Author's Note: Thank you, reviewers. ^^ I'm glad to see that you don't find it pointless smut, because I wasn't sure. There are actually perhaps three or four finished chapters after this that are already going through revision, but it's far from over. I hope that I can keep your interest that long. Enjoy.
…
Skinner leaned back against the head board of his bed, arms resting behind his head as he stared out aimlessly at the wall in front of him. This morning had been particularly slow going for him, nothing to do but either sit around or make friendly chat with the members aboard the Nautilus crew. He didn't much feel like making friends at the moment, so here he was with only his thoughts to entertain him. And that was precisely what they were doing considering the ordeal that had taken place the previous night.
He found it curious that Sawyer hadn't shown up for breakfast with the rest of the league just now. He prided himself in the thought that he had tired him out that much. Still, he couldn't help but wonder where he had gotten to. It was well into the afternoon and he'd neither seen nor heard from him. Not that he had expected to. Or…maybe he had a little. His thoughts drifted back to how the night before had even come about…
Since the moment he saw that kid, it'd been a scar on his face. He was maybe a little clumsy and at times bullheaded, but there was something about him that was close to maddening. He had always felt a little protective of him. Possesive, even. He was never quite sure why. He figured it was just the guy's happy-go-lucky character, that charisma that made him so likable, and that he could easily shake off its affects in a matter of time. Unfotunately, the case had been the opposite. That strange something only intensified, burned and ate at Skinner's curiousity until he could hardly stand it. It built up, he supposed. Overflowed. And the result had gotten a tad out of control.
It was late, and he knew that no one would be sleeping. It was just one of those nights. After a while of lying on his back and staring off into nowhere, he decided that a roam around the ship couldn't hurt. He did some exploring for the first hour or so, checking out the eccentric décor that lined the walls and hallways. He wondered where Nemo had managed to get the cash for all this gaudy trash, and why, if he had this money, would he spend it as such? With the money it took to build a flying toothpick like this, he surely could have purchased his own small country at the same price. After examining a particular item of strangeness -some little statue of a thing with six arms- and incidentally dropping it, he decided that he would find a room with less expensive items…The thing still had five arms, who would notice, anyway?
Walking along the hallways back to his own room, he decided that he was perhaps indeed the only one about, until, as it were, he happened upon Sawyer's room. Just out of chance, purely random chance…so he told himself. He heard the clucking of his boots against the floor as he paced around, light still coming from the partially open door. Everyone else he'd looked in on had been at least trying to sleep. He crept in the door, watching the young man wandering around the room between the desk and the bed, obviously in some kind of deep thought. He eventually gave up and plopped down in his chair with a sigh and rubbing his head in what was either tiredness or aggravation. He seemed troubled, and it didn't take a clairvoyant to guess the reason.
Skinner walked up and leaned his elbow down on the back of the chair, observing Tom's weary state. Poor kid…he thought sympathetically, seeing him take up a pen in his hand and scratch something down on the sheet of paper before him. Apparently unsatisfied with it, he crossed it away and returned to thought. He repeated this a few more times before returning into a dead state of stillness, enveloped in a veil of morose contemplation. Now he couldn't really be blamed for what transpired after that. He just wanted to give him a little jump start, get the guy to lighten up, that's all. He hadn't expected him to panic. In a moment of shock, he clamped a hand down over his mouth and laughed to himself, shouting out hurriedly for Tom to calm down. He didn't want the whole ship to come running up here.
Once he had calmed down, he was readily coaxed into a somewhat peaceable conversation, wherein Skinner led a covert interrogation as to what was bothering him. He was forlorn and distant, unwilling to share any personal feelings, which made things difficult, but not impossible. It wasn't hard to see why he seemed so alone, Quartermain had been something of a father figure to him, the member of the league that he had been closest to. In fact, he hadn't even really talked to the others much at all, and he was taking this whole thing pretty damn hard, sitting there like the weight of the world sat on his drooping shoulders. He was such a fiery character, now reduced to what looked something like a dog that had been repeatedly kicked in the ribs. Skinner had felt pity for him, but it was more than that. He couldn't very well let him sit here like this all night. If he didn't loosen up a little bit, he'd never get any sleep, and that would only make him feel worse the next day. So yes, he could maybe write it off as a…charitable donation of sorts.
