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Disclaimer: I do not own Fable or the characters contained in the Fable universe or any of the lyrics used. All rights go to their respective owners.
Behind these hazel eyes – Kelly Clarkson
Seems like just yesterday you were a part of me
I used to stand so tall, I used to be so strong
Your arms around me tight, everything it felt so right
Unbreakable, like nothing could go right
Now I can't breathe, I can't sleep, I'm barely hanging on…
Here I am, once again, I'm torn into pieces,
Can't deny it, can't pretend, just thought you were the one,
Broken up deep inside, but you won't get to see the tears I've cried,
Behind these hazel eyes…
Chapter 3
A few days later, Ben spent the night in the Cock in the Crown drinking more than a few pints. The Riveter was closer to his house in Industrial, but he was looking for a change in scenery. Well, that and the women there were quite eager to meet Captain Finn and they weren't very…reserved…about their affections. Not that Ben wanted to turn down a lovely woman eager to please him, but he also had his standards.
One could only imagine his immense surprise when Page wandered into the pub, dressed in a blouse with a plunging neckline and a pair of tight pants, her usual array of weapons nowhere to be seen. She didn't seem to notice him as she sat down at the bar, clearly waiting for someone.
Ben watched in amusement as she watched the door, nursing a tankard of ale. The amusement turned to confusion, however, when Erica's fiancé entered through the door and Page got to her feet.
What are those two doing? he thought as he slowly took a sip of his drink. He had no idea why Page would be seeing Sebastian, especially in her current state of dress.
As subtly as he could, he moved to a booth in the corner where he could hear their conversation without being easily spotted.
"I apologize for being late. Accounting troubles and such. How are you, Page?" Sebastian asked.
"I'm doing well. Reaver hasn't tried anything improper recently, so…that's always a good thing," Page replied. Her voice sounded off, but Ben couldn't determine why.
"I hope you don't mind, but I invited her majesty to join us."
From her tone of voice, Page clearly did mind. "No, of course not. This is only a business meeting after all."
And you're dressed like that? Where can I get an invite to that kind of meeting? Ben thought and smiled to himself. Clearly, the rebel leader was up to something. Page, while beautiful, smart and strong, wasn't the type to actively try and catch any man and she was practically married to her causes, so there was obviously something else going on. The question was what.
Sebastian got to his feet and headed to the door, while Page couldn't manage to hide the irritation on her face. After deciding that he probably wasn't going to guess what she was up to, Ben got to his feet and wandered to their table.
"Why Page! What a delight to see you here," Ben said smoothly as he sat down opposite her.
"Ben. I'd say it's a pleasure, but I'm not a liar," she replied coldly. "Is there a reason you're here?"
He raised an eyebrow as his smile grew wider. "Can't a man pop by to have a drink with a friend who happens to be in the same pub?"
"I'm here for business. So if you're here for idle chatter, I suggest you go find someone else to irritate."
"You see, I don't quite believe you." Ben eyed her with a knowing look. "Judging from the way you're dressed, I expect a man to be here as your escort."
She paled for a moment before shooting him a furious look. "What I do with myself has nothing to do with you, Finn. I'm going to ask you one more time to leave before I kick you out myself."
"Ah, there's the feisty woman we all know and love. At least tell me why you're meeting your friend's fiancé alone, dressed as the way are?"
"Erica is on her way here," Page countered.
"From what I heard, you didn't exactly invite her along."
"Listen, you overgrown Hobbe-" Her eyes darted to something over his shoulder and a small smile appeared on her face. Ben couldn't quite say that he liked the look of that smile. "You have about five seconds to disappear if you want to avoid her."
Before he could register what she said, a familiar voice interrupted him from behind. "Captain Finn. I didn't expect to see you here."
"Erica, what a surprise," he said as he turned around to look at her. From her expression, she wasn't particularly impressed with him.
Well, what's new about that?
"Good evening, Captain Finn," Sebastian said, courteous as ever. "Would you like to join us?"
"I doubt Ben would want to stay. He hasn't exactly proven to have the interest or capacity to understand business," Page commented snidely. "Do you, Ben?"
"Oh, Page, I missed your compliments," Ben shot back. "But you are right. I'm just going to enjoy my drink over there. Enjoy whatever you're discussing." With that, Ben headed off to the counter for another drink. He didn't expect to see Erica tonight and it was enough to put him in a foul mood. What he needed was distraction, preferably in the form of the curvy patron who'd been eyeing him for a while. As usual, it didn't take long for the lovely lady to approach him.
