AnaMaria found the boy sitting on the rigging, staring out into space. Knowing she still had shift that night she tried to make it as quick as she possibly could but she wasn't too worried. She approached the boy quietly, not making her presence known until she climbed up beside him.

"I know it wasn't your fault," she began quietly, avoiding his gaze. Jim sighed and tried to ignore the girl beside him. AnaMaria, not wanting to give up so easily continued, "If it wasn't for you, me and half of the crew would've ended up like-" Not wanting hear any more Jim interrupted her.

"Don't you get it!" he shouted aggravated. "I screwed up! I mean for one second I thought I could do something right but I just - ugh - I just -" he sighed dropping what he had to say. "Just forget it." He began to move away from the girl but she caught a hold of his wrist, efficiently stopping him in his place.

"The point is Jim, you couldn't have helped him. Sometimes things are out of our control. If it was your fault then it was everybody else's as well." She dropped his wrist from her grip and moved so he was looking at her. "I know how it feels to blame yourself for something you had no control over, believe me." She searched his eyes for a hint of understand but found only anger and self-pity.

"How could you?" he scoffed, looking away from her. "It was my responsibility and I blew it. I was in charge of handling the lifelines and I didn't do my job. I screwed up, end of story." He moved around the girl and started to head off to do some more moping only to be stopped by her voice.

"I've had my own share of hardships growing up. Done a lot of things I'm not proud of and sometimes I regret each waking up, but it won't do me much good to dwell on the past and it won't do you much good either," she muttered. "Time moves on with or without you. What happened is in the past now so it's best to just leave it there; that's my advice to you, take it or leave it." She moved over to the ladder leading up to the crow's nest but Jim quickly stopped her.

"AnaMaria wait!" She turned to face the boy only to find herself a few inches away from his chest. She looked up to see the boy smiling down at her. "Walk with me." Before she could reject or even answer, he grabbed her hand and dragged her away from the riggings.

"I'm sorry for snapping at you," Jim said. AnaMaria shook her head and stopped, causing Jim to look back at her in confusion.

"You spoke out of anger," the girl said, "sometimes; anger gets the better of us." Jim nodded his head, grateful that the girl didn't take his words offensively.

"So, how do you know so much about a ship? And how do you know Silver?" he asked changing the subject. The young girl shrugged not knowing where to start.

"I grew up on a ship. I ran away from home and stowed away on a merchant's boat. The boat was attacked soon after by pirates and sent crashing on to Proteus One."

"Let me guess, Silver saved you from there too?" Jim asked. AnaMaria nodded her head and smiled. Seeing this Jim felt his face heat up; he decided he liked her smile.

"He's like a father to me. He can be harsh at times but he means well…I think." Jim laughed at that causing AnaMaria to brighten up.

"So, you were born on Montressor right?" AnaMaria asked. With a nod from Jim she continued, "Not much to do there but solar surf." This caught Jim's attention.

"You solar surf?" he asked, clearly surprised. AnaMaria nodded her head smiling as she remembered all the times she was on a board. "I try to do it every now and then; it's the second best thing to being on a ship."

Their walk took them around the deck a couple times and by the time, they ended their current conversation they were settled down on the bow, looking out at the stars.

"It's always so beautiful out at night. I think that's the best part about having night time watch, you have the best view," AnaMaria confessed. Jim took his opening to steal a glance at the girl beside him.

She looked like she was far away from there, on another adventure, sailing space without a care in the world. He liked how he could talk to somebody who could relate to him in more ways than one. At first, it seemed like she was just like any other stuck up girl but when he looked beyond that he could see that she really was kind. He enjoyed spending time with her and wished that this moment between them would last, but all good things must come to an end.

AnaMaria, sensing his gaze, turned to see him staring down at her. "Is something on my face?" she laughed, swiping a hand across her face. The boy offered her a soft smile, shaking his head slightly.

The young pirate returned the smile, albeit a little confusedly. "You know you actually look normal when you're not frowning."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Jim asked.

"It's just that, you always seem to be mad. What makes you so angry?" Jim sighed beside her and ran his fingers through his hair.

"I'm not angry," he protested softly. "Ever since my dad spilt I haven't been as happy as I used to be. I guess without a father figure around, I became this screw up begging for attention. I turned into the trouble maker that nobody understood and didn't give the time of day to.

"I know I let my mom down a lot and I've disappointed her more times than I can count. It just makes me guilty that I put so much stress on her. I have no friends and it just seems like everybody is always blaming me for something. I guess I got so used to having nobody besides my mom there for me."

AnaMaria looked at Jim as if seeing him for the first time. He was an outcast that nobody understood so he rebelled. He blamed himself for his father leaving so he felt that if he acted the way he does then he could get the attention that he so desperately wanted. Now he just wanted to make his mom proud of him instead of always disappointing her. He wanted people to see him in a different light.

"Well," AnaMaria said slowly, thinking of the right words to say, "Now you have me." She fought back the heat rising to her cheeks as she turned to give him a soft smile. "You deserve a friend, Jim."

Jim, shocked more than anything else, sat there dumbly as AnaMaria stood to her feet. He wasn't why his face felt so hot or what the funny feeling in his chest was all about but he did know that he liked the feeling. He felt the corner of his lips turn up in a small smile.

"Shouldn't you be up in the crow's nest lass?" a familiar voice asked, interrupting the pleasant moment. The two teens jumped away from one another as if they had been caught doing something inappropriate and turned to face Silver whose hands were placed on his hips and whose lips were turned up in an amused smirk, hoping that their faces weren't as red as they felt they were.

"Headed that way right now; it was nice talking to you Jim," AnaMaria said, smiling softly towards the boy before taking off for the crow's nest. Jim stared after the teen, a dreamy look in his eye.

"You too," he called after her. Silver arched an eyebrow at his cabin boy before grabbing him by his collar and dragging him off into the galley so he could talk with him as he finished the dishes.

AnaMaria sighed from the crow's nest and banged her head lightly against the mast.

Stupid, stupid Ana! You're supposed to be mutinying against him, not blushing like some lovesick school girl! She banged her head against mast once more for good measure before noticing a certain pink blob had joined her in the crow's nest.

She nearly crushed said blob between her palms when he morphed into a certain cabin boy and hers truly kissing.

"Good night, Morph!" she growled as she shooed him away. Morph gibbering happily floated away still in that form as he disappeared into the galley.

I'm gonna kill that blob when I see him again! With that evil thought dancing in her brain, she started her watch once again.