Chapter 20

-December 21, 1901-

Long Lane, Fish and Chip Shop 'Aleister's'

The following Saturday at 6 PM, Barok approached the establishment he and Albert had agreed on for this evening – for once, his friend had suggested the place in his response to Barok's initial letter, potentially because he was still somewhat uncomfortable with the way their patronage agreement had concluded a month ago. Well, if Barok had been in his place, he might also have been reticent to accept further invitations for meals without footing his own bill, regardless of whether the other person was well-heeled or not.

Considering that 'Aleister's' primarily catered to a working class clientele on weekends, when most of the nearby Westminster offices were devoid of the professionals spending the lion's share of their weekdays inside them, Barok had decided to attempt disguising his identity somewhat, both to avoid attracting gossip reporters out for last-minute filler material for their paper's Sunday edition, and to do his best to ensure no ruffians who had a bone to pick with a high-profile prosecutor decided that tonight was the night to try their luck.

… Granted, perhaps Albert's remarks to him during their stay on the Isle of Wight had ever so slightly guided his decision to not comb his hair back in his regular style tonight after taking a bath earlier. Perhaps.

As he rounded a corner and the chip shop came into view, he spotted his friend's distinctive shock of blond curls right away, the sight suffusing him with a pleasant warmth that had nothing at all to do with the new, deliberately nondescript overcoat he had purchased yesterday.

Well. I suppose that puts paid to the idea that distancing myself was ever going to lead anywhere. Not that he had not already been guessing as much.

Slowly drawing in a deep breath and releasing it once more to suppress a sudden hint of nervousness, he sped up his steps to walk up to the man he was here to meet.

"Good evening, Albert."

His friend turned toward him as soon as he heard the greeting… and gawped.

"B-Barok…! Goodness, if you hadn't said anything, I might not have recognized you!"

The incredulous statement had Barok chuckling quietly. "Since I was, in fact, aiming for 'different,' it appears I have reached my objective in that regard."

While he had not necessarily been fishing for a compliment from Albert, it was somewhat disappointing when his companion did not opt to provide any other assessments of his own, merely stating, "I'll say!" in return.

Don't be ridiculous. You wanted him to be more discreet in public, didn't you?

Aloud, he suggested, "Shall we go inside and purchase our food? Thereafter, we can decide whether we'd prefer to sit in the shop, or set out again for a stroll."

Thankfully, even though it was already December, the evening was not so cold that spending time outside a building would quickly become unpleasant, and Albert had apparently also chosen to recently purchase a thicker coat to be better insulated from the British winters.

Iris must have reminded him to do so, probably before I went to see him last.

"Yes, let's."

While they were queueing up for someone behind the counter to take their order, Barok could not help but study his companion's features whenever Albert did not happen to look at him. He did look a little wan, but that was to be expected if his niece's statements about his friend's current habits had been accurate.

Besides, I hardly have any room to talk. Frankly, what greeted Barok in the mirror in the morning at the moment looked far less rested.

Since the staff at 'Aleister's' were quite adept at handling even large crowds, the queue diminished quickly, and only a few minutes later, they were seated at one of the wooden tables nearby, both of them holding a portion of fish and chips.

It was gratifying to see that Albert took a few bites right away, obviously not haunted by a lack of appetite at the moment, and Barok likewise removed his left glove to angle for some chips after sprinkling the whole affair with malt vinegar.

Things between them almost felt as though the previous month had never occurred… until his companion hesitantly asked, "So… how have you been doing recently?"

Barok was at a loss as to how to answer for a second that felt far too long.

I've missed you terribly. I hate that I've made you feel terrible. I still don't know what I want us to be, and if you want the same thing. I don't even know how to begin telling you why I did what I did.

"I have found myself… beset… by a rather large number of matters to contend with," he eventually stated in response, loath to further compound the lie that had separated them last month, but also not yet prepared to explain himself.

"How are you finding your work for the Justice Ministry so far?" he inquired back, deciding that buying himself some more time to sort through his thoughts would hopefully aid him in navigating this conversation.

