December 25, 1890 — Off the Coast of Aberdeen

This plan was not without risks. He'd made a lot of assumptions in planning it: that because the Fisks were Jewish, they wouldn't have any plans that lasted into the evening on Christmas Day; that there was somewhere on the Fisk property Zelda could portkey from without being observed; that the Floo would be unattended later that night when she needed to return. Of all the risks, however, getting caught wasn't the one he was most concerned about. He was far more worried that he wouldn't have left Zelda a clear enough hint to figure out what the marble in the center of her "necklace" really was, and that midnight would come and go without any trace of her. Maybe she was sitting at home right now wondering why he'd been so excited to gift her a lame piece of clunky jewelry, and all his planning for tonight would be for naught.

There was nothing he could do now, though, except to wait. He busied himself making everything perfect in the meantime. The small sailboat he'd rented for the occasion was at anchor and bobbing lazily in the waves. There was a pile of warm blankets to protect them from the cold, and a thermos of cocoa nestled nearby. The lights of the nearest town shimmered across the water and he could faintly hear bells tolling in the distance. It was midnight. Any second now.

He needn't have worried. The portkey arrived just on time, with Zelda in tow. He was smiling before she'd even fully arrived and moved to kiss her immediately, relishing the fact that for once they could do this with nobody watching or caring.

"Hi. Hope you're not the sort to lose your lunch after a portkey," he joked as he wrapped his arms around her waist loosely. With a nod over his shoulder at their surroundings, he asked, "How'd I do? Do you like it?"

  

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MJ made the most Alfredy of sets and then two years later she made it EVEN BETTER

Zelda had figured it out, but she was nervous - that Xena would get back from her friend's family's large Christmas party before midnight, that someone would come into her room at the wrong time, that the portkey wouldn't work. She shoved pillows under her comforter to create the rough shape of a person, and pulled the blanket over the top - luckily, it wasn't far off from how Zelda actually slept. And Xena wasn't home yet, and the portkey worked, and she landed on - something. It took Zelda a second - after Alfred kissed her - to realize that the movement under her feet was because they were on a boat, and she grinned. She spun in a little circle in her slippers, taking in the coast around them - the lights of the town were distant. Zelda had never really been at sea before.

"I love it," she said. She leaned up to kiss him again. "I brought your present with me, too." Hanukkah had ended weeks ago, but Zelda had acquired the object beforehand and held onto it for proximity to Christmas.

She pulled the bottle out of the pocket of her robe - (for this, she had had to enchant her pockets to be bigger on the inside, but it was hardly the most ambitious spell she'd ever performed) - and offered it to him. It was a simple ship-in-a-bottle situation, with a sailboat inside - except that there was an enchantment on the inside of the bottle to make the sails move, like it was at sea. A little shy, Zelda held it up. "It's not as good as this, but." She shrugged.

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   Ophelia Devine

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AMAZING set by MJ

She'd been here less than a minute and they'd already kissed twice. When was the last time they'd gotten to do that? The hair on the back of his neck was prickling up out of habit, as some part of him couldn't help but feel they were about to be interrupted by one or more angry siblings. Honestly, he hadn't even considered that she might have a gift for him; having her here for a private night was everything he wanted. When he realized what she was holding, he smiled again.

"It's perfect," he said as he reached out to gently take it from her, raising it to eye level to get a good look. "Have you ever been sailing on one of these? They're fast," he said enthusiastically. "If you handle them right and you've got the wind you can get them nearly sideways on a turn. We used to race them when I was fresh out of school and still learning to sail."

  

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MJ made the most Alfredy of sets and then two years later she made it EVEN BETTER

Zelda always found Alfred charming, but particularly so when he was talking about boats - he was always so excited, and her smile brightened just to listen to it. That was admittedly part of the motivation behind her gift - she knew that it would get Alfred talking about sailboats.

"I haven't," she admitted, "But that sounds incredible." She could picture Alfred taking a sailboat nearly-sideways in the wind, cutting through water - that seemed exactly like something he would do. Not for the first time, she wished that she was allowed some of the adventure that he was - he knew sailboats so well he could play around in them.

