Once Upon a Time Traveler by Paula Kaye© 2005
Chapter 10
Penn lay in Henry's embrace, sleeping for most of the night.
Through the hazy fog of her slumber, Edward Hyde extended a huge and hairy hand to her in invitation to dance. She accepted and the two were dancing in a most unusual setting. The field where he'd taken her to rest under the tree after rescuing her from the foamy lake in the dream before'. How odd, she thought. First the foamy lake, then, the lovemaking 'dream' with Henry and now dancing with Hyde in the field.
The sleeping patterns of a doctor were considered unusual by most of the public's standard. An occupational hazard of being on-call no matter the time of day or night. At least, that was the General Practitioner's life. And, before Hyde had taken him into the depths of his own mind, Henry's training had been such.
By this time, he was only able to sleep for three or four hours at a stretch. And, as Penn lay in the bed, her naked form illuminated by the only oil lamp in the cabin, he watched her. Studied her from the beside chair. He wanted to memorize every curve of her body, and burn the memory of their joining into his mind. He sighed, looking away
momentarily, a pang of guilt clutching at his heart. Tightening the sash of his robe again, he stifled it with the knowledge that she was accepting of not only his better' half, but, she'd attempted to allow him his darker' self as well.
One thought nagged at him. How had she known his name? And, the way in which she'd called it out. Such passion. Throughout the throes they'd been enjoying, she gave herself up to him completely as if she were there as some sort of carnal gift. His ego would never allow him to believe that she'd come all this distance just to be with him.
Even though he'd hoped. His dream girl' was no longer a dream. She was very much a flesh and blood woman, languidly reclining amidst the bed clothes that were permeated with the fragrances of her perfume, his sweat, and the passion they'd shared a few hours before.
A troubled Allan Quatermaine sat in his cabin listening to the voice of Rodney Skinner. "S' like you said it'd be, sir." The sound of a low laugh stifled when Allan glared murderously in the direction of the sound.
"Sorry – " came the murmured apology.
"You say you were in' the room?", Allan still wondered just how far Henry had allowed himself to go under' the sway of the woman.
"Yessir. It's as though they couldn't hear or even sense anything other than each other. It was kinda nice, really, if you ask me.", Skinner's voice trailed off.
Another glare cut short any further opinions from the invisible thief.
Nemo knocked quietly and entered.
Allan looked to the turbaned Captain and indicated in the direction of the disembodied Skinner, "He says they were – um,", Quatermaine felt an uncharacteristic blush sting his cheeks, " – as you predicted they would be."
Nemo frowned, "It is as I feared."
Allan again sought confirmation from Rodney, now in Nemo's presence so he could hear for himself, "And, you say she called him by name?"
"Ah, yes… At the – ah – sensitive moment.", Rodney at least attempted to sound gentlemanly in Quatermaine's presence. With the addition of Nemo, he was nearly afraid to make any outwardly lewd comments concerning Henry's conquest.
"One must wonder how it was that he introduced himself to her.", Nemo's furry eyebrows were raised at the prospect.
"Oh, they didn't exchange names or no'fing.", Rodney was careful to point out. Again, he suffered the glare of Allan, as Rodney realized too late that that particular point had been made by Nemo.
"How did you leave without being noticed?", it suddenly dawned on Nemo to ask, as he hoped their hand hadn't been tipped.
Quick to put their minds at ease, Skinner again offered, "Oh, they didn't hear me at awl. They was so busy – um- wiv the moment that – they – um…", Rodney's voice trailed off, and he cleared his throat, as once again he was wordlessly warned into silence.
"If it's alwrignt, I'll be going now. It's a bit of draft, you know.", Skinner kindly refrained from mentioning his nether regions, for once.
The door opened and closed itself as Nemo now turned to regard his worried cohort.
"If he believes himself in love – ", Nemo began, only to be interrupted by Quatermaine.
"He's a man, Nemo. With the experiences Hyde has given him, I'm sure there's no worry there.", Allan pontificated.
But, Nemo continued his thought, causing more disquiet in Quatermaine.
"More importantly, my friend -", Nemo warned, "Jekyll is a gentleman, and will wish to do the right thing by this woman."
