Disclaimer: I don't own "Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries" or any of the show/book's characters, wishful thinking aside.

Authors Note #1: Because I need more Bert x Cec x Alice. This chapter features Jack x Phryne to conclude this fic.

Warnings: amnesia, memory loss, injury, emotional constipation, references to a threesome relationship, threesome, romance, drama, angst, sexual content, flirting, period typical attitudes, period typical homophobia, friends to lovers.

Behind the Eight Ball

Chapter Eight

"Can I top you up?" she offered, pleased when the detective nodded. Filling his tumbler a few fingers past decent, until he lifted a brow at her. It wasn't often Jack allowed her to indulge him, and in truth, she felt like celebrating.

Getting Jack in her parlor was a rare treat.

Though, it seemed like it was happening more often these days.

To her delight, of course.

"It seems like everything worked out," Jack commented delicately. Pleased they'd managed to sort themselves out. At least according to Dot and the latest gossip.

Indeed, she'd be surprised if the bed in the guest room had been used much at all since-

"What did you say to him?" Jack asked, after a healthy swallow. "Jane said he was here for hours that day, working on the cab."

It was interfered that Jack assumed Bert had taken out his temper on the cab's engine more than anything. But she knew better. She'd had the opportunity to watch him long before she'd announced her presence. And found the Bert she'd grown accustomed to over the years was very much the same as the one without his memory. There had been no outbursts. No fits of anger. Just the simmering need to fix and fiddle. To be productive even when his mind was running wild.

"What he needed to hear," she said simply. Taking a sip from her glass, quite self-satisfied. "In all honesty, he already knew what he had to do, what he wanted to do, he just needed a…push in the right direction."

Jack huffed an amused sound.

"And you happily provided?"

She smiled, allowing herself the wickedness of it all.

"Of course."

There was quiet for a moment before Jack spoke again. Expression a bit more serious, but not grim. It was a questioning sort of look. The kind he sported when he was still thinking something through.

"I suppose I shouldn't be surprised. You never seemed bothered by their arrangement. Dot can still barely get through it without coloring. But not you. I gather you've come across it before? People who prefer that kind of...relationship?"

Her smile went soft. Still playful, but also remembering.

"I have," she agreed. In truth, there was very little that shocked her. People were beautifully varying in their wants. And sometimes, those wants could surprise you. She firmly believed that Bert, Alice and Cecil were an excellent representation of exactly that. Indeed, if they'd never come across Alice, it was likely they wouldn't have realized their feelings for each other. Let alone acted on them.

It was all very fascinating.

"That's why you understood," Jack decided, predictable in his understanding of things.

She smiled. Knowing he didn't mean it that way. Not insulting. Never. Just short-sighted in the way most people were when it came to those who found joy in multiple partners rather than one.

"Love is love, Jack," she hummed. "Someday society give the same equality to others as they do to a man and woman in Church on their wedding day. What Bert, Cec and Alice has is no different, really. They just need a larger bed than the rest of us."

He took it in without speaking, a smile in his eyes, before-

"When did you find out, then?"

She cocked her head.

"That they were together?"

He nodded. "I'm a detective. It wasn't hard to figure when Bert stayed after the flathouse was repaired. That and when Collins spent the night after the shake down at the wharf. Poor lad seemed concerned he'd ousted Bert from his room. I knew for sure then."

They smiled, recalling how the young man had stuttered when someone finally let him in on the secret. Between him and Dot it was a marvel there was any color left in the world to blush.

"Mmmm," she hummed, nursing her drink. Brimming with titillated humor. "I had a different experience. I had the pleasure of walking in on them when they were quite...engaged. They were far more enthusiastic than I gave them credit for."

Jack choked on his mouthful of brandy.

"Walked in accidentally, or on purpose?" he demanded, eying her knowingly. The playful glint was back in his eyes. Giving her that warm, possible feeling she'd been courting lately. Wondering if there would come a day when one of them would dare to see the feeling through.

"I'll have you know they were sleeping," she admitted, laughing. Batting her eyelashes as Jack fixed her with that look of his. "It was quite beautiful."

In fact, she'd been drawn further into the room than she should have been.

"There was an artist in France that I followed for quite some time. He was a solitary man, unused to people and crowds. And certainly, to people like myself who fell in love with his work," she mused, able to remember the brand of tobacco he used in his pipe. Imagining she could smell it now. "He used to say it was the moments you couldn't stop and paint – the small moments in everyday life that were the true masterpieces. …I let myself out quietly before they woke. But Bert came to me later. He recognized my perfume."

Jack smiled, pressing his lips to the rim of the glass before taking a sip. Sure to leave an imprint behind.

"He wanted to know if I was going to make trouble for them. I rather think he might have made good in his unspoken promise if I'd been adverse. He loves them and would do anything to protect them. ...It's why I knew it was him, even before Dot told me. Bert would have put himself between Alice and a runaway horse."

Jack nodded, tipping back the last of his brandy with a quirk of his lips.

"It's in his nature."

She nodded, finishing her drink with maudlin disappointment. Knowing she wouldn't be able to tempt him with another. Jack was the king of self-restraint, and often she was the exact opposite.

"Luckily, Johnson deems you equal to protect," he pointed out.

"Lucky indeed," she grinned. Knowing that it likely wasn't equal at all. Cec and Alice came first. Always. As it should be.

It wasn't often she was considered second-best. But in this instance, she couldn't have been happier.

"Will you stay for dinner?" she asked, as he set down his glass. Already steeled to accept that he wouldn't. "I sent Dot over with a basket for the happy throuple and Mr. Butler made one of his specialties."

But perhaps the good feelings were catching. Because after a moment, Jack nodded. Smiling at her openly this time.

"I believe Johnson would approve, don't you think?" he hummed. "With no one having to spend the evening alone?"

She smiled beatifically. Deciding it would be a sad day when Jack would no longer be able to surprise her.


A/N: Thank you for reading, please let me know what you think. – This story is now complete.