Winter had come early for London this year – at least, the snow and ice that usually waited until February and March had decided to visit early. Bella was freezing, and using an obscene amount of wood in the fireplace in her room. This was also her third cup of tea and because of it she was wide awake on a night she was hoping to spend relaxing and snoozing.
There was a draft threatening to come through her window, where the pane had aged and chipped away enough that air got in. She didn't mind it in the summer, but now she was looking for an old blanket to lay on the windowsill in the hopes of blocking the draft. She'd mention it to Miss Susan if it wasn't for her poor favour with the madam right now. Earnings were low and Bella's heart wasn't in the job any more – something that did not look good in the business books. If she asked about getting the window fixed she'd probably be told that it would be fixed when she started earning more each night. Bella had the ability to do so, just not the drive. Not these days anyway...
Balling up an old wool blanket against the window pane, Bella paused and stared through her net curtains to the street outside. It had started to snow earlier but the ground was wet so she didn't think it would lay. Yet the streets looked far whiter than they did ever with the decorative netting hanging in her vision. With one hand Bella lifted the curtain up to see the street clearly and sighed at the sight that greeted her. Snow. A lot of it.
Snow in the streets would be a lot prettier if it wasn't for the fact that she lived in a squashed, dirty, urban city where the snow was trodden on the moment it lay, and most of it was turned into black slush by morning. If only she lived in the countryside and had great rolling fields to look at instead. She could catch the moon reflecting off frozen ponds and hills of pure white snow, and track the little footprints of birds the next morning.
What was nice, however, was that it was late enough at night that few people were out on the streets. The snow was getting a chance to sit undisturbed in some parts and there were a few patches with paw-prints from stray cats which didn't look nearly as awful as the boot-prints of men stomping around. Bella stooped against the windowsill and enjoyed the view for a while, arms pressed into the warm wool of that old blanket.
There was the odd person who walked by the house, undoubtedly hurrying home. Anyone with a bit of common sense knew that staying out in this cold would kill you after long enough, and there would probably be a few drunken street crawlers (who'd silenced that common sense with gin or whiskey) dead by the morning. No one out here was familiar to Bella and they were probably using Tenter Street as a shortcut. It was therapeutic, really – watching all these people hiding their faces behind their collars as they drifted on their way as fast as you could do in public without looking a fool. They were little blobs of black coats hopping around on a dirty white background.
Bella shifted and straightened her back as a figure walked slower along the footpath opposite to the brothel. She recognised his face – how could she not? The lines in his forehead and around his mouth; the brow heavy with burdens aplenty; and an obsessively well-sculpted display of facial hair, still dark despite the years and stress behind them. They all gave him away. She pulled the stiff handle of the window and pushed forward, dislodging snow from the windowsill outside as she opened it wide enough to stick her head out.
"Bennet!" she called out, breath clouding and nose already growing pink. Goose bumps formed in a ripple of her forearms and chest but she stayed with the window open so she could talk to him. "Bit late for a walk." She grinned down at him as he stopped and turned to face her window.
"Couldn't resist while the snow is fresh." He smiled back, teeth baring a little in reaction to the cold.
"D'you mind if I walk with you?" Bella cocked her head and stood up, looking for her boots and a warm coat before he could even reply.
Minutes later she was wrapped as best as she could muster for the weather and had told someone she'd be back 'later'. A hat roughly pressed to her hurriedly tied-back hair, Bella stepped cautiously on the slippery footpath and crossed the road to where Bennet was obediently waiting.
"You sure you're going to be warm enough?" he asked, noticing her coat lay distinctly flat against her. She couldn't be wearing many layers and had probably been in her night gown when she'd spotted him.
"I'll be fine, I like the cold." Bella assured him with a smile, lips rosy in the cold. "It's the summer I detest, all the heat when you're in a corset is awful."
They both laughed, and Bella's eyes found themselves focused on his mouth and his lower canines – long, sharp little teeth that suited a face as deep and rough and intimidating as his. And yet when he laughed, the lines that made his frown so deep and his snarl so fierce now made him look vulnerable and soft. Bennet's eyes seemed perfectly shaped for misery and she wished she could see him smile in a way that lifted and brightened them.
"The snow is really pretty, too. If only it wasn't all trodden on the moment is lays." Bella huffed, tearing her gaze from him and staring ahead down the street where they were walking. Her breath clouded and warmed her cheeks for a moment before fading into the cold. Thank God there was no breeze to force the chill on her. "I bet it looks lovely out in the countryside, though."
Bennet gave her a mumble of agreement, but nothing more. Maybe she shouldn't have come out here – he might have wanted to go for a walk on his own and been too polite to tell her to piss off. It hardly seemed fair to make herself a burden on him when he'd just gone out for a walk.
