WARNINGS:
1- This is a Shenny story! If you don't like this pairing, don't waste your precious time reading this!
2- If you can't imagine an early 19th century Sheldon, one without 21st century things like white boards, Super Hero T-shirts, lap tops, String Theory, washing machines and Star Trek, then this is certainly not a story for you!
3- This is a Fan Fiction story, set in both an alternative universe and in an alternative time period! Due to the time setting, some of Penny's and Sheldon's personality traits have had to be changed or taken away completely (like his germophobia* and her promiscuity).
If you are looking for 'Canon', you can only find it in the TV Show itself!
(* Germs as the cause of infectious diseases, where not discovered until late 19th century.)
Any similarities with Canon
within this story
is purely accidental!
;-)
A/N:
This Viking lady have always had a big crush on handsome men in uniforms! After watching the Russell Crowe movie 'Master and Commander' on DVD, a question came into my mind:
How would Jim Parsons look, dressed up in a navy blue uniform of The Royal British Navy from the year 1805?
Well... *fans myself* Need I say anymore...? ;-)
This VERY nice picture then gave me the idea to a story and my fantasy became very inspired by it. Suddenly, it weigh anchor and sailed away towards the horizon of Fan Fiction... :-)
I hope you will enjoy reading it, just as much as I have enjoyed writing it!
I still have some changes, additions and finishing touches to do, but it is already written to about 80 %.
Here comes the beginning of this romantic Shenny story of 22 chapters:
oooOOOooo
The year is 1805.
Britain is at war with The French Empire,
in an attempt to put an end to Napoleon's conquest of Europe.
In the middle of The Atlantic Ocean,
a small boat is drifting all alone on the vast blue emptiness.
oooOOO Rescued OOOooo
She was all alone in the small boat, laying completely exposed to the burning sun. The others had died, one after the other. The bodies of the last two crew members were still laying in the other end of the boat. She didn't have strength enough to push them overboard.
Her father had been right. She was stronger than most and a real survivor. She had outlived them all. But it wouldn't last long now. Her time had come. She closed her eyes and was prepared to finally die.
oooOOOooo
She was almost unconscious when she suddenly felt the sun being blocked out. She looked up under heavy eyelids, and saw the tall side of a ship. Thank you, Lord! Thank you!
She was hoisted up by ropes, and laid down on a sun warm deck. Someone gave her water to drink. It tasted heavenly. A gentle hand held her head while she drank eagerly. She could smell a faint scent of soap. Before she blacked out again, she dimly registered the feeling of soft wool against her cheek.
Afterwards, she could only barely remember that the same man had talked to her. He had said something calming and reassuring. He had also asked questions. She had tried to, but could not answer him. She didn't regain full consciousness until several ours and gallons of water later. But she would always remember the scent of soap and the sound of his voice. A soft, soothing and tender voice. And she would always remember his eyes. They were gentle and filled with concern and they were as clear blue as the ocean on a sunny day.
oooOOOooo
He paced back and forth, in an attempt to keep his growing impatience under control. It had been three days since they had saved her, and she had not been able to answer any questions yet. He was waiting for the ships surgeon, Doctor Hofstadter, and his report from his examination of her condition.
Knock. Knock.
"At last! Please enter!" "Captain, she is -" "Yes?" The short man sighed and tried to hide his irritation by being interrupted. During the last three days, the captain had been an even bigger pain in the ass than usual, and the surgeon had never felt more eager to leave this ship than he was right now. He took a deep breath in an effort to calm himself. "Well, I think that you can question her now, but..." The tall man walked away with eager strides. "- please be gentle. She is still... very weak," the surgeon said to no one but himself. God, have mercy on me! And her! Poor woman!
oooOOOooo
Knock. Knock. Knock. "Milady!"
Knock. Knock. Knock. "Milady!"
Knock. Knock. Knock. "Milady!"
"Yes..." she said with a weak voice. The door to the small cabin was opened and a tall, dark haired man entered. He was dressed in a Royal Navy uniform with a white vest and breeches, and a dark blue coat adorned with two rows of shining buttons and golden epaulettes on the shoulders. He was obviously the ship's captain.
Before she had time to think any further, he started to talk with a stern and impatient voice. "My name is Commander Cooper and I'm the captain of this ship. You are on board the frigate Pasadenian, of The Royal British Navy. Can you please tell me you name, Milady? If you understand English, that is..."
