The Ocean On Their Shoulders

Chapter 15

It was about time she visited the place she had once called home, moving on from the resentment of being evicted and venturing back to Pauper's Drop as an outsider this time. She owed it to her friends at least, and to grab some things she had left in the scramble to move. It was supposed to be a quick in-and-out, but she didn't expect to have someone accompany her and for the whole trip to practically blow up in her face.

Neither did she expect to find comfort after the trip in the one person she was conditioned to fear.

~*~

Maybe she didn't hear him correctly. "You want to come with me? To Pauper's Drop?"

"Yeah, is that a problem?"

Jane shook her head immediately, the corner of her lips dropping into a rather dramatic frown. "No, no. I'm just...surprised, I guess. I mean, the Drop isn't for the faint of heart."

Fontaine turned to her from where he had been putting away a few folders in a cabinet behind his desk, and yet she could only greet him with a smirk.

"Faint of heart, huh?" He closed the cabinet with a bit more force than intended, the entire thing rattling a bit as he stepped up to his desk. "You know, if you don't want me to go you can just say so."

Jane shrugged, hands clasping behind her back as she wandered over toward the left of his office. "I'm not saying you're not welcome to come with me. Just - are you ready to see what's down there?" She gave him a glance over her shoulder before turning her attention to the few uninteresting titles lining his office bookshelves.

"What? Not like I haven't seen a shit show before. I was at one of Ryan's galas almost a week ago, anyway."

She turned with a smile concealing a chuckle, watching him prop himself against the edge of his desk with arms crossing. A complete turn from when she had first entered his office months ago and he was practically dragging her out by the arm. She'd never admit now how many times she's entered his office, with his permission of course, to pick out a book or two to read during her lunch break.

"True," Jane started again, turning back to the shelf to grab a book that had snagged her attention earlier. "I guess, if you really want to go, you'd have to be as inconspicuous as you can be. People down in the Drop despise Ryan, imagine what they think of you."

"Nothin' better, I'm assumin'."

Turning with the book now, she opened it to read a few words on the first page, humming to confirm his assumption as she paced closer to him at the same time. When she got close enough, she watched in her peripherals as he reached out a hand to take the book by the spine between her grasp to slowly shut it. Jane lifted her gaze just as steadily as he did so, a brow raising to find a coy smile lining his lips.

"You still want to come with me?"

He lifted the book from her hands, setting it aside behind him on the desk before standing and taking a step into her space. She glanced down then to see a hand extended towards her, and she lifted her own to run the tips of her fingers, feather-light, along each line and crease of his palm. Keeping their gazes locked, she finally allowed his fingers to intertwine with her own.

"Sure. I can hold my own," He lifted her hand, lips barely brushing against her knuckles. "Been in worse places on the surface, believe me."

"Oh, I believe you." She felt the flush line her cheeks but was rather fond of the display than embarrassed of it now. "I guess I'm just worried about my friends seeing you down there and going ballistic."

A chuckle dripped from his lips as he pulled her closer, his free hand finding her hip to rest upon while her opposite palm met his chest. She dropped her gaze for a second to his tie, busying her free hand in fixing the fabric, straightening it out to distract her from his proximity.