AN: The scene where Jasper asked Sara Alice to keep the present a "secret" had been bothering me, and I"m curious about where James and Jasper go from here, so I put this together.
Robert has wasted little time asserting himself after his Coronation. True to his word, he hired Jasper back into The Palace as "The King's Personal Detail." James isn't technically Jasper's boss anymore, and Jasper is making an effort to tread lightly. They don't share direct responsibilities under this new regimen, and while their work certainly overlaps, they've been sharing information on a need to know basis and communicating via the footmen. It has been a long week.
They each have an office on the security corridor, which Jasper has been avoiding on purpose, preferring the privacy of the Control Room behind the wardrobe. Unfortunately, he's out of pens, of all stupid things, but he know that James is in a meeting, so he finds himself sneaking into his own office to get some. He stops short when he sees Sarah-Alice lying on his desk. He has been trying to steer clear of her too. He knows he's hurt a lot of people, and he really doesn't want to add the little girl to that list. He may be a slow learner, but he had been listening to James in the courtyard.
"Hi," she says gloomily, looking at him upside-down
"Hi," Jasper answers her, "What are you doing in here?
"Nothing."
"Are you allowed to be doing nothing in my office?"
"No. I'm not." Sara Alice confesses, "but I wanted to see you."
Jasper has to laugh to himself… I wanted to see you…. He supposes he can't really fault that response. Besides, it's been a lonely few days and he's glad at least someone wants to see him.
"The Princess left. Even after she read her story book."
Jasper sits down in his chair behind the desk.
"She did," he agrees, "but she'll come back."
"You were supposed to make her stay. She can't have happily ever after if she's not even here!"
Jasper takes a deep breath and leans forward. "That's not really how it works," he tells her. "You know she didn't leave because she doesn't care about you…. She just," he pauses, unsure of how to explain this, "she just needed to go and do some things for herself for a little while. Not for you, or me, or the King, or the Queen or Prince Liam, just for Eleanor. She's going to take some time for herself, and then when she comes home, she'll be ready to stay." With him, forever, he hopes.
Sara Alice sits up and swings her pink trainers over the edge of the desk.
"Can we call her?" She wonders. "I think she'd like to talk to us." She gives Jasper a sideways look, "you especially."
Jasper shakes his head. "No, I don't think we can call her." Eleanor has only been gone a few days, and she's going to be pissed if she thinks he's stalking her. And she'll be more pissed if she thinks he's using Sara Alice to do it.
"Daddy said that too." Sara Alice reports, swinging her feet.
She's trying to play him. He knows he shouldn't, but he laughs. "I figured. You," he points a pen at her, "should listen to your Dad." Jasper stands up, scoops her up under her arms, and swings Sara Alice off the desk, depositing her on the floor with a thump.
"He asked me not to play in here." Her round face is confused.
"Yeah," Jasper says. James hasn't said a word to him since the Coronation, Jasper knows that he's endangered their fragile family bubble, and that James is still angry.
"I thought I could just come and visit you sometimes and we wouldn't have to tell him. Like a secret." She's been thinking about this.
Jasper kneels down in front of her, shaking his head. "Listen to me," he says, "This is important. I would love for you to come and visit me, but little girls cannot have secrets with grownups. Not ever."
Sara Alice pulls a face, "We kept the story book for Eleanor a secret."
"That was more of a surprise," Jasper says. "Do you understand the difference."
She thinks for a moment. "A surprise is something that makes people happy when they find out, but a secret might make them sad."
"Right," Jasper nods. "So listen, you can come and visit me whenever your Dad says it's okay, but no secrets. All right?"
They are interrupted by a cough from the doorway.
"Daddy!" Sara Alice chirps, all innocence, like she was absolutely meant to be in Jasper's office.
James rolls his eyes, he's not buying any of it. "Your tea is ready, moppet," he tells her. "Go on up, I'll be there in a minute."
Shit! Jasper thinks, getting to his feet.
