Previously: As they embraced, Celine was able to check off another part of her plan. She had successfully convinced Jude to leave the Vatican. All that remained now was to make sure he reached the bunker and would be willing to stay in the bunker while the rest of the world was wiped out around them.

A Flaw in the Plan

Chapter 13

After making their decision to not return to the Vatican, Jude had sent off their final report about the Malta cult as well as his and Celine's resignations, citing the possible end of the world as their reason for leaving. They acknowledged that even though Saviour had been launched, the mere possibility that it would fail meant that they had decided not to return. Task completed, she and Jude began searching the web for somewhere they could go and visit.

"I would like to stay in Europe, if that's okay." She suggested.

While she quite wanted to explore further, she was well aware that they were still limited on time and she wanted to make sure they were at least near to England when General Gaines released the video confirming Saviour's failure. Mid-search, the laptop suddenly notified them of an incoming e-mail. Knowing it was probably from Jaime, she slipped away to allow him to read it without her interference.

In the ensuite bathroom, she rummaged around her toiletries bag to find the opaque conditioner bottle that she had used to hide a few pregnancy tests. She took one out, planning to check whether or not her baby had come back yet when she heard knocking on the door. Quickly shoving the test back into the bottle, she composed herself before opening the door.

"What's the matter?" She asked.

"Jaime's just e-mailed me." He looked relieved. "Layla and Frankie had finally made an appearance in Slough."

"That's great news." She said with a big smile, and a brilliant idea came to mind. "How about we go to London? I'm sure there is plenty we can do there, and we will be close in case he wants to see you. We didn't really get to see much when we were there last."

"That's a good idea, do you want me to go ahead and book some flights?"

"Do that." She kissed him briefly, turning back to the bathroom she shut the door behind herself before reaching again for the conditioner bottle.

Arriving at London, Celine was immediately glad about her choice. It may not have been Florence, but it was still steeped in enough history to keep her happy. She had cheerfully dragged a willing Jude around all the typical tourist sites, and he occasionally told her small anecdotes of English history as he remembered them.

At some point during the day, Celine had to slip away to visit a Pharmacy. The tests she had taken confirmed that she was pregnant again, and after thanking God she had quickly researched what she might need during her pregnancy while Jude was in the shower. In the Pharmacy she hurriedly found a decent supply of vitamins and supplements that she might need. It occurred to her that she would struggle to hide all the bottles, they were considerably larger than the pregnancy tests she had bought. Placing them in a bag, she had to hope that Jude would respect her privacy enough to not examine them closely until after she had given him the news. He did eye her bag questioningly when she re-joined him.

"There was some things I needed." She explained vaguely, and was relieved that he did not seem eager for any more information.

Buying the items she needed did come with a problem. When she told Jude that she was pregnant he would know that she was keeping the news from him and it would no doubt hurt him, but she did not want to tell him the truth yet. Her current plan was to tell him once they were in the bunker, she could use the excuse that she had not wanted him to know because she thought that they would die. There was also the issue of her infertility, it was possible that he would think she had lied about it at the time, and she was not sure what she would say if he did accuse her of it.

She was not able to give the issue much thought back in the hotel as her worries were interrupted by a sudden bout of excessive profanity from Jude as he read an e-mail. Hurrying over to him, she placed a calming hand over his shoulder and asked him what was wrong.

"Christof is demanding I return." He said angrily. "Apparently there's some big meeting about the messiah, and my 'ridiculous midlife crisis' is not a good enough excuse for me not to attend." He swore again. "Maybe I should go back just so I can give him a piece of my mind."

Celine felt her blood run cold as she remembered that it was this meeting that had occurred on the day Jude had been killed, if he did return as he was currently threatening her efforts may have been in vain.

"Ignore him." She said, closing the laptop and settling herself on his lap, ensuring that the position she was in gave him a good view down the front of her dress. "I personally deeply approve of your midlife crisis." She entwined her arms around his neck and kissed him, doing her very best to put any thoughts of returning to Rome out of his mind.

Much later on, Jude abandoned the warm bed to retrieve his laptop. Soon noticing his absence despite his attempts not to wake her, Celine sat up and looked over at him in concern, worried that he was examining the e-mail again.

"Are you still thinking of returning to Rome?" She couldn't hide the slight tremor in her voice as she asked. He immediately returned to her side and took her hand to reassure her.

"No, I don't want to open that can of worms again. I did tell him to fuck off though." She bit back a laugh and hit him half-heartedly on the shoulder.

"You could have been more polite and told him to mind his own business."

"But then he wouldn't have believed the e-mail was from me." He said with a grin, causing her to hit him again. Once her attack had reduced to a mild glare, he spoke again. "I told Jamie a few days ago that I had left the Vatican and was going to be in London, he has invited us to Slough to watch the Operation Saviour results. There's going to be a party afterwards, no matter whether the result is a success or failure. Would you like to go?"

"Of course, it will be nice to watch the result with other people." The invitation also worked nicely with Celine's plan for them to be in Slough when the news about Saviour's failure was released. They would be in a good position to get to the bunker from there.

After Jude's abrupt reply, Christof had continued to send several increasingly angry e-mails about the meeting which Jude repeatedly ignored. A few days after they received their invitation to Jamie's party they headed off to their new hotel in Slough, Jude having declined the offer for them to stay in Jamie's house.

"It will be a madhouse in there, you'll thank me later." He had told her cryptically. She would not know what he would mean until much later when he was guiding her through the maze of people passed out drunk on the floor after too much celebration.

After dumping their possessions at their new hotel, they had made their way to Jamie's house. He had been pleased to see them, if a bit confused that Celine was there also. The atmosphere had become slightly tense when Jamie introduced Layla and Frankie to the two of them, but she thought they had all managed to pull off a fairly convincing performance of not already knowing each other. After exchanging a few pleasantries, Jamie addressed Celine directly.

"So Celine… have you left the church as well?" A little surprised that he did not know, she nodded.

"Did I forget to tell you?" Jude asked with a frown. At the blank expressions he continued. "Celine and I got married." She sheepishly raised her left hand with the cheap ring they had bought in Malta.

After everyone gave their shocked congratulations, they all settled in the living room to watch the results. As they waited, Jude's hand found hers, his expression was blank to everyone else but she could see the anxiety he was trying to hide. As far as he was aware they were about to be told whether or not they would be able to share a life together or only a few days. When the announcement was made about Saviour's success she saw him visibly relax in relief. Around them everyone was more visibly jubilant, and the party began then in earnest.

As she and Jude carefully made their way out of the house to get back to their hotel, Celine suddenly remembered that in the original timeline, she had called Jamie to tell him the news about his father's death in the middle of the party. At her sudden tears, Jude stopped to ask her what was wrong.

"I'm just happy that Operation Saviour worked." She lied. "I love you." She added earnestly, so glad that he was alive that it physically hurt.

"I love you too."

AN: So in case it wasn't clear, Episode 8 has mostly just been skipped in this fic since both are currently absent from Rome and therefore are not involved in murder cover up plot. Next episode is Episode 9 and the revelation of Saviour's failure.