A/N: Inspired by "Till I hear it from you", a song by the Gin Blossoms.
Lastly, I thank you for taking the time to read, and review my work. ;)
Deryn Sharp was meant to be on top of the Leviathan, feeding the fléchette bats their fruit. What she was actually doing however, was wandering through the airship and wondering where Alek was, since he was supposed to be helping her feed them. She went to all his usual spots, the Clanker engines, his cabin, Count Volger's cabin (strangely, the count wasn't there), but couldn't find him. In one last frustrated surge of effort to find Alek, she went to the bridge and asked Captain Hobbs "Have you seen Alek?"
"No, Dylan I haven't. Have you tried the Count?" He said, looking at her, as though he knew something she didn't.
"Yes, I have. The Count, strangely was not in his cabin." Deryn said, her voice nearly squeaking, as she became closer to the point of exasperation.
"Well, keep trying." Captain Hobbs said, dismissing her with a wave of his hand. Deryn saluted him and then walked from the bridge. She thought Well I'm just going to have do it myself, the bumrag. On her way to the top, she heard someone say that they were docking in her home city, Glasgow. "Why ever would they do that?" she thought to herself, not suspecting a thing. She reached the top of the ship and clipped herself into one of the ratlines, then began making her way along the spine towards where the bats were kept. Once there, she grabbed the fruit bag from where it lay and began feeding them.
Feeding the bats was a slow and boring process. She wished Alek where here to help her, rather than skipping duties. Even if said duties were downright boring. After half an uneventful hour of work, Deryn had finished feeding the fléchette bats their fruit. As she was packing the feed bag away, she spied one of Dr Barlow's Messenger Terns flying towards the Leviathan. "What is Dr Barlow up to?" she wondered aloud, not deepening her voice.
"No idea" said Newkirk, who had sneaked up on her. Deryn quietly kicked herself for being to engrossed in feeding the bats. He hadn't asked the question yet, her secret was safe. Newkirk, luckily for Deryn, didn't notice the higher pitch of her voice.
"Newkirk, where did you come from?" she said, this time remembering to deepen her voice, so she sounded more like a boy. He pointed to the far-off hatch that led inside the airship. "Come on, let's get inside" said Newkirk,. They clipped their harnesses into the ratlines and began making their way back across the spine, towards the hatch.
It was twilight when Deryn and Newkirk received a message lizard from Captain Hobbs. "Will Dylan Sharp please report to the cargo hold" Strange, she thought, but I'll do it. When she arrived, Newkirk had mysteriously disappeared, leaving her alone in the hold. She heard footfalls behind her. It was Alek! "Hi, Deryn" he said, sending chills down her spine.
"BARKING SPIDERS! Where have you been?" she shouted. Alek, clearly not expecting this, stepped back. "You bumrag. You were supposed to help me with feeding the fléchette bats" she said, looking extremely annoyed. She then composed herself and stood stareing at Alek. In her annoyance, Deryn hadn't noticed that Alek was looking especially dashing. He wore a black suit with pants to match. A white kerchief poked out of his jacket pocket. She felt underdressed, as she looked at him in a suit and then at herself in an airman's uniform. "Why so fancy your princeliness?"
She didn't get a straight answer, she never did with Alek. These days, anyway. "You will see." Then she noticed a Huxley that Alek had, presumably, prepared earlier. "Alek, wh-" She was interrupted by a navy-blue blur heading towards her. She caught them, seeing that the navy-blue blur was a suit. Alek said "Put these on, please."
"Whatever for?"
"You'll see soon enough." She sighed at yet another inconclusive answer. Conveniently, there was a stack of crates in one corner that she could change behind. Deryn went behind the crates, took off her airman's uniform and carefully folded it. She then put on the suit, leaving her folded uniform behind the crates. She emerged from behind the crates, walking so Alek could admire her in the suit. He said to her "You look absolutely stunning." And Deryn knew she did, for once. The suit was perfectly fitted, showing off her long legs, highlighting her fine cheekbones and complementing her blue eyes.
"Come on, Deryn let's go." He said, beckoning her with his hand.
He led them towards the Huxley. They sat down and Alek called "Volger, would you operate the winch?"
"Certainly, Alek" said Volger, appearing from apparently nowhere and it seemed, being agreeable, for once. This was most unusual. As Volger began to unwind the rope, the Huxley moved out of the cargo hold, bobbing and swaying in the wind. She and Alek stared into each other's eyes, for a long minute. Alek broke the stare, taking a small red box from his pocket. With twilight all around them, like a cocoon of light and warmth, they floated over Glasgow, a sea of lights spread out below them. Alek opened the box, revealing a ring looked her straight in the eyes and asked the question, the question she had been waiting, dreaming and hoping would come from his lips, ever since she first lain eyes upon him. "Deryn Sharp, will you marry me?" Her lover waited with baited breath and a twinkle in his eye. She did not even have to think, as she uttered her answer in a rather girly voice, that was most unlike her "Yes. Barking spiders, Yes!"
"Of course, I'll marry you! You are my daft prince." Tears of joy ran down her face and she took Alek's smooth face in her rough hands and pressed her lips to his. This action caused him to almost drop the box, before he fumbled it closed and slid it back into his pocket. The kiss was unsure and tentative, as all proper first kisses are, but it felt right. His lips felt soft and warm against hers. She inhaled sharply, thanks to a breath she didn't even know she had been holding and smelled Alek. No, not just Alek.
