Serenity

Chapter 2


A/N: I will try to update this story every Monday, but sometimes life may get in the way so don't hate me if I miss an update!

Also, this story, like all my others, will probably be a slow burn. Nevertheless, I hope y'all still enjoy. Along this line as well, I do eventually plan to get into the Justice League Movie… but that is a looooooooooooong ways away.

But like all of you, I started writing this fic because I couldn't find anything else, so we can all use this to subdue our Jason Momoa obsessions :P But I am happy that so many people have found this story and are liking it! It makes my day when I get a little review saying that y'all like it and want more, so thank you!


Arkytior's Song: I am happy that you like it already! Hopefully I don't disappoint with this next installment!

Noface: Haha! That's what I wanted to do while writing this... watch Deadliest Catch! The movie is good, I liked it! I didn't go in with any expectations so I was pleasantly surprised. And damn son... Aquaman *swoons*. Yeah... Ben Affleck will never be Batman to me (Christian Bale is) but the rest of the cast I really enjoyed! Especially Barry and Wonder Woman!

Flamecaster: I am happy you liked it so much and I loved the bad pun you used!

Biasoul: Haha, don't worry I will update (probably weekly and on Mondays...) And dude, I have been too, thats why I sat down and started thinking about writing one because I was so upset I couldn't find one on here... So im excited that you like the story and the OC! Hopefully I don't disappoint... and don't worry, I typically put my stories in the T category, but there might be some action (that I will mark for other readers) later on... if you catch my drift *wink wink* (but no promises lol).

Jes: Thanks! I look forward to hearing what you think about this next installment!

Love. Fiction. 2017: Thanks! Hopefully the rest of the story is that way too for you :)

LauRa-ReaDing-XoX: Thank you for the compliment! I appreciate it :) I will try to update this story on Mondays, if that helps at all! I am glad that you like Grace... I am trying to make her personality one where she doesn't take crap but she is also kind... I hope you like this installment and I am excited to hear what you think about it.

thebreezekneeze: Thank you! And *stretches out collar* I have so much planned... *sweats* nothing really planned at the moment... I'm just letting myself see where my ideas take me right now. But I do have some plot points floating around in my head! LOL you probably didn't need to know all of that...


Grace woke up abruptly, coughing her lungs out of her body. She opened her eyes, only to be greeted with seawater spewing from her mouth. She sucked in crisp air and rolled over onto her side, trying to relieve the pressure that was on her chest. She didn't know where she was, but she welcomed the struggling breaths of air into her lungs.

Everything started to come back to her as she started to cough less and less, gaining the air flow that she needed. She sat upright, ignorant to her surroundings as her chest heaved. Grace's next move was to feel her neck, and to her relief, she felt the chord that she always wore. It was a gift from her father—a lonely pearl attached to a black thread, nothing fancy and since his passing, it was one of the only things she kept reminding herself of him.

"Hey! I got another one over here!" A voice bellowed right next to Grace's ear.

Grace jumped not only from the sound, but from the sudden slap to her back, making her spit up more water that she had thought she had gotten rid of. Grace wiped her face, forcefully, with the back of her hand. She didn't realize before, but her head was starting to pound like she had just woken up from the worst hangover in existence.

"Fuck me…" Grace muttered.

"Yeah… well you should be thanking yah lucky stars there girly… you and that skipper—"

"Where is Benny?" Grace immediately looked at the older gentleman forgetting the pounding sensation in her head and trying to stand up.

However, the older gentleman just pushed her shoulder back down, trying to prevent her from making any sudden movements. If Grace did admit anything to herself, she did feel a little light headed and disoriented, but she wasn't worried about herself at the moment, only Benny.

"You never answered by question, where is Benny, the captain—"

"Do you let people finish their sentences? As I was about to say, the doctor of our village is patching up your skipper right now as we speak. We decided to come back out this way given that we saw the fishing boat make its way back to the docks, but there were no crew. It was unusual for only one person to man a ship like that, so we just wanted to see if there was anyone else who survived. Was there anyone else on board?" The man questioned.

"No. No one. Just me and Benny."

"Well, you two are very lucky. That crazy captain of yours broke both of his arms somehow and won't stop asking for two things."

"Let me guess… alcohol and me?"

"Spot on with that…"

"Also, probably in that order…" Grace muttered, shaking her head and letting herself feel the pain in her head again, once she knew that Benny was okay.

