Chapter 17: Here I am, Richard, I'm here
Summary:
What would have happened if Camille had personally attended to Richard? Undoubtedly everything would have been speeded up considerably. This chapter is a probability (according to the changes in the couple's reality in this alternative magical universe). And Camille faces the terrible DS Young.
Chapter Text
Richard gets out of bed with great effort. He feels bad for so many reasons, but at least one of them, Catherine, is gone now. He vaguely remembers the dream he had with Camille, well, with Camille's voice calling out to him through that dirty, thick, frightening fog.
He had tried to reach her, but it was totally impossible. He was calling her too, as he has been calling her every day and night since he caught that horrible fever. But she never answers.
He sighs and pulls out a penknife, but not worry, Richard has not given up hope to the point of suicide. He has simply received a number of items hed ordered over the phone that are now more valuable than gold and that are going to help him make progress in the case.
Right now he is aware of the officers under his command. Fidel is an excellent cop (why the hell hasn't he take his sergeant's exam already? He's worth a thousand times more than the morons he had as colleagues in Croydon) and Dwayne... well, Dwayne is behaving like an exemplary cop now but he doesn't seem encouraged to move up the career ladder. A pity, he has a wonderful nose for the job.
Officers Best and Myers definitely work in perfect tandem.
The DI manages to unpack everything and, when he discovers a spotlessly clean white board more modern than the station's, he manages to try and smile. Or so he thinks. The lizard thinks his friend has made one of the strangest gestures he has ever seen.
Damn fever! But the lizard is already dealing with that too. He knows that someone, clearly an intruder, has tried to meddle in the plans that the Loa of Saint Marie have perfectly assembled for Richard and Camille, interfering in their lives.
The lizard must go, he has to talk to the circle urgently.
Richard, meanwhile, still so weak, calls out to Camille. He has sat back down on the bed, he decided he had to get more strength before trying to organize the evidence he has received as he wants it.
"Camille, where are you?, I don't understand anything. I need you."
And a voice coming through the door of the shack at that very moment, answers him by kneeling down next to him:
"Here I am, Richard. I'm here. Can't you see me?"
Camille is haggard and tired, but Richard still can't believe it.
"This is a hallucination. Your mother hasn't told me anything. I don't want to dream about you now! I want to have you with me now. I don't want you to disappear. I need you."
Camille hugs him tightly.
"It's me, my love." Camille tries to hide her anxiety. He is worse than she had been told. "I interrupted my course and decided to stop at your shack first. Rather than talk to Maman or Fidel or Dwayne. Do you have any idea how worried I was about you?"
"What course?"
He hugs her with all the strength he feels capable of but if it wasn't for Camille holding him tightly and forcing him to lie down on the bed, he would have fallen round onto the floor.
She laughs in spite of everything. She strokes his forehead with her hand to try to find out how feverish he is.
"The course the Commissioner forced me to take in Paris, Richard. So you missed me."
All this while she, after checking the fever, goes to fetch cold water from Richard's small fridge.
"I've missed you so much. Why couldn't I dream-talk to you last time?"
Camille sits back down on the bed next to him.
"I couldn't do it. I tried but something or someone came between us." She kisses him on the forehead. "But I'm here now. And, before I leave to see Maman and tidy up the station, I'm going to set all this evidence up just the way you like it."
"I don't want you to leave, Camille."
Camille, who has already got up and started to put together everything delivered by Fidel and Dwayne, replies:
"For the sake of your career and mine and the good of our officers, I have to do it. This time I'll be the one running the station. I'll talk to Maman first. On my way to La Kaz, I'll talk to Patterson on the phone. All in all, if what we have is an incompetent DS in charge, I can do just as well, don't you think?"
Richard tries to get out of bed.
"You know that's not true!"
Camille crouches down next to him again and whispers in his ear.
"I love you, Richard."
"I love you too. Don't leave me," he whispers as he involuntarily leans against her shoulder.
"Why would I leave you, mon coeur?" whispers Camille.
"Because I hate your mother's soup. With all my soul. Fidel has been helping me get rid of that hateful soup. Remind me to promote him just for that."
