Dan was once again back in his room, the chair behind him as he looked out the window. Paulina came to the door, a tray of food in her hand as she enters the small space. She takes a few steps into the room, the raven haired male still looking out the window, and announces, "I brought you some breakfast, dear." The large male doesn't even turn around as she lays the tray on the dresser, his glower and his form tense as he seems lost in thought. "Mr. P? Can I ask you a question?"
"What?" he inquires, still looking out the window. Paulina isn't happy that he fails to pay her any mind. She knew he was cold and she liked that, but she wanted him to give her some of his attentions. She knew that he was still attached to his wife, but the woman was dead so why couldn't he move on? It had been years since she had killed herself and yet the male before her couldn't seem to make room in his heart for a new love... a love that was alive and willing.
"What did your Samantha look like?" When she received no answer, the look on his face one that she had never seen, not that she could see him with his back to her. "Can't really remember, can you?" His scowl returned at her remark, the dark haired male wanting to reach out and snap her neck at such a comment. He could remember his wife, the love of his life. She was so beautiful and so different than most woman around him. She would never hold her tongue, choosing to speak her mind and even then she was rather forgiving even if you made her mad. She didn't take it all with a grain of salt though. No, she had a fire in her heart that could warm you or burn you if you were not careful.
"She had hair that a raven would envy, and her eyes were a bright amethyst, like the stones themselves had been fashioned into her eyes." He smiled, the love of his life standing before him even if she wasn't alive. It was her ghost that stood before him, but she was just as beautiful as she was when she had breathed. Her smile was wide and her eyes shining in adoration for him. He longed to be able to hold her, to bring her comfort as she had always done for him. He wished he could kiss her, taste her own personal taste that pulled him into her. He longed to be where home was and that was something he would never get again, but he would never forget her.
"You gotta leave this all behind, you know," the Latina stated as she came to stand behind him, her voice soft, but full of passion at the same time. "She's gone." He didn't turn from his view outside the small space. Even as Paulina leaned up against him, her bosom brushing his arm he didn't turn, though his frown deepened at her invasion of his space. "Life is for the alive, my dear. We could have a life, us two." She whispered her words, sure that she was getting thru to him, but he paid her no heed, his mind filled with images of his lost love, his heart clenching at the thought that this woman believed that she could take his wife's place in his heart. "Maybe not like I dreamed. Maybe not like you remember. But we could get by." He snarled low, the woman beside him failing to notice that he was getting rather mad, but before he could turn and tell her off the doorway was filled by a male, the blond hair gleaming in the minimal sunlight that filtered thru the grey clouds.
"Mr. Phantom! Miss Canal, ma'am?" Dash cried out, a dejected look on his face.
"What is it, Dash?" Dan inquired, though still mad at the male for causing his prey to get away, he knew that the male before him wouldn't come to him unless it was truly urgent. He had seen the fear in the blond's blue eyes when he had bellowed at him the last time.
"He has her locked in a madhouse," the male stated.
"Lily?" the taller male inquired with a raised brow. His child was locked in a madhouse? His eyes flashed green at the thought that the judge had locked his child in such a place.
"Amity Asylum," the blond stated, his eyes still wide with concern for the young raven haired female. "I've circled the place a dozen times. There's no way in. It's a fortress." Dan smiled, a rather dark smile, but a smile none the less as Paulina frowned. Her moment had been lost! She had been sure that Dan had been about to turn to her and tell her how much he loved her and that he wanted to be with her, but now he was walking away again, his obsession with one male in particular pulling him from her side.
"I've got him," the dark haired male said with a bit of joy. The blond spoke his name in confusion, his words making little sense, but Dan changed his words as he spoke them again. "We've got her." He stopped and turned toward Dash, his large hand moving to rest on the younger male's shoulder. "Where do you suppose all the wigmakers in London go to obtain their hair?" Paulina hadn't turned toward them, her own stance like Dan's had been earlier when she had entered the room. When the blond couldn't give him an answer the larger male stated, "Amity Asylum. They get it from the lunatics at Amity." The male still seemed confused and that wasn't saying much as the boy was rather daft at times.
"I don't understand," he said, his eyes no longer filled to the brim with worry, confusion was now in the mix.
"We shall set you up as a wigmaker's apprentice," Dan stated, a smile twisting his lips. "That'll gain you access. And then you take her." That's when it hit Dash what the male before him was saying, the plan to get Lily out of her new prison. "Go, quickly, go!" he yelled as he shoved a now excited and happy blond toward the door before turning to Paulina. "Fetch the boy."