"What has that got to do with anything? I'm quite certain that any wish of Jekyll's to tie the knot with that creature will be undone by Hyde's voracious appetites for other companionship once the flavor of her flesh begins to bore his bestial half.", Allan wearily wishedthat Nemo would put the cards on the table.
"I wonder – do you recall hearing a report of Edward Hyde making an appearance?", Nemo asked significantly.
"What difference would that make?", Allan couldn't imagine any Englishman, good or otherwise actually entertaining marriage to someone who, for all intents and purposes, was no more than a science experiment. Then, again, they were speaking of Henry Jekyll. He stopped to ponder for a moment.
"I merely mention these tedious facts, because, if I'm not mistaken, Henry Jekyll would normally have Edward Hyde deal with the unseemly emotions and physical exertions of his carnal appetites. ", the turbaned philosopher was showing that logic was indeed, on his side. This infuriated Quatermaine who wished to have everything spelled out properly.
Allan growled, "Nemo, I would like nothing better than to have this puzzle ended so that I may have some peace!"
"I wish you all the peace you may have, my friend, however, understanding that Hyde had no part in this evenings activities would only prove the good doctor was so enamoured of the woman that he had the strength to defeat the only foe he has ever truly feared. If he defeated Hyde, how can we hope to stand against the power she has over Jekyll? More importantly, if she isn't an ally of ours, then, how can we hope to retain Jekyll who now appears able to control Hyde?"
It appeared that the League's first misson was unraveling.
More importantly, he now knew the labyrinthine path that Nemo had used to defeat him in chess! Quatermaine now worried much like his new friend. Logic now dictated that she who controlled Jekyll,now held the power of Hyde's happiness, or worse, his wrath, in her delicate, small hand.
Only two questions remained.
Was she really sent to them to help with the menace known as "Moriarty"? And, if she wasn't a friend, was it Moriarty himself who'd actually sent her?
The next morning found Penn in a new world of pain. Physical pain that was echoed in her nausea and muscle spasms. Her body ached like she'd never experienced before. Blinking awake, she wished she could move. Something large dangling near her facecaught her attention, and she seemed to realize why she was unable to move!
Turning as much as she could, she was able to glance askance at the space just above her shoulder. There was an arm draped across her! She followed the length of Henry Jekyll's arm over her shoulder and the subsequent huge hand hanging at the end of said arm, dangling near her face. Well what did you expect? She chided herself. She seemed to be oddly reminded of the repercussions of a passionate night in a fraternity during her college years that her memory had mysteriously blacked out until this morning. In retrospect, the two eventsvastly differed from each other. And, she was fairly certain that theDean of Women wasn't waiting for her on the opposite side of that door!
Fuck! She grimaced at the horrible pun. Leave it to her; the worse the situation, the worse her jokes and puns became.
As much as it hurt to move, she carefully slid her shoulder out from under the man's arm and curved her body towards the side of the bed. She jumped slightly as his hand simply slid and clung onto one of her breasts and then, the other as she continued her careful escape from the warm embrace of-who the hellIs that?
She hadn't been in a relationship in over ten years, due largely to the sensitive nature of her work with first Project Valkeryie and then, the Back Step Project. She simply hadn't allowed herself to become involved that way. Dedication to service had to take precedence over lustful fulfillments. So, it was inevitable that she completely believed what she'd enjoyed that previous night had been a very realistic dream!
Yes! So realisticthat she was still continuing to dream it, even though she knew she was awake! That's it! I've finally snapped! I'm having a psychotic episode! I blame Nate!
She finally made it to the side of the bed and wound up kneeling next to the mattress and bedframein a crouching "C" position facing the happily sleeping face of Henry Jekyll.
Her head tilted. He looked familiar. Why did she see him scowling at her.
Her darker than brown eyes examined him as much as she could without actually touching him. She looked at him as though he were something of a Mythical Creature, and she, comparatively speaking was a Professor of Crypto-zoology.
Soon, any fears that 'this' wasn't 'happening' were swept away by the blinding pain in her head. A massive ache made its presence known first on both sides of her head at the temples, then, one large knot of pain throbbed in the center of her forehead. Followed uncomfortably by her left hip feeling as though there was someone trying to twist her leg off at the hipand thigh socket! Yep, another mission!She ruefully realized.
