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"I’m not a dabbler Bea, I promise I am different!”
Leo shouted at the closed door. Slowly, he turned back to the crowds below placing a finger on his lips. They were still warm where she had kissed them and his hands still tingled from where they'd run through her hair. Leo had felt so strong in that moment leaning into meet her perfect face, her beautiful eyes closing. Foolish. To reach out and grab thinking the moment would last.
Later that same night after so much had happened. That moment on the bridge felt like another lifetime. THAT Leo didn't know how badly his body could break or how deeply his heart could be rooted in the hands of another person. Yet here he was Prince Leopold of England lying on the floor of a cellar. But, as he pushed himself to consciousness again he felt a warm weight pressed against his arm, looking down he saw Bea’s unruly hair thrown over his stomach her head pressed against his upper arm and... suddenly... nothing else mattered. The pain however was quite persistant. Leo tensed slowly testing his various joints trying to assess the damage, no broken bones in the arm though his bad knee was throbbing horribly and it seemed that ankle was bad again too. He sighed softly to himself and laid back on the blankets. He glanced back down at Bea and flinched suddenly, yelping in pain. Bea grinned, staring back at him in amusement,
“Sorry to startle you, how are you feeling?”
Leo took a breath calming his heart, “Perfectly fine thank you and how are you?”
Bea laughed softly moving to sit against the wall next to him, “Leo, you appeared in the corner of our cellar last night looking beaten half to death and then promptly passed out, this is not the time for your bullshit” she turned to meet his gaze and softly asked “So... how are you Leo?”
Leo looked back at her sheepishly, “I am terribly sorry for scaring you all last night, I possibly did not think my plan through, but I truly didn't know where else I should go, I am sorry,”
“Oh Leo” Bea sighed, “Its not you showing up here that we care about, I need to know who did this to you? It looks like someone tried to kill you!”
Leo looked away and fiddled with the hem of the blanket, “It was my own mistake, no ones fault specifically, truly, Bea, please don't worry.”
“Excuse me but I will worry about you if I want Leo! I don't know if you have noticed but we protect each other here, I don't know how people do it where your from, but its...” but Leo didn't hear the rest of her sentence.
As he fiddled with the blanket his eyes had wandered to the hem of his shirt where Bea’s arm had been slung and there bright against the white fabric was an unmistakable spot of blood. Leo’s eyes flew wide and he turned to face Bea again,
“I am terribly sorry Bea but would you, would you please leave me for a moment,”
he knew it must have sounded incredibly rude, but he was so panicked he couldn't think.
Bea must have seen something in his eyes because she got up quickly to stand on the other side of the wooden divider beside his blankets. Slowly, with shaking hands Leo lifted the hem of his shirt and sure enough there was a small gash just to the left of his navel. It didn't look like anything serious, most likely caused on his journey back to the cellar by a wayward thorn or branch, but still it was bleeding and blood was never a particularly good sign for him. Leo had been so focused on the blood that he didn't notice Bea coming back around the divider, he startled when he felt her cold hands sliding along his stomach, running her finger tips over the gash.
“Oh is that what you're worried about? Leo have you seen your bruises?! That cut will be fine!”
Leo quickly readjusted his shirt hiding himself from view. He looked at Bea for a moment, stuck on what to say, how to explain without exposing his weaknesses. She was sitting very close to him now. Staring intently. As their eyes met she moved her hand up to rest against his cheek, asking again, softly,
“Leo, please, tell me what happened to you.”
“Like I said Bea its really nothing, I...” She interrupted quickly
“Oh fuck you Leo, first you say you're not a dabbler then you disappear for a day, you swear you'll come back and when you do its in a beaten heap on the floor of the cellar! Leo this morning you kissed me and then you betrayed within 30 seconds, I don't know anything about you, but I’m quite certain I am falling in love with you” She finished, exasperated she turned away quickly her cheeks red.
Leo, blinked into space for a moment before reaching out to took her hands again, slowly bringing them back up to his face. He placed them softly on his cheeks kissing the palm of each one. Bea hid her face in her hair, still looking away.
“Bea, I am sorry. Truly. That I scared you and... and that I wasn't there when I promised I would be,” Leo nudged her chin softly until she wearily turned to look at him, “But I am here now and I know what I want and where I want to be.”
Bea took her hands off Leo’s face and folded them in her lap, “Okay Leo, I believe you,” she made to turn away “Im going to get you a cloth for that cut...”
Leo grabbed her wrist quickly, huffing slightly at the pull on his sore shoulder,
“Bea wait please, just sit with me for a little longer, I know I wasn't there when I promised I would be, but, I am here now Bea! I am here now and I figured out what it was about you thats different!” Leo exclaimed.
Bea laughed “What aside from the smell,” but she let Leo pull her back down into the blankets.
“Its compassion, you're so compassionate even after everything that you've been through I don't... I don't know how you do it.. you're amazing Bea” He said softly.
Bea rolled her eyes reaching out to run her index finger along a crack in the floor,
“I’m just doing what needs to be done,” she grumbled and Leo shook his head
“Bea you truly don't see yourself the way I do!” he huffed, lifting her face again so he could look into her eyes.
“Im sorry that I wasn’t there, I have a lot of things I can't tell you because... because I am maybe falling in love with you too and I refuse to lose you...” and before Bea could respond, Leo felt that familiar strength washing over him again. His hands slid back into her hair and her face moved towards his, her eyes fluttering closed. They kissed. A long and warm and wonderful moment.
And in that moment, Leo understood the price he was willing to pay to stay with Bea... to stay in that cellar. No matter what happened next, whatever he had to do... it would be worth it.