[A/N: Thank you so much for the reviews of Long Shot, I couldn't stop laughing as I read them! Sorry for scaring you guys with the beginning! I also thought it was a crazy idea, but the story kind of wrote itself, so I went with it! This one is much more lighthearted, I promise.

A while back, I had written a bunch of short scenes with Eliza and William, mainly to amuse myself, but they don't actually fit anywhere in the timeline I've been using for my other stories. I wanted to post some of them anyway, and I thought this one was particularly funny. It takes place after Season 1, and it does involve them kissing again, as adults, for the first time. Which I could read and write about a hundred times over!

After this story, I'm jumping back into "my" timeline of events.]

Up the Ante

"Will, are you cheating?" William looked up flabbergasted. "What are you talking about?" "You're winning," Albert said. "You never win." The others at the poker table burst out laughing. William grumbled under his breath. "What was that?" Jasper asked. "I said, I just happened to get better at playing, is all." "So who told you your tell? Was it that lady friend of yours?" Max asked him. William sighed, "She happened to mention I sniff when I lie, okay? Now can we continue? I have some more money I need to win."

They continued the game and William won. "You owe her something pretty, that money should belong to her." Jasper said. "Aye, well she tore up my tux coat to make a bandage, that needs replacing first." "Right, we read about that in the papers, some case that turned out to be." Albert said. "Sounds like it was exciting." "Dangerous is more accurate, she sticks her nose into everything. But..." "But...?" "She did solve most of it. She's too brilliant for her own good, trying to keep her out of danger is a full time job." He said grumpily.

The men laughed, "Why don't you make an honest woman out of her? Marry her, Will." William glared at Max, "First, even if I do, she still wouldn't listen to me, I don't think 'to serve and obey' are in her mental dictionary." William paused, not even sure if those were real vows. Deciding he didn't really care, he carried on, "Second, she can't cook, I'll be eating improperly boiled eggs three times a day for the rest of my life, and third, she's so intent on being a private detective, marriage is the last thing on her mind." "But you do love her?" Jasper asked slyly. William didn't answer right away. "She vexes me more often than not." William sniffed. The men cracked up again and he slammed his hand on the table, rattling the poker chips. "Can we just play!?" He shouted exasperatedly. That just set them off more.

"Next time," Albert began, "bring her. We want to meet her." "NO!" William said. "You'll all be completely broke by the end of the night. Now shuffle."

The next evening…

William was having an early dinner with Eliza. They had a private table at the side of the restaurant by an open window. He looks grumpy, Eliza thought. They had ordered, but he hadn't spoken much.

"William, are you alright? Did something happen at work?" He looked up surprised, "No, sorry if I haven't been attentive, I was thinking of last night's poker game." "Oh. How much did you lose?" He snorted, "I won." Her eyebrows shot up in surprise. "So what's the problem? Are your friends mad?" "No, they thought it was funny that I finally figured out my tell. Or that you did. Now they want to meet you." Her face lit up and she laughed, "Seriously? To play poker with them? I would love to." "I know, that's the problem. They'll probably want to play with you all the time if they meet you."

Their food came. "Come on William, let me join you, just once. You don't play in a club right? If it's in someone's house I can attend. Please!" She gave him a pleading look. He sighed and ran his hand through his hair, "Why can't I ever say 'no' to you?" He muttered. She grinned, "Lovely! When and where is the next game?" "Next Friday evening, my place. Now can we eat?" She nodded but she was still smiling.

Next Friday evening…

Eliza knocked on William's door. He held it open for her and she strode in. She was the last one to arrive. She walked past him into the drawing room. Three men looked up at her and one sucked his teeth. "Gentlemen, may I present Miss Eliza Scarlet." William announced from behind her.

"William," Max said rising and reaching out a hand to Eliza, "You said she was brilliant, you had neglected to mention that she's also beautiful." He took Eliza's hand and kissed the back of it. "I'm Maximillian, but please call me Max." Eliza smiled. A tall lanky fellow pushed Max aside. "Jasper, but you can call me whatever you like." William snorted from behind her. "And last, but never least, is Al, Albert." "A pleasure ma'am." He said with a nod.

William gestured to the only chair with a wine glass in front of it. The men were drinking whisky. "Eliza, I have a bottle of that wine you like, I'll just go grab it quickly, have a seat." "Thank you." She settled in and turned to the men. Max and Jasper looked close in age to William, Albert a bit older. Only Albert was wearing a wedding band, but William had mentioned that Jasper was recently engaged.

