeling very frustrated.
Everyone looks at him in amazement, Camille gets up to see what is happening to him, but he, obviously today is not a day when he wants to control himself (well, he almost never does it when he is irritated) and, without looking at her, he goes to the varanda.
She knows that she shouldn't be angry, but if he continues like this, there will be problems! and sooner rather than later. She counts to five, takes a deep breath, and goes outside.
"Camille" Fidel tries to stop her.
Dwayne touches her arm and says something like "stay out of it." Although lightly, with a smile of his own.
She comes out and sees him standing, watching the market, muttering the same thing over and over again.
"Richard" calls him. He continues with his activity.
"Richard!" he turns around and looks at her. She continues talking to him "As long as you don't disconnect and relax a bit, all the work we're doing is going to be of absolutely no use to you. And by the way, don't ever push me away like that again! I'm not telling you anymore."
She had promised herself that she would not say this last to him, but she couldn't help it.
"I'm sorry, Camille. But I don't like anyone making fun of me, and I think that man is doing it. And frankly, I'm always feeling like they don't take their eyes off me, you know." She looks at him blankly. understand "I know we have not made it public or official, but I know they know about us" at that moment he takes a look in the direction of Fidel and Dwayne.
"Oh, I get it! Personally, I don't care, in fact my mother doesn't care, the Commissioner doesn't care ... Did you know that Maman knew it as soon as she looked at my face? I'm not worried, I'm starting to get upset though. "Richard looks at her worriedly, he's going to screw up the whole thing. "So, while you rearrange your mental turmoil, I'm going inside to finish my work, it's time to go home. Although today I don't promise you anything" She doesn't know what's wrong with him. She simply doesn´t have enough patience today.
And, turning her back on him, she enters the Station.
Richard, confused, follows her and before continuing to understand what has happened, he turns to Fidel and Dwayne, who are already clearing their tables and wish them a good day.
"Everything okay, Chief?" Dwayne asks with a wide smile.
"Yes, of course. Thank you," he answers distracted and confused. He goes to his table to make it as pristine as it is when he arrives in the morning.
Fidel interrupts him:
"Would you like to have a drink with us later, Chief?"
"Thank you, Fidel. But I have something to do at home and I don't know if I will be able to come by today. Thank you. Maybe another day."
They get up, say hello, and walk away talking to each other.
Richard, finding himself alone with her, grabs a small package from his table, puts it in his pocket, and heads toward the cells. For once he's going to listen to Camille and reorganize his ideas. But first close the windows of the Station from the inside and the door.
Camille looks at him in amazement and concern. Perhaps she may not have exceeded him? She closes all the files, then shutting down her computer. And she heads resolutely towards the cells. She is dying of curiosity.
She approaches without too much haste, mostly to get her irritation to dissipate. Her time with Richard has taught her that a cool head is always better to see everything more clearly. That's why she takes something that she might need.
She hears murmurs, he is speaking to himself again! Or, as he would say, think out loud. Although she understands that he isn´t going to change, and that he has the gift of possessing such a wonderful, orderly and capable brain, she´s going to teach him that sometimes the best thing for a computer is to shut it down and restart it. He´s no longer alone and she´s going to show him.
She is dumbfounded: she just wanted to talk to him, fix things, see everything with a cold, dispassionate clarity! She laughs softly, she´s half French and he´s cold and orderly mind! It´s a losing battle, thankfully.
She approaches him with determination, gives him a little blow on the shoulder and, when he looks at her and sees her sure look, with the intention engraved on her face, he worries and in a second he forgets everything. Only he and she exist in their little world. She´s happy she has proposed to restart the brain, the heart and everything else of her love and it will hardly fail in her endeavor.
For his part, he sees her coming and by the expression on her face, he knows that now is the time. For once, he´s going to anticipate her intentions, for once he´s going to take the initiative! With decisive steps he takes two strides, hugs her tightly and kisses her in such a way that she forgets everything she wanted to do. When he has to part with her if he wants to keep breathing and, knowing that she still can't articulate a word and that he still has her under his mercy, he apologizes:
"I'm sorry. Never doubt my feelings for you. I've been alone for so long that it's hard for me to reconcile my work with my love. You will understand that every day I wake up wondering if this is real." He looks at her and continues. "But yes, it's real. I've locked everything up inside because I want to tell you something else and I don't want to be interrupted. And no, it's not what you imagine, at least not yet. The last thing I want is to get caught in cells . "
"You've disappointed me," Camille whispers in his ear. He shivers and pulls away from her like he's been struck by lightning. He gets into one of the cells. Camille laughs and thinks he feels safer there right now. "Richard, one day I'm going to teach you to finish what you start" she says maliciously.
Richard looks at her nervously and, seeing himself locked in with her, decides to get out of there. He has a plan and he must follow it at all costs! But Camille follows very closely, and he, with his nerves on the surface, instead of finishing opening the door, closes it with a push. When he tries to open it again, he can't, he turns around and meets Camille's astonished and amused eyes.
"Do you see what you've made me do?" he blames Camille.
She, although a little nervous, reassures him:
"Take it easy, I have my phone here."When he is about to take it from her, she warns him: "But I'm not going to leave it for you yet, Richard. I'm curious, what did you have prepared?"
Richard calms down, it isn´t as he would have wanted, but the sooner he does it, the sooner they will get out of there with the least possible shame (that will already be common knowledge on the island) and he can continue with the plan.
Richard separates from her, turns his back on her for two seconds, puts his hand in his pocket and, opening the box, says: "I reiterate my apologies, this is not how I would have liked to do it, and I want you to know that I had more things prepared. Do you want to marry me? I promise you that I have a date prepared at the restaurant that you like so much. As soon as we leave here. I would have loved to do it differently, really ... " What a disaster!
