Well, this is a little shorter than I would have wanted, but I got through what I wanted to. I hope you enjoy it. I'm working on a different story called "Teach Me Your Ways" and that will start taking my attention. Assassin Queen will probably go on a short hiatus.
A/N: I do not own anything except my OCs.
Chapter Two:
April 5, 1784
Kitty stood at the side of the ship, looking out at the water, her hair loose and blowing around her shoulders. Sleep had been impossible for her to find, so she had decided to watch the moon instead. She stood in her night dress and one of Connor's coats with no shoes, but the cold air coming off the sea still managed to find its way to her legs. The sun was just beginning to peek above the horizon when she heard someone walking up behind her.
"It's too cold to be out here dressed like that, Kitty," Connor murmured from behind her, wrapping a blanket around her shoulders. "You'll get sick."
"Heh...wouldn't that be ironic," she muttered, pulling the blanket closer around herself. She looked up at Connor, her eyes searching his. "I wish I had never left..."
He sighed, looking down. "I do, too...I know why you left, but...you didn't have to keep it a secret from me," he whispered, his hand on the small of her back. He added a little pressure and she turned toward him, allowing him to lead her back to his cabin.
"I wish I could take it all back...I just didn't want you-"
"To be in danger. I know, but I'm a strong man that can take care of himself," he murmured, closing the door behind them. Kitty nodded, hanging her head. He lifted her chin with his finger, smiling gently at her. "You can't fix your mistakes in the past, Kitty. You can only do everything possible to not make the same mistakes in the future."
Kitty nodded, folding the blanket and placing it on the bed. She looked over at her husband who was sitting at his desk, reading a piece of parchment. She hung up the coat she had been wearing, then began to dress herself. She heard someone running toward the cabin and looked up at the same time as Connor.
"Captain, we're under attack!" a crewman exclaimed as he came through the door.
"Get everyone in their stations, I'll be out in a moment," Connor said, standing. He turned to Kitty, his expression stern. "Stay in here, Kitty. Do not leave the cabin until I come back in here."
She pressed her lips together, but nodded, watching as he left the cabin and shut the door behind him. The men running about on the deck and the sound of canonfire made it impossible for Kitty to relax as she paced back and forth in the small cabin. There were men's clothes in her trunk, she could dress in them and move about on the deck as one of the crew members. Connor's wrath that she had disobeyed him was preferable to losing her mind in this cabin.
Dressed in breeches and a loose shirt, Kitty joined the men on the deck, taking the place of a deadman at one of the canons. The men around her didn't seem to notice a thing as she fell seamlessly into the group, able to work with them without discussing it first. A cannonball hit the guardrail in front of her, sending splinter of wood flying, some of it hitting her shoulder. At first she didn't notice the pain in her shoulder or the blood that had begun to soak through her shirt. It wasn't until after the threat had been sent to the bottom of the sea, that one of the crewmen finally looked at her.
"Oi, mate, your shoulder's a bloody mess! Are you alright?" he asked, his eyes wide. Kitty looked at her shoulder and the bloodstain that nearly covered the whole left side of her body, then up at the man before collapsing.
Connor later told her that she slept for three days, shaking with fever for the first two. He hadn't been told why she had been found on the deck of the ship until he was already below deck in the hospital station where the wood was being removed from her shoulder. He told her he had been so angry that she disobeyed him that he had started yelling the moment he walked in. The look on the doctor's face when he looked up from the bloody, mangled mess that was Kitty's shoulder, would have been comical had the situation been different.
Connor sat with her all hours of the day while she slept, holding her when she shivered, changing the bandages on her shoulder and spooning hot broth into her mouth. When Kitty finally woke up, Connor was asleep with his head on the bed. She smiled softly and stroked his hair, carefully fingering the beads on the end of the braid. His hand reached up and covered hers as he raised his head.
"Kitty?" he whispered, sitting up. "Kitty, you're awake!"
Kitty smiled weakly, stroking the back of his hand with her thumb. "Yeah, I am..." she murmured, trying to sit up.
"Don't move, you'll upset the stitches," he said, a staying hand on her good shoulder. "Why were you on the deck?
"I hate being trapped in a room," she whispered, clasping her hands together. "I just couldn't, Connor..."
He sighed, kissing her temple. "I'm just glad you're awake..." he whispered back, stroking her cheek.
"I should have listened to you...I'm sorry..." she murmured, looking down.
"Shh," he murmured, brushing a strand of hair away from her face. "I forgot how impulsive you were."
Kitty smiled, shaking her head. "I'm only as impulsive as you, yourself are," she muttered, smirking.
"And I have two more months of this to look forward to," he chuckled.
June 26, 1784
Kitty took a deep breath as she stared out at the bay the ship was sailing into. She had left here two and a half years ago under the veil of death and now that she was back, she was afraid that her children wouldn't accept her back as their mother. During the three months they had been on the ship, she and Connor had worked on forgiving each other and talking about what they wanted out of their marriage from this time forward, but nothing had been said about their waiting children.
"Are you ready?" Connor asked, wrapping an arm around her slender waist. She set her jaw and nodded, turning her head to look at him. "They still love you, Kitty, believe me."
"I hope so..." she murmured, biting her lower lip.
Connor led her off the ship and onto the dock, squeezing her hand encouragingly. He led her to the manor and before they even came into view of the large house, she could hear children laughing. Coming back after so long and hearing the sound of happy children nearly brought her to her knees with the almost physical pain she felt in her chest.
"Daddy's home!" she heard Eddy call. Her breath caught in her throat and she stopped walking, her anticipation causing her to completely freeze up.
"You can do this," Connor murmured in her ear as all six children came running down the lane.
At first when they saw a woman with their father, they slowed down and stopped, looking uncertain. Emmy was the first to recognize her and bolted to her, hugging her around the waist. Eddy and Alexander followed slower, leading Dot, Thaddeus, and Theodosia. Kitty hugged all of her children close to her, tears rolling down her cheeks.
"Mama?" Thaddeus asked, holding his twin's hand and looking up at Alex.
"Yeah, Mama," he murmured back, smiling.
Thaddeus and Theodosia grinned, hugging their long absent mother. For the first time, Kitty held her two youngest children and it felt like she was finally complete, finally where she was supposed to be. Though her children eagerly accepted her back into their lives now, she wondered if one day they would despise her for having left them.
Well? What do y'all think? Please R&R...it makes me happy to see what y'all think.
You are all so, so amazing and I hope you enjoy the chapters to come.
