They sat under the water for a little longer William was rubbing his hands over Julia's bare back, neck and hair. She looked up at him, kissed him on the lips and then stood up and reached for a towel. She wrapped it round her and then passed one to William and he wrapped it round his waist. His golden toned chest was still shining with water droplets. Julia walked back over to the shower and pulled her hair to one side and rung out the excess water. William opened the bathroom door and the steam billowed out and disappeared into the his bedroom. William walked over to the bed and sat down on it, Julia went and sat next to him and William wrapped his arm round her rubbing her side though the towel. They had barely spoke since they entered the bathroom, William kissed her forehead affectionately and Julia sighed in content. William chuckled a little. 'Happy..?' he asked quietly. She nodded 'and you..?' he looked at her in the eyes. 'Very...more than I could explain.' he said earnestly. Then he stood up to go and put on his night clothes. And Julia did the same, quickly plaiting her hair and then climbing into bed with William. He leant over and pulled the cord for the bedside lamp. And they were both plunged into darkness. Julia moved in close to William and draped her bare leg over his. And they both succumbed to the tiredness their passionate moment had caused.
The next day being a saturday there was no worry of getting up for work. William rolled over and picked up his pocket watch from the side table and saw it had just past 11.30am he rolled back over and panicked suddenly as Julia wasn't laying next to him. He jumped up quickly and threw on his pyjamas remembering he went to be in a towel that was now lying on the floor and threw on his dressing gown. The opened his bedroom door and could smell cooking breakfast downstairs. He padded barefoot down the stairs and went into the kitchen. He grinned at the sight before him. Julia and were stood cooking strawberry pancakes together, or more, Julia was showing how to cook them. Julia's face burst into one of her beautiful smiles at the sight of William tousle haired and half asleep. 'William, you never told me about these-cakes from a pan-they are wonderful! Your has been showing me how to make them!' William had to smile at that. 'Your ..'
'Do you plan to get dressed today William?' Julia remarked with a slight laugh. 'Its alright for some to ba able to stay in bed 'till nearly noon' Mrs. Kitchen remarked and her and Julia shared a womanly look. William laughed again at the two of them, and was glad they were getting on so well, but at the same time had to be a little bit worried about being out-numbered. He shook his head and went back upstairs to get changed.
When he returned a few minutes later he saw the two women were now at the table eating pancakes with strawberries, and the same time, Julia was reading the newspaper. He sat down and Mrs. Kitchen notioned to the plate of pancakes in front of him, eat up William, you can keep skipping breakfast all the time. he glanced at Julia to see one disaproving eyebrow raised in his direction, he pulled the plate towards him and grumbled something about 'its not all the time..'
By the time William had finished his pancakes Julia had folded the newspaper back up and was collecting the plates for washing, including Williams. had said her goodbyes as she headed out the door to go and pick up a few groceries. William went and stood behind Julia who had her hands halfway sebmerged into soapy water and he wrapped his hands round her waist. Julia smiled. 'Dont get any ideas, these bubbles are staying firmly in this bowl Detective Murdoch. He smirked. the idea had crossed his mind. 'Well then, , if we cant play with bubbles today what would you like to do..?' Julia removed her hands from the bowl and dried them off and turned round to face William. 'Hmmm..' she thought out loud. 'We could go for a walk by the lake in the park if you like?' William nodded. 'That sounds wonderful.' And they both headed to the hallway and out the door. The heat was stifling in the air, and the mid-June summer was already in full swing. Julia undid the first button of her collar on the plain white shirt she was wearing. They were walking close enough for people to see they were good friends but not touching in any way, they didn't want to let the cat out of the bag just yet. William motioned towards a carriage and opened the door and gave his hand to help Julia inside. He climbed in himself and The carriage pulled away.
A few minutes later they arrived on the closest side of the park, it's was quite busy, there were families with their children frolicking in the grass, people having picnics, other couples walking arm in arm. William smiled to Julia and offered his arm which she took with hers, and they walked off into the direction of the lake, across the lush grass. They took a slightly secluded route under some low hanging trees and Julia took this chance to place a quick kiss on Williams cheek which made him beam. They arrived a little from the edge of the lake, and just admired the view for a few seconds. The lake was bathed in the bright glow of the sun and was shimmering in the light, there were a few small boats off to the left further out and a little way down from them on the right was the rowing club. William already feeling uncomfortable in the heat, spoke up first. 'shall we go for some refreshments at the rowing club?' Julia nodded and smiled, loosening her collar a little. 'yes, the heat is rather stifling in these clothes..' so they both headed off for the cool shelter of the rowing club.
