Summary:

A bitter dessert and a shocking discovery

Chapter IV (II): When past surfaces

Killgrave's POV

And that's exactly how we stay, in silence, until Alva comes back to clear the plates.

As if the atmosphere wasn't already tense enough between us, when she brings us the dessert things only get worse: it's a triple chocolate mousse.

Nothing wrong with that so far.

The problem is that it is heart shaped.

There is only one, to be divided in two.

With only one fork.

Oh, Bloody Hell, how could this happen? I haven't planned anything like that.

Meanwhile, Jessica is looking at me as if she wanted me dead.

It must be more or less like I looked at his milquetoast, little-man boy, her former neighbor.

"Eat it all, my appetite is gone!" She gets up from the table, going towards the stairs.

I'm left alone with Alva who looks perplexed.

"I would have expected the opposite ..." she mumbles.

"Oh, don't mind him, he has such unpredictable mood swings sometimes!" I wave my hand, as if it were a trivial matter.

"Oh yes, Miss Jones, believe me, I know something about it ..." she mumbles.

How dare she? I threw her off the street, seeing how she was ruined by gambling, I gave her a roof over her head, a second chance, a salary to earn again, so what exactly does she have to complain about?

Evidently she must have realized that I am not happy with this latest statement, because she backs away, a little frightened.

"Sorry, I'm not angry with you, if anything I'm crossed with him!" I say in the annoyed tone that Jessica would use, before starting to eat the mousse. "Mm, it's delicious!"

"I'm glad, it's one of Mr. Killgrave's favorite dessert, it's so weird that he didn't even want to taste it ..." my maid approaches again.

"Dessert is heavenly, it's not for that ... you just know, maybe wanting us to feed each other was a little too much." I try to make her understand. "Maybe Killgrave realized it too and preferred to leave it all to me."

"Oh, but, Miss Jones, Mr. Killgrave is not to blame for this, it was all my idea and Laurent made the cake with that shape on my suggestion."

"I imagined it ... after all, no one has ordered you what to do."

"But how do you know?"

"Intuition." I keep up appearances with an innocent chuckle. "More than anything else this thing should be explained to Mr. Killgrave ..."

I realize how this situation is becoming more and more surreal, only judging by the puzzled way my maid is looking at me.

"But he already knows it's not his idea, it seems rather superfluous to tell him."

"Superfluous, yes. You're right." I repeat, as I roll my eyes, resigned.

"Mr. Killgrave doesn't like to be disturbed by minor matters and, believe me, one thing he already knows would certainly be. " she reiterates the concept, before leaving.

I'll eat the rest of the dessert to console myself.

Jessica's POV

Unheard of, unthinkable, beyond belief!

What did he want to show me with that chocolate sweetheart?

We were supposed to feed like a fucking soppy couple?

I feel like throwing up just at the thought.

But does he really believe that things can change so fast?

Just because we spent a carefree hour playing video games?

Just because this absurd situation has brought us closer?

Just because he's kinder towards me?

No, this thing already happened before the exchange, at the police station.

Admit it, Jessica, you can't get out of your mind his words, his confessions, the way he was looking at you...

Damn, maybe I can't get it out of my mind just because now that I have his fucking brain in my head, it's probably damaging my own thoughts.

I can't forget what he did to me, what he did to Hope, what he did to Ruben.

How did he come to be so insensitive, not to have a conscience, not to understand what are the boundaries of a fucking ethical behavior?

I gotta stop racking my brains like this, I'd better go to bed.

I take off my pants, which are still uncomfortable.

As I look at these unbearably manly legs, I can't help but thank my lucky stars for having waxed right before going to the police station, with all the months of imprisonment that I would have had.

This leads me to do another kind of calculation. There is a certain monthly frequency expected in a couple of days, at most three. I've always been so precise in this. It's going to be oh so fun.

But now let's think about changing. I rummage in one of the suitcases for a shirt. Not purple, not purple, not purple... electric blue? Yes, I can go with that.

My hand touches something small and rectangular, but it's not a button.

I grab it and pull it out. A yellow USB stick.

Fuck, not just any stick.

I have already seen this USB stick.

I am assailed by horrible flashbacks of that night, me digging on the ground, a little with the pickaxe, a little with my bare hands, to find that metal box, then open it and deliver it to Killgrave.