"Oh, well… Scotland Yard has contacted me and requested that I train a number of their investigators in how to use the blood colorant and the skinprint spray in a potential crime scene setting all of next week, excepting Christmas Day – I hope the participants will find it useful, Mr. Sholmes has agreed to participate for two of the days as well…"

Barok sighed. "Trust the ministry to ruin Christmas for you. I suppose I understand why they chose to convene this training at the time they did, considering that the violent crime rate experiences an uptick around Boxing Day every year, but I sincerely doubt that a couple of days' training ahead of that date will make much of a difference where this year is concerned."

"Oh, it's quite alright, Barok – since Mr. Sholmes frequently has cases on Christmas Day itself, he and Iris usually move the whole celebration to New Year's Eve, anyway." Not only did Albert not seem particularly annoyed, the expression of concern for his well-being had managed to make him smile without any nervousness for the first time this evening.

The sight made Barok's heart skip a beat.

Hastily redirecting his gaze to his food and reaching for another chip to distract himself, lest he once again lost control over his thoughts, he muttered before lifting it to his mouth, "In that case, I suppose you won't miss anything too important. Good."

"And what about you?" His friend asked next. "If the police is very busy around this time, I assume that you'll have more work on your hands, as well?"

"No, my own caseload tends to be fairly low during this time of year, since I primarily prosecute murderers and those taking part in organized crime," Barok returned with a wry smile. "It turns out that those particular criminal elements of society prefer to not perpetrate their deeds on major holidays."

"I see. So… are you still very busy with the 'project' you mentioned last month, then?"

The reference to their last conversation before today's meeting, for all that it had not sounded at all pointed, had Barok raising a hand to hide the way his slight smile distorted itself into a grimace.

"I…"

He was not sure how to continue.

Apparently, Albert was already regretting that he had brought this particular matter up, as he hurried to state, "By the way, I completely understand that you've been working on something important, and as you told me earlier this year, friends don't blame their friends for not being available at all times, so please don't think I'm asking because I'm put out, not that I would have any right to be put out at you seeing to your tasks instead of engaging in private visitations…"

After this string of rambled half-sentences, he trailed off into silence, chewing on his thumbnail and almost vibrating with sudden nervous energy.

Concerned that his friend might opt to get up and leave under the pretense of not wanting to waste his time, Barok knew that he would have to explain his recent conduct, and soon, before he lost the opportunity to do so.

Not here. Not among all these strangers who might overhear them and cause either one of them to shy away from the frankness the subject deserved.

"Albert… would you mind at all if we took the remainder of our dinner while going for a walk outside? Truth be told, I have been sitting rather a lot in recent days, and since it isn't too cold tonight…"

"O-oh… no, not at all, let's walk around for a while," his companion immediately agreed, rising so quickly his chair almost toppled backward with the motion.

Suppressing a sigh, Barok also made to stand, doing his best to not let his regret at having done this to his ever-earnest friend show in his features.

I still don't know how to apologize, but you deserve an apology… and I hope it will help in restoring our relationship to where it was before I unilaterally ruined it.

Shortly thereafter, they stepped out into the evening air together, holding the paper cones with the remnants of their dinner, and began walking in the general direction of Holborn.

For multiple minutes, neither of them spoke, occupying themselves with glancing around, having another bite of food, and, in Barok's case, risking casual glances at his companion as they moved toward nothing in particular, their steps dully echoing up from the pavement at a steady rhythm.

Eventually, the two men stopped at a dustbin to dispose of their rubbish, and Barok noticed a nearby bench next to a streetlight.

"Shall we sit for a moment?" he suggested while gesturing toward it. "I… there are a few… matters… I'd like to speak to you about."

"Y-yes, of course." Albert's nervousness was apparent once more right away.

After they had seated themselves side by side and Barok had turned slightly toward his old friend, he found himself uncertain how to begin all over again.

For god's sake, man, eloquent oration is your business. Stop being tongue-tied – it's not like Albert is the type to deliberately misunderstand whatever might come out of your mouth.

"Regarding my reasons for not visiting… while it's true that I am currently working on a longer-term project as I stated that day, it wasn't my main impetus for keeping my distance up to now."

His words caused Albert to sigh and look away. "I guessed as much. It was that hug in front of the Lord Chief Justice's office, wasn't it? You seemed… discomfited from that point forward. I'm sorry, I shouldn't have done that without asking you first… I suppose I was just so excited at how well the presentation went that I couldn't help myself. I should have known better."

