11/5 Instance: A Sinister Secret

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Slarti
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11/5 Instance: A Sinister Secret

Post by Slarti »

Current timeline

<Jessica> Bread makers took all the fun out of making bread so Jess decided to do it properly and was currently sat on the counter reading a book while she waited for it to finish baking.

<Shaw> The place didn't look any different that he could tell, aside from the lack of the small army of SHIELD contractors. With the Aston purring up the cleared drive, Sebastian glanced toward the old gray building housing the staff, but his lesser-used sense told him Jessica wasn't there.

<Jessica> Jess paused in her reading when she felt the familiar link return in the back of her mind. Grinning, she closed her book and hopped off the counter, heading for the front door to go and greet him.

<Shaw> Her recognition and excitement made him smile to himself as he parked the car, but the moment before he got out he took a moment to close his eyes and breathe out slowly.

<Jessica> Dodging a couple of SHIELD personnel, she headed straight down the hall to the front door and swung it open, all but skipping down the steps towards the car.

<Shaw> Leaving his bag in the car, he met her halfway. Hello, love. Lost in his usual reaction to seeing her, he caught her up for an embrace, lifting her off the ground.

<Jessica> Smiling happily, she wrapped her arms around him and caught his lips for a passionate kiss. I missed you!

<Shaw> And I missed you, he responded, setting her back on her feet to bury a hand in her hair for the kiss. But I'm home now. Home to stay. At least, he hoped.

<Jessica> Good! I'm baking bread! She gave him a squeeze before breaking off the kiss to smile at him and take his hand.

<Shaw> He hesitated, unwilling to ruin, well, everything. Looking down at their joined hands, his gaze lingered on the ring she wore and he found himself chewing his lower lip.

<Jessica> Giving his hand a tug, she headed back towards the steps, "It's nearly done so I want to hurry back before it burns. Have you seen the kitchen they put in? It's amazing."

<Shaw> "I haven't," he answered after a beat, allowing her to lead him up the steps and to the door. The place looked... marginally better, he supposed.

<Jessica> "Oooh you're missing out! You'll get far more out of it than I will." Because, although she could play with the machine, she couldn't try any of the coffee that came out of it and it smelled very nice.

<Shaw> That made him tilt his head in question. "And how is that, love? I'm planning to assemble a new dossier of take-out restaurants for the Boston area, you realize."

<Jessica> She giggled, "You'll see... and no you are not. I'll burn them all."

<Shaw> "You most certainly shall not," he sniffed.

<Jessica> "But it's so bad for you! And I like cooking..."

<Shaw> Sebastian pressed his lips together, swallowing harshly. "As a backup plan then, yes?" he managed, after clearing his throat.

<Jessica> She sighed a melodramatic sigh, "Fiiiine, you can have one of each type of food."

<Shaw> "I can have? Why, how very progressive of you, koibito." Even the teasing wasn't enough to distract him from his fears about the task at hand.

<Jessica> She giggled, bumping him with her shoulder, "Of course, never let it be said that I don't give you anything." She glanced up at him then, frowning a little, "Everything okay?"

<Shaw> "No, it's..." They seemed to be close to the kitchen now as he could smell the bread. "We should talk, but take care of your baking first, love." He squeezed her hand again.

<Jessica> "Okay...?" She was a little worried by that and moved to check on the bread, pointing at the fancy coffee maker on her way to the oven.

<Shaw> Sebastian moved toward the coffee maker and he had to admit he was suitably distracted by it. "Oh, very nice..."

<Jessica> "Everyone's been playing with it, even me... though I've only used it to make hot chocolate." After giving the bread a small tap, she decided it was done and took it out of the oven to cool after turning off the heat.

<Shaw> "I can understand why... it's most impressive. I'll have to thank someone for this, most definitely." He located coffee beans and opened the container to take a deep, appreciative breath.

<Jessica> Bread turned out and cooling, she moved over to him, sliding her arms around his waist slowly and coming to a stop with her chin almost resting on his shoulder.

<Shaw> Eyes closed, he rested one hand on hers at his middle as he set the coffee container back down. I would prefer we go somewhere private, where others can't overhear.

<Jessica> Do you want to go to our room? Or maybe one of the other wings that isn't finished?

