A/N: The first one is set sometime in between 4x05 and 4x06, but most of the sections will probably be anachronistic to the canon unless stated otherwise. Comments and reviews are welcome as I'm still pretty nervous about my characterization and overall storytelling ability.

A is for Amsterdam

Duke woke to the sound of his alarm, and the smell of coffee brewing. He glowered at his phone as he turned off his alarm (a ridiculous techno tune; one of the only tones offered by his phone that wouldn't be absorbed by the usual sounds of living on a ship), and shook the last traces of sleep from his head.

It had been another night of uneasy sleep, followed by only just making it close to something restful in the last fifteen minutes before his alarm went off.

He swung his legs over the edge of his bed, wincing at the pain in his thigh, and rubbed his face, his elbows placed carefully on his knees, then lowered his head so that he could try to squeeze out the tension from the back of his neck.

It didn't do much of anything, but then again he was just trying to convince the rest of his body that it was time to be awake.

The coffee would help.

It would help more if it was already in his room, but dreaming wasn't going to get him to the kitchen.

He checked the bandage on his thigh, sighing. The bleeding had slowed, and he hadn't bled through the bandage, so he figured he could risk putting off replacing it until after a shower. He grabbed a pair of sweatpants from the floor and carefully pulled them on. He finally stood from his bed, stretching as he did, and knew that he might need to devote a little more time to his yoga, once he got moving, albeit more carefully than his usual routine.

Though, he thought as he walked towards his door, while he was dreaming about preexisting coffee in his room, he couldn't help extending the dream to a pretty little brunette (who over talks when she's nervous and who recently moved into the spare room on his boat) bringing it to him, maybe just wearing one of his shirts, and smiling at him like she does when she's uncertain of what she's doing and she just needs a nod from him for it to change into something genuine and warm, and he'd take the mug from her and pull her back to bed with him. He'd kiss her for real and properly this time, undoing whatever impression that Tyler kid left, because what better way to start a day than—

As he opened the door, he was surprised to see Jennifer standing there. He must've opened the door just before she was going to, because she was pulling her left hand back from where the door handle had been when it had been closed. Her hand disappeared into the sleeve of her sweater as she lowered it. The sweater she was wearing had clearly belonged to someone bigger than her, and seemed to be a strange amalgamation of sections of other sweaters. It had a blue body with green sleeves that had tan elbow patches. It did not seem like one of her usual, carefully chosen articles of clothing.

In her right hand were two mugs, one being her usual bright yellow mug, and another being a plain white one. The contents of both were steaming, and Duke wondered briefly if a new Trouble was making him project his dreams, which would actually be a pretty great Trouble for once.

"Hi." She managed to squeak out, looking from him, to the floor, and then back. She went from rocking on her feet to trying to hide them inside of her dark gray sweatpants. She seemed hyperaware of how close they were in the space of his doorway, and was unsure of how to behave because of that. He wondered briefly how much her reaction to their proximity had anything to do with what Tyler had done.

"Hi." He rasped back, his voice still laden with sleep. He cleared his throat and glanced at the mugs in her hand, trying to clear away his earlier thoughts of coffee being brought to him and of the damage done by a disturbed teenager, "One of those for me?"

She looked at the mugs in her hands as if she had forgotten they were there and was surprised to see them there. "Oh! Um, yeah. I figured—I mean, I wasn't sure when you'd get up but—I mean, I did stab you in the thigh, but that wasn't—I was just making coffee and I thought about how nice it'd be if someone would leave a fresh cup for me while I was sleeping—except that sounds really weird, um—,"

Duke just chuckled and carefully reached for the white mug in her hand. She brought up her left hand to help so that they didn't drop the mugs. His fingers brushed hers as he took it, and he couldn't help but notice how her posture straightened just the slightest bit at the contact. Jennifer watched him nervously as he took a drink. He smiled at her, "Thanks. That was sweet of you."

She blushed and smiled back, "You're welcome."

They looked at each other for a moment longer when an electronic ding sounded from somewhere behind her. Duke looked beyond her, towards the breakfast nook, and Jennifer turned around, letting out a quiet, "Oh!" as she went.

Duke followed after her, trying to hide his limp as he went, "Waffles?"

"Mm, yes please." She grinned as she slid back behind her laptop at the table. For her part, she didn't make her observance of his limp obvious, but for her trying she couldn't hide how her features stiffened. "I mean, please if you have time. I think Wade already left for the Gull, so I wasn't sure how soon after you wanted to follow him."

"Well breakfast is the most important part of the day." He smirked at her, wishing the rigid undertone of her expression would lessen, "Besides, what kind of host would I be if I didn't offer breakfast on your first morning here?"

