Stalking Jack the Ripper Oneshots

Happy Birthday Audrey Rose

Thomas had been dragging me all over London for hours, visiting strangers' homes who had had some form of contact with the victim of our most recent case prior to her death. However, what made positively no sense to me was why we were continuing our investigation when Uncle Jonathan had already declared this death as an accident. I had faith in Uncle's official declarations when it came to cases and I knew if he had even a shadow of a doubt, he would continue the investigation until he was certain. The fact that he had made his official ruling only proved to me that this case was complete.

However, what confused me most was not the fact that we were continuing a closed case, it was the fact that it was my eighteenth birthday and Thomas hadn't even remembered. Perhaps it was simply a cruel reminder from the universe that I loved Thomas Cresswell in a vastly different way from the way he loved me. He loved me as a best friend, a forensics partner, maybe even a sister, whereas I loved him as a lover—wholeheartedly and unforgiving. The fact that he couldn't even remember my birthday was like a knife to the gut.

Thomas had finally, after much begging from myself, allowed us to take a break from interviews in order to visit a small café on the corner of the street. The plethora of notes regarding the case were sprawled across the table before us as Thomas and I sipped on our espresso and tea respectively.

"Wadsworth?"

My back straightened as I flinched, Thomas's voice snapping me back to reality. "Hmm?"

He let out a breathy laugh, a lazy grin written across his features as he asked, "Did you listen to a single word I just said?"

I fidgeted with my mother's locket that hung against my chest as I studied his features. Thomas looked easy, relaxed, and judging his appearance, he didn't seem to be mad or upset that I had missed whatever he had said. I swiped my tongue across my lips, the only form of moisture from the cool autumn air surrounding us, though I couldn't help but notice Thomas's gaze dip down to the movement. Softly clearing my throat, I replied, "Sorry— I guess I got lost in thought."

"What were you thinking about?" Cresswell asked, crossing his arms over his strong chest. The gesture drew my attention to the flex of his biceps against his shirt. Saints, he was gorgeous, too gorgeous for it to be allowed.

Forcing my gaze up to his golden-brown irises, I hesitated a moment. "The case," I lied. "I don't get why you're so persistent that it was murder when all of your evidence is refuted. It seems redundant to continue pestering innocent people about the death of a loved one when the case is solved."

"Just the case? Are you sure there's nothing else occupying your thoughts, Audrey Rose?"

"Why would there be?"

Thomas let out a chuckle which swiftly grew into a vast fit of laughter as he hunched over the table. I raised a brow at him, evidently confused as to what he found so humorous, and glanced around us as the myriad of people offering us judgemental looks. "Cresswell, people are beginning to stare! What on earth is so funny?" I whispered sternly, my gaze flickering back and forth between Thomas and the people around us.

He huffed out a long breath as he leaned back in his chair, meeting my gaze with a devilish smirk, to which I replied with an accusatory raise of my brow—a look that read, "Talk. Now."

"Audrey Rose, you are simultaneously the brightest, most intelligent being I've ever had the chance to encounter, whilst also being the blindest," Thomas spoke, rapping his forefinger against the edge of the table between us.

"I... I don't follow? Was that your attempt at a compliment?"

"Oh, my darling Wadsworth, what am I going to do with you?" Thomas teased with a wicked grin. "Tell me, Audrey Rose, I agreed with your Uncle when he came to the conclusion that this particular case was an accident, correct? Why would I suddenly pursue the theory of a murder when we already closed this case?"

Impossibly so, he was confusing me even more than before. "Perhaps you found a piece of evidence that Uncle Jonathan nor I noticed that indicates a murder—or at the very least, refutes the possibility of an accident."

Thomas shook his head as he took his lower lip between his teeth, the gesture making me squeeze my thighs together. He hummed in thought to himself before declaring, "Jonathan wouldn't have missed such a detail. It was a good guess, Wadsworth, but no, I did not find any form of evidence to suggest a murder. In fact, I've fully believed that this case was an accident from the moment we began stalking our way around London."

"If you, Uncle, and myself are all in agreement of the case being an accident, why bother dragging me around London with you?"

"You really haven't figured it out yet?"

"Figured what out, Cresswell?" I snapped.

Startled from my outburst, Thomas flinched, though before I got to chance to apologize, he elaborated, "I took you around London because I know how much you enjoy working on cases and I thought it would be a good birthday present for my best friend."

"I— You remembered?" Too many thoughts roamed my mind, too many to formally string together.

Thomas smiled softly. "Of course, I did. You really believed that I would forget your birthday? Your eighteenth birthday at that."

"In all honesty, yeah. Thomas," I paused, attempting to gather my thoughts. "Often I get in these moments where I convince myself that you're more important to me than I am to you. That you wouldn't even notice if I just disappeared. Today... I thought today was a confirmation of that."

"Audrey Rose, I— I'm so sorry. I never, not for a bloody moment, want you to think that I don't care or that you're not important to me because you are more important to me than I could ever properly articulate." Thomas scoffed a laugh and ran a hand through his hair. "You may be brilliant, but you are so incredibly blind, Wadsworth. You can't see what I've laid before you."

I peered into his eyes, searching and searching and searching. Ultimately, with no answer hidden within the golden flecks in his irises, I uttered, "If I am blind, then enlighten me."

Thomas cleared the table, stuffing the pages within the pocket of his coat before placing his hand palm up on the table, raising an elegant brow. It was a silent request, that much I could deduce. After a moment's hesitation, I placed my hand over Thomas's, slipping my fingers in between his and allowed him to guide me wherever he wished. He led me out of the café and into the alleyway a few buildings down the road, immediately backing me up against the brick wall. My breath hitched in my throat as I tipped my head back, peering up at him.

At last, Thomas whispered, hardly audible beneath the sound of the wind and busy streets, "I'm in love with you, Audrey Rose Wadsworth." I parted my lips, both in awe and to speak, however, nothing came out. Thomas only continued, "I have loved you from the moment I met you when we were merely sixteen, and my love has only increased since. Every moment I'm with you is both a blessing and a curse; a blessing because I am honoured to be part of your life and a curse because I have lived with the fear that it is all too good to be true. That the world has offered me everything I've ever wanted only to someday take all of it away from me."

I stared up at him, tears brimming my wide eyes as my lips curled into a smile. Slowly, I raised my arms, wrapping them loosely around Thomas's neck, drawing him nearer. "Everything you've just confessed, the love and the fear, I feel to that precise extent. I love you, Thomas, and every moment I've pretended I don't has been pure agony. All I've ever wanted to do was tell the world that you're mine, that I love Thomas Cresswell."

The disbelief that covered his face like a veil I could only assume mirrored my own expression at the moment. Happy, love, and disbelief.

"Audrey Rose—"

"Just kiss me, Thomas."

He flashed me a wide, almost giddy grin, before lowering his mouth to mine, kissing me as though we had the rest of our lives to do so.

And in a way, we did.

***

Word Count: 1466