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It seemed as if nothing had changed in their daily interactions, but Eve knew that everything had changed.
Neither of them were the kind of people to partake in public displays of affection, so in front of their Librarians they kept things professional. If Eve linked their pinkies behind a pile of books or Jenkins stood a little closer than necessary and any of the others noticed, they were at least kind enough not to make any comments on it. When alone, Eve was delighted each time he laced their fingers together, each time she leaned into him, and he didn’t pull away. They were such small gestures, but it was more than they had before.
She owed Charlene and Judson a debt that she could never repay. They had given Jenkins the gift of freedom, and had indirectly given her the gift of his heart. They managed to find a loophole for a millennia old Oath and now they could love one another without threatening to destroy the world in their selfishness. If there was a way to repay them, she was sure that neither of them would hesitate to do so.
Two weeks had passed in a quiet explosion.
At the end of a day of drills and paperwork, Eve was straightening out her desk when Cassandra giddily grabbed her hands and dragged her to the dressing room (a ridiculous, but surprisingly useful room where they got costumes for missions).
“What’s this about?” Eve asked.
Cassandra’s eyes sparkled with excitement. “I got you a present and I want you to try it on.”
She gaped at the younger woman. “It’s nowhere near my birthday.”
“It doesn’t need to be a special occasion to give you a present,” the redhead said with an impish grin. She turned and picked up a plain white box and held it out to her. “Here. Try it on, I’ll wait outside. Be sure to try on a pair of cute shoes with it!”
Left alone, Eve was reeling in confusion with a box of clothes in her hands. She knew exactly what their Librarians looked like when they were scheming, and Cassandra had certainly cooked up something. Her best guess upon opening the box was that she was giving her something for a future first date (the thought made her flush). The golden satin was a gorgeous long-sleeved sheath dress that fit perfectly. She shouldn’t have been surprised Cassandra knew her measurements, but she was.
She was about to open the door when she remembered Cassandra’s request for a cute pair of shoes. As she bent to pick up a pair of simple black heels, she noticed that her hair was somehow loose . She went to the mirror and gaped at the sight of her hair being fluffed and styled to go with the dress. She hadn’t even noticed whatever magic had done it, but there were only two suspects, and she would have noticed Cassandra doing it.
“Are you having fun?” She asked the ceiling.
With no response, her best guess to the Library’s reaction to the question was amusement.
She shook her head and muttered mutiny under her breath as she put on the heels. The Library, old as it was, was a playful entity. The amount of times she’d had to hunt for a form or found herself being attacked by tickling feathers was enough to prove that. She’d noticed that each time it had done these playful actions for a reason and nine times out of ten it was because she needed a break.
She supposed the Library was telling her to let loose and have a good night.
As she opened the door, she prepared for Cassandra’s excited gushing, but instead found a smiling Jenkins standing there in a dapper midnight blue suit with golden accents in his ascot, pocket squares and cufflinks. She assumed the Library had done much the same to him as it had her because his hair was styled into a wavy pompadour.
She grinned as she approached him and couldn’t stop looking at him. “I didn’t know you could clean up anymore, but you cleaned up well.”
“You can thank your meddling Librarians,” he groused half-heartedly as his hands took hers reverently. “You, my dear, look stunning.”
“You can thank your meddling Librarians,” she parroted with a grin. “Did they tell you anything more than ‘try this on’ or are you as in the dark as I am?”
His eyes twinkled with mirth. “I was only told to escort you to the ballroom.”
“Oh god, they’re setting us up on a date ,” she groaned in mild horror as she hid her face in his chest. “How did they even find out?”
“I assume we’re less subtle than we thought we were.”
She shook her head and straightened. “Alright, well… I guess we have a dinner to go to.”
“I assume so. May I escort you?”
“Of course.”
She looped her arm through his and leaned into him with a growing sense of content. Such simple acts and yet they felt like bounding leaps into a new and exciting adventure. It was not dissimilar to the feeling she got when she dove into the position of Guardian. The rush of the first jobs, the relief when the dust settled. This time, however, she found that she was hoping the dust would never settle, that this feeling in her chest would never let up.
As they walked, they speculated on what their Librarians had cooked up for them. It could have been just about anything with their brilliant and creative minds combined. It could have been a million candles lighting up the room with fire extinguishers at the ready or a simple set up with roses on the table. What they found was beyond their imagination.
The very ceiling was made of glass allowing them to see the night sky and the moon showed so brightly that there was no need for a single candle. On the dining table there was a large bouquet of honeysuckles of every natural color and two places set up catty-corner from one another. In the corner Pan’s flute and a floating violin were playing a lovely tune that, thankfully, didn’t put everyone to sleep or cause them to dance uncontrollably. Standing in a line wearing smart waiter outfits were their Librarians who all had smiles on their faces.
