Disclaimer:

I do not own the rights to the Poldark Saga book series by Winston Graham, or the Poldark 1975 series, or the Poldark 2015 series. This is a non-profit piece of work done with the sole purpose to entertain.

Scars to Mend

Chapter 1

Already well on his way to being drunk, Ross stumbled ungracefully from a bar he had just been kicked out of. He may have been friendly with the bartender, but Jim refused to let Ross drown his sorrows any further and firmly sent the still uniformed man home. Ross had no intention of going home, despite Jim's thoughts he was entirely too sober, his brain still not foggy enough to let Ross forget the revelations of his homecoming. He wandered idly around, trying to find somewhere suitable, entirely aware that he was no longer in the safe part of town and was now entering the less reputable areas.

Spying a pub that looked suitable for Ross's needs, Ross straightened himself up before entering so that he would look sober enough not to be turned away. Once inside, Ross realised he needn't have bothered, this was not the kind of establishment that would cut a paying customer off. Several heavily tattooed and intimidating looking men turned to look in his direction as the door closed behind him, but Ross ignored them and they soon returned to their business.

Looking for a place to sit, Ross's attention was immediately caught by the presence of someone who stood out from the crowd even more than he did. Sitting behind the bar, the first thing Ross noticed about the woman was the mass of flaming hair that curled and twisted down her back, the red contrasting against the black dress she was wearing that clung to her slender form.

Had it not been for the clear 'do not mess with me' vibe that she was sending out, Ross would have assumed that, alone and dressed as she was, she was looking for some company for that night. The wide berth that the other bar-goers had given her seemed to confirm that everyone else had come to the same conclusion as Ross, that she was in no mood to be bothered. Ross could only assume that her very flattering attire was chosen more out of personal preference than out of a desire to attract admirers.

The woman seemed to be on the same road as Ross, in front of her were a considerable number of empty shot glasses, neatly stacked together. It appeared that she had moved on from shots some time before Ross had arrived as now she was drinking some unidentified alcoholic beverage in a long glass. The seat beside her was empty, so Ross took it and ordered a whisky from the man behind the bar. The man moved around the bar fulfilling all other orders, even those made after Ross, until finally Ross was given his drink. The man barked an exorbitant price with a glare, clearly distrusting the outsider. Ross handed over the money without complaint, and took a sip, grimacing in distaste. He downed the rest of it as quickly as possible, partly to get over the taste and partly because it might speed up the time needed for Ross to get as drunk as he wanted. Before the man could move on, Ross ordered another drink.

Beside him the woman did not react to his presence, her slightly glazed expression indicated she was further gone than he currently was, but Ross would no doubt catch up soon enough. She was extremely pretty, Ross noticed, not conventionally so but in an unearthly way. As though she was a mermaid who had one day pulled herself up on the Cornish coast and chosen to walk among humans.

Her eyes were a clear green colour, Ross was sure that if she was more aware the colour would be piercing. The green was framed with black mascara that had been carefully applied. The only other makeup she seemed to be wearing was a red lipstick that stained the glass she was drinking from. None of her other glasses carried the same mark, which intrigued Ross until the woman finished the rest of her drink, and absently wiped the mark away with a tissue before putting her empty glass beside the others. Without prompt, the man behind the bar brought her another and accepted the coins she pushed towards him in return.

"You look as miserable as I feel." Ross commented, causing her to turn towards him. Even drunk, there was a spark of intelligence in her eyes that seemed to challenge him. She appraised him over the rim of her glass, taking in the military uniform and his own more modest stack of glasses.

"I wonder which of us has the better story." She replied in a thick Cornish accent, Ross could tell she was not entirely engaged in the conversation, but she did not seem particularly antagonistic.

"I am sure that I do." Ross said confidently, at her enquiring eyebrow he continued. "But I am not yet drunk enough to divulge my truly terrible day." He paused, eyeing the mysterious liquid in her glass. "What on earth are you drinking?"

"I have no idea." She replied. "It's cheap." It looked it, and now the shots made a little more sense. Ross remembered his university years, when his father had cut him off, shots were a quick way to make even the most unappetising beverage suddenly drinkable. Finishing off his whisky, Ross asked the barman for whatever she was drinking, much to the woman's amusement. It seemed that her cold façade was not normal for her, as she was not able to maintain it for long. Taking a sip, Ross recoiled in disgust.

"This tastes of piss." He informed her, she nodded with a smile.

"You get used to it." Downing the unpleasantness, Ross ordered two drinks of something that looked a little more drinkable. When it arrived, Ross paid and pushed one of the drinks in front of his companion.

"I hope you know that I won't sleep with you just for buying me a drink." She told him, finishing off her previous drink before picking up the one he bought for her.

