Disclaimer: You know this by now, so get the warning yourself, I'm lazy
and don't want ta do anything. TAKE NOTES: I'm holding a contest of adding
a character to come onto Abberline at the Gala for Cassandra's father,
while Cass is otherwise involved with another new character. Girls, here
is your chance! Make up your own character with your reviews and give me
more than just the usual details. When I'm sure the reviews have ceased to
come I'll pick one and maybe three lucky girls to make an appearance.
Impress me, and write in! ok enough of the propaganda bs, and on with the
show! VERY IMPORTANTE! I WANT ALL OF MY LOYAL READERS TO GO TO THE STORY
PIRATES HILARIOUSITY IF THE HAVEN'T ALREADY AND READ IT! I WRITE ALL THE
CHAPTERS THAT HAVE RACHEL AS THE MAIN CHARACTER AND YES JACK
SPARROW!!!!!!!!! If you won't do it for me and my ego do it for yourselves
and for the best damn pirate of all time, my Sparrowy Squirrel!!!
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
"You're leading again." He reminded me again laughing.
"Well that's only because you keep wanting to dance like a girl." I muttered crossly in response.
We had been at it for four days straight now. I had begun to dance in my dreams and unlike Eliza Doolittle I did not feel like letting it last all bleeding night.
Abberline swiftly executed a move that confused me so badly, I was suddenly four feet from the floor, looking up at him terrified, even with his hand still holding mine and his firm arm across my waist, in a deadly dip.
"Wha' was tha'?" He asked threateningly.
"Why don't you just put on a dress and wear rouge?" I continued baiting him. "Oh sh................" I gasped as he dropped me another foot closer to the floor.
"You were sayin'?" He arched a brow.
Was he daring me? Fine, two can play this............actually a whole bunch of people could play this but yuck! Who would want to?!
"Ooh, someone's corset is a wee bit tight it seems. You better calm yourself man, before you fall over in a dead faint." I warned.
I shrieked as he let go of me for the barest of seconds, catching me again now only two feet from the floor.
"Care to say tha' again, Miss Harlington?" He remarked coolly, smirking widely.
"You wouldn't!" I claimed.
"Give me a reason." He warned.
I narrowed my eyes sizing him up and then opened my big fat mouth, "Your girdle's wrong my lad, it's supposed to go around your waist not up your ass."
With a smile, he dropped me. I screamed in shocked surprise, landing harshly on my back on the hardwood floor of the parlor, which was where he decided to teach all of the lessons. I laughed, every other breath an, "OW," or a "Butthead!"
Ellie flew in, "Miss, we heard a clammerin' sound from the kitchens! Are yeh alrigh?"
"Miss Harlington fell again." Abberline informed my maid and friend helping me up, and brushed imaginary dust from my shoulders.
I swatted him away, "Was dropped is more like it." I muttered, smoothing down my thoroughly ruffled gown.
Ellie looked uncomfortable.
"Ellie, dear, what is it?" I asked hoping she wasn't ill. Who knows what those bastards made their servants work through, disease, pregnancy?
"I was just wonderin' miss, why ya would need ta learn ta dance when yeh've been doing it for six years ta date?"
"It is often a normal occurrence after a tragic loss that the person who suffered to forget things," Abberline assured her. I cocked my head studying him closely. He seemed official and sure as if he encountered such things every day, "It often takes time for things ta come back ta them, as in the case with Miss Harlington." He was almost like a doctor in his answer. Wait a moment. A half lazy idea began to form in my mind, an idea that might come in handy if we were ever in a jam. Maybe.
"Ellie, perhaps you could be of some help to me." I said coming forward, "I still seem to be having trouble getting the waltz down. If you know how to dance this piece, maybe seeing it would help me to remember."
She looked absolutely terrified, and either I was imagining things again or she was blushing madly. Abberline's sexy-come-hither-eyes and you- just-want-to-eat-me-with-chocolate-and-whipped-cream-with-a-big-cherry-on- top-body had once again had it's desired effect on the ladies.
"Me, miss?"
"No, the Queen of England, yes YOU!" I laughed flicking a piece of her hair out of her eyes. "That is if you know it of course." I reminded her.
She shifted shyly, "I believe I do know some of it."
"Wonderful. But first before you begin we need to get you into something a little more fitting for the occasion." I said looking her over.
"Wha'............wha' do ya mean, miss?" She was positively trembling.
"Come with me." I smiled pulling her along with me out of the room.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
A little while later she was in a light blue dress I would have looked like shit in. I had some trouble with the laces of the gown, I really botched them, but she was already wearing a corset (thank god I didn't have to go near THAT thing) She did most of it herself and by the time I got her back to the parlor she looked as if she should have been mistress of the house, and I should have been serving her breakfast in bed.
Abberline turned as we entered. No doubt he had been looking at the clock thinking I had lost my way yet again (well it was a damn big house, so EXCUSE me) His eyes found me and then settled on Ellie.
Anyone could have felt it. HELL I felt it, and his present gaze wasn't even directed at me. It was that look, you know the one, when men are looking over a girl and more than obviously liking what they see. A look I had never seen upon a man's face while with me. I blithely shrugged my shoulders. No big thing, I was used to being ignored but it didn't mean I would stand for it. I pushed Ellie forward.
"Well," I said throwing them another glance as I went to the gramaphone, placing a smooth black disk on it's surface and winding it up, "perhaps you can show me what I'm doing wrong." And saying this I took a seat..
He bowed while she curtsied gracefully. As the music started scratchily on the turning of the gramaphone table, I felt myself suddenly stiffen.
'I believe I do know some of it' my ass. Ellie was absolutely surreal in the unearthly beauty and poise of her steps, she seemed perfectly melded with Abberline's movements, a thought that made me sick. At first I paid only attention to the movement and position of the feet, so perfectly timed with the beats and strains of music coming from the record player. Elegant and smooth, they practically glided across the floor.
