Riptide
Apologies
By Lucky_Ladybug
Notes: The characters are not mine and the story is! This was just a little something born of my desire to wrap up a few loose ends in The Pirate and the Princess episode. I rather quite adore Captain Scofield and his actor. I'm new to Riptide, so I hope the main characters sound okay.
"Here now, what's this?!"
". . . Oh, Captain, you have just become a very unfortunate man."
"You've got a bloody bomb! It was you all along! You've been causing the accidents. You framed me for the fire on the ship! And now you're going to blow us all to Kingdom Come!"
"Oh no, Captain, you are. I'm sorry, I didn't want to hurt anyone, but you came in at the wrong time and you've left me no choice."
"I'll tell you just what you can do with your 'no choice'! You'll blow up this ship over my dead body!"
"That is exactly what I intend to do."
Almost as soon as the explosion happened underwater, vanquishing the smugglers who had tried to murder everyone aboard the Arrivederci, Giovanna turned to go back below deck. Frowning, Cody moved to follow her. The others, realizing their numbers were dwindling, trailed after them.
Even though she had already seen the body while running topside, Giovanna stiffened when she came across it again. "Why?" she whispered, only half-realizing that she was not traveling alone. "It was such a waste, Guido." She clenched her fists and stepped around the lifeless form, entering the main cabin.
Cody caught up as she was kneeling beside Captain Scofield again. His shirts had been cut free and a wad of makeshift bandages applied to the bullet wound. The cloths were already half-soaked with blood. Giovanna knelt down to examine the wound and apply another dressing.
"I figured out that Scofield killed him." She spoke quietly, never looking up. "I can't be angry. Not at him. Guido was going to murder all of us. A man we trusted! And Scofield, a man most of us did not trust or even like, tried to save us."
Nick folded his arms and leaned against the wall. "There's still some questions I'd like to ask him," he said. "Like why he didn't stop the bomb himself after he stabbed Guido to stop him."
Cody shook his head. For his part, he was through with being suspicious of the man. Maybe if they had trusted him more to begin with, this wouldn't have even happened. Scofield had apparently wandered down to the engine room and had stumbled across Guido trying to plant the bomb. Maybe he had hoped to find clues as to who had framed him for the fire. Cody couldn't think of another reason why he would specially go there.
"He was barely conscious," he said to Nick. "Maybe he didn't know the bomb had been armed. It hadn't been when he saw it last. He could have thought he was stopping Guido from arming it. Then it looks like he was trying to get to us to cut our bonds with his knife, so that we could go after Guido's smuggler friends."
"Yeah, I guess." Nick frowned, watching Giovanna work. "Is he even still alive?"
"Yes," Giovanna said quietly. "And if I can, I'm going to keep him that way."
Angelo regarded his daughter with worried eyes. He realized the unspeakable pain that she was going through and trying desperately to hold back at the moment, while there were more pressing problems to deal with. But once there wasn't anything to distract her mind, she would become wrapped up in it.
"Poor Captain," Giovanna suddenly whispered. "Innocent of all the horrible things you were accused of, but we didn't believe you. And all the time, it was Guido . . ." She trailed off, her shoulders shaking with her sobs as the long-held tears broke free at last.
Immediately Cody rushed forward and knelt down next to her. "It's alright, Giovanna. Let me take over." Gently he grasped her shoulders, trying to push her back.
Seeming to realize that she wasn't in any condition to keep tending to Scofield, Giovanna surrendered. Tony and Angelo both hurried to her as Cody took up tending to Scofield's wound.
Nick looked to Murray, who was staring at the whole scene and clearly not knowing what to make of it. "You were the only one other than Angelo who really believed the guy was on the up and up," he said. "Tony didn't have much of an opinion either way."
"He just . . . seemed like a good guy to me," Murray said numbly. "We had some nice conversations."
"He liked you, too," Nick noted.
"Do you really think he'll be alright?" Murray continued to watch Cody work, both mesmerized by that and focused on seeing whether Scofield would regain consciousness.
"Sure," Nick said soothingly. "Hey, he's pretty tough for a little guy. There's a lot of people who couldn't get up with a bullet in them, stab somebody, and limp down the hall before passing out again."
"That's true," Murray nodded.
Scofield groaned, his eyes fluttering half-open. "What . . . what happened?" he mumbled. "Did we stop them?"
"Yeah, Captain," Cody replied. "We stopped them. And some of us—most of us—owe you apologies. You were innocent and we didn't believe you."