Still crouching, she looked down and assessed the bruises on her naked body. "Oh, that explains it!", she murmured, taking inventory she could only see three large ones. The most spectacular being the one on said left hip. Its technicolor splotches ranged from red to purple to yellow in some spots, and ran from the top of her pelvic bone on the left hand side to just below said joint to her thigh, and across her left butt cheek. Trying to move slowly, as that was the only way she coud move, she forgotto be as silent as a sneaking cat.
All she knew was that her embarrassment meter had blown its settings trying to register the level she now experienced!
She looked around and found her flight suit, and looking back over her shoulder to make sure she hadn't awakened the long legged man in the bed, she carefully stood and moved to unzip the knee pocket where she'd put the small bottles of pills Mina had given her. Opening one of the bottles carefully, she pulled out two aspirins, and then moved to drink directly from the water pitcher sitting pristinely in the wash bowl. Thank you, Mina! Anti-spasmodics much appreciated!
At the sound of crockery being moved, specifically a small 'dinging' sound when the bottom of the pitcher accidentally hit the rim of the basin asshe raised the lip of the pitcher to her mouth, Henry's eyes opened. He'd worried about his impulses and prayed that she wouldn't be the worse for hisabruptravishing of her. He wanted her to regard their first night there together as something of the beginnings of a honeymoon, such was his admiration of her. In essence, he was hopelessly besotted, and already fancied himself 'taken',both by her and with her, completely. Edward was quite impressed as well. It was very rare he could get 'the baggage', as he referred to Jekyll most of the time, to make a decisionabout his socks much less about a woman!
Henry had felt the bed move and it had awakened him. He'd sat up groggily, and had seen her move towards the basin. He'd thought nothing of it. She was just going to wash her face, wasn't she? That was,until he'd seen her turn around while putting pills into her mouth!
Instantly, Henry was truly aware of the dire possibilities. Women of the Victorian age were known to be quite dramatic when faced with the loss of their dignity by the acts of careless lovers.Knowing the way he'd treated her the previous night, he mentally flailed the flesh from his back!
As he saw her standing there, wide-eyed and guilty, with a bottle of pills in one hand and clinging to the pitcher of water, he couldn't help but panic.
My God! What was I thinking? The poor woman is distraught! She believes I've ruined her! It was truly all the worse because he hadn't the excuse of Hyde having taken him over. It was all on Henry Jekyll's head, disgraced physician who'd taken advantage of a patient! Worse than that, she'd been unconscious at the time! He would have put his face in his hands and cried out in agony, save for the vision before him who'd perhaps just now thrown her life away because he'd satisfied his carnal lusts for her poor battered body! He dispised himself so completely it was a wonder he could find the voiceto speak to her. But, it was for her own salvation. He was committed to her, whether she knew it or not, and he meant for her to know it, no matter what she'd done to herself. But, first, in order to help her, he had to know what she'd taken.
Immediately, hea accessed the worst case scenarios and memories from his medical training. The bodies of the women who'd had enough of theSocietal Cruelty meted out to them by gossiping snipes and judging prats, all of whom seemed to be higher in station and rank, and therefore 'right' in treating those poor wraiths horribly.He also shivered when he thought ofthe tolls taken on the women that Hyde had so cruelly used and left, either dead, broken, or mad; in some cases, they slid down a slippery slope of broken bodies, maddened minds, and then, Death.
Penn was glued to the floor as she watched Henry's mind spinning so fast she could have sworn she saw smoke or steam coming from his ears. Tears threatened to well in his eyes, and she wondered if he took it so hard that she'd gotten out of the bed before he'd had a chance to 'snuggle'. She was a little rusty on her 'morning after' protocols.
Henry tried to push aside the number ofwomen that had come to him in his practice expressing, some almost hysterically upset,their'Morning After fears and regrets.'Lover's Regret' went both ways, however, it was the woman who was held accountable and men who were 'allowed' their carnal natures.It was up to Civilized Man to be above reproach, however, Henry couldn't honestly say he was able to utter the name of one man who was considered 'civil' when it came to the fairer sex.