The blonde placed her hands on her knees and took in a sharp breath before attempting to stand up. This time, the man didn't try to oppose her, and only held out his hands to make sure she didn't fall. She took a step and felt wobbly, so she looked at the man who took her arm and slung it over his shoulder and the two of them started a slow pace back to the main part of the village.

"You said that my ship was docked?"

"Yah, granted it is in worse shape than the two of you are in. You might just want to sink her or sell her for scrap because it's going to be a painful process trying to fix her up. Not worth the time nor money, in my opinion."

"Thanks, but I'll fix her… Dealt with worse odds" Grace offered up a tight smile to the man not noticing until now that he had a Scandinavian accent.

Each step she took, her body felt even more sore than when she first woke up. She didn't know where she was, but figured that she was on a small port island that had seen its fair share of hard times—especially when the arctic waters froze over in the winter months, which made Grace worried if she could get the boat back up and running in time to salvage the season. She doubted it, but would have to look at the ship first before she made any calls of importance.

The older man carefully brought the blonde back to town, and all Grace could think about were all the villagers staring at her. She knew that they were not only wondering who she was, but she knew small villages like these always had an issue trusting outsiders… at that was what she was. An outsider in every perspective. Not only was it different to see fishermen washed ashore, but that one of them was a female deckhand, was an even rarer sight. She knew that if she was from the outside looking in, she would be apprehensive as well.

The blonde thought the man was going to take her all the way through town, but to her surprise, they entered the first house-like structure that lined the entryway of the village. It took her eyes a moment to adjust to the dimly lit room, even though the sun didn't peak through the clouds, and her eyes landed on her skipper. Her skipper who, as plainly as she could put it, was as drunk as a skunk and had white plaster secured to both of his arms.

The doctor never looked up, but Grace could tell that he was young for a doctor. She figured that being so far from civilization, he didn't go to proper medical school or the like. However, seeing him patch up Benny, she wasn't going to say a word to the man otherwise. The man who found her on the beach lead her to a chair in the corner of the examining room, and then nodded at Grace proceeding to leave.

Grace shifted in her chair, waiting for the doctor to say something, but he never strayed from Benny. Grace tried stretching her body out in the chair and was met with nothing but aching muscles and fatigue. Apparently, getting hit by a loose crane and almost drowning had that effect on the body, who knew?

"You shouldn't do that, you'll stress out your body too much and it will take longer for it to heal."

"Do what?" Grace said simply, playing dumb.

The doctor sighed and swiveled around on his chair to look at the blonde. Instantly, he started to shine a light into Grace's eyes and she blinked, backing away from the sudden brightness.

"Well good news is that you don't have a concussion" The doctor said while writing on his clipboard.

Grace just rolled her eyes wanting to convey that she wanted to be here even less than the doctor did. The blonde took in the doctor's appearance, noting that he had longer hair that was pulled up in a pony-tale. Again, everything about this doctor seemed different than the ones she was used to back in Fairbanks.

"So, what doc? you just shine a light in my eye and I'm free to go?"

The doctor stopped writing and looked up at Grace through his glasses that he proceeded to push up on his nose.

"Well, what do you want to know—"

"Well first, why don't you start out by not only introducing yourself, but maybe explaining why my skipper is lying there in a drunken stupor."

"As you have guessed, I am this village doctor. I'm doctor Trenton Flint—"

"Okay Flint, please explain to me—"

"We found your captain with his arms both badly broken on shore, just like we found you. From my prognosis, what every happened out there—"

"A fucking hell of a storm…"

"… In the storm, your captain here, I believe you called him Benny, did you a favor by taking the force of what ever happened—"

Graced scoffed giving the doctor a pissed off look making him cut off his own words.

"Since I figured you would be better, given that you're a doctor and all, I just wanted to make it clear that I was the one who protected my skipper's life out there, even if it doesn't look like that. And who the hell do you fucking think you are acting all high and mighty like that?"

"That wasn't my intention of coming off that way, Miss—"

"Well you sure as did and it's just Grace, if you must know."

"Thank you Grace. I apologize for jumping to conclusions when I wasn't aboard a fishing ship that should have been cut in half. Now, if you would please help me out a bit here, what happened out there?"

Grace relaxed slightly but still wasn't at ease. She looked over at Benny, who seemed to be passed out now, and figured that talking to this doctor wasn't going to be the worst thing in the world, especially since the blonde knew that they, Benny and her, were going to be there a while until she found her ship.

