October 9th, 1891 — Winnie's London Boarding House

Winnie hadn't written.

The simple fact that she hadn't followed through on her promise (Had she promised? He couldn't remember clearly now.) haunted Dory from the minute he woke to the minute he finally succumbed to sleep. At first, he had convinced himself that the lack of shared information was out of spite. She had asked him to stay, pleaded really and he'd left her there to send her letter, to take her potion and likely die as a result. Worst still, he hadn't gone back.

Dory had tried to go back more than once throughout the past month. He stood in his fireplace, the green powder clutched tightly in his hand, and every time he was paralyzed by fear. What if something had happened to her? What if he was the one destined to find her corpse? What if he showed up and she decided to release her fury at him? What if she demanded he leave without arguing at all? What if she hadn't taken the potion? That was the kicker, after all. Winnie could have just as easily not taken the potion and doomed them both to an unhappy marriage. And then what? Scandal and parenthood? She was right that to have the baby would ruin both of their lives, and it probably wasn't even his anyway.

He couldn't go to her. He couldn't face the reality they had now found themselves in. But, he had to. Whatever the cost, Dory had to at least know that his best friend was still alive. She could demand he leave, throw whatever nearest object at his head, curse his very existence, he didn't care. It wouldn't be the first or last time Dory left a lover on hateful terms. He could learn to tolerate her absence in time. Maybe. Hopefully.

It was long after dinner when his liquid courage finally surpassed his sober cowardice. Four familar words later and he was back in the familiar confines of Winnie's room. Only...Winnie wasn't alone. And...oh. Fuck. There was another woman atop of his friend, her rear poised beautifully in the air. "Fuck, sorry. Bloody hell. I'm sorry." Dory rushed to get out, though he made no move to leave or look elsewhere. "You didn't lock your floo."

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There was something to be said about the power of distraction. Winnie had needed it in spades after she had gotten her potion and taken it almost immediately, her nights were a little too lonely for her liking.

She had of course lied to Dory when she said she'd let him know. The air between them was wrong, she hated it and she didn't know what to do about it. Winnie was no idiot however, and had informed the matron of the boarding house that she hadn't been feeling well and may not make meals for a day or two. Which she hadn't and of course her nosy matron had taken any excuse to knock on the door.

Fortunately Mr. Greengrass was adept at his craft as the potion had done its job spectacularly and though it had been far from fun and incredibly uncomfortable, her problem was solved, she was in fact, not dead and she was recovered well enough now. She would be keeping Mr. Greengrass on retainer for future need, but she sincerely hoped never to have to repeat that endeavor herself. That wasn't to say that she was ready to jump back on the horse, well of the male variety anyway. Winnie was perfectly comfortable in the company of her fellow ladies, so much so that she had one of the other gals from the boarding house in her bed at the very moment the floo lit up green announcing the arrival of only one person.

Dory's flustered reaction had her laughing, his voice catching her ears before she could see him from her current position, which was half-naked under the very skilled hands of Emelie from the second floor. Face flushed and unphased by the fact that she had been caught where she was, her company was not quite so welcoming of their guest. Win put a hand on her lover's waist to keep her where she was. Dory was the least of the propriety concerns here. "You are the only one who uses it, darling, plus if I need to be summoned to work, it needs to be open." Win reasoned as if they weren't fighting somehow. "Now, you can come back in half an hour or you can join us if you like, but you have about thirty seconds to choose." She warned him as she pushed up to her elbows to look at him, eyebrow quirked as if it were a challenge, emotion hiding underneath, but unable to show it.

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This was ... not how he anticipated his evening progressing. If anything, he'd convinced himself this past month that his affair with Winnie had concluded. But, there she was bloody challenging him to get involved. It took him all of ten seconds to begin disrobing, for never could it be said that Dorian Fisk failed to rise to a challenge.
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Emily left barely five minutes after everything concluded. Supposedly, she had an important meeting with her boss in the morning but he knew better. She had to recognize both the familiarity and tension between he and Winnie throughout the encounter and decided it was best to give them privacy. What she didn't know, though, was that Dory had fervently hoped she would stay long enough for him dress and flee himself. Coming tonight had been a mistake, joining the women a worst mistake still. Fuck, he should've just stayed home.

There was nothing to be done now though, which left him half dressed leaning against the desk as he had that night a month ago. Only this time Dory knew better than to allow any half formed thoughts to slip past. Instead, he stared at her with a half frown waiting to know what to do next.

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Well that had been... enlightening. Winnie stretched out, languid on her bed in the hazy afterglow, as Emelie excused herself and Win waved her out with out much ado. Certainly that had some level of awkward to it, but as the one both comfortable and familiar with both of her partners she supposed that she would be the one to enjoy herself the most. Winnie could easily make it up to Emelie another time.

Dory looked ready to positively run from the room, despite he was the one who had shown up uninvited and unannounced. Not that he needed an invitation and that hadn't changed even since their last encounter that left them in limbo. "I've missed you." She admitted with a wry smile, unsure of what else to start with other than the truth.

Theirs was a complicated relationship in that they had all of the physical things mastered but danced around anything emotional, even if it was obvious they had some kind of attachment, that ran deeper than the surface or than either one of them cared to admit.

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Dory sighed. Of course he missed her too, but confessing to it would make walking away that much more difficult. It wasn't as though they would ever manage the seamless connection they once shared again, nor did he want to. (Or did he? Looking at her now, Dory wanted nothing more than to lay besides her and tell her about his day.) Winnie was alive, he had the information he needed. That was enough, right?

"You didn't write." Dory said instead. It wasn't an accusation, Dory likely wouldn't have given her the satisfaction were the situation reversed. Still, the lack of knowledge either way grated at his nerves more than he cared to admit. It occurred to him for the first time in that moment that she might not have taken the potion. A new wave of fear nearly as strong as the thought of her dying washed through him again, causing his hands to grip the desk behind him with white knuckles.

