Chapter Text
Jack stared out the window of his carriage as the city of London turned into the forest between it and his home. He always disliked going home at the end of a work day, going from the warmth of his friends nearby to the cold mansion that lost its light around this time last year. The only thing waiting for him at home was the stuck up servants that thought they knew him better than his parents had.
Lord Bob Zimmermann and Lady Alicia Zimmermann had disappeared. The couple left on a trip to the countryside nearly a year ago, never to return. This left Jack with the house he had grown up with, the staff in it, and a title he never wanted. In the time they had been gone, Jack had grown increasingly desperate to leave everything behind, leaving the country he’d been in all his life even, but the friends he had were all that kept him there. He left work later every day, until he stayed right up to sunset.
This night, he left a little later than usual. It had already begun to snow, and the twilight added to the poor visibility. Jack could barely see past the road ahead, illuminated by the lanterns hanging on either side.
The carriage hit a patch of ice on the road, and Jack’s driver, Henry, tried his hardest to keep on the road, swerving to the side. Jack had just enough time to see eyes reflecting the lantern light before they hit something.
“Stop the carriage!” Jack banged on the wall separating him and Henry, and he could hear Henry slowing the horses to a stop, but he was already jumping from the carriage and rushing back to where he had seen the person in the lantern light.
In a snowbank off the side of the road was a man dressed in rags staring up in a daze. For a moment Jack thought he was dead, but the man’s eyes shifted to look at him as he approached.
“You hit me,” the man said bluntly, his words a bit slurred. He shifted his position and groaned a bit. Jack frowned in concern, but stayed a bit of distance away, respecting the stranger’s space.
“I’m sorry,” Jack said lamely. “Are you alright? Are you hurt?”
“I am definitely not alright… and yeah, I think something’s hurt,” the man shifted again, moving his leg, which caused him to swear under his breath. He laughed, but Jack could hear the pain behind it. “Yeah, definitely hurt.”
“Is it alright if I pick you up?”
“Pardon me?” The man looked a bit scandalized, and Jack could feel his face turn red.
“No-- I mean-- Can I take you to my home?” Jack winced. “I mean… can I take you to my home, so I can call my friend, who is a doctor, to come look at you and help you?”
The man had the gall to smirk at Jack, but it turned into a wince of pain. He looked Jack over with a frown before nodding. Jack carefully moved closer, and with a final look for approval, Jack slid his hand under the knees of the man and placed the other on his back. The man slung his arm over Jack’s shoulder, and Jack lifted him up.
He was light, lighter than he should be. His clothes were torn in places, leaving some of his skin exposed, and he had dirt in the places that were uncovered. Jack figured he was around the same age, maybe a bit younger, than Jack, and a head shorter, but he was fully underweight. Jack lifted him up like he was a rag doll. As such, Jack’s careful movements were a lot quicker than he expected, and he jostled the man and his injured leg, procuring a groan of pain from the man.
“Sorry,” Jack muttered under his breath, and slowed down, slowly placing the man on the adjacent seat, then climbing in after him. He banged on the side of the carriage and Henry pushed the horses into a trot, heading back on the road towards the mansion.
Jack watched the man, who looked out the window. There was sweat on his brow and his arms were crossed over his body, making him look even smaller. Jack frowned and made a mental note to call Justin as soon as he returned home.
The man turned his attention from the window to look at Jack. The lighting within the carriage wasn’t great, but they could still see well enough to talk and know who they were talking to.
“Suppose I should… thank you? Is that the appropriate response for someone almost killing you but instead doesn’t?” The man cracked a small smile, that didn’t cut through the pained look on his face.
“I’m sorry.”
“You already said that, Mr…”
“Zimmermann. Uh, Jack. You can call me Jack,” Jack avoided mentioning the title that his name also carried.
“M’name’s Eric,” The man answered, shifting in his seat with a grimace. “So, Jack. Where are we going?”
“Uh, well, my home? It’s just a ways down the road, and once there I can call Justin-- uh Dr. Oluransi-- and he can look you over and do something about your leg.”