"Well, Benny saw a shit of a storm on the radar and we knew we had to do something about our gear. Nothing ever goes as planned though, especially when mother nature is on her fucking time of the month…" Grace tried cracking a joke, but it didn't warrant any emotion from the young doctor.

All she could think about was that she felt bad to his patients that he had when he was a resident at a hospital. She knew that some doctors could have horrible bed side manner, but this guy was probably the worst she had experienced.

"Anywhosies… went out on deck and got more of the gear tied down, but then Benny came out and that was where shit went south."

"What happened next?"

"Well, after getting knocked on my ass a few times, I crashed into that freezing water—"

"Did you see anything different? Like when you were in the water? Anything unusual?" The doctor asked abruptly.

Grace squinted her eyes at the doctor trying to see what he was getting at, but she couldn't seem to get a read off the man and it bothered her. She could typically read men, given that was who she spent the most time around, but this guy was something else. Warning flags went off in her head, and even if what she saw wasn't real, it couldn't possibly be for her sanity, she didn't want to tell this doctor anything more.

"No. Pretty much blacked out and found myself here" Grace shrugged her shoulders playing off her lie.

She watched as Doctor Flint's mouth pressed into a firm line as if he was disappointed with her answer. When he saw her staring, the doctor quickly rectified the situation.

"So, since Benny over here is doing better, why don't we look—"

"I'm okay, I coughed up most of my issues on the beach—"

"It's my job—"

"And I have the right to deny medical treatment if I so choose too. Now, I am going to take my leave, please come find me in the village when Benny wakes up."

"How will I—"

"From the looks of it, it's a small town. I'm sure that you can manage."

Grace gripped the handle of the chair and used it to help her out, ignoring the protests her body was making. She pushed the curtain out of the way and walked towards the front of the office passing by a secretary that she didn't see when she first came in.

"Don't press people too much in this village, they don't take too kindly to outsiders like you and your skipper here."

Grace stopped, her hand about to turn the door knob that led to the outside but licked her lips and retorted with a comment of her own.

"Thanks for the advice doc. Once I find my ship and Benny is ready we will be out of your damn hair" Grace muttered.

"Another thing before you go… it isn't lady-like to curse so much even if you're a deckhand—"

Before Grace did something she regretted, she slammed the door behind her, cutting off the doctor's words. What an ignorant piece of trash that she had to deal with. She would have said something in defense, but he was treating Benny and she still was a guest in this village, meaning that she had to play nice—even if their medical staff were assholes.

Shoving her hands in her pockets, the blonde felt the unmistakable feeling of wool. She instantly pulled out her oversized black beanie and smiled. She thought she had lost the thing, and it was surprisingly dry. Without hesitation, Grace placed her hat on her head and shoved her hands back into her pockets figuring she would take a walk around town to kill time and wait for Benny to wake up.


"There isn't much to do to her. My suggestion? Just sink her for some salvage profit and call it a day."

Grace sighed and took her hat off to run a hand through her hair and fluff it. She left her hand in her hair, gipping it as she looked at the ship. The outside of it only needed a few patches that could be completed in a few days. The issue was the inside of the boat. Whatever that storm did to her, it was like the boat was gutted like a pig. The engine and motor were destroyed and needed to be replaced along with many other things in the engine room. Not only that, but a lot of the fishing equipment was damaged as well, making Grace believe that the fishing season for her and Benny might be over already.

"Thanks. But I'll take it from here. She has been through worse" Grace said to the dock manager and gave him a flat-lipped smile.

The blonde pulled on one of the ropes on the ship and crossed over onto its floorboards. Grace felt the familiar gentle rocking of being at the harbor. She closed her eyes and took in a deep breath before making her way inside the vessel. She opened the door and entered, noticing how everything was thrown about. Grace let the door slam behind her, and she took her hat off as she walked further into the ship.

She stopped just before the staircase and saw a picture frame facedown. Bending down, Grace was careful to pick up the photo since once she moved it, she heard the familiar sound of broken glass shift under the wood. She watched as glass fell from the wood as she turned the photo over to reveal the picture. As cliché as it was, there was a crack right down the middle, separating two of the bodies featured in the picture.

Grace brushed off the excess pieces of glass and stood up, putting the photo back on the peg it was once on. She took a few steps back and placed her hands on her hips looking at the broken photo. She smirked and shook her head as she couldn't help but feel as if the photo in front of her was an omen. The glass was able to slice the area between her and her father, so now it was only Benny and her on one side, and her father, separated, on the other. In the background, the boat she stood on now was about to go out for the season. Grace was younger in the photo, but it felt like a fresh memory to her each time she looked at the photo.