All of these thoughts took a nano second to process, and he started towards her quickly in hopes that he could get to her before she swallowed! "Don't!", he passionately cried out hoping to startle her enough so that she would spit the vile things out.
Startled, Penn nearly dropped the pitcher. More wide-eyed,(if it waspossible!), she turned to see him. Every lovely inch of him, standing with no concern for his own – ahem – possible embarrassment, and all concern for her. She reminded herself to make No Sudden movements!
"Um – Don't what'?", Penn very s-l-o-w-l-y replacedthe pitcher back into the bowl and closed the pill bottle. Damn I think one tried to go down sideways! She put a handto the lump in her throat andtried to swallow again. She was a bit distracted, however, by this naked doctor standing there in front of her. He was apparently very upset and she had no clue as to why!
Henry reached for the bottle, which she willingly gave up. She figured he had a headache too. Henry held it up to the light. Curious. The green glass felt oddly light in his hand. (Perhaps because it was plastic'?) Either way, he tried to open the container, but, somehow it was locked on, (childproof caps are a Bitch!)
"What you want to do is line up the arrows.", Penn tried to help him, but, all that did was seem to make him angrier. Angrily, he threw the bottle away, (it landed just under the bed), and Penn only gave the slightest objection. She had two more bottles and they were filled with something just as good, or so she hoped! Imagine! Mina was her connection. Well, it said something about Penn that herdrug of choice was two Midol every six hours until the muscle cramps stopped!
Earnestly, Henryfelt he needed to gain her trust.He put his hands on her shoulders and led her back to the bed. Sitting her down on the edge he'd just jumped from, he sat next to her and gave her his most serious and gentle of bedside manners.
"What have you taken?", he was quiet and deliberate in his question. He didn't wish to alarm her if she was unstable, he was simply wondering just what she had taken. His training dictated thatif it was a corrosive, it would do her far worse harm to throw it up than to neutralize it in her stomach. If it wasn't, he'd begin the procedure to bring the contents of her stomach back up in a trice!
"Wha-aaaa-tt do mean; what have I taken?", Penn was now speaking to him as if he were a retarded Martian. Not just an 'alien' mind you, but, one who was in great need of a dictionary, a map and a keeper. He was really starting to creep her out.
She recognized the look on his face, (She'd seen it on Olga's face when she'd come in from partying and she was called on a mission at the last minute. Throwing up for work was never outlined in the manual! But, in order to 'sober up' and fly the mission, it had to be done!). Seeing Henry with the same look covering his face was more than she could bear. She didn't feel like vomiting for this guy just to make him 'feel better'!
"I haven't taken anything. Just two of these.", she leaned down and reached under the bed as she searched for the bottle.
"Poison? Arsenic?", Henry now felt he had her trust, even if he didn't seem to have her full attention.
"Duh. Wouldn't Nate just love that.", she mumbled as her head was between her legs. "Aha!", she rose up a bit too fast as she fought back some acidic reflux. "Oh! God! My head!", she moaned as she held out the bottle for Henry to read, (that is, if he'd take the time!)
"Well, you ought'n've done such a stupid thing.", he crossly stated.
"What?", Penn tilted her head back to frown at him, past her arm, (this was because Olga had taught her to firmly plant the heel of her hand in the indentation just below the round part of her forehead, this is a significant pressure point to rid the migraine victim of sinus pain!)
"Since when is ingesting aspirin a bad thing?", she asked, amazed at his ignorance. "Well, that is, if you're not in the last three months of pregnancy, don't have more than two drinks a night of hard liquor or beer, and - well - you can read the warnings for yourself!"
She had no idea that such pain relievers had yet to be formulated!
He held the bottle up to the light again, lost in the possibilities of the medication's effects. "An opiate perhaps?"
"Huh! I wish!", she retorted, "But, you know, I must be whacked, because those only make me sicker!"
Then, just as suddenly as he'd been jarred into reality, he stopped and wondered about a name she'd said. As the bottle was still in the air, he turned his head and inquired, "Who's Nate?"
He was feeling an uncomfortable collection of emotions. a combination of anger, jealousy, confusion and hurt mingling with worry, disillusionment and fear for her health.
