Disclaimer: The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen movie is copyright of 20th Century Fox. No infringement is intended.
Author's Note: Just a quick story musing on Jekyll and Mina-- coming from one short scene in the movie. This is admittedly a song-fic-- the song used is 'Love Led Us Here' from 'Muppet Treasure Island.' The song was actually more of the inspiration than the scene, but they fit together so enjoy!
LOVE LED US HERE
By Etcetera Kit
Was I dumb or was I blind?
Or did my heart just lose its mind?
That I'd go and throw our perfect dream away.
It was almost the year 1901. It had been a year and a half since the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen decided to go their separate ways. And in one hour it would be 1901. In a way, it made him feel even worse—sitting here in his study with a glass of brandy. The more years that passed held a more likely the chance that they would have forgotten him, that she would have forgotten him.
Doctor Henry Jekyll was alone once again.
He had been utterly alone before the League came to recruit him. Hyde had killed his best friend, his fiancée and had been moving in to kill everyone dear to him. So he estranged himself from all of them and fled to Paris so that Hyde could not harm anyone. Lonely was too weak a word to describe what he felt every time he looked out his window. He looked at the world and felt like a removed observer. He did not belong in the world nor did the world want him in it. He was better off alone. For the evil he had created, he felt that being ostracized from society was the least of the punishments he deserved.
But they found him. And with the League, he felt like he had people who truly understood what was happening to him. Although, at first, no one seemed interested in reaching out to him, Captain Nemo eventually did. He now counted Nemo amongst his closest friends and he never got to see the man. An occasional letter would arrive from the captain, but he could never write back because he never knew where Nemo was going to be. And the others—Quartermain, Sawyer and even Skinner—were close to him. But Mina… he was never going to be able to get her out of his mind.
He vividly remembered the night he saw Dorian Gray seduce her. He had not meant to stay and spy on them. Walking down the corridor to his own room, he thought he heard a male voice coming from Mina's room. He paused at the doorway, wanting to make sure that she was all right and that no one was harassing her. At that point in time, he did not know that she was a vampire. And he saw Dorian seduce here. He could not say why he did not just walk away when he saw what was going on. It was like a huge disappointed had settled over him—until that moment he had not realized how much he wanted her to be single. He did not want her to have even a lover. He wanted her… and she would never have him.
His love for her grew over the weeks they spent together on the Nautilus. She never once seemed to return his affections. Instead, she chose to accept Sawyer's affections. He remembered seeing the two of them leave the Nautilus the day they all left—walking closer together than society permitted, seemingly in love.
He did not know what happened to them.
Oh looking back I'll never know
How I ever let you go,
But destiny could see we deserve
To have another day.
She peered out the curtains of the front window of her house. The lights in the house just across the square were still on—they were normally out by ten o'clock. It was quarter past eleven. She supposed that since it was New Year's Eve, he was waiting up for the new year. Wilhelmina Harker shook her head, wondering why she was spying on Jekyll all of a sudden.
He did not know that she lived across the square from him. Doubtless he had seen someone moving into this house, but he had come over to introduce himself like all the other neighbors had. She wondered at this. Aboard the Nautilus, he had proper society and manners so well-ingrained in his personality that it made him almost invisible. Everyone else had such flamboyant personalities that one gentle doctor would not make much of a splash. His alter ego did. But why did he not come to introduce himself?
The only answer she could fathom was that he had sunk even deeper into his self-made misery. On the ship, he had been the gentle doctor they all knew, but he was also something else. He hated himself. He hated what he had made. That hate had caused a deep depression that he expertly hide from prying eyes. Oh it showed itself every so often. When he would snap at a crew member and then he would quickly apologize and make an excuse for his behavior. When he would be seen walking down a hallway, muttering to himself. And Dorian had not done much to help the depression, always sneering at someone who—in Dorian's opinion—was a substandard man.
Now she wondered why she had felt compelled to live near Jekyll at all.
She knew that he had been crushed when she took up with Sawyer. But it had been easy to ignore since he hid it. The relationship with Sawyer had never been meant to last and she knew that going in. The young Secret Service agent was now at home in Missouri working at the local courthouse. She did not know how he felt for her anymore. That last morning when they all left the Nautilus, she watched Jekyll climb into a carriage, neatly dressed as always and drive away back to London. It made her wonder if Hyde was gone or merely resting.
