Chapter 3

Imperfection is beauty, madness is genius and it's better to be absolutely ridiculous than absolutely boring—Marilyn Monroe

Vanessa felt almost relieved to have another soul roaming the halls of her home when Caliban came along. She couldn't explain it, but something inside her drew her to the man. More so then she had ever been drawn before. They seemed to understand each other without really having any sort of understanding at all. Vanessa sensed a kindred spirit in him that she had never found in another living soul. Maybe that was why she'd given him the library. To show him some kindness that the world had kept from him. To allow them to become closer somehow, or at least to get to know each other. At least, those were the reasons Vanessa told herself, when in all actuality, she had done it purely to see that look on his face. That look that signified pure bliss and when she'd given him access to books, she had seen it. It had lit him up and Vanessa had loved it more then anything else. She liked getting to know him and spending time with him. She just liked him. It had taken her quite by surprise at first but was getting better as she came to love his company. Vanessa had always been wrapped in darkness. She had never really understood it, but simply learned to contend with it. Yet, with Caliban, she could feel that darkness all around her just as she always did, but it was different now. Because he was here. He brought some sort of light to her life. A type of peace that Vanessa could rarely remember from days passed. She clung to it in those days, felt protected by it as she spent those first few days with him. And yet, she was always aware of the darkness as well. She could always feel it there and know that it could snatch her up at any moment. Vanessa never truly let her guard down even in those peaceful early days, she just enjoyed the contentment while it lasted. While always waiting for it to come to an end. Because she didn't expect the darkness to go away as easily as Caliban had ventured into her life. She knew that it wasn't like everyone wanted it to be. That a simple exorcism or lobotomy wouldn't take it away. It would always be with her, only now, she had learned to live with it. To embrace it without really doing so. Vanessa always had that at the back of her mind even at her calmest moment and she was always ready. For the darkness to come for her again because she knew it would never give up trying to claim her. And she knew it would get her someday. That day just wasn't today, it was waiting until she was vulnerable. Maybe that's why she didn't let herself be vulnerable. She was always waiting, cautious for when the darkness would come to strike. Because it would, just as it was always somewhere, watching her.

Always touching her, yet, as a cool gleam of fingers on skin, not the usual bruising grip that had always sought to strangle her. Vanessa didn't lie to herself when it came to the darkness. She knew that was why she clung to his company. Why she spent hours in silence with him. Not just because she enjoyed his company, but because he seemed to keep the darkness at bay. He made her feel like maybe if she let herself, she could put her guard down. Like maybe she could trust him to keep the darkness from her. To protect her from it. Something she knew she would never truly allow. Those weren't her only reasons though, the truth was, Caliban fascinated her. He was more then his face and his appearance. He was a man more human then anyone she had ever met. She wanted him to know that the more time she spent with him. He was by far the most interesting man she had ever met. Vanessa's mind was decidedly made up on that, it would stay that way, especially as their acquaintance grew. They had just finished dining together when he had moved down the hall to the library as Poole brought her cloak.

Caliban's voice rang out to her as she was fastening her cloak.

"Going out tonight, Ms. Ives?" said Caliban, his body shadowed by the darkness of the hallway.

"Yes, I do so enjoy a good walk in the night. You're going to the library again, I see, you have no idea how happy you're use of it makes me. I was letting it go neglected, I'm afraid" exclaimed Vanessa a joy in her eyes that Caliban found he reveled in as he watched her. Her voice was always so kind and tender as she spoke to him. Before he'd met her, Caliban had rarely heard such words, but now, he heard them everyday from her lips. Their eyes met as they spoke, lighting up the darkness, and Caliban felt something inside himself shiver. He knew it was because of her, but he chose not to dwell on it as he looked at her. He found he enjoyed looking at her. Caliban couldn't keep himself from smiling at her. She was a revelation. Something he had dreamed to find in another human being, but never found. In that moment, Caliban felt grateful to have met her as she returned his smile. Gently, he stepped into the light, and soon he found himself just close enough to touch her.

"Thank you for allowing it" said Caliban, receiving a nod as she pulled on her gloves as Poole opened the door.

It was as she was stepping out the door that Vanessa stopped short.

"Something wrong, Ms. Ives?" said Caliban, his eyes still on her, watching her as she turned back to face him, her body in the doorway as her eyes sought his.

"Would you care to join me?" exclaimed Vanessa suddenly, seeing as the words caught him off guard making her immediately expect him to answer with a no. She could see the hesitation on his face, but after a moment, it lifted. Vanessa almost wasn't expecting it when he began to walk towards her. She had been expecting him to walk away without ever answering, but instead, he walked closer until he was close enough to touch her. Vanessa didn't know what his answer would be until he gave it.

"I'd like that" whispered Caliban, barely having time to don his own coat before he was walking by her side in the snow.