"No, please… don't apologize. I was the one who overreacted," Barok immediately returned, reaching out to put his hand on his friend's shoulder. When he made contact with Albert, his companion flinched slightly, the reaction enough to send another stab of regret through him.

Taking a deep breath, he continued, "The truth is, I had just finished assisting Asogi with the prosecution of the Columbus Street scandal – I assume you've read about it in the paper…?"

He did not have to wait for a verbal answer, as his friend blushed so deeply his blond hair almost appeared white in comparison to the color of his face.

"For the record, I'm not… opposed… to your actions of that day on principle, I merely found myself concerned that, in the aftermath of said case and the resulting moral outrage plastered all over the newspapers, someone might jump to… to conclusions that might have had detrimental repercussions for you," Barok hurried to explain.

I might not be opposed to said conclusions being correct, either. The thought manifested itself inside his head the moment he had finished speaking, and he found with only mild surprise that it felt right. If Albert was not currently as jumpy as the rabbits Iris had still associated with him earlier this year, he might well be tempted to gently turn his face toward his own and…

Not right now. While the idea certainly had a lot of appeal, it would be best to impress upon his companion that their separation for this last month had been solely Barok's fault before jumping head-first into something he would not be able to take back.

The relief Barok felt when, after a few interminable seconds of silence, Albert's shoulder started to relax under his palm and he finally raised his face to look him in the eye again was almost unbearable in its sudden lightness after weeks of having borne the invisible weight of regret and renewed loneliness.

"I, I understand. I'm sorry I made you worry for me yet again by doing something silly. I won't be too familiar in public from this point forward."

Shaking his head, Barok replied, "I have it on good authority that I have been incredibly silly where this matter is concerned, and I can't apologize enough for being so… dissembling… the last time we spoke."

Albert's subsequent smile contained more than a hint of a plea. "Would… would you just promise me that you'll tell me if you feel I should avoid something in particular, rather than keeping your distance? I apologize if this sounds selfish, but… I've missed you terribly these past few weeks."

"And I, you." Barok only barely managed to not lean in and show his companion just how true this statement was, instead merely squeezing Albert's shoulder while returning his smile. "You have my word that I'll share my thoughts with you honestly, should something like this occur again."

"Thank you." His friend's smile widened into something he would gladly lose himself in for the rest of the evening… and then, a shiver ran through his body and he wrapped his arms around himself. Clearly, the progressing evening cold had managed to penetrate his coat, now that they had stopped moving for a while.

Once again having to resist the sudden urge to offer Albert warmth by scooting closer and embracing him, as heartachingly charming as he was tonight, Barok cleared his throat. "Shall we walk on?"

"Oh… yes, of course."

They both rose from the bench and slowly moved away from the lighted area around it, still without a particular destination in mind, but with a renewed sense of peace that had been completely absent from their interactions before they had sat down.

Barok was so caught up in Albert's presence, the small smile that seemed destined to stay on his face for the time being, the wish to once again offer him his arm to hold on to, that he only consciously noticed that they had not seen any other pedestrians in quite some time when they walked along a remarkably narrow bit of pavement on a street that curved sharply to the left just ahead.

It would probably be best if we made our way back to a somewhat more populated area. They had finished discussing their private matters, and considering that it would be the height of folly to give in to his renewed desire to seek physical closeness when someone could lay eyes on them at any point, it would be safer to seek out a place where people congregated to prevent any unfortunate incidents…

Someone cleared his throat behind them.

Please. No. Not again.

Turning toward the noise, Barok's gaze immediately focused on the knife the scruffy-looking man standing in front of him was holding at the ready. Damn it all.

Had this fellow been by himself, perhaps the situation would not have warranted too much concern, but of course he had brought along two companions, who now took position behind the first man. Still, Barok's hand automatically felt for the hilt of his saber, only to ball into a fist in rueful frustration when he remembered that, as he had chosen deliberately nondescript clothing options for tonight, he had opted to leave it at home.

The knife-wielding ruffian looked him up and down, grinning. "Alms for the poor, good sir?"

The words, even if they were intended to intimidate in their deliberate appropriation of an age-old plea, ironically served to allow Barok a hint of relief. It's merely a robbery, not someone out for my or my companion's blood.

If Albert and he were able to extricate themselves from this situation with naught but the money he carried falling prey to this group, it would be an exceedingly small price to pay for his disgraceful inattentiveness as to where their steps had carried them.