She smiled at him, though her mind seemed to be elsewhere. She watched him as he started pulling out the milk and the rest of the ingredients to start in on the batter for a batch of Duke Crocker Signature waffles. After a moment she finally managed to ask, "How's the leg?"

He shrugged, "I've had worse."

She nodded, chewing on the inside of her lip.

He paused as he measured out the flour, "Jennifer, I'm fine. I'm not gonna lose the damn thing or anything."

She let out a nervous giggle, "I think that'd be too many stereotypes at once for you."

He gave her a confused look.

"Oh come on," she laughed, "You live on a ship? You're a—," she raised her hands and mimed quotation marks at him, "—'delivery boy'?"

Duke gave her an incredulous look.

"You have a goatee!" she exclaimed, gesturing emphatically towards him.

He ran his hand over his facial hair defensively, "What's wrong with my goatee?"

"Well nothing," she admitted, "but if you somehow get a peg leg, I think your transformation into a pirate will be complete."

"Really? What if I get a parrot and start saying, 'Yar' and 'Shiver me timbers'?" he asked, slipping into an exaggerated pirate voice towards the end.

This sent her into a fit of giggles, making her relax into the bench. He just smiled to himself as he looked from her back to his bowl, content that he had managed to lessen her anxiety, and if that meant making pirate jokes about himself, then so be it.

She managed to calm herself down just as her computer dinged again. She let out a few more, much quieter giggles as she pulled her left knee up to the bench with her, and leaned her cheek into it as she began smiling at her screen and quickly typing a reply.

He glanced at her and finally asked about her stylistically strange sweater as he opened one of the cabinets to grab the waffle iron.

She shrugged, "I was cold?"

"Ha ha," he sarcastically answered as he set the waffle iron on the counter. He plugged it in so it would start to heat up and sprayed it with nonstick spray.

She giggled at him as he gave the batter a few stirs, "If you're implying that the style is a bit outdated and not something that a woman of my inclinations would typically opt to wear, then 'what's with the sweater' is that it was my dad's. Almost all of my favorite memories of my dad involve him in this sweater."

Duke shook his head as he ladled some of the batter onto the now well-heated waffle iron, closing it, "Dad's sweater, Dad's coffee mug, Mom's earrings—is there anything you own that's just yours?"

She tilted her head as she considered it and Duke took the opportunity to take a drink of his coffee.

A mistake, in retrospect.

"My boobs." She said plainly.

Duke snorted so hard into his coffee that he ended up wearing most of it. She laughed so hard that she nearly fell off the bench seat in the kitchenette.

Duke glared at her, "You planned that."

"I would never," She grinned at him.

There was a pause where Jennifer went back to typing, and Duke tried to clean himself off. After a moment, he found his gaze falling back to Jennifer, and his mind wondering to what was underneath that oversized sweater.

"You're thinking about my boobs now, aren't you." She asked still looking at her computer screen, though her deadpan tone made it more of a statement rather than a question.

"I…" he stammered, "I would never."

She rolled her eyes at him over the top of her laptop, "Uh-huh. Eyes front, sailor."

He smirked at her, "Yes, ma'am."

She giggled at him, and rolled her eyes again when her laptop dinged once more. She glanced at it and her smile turned from brilliant to sentimental as she read whatever it was that had just popped up. She began typing another reply as Duke opened the waffle iron and pulled out a perfectly golden waffle. He put it on a plate, grabbed some silverware and the maple syrup, and placed the items in front of Jennifer, even as she remained concentrated on the message in front of her.

"Everything good?" he asked, not sure how to read her expression. Not quite contented, not quite anxious, but a strange mix of both, along with a sentimentality that Duke had only seen when she talked about her parents.

"Hm?" she responded, lips pulled into her mouth so it was a line of concentration. She didn't really look at him, aside from tilting her head to the side as if his voice had caused her ears to perk up. In fact, he wasn't even sure that she had seen him place the waffle in front of her.

"You seem pretty concentrated on whoever you're talking to on there, I just want to make sure everything's okay. Also, that you don't let that—," he pointed to the plate, "—pinnacle of breakfast-food perfection go to waste."

She glanced from the waffle to him and grinned, "It'd be a crime of the most epic proportions if I let that happen."

He rolled his eyes but smirked at her, glad that whatever she and the mystery person were talking about, it wasn't enough to quell her sense of humor. As he walked back to the kitchen she commented, "I'm sure there'd be a public hearing. Ooh, I might get court martialed by General Mills!"