"She's beautiful with all the snow around her" thought Caliban as they walked in silence, only the sound of the snow crunching beneath their feet as they moved. As the thought passed over him, Vanessa looked at him as if reading it from his very mind. She smiled at him, her eyes as always kind, and Caliban felt something inside him quiver. Caliban looked at her too. He found he liked looking at her as they walked. Not just because she was beautiful, but because of the look on her face. There was a peace when they were together that he enjoyed. Most people avoided looking at him, but not her. She was always looking at him, acting as if she enjoyed it, and that thought brought him such joy. It was the look he had always wanted from a woman, but never received. Maybe that was why he had jumped at the chance to join her on her walk tonight. Because he would take any chance to spend time with her.

"Thank you for joining me tonight. I've always enjoyed my walks, but until recently I seem to have forgotten them. You being with me makes them all the better" exclaimed Vanessa suddenly breaking the silence with her voice as soft as the very snow they walked in, meeting his gaze when she felt him watching her. In that moment, Vanessa could feel them, like the gentle touch of snow.

She enjoyed it as she met those eyes.

"I was tiring of being alone…your company means more then you know" said Vanessa in that moment her voice seeming only to get softer as they walked.

"It is you I should thank, Ms. Ives, for taking me in as you did. You have shown me more kindness then I've seen in my lifetime" said Caliban, his voice belaying the truth of his words, his head turning when she laughed, an enchanting sound like music from an orchestra making him focus only on her as they entered the more busier streets of London.

"I think its at both our pleasure" exclaimed Vanessa before another drunken male voice called out to them. Vanessa didn't let the drunken voices startle her, but Caliban's reactions worried her immediately. She could sense that his fragile soul was at stake now as she looked straight ahead. He was looking at the men as they directed words of sullen insolence at him, his eyes down in shame. He was letting them affect him. Each man was drunk, standing outside a pub, and while Caliban only distantly understood the words being directed at him, he knew what they meant all the same. He was waiting for shame to cross her face, to hear it in her voice, but that moment never came. Because she wasn't ashamed to be with him. She was proud.

"Hey darling, what you doing with an ugly face like that? Come over here and we'll teach you to walk beside a real man" said the voice, each new comment getting worse than the one before it. Vanessa still didn't give them the satisfaction of a response. She didn't look at them, but always straight ahead while always making sure Caliban stayed by her side. The more words that came flying at them, the more Caliban seemed to be affected, and Vanessa knew she must get him away from here. It pained her to see him hurt by these strangers though more so then it should have. She didn't try to understand it though, that could wait for later, for now, she just kept walking keeping him close at her side.

"Caliban don't listen to them, they're drunk, and being cruel because they can" whispered Vanessa feeling as he seemed to be shrinking away from her and she had already made up her mind that she wouldn't let that happen. So, she acted without thinking. Caliban was startled when she took his hand in one of her own. No one had ever done that before. Man or woman. She did though, in that moment, she took his hand, and she held it firmly in hers as she led him away from the men. She was an enigma to him in that moment because she always treated him better then the world thought he deserved. She treated him like a man when the rest of the world treated him as a monster. Caliban knew then that he loved her. He knew he could never tell her that, but he did all the same as they walked farther ahead until neither of them could hear the words the men let trail behind them.

"Don't listen to men like that, Caliban, they just want to have an affect on you. You must simply learn to not let them affect you. They are uncivilized, unhuman. You must strive to be better than them" exclaimed Vanessa then proving once more to be better than he deserved as she continued to walk with him by her side with her head held high. They walked in silence again with Caliban just staring ahead. Vanessa knew something was pained inside him. That those men had wounded him. She wanted to heal his wounds the longer they walked. She just didn't know how, maybe, that was why she just kept walking straight ahead trying to figure out what more she could say.

"Ignore them" said Vanessa sternly, her eyes hard as she looked ahead. Caliban had strayed into his own thoughts now though. He hardly heard her even as he was looking right at her. He had been ignoring it since Frankenstein had brought him back to life and the truth was, he was tired. He wanted just one person to show him kindness and while he had found that in Ms. Ives, he knew someday, even she would come to see for the burden that he was. Caliban found he feared that day as he looked at her, wanting to be able to call her his friend forever, but knowing someday even she would fade until she was just a memory. As if sensing his thoughts, Vanessa looked at him in that moment, and her eyes were sad now. They were far enough away now that they were all alone now. Caliban kept expecting her to suddenly wrench away from him, but she never did. She only looked at him with that eternal sadness her hand always firm as if held his. She seemed determined to never let him go.

Instead, he found himself sitting at a bench by her side, and when she finally spoke, she wasn't looking at him anymore.

"Beauty is not in the face, but in the soul, in the eyes and the heart" whispered Vanessa, looking at him as she finished speaking.

"I see your soul, Caliban, and it is beautiful" exclaimed Vanessa, surprising him when she moved his hair aside to touch his face. No one had ever tried such a thing before. When she did it, he wasn't sure how to react. When he leaned into her touch though, she brought both hands to touch his face, both staring intently at the other as the snow fell around them.