"Richard, stop!" Camille laughs. And she embraces him with great force, kissing him in turn with all her might. When she separates from him, she tells him: "Of course I want to marry you. From the first time I saw you, I decided to make your life impossible and I can't think of a better way than to be with you all day and all night." whisper in ear again.
He feels the chills again.
"Don't you want to try the ring on?" He asks. It's the first thing that comes to mind.
She smiles cheekily at him again and stretches out her hand, he will put the ring on her finger! With nervous hands, due to the responsibility that this gesture contains, he puts the ring on hers. It fits her perfectly.
Camille stares at her finger, she wouldn't have cared for a curtain ring, a piece of cloth, she wouldn't have cared. He is hers with or without ring. And she belongs to him.
"How long have you had it?" She asks. She can't help but notice its slightly dated, other-era design. Although she still doesn't care, it's hers and it's lovely!
"It's been in my family for three generations. I took it on our last trip to London" She looks at him in amazement, it must be very precious. Richard looks at her expression and corrects her: "No, it's not overly valuable, but it's very important to our family. We only use it for those women who have stolen our lives, you know, our hearts, our bodies, our minds, everything. . Well, sometimes we haven´t been correct, but the intention is that. "Camille laughs at the last comment. He gets serious then "Although I know that this time I am very lucky."
Camille gets excited and now she is the one who turns around.
Richard walks up to her, hugs her from behind and he now says into her ear: "I've told you before and I'll repeat it: I love you. You have literally saved my life. I am yours, always. But you have to know that our honeymoon will barely last a week. " And plant a kiss on the nape of her neck. And now she feels the chills.
Camille has an idea, she turn around and say: "Very good. I don't mind, I'll settle for compensation."
"Sounds great to me" And he gives her another kiss on the tip of her nose. "You know I have a reservation at the restaurant and then ..."
She interrupts him. "Richard, you said you're mine. Well, my compensation is that we'll get out of here when it's okay with me. We have a beautiful weekend to ourselves." Richard looks at her half astonished, half hopeful despite himself. "I can assure you that no one will interrupt us here and ..." whispering to him again, she continues, "you know that Saturday is Valentine's Day and I'm going to celebrate it by making one of my fantasies come true. We will dose the rest of them. Always together. "
"But, Camille" He can't help it. "Since they have to rescue us after a day or two, I will be unable to look at their faces. And I will be eternally happy sharing this and everything that comes with you! But I don't know if I will dare so much. The island is very small. And you know I don't like to feel watched "
Camille takes his hand and makes them sit on one of the little beds. Looking at him, she reassures him again. "Honey, when I followed you to the cells, I came with the firm intention of talking or arguing with you. I took the keys so that, if necessary, I would lock you in one of them and thus force you to listen to me." Richard begins to smile widely. . "Of course my intention was to lock you up alone, not both of us. Any more objections?"
"Maybe, I remind you, my love, that we have the window almost above us. I would recommend that we not make too much noise, don't you think they already talk a lot about us on the island?" he hugs her. And he kisses her again, this time even more passionately.
"I'll try" she answers as soon as he allows it. She begins by undoing the knot in her tie, he undoes the buttons of her dress, then the jacket, shoes, shirt, underwear, everything disappear ... They get a couple of blankets and decide to forget everything.
They say that everything good, everything extraordinary, does not last forever, although it will get both of them to look at the area of the cells with a very special look. Despite what Camille set out to do, she failed to keep Richard locked up all weekend, only until Saturday morning, though not too early. Richard couldn't help staring at her and so, seeing her take the key out of a small pocket hidden in the phone case, his brain lit up. At last he had the solution to his case!
"Camille, don't move, let me think and reorganize all the data" she did so with a funny smile, she liked his excuses more and more. "Now yes, I think we can say that I already know what happened"
Camille stares at him, they are still half naked.
"Do you want us to call you right now to inform you of the solution?" she asks mocking him. "As we are now?"
He looks at her and laughs, albeit with some embarrassment. As always when he solves a puzzle, forgets the rest of the world.
"No, not right now! I'd hate to have to explain all this to them. This is just our business and our secret, Camille. And I can assure you that it will be part of my most precious memories.I will remember them over and over again, even if I don't want to."
While they are having this conversation, they are quickly finishing dressing. When they are already leaving the Station, she asks him:
"And the million dollar question is ... will we repeat it again?"
He thinks about it and says:
"I'm very afraid not, darling. Not for lack of desire. We are going to make our thing definitely official and they won´t t leave us in the sun or in the shade. Who knows! We have to show that we are worthy of the position we perform."
She smiles at him, understands perfectly. And she begins to caress her abdomen. She is aware that she has taken on some weight and assumes it.
"Even though I'm not as thin as before?"
"That is tremendous nonsense. I don´t care to. What's more, you know that everyone will wonder what you do with me. If it matters so much to you, I know that if you put your mind to it, you will lose it. "
She laughs, this isn´t the time yet.
On the way to Richard's house …
"And when, in a hypothetical future, we have children and I get really fat, will you love me the same?" Richard looks at her and says: "If possible, even more."
And he kisses her on the cheek when several people pass around him, looking at them in amazement. Not because they don't imagine it, but because it seems that, finally, they make it public.
Where Richard lives, in his shack, there are clean and new clothes for Camille, she must not wear the same! Since Richard seems to have the same suits, it doesn't show as much. From there they call Fidel and Dwayne, who prepare the whole "stage" and meet at the Station, where the case is clarified and the detainee goes to court.
Hours later, in "La Kaz", the commitment is made public and a new life begins for them.
The End