"Bye, Jasper Caterpillar!" Sara Alice skips out, blowing a kiss at him on her way.
"Bye," he answers her, before turning to James. "I'm sorry, I know you don't want me around her." Jasper faces him, arms at his sides, palms facing out. "I told her she needs to check with you…" his voice fades away,.
"I know," James nods, "I heard you." He waves his hand towards the hallway. Jasper wonders how long the other man had been standing out there.
"Oh...well… then…" Jasper shrugs.
The conversation that they need to have is at least a week overdue, and Jasper has no clue how to start it.
"Are you liking the new gig then, " James asks, just as the silence is getting awkward.
Jasper smirks, "Not really."
"Seems a bit inflexible, our new King." This comment earns James a laugh..
"Len was right," Jasper tells him. "He does like his rules."
James raises one eyebrow. "You've talked to the Princess?"
"No." Jasper sighs. "She told me that … before." He looks at his old boss, wondering if he has talked to Eleanor. James is giving nothing away, and Jasper is determined not to ask.
"And Prince Liam?" James asks. This is a safer, work related, question.
"He's not really in a great place… mentally, " Jasper reports. Specifically, Liam has been alternately half drunk and pacing the floors, or in a fitful sleep. The knuckles on his left hand are bruised from where he punched a wall and hit a stud. James does not need all the details.
"And where is he physically?"
Jasper scoffs, "Aren't you tracking his phone? You know where he is physically."
"Officially, Prince Liam refused a protective detail and left the Palace on the morning of the Coronation. Officially, Palace Security has no idea where his Highness might be."
"How about unofficially?"
"Unofficially, I think Prince Liam is crashing at a friend's place in Shoreditch, and he doesn't want his family to know where he is or what he's up to."
Jasper doesn't know when his former boss learned that he actually owns a small, two-bedroom flat in Shoreditch. He purchased it ages ago, when he first got to London. It's an investment, and it's convenient, and he has been subletting it through AirBNB for months. When Liam had decided to disappear before the Coronation, all Jasper could think to do was park him someplace safe, so he'd handed him his keys and instructed him to stay put. Liam was so distracted, he'd actually stared at him and said, "I'm a Prince, I don't carry keys." He'd managed to overcome the challenges of the deadbolt, however, and has spent the past 6 days in Jasper's spare room.
"He's fine. I don't think he's hiding exactly, he just needs some space to think." And drink. And punch things that are not family members.
James pulls out one of the chairs in front of the desk and settles into it. Jasper mirrors him, glad that there isn't a desk in between them.
"Does King Robert know where his brother is?" James asks.
Jasper shakes his head, "I don't think so. He isn't too bothered by it, he hasn't asked me anything."
James frowns. "He hasn't asked me either. Do you think he could be following you?"
"I don't think so," Jasper meets James's eye, "I haven't noticed a physical tail, and the only trace on my phone is yours."
James shrugs, but doesn't bother to deny anything, "You're in love with the Princess, and my daughter is fond of you. It's my job to know where you are."
"That's why I haven't taken it off." That's not the only reason, but Jasper is not a big fan of introspection. He puts his elbows on his knees and sticks his hands in his hair. "You know I wouldn't hurt them on purpose."
"I know that you did hurt them," James shoots back.
Jasper rocks back in his chair, "I did," he says miserably. "I know, I'm sorry… If I could go back again…"
"You can't," James says flatly. "What's done is done."
And now they are back to this. James knows that the right thing to do is offer an olive branch. One of them is a fully functional adult with decades of responsible life experience. The other one of them is a heartsore millennial who was literally raised by wolves. James didn't cause this breach, not really, but he's going to have to be the one to heal it. He blows out a long breath. "I shouldn't have said what I did about your Dad," he says. "I was angry."
Jasper isn't expecting this. "What?" he asks.
"When I said your Dad was a bit of a disappointment. That was a cheap shot. I'm sorry."