Scofield cringed when Cody pressed a little too hard on the wound to stem the flow of blood. "Well, I . . . wish it hadn't taken this to convince you."
"So do we," Cody said.
"That doesn't mean you're off the hook, though," Nick said. "There's still things like that little matter of bribing a local official to do your spying for you."
"Oh, you're not going to hold that against us, are you?" Scofield rasped.
"Well . . . we didn't like that official to begin with," Nick said. "But after what you did here, maybe we'll let it slide."
Scofield smiled. "Good." His eyes started to close again. "What about the treasure?" he mumbled.
No one knew quite what to say to that.
Finally Murray spoke up. "Don't worry about the treasure, Captain," he said. "Just rest and get better."
"Alright," Scofield slurred. He was unconscious again in the next moment.
Angelo shook his head. "I dread telling him what we had to do."
"There's always the chance we were wrong," Murray said. "Maybe it wasn't in the cave. That was just a guess to begin with!"
"Perhaps," Angelo said. But his tone was heavy and he clearly believed that they had sealed the mythical pirate's treasure in the cave with the smugglers' goods.
Giovanna looked up, wiping her tears from her eyes. "It's alright, Papa," she said, trying to smile. "There will be other treasures."
Angelo looked to her, touched by how she was trying to ease his disappointment even in the face of her heartbreak. "Yes, Giovanna," he said, drawing an arm around her. "And I know it's hard to think of it now, but there will be other men. Far better men."
Giovanna's smile trembled. "I know."
xxxx
She came across him in the main cabin that first night, drinking from his rum bottle and staring off into space. She was sure he didn't know she was there, and it startled her when he was the first to speak.
"You're up late. Best be gettin' some rest if we want an early start looking for Captain Tyson's ship in the morning."
"The same applies to you, Captain Scofield," she returned.
A brief silence followed. "You don't approve of my being along on this little expedition, do you, Miss Guirilini?"
She came around behind him, running her hands over the top of the white couches. "It is my father's decision to bring you with us," she said. "It is not my place to question him."
"But you're concerned he's making a mistake regardless." He kept looking off at nothing in particular, and Giovanna couldn't help wondering exactly what it was he was thinking of.
"None of us know anything about you," she said at last, still not wanting to directly say anything that could possibly cast a slur on her father.
He turned to face her now. "My record is easy enough to obtain from the Maritime Association."
"We have seen your record. It was quite impressive."
"But still not fully believable, I take it."
"Captain Scofield, I am sure you are aware, as I am, that the longing for treasure can do things to even the most honest men and women."
"I've looked for ten years. I've learned how to bide my time and be patient."
"Until you have it right before your eyes. Then what guarantee do we have that you will not break the deal and decide to take it all for yourself?"
He turned to look at her, his eyes flashing with anger for the first time during their encounter. "And what guarantee do I have that your father or your brother or you won't do likewise?" he retorted. "It's a gamble on everyone's part. But all I can say is that if a group of mature, intelligent people can't go treasure-hunting and trust that they'll all come out winners if they find something, this world is in a sorry state indeed." He took another swig from the rum bottle.
"Of course you are right," Giovanna said. "And if my concerns are unfounded, I will apologize to you."
He nodded. "Fair enough. Once your family has their fifty percent due, I will expect that apology."
xxxx
The wait for information on Captain Scofield's condition took much longer than they had hoped. Removing the bullet was easy enough, but it had been such a serious shock to his system and he had lost a great deal of blood. Not sure what to do, and feeling numb and helpless, the entire group waited at the hospital way into the night.
"Oh, this is ridiculous," Nick finally objected. "There's no reason why we all have to be here."
"Angelo's not about to leave," Cody pointed out. "Or Giovanna or Tony. We could stay to give support to them, if nothing else. It's not just that, though, is it?"
Nick's shoulders slumped and he looked down as he nodded morosely. "I want to know how he's doing," he admitted. "I feel . . . kind of responsible for what happened, I guess. And kind of sad that no one else is here for the guy."
"He's a bachelor," Murray said quietly.
"He told you that?" Nick said in surprise.
"Well . . . I just kind of casually asked him what he planned to do with his share of the treasure," Murray said. "I asked if there was anyone who'd share it with him. He said No, it was just him, and why. I guess being a freighter captain for so many years, he didn't think it would be fair to a wife and kids for him to be away so much. And by the time he retired, he was probably really set in his ways and didn't like the thought of having to change personal habits and living conditions for a wife."
"It sounds like a lonely life," Cody said. "No friends, either?"
