Nathan had left earlier that morning and Molly found herself carrying back the few groceries that they still needed for the house. She enjoyed the mundane activities of living in a quiet town, she often missed the adventures of the sea, but it was a nice change of pace for the two of them to try to live like a normal couple would. As she was walking, her thoughts drifted back to when she first met Nathan, and just how scary he acted around her. She giggled at how terrified she used to be entering the kitchen on the Sirius, afraid he'd chop her up and cook her, or at least that's what he'd threaten.
The hike back to the house proved to be refreshing, as the cool breeze brushed against her face. The seasons were beginning to change and she could feel the cold starting to come. She welcomed it though. She liked the cold weather, and with the fireplace Nathan had put in special for them, she eagerly awaited the time when they could snuggle up next to it. With the cold weather would come snow, and she especially looked forward to that, as she hadn't really been around snow much in her life. Nathan promised that when it did start snowing, he would take her out and they'd build a snowman together. The promise might have been silly to another person, and in fact Russell had teased her about it, but it meant a lot to her.
She pushed the door open and stumbled inside with the items tucked underneath her arms. Nathan hadn't returned yet, as his stuff was still gone, so Molly started placing their groceries in their proper places. The house was quiet, and creaked under her feet as she walked across the hard wood floor. They had been quite lucky in fact when they'd stumbled across this place. When the arrangement had first been made, Nathan had immediately set out looking for a place for them to live. He'd told her he had the perfect place and had practically dragged her to the place for her to see. Of course she'd immediately fallen in love with the place and they had gotten it on the spot. It was definitely a fixer-upper though, as most of the fine furnishings that it had now weren't there just a few weeks ago.
Sliding the last of the boxes she had into the cabinet, she walked over to the chair with Eduardo's shirts still hanging on it. She grabbed the sewing kit out of the bedroom and grabbed the garments and began working. The boys would often come to her whenever they needed something like this mended. She liked that even something as silly as this, they would depend on her to help them. In all of the times that they'd helped her and done things for her, she was glad that even if it was as simple as this, she could somehow show how grateful she was to have them in her life.
It didn't take very long for her to mend them, as she folded them neatly. She felt a tad bit woozy as she bent over to collect some of the discarded thread, and steadied herself with the chair. The feeling soon passed and she shrugged her shoulders. She had gotten barely any sleep the night before, not that she was complaining in the least, but she still found herself a little bit tired. Her face flushed in recollection, and she smiled, not feeling the least bit sorry for her lack of sleep. In fact if Nathan were there at that moment, she'd probably do it all over again.
Eduardo would want his shirts back as soon as possible, so she picked the garments back up and walked through the front door, closing it shut behind her. She wasn't sure if he'd still be at home, as he worked out at port part-time, but she'd at least leave them there for him. The shirts looked as if they were his work clothes, so she knew he'd probably need them.
The wind picked up around her as she walked up to Eduardo and Russell's cabin. It was a small cabin, much smaller than her and Nathan's place, but it was just enough for the two guys. The two were hardly ever home, either working or at her and Nathan's place, so it worked for the two. The lights weren't on, and the door appeared to be locked. After knocking a few times, she figured he'd be at port working so she placed them in the crook next to their door.
She turned to head to over to Christopher's clinic to see if he needed any help. When Thomas wasn't there to help Christopher, she went over to help him with the clinic. She also quite enjoyed working there, volunteering a lot of her time there when she could. Whenever Nathan would go out on the odd job, she'd come work at the clinic. Christopher had started training her, saying that she could work there as a nurse whenever she wanted. She and Thomas often made runs around the clinic, helping to treat some of the patients whenever Christopher got busy. Molly often wished she could get some sort of formal training for it, but Christopher was a good teacher, and she had learned a lot in her time working there.
In the distance, she saw Christopher running up the road towards her. His face was red and he appeared to be out of breath.
"Hey Christopher, what's going on?"