"If I didn't know any better, Ms. Mason," he remarked, setting another waffle to cook and refilling his coffee mug, "I would think that you were trying to change the subject away from your mystery conversation. And that would cast some suspicion on just who it is you're talking to, and what it is you're talking about."

It was her turn to roll her eyes as she poured maple syrup on her waffle, "Fine. If you must know—,"

"Oh, I must," Duke smirked, turning back to her, leaning against the counter, and taking a much more careful drink of his coffee.

She made a face at him and continued, "—it's an old friend of mine I met in high school. Her name's Holly. Once a year she goes back to Boston to visit family and the like and we usually try to do at least coffee when she's here, but given that I've got…other business this year, we're trying to figure out if there's something else we can do."

"And you can't just not see her this year because…?" Duke prompted.

"Oh I'm not trying to meet up with her this year. We're just coordinating times to Skype later." She replied, still looking at the screen as she put a bite of the waffle in her mouth. As she chewed her eyes widened, and she pointed at the waffle with her fork. She covered her mouth as she said around the bite, "This is spectacular, by the way."

He winked at her, "Secret's in the syrup. And okay, but that doesn't really answer my question." Duke pointed out, gesturing with his coffee mug.

"Because I already feel bad enough about lying to her about why I can't see her in person, I'm not going to lie about not even being able to spare at least five minutes just to try to touch base." She replied defensively, swallowing her bite.

"Easy there, short stack." Duke retorted, "What's so damn important about her, anyway?"

She sighed and began gesturing with her silverware as she tried to find the words, "She's…she's like…"

She paused, finally settling for poking at her waffle while Duke pulled out the fresh one and joined her at the table. If she noticed his wincing as he sat down, she didn't make it obvious. Duke reached for the syrup as she tried again, "We met the summer just before Dad died. There was this program where we went to England and France—the whole thing was supposed to make us, like, little ambassadors or something—and I would be going with a group of other teenagers from pretty much all over the state and on our first meeting, Holly came up to me—I think she could see my nerves from across the room—and started talking to me. We became fast friends."

She took another bite of waffle, before smirking and commenting, "She was the one who taught me the pen thing."

Duke gave her a confused look as he finished a drink of his coffee.

She glanced down towards his wounded leg.

Duke raised his eyebrows, "She sounds like a scrappy thing."

She giggled and nodded, taking a drink of her own coffee, "She knows how to handle herself. She taught me a lot of things—like the best way to do laundry in a bathroom, how to make a fist without breaking my thumb, stuff like that—and she pulled me out of my comfort zone. Frequently. But in good ways?"

Duke nodded his understanding as she ate more of her waffle, "When we got back, I was worried that we'd lose touch but we didn't. She's been good to me, and good for me; even helping me through my dad's death—an event that would and did alienate a lot of people from my life, but not Holly. In fact, when Mom first got sick, she offered to help me pay her medical bills, and when she died, Holly helped me figure out what to do with everything. When she moved out to California three years ago, I was so heartbroken. But we were both careful to keep in contact, and see each other when we could."

She paused, having finished her waffle, and warmed her hands with her coffee mug. Her eyes were direct towards her computer screen but she didn't seem to actually be seeing it as she said, "After my…after I'd been diagnosed, she was one of the only people who treated me like I was normal. She still talked to me, she still…" she trailed off.

For a moment she seemed to come back to herself, and directed her gaze at Duke, "She was a friend, you know? Still is. And I guess I'd just like to hang on to something normal, like a friend."

Duke nodded, having finished his own waffle, and back into his seat, "Yeah. Yeah, I get that."

There was a pause; both of them lost in their own thoughts, before Duke shifted and said carefully, "I'm sorry about…I shouldn't have snapped about your friend's importance. That was rude."

She just smiled at him, "It was. But I accept the apology. Besides, I think you and Holly would hit it off if you two met. She'd put you in your place."

Duke just chuckled and hitched his thumb back towards the kitchen and waffle iron, "Seconds?"

She shook her head, "No, thank you, that one was enough. I think I'm gonna go get dressed; Holly wanted to do a test call in about half an hour."

She began to grab her plate and mug. As she stood to walk towards the sink, she paused and turned to Duke, "You don't mind if I take the call in here, do you?"

"No, no, you go ahead. I don't think my leg's going to let me do my yoga, so I'll probably just shower and head for the Gull. You said Wade already took off for there?"

"Well, I think he did," she answered, putting flatware into the sink, "He wasn't here when I woke up, and I didn't hear him come back here last night, so I just assumed…"

"Hm." Duke mumbled, his brow furrowing in concern.

As she walked back to grab her laptop, Jennifer placed a tentative hand on Duke's shoulder, "Hey."

