AJ

“Steady on darling, I’m sure she’s safe. She’s with the doctor after all.”

Lady Jane Fox glared at her clumsy but ever endearing husband. “She’s still so young… just because I trust Dr. Dawkins with my daughter, does not mean I do not worry for her safety especially when nightfall is upon us.” She spoke the last few words with gritted teeth and a creased brow.

Her wondrously intelligent daughter, Lady Belle, was gifted beyond any other with a curiosity for greater knowledge and the unknown. As much as her intellect made Lady Jane’s heart swell with pride, it made her monstrously fearsome that danger might befall her brave girl regardless of the rapturous mood the doctor had left them all in upon her recovery.

“I could go and check for her, Mama! She’s probably back home.” Lady Fanny, her youngest declared.

“No, you stay right where you are,” Lady Jane said sharply. “Affrey our butler told me he found you at The Cat and Bagpipes celebrating, heavens knows what, all on your own surrounded by a bunch of hooligans and drunkards. I fear I’ve been neglecting you in the bargain of protecting your sister.”

“Oh, but I wasn’t alone. Fagin was there, and Jack’s uh… bodyguards, Aputi and Flashbang, and– oh mother how fun and wonderful they are! They have been really splendid company and it’s awfully safe with them around and I think you would rather—”

Lady Jane found herself tuning out Fanny’s musings unintentionally as her mind wandered back to Belle’s safety. If Jack was going to be romantically involved with Belle, then he was going to have to do it the proper way and as soon as she was healthy enough to be on her feet again she resolved firmly that she would make sure of that.

Somewhere down the hall, Inspector Boxer roared out demanding for Dr. Dawkins. Hetty was the only one seen rushing to aid him.

****

“Jack you do realise you can use the front door now, don’t you?” Lady Belle said even as she followed her beloved lover up the spiral stairs that led up to the balcony in her room, her hand tucked away tightly in his. “You’re not a criminal convict anymore. They’d let us in. Together.”

“Yeah well that’s going to take some time getting used to.” Jack smiled as he helped her up the last few stairs and into her room.

Jack and Belle were not the kind to get bashful under circumstances where moments of close proximity was allowed, or better yet stolen, but as the balcony door swung shut behind her, Belle found her face ablaze. The blood that flowed steady in her veins rushed to her cheeks. Every touch and every kiss they had shared before did not have the luxury of lingering thoughts of leisure sensuality, what with all the adrenaline pouring through her veins and the underlying fear that she might get caught by her mother or someone with enough power to report Jack to the gallows might find them. But in that moment, when there was no reason to look behind her shoulder in wariness, her senses seemed to have latched onto the existence of only him. Every feeling was heightened and a hundred times more intense. Her eyes met his then, deep brown pouring into her beyond any words could ever do.

“Belle,” Jack’s voice came out in hushed tenderness like a single utterance of her name could ruin him once more and form him right back like a phoenix rising from the ashes. He tucked a loose strand of hair behind her ear, then cradled her face.

“I know,” she replied, closing her eyes momentarily to soak in the volume of how far they had come since the day she first met him. When she looked at him again, her eyes shone with adoration and unshed tears. “We’re here. You’re here, with me.”

“It just doesn’t seem real, does it? After all the bloody lengths we’ve gone, after all the ludicrous things I’ve done, all just for a glimpse of your face,” he pressed his head to hers, his lips upturned in a giddy smile. “Here we are, in a moment you and I could only dream of having on some kind of far away land.”

“And yet, this is real,” Belle said on an exhale, her giddiness matching his.

“As real as this will ever be.” Jack leaned in as if to punctuate his words, his lips brushing hers gently, once, twice, before she threaded her fingers through his hair and pulled him closer to kiss him properly. The touch of his lips on hers lit a fire in her heart. It’s crackling flames roared in her ears as the world narrowed down to him and only him, chanting his name within her over and over again.

“You should know… all of it was only ever for you,” Jack said breathlessly between kisses. “Everything that I’ve done was done with you in the forefront of my mind, so that someday, somehow, you and I could live our lives in the utmost bliss of each other's company.”

“I love you.”

“I love you more than you’ll ever know.”

“That’s impossible.”

Somewhere between urgent kisses of fire and clothes being rustled and pulled to draw one another closer, Jack found the breath knocked out of him. Belle had him pressed up against her door, her teeth grazing his lips.

“Don’t you dare try to leave me ever again.”

“Not even in my worst nightmares.”

Neither Jack nor Belle heard the faint footsteps coming from the opposite end of the hallway. She leaned her head against his shoulder as he kissed down her neck, a barrage of sensations and emotions overwhelming her entire being. Jack’s arms wrapped tightly round her waist, not leaving a sliver of space between him and her.

“Belle…” said Jack under his breath. “Let me love you with all that I am.”

“Jack, all you have ever done was love me with all that you are. No man has ever loved another the way you love me so completely and fully.” Belle leaned up, brushing her nose against his, drawn almost magnetically to his lips.

The door to her room opened abruptly, sending the two of them stumbling forward. Jack still held her in his embrace when the lady in charge of the upkeep of the estate, Clara, came into view with a little girl holding onto her dress. Out of habit, Belle quickly untangled herself from his arms.

“Good heavens! Forgive my intrusion, Lady Belle. I wasn’t aware you were already home.” Clara bowed in an apologetic curtsy. “I believed that little Elsbeth would be most comfortable in your room since she knows you more than any of us.”

“It’s fine, really. Please, stand up,” Belle said, trying to catch her breath. She could still feel Jack breathing down her neck behind her. It would appear that he was stuck to her, refusing to leave much space between them now that he finally had her. “What— what seems to be the problem?”

