Disclaimer: I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh! GX or 'At The Sign Of The Sugared Plum'

Chapter 9

From The Back Window

The city was different. It was colourless. It was bleak and dismal and a thoroughly miserable place to be. The setting was nasty and the buildings were tatty and nothing looked the way it had a mere hour ago. Jaden knew that the reason for that was something had happened which had personally effected him. Until now, the plague was an inconvenience, a pain in the neck and the stealer of a few of his friends and thousands that he didn't know so couldn't miss. His family wasn't in London; they were all home and safe in the country. Even when Bastian and Hasselberry died - sure, he'd been sad, but he hadn't been strongly effected by it. Truth be known, he'd known them as neighbours more than anything. They were friends but they weren't close. Jesse was another story altogether.

Jaden arrived at Mapleside Manor with tears streaked down his cheeks, but he wiped them away angrily, trying to remember that this house was recently shut up from plague and whatever he might see would be nothing compared to the horrors the people inside were going through.

There was a guard at the front of the house but he looked to be sleeping and Jaden slipped into the huge backyard of Mapleside Manor. Here, he looked up at one of the first windows. All the windows on the first floor were boarded up tightly and he looked up. Nearby one window was a tall man with navy hair. He was of a pale complexion and had his arms around a woman with dirty blonde hair. From Jesse's descriptions, he knew them to be Zane Truesdale and his wife Alexis. They were too absorbed in whatever conversation they were having to notice the intruder in their yard and Jaden took a few moments to observe them. Jaden felt a pang of sympathy for them - the man seemed well and healthy enough but it was obvious from her pale skin with feverish red cheeks that Alexis was sick. Casting them one sad glance, the brunette moved on to the next windows. He swallowed hard and then called out the name of his bluenette boyfriend.

Out of one open window - for this house had glass in the windows unlike his little bakery - there came a gentle reply in a girl's voice to hang on for a second, and then the young dark haired girl he'd seen some time before appeared at the window. Blair, he remembered, was her name.

"Hey, Blair" he said, trying to seem cheerful. "Is everything okay? Where's Jesse?"

"He's downstairs with some of the servants." She bit her lip. "They're all discussing what we should do about cook."

"Cook?"

"It was the cook who got sick. She was a fat old woman and travelled all the time. It's a wonder she lasted until now free of the plague, but it's got her now" Blair said in a sad voice. "The master and mistress have gone up to the top of the floor and Jesse and I have been left here on the second with the two children. All the other servants are to stay downstairs and do whatever and take care of cook."

"When will Jesse be … free to talk?"

"I'm not sure, but if you come again tomorrow, I'll tell him to wait in here for you. I know he thinks very highly of you" she added gently.

"Not as much as I think of him" I said boldly.

Blair gave him a surprised look but said she'd tell Jesse that he'd come, and ask him to wait in the room until he came the next day. Jaden was desperately worried when he walked back to the bakery, and he wouldn't talk to Aster no matter what his cousin said. He also refused to do anything but slump on the bed and sulk.

At any other time, Aster would have hit him. Not now.

When the sun rose the next day, Jaden and Aster got out of bed, and Jaden said he would help make a batch of little cakes with rosemary in them - wasn't rosemary said to be effective in preventing the plague? - and then he was going back to Mapleside Manor. Aster, knowing the state of his younger cousin's heart, didn't try to stop him, although he was worried for Jaden that it might be dangerous to talk to someone, even from a distance, who was shut up in a house of the plague.

The cakes took a while to make, but Jaden eventually rushed from his house, calling a quick greetings to Jim as he ran past his neighbour, and hurried to the grand house. The guard was not asleep now but was standing attentive. Jaden could barely notice him, though, because his sight was entirely focused on the dreadful sight at the front of Mapleside Manor: the Death Cart!