Then again…

They might get incensed when they find that Albert doesn't have much on him. Should they dare to try and attack his friend, they would have a fight on their hands, weapon or no weapon.

Still, for now, it would be safest to go along with their demands – resisting at a later point would give him the element of surprise, in case it became necessary.

Leveling a glare at the leader of the three ruffians, he slowly reached inside his coat to withdraw his wallet, the motion prompting the man observing him to come closer, the tip of his knife now hovering only a few inches away from Barok's jugular. "You'd better not think of tryin' to give us lead instead, unless you'd like me to paint the walls wiv wot comes outta your throat when I cut it."

With a disgusted snort, Barok produced a corner of the leather case from behind his right lapel, and his would-be assailant took a step back with a renewed grin. "There we are – seems you're gonna get to go 'ome tonight, 'n we'll 'ave ourselves a nice meal. Everybody's 'appy, ain't that right? Now, throw it on the ground 'n make room for your chum to make like you jus' did."

Still refusing to honor the robber with a verbal answer, Barok did as he was told, hearing Albert behind him apparently going through his pockets to likewise follow the instructions they had received.

However, when his friend moved to his side, back into Barok's field of view, Albert's expression was not one of fear or even concern – in fact, it was completely unreadable, a mien he had seen on the man only once before, namely when they had made their way back to 221B Baker Street after Barok had been wounded in the altercation at the end of April. His right hand was lodged in his outside coat pocket, notably not where he had stowed his own wallet after they had purchased their food.

Barok fought down a sudden bout of anxiety at the thought, knowing that, whatever his friend was about to do, if his expression gave his concern away to the ruffian holding them at knifepoint, this situation might well escalate within a split-second.

… Don't do anything inadvisable, Albert. Please. I couldn't bear losing you over a few pounds.

The ringleader of the robbers gave his companion a once-over before growling, "Wot're you waitin' for, eh? Show us the goods, before I decide to give you a real close shave!"

Albert nodded wordlessly, still without a single change of expression, began to pull his hand out of his pocket, a somehow familiar hum sounding when he had fully freed it from the confines of cloth – and then, he took a single wide step forward and reached out toward the man with the knife. The moment his palm, now sheathed in a rubber glove, made contact with the ruffian, a white spark arced out of it to lick along the man's knife arm, causing him to stiffen, his face frozen in a grimace of pain and surprise, the bright light reflecting off Albert's spectacles in a way that almost made him look inhuman.

A moment later, it was over – the brightness suddenly flickered out of existence, its afterimages rendering Barok near-blind in the renewed darkness, and the sound of a body falling to the ground could be heard.

"'E… 'e killed Clarence!" The voice stammering out that statement was unfamiliar – it likely belonged to one of the two robbers who had remained standing in the background. "Let's get outta 'ere before 'e zaps us dead, too!"

At about the same time Barok felt someone grab the sleeve of his coat, and Albert urgently whispered next to him, "Run!"

Considering that he was currently at his friend's mercy due to his limited vision, he decided that there would be time for questions later, and began moving in the direction Albert guided him.

They must have run away from the scene of their encounter for over a minute by the time Barok could once again make out details when glancing around. Slowing his steps, he wrapped his fingers around the hand still holding on to his sleeve.

"Albert, stop!"

His friend immediately complied, leaning forward to put his free hand on his thigh just above his knee as he panted out, "Yes… should be… far enough…"

Looking down at his hunched-over companion with some concern, Barok inquired, "Are you going to be all right?"

Albert merely nodded while his breathing rate slowed; a moment later, he took a deep breath, let it out slowly, and straightened. "There, all better."

"Good. Now…" Loath as he was to proceed straight to the next potential problem, Barok sighed and got on with it. "You didn't actually kill that man just now, did you?"

To his surprise, Albert chuckled at his question. "Of course not! I told you we should run because he's probably getting back up right about now - the stunner is calibrated to incapacitate the person you use it on for a few minutes, nothing more."

"I see." Thank goodness. For a few heartbeats, Barok had been seriously concerned that Albert would once again find himself in the Old Bailey courtroom, this time for a crime he had committed.

I might have even aided him in escaping this fate, he had to admit to himself – it would not have been right from a legal standpoint, but the mere thought of this man being sent to the gallows was impossible to bear for him.