"You're alright then?" He then asked, needing the confirmation for his own sanity.

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Winnie hummed out a noncommittal answer, trying to formulate the words she wanted to say, or at least give meaning to the feelings she felt. "I believed you when you said you needed time." It wasn't for her to decide his timeline, she had her own to work with. Whether or not he knew at that moment how much time he needed wasn't something she could wait for. Her problem had been urgent and she'd taken care of it swiftly.

In a move very out of character for them, as she sat up, Winnie wrapped the sheet around her torso, swinging her legs off the edge of the bed as she looked at him. "Perfectly fine, it was uncomfortable, but even naturally it's that way." Winnie had seen and dealt with a lot of miscarriages in her career, causing one through a potion did not change the fact that her body had lost something and removed it, just as it happened naturally and spontaneously.

"Are you alright?" She asked because she genuinely couldn't tell and she wanted to know.

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Winnie's excuse was met with a scoff. Needing time or not, he still had hoped to know she was alright and whether or not she required anything. Dory would've supported her throughout the process if she had asked for it, but obviously Winnie was too set in her ways to ever ask.

He knew scarcely anything about the process of a miscarriage (or abortion, in this case) outside of it usually being random. It did make sense that a miscarriage would be painful, he supposed, given that the body had to go through the labor process the same way as a full term baby. (Dory had listened to Winnie enough times to know how labor worked at least.) Although, he would've preferred her to not be in any pain, Dory was immensely relieved to know neither of them would be parents in the upcoming year. It made their parting all the easier.

"I'm fine." He lied, not wanting to get into a deep conversation about just what happened last month. "I wanted to know you were alright, is all."

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Pursing her lips, Winnie reached toward the bottom of her bed and pulled her dressing gown from the post. She slipped it on as she stood up, tying it loosely. Win brushed some of her hair from her face as she regarded him closely.

"Bullshit." Winnie said it without much emphasis, simply for the meaning it held; she didn't believe him. "Look, I didn't want to worry you. I told you I would be fine, you didn't believe me, what did you want me to do? You would have heard about it if I'd died." She had family, friend who would have come looking. It wasn't like her death would have gone completely unnoticed.

She took a couple steps toward him, waiting to see if he would flee or fight. "I did what I had to do in order not to royally fuck up anyone's life, why can't you believe me?" For fuck's sake, he looked like a wounded puppy who hadn't gotten his way. What, did he actually think a sham marriage would have done the trick? To bring an unwanted child into the world that left them both miserable? Why couldn't he see that?

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There was nowhere for him to retreat to, not without risking being either caught or overheard anyway. He didn't dare head towards the hallway either, which left the floo. He could just leave, he supposed. Escaping would be easy enough now that he'd had confirmation that she was, in fact, alright. Except, leaving would be the final nail in the coffin. Winnie wouldn't be kind towards him if he were to abandon her mid-conversation twice.

"And I see and handle magical accidents all day." He shot back. "Anything can go awry at any time, and then what?" He'd read about her death in the paper? Find out about it from her brother? Fuck that. He would be better off not knowing in that scenario.

"It's not about the potion, Winnie. It's fine, I'm relieved that you took it." Dory didn't exactly relish the idea of marriage. "We're good. You're fine, let's leave it there."

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Quirking an eyebrow at him, she took a couple more steps toward him. "Clearly we aren't fine or you wouldn't look like a scared little bunny rabbit looking for his exit route." She breathed out a sigh. Win didn't know where his head was at, which was highly unusual, but she did know they were not on the same page. Hell she wasn't even sure they were in the same book. They were normally word for word, same ideas, even without speaking, but this, this was so far askew from normal she didn't even know how to truly ask what it was that he needed from her.

"What, what do you want from me?" His last answer to this question hadn't been very helpful. He'd wanted her to live; she had. She wanted to keep living a life that satisfied her, instead of suffocating her. He wanted to the same. Certainly he had to understand that. It seemed so clear to her.

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The closer she drew the further Dory fell into the desk behind him. The only other option of retreat available to him was to hop around the room away from her, and that was a level of mortification too low for him. Dory refused to meet her eyes, instead alternating his stare between his hands or shoes. He shouldn't have come tonight, and he most certainly shouldn't have joined Winnie and her friend in bed.

"Nothing, Win." He muttered. What he wanted was to go back to before that night but that wasn't an option. Nor was marriage or any other avenue that kept them together in some meager way. "You did what you had to do, what else is there to say?"

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He kept backpedaling and she grew more and more annoyed. "Fine." Clearly she wasn't going to be able to explain this so he could understand or— or he was choosing simply not to, but she was going to bother to try. She knew him well enough to know he was just as, if not more stubborn than she was.

"Fine. Anything else I can do for you?" Win crossed her arms over her chest as she casually leaned back against the nearest surface. He'd been the one to show up unannounced, hadn't seemed to have any problems joining in the fun and clearly that was all she was good for these days.

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"Fine." Dory repeated, the singular word sour and curdled in his mouth. It wasn't the sex he'd miss with her (well, of course he'd miss it, but she was so much more to him than sex). It was the late night conversations, the laughter, the friendship. It was the thought that maybe they could one day manage a marriage where neither felt confined. But, that was over now. He had to let her go.

Frowning deeply, Dory already regretted the next sentence that came out of his mouth. "No, that's all I got. I'll see you around, I guess."

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"You know where to find me." Was all she could think of in reply. Ugh. She was going to have to dig into the good whiskey she hid in the back of her wardrobe tonight. Maybe Emelie could be coaxed back to join her again. Either way she was going to need something good to help her sleep tonight instead of ruminating over this unnecessarily.

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