Abberline took a deep breath and turned back to where Lily stood, surrounded by other people's trunks and other people going someplace, and he held out his hand "will you come with me?"
"You think I have another plan Abberline?" all but her smile was drowned in the pistons and whistles as the train inched a long the platform and off to the East
Once outside the entrance of the station Lily pulled Abberline up from his fast march, her hand slipping through his arm "Where are we going in such a hurry? Do we have to return the Egg to the police station?" In truth Lily was so tired now she could hardly keep up with him, the idea of hours more without rest was only salvaged by the thoughts of afterwards. Abberline stopped, his smile down into her face a little lopsided and his eyes on her lips, she could feel it already, that wave of heat through her, he was beautiful from afar, close up he took her breath away.
"The Egg is as safe as it can be...Lily, you however have a nasty habit of slipping through my fingers and I have no intention of letting that happen now" His mouth just next to hers and she could almost taste him already, her questions all lost in the feel of his breath in her mouth
"Mon Dieu- will you kiss me?"
"I will, when you are inside a locked room with me, where you can't escape to save any lost friends, maids nor even hurt puppies, where no one knows where we are even if all the Faberge Eggs, save this one, get tossed in the Seine, and where if the bloody place burns down around us then at least we will die happy" He had her arm and, almost without her realizing, was guiding her up some long marble steps, until she turned to look at the gilt handles on the revolving door in front of her that was.
A frown pulled her brow together and Lily put her hands to her hair, a whisper of "I can't go in here Abberline..."
His smile would have her fall "Yes you can, we can go anywhere we want." and with that he pushed open the door to the Hotel Paris. The Lobby was still quiet save the distant clink of silver being laid out for breakfasts and a hum from the kitchens, coffee and warm bread filled the air and Lily heard her belly protesting, which did little to calm her disquiet at being here in the clothes she put on what seemed like a life time ago, for a visit to the sort of place she doubted any of the guests here would have even dreamt of. Peut etre.
His hand was in the small of her back as they stood a little more than disheveled in front of a desk clerk, silver buttons shining and the sort of look that would wither a lesser mortal at a hundred paces. Abberline winked at him "you don't happen to work for the DGSE at night do you?" a wry grin "A room if you please...and some breakfast on a silver tray and with a vase and all that..." a wave of his hand that encompassed everything that they might need.
The desk clerk didn't even open the book "I think Monsieur that you have the wrong sort of hotel" It was quite unclear which one of them he thought was going to hit him first and he swallowed hard, his nervous fingers flicking through pages of reservations as the air bristled
"We will have a room with a bath too in that case- and if there is a second more delay I can assure you that the Commissioner of Police will hear of the illegal shipments of smoked salmon I have uncovered in my investigations into your hotel. That will be 'Inspector Frederick Abberline' you will be needing to write in your book." Lily was giggling out loud as they ascended the carpeted stairs, the width of which she can't quite get over, but now the proud owners of a gold key with which to open the door to a 'luxury' room.
He had barely turned the key in the lock before they were kissing and touching everything they could, just a sense of where the bed was behind her as his mouth propelled her backwards, her hands inside his jacket, pulling it from his shoulders before it hit the floor with a thud on account of an egg worth several thousand francs, but no where near as precious what he had in his hands right now. The edge of the bed tipped her back and she was there at last, his hips between her thighs and her hands all in his hair while he kissed her hard, no chance of a breath save to share each others. Feeling her hips rise to meet his, her body at last pressing into his cock Abberline's moans made her head spin "merde…" he had no idea what she said next but it sounded like sex itself.
"Let me undress you Lily.."
His fingers were on the buttons of her dress, one by one down to her waist, a pull on the ties of her chemise underneath before he slipped it from her shoulders, his hands over her soft skin, just the palms of his hands making her shudder, light brushing touches that had her shaking with raw desire and her hips moving
"You too Abberline...I want to see you"
Her fingers were tingling so much she could hardly undo the knot of his tie, funny since it generally looked half way undone already and a curse muttered under her breath brought his hands over hers, soft kisses just on her lips and the touch of his tongue as he helped her slip the buttons undone of that white shirt. His arms out she ran her hands down his shoulders all the way to his fingers, catching them to squeeze between hers while her mouth followed a trail down his chest, and his head went back to look to the ceiling, heavenly breath and fingers in her hair
"Lily, I need everything you have and I don't want to take it either- I want this, us here now, to last forever…will you let me bathe you while I talk?" Lily brought her head up from his chest her lips dragging against his skin "you can have whatever you want Abberline".
It was just a step in to the bathroom adjoining the bedroom and Lily watched him lean to turn on the gilt taps, clunking pipes heralding a stream of steam and then gushing water into the white bath. She couldn't keep away from him even if she wanted to, seeking his warm skin against her breasts and the feel of his hands pushing her dress down over her hips until it fell to the floor. Naked against the cloth of his trousers, she felt him hard all the same, her fingers running down his back to his ass while the bubbles foamed in the bath
"You are so beautiful" He had hardly looked but his hands informed his brain, well what was left of it, fingers slipping between her legs, the both of them curling against each before she felt his lips on her ear "you are beautiful...and that's why I need to talk to you before we do this" The water was threatening to wash over the top, slopping on exquisite tiles in puddles under her feet and Lily reached up to hold his face in her hands, hardly able to speak as she stepped into the water. An involuntary moan spilled from her lips as the warm water flooded over her body, and she sunk beneath to feel it in her hair, his fingers tracing the bone of her hip and the curve of her belly in the soapy satin heat.
