As Connor becomes more acquainted to his life on The Diablo, he starts to realize how heavy his eyelids become and how he seems to pass out as soon as his head hits the pillow. He beings to realize just how true Bartholomew's words were, and the lumpy mattress beneath his exhausted body feels as welcoming as silk sheets and a bed of clouds. He realizes that in a blink of an eye, a week has gone by, then two, then three. He loves his new life as a pirate, but also starts to long for some sort of break, an intermission. Just a short one, that's all.

That was the inspiration that miraculously caused him to wake up some time earlier than the rest of the crew and, upon being unable to fall asleep, to rise from his bed and splash water on his face; Now he was fully awake. He breathed a contented sigh as he realized that this would be his intermission. He suddenly felt full of energy and quickly crept his way around the slumbering pirates in their beds and on the floor.

Early morning sunshine temporarily blinded him, and as he blinked back his vision, he smiled as he saw that he was truly alone on the deck of The Diablo. He couldn't remember the last time he had been alone since he first boarded the ship and became a pirate.

He gazed out and looked into the depths of the icy water, a chill running down his spine. He wondered if he would ever get over his fear of the water which he had never felt until he nearly lost both his and his twin sister's life to the angry ocean months ago. He shuddered and looked away.

"This is an odd place for you to be, boy," someone said as they approached Connor. He turned his head and saw that it was Cheng Li. "I thought you'd still be asleep at this hour."

"Don't call me boy," Connor said with a smile. "You're hardly older than myself."

"Aye, but I am older," she replied, looking out into the same waters Connor had been a moment ago. Unlike his scared and frightful expression, she stared at it with confidence and determination. "So I can call you that."

"But I'm taller," Connor said with a grin.

"You are not," Cheng Li said, removing her eyes from the ocean and glancing at him.

"I am," he insisted, taking a step toward her. He raised his hand to their foreheads to measure. "See? So perhaps I can call you 'girl' from now on?"

Cheng Li swatted his hand away. "Only if you wish to be thrown overboard," she replied. Her voice had its usual brutality, but her face was gentle, so Connor knew all was well.

"Well, I certainly don't want that to happen," he said merrily.

She leaned against the edge of the ship. "You like it here on The Diablo, don't you?" she said, looking into the ocean again.

He nodded. "Yeah, I do. I'm glad you rescued me."

She turned slightly to him. Connor wasn't sure, but he thought he might have seen a faint trace of a smile on her lips. He joined her as she stared into the water. He wondered if she was secretly scared of it, too. The sun had almost completely risen, and Connor knew the rest of the crew would be getting up soon. He felt content with his little intermission to his new life's duty as a pirate, because at this moment, he and Cheng Li were simply two teenagers, although she seemed like a much older and mature person sometimes. That was a true intermission from life; when it was only the sight of the ocean before you to remind you that you were a bloodthirsty pirate.

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A/N: This is the first installment of a series of oneshots I'm writing for the Cheng Li/Connor couple. These oneshots will tell connect and tell a story and there will be a prompt for each chapter from the 30 Heartbeats challenge at LiveJournal. The prompt for this one was "Intermission". The next one will be "Breathe Again". I can't believe no one has written fanfiction for this couple before! I thought they were so good together from the first book!