Author's Note: Thank yous go out to Chaseslover01, linalove, and of course ThePurpleness. Please excuse the language at the end of this chapter but remember what the term really means. You'll see when you get there.

In the silence of the night, How we shiver with affright! At the melancholy menace of their tone!

~Edgar Allen Poe (The Bells)

Benjamin and Lucy Barker had been happily married now for about a year and a half. Linnet had long since come to terms with her feelings, and managed to put them far into the recesses of her mind. That is not to say she had forgotten them. Oh heavens no. She could never forget the feeling she received whenever Benjamin looked directly into her eyes with his own glowing orbs, smiling so brightly, she couldn't help but smile herself.

Lucy had proved to be a fine wife for Benjamin and a very good friend to Linnet. Nellie however seemed slightly put off. As that first year moved on it seemed more and more that Nellie entered a marriage of convenience and glared behind Lucy's back whenever she saw how Benjamin came at her beck and call, the lovesick puppy that he was.

None the less all was going seemingly well. Until one fateful day when Linnet's life changed forever once more. It seemed that when the fates had spelled out her future, they had foreseen nothing but sorrow for the poor woman.

People had grown increasingly curious about the going ons around Fleet street. Rumours had flown about the three women in Mr. Barker's life and though Nellie usually was overlooked, his wife and his friend were not. One such person was a man by the name of Michael J. Reuben. He had had his eyes on Linnet since the day Benjamin got married. Despite the fact that he had seen far prettier in his standards, he had found her to be quite possibly the most interesting of women that he had ever had the pleasure of viewing and found himself quite inappropriately having the odd fantasy about her.

He had to have her.

And what Micheal wanted, Micheal somehow, someway, always got.

"Linnet may I confide in you?" Lucy asked as she watched her stirring and adjusting one of her more famous recipes before the shop opened for that day.

"Of course Lucy, you know you never have to ask." Linnet replied absent mindedly, not realizing what she was getting herself into.

"Well you see it's about me and Ben. Or rather, just me. Or...well I don't know really." As she fumbled around her words, Linnet stopped stirring and looked up at her friend.

"Lucy, what's wrong? I thought you and Ben had a wonderful relationship, he adores you."

"Oh not it's not that." Lucy quickly amended, "You see the thing is, for quite some time now...oh dear me I feel foolish even thinking of saying this." She blushed.

"Come on now Lucy, you know whatever it is, I will not judge."

"Well then, for quite some time now Ben and I have been trying to...well um, have been trying to conceive." She whispered the last word despite the absence of people.

Linnet deadpanned. When she offered Lucy an ear she had absolutely no idea that this was what she had wanted to get off her chest. "Um, alright?"

"Well we've been trying for some time now with no success and I just don't know what we should do. I know this seems awkward but I just know how much Benjamin wants a little child and I feel awful that the one thing he has asked for from this marriage is the one thing I have yet to give him!" Lucy huffed and buried her head in her folded arms as she sat at a table.

"I'm sorry Lucy." Linnet sat next to her and placed a gentle hand on her back, "But I don't know what to say. It's not as though I've been in a similar predicament."

Lucy sighed, "I'm sorry, I just had to tell someone and get it off of my chest, and somehow I don't think our dear Nellie would have been too sympathetic. Is it just me or does she have her eyes set on my husband?"

"Believe me you're not the only one who's noticed. Why do you think Benjamin always comes over this way when he's got a spare minute?"

Lucy chuckled, "I assumed it was because of his love for you."

"Love?" Linnet choked, then upon immediately realizing what Lucy meant she amended herself, "Heavens no!" She chuckled, hiding her broken heart, "Sadly, I am just an escape." She mocked a dramatic sadness.

Lucy smiled as she stood, "Well I'm sure you must be about ready to open shop so perhaps I should be getting back."

"Alright, I'll see you around lunch then?" Linnet asked returning the smile.

"Absolutely." And with one final wave, she was out the door. Linnet sighed in relief, her secret love was still just that. She then straightened out her dress and moved to the front and changed her sign to open.

Almost five minutes after she changed the sign, in walked a man she had seen hanging around often when Benjamin was here however he had never come in this early before. He was a fairly short man in height, in fact Linnet stood at eye level with the man, but what he lacked in height, he made up for in size. It was quite clear that this man did not just get by life throwing together socials. He was a working man and Linnet would have found him slightly attractive were it not for the manic gleam in his eye. Something was not quite right with this man, though she was not sure what she could do about it.

"Good morning sir and what can I get for you?" She asked in her normal pleasant voice reserved for customers.

"Some morning porridge and a bit of warm bread should do just fine thank you." His voice, though slightly off sounding, was pleasant enough in return.

