Disclaimer: I do not own Lost, nor any of the characters associated with Lost. Title of the story, Ashes and Wine, is the title of a song by A Fine Frenzy. The chapter title, Nothing But The Water, is a song by Grace Potter and the Nocturnals.

Ashes and Wine

Nothing but the Water:

...

I have seen what man can do
When the evil lives inside of you
Many are the weak
And the strong are few
But with the water
We'll start anew

…

Year 1609

"George Percy." I wrinkled my nose. I would never be able to survive a marriage with a man when I could barely say his name without a hint of disgust in my voice.

"Emily, he is my friend. He is very nice and as the son of the Earl of Northumberland, he is extremely wealthy. Besides that, he is your betrothed. You cannot do anything about it now." My brother, Edward, said in an almost bored manner.

"I could get a divorce."

My Lady's maid, Ann, gasped and my brother Edward took on a look of complete and utter horror "A divorce!" He hissed, looking around the carriage as if he feared someone besides Ann had heard me. I rolled my eyes, and with a sigh, watched the trees fly past the carriage window before stating, "I do not want to go."

"It doesn't matter. Stop crying like a girl."

"I am a girl." I muttered through clenched teeth.

It was difficult sometimes to be the only daughter out of eight children. I never figured out how my parents had so many children when they didn't even like each other very much. Edward said once, you did not have to like someone to make a baby with that person. I wondered if that was true. I am sure it had to be, considering my parents absolute hate of one another.

He rolled his eyes.

"It isn't even really about marrying George Percy—" Edward threw me a look that suggested he didn't believe a word I said.

I sighed heavily "Oh, alright. I do not particularly want to marry him, but I would have been able to survive it if we were living here in England. I do not know how I will do it, Edward. I have never left home. I have never had to do without anything. I have lived a life of luxury and now I am giving it all up to go to the New World. To go to bloody Jamestown!" As soon as the words left my mouth, Edwards hand shot out and slapped me across the face.

The taste of blood was bitter on my tongue and I pressed my fingertips the spot where his hand had hit, and surely left a print. The carriage ride was a quiet one after that. Not another word was spoken, until we had made it to port, and I had been settled into my cabin. Only then did Ann begin chattering on about how Jamestown couldn't be all that bad.

I sat silently on the edge of the bed, hoping that I would wake up from this nightmare.

Ann kneeled in front of me suddenly, placing her hands upon mine and said softly "M'lady, it will be fine."

"He is still angry at me. Maybe he hates me." Tears burned the back of my eyes but I quickly blinked them away out of embarrassment.

"Do you speak of—"

"My brother? Yes. He was supposed to go to the New World with George, but I convinced mother and father that when I headed to Jamestown I needed an escort. I needed one of my brothers and since he already wanted to go then he could just wait a year or two and go with me instead. I had hoped that when Edward couldn't go, that George would stay behind also, because it had been Edward, after all, who had come up with this horrid idea to even go in the first place. Now that I look back, it was foolish hope of mine. Even if George had stayed, we would have just married sooner and I would already be in that horrible place. Edward has never gotten over the fact that he was forced to stay while others set off to the New World. He had to stay with his bratty sister while others got their adventure." I stated pitifully.

"That was two years ago. I am sure he is no longer upset."

I nodded slowly and Ann smiled proudly.

"Thank You, Miss Stewart." I said softly, as she straightened herself from the kneeling position and motioned for me to take a seat at the vanity in order to re-pin my hair before dinner was served.

Once I was sitting at the vanity, Ann's quick fingers began working on combing and pinning my hair as I thought of how I was lucky to even be marrying at all. After all, red hair was not at all what was considered attractive, at least not by the ton standards, nor were the freckles that covered my face. I did love the blue of my eyes though. They were much like my fathers and, oh, how I loved my father. However, this led to thoughts of whether I would ever see my father or my mother or my six other brothers again. Would I remember them years later when I still sat on the shores of the New World? Would they remember me?

Aboard the Sea Venture

Late the next night

The ship lurched to the side taking everyone with it.

Our ship had sailed into a nasty storm a little after midnight the next night and somehow managed to become separated from the rest of the fleet in the process, leaving us alone and vulnerable.

