Chapter Text
Jacob left the pub in disbelief. Neither Charlie nor Charlie had blinked an eye at the strange methods Hammon used to secure Bella’s hand. Methods even Jacob thought were all too questionable. And while it said something about Jacob's life when kidnapping someone as an act wasn't the strangest thing he's ever done, even he realized how awful the idea was. Since logic seemed to have abandoned his two friends, Jacob found himself in want of someone who would appreciate the stupidity as he did. He started walking; hopefully Freddy was home.
“Freddy,” Jacob called, tapping on the window, “open up.” Thankfully Freddy’s window faced a back alley so there weren't any witness to see a man clinging to a wall while knocking on the window.
“For the love of…” Freddy trailed off and slid open the window. “I have half a mind to make you go through the front door.”
“And let potential witnesses see the leader of the Rooks come calling on a well known police sergeant? I'm doing you a favor, Freddy.”
Freddy sighed and stepped away, leaving enough room for Jacob to swing himself through.
“You're lucky I love you,” Freddy groused as he headed back toward the little stove in the corner.
“I know,” Jacob grinned as he closed the window behind him, a familiar rush of giddiness racing through him. He would never tire of hearing Freddy say those words. He caught sight of Freddy reaching for the kettle and was quick to put a hand atop it.
“Come grab a drink with me,” Jacob insisted, taking the kettle from Freddy. “I could use a pint and some good company.”
Freddy's eyebrows rose. “Your logic for not using the front door was so I wouldn't be seen with you. How is going to a pub any different?”
Jacob swept his hand down the length of Freddy’s body. “They say the clothes make the man. Without your police togs no one would know you from another man on the street.”
Freddy stared at Jacob not entirely convinced, so Jacob tried again using the wide eyed look he knew Freddy couldn't resist. “You're going to make me go drink by myself?”
Freddy sighed in defeat. “Let me go change.”
Jacob grinned. “You're the best, Freddy.”
Freddy rolled his eyes and headed into the other room.
“Any particular reason you’ve dragged me out?” Freddy asked once they were both settled at a table with their drinks, “or did you truly not want to drink alone.
“A little of both. I have a story to tell you, and it bares telling with alcohol involved,” Jacob answered. “And don't act like you weren't interested in spending time with me.”
Freddy scoffed but didn't deny it. “So what happened?”
Jacob opened his mouth.
“Wait,” Freddy held up a hand, “can I know?”
It was Jacob’s turn to scoff. “Don't you trust me?”
“Surprisingly, yes,” Freddy offered a smile.
Jacob grinned in return, the giddy feeling from earlier returning. “It all started when Charlie and Charlie asked me to escort a man from the train station…”
Jacob relayed to Freddy the whole experience of fetching John Hammon from Victoria Station, the man’s inability to stop talking about being engaged to a woman he’d never met, and how they’d been attacked by Blighters while leaving the station.
“After taking care of the Blighters, John decides to test the poor woman’s affection.”
Freddy stared at Jacob in amazement. “He wanted to test the affection of a woman he’d never met?”
“Yes. He’d just come into a great deal of money and wanted to know whether or not she was in it for the money.”
Freddy looked baffled. “What reaction did he expect from a woman who's never met him?”
“I have absolutely no idea. It was a spur of the moment decision for him, something he seems to do a lot.”
“Oh?”
“A few weeks after Hammon fake's his own death to see how his fiancée reacts to the news, Charlie and Charlie asked me to meet to him. Come to find out he's gotten to know this woman and is now in love with her.”
Freddy choked on his drink, much to Jacob’s amusement. “You're selling me a dog,” Freddy insisted, wiping a hand across his mouth. “How in the hell did he spend time with her? Under what guise did he approach her?”
“Haven't the foggiest, and I didn't ask. His new brilliant plan,” Jacob continued to a flabbergasted Freddy, “was to have me kidnap the woman in question and take her to a predetermined location where he would then jump out and save her.”
Freddy shook his head in amazement. “There is so much wrong with that, the least of which being kidnapping. Please tell me you didn't go along it.”
“Oh, I did,” Jacob grinned, “if only to follow it to its inevitable failure.”
Freddy groaned and finished his drink. “Well?”
“It worked,” Jacob relayed, leaning across the table. “It bloody worked. I brought the woman to the location, he jumped out yelling ‘I shall save you, my love’, I let the man land a few hits before falling over ‘defeated’ and then man and woman ran off to their happily ever after.”
Freddy shook his head in sheer disbelief. “Of all the convoluted…” he trailed off. “That poor woman.”
“Clearly she has no idea what she's marrying,” Jacob agreed, sitting back in his seat and finishing his drink.
“I still can't fathom something so absurd working,” Freddy muttered a few moments later. “It just doesn't make sense.”
Jacob shrugged. “‘The heart is not ruled by logic’, or Dickens said something similar when I told him the happy ending. Would it work on you, Freddy?”
The look Freddy gave Jacob relayed just what he thought of that idea. “Would being kidnapped only to be rescued by the person who arranged my kidnapping in the first place sway my opinion of said person in a romantic persuasion? No, I dare say it wouldn't.”
“So if I swooped in and saved you, in a cliche of a romantic ending, it wouldn't make you,” Jacob paused and took a quick look around to a certain no one was listening, “happy to see me?”
Jacob grinned as the tips of Freddy’s ear went red.
Freddy leaned in close, meeting Jacob in the middle of the table. “Jacob, if you arranged my kidnapping only so you could swoop in and save me, I would kill you. I work for the Yard, I know how to get away with murder.”
Jacob laughed and sat back. “If that were the case I wouldn't stop you. Hell, I wouldn't even fight back.”