The next few memories of what happened made him grin to himself. Sawyer had surrendered easily, allowing Skinner to do as he saw fit. And that he did. He wasn't sure exactly why he had done it. Like he had always known, there was just something about this kid that made him hold his gaze a little bit longer, something that made him put just a little more meaning into what he said to him. He was special, not like the other casual interests he had picked up in the past, male or female. It was some force that had hit him just before he left the kid dazed and spent and sitting in his bed with a groggy expression and that lop-sided grin on his face. It seemed like every odd and hidden feeling he had for Tom came to the surface right then. Damn, he was a cute kid... After that, he had suddenly felt strange about Tom's powerful allure, and he let out a final quip and left the room as to avoid the blank stare he had been allowing himself to spiral down into.
He had been thinking about it all this morning. Once again he was trapped with nothing to do but let his own thoughts circle in his mind. He was tired of it. When he left the others after breakfast, most of them still sat at the table talking to old Nemo, who they seemed to find fascinating. Perhaps he would go and join in on the conversation after all to try to break himself of these frivilous thoughts. Maybe this way he wouldn't miss anything important. He stood and walked back out of the room, straightening his jacket as he did so and walking down the hall. It was a rather long walk on the gargantuan ship, the halls alive with crew mates scuttling by with short 'hellos' and the whiring of machinery around him. As he came across a familiar pedestal, he realized that the miniature statue figurine had vanished…maybe Nemo did notice it after all. Still, five arms out of six wasn't bad… Eh, how were they going to trace it back to him, anyway? He returned to the room in high spirits, glancing around for the others, but when he did arrive back where the league had once been assembled, he was met by only two members that remained.
Dr. Jekyll stood across from Sawyer, who was closest to the doorway. As Skinner approached, his demeanor changed upon seeing the manner in which the two faced each other. Jekyll seemed to be seething, one hand leaned on the table in what he could only assume was a struggle with Hyde as he glared at the boy before him. Sawyer stood with a clenched fist, anger pulsating through every breath between his words. "You think you have it in ya, you son of a bitch?" he snapped.
"Don't push me!" Jekyll warned, pounding the table once with his fist.
"Yeah, go to hell!" Tom barked, his voiced reverberating slightly off the walls. "You and your half-wit gorilla!"
"Whoa, whoa, take it easy, Sawyer…" Skinner said, cautiously touching his shoulder and glancing from him to Jekyll in a state of utter bewilderment.
"Ah!" Tom spat, throwing the hand off him and turning to storm out of the room.
"Wait, hold up!" Skinner called, to no avail however, as he disappeared. Jaw dropping slightly, his attention turned back to the other man. "What in the bloody hell is goin' on in here?"
Jekyll was panting, tremors going up one hand as though he were suppressing some unimaginable rage. "I'm tired of babysitting that little toddler!" he roared. "Toss him overboard and drown the damn brat!"
"What is goin' on?" Skinner repeated.
"He has the nerve…the nerve!" he growled, all but ignoring him.
"What's gotten in t'you? Or…him? Or…well…what the hell is going on?" he asked incredulously.
"Nothing out of the ordinary…" Jekyll replied, glaring hatefully in the direction where Tom was last seen. "Just your average tantrum. Boarish American trod!"
"The two a'you was all chummy just last night, and now I come out here t'find you at each other's throats? Like hell nothin' outta the ordinary!" Skinner threw up his hands, demanding some kind of answer.
"Well I don't suppose it's any of your business, Mr. Skinner." Jekyll said darkly, straightening up.
"Really? Judgin' by that little scene, I'd guess it was the whole damn crew's business. An' when you start talkin' about gettin' rid of 'im like that-"
"Why don't you ask him then?" Jekyll sneered. "If you're so intent on playing the mediator."