"I cannot sit next to you and watch you drink that swill." Ross explained. "Although I think buying you a drink at least gets me a name." Ross thought for a moment that she was not going to acquiesce as she suddenly looked a little apprehensive.

"Demelza." She said eventually, Ross noting her omission of a last name.

"Ross." He replied.

Within a few more drinks, Ross felt the pleasant numbness he had been searching for all night. Demelza had reined back a little, not stopping but now drinking a lot more slowly.

"So what's your story then?" Demelza asked, bringing up again their previous short discussion, although this time she seemed more interested.

"I returned from Afghanistan today." Ross started. "I've been away for a year." Ross avoided mentioning anything more about his time away, not wanting to linger on those unpleasant memories. Demelza did not pry, her glass forgotten by her side as she listened intently.

"While I was gone, my father was diagnosed with cancer, which he did not tell me about. He died while I was away." Ross did not look at her, not wanting to see the pity in her eyes when he was already drowning in it himself. He hadn't even been able to attend the funeral as the news had arrived too late for Ross to make it back in time.

"That's awful." She said sympathetically.

"It gets worse." Ross told her, gearing himself up for finally admitting aloud what had occurred. "When I arrived at my flat this morning, I found my fiancée- my ex-fiancée," Ross corrected with a fresh burst of anger, "in bed with my cousin."

The scene was scorched into this memory, Ross wondered if he would ever be able to forget it. He had returned to his flat early in the morning, hoping Elizabeth would be there so that she could console him over his father's death and so that he knew that at least he had her support. Instead he had found her seeking her own comfort with Francis.

"Judas." Demelza cursed in shock. "What did you do?"

"I told them to get out of my flat, and I told Elizabeth that I would burn any of her possessions that were still in the flat when I returned." Telling the story forced Ross to relieve the awful moment and his own anger, but explaining what had happened to a stranger was oddly therapeutic. "She didn't even say anything, she just lay there looking shocked." He murmured. Demelza reached out tentatively and covered her hand with his own.

"You win." She told him with a sad smile. "That is a terribly day. If anything though, at least you found out about your fiancée before you married her."

"Every cloud has a silver lining." Ross muttered darkly, Demelza squeezed his hand with some comfort before removing hers. "What's your story?" He echoed back at her. She shrugged back at him.

"My own bad relationship ended recently." She said simply, taking her turn to avoid his gaze. Suspecting that she would clam up if he pried, Ross didn't and ordered them another round of drinks.

They continued talking and drinking as slowly the crowded bar thinned at people trickled out of the entrance and fewer people arrived. Demelza opened up a little more after Ross's confession, and Ross found his admiration of her grow as her blunt honesty was oddly charming. She didn't ever talk about her past, not her family nor her past relationship. In turn Ross avoided those own subjects about himself.

He found out that she was currently working as a waitress, which explained her conscientiousness about removing lipstick from glasses, knowing from experience how difficult it could be to wash off.

"It's temporary." Demelza explained. "I'm working my way up, I'm hoping they'll let me work in the kitchen soon." She brightened up when she spoke about food, and was obviously passionate about cooking. She clearly had a dream that she had not actually vocalised, and Ross found himself a little envious of her clear conviction and hopes for the future. Ross's own future was a blur of unknowns, he had no idea what he wanted to d/.o, only that he had inherited a failing company that he would have to revive, and an empty house littered with his father's things.

Thoroughly drunk, Ross found his gaze lingering on Demelza as his year-long abstinence seemed to hit him with a sudden force. Her dress ended above her knees, exposing much of her long legs which ended with a pair of modestly high heels. The dress was strapless and clung to her tightly, so much so that when he noticed, he had to force himself to look back at her face. Demelza seemed mostly unaware of his attention, but Ross was sure that he caught a few admiring glances from her towards him.

Last orders came and went, and before Ross knew it the owner was telling them the pub was closing and they would have to leave. The owner still treated Ross with suspicion, but the man seemed kinder to Demelza, asking her if she was going to be okay getting home. Demelza waved off his concerns with a thankful smile.

Stood up with her heels, Demelza was the same height as Ross, he had suspected that she would be tall while he was admiring her legs. She was not entirely steady, even with the short heels, and after she had shrugged on an old and well-worn coat, Ross offered her his arm with an amused smile as they both walked out of the pub, neither managing to walk in a completely straight line.

"What are you going to do?" Demelza asked, leaning on him a little as they stopped in preparation to separate.

"I can't face going back to my flat." Ross admitted, there was a chance that Elizabeth was still there and Ross could not handle seeing her again. His father's former home was also out of the question. "I think I'll find a hotel to stay in."

"There aren't any nearby hotels." Demelza told him. "Not any you would want to sleep in anyway."