"My felicitations Jasper, William has told me about your recent engagement." Jasper smiled, "If I had known I would meet someone as lovely as you, I would've waited." She laughed, Max wrapped an arm around Jasper's shoulders, "Ignore him, he absolutely dotes on Mattie, he's just being a flirt. I, on the other hand, am very single." "And you're going to stay that way with your attitude." William said as he came in. He opened Eliza's wine and poured her a glass. He also placed a couple of bowls of nuts on the table.

"Ha, you're one to talk my good man!" Max shot back, William narrowed his eyes at him. "Well, you do have quite the reputation William." Eliza said. William sighed, it was going to be a long evening and he was getting a headache already. How his reputation got so out of control was beyond him. True, he had been a little wild in his youth, but he didn't even have time anymore to go chasing after women. He was too tired, and if he was being honest with himself, getting too old.

"Can we just play? Somebody shuffle." He said annoyed, and downed his whisky. "Easy there Duke, you'll get drunk and go back to loosing." Albert said. Eliza pat the back of William's hand, "Don't be so dour, it's just teasing." She said. "Yes dear." He said sarcastically.

The men laughed. "We realized that we get along much better when he agrees with me all the time." Eliza explained. "Whatever you say Eliza." William said. That set everyone off again, and even William managed a smile.

Halfway through the fifth game, William and Eliza were tying for the most wins. Eliza was slightly ahead of William. The others were only slightly disgruntled at losing their money, it was well worth the price of admission to watch William and Eliza interact with each other.

"Let's take a break, eh? We won't have enough money to continue at this rate." Jasper said. William reached over his head and stretched, his back cracked. He had removed his jacket and waistcoat and had undone the top few buttons of his shirt. His sleeves were rolled up to his elbows. Eliza hadn't seen him look so at ease in a while. She was glad to see he wasn't as stressed as usual.

He absently put his arm on the back of Eliza's chair and finished his drink in his other hand. He leaned back with a soft sigh and a slight smile on his face. "Duke, how go things at Scotland Yard?" Max asked him. "Aye, much better, we have a new Super starting this week. I don't know much about him but I've heard he's strict, but fair. I'm hoping he'll loosen the purse strings a bit so I can hire more detectives. Frank..." he sighed, "Let's just say I'm short staffed. I'm even busier, but not having Stirling breathing down my neck still makes things easier."

William looked into his empty glass, he was tempted to refill it but he didn't want to totally lose his inhibitions. He glanced over at Eliza, her cheeks were flushed, and he noticed she had drunk half of the bottle of wine. She reached forward for it, but he moved to put his hand on her arm, "Easy there Lizzie, you'll fall flat on your face." She looked at him and scowled, "I'm not drunk." She said and then hiccuped. Everyone cracked up. She put the bottle back down. "Fine, fine."

"So, you two have practically grown up together?" Jasper asked curiously. Eliza nodded emphatically. "My father found him, we took William in until he became an officer and moved out." She remembered that day, she was so proud of him but also sad, she had been so used to having someone around, a friend, and then suddenly he wasn't there every day. She didn't have many friends and school, the other girls had bullied her.

"Found him? Like a lost waif on the street?" Max joked. William shrugged, "That would actually be pretty accurate. I had been beaten up trying to stop some robbers from stealing a lady's purse. She was so hysterical, when the police came they thought I had robbed her. Henry had seen the whole thing and told them what had happened. They were going to throw me into a boys' home. Henry took me in instead." The men were quiet. William didn't often talk about his past, Eliza didn't even know much about his childhood in Scotland. "So we grew up together since he was 17 and I was 14." Eliza added.

"That must've been interesting." Albert said. William and Eliza looked at each other and burst out laughing. "We drove Henry crazy. Between the two of us his hair grayed overnight." William chuckled, his eyes clouded over thinking about the past.

"My father taught us how to investigate. He used to set up mini mysteries for us to solve. It got very competitive." She paused reminiscing, "We solved them faster when we worked together." She said looking up at William. He looked down at her. "Aye, we did." He turned slightly in his chair and touched her cheek lightly with one finger.