Christopher skidded to a halt and grabbed her shoulders, pushing her towards her house. "Go home, right now. Go home, lock the door, and don't let anyone inside unless you know for a fact that's one of us. Go, right now."
She threw him a confused look as he continued to push her in the other direction. "What are you talking about?"
"They're here."
A couple of miles away, Nathan walked through the market searching for the supplies he still needed. The town that they all lived in was quite small and quite unknown to most people, so it lacked a lot of the things that would often be required of living in such a small place, and Nathan would have to trek up to the next town. The roof of his and Molly's cabin had a small hole over one of the bathrooms, and he still needed some of the nails and wood to fix it.
The town was small enough that even when he would go out on an odd job, he'd have to trek up to the next town up to get work. Since he was decently good with his hands and was an excellent cook, he was never lacking in finding some work every now and again. Most of the time he'd work in one of the deli's for some extra cash, although he and Molly didn't really require much money since they had both saved away almost all of the money they'd gotten from the last treasure the group had collected.
Thomas and Russell had gone with him for company. Being the two younger guys of the group, he thought of them almost as younger brothers. He knew he had a real brother of his own, but these guys were different. They dawdled behind him as the three of them made their way through the market, laughing about something as they followed behind him.
Nathan turned around. "Are you two even looking for the nails?"
Russell chuckled. "Sorry, no we weren't."
Nathan rolled his eyes as he turned around. "What did you two even follow me over here for then if you're not going to help?"
"Because you like us for some reason." Thomas replied, causing Nathan to laugh and shake his head.
"How are you and Molly doing at the clinic?" Nathan asked, inspecting one of the vender's materials next to him.
"Good. Molly is a natural. She's just really good with people."
Nathan smiled. "Yeah, she's great with people."
Nathan walked around the bend in the market and headed towards one of the vender's at the end, where he knew some good nails would be. The market was full of people, as this was the largest market of the entire island, so it was usually full of people. The streets were filled with the smells of the local pastry shop down the street and the sounds of people chattering away as they meandered through.
As he neared the end of the market, he noticed Morgan standing in front of one of the venders, leaned in towards the man, talking. The three men made their way towards him curiously, Nathan had figured Morgan would have been further away from here after their meal the night before.
Nathan went up next to him and patted him on the back. "Captain, what are you doing hanging around here?"
Morgan patted the vender's shoulder and turned to Nathan. "I was gathering some information. We all need to talk."
"Right now?"
"Right now." Morgan said, his voice and face both serious.
Nathan nodded as Morgan led the three men away from the market. Morgan pushed their way through the hustle and bustle of the market center, and practically dragged the men down the street towards the woods, away from the noise of the town. They turned around a corner and Morgan abruptly turned to face them. He'd looked as if he hadn't slept in days, bags forming underneath his eyes.
"I've just been talking to some of the people in this town here, seeing if they'd heard anything about the attacks."
"And?" Russell asked, stepping forward.
"The one guy I just talked to said he had some family up in the last town attacked and they told him about it. Those that survived that is… It's James and his gang. They're the ones behind all of this."
Nathan, Thomas, and Russell immediately exchanged worried glances with one another. They knew exactly who Morgan was talking about. James and some of his friends not only knew them, but had once fought side by side with them, as members of the Sirius. Many years ago, way before Nathan and Molly had ever met, James and his associates worked on the Sirius with the rest of them. Nathan and James in particular had grown to be quite strong friends during their time on board. James, however, started to become exceedingly greedy, and became more and more violent. After a major fight had broken out on deck, Morgan kicked James and all of his supporters off the ship, and told them to never return. When James asked Nathan if he would join him, Nathan had rebuked. Nathan shivered as he remembered the look James had given him when he left the ship, telling Nathan that he'd one day come after them when he'd gotten a large crew.
"Are you sure?" Thomas asked, his voice quiet.
Morgan nodded gravely. "I'm sure. From the way that this man's family described him, it's definitely him. No doubt. And he's out for blood. Our blood."
