Molly smiled as she watched the flare rise up and explode above the ship. Looking out into the distance, she could see the naval ships that had been hiding nearby starting to make their way towards the Sirius. When she'd heard the fighting start in the dining room, she'd taken the other way out of the kitchen and snuck up to the office on the upper deck. It was doubtful, unfortunately, that she'd made it there without being seen. Especially now that she'd managed to shoot the flare. She quickly gathered up the flare gun and went back into the office, locking the door behind her.

She'd managed to grab her own pistol from her and Nathan's room before getting to the office, patting the bulging pistol that was tucked away under her shirt. As much as she wanted to go out and fight, Morgan and Russell's word echoed in her mind, so she hid out of view of the windows. She reserved to use her pistol only if she needed to, for self defense. The guys couldn't get mad at her if she'd fought out of self defense.

She sat quietly for several minutes, listening to the sounds of swords clashing with one another, men shouting profanities at one another, pistols firing. Curiosity eventually won out and she inched over towards the window, sneaking a peek. She could see Morgan and Thomas fighting off some of James's crew. She knew James was amongst the crowd somewhere, but she couldn't place him in the vast crowd that now invaded the ship. His crew had certainly grown from what Nathan had told her. They easily outnumbered the Sirius pirates, and even the naval officers, who were now boarding the Sirius to help fight. She could see Russell a little further down deck fighting off a hoard of men that were surrounding him. And although she couldn't see him in the crowd, the distinct sound of a pistol going off indicated to her that Eduardo was down somewhere near Morgan. She grew slightly worried when she didn't see Nathan anywhere in the crowd, and she inched further up, as to see further on deck.

Behind her, the door knob she'd locked began to jiggle. She jumped in surprise, and tried to quickly think of a place for her to hide. She glanced over at the large chest that sat in the corner of the room, and raised an eyebrow. They'd gotten the chest on a treasure hunt a little more than a year ago. It was quite large, had taken all of the guys to be able to lift it up and bring it up here. It was large enough, she noted, for her to easily hide in and still be able to peer out without being detected. She'd barely gotten inside the chest and closed the lid down over her when a loud crashing noise came, she peered out of the opening in the front. The door splintered effectively into two, and she remained quiet as the three men walked in, brushing off some of the wood splinters off their shirts. Molly quickly grabbed her pistol from the crevice she'd shoved it down, and cocked it. She was afraid that the noise would've alerted the men standing mere feet from her, but they'd started speaking to one another as she'd cocked her gun. She listened as the men stepped further into the office.

One of the larger men rubbed his head. "Did you check downstairs?"

"Yes, of course I checked downstairs. They're not there." One replied. Who were they looking for?

"Well, James wants both of them together, so we better keep looking."

One shrugged. "Why again? Wouldn't it just be easier to kill them all and claim the Sirius as his own. James hates Morgan too you know."

"Not as much as he hates Nathan."

"That's true I guess. But why does he want us to capture both him and his little wife?"

The grin that spread across one of the guy's faces made her feel sick to her stomach. "To make Nathan watch, as James does whatever it is he wants to do to her. Then after he thinks Nathan's suffered enough, he'll kill him, and the rest of the Sirius crew. Then he'll take the Sirius."

"Love how sick that bastard is. Go check over there, we don't have all day." The one that had been silent most of the conversation barked. Molly felt a surge of rage come over her, after hearing what they were going to try to do to the Sirius. She pushed the end of the gun through the small opening and aimed her pistol at the larger man carefully. They didn't appear to have pistols on them, only swords, so if she wanted to help defend the Sirius and her friends, she knew what she had to do. The larger man slowly made his way towards where the chest was, and when he got within range, Molly pulled the trigger.

Down on deck, Nathan had managed to fight his way on deck, where the hoard of James's crew fought against the rest of the Sirius crew, as well as the naval officers that had come to help them. He wasn't sure where James had gotten the extra set of hands, that now easily outnumbered both the Sirius crew and the navy, but he was almost positive that he didn't want to know either. He looked up briefly at the office window, where he was almost positive Molly was now hiding. He didn't know how she'd managed to get up to the office, but he didn't care. He was grateful that she had, because without the navy's help, he wasn't sure that they wouldn't have been completely taken over by James's crew. She'd likely have locked herself in the office, out of harm's way, so Nathan breathed a sigh of relief as he knocked over his newest opponent.

Nathan scanned over and saw Leonardo, one of the naval officers Morgan had convinced to help them out, struggling to fight off two pirates that were attacking him. Nathan ran over and rammed one of Leonardo's attackers, sending him flying over the edge of the ship. He then spun around and kicked the other attacker over, sending him in the same direction he'd sent his other friend. Leonardo straightened himself and clasped hands with Nathan.

"Thanks."

"Don't mention it."

"These guys are determined. I'll give them that." Leonardo laughed.

"Yeah. How are we going to possibly win out against all of these guys?"

Leonardo pulled out his pistol and shot across the deck at the man Russell struggled against. "We wait. Earlier, when I saw another ship approaching yours, I noticed the exceeding amount of crew they had, and sent out for another couple of naval ships. They should arrive here within the next hour or so. We just need to maintain until they arrive."

"Easier said than done." Nathan said, using his sickle against another pirate. A shot fired out in the distance, and Nathan looked up in the direction of the shot. The window of the office exploded into a million pieces, and Nathan knew that the shot had come from inside. He kicked out and sent his opponent flying into Russell's waiting sword. Nathan nodded at Russell and made his way through the crowd towards the stairs.

"Where are you going?" Leonardo shouted at him.

"I've got some other business to attend to upstairs." Nathan shouted over his shoulder.

Up in the office, Molly stepped out of the chest she'd been hiding herself in. She looked down at the motionless bodies lying on the floor in front of her. She'd shot all three of the men that had been occupying the office, plus the other six men that had heard the shots and had come storming in. Unable to see her from her hiding spot, they hadn't stood a chance. Unfortunately for her; however, her pistol was now out of bullets, and the only other bullets on deck were down in the weapons supply room downstairs. She cursed under her breath and tossed her empty pistol up onto the desk.

Seeing the gleaming sword tucked into the belt of the larger man that she'd shot, she raised an eyebrow. Stepping over the motionless men on the floor, she grabbed the sword and started tugging it out of its holder. She heard as footsteps neared the splintered door, and she struggled even harder against the sword, fighting to break it free from its holder. The sound of a pistol being cocked stopped her dead in her tracks. Slowly, she turned her head back to see James standing behind her, pistol aimed at her head. The smile he had on his face made the color drain out of her face as he waved the gun at her, motioning her to stand and to drop the sword. He snatched the sword from her hand as she stood, and tossed it to the other side of the room.

He backed her up until she felt the desk in the back of the room hit her in the behind. She grabbed the edges of it as James came uncomfortably close to her. He grabbed her throat with his free hand and squeezed, causing her to gasp for air. She grabbed his wrist with one of her hands, choking on the few breaths of air she managed to get.

"I've got you now." James whispered in her ear.