Only then did he realize that Albert had spoken about calibrating the device he had just used for the desired outcome.

"If you don't mind me asking, how exactly did you go about calibrating your… stunner, was it?"

"Oh, well… you see, Mr. Sholmes recently lost a bet, and since he already had some experience getting shocked by the accumulator when we started working on it…"

Barok stared at him. "You won a bet. Against Sholmes. And tested this thing on him. Repeatedly."

"Yes, that's right." Albert chuckled.

After another moment of disbelievingly studying his friend's face, the tension Barok had been under suddenly unraveled into a burst of laughter, only intensified when he remembered the detective's post-shock hair all the way back in March, as well as how he had scowled at having been banished from the experiment in the attic in spite of having suffered the bite of electricity more than once that day.

He was still laughing when Albert held out something to him – his wallet. Apparently, his friend had picked it up from the ground just before they had made a run for it. Somehow, the sheer absurdity of the fact that this dear, dear man had thought to do so set him off yet again, and he leaned against a nearby wall while trying to maneuver the blasted thing back into the inside pocket of his coat without it falling out of his shaking hands.

Once he was finally beginning to regain control over himself, he managed to bring out, "Apologies – I don't know what came over me. Apparently, my nerves are a bit frayed tonight."

"Don't worry about it." Albert honest-to-goodness grinned at him while removing the glove, which had still been on his right hand up to now, and placing it back into his pocket after carefully folding it around the small metallic box mounted on the back part. "At any rate… yes, Mr. Sholmes was a great help in reducing the incapacitation period to a few minutes while simultaneously adding the spark and the noise to make it more intimidating – it's meant to scare off anyone who isn't at the receiving end of the stunner, in case I'm confronted with a group of attackers."

"Well, this application of the accumulator was certainly a resounding success, I'd say," Barok remarked. "I don't believe you mentioned an electric shock weapon as a potential use for it when you were still working on reducing its size, though…"

His comment caused Albert's expression to once again acquire the shuttered, unreadable quality it had held earlier.

"That's because I didn't consider using it that way until we were attacked at the end of April. When you were hurt that night, I decided that I couldn't bear the thought of being in your way if something like this happened again. I may not be able to fight, myself, but after consulting with Mr. Sholmes on the topic and concentrating on the strengths I do possess, the stunner seemed ideally suited for me to defend myself if need be."

Come to think of it, perhaps his face was not so much impossible to read as it was incongruent with the man's usual demeanor – Albert had always been laid-back and personable even with those obviously treating him with disrespect, preferring peaceful coexistence over asserting himself. However, it seemed that, to him, harm coming to Barok was the one bridge he would not allow potential assailants to cross.

Barok slightly shook his head in renewed disbelief. You are marvelous.

He only remembered to blink when Albert's smile made a reappeance. "We should probably return to a more populated area – I don't know if my little surprise has enough charge left to repel another group of people."

"… Ah. Yes. Let's do that."

Only a few minutes later, they had emerged from the labyrinth of side streets onto Theobalds Road, close to the university's main campus.

"Well…" Albert turned toward Barok, gesturing toward the various hansom cabs moving about in the roadway. "Perhaps we should call it a night, after all the excitement."

"… You may be right." In spite of the fact that his friend's suggestion was eminently sensible and they had managed to frankly discuss the matter that had weighed on them for so long, Barok did not want to part from him just yet.

As if coming to a similar realization, Albert added more quietly. "Oh, and… if you have other plans already, of course I understand, but if you're available on New Year's Eve, would you perhaps like to visit that evening?"

His subsequent smile was accompanied by the most fetching hint of red appearing along his cheekbones. "Seeing the year off together seems like it would be appropriate, wouldn't it…? I'm sure Iris would be very happy if you came, as well."

Feeling his own face heating up slightly, Barok returned his smile. "I'd love to."

"Wonderful. I look forward to it." Glancing over at the road once more, Albert raised his hand to hail one of the passing cabs. When one slowed as it approached their location, he looked at Barok once more, apparently now also reluctant to leave his side. "Well… have a good night… and thank you for tonight."

"It is I who should be thankful, Albert. Good night, and see you soon."

Barok would stand by the roadside and look after the departing hansom cab for a while before he could bring himself to hail a ride back to his flat.