Grace swallowed hard and refused to allow herself to be caught in nostalgia. So, she ripped her eyes from the photo and continued downstairs, heading to her own room. She skipped the engine room entirely, given that she already knew what that looked like, thanks to the dock manager taking her down there and making his assessment.

She didn't want to think about how much money it was going to cost her to fix up the boat, but no matter what, she would do it. The boat was like a person who Grace gave a crutch to—always dependent. The sad part was, was that the blonde knew that she would do anything and everything that it took to get the boat up and running again, even if she had to work a job she didn't want to.

Sliding open her door, the girl ignored everything that was thrown about, and instead, only focused on her bed. She cleared her bed off by dropping everything to the floor beside it, and she flopped down on her back putting her forearm over her eyes. She took a deep breath and let the events of the day sink in. She felt her lip quiver and her eyes start to water, but she refused to let herself cry. She knew no one was watching, but she had to remain strong; not only for her sake, but Benny's as well.

If she lost it, she knew that Benny would feel even worse than he already did and would drink himself into a stupor that was worse than she was used to dealing with. Grace not only started to worry about her skipper, but also the boat, and again, the amount of money it would take to fix her up. Yes, she had some money put away and her father saved some for her, but even then, she didn't know if that was enough to cover it.

Honestly, she had planned to go back to university, but being stranded and fixing the boat came as a priority. She didn't know much about the village she was in, but she knew that she would be stuck here until April if she couldn't get the ship up and running and if Benny was even worse than he looked. She could tell that this village, the island even, was one that would get trapped once the water froze over. Once that happened, there was no way that Grace and her skipper could leave and then they would be trapped.

Grace felt the anxiety and water press against her eyes again, making her hold her breath to physically try to push her emotions down. The girl moved her arm and ran a hand down her face, forcing herself to sit up and she gripped the mattress with her hands looking at her bedside table. She picked up a small picture glued to cardboard and ran her finger over it.

"What do I do, Daddy?" Grace sniffled and wiped her nose.

She traced the outline of the photo that contained her as a toddler on her father's shoulders. She never had the chance to tell him, because like him, she was too stubborn to do so, but she always saw him as her hero. She knew that she was her daddy's girl, but her whole life, it had always been the two of them.

Grace placed the photo back down and took a deep breath, pushing herself off the bed. She proceeded to remove her orange duck suit and hang it up on one of the hangers. Looking around the room, she took in everything that had been thrown about and started to pick up things, putting them back in their respective spots. She may not have control over her situation at the moment, but she could at least get started on improving it. So, without thinking, she started to clean her room so she didn't have to think about the world starting to close in around her.


"Hey kid, wanna go get a drink?"

Grace stopped cleaning the deck of the boat and tried to locate the voice that just sounded. Her eyes landed on the dock manager that helped her previously and gave her the advice to sink the boat she was standing on.

"Nah, I'm good. Thanks for the offer though…" Grace replied and went back to putting things back into their place the best she could to make the boat look tidier.

"Come on, girly. This boat of yours… she isn't going to be fixed overnight here. Let me buy you a drink because it looks like you need one after the day you had."

Grace sighed and knew that the man was probably right. With Benny in the hospital, her washing up on shore half-dead, and Mary-Margret in shambles, she could use something to get her mind off of things. So, without speaking, Grace walked over to the edge of the boat and stepped over the railing, planting her feet firmly on solid ground. The dock manager smiled shortly at her and nodded his head, the two taking off together at the same pace once Grace met up with him.

The walk was short, which Grace thought was convenient, to the bar, or as the sign read, the ale house. She always thought it was funny how some bars still referred to themselves as an ale house in this day and age. Granted, there was something always interesting about a place when they respected the history behind the joint.

Grace followed the dock manager and took a seat next to him, following his lead. Grace took her black jacket off and slung it across the back of her chair, but per usual, she kept her black beanie on. Even though the bar didn't falter in conversation when she walked through the door, she could feel everyone's eyes on her.

"What can I do yah for?" a familiar Scandinavian accent sounded next to Grace's ear from across the bar.

Grace looked over to see the old man who had come to her rescue earlier that morning. It seemed as if he was a bartender at this joint, but more likely the owner of it. The blonde could hear a slight hush over the rest of the patrons and Grace figured that her next words were to be chosen carefully. If she knew fishermen and men in general, she knew how to hold her own and fit in and not make a fool of herself.