He now ran a clinic. She knew that now. One of the gossipy neighbors had told her. He had taken on a young assistant who was straight out of medical school. He had a butler whose name was Poole. And anything else she wanted to know about him, she could probably find out from the neighbors. She watched him leave his house every morning to go to the clinic. He came back home at exactly six in the evening. All the lights in his house were out by ten. But all that told her was that he kept a predictable schedule. She assumed that the young assistant took on any emergency calls in the evening.
He was still depressed and still hiding it.
Taking a deep breath, she made a decision. She pulled on her coat and left her house, walking across the square.
Love led us here
Right back to where we belong
We followed a star and here we are
Now heaven seems so near
Love led us here
Someone rang the doorbell. Henry jumped and nearly spilled the glass of brandy. Poole was still up—and would remain up until he went to bed. His butler would answer the door and announce whoever it was. Who would be calling at this hour on any night—New Year's Eve or no? It was probably his assistant coming from a party to wish his employer a Happy New Year. It would be just like that young man. Yes, that's who it was.
Poole knocked softly on the door and slipped inside the study. The butler looked as puzzled as Henry felt.
"Doctor Jekyll, there is a lady here to see you."
"Did she state her name?"
Poole nodded. "Yes. A Mrs. Wilhelmina Harker."
The glass of brandy crashed to the floor. Dazed, Henry watched as Poole quickly mopped up the mess of spilled brandy and broken glass. Mina… Mina was in his front hallway… how did she find him?
"Should I show her in, sir?" Poole asked from where he was crouched on the floor holding a towel that had previous been on the tray with the brandy bottle.
He nodded. Poole quickly stood up and left the room. The butler had done a good job of cleaning up the broken glass so quickly. It was seconds… it was years, before Poole came back into the room—leading a figure he had not seen in a year and a half.
I confess it's sad but true
I lost myself when I lost you
But I held the memory through each lonely night
She had not changed since he last saw her. She still had that dark auburn hair—a unique shade that he had never before or since seen on another woman. Her eyes were that enigmatic light blue that hid her true animalistic nature. And those eyes were not tainted with red. For that, he was almost relieved. The black dress she wore was simple, but becoming. Her hair was pinned back in a severe bun topped by a black hat with veil. Mina… until that very moment, he had not realized how much he really missed her.
"Mrs. Wilhelmina Harker," Poole announced. She smiled at Poole briefly as he took her coat and hat. Poole then retreated into the hallway, shutting the door behind him.
They stared at each other for a moment. When she had walked into the room, he had stood quickly and was now frozen by his chair.
"Henry," she said softly in that husky alto voice, that voice that did horribly bad things to men's libidos.
He shook himself out the temporary stupor. "Won't you sit down?" he asked indicating the chair next to his. She nodded slightly and gracefully came across the room. She settled herself in the chair with the agility of a cat—and that's what she was, one large predatory cat. She moved and looked infinitely better than the quivering mass of bones and flesh that he felt like. He practically fell down into his chair.
"I've missed you," she said quietly.
His heart was hammering in his chest. He hoped that she couldn't hear it. How long had he wished for her to show up on his doorstep? Too long. And here she was and he could not think of anything to say. She missed him? He found that extraordinarily hard to believe.
"I missed you too," he replied lamely. There was no way she could fathom just how he had missed her even before they parted company. She could not even imagine the daydreams and actual dreams that came about them. She could not know about the erotic images that he never had about any other woman before her. He wanted her—he wanted her so strongly that he would stoop to be her lover. He would marry her and let her be unfaithful.
But somewhere in the dark reaches of his mind, he knew that he would never be happy with that arrangement. It would be better to lose her completely than to only half have her. What did she feel for him—if anything?
Oh let's forget what's gone before
Now we both know so much more
And we've been given another chance
To make it work out right
He was nervous—that much was always obvious about his character. She could see the gears turning beneath those cobalt blue eyes. He was trying to determine why she was really here. And the sad fact was that she did not even know why she was here. He looked just like she remembered him—the cinnamon brown hair combed neatly with the lamb chop sideburns. His suit was neat as always, but the jacket was thrown over the desk chair. He wanted to know what she wanted.