I had been in bed, trying to sleep, when Edward rushed in demanding that I wake up. Then I was ushered into a room with the other women to either wait for the storm to pass, or for all of us to die. When water slowly began to rise in the room, I came to the conclusion that we were waiting to die.

I was going to die out in the middle of the ocean on a stinking boat with stinking men and a few stinking women and a stinking dog. All the while, as death crept up on us, I was to continue acting like a Lady, which included not screaming, and crying, and begging not to die though I did want to. I wanted to quite badly.

Not only did I want to cry over the fact that I was surely going to die, but because Ann (who was sobbing in a corner) had tightened the laces on my corset to the point of where I was sure my ribs had to be, at least, cracked. I would have not been wearing a corset or even the heavy gown with its many ruffles and folds if it hadn't been for Edward. I had originally reached for one of the simpler gowns that my father had insisted I pack (my mother was not at all pleased due to the fact that she believe that, even in the wilderness, I needed to look my best) for it was far easier to move, but my brother literally had a breakdown, claiming that I could not dress as some commoner. Heaven forbid I die at sea not looking my best. Yes, I was sure it was important to look my best as I floated to the bottom of the ocean.

I did as he insisted though, for it was not my place to argue. I did, however, leave off the great farthingale and roll. It was just not necessary, and besides that, it seemed that they had made the doorways on the ship extremely small; making it difficult to get through if I was wearing the great hoops and the bumroll that gave my skirt shape. Thank goodness, they had not insisted on doing my hair. By the time we had even reached the point of pinning my hair, Ann was in hysterias as the water had already begun to reach the room I was staying in.

It was a little under an hour later, as Ann and I stood with the other women in water that was steadily rising, when Edward hurried into the room.

He grabbed my face in his hands and for a moment, I thought he was close to tears, but I brushed the thought away. Edward did not cry.

"We have rid ourselves of the guns, but it's not helping anything. We're sinking." He said, his voice cracking slightly. He leaned his forehead against mine and whispered a prayer in Latin before pressing his lips to the top of my head, and just as suddenly as he came, he disappeared up the steps leading to the deck. I tried not to panic as I clutched the small gold cross I wore around my neck to the point that it began to cut into my hand.

We were sinking and there was nothing any of us could do about it. The ship lurched to the side once more, sending everyone flying either into the water or against the wall, but instead of righting itself as it had the many times since we had sailed into the storm it continued to lean to the side and a rush of water filled the room.

The Next Day

Clenching wet sand in my hand, I choked up water as I tried to pull myself up on to the dry land. I was exhausted and the corset I was wearing was making it not only difficult to breath but also painful.

Once the ship had capsized, Ann had frantically pulled me up to deck. The storm was showing no signs of dying down and the ship was almost completely underwater. By time the ship had gone completely down, we had grabbed pieces of debris and were holding on for dear life. Most of the women followed our example, and came floating along beside us.

We were in the ocean for a long time before a wave separated Ann and me from the others. It was only a few hours after that, that Ann could no longer hold on. Fatigue had set in and the storm seemed to be growing more fierce. She claimed that we were going to die anyway. There was no point in prolonging the inevitable.

I begged her to stay with me.

When she let go and sunk below the surface of the water, not to emerge again, I cried for the first time that night.

As I pulled myself on to the beach, I tried to rid my mind of the images of her…dying. She died and all I could think of was the way I had treated her over the years. She had been my Lady's maid for years but I had never once treated her as she should have been. She had been one of the few people who had known me for who I was rather than whose daughter I was yet I had never treated her as any more than a maid when I should have treated her as my friend. I had never been as kind as I should have been. I would always regret that.

I clawed at my gown trying to get the heavy, damp material off.

After much struggling, the gown was off. I flung it to the side, and turned my attention to getting my corset off. My fingers were numb and shaking, but I did manage to free myself from the tight hold it had on me and I sucked in a few deep breaths, before letting myself rest on the sand for a moment. I closed my eyes for the briefest of seconds before the man spoke.

"Would you like something to eat? I've made fish."

Startled, I jerked up looking frantically around until my eyes landed on where he sat by a fire. Why hadn't I realized he was there before? He smiled at me and motioned to the fish. I didn't take my eyes from him. He was a handsome man. Blond hair, a bit of stubble on his face suggesting that he had yet shaved that morning…or was it afternoon?