Then my attention became distracted. His half smile as he looked down at her, her growing blush, his hand tightening on her waist crinkling the satin blue fabric of her gown, and her sigh, which despite how soft it was, hit me harshly in my chair. My nails dug into the chair's red cloth as my hands clenched and my jaw tightened.
I scolded myself almost immediately. 'You're pathetic, you know that? A grade A nimrod. YOU made them dance together, so don't start feeling sorry for yourself when they're doing this for YOU.' You know it's pretty hard to ignore that nagging little voice in your head when she happens to be talking good sense. The rolling cramps of jealousy left me as soon as they had pounced, and when the song ended my hands were relaxed and I applauded them.
Ellie tucked a strand of her hair behind an ear embarrassedly and Abberline spun her around a full measure until she finally smiled.
"Let's see if I understand this............" I murmured coming to rejoin Abberline, taking our usual positions.
Ellie smiled and went to restart the ventrola, "Will that be all, miss?"
"Yes, Ellie, I think so. Thank you again."
She nodded and made to leave.
"Oh and Ellie?" I called after her. She turned, her expression puzzled, "Yes, miss?"
"The dress is yours if you wish to have it."
She looked absolutely stunned, her mouth struggled to work but she only looked down at the dress in undisguised wonder.
"The dress..........." I said using small words to help her get through the initial shock, "is............"
She pointed at herself disbelievingly.
".......yours. Yes! See, it's not so difficult a concept to grasp, is it?" I asked her laughing.
She left the room as if she were in a dream and had forgotten how to wake up.
"Alright," I sighed turning back to Abberline, "let's get this over with. Oh..........and you dip me, you die."
Smirking charmingly he deployed another mind boggling dance move which I managed to maneuver through.
"Oh! What NOW?!" I crowed triumphant and annoying, my pride making me overly dumb, "BOOYAH! Eat your heart out Fred Astaire! Thought you'd get me on that one didn't ya?! Didn't work, did it, huh?! Oh yeeaaah!" Of course I was so enthusiastic and enthralled with my own success, when we turned again.......... "Go me, it's my birthday! Not really, but we're gonna party like it's my birthday! You'll find me in da club, body's full of Bud.........daaaaaa I don't know the rest of the words!......so come give me a hug, something, some...Whoa!" I stepped on the hem of my gown and crumpled the floor in a heap.
"Tha's got ta be the sixth time yeh've done that this afternoon." He remarked, cocking his head whilst peering down at me.
"Whoop.........man down!" I giggled insanely, clapping my hands and rolling on the floor.
"Here's wha' I don't understand." He continued, "They have some of the sanest people in those damned hospitals, while I'm here teaching the ONLY real lunatic how ta waltz. Now, doesn't tha' seem odd ta ya?"
I hit him on the pants leg, "Help me up."
He did. We danced and I only fell down one more time..............(crickets chirp) Ok Jimmeny! Three more times.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~**~*~*~*~
We were into our second week of RiverHell by now and while I wasn't a swan gliding about the lake, I was certainly better than I had first started out as, namely a big dog taking a belly flop into the lake. Yeah........my analogies suck.
It was midmorning, creeping upon noon when we tried the waltz (which happened to be a dance filled to the brim with dark sexual undertones, and was a very rare dance, it was usually played only once in the course of a ball or not at all. That's how dangerous that dance was) one final time.
It was a haunting melody, dark and sensual. It was filled with small caresses that suddenly turned form being accidental brushes to purposefully lingering touches ( see now why I was falling all over the place? I mean wouldn't you be doing the same?) or so Abberline told me. You see he never crossed THAT line, much to my disappointment. He never actually touched me except to hold my hand and guide me with his other on my back.
I had gone through the dance without incident, mostly by looking just to the right side of his face and not into his eyes. (And I mean I wasn't SUCIDAL, come on! I know what those eyes can do!) As we came to the end I began to tense, knowing the hardest move was to come.
Abberline sent me spinning out of his protective arms until I came to a stop, our hands still joined, then pulled me back. Again I spun as he had taught me, raising my other hand he grasped it, drawing me in again, our arms now intertwined in the correct placements. And so the dance ended. I had shut my eyes tight as I spun and now cracked open a lid, cautiously, "Why am I not on the ground?" I asked non-comprehendingly.
"Because you didn't trip or fall, or slip, or............"
"Ok, ok, enough." I stopped him, shaking my head, closing my eyes again, "Wait, you're saying I did it?" I asked startled, opening my eyes fully.
"Yes, I think ya've got it." He said smiling, disentangling our limbs and stepping back. No sooner than he did I leapt at him.
"Really?! I didn't mess up?! Yes!" I asked knocking the air out of his lungs as I hugged him, "Man, I feel just like Eliza Doolittle in My Fair Lady!"
"Say who, in the wha'?" Abberline laughed, confused.
I jumped back, an idea filling my brain.
"Abberline, could you say, 'By George I think she's got it!' for me?"
"By George I think she's got it?"
The room was split with my voice as I sang, not my impressive voice, but just my I'm-listening-to-a-song-on-the-radio-and-don't-care-if-I-sound- terrible-voice.
"THE RAIN IN SPAIN STAYS MAINLY IN THE PLAIN!"
"Wha'?" Abberline asked amused.
"THE RAIN IN SPAIN STAYS MAINLY IN THE PLAIN!"
"It rains where?" He asked, totally not getting it, but then I didn't really expect him to.
"ON A PLAIN!" I sang happily, "ON A PLAIN!"
He tugged on his ear, perplexed, "An' where is this soddin' plain again?"
"IN SPAIN! IN SPAIN!"
"Will ya stop singin'? I'm getting' a bloody earache."
"Noooooooooo! I won't!" I sang, sweeping him up into a dance, leading as I used to do naturally making him dance the part of the girl, "THE RAIN IN SPAIN STAYS MAINLY IN THE PLAIN! SING WITH ME!!" I cried to Abberline.
"I don't want ta." He all but whined, but was laughing all the same.
"Too bad, sing! THE RAIN IN SPAIN STAYS MAINLY IN THE PLAIN!" I sang again and this time I heard Abberline join in as well.
