Without a moment’s hesitation, Jennifer tiptoed into the corridor and gently pressed a tentative ear against the bedroom door.  She was rather startled to her Jessica say, “You can come in, Jennifer.”
Although she hadn’t heard Jennifer’s stealthy approach, she had sensed it, knowing that if David had known of her presence in his house, Jennifer would have been questioned and then left, unknowing, until this moment.  The suspense was probably killing her.
Despite this fact, Jessica couldn’t pull her gaze away from the sheets of paper that lay, almost threateningly, just opposite her, as Jennifer’s head appeared around the door.
“I just wanted to make sure you’re alright,” spoke the disembodied head, as the body seemed to be a bit more hesitant to intrude.
Jessica sighed and dragged her eyes away from the letters, turning them to the door.  “Don’t worry, I won’t run.”
Jennifer’s forehead crinkled, one eyebrow raised, “Are you sure that it’s me and not yourself you should be telling?” she asked, affecting the knowing tone that she seemed to be so good at.
Jessica made a half-hearted attempt at a smile and turned her head back to the room.  With a suppressed sigh she told her, “I suppose I am just trying to convince myself that staying is the right thing to do, I’m sure I’ll start to believe myself eventually.”
Jennifer shot her a warm smile and before she backed away, asked, “How did you know what I was going to ask in any case?”  She watched a smile sadly play across Jessica’s face as she replied, “Because it would be the easiest, least turbulent course of action for me to take.”
Again Jennifer’s brow creased, “But then if that’s the case, why…?”  Jessica cut her off before she could finish the sentence, “Because I love him.”  They met one another’s eyes, and Jessica was suddenly very aware that her voice had taken a slightly hostile tone, she quickly composed herself and added, “Besides, you and I have an arrangement, I have no intention, even now, of breaking it.”
Jennifer gave a slight nod of her head as she backed in the corridor and, closing the door behind her, sidled off towards the kitchen.
Closing her eyes, Jessica heaved a deep sigh.  She brought her head to her forehead and attempted to soother the approaching headache by rubbing her temples.  How had it gotten so complicated so quickly, it was supposed to be a simple months’ work to raise the money to proceed, and now?  There was barely an iota of sense in staying.  If it simply concerned the money, she could probably have gotten by on the money from the sale of a few bits of jewellery that she had had the foresight to take from her home for just that reason.
But now that David knew?
It was out of the question to just up and leave without so much as a fare-thee-well.  Now that slipping away quietly was out of the question, the remaining choices had become very limited. 
On the one hand, during her remaining time at the estate she had two choices; to submit to her feelings and desires and allow herself to be with David, to make it ultimately much harder to leave.  Or to avoid him, to ignore her feelings and desires, and attempt to behave as an employer and employee should towards one another.
With each new thought, the walls around her seemed to get closer and closer, pressing down upon her mind and thoughts.  With an outraged grunt, she stood straight up, flinging her arms about her as she did so, trying to push away any looming thoughts, laden with more pressure.  She tore off her nightgown, shrugged on her bathrobe and stalked down the corridor to the shower room.
The instant that the water hit, her entire body began to relax, the water cascading down her skin felt as though it were washing away all of the anxiety that had been building up over the past half hour.  She held her face up to the shower head and as the water cleansed her face, so her mind became calm and focused.
Sunlight shone in through the frosted glass of the window, though Jessica’s eyelids, and with the light came the truth.  The reason behind why she had to see things through.
Not only did it mean answers and the possibility of justice and redemption, but the realisation that this was all part of something bigger.  The way that the light all around was part of a much bigger entity, not only does it’s source provide light, but heat, gravity and energy to this world, but to many others around it.  And it’s not the only one, there are millions, billions probably, more, some different, some the same and all effecting everything around them.
In the same way, everybody was involved in Jessica’s life, in the murder, in the solution was effected by each decision and action made.
It was with this realisation that she knew that if she didn’t see this through, if she stayed with David and lived out a happy, normal life, it would be as though the sun just gave up sharing it’s attributes, concentrated on itself, lost it’s gravity, it’s heat and it’s light; nobody knows what it would be like, nobody would survive it.  The sun is needed as it is just as Jessica knew that she was needed as she existed, following her instinct and doing what she knew, deep down, was the right thing to do.
Her instinct had started her down the path of adventure and intrigue, or rather, misadventure and danger.  In either case it was her instinct that had bought her thus far and she was now determined to see it through, even if it meant that she was knowingly putting herself in harms way.  At least she could protect the people she loved. 
To keep David at a distance, would keep him from whatever outcome the search would render, if any.  She decided right then and there, to approach everything without the intention of returning to her family, her friends and to David.
Yet another sigh settled the weight of the decision squarely on Jessica’s shoulders, as though she were donning a heavy burden that would never fully be removed.
A noise from the bathroom door startled her back into the present, at least, she thought she heard a noise, was it locked?
The door creaked slightly as it swung slowly on its hinges, Jessica turned towards the noise, watching with trepidation.  Her mind screamed at her to cover herself, but her arms just wouldn’t reach for the towel.
She could sense him, hand posed on the door, still trying to decide whether or not in enter.
As though with that thought, the door flew open and there he stood.  Jessica still made no attempt to conceal her nakedness from him, to let him see her, to know her completely exposed, made her feel strong and empowered, despite the fact that, as he came towards her, his eyes were trained on hers, seemingly unseeing of all else.
The small distance between them quickly disappeared as their bodies met, her smooth, wet form and his fully clothed, firm figure.
As the hands met one another’s neck and back, and mouth met mouth, the entire world seemed to explode and dissolve around them.
Within seconds the clothes that covered David were soaked through and with one hand he unbuttoned his waistcoat and pulled it off, whilst his other hand slid sensually over the slicked curves of her back.
With little encouragement, Jessica found herself tugging at his shirt, pulling it loose from the waist of his trousers.  She slid her hands up under the drenched material, running her palms over his toned torso, before pushing upwards, pulling the whole thing up, over his head.
In doing so, their lips became disconnected, and before the shirt even hit the ground, they were drawn back together as though some force other than love or even lust were in play.
Now though, most prominent, was the sensation of bare wet skin against bare wet skin and what was discovered with the tips of fingers and palms of hands.  A few moments passed before her hands left his body and, with a few swift movements, unbuttoned his trousers which fell quickly to the floor, revealing the only remaining barrier between them.
At this moment they instantaneously pulled back from one another as David stepped out of his trousers and without dropping her gaze began to remove the final obstruction to reveal…
The water suddenly turned to ice, startling Jessica to realise that she’d backed up against the temperature gauge.  She turned quickly to turn the dial.  It took only a moment for the water to warm on her back.
She slowly began to turn back towards what she already knew would be an empty room.
Never before had she experienced a daydream as vivid or arousing as that which had just occupied her consciousness.  It hadn’t even felt as though it were all simply suggested.
As she left the, now warm, jet of water, she noticed just how heavy her breathing had become and how rapidly her heart was jumping about in her chest.
Her towel, which hung on the back of the locked door, was slightly damp, but she wrapped it around herself regardless and emerged into the power room.  Pulling on her bathrobe, she now saw the sense, and only a tiny twinge of regret, in having a lock on the door of a private shower room.  Had he actually come in, and he had been on the other side of the door at some point, and confronted her, it would most likely have gone the same way as that of her daydream and would have most definitely damaged what was needed to be done.
She checked herself.  By now he must be waiting for her in the kitchen, there was no more time in which to postpone the inevitable task that was before her, to tell him that she intended to continue with her original plans, without any distractions or complications.