Work Text:
The Artful Dodger
Jack sees Belle after the surgery
The next few days were a blur. My head was overflowing with questions. Was Belle alive? Did I kill her? Did I kill her? It was eating me alive. I wanted nothing more than to run to her, to hold her. To make sure that it was all for something. If I could, I would go back to that cell in London and spend a hundred lifetimes in there alone if it meant I could feel her warm gaze again. The soft touch of her hand on mine, the brush of her lips. I couldn’t stand it any longer. After what seemed like hours of pacing in my tiny, godforsaken apartment, I strode impatiently towards the door, grabbed my coat, turned the handle and..
..she was there. Belle. Standing on the other side, hand on her stomach on top of her freshly bandaged wound, out of breath. For a moment, a stab of panic cut through me. She was clearly unfit to be out of the hospital. It was a miracle she made it all the way out here, but that was quickly forgotten the moment her startled eyes filled with tears. Her mouth opened as if she was about to say something, probably to protest against why she shouldn’t be out of bed but I snapped out of my own shock and rushed toward her, choking on my own emotion. I wrapped my shaking arms around her weak waist, holding her up with everything I had. One hand held her head as it fell limply onto my shoulder and I let my fingers get lost in her mess of blonde curls. Did I ever tell her how beautiful they were? Simultaneously, we both sank to the ground as we wept.
“They said you were…I thought you were..”. I could barely get the words out. They were too painful to think let alone express. “Dead”. A heavy sob tore through me as I clung onto her tighter, feeling her reciprocate the action. “I couldn’t eat, I couldn’t sleep. All I could think about was the possibility that I would have to live the rest of this wretched life without you in my arms”. I could hear her weeping which made me feel equally forlorn and relieved. Relieved because hearing her sobs were proof that she was here. With me. Pulling back slightly, I took both sides of her face with my hands so she was looking right at me. Her large, mahogany eyes stared into mine. Tears streaming down her face one after another. She gripped onto my arms tightly. I brushed back a loose strand of her golden hair behind her ear and pulled her in. It was the sweetest, softest kiss I had ever experienced. Even the God’s would smile. Grinning against her lips, it took everything in me to pull away. I needed to look at her, just to make sure she was really here. “I’m not letting you go again. Not in a thousand lifetimes.” She laughed tearfull and swiped under her eyes with her hand. “I would’t dream of it, doctor”.