Somewhere along the way we danced our ways into a pair of chairs.
"You're an odd one, aren't ya?" He asked.
"Oh yes, was there ever a doubt in your mind?" I asked pointedly of him.
He chuckled, shoving a dampened strand of black hair out of his eyes, "There isn't now, in any case."
I sat up straight in my seat, "We should celebrate my achievements. Let's go somewhere. Let's DO something! Like paint the town and all that jazz, ya know?"
"No, I don't." He laughed rubbing his face, "I don't think I ever will."
"A picnic!" I exclaimed, ignoring him, "A picnic of course! Sunlight instead of these dark corridors, and fresh air!"
I was out of my chair in a flash and ringing for Ellie. She appeared prompt as always. After telling her to alert the kitchens to prepare a lunch basket, I was beaming at the idea of going out, after being trapped inside for two whole weeks. I turned to Abberline with a joyful smile on my face, "I don't suppose they'd have wide open fields in the city would they? Abberline do you know any public parks or gardens, perhaps?"
Abberline's face which had softened now seemed to simply close off, his gaze reserved. The change in him was drastic and without warning. I took an involuntary step back, my smile fought to stay on my mouth, though it faltered somewhat despite my best efforts.
"Yes," he muttered bitterly, "I know one."
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Abberline's temperment remained cut off and distant. I tried to ignore it as I busied myself with finding a book or two I might know of in the library, while our lunch was being packed in the kitchens.
The task proved possible though quite tiring. I found very new copies of Mansfield Park by Jane Austin, and a book of verse by William Blake. I had never been so happy as I all but dragged a sullen Abberline with me out the door. Pulling him into the carriage with me, he told the driver where to head to and while I talked a mile a minute he was silent.
'Fine, let him be a butt cause I don't care! I'm out of the house, going to have me a picnic, and no stuffed-shirt-opium-addict-lost-love-complexed- INSPECTOR, is going to ruin it for me!' Such were my thoughts at the time.
When we reached our destination I hopped out all smiles as Abberline thanked the driver and bounded away toward the gates of the park in front of me.
As I entered, I stopped. STOPPED. Just took in what I was seeing and stopped.
It was beautiful.........oh yes. Waist high hedges, birch trees, and the colors in everything were vibrant, so much that it hurt my eyes. I knew this place.
'Do ya have any litt'l ones, Inspector?'
The question floated in my memory, my eyes catching on a familiar bench. The same bench Abberline and Mary Kelly had sat and talked on a day much like this. I clutched the basket crushingly.
Abberline was beside me. I turned to him horrified.
"Oh god, Abberline..........I'm sorry, I really am," I began desperately, "I didn't know, I.........god I'm so sorry..........I forgot that you brought Mary Kelly here........."
He sighed, his bangs hanging low over his eyes. I took one last look at the bench and turned to him, "Let's go. Come on, Abberline, let's go someplace else."
"Oh don't be ridiculous," He murmured low, sending a side glance and a sad smile at me, "it's no reason to ruin a perfectly good picnic."
I looked at him skeptically, "It's a perfectly good reason."
"Listen," he said wearily, "let's just eat. I'm starvin'."
"Are you sure?" I sure as hell wasn't. The guy was about to spout the water works any minute now by my watch.
"Yes." He snapped angrily, shooting me a glance and striding forward.
"Alright." I muttered following him.
Violently, he shook out the red and white blanket, lying it on the grass in the middle of some hedges. Getting to my knees I sat beside him, placing the many delicacies upon the cloth. Abberline stared into the distance, his eyes fixed on a far off object, the bench. I handed him his plate and began to eat even if he wouldn't.
I cut a slice of cheese and for the first time I felt the warning signs of lonliness seep into me. I missed my family, my friends, and all the normal day to day things I had so often taken for granted, so many small things like walking up the steps to my house, or opening the refridgerator, and knowing that I was in a place where people cared for me and I was safe. Now.............now I was in a time with nothing familiar to comfort me, and everything was strange and alien, on top of which I had a murderous clan on my tail, can't see how I forgot that.
I was about to put a fruit in my mouth when I realized what it was. A grape. A vine of plump, dark purple grapes. My face twisted in disgust as I threw it from me, wiping my hands on my gown. Turning my head I caught Abberline watching me.
"What?" I asked defensively, busying myself with getting some more cheese. Ahh, the power of cheese.
"Yeh're crying." He said softly, indicating my cheek. I put a hand to it. Wet. Shit.
I wiped under my eyes brutesqely. Since when did I become a regular old softie? Crying for the second time in two weeks? What in the name of god was going on with me lately?!
"Allergies." I grunted in response. "Well if you're done eating, I think I'll go for a walk, feel free to join me, though I think it better for both of us if you didn't." I said rising, brushing grass stems from the fabric of my dress as I gathered the two books I had brought and walked away.
I had stopped crying, thank all that is unholy, cause I was getting damn tired of doing it. I sat down angrily on a bench, then shifting uncomfortably realized it was the same bench that..........awwww screw it, I was tired of caring if I hurt his feelings.
Taking out a book I began to read. Why were my emotions going up and down like a damn elevator? Maybe I was.........no,fuck,no........PMS!?! I quickly removed that thought, by my internal clock and memory I had two more weeks before that trial began. Fuck, they hadn't invented advil yet. I turned another page not seeing the words running across the page. Why was I acting like a girl who had just hit puberty for Christ's sake?!
I stiffened as a presence sat next to me. I sighed, "Yes?"
"Wha' are yeh readin'?"
I turned to look at Abberline sharply, "Mansfield Park."
"Is it good?" He asked.
"One of my favorites." I explained dully.
"May I?" He asked, his fingers brushing mine as he grasped an edge and lifted it from my hands. It looked as if I didn't have a choice.
"Suit yourself." I muttered coldly.
Taking a pause, he gathered his breath and began to read.
"And I heard a small voice that cried, 'I cannot get out........'"
