There was a feeling of freedom on the deck of a ship, especially one decked in the ports of Nassau with it's black bow pointing directly at the tiny town of pirates and anti-loyalists to the crown. Castiel Novak had found a sort of mesmerizing quality to the port town, it reminded him a bit of Bristol, with how busy it was with ships and merchants, the place he called home.

Tall, lean, with no traceable accent and a quality of someone who'd worked with heavy lifting his entire life, Castiel had somehow made an important asset on the Lucifer, a large brig carrying over forty crew men with an impressive sort of cargo hold that held barrels upon barrels of power and sugar can.

To say the least, he was impressed.

Especially with the Captain of said ship, Masters. It was all he went by, earning himself a name as one of the most prosperous of all of Nassau, leading countless plunders and bringing in reales by the barrel into the West Indies. As the appointed Quartermaster, Castiel had kept in close contact with his captain, developing a sort of friendship with him that had somehow kept Castiel on his feet.

He had a lot of respect for him. And in turn, that respect had Masters revealing his…her, greatest secret.

And that respect never left. even then.

His home had become her captain's quarters, a few nights before an informed attack from a man o' war, she'd seduced him with lips and breasts, and it didn't take a genius to understand what she was wanting him for.

Reproduction. If she was to be captured and put on trial to hang, she would receive nine more months of life. Nice months to develop an escape from her imprisonment. It wasn't a terrible plan, and even if Castiel was just being used, well, at least it had incentive.

That was six months ago.

The Luficer had triumphed, Despite what the two of them had done together, believing that they wouldn't make the battle, they'd won. There was a price to this, of course. She had been able to hid it for some time, but over the past few weeks, even the loose clothing Castiel had given her hadn't been able to hide what they created together.

The crew took it surprisingly well, though some stated superstition and fear over not only having a woman aboard, but their captain being a woman as well. This was calmed in short time, however, when the stories of Anne Bonnie and Mary Read had been proven true. If they could captain their ship with ease, then why couldn't Masters?

Still, there were those who doubted. But not Castiel.

In the months that followed their first meeting, she had found Castiel sneaking from the crew's quarters to hers, slipping through the doors and meeting her with a kiss and an embrace that seemed to soon rub off on Master's as well. It was just sex at first, rough, bruising, and in time it become something neither of them could understand.

It was frightening.

"Did you know it then? Why I picked you?" she asked him one night, finally catching her breath as he held her in their own tiny corner of the ship.

"I assumed," he muttered, tracing a hand on her thigh as his eyes just roamed down her hairline. "If anything, you would want to start some kind of bloodline. Maybe someone with decent education, someone who…knows things, as I do."

"You're full of yourself, you know that?"

"Mmm, I know," he said, adjusting himself so that he almost completely covered her with his body, letting his warmth heat her as the cold winter wings blew against the sides of the ship, causing the water below to rock a bit "But I don't think it bothers you, does it?"

"There's a lot worse that gets under my skin, Clarence. I've learned to live and let go."

"Mmm."

He liked it like this, when she was tired and he could just hold her. Maybe it was his own loneliness at sea, the fact he was out of Bristol since he was a teenager, starting off as a privateer and them moving on to john Masters' crew.

"You know, never told me your name. Six months, I've been in bed beside you but not once had you told me what it is."

She looked at him, saw the way his hands gently rested against her belly, fingers tapping the skin as his hand stretched to cover her swell. There was some deep connective love there, she had half a mind of finding some place to dump it off, a pirate she was, ruthless, a murderer, but a mother she wasn't. But the way he just showed his love unconditionally, never even hiding it when they were among the crew…

Most men would be embarrassed to show something like that in the face of both his crew and his captain. But the dedication he had, well, she had to admit, she admired it.

"Meg, they called me Meg once. Can't exactly run a ship with something like that, huh? Sounds too lady like."

"Does it matter now though?"

She tapped her fingers on his scalp, carding her fingers before finally sighing. "I guess not, huh?"

"No. But Meg. It suites you, I think."

"Thanks."

"Mmm."

"Is that all you say? Mmm?"

"I've learned that in this line of work, what I say generally doesn't matter. Makes things a bit easier, just agreeing with what my captain decides and what he wants. Or in this case, she."

She smirked. "You're a strange thing, Castiel."

"Indeed. I ave my moments, I suppose," he sighed, stretching out against her in the tiny straw bed they shared. "You're going to have to be more careful soon. Commanding this ship is strenuous, you wouldn't want to hurt the child."

"You a doctor now?"

"I debated on being a healer back in Bristol. I read a few texts I stole from the doctor up the road."

"Ah."

"You will be careful?"

He asked with such a seriousness that made Meg shudder. "Aye, yeah. I'll watch it."

"Good," that seemed to be enough as he brought her closer to him, his warmth so addictive that she curled into him and felt every inch of hot skin on him. "I would hate to have to cause a mutiny."

The joke was weak but she gave him a small smile as the ship rocked silently in the night, the sound of water beating softly on the hull lulling her back to sleep as much as him warm body did.

What had she gotten herself into?