Arthur stood in the hallway shocked for a few minutes. Her last words ringing in his mind, he couldn't get the memory of hitting her out of his mind.

She said him. Who's him? Why won't she tell me anything? Oh yeah… I'm an idiot that can't control his temper for five seconds. Well, I've really botched this one up.

He slowly walked down the hallway to the door of his bedroom. He stood there a few minutes unsure of what he should do next. He heard a quiet sob from the other side and sighed a bit. It was hopeless. She'd never trust him enough to tell him the real story.

He slowly reached out to knock but just let his hand slide down the door to the handle. He stared at it for a moment before twisting it. Surprisingly, it clicked as the knob turned and the door swung inward. He looked at Catherine who was sitting on the edge of the bed with her face turned away from him. He quietly walked in and stopped waiting for her to react.

"It's rude to walk in without knocking." She said quietly.

"I know." He replied.

Silence fell over the two. Catherine stared at the ground waiting for him to leave. Arthur watched her waiting for her to look at him. Her long blonde hair hid her face from him.

Finally he walked over and sat down beside her. She scooted away a bit. He grabbed her arm making her look over at him.

"Do you honestly think I want to hurt you in any way?" he asked. He let go of her arm.

She shook her head and looked away again.

"Then why are you so afraid of me?"

"I'm not afraid of you." She whispered.

"Yes you are!" he shouted. "Don't try to deny it!"

She flinched a bit. "Don't yell, please."

"Why not? You yell at me all the time!" His temper flared up again and grabbed her arms and turned her around to face him. He saw fear flash in her eyes.

"Arthur let me go!" she shouted.

"Why should I? Why should I!?" he tightened his hold on her considerably and glared.

She shrank back a bit and started crying. "Please don't hurt me again. I'll do anything…"

Arthur's anger suddenly dissolved when he saw this. He let go of her and stood up. "I…"

"Please…" she begged quietly looking up at him with fear. "Do whatever you want, just don't hurt me anymore."

"I'm not going to hurt you." He said.

"Then what are you going to do?" she asked.

"Nothing. I… Catherine, I don't want to hurt you ever. I just lose my temper sometimes."

"That's what you always say." She shook her head looking away. "No, that's what he always said. It's not you, it's him. I'm sorry. You didn't do anything."

"Why are you apologizing? I'm the one who should be sorry here. Catherine, look at me." Arthur stared down at the girl hoping for some sort of positive reaction. She just shook her head. He could see her body still trembling from fear. She looked utterly pathetic.

I did this to her? What's wrong with me? I love this girl and look what I've done. I used to think she was so strong. All alone in the world, standing on her own. Now, she's just a trembling little girl that needs help. I wish I knew how to.

"Catherine." He tried again. There was still no response. He took a deep breath before turning around to leave. He didn't want to lose his temper again. Never again… Just as he was leaving, he heard a muffled sob. In the doorway he turned around and saw Catherine with her face on her palms trying to stop the crying.

He stood there watching this for a minute. "Don't cry." He whispered. "I'm sorry."

"It's not you…" she managed to choke out between sobs. "Not your fault… I'm sorry…"

Her apology brought his anger up to a boil. "Stop apologizing!"

She flinched and looked over at him.

He gritted his teeth for a minute letting his temper calm a bit before saying quietly, "You don't need to apologize for anything, so you should just stop."

She stared at him with confused blue eyes. "But you're angry…"

"No I'm not." He smiled a bit.

"Yes, you are. Or you were…" Catherine shook her head a bit. "I must have done something."

"No of course not, love."

"People don't get mad for no reason."

"People aren't afraid of someone else for no reason either."

"I'm not-"

Arthur stepped forward and cut her off. "Yes you are. I just want to know what I did or what I said that made you so jumpy around me. I don't want to hurt you. And I want you to trust me. So tell me."

"But, you won't love me anymore…" she whispered quietly looking away again.

This answer surprised Arthur. That had been the last thing he'd been expecting her to say. Walking around the bed he kneeled down on his knees in front of her. He waited until she willingly made eye contact with him.

"Nothing, and I mean literally nothing could ever make me love you any less than I do. Don't ever forget that okay." He grabbed her hand and held it tightly staring up into her eyes intently.

"But, he always told me that I could never be loved again."

"I don't know who 'he' is but he's not important anymore."

"You don't understand…"

"Then enlighten me."

She shook her head. "I can't."

"Why?"

"It's too hard."

"Do you trust me?"

"I… I don't know."

Arthur sighed. "Well there's the problem." He stood up letting go of her hand. "We'll work it out." He smiled down at her, trying to look reassuring.

Catherine stood up and hugged him tightly. He hugged her back a little surprised at the sudden show of affection.

"Can I just have awhile to think things through?" she asked quietly looking up at him.

Arthur stared down at her for a second. "Take all the time you need…"

She pulled away from him and walked to the door. Arthur followed her not exactly sure what she had meant. She stopped and let him step out of the door ahead of her. He turned expecting her to follow only to have the wooden door slammed in his face.

"Oh. That's what she meant…" he muttered.

He stared at the door for a few more seconds before slowly trudging up to the deck. The afternoon sun was high in the sky. It was warm. Hot even. The captain walked to the helm and stared out at the daunting ocean all around him. Even with his many years of sailing experience, he didn't know all there was to know about the seas.

Just like he still didn't know everything about Catherine. Would he ever? It was doubtful. She was so untrusting. Arthur didn't know how to change that.

I have to control my temper. If I keep yelling at her for nothing then she'll never trust me. How can I help her though? I'm so confused. This is all so new to me. But I still need to know what's wrong with her. Now that I know my crew member's theory I'm terrified what else may have happened to her.

Catherine slammed the door closed and walked over to the bed. She wasn't tired but she laid down anyway. She thought about the time but then realized she didn't care. She tried to wipe her eyes with one hand but soon gave up and just let the tears flow freely down her cheeks.

What am I doing? Arthur just wants to help but I just can't tell him anything. He says he'll love me no matter what, but I honestly don't believe that. He always told me that if anyone found out they'd hate me. I can't let Arthur find out. He was right. No one can know what he did to me…

Eventually the tears stopped and she felt herself starting to drift toward unconsciousness. She closed her eyes and let the blackness of sleep envelope her. Her hopes of a dreamless sleep were shattered however, when the face that haunted her popped into her mind.

His voice echoed around her mind, "You're worthless! Nobody will ever love you. You're lucky I'll even touch you, you filthy little street rat."

Her brain tried to deny it. "No, Arthur loves me."

"No one will love you when they find out what you've done." The voice said.

"You mean what you did to me?"

"What you brought upon yourself!"

Her dream quickly took a turn for the worse as it changed into a memory. Soon she awoke drenched in a cold sweat and physically shaking from the fear. She could almost hear his voice still ringing through the room.

"You're mine."

She shakily stood up and ran from the room and up to the deck. The sun had set and the deck was clear of any people. The darkness seemed to almost wrap itself around her and suffocate her. Catherine turned back around and walked below deck. She stopped at the office door and looked inside.

Arthur was asleep on the couch his blonde locks falling in front of his eyes. The blonde girl stood in the doorway and looked at him for a few seconds before slowly walking inside. She sat down on the other side of the room and pulled her knees up to her chest. She didn't want to go back into the room alone. She yawned lightly and rested her head on her knees. She drifted off again, her dreams less fitful than before.


Please Read and Review. It makes me so happy to know what my wonderful readers think. Just tell me what you think or just if you enjoyed the story. Anyway, the next chapter's in the works but probably won't get posted until next week.