I inhaled so sharply it hurt. Why was he reading that?! I hadn't even been on that page, had I? He couldn't possibly know it was one of the most romantic parts of the book............or how I'd always imagined I'd marry the man who one day read it to me. I put a hand to my stomach, trying to recall the way to breathe properly.
"I cannot get out." He finished the excerpt softly. Slowly he closed the book, looking at the spine, "It was written by a woman." He commented, handing it back to me gingerly.
"Most of them will be." I replied, taking it back nodding in thanks.
"I don't find it at all surprising." He confessed with an amused smirk.
He had apologized in some sneaky way without my understanding of how he'd done it.
"You read well." I complimented with a playful smile, finding myself forgiving his more than chilly attitude.
"So.........?" He prompted.
"So...........?" I questioned.
He pointed to the book, "Wha' happens next?"
~*~*~*~*~*~**~*~*~*~*~
"Fanny!'" I exclaimed reading aloud, "Crawford called to her, 'You are killing me.' Her beaming eyes glanced down upon the desperate man, it was all very droll and quite a laugh. 'No man dies of love but one the stage, Mr. Crawford.' She whispered to him, laughter in her voice as she ran up the remaining stairs to her room, leaving a devastated and confounded Crawford on the landing."
Abberline laughed, putting a hand to his mouth.
"I'll admit it was witty Abberline, but get ahold of yourself man."
"It'snot tha', yeh have a large flower caught in your hair from the tree. It looks odd." He informed me.
"Honestly, Abberline, the strangest things set you off." I replied batting him with the book gently.
"Here." He said chuckling softly as he reached out a hand and pried a large white blossom from the side of my head, pulling some of my hair from it's bun as he did so. Smiling, he held it in his hand and then let it fall from his fingers. Chuckling, he turned back to me and stilled, the smile faltered on his mouth.
"What?" I asked, laughing nervously, "Goodness sakes, Abberline, what is.........."
He reached his hand out again and the word I had been about to say died on my tongue as he carefully tucked the few strands that had come undone in the flower's departure, behind my ear. His eyes traveled swiftly over me as his fingers slid along my jaw line. I bit my bottom lip hard in distress and in an effort to distract me from the fleeting but lingering brush of his fingers on my skin. And as romantic as if should have been under the circumstances, all I could think of, rather dimly was, 'Oh my god, ohmygodohmygodohmydearsweetmotherofGOD! Why is Abberline rubbing my face?!'
His gaze moved from my lips ('Oh please god don't let him kiss me. I just ate cheese and they haven't invented crest or scope yet!') to flittering over eyelashes and unruly whisps of hair around my face. Something caught his eye behind me and he dropped his hand, cursing suddenly.
"Oh bloody 'ell." He muttered, "He saw tha'."
"What? Who?" I asked tryi8ng to turn my head frantically to see, but Abberline's hand at the side of my face stopped me. He leaned closer to whisper in my ear.
"Your dear Doctor Farrel just witnessed me pullin' the flower from yeh hair. Looks like 'ih cane's been shoved up his arse." He snorted with laughter into my ear. "This will be all over town by tamorrow."
I felt a smirk pull at the corners of my mouth, "Well, honestly!" I exclaimed, "all that fuss over the removing of a flower?! If they're going to be in a tiff it should be over something better than THAT."
"Wha's tha' supposed ta mean? Ya not got a daft idea in your head again, have yeh?" He asked cautiously.
I merely smiled and curling my hand gently around the opening of his coat, I leaned forward and placed a soft, almost childishly simple kiss on his cheek. Pulling back I opened my eyes slowly, a knowing smile on my lips.
Abberline looked composed and calm, but oddly ridged. "Wha' the hell was tha'?"
"Something better for society to talk about at the ball and keep them on their toes." I smothered a giggle, "How's the Doc taking it?" I asked.
"He's just stormed off in a dreadful huff," He commented conversationally, "Betchya he has the story to the newspapers in ten minutes."
I raised the stakes grinning, "Five minutes."
"Yeh don't seem at all concerned abou' it."
"Why should I be? The sooner people begin to think we are an item (or howere the hell you guys say it now) the sooner we can get hitched and move to Ireland and I can get you out of my hair and hand you over to your bonny lass, Mary Kelly."
He looked insulted but the twinkle in his eyes was a sure sign of his sarcasm, "I be your pardon," He clucked putting a hand to his heart, imitating a noble man's voice, "but since when have I been in your hair, Miss Harlington?"
"Since about a minute ago." I chirped the response standing, "Come on old boy, escort a lady to our blanket. We should pack up. Tut, tut, it looks like rain."
Laughing he stood and took my arm, "It looks nothing of the kind, yeh strange gel. We've hours left of sun."
"Nuh uh," I shook my head, "Not me. I have to go and get some sleep."
"Are ya mad, it's only the afternoon, whatya want ta sleep this early for?!"
"And I suggest you do the same, Inspector," I said warmly, "We have quite a day ahead of us tomorrow."
He raised a brow.
"We're going shopping tomorrow for ball dress." I clarified.
"Do we hafta?" He groaned complaining.
"Yes we do," I said firmly, "and your not backing out of it bub. Considering I've given most of my gowns to the female staff and as I was informed by a Dr. Farrel in a letter that a month was long enough to be wearing black, I'm going shopping for some clothes with pizzazz, and you my good fellow need a tux. Plus, I'm a girl, I have money, and I'm gonna spend it, it's only the natural order of things. So pick up your bum and march." I commanded.
"Can I bring a book at leas'?" He asked, giving a look similar to the I'm-a-lost-little-puppy-pity-me- look, as he gathered the quilt and the basket in his arms.
"Yes," I said placing Mansfield Park on top of the other items, "and get used to women authors while you're at it." I left him to walk on his own.
"'Ey!" He called, "Why am I loaded down like a damned cart horse?! Come an' 'elp me."