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AMAZING set by MJ

"I'll take you, someday," he said easily. It was easy to make plans like that when Zelda was concerned. It was easy to plan for the future when he could so readily picture spending their future together — just as soon as her family would agree to it, anyway. He wasn't sure he was making the best progress on that front just yet, given how frosty the majority of the Fisks had been to him, but they were still courting, and that was something. Unless they planned to murder him (which seemed unlikely; they weren't that degree of protective, he didn't think) there were really only two ways a courtship could end. They might have been holding out hope at the moment that they'd tire of each other and move on, but Alfred wasn't worried about that — which meant sooner or later they'd cave and let him marry her, and then they could do as they pleased forever. And until then, they could survive on a few stolen moments here and there and a carefully planned Christmas at sea.

"I brought blankets," he pointed out. "In case you were cold. I didn't really know what to expect, in terms of — well, whether you'd be dressed or not," he admitted. "So I thought I'd better plan for pyjamas, just in case. Oh, and there's cocoa, too. Want some?"

  

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MJ made the most Alfredy of sets and then two years later she made it EVEN BETTER

Zelda was still in her house dress from the day, with a light robe over it for the pockets. Better than pajamas, but still not as warmly as if she'd planned on going outside. She was sure she'd be grateful for the blankets sooner rather than later. "Yes please," she said. "This just gets better and better, Alfred."

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AMAZING set by MJ

Her praise sent his head buzzing, and he had a self-satisfied smile on his face that he was hardly even conscious of. "I didn't bring cups," he admitted. "Figured you wouldn't mind sharing." Since they'd already kissed twice, and would probably do a good deal more of that before the night was through, it stood to reason they could share a thermos.

"How long do you think you can stay?" he asked, as he found a place to safely display her Christmas gift to him so that he could have his hands free to arrange cocoa and blankets (and perhaps to get into some mischief afterwards, if he was being entirely honest). "There's a floo at the dock and I told the bloke I rented the boat from not to wait up for me, so I can sail her in whenever you want to head home and no one'll be the wiser. I thought that'd be better than trying to guess exactly when and where a portkey could take you back."

Having found a safe place to nestle the bottle among the coiled line, Alfred turned his attention to the blankets and spread one open wide, then gestured for her to sit besides him at the center of it. "I want you to stay all night, of course," he continued with a wistful smile. "But thought I should ask how much time we have before we get carried away and lose track."

  

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MJ made the most Alfredy of sets and then two years later she made it EVEN BETTER

Zelda tucked in besides Alfred on the blanket, and curled in towards his chest; they so rarely got time alone together that it seemed a waste if she was not touching him nearly the whole time. She made a 'hmm' sound in her throat before she answered. "Three thirty, I think," she said, after the moment of thought. Xena would be home from her party by then, and certainly asleep - and it would be well before anyone would wake up and catch her in the fireplace.

"Is that alright? I wish I could spend all night, too,"  she admitted. She held the thermos in both hands and took a sip, smiling at him over the bottle.

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AMAZING set by MJ

"Of course it's alright," he agreed, nestling in closer to her. "I'm happy to have any time alone. And someday we'll get to spend the whole night together," he promised. Maybe not someday soon, given how little progress he seemed to be making winning her family over to his cause, but someday. After having weathered the initial rough summer after they'd surprised everyone with the courtship, he was no longer worried that they would intervene to break things off. They were probably expecting that they could dissuade him from continuing to pursue her by repeatedly icing him out any time they were together, but Alfred wasn't going to give up. He hadn't undertaken this decision lightly, and he was sure Zelda hadn't, either. They were in this for good, as far as he was concerned. Her family may never really come around, but sooner or later they'd get used to it.

Having her this close was something he hadn't been able to do since before they'd started courting, and he was relishing the feel of her skin and the smell of her hair, over the underlying salt scent from the sea all around them. Cuddling together under the blanket was having a physical effect on him, but he didn't bother trying to hide it. He was long since past pretending, for decorum's sake, that he wasn't wildly attracted to her.

That thought stirred a memory, one which he couldn't help but laugh at. "Do you remember when you came to the Voyager about a month before I was set to leave on the expedition? You were in my cabin... I think ostensibly to look at a sword," he recalled, but on saying this the potential for innuendo occurred to him and set him to laughing again. "You asked to kiss me. Merlin, I was so embarrassed. I wanted to kiss you so badly. I was just afraid if I started I wouldn't stop."