<Shaw> Perhaps somewhere completely unoccupied, yes. Taking her hand, he turned in her arms to rest it on his chest. He kissed her forehead, bringing his arms around her. Just a moment more.

<Jessica> She cuddled into him, closing her eyes. He had her worried now and she tried not to let her mind throw out things that could be wrong. We'll go to one of the far wings, there's no one working in them at the moment - they finished the weather proofing.

<Shaw> For a time, he didn't answer - he felt her concern through the link, but didn't know how to comfort her.

<Shaw> Alright, he finally responded, taking her hand again and kissing the knuckle above her ring.

<Jessica> She gave his hand a gentle squeeze, leading him back towards the admin building but taking the stairs to the basement level when they reached the stairwell so they could cut through beneath the classrooms to get to the outer wings.

<Shaw> "So these are the tunnels?" His voice echoed off the walls and the sound was enough to make even him make a distasteful face. They're appropriately horrifying.

<Jessica> Be glad we're going this way, if we'd headed for the female wings we'd find leftover movie props. She nodded sagely, That was not fun to find.

<Shaw> Ah yes, they shot horror movies in this place. I fail to be shocked and I suspect this is part of SHIELD's joke. He sidestepped something that very likely had once been a dead rat.

<Jessica> I think they hit the nail on the head with the insane asylum thing, personally....

<Shaw> Oh, most definitely. His soft chuckle was returned to him down the empty, dank tunnel.

<Jessica> They passed one set of stairs and Jess glanced up it briefly before turning her attention back to the tunnel. We'll go up at the next set of stairs...

<Shaw> How often have you ventured down here?

<Jessica> I don't know... a lot I suppose... trying to get used to the noises the building makes.

<Shaw> He looked over at her, nose wrinkled.

<Jessica> What? Old buildings make lots of weird noises - especially this place. I need to know what's normal noise and what's not normal noise... for just in case....

<Shaw> True, I suppose, yet what's normal and natural and what could be a danger or could be... supernatural, I suppose, would be difficult to determine in this place.

<Jessica> Yeah, it's tricky.... had to track down the source of a few noises... As they reached the next set of stairs, she turned to head up them. Mostly it's just small animals trying to hide from the weather.

<Shaw> The hard heels of his shoes clicked on the wooden risers, and the hair on the back of his neck rose. He found himself completely unable to resist checking over his shoulder for... something. Anything.

<Jessica> Jess gave his hand a gentle squeeze, leading them out through the large iron doors into the basement level then up another flight of stairs so they were once again in sight of some windows. The wing was indeed empty of SHIELD construction personnel and Jess glanced at Sebastian as they moved into one of the as-yet-uncompleted common areas.

<Shaw> He walked to a window and braced himself on one of the wide sills, eyes unfocused to check for any uninvited guests in this wing. They were alone.

<Jessica> Chewing on her lower lip a little, Jess stopped beside him, looking out of the window for a few moments before turning her attention to him. "What's wrong?"

<Shaw> Sebastian looked down with a sigh. Everything was going so well, he didn't want to say this, didn't want her to know.

<Jessica> The way he was avoiding looking at her was making her worry even more, "Talk to me..."

<Shaw> "I told you I've done things I regret," he started. "Since last I left, I've had time to think about some of those things... one in particular."

<Jessica> "Okay..." She reached to put one of her hands on his in the hopes of reassuring him.

<Shaw> He looked at her hand and turned his own to twine their fingers together. "There's... it's..." Frustrated with himself, he sighed and ran his free hand through his hair. "You should know this - I can't, in good conscience, keep this from you. Not now, not if we're to be... married."

<Jessica> "Then tell me... Sebastian, I love you... whatever this is, that won't change." She reached her free hand up to cup his cheek, "Don't look so worried..."

<Shaw> Meeting her eyes, he could only hope she was right. "And I love you, but... this could change your feelings."

<Shaw> "It could," he said, catching the expression that crossed her face. "Because I irrevocably harmed those you know, or knew."

<Jessica> "Just tell me... you want to tell me, don't you? I promise not to freak out."
<Shaw> "I do, and I don't. No one knows, and no one can know..." Sebastian chewed his lip again. "It was nearly ten years ago, just after I was raised to the Inner Circle."

<Jessica> "I'm not going to tell anyone anything you tell me in confidence... you know you can trust me." She offered him a small smile.

