Thank you for reviewing the previous chapter: LoveSKINS94, Guest, gllover22, Gleek Faberry-Achele Fan, docebarbara, IloveDianaAgron, SeaMe (meh, not that sad, lol), Guest and pfarin

To the two 'Guest's who reviewed, who both asked about Cells, I am working on the next chapter, should turn out quite a lengthy fic so there's loads I still need to do for it. I hope to update this weekend *fingers crossed*

Posted: 18/2/14

Chapter X – Prussia

They left the inn early one morning, leaving the key to their room with a pouch of coins, enough to cover themselves, and nearly the last of Quinn's money, behind the bar where the owner was sure to find it.

They must have only been there for two further weeks after Quinn had woken but the blonde was insistent that they should leave again. Rachel did tell her of the night Jesse, Finn, and Sam stayed in neighbouring rooms, and how she locked the door and just hoped they would not be found.

Quinn realised if their trail went cold the three guards might back track and find them anyway, so they had to leave as soon as Quinn felt fit. And she had decided she did already... even if she was in a lot of pain.

"Are you sure you are well to walk? We can wait a little longer before we continue." Rachel asked and offered when they were barely out of sight of the house that had saved them 'Stay in our little haven, just the two of us, in a utopia where you need me.' Her mind whispered what she truly longed for.

"No, my Lady, I am fit to walk again. We must keep moving." Quinn assured the Lady as she tried her best not to limp. They probably wouldn't make it as far today as a normal day but any progress was better than none. "How I have missed our nights, so very alone in the woodlands or the fields, where we are all each of us have." Her mind whispered.

It took them two and a half weeks to make it to Prussia, thanks to Quinn's slowed pace, that her injury wasn't entirely responsible for. They had had some luck, catching rides on the back of merchant carts at times, with the driver's permission this time. It had been Rachel's idea, she had encouraged they rides, for Quinn's health.

...

They had been travelling for nearly 5 months now, the month was July. Rachel wondered how time had passed so fast, at least since they had left Spain... since she had found a softer side to Quinn.

As they continued to walk, the later into the day it got the more Rachel noticed Quinn's limp. It started tiny at the beginning of the day but only worsened the further they got. Rachel wished how they could find some horses. Right now, for Quinn's sake, she was not above stealing.

They sky was growing dark anyway so Rachel dared make a suggestion. "Perhaps it is time to settle for the night." She imagined Quinn would argue that they could walk for another half hour, at least.

"Perhaps you are right, ahead there looks to be a trail off the main path, we shall see where that goes, I suspect it may be a good place to stop." She surprised the Lady as she conceded, mostly for the burning ache in her leg and the burning want to prolong the journey.

.

As they sat in their usual arrangement, opposite one another in a make shift camp set up in the woods, a crackling fire between them and a cloudless sky above, Rachel tried to make light conversation. She stopped eating the bread they had bought earlier in the day to attentively ask, "How is your injury faring?"

Quinn paused in eating too. "I will not lie, I am still in some discomfort. But I am far better than I could have been." She complimented Rachel in secret that time, afraid that she was already too soft around the Lady, and she had a right to think she was.

Rachel nodded in partial understanding, not hearing any compliment. It was strange how the air around them had changed since that day, as though they were blanketed by a conflicting tension. "If you need to rest more often as we walk, all you need do is stop." The young Lady reminded her.

Quinn nodded in hearing too, she doubted she would allow herself more rest though, she would be fine. The last arrow that had got her had been through the arm, she was lucky the archer was such a poor one and it hit her at such low velocity. "I should teach you to fight." There was some humour in her eyes as she said it but she still meant it with the upmost seriousness. "You showed good instinct that night, I did not."

"Quinn, you were shot through the leg." Rachel excused for her.

"That shouldn't have happened, I shouldn't have let it happen." If her head hadn't been so full of thoughts she would have just known they were walking on a dangerous road, she would have heard, or felt Sam lurking in the woods with his bow, like a sixth sense.

