((A/N: Wow. This story just keeps growing. This was originally going to be 2 chapters, but I had to stretch it out into three parts. Now, posting chapter three, I've tucked a good amount of it in the upcoming chapter 4. Who knows? I may even continue the story with a chapter 5 if I get enough reviews... hint, hint.

Once again, I'm not too sure about the quality of this chapter. I think parts of it may be difficult to understand, because I wrote some of it really late at night and it made sense in my mind, but it may not in anyone else's. So I apologize in advance.

WARNING: Any Dickens enthusiasts will see something VERY wrong. I know that canonically, the party and the *cough* argument don't happen at the same time, but it sets the stage nicely, happened at the event this fic is based off of, and it's my world so what I say goes.

So, anyway, enjoy the chapter.))

My surprise was topped only by my delight. I smiled shyly, hoping my discomfort wouldn't be too visible, and began the waltz. Yet Prudence gave no explanation for her strange behavior.

It was explained, a half-minute later, by the presence of a new person. Tall, dark, handsome, and vaguely annoyed, he pushed his way through the crowd towards us.

"Ah! Prudence, there you are! My lady, would you- Oh."

"I am sorry, Thomas," replied Prudence coolly, "But I am currently dancing with Jeremy. Perhaps you should be a bit faster in the asking next time?"

Thomas was one of Prudence's admirers, who she hated. Every social engagement that Fezziwig set up, he pursued her for a dance until the night was over. It was a twist of bitter irony that Prudence, who had spent the whole evening avoiding him, was now suggesting that he ask for a dance more quickly. His brow darkened as if he knew exactly what had just transpired. I'll give him credit though, he recovered well.

"Very well. I suppose I may have the next one then?" he said, then turned to address me. "Do you mind?"

Prudence had a cornered expression on her face. She bit her lip and looked at me imploringly. A slow smile spread across Thomas's face, he knew he had won. We were being buffeted by dancing bodies and I neatly steered Prudence away from a collision with an aristocratic couple, then spun her, smiling with joy as our eyes met. When they did, I saw myself, my future reflected in her eyes. I pulled her close and she stiffened at the close contact, then relaxed as she remembered that Thomas was watching her.

I turned at last to face Thomas, possessed with sudden lunacy. He was bigger than me, older too. But holding Prudence, I felt safe and beyond his power.

"Why, yes, I do mind," I said bravely, and Prudence relaxed still further. This made me even more confidant. "You see, I have already asked for, and booked, the next dance with Miss Prudence."

Prudence, smiling, chimed in. "In fact, he also has scheduled the next one. The one after that as well."

Thomas glared bodkins at me, but his voice was slick as if he had swallowed grease when he next spoke. "And you will be dancing the whole night? When shall I check back?"

"If I get bored of him before the party ends, then I will consider you first in line," said Prudence, trying to hold back a giggle. I felt it ripple through her body and nestle in her throat.

Thomas nodded wordlessly and angrily, then walked swiftly into the crowd of dancers. But as soon as I rotated Prudence around, he turned his head and glared one last time, cutting his thumb across his throat. I shuddered, suddenly dreading the morrow.

"You were wonderful, Jeremy!" said Prudence as soon as he was out of eyeshot.

"I only wish I had managed to get rid of him without tying you into dancing with me the rest of the night," I said. "If I put you on the spot, I apologize."

Her red dress flared as she twirled in place, then continued in our circle. "No, that was the greatest part!" she protested. "I would much rather dance with you than with Thomas! I won't get any breaks from dancing now, but it was worth it to see him stutter!"

The giggle that she had smothered was finally let out and it escalated into a full-out laugh. "Oh, I will never be able to look him in the face again!"

"And I'm jealous," I said, displaying my talent for wit. Well, talent is a misnomer. I deliver most of my jokes too fast, and nobody understands the wordplay. By the time I've explained it, it really isn't funny anymore. I just can't stop making them. So I knew I'd made a mistake as soon as the words had left my mouth.

But I hadn't.

If anything, she laughed even harder. I looked at her in shock. It was really the only time I could remember one of my "intellectual" jokes being understood.

"That was hilarious," she said, once she had regained her composure.