Camille sighs. She feels she should argue at this moment... But he's so ill that she'll let it go. She'll have to talk to her mother about it. And she'll call in Richard to repay her for this favour properly, but later, when he's recovered his strength sufficiently. As she sees that he won't let go of her, she understands that she has to put her foot down with him.
"I'll take care of that, but..." she continues as she breaks away from him with some effort, "I have to leave to study all the documentation on the case and to pass on all the information that comes up. You understand that, don't you?"
"So, will you be back soon, Camille?"
Richard is so cute when he's being a kid! She thinks it's a pity Richard doesn't have a fever more often.
But Camille gets up quickly, for both their sakes, and says to him:
"Someone has to hold the fort, Richard. I have a few words to say to a certain DS. But yes, I'll come as often as I can. Though you know at night you won't need to dream of me, because I'll be with you to look after you."
"Okay. I'll try not to give you any trouble so you can rest..."
But Richard has fallen half asleep again with a smile on his face.
"Well, it looks like he's not so bad after all." She thinks feeling slightly calmer.
And, like a mischievous fairy, Camille heads to La Kaz to talk to her mother and find out what treatment Richard is undergoing.
Everything went well with her mother. Catherine didn't feel as lost or as shocked as Richard. She knew her daughter would come almost immediately when she heard about the DI's fevers. She has promised to continue to look after him while Camille deals with the case. That's during the day, she leaves the night to her daughter.
The matter of the soup has offended Catherine greatly, but her daughter's pleading look and the firm promise that Camille will make the ailing but ungrateful Richard pay in some way, calms her for the time being.
Camille needs to come face to face with the DS who has dared to put herself on the same level as Richard, but first?
She needs to give Juliette her order from Paris!
Juliette is alone at home, as Fidel is deeply involved in the diver's case. So when she receives a text message from Camille, a smile dawns on her face from ear to ear. Maybe it's not the most appropriate time to be able to wear that lingerie, but she has to seize the opportunity when it arises.
As soon as she sees the message, she can see Camille almost running towards the house. Juliette quickly opens the door for her and hugs her warmly.
"Thank you, Camille! I won't be able to use it until a little later. But it's really impossible to get this in Saint Marie. And if I order it by mail, it's very expensive."
They both sit for only a second, as the DS really can't dawdle too long.
"Juliette, you'll pay for it when you can. I'm in a hurry right now. I have to take care of the station in Richard's absence."
"I've already heard from Fidel that he seems to be doing better." Juliette comments.
"Slightly better. But at least he seems to be out of danger now."
And with a hurried salute Camille finally makes her way to her destination.
But at the station Camille meets a DS Angela Young ready to stand up for her rights. Dwayne wasnt wrong about her. At the station where she came from they were trying to get rid of her.
"Sergeant Sergeant Bordey, just because you're sleeping with the DI here doesn't guarantee that I'll hand over the case to you. You understand that, don't you? The Commissioner put ME in charge!"
DS Bordey counts to five before she opens her mouth again. Fidel and Dwayne don't dare intervene. The hug they have both given their dear friend has already shown her how much they missed her. And how much they love her.
But she's good at her job, she knows it, and she has more than one commendation to prove it. And the scars.
"Dont forget my experience and my intelligence too. Not to mention I've already spoken to Commissioner Patterson. DS Young, you're on holiday on the island. I recommend you enjoy it and... don't come within two kilometres of my station. Cheer up! There's a lot to see on the island. And if you ever say something so rude about our DI again, you might also see the volcano... up close."
Camille knows that Patterson has already spoken to Sergeant Young.
The intruder DS knows when she has lost the battle. She parsimoniously gathers her things and with a dignified look leaves the station.
When Camille sees that her dear friends and officers are about to return to congratulate her loudly, she stops them.
"Later we will celebrate the resolution of the case and Richard finally overcoming his illness. Now we have a case to solve. Please give me all the information available. I'll pass it on to Richard."
And thank goodness Camille took ownership of the case, even if she left the explanation of the case to Richard, because DS Angela Young was about to arrest an innocent man.
