He's Mine Now

Nav studied the flower absently. While cleaning out her bookshelf she had found the dried frangipani stuck inside a dog-eared novel, and was now amusing herself by thinking about the man who had given it to her.

For a while, she had almost begun to suspect the flower of carrying with it the "curse" of Bright Island. It was the sort of thing she repeatedly found and lost – now being another example of finding it – and if she thought about it carefully, it was almost as if looking at it reactivated the curse and led to a fresh bout of bad luck in her relationship with ET.

She snorted loudly. Reactivating the curse? Superstitious as a sailor, obviously. Although...

He'd given her the flower, and her entire being had almost exploded with love. Then her sky-high hopes had been dashed by that little misunderstanding about who would be leaving the boat.

After that had been sorted out, though, there had been pure bliss. She had found the flower stuck between two shirts – one of hers, one of his – and had taken it with her next time she boarded Hammersley. A day later ET had turned up again, her colleague and forbidden fruit once more.

The frangipani must have spent a significant amount of time underneath the perfume box on the shelf next to her rack. Before long she had completely forgotten its location; had once even sighed disappointedly at the knowledge that the symbol of ET's love had been so easily lost. Imagine then her joy when she found it again! She had stroked it a few times before reverently placing it in clear sight on her half of the shared desk –

That had been that day. When she had to think about it, she called it 'the day ET almost lost his leg'. She wouldn't let herself make any reference to what else had happened that day, though she should have. In pushing Fulton out the door, he had rammed her desk, and the flower must have floated away.

It was another month before she found it again, hiding underneath the desk. She had been in the middle of tidying the cabin and hadn't had time to think about how it had fallen there, so had merely placed it carefully in the pages of her favourite book, content in the knowledge she would have a nice surprise next time she read it.

And she did. On page eighty-seven, she had paused for a few moments to finger the dry petals and think about ET. There had been peace between them since the 'incident' with Zuraya, and seeing it reminded her that she really needed to make a decision; which was more important, Hammersley or their relationship? A bullet into ET's Kevlar vest and she realised she already knew the answer.

Nav turned the flower over in her fingers, remembering. Of course she couldn't blame a flower – nor the island which it came from – for a few moments of bad luck. She didn't believe in curses. Besides...

"I win, Flower," she whispered, feeling just a little stupid. Grinning to herself, she glanced at the engagement ring. "He's mine now."