"Excuse me, sir, but are you Captain Benjamin Finn?" she asked coyly, glancing at him through heavily made-up eyelashes. She was pretty enough and clearly had more than a few drinks in her. Exactly his type.
He shot her one of his roguish smiles. "Indeed I am. Would you like to have a seat?"
She sat down and quickly proceeded to ask him the usual questions. When did he get back? How did he feel fighting in the revolution and against the Crawler? Was there a lady waiting for him?
The last question was always asked subtly, but with enough fluttering eyelashes and pouty lips to interest any man.
"Ahh, not at the moment, Desiree and yourself?" Ben always found out if there was a man in the picture and, if so, if he was enough to deter him.
"Oh…I feel so embarrassed to admit this, but I'm married. But my husband has been away for so long…It's almost been a month now. He's a traveling merchant you see, always off to sell the next big thing."
He leaned in closer. "I see…and why are you sitting here with me instead of waiting at home like a dutiful wife?"
A coy smile played on her lips as she leaned closer to whisper in his ear. "I haven't felt the touch of a man in the longest time..."
Ben was just about to reply when a hand came to rest on his shoulder from behind. "Sorry to bother, Captain, but can we have a word?" Erica asked, her lips quirked into an obviously forced smile.
"Can it wait, Majesty? As you can see, I'm entertaining this lovely young lady," he replied through an equally gritted smile.
"Yes, I can see that." Erica turned her attention to the woman sitting next to him who was looking more and more uncomfortable by the moment. "Lady Desiree, you'd best get back home before your father finds you missing."
The woman barely nodded in the queen's direction before practically running out of the room.
When she was gone, Ben turned his irritated gaze to Erica. "Any reason you're chasing away my company for the evening?" he asked, quirking an eyebrow.
Erica merely crossed her arms and raised an eyebrow. "That was Lady Desiree. She's to be married tomorrow."
Ben pretended to be unperturbed. "Oh? And your point is?"
"Do you know what her father would do if he found his "perfect little girl" plucked before her wedding?"
"Good point." He took another gulp of his drink. "And here I thought you were just jealous."
Her hazel eyes widened slightly. "What? Why would I be jealous of that tart?"
"That tart?" Ben smirked widely. "Why, Erica…You honestly do seem jealous."
"Shut up, Ben," she said fiercely. "Are you honestly doing this right here, right now?"
"Do what, sweetheart?" he asked slyly. "Proving that you still care about me?"
Before he could make another smart comment, she punched him again. The other patrons barely glanced at them, instead going on with their own business.
"Why would you do that again?!" he cried, clutching his face. "Damn it, Erica."
"Because it's so damned satisfying, Ben," she replied, smiling slightly.
He couldn't help but roll his eyes. "Are you going to stop anytime soon?"
"I'll stop doing it when it stops being so damned satisfying," she said simply. "Now, if we're done here-"
"Wait." She turned towards him, clearly irritated. "Why is Sebastian here with Page?" he asked and motioned to the chair next to him.
After a moment of hesitation, she sat down with sigh. "Sebastian often donates money to Page's charities and helps with the fundraising."
"Oh. That's…less entertaining than I imagined."
She narrowed her eyes dangerously. "And what did you imagine?"
Ben shrugged, not particularly interested in getting punched again. "Nothing much, just wondering."
"Ben," she said again, her voice taking on a dangerous edge.
"Have you seen what she's wearing? That's not a "business meeting" outfit."
"Whatever, Ben. I don't have time for this." She got to her feet and straightened out her breeches. "Good luck with your…problem."
"You could always help, sweetheart. What do you say? I have a room upstairs," he said, shooting a meaningful look at her.
"Do you want to get hit again, Captain? My fiancé is sitting right there."
"I'm not scared of him," he said, smirking widely.
"He's not the one who is going to break your cheek," she said, steeling her jaw.
As he was firmly enjoying the conversation, Ben pretended to look thoughtful at her words. "You, on the other hand…"
She rolled her eyes. "Ben, I'm trying to get along with you, but you are making it very hard."
"So you want to get along with me?" He knew he was treading on dangerous ground but it had been a long time since he'd had a semi-civil conversation with her.
She blushed slightly. "You're being an arse, Ben."
"Seriously, sweetheart. Friends?" He held out a hand for her to shake, which she pointedly ignored.
"Slightly apathetic acquaintances." Ben almost imagined a smile on her face before Erica turned and headed back to their table.
Slowly, but surely, I'm going to get there, Ben thought brightly as he finished his drink.
oOoOoOo
Erica was rifling through a heap of papers in the Resistance hideout when a loud clearing of someone's throat caught her attention. She turned towards the noise and smiled widely when she recognised the blond captain.