"I might have to get a cab back to the city centre." Ross said thoughtfully, the hotel and cab would cost him a pretty penny, but it would be worth it if he could avoid seeing Elizabeth until he was sober again. Demelza looked at him indecisively, biting her lip endearingly.

"I don't do this very often." She said hesitantly, glancing at her hands nervously. "But my flat isn't very far away." She didn't need to explain any further for Ross to understand her meaning.

The thought of going home with someone had not been on Ross's mind when he had set off for a drunken bender, but he had felt unbearably lonely for a year, and despite Demelza's own recent relationship she looked like she felt the same.

"Lead the way." He said simply, Demelza smiled shyly at him. With a firm grip on his arm, Demelza pulled him along in the direction of her flat.

Arriving at the flat, Demelza fished out her keys, and with some difficulty due to her own inebriation tried to fit the key into the lock. Ross tried to help her, but was just as inept, causing Demelza to fall back on him with laughter that she vainly tried to stifle. Eventually, working together they succeeded, and with extreme care Demelza opened the door.

The flat was very small, but clean and well maintained. There was a note on the table by the entrance that Demelza stopped to read. Ross took the opportunity to wrap his arms around her waist, enjoying the closeness she provided. They had touched quite a few times on the way to the flat, hands entwining and pressing close together, but they had not kissed yet, although there was a spot on Demelza's neck that Ross wanted to pay attention to at some point that night.

"My flatmate is at her boyfriend's tonight." Demelza said, and closed the door behind them with less care now that she knew she wasn't in danger of waking her friend up. Demelza gently pushed Ross towards a particular door, before disentangling herself.

"I'll be back in a few minutes, make yourself at home." She glanced back at him over her shoulder as she went into what Ross could see was the kitchen. Opening the bedroom door, Ross went inside.

Demelza's room was as neat and tidy as what Ross had seen of the rest of the flat. Considering Demelza's bright and cheery personality, Ross was not expecting her room to be as bare and plain as it was. The only decoration was a small inexpensive vase filled with some wildflowers that were starting to wilt a little. It looked more like a guestroom than a room that someone was actually living in. Ross paused to pick up a family photo, there was a woman with the same fire coloured hair that Ross assumed was Demelza's mother beside a man who was probably her father. Surrounding the couple was a mass of children, all of them except a younger Demelza were boys. She must have had quite the childhood, Ross thought.

When Demelza returned, Ross put the photo back. On the bedside table she put two glasses of water and a packet of headache tablets.

"I like to be prepared." Demelza explained with a small smile.

"It's always good to be prepared." Ross replied, pulling her close. She was shorter now, and Ross realised that while she had been gone she had removed her heels. He gently brushed away a few errant strands of hair that had fallen over her eyes. She looked up at him with an unreadable expression, her arms reaching up to rest on his shoulders.

Ross leaned in and kissed her gently, savouring the first truly intimate contact he had partaken in since he had left the country. Demelza kissed him back, sighing against him in enjoyment. Ross's hands fumbled around her size for the zipper on her dress, and he suddenly wished he was sober so he could truly enjoy the woman before him instead of experiencing her muted by the alcohol in his system.

Ross found the zipper at the same time as Demelza found the buttons on his shirt. He was acutely aware of her nimble fingers at work as he carefully pulled the zipper down. She shivered a little against him as his thumb gently traced the path of the newly exposed skin. The separated for a moment to discard Ross's shirt before he claimed her lips again.

He enjoyed the way her hand flattened against his chest for a moment, before travelling downwards to deal with his belt. Ross had less trouble undressing her as with a little assistance, the black material of her dress slid to the floor. Demelza stepped out of the circle of fabric, and kicked it to the side of the room. Ross allowed himself a momentary pause to run a hand from her neck down to her back. She wasn't wearing a bra, although considering the dress Ross felt a little stupid for not realising that would be the case before. He pressed close against her, enjoying the skin to skin contact, as Demelza finally managed to remove his belt which was thrown onto the same pile as her dress and his shirt. The belt was swiftly joined by Ross's trousers.

Down to their last items of clothing, Ross found himself a little impatient and picked Demelza up. Her legs immediately wrapped around his waist as she allowed him to carry her to the bed, Ross's lips finding her her neck as they travelled over.

Author's Note:

I feel that everyone should know that when I was advertising this on my other fic 'Second Chances' I almost said "It begins with a bang" I quickly removed the sentence when I realised the awful inadvertent pun I had just made. So as you can probably tell, my modern AU is completely different from the series. The Ross/Elizabeth situation is particularly going to be completely different because I can't see how in a modern world their relationship would develop as it did in the series. If any of you are worried about Demelza being out of character there are reasons for it which will be explained later in the fic. Also for anyone concerned that Demelza is Ross's rebound, she technically is (let's face it in the series she is his rebound until he realises how awesome she is), that will change over the course of the fic.