A memory came to her like a fragrance. She was in the infirmary aboard the Nautilus. It was several days after M had the ship bombed. The wounded were everywhere and she was tending to a crew member lying on the table. Jekyll came into the room holding several rolls of gauze and a few bandages. He really should have been attending to this man and not her—she was not a doctor, but the wound was superficial and there were worse wounded men that Jekyll needed to attend to.
"Hey," he had said softly and handed some of the rolls of gauze. Their fingers brushed as she took the gauze from him. His fingertips were silky and warm—probably like the rest of his body, she had thought at once. Something almost like an electric shock ran through her. She took the gauze quickly. He smiled at her before turning to another wounded crewman that needed attention. She had turned away from him and went to see to a man in the hammock in the corner. When she turned around again, Jekyll had gone back out into the hallway.
And she never forgot that brief touch. He had never touched her before or since.
Then she suddenly knew why she was here.
Love led us here
Right back to where we belong
We followed a star and here we are
Now heaven seems so near
Love led us here
"Henry," she said again. He wondered at this. She had never called him by his first name until tonight—he was not even sure that she had known his first name was Henry. Her light blue eyes averted to the floor and the glowing fire in the fireplace. She looked up and pierced him with that compassionate gaze. "You're not well."
Not what he had been expecting her to say. "Was I ever well?"
A slight smile crinkled the corners of her full lips—such kissable lips. "I imagine you were before you made the formula." She paused. "Has Hyde bothered you recently?"
He shook his head. "No. I think he has realized his purpose."
She nodded, slowly contemplating that information. He sighed. He still wanted to know why she was here. God knows he had wished for her to come. He wanted so badly to ask the question straight out but could not force himself to. It would have been rude.
Her blue-eyed gaze met his. "Henry," she said softly. "I think I love you."
Now I know that life can take you by surprise
And sweep you off your feet
Did this happen to us?
Or are we just dreaming? Dreaming?
His jaw dropped open. Mina smiled. "Henry, pick your jaw up off the floor." He opened and closed his mouth a few times as if to say something, but everything died before it became more than an incoherent noise in the back of his throat.
He opened and closed his eyes. Those cobalt blue eyes were shiny with tears. "Mina," he said softly. He said her name like a caress, like a name he wanted to roll over his tongue again and again and cherish. "You don't know how much I have wanted you to say that." He paused. "You're not just saying it. You mean it?"
She nodded.
"I have loved you since the first time I laid eyes on you."
"I know, I know."
She stood up and knelt in front of his chair. He took her hands in his and stood up, pulling her with him. In the flickering firelight, she could see the love on his face. He had hated himself and maybe, just maybe, he could let go of his overwhelming guilt and depression.
He lifted one hand and traced her cheek with his thumb. "You are so beautiful," he whispered. She closed her hand over his, locking his soft, silky hand on her cheek. Those words meant more than the world to her. Dorian had always told her she was beautiful to seduce her. When he believed her dead, he told her that she had been so lovely. Henry would always think she was lovely. His affection would never wane.
He would grow older. He would eventually die. But she would cherish the few short years that they would have together. She was immortal. She would always be young and beautiful. This time would be the happiest of her life.
We followed a star and here we are
Now heaven seems so near
Love led us here
The look on her face confirmed the words she had spoken. He had no reason to trust her, no reason to believe that she truly reciprocated his love. But he just knew it. It was like an intuitive knowledge and he was never going to let go of it.
Without thinking, he leaned closer to her and gently brushed his lips against hers. He felt the power, the pure energy run through him. She was the only woman to make him feel this way. Her hands went to his neck, holding lightly and tightly all at once. He lowered his hands to her waist and pulled her close to him—so their hot bodies were touching. She deepened the kiss and as their tongues danced, he realized that never before had he felt such exquisite pleasure.
He gently broke the kiss and rested his forehead against hers.
"Let's get married as soon as possible," she whispered.
He smiled. "Mina, we hardly know each other."
"It doesn't matter. We have a whole lifetime to find out."
The smile on her face was radiant and content. He returned it. "A whole lifetime—all the time in the world."
So take my hand
And have no fear
We'll be all right
Love led us here
The End