1776

So Stephen Bonnet really had been having the same nightmare for years. I remembered Brianna telling us about it after her surprise confession that she couldn't allow Bonnet to drown as he was sentenced. Jamie and Roger had been completely dumbfounded. I had merely arched an eyebrow at such a notion; I knew, even if the men had thought she meant otherwise, she didn't mean to set him free again.

Vanessa was eating the stew I had made in silence. The storm had passed, and it was now fully dark. Ian and Rollo had gone hunting and brought back a rabbit for the stew we now ate. Rollo had stayed away from Vanessa since the darkness came, watching her with cautious eyes. I kept looking at Ian to see if maybe he saw the ghost again, but if he did he didn't make it obvious. Jamie seemed restless off to my side, more than likely aware that the ghost may reappear tonight.

Jamie and Ian had flushed profusely as Vanessa stared at her feet and recounted the night of her marriage to Bonnet. He had slapped Brianna around until she submitted, yet he took caution not to hurt Vanessa. It was so unbelievable, but at the same time it pained me to realize he had had a heart… once. I felt for the man, even though I hated him. More than that though, I felt for Vanessa . Her heart was truly broken, and yet she had despised him before marrying him. Like myself, she found herself forced into a marriage she didn't want, but she realized there was little to be done about it other than make the best of it.

Vanessa helped me clean up after our dinner and Jamie and Ian went around our little camp to make sure we were safe, and there was nothing or nobody stalking around waiting to take a bite out of us unaware. The song Vanessa had sang to comfort Bonnet, I didn't know myself. Perhaps it was from a later time, but I still couldn't help but think of Roger and his love of music. And how following Brianna through the stones resulted in his inability to sing ever again. Maybe modern day surgery could help him, but I wasn't sure if he would go into all of that or not. Not to mention how he would explain how he came to be nearly hanged. That would have been an interesting fib, if anything.

Jamie and I had a pallet in the copse of two trees. Ian took one about ten feet away. Vanessa's was close to Ian's, but a good seven or eight feet lay empty between them. Apparently Ian wanted to stay close to keep an eye on her, but after the events of the night before, was not going to go too close.

I was just dozing off myself when Rollo gave a low whine. I felt Jamie stiffen behind me and I opened my eyes. Across the little camp we made, it was there beside her sleeping form. A whitish blur it seemed at first, to my half asleep eyes. Then as my eyes adjusted I made out that wide frame and build, the fair colored hair, and crooked nose. Stephen Bonnet stood over Vanessa with a look of deep despair dominating his appearance.

The wind picked up suddenly, but his hair and shirt never moved with it. Vanessa stirred, grouping in her sleep for her blanket which she had kicked to her feet as she tossed and turned in her sleep. Bonnet's ghost kneeled down beside her and made to grasp the blanket to help, but his hand went through it.

"Unbelievable." Jamie whispered behind me.

Bonnet's ghost heard him and his head shot up. Green penetrating eyes burned into mine a moment before lifting to see Jamie. The corner of the ghost's mouth twitched. The irony of the situation seemed to dawn on me in that moment. Jamie had been kind enough, if not a fool, to help Bonnet at one time. Now he was helping Bonnet's wife.

It was then that I saw Vanessa's eyes open and look straight at me. Seeing my look of shock, and then seeing Jamie's gaze focused behind her she turned. Her body jerked in surprise. Bonnet's ghost looked down at her, appearing paler that before.

"Stephen?" Vanessa managed to say in a voice that was still hoarse with sleep. She raised one hand, hesitatingly out to touch him. As her hand reached his cheek, he vanished. She sat there with her hand in the air for several minutes, not moving. And then as realization finally hit her, she began to cry.

I started to move to get up, but Jamie put his hand on my shoulder to keep me from going to her. I was just about to ask him why he didn't want me to comfort her when I saw Ian cautiously approaching her.

She had curled herself into a tiny ball, shaking vigorously as she sobbed. Ian hunched down and put a hand on her shoulder. Vanessa paused, and looked up at his face. Within a blink of an eye she had flung herself into his arms, and he wrapped his own around her making comforting comments to her and holding her tightly against him. I turned my back on them to snuggle against Jamie.

"Uh.." Jamie whispered suddenly. "Perhaps we should take a walk, Sassenach."

"What?" I said turning from him to look back in time to see Ian and Vanessa engaged in a rather passionate looking kiss. "Oh…um…yes. A walk would be quite nice actually."

They didn't even hear us get up and walk away.

It wasn't until later, while holding her sleeping form up against him under her blankets, that he remembered the ghost. He really hoped it didn't come back and find the two of them like this. Ian had never angered a ghost before, that he knew off, and didn't want to start with one that was a devious devil of a pirate.

He didn't even know how it had happen. He was merely comforting the wee lass, who had lost herself with grieve after seeing the ghost for herself. Apparently that feeling of complete loss lead to other feelings of loneliness and before he had time to think properly, she had kissed him. He had kissed her back eagerly, his body took over thinking from his brain. At least she had stopped crying.

She hadn't let him take any control in the situation either, and was atop him in no time at all. Not that he really minded, but he was accustomed to being the one on top. She had ridden him like the devil would take her should she stop , and took her own pleasure from him with ease. When she had shuddered upon him he flipped her over and took his own. She had fallen to sleep almost instantly afterward, saying no more than a barely audible "Thank you."

Out of the corner of his eye he saw Uncle Jamie and Auntie Claire sneak back to their pallet. Heat rose in his cheeks as he realized what he had just done in front of them, and hoped they had walked off before anything too intimate had occurred.

In all honestly, however, Ian was glad that he could give the lass something to ease her mind with. Even if only for a little while.

The following morning no one mentioned what had occurred the night before. Vanessa had awakened to find herself alone in her pallet, Ian and Jamie no where to be seen. Claire glanced up at her from the coffee she was brewing when she noticed the movement of her trying to put her shift on while under the blanket. She hadn't said a word, just arched a brow and continued with what she was doing.

The men came back and helped get everything ready to go again. Getting back on the saddle with Ian caused Vanessa's cheeks to flame; my God what had she been thinking!

After about a quarter of an hour's silence in traveling, Jamie broke the silence. "Well, then. Ye were saying that Bonnet had a wee nightmare on the night of the marriage? Are ye going to tell us what happened next?"

"Oh, that." Vanessa said, bushing a strand of hair out of her eye. "Well, things didn't exactly go as they would have seemed from there."

"You mean things got complicated?" Claire asked.

"I don't think complicated is strong enough a word."

A/N: Ever find the characters completely take you over as you write? This chapter was meant to be just the first and last parts above, the thing with Ianin the middle never even crossed my mind until I was halfway doen writing it. So that part wrote itself, it was kinda cool actually how that happened. If you haven' left any feedback, please do. It might be some time before the next update, I have alot of things due for my classes I have abandoned for Stephen Bonnet. Soooo reluctantly I must do them.