Edmund Reid was not the first man Deborah had ever been with, though the safest answer to the question was perhaps that he was the first man she had ever been with willingly. To date, the only other man she'd loved had been a childhood sweetheart she had hoped to marry. Yuri had smiled whenever he saw her and they could've built a life on that, but he had died in the mud of a battlefield far away, and she'd lost her heart then, buried in the cold hard ground with the shattered hopes of youth.
Quietly working towards a necessary escape, Deborah had survived in her little war-ravaged village, until late one night, when she'd been savagely taken. A Russian soldier had dragged her down an alley as she made a clandestine trip to an underground market to procure food for what remained of her family. The brutal experience only served to hasten her departure, and she had fled in the company of the Brothers Bloom to a new home, a new world, a new life. She was leaving hurt and sorrow behind her, and though she hoped to heal, she never expected to love again.
Yet she had felt something stir in her from the moment they'd met. A resonance of the sorrow she saw in his eyes, the pain she instinctively recognized as his burden, and a desire to lessen it as she did with her charges grew tenderly within. The night the children's gang and their murderous ringleader had broken in, she had been shielding her charges like a mother hen guarding her chicks… until she'd seen Edmund attacked. Something unexpected had snapped in her, and she had surged forward to seize the fallen weapon and swing on his attacker. A stunning backhand had been her reward, but as the stars had cleared from her vision, she'd sent a prayer for his safety with them to the deity she had long ago lost faith in. Her prayers were answered momentarily, and even then her priority had been to ascertain the Inspector's well-being before seeing to her frightened children. The urge to cradle him in her arms nearly overwhelmed her, and she held herself in check only when he offered a stiff nod of pained reassurance.
That night and many more after had found Deborah wide awake, puzzling over her spontaneous emotional response to the stoic Inspector. In the wee small hours of the morning, while the rest of the city lay in darkness and slumber, she turned moments over in her mind like pebbles in a tide. A brief handshake had left her curling her fingers tightly, as though to trap the memory of his touch in her palm. Furtive glances were common, he became a frequent addition to dreams and daydreams, and she could not help but smile whenever he came into view. And the realization that she was losing her heart to a man who might never love her back was still less surprising to her than finding she could fully lose her heart to anyone.
Shaking out of her sentimental musings, she glanced at the polished clock on the wall. She knew the wake for his young officer had been tonight, and though she prayed for him in the ordeal, she cautiously hoped he would come to her with no real expectation of seeing him. The sudden knocking at the side door was quietly insistent: soft enough not to wake the children, only noticeable if she were awake. She allowed herself a brief frisson of excited anticipation before she opened it, and felt her heart melt like fresh wax when her candle lit upon his face. No words were spoken (though by this point none were needed between them), but the defeated sorrow in his eyes relayed volumes. With a soft smile, she extended her hand toward him, and he lay his cheek upon her knuckles, his head inclining to press like a puppy seeking a pet. It broke her heart to see him in pain, and the immediate urge to soothe and comfort welled up in her like unshed tears. Turning on her heel, she led the way to her chamber and noiselessly shut the door behind them…
Author's Note: Gah.. the feels the finale has pulled out of me. I've been working on this for almost 2 weeks and it just keeps going, so I'm gonna break it up. There will at least be a part 2, possibly a part 3, and as always I hope you enjoy it. Even if you don't, let me know.