"You remember when you fell into the river thinking the clue was under the bridge?" William said. She laughed and turned to tell the others, "I was convinced my father hid a clue under a bridge that ran over a river. William insisted it was at the foot of the bridge. I had to prove him wrong of course, and as I was reaching for a piece of paper that was fluttering under the bridge I slipped and fell in."

William sighed, "If she had waited two minutes for me to catch up to her I could've reached it with no incident." She gave him a look, he continued, "I was a foot taller than you, you couldn't wait, you had to show me up! So she falls in of course. Her wet frock weighed twice as much as her." He muttered.

"I hadn't asked you to jump in after me!" She exclaimed. "What was I supposed to do Eliza? The current was pulling you downstream! You would've sank in that dress." He retorted. "You don't even swim that well! We had to drag each other out." She said. "You still owe me a shoe." William said sullenly.

Eliza burst out laughing so hard tears formed in her eyes. "Okay, I owe you one shoe, a tux coat, and a new pocket watch. Anything else you'd like?" "Forget the tux coat, I replaced it last week with my winnings. Speaking of winnings, I'd like to win some more."

"Wait, wait, wait..." Jasper interrupted, "What was the clue?" "The paper had gotten so wet that we couldn't read it." Eliza said. "My father said it was a lesson that I had to learn to be patient and work with others. I never did find out what we were looking for." William sniffed.

"William?" "Hmmm?" "Why did you sniff? Don't tell me, you had found the prize?" He squirmed in his seat. Then he finally nodded. "And you didn't tell me?" "I didn't see the point. If you had found it first you weren't going to share it anyway, so I took it." "What was it?" She asked curiously. "Let's just say I owe you some chocolate bonbons." She laughed. "How did you know where to find it?" "I didn't... Henry gave them to me as a thank you for fishing you out of the river." They all laughed.

"Excuse me for a moment gentlemen, I must powder my nose." Eliza said and she hurried off. William took the opportunity to reach over and move the remaining wine to a table behind him where Eliza wouldn't have access to it.

"You've been holding out on us." Max said leaning forward towards William. "What do you mean?" William asked. "She's beautiful, and fun, and smart, why haven't you introduced us to her sooner? We've known you for quite a few years."

William sighed, he didn't want to admit to them, or to himself, that he was worried what would happen if one of them courted her. It worked to his advantage that Eliza was more interested in working than being married. For the moment at least.

"It never came up." William said vaguely. "Do you want her for yourself, or not then?" Max asked, "Because I certainly would entertain the idea of court..." before Max could finish, and William could lose his temper, Eliza reappeared. She didn't seem to have heard them.

She sat down as William said, "Anyway... let's start another game." William shuffled the cards, he was tipsy, but he managed to deal them out. As the game progressed, Jasper and Albert folded, it was a pretty even match between Max, William, and Eliza.

"Why don't we make this interesting and up the ante?" Max asked. William looked at him over his cards, "What do you mean?" "I'm low on funds, what if we bet something different?" "Like what?" William asked glancing around his drawing room, "I suppose I have a good bottle of whisky lying around somewhere." "Hmmm... tempting as that sounds, I had something else in mind." Max said.

Eliza's interest looked piqued, she had a good hand. "What do you have to offer?" She asked him. "My motorcar. I'll lend it to the two of you for the whole day, you can go on a picnic together or something." William sat up straighter, he was dying to try it out. Having a motorcar was far beyond his budget, when Max said he had purchased one he wasn't jealous, just curious about driving it and seeing how it compared to a horse-drawn carriage.

Eliza was shrewd, "And if you win? What do you want from William or me?" Max leaned back in his chair and clasped his hands over his midsection. He shrugged and smiled, "If I win, I'd like you to take me to dinner." William growled and started to rise out of his seat, Eliza put a hand on his arm to keep him back, "William, stop being silly." He looked ready to murder Max. Eliza was glad he didn't have his gun on him.

"Or..." Max continued, "A dare. Nothing complicated." "A dare? Like a silly prank?" Eliza asked. "Precisely!" Max said. "What exactly would this dare entail?" William asked, suspicious of Max's motives.

"Nothing crazy, just that the two of you kiss." Max said. William leaned back in his chair surprised, and Eliza looked stunned.

"What on earth would that prove?" She asked. "It would settle a bet between the three of us." Max said. "A bet? About what precisely?" She looked at William but even he looked confused.