"Acquaintances," Murray said. "But no one close enough to come wait here at the hospital to find out if he's going to be okay."
"Except us," Nick muttered.
It was very late when the news came that Captain Scofield was going to pull through. The group rejoiced, even embracing in their relief.
xxxx
Captain Scofield seemed to be in fairly good spirits as he and Murray began to peruse Tyson's old maps and charts. He had pushed his indignation and hurt over the accusations aside and for a while spoke quite animatedly as he showed Murray the ins and outs of reading the old and very well preserved pages. But when the conversation lagged and Murray began writing down calculations with a furrowed brow, Scofield very suddenly switched their conversation topic.
"So, aside from Guirilini, you are the only one who doesn't think I'm the Devil himself, especially after this blasted fire. Are you really such a trusting soul in general, Chief, or is there another reason for that?"
Murray looked up in surprise. "There's no real evidence against you, Captain," he said. "Just a rum bottle that could have been left in the engine room any time. Maybe it's not even yours! I'm sure people in the crew have bottles like that."
"Probably," Scofield nodded. "But then there's the matter of all those other accidents that have been happening lately, including the crew up and quitting because of some 'evil eye' nonsense."
"You're not tied to any of those incidents," Murray exclaimed. "Anything against you is just circumstantial!"
"Ah, but quite a few people have been convicted on circumstantial evidence." Scofield watched him with curiosity. "Are you saying you're a believer in the mandate of 'innocent until proven guilty' then?"
"Of course," Murray said. "And I saw your record. I just don't think anyone with your record could be a bad person."
Scofield chuckled. "Oh, you don't, eh?"
"Cody and Nick and I have run our detective agency for years now, and I think I've gotten really good at identifying bad guys."
"Obviously they don't share your feelings."
Murray sighed. "I guess you just rubbed them the wrong way because you were watching the ship that first day."
"That's all they're holding against me?" Scofield shook his head. "No, I'm afraid their feelings go much deeper than that."
"They're both really great guys," Murray insisted. "They're just . . . more cynical than I am."
"I can see that," Scofield grunted. "I hope you keep hold of that optimism, Chief, and that it doesn't ever lead you down a wrong path."
"It isn't this time," Murray said firmly.
"Well then." Scofield looked back to the maps, clearly touched. "Let's see what else we can find out about old Captain Tyson's treasure."
xxxx
The Captain recovered rapidly as the days passed. Cody, Nick, and Murray, who had decided to stay on a bit longer than intended to try to help comfort Giovanna in her grief, visited him and were surprised and gratified by how quickly he rallied.
"It's good to see you awake and talking," Cody said sincerely as they entered the room. Scofield was sitting up in bed, his left arm in a sling to keep the shoulder immobilized, and was slowly eating what the hospital called dinner.
"Well, thank you," he replied, somewhat wary.
Cody and Nick exchanged an uncomfortable glance. He probably didn't remember much, if any, of the conversation on the ship after he had been wounded.
"Look, we're really sorry for thinking you were behind all of Angelo's problems," Nick said at last.
Cody nodded. "If we'd really been objective, we would have looked at all the possible suspects, not just you."
"You didn't have a great deal of choice," Scofield said. "Naturally you wouldn't suspect any of your friends. By extension, you would assume that the young lady's beau was trustworthy as well. And that left me. I still can't say I'm very happy about being accused, but it's understandable that you would choose me over anyone else."
"We're still sorry," Cody said. "We didn't even consider that maybe someone was trying to frame you. We were so convinced that the saboteur had to be you."
Scofield paused, setting down the spoon. "I suppose I owe you an apology of sorts myself," he said. "I was so upset that I accused you of being the ones behind the frame-up in order to cheat me out of my cut."
"It could look that way," Cody said. "Especially when you'd been after the treasure for ten years."
An uncomfortable silence fell over the group.
"I know what you had to do to get rid of the bomb," Scofield said at last. "I suppose that's the end of treasure-hunting for old Jack Scofield. It was foolish anyway; I should have listened to all those tales of how treasure-hunting rarely turns out well."
"We're glad you didn't," Cody said. "Who knows how things would have turned out if you hadn't been there to stop Guido and bring us the knife."
"I know how things would've turned out," Nick said flatly. "The bomb would've gone off on the ship and we'd all be toast."
"That's highly possible," Scofield said, and from the glimmer in his eyes, he liked the thought that he had made the positive difference.
"And I don't know that the treasure was in that cave anyway," Murray spoke up, unable to hold back on his theory any longer.
