Chapter Text
The ship's horn echoed across the harbour. Belle stood frozen on the dock, the sound reverberating through her chest like a death knell.
The vessel that should have carried Jack Dawkins away from Port Victory was already pulling from the wharf. Sailors shouted. Ropes splashed into the water. The distance between ship and shore widened by the second as she watched her future disappear with it.
The pain arrived strangely, quietly. There was just a hollowness settling somewhere deep inside of her. Jack was gone, she had been too late.
But then she saw him. For one disorienting moment, Belle thought she might be imagining him; perhaps exhaustion had finally conquered her senses.
But there he was. Ten feet away. Breathless. Windblown. Looking at her as though she he couldn’t quite believe she was real either.
Neither spoke. The harbour noise seemed to disappear. The shouting sailors. The crashing waves. All of it faded into nothing. There was only Jack.
And suddenly she understood why people spoke about the world stopping. Because hers had. And then he smiled. Not the Artful Dodger smile. Not the grin he wore before a scam or a clever remark. This was different; vulnerable, terrified, hopeful.
Belle was moving before she realised it.
She crossed the distance between them in seconds. When she threw her arms around his neck, Jack caught her immediately. The force of the embrace nearly knocked them both off balance. Neither cared and Jack held her so tightly it almost hurt.
"You're still here," she whispered.
His forehead rested against hers.
Belle pulled back just enough to look at him.
The emotion in his eyes stole her breath. No jokes. No masks. Just Jack.
Entirely, terrifyingly Jack.
For a moment she simply stared at him, almost afraid that if she blinked, he would disappear.
Then the hurt she'd been carrying since watching that ship pull away surfaced all at once.
"You left me. You said you’d never leave me."
Jack's face crumpled as the words struck harder than any punch ever could.
"I tried."
His voice was barely above a whisper.
Belle felt tears prick her eyes.
"I tried," he repeated, taking a step closer. "But I love you too much."
For a heartbeat neither moved.
Before either of them could say anything else, Belle grabbed the front of his coat and kissed him. Jack's arms wrapped around her instantly, pulling her against him as though he never intended to let her go again.
The kiss was desperate and full of everything they had never managed to say. When they finally broke apart, both breathless, Jack rested his forehead against hers once more.
Belle laughed through the tears threatening to spill.
"You brilliant idiot."
A crooked smile appeared.
"That's the nicest thing you've ever called me."
"Don't get used to it."
"I wouldn't dream of it."
Belle looked at him. Really looked at him. The man who had spent his entire life running.
The man who had stepped off a ship because staying frightened him less than losing her.
Then she reached up and kissed him again. The kind of kiss that felt less like a beginning and more like a coming home.
Finally, a distant shout from the harbour reminded them that the world still existed beyond the two of them.
“You know, this won’t be easy Belle.”
The words may have once frightened her, but now they felt strangely familiar. Nothing about then had ever been easy from the moment they met.
“And that hasn’t stopped us yet.”
“Your mother despises me”
Belle opened her mouth to reply.
““Jack –“
“And they will still try to blame me for who knows what crimes.”
“Jack –“
His smile had faded now, and Belle could see what he was doing. Jack was looking for the catch, the price, the thing that would inevitably go wrong. A lifetime of disappointment had taught him to search for it.
"I knew staying meant choosing all of that too."
He took a slow breath as his graze drifted back toward the harbour.
"I know I’ll have to spend the rest of my life trying to prove I am worthy of you to your family."
The words were matter of fact, but Belle's heart clenched as she heard the vulnerability beneath them.
"And the absurd thing is, none of that was what frightened me."
"What frightened you?"
His thumb brushed across her knuckles as he stopped and looked at her.
"The thought of never seeing you again."
The honesty in his voice stole her breath.
"I got halfway up that gangway and realised I could survive prison. I’ve done it before."
A small smile touched his lips as Belle rolled her eyes.
"But I couldn't survive a life where I woke up every morning knowing I'd walked away from you.”
“You are the only thing I've ever chosen over my own survival."
Belle couldn’t speak but her eyes immediately filled with tears.
Jack had survived his life by leaving. Running first. Choosing himself before anyone else had the chance to abandon him.
Jack gave a small laugh, although there was some warmth to it now.
"Which is deeply inconvenient, because self-preservation used to be one of my better qualities."
"Jack..."
"And I still don't know how any of this works."
Belle's smile grew.
Jack frowned.
"Why are you smiling?"
"Because if you'd stop catastrophising for a moment, I've been trying to tell you something."
Belle reached up and cupped his face.
"My father has given you a full pardon, on account of you saving mother and the rest of the town."
Silence.
Jack blinked.
"What?"
"And...my mother gave us her blessing."
Jack stared at her. Then stared some more. For perhaps the first time in his life, Jack Dawkins was genuinely speechless.
"My apologies."
"What for?"
"I appear to have built an entire tragic future in my head."
Belle laughed through her tears.
"You did."
"Rather dramatically too."
A slow smile spread across his face as he looked at her.
"So let me ensure I've understood correctly."
"I'm a free man."
"Yes."
"Your mother approves."
"More or less."
"And you want to be with me.”
Belle stepped forward until there was barely any space between them.
"Very much so."
Jack's grin appeared.
"Well."
"What?"
"Well, that changes things rather considerably."
And before either of them could say another word, she kissed him again. Slowly, deliberately, as though she wanted him to understand exactly what she was choosing.
The urgency from earlier replaced by something deeper this time, like a promise.
Jack exhaled softly against her lips with one hand settling at her waist and the other rising to cradle her face. For a moment he kissed her carefully, like a man handling something precious.
Then Belle felt something shift. The last of his doubt. The last of his fear.
