keptherwaiting | 1948, Philadelphia

1948, Philadelphia

Waiting for Alice to finish getting ready, Jasper is far more excited and confident than nervous for their date this time.

She’d made him shower first, not wanting him to put on his fancy clothes without one, and then she’d disappeared into the bathroom with more than one bag in her arms after he’d finished. His suit had been left on the bed, which he’d changed into quickly - a perfect fit, because she knows him so perfectly and so finely crafted too - and then he’d been left to more or less think about their upcoming night.

He feels good, more sure of himself than he has been in awhile, and vows to make up for the little stumbles earlier by making sure Alice has a great time tonight.

He’s sure Alice will look beautiful, she always does, and he knows he looks great, because Alice picked out the suit especially for him. He wonders where they’ll go to dance; Alice has said she knew of a place. And it’s still early enough, a Friday, and even the quietest of weeknights in Philly have seen plenty of activity.

He’s just thinking of fetching another bouquet of flowers for her - the other already artfully displayed on a table - when the door to the bathroom finally creaks open.

He turns and sucks in an appropriately sharp breath at the sight of her.

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Alice would blush if she could, even as she does a little twirl for him as she steps out of the bathroom. Her hair, pinned out of her face with perfect pin-curls, make-up perfect, and maybe best of all: the dress she wears, hugging her torso and flaring out at her hips, all satin and crinolines, and matching black heels with perfectly tied bow laces at her feet.

She's ready for a night of dancing and more importantly: time spent with Jasper. Every moment with him feels like a blessing and she intends to make sure it feels the same for him.

"Hi," Alice beams, feeling a little silly under his scrutiny. She loves getting dressed up--but has a feeling he might react in the same way if she we wearing a burlap sack. Not that he's ever going to get a chance to see that. "You look so handsome."

And he does, in that tailored suit, look extraordinarily handsome. Closing the distance between them, Alice reaches up on her tiptoes and plants a kiss at the corner of his mouth, and amazingly, for once, her red lipstick doesn't smudge on his skin.

“You’re beautiful,” Jasper murmurs as he ducks to meet her kiss. “You look incredible.”

He takes a step back to look at her again, takes her hand in his to twirl her around.

He grins at the way her skirt flairs out, at how happy and excited she is for their night.

“All ready to dance then, darlin’?”

She ends the twirl he begins with a flourish and the brightest smile.

“Yes,” Alice chirps happily, rising up on her toes and back down again. “We can walk there from here—easier to not worry about parking and the added bonus of holding your hand.”

His gold eyes sparkle with delight as he takes in her bright smile, the way she bounces on her toes in excitement.

He’s still struck by the fact that she woke to this life with him in her mind and spent years waiting for him. It baffles him, and he may never understand it, doesn’t think he deserves it, but he’s drawn to her nonetheless.

And he very much wants this.

Her.

“You just lead the way,” he says with a kiss to her hand before he moves to open the door for her.

Her hand in his, she leads him to the elevator (where she might sneak a kiss when the attendant is pushing the button) and through the lobby and out onto the street.

It’s sunset now, the sky thrown into purples and pinks behind the stormy clouds that linger. Rain is on the schedule for the early morning hours and into the next day but for now it’s just cloudy and pretty.

There’s a glow to the world around them as the city’s lights come on, street lamps and boutique fronts that are closing.

They’re halfway down the main drag when she squeezes his hand, smiling up at him. “What’s one thing you’ve always wanted to do, Jasper?” Alice asks, her head cocking to the side curiously. “I wanna make sure you get to do it one day.”

The question throws him.

He’s never thought about it before: what he wants out of this life. It’s always been about surviving and getting to the next day. And he can’t remember anything from his human years, except the desire to protect his homeland in the war.

“ - I don’t know,” he answers truthfully with a slight frown as he thinks about it. “Guess I always just went along with everyone else’s wants since I’d turned?”

It’d been Maria’s, before. Then Peter’s, who came back for him. Then Peter and Charlotte’s, until he left them.