"Very well then, just take a seat anywhere you like and I'll have it in just a moment." She replied with a conserved smile. She could feel his eyes following her as she turned to pour his breakfast and bent to retrieve the bread from the oven. That sense of foreboding, of ambiguity followed her as she moved about the kitchen. "Here you are." She said, looking at her placement of the bowl on the table rather than the man himself.

"Thank you." The words sounded carefully said, as if he were controlling the way they came out of his mouth. Though she refused to look him in the face, it did not stop her from feeling his cold and calculating gaze upon her.

"If you'll excuse me." She gave him a nod of her head and moved back behind the counter where she felt slightly more comfortable. Slowly, as customers piled in, she began to relax and slip back into her normal daily routine. Her sense of comfort elevated even greater when the man left at the precise moment Benjamin entered.

Linnet shook her head in amusement at her own discomfort at the beginning of the day. Clearly all was well as usual. She bid Ben good day after he finished his lunch and closed the shop after both he and Lucy had finished their dinner discussing plans for a romantic night out, just the two of them for once instead of Nellie and Albert tagging along as usual. Linnet laughed at the look on the couple's face as they mentioned the intrusions and winked at them as they left.

While she tiredly set to work cleaning up the shop and locking things up, Linnet took inventory and realized that she was actually running quite low on a few things. At this rate, breakfast would be a disaster. Huffing at her misfortune, she put on her cloak and snatched her purse from the back, being sure to lock all her doors before she left, she scurried on her way to the market before all the shops closed down for the evening. Supplies wouldn't be fresh but they hopefully would suffice until she could get through the breakfast rush and gather more supplies then.

After a good half hour spent shopping, Linnet was on her way back towards her home with one full paper sack cradled in her arms and she was just about falling asleep on her feet as she walked. Suddenly things seemed to get darker and her sack felt heavier in her arms. Shadows loomed in every corner and a hard, black sense of dread overflowed her mind.

She was being followed.

The next thing Linnet knew, she was thrown into an alley and her clothing was being ripped from her. Her attacker showed no mercy as he ravaged her neck and chest, making sure to keep one hand planted firmly over her mouth to keep her screams from echoing down every street from London to Leeds. Tears welled in her eyes at the brutal pain coursing through her body and just before the soothing relief of a dark unconsciousness overwhelmed her mind, she saw the face of the man she served that morning.

The face of Michael J. Reuben.

Linnet awoke in a warm bed, wrapped safely in a woolen comforter. Her first thought was simply that her experience was a terrible nightmare, but the shooting pain between her legs when she attempted to sit up proved otherwise.

She broke.

Her sobs echoed throughout the room and apparently into the next room over for as soon as they began, a distraught looking Benjamin along with an emotional looking Lucy rushed into the room to attempt to comfort her.

Once she had calmed down enough to hear the words they were saying, she found that the two had discovered her lying in the alley as they were walking home from their nighttime stroll in the park. Linnet merely sat stiffly staring off at the far wall as she recounted her tale for them in a monotonous voice.

As her words continued a furious look began to cross Benjamin's face. His cheeks began to redden in anger and his usually warm, brown eyes began to blacken. He wanted to track down her assailant and do such illegal things to him. However, Benjamin was but a lowly barber without a clue where to begin his search for this mystery rapist, what was he to do?

"Do you know who did this to you Netty?" He asked her as he sat carefully next to her and held her frozen hand in his warm ones.

"No." She replied, "I don't know his name." She wasn't truly lying, she did not know the man by name, merely by appearance.

"Are you sure? You don't have an inkling? Surely you must have seen at least his face." Lucy pressed. When in reply, Linnet sobbed and pressed her own face against Benjamin's chest, he wrapped her in his arms and gave his wife a look indicating she should drop the matter.

"Shh, Linnet, it's alright now, you're safe. You can stay here as long as you like, I'm not going to let anyone hurt you. You're safe now Nets, you're safe." He whispered in her ear as he held her close and rubbed her back soothingly. Slowly, her sobs seemed to ebb and his soothing motions along with his whispers helped lull her into a restless sleep. When he felt her fall onto him even more, he realized she was asleep and lay her down comfortably, tucking her in once more.

Linnet did not surface from the depression that held her captive. She barely ate and rarely spoke. She cried often and wallowed in misery even more than that. Days turned to weeks of which the fifth brought something strange.

Linnet's stomach lurched and she heaved herself out of bed and into the bathroom where she emptied her stomach of what little contents she had gathered. Suddenly everything in her mind snapped into focus. Everything in her mind changed from melancholy acceptance, to arrant defense. She knew she had to leave London.

Or she would risk not only her own humble standings with her shop, but also the life of her unborn bastard.

PLEASE REVIEW!