Of course, Camille merely read the notes from her boyfriend and superior at the station, because Richard didn't leave the shack until he was almost 100 per cent recovered. He couldn't fight Catherine as well as Camille.
That was Richard's punishment.
End of the official case ...
To ensure that Richard recovers properly from those strange tropical fevers, Camille has decided to stay with him until it all passes.
As she discussed her plans with Catherine, for a second she noticed a strange smug look on her mother's face. But her mother didn't object. And Catherine didn't tell her that she already knew about the strange, supernatural bond between her daughter and Richard. That was another reason that has helped Catherine get over the criticism of her soup.
Although Richard won't be able to enjoy his tea at La Kaz for a week. Part of the punishment too.
DI and DS haven't been enjoying their usual evening activities either - he's ill and has to recover! Camille has been very serious about that. So the only solace they enjoy are the dreams. They are freer there.
"You can't refuse here, Camille. I even remember that the 'air conditioning' wasn't working in the last dream I had with you. The one where we couldn't meet because of the damn fog. And now it does. So everything's fine!"
He is already hugging her with all his miraculously recovered strength, while Camille reciprocates with the same enthusiasm.
This is a battle pleasantly lost!
Camille tries to talk to him:
"Richard, stop for a second."
He breaks away a little and answers her:
"I don't want to be separated from you again."
She becomes impatient:
"It's not that! It's just that I had a little surprise from Paris for you and here, I don't know why, I can't use it."
Richard raises an eyebrow. He still can't concentrate on what she is telling him.
"You know this place or time we enjoy has its limits. It doesn't matter. You're here and that's all I want right now. You'll give it to me when I'm better, do you think?"
Camille thinks about it, sighs and answers:
"All right. Now let's get on with it."
And they continue with their activity until they hear a throat clearing. Richard and Camille turn their heads quickly from the bed where they are.
At least it's only one: the lizard - Loa!
"What is it this time?" asks Richard angrily.
Camille keeps her arms around him. She doesn't care what that little animal says.
"Richard and Camille, haven't you noticed some interference in the dreams?" asks the Loa.
They look into each other's eyes and understand what their friend wants to tell them.
"Yes, now you!"says Camille to the lizard.
"Youre very funny." Answers her the lizard – Loa with a smile.
"That was because of my illness." Richard replies again.
He receives a negative for an answer. And, at last, an explanation.
"You would think that the world of the Loa is rather peaceful, but its not. Our plans for you have been a long time in the making. At first there was a being among us who opposed them. As he became intractable, we had to throw him out of the circle."
Camille has already separated from Richard. She is very curious.
"Did that... being cause the stinking fog?"
The Loa-lizard nods again.
"And Richard's fever. And the fact that you were forced to go to Paris to take the course, Camille. That resentful spirit wanted to separate you. He thought that if you, Camille, went back to Paris, you might begin to forget Richard. For that reason he also began to interfere in your dreams."
Richard is open-mouthed. And Camille feels furious.
"Aren't you supposed to be powerful?"
Richard isn't sure, but he'd swear the lizard has recoiled in fear at his girlfriend's aggressive lunge. He understands perfectly. Both of them fear an angry French woman in love.
"We made a mistake. We thought kicking him out of the circle was enough. But now you're safe. He can never again try to separate you and ruin the circle's plans. He even said something at the time about replacing Richard with someone else, but Richard is the one who has long been destined for this island and for you, Camille. Only him."
Camille looks back at Richard and answers the Loa without looking at him.
"That I know, my friend. I know that already. Always and only him. Forever. So I'd appreciate if you'd make yourself scarce right now!"
This last she said with a look of fierceness and triumph towards the cowering Loa. Who obeyed Camille instantly.
As moments later, did Richard.
Notes:
Sorry for the late day, but the truth is that work has also kept me quite busy. And I wasn't sure what day I was on. And the heat is awful... Enjoy it! And thank you all for everything! And, at the risk of repeating myself, thanks to Sweepeaspatch. She's the one who put the icing on the cake at the end of the chapter!