Jasper sits up, and scoffs. "You fired me! You said I was a danger to Sara Alice and told me to leave my sidearm on the desk! Do you really think I care about what you call my Dad?"
James meets his eye. "The part about your Dad is the only piece I wouldn't say again." When Jasper has no response, James continues. "This is like policework, we need a cohesive team, everyone working together. I can't have people going off half-cocked at the first provocation. It's dangerous."
"My Dad is dangerous! I'm not letting him get within a thousand miles of here!" Jasper is defensive.
"Yes," James agrees. "He's a problem. But if you had asked me for help, or told me about the problem, we could have solved it. But you didn't…. so now Palace security looks like the Keystone Cops, Prince Liam is camped in your sitting room, the Princess is in the South of France and you… well, you work for King Robert, who can send you to prison for treason whenever the mood suits him. And there's not a damn thing we can do about any of it." As angry as James is, it's still 'we', not 'you'.
Jasper has no answer to this, and James is in no mood to fill the silence. Finally Jasper says, "I'm not really good at asking for help."
"No shit you're not!"
James knows a fair bit about Jasper's family and upbringing. He knows that Jasper has had to fend for himself since he was small, and that he grew up without any kind of safety net. Jasper is looking at him, blinking quickly. It is the same look that Sara Alice gave him when she left her bike out in the street and the rubbish truck ran over it. Natural consequences. No one likes them, but they are good learning tools. James is doing his best to parent a seven year old, which frankly, was enough of a surprise. Now he finds himself parenting everyone in the building under 30, and it's exhausting.
"I'm not," Jasper repeats glumly. He sits up and shakes his head, and sighs. "Robert's not going to send me to prison. Not right now anyway. He isn't really done with Liam I don't think, he's just biding his time…"
"And his sister…?"
"I don't know yet."
This has been bothering James. "How far would she go, do you think, to keep you out of jail?"
This gets a thin smile out of Jasper. "Depends on how mad she is. She's sent me to jail before."
James rolls his eyes. These kids are idiots, all of them. "That was before," he says. "How about now?"
"I don't know… Maybe pretty far."
"You will keep me in the loop, yes? If the King starts making noise in that direction?"
"Yes," Jasper promises.
"And if Prince Liam starts getting any sudden insights?" James had debriefed Liam after his limo ride with Ted Pryce, and James didn't place much trust in the Prince's impulse control.
"I will keep you posted. And… you're tracing us."
"Because that is actually my job."
"Right," Jasper can't surpress his grin. Someone has his back…. He might not be thrilled about it, but James is still watching out for him. They are not exactly back to where they started, but this is an improvement.
"Okay," James stands up, this is as far as they are going to get today. "If I don't make sure my daughter actually eats her tea she's going to binge on crisps and strawberry licorice."
Jasper stands up too. "That's gross."
"It is." James walks to the door and then stops. "What made you tell Sara Alice all that, before, about surprises and not secrets?"
"Oh!" Jasper is caught off balance. "She helped me make a present for Eleanor… it was a bit stupid… but anyway, when everything blew up…" Jasper waves his hands around, "I didn't want to give it to her, so Sara Alice and I agreed to keep it a secret. But then I got to thinking about how messed up this place is, and I thought, she probably doesn't need to be part of any secrets around here… I don't know… It just seemed like I shouldn't set her up to think secrets are a good thing…." He trails off, feeling like he's not doing a good job of explaining this.
James nods. There might be hope for his former subordinate yet. "Good idea," he says. He turns to go, and Jasper goes back behind his desk, wanting to look like he has actual work to do.
James stops at the doorway. "Kid," he calls. Jasper looks up. "You are not your Father. Now that you know better, you'll do better."
Jasper's eyes widen. This is what he has needed to hear. He meets James's gaze and squares his shoulders. "Thanks," he says.
They are not going to hug it out, and Jasper is not completely forgiven, but all he needs is another chance. Jasper Frost 2.0.5.