I had floated along for what had seemed an eternity. I could remember the sun rising, but I couldn't seem to remember whether or not I had found land soon after or quite a bit later. It didn't really matter at that point though, did it?

He wore a simple white tunic, a pair of light brown trousers and no shoes. I wasn't wearing shoes either though. Before I had time to ponder where my shoes had disappeared to the realization that I was not wearing my gown nor my corset sunk in. I did have on my chemise, though it was a thin material that was sopping wet…I quickly grabbed my gown that was covered in sand and tried to hold it over the see through material.

"Who are you?" I asked, my voice trembling slightly.

"Jacob…Who are you?"

Sweeping my wet red hair away from my face, I held my head up high and with as much dignity as I could muster, I introduced myself "Emily FitzGerald."

"Hello, Emily." He smiled at me again.

"Where am I?"

"You're here." He answered, poking at his fish. That sure answered a lot.

"Is…'here' anywhere near Jamestown?" I asked dumbly.

"Jamestown?"

"I—It—Never mind."

"You're hungry." He stated, standing up and walking toward me. He stopped in front of me, held out his hand, and waited for me to take it. Glancing up at him our eyes met and we held one another's gaze. After a moment, I took his hand and, still holding my gown firmly over my chest, let him help me to my feet.

"No one else has happened to…wash up, have they?" I asked as he led me toward the fire.

"No. Just you."

It fell quiet momentarily, while he stared out at the ocean and I thought of my odd predicament. Ann was dead. I assumed by brother was dead also, along with the others on the ship, unless they had gotten lucky enough to wash up on land as I had. I was alone. Alone on an island with a man that didn't seem to want to tell me just exactly where I was, or who he was, plus my Lady maid was dead most likely along with my brother, who wouldn't have even been on that ship if I hadn't been such a spoiled brat.

I wanted to cry.

Then just as suddenly, I wanted to laugh at it all. Just the day before, I had been miserable at just the thought of going to Jamestown to marry the sickly son of the Earl of Northumberland. I had thought of many ways to escape, all of them dashed by the humiliation I would bring to my family. Yes, I had been trying to find a way to escape the marriage, but I had not been looking to end up on an island with a strange man as my escape route. It would seem that I had the worst luck in the world.

I truly realized that my luck was indeed bad when the most horrible sound came from the jungle behind me. It was followed by the sound of crashing trees. I jerked around to look behind me as fear gripped me in its tight hold. Just as suddenly as the noise sounded it stopped and everything went eerily quiet.

Slowly, I turned to look back at Jacob. He didn't look at all bothered by that—that thing in the jungle. "What was that?" The quiver was back in my voice and for a moment I felt foolish for the fear I was feeling as he sat there looking as if he didn't fear a thing in the world.

"That is my brother."

Author Note:

At the beginning of the chapter Emily was aboard a ship called the Sea Venture. This is a real ship that was on its way to Jamestown in 1609. On the way, however, they hit rough weather and due to a designing flaw the ship began to leak to the point that if they did not find land they were going to die. They did find land. The Admiral of the Company, Sir George Somers, drove the ship onto the reef of what proved to be Bermuda. All 150 people…plus the dog made it to land where they created the first colony of Bermuda and they constructed two ships that could take them to their original destination of Jamestown though when they arrived in Jamestown only 60 people remained alive out of at least 500. The survivors of the Sea Venture boarded their ships and set sail to England. This ordeal is believed to be what influenced Shakespeare's play The Tempest.

There is at least one historical error that I have made in this story and that is having Emily aboard the Sea Venture at all. Single women did not start sailing to the New World until around 1619 where as I have Emily sailing in 1609. This may not be an error in that she was betrothed to a man in Jamestown. During these times when one was betrothed—even if they had not yet met—they were considered married and married women did sail over before this date in family groups.

As for her betrothed I wrote that he was named George Percy, the son of Henry Percy the Earl of Northumberland. George Percy was a real man who was part of the first 105 English colonists to settle Jamestown. He would later assume presidency of the colony.

Thanks to everyone who decided to give Ashes and Wine a try. I do hope that everyone enjoyed this first chapter and you will come back for more. Please tell me what you think with a review. It will be much appreciated.