"Albert and I think William fancies you. He would never openly admit it though. If he kisses you, then we'd know. Jasper thinks you're just friends. We have money on it." Max clarified. "How would a kiss prove anything?" Eliza wondered. "It would, trust me." Max said. Albert shook his head with an amused smile on his face.

"I will not take advantage of Eliza." William said. Eliza scoffed, "You were fine with kissing me when Skip died." "Aargh, will you ever drop that?" He said exasperated. Jasper looked interested, "What's that story?" He asked.

"Her dog died, she cried in my arms, I kissed her, she slapped me. End of story." William said trying to end the subject. "He keeps insisting I enjoyed the kiss." She glared at William, "I did not."

He sighed. "That's not very nice Duke, to kiss a girl when she's down." Albert said. "Lord help me." William muttered under his breath. Max shook his head mockingly, "Taking advantage of a poor girl whose beloved pet just died. What a cad..."

William slammed his palm on the table and shouted, "I was so relieved the carriage hit the dumb dog and not her I kissed her, okay?! Maybe it wasn't the best way to express my relief, Eliza, I'm sorry I kissed you a decade ago, but you did kiss me back!" He was breathing heavily and alternated glaring between Max and Eliza. He finally settled on glaring at Eliza.

"Then there really is only one way to settle this." Eliza said. "HOW?" He asked. "We kiss again. If I like it, I promise to tell the truth, and if I don't, well, I'll still tell the truth." William was stunned into silence. He thought about it and was about to agree, but before he could say anything, he felt Eliza cup his face in one hand and she kissed him softly on the lips.

At first, he was stunned into stillness, but her lips were so warm and tender, he gently kissed her back. She gasped and he took the opportunity to deepen the kiss. He thought she might pull away, but instead her hand wrapped around the nape of his neck to kiss him back just as deeply.

His head was spinning, he almost forgot to breathe. He wrapped an arm around her waist, he was just about to pull her against him, when she gently pushed him back with a hand on his chest. He blinked in surprise. It felt like being torn out of a wonderful dream.

"Wha...? What just happened?" He asked dazed. Meanwhile Eliza was looking at the men, "I'd give that a seven out of ten." "A SEVEN?" William said astounded. "Okay," she continued,

"I'm feeling magnanimous, seven and a half." "Seven and a ha...? What exactly do you expect from a kiss? What scale are you even rating on? I'M THE ONLY MAN YOU'VE EVER KISSED!" He shouted. Then he paused, "Aren't I? Have you kissed someone else? Who was it? Was it Rupert?"

Eliza just shrugged with a smile on her face. William actually was the only man she had ever kissed, and that kiss was worth way more than a ten on any scale, she just didn't want it bloating his ego. "William, calm down," She said, "I will concede that I did like it though."

William was baffled. He looked at the men, "I don't know what else I could've done. Seven and a half..." He slumped in his seat. "Eliza, I think you've broken him. Time for us to head out, this was marvelous!" Max said happily, he hadn't had this much fun at poker in a long time.

"Yes, I'm sure Mattie's waiting for me." Jasper said and Albert nodded. "I'll show you out." Eliza said. She looked at William, his face was fluctuating between confusion and bewilderment. He didn't look like he was in any condition to see anyone out.

"Good night ole' chap!" Max said patting him on the shoulder. "Eliza, when he snaps out of it, tell him I'll lend him my motorcar anyway. This was well worth it. Make sure he takes you somewhere nice." She laughed and bid them adieu and then walked back to William.

"What should I have done differently?" William asked looking up at her. He looked like a sad young boy. She almost felt bad for the rating. Almost. She shrugged. "Like you said, I don't have much of a point of reference. Perhaps I should kiss more men..." She thought he would argue, but he just looked tired and worn. "Do as you please Lizzie. Anything I say wouldn't deter you, in fact you'd probably just do the opposite."

He looked down at his hands in his lap. He felt like a part of his heart had broken. He was too drunk to think clearly, he honestly couldn't tell if she was being serious or not. Eliza realized she might have pushed the teasing too far. She hated seeing him unhappy, that was the last thing she wanted.

She touched his face and tilted it up. She leaned forward to whisper in his ear, "I didn't lie about enjoying the kiss, because I did. However, I did lie about the rating. William, there is no scale with a number high enough to rate that kiss, it was off the charts." He blinked is surprise. She kissed his cheek softly, "Goodnight William." She breathed. Before he could react, she was gone.

He smiled at the empty room and fell asleep in his chair.