"I, sir, am lady, and need the access of all my limbs to do such things as sewing and dancing................and scaring pigeons. And there just so happens to be a flock of the beasts over there." And pointing to them I picked up my skirts and charged at them. Of course I hadn't expected there to be some swans there as well and to put it lightly they weren't at all to happy when I tried to pounce them. Screaming as I ran, with the rabid swans at my heels, I heard Abberline remark sassily, "So this............is how ladies act in the future."
"Shut up, you imbecile and save me, damn you! GAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!!!!!! It's the Attack of Odette and her Killer Swans, the Terror of Swan Lake!"
~*~**~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
"You're leading again." He reminded me again laughing.
"Well that's only because you keep wanting to dance like a girl." I muttered crossly in response.
We had been at it for four days straight now. I had begun to dance in my dreams and unlike Eliza Doolittle I did not feel like letting it last all bleeding night.
Abberline swiftly executed a move that confused me so badly, I was suddenly four feet from the floor, looking up at him terrified, even with his hand still holding mine and his firm arm across my waist, in a deadly dip.
"Wha' was tha'?" He asked threateningly.
"Why don't you just put on a dress and wear rouge?" I continued baiting him. "Oh sh................" I gasped as he dropped me another foot closer to the floor.
"You were sayin'?" He arched a brow.
Was he daring me? Fine, two can play this............actually a whole bunch of people could play this but yuck! Who would want to?!
"Ooh, someone's corset is a wee bit tight it seems. You better calm yourself man, before you fall over in a dead faint." I warned.
I shrieked as he let go of me for the barest of seconds, catching me again now only two feet from the floor.
"Care to say tha' again, Miss Harlington?" He remarked coolly, smirking widely.
"You wouldn't!" I claimed.
"Give me a reason." He warned.
I narrowed my eyes sizing him up and then opened my big fat mouth, "Your girdle's wrong my lad, it's supposed to go around your waist not up your ass."
With a smile, he dropped me. I screamed in shocked surprise, landing harshly on my back on the hardwood floor of the parlor, which was where he decided to teach all of the lessons. I laughed, every other breath an, "OW," or a "Butthead!"
Ellie flew in, "Miss, we heard a clammerin' sound from the kitchens! Are yeh alrigh?"
"Miss Harlington fell again." Abberline informed my maid and friend helping me up, and brushed imaginary dust from my shoulders.
I swatted him away, "Was dropped is more like it." I muttered, smoothing down my thoroughly ruffled gown.
Ellie looked uncomfortable.
"Ellie, dear, what is it?" I asked hoping she wasn't ill. Who knows what those bastards made their servants work through, disease, pregnancy?
"I was just wonderin' miss, why ya would need ta learn ta dance when yeh've been doing it for six years ta date?"
"It is often a normal occurrence after a tragic loss that the person who suffered to forget things," Abberline assured her. I cocked my head studying him closely. He seemed official and sure as if he encountered such things every day, "It often takes time for things ta come back ta them, as in the case with Miss Harlington." He was almost like a doctor in his answer. Wait a moment. A half lazy idea began to form in my mind, an idea that might come in handy if we were ever in a jam. Maybe.
"Ellie, perhaps you could be of some help to me." I said coming forward, "I still seem to be having trouble getting the waltz down. If you know how to dance this piece, maybe seeing it would help me to remember."
She looked absolutely terrified, and either I was imagining things again or she was blushing madly. Abberline's sexy-come-hither-eyes and you- just-want-to-eat-me-with-chocolate-and-whipped-cream-with-a-big-cherry-on- top-body had once again had it's desired effect on the ladies.
"Me, miss?"
"No, the Queen of England, yes YOU!" I laughed flicking a piece of her hair out of her eyes. "That is if you know it of course." I reminded her.
She shifted shyly, "I believe I do know some of it."
"Wonderful. But first before you begin we need to get you into something a little more fitting for the occasion." I said looking her over.
"Wha'............wha' do ya mean, miss?" She was positively trembling.
"Come with me." I smiled pulling her along with me out of the room.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
A little while later she was in a light blue dress I would have looked like shit in. I had some trouble with the laces of the gown, I really botched them, but she was already wearing a corset (thank god I didn't have to go near THAT thing) She did most of it herself and by the time I got her back to the parlor she looked as if she should have been mistress of the house, and I should have been serving her breakfast in bed.
Abberline turned as we entered. No doubt he had been looking at the clock thinking I had lost my way yet again (well it was a damn big house, so EXCUSE me) His eyes found me and then settled on Ellie.
Anyone could have felt it. HELL I felt it, and his present gaze wasn't even directed at me. It was that look, you know the one, when men are looking over a girl and more than obviously liking what they see. A look I had never seen upon a man's face while with me. I blithely shrugged my shoulders. No big thing, I was used to being ignored but it didn't mean I would stand for it. I pushed Ellie forward.
"Well," I said throwing them another glance as I went to the gramaphone, placing a smooth black disk on it's surface and winding it up, "perhaps you can show me what I'm doing wrong." And saying this I took a seat..
He bowed while she curtsied gracefully. As the music started scratchily on the turning of the gramaphone table, I felt myself suddenly stiffen.
'I believe I do know some of it' my ass. Ellie was absolutely surreal in the unearthly beauty and poise of her steps, she seemed perfectly melded with Abberline's movements, a thought that made me sick. At first I paid only attention to the movement and position of the feet, so perfectly timed with the beats and strains of music coming from the record player. Elegant and smooth, they practically glided across the floor.
Then my attention became distracted. His half smile as he looked down at her, her growing blush, his hand tightening on her waist crinkling the satin blue fabric of her gown, and her sigh, which despite how soft it was, hit me harshly in my chair. My nails dug into the chair's red cloth as my hands clenched and my jaw tightened.
I scolded myself almost immediately. 'You're pathetic, you know that? A grade A nimrod. YOU made them dance together, so don't start feeling sorry for yourself when they're doing this for YOU.' You know it's pretty hard to ignore that nagging little voice in your head when she happens to be talking good sense. The rolling cramps of jealousy left me as soon as they had pounced, and when the song ended my hands were relaxed and I applauded them.
