"We'll Always Have Pankhurst..."

Chapter 26
Jack and the Captain were at Emmeline's side in a moment, followed quickly by Yeats and the doctor, who knelt beside her feeling her pulse. 'She is with us still,'he told the others, as he helped her to lean up abit and taking smelling-salts from his pocket,applied said remedy to rapid results as Em coughed and waved the stuff away.Blinking about her, 'I'm alright!' she insisted, as they helped her upright. They now stood facing--
'Frank, and Alice!' Emmeline looked as though she would faint again and came all over white as bleached bone.Jack and Keithcliff were flanking her both with a rather proprietary grip upon her person.
Realizing he was out of line just now, however, Jack relinquished his hold to the Captain.
Meanwhile, Alejandro stood as if dazed, staring at Frank and Alice still entwined in embrace as though they could not be parted with a crow-bar. A tear escaped slowly from his eye, and then he began to smile.He further amazed them all by tossing his head back and laughing riotously.
'Frank! Frank, at last!' he touched Frank's shoulder then,gaining that happy gents' attention. Frank turned to Alejandro and grasped his hand in his; he, Alejandro and Alice began laughing and crying simultaneously.
Aleister left Em in the Captain's care and strode over to Frank.
'Dr. Frank Stein...how wonderful to have you here, indeed! We have all been working tirelessly toward this moment...'
Frank's demeanor became wary then, but Alice intervened: 'It's alright, darling! No one here means any harm to us. Let me introduce Dr. Aleister Parsons, whose untiring aid has been invaluable to us all!'
Frank spared a glance at Aleister, but he could not cease feasting his eyes upon his long-lost Alice. 'Oh, my dear...don't think that I am unaware of all your efforts in my behalf!' He looked over his shoulder at Aleister. 'Al, Al and Al--My Three Musketeers!' he laughed again, Aleister, Alice and Alejandro merrily joining in his new-found mirth.
Jack still appeared somewhat distracted by Morgana.He stood watching her and John Flubber becoming rather intimately reacquainted.
'Ce n'est pas croyable! John...why did you ever leave me?...Sans-coeur...!'
'Heartless, I!?'John held her at arm's length. 'You ditched me like
yesterday's news, Morgana! Laisser en rade!' Still, he smiled at her as did she at her old suitor, whom she had 'left in the lurch'.
Yeats took command of the situation then. 'Quickly! We must get Frank safely out of here! --Captain!'
Keithcliff knew when duty called. 'Right. To the ship then, fast as possible!'
Yeats surveyed the company before him, now having gained two new members in the scant few minutes of the New Year. 'Just to be sure...'he eyed Flubber. 'John! I will take Alice, Frank and Alejandro with me! Wait 5 minutes and join us. Here are the coordinates...'he took Flubber's Black Box and traced a finger over the lid, then handed it back to John. 'Good luck. We'll see you all in 5...' and so saying, with the obligatory blinding flash, four of the company disappeared.
Needless to say, Jack and Aleister were flabbergasted in the extreme. Yeats having congress with Flubber? Yeats TRUSTING El Juan Flubber? Their minds reeled. 'Merde b'enite...'Parsons muttered, incredulous.
Their suspicion was not lost on John who seemed to enjoy an unholy glee at their perturbations. 'Gentlemen, and ladies! Allow me to introduce myself! John Flaubert, at your service!'He affected a deep bow, which sent his side-knot flapping momentarily up over his shining pate;Morgana, ever the actress, curtsied by his side. 'And, now...sans faute!' Again, the over-bright flash of light and Mendation's foyer stood empty.
                             . . . . .
When Emmeline 'arrived' on deck, she was greeted by the welcome sight of everyone who was dear to her, and she knew that this was truly a New Year hors de pair...without equal.
Her heart was overfull to witness Alice at last in interminable embrace with her beloved Frank...even Alejandro seemed to be nothing but overjoyed at this fortunate turn of events...and all her brave knights here sans armour;her Capitan, Mr. Yeats, Jack and Aleister, and even Lev! She felt an almost painful ebullience in her joy of the moment.
As ever, though, Yeats became the necessary voice of reason. 'Captain, how's the tide?'
Keithcliff meanwhile had been giving the orders to stoke the engines and make ready to 'Filer a' l'Anglaise!'he shouted down the hatch to the crew below... ('skip town' or, as old sailors would say, to slip away unnoticed;literally 'to take French leave,' or as the French would say, 'to take English leave!') The Captain's wit and good-natured ribbing of Morgana's fancy French phrases were not lost upon the company...all were grinning broadly, in high spirits.
Emmeline moved then to Alice and Frank. 'My dear...oh, Alice! I had so hoped this moment would come for you at last! But, now that it is here--now that Frank is really here!'She couldn't hold back her tears of joy, and also sorrow. 'I couldn't be happier for you both!
Vaya con Diosa, Alice and Frank! I hope we shall see one another soon!'
Alice's shining face registered momentary alarm. 'But Em! Aren't you coming with us, all of us?'