"You know, I can just-"
"Let's go this way." Bennet interrupted her, offering his arm and leading her out of Tenter Street entirely. The roads were busier out here but it made her feel safer (as a girl who was not used to holding her own and working on the streets).
They walked for a few minutes, careful of the snow that was being pressed down to ice by the feet that walked over it before them. There was a hint of a smile on the Sergeant's face that brushed away any worries she'd had of being an annoyance to him.
"Is this where you were headed before?" Bella asked with a little pant, the cold getting the better of her little lungs.
"I didn't have anywhere specific in mind before."
"Then where-?"
"You'll see." His smile widened and Bella thought for a second that his eyes did brighten up a bit.
After venturing down a few streets and around several corner0,s Bella recognised where they were.
"St Mary's!"
"Not exactly the countryside, but a far sight more untouched than the streets outside of your window." Bennet said proudly, walking with her across the road to the entrance of the park. He was right – aside from the odd trail left by a child rushing home, the park was untouched since the snowfall.
"It really is beautiful, isn't it? The way it sits up in the trees and piles up on the fences and whatnot. God, if only it wasn't so cold."
"I did say you'd not be warm out here." Bennet chuckled, looking back over his shoulder. "I'll walk you back if you-"
The man was cut off as a hurriedly bundled snowball collided with his face, clumps of it catching in his collar and soaking into his shirt. Bella stood with her mouth open with silent glee, bare hand bright red from the ice.
"Now that was a silly thing to do." Drake smirked and stooped down to pick up a handful in his leather-gloved hand. She giggled and stumbled back, hitching her skirts up to run through the snow as a calculated throw hit her square in the back, dusting over her coat.
"You beast!" Bella shrieked, grabbing up a handful to defend herself.
"You started it!" he launched another snowball at her, hitting the hem of her coat. He was deliberately missing her head and face, and Bella felt bad for having hit him in the head with her first shot. She looked down at her hands to form a more smooth ball of soft ice, and when she looked up a blur of white graced her vision before stinging her eyes and cheeks, an even louder shriek plucked from her lungs now as she teetered back, face plastered with snow.
Before Bennet could even realise he'd hit a woman straight in the face with a handful of flaked ice, he found his own face smashed hard with the cold substance. He wiped his face clean of it to find Bella on her knees in the snow, in a fit of laughter that threatened to bring tears. Her hair had fallen loose and clung to the wet parts of her face.
"God, sorry!" Drake hurried over to her, taking an arm and gently helping to her feet.
"It's fine, it's really fine." She was still giggling, brushing snow from her coat and boots. "I just can't believe we both had such good aim." Catching her breath now, Bella looked up and Bennet and calmed down to a smile. "I think we've trodden on and ruined the snow out here though."
"They say it'll snow through the early hours so I think it'll all be filled in and ready for kids to have their own fights on the way to school."
"I think we've been the most reckless of anyone playing games out here." Bella shook her hands dry of the snow and looked at the footprints and deep scoops in the snow where they'd run around.
"Better to have it ruined like this than by smog and carriages."
"That's very true." She smiled, taking his arm as it was offered.
"I should get you back though, if you catch your death Long Susan will have me for breakfast."
"It's my night off, she's got more important people to attend to. You could stay for a while if you want; have a cup of tea and shake off some of the cold." They waked together out of the park, white powder falling from boots with every step out onto the clearer footpaths. "Plus, you don't book me anymore. It'd be nice to have you round there again."
He was silent at that remark, and Bella immediately feared she'd offended him or reduced their friendship to money.
"It's not that I'm complaining about the money or anything. It's just that I don't get that much time off to come over yours, and I miss our little chats, you know?"
"I don't think either of us get much time these days." Bennet replied softly, clearing his throat.
"Well, you have time now don't you? Come in for a cup of tea and a chat now. Warm up after I covered you in snow." She grinned, succeeding in eliciting a similar expression from him.
"Since you twisted my arm." He said theatrically, letting her lead the way back to Tenter Street. He had to admit, a cup of tea inside in the warm did sound nice.
Bennet ended up staying several hours, drinking multiple cups of tea and talking the night away with Miss Culver. When the chimes of the clock reminded him of work in the morning, however, Sergeant Drake reluctantly made his leave. Evident of a higher upbringing than most women in Whitechapel, Bella saw him to the door and lingered with a smile as he shrugged his coat on. Then, as she wished him goodnight, she stood up on the tips of her toes and placed a gentle, tentative kiss on his right cheek.
Whilst the rest of his goodbyes were mildly flustered in reaction, Bennet made the short walk home with warm cheeks and a genuine smile, his heart aching with the speed at which it now beat.