"Don't you think you should leave the boy behind?" she inquires, but follows his orders at the look of anger he throws her. He watches her go with a sneer before turning his attention back to the window and the world outside his room.
Paulina walks down the stairs, her gait slow as she feels the pain at his relapse into his obsession. He had almost been hers, almost had come to her side and allowed her to be a part of his life... and into his heart, but because of the blond entering their life again with news pertaining to his old life, he was distancing himself from her. Seeing the boy in question, the one that Dan had demanded, cleaning the tables before the opening of the shop that evening she said, "Nathan. Mr. Phantom needs you." She says nothing more before disappearing into the shop, the door closing behind her. Nathan raises a brow, but still rushes up the stairs.
Before Dan is a single page, a letter in his own handwriting. He has a plan and while it means that Dash will be in dire straits he doesn't care since it will bring his intended target back to him. It simply states that he is informing the judge of Dash's (his really) plan to abduct the young girl from where the judge has placed her, but also states that he has convinced the boy to bring her here where the judge can pick her up. It will work in getting the male back to him and while it means that his daughter must suffer a bit more it is not as important as his revenge. As soon as he has his revenge then she will no longer be under the judge's thumb anyway so a little pain will mean nothing in the grand scheme. As he is finishing the letter Nathan opens the door. "Mr. P?"
"Do you know where the Old Bailey is?" the dark haired male askes as he waves the letter around to allow the ink to dry faster. The red headed boy nods. "Take this there. Seek out a Judge Masters." Handing the boy the letter he says, "Repeat that." He wants to ensure that all goes to plan and he needs the boy to get it done quickly.
"Go to Old Bailey. Find Judge Masters." Dan nods at his repetition of the instructions. "You put that into his hands. Only to him, you understand?"
"Yes, sir," the small boy states with a nod. "And while I'm out, do you mind if I stop by the grocer just to pick..." Dan cuts him off, his eyes flashing green at the boy's question. There is no time to wait, not if he wants to catch his prey and earn the judge's favor. "No. You're not to stop, you're not to speak." He stands, his steps loud in the silent room as he towers over the small boy. "You're to deliver the letter. Do you understand?"
"Yes, sir." As soon as the boy has left, the door closing behind him, Dan walks back to his post, his posture tense with the knowledge that soon his target will be there and just before that or even after that he will also be in the same room as his daughter. He hasn't seen her since he was taken away, the small baby still so new to the world and so innocent. As he grows restless the large male begins to pace, the room darkening as the hours pass. He notices nothing as he waits, his heart pounding and his mind so filled with all that he needs to do to complete his obsession, never knowing what he will do once he gets rid of this obsession as it has been with him since he was taken away. He has wanted to get his revenge on the one responsible for his removal from the life he had, the life with his wife and child.
Hours later finds Nathan entering the parlor of the home that is connected to the pie shop, Paulina snoozing by the fire in a chair. A book rests in her lap, a romance that she yearns for herself, but when she opens her eyes to see the wary face of Nathan she inquires, "Where you been, lad? We had quite the rush at dinner time." She stretches a bit, still unaware of the boy's travels for the day, his absence a mystery. He looks down at his feet while taking a step into the warm room. "Me poor bones is ready to drop." Nathan looks rather upset about something, even as he informs her of what he has been doing. Even as he says it she seems confused what errand that Dan could have sent him on that would take him several hours to complete.
"Mr. Phantom sent me on an errand." She sits up, the book shifting. "And on the way back, I went by the workhouse, just to take a look." Realizing that he has just been out and about on his own, abet more than what had been asked of him she lies back, her eyes closing as she allows her body to relax again. After such a long night and no help to aid her, she is worn out. "And I was thinking, but for you, I'd be there now. Or someplace worse." She smiles at that. While she may not have Dan, it seems that she does have someone who cares for her. She had never had a child, her husband unable to do much in his state of health, not that she loved him. "Seems like the good Lord sent you for me." She opens her eyes for a moment, a soft smile on her face.
"Oh, love, I feel quite the same way," is her response. Nathan has moved closer to her, though the couch is still between him and Paulina.