“Must be nice, having a doctor you can call whenever.” Eric closed his eyes, leaning against the side of the carriage. Jack opened his mouth to respond, but Eric had fallen asleep, probably passed out from the pain.
Jack hoped that Justin would know what to do, because Jack sure didn’t. He didn’t think he should kick Eric out once Justin was done. Not in the condition he was in. But he couldn’t ask Eric to stay. He was just a stranger that hit him with a carriage.
They pulled up on the mansion, and Jack hopped out before Henry could open the door for him. Jack reached in and carefully pulled Eric from the carriage, keeping in mind his weight and also the injury to his leg. He stood at the door to the mansion with Eric in his arms, and Eric turned his face towards Jack’s chest in his sleep, a grimace of pain marring his otherwise peaceful face.
The huge double doors opened, and the head butler, Ulysses, stood there with a face full of disdain. “Master Jack.”
“Ulysses, call Justin. We hit this man on the way home,” Jack pushed past the butler, heading towards the grand staircase. He took a few steps up when he heard the clearing of a voice from behind him. Turning, Jack saw Ulysses standing in the open doorways. “What is it, Ulysses.”
“Why call Mr. Oluransi for a street rat like that, sir. Let Henry drop him off on the other side of town, at one of those cheap places. No need to sully the sheets.” The butler stuck up his nose at Jack and Eric, and Jack was glad that Eric was asleep. He could be angry on his behalf.
“ Dr. Oluransi is my friend and more than willing to make house calls if you ask, and I am asking. And, I will not send my staff to the bad side of town just because you don’t want to help a man like this. Now, call Rayne up to one of the guest rooms on the same floor as my room. I want her to clean him before Justin gets here.” With that, Jack turned around and continued up the stairs to the third floor.
He chose a room across from his own, down at the end of the hall, and pushed the door open as best as he could. He laid Eric down on the bed carefully. No sooner had he turned towards the door than Rayne, the head housekeeper, bustled into the room.
“Master Jack! Get him off those sheets and into the bathroom, if you will,” she tssked and shook her head. “This is quite the problem you’ve brought into this house, Master Jack. When will you learn.”
“Rayne, I’d ask you not to talk like that, but I know you won’t listen. His leg is hurt, so be careful with it.”
“Alright, Jack. Why don’t you dig through your old clothes for your… smallest items of clothing.” She looked over Eric in disdain, and Jack frowned, but left the room anyways, heading for his room.
He wasn’t sure if any clothes he had now would fit the smaller man. He made a mental note to call Will in the morning. He pulled out a blue button-down that didn’t fit anymore and a pair of slacks that had never fit. He was sure both would be too big for Eric, but they were a start. Taking the clothes, he returned to the room he had chosen for Eric and looked around. He knew Rayne was probably scrubbing every inch of Eric clean and would shoo him from the room if he were to enter.
“Master Jack, just leave the clothes on the bed and leave the room. Let me know when the doctor arrives, that is when I will take my leave.” She called from the bathroom, and Jack jumped, sheepishly placing the clothes. She always seemed to have a 6th sense when it came to him.
He retreated back to his bedroom and pulled out the book he was currently studying for work. He stared at the page in front of him for a few minutes before it occurred to him to actually read it. His mind was preoccupied with what had happened, and the guilt was finally catching up to him. Jack rubbed his face a few times and concentrated on the page. It was another few minutes before Jack gave up. He got up and started pacing, trying to figure out how long it would take, pulling out his pocket watch.
He estimated it had been about ten minutes since he had returned, which meant that it would be about another ten minutes before Justin arrived, and Jack stopped his pacing, frowning in frustration. He returned to the book on his desk and forced himself to read the page. Focusing on it helped pass the time, but he still only got a few pages in before there was a knock on his door.
“Come in.” He stood up, turning towards the door, as Ulysses opened it.
“Master Jack, Dr. Oluransi has arrived,” Ulysses said, before turning and leaving the doctor in the doorway.
