It Happened in a Mousedom (part 21)
It wasn't long before Jenny was on her feet again. In fact, by the time the Kingdom's Easter celebrations started that following Sunday, she was keeping the prince entertained as the royal family took part in the parade and picnic complete with races and egg hunts. Though, having not heard from Tiana in that span of time was making her nervous. She hadn't been able to get near Lottie to ask about where their friend was. So once the holiday fireworks ended and she bid the queen goodnight, Jenny took the long way home-stopping by Eudora's house.
She ended up staying over to comfort the distraught seamstress, though she wasn't sure how well she was doing. Eudora insisted that Jenny return to her regular life, though, when she'd offered to stay a second night. But Eudora promised to keep her informed if Tiana came home.
The next few days passed quickly, warming up and lasting longer while the nights still hinted at the winter they'd left behind. Jenny loved it. Spring was definitely her favorite season. With all the plants getting ready to bloom and animals were cleaning up their homes for love and family, she really couldn't see how anyone wouldn't like the season.
Her next day off found Jenny doing housework. A bit of spring cleaning, which was more for the fact that she was trying to work off her anxieties. The nightmares were at bay-so to speak. When she wasn't working, Jenny was constantly helping Euddora search for Tiana, who (as informed by Lottie) had gotten turned into a frog somehow along with the visiting prince of Maldonia. And her nights were filled with dreams of Dan Bennett holding her hand or laughing with her or any number of things. She still woke up with her heart racing and slightly panicked, but at least it wasn't in sheer terror.
Though it did interrupt her cleaning through the day as random thoughts of Mr Bennett would pop into her head at entirely inopportune times. Like while she was cleaning the attic windows. She was sitting on one of the front window sills of her attic, working out a strange smudge on the glass and so lost in thought that when a voice from below called up to her. And she nearly fell out.
"Ello, 'ello, 'ello! What're you doin up there? Chasing the kite?"
Blinking in confusion, Jenny looked down and smiled as she saw the soot-covered cap of a chimney sweep. "Hello," she called down to him. "What kite?"
"The one what's stuck on the next window over," the sweep said, gesturing to her right.
Jenny frowned and strained to see what the sweep was talking about. She was mostly out of the window when she finally caught a glimpse of green and yellow ribbon. Then she saw the small crack in the further window sill that it had its string attached to. It really wasn't that far over, maybe just close enough if she pulled out of the window more. So she cautiously scooted further, until her toes were just touching the coarse surface she'd climbed out of, and that turned out to be a mistake.
"Careful!" the Sweep shouted, but it was too late.
Right when her fingers grasped the string, pulling the kite free, the troublesome window pane slammed shut.
Jenny looked back at the old window and blinked. Luckily it hadn't shattered, but unfortunately there was now a very large crack going across the top left corner.
"Per'aps you should just stay put and I'll get one of me mates to bring a ladder for ya," the sweep suggested.
"Thank you," Jenny said, already adjusting herself (and her skirt) to the best of her ability so that she might return the way she's come. "But its really not that necessary-I just have to get the window back open."
"It'd be just as easy for me to get me mates, miss," the sweep said, clearly not enjoying the idea of her gallivanting on the rooftop.
"You're far too worried, sir," Jenny said warmly as she moved far enough that she could try the window. Which she did, only to let out a groan of disappointment. "Oh radish!"
"Can I get me mate's ladder now, miss?" the sweep asked, a faint hint of teasing in his voice.
Jenny let out a sigh, smiling through the embarrassment of her own predicament. "I suppose s-"
"Greetings, Bert!"
"Why, 'ello there, Mr Bennett!" the chimney sweep said, sounding both delighted and grateful at the young man's approach. Jenny, however, felt a deep blush come to her face, of course he would be here on a day she was making a fool of herself. Not that the chimney sweep-Bert-noticed. "What brings you this way on such a fine day?"
"I had to deliver a basket of pastries over to the Darlings' house," Dan's voice responded. "What brings you here?"
"Well, I was just heading to the bakery of a cup o'joe when I saw a girl goin onto a rooftop after a kite," Bert explained, making Jenny bury her face into her hands. "Now she's got herself stuck up there because the window's gotten stuck."
"What?"
Jenny took a moment to attempt finding composure, but soon just gave up and looked down at the two men with a sheepish smile. "Hello, Mr. Bennett."
Dan stared at her for a long moment, looking thoroughly shocked to find her up on her own roof. "Uh.. Hello, Jen-Miss Doe," he called back to her, his own color rising. "Do you... Do you need help getting down?"
