It was Monday.
Richard got to work at 8:10, slightly later than usual. He'd accidentally overslept after his extremely eventful Sunday evening with Clare.
After the blouse incident, Richard had dropped a rather tipsy Clare home. At first she had refused, but eventually he managed to get her inside and put her to bed. He didn't expect her to be in early today.
Richard kept his head down as he walked through the station. It began to get busy after 8 o'clock, so he had to use his very best avoiding techniques to make it to his office safely.
Everything was going surprisingly well until someone suddenly stepped in front of him.
"Where were you yesterday, Dick?"
Richard looked up. It was Douglas, obviously.
"W- w- what?"
"W- w- where were you?" Douglas repeated, mocking Richard's stutter.
"I- I- I decided to have the day off. I don't get paid for Sundays, after all-"
"Were you with Brent?"
"Erm... A little bit." Richard nodded.
"Doing?"
"We just... Is it any of your business?"
"Don't get funny with me, Dick." Douglas spat. "You've been spending an awful lot of time with her lately, haven't you? I think you're up to something."
Richard frowned slightly. "I- I don't know what you mean."
"You're having days off, turning up late - you used to be a hard worker, Dick. But that's changed since Clare came along, hasn't it?"
"I'm not actually late."
"You are. You're usually here before me." Douglas replied, stepping closer to Richard. "You know, I put you two together because I didn't think you would get distracted by a pretty face... But I was wrong."
Richard knew that wasn't true. Douglas put them together because he knew how difficult Richard found it to work with people - especially women. He did it out of spite.
Richard shook his head. "I'm not getting distracted."
A smirk appeared on Douglas' face. "I think I'm going to have to separate you."
Separate you.
Richard's heart sank.
He couldn't lose Clare - she meant far too much to him.
"W... What?"
"You heard me. I think I might move Clare to another team... She'd do better somewhere else."
Richard shook his head, beginning to feel confused. "But we're just friends!"
"This isn't a place for friends."
Richard looked down, fiddling nervously with his tie. "Please, Doug. Give me another chance. I'll work harder, I promise."
"Look, Dick. If it wasn't for my boss, you'd be long gone by now."
"Please, Doug-"
"Nobody likes you. And we certainly don't need you." Douglas chuckled, before announcing loudly for everyone to hear, "You're just a useless little autistic twat."
The words hit Richard hard. His stomach turned, and his head began to spin - he didn't know what to do. He could feel the stares from people walking by.
"I don't really know why you're here, Dick. But believe me - the moment I get some proper dirt on you, you'll be gone."
Richard nodded. "Sorry."
"I want the case you're working on now done by tomorrow. Understand?" Douglas asked.
"T- t- tomorrow?" Richard repeated, glancing up. "That... That isn't long enough. We need more time."
"Well, you better get to work." Douglas said with a grin, before turning and walking away.
Richard watched him go, and then looked down again. His heart was thudding hard against his chest and his ears were ringing. He didn't feel good. There was no way he'd be able to finish the case by tomorrow - it was impossible.
* * * *
Once he made it to his and Clare's office, Richard opened the door and quickly went in. He had to tell Clare what happened - he needed her to make everything okay.
"Clare?"
Clare was sitting at her desk with a laptop.
"Good morning, Mr Steel!" She chirped, looking up at him. "You'll never guess what I've just seen."
Richard looked at her for a moment. She was excited about something - his personal problems would have to wait.
"What?" He asked, wiping the sweat from his forehead.
"Well, I was having a quick look at Jessica Bailey's Facebook page, and I noticed Randle Philips is her friend."
Richard frowned. His understanding of social networking was embarrassingly little.
"What does that mean?"
"They must have known each other more than Randle said." Clare replied, glancing back down at her laptop. "Look, come here."
Richard nodded and walked over to her, looking down at the laptop.
Clare pointed to the screen. "You don't just randomly add your patients on Facebook, do you?"
"I suppose not."
"And he's on Sara's friends list, too."
Richard looked at her and frowned. "I thought he didn't like Sara?"
"That's what he said... but maybe he was lying. And, if so, we need to find out why." She paused as she looked up at him. "You look like you've seen a ghost. Are you okay?"
Richard nodded. "Mm. Yes."
Clare looked at him for a moment, and then nodded. "Well, I was thinking. We could get Randle's address from the hospital and, if you're not busy, pay him a visit after work? And then I thought we could visit Aiden together to search the house?"
Richard began to feel lightheaded again.
"A- a- after work?" Richard stuttered. He had planned to stay late and try to get the other case done - to prove to Douglas that he was still working hard. He wouldn't have time for anything else.
He couldn't handle it all.
Clare nodded. "Yes. I think we should search the house as soon as possible. We might find something useful that'll help with the investigation, and..."
Richard's ears started to ring again, muffling Clare's voice, and his head began to spin.
"Richard?"
And then everything went black.
* * * *
"Richard? Are you awake?"
He opened his eyes.
It took a moment for his vision to focus, but once it had, he saw Clare. She was standing over him, waving in his face like a lunatic.
