milliways_bar | (no subject)

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Jane had gone home and worried that her mother or Cassandra would wonder about the bandage on her neck but Dr. Cullen did a good job and no one noticed.

Though she found her dreams were slightly richer as if there was something strange and full of passion inside her. She would wake up and try to write them but they slipped from her hand like the morning fog.

When a door to Milliways appeared, she at first hesitated but then went through to order a pot of tea and keep trying to write what she could not quite grasp.

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"God, that's romantic."

A beat.

"Do you like him?"

"It is rather and yes, I do. Though what counts is that he makes her happy. I wrote them a poem when they became betrothed, it was perhaps not my finest work but they enjoyed it."

Tom did not but he doesn't matter though Jane misses having him to talk to here.

"That's such a kind thing to do."

She takes a sip of her neglected tea.

"And what about yourself, right now? Are you seeing anyone?"

Jane takes a drink of tea as she considers, "No, I have not found a man that stirs me."

Not that she might sometimes consider Tom that way, but that would be strange and she does not truly know his feelings or her own.

"Maybe not yet," Kate says, empathy and encouragement in her eyes. "But I'm sure you will. The most important thing is that it's the right person."

"Yes, the right person can be so hard to find and to know that you have found them."

"The mystery of the universe," she says quietly, nodding. "Or, well, universes, in here."

Tilting her head slightly, she offers Jane a tiny smile.

"You know when you do find them, though. I had pretty much given up on romance completely, and then I met someone here."

"May I ask what he's like?"

Her cheeks grow warmer.

"Bill's great -- he's a sheriff from South Carolina. It's 2008 for him, so our timelines are a few years apart. We became friends here, and it took a while before we actually started dating last year."

"Sharing friendship does seem like the best place to begin. What drew you to him?"

"He's one of the kindest people I've ever met."

She hooks a stray lock of hair behind one ear.

"He cares a lot about everyone around him -- that's something ... it's not something that's so common, now."

"He sounds quite wonderful. Do you have many things to talk about together?"

"We do," she says, though another slight twist accompanies the words; they don't talk nearly as much as they used to.

But, she reminds herself, they're getting better at lowering their defenses.

"That's something else that drew me to him, right from the start -- he's so easy to talk to."

"How wonderful. An intelligent and kind man is a rare thing. So far I know one man who is worth a conversation but I do worry about his London airs."

Her eyebrows lift.

"Tell me about him, if you don't mind sharing?"

"Mister Lefroy actually first showed the Bar to me though sadly he does not have a door anymore. He was rude enough to sleep through a reading of my poem at my sister's betrothal but he can at times speak intelligently about what he reads."

Kate suppresses a soft laugh, but her smile widens.

"So he drives you a little crazy."

It's not quite a question.

"That would be one way to phrase it, yes."

She can't completely stifle her amusement at Jane's answer.

"How did you two meet?"

"He is a friend of my brother Henry's. Apparently they know each other in London and Mister Lefroy has family in Hampshire."

"And how often do you get to see each other?"

"Fairly often since his family lives nearby and know mine in passing."

Her smile widens.

"Then maybe you'll learn to tolerate him, and maybe he'll curb those London airs."

"Perhaps I will."

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