"Oh, I'm sure I could find a way," Jenny said quickly, which made her mentally kick herself so she added, "But some help would probably be faster."
"I was gonna run and get one of me mates," Bert put in, leaning on his brushes. "But as you've come along, this here is what you'd call a fortuitous circumstance."
"Yes, I suppose it is," Dan agreed, still red as Bert's scarf.
"Right you are!" Bert said, clapping him on the shoulder. "Now, you wait 'ere and make sure Miss Doe don't go nowhere and I'll be back with a ladder before you can say 'Bob's your uncle'!"
And with that said, the chimney sweep sauntered of at a quick stride down towards Main Street. Leaving Dan and Jenny frozen in awkward silence.
Jenny cleared her throat a little and adjusted her skirt again, really wishing she'd chosen something a little nicer to clean in-even if that wouldn't have made much sense. She could see Dan below, pacing a little and scratching his head at their predicament.
"You don't have to safeguard me, you know," she called down to him.
"Oh, it's no trouble," he assured her and squinted against the afternoon sun to give her a smile. "It's a pleasure, Miss Doe."
"But this is the second time in less than two weeks that you've had to put up with my follies," she said, hinting at how she'd been feeling since his over-night visit.
"Honestly, Miss Doe, I don't know of anyone else I'd rather help," he said so sincerely that she felt the color rise in her face.
"Oh," she said, probably too softly for him to hear, and looked around just let her embarrassment cool. The day was beautiful, a busy and quaint Tuesday to be sure, but she couldn't help feeling an odd chill in the air.
Growing fidgety and strangely unaccustomed to sitting as a damsel in distress, she sighed and looked back down. "Mr Bennett?"
"Yes, Miss Doe?"
"Do you see Bert anywhere?" she asked.
"Uh..." A moment passed and leaning closer to the edge again, she could see him looking back down the street. "No," he said finally. "I don't believe so."
"Right, then. I'm starting my climb down," she informed him. "Could you shout to me if I'm aiming to miss a ledge or something?"
"What?!"
"I can't just sit up here," she said, smirking at his horror. "Who knows where Bert's friend is."
"Miss Doe, I really don't think that's the wisest thing to do," he insisted.
"Even if he does find a ladder, I doubt it'll reach this high," she pointed out. "The least I can do is get to the lower roof."
"Well, yes, but... Are you sure?" Dan asked.
Jenny peered over the ell of the roof. The wall space between her and the next roof was just barely taller than her with her arms above her head. Maybe she could get her feet onto the window sill down there... If nothing else it would be less of a fall to go this way.
"I think so," she said and quickly began tucking her skirt around her legs.
"Are you sure you can't wait for Bert?" Dan asked doubtfully.
"Yes," Jenny said, pushing aside her own apprehension of the idea.
The answer didn't make him relax at all and Dan Bennett was soon moving around the small square of a front yard as Jenny managed to ease herself over the edge of the roof. She'd barely let her whole weight down when the memory of being in a rather large gymnasium came to mind. She was hanging from something, just like she was now though it was rounder than a gutter pipe, and young high-pitched voices were cheering her on.
"C'mon, Jenny! You can do it! You're almost there!"
A sharp pain came to her fingers and her toes bumped the vinyl siding, and Jenny was abruptly brought back to the present. "Ouch!"
She looked up as she heard a very loud cawing sound and found herself staring at a particularly ugly raven. Who promptly let out another cry and pecked at her fingers.
"Ouch!" she said again. "Stop it! Go away."
The raven wouldn't quit, though, and Jenny soon found herself in an odd game of keep away as the tempered bird strove to destroy her grip. She had no idea where it had come from, the black bird hadn't been there five minutes ago, or why it was so hell-bent on getting her away from the roof, but it was getting painfully annoying.
Down below, Dan had shouted something, but with her arms on either side of her head, hearing him was next to impossible. She'd just moved a little further to the right, towards the edge of her house, when the Raven let out an angry cry of pain and staggered a few steps away. Jenny tried to glance back, but all she saw was the teal blue of Dan's bakery uniform.
A soft sound, the sound of something flying fast past her head, made her flinch, but the raven let out another cry and hopped further away. Another sound, followed by a small clank in the rain gutter made Jenny look up again. If the bird was there, she couldn't see it anymore and slowly she focused on trying to get to the window pane. The white wood jutted out only an inch or so from the siding of the house, but the sill was wider and enough of a shelf for her toes to step onto safely.
Cautiously she let go of the rain gutter and pulled herself to the window, then stepped the extra six or seven inches down to the porch roof.
"Are you alright?" Dan called up to her.
