"The treats are delicious!", Jekyll cried in delight. "Absolutely divine! You must tell me who your baker is!"

Lady Summers giggled, her ice blue eyes gleaming with satisfaction. "I have none. Marie made them."

The doctor gaped at her. "Your nurse? You're joking."

"Not at all. This weekend it's her turn to cook, so she baked little raspberry tarts. They're my favourite. Don't you know that the Austrians are renowned for their bakery?"

He shook his head and suddenly felt a bit uneducated.

She smirked sardonically and sipped her hot chocolate. "That's one of the few things they do right."

Jekyll almost choked on his tea.

I always forget that she's Prussian, he thought.

The noblewoman held her hand to her forehead and sighed melodramatically: "Well, no matter how hard I try to be British, I suppose they will never take the Prussian out of me! What a tragic fate! What pain! How will I ever be able to fit in and be accepted-"

"Oh my god, please stop!", Jekyll giggled, "I won't be able to stay a gentleman, if you keep being so dramatic!"

Her grin turned mischievous. "Oh, but Doctor, that is the plan!", she revealed with a wink. "To loosen you up for a while to give you a break from your act!"

The taller blond smiled. "It's certainly easier to be a gentleman, now that you're my therapist."

The small Prussian smiled back. "It feels good to get your worries off your chest, doesn't it?"

"Most certainly", Jekyll agreed.

"How is Mr. Hyde?"

"Eh, you know. Being his usual troublesome self."

"Hey! I heard that!", Hyde protested.

Lady Summers chuckled: "I see, you still act like an old married couple."

The doctor shrugged. "Well, I'm a bachelor, so I don't know what a married couple acts like."

"It has its ups and downs", she replied. "Sometimes I wonder how my marriage with James would have been, if he was still alive-"

Her mouth snapped shut. Then she facepalmed. "By Apollo, I have done it again!"

"It's fine", Jekyll hurried to assure her. "You're a widow, it would be stranger if you didn't get sentimental from time to time."

"Yes … I suppose you're right."

"I had a very eventful New Year's celebration", he changed the topic to lighten her mood.

It worked.

She read his mind and giggled: "Oh, you two sure had! Are you still bitter that Mr. Utterson refused to kiss you both on Christmas and on New Year?"

Jekyll pouted. "What ever gave you that idea?", he muttered.

There was no point in flat out denying it. He was bitter about it.

If Gabriel hadn't resolved to not do anything, before he loved both him and Hyde, the lawyer would have kissed him. Of that he was convinced.

"Why am I always your fucking scapegoat?!", Hyde barked in outrage.

"Please don't start a cat fight in front of me", Lady Summers intervened. "It makes me feel awkward."

"I'm sorry", Jekyll apologised. "It's just that I'm so extremely frustrated."

"Doctor", the Lady said and took his hand, "It's not just because of his promise, that he doesn't want to take it even so far with you yet. He has literally no experience with this. Do you have the faintest idea how long he has been pining for you? Pining is all he's familiar with. It's just so sudden for him, that your relationship has changed that much in so little time."

His eyes widened. That had never crossed his mind. But it already had been over a month! Was that really not long enough for the lawyer?

"It's not enough", she answered. "You're forgetting that he's much more apprehensive towards emotional matters than you are. It's not his field and he has yet to figure things out between the two of you – and of course with Mr. Hyde."

"That doesn't make it any better", Jekyll muttered. "He says and does things with Hyde he never did with me."

"You're jealous."

"Yes."

"Doctor, he didn't expect to find Hyde, when he had the courage to come out onto your balcony, despite his acrophobia. He did it for you. It was just convenient for him and Lanyon, because this way he got to wish a happy new year to both of you."

"But …"

"You're not turning this into a competition, are you?" Her previously friendly tone turned cold. "You're not going to compete for who will have Mr. Utterson's firsts?"

Jekyll felt a shudder run down his spine. "I … I have no such intention, really! I don't see him as a prize."

Her face relaxed just a little. "Good. That answer just saved you. I was this close to-"

"Hitting me like that one time I falsely accused you of being a snob?", he guessed.

She shrugged. "Kind of. I was going to kick you where the sun doesn't shine."

"THAT'S EVEN WORSE!", both he and Hyde responded mentally.

He wanted to keep his nether regions intact, thank you very much.

She leaned back into her rocking chair. "Remember this, should you two ever get competitive", she advised.

Then she took on a butter wouldn't melt kind of smile. "Do you want the last raspberry tart? Or another cup of tea?"

…

When Hyde left the house that night, he was exhilarated.

So Utterson was completely untouched and innocent in that regard? Ohhhh, this would be so fun! Normally Hyde didn't like to bang virgins. They needed tenderness and carefulness, something he hated. He wanted his partners to be tough.

But maybe he would make an exception for this one!

"HYDE, NO!", Jekyll screamed in his head. "Have you forgotten-"

"Aw, but the Lady and Lanyon aren't here, are they? Besides, thinking is not forbidden!"

"I will not let you hurt him!"

"Oh, who said that I'll hurt him? The only person I'll hurt is you!"

"Don't speak too soon, Hyde." Jekyll's voice was a growl.

The brunette cackled: "I wonder how you would handle it, if I get his first kiss – or even his first time! – and not you! Oh, this is going to be so fun! I can hardly wait!"

Jekyll's anger was so intense, that Hyde could feel it pulsate through his veins and endanger his control over the body.

"Edward Hyde, if you force yourself on him, I will destroy us both, before either Lanyon or even Lady Summers-"

The young man giggled: "Calm down, Jekyll! I won't force anything upon him. That would be cheating now, wouldn't it?"

His grin became broader, revealing his abnormally sharp canines.

Yes … it'll be so much sweeter, if your beloved lawyer wants me to be his first …