“Hello and welcome to dinner,” Ezekiel said, stepping forward with a showman’s smile. “My associates and I will be your waiters for this evening. We’ve prepared a full three course meal for you that we hope you enjoy.”
“You did all of this for us?” Eve asked quietly.
Cassandra grinned and nodded excitedly. “Yes! What do you think?”
Eve’s smile grew. “It’s incredible. Thank you.”
Jenkins, who had been looking up at the ceiling, looked back down at them with an amazed expression. “How on earth did you get the ceiling to turn to glass?”
“Well, y’see, it’s very simple,” Jacob said before giving a smug smile. “We asked the Library.”
To say she was stunned would have been an understatement. “You asked the Library to turn its ceiling into glass and it did?”
“Yeah. Turns out, the Library ships Jeve too,” Cassandra said.
Eve turned to Jenkins for an explanation, but he looked to be just as lost as she was.
“Jeve?” He asked.
“I still say Evekins is better," Ezekiel muttered.
Eve's brow furrowed. "Evekins?"
"What they mean is,” Jacob said with an amused look towards Cassandra and Ezekiel before turning back to them, “the Library supports your relationship and decided to help us out.”
Jenkins opened his mouth to ask questions, but Eve touched his arm and shook her head. Sometimes it was just better to let these things go and remain ignorant.
Instead of asking questions, he cleared his throat. “Thank you. All of you.”
“You’re welcome,” they all replied with various levels of smug pride between them.
“If you’ll take your seats, we will be with you shortly,” Ezekiel prompted while gesturing to the table.
Ezekiel pulled back the chair for Eve and Jacob for Jenkins. Only after they were seated did the Librarians-turned-waiters turn and make their exit.
“They did a marvelous job, didn’t they?” Jenkins chuckled as Jacob stumbled through the door from Cassandra accidentally stepping on the back of his foot.
“They did. I’m gonna be honest, this was the last thing I expected from them.”
He raised his eyebrows. “Really?”
Her smile didn’t dampen though her eyebrows scrunched in confusion. “Did you expect this?”
“Oh, well, not this , but something along these lines,” he confessed, gesturing to the room before returning his gaze to her. “They are… Well, despite how we joke, they are not children… but they adore you in a way I see so rarely outside of a relationship between a mother and their child. I imagine they would go to great lengths to see you happy.”
She could hardly help her incredulous chuckle. “Jenkins, I think you underestimate how much they love you.”
“Is that so?”
“Yes. I’ve never seen them more ready to punch the lights out of something than when that winter spirit froze you two months ago.”
He smiled a little, eyes briefly distant. “They seemed insurmountably relieved upon my return.”
She nodded slowly. “Yes they were. If I hadn’t been there, I’m pretty sure Stone and Ezekiel would’ve held them down and let Cassandra smash their head in with a rock.”
“What a lovely image right before we eat.”
She rolled her eyes at him with a shake of her head.
The doors opened and both Cassandra and Ezekiel served them caprese salad and poured them white wine before quickly vacating. Most of the meal passed like this: their Librarians serving and then quickly dipping out to give the couple privacy. It was amusing when they heard Cassandra “oop!” when the door closed a little quicker than normal. Eve couldn’t help but to wonder whether that was the Library having fun again or if it was happenstance.
Throughout their quiet meal, they conversed about a great many things. The Library and its Staff, their favorite movies and literature, and their pasts. Jenkins’ past was, of course, more extensive than her own—his story about Charles Dickens ripping his pants and having to flee a party did an exceptional job reminding her of that. It was with this that a question buzzed in her head incessantly.
Jenkins looked up from his plate of chicken piccata and raised his eyebrows. “What is it?”
“Nothing,” she assured while stuffing her mouth full of chicken and vegetables.
He gave her a knowing look. “I know that look. What is it?”
She swallowed her food and wiped at her mouth with her napkin to prolong asking her question, to give herself time to find the right way to word it. He didn’t rush her. He merely waited patiently with a gently expectant expression.
“You… mentioned that our age gap was never an issue. I was wondering about that,” she confessed slowly, averting her gaze to the wine glass she reached for.
“I never met you as a child or even a young adult. While there is a considerable age gap between us, our mental maturity has been quite equal for the entirety of our knowing one another.”
She raised her eyebrows.
“Just because I’ve lived over a millennia doesn’t mean I have any more maturity than the next sixty-something-year-old man. I just have a lot more… baggage, as Mr. Jones would say.” He placed a hand over hers and when she looked at him, he had a perplexed expression of his own. “Might I ask why the age gap doesn’t bother you?”
She turned her hand over to grasp his and smiled. “It’s simply because I love you…”
His eyes softened. “I love you as well.”
As she leaned forward, he did so as well. She knew the second he saw the mischievous glint in her eyes. His eyes narrowed slightly, and his lips twitched as if trying to keep a neutral line, but he smiled anyway.
“And it doesn’t hurt that you’re what we call a ‘silver fox.’”