Her Alek.
He was hers and she was his.
They drifted quietly towards O'Riley's, floating on a cloud of euphoria. Well, hydrogen, but if it was possible to contain the feeling of immense happiness between them in a gas, then that is what they were floating on. Alek had an immense grin that was the size of the recently built, empire state building on his daft face. She smiled back at him, a look of pure untainted bliss on her face. Sometime later they reached O'Reilly's but didn't enter the restaurant the normal way.
They alighted on the roof, to the sight of a candle lit table, with places set for two. Martin, the head waiter greeted them "Hello Mrs. Sharp, Mr. Hohenberg. I am your waiter for tonight, Martin. Here are your menus. Enjoy" Martin gave them their menus. After five long minutes of deliberating, Alek chose spaghetti and meatballs. Deryn, having not been in Scotland for some time, thought it safer to go with Alek's choice of spaghetti and meatballs. "Martin"
"Yes?"
"We will both have the spaghetti and meatballs" she said, without looking at him. Her attention focused entirely upon Alek, remembering every detail for sketching later.
"An excellent choice, if I do say so. The wait time for your food will be twenty minutes. Oh by the way, you may want to go down stairs"
"Thank you, Martin" she said, breaking contact Alek to give Martin a smile.
Martin departed to get their meals ready. She and Alek were alone on the rooftop. "So, you want do head down?" Alek asked, in his typical, clueless fashion. It was their first and probably only, minute alone tonight. In reply she got up off her chair, walked over to Alek and sat on his lap, enjoying his warmth. After a few minutes she saw that Alek was finding this uncomfortable, so they switched positions. Because, of course, she was taller than Alek. Minutes passed and she relented to Alek's earlier suggestion of heading inside. "It's too cold." she said, pouting at him.
Alek smirked at her, green eyes sparkling "But leibe, I was enjoying sitting on your lap."
"Well your princeliness, you can sit on my lap inside" she said, with a flirtatious smile. He relented, reluctantly, of course and got up off her lap, waiting as she joined him.
Deryn smiled "I knew you'd see sense in the end. You big daftie"
They headed inside, holding hands and smiling. To her great surprise, her brother Jaspert was there in the doorway, ready to greet them, with Bovril the perspicacious loris riding on his shoulder. "Mr. Sharp" it said.
"Come in, it must be freezing out there" said Jaspert, motioning for them to come inside. Jaspert took Alek firmly aside and whispered with great conviction "You break her heart, I break your legs" Alek looked terrified at this and nodded, stumbling over his words "Y-Yes."
Together the three made their way to the first floor, which was filled with the sounds of merry making. Who was responsible for this? None other than the whole crew of the Leviathan, along with Dr Barlow, Count Volger and her Ma. With a slight pang, she wished her Da was here to see this. There was a jazz band playing in the background. Champagne, beer and whiskey were being served as light refreshments. She chose whiskey, while Alek, beer. Alek went to the jazz band and motioned for them to stop. He stepped up to the microphone pedestal, its shiny chrome reflecting the scene happening around it.
"Ladies and gentleman, I want you all to know that I just proposed to my beautiful girlfriend Deryn Sharp. And she said yes!"
Alek stepped down from the microphone to tremendous applause and some wolf-whistles. She saw that her Ma was beckoning them, so she and Alek went over to her. Deryn's Ma was dressed elegantly, in a long flowing dress. She said, looking Alek up and down "Deryn, your aunties have something to say to you." Alek accompanied Deryn as she mingled and talked with her aunties. She wasn't really listening to her aunties, because they disapproved of her tomboyishness. But she heard words like "Partner", Glad", "Right" and "You" being thrown around. She suspected that Alek didn't meet their standards, which was fine because he certainly met hers. He didn't care what they thought anyway, she knew. All Alek cared for was her happiness. She nudged Alek and whispered "Let's escape my aunties. They're being mean."
Out of the corner of his eye she spied Newkirk in formal dress, making his way over to them. Alek nudged her and whispered "Now's our chance." Together they said bye to her aunties, and wandered through the crowd with Newkirk. As they were walking away, Newkirk said "Hi Deryn."
Turning towards Newkirk she said "So, how long have you and the rest of the crew known?"
Alek answered for Newkirk, smiling sheepishly "About two months, when I started organizing this whole thing."
Newkirk chimed in "Oh, and by the way, Captain Hobbs doesn't care. He won't report you to The Admiralty."
"Thanks Newkirk" said Deryn.
Martin told them that their food was finally ready and led them to a table for two. They then sat down and tucked in, this time inside, where it was much warmer. The spaghetti and meatballs was delightful. When they were finished, Alek again took the microphone and indicated that they should move outside.
With Deryn and Alek leading the way, the party migrated outside. At that moment a huge cloud of blackness obscured the moon. It was the fléchette bats! Then confetti rained from the sky in a kaleidoscope of color and the moon was visible again. Alek took Deryn by the waist and swung her around in a circle, almost falling over in the process. She squealed with delight and kissed his mouth, while murmuring "I love you Alek." Deryn's various aunties were mortified at this public display of affection, but she didn't care.
Alek loved her and she loved Alek. That was what mattered.