"Listen to me, please," he begs as he moves even closer, his child-like innocence appearing to disappear as he stand before her with a serious expression on his young face. Her eyes are closed at the moment, her face turned from him, but at his tone she turns slightly. "You know there's nothing I wouldn't do for you." Her teal eyes open at his words, words that she had hoped she would hear from the man pacing around upstairs. "Say, if there were someone around, someone bad?" He pauses as he looks down at her. "Only you didn't know it." Turning her head upward a bit she looks deeply into his eyes, the fear and unease in his depths making her worried.
"What is this? What are you talking about?" Nathan sits down on the couch, still looking so serious.
"Nothing's gonna harm you, not while I'm around," he promises. "Nothing's gonna harm you. No, sir, not while I'm around." Paulina is confused as to what Nathan is talking about. What bad person could he be talking about?
"What do you mean "someone bad"?" He doesn't answer her question, instead going on to tell her what he will do, not matter what happens to him.
"Demons are prowling everywhere, nowadays. I'll send them howling, I don't care I got ways." She feels now that he is just being paranoid.
"Hush, darling, there's no need for this." Turning from him with a smile, she closes her eyes. Nathan doesn't know how to tell her who he fears would do her harm. He doesn't have any real proof, but when the older male's eyes had flashed green at him earlier he had felt a foreboding about the male. There was just something so... evil... so cold about the male in the room upstairs. She turns back as he begins to talk again, his small voice so insistent about how he feels for the Latina.
"No one's gonna hurt you, no one's gonna dare. Others can desert you. Not to worry, whistle, I'll be there." She tilts her head to the side, an emotion flickering in her eyes at the small boy's obvious love for her. "Demons will charm you with a smile for a while. Nothing can harm you. Not while I'm around." She reaches out to touch him softly on his pale chin. She can now tell that he is quite upset about something and while she may not feel that it is something to worry about, the thought that it is bothering him makes her more curious.
"That's nice, dear. Now, what is all this foolishness?" Getting up as she grabs and closes the book, the raven haired woman moves to stand before a mirror. "What are you talking about?" She begins to mess with her hair as she looks at her pale appearance in the looking glass.
"Little things that I've been thinking..." he fades off as she turns from him and the mirror, a smile still on her face until he finishes his sentence. He seems hesitant about revealing his fear as he came aboard after the pair had already been together. "...about Mr. Phantom." Her smile disappears, her body tensing at what the boy is telling her. "Not to worry, not to worry. I may not be smart, but I ain't dumb." She moves away from him, his eyes watching her and the stricken expression on her face. He knows now that something is bothering her, but he fails to realize that she is worried about his sudden dislike of the male in the dark room above them. "Not to worry, ma'am. Being close and being clever ain't like being true. I don't need to, I won't never hide a thing from you." His eyes look upward at the unseen male. Paulina is worried. She had thought to protect the boy from his original master, unaware that her kind gesture might come back to bite her in the ass. Dan had wanted to get rid of him, to have him join Walker in the grave, but she hadn't wanted to do it. She wasn't a nice woman, her own heart cold, but she had felt bad for the boy now questioning what Dan was hiding. If he only knew that they were both in on it, both of them doing something dirty... "Like some." She must get him to let this go.
Now, Nathan, dear," she murmurs trying to hold back the guilt that has now tightened around her own heart. Her back is to him as she retrieves something from the dresser before her. "...haven't we had enough of this foolish chatter? Here." She turns to him with a rather familiar pouch, but as she is now holding out a coin he fails to notice the item. "How about I give you a nice shiny new penny and you go get us some toffees?" He smiles for a moment at the thought of a sweet treat before noticing the pouch in her hands, his eyes widening in realization and fear.
"That's Mr. Walker's purse!" he cries out. She looks down at the pouch and realizes too late that she had fucked up, but she still tries to convince him that he is mistaken.
"No, it's not. Just something Mr. P gave me for my birthday." Nathan won't give it up, his eyes narrowing slightly in conviction that he was right to worry about the woman before him when the male above him is evil.
"That proves it!" he cries out as he takes her hand and tries to lead her from the home. "We gotta go, ma'am. We gotta find Skulker and get the law here!" Her eyes glisten at the fact that she might have to harm the boy before her, but she can't let him do anything to the man she loves, the man that had been in love with all those years ago when he had been but a simple barber.