Scofield looked at him in surprise. "Oh really? What's on your mind then, Chief?"
Murray came over and drew up a chair next to the bed as he excitedly began to relay his idea to the captain that the treasure had been buried on land and that Tyson and Carlotta had returned to claim it two years after their faked deaths. Scofield listened, intrigued, while Cody and Nick exchanged amused looks over Murray's unending enthusiasm.
Scofield was thoughtfully nodding by the time Murray finished. "I'll admit that sounds plausible," he said. "Maybe I'll still keep an idle look-out for any sign of the treasure. But I don't think I'll devote all of my spare time to it anymore. If it's really still out there, it could be almost anywhere. I just don't have the drive to practically start over from scratch."
"That's understandable," Cody nodded. "I don't think Angelo does, either. But just because the search is over doesn't mean you can't still communicate."
Murray nodded too. "Angelo likes you," he said. "This could be the start of a beautiful friendship."
Nick looked entertained at Murray quoting Casablanca.
Scofield just raised an eyebrow. "We'll see," he said.
xxxx
The trio was in high spirits as they left the hospital a bit later. "That went well," Cody said.
"Better than expected, anyway," Nick said. "I thought he might throw something and tell us to get out."
"Captain Scofield's a more mature person than that," Murray objected.
"I was just kidding," Nick said. "Yeah, I guess things went pretty good."
"I wonder if they will start looking for the treasure again," Murray mused. "I know they don't feel like it now, but maybe after some time goes by and they all have a chance to heal, their interest will be renewed."
"Maybe Scofield will find another goblet or something and that will start him on the trail again," Nick said.
"Let's just hope if it happens, it won't turn into another disaster like this, with people getting hurt," Cody said.
"We'll all hope that," Nick said.
xxxx
Giovanna was the first to enter the room once the doctor said it was alright. Captain Scofield was heavily sedated and only partially conscious and likely wouldn't even know she was there. That was alright; she went in anyway.
He seemed to be asleep when she entered. She paused, studying him. He looked small and helpless in the hospital bed, just as he had lying on the floor of the ship. He was such a slight man, so different from Guido's strong and broad build, and yet in the end, it had been Scofield who had overpowered Guido. Perhaps that had been fitting, considering Guido's cruel and cowardly act in shooting Scofield down to blame him for the bomb.
His left arm was draped across his chest, held in place by a sling. She could see a bit of the bandaging poking out from under his shirt. She couldn't tell if it was stained with blood; she hoped not.
The sight sent a chill up her spine regardless. That wound had been put there by Guido. He had probably intended to shoot a bit lower and make certain to end Scofield's life. After all, in spite of his insistence that he hadn't wanted to hurt anyone, he had still coldly left everyone to die from the bomb, including her. But Scofield had moved, or Guido's aim had been bad, and he had shot Scofield in the shoulder instead of the heart.
She wondered if she could bring herself to forgive Guido for everything he had done. Her religion certainly taught forgiveness, no matter how serious the crime or how unrepentant the criminal was. Right now, however, she could not bring herself to feel much of that forgiveness. She felt cold and hard and betrayed. She felt guilt for just believing Scofield was a terrible man without giving him a real chance, when she had trusted the real traitor with her love and her life.
She slowly reached out, brushing her fingers lightly over the back of his hand. "I am sorry," she whispered.
She wasn't expecting his eyes to slide open halfway. "What?" he rasped.
She could see that he wasn't fully aware and couldn't really process her words. She patted his hand and quickly withdrew her own. "Nevermind," she said. "Just rest for now."
His eyes closed again. He sighed, quietly, wearily, and soon slipped back to sleep.
She lingered a moment longer before turning to leave.
xxxx
It was when the Captain was released from the hospital that he went to see Giovanna at the inn. She was sitting in the foyer with Cody and the others and looked up in surprise as he approached. "Oh . . . Captain Scofield," she blinked.
"You're doing a lot better," Nick said in surprise.
"We didn't know you were being released today," Murray added.
"We would've been happy to take you away from the hospital," Cody said.
"Well, I wanted to come down here on my own and not need help to get here," Scofield replied. He sat on Giovanna's other side. "I wanted to personally apologize for what I had to do on the ship."
Giovanna was touched. "You didn't have to do that, Captain," she said. "I know there wasn't much choice under the circumstances. And while you may have killed Guido's body, he was already lost to me. I suppose the Guido I thought I knew never really existed at all." She shook her head. "How strange . . . he tied us all up there to die and could still stand there and say that he cared for me. If he truly had, he never would have gone along with those smugglers."