He looked up at her and fought the urge to put his hand on top of hers, keeping her there.

She offered him a reassuring smile as her thumb stroked his shoulder, "I'm sure he's fine. Why don't you call him on your way to the Gull?"

He nodded, "Yeah, I will."

She smiled at him again before giving his shoulder a careful squeeze and grabbing her laptop.

Once she went back above deck towards her room, Duke decided that he could probably go for another waffle. The waffle consumed, and the kitchen mostly cleaned, Duke headed for his shower. As he was closing his door, he heard Jennifer making her way back towards the table. The call must have started before she was initially ready because he could hear her and another, more digitized, voice getting near, speaking lively.

His shower complete, his wound redressed, some semblance of an outfit thrown together, and his boots laced, he walked back to the stateroom, where Jennifer was in the midst of a rather lively debate.

"That wasn't what happened and you know it." Jennifer was saying, her eyes were shining and her cheeks were flushed. She didn't look truly angry, but she there was an annoyance there. She'd curled her hair, and she was wearing a gray blazer with purple floral print on it over a burgundy dress with dark gray tights.

There was a laugh from the computer, "I do, I do know it, but you're angry face is just so cute."

Jennifer made a face at her screen, resulting in another disembodied laugh. Jennifer glanced up at him and flashed him a smile. He returned it, and gestured that he was going to take off. As she nodded her understanding, Holly said, "Who're you smiling at? Is it the pirate guy? Aren't you going to introduce us?"

"I don't think so, he's running late for—," Jennifer started, suddenly looking nervous.

"'Pirate Guy'?" Duke interrupted.

She shot him a glare as Holly said, "Was that him? He sounds hot."

The voice yelled out to him, "Hi Pirate Guy! I'm Holly! I'd love to actually see you if Jennifer would be so kind as to actually introduce us!"

Duke walked over to just behind Jennifer so that he would just barely be within the view of the camera behind her. Holly was a pretty black woman, and had her hair wrapped in a black head wrap with gold patterns painted onto it. She was wearying a gray tank top, and there were remnants of makeup around her eyes and lips. Her eyes were warm from laughing, and her smile was inviting. Lamps lighted the room she was sitting in but it was clear that it was still dark where she was.

Jennifer tilted the screen back and adjusted the laptop's position so that Holly could more easily see Duke. Her eyes lit up when she saw him, and she flashed a grin at Jennifer.

"Ah, so this is the heart-of-gold pirate who's letting you stay on his boat while you track down your birth parents!" She trilled, flashing a knowing smile back at Jennifer.

Jennifer rolled her eyes and looked at Duke, "This is Holly, in all her early morning, sunshine-y glory."

Holly waved on the screen, "Hello! So do you have a name, Pirate guy?"

Duke gave Jennifer a confused look, but from her expression he realized what'd happened; Jennifer wasn't sure whether or not Duke wanted her telling a stranger his real name.

He flashed her a reassuring smile before turning it back to Holly, "You can call me Duke, Sunshine."

Holly grinned, "Well then, hello Duke. I hope Jennifer's not causing too much trouble out there. She can be really demanding."

"Oh, all the time. She had me make her waffles this morning." Duke commented, chuckling.

"The audacity!" Holly replied, playing up her shock, "Did she make you put chocolate chips in the batter and when they were done smother them in peanut butter?"

Duke turned his surprised look to Jennifer who was blushing deeply and seemed to be trying to shrink herself into the back of her chair, "She did not."

It was Holly's turn to look surprised, "Really? The first time I made her waffles, she fought me tooth and nail for chocolate chips. Did she actually eat it?"

"Yes I actually ate it!" Jennifer snapped, her face now bright red.

Holly chuckled as she looked back at Duke, "She must like you."

"I am literally right here." Jennifer said indignantly.

Duke smiled at her, "You were right, I do like her."

Jennifer rolled her eyes at him and Holly giggled as Duke asked her, "You're up pretty early, Holly. Or is it that you're up pretty late?"

"Neither." She answered, taking a drink of something from a mug with a rainbow painted on it.

Duke shot his confused look to Jennifer who explained, "Holly's an insomniac. She doesn't really keep normal hours."

Holly smiled, "I've been sayin' there's nothing 'normal' about me since I met you, Jen."

Duke chuckled, "Sounds like my kind of woman."

Holly chuckled back, flashing her left hand and the ring on it, "Watch yourself, son, I'm spoken for."

"Oh," Duke clutched his heart mockingly, "Shot down before we could even start."

Jennifer rolled her eyes, "Right, do you two need a moment, because I can go."

