A/N: Response to gealuv's drabble prompt 'Once.'
Chapter Twelve: Once
It happens when she least expects it.
Her treacherous legs have absently guided her below deck into the innermost bowels of the vessel, a darkly lit area where a wall of crisscrossed boards form holes that smoky bottles are carefully placed into. Hanging the oil lantern she caries with her onto a nearby hook that is brown and sharp with rust, she settles herself down onto a unsturdy barrel that bends slightly under her weight, her murky brown eyes falling captive to the heaviness of her eyelids.
She sits like this in silence for what feels long enough, her mind trying desperately to erase any feelings of treachery or guilt, emotions she obstinately tries to convince herself that she has no reason to endure. It is the sound of the soles of boots hitting the wooden floor of the cellar much later that startles her eyes open and causes her to stand, one hand instinctively flying to her waist.
The hand falls from her scabbard. It is him.
The scant light that the lantern provides dances across the sharp features of his face, casting dark shadows under every curvature making him resemble that of a dangerous predator more than usual. His irises are darker then the heaviest clouds of the worse of storms, a spiraling frenzied hurricane of unreadable musings and emotions. The two stand completely rigid and tense for a time span that seems to stretch on forever.
A silent conversation electrifies the air between them and then she is backing up, unafraid but knowing and he is stalking towards her, each step made with deliberate slowness. It is only when she stumbles back against a beam that he closes the distance between them quickly, his mouth coming down on hers hard and rough.
Her hands have reached up to grab his shoulders, but either in an act to stop him or pull herself towards him, she is not positive of. His tongue pries her lips apart quickly and he is plundering her mouth roughly, stealing her breath and knocking her off her feet. His lips convey a message she is unsure if he realizes, but she feels it – the feeling being betrayed, the anger, the pain, the admiration. It's all there in the way his lips demand the power of hers, the feeling of how his tongue moves with hers and the way his hands hold her face as if it were the most delicate piece of glass in the entire universe that he both wants to throw to the floor and hold and cherish forever.
When he pulls away, his breathing is uneven and ragged. They remain there for a moment, their chests heaving, their eyes closed and foreheads together, their hands stilling clutching the other tightly in a battle to rein in their control. He soon utters a few words to her and then pulls away, leaving the stiff air to fill the void between them again.
Just this once.