"That's true enough," Cody said in disgust.
Giovanna was still looking at Scofield. "In what seems another life ago, I promised you an apology if I was proven wrong about you. I make that apology now. I didn't give you much of a chance."
"Well, it's natural that you'd be suspicious of me, I suppose," Scofield said. "It was just my bad luck that we made contact right at the time your boyfriend was wreaking havoc."
Giovanna nodded. "Timing accounts for a great deal. Perhaps if we had met you first, you would not have been suspect when the accidents began."
"You still engaged in some very suspicious behavior," Nick said. "Especially watching us from a distance."
"When would you have made yourself known if we hadn't found you?" Cody asked.
"Ah, but I was making myself known," Scofield responded. "You see, I intended for you to see my man at the hospital and chase him down."
Cody shook his head. "I should have known. You're really a crafty one."
"I just didn't intend to end up blamed for everything that went wrong," Scofield added ruefully.
"It would hurt to have your integrity questioned, even if it was reasonable," Giovanna said. "But will you be staying a while? Papa would like to speak with you."
"Well, then, I imagine I can stay for a little while longer," Scofield replied. "Where is your father?"
Giovanna stood. "Come. I will take you to him."
Agreeable, Scofield got to his feet. "I'll see you boys later," he said. "Chief, I have something I want to talk over with you."
"Oh yeah?" Murray said in surprise. "Okay, Captain! I'll be here."
They all watched in a bit of amazement as Giovanna took Scofield's uninjured arm.
"She's probably just making sure he has the right amount of balance," Cody said.
"Still, it's interesting," Nick mused. "She couldn't stand the guy before. It looks like her feelings are thawing. A lot."
"What are you guys talking about?" Murray blinked. "You don't really think . . ."
"Hey, it's not out of vogue any more, to go for older men," Nick said. "Now if she finds a nice, sensitive, seasoned man of the sea, I'm thinking that would suit her just fine. It'd be good for her to stick with a profession she knows."
"I still say she's just being polite," Cody interjected. "Or just being grateful that he saved all our lives."
"You're just having a hard time accepting that it's possible Giovanna's getting interested in another guy that's not you," Nick said.
"I am not!" Cody shot back. "It's just . . . he's old enough to be her uncle. I don't think Giovanna's the type to go for May-December romance."
"Like I said, not out of vogue," Nick replied. "Cody, you know if you want to talk about this, I'm here. You don't have to pretend you're not upset."
Cody threw his hands in the air in frustration. "I'm not upset and there's nothing to talk about!"
Murray watched them both in bemusement. "Uh . . . guys?"
They both looked over. "What?" Nick asked.
"People are starting to look," Murray said uncomfortably.
"Oh, for the love of . . ." Cody let out a big sigh. People were indeed looking.
"We'll talk about this later," Nick said.
"No, we won't," Cody retorted.
The awkward conversation was halted by the return of Giovanna and Captain Scofield, this time accompanied by Angelo. "Ah, my friends!" he exclaimed happily. "Tonight we celebrate, yes? Capitan Scofield is recovering and he has just agreed to a proposition of mine!"
Cody tensed. "What . . . proposition is that?" he asked. Illogically, thanks to Nick, thoughts of arranged marriages danced through his mind.
"We're going to be working together on a new oceanography project," Scofield said grandly. "And maybe sort of casually lookin' for Captain Tyson's treasure while we're at it. Incidentally, that's what I want to talk with you about, Chief. Get some more of your theories on where it might be." He glanced at Murray, who looked pleased.
"Isn't it wonderful?" Giovanna smiled, clearly happy that her father had something else to put his mind to instead of disappointment. "The crew has at last returned as well, now that they know Papa's ship wasn't cursed!"
Cody let out a sigh of relief. "Oh yeah, it's wonderful," he said.
"Great," Nick smiled.
"You'll have to let us know if you find anything!" Murray chirped.
"We will, we will!" Angelo said. "After all that we've been through, we cannot find Capitan Tyson's treasure without all our friends here."
"Meantime, Angelo, you've got a great idea there," Nick said. "Let's celebrate! It's about time some things went right!"
"Yeah!" Cody chimed in.
"That's a great idea!" Murray grinned.
"Then let's all go to the Arrivederci!" Angelo said. "We will have our celebration there!"
Everyone headed out of the inn, happy and buoyed up. It was a good end to an experience that had badly gone downhill for a while. Perhaps now things were starting to look up. And perhaps, as Murray had said, it would be the start of new and beautiful friendships.