"Oh, he's just an irritating twit. More like a bully of a big brother, with the emphasis on Big and Brother, if you get my – Oh…", she half-chuckled wondering if anyone in this timeline was going to 'get' any of her jokes! She had just then realized that George Orwell hadn't been born yet. In fact, his grandfather probably had yet to be born! Taking this pause of her's as further affirmation of her womanly delicacy, he drew her to him and embraced her gently, reassuring her. Penn was Very confused now!
"You must tell me – what you took. How dangerous is it?", he was fighting the urge to shake sense into her, cry and accuse, not just one or the other or even two – but, all three at once! Victorian women were the most delicate of creatures and what he'd done with her – he knew no proper English Woman would allow herself to live afterwards!
"Aspirin?", she shrugged, and continued in a conversational tone. "Like I said, taken properly, as I took it, in Immense Pain, is fine."
Now, he waslooking at her as though he wanted to choke her.
"So, you weren't - youdidn't - you wouldn't – ", he found it impossible to say the words. How could he tell this woman that she was exasperating him to the point of madness?
She tried to follow him. It was just that she was what was referred to as a 'functionally suicidal' person. One who finds 'adreniline rushes' to be 'wonderful'. Who will put themselves in the line of danger because 'someone has to do it', but, who would never, could never, take their own lives. It was an odd quirk to be sure. A combination of curiosity and guilt manifesting itself as a 'wait and see' attitude. Many people were in the same boat. They just never knew it before. She unfortunately had had the 'benefit' of a Lot of 'therapy'.
There was a serious language barrier there, but, Penn couldn't quite understand just what was needed to over come it. Henry put his arm around Penn in hopes that his tenderness would somehow heal her wounded state, "You needn't feel ashamed. I – I want you to know – no one in your family will be able to cast any stones at you for this. Not even your brother, Nate.", Henry now surprised himself by speaking of the event. "I meant what I said – before.", he was all earnestness. "I love you. I will be honored to be your husband."
Terror ripped through the female chrononaut at light speed. It wasn't that she wasn't 'attracted' to him. She just was unsure of whether she felt 'that' deeply – that strongly – how would the relationship grow? Would it grow? Okay. She was a coward when it came to long term relationships, but, given her traumatized history it was no wonder!
Dawn broke over the horizon of Penn's consciousness and she realized that Henry had been under the misapprehension that she was going to commit suicide because he thought she was that traumatized by being 'a fallen woman'. Unfortunately for Henry, Penn found the 'fallen woman' analogy hilarious. Times had changed drastically, but, again, unfortunately, not so much in 'reality'. If you had 'enough' money you could do whatever it was you wanted to and there would be no one to stop you – at least – not as 'easily'.
The days where the constraints of 'polite' Society were followed out of fear of reprisal were long gone. People were
no longer strangulated with rules of Propriety. At least not as 'badly'. There were the few snobs. However, no matter how others or family members attempted to 'show their concern' for those who 'strayed' into areas of 'questionable taste'; their manipulations were immediately unmasked, no matter how cunningly disguised in the 'clothing' of 'caring', and those who clung pathetically to the outdated mores were told to keep their noses out of other people's private business!
Penn tried to grant him the courtesy of going along with his earnestness, but, given that she'd suffered a concussive state, coma, and near death experience, all in the span of a little over 24 hours after landing, such aspirations were a bit of an unrealistic goal. She pulled back a bit so that she could look deeply into his eyes as she spoke quietly, evenly and honestly, "I love you too, Henry, but, until we have Moriarty under control, it seems foolish to make any
plans. Let's get him first, and then, we can worry about the guest list -." She then uttered the words she couldn't believe she would be saying, " – For our wedding."
He seemed put at ease at this last, but, confused by her former remark.
"Moriarty?"
"You'd know him better as the man who sent everyone else here on this wild goose chase. He used the alias of M'."
While he wanted to absorb the information she'd just given him about the identity of the man who'd instigated their journey, he was still worried about the unknown medication she'd been seen taking.
"Then, you weren't taking poison?", he asked carefully.
She sighed, now grateful that she had the opportunity to clear that misconception up.
"No.", she smiled at him, and then, winced from the pain. "Just a bit of aspirin to help get rid of these bruises, aches and pains from making that landing. You know. The one that brought me here to you?"