A body was being tied in a sheet by two dirty looking men and was carelessly thrown onto the back of the cart. Jaden's heart stopped - someone inside that house was already dead of the plague. Could it be that … no, it couldn't. Jesse was perfectly healthy, and it hadn't been he who'd contracted the sickness. But Jaden had heard many tales of a person being healthy one moment and dead the next, of some people who were dead before they even knew they'd caught the plague. What if …

It took a few minutes after the death cart trundled away for Jaden, having judged by the fat size of the corpse that it was no way it could have been the bluenette, ran into the backyard once more.

This time he didn't have to call for his friend. Jesse was already standing at the same window he'd spoken to Blair at. His friend looked to be in some distress. He looked perfectly healthy, but his blue hair was messier than usual and he looked worried and unhappy. He was standing at the open window, leaning against the frame, with the baby in his arms. He smiled when he saw his brunette friend.

"Hey, Jaden."

"Jesse! Are you okay?"

The bluenette shrugged.

"I'm not sick and I feel okay" Jesse said. "I've been here since first daylight."

Jaden started to apologise for not arriving sooner, but Jesse stopped him, saying that it wasn't especially that he had been waiting for the brunette but because he wanted the baby to take in fresh air from outside and not breathe in the foul atmosphere of the house. Jaden nodded, the guilt lifting from him.

"I saw the cart outside. Who…" Jaden trailed off.

"Cook."

"So quick?"

"Yep" Jesse nodded. "She was a cold hearted woman and I didn't like her much but … I wouldn't have wished that death on her."

"Did she have the buboes?"

"In her groin. She screamed for four hours last night and the maids had to tie her to the bed because she said she was going to kill herself." Jesse laughed without humour. "It didn't do much good, though. She broke the ropes and used the hammer to break open her skull. Now her head is shattered and she is gone."

"Ouch" was all Jaden could say. "But are you well, Jesse? Truly?"

"As well as anyone can be in a place like this."

"And are you … are you in contact with many people?"

"Not really" Jesse shrugged. "The master and mistress have gone upstairs and locked themselves in their bedroom with some food and a good supply of water. The maids and butlers and other servants, they're all somewhere downstairs. Blair and I are in charge of the children, so it's just us and them on this floor." He sighed softly. "One of the maids who ran off when we were shut up was Louisa's nursemaid. Blair's taking care of her now, so the baby's in my care only."

"Are you okay, looking after a baby on your own?"

"I love Vicky. She's been so good, as well" Jesse laughed, gently tickling the baby he held. "She's a good girl."

"Will you be okay, Jesse?"

"Of course I will. I'm strong, aren't I?" he laughed.

"I know, but still … never mind, I'm being stupid." Jaden sighed deeply. "Jess, you know I really like you, right?"

"I know, Jaden. I feel the same way for you."

"It's weird, you know. Two guys …"

"It's not weird, it's just not what's normal" Jesse corrected.

"When you get out, Jess, we'll be together again."

"I know we will."

"Hey, Jess … when are you getting out of there? It's forty days, right?"

"Forty days from the last death" Jesse said sadly, and fear washed his features before it left quickly as Jesse regained control. "If another person dies next week, or in two weeks time, those forty days will start all over again."

"Jesse …"

"Don't worry about it. We'll be okay" Jesse said brightly, forcing a smile onto his face. He sighed softly. "Anyway, Jaden, I have to put this one to bed." He indicated the baby who had fallen asleep, her delicate head on his shoulder. "Will you come again tomorrow?"

"Of course, Jess. I'll try to come every day."

"That's great, Jay."

"I'll see you tomorrow, then?"

"Yep."

Jaden waved goodbye and then left Mapleside Manor, trying to have a positive outlook on the situation. Jesse was shut up, yes, but he himself was in good health, and he seemed as happy as anyone in that situation could be.

It wasn't until he arrived home that Jaden realised that he and Jesse had made one small step to admitting those feelings they had for each other. For some time, since that innocent peck on the cheek, he had begun to accept and understand his true feelings towards the bluenette. Knowing that Jesse returning those feelings filled the brunette with warmth.

That was the first night that Jaden dared to admit to himself that he was indeed in love with Jesse Andersen.

Please R&R