'Do come with us, Emmeline!'Frank was insistent. 'After all you've done, and well, is it really safe for you back in Pankhurst?' He touched her arm, concern writ upon his features. Em hadn't known Frank in person, only briefly when she was but a child, apparently.
Though some years her senior, he was a handsome man still, with a full head of somewhat reddish hair himself, a lock of which hung rascally over one eye. Oh, how she envied Alice then!
'Oh, I simply can't just leave. You may need someone back here still. And someone needs to take care of MacGregor, yes?' Em smiled tearily holding Frank and Alice's hands in hers.'Someday, soon, you can return!'
'We'll be here with her, and make sure to keep her safe from harm,'
Jack offered, who had sidled up behind Em unnoticed til then.
'Hmmm, I'm sure you willll...' The Captain however, had ever taken note of all Jack's movements onboard. He turned to Emmeline,'So, kitten, did the Goddess grant your wishes for the New Year then?' he kissed her forehead gently.
'Oh, Keithcliff...ever my knight in shining armour! Take good care of all our precious cargo!' She embraced her Captain tightly then, causing a small 'Ooof!' to escape from his lips.
'There, my girl! We'll be back before you know it!' The Captain directed this last newsbit toward Jack, with a meaningful look his way.
Meanwhile, Aleister had made his quiet way over to Alice, who turned to him, breaking contact with Frank for the first time tonight. 'Alice, my dear! All's well that ends well, eh?' He was putting a good face on it, she knew.
'Aleister...I can't tell you, how much this means to me. And without your help, who knows where we would all be? How can I thank you, my dear man?' Alice, on tiptoe, kissed his cheek.
'Oh, Alice...you know how things go in this life...What's important is that Frank is back! We have accomplished great things here!' His gruff manner was betrayed by his searching look.'Besides...we'll always have Pankhurst,'and he kissed Alice's forehead, and handing her over to Frank, shook that worthies' hand in farewell.
'Mon homme de paille, I think I'll miss you most of all!' Emmeline told Lev, who was counting his winnings in the dark, wisely. He paused long enough to  accept a kiss on the cheek from Em. 'Vaya con Dagon, Em!' he told her with a tip of the hat to Lovecraft.
'...Captain...?' Yeats seemed eager to 'Sois un peu dans le vent!'
('Get going already', or literally: 'Be a little in the wind!')
'Ah, no sails tonight, Mr. Yeats! We'll be stealthy and steam our way out along the bay awhile...and draw less attention thus, yes? --Mr. Orez! Back to work, ye laggard!'
Orez saluted then to quiet applause from all, and soft 'Hear, hears!' and 'Excellent fellow!' which helped to warm his heart, although joyous, he felt it somewhat torn in two. Not only had he lost Alice, but he seemed rather bereft without Frank's 'shadow' presence within...which was but a matter of getting used to. Avanti! He told himself, and began to discharge his duties about ship with a will. He'd Frank and Alice still to shepherd, he told himself, like a good Basque.
'We best be on our way. We should be out of the City with all haste!' Yeats put a gentle hand on Emmeline's shoulder, as he rounded up Jack and Aleister. The Captain stood by the gangway, making ready to put to sea. A final desperate hug between Emmeline, Alice, and Frank, and then turning to her Captain, she took his
chin in hand and planted a deep and earnest kiss upon his willing lips, her other hand tightly about him. A very red Captain slowly disengaged himself and muttered, 'Well, off you go then, Petal! Be safe! We'll let you know what we can, as soon as we may, luv!' and,seeing her and her three cavaliers off down the gangway, which was soon stowed, the Captain gave the order to put out to sea...
The foursome stood upon the dock and waved to all aboard, as the ship headed out upon the glassy mirror of the bay...soon, the evening swallowed sight of all the people Emmeline had loved most dearly.
'Em?' asked Jack, laying a gentle hand upon her shoulder.
'I'm alright, Jack.'she sniffed, taking refuge in her hanky awhile, and staring absently at the otherworldly object she still clutched in her hand.
Jack turned then to Parsons.'Aleister...old man...I,...'he didn't know what he could say to Al...their mission had been accomplished, but he knew their sucess meant Aleister had lost his chance and would now miss Alice dreadfully.Al was staring at the black dot on the horizon, all that was left of the sight of her getaway ship.
Yeats regarded them all from his vantage point on high, then, reaching into his breastpocket, handed out cigars to Jack and Aleister, and taking one for himself, lit the ends without a flame from the mere generation of heat from his fingertip, to Emmeline's astonished delight. Then, putting an arm about Aleister, and Jack,
(who, wasting no time, had his arm about Emmeline;the gentlemanly thing, to ward off the cold Jack told himself...), Yeats steered them out of the streetlamps to a more private area where they could be less easily detected when they made their exit.
'This,'he declared, taking them all in with a glance,'Looks like the beginnings of a beautiful friendship!'
                              *FLASH*
                              . . . . .
                                fin
(...until, next time...)