"Richard? Can you hear me?"
"Please... stop that." He mumbled, rubbing his brow. He felt like he had been kicked in the head about four hundred times.
However, a tender kiss was placed on his head which instantly made it feel better.
"Oh, thank goodness you're okay. I was so worried." Clare whispered. "Please don't ever do that to me again."
"Do what? What happened?" Richard asked, looking around. He was far more concerned about where he was.
He didn't recognise the room. The walls were a light purple, the ceiling was white, and the bed was rather comfortable. He seemed to be constantly surrounded by Clare's familiar scent.
It must have been Clare's room.
"You passed out, and managed to hit your head on my desk." She whispered, sitting down on the edge of the bed. "You really scared me, Richard."
"Oh, I'm sorry about that."
"It's okay." She whispered, beginning to gently stroke his cheek. Richard frowned at her, wondering what she was doing.
"The doctor said you'll be fine, but I want you to stay here until you're definitely feeling better. You need to rest." Clare whispered, still stroking his cheek.
"Oh, right." Richard nodded. Apart from the headache, he was feeling perfectly fine. However, he was enjoying Clare's affection far too much to tell her that.
"He said it might have been stress related." She paused. "And I was wondering, is it because of me? Is this all too much for you?"
Richard shook his head. "No. Of course not. I was just tired, and I forgot to have breakfast this morning."
He decided it was best not to tell her about the incident with Douglas. He didn't want her to worry too.
However, Clare didn't look convinced. She was a mind reader, after all.
"Really?" She asked, raising an eyebrow.
Richard nodded. "Mm."
"Is it Douglas? Has he said something to you?"
"Nope."
"Are you sure?"
"Very sure."
And then, to Richard's surprise, Clare stood up and climbed into the bed next to him, underneath the covers.
She turned to face him, and whispered, "You can tell me anything, Richard. I'm a very good listener. And I'm here for you."
Richard looked down for a moment. Although the offer was very tempting, he still didn't want to tell her.
Instead, he tried to think of another, equally awful, problem that had been worrying him recently. That wasn't difficult.
He looked up at her, and whispered, "It's just... I've lost one of my pens."
There was a pause.
After a moment, Clare's eyes widened. She looked extremely guilty.
"Oh god, Richard! Why didn't you tell me that earlier?"
Richard pulled a face. "Well, I didn't realise you were on pen patrol."
"But it's on my desk!" Clare said quickly. "I borrowed it and completely forgot to give it back to you."
Richard looked at her for a moment, before grunting. "Clare! You've got to stop stealing my bloody pens!"
"I know. I know. I'm so sorry." She replied quietly. "I was meant to give it back straight away... but I forgot. I'm sorry."
Richard noticed a genuine look of remorse in Clare's eyes, and immediately felt bad for making her feel bad. It wasn't even the reason he passed out, after all.
He began search for her hand underneath the covers.
"It's okay. Don't apologise." He whispered. "I know it's safe when it's with you... and that's all that matters."
Clare nodded. "It is. It's very safe. I'd lose my own pens, but never yours."
"I know." Richard paused for a moment, still blindy searching for her hand. "Why... Why don't you keep it? Maybe you won't lose it because you know it's mine."
Clare's eyes widened again. "Hold on. Are you offering me one of your pens, Richard?"
Richard thought for a moment, and then nodded. "Yes."
"Aw, Richard. That's the sweetest thing-" Clare stopped as Richard accidently touched something which certainly wasn't her hand.
There was a pause. Richard withdrew his hand as if he had just grabbed an electric fence - hoping Clare hadn't noticed.
However, that was very unlikely.
Clare gasped dramatically."Richard!"
Richard began to panic. "I- I- I'm sorry! I didn't... I didn't mean to!"
And then Clare suddenly burst into giggles. Richard just stared at her for a moment, wide eyed, not sure whether he was in trouble or not.
"Clare?"
"Richard, if you want to feel my breasts that badly, just ask!" Clare said, giggling hysterically.
Richard shook his head. "No- no- no! I... I was looking for your hand." He stuttered. "I- I didn't mean to... you know."
However, as Clare continued to cry with laughter, Richard realised she wasn't angry at him. He didn't know why, but she wasn't.
After another moment or two, Clare calmed down slightly and looked at him with a kind smile, placing a finger on his lips.
"Shh. It's okay." She whispered, giggling again. "It's just way you reacted... I've never seen you move so fast. That's made my day!"
A warm feeling came over Richard, and he couldn't help but smile. He had made Clare's day.
He chuckled slightly. "Oh, right."
Clare seemed to find his hand underneath the covers without any trouble at all. She squeezed it gently.
"Relax." She whispered. "I'm your friend. You're allowed to touch me. It's not a crime."
Richard pulled a face. "Well, it could be. You could report me for sexual assault."
Clare giggled again. "But I won't." She paused, looking into his eyes. "Do you want to know a secret?"
Richard nodded. "Mm?"
"I actually quite like it."