Ellie tucked a strand of her hair behind an ear embarrassedly and Abberline spun her around a full measure until she finally smiled.
"Let's see if I understand this............" I murmured coming to rejoin Abberline, taking our usual positions.
Ellie smiled and went to restart the ventrola, "Will that be all, miss?"
"Yes, Ellie, I think so. Thank you again."
She nodded and made to leave.
"Oh and Ellie?" I called after her. She turned, her expression puzzled, "Yes, miss?"
"The dress is yours if you wish to have it."
She looked absolutely stunned, her mouth struggled to work but she only looked down at the dress in undisguised wonder.
"The dress..........." I said using small words to help her get through the initial shock, "is............"
She pointed at herself disbelievingly.
".......yours. Yes! See, it's not so difficult a concept to grasp, is it?" I asked her laughing.
She left the room as if she were in a dream and had forgotten how to wake up.
"Alright," I sighed turning back to Abberline, "let's get this over with. Oh..........and you dip me, you die."
Smirking charmingly he deployed another mind boggling dance move which I managed to maneuver through.
"Oh! What NOW?!" I crowed triumphant and annoying, my pride making me overly dumb, "BOOYAH! Eat your heart out Fred Astaire! Thought you'd get me on that one didn't ya?! Didn't work, did it, huh?! Oh yeeaaah!" Of course I was so enthusiastic and enthralled with my own success, when we turned again.......... "Go me, it's my birthday! Not really, but we're gonna party like it's my birthday! You'll find me in da club, body's full of Bud.........daaaaaa I don't know the rest of the words!......so come give me a hug, something, some...Whoa!" I stepped on the hem of my gown and crumpled the floor in a heap.
"Tha's got ta be the sixth time yeh've done that this afternoon." He remarked, cocking his head whilst peering down at me.
"Whoop.........man down!" I giggled insanely, clapping my hands and rolling on the floor.
"Here's wha' I don't understand." He continued, "They have some of the sanest people in those damned hospitals, while I'm here teaching the ONLY real lunatic how ta waltz. Now, doesn't tha' seem odd ta ya?"
I hit him on the pants leg, "Help me up."
He did. We danced and I only fell down one more time..............(crickets chirp) Ok Jimmeny! Three more times.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~**~*~*~*~
We were into our second week of RiverHell by now and while I wasn't a swan gliding about the lake, I was certainly better than I had first started out as, namely a big dog taking a belly flop into the lake. Yeah........my analogies suck.
It was midmorning, creeping upon noon when we tried the waltz (which happened to be a dance filled to the brim with dark sexual undertones, and was a very rare dance, it was usually played only once in the course of a ball or not at all. That's how dangerous that dance was) one final time.
It was a haunting melody, dark and sensual. It was filled with small caresses that suddenly turned form being accidental brushes to purposefully lingering touches ( see now why I was falling all over the place? I mean wouldn't you be doing the same?) or so Abberline told me. You see he never crossed THAT line, much to my disappointment. He never actually touched me except to hold my hand and guide me with his other on my back.
I had gone through the dance without incident, mostly by looking just to the right side of his face and not into his eyes. (And I mean I wasn't SUCIDAL, come on! I know what those eyes can do!) As we came to the end I began to tense, knowing the hardest move was to come.
Abberline sent me spinning out of his protective arms until I came to a stop, our hands still joined, then pulled me back. Again I spun as he had taught me, raising my other hand he grasped it, drawing me in again, our arms now intertwined in the correct placements. And so the dance ended. I had shut my eyes tight as I spun and now cracked open a lid, cautiously, "Why am I not on the ground?" I asked non-comprehendingly.
"Because you didn't trip or fall, or slip, or............"
"Ok, ok, enough." I stopped him, shaking my head, closing my eyes again, "Wait, you're saying I did it?" I asked startled, opening my eyes fully.
"Yes, I think ya've got it." He said smiling, disentangling our limbs and stepping back. No sooner than he did I leapt at him.
"Really?! I didn't mess up?! Yes!" I asked knocking the air out of his lungs as I hugged him, "Man, I feel just like Eliza Doolittle in My Fair Lady!"
"Say who, in the wha'?" Abberline laughed, confused.
I jumped back, an idea filling my brain.
"Abberline, could you say, 'By George I think she's got it!' for me?"
"By George I think she's got it?"
The room was split with my voice as I sang, not my impressive voice, but just my I'm-listening-to-a-song-on-the-radio-and-don't-care-if-I-sound- terrible-voice.
"THE RAIN IN SPAIN STAYS MAINLY IN THE PLAIN!"
"Wha'?" Abberline asked amused.
"THE RAIN IN SPAIN STAYS MAINLY IN THE PLAIN!"
"It rains where?" He asked, totally not getting it, but then I didn't really expect him to.
"ON A PLAIN!" I sang happily, "ON A PLAIN!"
He tugged on his ear, perplexed, "An' where is this soddin' plain again?"
"IN SPAIN! IN SPAIN!"
"Will ya stop singin'? I'm getting' a bloody earache."
"Noooooooooo! I won't!" I sang, sweeping him up into a dance, leading as I used to do naturally making him dance the part of the girl, "THE RAIN IN SPAIN STAYS MAINLY IN THE PLAIN! SING WITH ME!!" I cried to Abberline.
"I don't want ta." He all but whined, but was laughing all the same.
"Too bad, sing! THE RAIN IN SPAIN STAYS MAINLY IN THE PLAIN!" I sang again and this time I heard Abberline join in as well.
Somewhere along the way we danced our ways into a pair of chairs.
"You're an odd one, aren't ya?" He asked.
"Oh yes, was there ever a doubt in your mind?" I asked pointedly of him.
He chuckled, shoving a dampened strand of black hair out of his eyes, "There isn't now, in any case."
I sat up straight in my seat, "We should celebrate my achievements. Let's go somewhere. Let's DO something! Like paint the town and all that jazz, ya know?"
