Chapter Text
DISCLAIMER – I don’t own ‘Miss Fisher’s Murder Mysteries’ or any of the characters.
LET’S MISBEHAVE
PROLOGUE
There was a feeling of excitement and anticipation in the air as Phryne joined the other passengers on the sundeck to watch the great steam ship upon which they had spent the better part of three months travelling halfway around the globe carefully coming alongside.
She could have flown but doing so would have meant leaving her precious plane in England.
Allowing her enhanced senses a little more leeway than she normally would she soaked up everything about her home; the sights, the sounds, the smells…
It was glorious.
She had come online early, too early, in response to her sister’s disappearance and murder.
Her parents had done what they could for their remaining daughter although it had been difficult given their circumstances at the time, particularly her mother, and by the time she’d volunteered to be a nurse during the Great War she was in complete control of her senses although just as with every unbonded Sentinel she still suffered the occasional zone due to things that were out of her control.
Thankfully one of the other nurses had been an unbonded Guide and she’d been willing to help Phryne out when the situation called for it.
After the war things had changed with one tragic realisation, “the heir” was listed missing at sea and her father, “the spare”, had inherited the title, the estate and the family fortune.
And, of course, with all of this had come countless Guide’s desperate for her attention.
But none of them had been hers.
No, that honour went to a man that most of her circle deemed completely inappropriate.
Detective Inspector Jack Robinson.
Their relationship was unconventional, given that they had met through her curious nature and talent at solving crimes. Had she been a man she probably would have become a detective herself but that simply wasn’t a career opportunity for women.
Well, not yet, but she knew one day that the men in charge would have to concede that women could do everything that a man could and until that day she and those like her would do everything they could to break down as many barriers as possible.
Jack had come online as a Guide during the war, something that had greatly upset her when she’d found out how much pain her Guide must have been in, and had been forced to come to terms with his new status and everything that it involved surrounded my mud, blood and death.
He’d returned home from the war a changed man, in more ways than most, and his wife had abandoned him; she’d even gone so far as to blame their divorce on Jack’s behaviour.
To this day Phryne could barely stomach to be in the same room as that horrible woman.
She had known Jack was her Guide from the moment they’d met, when he’d caught her taking a peek at the crime scene on her first ever case. It had been all she could do not to press her nose into the side of his neck to inhale the glorious scent that was her Guide.
He, on the other hand, had denied the pull he’d felt between them until they’d kissed whilst taking down the murderer of her friend who also happened to be one of Phryne’s past lovers and a rather unpleasant one at that, controlling and manipulative.
But even then he had been unwilling to take the plunge,
“I am in the process of divorcing my wife,” he had finally confessed some weeks later when the investigation into her sisters murder had been re-activated due to the escape of Murdoch Foyle, the man Phryne knew had killed poor Janey but could never prove. “It would hardly be proper for me to enter into a relationship with you so soon after the end of my marriage. I know that our meeting had nothing to do with the end of my marriage to Rosie but that is what everyone will assume and although I no longer care for her as a husband should I still respect Rosie enough to want her to be able to hold her head high.”
Her Jack was far too good sometimes, she reflected, given how Rosie had gone on to treat him in the months that had followed their divorce.
“But you do feel it,” Phryne had pressed then, moving to stand as close to her Guide as she dared. “Don’t you? That connection between us?”
“Yes,” he had all but choked out, his beautifully rich voice thick with emotion. “But I can’t act on it. Not yet. Please, Miss Fisher, please understand…”
She had smiled at him, leaning forwards to press a gentle kiss to his cheek before stepping back out of his personal space.
“I may not be known for my patience, Jack, but in this I will gladly wait until you are ready.”
And wait she had, through their adventures together and apart, but now she was on her way back to him and he had promised that on her return to Australia they would Bond.
If only her father hadn’t nearly destroyed his marriage with his gambling and his drinking then she wouldn’t have had to fly him back to England after missing his boat in order for him to make it back before the date of her mother’s ultimatum had passed. Jack had come to see them off, like a hero in a motion picture, and had even run into her arms for a kiss.
It had been glorious, her senses desperately attempting to glut themselves on him then and there but she’d wrestled them back under control.
“I’ll be back as soon as I can,” she’d promised.
“And this time it is I that shall do the waiting, Sentinel.”
She’d smiled almost giddily, her hands roaming across his marvellous chest.
“I like the sound of that, Guide.”
They’d shared one final kiss, interrupted by her father demanding that she get back in the plane before it took off on its own, not that it could or would.
Her Guide had waved them off and that was the last time she’d seen him.
Oh, there had been letters but she had heard nothing from him since she confirmed the date of her passage back to Australia.
She wasn’t concerned, though, or at least that’s what she told herself.
There would no doubt be a perfectly reasonable excuse for her telegrams to have gone unanswered.
Orders were suddenly being shouted back and forth between the various sailors scattered across the sundeck, lines being expertly thrown and tied off to secure the ship. Squaring her shoulders she adjusted her fur shrug, made sure her cloche was pinned securely to her hair and headed towards to the First Class gangway which was slowly being lowered.
One of the sailors wolf-whistled as she approached in her smart navy blue outfit.
“Sorry, sweetheart,” she offered up with a smile. “You’re not my type.”
“I’m sure I could be if I tried hard enough...”
“Not unless you’re my Guide in disguise.”
To say his friends roared with laughter at his subsequent embarrassment and apology was an understatement. Phryne offered him a sympathetic smile, reassuring him that he hadn’t upset or offended her before making her way down the gangplank as the first passenger off.
It didn’t take her long to spot her welcoming committee only it wasn’t the one she was hoping for.
“Miss!”
“Dot!”
They hugged, her companions familiar scent washing over her for a moment.
They leaned back, both smiling broadly until Phryne asked,
“Where’s Jack?”
It was far too telling when Dot’s smile fell away.
“Dot? Where’s Jack?”
“I’m so sorry, Miss.”
~ * ~