I was about to respond, but at that moment, the band stopped playing in a clamor of confused chords. A shouting match, which had previously been covered from our ears by the band, could be heard from near the center of the room and the band could no longer be louder than they. All across the floor, couples were breaking apart to watch the argument.

"What's going on?" asked Prudence.

"No idea," I muttered back, and together we slunk through the mass of bodies towards the source of the disturbance. As I did, I felt... something warm, like a heavenly presence. It was as if a great spirit had entered the room and made things lighter somehow.

"...Would have tried to do, I have no just cause...," said one of the voices. It was female.

We pushed our way closer just in time to hear another voice call out. We were close enough now that I could recognize his voice. It was Eb, and he sounded bewildered.

"What idol has displaced you?" he asked, beseeching an answer.

There, facing Scrooge, stood Belle, his lover, with a sad and tormented expression on her face. Scrooge had been with her for many months, and gossip had it that he was going to ask for her hand in marriage very soon.

"That's Ebenezer, isn't it?" asked Prudence. "And I know that's Belle. What, I wonder, is going on?"

"I have no idea," I said. "Perhaps Eb has had a bit too much to drink, it's happened before."

"What then?" Eb was saying as I finished. "Even if I have grown so much wiser, what then? I am not changed towards you."

I winced. "Definitely drunk. The day Eb gains wisdom, man will fly in the sky like birds."

"...Until, in good season, we could improve our worldly fortune...," Belle was talking again.

I spotted Dick on the other side of the crowd, the girl at his side. I locked eyes with him. He grinned at me when he saw Prudence with me and was about to give me a thumbs-up, but I cut him off with a quick slashing movement. He shrugged, then communicated what he was thinking using his hands. If it were spoken in English, the conversation would have gone something like this.

"What's going on?" (That would be Dick, he shrugged at me with a question frozen on his features while pointing at Eb).

"I know just as much as you." (And I would be saying that, what I actually did was shrug back).

"What are they arguing about? Eb said he was going to propose soon." (Evidenced by another shrug, a point at the both of them, and the slipping of a thumb-and-pointer-finger-circle onto the ring finger).

"Maybe he did." (Here I gave him another shrug, and a nod.)

"That's not funny! They should be together!" (He began to fake laugh, cut out of it, then mimed holding someone close).

Sometimes it's scary what can be said without words.

It got worse. First Belle released Eb from any obligations, then went so far as to call their continued relationship nothing more than a matter of pride, and that Eb would never have sought her out if he had been back then the way he was now. He had gotten too focused on money for her tastes, and she had had enough. Not only that, though, but she knew that he could never be happy with her now that he had changed, even if he didn't realize it yet.

"...May you be happy in the life you have chosen!" she gasped out at last, and stormed away. Eb looked devastated, and froze.

"Don't just stand there, you fool!" I muttered. "Go after her!"

But Eb just turned, face unreadable, and strode away.

Everyone just kind of sat there looking stupid for a while. They were in shock, I expect, but Bangers and Mash pulled through by starting up Sir Roger De Coverley, which cut through the awkward silence like a flaming knife through taut tissue paper, to break away from a common cliche. After a few minutes of dancing, Prudence finally broke our own little silence.

"The poor, poor man," she whispered. "It must be awful."

I was still stunned by the speed at which two lovers had been torn asunder, and could do nothing but murmur assent.

"Still, I cannot blame her too much," she said sadly. "It is true. He has changed a lot. I would not want to spend the rest of my life with a man like him, the way he is now. People change...."

"How do you know then?" I asked.

"What?"

"How do you know you wouldn't mind living with a businessman? You said it just two seconds ago, people change. Who's to say you won't?"

As soon as I said that, I realized exactly who it was that apprenticed with Eb, who may therefore be like him. Prudence realized it too, and she smiled.

"Why, Jeremy, are you implying something?"

"Why, not at all- Well, I mean, not that I'd- I mean...," I stuttered. I could feel my face burning, and I hoped she didn't see it.

"Oh, I was only teasing," she said regretfully as she saw my confusion. "Don't worry about your answer."

"I wish girls would understand," I said, opting for honesty. "Boys have never and will never know how to answer that kind of question."

"Oh, I know," she said mischievously, "That's why we ask them."

And to this, I could offer no answer.