His forehead rested against hers for a heartbeat before he kissed her again. This time with certainty.
Belle's fingers slipped into his hair as she drew him closer.
The kiss deepened, filled with a quiet tenderness that somehow felt even more intimate.
Months of longing, months of misunderstandings, all of it dissolved between them.
When they finally broke apart, neither moved very far. Jack's arm remained around her waist. Belle's hand still rested against his cheek. They stood there beneath the fading light smiling like fools.
"I love you."
“And I love you ten times more,” Belle replied.
Then she kissed him again, just because she could.
After who knows how long spent kissing, reluctantly, Belle stepped back.
"We should get back to the hospital."
"We probably should."
Belle turned to leave and raised an eyebrow.
"Are you coming?"
Jack reached for her hand.
"I rather thought that was established."
Warmth flooded her chest as their fingers intertwined. Together they turned away from the harbour.
For a while neither spoke, simply enjoying each other’s presence. The sort of silence that only existed between people who no longer needed to fill it.
Belle couldn't quite stop glancing at him. Each time she did, she found him already looking at her. As though he was reassuring himself that she was real.
Eventually she broke the silence.
"You're staring at me."
"I am ensuring you haven't vanished."
The words were spoken lightly, although something lingered underneath.
"I thought you'd gone."
The words slipped out of her quietly as Jack's gaze dropped briefly to the dirt road beneath their feet.
"I almost did."
Her heart clenched.
"But?"
Jack swallowed and didn’t speak for a few moments. For a while, she thought he may not answer.
“I’ve spent most of my life leaving, Belle. Leaving people, leaving places,” Jack’s gaze drifted off into the distance.
“Fagin taught me young that leaving was the best way to survive.”
"So, whenever things became difficult... whenever someone got too close... I'd leave."
"Because it was easier?"
Jack nodded.
"Because if I left first, nobody could abandon me."
The words hung heavily between them and Belle felt something twist painfully in her at the simplicity of the statement. Not pity but understanding. Because suddenly so many things made sense.
"I told myself getting on that ship was the sensible thing to do, that it was the right thing to do."
"For who?”
"You."
The answer caught Belle completely off guard.
Jack laughed softly.
"You're Lady Belle Fox,” he said as though that explained everything.
His eyes met hers.
"Brilliant. Kind. Respected."
"And you're the finest surgeon in the colony,” countered Belle.
"Belle, you deserve more than a former pickpocket with a talent for finding trouble.”
Belle rolled her eyes.
"I'm serious Belle."
For once, he was.
"I thought eventually you'd realise you deserved better."
"Jack—"
"I thought perhaps you'd already realised."
His gaze flickered away. Belle blinked and gave him a questioning look.
"Boxer,” Jack stated.
"Boxer?"
"He has a career, a salary, a good station and a real future.”
Belle laughed. Jack didn't.
"I saw the way he looked at you."
Something painful flashed across his features.
"And I thought maybe that was what your future was meant to be."
Immediately, Belle groaned.
"Oh, for heaven's sake Jack. You thought I wanted Boxer?"
"I thought you'd be better off with him."
"And because of that you decided to leave?"
Belle kept trying to catch Jack’s gaze, but he kept looking away.
"At Devil's Elbow, I saw the two of you together."
Belle blinked.
"What?"
"The way you spoke to him. The way he looked at you. You smiled at him."
Belle folded her arms and stared at Jack.
"You're telling me you nearly sailed halfway around the world because I smiled at Boxer?"
"When you put it like that, it sounds somewhat irrational."
"It’s completely irrational Jack."
Belle let out an exasperated laugh.
"You absolute idiot."
Her eyes narrowed.
"What annoys me most is that you never asked."
Jack blinked.
"What?"
"You never asked me what I wanted."
The words landed. Hard.
Belle stepped closer.
"You decided I was better off with Boxer."
"I thought—"
"I know what you thought."
Her frustration had finally surfaced.
"You decided my future for me. You decided who I should be with. Then you got on a ship and left."
Jack opened his mouth to respond but closed it again. Because she was right.
"I don't get a choice?"
The hurt in her voice cut deeper than her anger.
"Is that how little you think of me?"
"No."
"Then why didn't you ask?"
Jack looked genuinely stricken.
"I thought I was doing the right thing."
Belle's eyes softened slightly.
"Well, you weren’t. Not for me anyway"
Finally, Jack nodded. Because for all his confidence, all his charm, all his bravado, he had never expected her answer.
"You're right."
The admission surprised her.
"I should've asked."
Belle felt some of her irritation fade as Jack stepped closer.
"Truthfully?"
She raised an eyebrow.
"I was afraid of the answer."
There it was. The real reason. Not Boxer. Not her mother. Fear. Fear of being abandoned. A man who had crossed ocean, escaped prisons and survived things most people couldn't imagine, completely defeated by one woman.
"I thought if I asked, and you chose him..."
His voice faltered.
"...I'd never recover."
Belle's heart broke a little and her anger disappeared entirely. Not because he’d been right, but because she understood he was frightened.
He laughed softly.
"Pathetic, isn't it?"
"No."
Belle reached for his hand and squeezed his fingers.
"For the record..."
Jack looked up.
"I never wanted Boxer."
The unfiltered relief that crossed his face was so immediate that Belle nearly laughed.
"Good."
"Do you know what I want Jack?"
His voice came out barely above a whisper.
"What?"
Belle stepped into his space.
"You."
Jack looked completely undone.
"Me?"
"Yes, you."
"The former pickpocket?"
“Yes.”
"The penniless surgeon?"
“Yes.”
"The brilliant idiot?
A smile broke across his face.
Belle laughed.
"The very same."
Then she kissed him before he could find another reason to question it.
And this time there wasn't a single doubt left between them.