<Shaw> He raised his hand to her face, cupping her cheek and stroking gently with his thumb. "You know I was sent to the school to bring its students into the Hellfire Club as the future leaders of man and mutant kind, but that was only half of the story."

<Jessica> "And you're ashamed of the rest of it?" She turned her face into his hand, closing her eyes and enjoying the warmth of it on her skin.

<Shaw> "Yes." It came out more strangled than he would have liked and after a moment watching her lean into his hand he let go of her. "I hired Essex."

<Jessica> She stared at him for a moment while that sank in before lowering her gaze to the floor, "Oh..." That certainly explained a lot.

<Shaw> Crossing his arms, he pushed off from the sill and moved a few steps away. "I gained entry to the school, I created a distraction - an explosion - and his Marauders took medical files on every student. Then, students selected by the Inner Circle were taken for study."

<Jessica> She nodded, deciding just to wait until he'd finished.

<Shaw> "Shortly after he acquired the selected students, Essex... well, he went rogue, point of fact. He refused to respond to either my or the Inner Circle's requests for information or updates, and he followed a... more extensive course of study than was authorized." He kept his back to her, spine stiff.

<Shaw> "I was ordered to bring him to heel or face the consequences, and to ally myself with Xavier to retrieve the students. Of course, this only resulted in Essex acquiring more students, and the Hellfire Club was forced to expend even more resources to recover them."

<Jessica> Jess wasn't sure what to say to that, she took a hesitant step forward and put a hand on his shoulder.

<Shaw> "I was angry - my plans to make an impression on the Inner Circle foiled, and I was barely able to hold on to my position." He didn't acknowledge her touch.

<Shaw> "It wasn't until later, until I came to know so many of you, that I regretted my actions. It wasn't until Elisabeth... Essex essentially murdered her lover, under my sanction. I saw the cost of what I'd done."

<Jessica> "What happened... it wasn't your fault.... you couldn't have known he'd do that..."

<Shaw> He looked at her over his shoulder. "It doesn't matter, because I aimed that loose cannon directly at you all, and then I was unable to eliminate him, for years, although I tried and eventually it was your people who removed him as a threat."

<Jessica> "The point is that you tried and you're sorry... If you weren't sorry then you wouldn't worry so much over this..."

<Shaw> It was this that made him turn around to face her. "My only consolation is that he is finally dead."

<Jessica> "How much of this does everyone else know?"

<Shaw> "Nothing," he said, clearing his throat.

<Jessica> She nodded, "Well... at least you're not telling me because you're worried someone else will beat you to it..." she offered a small smile.

<Shaw> Sebastian shook his head with an answering slight smile. "No, love... I tell you because I thought you should know." Again, he licked his lips, looking down.

<Jessica> "Is this why the whole Hydra thing gets to you so much?" She stepped a little closer to him.

<Shaw> He paused, lips pressed together, then nodded.

<Jessica> Sliding her arms around him slowly, she drew him into a hug. "I still love you."

<Shaw> "Thank you, Jess, love." Sebastian buried his face in her hair.

<Jessica> "Thank you for telling me," she gave him a small squeeze, "Are you sure none of them know, though? It would explain why some people really dislike you... and aren't so shy about saying so to me."

<Shaw> "I'm fairly certain no one knows." He sighed, hands tracing along her back. "Well, I've had my doubts about Xavier, as he is - ah, was - one of the most powerful telepaths known. Of course, he is not dead, but he's as good as at the moment."

<Shaw> Sebastian shook his head. "But no, no one knows. Elisabeth... I very nearly told her, but no."

<Jessica> She nodded, cuddling into him a little more and wondering just what the hell everyone's problem was then. "Time changes people... I'm sure you're not the same man now as you were back then and I won't hold you responsible for the actions of someone else."

<Shaw> Arms tightening around her, he smiled into her hair and kissed her temple. The relief was overwhelming and he shared it with her. And I love you for that... for everything. He grinned against her skin. "So, now, you know my most guarded secret."

<Jessica> "I won't tell anyone," she turned her head to press a kiss to his cheek. "I promise."

<Shaw> "Thank you," he said. "There are no more secrets between us..."

<Jessica> She gave him a proper smile, leaning in to kiss him, Good. You already know all of mine.
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