"No, I don't." He laughed rubbing his face, "I don't think I ever will."
"A picnic!" I exclaimed, ignoring him, "A picnic of course! Sunlight instead of these dark corridors, and fresh air!"
I was out of my chair in a flash and ringing for Ellie. She appeared prompt as always. After telling her to alert the kitchens to prepare a lunch basket, I was beaming at the idea of going out, after being trapped inside for two whole weeks. I turned to Abberline with a joyful smile on my face, "I don't suppose they'd have wide open fields in the city would they? Abberline do you know any public parks or gardens, perhaps?"
Abberline's face which had softened now seemed to simply close off, his gaze reserved. The change in him was drastic and without warning. I took an involuntary step back, my smile fought to stay on my mouth, though it faltered somewhat despite my best efforts.
"Yes," he muttered bitterly, "I know one."
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Abberline's temperment remained cut off and distant. I tried to ignore it as I busied myself with finding a book or two I might know of in the library, while our lunch was being packed in the kitchens.
The task proved possible though quite tiring. I found very new copies of Mansfield Park by Jane Austin, and a book of verse by William Blake. I had never been so happy as I all but dragged a sullen Abberline with me out the door. Pulling him into the carriage with me, he told the driver where to head to and while I talked a mile a minute he was silent.
'Fine, let him be a butt cause I don't care! I'm out of the house, going to have me a picnic, and no stuffed-shirt-opium-addict-lost-love-complexed- INSPECTOR, is going to ruin it for me!' Such were my thoughts at the time.
When we reached our destination I hopped out all smiles as Abberline thanked the driver and bounded away toward the gates of the park in front of me.
As I entered, I stopped. STOPPED. Just took in what I was seeing and stopped.
It was beautiful.........oh yes. Waist high hedges, birch trees, and the colors in everything were vibrant, so much that it hurt my eyes. I knew this place.
'Do ya have any litt'l ones, Inspector?'
The question floated in my memory, my eyes catching on a familiar bench. The same bench Abberline and Mary Kelly had sat and talked on a day much like this. I clutched the basket crushingly.
Abberline was beside me. I turned to him horrified.
"Oh god, Abberline..........I'm sorry, I really am," I began desperately, "I didn't know, I.........god I'm so sorry..........I forgot that you brought Mary Kelly here........."
He sighed, his bangs hanging low over his eyes. I took one last look at the bench and turned to him, "Let's go. Come on, Abberline, let's go someplace else."
"Oh don't be ridiculous," He murmured low, sending a side glance and a sad smile at me, "it's no reason to ruin a perfectly good picnic."
I looked at him skeptically, "It's a perfectly good reason."
"Listen," he said wearily, "let's just eat. I'm starvin'."
"Are you sure?" I sure as hell wasn't. The guy was about to spout the water works any minute now by my watch.
"Yes." He snapped angrily, shooting me a glance and striding forward.
"Alright." I muttered following him.
Violently, he shook out the red and white blanket, lying it on the grass in the middle of some hedges. Getting to my knees I sat beside him, placing the many delicacies upon the cloth. Abberline stared into the distance, his eyes fixed on a far off object, the bench. I handed him his plate and began to eat even if he wouldn't.
I cut a slice of cheese and for the first time I felt the warning signs of lonliness seep into me. I missed my family, my friends, and all the normal day to day things I had so often taken for granted, so many small things like walking up the steps to my house, or opening the refridgerator, and knowing that I was in a place where people cared for me and I was safe. Now.............now I was in a time with nothing familiar to comfort me, and everything was strange and alien, on top of which I had a murderous clan on my tail, can't see how I forgot that.
I was about to put a fruit in my mouth when I realized what it was. A grape. A vine of plump, dark purple grapes. My face twisted in disgust as I threw it from me, wiping my hands on my gown. Turning my head I caught Abberline watching me.
"What?" I asked defensively, busying myself with getting some more cheese. Ahh, the power of cheese.
"Yeh're crying." He said softly, indicating my cheek. I put a hand to it. Wet. Shit.
I wiped under my eyes brutesqely. Since when did I become a regular old softie? Crying for the second time in two weeks? What in the name of god was going on with me lately?!
"Allergies." I grunted in response. "Well if you're done eating, I think I'll go for a walk, feel free to join me, though I think it better for both of us if you didn't." I said rising, brushing grass stems from the fabric of my dress as I gathered the two books I had brought and walked away.
I had stopped crying, thank all that is unholy, cause I was getting damn tired of doing it. I sat down angrily on a bench, then shifting uncomfortably realized it was the same bench that..........awwww screw it, I was tired of caring if I hurt his feelings.
Taking out a book I began to read. Why were my emotions going up and down like a damn elevator? Maybe I was.........no,fuck,no........PMS!?! I quickly removed that thought, by my internal clock and memory I had two more weeks before that trial began. Fuck, they hadn't invented advil yet. I turned another page not seeing the words running across the page. Why was I acting like a girl who had just hit puberty for Christ's sake?!
I stiffened as a presence sat next to me. I sighed, "Yes?"
"Wha' are yeh readin'?"
I turned to look at Abberline sharply, "Mansfield Park."
"Is it good?" He asked.
"One of my favorites." I explained dully.
"May I?" He asked, his fingers brushing mine as he grasped an edge and lifted it from my hands. It looked as if I didn't have a choice.
"Suit yourself." I muttered coldly.
Taking a pause, he gathered his breath and began to read.
"And I heard a small voice that cried, 'I cannot get out........'"
I inhaled so sharply it hurt. Why was he reading that?! I hadn't even been on that page, had I? He couldn't possibly know it was one of the most romantic parts of the book............or how I'd always imagined I'd marry the man who one day read it to me. I put a hand to my stomach, trying to recall the way to breathe properly.
"I cannot get out." He finished the excerpt softly. Slowly he closed the book, looking at the spine, "It was written by a woman." He commented, handing it back to me gingerly.
"Most of them will be." I replied, taking it back nodding in thanks.