Clara bent her head shortly in acknowledgement of Jack. “I was worried the child might need medical assistance. Thank God, you’re here… She appeared to be having a minor difficulty in breathing a while ago. It seems to be better now. I just didn’t want to take any chances given that you had entrusted her to me.”

Like clockwork, Jack instantly moved forward towards the little girl. “How do you feel right now, Elsbeth?” He asked kindly, crouching down to her height. “Still hard to breathe?”

The little girl shook her head, then sniffled. Jack and Belle shared a knowing look.

“Thank you, Clara, we’ll take it from here,” Belle said, a fond smile etching her face when Elsbeth looked up at her. When the door closed behind them, she continued, guiding the child in by her shoulder. “Has Clara been treating you well, Elsbeth?”

The little girl, nodded again, this time affirmative. She didn’t say much for the most part, her rough childhood etching a sort of semi-permanent frown upon her little face. Her eyes, though blank and weary, still held its childlike innocence despite the horrors of Devil’s Elbow— the kind of innocence one can only hold when one still has a ray of flickering hope.

Belle extended her hand out for little Elsbeth to hold on to. “I’ll tell you what, why don’t you ask us anything you want to know. Might make you feel safer to know us better while Jack checks on your condition, hmm?”

“Are you a doctor?” Elsbeth asked Jack. One of her tiny hands held onto Belle as she wrapped the other around his finger.

“I am.”

“What about milady?”

“Well, she’s many incredible things,” Jack said, getting ready to turn a simple introduction into a little story that would intrigue the child as he fetched the stethoscope Belle always had on standby in her room.

“I reckon it's a common cold.” Belle said in between as he listened to the little girl’s heartbeat and breathing pattern.

“And you would be right. As always.” Jack smiled, then continued where he left off. “Lady Belle is a brilliant doctor too, but most of all she is my equal, the better half of me.” His eyes met hers with sincerity and love. “As long as you’re with her you’ll be safe.”

Elsbeth looked between them. “Are you married?”

Just as Belle opened her mouth to say, “not yet,” Jack interrupted her with a resolute, “Yes.”

This response of his seemed to have momentarily intrigued the child. “Really?!”

Jack nodded, intertwining his hands with Belle. She was already looking at him with the most tender gaze, like he hung the stars in the sky for her that night.

“Truly. This lovely lady right here is…” he then turned to look her in the eye once again. “My beloved wife.”

Belle thought she felt her heart stutter at that.

“Then you have children… like me?”

Jack raised his eyebrows in amusement, fixing Belle with a teasing look. She pursed her lips to suppress a grin. “Not yet,” she replied meekly, gently wiping off a stain on the child’s cheek. “There are other things we must tend to before that.”

“Mummy said that children are a blessing from God,” Elsbeth paused as if she was deep in thought, then sniffled deeply. “I’m scared… what if they miss me too much?” Her lips trembled in the way that children do when they’re trying so desperately to be brave. Her little fists tightened on her skirts.

Belle didn’t have the heart to share the morbid news to the little girl that her parents were dead due to that dastardly cholera outbreak. How does one convey such events to the innocent of heart? She shared a look with Jack, knowing the same response was running through his mind. They will have to take full responsibility for the child until they are able to find her a home. Unless…

Jack tipped his head at her, signalling that he would handle the matter. “Remember when I told you that your parents and sister were resting?” The little girl nodded. Jack smoothed her hair down, putting away the stethoscope. “I heard that they are going on a long trip, one unsuitable for little girls like you. They told us to take care of you while they’re gone.”

“When will they be back?”

“Not for a long time,” Jack replied carefully in a gentle, steady voice. “But I promise you, in the meantime, Lady Belle and I will do everything we can to make your life with us the happiest and most comfortable. Won’t we, Belle?”

“Certainly. If you’ll allow us the privilege…” Belle trailed off hopefully.

Instead of replying Elsbeth moved closer between them and nuzzled at Belle’s side, before placing her head on her lap.

Belle could’ve sworn her heart couldn’t get any fuller with love, and yet there she was, nearly bursting at the seams overflowing with it. Jack seemed to be feeling it too from the look he gave her– soft tender eyes searching her face with so much longing and love that ran deeper than the bones beneath their skin. He draped his arm over the seat to pull Belle closer by the shoulder so he could press a kiss to the side of her head.

“It feels like we already have a family of our own,” Jack said in hushed tones, his eyes searching Belle’s face for any signs of regret or disagreement.

This time there was no urgency to rush back to her mother in fear of getting caught, no reason to deny Jack of what she herself wanted. She could tell that her silence worried him though.

For obvious reasons, Jack did not want her to think that he intended to pressure her into wanting things for the future that he was not sure she wanted for herself. “Would you want that? With me? We can do this at our own pace, on our terms. There is no rush. I’m all yours now anyway.”

Belle couldn’t help the lovesick smile on her face as she leaned a little closer to press a kiss to the corner of his worrying lips. “Of course I would want that. Anything, as long as it's with you.”

A moment of content silence passed.

“But what do you think about adopting?” she asked out of the blue. “Elsbeth, in particular.”

Jack’s eyebrows arose in surprise. “Belle, You can’t be serious—”

“Oh, but I am.”

“Are you saying after we marry you want to…”

A scheming yet splendiferous grin broke out on Belle’s face. “Exactly.”

Jack looked at the woman he loved in disbelief as he smiled at her incredulously. “You are brilliantly terrifying, have I ever told you that?” He held her face between his hands, the depth of his eyes searching her own. “You are like sunshine and lightning all at once, and I love you. God, I love you.” His lips found hers then in a hasty, bruising kiss.

“I love you too.” Belle laughed and let the warmth that Jack’s existence brought consume her whole before she leaned in and kissed him again.

**********

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