Previously: "A man with power uses it to try to get laid, what a shock." Celine elbowed him for his lack of sympathy. "I can't exactly blame him for trying, you look very nice today." The compliment earned him a smile. "You're forgiven." She said.
A Flaw in the Plan
Chapter 9
Now certain that Antonio was nothing more than a scam artist, they resolved to take a break from their work and enjoy being in the city. Her fury slowly calmed as the night passed, and she allowed herself to enjoy Jude's company. This was the first time they had spent any time together outside of the Vatican without having to pretend a professional distance due to someone else's presence. It was nice. Even though they were not yet a couple, that night it did feel like it.
After the disastrous meeting, Jude had determined that she needed alcohol to help her forget Antonio's lechery so their first stop had been to find a bar. Since neither of them had eaten for several hours, the alcohol consumed took effect near immediately. It might not have been so bad had the bartender not been so impressed with Celine's Spanish speaking skills that he had given them several shots on the house. Neither of them had been sensible enough to turn the man down.
Soon after, they slowly made their way to a quiet restaurant. Jude remarked that they had clearly gone to the locations in the wrong order, and she had to remind him that it was his idea to have drinks before dinner. Once seated at a table they faced the difficult task of trying to assemble enough soberness between them to order food. Of the two of them, Jude was the one that was holding himself together the best but he could not speak a word of Spanish. It took her a while, but Celine eventually managed to translate the menu for him so they could decide what to get. He then took over in order to tell the waiter their choices, simply pointing at the relevant parts of the menu. The waiter asked him a question in Spanish, not knowing what the man had said, Jude settled on a nod which seemed enough of an answer.
"You do realise he was asking if you wanted a bottle of wine." Celine told him.
"I hadn't realised." Jude confessed. "Getting back to the hotel tonight should be fun."
Considering he hadn't specified a bottle, the wine turned out to be very nice, and the food was exceptional. The food also had the added bonus of sobering them up slightly before they worked their way through the bottle. They were both very content as they walked back, Jude having to help Celine walk as she had stupidly decided to buy a pair of short heels along with her dresses. Anyone looking on would have thought them to be a loving couple strolling along the streets, a charade they had played most of the day.
"Apart from the sexual harassment, I've enjoyed today." Celine sighed happily against him.
"I thought you would have forgotten about that by now."
"I don't think I ever will, no one has ever treated me with so little respect." She laughed derisively. "He actually thought I was stupid enough to sleep with him."
"He didn't know you were a nun." He pointed out.
"He thought I was married, that's hardly much better."
"Married people are not always as happy as they seem. God knows my parents hated each other."
"I think that's really sad. If I was to ever marry, I would want to end up like that old couple we met today. They had been together so long but they still loved each other."
"A rare situation."
"Hypothetically, do you not think you could end up like that?"
"I'm hardly about to get married-"
"Hypothetically." She interrupted before he could remind her about his vows.
"Probably not, I'm not sure anyone could put up with me for that amount of time."
"You're too hard on yourself. I could easily put up with you." It might have been the alcohol, but she had not noticed the meaning behind her words or how Jude reacted to them. His arm tightened around her as they made their way through the entrance of the hotel and headed towards their rooms.
"Which one is yours again?" He asked when they were stood in front of both doors.
"Does it matter?"
Making a guess, he pushed through the first door and noticed that he had picked the right one when he saw the shopping bags on the floor by the bed. Practically carrying Celine now, he gently deposited her on the bed. He was about to leave and head for his own bed when he was suddenly yanked back. The force, in combination with his own alcohol-induced lack of coordination, meant that he practically fell on Celine. She did not seem to mind though.
"Stay." It was phrased like a command but was said with enough doubt that it became a request. He had thought she was asleep, but she looked wide awake now as she gazed up at him.
"Celine, you're drunk."
"I'm not that drunk." The hands that had pulled him towards her now wrapped around his neck as she kissed him deeply.
Alarm bells immediately rang in Jude's mind as he remembered his vows, if he had been dealing with the same Celine of the past he might have been able to resist. This Celine knew what he liked and employed her experience with ruthless efficiency, pressing herself close so that he could feel every inch of her through his thin shirt. The last of his resolve crumbled away, he gave up and kissed her back.
Waking up in the morning was a glorious feeling. Celine had learned her lesson from the morning in Jude's study and had made sure to drink plenty of water that night. The lack of hangover in combination with the achingly familiar sensation of waking up in Jude's arms made her feel more content than she had been for weeks. He was already awake, she could feel his fingertips absently tracing up and down her spine as he no doubt was already overanalysing what he had done.
"Before you overthink everything and try to pass it off as a mistake, you should know that I don't regret anything that happened." She murmured sleepily against him.
"But our vows-"
"What's done is done, nothing you think or say will change what happened, so you might as well embrace it." He didn't reply for some time.
"Did you mean what you said last night? That you could put up with me."
"I wouldn't have said it if I didn't mean it." She propped her head up with her hand in order to look at him properly. "I care about you a lot, Jude, even drunk I wouldn't have slept with just anyone." She wanted to confess to so much more than that, but with his worrying she was scared that admitting she loved him would scare him off.
"I care a lot about you too." He admitted.
"Then there's nothing to be regretful about." She smiled at him. "Did you know that it was determined by a pope that priests should be celibate? You've already pointed out that popes have made bad decisions in the past, like getting rid of the Devil's Advocate position at the Vatican, why can't this have just been another mistake?"
"I did know that."
"Nothing to be guilty about then." She rationalised.
"Maybe you're right."
"Of course I am." She grinned happily at him, her cheery disposition was infectious, and he pulled her close for a soft kiss.
"I suppose since our vows are already broken, they can't actually be broken a second time?"
Once they finally managed to leave the bed and get dressed, Jude began working on his report while Celine left to find some breakfast and coffee for them both. When she returned, he was staring intently at the screen of his laptop.
"What is it?" She asked, placing the food and drinks she had collected on the table beside him.
"Jamie has e-mailed me." She stopped mid-bite of food.
"What has he said?"
"He says that he managed to find his mother, apparently she's no longer completely sane." He frowned a little as he read over the next few sentences. "She is claiming that he is the messiah." Celine remembered that had been what Mary had been ranting about in the video on internet when she had been suddenly hit by the pile of bricks.
"Messiah claims are our department, we would have the justification to go and see him." She suggested.
"We would have the time for it when we get back to Rome." He agreed. "I will suggest the idea to him, if Mary has become convinced that it is true we might be the only people that could dissuade her."
"Has he said anything else, apart from the news about his mother?"
"He said that he was disappointed not to have been able to meet me when we visited the house."
"It doesn't sound like he is too angry at you then." Celine pointed out. Jamie had been furious with Jude when they had turned up after Mary's funeral, but it was likely that a lot of his anger had been more to do with the timing than with his actual actions. He nodded absently.
"Our flight back to Rome isn't until tomorrow morning." He noted, changing the subject. "The report will only take a couple of hours, so we have the rest of the day to ourselves."
Beaming, she compiled a list of things she wanted to do, noting somewhat sadly that this would be like the honeymoon she and Jude had never had the chance to go on.
AN: That will be the last of the drunken antics for this fic. Next chapter Celine and Jude return to Slough for the events of Episode 6. I have most of the fic already written and I've now written most of Chapter 15 and I'm expecting that the fic will be 16 chapters in total. I'll try to stabilise my update schedule to twice a week (Tuesday and Friday) so updates should be a bit more predictable although I do have a busy week next week (returning to uni) so the schedule might be a bit disrupted again.