A sharp inhale.
There was a sharp satisfaction when she noticed his eyes dart down to her lips with an almost desperate look in his eyes.
“Who’s ready for tiramisu?!” Cassandra called from the door.
The dismay on his face as he leaned back would have been funny had it not been for her own pressing down on her shoulders. She couldn’t be upset, not with their Librarians working so hard to make sure they had a wonderful date. In fact, it was sweet of them, and she was grateful that they had given her and Jenkins their first date.
“Another Jacob Stone special, I take it?” Jenkins asked with a lingering bitterness in his voice at the interruption.
Cassandra nodded as she placed the plate in front of Jenkins. “He’s the best cook out of all of us.”
“And don’t worry about us interrupting again, kids,” Ezekiel said from over Eve's shoulder. “You’ll have the rest of your night to yourselves.”
“Thanks for the heads up,” Eve said.
The two vacated quickly and left them to eat their dessert in peace. One bite of their tiramisu and both melted.
Jenkins sighed, “I must say, Mr. Stone is a dab hand in the kitchen.”
“He should be considering he’s been practicing for years.”
“Years?”
“Yeah. He learned how to cook from his mom and has been experimenting with foreign dishes since before he came to the Library. He lets me taste test some of his dishes.”
He pouted. “He’s never offered to let me taste test anything.”
“For one, you turn your nose up at anything that isn’t tea and for two, you’re an immortal that doesn’t need to eat.” She tilted her head. “Why don’t you eat?”
“I see no reason to. It’s an unnecessary expense and Charlene runs the budget like a tyrant,” Jenkins said, not looking up from his plate as he cut another bite. “I also haven’t had the pleasure of mortal company where I’d be expected to eat in… in a long time.”
She reached out and touched his forearm. “Well, I’m glad to be your mortal company.”
He reached over with his free hand to grasp her hand. “Thank you.”
Already, she was planning a conversation with Jacob about sharing his samples with Jenkins for an opinion—after all, the man likely had quite the palette even if he hadn’t eaten “in a long time.” It would likely be good for both men to have those moments to strengthen their bond as a team.
After their last bites of dessert, Jenkins wiped his mouth and stood with one hand working on rebuttoning his jacket.
“Over already?” Eve asked.
He gave her a rueful smile and offered his hand. “I was hoping for a dance.”
She took his hand and stood. “I’d love a dance.”
He led her away from the table and soon she was in his arms swaying to the music. His dark eyes held the cosmos—timeless, ethereal and beautiful—and they danced when she looked into them. She would have been a liar if she claimed she didn’t get lost in them.
“When was the last time we danced?” He asked just above a whisper.
“It was Italy when I was pretending to be your wife. Your Librarians almost got us banned from the museum.”
He chuckled. “Oh-ho-ho-ho. So they’re my Librarians when they get into trouble?”
“Yes. Yes they are.”
“Then I suppose, as rare as the occasion may be, they’re yours tonight.”
A thought occurred and she couldn’t keep herself from laughing. “Look at us. Talking as if we’re an old married couple with three kids.”
“Aside from the married part, we are technically their Guardian and Caretaker. You’ll also find that Librarian also means an eclectic and hyperactive individual which does describe children very well.”
“I don’t remember that in the dictionary.”
“It’s in the job description, I’m sure.”
The conversation flowed from there as easily as it had at dinner with witty quips thrown here and there. At times, they went silent and simply looked at one another in wonder that this could be real. A part of her was convinced this was all a dream or a curse that lulled her into a false sense of security. It was afraid that she would wake up and all of this would just disappear into unreality. The only thing that assured her that it wasn’t was the locket Jenkins had crafted specifically against these things after the possession incident a month prior.
As the song drifted to an end, Jenkins kissed her forehead. “Thank you for the dance, Eve.”
She caressed one cheek and kissed the other. “Thank you for the dance… the whole evening, really.”
His eyebrows furrowed. “I planned none of it.”
A lovesick sigh passed from between her lips as her hand drifted back to his shoulder. “You didn’t have to plan anything to make it special.”
Entire galaxies formed and universes shifted into place so that each star made an amalgamation of beauty as she looked into his eyes. To know that when he looked at her that he felt the same love in his heart that she did made the very sun rise in her chest.
“My gods, I want to kiss you,” he whispered, finger brushing along her cheek as he pushed a strand of hair behind her ear.
“Please,” she breathed, “kiss me.”
He caressed her cheek, thumb swiping her cheek reverently.
Her heart thudded rapidly in her chest as he drew closer. His lips hovered achingly close, but he did not press forward. There was a split second of fear that the Oath was still in place, that her fears of this being a curse being true, but they were dashed when he pulled her body closer and looked into her eyes. It was with this action that she realized that he was being ever the gentleman and waiting for her .
With a burst of adoration, she ended his waiting and kissed him.