Abigail

--- 14 ---

We had walked a reasonable distance from the palace, we'd passed the main gardens and walked to somewhere more private, although we hadn't spoken since I agreed to join him, we both knew what we were going to talk about.

"So the kitchens is where you are when I can't find you?" He asked, breaking the silence, he looked over to me, his eyes staring down as I looked up at him, my arms folded over my chest.

"You look for me?" I tried to sound surprised, unbiased to the idea but i could help but feel bubbles in my stomach. He didn't respond, only waited in the silence for me to answer his question.

"Yes, it is where I am most of the time."

"Why?" He asked, I couldn't tell if he was preparing to judge me or if he was just curious, I didn't answer at first, concentrating on the stepping stones, the preened garden had come to an end now, we were slowly being surrounded by the larger trees that created a wall between the city and the palace. 

"Because I prefer it down there." I looked at him, he was scowling.

"Why?" He stopped, so I did too. "Why do you prefer the kitchen to the palace?"

"The people are nicer, you can act like a proper person, they're aren't any rules."

"But you have to work." He countered, as if the argument was a sufficient one.

"Yes, thank goodness, I responded, gratitude leaking throughout my tone. "I can actually use my time, you might enjoy sitting in a chair not doing all that much Mr Ridley, but I like doing things with my time." 

"But why do you want to behave like a servant?" He was judging me at this point, his tone had changed and he had started walking again, his hands folded behind his back.

"Because they don't judge, its refreshing. I fit in better" 

"You're rich, you fit with your rich family, Lady Catherine fits in, she's your cousin." He reasoned, it seemed more so with himself than with me. I don't reply.

"Who are you Lady Abigail?" He stopped but I continued to walk, I didn't have a plausible answer, not for him anyway. 

"I'm Abigail."  I could hear him sigh before running a little to catch up to me. He was staring at me, his eyes trying to work out who I was.

"I always thought you were oddly behaved to be from Lady Catherine's family, she acts so proper, but you seem like you're making it up as you go along." He said it plainly, I had to stifle my laugh, his accuracy was both worrying and amusing, he watched me more than I thought.

"Why does that humour you? You have poor etiquette Lady Abigail."

"Maybe that's why I prefer the kitchens." I responded. 

"I will figure out who you are and where you are from." I think he planned to sound threatening, but I didn't feel threatened, he probably couldn't even fathom where I was from.

 We walked in silence for a while and stopped in front of a rock, sitting on the cold hard surface. This part of the gardens acted almost like the behind the scenes, I liked it more, sure the gardens were beautiful but I did't want to touch anything in case I messed it up. It was already a mess here.

"How are you feeling about the other night." I watched as my finger trailed over the lines in the rock, the grainy feeling under my fingertip reminding me that time doesn't change everything. 

"You mean the murder." He looked ahead, playing with some strands of grass that he had pulled from the ground.

"Yes." I croaked.

"I try not to think about it." He said plainly.

"I see." 

"But when I do, it makes me feel sick, the image is stuck there, in my head, and then I think about the fact that it was almost you. Then I see you as her." His voice was soft, he looked at me, straightening his back and pursing his lips.

"It was never going to be me." I tore my eyes away from him.

"He was about to kill you -"

"It wasn't my fate." I interrupted. What I meant was that the first Ripper murder was a historical event that would not shift in its timeline, and that it was always going to be her.

"Thankfully." He said quietly, I looked at him.

"I knew you didn't hate me." I tried to lighten the mood, nudging him slightly with my shoulder.

"Of course I don't." He twirled the torn grass between his finger tip.

"Then why do you act like you do?" I tried to read his face, his expressionless face was all I could see.

"I don't know how to respond to you, you do your own thing whilst I'm still trying to follow the rules, it's frustrating." He looks at me before through the grass away and leaning down to pull some more out of the grass. "You're not like the other ladies here, you have this mystery around you and I don't like it"

"I'm not mysterious." I replied, picking at my nails.

"Abigail, you appeared out of nowhere, and you don't act like anyone else, you don't follow rules, you cook, you prefer the kitchens to the palace, you knew the murder was going to happen before it did."

"No, I didn't." I suddenly felt very hot, this man was much more observant than I had first thought. 

"Yes, yes you did."  He looked me directly in the eye, I couldn't fool him, and I couldn't tell him. "You told me to turn us around, and you sounded scared, you knew what was going to happen, but I can't work how you would of known."

"Mr Ridley-"

"Where you in on it?" No, of course you weren't, he tried to kill yo too, and you weren't to know she'd be in the pala-"

"I wasn't in on it." My heart was pounding in my chest, I fiddled with the fabric of my skirt, staring straight ahead, bile rising in my throat, even if I were to admit it, he wouldn't believe it to be possible. I couldn't think of a way to get out of this, and I hoped he'd stop asking questions. He noticed my fiddling and picked up my hands, I turned to look at him. His large hands encased mine, the soft beds of his fingertips gripping them, the fresh torn out grass forgotten about now.

"How did you know what was going to happen?"

a/n:

word count: 1078

Another chapter ending in a question, but I bet you wanna know how she plans to respond! Sorry it's a few days late I had a bit of writers block. 

They're slowly becoming closer, the more we earn about their characters, so it should be interesting to see were it goes, thanks for reading, sorry for any mistakes (Please point them out if you notice any so I can fix them) Hope you enjoyed!

-D.W :)