He looks at me seriously, then turns this same stick in his hands and seems satisfied.

And then ... no, fuck, no, I don't want to remember the rest, not with this body that doesn't even allow me to drink as much as I would like!

If he went all the way to get hold of this key, it must contain valuable information, maybe something I can use to my advantage to clear Hope.

I fumble through both trolleys and, as I thought, there is also a laptop hidden among the clothes.

I open it, but, I would have bet, the access is password protected.

I try to enter 'Jessica' but he would never be so stupid as to...

Oh, holy shit, he is!

I insert the USB stick and several files to open appear on the screen, I choose one, but I can't even look at it completely. There is a tortured child. I open another one, there is a child who screams, while speaking in a language I do not know, perhaps Chinese. I stop it immediately and open the third.

I see a child, apparently calm, while he is building something, joining shapes, with electrodes attached to his head.

He's not playing, he doesn't seem to want to. It would seem more like some people are forcing him and he looks so sad, he never smiles...

Enough, I can't look at this shit anymore.

There is someone who owes me some explanations, immediately.

Killgrave's POV

Aside from that slip with the dessert, which wasn't even up to me, things haven't been all that bad between Jessica and me.

That was until we began talking about that mysterious Luke. I don't even know who he is, but I already feel I hate him with all my heart.

What is so special about him to attract her? Maybe he runs the bar where she likes to get drunk... but no, it can't be that simple, there has to be more and I'll find out.

But anger is not good for me, I don't want to break anything in this room, I have to try to calm down and focus on the good things.

As before, when, even if only for a moment, she smiled at me. I love to make her smile. And it was not even a command.

Even if she did it with my features. Well, you can not have everything.

Not to mention the pre-dinner. We were in such perfect harmony.

That is why I am more than certain that we will leave the bitter aftertaste of this evening behind us and will return to even lighter, sweeter moments between us and ...

I hear a knock on my door, a rather violent one.

Only now do I realize that, having recently taken off that beautiful but rather uncomfortable evening dress, I am only wearing underwear.

"Just one moment!" I scream, slipping on my dressing gown, while the knocking continues incessantly.

"Open this fucking door or I swear that Super Strength or not I'll find a way to knock it down!" Jessica growls.

I don't see why I should make her wait any longer, maybe I'll take the opportunity to resort to another of my jokes.

"Oh, sweetheart, if you want a goodnight kiss there are easier ways to request it," I wink provocatively at her as I notice that she is wearing only the T-shirt she had at dinner and the boxers.

She's breathtakingly sexy, but she doesn't look like she wants to joke at all and neither do I, as soon as I notice what she's holding.

That's my laptop and my USB stick is in it.

I immediately change expression.

"You shouldn't have been rummaging through my things, you, bloody nosey parker!"

"If you want to hide your dirty, murky, morbid secrets, at least come up with a more complicated password, you filthy depraved!" she growls, looking at me with utter contempt.

It was to be expected that she would guess the password. Maybe, just maybe, I'm a little too obsessed with her.

Wait a minute, if she's seen those videos and she's looking at me in that horrible way, oh, c'mon, she can' really think that...

"For fuck's sake, Killgrave! They are children, poor tortured children! What a fucking sadistic, sociopathic, immoral, soulless bastard you are, if you take an unhealthy pleasure to watch these poor creatures suffer... "

I can't hold a single second longer.

" I am one of those poor creatures!" I reveal to her, raising my voice.

TBC

Notes:

Well yes, for those who know the series, we have come to THAT moment, that I can't wait to face * O *
You can see for yourself that this story oscillates from funny moments to others a little deeper and more serious, I hope that you don't mind.
Ah, in the series Killgrave exposes Laurent's disadvantaged condition, before he hired him as his Chef, nothing is known about Alva, so I took the chance to give her a minimum of background.
The fact that she became their ultimate shipper ...she decided it on her own XD but I'm really loving her ...
Free to tell me what you like, you have idea how a comment can make me happy
see you next time <3

P.s. If someone knows also those stories, among 'Balance', 'Best Intentions, Wrong Ways!' , 'Ineffably Inevitable' the second and last part of the kid!AU 'Top Shelf Students' or this story, once more, which update would you like first?