Jenny flexed her fingers. There were a couple scratches, a few were growing really red, but all-in-all the raven's attacks were only as painful as the line on the underside of her fingers from holding onto the rain gutter so long.
She moved closer to the edge of the roof and looked down at the anxious face waiting for her. "I'm fine," she assured him with a smile. "One more roof to go! Is the bird gone?"
Dan looked further above her head, then nodded with his eyes still on the upper roof. "Yes," he said. "Its gone. Now, can we please wait for Bert?"
"It's just one more," Jenny said confidently. "Plus I don't want to be up here if the bird decides to come back."
Without waiting to see if he agreed or not, Jenny judged the best way to get down now. There wasn't really a difficult way. The porch was six feet across and three feet deep, just large enough for two wicker chairs, a small table, and the door. There was a railing that could be sturdy enough to stand on, though she'd never thought to try it. But, well, no time like the present to find out. The strongest, she guessed, was at the end furthest from her. Not long after she'd first moved in, she was fairly sure it looked like it had a new coat of paint on it while the rest looked only a little worn.
Now if she could get onto that railing, she'd be able to climb onto the porch. Though... she might need help with that.
"Mr Bennett?" she called to the yard again as she made sure her skirts were tied more securely. "Would you mind coming over here and just... make sure I don't fall?"
When she looked up, however, Dan wasn't there. She frowned. It wasn't like him to disappear like that.
"Whenever you're ready, Miss Doe," his voice announced, nearly making Jenny jump in surprise.
She peered down the side she was going to climb to find him standing at the ready. Jenny blushed a bright red. "I'm on my way, then."
He nodded with a reassuring smile that conflicted with his unease about her climbing.
Taking a few deep breaths, Jenny moved one leg over the edge. Her hands stung a bit more this time around and she was definitely sure that she'd scraped her elbow. But soon she was hanging down again, though with a slight angle now.
Below her, she could feel Dan carefully guiding her by the ankles and then holding onto her as her toes rested on the rail. His touch was warm and gentle but it made her legs feel like they were going to turn to jelly if she wasn't careful.
"What next?" he asked.
"Umm..." Jenny tried to move, but a slight jostle when she started to let go of the roof, made her cling tighter to the roof and Dan's grip jumped to hold her around the shins. Maybe she should have just waited for Bert to return with a ladder.
"How about-can you put one hand on my shoulder?" he asked, his voice lightly muffled by the fabric of her skirt.
"I-I think so," she said, moving to grip the decorative under-hang with one hand. Then she tentatively reached further down until she felt the warm fabric of his vest. She was fairly sure her hands were shaking, but she forced the butterflies out of her stomach and placed her hand firmly on his shoulder.
A slight creaking sound caught her ear.
"Careful," Dan urged. "Something's wrong with the rai-."
Jenny let out a squeak of surprise, then suddenly she was staring at the clear blue sky, with Dan's arm around her waist and splinters of wood surrounding them in the grass.
"I'm sorry!" Jenny quickly yelped, scrambling off of him to kneel among the splinters. Then she gently placed a hand on his wrist. "Oh, Mr Bennett, I'm so sorry! Are you alright?"
Dan pushed himself up onto his elbows. His face was flushed pink and his hair was tousled from the fall, but he gave her a small smile through his shock. "Um... I'm f-fine," he said, then his smile turned teasing. "Shouldn't I be asking you that?"
Jenny tried to duck behind the several locks of her hair that had fallen free to hide her blush, even though she was sure it wasn't working, as she smiled. Nervously she twisted some strands around her finger. Why did she have such a talent for embarrassing herself in front of him? "I'm fine."
"No you're not."
She looked up at his decided statement, horrified that maybe she'd done something indecent in twirling her hair. Maybe that she'd moved and her shirt had fallen open over her shoulder, even though it was buttoned up to her collar bone. But Dan was frowning at her hand, which had somehow stayed on his wrist.
Horrified, Jenny quickly pulled her hand away only to be caught by Dan's. Then she noticed he was peering closely at her scrapes.
"What happened here, then?" he asked.
"Just a few scratches," she said, quickly pulling her other hand away from her hair to look at it. Somehow it all looked worse now that she was on the ground. The scratches that had only been red before had formed thin trails of blood from where the raven had gone a little too deep. Her hands looked really a bit awful.
"Is this from the crow?" Dan asked.
"Was it a crow? I thought it was a raven," Jenny said absently, still looking at her hands, almost as though she couldn't recognize them.
"I'm sorry my aim isn't better, then," he said in a surprisingly gruff undertone.