Skinner grunted, folding his arms. "I don't care much t'see you and the kid duke it out. It wouldn't be pretty an' I don't think Nemo would appreciate ya bangin' up his ship."
"I should let Hyde pound him into the ground…" he rumbled, shifting a wayward glance towards a hanging mirror. "What good has he been? You're telling me you wouldn't like to reprimand the little twat just once with a quick backhand?"
"I risked my life for that kid, don't think for a minute I don't care about his well bein'." He stated sternly.
"And just why is that? I would've let him burn, save us the trouble!"
Skinner narrowed his eyes and calmly chose his words. There was something horribly off about this. "You that little of a man?" he retorted, suddenly very wary of what action that statement might provoke.
Jekyll stopped, silent for a long while and staring at the ground. Suddenly he seemed very confused. "Yes…no, I mean I didn't mean…" the color drained from his face and his lip twitched.
Skinner was beginning to wonder if he was in his right mind, or even his own mind. He was acting like a maniac.
"I don't want to hurt him…" he sighed suddenly. "It's…it's Hyde that doesn't like him. He-he's just so…difficult to control sometimes…"
Skinner swallowed. "You'd best get him under control, Jekyll. I don't want that boy touched, and I'm sure no one else on this tank wants to face Hyde on a bad day, either."
"I don't want to hurt anyone, really, I don't…" he looked up at him with a pleading gaze. "Hyde is so damn…jealous…and angry. And I feel like I can't stop him…He… he thinks that Sawyer is after Mina…"
Skinner shook his head, annoyed. "You've got t'be kiddin' me…"
"He admitted to having an interest in her." Jekyll defended.
He felt a pang of jealousy that he tried to ignore. "That so?"
"And then he denied having those feelings any longer…Hyde didn't believe him. He's maddening! He won't shut up!" he looked into the mirror scornfully. "He is always there. At my back…"
Skinner looked over, but only saw Jekyll's own reflection. "You can control 'im. There ain't nothin' he can do so long as you don't pop open one a'your potion deals there."
"You're wrong…" Jekyll put both hands to the sides of his head, sitting down in one of the table chairs. "He can control me."
"What are you sayin'?"
"You don't know what it's like." He looked up. "You don't understand. I care for Ms. Harker. Mina…I like her very much. But Hyde…Hyde is lusting after her…filling my head with these disgusting and twisted…images…that I care never to see again…I do not only fear for the safety of my sanity…but for her safety as well. For everyone's safety…"
Skinner reeled at this new turn of events, caught between mild sympathy and guarded caution. It was a definite problem. He knew from the first day that Jeykll/Hyde would be a dangerous addition to the league, but he was sure that he could take care of himself. After all, he hadn't expected to care as much about the other crew members as he did. And it was making him more than a little nervous to think of the beast's vendetta for Sawyer. Why was he thinking this? Would Hyde really go after him? It was one fucked up situation, to put it in simpler terms.
"Please, Skinner…" Jekyll said solemnly. "Please keep him away from me."
"You listen good, Jekyll," he started. "You'd better fight that other half a'yours, because it ain't nobody's responsibility but yours. If you let the brute get the better of you, you'll be back on the streets a'good ol' Paris terrorizin' little French men, now is that what you want?"
He looked up, eyes wide with a hint of fear. "I…No, no, I can't go back to that…I'm sorry. I'm sorry…I've allowed him to hurt so many people, I can't bear it again…tell Mr. Sawyer that I apologize. I believe I said awful things to him, terrible things."
"…What exactly did you say to 'im?" Skinner cocked his head, peering down at the disheveled man.
Jekyll only shook his head and buried his face in his hands. "I didn't mean to say them. I didn't…Tell him I apologize. Please."
"Yeah, sure mate." He mumbled, scratching his chin. He was none too good at castigating others for their transgressions, usually he came off as rather snide, so for now he would keep quiet. "Just cool off." He turned, planning to find Sawyer as soon as possible.
A/N: Right, well, if you thought this story was going to be a simple romance, I guess it's sort of changing tides. There's also some off-the-wall Jekyll angst as well. But it ties in. I hope. :/