"Something I can help you with, Captain?" she asked, trying to keep the excitement from creeping into her voice.
"The question, love, is whether I can help you with something," Ben said and leaned against the wall. "I think you need a break."
"Walter and Page want these documents-" she started but Ben interrupted her by placing a hand on her arm.
"All work and no play makes the Princess a dull girl," Ben said smoothly, trademark lopsided smirk already on his face. "You are coming with me."
"Captain-"
"No arguments, sweetheart. I'm the senior officer in this room and I'm ordering you to take a break before you keel over," he interrupted in a mock commanding tone with an equally mocking serious expression on his face. "You haven't had a chance to breathe since you got back from Reaver's mansion."
"Yes, sir." She smiled as she signed off a salute.
"Good."
Before she could ask what his plans were, he'd already grabbed her hand and led her out the back exit. She couldn't stop her heart from fluttering at his firm and comforting hold on her and was so entranced by the surrealism of being touched by the man with whom she was admittedly in love with that she barely noticed where they were going. It wasn't until they entered an abandoned park near the river that she thought to interrupt him again.
"Um…Captain? What are we doing here?" she asked quietly and he came to stop. She managed to curb a sigh of disappointment when he released her hand and watched him stroll over to a large oak tree.
"Firstly, stop with this "Captain" nonsense. You're making me feel old and I'm far too handsome and dashing to be feeling old in the company of a lovely lady such as yourself," he said in that light tone of his and she felt a blush creeping up her neck. "Secondly, as for what we are doing here, I want you to guess."
She looked around in the early afternoon sunlight, but she couldn't see anything special about the empty area. "I'm afraid I don't understand."
He wandered back to where she was standing and motioned to the tree that he was previously standing next to. "What is that?" he asked, his blue eyes twinkling with mischief.
"That is a tree," she said flatly and eyed him strangely. "I'd think that you knew that already."
His smirk grew even wider in what she assumed was amusement. "Yes…but what is that in the tree?"
Her gaze followed his hand to where he was pointing and she saw two ropes attached to a plank of wood hanging from one of the branches. "That is a piece of wood hanging from the tree?" She was still thoroughly confused.
"My dear princess, what you see there is called a "swing". I remembered what you said about watching the Industrial children playing in the park over the castle walls and wishing that you could play with them. I thought it was a good idea to show you exactly what you missed."
She stared up at him in disbelief mixed with wonder that he'd remembered her off-handed comment. "Ben, I-"
"No argument." Before she could register what was happening, he'd wrapped his arm around her waist and led her to the precariously hanging piece of wood. "Now sit."
"This doesn't look safe," she said, but he pressed her down firmly until she was sitting on the seat, her feet a few centimetres above the ground. She'd grown taller from using ranged weapons, but she was still short enough to feel like she was going to fall off. The seat beneath her rocked the whole time and the whole sensation was so foreign that the only thing that kept her from falling was Ben's firm grip on her shoulders.
"Nonsense, love. Kids play on these things." His expression darkened for a moment. "At least they did until Reaver forced them into labour." The dark cloud disappeared as quickly as it appeared. "Just hold onto the rope, alright?"
"Are you crazy? This is too high for a child to sit on!" she argued, but he silenced her with another amused look. Instead, she tightened her hold on the ropes until her knuckles were white.
"I may have altered it earlier this afternoon for you to sit comfortably, but I promise that it's perfectly safe. Besides, I won't let you get hurt," he assured her and she felt her racing heart calm down at the comforting expression in his eyes.
"Very well," she stammered slightly before nodding. "What do I do?"
"Don't get a fright." He let go of her and she felt her body lurching forward without his support.
"Ben!" she cried, but before she could fall, his hands settled on her waist from behind.
"Calm down, sweetheart, I've got you." The amusement was clear in his tone. "Now I'm going to push you, alright? All you have to do is swing your legs to get some momentum. Don't worry about falling."
She nodded wordlessly and she felt him push gently against her back. After the initial lurch, she found her body knew exactly what to do and she found herself enjoying herself immensely. She'd never felt so free before in her life.
She could hear Ben chuckling quietly in the background at what she assumed was her obvious enjoyment. Suddenly she was overcome with a sudden sense of daring.
"If I jump, will you catch me?" she called over her shoulder.
He came to stand at the front of her. "Whenever you're ready, sweetheart," he replied, smirking.
When she felt that she was high enough she barely called out a warning before pushing herself off of the seat.
She landed in her feet, but her momentum carried her forward and she stumbled into Ben, causing both of them to tumble to the ground, laughing.