She almost laughed with surprise and answered slowly. "I'm not... a lady! Just... Miss Queen... Penelope... Queen." He started to pace back and forth beside her bed. "Well, Miss Queen. I beg your pardon, but your expensive dress gave me the impression that you were not at all from the lesser population. You rather seemed to be of high birth and I wanted to make sure that I didn't offend you, if you were indeed an aristocrat." She just blinked when she tried to focus her dizzy brain into following his many words.
She didn't have enough time to process what he had just said, before he rapidly continued."Ahh, an English subject, I hear. Very good, indeed! I'm relieved. If you were French, everything would have been much more complicated... Well, then. What ship do you come from? What port were it's destination? Why were you, a woman, on board this ship?" She was weak and dizzy, but the last question made her irritated and that gave her strength enough to answer him. "You want to know why I, a woman, was on board that ship?! Well, I will tell you... That is not your bloody business!"
He stopped pacing and turned towards her. His voice was condescending. "I'm the commanding officer on this ship, Miss Queen. Therefore, refer to me as 'Captain' when you talk to me!" He looked directly into her eyes for the first time since he had arrived, and she took a sharp breath of shock, forgetting to respond to his arrogant comment.
She would never forget those ocean blue eyes! They had haunted her, both in her feverish dreams and when she was half awake. She had thought that they had been the creation of her own imagination, coming from the severe dehydration she had suffered. But right then, the eyes from her memory were staring at her with an intensity that seemed to pierce right through her. In her memory, they had been gentle and concerned, but at this moment she could see nothing of that. Worst of all, they apparently belonged to this arrogant, condescending bastard! I simply must have been hallucinating!
She was relieved when he removed his piercing gaze and started his pacing once again."I'm an commanding officer in The Royal British Navy. Britain is currently at war with France and that makes everything that occur at sea at this very moment, so very much my business!" She felt her irritation turn into rage, but at the same time she was forced to admit that he was actually correct. The war had forced everyone to be suspicious and on alert, and he was a high ranking officer in the Royal Navy. Yes, it actually was his business to be suspicious about her... But that wasn't enough to calm her rage more than just slightly.
"Well... Captain!" she hissed, while she clenched her hand into fists, in an attempt to control herself. "I know all too well that we are at war with Napoleon and his allies! But that doesn't give you the right to question why I'm at sea, just because I'm a woman! I was on board my own trading ship, the Nebraska! We were sailing to Boston with tea and porcelain from China." He gasped in disbelief and his voice was filled with contempt. "Your ship?! Please excuse me, but -"
"Don't you dare questioning me! I'm telling you the truth, you arrogant, condescending ass-hole! My father is a successful merchant who trades with America. Nebraska was one of his seven ships, before I bought her from him. My brother drowned two years ago, when one of our previous ships were ship wrecked and I have been my father's only companion since then." She had to rest for a short while, before she continued.
"When we grew up, my father learned both my brother and me everything you could ever need to know as a merchant. I bought Nebraska from him four moths ago, so that I would have my very own ship and become an independent merchant. I know that not many women are merchants, but that doesn't give you the right to be this condescending!"
He looked at her like she were some kind of exotic animal that he had never seen before, and that made her even more furious. She looked back at him with flaming eyes. Why the hell must every man think that I'm stupid, just because I'm a woman?!
"What happened to Nebraska?" he asked, with a much softer voice than before. Her anger disappeared rapidly and instead she felt the all too familiar lump in her throat, while tears started to burn in her eyes. She closed them and tried to figure out what to say. After a long moment of silence, she started to talk with a trembling voice.
"We... We were hit by a storm... No one on board had ever seen anything like it! Not even the captain, who was very experienced. Several of the crew members were sick due to food poisoning, so we were undermanned when the storm hit us. We... We did everything..." She had to swallow several times before she could continue. "We did everything we could. It was so... difficult... to... to haul down the sails... when we were so... so few..." She turned her face towards the wall in an attempt to hide her tears.
He looked down at her bandaged hands. He had been wondering why they had been so full of dried blood and blisters, when they found her. His eyes narrowed in concentration, while he processed what he had just learned about her. It is apparently much more to this woman than just her aesthetically pleasing appearance. How fascinating!
After a long while, she was still turned against the wall, and he thought that she had fallen back to sleep. He decided to continue his questioning later. When she heard him close the door, she buried her face in the pillow and started to sob.