"You didn't let it happen, it was an unfortunate shot, with an old fashioned tool." Rachel told her adamantly. Quinn creased her brow, she had heard something like that being said before. "You said so yourself." The Lady reminded her when she saw the curiosity.

"I did, didn't I?" She smiled to herself at Rachel remembering something she has told her... and then the smile faded as the disappointment in herself returned, "I shouldn't have been caught off guard though, I'm supposed to see everything."

"You cannot see everything Quinn." Rachel was sure with a crystal ball she still wouldn't have seen all this happening to her. But she could see one of the reasons the situation was upsetting Quinn the most. "Your parents would not have been disappointed in you either."

Quinn glared at her a little, from across the fire. "Why would you think that?"

Rachel didn't falter because she knew she was on the right track. "From what I have learnt of you, you have lived your life since theirs were taken trying to make them proud. I may not have known them, but I think they would be proud of you." Any parent should be proud of their child if they had spent their youth avenging their murder. She had sacrificed every kind of life for the one they would have been most proud of too, she was walking in their footsteps.

"I don't think they would be." The assassin just mumbled.

"You avenged them, your first... kills were out of passion and love." Rachel said with a sympathy. She may not have liked that Quinn was what she was, but it had started for a loving reason, as dark as that may have been. "And that is what led you in life, you shape the world with every life taken, you shape lives by removing people from their homes."

Quinn raised that eyebrow, "Like you?"

"And I do not hate you, not anymore." Rachel declared with too much passion in her voice.

Quinn shook her head, that wasn't right. "And that troubles me, my Lady."

"But why?" She pushed, meekly.

"Because... I worry you depend on me now." She explained, guiltily, "I know I made it that way in the beginning, which was cruel of me-"

"This is your life Quinn, this is how it works." Rachel excused for her, and Quinn hated herself for letting Rachel change her mind like that "You needed me to cooperate and... you probably saved my life, to stop me outing my English self in Spain, and then France... The Holy Roman Empire... everywhere."

"I have ruined your life." Quinn breathed. She would have stood up, would have started pacing, she did that sometimes but not often. It was a habit from when she was younger. She didn't want to worry the Lady though... and sitting where she was, was safer, it gave them distance.

"You have saved my life, in every aspect." Rachel argued back, her voice full of awe rather than aggressive.

"You were safe and happy at Arundell!" Quinn snapped, hoping to rile a similar tone from the younger woman.

"I was content and ignorant." The Lady corrected. "I knew nothing of the outside world, you have shown me that."

Quinn just scoffed, "By sleeping in the woods for so many nights?"

"Seeing the stars like this, I never got to really see them at home." The Lady in the blue dress' eyes shone brightly in the dark clearing, "And don't forget all the towns I have seen, the languages I have heard, the people, the atmosphere. Thank you."

"You should not thank me." Quinn said harshly. 'You should still loath me!' her head screamed.

"But I do thank you, if it weren't for you I would have never got this experience." This was what she was supposed to make the most of, so what was the problem. 'All the experiences, the different cultures, and these feelings.' They were experiences she'd never imagined having.

"If you had remained safe, in England, you could have married a man who travelled for business, and he could have taken you with him." Quinn reasoned, she may have been hired to escort but she wasn't the greatest travelling companion. The longest she had been around another person since she was 9 was probably a week, at the most.

"My suitable suitors were not ones for travel, or if they were they never left the island beneath their feet. Look at me though, I stand on different earth." 'With a different view on life. It is precious and should be spent in happiness, as much happiness as one can find.' She finished in her head, afraid of any implications her words would make, and of what those words meant to her.

"You should not thank me my Lady," Quinn shook her head again, mostly to herself. "We should sleep," she added when she saw Rachel about to protest. She quickly settled, sleeping on the ground as she always did, only this time her back was to the fire and the other woman, leaving Rachel confused.

