A/N: Huge thanks to classicmovielover for the help! Sometimes in your own stories the words melt together and you don't see errors like you should!
As always, there was a lull when everyone was having supper and after finishing up mine, I saw it was a good opportunity to go onto the bow and see the sun set. I did precisely that and wished I had a camera with me, as it made such a pretty picture.
"Hey woman, remember me?" I shielded my eyes from the sun and turned.
"Daniel." a man in second class garb with a cherub face and dirty blonde hair looked at me, pulling a cigarette out of his mouth and tossing it over the side.
"You haven't been forgetting me now, have ya?" he got too close to me and grabbed my wrists. "Just like old times, you think you could get away from me?"
"Oh I can and I will, Dan. You forget how quick I was."
He snorted, keeping an iron grip on my wrists. "Quick didn't cut it!"
"For you it did." I sneered. "Let me go!"
"Not until you do something for me."
"I know what you want and it's not going to happen, bub!" I stomped on his feet, kneed his crotch, wrenched my hands free and ran. Lightoller met me on the bridge left side wing, asking me what was going on.
"My ex-fiancee..." I panted. "he's roughed me up before and I had to run away before he killed me. Charles, will you help me?"
"Of course." Daniel was gaining ground fast as Lowe came out of the wheelhouse. "Get behind me."
I obliged as Daniel came up. Lowe put a supportive hand on my arm as Lightoller faced him, his glare all steely eyed and intimidating.
"You've no power over her!" Daniel barked. "Katrina, come to me!"
"Oh stick it up your ass!" I shot back.
"Leave this woman alone," Lowe and I glanced at each other. We'd never heard Lightoller speak so commandingly. "you are to keep your distance for the rest of the voyage. I will not hesitate to have you arrested and detained."
"You cannot keep me from my fiance!"
"She's not your fiance any more."
"She's mine! I own her!"
"You cannot own another human being!" Lightoller firmly told him. "Now stay away from her!" he spoke so threateningly that Daniel actually backed away.
"OK. She's... damaged goods." he threw at me, obviously thinking that Lowe was dating me now.
When he'd gone, I exhaled shakily and looked up to my defenders. "Thanks guys."
"If you don't mind me asking..."
"Not at all, Harold. Daniel Rutherford used to be nice and I genuinely did fall for him. He was great, asked for my hand and I did give it to him. Then he started hitting the bottle and getting whores to satisfy himself every night. Dan started to haunt the Fleet Street Dragon and when he got home, he would get violent with me, I got sick of it and broke it off. He's been out of my life for a year now. He's mainly the reason why I chose to be a shipboard doctor."
"I'm glad you're here, regardless." Lightoller gave me a small hug. Lowe wasn't far behind.
"What did he mean by damaged goods?"
"Nothing much. In the intimacy area I wouldn't get that way with him. He just disgusted me and I didn't want him violating my body so I made up some sob story about rape." simple and true. I was convinced back then that my downstairs would smell like bourbon when he was done!
Smirking, I told them stories of Dan's foibles including his irrational fears of rats and horses for a bit until they laughed hard, wiping their eyes. We spent a companionable half an hour together until the watches rotated and Murdoch came on. I was surprised by the time that had passed. The off duty officers and I went back to our quarters, Lightoller filling Murdoch in on what had happened to me. The Scot appraised me warmly and he asked to come and see me when he was off duty.
"That'll be at 2 a.m., Will. If you can wake me up without difficulty, then yes." he laughed.
Two a.m. came a lot sooner than I thought it would. Four hours of sleep hadn't done much for me and when I answered the door, I was surprised to find that it was nearly 3 a.m. He had rounds to do and that was the reason he was late. Not that I cared.
"Are you ill, Will?" I was rubbing my eyes when I was gently pushed down to sitting on my own bed. Before I knew it, a pair of lips had engulfed mine and I was getting a romantic smooch. What?!
"Aren't you married?" he pulled away from me, eyes bright as he took his hat off.
"Not any more," Murdoch peeled off his gloves. "she got sick of me seafaring and left me." divorces weren't made public so that made sense.
"So you had it in for me?"
"In a way. Do you mind?"
"No, not at all." I was going along with it, surprised to find that I liked what Murdoch did! He made me feel like a real lady we engaged in sensuous activity. Though Murdoch knew that I had told a fake sob story to escape sex with Daniel, he didn't seem to mind at all. Perhaps he had gone down with Wilde and interviewed the cretin? My thoughts were interrupted as Murdoch covered the porthole window and asked if I was all right with him doing this.
"Yeah!" I exclaimed. What happened then was best left to the imagination!
"Was it good for you?" Murdoch asked about half an hour later. He had his left hand around my shoulders and he was looking at me with a smirk on his face. The Scot began to neck me again, trying to put a little bite into it, which I didn't really care for. I responded by necking him. He was well built and muscular from his years at sea, something I found quite attractive. Murdoch had the start of well-defined muscles in his arms and he was quite lean. He was no well-built Roman gladiator, but for me he was! He smelled enticingly of aftershave or cologne, or some other manly thing that they liked to slap on liberally, and I contented myself with raking my fingers through his silky hair. It puzzled me why I never found him cute or attractive before, but then again, I'd never been looking actively.
"Were you hot for me the entire time I've been on board?" he pulled me towards him, necking me gently as I returned the affection.
"From the first time I saw you attending Joseph on the bridge." he answered sincerely, kissing my hands. I let him go for a few minutes, revelling in the attention he was giving me. I'd never had that kind of attention before, where the man worshipped me and made me feel like a true lady. Murdoch started going down south from there, smooching every part of me that he could. I giggled, as I was ticklish a bit!
"Will, if this night results in shall we say a reminder in 9 months and something happens to you, what would you want me to do?" couldn't think in the moment, could I? Always had to have my butt covered in every circumstance. Murdoch stopped and looked at me, a bit confused.
"You mean if you were with child and I was away?" I nodded, pulling up the sheet. "Well, use your judgement, Katrina. I'd want you to have a happy life and I'd love to raise a child with you. If something did happen to me, I'd want you to still raise the child the best way you know how and marry someone that you love."
I'd never thought of bearing children before. I had always assumed since I was deathly ill that I couldn't do it. I felt that if it happened, it happened, but I was quite content and happy to be a shipboard doctor regardless. Still, a family would be nice but I was thinking too far ahead of myself again. "I'm thinking too much into this."
"Perhaps you are." he teased, picking up my left arm and entwining his fingers with mine playfully.
"OK, I'll give you that one," I winged him with a pillow and he started to laugh. "I really must sleep now so I can be fresh for tomorrow."
"Same here." Murdoch drew up the covers more and I closed my eyes. "A good...rendezvous always makes me tired." I knew why that was, but I wasn't about to go onto a lecture of the release of oxytocin, a natural painkiller that also played a role in sleep. He spooned me, one hand on my shoulder, gently pinching it and I heard a sharp intake of breath when he ascertained that I was quite muscular in my arms after working on a farm with my brother for many years. My biceps were rather well-defined and I liked it.
It was the best night's sleep I'd had in awhile, coupled with the fact I had an attractive Scotsman with me!