Ripper Street/Tonight there's going to be a jailbreak...

[thirstforvice]

Leman Street was dark and deserted. It was late, and everybody else had shut up shop and gone home hours ago. But the body brought to them late in the afternoon had required several tests run, to try and ascertain the cause of death. Matthew had made it as far as poison, but was still trying to ascertain the type.

He didn't really need any assistance, but Drake seemed to want to stay with him, and he wasn't about to complain. It was probably sensible, anyway; whilst the worst of his withdrawal had passed through, there was still the odd craving that plagued him, and being left alone in his dead room, and all the pills and potions that came with it, was still not entirely advisable.

The first shouts from the cells below came as Matthew removes the heat from under a boiling beaker of water, his final experiment hopefully complete.

"You gonna go check on that?" he asks without looking up, final goal (and, therefore, home time) almost within his grasp.

Comments

[thirstforvice]

Reid's jaw clenches, and for a moment he clearly thinks about doing just that. But then he deflates and, with a sigh, waves them both in the direction of the door.

"Come back tomorrow. In better moods, if it would please you."

[thegentlemanthug]

"And I trust my doctor will see no further damage?" Drake says, voice flat and hard as iron.

[thirstforvice]

"Ben..." Matthew tries to stop the conversation, feeling ashamed and embarrassed, but Reid is already answering him.

"So long as he gives me no more cause to."

[thegentlemanthug]

"You have something to say to him, you say it. He deserves your respect not..."

Drake trails off, letting his anger cool a little in his veins.

"We'll be seeing you tomorrow then."

[thirstforvice]

"Tomorrow," Reid nods tersely, and lets them leave.

Matthew says nothing as they leave the station again. It had all been as he expected, apart from the fact that they did still have their jobs. That was something.

[thegentlemanthug]

Drake is too angry to say anything, steering Matthew towards the nearest hansom and directly him back towards their lodgings.

He studies his lover carefully for signs of injury, distress.

[thirstforvice]

Matthew rubs at the back of his head every so often, more out of instinct than any real pain. No serious damage has been done.

He's quiet, though, more so than is normal for him. It's been a while, since he was last attacked, and he had been off guard. He needs to remember to be more careful.

[thegentlemanthug]

Drake leans forward and reaches for the back of Matthew's head.

"Does it hurt?" he asks.

[thirstforvice]

Spooked by Reid's attack, Matthew moves away on pure instinct, swearing under his breath when he realises what he's done, and who he's recoiled from.

"'m sorry," he apologises, relaxing closer to Drake again.

[thegentlemanthug]

Drake drops his hand, hurt despite knowing the reasons for such a reaction.

"Sorry. I shouldn't've...I frightened you."

[thirstforvice]

"No..." Matthew takes Bennet's hand in his, holding it in his lap.

"Not you. Reid."

[thegentlemanthug]

"It's that woman's fault," Bennet says vehemently, but his touch is gentle, desperate not to startle.

[thirstforvice]

"She weren't the first to hit me," Matthew reasons, struggling even now to accept Susan was in the wrong for the way she used to treat him.

"And you know I ain't always easy to get along with."

[thegentlemanthug]

"You deserve to be treated like...like the queen," Bennet says, with passion. "They were wrong, all of them."

[thirstforvice]

"Like a queen?" Matthew grins at last, raising his eyebrows.

"A king, maybe."

[thegentlemanthug]

"No king about here," Drake says solemnly. "Of course, you Yanks don't believe in all that."

[thirstforvice]

"Yank livin' in your fair and pleasant land," Matthew finally starts to relax in the seat of the cab.

"I can follow your quaint conventions."

[thegentlemanthug]

Drake's smile returns.

"You gonna let me treat you like my king then?"

[thirstforvice]

"I'd settle for your lover," Matthew shrugs. He'd feel embarrassed, being treated like a king.

[thegentlemanthug]

"Well, you have some strange ideas about what that should be," Drake lectures. "So I'm thinking of trying something new."

[thirstforvice]

"If it'll make you happy," Matthew smiles, "then I will be your King Matthew. You Brits ain't had one of those before, have you?"

[thegentlemanthug]

"King Matthew." Bennet tests the words on his tongue.

The carriage comes to a halt and Bennet swings open the door, stepping down to give his lover a hand out. "Your majesty."

[thirstforvice]

Matthew laughs, but lets Drake help him down nevertheless.

"What does that make you? My consort?"

[thegentlemanthug]

Drake wrinkles his nose at the thought.

"I'm not fit for any palace," he declares, as he pays the driver.

[thirstforvice]

"Well, you're living with a king, by your own admission," an honest smile is back on Matthew's lips as he lopes up the short pathway to their front door.

"And I can't be seen to be givin' my favour to any old man on the street, can I?"