Holly scrunched her nose at Jennifer, "Calm down, Jen, just a lil' harmless flirting; nothing your boy here can't handle, apparently."

Jennifer mimicked Holly's action.

She giggled and turned her attention back to Duke, "So Duke, you live on a boat. Take it you've been around?"

Duke nodded, his suspicion rising, "I have."

Holly spared a glance at Jennifer, "Ever been to Amsterdam?"

"Okay!" Jennifer exclaimed suddenly, sitting up straight and leaning towards the laptop, "It was great to talk to you, Holly, I'll talk to you later!"

"Jen, don't you dare hang up on—," Holly leaned towards her camera as well.

"Bye!" Jennifer smiled, quickly hitting the 'end call' button. She closed her laptop and stood up, grabbing it with her as she tried to slide passed him.

"Wow it was great talking to Holly, I hope we can do that again, you should really get going to the Gull and I should go do…other…things. I'll see you later Duke bye," She spoke rapidly, trying to head for the stairs to the upper deck.

"Hold it." He called after her. She froze her stride, her posture tense. He leaned against the counter, "You wanna tell me what the deal is with Amsterdam?"

She sighed heavily and turned back to him, rubbing her forehead with her free hand, "I mean not particularly, but I will because otherwise it'll seem like I'm hiding something from you if I don't."

He nodded.

Of course.

Of course she'd feel compelled to tell him about something that she's nervous about or embarrassed by because she's afraid that he'll think she doesn't trust him. And of course she trusts him, no matter what it is.

"Of course," He mumbled.

"What?" she asked.

"Nothing." He shook his head, smiling at her, then waved his hand at her to prompt her to continue, "C'mon, tell me what's so important about Amsterdam that you'd hang up on your friend like that."

She rubbed her forehead again, "Okay! Okay."

She placed her laptop on the counter and began to gesture, "Just…would it help if I said that I was high at the time?"

Duke couldn't hide his surprise, "Were you?"

She sighed, "No."

"Would it help you tell me about this if you were high now? 'Cause I can fix that." Duke offered, hitching his thumb behind him.

"Tempting," she allowed herself to smile, "but no. It…ugh, it's stupid that this embarrasses me! Okay." She shook herself, "Okay. My dad had spent two years in Amsterdam before he met Mom, and he always talked about going back. After he died, Mom talked about the two of us going, just to…give us some closure, I guess. So one night, when Holly and I were out after curfew when we were in France, I told her how much I just wanted to go there; that my dad's stories about it made it seem like this…this perfect place where anything was possible and everything was just…better, you know? That…that it had turned into like my…" her face was bright red as she looked at the counter, "God, I don't know if I can even say it out loud, it's so ridiculous."

"Hey." Duke said quietly, dipping his head to try to catch her eye.

She bit her lip and looked at him.

"I will never think that anything about you is ridiculous."

If it was possible for her face to get any more red, that's what it turned as she tried smiling back at him. She closed her eyes, letting out a breath through her nose, and finally continued, "Happily Ever After. I told her that Amsterdam had turned into my last shot before the 'And they lived Happily Ever After' appeared on the screen."

She sighed, "It was were I thought I'd be happy."

Duke studied her as she straightened her posture, some of the blush from earlier receding, and waited for her to continue.

"So," she sighed again, straightening her blazer uselessly, "Ever since then, every time I've come into contact with a guy, she'll ask them what they think of Amsterdam. It was—and apparently still is—sort of her way of gauging where said guy was going to fall into my life. And I guess since you own a boat and are letting me stay here, she figured you'd be, uh—," she raised her hands to mime quotation marks as she said, "—'worthy' of the Amsterdam question after having just been introduced."

She shook her head, pointedly avoiding his gaze, before sighing a third time and picking up her laptop to head above deck, "Okay. Well, I think I've embarrassed myself quite enough for one day, so I'm going to go and ride this high all the way to seeing if Vince and Dave would be willing to interview me for a job."

She was speaking rapidly and was halfway up the ladder before Duke tried to slow her down, "Jen—,"

"Have a good day, Duke, I hope everything's okay with Wade, and if I feel like I'm capable of looking you in the eye, I'll probably stop by the Gull later. Bye!"

If she had heard him, she was clearly very determined not to acknowledge him. He heard the door to her room open and close as she hopefully grabbed her shoes and purse before heading to her car.

He let out a breathy laugh as he let his head fall back to look at the ceiling.

"Amsterdam, huh." He rubbed his face as he made his way above deck, wondering if he was still on good terms with the guy he knew out there, and if he'd be willing to let him and a certain pretty little brunette use his place sometime.