"Well, love, I have to say that you're the first woman who has knocked me off my feet," Ben laughed, his blue eyes sparkling.
Her giggles stopped immediately when she realised that she was practically straddling him and rolled off of him, her face burning. "Well, knocking you off of your feet is an accomplishment in itself, Ben," she managed, smiling. "I feel honoured."
"You are pretty incredible, Erica," he said, glancing at her from the side. "It's not too surprising that you are the one to have that honour."
She struggled to come up with a reply to his admittedly flirty words, but a loud commotion saved her from embarrassing herself further.
"All citizens are to convene at the castle for an announcement from the king!"
"Come on," Ben said, suddenly serious as he got to his feet. "This sounds like trouble."
"What is your decision regarding the floral arrangements, Majesty?" Hobson's nasally voice brought her back to reality with a screeching start.
"Oh...Give me a moment." She inhaled the sweet scent of the huge bouquet of lilies before moving to the roses. "Either one of them is fine, Hobson. I don't exactly have a preference," she said after a while.
"My lady, I don't want the flowers to be-"
She held up a hand to quiet him down. "Hobson, let me make something clear…We finally got the country back on its feet after the whole Crawler fiasco. I don't want to spend thousands of gold on one day. I already agreed to the ballroom for the reception and the huge ceremony by the lake. I'm drawing the line at a million vases of flowers that are going to wilt anyway. A few bouquets are fine, but don't destroy all of our plantations."
Hobson looked nonchalant at her little outburst. "If you say so, your Majesty. If you'll excuse me, I need to confirm with the kitchen about the catering." He left and took the flowers with him.
She merely nodded in reply before falling down on her arms at her desk.
"Wedding getting to be more trouble than it's worth?" a dry tone asked from the door.
"I'm going to kill that man," she muttered and raised her head to look at the person standing in the doorway. Page was wearing her usual expressionless face, except for a slight sardonic smile adorning her lips.
"Your fiancé? Or maybe there is another man you might be referring to?" The former rebel leader sat down on one of the plush chairs scattered around the room. One of her dark eyebrows rose in a meaningful quirk. "I heard Mr Finn is still wandering around."
"Sebastian couldn't annoy anyone to the point of killing if he tried and Ben…Ben is Ben. The person who I'm referring to is Hobson." Erica got to her feet and sat down across from Page. "Though, admittedly, Ben might come very close."
"Why is he still here? It's been close to a month now."
"Apparently, he's pretty insistent on staying around. Officially rejoined the army and everything." She sighed loudly. "At least he's staying out of my way for the most part. I'd have thought that he might try something by now."
Page's smile fell slightly and Erica saw a strange expression crossing her face before it disappeared. "Is he getting along with Daniel and Elizabeth? I assume that might be why he's still here," Page said quickly.
Erica eyed her friend curiously, but decided to leave it alone. "They…They're mad about him. I always thought that he might be apprehensive about children what with his very apparent commitment issues, but he's actually quite…wonderful," she admitted reluctantly. "They can't stop talking about him."
"That's…good, isn't it?" Page said flatly. The same expression crossed Page's face and this time Erica couldn't ignore it.
"Are you alright, Page? It seems like something is wrong," she said carefully.
"No, nothing is wrong." The dark-skinned woman quickly got to her feet. "I need to go."
Erica followed suit, an expression of concern on her face. "Did I say something wrong?"
"No, I just need to be somewhere. Take care."
Before Erica could register what had just happened, Page left the room as quickly as she appeared. "Well that was odd," she muttered as she watched the door slam close.
"What was odd?"
She stifled a shriek as she whirled towards the window. "What are you doing here?!" she cried, catching her breath. "Can't you use the door like a civilised person?!"
Ben smirked widely as he sat down on the window sill. "Sorry. I'm used to this entrance way. Still leaving your window open, I see?"
"It's the middle of the day in the middle of summer. Of course the bloody window is open!" She crossed her arms in frustration. "Why on earth are you here?!"
"Calm down, Queenie. I came to ask you a simple question." His smirk grew even wider. "Would you consider allowing me to take the twins on a trip?"
"Ben, as good as you've been around them, I'm not about to allow you to-"
Ben interrupted her by holding up a hand. "Not alone, of course. I'm asking you to come along."
She couldn't help but scoff at his suggestion. "That would be an unmitigated disaster, Ben."
"Why? Because of what happened between us? That's just silly." He hopped off the sill and strolled over to lean against the bookcase next to her.
"No, because I might kill you."
