Beth

"Jack!" A child's voice rang through the air, sending a chill up my spine. For some reason, that child was frantic and as a mother I wanted nothing more than to wrap the child in my arms and protect them from the world. The child who owned it raced through the station and burst past me. I had come with lunch to be sure my brother ate. I knew him. He wouldn't take a break if he could help it. But he needed to eat.

"Jane? What's wrong?" My brother. Stoic. Solid. Never wavering. All but ran out of his office and practically fell to his knees at the girl's feet, his arms reaching out for her instantly.

"Fish." His brow furrowed and he didn't respond, rather waiting for clarification. I felt as though I was watching a moving picture. I was intrigued by the tableau before me, I had a stock in the tale unfolding, but I didn't necessarily have anything to do with this story. "Fish, Jack. Collin's told Dot that you all thought that this case was someone trying to get their own back. And then I got him to tell me everything you lot knew about the case and something stuck out to me. Fish!"

"Janie, you're supposed to be in school. Are you skipping class to solve a case you have no legal jurisdiction on?" the girl smirked.

"What can I say, Jack? I must take after Phryne." Johnny's jaw clenched at this but the girl kept smiling.

"A few weeks ago, Phryne was telling me stories about all of the cases you'd worked on. She told me about the time a man who worked down at the fish docks came to you and said that someone was holding his wife captive."

"That had nothing to do with this situation, Jane. His wife hadn't been held captive she had run off with her lover." I blanched. This was not the sort of thing Johnny should be speaking to children about.

"Yes but the man, Jimmy, wasn't his name?" Johnny nodded, still clearly confused. "Jimmy, he was convinced that his wife was tricked into it but you both had to drop the case and he sat crying to Bert and Cec while they drove him back to his about how hopeless he felt and the note you got asked if you felt hopeless yet!" Jack! What if Jimmy had Phryne kidnapped to teach you a lesson?" Johnny slowly shook his head.

"There are a few similarities, I'll give you that much, Jane. But this is a lot bigger than that. Whomever did this, knows that I gave her that pin. Jimmy would have no way of knowing that. And he may feel helpless but I have nothing to do with that. Phryne and I took great care with his case, it isn't our fault his wife left him. I have a lead, Janie, I will find her."

"Jack, you're kidding. You don't think there's anything to this?"

"Jane I will find her. But you need to take a step back." The girl took a literal step back, shaking her head.

"Jack, I'm sure about this."

"Janie, we need to get you back to school." Dear God but he sounded like Father. In fact this entire exchange. Mother hadn't been kidding. Every touch between the two, every look, how he leaned towards her, how he reached for her, how he now put her before anything else.

"Forget it Jack."

"Janie," the girl turned and fled and Johnny buried his face between his hands. I waited a moment before stepping back. I set down the basket of food and left. He didn't need me right now. He needed Phryne. He needed to solve his case before he fell apart for good. And the only thing I could do about it was stay out of his way.

Jack

I just wanted to protect Jane. Couldn't she see that? I just wanted to keep her from getting hurt! I'd already endangered Phryne, I couldn't be the reason Jane got mixed up in something she wasn't prepared for. Besides, I hadn't been lying. Yes, Phryne and I knew a fisherman who had once stated that he felt hopeless. But that had nothing to do with this conversation. There was no motive.

Phryne had been missing almost a month now. I was going absolutely mad without her. I hadn't slept in days, I could barely eat. My family had decided to stay in town lest I needed anything. They were all so constantly worried about me. Me. Why worry about me when the most incredible woman in the world had been taken? Someone could be hurting her! Someone could be…no. No Jack. Do not allow your mind down that path or you will truly go mad. Phryne was missing. Phryne was in trouble. Nearly the entire force, so strong and full of conviction at first had been convinced by that imbecile Constable that she'd run off with another man and that this was merely a wild goose chase. Even when the letter turned up, real evidence, suggesting a real case, he'd merely told them that Phryne had helped plan it, a way to break it off with her boring old Detective friend who'd she'd been using to pass the time. As if she were some cruel harlot. She was far from that. They didn't understand. She loved easily and powerfully; with a heart that beat as strongly as a hurricane. She would never intentionally hurt anyone. If she had the power to help, to alleviate some sort of pain, she would go too far in order to enact her mercy on those around her. Even if she had decided to leave me, Phryne Fisher would do all she could to keep me from feeling pain.

This wasn't about Phryne and I. This wasn't about some old case. This was all about Rosie. I could feel it in my bones. And Johnson refused to do a thing about it. So I was going to have to. I was going to have to. I didn't have another choice. I needed her like I needed to breathe and right now I was drowning. Gasping for air, I knew what I had to do. I stood up from where I still crouched on the floor and reached out to the desk to grab my keys before racing off to my car. I drove like a fiend (no, I drove like Phryne) to Rosie's house and I was not proud to say that I pounded on her door.

"Jack?" she asked, upon opening the door barely more than a crack. "Twice in one week, what a surprise."

"Enough is enough, Rosie." I stared her down. "This ends now. What do you want from me? What will it take for you to let this go?"

"Jack I haven't the slightest idea what you are talking about."

"You knew I gave her that pin. You knew I was falling in love with her! I had hurt you and you wanted to hurt me back. But she is innocent in all of this! She has done nothing. I beg of you, let her go. Take me instead. Do what you will to me but leave her be."