“What’s yours?”

“Paris and Milan,” Alice replies immediately. “Italy—“

Though the mere thought of Italy still drives forth the vision of black cloaks and red eyes, something she’s aware enough of to be worried but it’s so hazy and unrealized she can ignore it.

“I wanna go shopping,” she giggles, a little self-deprecating. “And spend weeks in the museums.”

Alice stops their walk with a gentle tug of his arm. “Hey, you just let me know when there’s something you want to do, and we’ll do it. If we can’t do it immediately, we will do it at some point. I promise.”

“Okay.”

Jasper feels a little silly for not having anything to provide in the way of a big want at the moment but he can think about it.

Maybe something will come to mind, or he’ll realize it along the way with Alice by his side.

“This date is a start,” he offers as he turns to her, squeezing her hand. “I want this, I know. Holding your hand, giving you flowers. Little things.”

Things Maria didn’t want from him, because it was too soft or to weak, but something he’d still wanted.

“Is that - stupid?”

“No, no.” Alice promises, pulling herself to him with the hand she still holds.

She wraps her free arm around his waist, tucking herself into him.

“It’s not stupid, it’s wonderful. I want those things too—“ she breaks off, her eyebrows drawn together in a sad line as she looks at him. “Jasper, I don’t know her—Maria—but I’m not her, I want anything and everything you’ll give me, forever.”

In more than just gifts and sweet humanistic dating rituals.

“I know you’re not her,” Jasper says turning in toward Alice more, stopped as they are in the sidewalk.

They haven’t talked much about María, and he knows they should probably have a much more serious talk about her at some point, but he doesn’t want to think about her anymore tonight.

He only wants to think about the girl currently in his arms.

“Now I’m sorry I thought it was stupid.” He laughs a little. “You’re just going to have to be patient with me as I stop tryin’ to question myself all the time.”

Alice nods, her curls bobbing around her chin before she hugs Jasper, carefully keeping her face turned aside so she doesn’t get makeup all over his nice, new, suit.

“Okay. I can do patient, much to everyone’s eternal surprise, I’m sure. I, after all, was very patiently waiting for you.”

Gabriel and Addie might tell him differently, but really, knowing Alice, the fact she didn’t throw caution to the wind and try to find him 15 years earlier is a miracle.

Her smile softens as she looks up at him. “C’mon, let’s keep going.”

“After a kiss,” Jasper says, just before he leans down to press his lips to hers.

It’s a sweet kiss.

He just needed to, in the moment.

A promise without the words that he’ll try his best not to keep her waiting another twenty-eight years to get it together.

He pulls away with a grin and offers her his arm before they start off down the street once more.

“So what‘s this place?”

“A bar type place that does music, mostly swing and some jazz music—a bit of everything for everyone I suppose.” Alice loops her arm through his and steers them across the street at the next light.

She point it out after they turn right off the main road. It’s a hole in the wall with black and white awnings over the windows, a band’s music filtering through the door.

The doorman opens the door for them, tipping his hat with a greeting for Alice by name (“I may have spent several nights listening to music, while waiting for you,” she whispers, a little sheepish) and in they go, Jasper being guided by the tiny woman at his side toward a cozy booth set in the back.

She slides in first, tugging him down with her, at a great vantage point for the band. “They’ll ask if we want drinks. I always order a few to not stand out and to make sure I’m a paying customer.”

Jasper scoots closer to her in the booth, his hand holding hers underneath the table as he glances around at the place.

The music is good, and the place lively. Mostly everyone is in high spirits.

Jasper likes it.

He doesn’t have to but he leans in close when he speaks to Alice: “How do you find these places?”

Just explores and wanders into some nondescript door to find a cozy jazz club?

"Sometimes I get flashes of myself in a place, once I make the decision to go out," Alice murmurs back to him, pleased with how close he's leaning into her. "Other times I just wander and find things."