"Whiskey. Straight. And make it a double." Grace said confidently, holding up her index and middle finger to the bar tender to convey in a physical manner what she wanted.

If she wasn't looking for it, she would have missed the small smirk that flashed across the owner's face. She made sure one didn't flash across her own face, and just remained stoic knowing that she answered correctly. If that wasn't enough of a signal, the rest of the people in the bar resumed their normal volume of conversation, now ignorant and uncaring about Grace.

The owner got out a glass and slid it over to Grace, reaching under the counter for a beer glass. She watched as the man turned around and pulled down on one of the leavers, releasing the beer from the tap. He slid the beer down to the dock manager who caught it with ease. Then, the owner grabbed a bottle of whiskey and came over, pouring one for Grace.

Grace took the glace and threw back her head as the warm contents burned her throat. She then slammed her glass back down and the owner filled it back up for her, completing Grace's request.

"I wouldn't have taken you for a whiskey drinker" the dock manager spoke next to her.

"What, yah thought she was going to order some fruit drink? She is a damn deckhand for cry'n out loud. She can probably hold her liquor better than yah can…" the owner remarked.

Grace smiled and nodded a thank you to the man and he nodded back.

"Name's Egil by the way… or at least that's what everyone 'round these parts call me" the owner remarked.

Grace simply rose her glass to the man and stated her own name "Sanibel. Grace Sanibel."

"Well Sanibel, yah see your ship?"

"Yeah… I'm going to be the fool and try to fix her up…"

"A fucking waste of money if you ask me…" the dock manager muttered causing Egil to threaten him by not giving him any more alcohol.

"Don't listen to that bastard. He would just make money from sinking her…"

"Ha, yeah I figured as such" Grace replied to Egil taking a sip of her drink.

Egil started to twist the cap on the whiskey, playing with it as he watched the front door. Noticing this, Grace turned around to eye the door to try and see what Egil was looking or more importantly waiting for.

"You know, it may look a little weird if you keep holding that bottle of whiskey in your hands—" Grace started.

"He is afraid that if he puts it down he will have to pick it back up again" the dock manager said, looking into his beer.

The blonde furrowed her eyebrows and gave Egil a questioning but curious look that he seemed to ignore. Grace instead, just raised her eyebrows and focused on her own drink knowing it was better if she didn't ask questions. It also seemed like Egil took her advice and set the bottle of whiskey down, however, he set it down right next to her, instead of back on the shelf.

Grace was about to tell him that she really didn't want any more after she finished the drink, but before she could open her mouth, the door slammed open, shushing everyone in the establishment. A tall, bronzed man, soaked to the bone, slammed a helpless fisherman down on one of the tables and approached the bar.

"Drinks are on him…" the man gruffly said to Egil and grabbed the drinks that he had just poured for the other customers.

Grace noticed that people had started to mutter to each other about the new comer, but there was still tension that lined the air. All Grace thought of this man, while attractive, was that he was crazy for being wet from the frigid waters and galivanting through the night in the Alaskan winter—the man must have had a death sentence.

The blonde was about to throw back the rest of her drink, but she felt the presence of the man that just walked in next to her. He reached for the whiskey bottle, but surprising herself, she placed her hand on the bottle as well, preventing him from taking it. Grace looked over and found herself staring at blue eyes that seemed almost unreal, making her remember the thoughts she had about being saved by a creature of the sea.

"Unless you're paying for my next drink for me, the fucking bottle stays here." Grace replied, not bothering to take her hand off the bottle.

She knew that the man could easily overpower her if he wanted to, but apparently, he was finding the whole thing amusing as he grinned sarcastically at the girl, propping himself against the counter making his soaked black tank top stretch and reveal his toned muscles and tattoos that lined his body.

"Sanibel, I suggest you get back to your boat…" Egil said, trying to diffuse the tension.

The whole bar was watching their encounter with each other, and Grace didn't know why, but something about her screamed that she shouldn't back down from this man, even though his height and size were intimidating compared to her shorter stature.

"Nah, I think I'm good. Thanks, Egil." Grace responded, never letting her eyes leave the man who was challenging her.

There was a sudden pause and the smirk on the man's face just seemed to grow as if he was issuing a challenge to Grace. Grace took a deep breath and listened as the man opened his mouth to speak.

"So, you must be the female deckhand I keep hearing about today…" the man chuckled, causing Grace to sit up straight.

Whatever was about to happen, she wasn't one to back down from a challenge, or any sort of pissing contest that this guy was about to throw at her.