Jenny looked up curiously and found herself staring into his silver eyes. Even though silver was a strange color anyway, Jenny couldn't help being awed by the hint of deep blue in them.
She wasn't sure how long they stayed like that, but it felt like both years and only milliseconds had past when he tore his gaze away and she forced herself to look at a nearby bush. "You, uh," Dan stammered and got to his feet. "You should probably clean out those. The, uh, the cuts, I mean."
"Right, yes, I should," Jenny agreed and hesitantly let him help her to her feet. Then paused and a rueful smile came to her face. "But... I've locked myself out."
"What?" Dan turned back to give her an incredulous smirk. "All of that and you're locked out?"
Jenny let herself laugh, relieved to let that awkward moment of gazing into his eyes quickly bury itself in her memory-which was definitely murky enough to hide it. "It appears that way," she said with a shrug before folding her arms in front of her. "I don't typically keep my keys on me when I'm cleaning windows."
"I thought Bert said you were chasing a kite," Dan said with a chuckle.
She grinned at the sound. "I was-once he pointed it out to me," she said, then gave him a suspicious look. "What did you mean about better aim?"
Dan's hand went to the collar of his shirt momentarily before he looked down and pulled a teal piece of fabric from his pocket. "I, uh, I tried to scare it," he said, blushing a deep red with embarrassment. "I'm just glad I didn't hit you."
Jenny blinked at him as she slowly understood why he was holding the fabric piece. It was his bow-tie. He'd been flinging rocks with his bow-tie? Yeah, she was rather glad he hadn't hit her too. But it definitely made her wonder, how had he known to do that in the first place?
"Well, it's only two-thirty," Dan said, obviously trying to get over the new awkward moment. "How about I walk you to Dr. Sweet's office, then we'll head to the lock-smith's."
Jenny, who'd begun dusting grass off her skirt, looked up and gave him a smile. "That sounds like a very good plan," she said. "Thank you."
Dan nodded, all words having been blown out of his mind by her smile. It hadn't been one of her common courteous smiles that she gave to everyone. This was one of her bright-as-Christmas-lights type of smiles that could light up the kingdom without contest-and it had hit him full blast. He couldn't fathom how he was still standing, let alone carrying on a conversation with her.
"What about your shoes?" he wondered, dragging himself back to his senses.
Jenny looked down at her toes, which were very content in the new spring grass, then glanced back at the porch. As luck would have it, a pair of purple heels (which she had left outside to remind herself to donate them as there were rather large and had unappealing pom-poms on their toes) from Daisy were tucked under one of the wicker chairs. Praying she didn't bump into Edna Mode or any other fashionista on their way, Jenny pulled on the shoes and took Dan's arm for balance.
Then they continued down the street.
~~°o°~~
Luckily, as they left Market Place, they bumped into Bert again to find the chimney sweep toting collapsible ladder and a puzzled expression at seeing Jenny on the ground again. Smiling brightly, Jenny let Dan introduce her to the friendly man and then she relayed her current situation. And a few moments later, Dan and Jenny were on their way again, now laden with names of locksmiths and glass repairmen with the reminder to pass along greetings from the friendly chimney sweep who continued past them down the road.
By the time they'd made it to the locksmith's and then to the window repair company, where they learned she wouldn't be able to get into her house until eight o'clock and the window would be fixed on her next day off, Jenny was quite sure she never wanted to wear heels again. She let out a soft groan of pain as they left the window repair shop.
"Are you alright?" Dan asked quickly.
Jenny gave a small laugh and nodded. "Oh, I'm fine," she said with a sigh. "Though I'm sorely tempted to throw these ridiculous shoes into the nearest rubbish bin!"
He looked down at her feet, which were looking very red and sore around the rims of the shoe. "No, they don't look all that sensible," he said, then looked up as they made their way slowly down the street. "Perhaps we should stop in the Emporium and get you another pair?"
She paused and raised an eyebrow at him. "Mr Bennett, I left my wallet inside my house as well."
"Consider this a gift from me," he said and when her other eyebrow shot up he gave her a smirk, though he went a little pink. "So that I won't need to worry about you breaking an ankle for the rest of the night."
Now Jenny blushed, but strangely she was more than comfortable to react with mock offense. "My ability to walk in heels isn't that bad!"
He looked at her incredulously. "Shall I take my arm away then?"
"No!" Jenny gasped as even the slight movement set her ready to topple. "No, that's quite alright. This is fine." Then she giggled, sending him chuckling, and sighed in defeat. "I suppose buying a new pair of flats wouldn't be the worst idea-but I'll be paying you back!"
Dan flashed her a smile. "As you wish," he said, turning to their right. "Let's see what we can do."
