Stalking Jack the Ripper Oneshots

Audrey Rose couldn't wait for Thomas to get home...

Audrey Rose couldn't wait for Thomas to get home.

It wasn't merely due to the fact that she missed her husband's warm embrace and gentle kisses, Audrey Rose had another—arguably more important—origin to her excitement.

Their occupations as forensic pathologists often required for travelling—specifically alone. It wasn't uncommon for Thomas to leave the city for a few days, occasionally up to a week in time, for a case, while Audrey Rose remained in London with Uncle Jonathan.

However, very quickly, Thomas began to notice that without his presence for multiple days, Audrey Rose was easily swept up in a case—overpowered with ambition to solve it. He only knew this from the desperate, emotive state she was in whenever he came home from these trips—reserved and particularly on edge.

In order to compensate, Thomas had made it routine that whenever he would leave for a case, he left a myriad of letters all over their grand country home, each addressed to Audrey Rose with a different endearment. He hid them in a vast assortment of clever, creative places, each letter containing a sweet note handwritten by himself. Some of which were lines of poetry he penned for her, others contained heartfelt declarations, and occasionally, quotations from novels they both enjoyed, proceeded with an annotation from Thomas.

Despite the variation of letters, they all served the same purpose; to ground Audrey Rose.

The catch was that Thomas refused to tell Audrey Rose how many letters he had hidden, providing the constant wonder of "are there any more?" after every letter she discovered. The other—and final rule—was that Audrey Rose was forbidden to actively search for the letters. Thomas wanted her to come across them naturally, not using her deduction skills to deliberately look for them.

Which was precisely the reason Audrey Rose was so excited for Thomas to finally return home after nine days of his absence—the longest trip he had been on without her accompaniment. She longed to wrap her arms around his neck, bury her face deep into his chest. She longed to kiss the signature Thomas Cresswell sly smirk away from his lips as her hands explored the strong plain of his chest. However, what she longed to do impossibly more so than the former, was tell her husband the number of letters she had managed to find.

Audrey Rose always hoped she had missed a few, allowing her to follow Thomas through the estate as he gathered the remaining letters she had yet to find. She loved reading the letters with him sat across from her, providing her with the perfect opportunity to pounce on him and smother him in kisses.

The moment she heard the front door open, Audrey Rose ran—dashing down the grand staircase as quickly as she could despite her limp and threw herself into Thomas's open arms. He immediately lifted her off the ground, squeezing her tightly to his chest as they breathed each other in—drawing in the other's familiar scent.

"Thomas," Audrey Rose sighed, pressing her face into the warm skin of his neck. "Welcome home."

"I missed you immensely." He pressed a kiss to the side of her head, murmuring softly, "I love you."

Audrey Rose pulled back, only to grin down at Thomas as she echoed, "I love you," before capturing his mouth in her own, swiping her tongue along the seam of his lips. He returned in kind, parting his lips in order to explore her mouth fully, drawing her impossibly closer. When Audrey Rose found herself moaning gently against his lips, she forced herself back.

She slipped down the length of his body, her toes finally greeting the floor once again as she braced her hands on his shoulders, looking up at him with a grin. Thomas lowered his head, pressing a kiss to either of the corners of her mouth, then the tip of her nose, either of her cheeks, her chin, and lastly, one final kiss to her lips. Audrey Rose arched into his touch, pressing her chest flush against his as she tipped her head back to meet his golden-brown eyes. She brushed a gentle kiss to the underside of his jaw as she looped her arms around his neck, fingers buried in the curls at the nape of his neck.