They stepped through the double doors and were immediately cooled by the fans that were spinning inside. It was fairly busy inside, with people having tea, food, chatting and laughing together. William and Julia walked to a small table over in the corner that looked out over the lake. Suddenly a voice called out, 'JULES!' and before she could turn around she was being pulled into a hug. She pulled away and realised that it was her sister Ruby. 'ruby? What are you doing here?' she turned away from her in the direction of the table she had just ran from. Sat there was none other than George Crabtree. William looked a little astounded, Julia however had a knowing smile, and said simply to Ruby. 'I'm glad you came to your senses.' William eyed Julia, and made a note to himself to ask her for the back story he had clearly missed. 'Come and join us for drinks!' Ruby said with her usual enthusiasm. William looked to Julia and they both nodded, 'are you sire we won't be interrupting?' julia asked quietly. Ruby shook her head, 'Don't be silly Jules! Come and join us!' and with that she grabbed Julia's hand and pulled her towards the table, and William followed.
It wasn't until another hour later that the four of them finally left the rowing club. 'would you care to come out on the lake with us? We have borrowed Daddy's boat for the day, they are two spare seats? Julia looked to William, clearly excited by the idea, so of course William nodded in agreeance. William helped Julia step down from the platoon with his hand and George did the same for ruby. The woman sat at the front of the boat while the men sat further back to row. They began to move away from the shore and around half an hour later they were quite a way out. Ruby was leaning over the edge and dipping her hand in the water as they moved along. Julia however was watching William intently, his muscles and his body, she had never considered vanity as something to admire in a person, but William...his golden skin in the sun, and the way the light bounced off the caramel tones in his hair. She could see his muscles tensing in his shirt and the beads of sweat on his forehead she could feel her pulse rising. She forced herself to look away before he caught her gaping at him like some silly school girl. What had come over her? She had never been so taken with him in all the years she's know him. But he was hers now, her fiancé. Which suddenly made her stomach prang, remembering that Ruby didn't know. William and George had stopped rowing, and Ruby had stood up. Julia's mouth suddenly dropped open at what ruby did next. She untied the ribbon that was surrounding her waist and undid the buttons at the front of her dress. The heavy dress dropped to the floor to reveal her pale blue and White corset and matching bloomers. Julia stood up quickly to shield her from the sight of the men.
'Ruby! What on earth are you doing?' Ruby laughed,'were all friends here are we not? It's not as you haven't seen it all before? George averted William and Julia's eyes as their suspicions were confirmed that they two were indeed involved, apparently intimately aswell. Julia stood back as Ruby stepped out of her dress and promptly jumped into the water, splashing the other three in the boat. 'Georgie, aren't you coming in?' she said in a playful voice. George gave William and Julia an apologetic look and undid his shirt all the way down to what appeared to be a stripy pair of swimming trunks. He put his clothes in a pile next to Ruby's and just as promptly as her, plunged from the boat. William and Julia both stood a little shocked at what they had seen. 'Come on Jules its not like you haven't done this before, and if I remember rightly you were wearing less than us!' Ruby yelled a little way from the boat. Julia's face showed colour and William smirked a little. Julia scowled at him, 'what are you smiling at, I was young and had no inhibitions then!' William continued to smile looking the ground. 'she has a point you know..?' william said quietly. 'Come on Jules?' Ruby yelled again in the middle of dodging a splash from George. Julia glared at her sister. 'you know I can't Ruby.' she said bluntly and Ruby stopped, Julia's cryptic comment was obviously understood. So she turned her attention to William. 'Come on detective, we can see your dying in your suit!' William was still looking towards Julia, frowning at her cryptic message to ruby. She looked to him, for a split second he swore he could see tears in her eyes but she blinked and in a split second they were gone. 'you go in William, I'm fine here, I'm a little tired..' she said with a forced smile. William decided to take her on what she said and removed his shirt, tie, trousers and shoes, and stepped tentatively towards the edge of the boat, and jumped over the side. He swam out further with the other two, but kept a careful eye on his Love, who was now reading a book she had brought with her.