A waitress comes by, and Alice pauses to order ("--a gin and tonic for him, and I'll take a French 75!") over the trombone player. She laughs softly as the waitress leaves and sighs. "I wish I could taste them--they always look so fancy and nice."

She takes the hand in hers and sets it in her lap, thumb tracing the back of his hand as she watches the jazz band play. "This was a different sort of find altogether. The waitress at the diner? The day I met you? She told me about this place, told me her husband plays some nights, for fun. So I came and he's really good."

Alice points out a man on the piano, his fingers flying over the keys. "That's him. She said 'he's the best piano player in Philly' and I believe it."

“Hm, Betty’s husband? I don’t have much to compare to but he sounds good,” Jasper says, watching the man for a minute when Alice points him out.

He sits back in the booth just taking in the music. At some point the waitress returns with their drinks but they go untouched.

He plays with Alice’s fingers, his skating over hers, entwining and parting.

“I like the jazz,” he decides, when one song ends and the next kicks off. Something a little slower paced this time.

Alice reaches up with her free hand, her fingers combing through his hair as she leans up to whisper in his ear: "Dance with me."

She curls her finger under his chin, turning his head toward her. "I want to dance with you, to a slow song. I want to dance with you to fast songs, and every song, but right now, I want to sway back and forth to this music."

And fall more in love. She's not sure she can fall any more in love, but she's sure as hell going to try.

The way she looks at him, the way she says what she wants, the way she loves him -

“Alice.“

He leans in kissing her deeply, losing himself in her lips, her mouth, her touch for a moment.

He almost doesn’t want to part and yet he really wants to dance with her too.

“C’mon, darlin’, let’s sway,” he murmurs as he takes her by the hand and leads her out to the floor with the other couples.

He pulls her close, looking into her eyes, as they start to sway together to the music.

Alice giggles as she looks up at him, her heels making her a little bit taller, but not nearly enough.

It doesn't matter.

She rests her chin on his chest as she looks up at him, leaning into him as much as possible. They're much closer than any other couple on the dance floor but again--it doesn't matter. She's got Jasper to look at and that's all she cares about right now.

"Mr. Whitlock," Alice murmurs, smiling up at him. "Has anyone told you how handsome you are?"

“There’s this one girl who keeps telling me,” Jasper says smiling down at said girl. “I actually believe her too.”

He hugs Alice close, not caring that their sway doesn’t match the beat of the music, or that they’re too close than may be appropriate.

“Most beautiful girl I’ve ever met too. She approached me in a diner like it was the most natural thing in the world.”

“Well, she sounds real smart. And like a great catch—you should hang onto her,” Alice beams up at him.

They’re barely moving, compared to the others on the dance floor; a simple sway back and forth and it might be the most romantic moment Alice has experienced in 28 years.

Only right, she thinks, to spend it here with him. The man literally from her dreams (if she could dream).

“I’m really happy you took my hand. Happier still you stayed.”

“Taking your hand was the best decision I’ve ever made.”

He can certainly promise her that, if not more at the moment.

He steps back to take her hand in his and spin her out before pulling her close once more.

“I - I’m really happy. Happier than I’ve ever been.”

Her skirt flares around her knees when he spins her and then she’s back in his arms, her hand on his chest, the other curled around his.

God, she loves him. So much it almost hurts.

Her smile can’t be contained, she just keeps beaming up at him. “I’m glad,” Alice whispers. “That you’re happy. I like it when you’re happy.”

“I am very, very happy,” he assures her, meeting her bright smile with his own.

“You’re happy too?”

He can tell, can feel her happiness and love as certainly as his own, but it doesn’t hurt to ask too.

“So happy,” Alice nods, resting her cheek on his chest.

She watches as she curls her fingers around his, her hand so small compared to his.

She’s never felt truly unsafe in this world, so she’s not sure it’s fair to say this, but: here in Jasper’s arms, she feels the safest she’s ever been.

“I can truly say I’ve never been happier.”

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