  

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MJ made the most Alfredy of sets and then two years later she made it EVEN BETTER

The corners of Zelda's mouth twitched up. "You were embarrassed? I thought I was the only one," she admitted, voice soft and wry. "I thought you didn't like me." It was silly in hindsight - obviously Alfred liked her, and he had proved as much a month later at the party. And - well, the party had provided good evidence that they shouldn't have kissed, too.

But they had weathered that and they were courting now, and they had survived the difficult summer where they were not allowed to properly talk. And now they were on a boat after midnight with the salt air all around them. It was almost unbelievable, and Zelda was thrilled to have him here, with her.

Caught up in the spirit of it, she pressed a kiss to the spot on his neck above his collarbone, right above his shirt. "Will you kiss me now?" Zelda asked.

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AMAZING set by MJ

Alfred smiled into the night as her kiss tickled his collarbone. He would have liked nothing more than to kiss her, and fully intended to, but he couldn't help a playful question first. "And what if I can't stop?"

  

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MJ made the most Alfredy of sets and then two years later she made it EVEN BETTER

Zelda grinned up at him. "I think I can live with that," she said.

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The following 1 user Likes Zelda Darrow's post:1 user Likes Zelda Darrow's post
   J. Alfred Darrow

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AMAZING set by MJ

Alfred laughed, but didn't answer that comment except with a kiss. It played out like a sonata, soft and slow. When he pulled back he remained quiet for a moment, savoring the taste of her lips on his and watching the moonlight reflected off the nearby water dancing across the surface of her eyes.

"I'm going to marry you someday," he said, as though the matter were quite settled. And he felt as though it was. They may have gotten off to a rocky start — and a bit of a rocky middle — but since they'd started their courtship they had been partners in crime, as it were. He felt they'd gained the ability to communicate from across the room without a word involved, and so he didn't need to ask the question and wait for her response; he could feel her yes before he'd said anything at all. Her family might still have a good deal to say to the contrary, but the Fisks were like so many rocks on the edge of the ocean — a little time would smooth everything over. And they had plenty of time. They were only borrowing from the forever they would have once they'd done it.

"If you'll have me, of course," he added with a wry smile. He reached down to find her hand and lightly kissed her knuckles. "If having a husband who goes out to sea for months at a time wouldn't drive you mad."

  

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MJ made the most Alfredy of sets and then two years later she made it EVEN BETTER

Zelda was startled into a grin; of course she had always assumed that this would eventually end in marriage - they had discussed eloping before coming up with this strategy- but it was another thing to hear it out loud. "I'm looking forward to it," Zelda said. She would be Mrs. Darrow, and they would have a little house by the sea so that Alfred wouldn't get too antsy.

"I think I'll be able to handle it," she said, "As long as you send me letters, of course."

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AMAZING set by MJ

"I'll write you letters all the time," Alfred said warmly. Of course, he had said exactly the same thing when he'd been getting ready to go underway on the Sycorax expedition, and that hadn't turned out to be true — but taking a plethora of owls each time he departed shore was one of his many lessons learned from his shipwrecked adventures. He did not ever intend to be declared lost at sea again — unless, of course, he actually was lost at sea — but even that was not exactly something he was planning for.

"How long do you think it'll take before your family comes around?" he asked, cuddling closer to her. Really, all he needed was her father to agree to the match, but Brannon Fisk seemed the least likely to change his mind out of the lot of them. Alfred previously would have awarded that particular title to Ari, however, and he had been... if not enthusiastic, at least a little tolerant of the two of them since that summer. Ari had never really believed Alfred's protestation that he would have done the right thing when it came to Zelda, he thought, but now the evidence that he wanted to marry her with or without an unexpected pregnancy was quite evident. If Ari's mind could be changed, perhaps Brannon's could, too. If not, perhaps he could eventually get enough of a quorum of Fisks on his side that they could convince the old man.

  

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MJ made the most Alfredy of sets and then two years later she made it EVEN BETTER

"My father will hold a grudge until I die," Zelda said, "But that doesn't mean he won't crack and let you marry me eventually." She was not particularly marriageable, in the scheme of things - she was cantankerous and she worked and she could be very awkward, and all of that meant that Brannon was going to have to give up sooner or later if he wanted her to be happy.

"My siblings want me to be happy," Zelda said, "When they finally admit that you make me happy, they'll come around." None of that was a real answer, but also it was the Fisk family - surely sooner or later someone else would catch Brannon's ire and all of them would be distracted by that.

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AMAZING set by MJ