"I don't find it at all surprising." He confessed with an amused smirk.
He had apologized in some sneaky way without my understanding of how he'd done it.
"You read well." I complimented with a playful smile, finding myself forgiving his more than chilly attitude.
"So.........?" He prompted.
"So...........?" I questioned.
He pointed to the book, "Wha' happens next?"
~*~*~*~*~*~**~*~*~*~*~
"Fanny!'" I exclaimed reading aloud, "Crawford called to her, 'You are killing me.' Her beaming eyes glanced down upon the desperate man, it was all very droll and quite a laugh. 'No man dies of love but one the stage, Mr. Crawford.' She whispered to him, laughter in her voice as she ran up the remaining stairs to her room, leaving a devastated and confounded Crawford on the landing."
Abberline laughed, putting a hand to his mouth.
"I'll admit it was witty Abberline, but get ahold of yourself man."
"It'snot tha', yeh have a large flower caught in your hair from the tree. It looks odd." He informed me.
"Honestly, Abberline, the strangest things set you off." I replied batting him with the book gently.
"Here." He said chuckling softly as he reached out a hand and pried a large white blossom from the side of my head, pulling some of my hair from it's bun as he did so. Smiling, he held it in his hand and then let it fall from his fingers. Chuckling, he turned back to me and stilled, the smile faltered on his mouth.
"What?" I asked, laughing nervously, "Goodness sakes, Abberline, what is.........."
He reached his hand out again and the word I had been about to say died on my tongue as he carefully tucked the few strands that had come undone in the flower's departure, behind my ear. His eyes traveled swiftly over me as his fingers slid along my jaw line. I bit my bottom lip hard in distress and in an effort to distract me from the fleeting but lingering brush of his fingers on my skin. And as romantic as if should have been under the circumstances, all I could think of, rather dimly was, 'Oh my god, ohmygodohmygodohmydearsweetmotherofGOD! Why is Abberline rubbing my face?!'
His gaze moved from my lips ('Oh please god don't let him kiss me. I just ate cheese and they haven't invented crest or scope yet!') to flittering over eyelashes and unruly whisps of hair around my face. Something caught his eye behind me and he dropped his hand, cursing suddenly.
"Oh bloody 'ell." He muttered, "He saw tha'."
"What? Who?" I asked tryi8ng to turn my head frantically to see, but Abberline's hand at the side of my face stopped me. He leaned closer to whisper in my ear.
"Your dear Doctor Farrel just witnessed me pullin' the flower from yeh hair. Looks like 'ih cane's been shoved up his arse." He snorted with laughter into my ear. "This will be all over town by tamorrow."
I felt a smirk pull at the corners of my mouth, "Well, honestly!" I exclaimed, "all that fuss over the removing of a flower?! If they're going to be in a tiff it should be over something better than THAT."
"Wha's tha' supposed ta mean? Ya not got a daft idea in your head again, have yeh?" He asked cautiously.
I merely smiled and curling my hand gently around the opening of his coat, I leaned forward and placed a soft, almost childishly simple kiss on his cheek. Pulling back I opened my eyes slowly, a knowing smile on my lips.
Abberline looked composed and calm, but oddly ridged. "Wha' the hell was tha'?"
"Something better for society to talk about at the ball and keep them on their toes." I smothered a giggle, "How's the Doc taking it?" I asked.
"He's just stormed off in a dreadful huff," He commented conversationally, "Betchya he has the story to the newspapers in ten minutes."
I raised the stakes grinning, "Five minutes."
"Yeh don't seem at all concerned abou' it."
"Why should I be? The sooner people begin to think we are an item (or howere the hell you guys say it now) the sooner we can get hitched and move to Ireland and I can get you out of my hair and hand you over to your bonny lass, Mary Kelly."
He looked insulted but the twinkle in his eyes was a sure sign of his sarcasm, "I be your pardon," He clucked putting a hand to his heart, imitating a noble man's voice, "but since when have I been in your hair, Miss Harlington?"
"Since about a minute ago." I chirped the response standing, "Come on old boy, escort a lady to our blanket. We should pack up. Tut, tut, it looks like rain."
Laughing he stood and took my arm, "It looks nothing of the kind, yeh strange gel. We've hours left of sun."
"Nuh uh," I shook my head, "Not me. I have to go and get some sleep."
"Are ya mad, it's only the afternoon, whatya want ta sleep this early for?!"
"And I suggest you do the same, Inspector," I said warmly, "We have quite a day ahead of us tomorrow."
He raised a brow.
"We're going shopping tomorrow for ball dress." I clarified.
"Do we hafta?" He groaned complaining.
"Yes we do," I said firmly, "and your not backing out of it bub. Considering I've given most of my gowns to the female staff and as I was informed by a Dr. Farrel in a letter that a month was long enough to be wearing black, I'm going shopping for some clothes with pizzazz, and you my good fellow need a tux. Plus, I'm a girl, I have money, and I'm gonna spend it, it's only the natural order of things. So pick up your bum and march." I commanded.
"Can I bring a book at leas'?" He asked, giving a look similar to the I'm-a-lost-little-puppy-pity-me- look, as he gathered the quilt and the basket in his arms.
"Yes," I said placing Mansfield Park on top of the other items, "and get used to women authors while you're at it." I left him to walk on his own.
"'Ey!" He called, "Why am I loaded down like a damned cart horse?! Come an' 'elp me."
"I, sir, am lady, and need the access of all my limbs to do such things as sewing and dancing................and scaring pigeons. And there just so happens to be a flock of the beasts over there." And pointing to them I picked up my skirts and charged at them. Of course I hadn't expected there to be some swans there as well and to put it lightly they weren't at all to happy when I tried to pounce them. Screaming as I ran, with the rabid swans at my heels, I heard Abberline remark sassily, "So this............is how ladies act in the future."
"Shut up, you imbecile and save me, damn you! GAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!!!!!! It's the Attack of Odette and her Killer Swans, the Terror of Swan Lake!"
~*~**~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*