Not for the first time did Quinn struggle to sleep that night, but it was the first time she felt nothing but guilt. Guilt for putting Rachel in this situation, guilt for every step closer to Nyenskans and the waiting Count... guilt for her feelings.

...

A few nights later and the conversation lacked, as it had since their conversation of Rachel thanking her. Rachel had grown quieter for fear she would out her naive feelings for her captor, Quinn growing quiet afraid Rachel was too comfortable with the kidnap now. And Quinn still felt the guilt for everything she had done.

They had walked through a few villages, stayed in a boarding house one of the nights and even hitched another ride on a horse drawn cart, a paid ride though.

"We had good weather today." Rachel commented ever so lightly. They'd been having fair weather for a while, even with the uneven terrain and north-ness of their travel.

"Yes." Quinn agreed, and muttered "Yes."

"I hope it lasts tonight." The young Lady just tried to keep contact between them alive, she was so very afraid that after all Quinn had finally confessed she was now just going to shut herself off. She'd started keeping her hood up most of the time again, like when they'd first met. It made it harder for Rachel to read the blonde.

"I think it should." Quinn assured as she looked up to the sky briefly. "We have a cloudless sky." She confirmed.

"Oh yes... I can see the stars." They didn't seem to hold as much magic anymore, the atmosphere had been doused since Quinn hid herself again. Maybe she knew, Rachel wondered, maybe she knew of Rachel's feelings and needed to shut herself away. "How is your leg?"

"Better." She answered simply, "Thanks to you," she chose to compliment obviously this time, Rachel deserved it, and she couldn't help herself and her selfishness. She wanted to see Rachel smile, and more than that, she wanted to be the one to make Rachel smile.

"I did nothing." Rachel brushed it off, though not believing her own words, all while trying her best not to blush.

"I am still grateful for you saving my life." She said, far more serious than the easy comments before.

"I really did nothing." She played coy, but fumbled a little more and failed to blush when she saw the sincerity in the eyes beneath the lip of the hood.

"You attacked a man paid to rescue you." Quinn pointed out just how serious this was, it was as if the evil part of her mind wanted to know, and hope, just why Rachel had done that, even though earlier she had told herself to forget about it. Perhaps Rachel was having a psychological adjustment... or problem.

"I didn't need rescuing." Rachel shrugged it off. She hadn't felt like she was in peril until Quinn had been shot with that arrow.

But what is she had needed rescuing? Quinn had to ask herself, as she watched the vulnerable woman opposite her.

Brody could be an honourable man for all Quinn knew, he could be kind, she was not to know his true personality. But not all men were, as Quinn had seen from some of the contracts she had taken. What if he hurt Rachel? And what if Rachel couldn't ask for help, or worse what if she didn't want to?

Quinn thought about just keeping Rachel with her, of course she had thought of that quite often, since they left that inn in Poland. But she knew that wasn't a feasible idea. Quinn couldn't look after and provide for her. Rachel was a Lady, she lived a life of luxury, and if she wanted to meet this man Quinn would finish the contract, and maybe hang around in Nyenskans for some time after, to make sure Rachel was well.

She mentally shook her head to herself at that thought too. She doubted Rachel would want to see her again. She only helped her because she was her only way forward, nothing more. So Quinn would do all she could, she would teach.

"Come on," she stood up, not as smoothly as she usually would thanks to her injury.

"Where are we going?" Rachel's eyes were on her, wide and worried.

"Nowhere, I'm going to teach you some sword play," she wandered closer to the trees and found two broken and dried branches from the floor, "and if you prove worthy in time I will teach you to fire a pistol." She offered Rachel a hand to help her up, which she took, before she passed her a broken branch.

Rachel just looked at the stick in her hand and chuckled. "I feel foolish, Quinn."