"Dear Lord, Jack." She frowned, shaking her head. "You've gone mad. If you saw yourself just now you'd think you were some sort of street vagrant. When was the last time you've eaten, or combed your hair?" Combed my hair? Yes, it hung in odd rings around my face but who had time for pomade when the woman you were desperately in love with had been kidnapped by the woman you used to think you loved? "And now you show up sprouting gibberish! I have no idea what you're saying so you better come in and have a cup of tea while you explain yourself." She stepped aside and let me in. This was not what I expected. I expected vague hints at her guilt, I expected her to taunt me, but never admit to a thing. I expected her to smile at me, to revel in how her scheme had unmanned me. Perhaps this was all yet to come. What was the proper way to respond to an invitation to tea with the woman holding your beloved captive?

Half an hour later found me with a rather irate Rosie and an empty cup of tea.

"John Robinson. I'm telling you for the last time. I have nothing to do with her disappearance. I didn't like her but I have no reason to go to such drastic methods."

"I put your father and fiancé in prison after divorcing you and making you the talk of the town. You hate me."

"Forgive me Jack, but you are being a complete imbecile. I don't hate you. In case you'd forgotten, I was the one who asked you for the divorce. And Sydney and Father were being horrible and immoral. They deserved every ounce of the punishment they got. I was upset that I had trusted people who would do that sort of thing but I was never angry at you for it." She signed and sipped at her tea. "And as for this pin, I had seen her wear it but I had no idea you'd given it to her."

"You said something once about me 'adorning her with appurtenances' or something like that. To what were you referring if not the pins?!"

"That football game! Between Abbotsford and West! You were staring into each other's eyes in such a sickeningly adorable way I'd never forget it. You pulled the scar from around your neck and wrapped her up in it, the two of you lost in your own little world. I was angry at you because you'd never looked at me like that nor taken such great care of me and that was when I realized that it was a wonderful thing that we'd gotten divorced because I deserved someone who loved me the way you love Phryne Fisher." Silence hung thick in the air between us.

"Love her? I didn't love her then. We were coworkers, acquaintances. She's always liked to flirt but she flirted with everyone, not just me. We aren't…" I trailed off, unable to explain our situation. "We haven't…"

"You haven't been sleeping together?" Rosie cried out in shock. "No! That's impossible! Being in the same room as the two of you and your eye trysts practically feels indecent."

"Rosie we aren't together. I haven't even kissed her yet, not really."

"Not really? Jack Robinson what does that mean?"

"It was ages ago. I'd only just met her. We were on a case together and it was personal for her. An ex with a penchant for violence showed up in town and we were staking out a location he'd be meeting one of our other suspects at and she got nervous and kept looking at him. She was about to blow our cover and I needed to hide her face and distract her as soon as I could so I kissed her."

"Let me guess. We were still technically married and you worked yourself up, feeling awfully guilty over it and never spoke of it again." My silence was answer enough for her and so she went on speaking. "But since then? Surely there have been a few kisses. All those nights you go to her house after work? All the cases you work together on in close proximity? Those events at her Aunt's she drags you to? Nothing?"

"She is a thoroughly modern woman, Rosie. She likes men with adventurous jobs and deep pockets. She would never be with a man like me and I don't want to kiss her only to know that she's off to find Lin Chung or some other bloke soon after and dear lord Rosie! Why am I having this conversation while she's off maybe hurting somewhere? It may not be you but it is someone! I need to find her!"

"Because you love her. Because you have loved her for a very long time. Because despite all your feelings of self-inadequacy you know that she loves you too because Jack I've watched you too together and she does love you. The two of you, it's almost electric between you. You have the kind of love we all dream of and you haven't even told her how you feel. You're wasting so much precious time. What has happened to Miss Fisher is unfortunate and I will pray that this ordeal is over soon but I pray it also shows you what fools you both are. Life is short, accidents happen, horrible things happen Jack. And what if you died tomorrow and never got to tell her how you feel? What if something went wrong and you didn't have forever to live a life together, to love one another? We can never be sure of anything in the world Jack, Father and Sydney taught me that. But I sure as hell don't want to sit around and let life pass me by because I am afraid of change." I stared at my ex-wife. She had never spoken like that during our marriage. We were different people now. And I was glad to call her my friend. "Jack, promise me, if you find her, you'll tell her." I nodded.

"I promise Rosie."

"Good. Now go find her and lay on some of that Robinson charm that captured my heart all those years ago. I know it's still there somewhere."

I had no leads. I'd returned to the station, begrudgingly accepting Rosie's innocence in this. I had looked into her eyes and seen the truth. She held no ill will for me nor for Phryne. I was relieved. For a moment. Until I realized that this meant I was further away from finding Phryne. I ran my hand through my hair and buried my face on the desk. This was pure torture. To have her dangled before me only to know that I couldn't do a damn thing to save her. This was…I was…

I was hopeless. I felt completely and abjectly hopeless.

"Inspector!" Miss Williams rushed through the door, Collins on her heels. "Inspector, it's Jane. She's left a note. She says she going after a lead and she's going to bring Phryne home. She's taken one of Miss Fisher's guns, Inspector!"

Soooooooo…what do you think? Working on the next chapter! I'm so sorry for the long wait! I'll do my best to be more regular with updates! Please please review! xoxo - E