"Nathan. Hush, lad, you're not going anywhere," she whispers, her voice urgent as she moves to pull him into her arms while at the same time pulling him down to sit on the couch with her. "You just sit here, nice and quiet, next to me." As she pulls him to her breast, his head resting on the semi-exposed flesh she continues to talk even though she now finds her throat closing. "That's right, right. How could you think such a thing of Mr. Phantom?" she asks while stroking his red locks. He still looks concerned, his face scrunched up in thought as he listened to her. "He's been so good to us." While it is a lie, her own mind can only see the dream she had begun to foster all those years ago being pulled from her arms, the male upstairs in danger of being taken away from her when she was so close to calling him her own. "Nothing's gonna harm you, not while I'm around. Nothing's gonna harm you, darling. Not while I'm around," she coos as her lip quivers, the small child unaware that he has brought about his own death by questioning her about the male that she loved. She feels him settle, a smile on his face, the joy he feels by her words relaxing his body. "Funny we should be having this little chat right now. 'Cause I was just thinking..." she said, her voice catching as tears shimmer in her cold teal eyes. "You know how you've always fancied coming into the bake house with me - to help make the pies?" He looks up at her in surprise that she remembered him asking about that.
"Yes, ma'am." She knows that she is using his love for her to do him harm, but she can see no other choice in the matter. She loves Dan and her love for him is far stronger than the affection that she feels for the small red headed boy.
"Well, no time like the present, eh?" They stand and Paulina leads him to the cellar door, the large double door that leads downward hidden in the shadows between two walls just about six or so feet from the room they were in. She opens the heavy doors, Nathan standing behind her watching.
As they walk down into the darkness, the only light in the space coming from where they had entered Nathan stated, "I feel bad for you, going up and down all these stairs." She tries to ignore the slight pang those words give her.
"Well, that'll be your job now."
"Yes, ma'am." He is quite happy to aid her so that she doesn't have to work so much. Unlike his last master, Walker, Paulina has treated him well. She feeds him, has given him a job, a bed to sleep in and love. He has been thriving when he had been so worried that for the rest of his life he would be treated poorly by the now dead barber. They come to another door just a few steps from the stairs that they came down. Paulina opens the door to reveal a rather large place with a single furnace in it, the light coming thru the large grate in the front illuminating the room. "Quite a stink, ain't there?" Her eyes are full of confliction at what she must do to protect Dan. While she only feels affection for the boy to her side, she had seen him in the future she had planned, though not as much as she had seen the raven haired male in them.
"You see those grates?" she inquires as they step before the large furnace like structure. Upon closer inspection the red headed male can see that it is really a large oven, the structure towering over both of them. "They go right down to the sewers, and the smells come up. Always a few rats gone home to Jesus down there." She reaches out to grasp the handle of the large oven before pulling it open. The heat from the large contraption makes the pair start to sweat. "Now, this'll be the bake oven. Three dozen at a time. Always be sure the door is closed properly, like this." Once explaining it to him she shuts the door before she moves away.
The red headed child touches the handle now, ensuring that it is closed as he says, "Door's closed properly." Turning he follows her to another contraption, the large item about as tall as Paulina.
"This is a grinder. Pop in the meat." She looks up at the top where what appears to be meat is stacked high on it. Grasping the large turn handle on the machine she instructs him, "Give it a good grind. Pops out there." He watches as she turns the handle, the piece at the end next to him pushing out what looks like noodles made of meat. "You try."
Moving to take her space he says, "Good grind. Comes out there." He smiles at her, the dark haired woman trying to hold back her tears as she pats him on the back.
"That's my boy. I'm just gonna pop upstairs, back in two shakes, all right?" She doesn't wait for his answer, moving quickly to leave the space as the burning in her eyes increases and the pounding of her heart grows faster. Nathan turns to her as she reaches the door, his hand still on the handle of the machine.
"You mind if I have a pie while I wait?" he inquires.
"As many as you like, son," she says with a forced smile. It is too hard to look at this kid and know that while she had taken him in as a kindness, she had also used him to make her life easier. Was she crying because now she was again left to take care of all the work or was she crying because now she had to kill him to keep him from going to the law? He smiles at her, his eyes bright with love for her. Turning her back on him she exited the large space. Shutting the door she puts all the locks in place before leaning against the door as her body shakes. She has never killed anyone, no, she had been an accomplice to Dan's murdering spree and feeding the bodies to the people that came to her shop and the small boy that was now locked in the place that very well could be his grave, but she had never murdered anyone.