“Jack, I swear he hates me.” Justin stepped into the room, his bag bumping against his hip.
“He probably does. He seems to hate everyone,” Jack smiled and stepped in to give Justin a hug, who returned it with one arm.
“So, where is the patient.” Justin turned to business mode quick, and Jack nodded to the room across the hall. The two men crossed into the other bedroom and met Rayne, who had just finished cleaning Eric as best as she could while trying to avoid his legs. She huffed at Jack, and he waited for her tirade.
“Master Jack, you never ask too much of me, but today was different. That man has more layers of dirt than this bed has sheets. I scrubbed as much as I dared, but he will need a much more thorough bath later. Good day, doctor.” She nodded at Justin and swept from the room before he could return the gesture.
“Frankly, I expected as much,” Jack shrugged, before turning to the man on the bed. Eric was still out, but he certainly looked much cleaner. His hair, which Jack had seen as a light brown, was actually a nice blonde shade, and his skin was scrubbed red up to the knee of his left leg, which was still a bit dirty, but clearly Rayne had chosen to give it a once-over. Justin gave a low whistle.
“Yeah, his leg is definitely broken.”
“You can tell just by looking?”
“In this case, yeah. It’s not lying right on the bed. I’m going to need you to hold him down while I set it. I didn’t think to bring any anesthetic.” Justin gestured apologetically, and Jack’s eyes bugged out a bit.
Moving to the side of the bed, Jack held down Eric’s shoulders, and Justin glanced at him with a nod. He counted down, and on one set the leg. Eric woke with a scream and struggled against Jack’s hands, but there was no strength in his movements. Justin quickly finished splinting and wrapping the leg, and with a nod, Jack released his hold on Eric.
“That hurt.” Eric said after a moment, glaring weakly between the two men in the room.
“Jack here didn’t tell me the extent of the injury to your leg and I didn’t think I would need to bring the heavy artillery. Also, you were already out.” Justin rifled through his bag, dealing with the minor scrapes that Eric had, but none were as bad as the leg. Justin finished up, turning to Jack. “He can’t go back outside, Jack. Not like this.”
“I wasn’t planning on it,” Jack said defensively.
“I knew you weren’t.”
“Um, I’m right here, you know,” Eric said, and the other two looked down at the bed. “What do you mean I can’t go.”
“Your leg is broken. If you were to go out before it was fully healed, you might die.” Justin said matter-of-factly.
Eric looked appropriately pacified, but he still had an air of defiance about him. “How long will it take for my leg to heal?”
“At least six weeks, at most 3 months.”
At that, even Jack started. It was currently mid-November, and the timeline took it past Christmas. Jack was unsure if he wanted a stranger in his house for the holidays, especially with what that time had become.
“Jack, I know what this time of year means to you. But you can’t turn him back to the streets.” Justin placed a hand on Jack’s shoulder, and Jack frowned. Eric looked between the two of them, but remained silent.
“Can’t you take him? He’d be better suited with you,” Jack pleaded, hating the sound of his own voice right now. He was hopeful, and a bit desperate, but Justin shook his head.
“I leave back home on Christmas day, and don’t return back until after the new year. He needs to stay with you. You have the room.” Justin gestured around the room, one of many empty ones within the upper levels of the house.
“But… I have stairs, and there aren’t any rooms on the bottom floor where the kitchens are. How will he eat?” Jack was grasping at straws.
“Assign one of the many servants to him. Come on Jack, just let him stay until he is healed. I’ll come by once before I leave, and again when I return. But other than that, you both are on your own.” Justin nodded at Eric, gave Jack a look, and then left the room, leaving Jack frowning after him.
“So… why don’t you want me to stay?” Eric asked defensively, shifting to a sitting position on the bed, grimacing as his leg moved.
“It’s… a long story,” Jack said, staring after Justin. “I’ll send a servant up with a tray of food, and he’ll take care of you until you can start walking on your own.”
“Alright… Thank you, Jack. For letting me stay, I mean.”
“It’s not like I had any other choice.” Jack sighed, and left the room without another word.