My Serenity
WARNING: Rated M for some violence, language, and sexual situations. This fic contains femmeslash and explicit sexual situations between two female characters. Do not continue if this is not to your liking.
A/N: I know you guys have been waiting a long time for this update. I want you to know that I haven't given up on this story. I've just been really sick—like chronically ill. I can't promise timely updates, but please know that this story is far from over.
Xxx
Chapter 41 – Shipwrecked Part 2
"Call the Sheriff!" Mrs. Hanson said. "These frauds beat up your brother! Junior, get the rest of the boys. Track down the lot of these so-called 'Renards!'"
"Don't you touch her!" Jane shouted as one of them reached for Maura's arm. Jane was pulled away from her, kicking and screaming. "Don't you fucking touch her! Maura! No!"
"Jane!" Maura screamed as John and his eldest brother Henry grabbed her by the shoulders. "No! Don't hurt her! Please!"
"Shut up, you damn whore!" John spat at Maura, ripping her away from Jane as she reached for her.
"Don't you hurt her!" Jane seethed, desperately trying to break free of two Hanson brothers' muscular grips.
"Please," Maura tried to reason with the matron, her voice high from fear, "she was only trying to protect me. Please! Just let her go!"
"Protect you?!" John yelled indignantly, "The bitch tried to choke me!"
"Jane!" Maura fought against her captors, tugging this way and that. The two burly men struggled to keep her in place, stumbling backwards.
"Get your hands off her!" Jane screamed at them, furious tears starting to brim in her eyes. "I'll kill you!"
"See!" John said, looking at his grandmother expectantly.
Quite suddenly, Maura thrust her shoulders up and backward into her captors. With surprised shouts, both fumbled backward into the huge workhorse behind them. The barn erupted in frantic neighs and painful shouts.
The events that followed happened in such swift succession that neither Jane nor Maura would quite remember all that happened. When Maura rather purposefully forced her two captors into the already unsettled workhorse behind them, the two released their grip to her shoulders to prevent falling beneath the panicked horse's hooves. Maura immediately lunged forward, and, given her smaller frame, she was able to duck away from two more attackers as they attempted to capture her. One went flying past her as Maura ran right past Jane.
"Maura!" Jane hollered, still trying to fight against her own captors.
The honey blond ran towards the sandy colored horse on the other side of the barn. She was almost trampled as the frightened horse jumped up, crying loudly. Maura was barely able to grab the pistol from the holster on the saddle before two strong hands yanked her backwards by one shoulder. With the other arm, however, she was able to thrust the gun backwards as she spun, the butt of the pistol slamming directly into her attacker's temple.
Mrs. Hanson cried as her grandson grunted and fell to the floor.
A fraction of a second later, Maura had the pistol pointed directly at Mrs. Hanson's eldest son. He gripped Jane's shoulder, his jaw dropping in shock. She cocked the pistol and pointed the gun at him fiercely, willing her voice to remain steady despite her heart throbbing in her ears, "Let her go! Now!"
Thomas Hanson raised his hands immediately. Jane stumbled forward.
"What are you doing?!" the matron Hanson screamed. "You can't just let them go. They could have killed Johnny!"
Thomas looked between his mother and the pistol in Maura's hand. Jane blinked in surprise, looking between Maura and her two captors struggling to their feet on the other side of the barn.
"Are you kidding me?" Thomas grunted. He nodded his head in Jane's direction, "If she's even half as good a shot as this one, she'll shoot you and me both before ya can even blink!"
Mrs. Hanson frowned between the two women, "Who are you folks?!"
Stepping close to Maura, her hand going to her shoulder protectively, Jane held her other hand out pleadingly, "Like I said, we don't want any trouble. We'll leave. Just let us get our things and—"
Suddenly, the sound of shouting came from outside.
"Fuck." Jane cursed, looking panicked.
"Quick!" Maura said, tugging Jane by the arm.
As if it were nothing of consequence, Maura jumped into the saddle of the golden horse. She held her hand out, looking down at Jane expectantly.
"Hey!" Thomas and John shouted to the chorus of yelling outside. "In here!"
Gulping and clenching her jaw, Jane took Maura's hand reluctantly. She grunted as she landed in the saddle. Before Jane could even settle behind Maura's back, she nearly tumbled off as the horse leapt forward. Jane grasped Maura's waist tightly, ducking as they sped out the barn and towards the hills at full gallop.
"Maura, what are—?" Jane started, holding on to the blond for dear life.
Gunfire erupted behind them. Bullets whizzed over their heads, one lodging in a tree within arm's reach.
"You just had to go and start a fight." Maura grumbled angrily. "Here! Take your gun."
"Start a fight?" Jane yelled, grabbing the pistol and looking back at their pursuers. She tried to aim the gun backwards, but she was reluctant to ease her grip of Maura's torso. She was so precariously seated to begin with. She pointed vaguely in the posse's direction and fired a few shots before adding, "He's the one who called you a whore!"
Maura shook her head and grumbled something, but Jane couldn't hear. All sound was drowned out by the beating of hooves and the ring of gunfire. Jane gripped Maura tightly and prayed she wouldn't fall off before they got where they were going.