"Lily I need to tell you about my wife- to let her go so I can love you" her back against the walls of the bath, a hand through her hair and the other reaching for his lips just a touch over that mouth and she nodded "Then talk Abberline"
It would have easy for him to sit with his back to the edge of the bath and talk onto the air, let the wall see his face and his pain, let her be an anonymous hearer of his tale, but Fred was very rarely about easy. So instead he knelt by the side of the bath, his fingers tangling in Lily's hair, his eyes searching her face and her body for understanding and comfort and inspiration really that he could do this - and Lily did inspire him to believe he could do anything; there was no other reason to be here.
Lily watched this man smile with happy memories of a wedding day, a 'match made in heaven' everyone said, she could almost hear the tinkling laughter of a honeymoon by the sea at Brighton, and smell the salt air as they paraded along the shore, his beautiful mouth bending to kiss his new wife when he could bear it no more. She listened to his regrets, the long hours trying to make a name for himself in the police department, to give her all those things he thought she should have, if she asked for them or not, but the joy of coming home to her, their bed.
Fred Abberline's eyes closed to catch his breath and Lily sat up, the water running rivulets down her skin and she held him while he told her of how one night he had returned at 3am, some chase through the dark streets only to find her awake still- a candle burning by the side of the bed, her hair all curled over the pillow, and how he had laid on top of her while her sweet voice told him she was going to give him a child.
Lily lifted his head in her hands to see his face and it was all right there, the overwhelming surge of love and despair and pleading that she understand why he was here. Her own eyes smarting she placed a kiss on his lips and she whispered "tell me …"
It could never be different with him, painstaking details of the round of her belly as the months passed, the crib, the way that she walked that had made him smile and then the birth. And Lily could hardly keep from weeping to see him pulled apart at the seams as he told her about the midwife's face when she came down the stairs to tell him that he would have had a son, that he had tried to run up the stairs to find his wife- to tell her it was alright that e loved her more than ever, despite the wrench in his heart, but that the midwife had caught his arm, the delivery had taken his love too.
She was out of the bath in a second and holding him up, her arms all around him. "I am not finished yet Lily- that was 5 years ago and the rest has been about forgetting. Any unsolvable case, absinthe, opium" his eyes up into hers to see her react, but he just saw Lily and if she could bleed for him he knew she would "anything that would make it better"
Lily looked right up at him, her fingers tracing the lines on his face, those cheek and that moustache, the curve of his eyebrows, mustering a watery smile she mouthed "then let me help you too.." Her fingers in his belt and over his hips to slip his trousers to the floor and they were there- the bright light of day now pouring through the window, naked, visible and raw in front of each other, the tracks of tears still sticky on their faces when she kissed him hard and felt him move.
Calm now, she took his hand they walked back to the bed, minutes where they lay opposite just looking before his hands moved to cup her breast and she let Fred Aberline take everything he needed, soft lips over her skin, suckling and pulling her into his mouth while his fingers found the dips and swells of her, found all her wet and heat. All that he had, now hers, the palm of her hand coaxing him, wet and harder still, the sounds of their moans indistinguishable in the morning air. "Christ Lily- it has been a while, this will not take long" the first time she had seen him smile in a while, her hands in his hair and her tongue deep in his mouth, pressing up against him before she answered with a grin
"Then we will do it again and again Inspector Fred Abberline"
"Is that what you want Mademoiselle Lily Dubois?"
"Mais non! I insist-"
His body sleek and moist now on top of hers Lily wriggled to let his heavy cock fall between her open legs, shifting to tease the last drop of anticipation from his body, little pushes against him that made him bite his lip, not a single nerve that didn't scream for release and she whispered "yes". They hardly breathed as he slipped inside her, his mouth hovering over the honey of hers to feel every ridge and fold and degree of heat as he moved…"Jesus…Lily…" "Je suis à vous…" His hips grated against hers as he struggled to speak "And I am yours, God help you!" Lily pulled his head from her shoulder, burning dilated dark passion eyes searching his "I don't need God. Merde…religion and saving souls demain huh?" she smiled and with all the strngth she had pulled his mouth and his beautiful body to hers
There may even have been a promise of the gas lamps being lit before Lily woke from another doze entangled in his limbs and the white cotton sheets, her sigh soft as he stirred, a hand curling instinctively round her waist to prevent her from moving too far from him.
"Abberline we should go.." she was muttering against his skin with all the conviction of a cat settling down on the best rug in front of the fire, the taste of cream on its whiskers. He didn't even open his eyes, just nuzzled into neck, that mouth would be the death of her and now that he remembered what it was meant for, it seemed like she would indeed
"Or we could just send more of that breakfast"
Lily laughed, her body flushing at the thought of his teeth and her fingers and those little sweet pieces of pastry "it is more like cocktail hour Abberline!" And the room really did look like it had been taken over by wayward aristocrats- clothes strewn over the floor, silver trays of unfinished food and an empty bottle or two, the once pristine bed all tangled and twisted, and to cap it all a Faberge Egg that had rolled from his jacket.