"Ahh, you can't kill me even if you want to."
"Don't underestimate me," she grit out. "And exactly how do I explain a little vacation with my children and my old captain from the revolution who most people suspected I had a relationship with? I'm set to be married in less than six months," she said dryly.
"Bring the ball and chain along," Ben shrugged. "He's not that bad a bloke."
"Excuse me if I don't want the two of you to spend too much time together." She narrowed her eyes at him. "Why do you want him to come along?"
He rolled his eyes. "I want to kill him and throw him into a river so that you and I can elope and live a life of sin in Samarkand," he said dryly before he shot her a wink. "In all seriousness, I'm trying to make amends here and to show you that I'm…well, not exactly accepting…but starting to get used to the idea…of you two…getting married."
She couldn't stop her eyes from widening at his words. "I…appreciate that, Ben," she smiled slightly. "I'm glad you're getting to be a bit more mature."
"Let's not get too excited about that too soon, love." He slapped his forehead in mock annoyance at himself. "Sorry, Majesty. The point is I'm trying. So, what do you say?"
"I have to think about it. It would still seem very inappropriate."
"What happened to you, Erica? You very never bothered by appearances. Remember our little vacation to Driftwood?" he said with a very sly and meaningful quirk of his eyebrow.
A blush crept up her neck at the memory, but she tried to keep her face as neutral as possible. "I became queen, Ben. Appearances became important."
"You were a lot more fun when you didn't care what others thought. But anyway…" He headed to the window. "Let me know when you decide."
"You can use the door, you know," she called after him.
Another lopsided smirk flashed in her direction. "And what fun would that be?"
oOoOoOo
On his way out of the gardens, Ben bumped into the last person he wanted to see. The former king of Albion and elder brother of the woman that he did wrong himself.
Ben tried to ignore him, but Logan purposefully came to stand in front of him.
"Mr Finn," Logan said slowly, his eyes colder than usual. "Still sneaking around, I see. But what more can I expect from a man who leaves everything in his life to chase his own selfish dreams?"
Ben gritted his teeth in irritation. "Listen, Logan, what happened between me and Erica is exactly that. Between me and Erica. I'd appreciate it if you didn't poke that giant nose of yours where it doesn't belong."
Logan's eyes narrowed dangerously and a smirk split over his face. "You see, that's where you're wrong, Ben. Erica is my sister and my younger sister at that, which means that it is my duty to protect her from whatever might harm her, be it mercenaries, assassins or scoundrels who don't have the decency to say goodbye."
"She doesn't need you to protect her. Last I checked, she was the Hero around here," Ben countered.
"Tell me this, Ben. Was it too much trouble to leave money on the bedside table after leaving or don't you usually pay your whores when you're done?" Logan sneered.
By this time, he was so angry that he could barely see. Ben almost moved to hit him, but he stopped himself just in time. "How dare you talk about her that way?!" he hissed. "She's your sister and I loved her!"
"Unfortunately, that's how you treated her. You left her bed in the middle of the night, you left her pregnant, to board a ship to Samarkand. If that's your idea of love, there must be plenty of broken hearts all over Albion and yours must be so torn by now that you can barely function." To Ben's annoyance, it almost seemed as if Logan was enjoying torturing him.
Of course he's enjoying this. This is Logan we're talking about, he reminded himself.
"Yes, I made a mistake in leaving and I'm sorry. That doesn't give you an excuse to act so bloody high and mighty, Highness. Why the hells are you still here anyway? I thought you were going to leave after Walter's funeral," Ben said, crossing his arms.
The smirk on Logan's scarred lips grew even wider. "Did you honestly think that I'd leave my heartbroken sister alone just after Walter had been buried and you disappeared? You're even more disillusioned and idiotic than I thought."
Ben was starting to lose the tiny hold he had on his temper. Will I get hanged for shooting the former monarch of Albion? Probably. At least that would be a fitting end to this month.
"Listen, you pompous-" He shut up with a yelp and the former king's fist collided with his cheek. Right, third time this month, he thought dryly as he rubbed the swelling skin. "Not that smart a move, Logan," Ben warned before lunging towards him. He moved to return the blow, but Logan stepped out of the way just in time, causing Ben to tumble to the ground due to his momentum.
"Stay away from her, Captain. If I catch you hurting her again, I'll be the one to drive a sword through you." With this, Logan strode in the opposite direction as if nothing happened.
Ben got to his feet, curses dropping from his lips as he tenderly touched his bruised cheek. "Yep. I definitely have a mental problem to have thought that coming back was a good idea," he muttered as he made his way home.
oOoOoOo
