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Eliza, Fitzroy and William were all in the records room leaning over various open file drawers and thumbing and shuffling through papers. It was warm in the room and the three of them had been hard at work for over an hour pulling files from as far back as they came. William stood tall and stretched his back, choosing to lean his elbow on a top, open file drawer whilst he pursued his latest file.
Eliza glanced up at him from where she stooped, several drawers in front in him. For a brief moment, she thought that he was humming. Then she quickly realized that it was Fitzroy, to her right, on the other side of the small room, that was very faintly humming a tune. She glanced again to William to see if he was disturbed by the sound, but William seemed absorbed in his work.
Fitzroy, too, seemed unaware that he was even doing it. As Eliza peered discreetly in his direction, she noted how his head bobbed as he hit various notes in his melody. She realized, the closer she tuned into him, that he was humming a waltz!
Closing the drawer in front of her with one quick motion elevated the noise in the room and caused a brief breeze that riled the papers in front of Wiliam. He looked up at her, slightly concerned at her brisk movement and the subsequent disturbance of his file, and also with an expectant look that she must have an explanation for it.
Eliza simply shrugged at William and pivoted her head to Fitzroy.
“Fitzroy,” she began with a teasing lilt to her voice, thankful for it after the prolonged hush…”are you humming a waltz?”
Fitzroy blushed faintly and broke into a bit of a sheepish grin. He brought his free hand up to rub the back of his neck while the other balanced a file- “I suppose I am Miss Scarlet, I find I start to do it and I don’t even notice! It always drove my father quite mad. I am so sorry and I will stop immediately!”
“Nonsense!” Eliza grinned at him with her brilliant smile. “I rather liked it!”
William had been glancing at the two of them and knit his brow at Eliza’s enthusiastic encouragement. He cleared his throat as if to say “You two get back to work” but Eliza chose to interpret his meaning as only she would.
“Oh, don’t worry Wiliam, I wasn’t going to forget to mention to Fitzroy that you are an excellent dancer.”
Her grin widened as Fitzroy looked towards William with glee.
“I am a fine dancer; I don’t know about excellent.” Wiliam answered quickly with a small nod.
“Oh, come on now, remember that dance we went to at Mrs. Parkers, what…. must have been 6 years ago now? You were the talk of the room! No one could believe how GRACEFUL you were as you made your way across the floor.” Eliza put her arms up to mimic a dance and made a small step-turn towards Fitzroy.
Fitzroy stared at Wiliam with the already greatest esteem he held for him, growing by the moment.
William cleared his throat again and said “Well, it is a matter of coordination.” He placed his free left hand up to his collar, suddenly feeling a little warmer than before Eliza’s praise.
“That makes sense, sir, but don’t you find yourself getting caught up in the counting of it all, the one, two, threes and step together, steps?”
If it wasn’t for Fitzroy’s earnest approach, William would have felt like he was being set up. Discussions of dance skills were not the usual topics at the Yard but with Eliza in a room, things seldom veered toward normal.
William shrugged and said matter of factly “No, not really.”
“Oh, I do.” Came Eliza’s quick response. She shook her head and threw her hands up in defeat. “I get all in my head with the counting too.”
“Yeah…” Wiliam’s tone was softer now and his eyes went a bit hazy as he looked past Eliza and Fitzroy as if he was stepping into a memory. “I remember how that night you kept mouthing the numbers in my arms…your lips would move but whenever I leaned in to listen you were not speaking to me.” He ended the memory with small smile on his lips and something about the tenderness in his tone made Eliza feel tingly inside.
Fitzroy, too, noticed the sentiment and found himself smiling dumbly along.
The charged air didn’t last long as William almost immediately felt the eyes on him and he sniffed and stammered “I mean, I can’t be sure if that was you, or what dance you are talking about but that seems familiar.”
He looked back down into the file at hand and took on a strictly business stance. Fitzroy detected the change and also bowed his head to look back down in his file.
Eliza, however, stood rooted in her spot, gazing at William. While half of her wished to catch his eye, the other half wished to simply observe him without notice. She found that she was rather afraid of both of these desires. For as long as she had known him, William had been a coordinated, quick learner. It drove her crazy that he seemed to be naturally good at so many things. She had spent many afternoons practicing dancing with the hope that she would at least blend in on a dance floor, but from the look in William’s eye’s as he spoke about her so-so skills, she had at least managed to stand out to him that night.