The blonde smirked back at the brunette, as she pushed her hood back and adopted a mild fighting stance. "Well once you can wield a blade you won't, in fact you'll thank me for this play that makes you feel so foolish." She smiled cockily, only making Rachel smile too.

Then without further warning Quinn struck her branch downward towards the other woman, knowing she could stop it before it hit Rachel. She didn't have to though when Rachel yelped as she bought her own stick up to block Quinn's fake attack.

...

A few days later and they were wandering through a small town, the streets lined with many establishments selling different wares, from food and clothes, to books, fabrics, cures for ailments, even blades. As expected of any street lined with such shops it was busy with local people trading what they had for coin, and coin for items, or cutting out the coin all together and simply trading the old fashioned way.

The odd pair walked so closely, Rachel's hand occasionally brushing Quinn's making them both recoil slightly. But it wasn't long before they drifted close to one another and found themselves hand grazing distance apart again.

Quinn had enjoyed the silence, just taking in the air around her, and the woman she was with. After a few tentative glances toward the brunette, she spoke. "I must ask, I don't want to push you to do things you don't want to do." She then cringed, realising that's what this entire thing had been about. "I mean, anymore than I already have." She quickly covered.

"What else have you pushed me to do?" Rachel asked as she cautiously glanced back.

"The last few nights, the sword play." Quinn kind of shrugged.

"Actually I have rather enjoyed that." Rachel admitted with a head bow and a shy smile, "Do you think I have hopes for mastering a blade?"

"You fair well, very well in fact," Quinn told her truthfully, "You immediately showed good natural instinct," she had with every untimely step and flail of the fake sword Quinn had fake attacked her with. It wasn't the first time she had showed such good natural instinct though, "The same as you showed in Poland."

"My efforts were meagre." Rachel shrugged.

Quinn stopped as she gently grasped Rachel's bicep and pulled her back to make them face one another on the busy street. "Do not lower yourself, you carried me, you removed the splinters from my wound. I don't know many who would do that for a friend or acquaintance, let alone for the person who has ruined their life." She said with sad, regretful eyes. "You saved my life. I am eternally grateful."

"Quinn, you-" Rachel closed her eyes tightly for a moment, as she scolded and composed herself before she could say too much. "Um... that day, I could not just leave you, I could not let them kill you. Y-you have cared for me, and it would have been wrong of me to not return the same courtesy."

"You did more than a kind courtesy." Quinn told her with sincerity. They were standing so close now, nearly toe to toe. Quinn realised it was time to retreat. Quinn quickly retrieved her coin pouch and opened it to retrieve a few pieces. She then offered them to Rachel, trying to force them into the confused and surprised young Lady's hands. "Um here, take some coins and buy yourself something, something pretty, just for you. I-I'll meet you back here when you're done," she added before swiftly finishing her retreat, walking away before she could try anything idiotic with Rachel so very close and comfortable near her.

Rachel just watched her leave, more than confused by the behaviour, as Quinn walked back the way they came, disappearing through the throngs of people. She then looked down at the coins in her hand, it wasn't much but it wasn't a small amount either... it was enough to get her away from here though.

... After that short thought dismissed Rachel started browsing through the stalls and shop windows to see what she could use her money on... what she could buy, a memento of this time, to always remind her of Quinn. Of the woman who had shown her so much.

...

Later that night, they camped in a woodland area again, sheltered by trees in a small clearing off the beaten paths and trails. The ever appropriate camp fire sat between them, though Rachel wished she had sat the other side, closer and warmer to her captor.

They had just finished another session of teaching and learning the ways and tricks of a sword. Both had enjoyed the time more than they could even admit. It was playful in its mockery violence, it was closeness yet at a fake sword length, it was them behind a veil of a play of aggression.

"You learn quickly, my Lady." Quinn commented into the silence once they had sat down to eat, Rachel taking the blanket and Quinn taking the floor. It was another dry night, otherwise they would have stayed in the town and found an inn or pub to stay at.