"Thank god.", he sighed as he again clutched her to his chest.
Apparently, men took a woman's response to sex very seriously in this era. Well, in all seriousness, Henry felt a deep sense of regret to all of the women that Hyde had mutilated, mangled and dismembered in the pursuit of his peculiar form of entertainment'. This made his protective instinct all the sharper when it came to someone he truly cared for. However, there was one pesky question still roaming unsupervised in his mind.
"Darling?", he still held her close for fear of her laughing at him.
"Yes.", she ventured to wonder what the hell was going to happen now.
"May I know your name?", came the quiet question.
Oh, dear God! She sighed, now knowing just how hard it was for him to have to ask that.
"It's on my name bar, on my flight suit. It's Penn."
He released her and allowed her to seat herself more comfortably next to him. As Penn now searched amongst the pile of clothes that had been battered during their foray from the previous evening to find Henry's shirt.
As she put it on, he reached up to assist her. "Would that be a shorter version of Penelope?"
"You'd think so, wouldn't you."
He regarded her quizzically, "Beg pardon?"
"Oh", she smiled at him, "It's short for Penny." Then, realizing the ludicrousness of the situation, she began to babble, "Of course, Penny has been known to be a shorter version of Penelope. But, um –", she seemed to stammer to a halt and looked at him with curious, wide eyes, "Not in my case."
She seemed to think again, and a light shone behind her eyes that hadn't been there before, "You're Henry Jekyll?", she asked.
"At your service.", he smiled, lopsidedly, holding her eyes in a gaze, as he lifted her hand to his lips and barely brushed a kiss against the bruised pale skin.
She carefully extricated her hand, and he glanced down as he cleared his throat. "I suppose seductive measures are no longer needed."
Her eyebrows raised a bit as she commented, "Up! Wrong there! It's sort of like an engine, needs to be turned over once or twice in a while just to make sure everything is still in good running condition."
He smiled again, tilting his head to better view her slightly flustered expression from nearly a head and shoulder height above her face. He moved to encircle her waist, enjoying the frankness of the discourse. "Really?" He had only just decided to dress, but, was willing to put it off for his lady's sake.
He mistook her comment as an invitation. Penn was only observing a fact she'd stated for future reference.
Stepping to one side, now regretting the miscommunication, she chuckled a bit self-consciously. "Ahahaha… Uh, if you don't mind, um, since we already – ", she was seeking the right euphemism for him, " – Uh, turned the engine over last night – and you did very well I might add – I'd like to find out just what the heck's going on."
He followed her body's movement and stayed the dominant. She seemed to back away again, "I mean, outside of the cabin – here. On the rest of the ship."
He smiled roguishly again, and ducked his head a bit as he searched for and found her gaze. He replied, still smiling, "Very well, then."
He clasped her hands into his, and wrapping her arms round to the small of her back, he drew her to him for a kiss. As they parted, he still smiled, commenting, "I'd like for my friends to get to know you as well."
She was torn between being complimented that he was so at ease with her that he would happily take a nearly predatory stance as he just did. Or, if she should smack him on his snout and sharply say, "No", like one was supposed to do to an oncoming shark or barking dog!
She'd released Something in him, that was for certain. God, now, she wondered if she'd be able to control her own sexual impulses around him! Well, just now had been a start, of sorts. He released her now, understanding that not only all was 'well', but, that everything couldn't have been better – from his perspective!
She splashed a bit of water on her face, and quickly donned her flight suit.
As she sat on the bed brushing her hair, she was surprised to see that she was fascinated by the careful way Henry was attiring himself. It wasn't odd' per se. She was simply so enamoured of him that watching him dress was a sort of treat for her. Rather like watching someone wrap up a present for you. All you can do is think of how much fun it's going to be to unwrap later! She chuckled as she further entertained the fact that, for a change, the man' in the man/woman relationship was taking a bit longer to attire himself properly.
Stepping into the hallway, he offered her his arm, and she looked at the appendage rather hesitantly. What the heck, she thought. When in Rome… She linked her arm in his and they started for the Main Parlor where he was assured everyone would be just as dazzled by her as he.