It was almost an hour later that the three swimmers returned to the boat, tired and fatigued. They climbed up on to the boat one at a time and Julia handed them a towel each. When they had all finally friend off and got dressed again, they began to row towards shore. They docked the boat and William got out first to help Julia back onto the platoon, they all walked back to the rowing club to hand in Julia and Ruby's fathers mooring pass. 'George and I are having dinner with Daddy tonight, will you be joining us?' Ruby asked as they left the rowing club. William gave Julia a worried look, wasn't it still a little soon to announce him to her father? Especially as George was probably in for the same fate? Julia shook her head. 'William and I have plans tonight, so we won't be joining you, please apologise to Father for me.' Ruby nodded clearly coming to the same conclusion William had. Announcing both of their love interests to her father at the same time may be a little overwhelming. So they bid each other goodbye and William and Julia made their way back to his home. The carriage ride was awkwardly silent all the way back and as soon as they entered the house and made their way to his bedroom to change for the evening William, decided to address the situation. 'Your very quiet...have a said sometime wrong..?' he asked her quietly while she was un-braiding her hair at his dresser. She glanced at him quickly through the mirror. 'No...why would you think that..?' she replied not making eye contact. 'Well, you were a little cryptic at the lake as to why you didn't want to come for a swim..? Was it something I did..?' she looked down and shook her head. 'No..William..it wasn't you at all. It was me...I'm just...a little self conscious...that's all.' she said quietly fiddling with the hairbrush in her lap. William looked up surprised. 'self-conscious..? But your the most self-assured person I know...I've never seen anything phase you!' he said almost astounded. 'What on earth are you self-conscious about..?' he asked carefully, not wanting to push her if she didn't want to talk about it. She remained silent for a few seconds. 'you didn't see last night..?' she asked with a slightly shaky voice. William frowned. What on earth was she talking about..? He walked over to her and put his hands on her shoulders, and rubbed them gently. 'Julia..?' he could see tears in her eyes now.
He knelt down gently next to her and took her hands in his. 'Julia please talk to me, why are you crying..?' Julia gently wiped away the tears that were threatening to fall on the back if her hand. 'You don't understand..its me, myself that I am conscious of..' William frowned again, and looked up into her face with sympathy. He had no idea what was so hard for her to say to him. 'what did I not see last night..? All I saw was you in all your beauty..you are beautiful Julia...I can't see why you would think otherwise..?' he said quietly opening up his heart so she could see how beautiful he thought she was with his words. She finally looked at him in the eyes and stood up slowly. She walked to the bathroom and closed the door behind her. Leaving William stood there in complete confusion. he went and sat on the bed and waited. Would she come back out or was she just going to lock herself in there. Was she ashamed of him..? Did he say something to upset her? Perhaps she didn't really believe him... His mind kept replaying over and over again, all the things he had said, done. The click from the bathroom door opened and he heard Julia gently call his name. He found himself nervous of what was going on. He walked in and Julia was stood in nothing but a towel and facing away from him towards the wash basin. 'Julia..?' he questioned as he walked towards her. He came up behind her and looked at her through the mirror. She was looking down and wouldn't look at him. 'Give me your hand..' she whispered quietly.
He ran his hand around her waist and she placed hers on top and gently slid it underneath the towel where the opening at the front was. His hand instantly touched her soft stomach just below her breasts. She moved his hand lower, past her belly button and he could hear her shaky breath. His hand suddenly felt, well, he wasn't sure what he felt. There was deep ridges, and bumps across her skin. As he moved further across either side of her stomach and then he realised what they were. Lines and deep ridges that stretched across either side were scars. Deep painful scars. His eyes snapped up towards her eyes which were staring into his the tears streaming from them in the mirror. He quickly tried to turn her round so he could see the damage for himself. She fought against him. 'No william.. I don't want you to see, it's terrible..I'm..I'm ashamed. He held her tight and turned her slowly into him. He leant down on one knee and gently pulled the towel away from her waist and gently pulled her bloomers down a couple of inches to see the bottom half of her stomach just below her belly button and he saw for himself the damaged that had been inflicted on her. It looked as if someone had taken a scalpel to her skin. 'I'm sorry William..' she stuttered through her tears. He leant forwarded and kissed her damaged skin wanting to try and make it better and wash away her pain.
She put her hands over the scars and tried to hide them from William. He moved them away again and began kissing her stomach more he pulled her bloomers down a little more and ran his hands up and down her legs. She had stopped crying by this point and was looking at him intently her mouth slightly open. He stood back up and captured her lips in his and cradled her face on his hands. He wanted to show her how much he loved her. She needed to see that she was perfect in his eyes, and that was all that mattered. What had happened her past was of no interest to him, her future, with him was what mattered now. He stood in front of her, and took off his tie and shirt and took her in his arms. He stroked her hair and kissed her bare shoulders. He could feel her pushing his trousers past his hips as they fell to a puddle on the floor. He was just stood in his boxers now. He lifted Julia up into his arms and carried her back into the bedroom, he flicked on the bedside lamp and pulled back the covers and placed Julia down and then climbed in behind her. He wrapped his arm around her waist and placed it over the scars on her lower stomach. Gently lifting her hair back and placing over her shoulder so he could kiss it while she fell asleep, William could hear her breathing becoming slower and deeper and a few minutes after William turned out the light, he found himself drifting off, with his Love sleeping gently in his arms.
A/N:
Ok, so a little longer chapter here managed to write it in a day! :) if you were wondering where I got the idea about the scars, i was doing some research for later in this story and found some pretty horrific stories/accounts and pictures of abortions at that time, so i thought it would be a little odd if Julia didnt have any surgery scars etc.
so yeah, hope you liked this chapter!
Please R&R! :D