"I have a fine teacher." Rachel commented back with a small smirk.

With Quinn's head bowed she looked to Rachel under heavy eyes, with a mischievous glint of her own. "I worry that was a compliment, my Lady."

"It may have just been that." Rachel playfully replied. It was more than a compliment though, it was the limit of what she could say without upsetting the situation.

"How are your feet? The roads we have been walking are more uneven as of late." Quinn continued to make conversation, picking at the bread they had bought earlier in the day.

"My feet are fine." Rachel assured her, and they were, the shoes Quinn had got for her and later mended for her were fine, perfectly comfortable, especially with the Italian stockings.

"We can slow our pace." Quinn suggested, trying to hide the true purpose of the suggestion.

"Well... that may help, I am tired, and of course your leg." Rachel pointed out, though that wasn't Quinn's motive either. The suggestion to slow was still selfish on Quinn's behalf though. How she longed to spend more time with the Lady. But Rachel would never understand, Quinn was an-an... invert.

"My leg is fine, but if a slower pace helps." Quinn played coy for once, "It is still summer we needn't worry about the Russian winter setting in just yet."

Rachel smiled, before it faltered... Russia, Grand Duchy of Moscow. "Of course..." she nodded, then put her bread back in its wrapping for morning, "I am tired, If I-"

"Oh, of course, looks like a rain free night. I shall lay out a blanket for you." Quinn was eagerly yet uncomfortably back on her feet to lay the blanket out for Rachel, even though she was quite capable of doing so on her own.

"The nights are still cold here." Rachel tried to hint that she longed to lay next to Quinn again, to share her body heat, to have an excuse to be so very close, and to feel truly safe.

"Yes, the nights are..." Quinn agreed as she unrolled the blanket, "I'll put it close to the fire," she said as she moved it a little closer, but not too close.

"Are you going to stay up tonight?" The brunette asked as she watched Quinn's silhouette in the fire.

She just nodded and stepped back, happy with the over basic bed she had set up for the Lady... it hit her again how she could never provide for Rachel. A thin blanket on the forest ground, that was not good enough, it was nowhere near good enough... she would be nowhere near good enough. "For a short while, to make sure no one has followed us." She finally answered.

She stepped away and turned just as Rachel stepped forward, the brunette caught her foot against Quinn's causing her to trip. Thankfully Quinn reacted fast enough to catch the brunette, Rachel's abdomen landing against Quinn's strong forearm, Quinn quickly pulled her back, away from the fire and held her close, both arms wrapped around the shorter woman.

"Apologies my Lady." The contract assassin breathed, suddenly lost, as she looked down into those big brown eyes.

"No, it's fine, I stepped and... well." Rachel swallowed thickly, her heart was beating heavier in her chest as she looked up into such mesmerising Hazel eyes that sparkled with the firelight on them. Before she could even think of pushing forward like she wanted too, Quinn's arms released from behind her back and she stepped away. Rachel found herself utterly breathless, and let down when Quinn appeared to feel nothing. She just muttered a sad "Good night Quinn" as she let the woman go back to her side of the camp, where her weapons were laid out on the ground.

She was about to settle, she turned her back to the camp and was about to sit, when Quinn called softly from behind her "My Lady?"

Her heart rate picked up again as she turned back, hopeful for something, anything. "Yes?"

"I ah... I have this for you." Quinn offered in her arms as she walked forward. Rachel just peered at the item curiously.

"A sword? A Lady doesn't carry a sword." She chuckled nervously as she inspected the item without touching. In Quinn's hands was a light sword, a rapier, the kind Rachel had got used to back at Arundell without her parent's knowledge. The sword was sheathed and attached to a thin leather belt, perfect for a trim waist.