Inside the Emporium, the couple was quickly directed to the Women's section and then to a large department for footwear. On three large walls, with hundreds of built-in shelves and three stand alone shelf towers, Jenny was fairly sure it was one of the largest selections of shoes she'd ever seen. Granted she'd never seen more than Belle and Cinderella's closets (the latter of whom went through shoes as though they were tissues) as far as royals went (and she'd heard that Queen Ariel practically collected shoes as though they were shells), but surely no one would want to own this many shoes.
A glance to her side showed her that Dan was just as gobsmacked. "Well," he said, staring around that the absurd selection. "I suppose this might take longer than we thought."
~~°o°~~
"Well?" Jenny said, turning one foot this way and that, then the other. "What do you think?"
Dan looked down as he took the receipt for her shoes off the counter, tucking it neatly into his pocket, and gave her a smile of approval. "Much better," he informed her, giving the sales clerk a thankful smile before joining Jenny at the door. "Best money I've spent all week."
Jenny giggled and looked down at the very plain ballet-slipper style shoe. "Thank you, Mr Bennett," she said, falling in step with him as they made their way to the door. "I promise, I'll pa-Oof!"
She was practically tackled as they paused on the sidewalk and then nearly defined as a long-absent voice shouted in delight. "Jenny!"
Dan steadied her as she staggered into him, but she was staring into dark curls in shock. "Tiana?"
The newcomer pulled back, grinning brightly with excitement that could only be challenged by the expression worn by the man standing just behind her.
Jenny struggled to find her words for a moment, but quickly pulled herself together. "Where have you been?!" she squeaked. "Your mother's been going out of her mind looking for you! And Lottie said that you were turned into frogs-!"
"I was," Tianna assured her, still smiling. "I was and it was probably the best thing that coulda happened to me."
She looked back towards the smiling man next to her and Jenny followed her gaze, frowning in confusion. "What...?"
"Jenny," Tiana said, biting her lower lip lightly and bouncing a little as she took the man's hand. "This is Prince Naveen. He... He's my husband."
Dan and Jenny stared, both looking back and forth between the two in shock.
"You got married?" Jenny finally asked.
"Well, more or less," Tiana said, a light blush on her cheeks.
"By Madam Odie," the prince provided, still grinning as he gripped Tiana around the shoulders proudly.
Jenny glanced at him again. "Who?"
"Doesn't matter," Tiana assured her quickly. "We have alot to do. We're goin to see Mama now, then we're headin over to Mr Frinner and Mr Frinner and gettin my restaurant."
"What?" Jenny asked, blinking in confusion. "I thought you already got it."
"You missed what happened at Lottie's ball," she said.
"Lottie didn't say anything bad about it," Jenny responded, thinking back to what few bits of information Eudora had managed to get from the Southern Belle.
"I'll have to tell you the story later," Tianna said with an apologetic smile, then gave her another hug. "Its just so good to see everyone again!"
Jenny giggled at her friend's enthusiasm even if she was still a little concerned over the strange story that surrounded the situation.
Before she could say anything else, Tiana was off-leading Naveen quickly up the street. "I'll be seein you soon!" she called back over her shoulder with an excited smile. "We're gonna have another weddin now that we're hum-uh, back!"
Still bemused, Jenny simply waved after them with a smile. Then she turned to look up at Dan, who simply shook his head in amazement.
"Looks like April's shaping up to be a busy month," Jenny said and took the first step in continuing down the sidewalk.
"It certainly does," he agreed with a chuckle, then hesitantly linked arms with her.
Jenny felt her face warm up instantly, but managed to resist pulling away as the butterflies in her middle started fluttering madly.
"What do you say to a movie?" he asked. "I believe the Main Street Cinema is showing a compilation of Mr Mouse's earlier works.
She gave a small sigh. "That'd be lovely," she admitted. "But, again, Mr. Bennett, I have no money on me."
"And, again, Miss Doe, I don't mind treating," he said with a mischievous smile. "The whole evening, in fact, as it seems you've got no where else to be."
Jenny looked at him suspiciously, feeling as though he was enjoying challenging her a little more than he should. But, even though she felt a prickling feeling that told her it was a bad idea, she smirked at him and raise a hand in defeat. "Alright," she said. "We'll add it to the tab."
"Right," he said with a comical nod, assuring her that he wouldn't keep track further than this. "Cinema and dinner at Tony's."
Before she could argue, he'd already begun to pull her along with him across the road.
A/N: I feel like I'm just compiling random thoughts that are falling out of my brain at the moment. But I promise, it'll all work into a story eventually... O_o