"You've already shown you are capable," She pushed it forward, encouraging the hesitant woman to take it. She needed to make sure the balance and weight were right for Rachel, if not she could go back to the smith and have it altered. "It's only for your protection." She reminded lightly, it didn't mean she expected Rachel to fight like she did. That day in the woods she had nothing, what if it hadn't been the men hell bent on rescuing her who had been the attackers. What if it had been slavers or thugs.

Rachel tried to politely decline, afraid this was too much from Quinn. It had been crafted beautifully, like a piece of artwork rather than a weapon. Like Quinn's sword it had delicate metal detailing that would protectively curl around the hand of the wielder, the handle itself looked delicate, right for Rachel's hand, as if it had been designed for her. "Quinn-"

"It would make me feel better if you did, my Lady." Quinn told her truthfully. As much as Quinn wanted to be, she was sure she could not always be there to protect the younger woman.

With such sincerity and care in her hazel eyes Rachel couldn't refuse any longer. She had already bought herself a necklace with the coins Quinn had given her, a simple necklace, a thin chain with a simple pendant, in silver, or just silver coloured metals. Rachel couldn't be sure, but she loved it and Quinn had complimented it and it would remind her of this time, this moment. "... I accept then." She went to reach for the sword but hesitated once more. "On one condition." She haggled.

"What is it my Lady?" Quinn just asked kindly.

"These past few days... you have been more secluded than the few weeks before. If something is wrong you will tell me, won't you?" She requested.

That wasn't what Quinn had expected, and it wasn't what she had hoped to hear either. "O-of course."

"Is it your leg?" She asked quickly, as Quinn was still yet to say there was a problem. 'Please let it not be.' Her head whispered.

"No my leg is very well. It is uncomfortable sometimes but it is healing nicely." She said truthfully as she still held the sword in her hands as she watched Rachel glance between her own feet and Quinn's eyes.

"Then what is wrong? Have I done something wrong?" Rachel asked vulnerably, worried she was responsible.

"No." Quinn rushed to assure her. Though Rachel was responsible for the mixed moods Quinn found herself in lately. "No, you're..." One minute she would be distancing herself from the brunette, the next she found herself straying closer again. 'You're perfect.' She admitted only to herself, even though she really wanted to say those words aloud. So much had changed... and that was so wrong. "It's nothing, my mind is just preoccupied." She turned cold again before she could do something she would regret, and something she was sure would only end with her getting her heart broken. "We still have far to travel, we should rest." She added as she handed Rachel the sword a little more forcefully.

"Oh, yes... I see." Rachel deflated, seeing as she hadn't actually got a real answer. She just took her latest gift, and muttered again, "Good night Quinn," to the retreating blonde.

"Good night Rachel," she murmured back.

They both settled in their usual spots, Rachel lay down, she put her back to Quinn so she couldn't be seen. She just relaxed; pretending sleep had taken over her already as she toyed with her new necklace. She left the sword on the ground next to her and admired it. Her clothes, her new weapon, her jewellery, they were all things Quinn had acquired for her. She didn't think a captor was so accommodating, especially the blade that she had disappeared to buy that afternoon.

How Rachel wished they were staying in an inn, sharing a bed, or even just here sharing body heat. That's what she missed most about their long stay in Poland, and she not only missed the closeness that they had shared, she craved it.

On the opposite side of the fire Quinn sat with her back against a tree. She played with one of her throwing knives, just to give her something to do and to ensure she was armed if a certain few people did find them. She couldn't help but watch the slumbering woman opposite her, letting her ears hone in on the surrounding area to play lookout for her. As she watched she thought and wished. Not for the first time she wished life had been so different, but for the first time she found herself just wishing for a different outcome, an outcome where she was worthy of so much. She was a heartless killer, a street dweller too, she had no place to call home, no permanent roof.

She regretted it, she regretted taking Rachel from her home. Screw the money involved. If she hadn't taken the contract she wouldn't now be staring at the back of the woman she had somehow fallen in love with. And a woman she could never truly have.

Thanks for reading.

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