It was nearly an hour later before they lost their pursuers. It had taken a dangerously slow canter through a major thoroughfare to cover their tracts. Luckily, many of the locals were in for dinner, and the two women had managed to escape the posse by circumventing the hill and turning back towards the Hanson estate on the edge of town. Jane had been about to ask Maura where the hell she thought she was going when she took a hard right and followed the forest trail west out of town. The sun was low in the sky by the time they were able to stop to rest.
"Oh, thank god!" Jane groaned as she slipped to the ground. Her knees wobbled and her thighs were horribly sore. She never liked riding horseback—she especially didn't like it without pants.
Maura was quiet. She tied the horse to a nearby tree, saying nothing.
"Now what the hell are we going to do?" Jane sighed, dusting off the front of her dress.
The honey blond didn't respond.
"Maura?" Jane said, concerned. She reached for Maura's shoulder.
"Don't!" Maura yelled, pushing her hand away.
"What's wrong?" the brunette blinked.
"What's wrong?!" Maura shouted back, turning on her. "Your ego almost got us killed!"
"My ego?!" Jane yelled back.
"Yes!" Maura snapped at her, "And your reckless behavior! We were so close to getting out of here. Now we're out here in the woods in the dark! We have no idea what happened to the others!"
"What am I supposed to do? Keep watching those brutes back there treat my girlfriend like a piece of trash?!" Jane hollered.
"They never touched me." Maura countered firmly, turning away from her.
"Only because they thought you were somebody else's property!"
"You know that's not what a Companion is!"
"Yeah, but they don't! To them you're Tommy's property. And they'd take you the moment they got a chance!"
"You don't know that …" Maura said, her voice quiet, but her tone still angry.
"Why do you think I asked you not to go around alone?" Jane sighed. "Tommy and I have been fighting off 'offers' since we got here."
"I'm not defenseless!" Maura retorted indignantly. "You don't have to protect my 'honor' like it's something priceless.
"Maur," Jane sighed, reaching for her, "no one should talk about you that way—talk to you that way."
The honey blond pulled away again. She didn't look at Jane, but Jane knew better than to push her luck. Instead Jane sighed, stepping back. "Look," Jane said, her voice soft, her tone sincere, "I know you don't need me to protect your honor or whatever… but it's been hard for me to see the way they look at you—hear the way they talk about you—and not feel …"
"Jealous?" Maura offered, still not looking at her.
"No," Jane sighed, "heartbroken."
"What?" Maura turned, frowning at her.
Jane reached for her hand, which Maura finally let her take. She looked into those bright hazel eyes as the shadows spread over her face and the sun set on the horizon behind her. Maura's messed hair looked even more red than usual in the fading sunlight. Jane sighed, smiling sadly at her.
"On top of having to spend the last nineteen days pretending I'm not madly in love with my girlfriend, I've had to bite my tongue and watch everyone in this town look at you like some short of spectacle. Like you're some sort of prize to be won or bought."
Gently, Jane pulled Maura closer, "I'm sorry I was so reckless. I shouldn't have lost my temper—but it wasn't about your honor or some need to protect you."
When Maura frowned at her doubtfully, Jane continued resolutely. "Maura, it's about that feeling you've talked about. That thought in the back of your head that maybe there was a reason you've always felt so different. That your parents sent you off to boarding school. That your connection to Paddy Doyle somehow says something about your character—"
Maura shook her head, "I never said—"
"Not in so many words, no," Jane said, tugging Maura's other hand into hers, "but just because your biological father is a gangster and a killer, doesn't mean you're a bad person, Maura. That you don't deserve better."
Maura took a deep breath, sighing as she let Jane pull her into a hug. No, she had never said aloud that her biological connection to a man like Patrick Doyle worried her, but Jane seemed to have noticed her anxiety anyway.
Originally, Maura blamed the feeling on her childhood. She had spent most of it alone. She described it to Jane as "benign neglect," but the more they learned about Paddy Doyle, the more she wondered about the reasons why she had spent so little time with her parents growing up. Most especially, she wondered why so many of her early memories didn't seem to add up.
But Maura did not respond to Jane's assertion. The truth was, she didn't want talk about the things that were bothering her—No, she thought, we need to focus on getting out of this mess. So, instead of saying anything, she wrapped her arms around Jane's strong frame and pulled her closer.
"Just please don't be angry with me, Maur," Jane whispered, kissing her hair. "I can't stand it when you're mad with me."
"I'm not … " Maura shivered, "… but we should really figure out what we're going to do."
Reluctantly, Jane let Maura go. "I should make a fire," she said, rubbing Maura's shoulders. "It's going to get pretty cold."
"I should bring Aureum down to the river." Maura said, untying the horse's reins from the tree.
"Aureum?" Jane chuckled, "I thought his name was Bill."
Maura smiled, patting the horse's neck gently. "He's far too beautiful to have such a common name, so I call him Aureum. It means 'golden.'"
Jane laughed, "Let me guess, Latin?"
The honey blond smiled softly.
"You are such a nerd," Jane chuckled, shaking her head, "Well, go take Goldie and get us some water … Just don't go too far, okay?"
The brunette finally got a fire going by the time Maura returned about twenty minutes later. It had not been an easy task to do in the dark, but the quickly dropping temperature and the bitter wind sweeping through the trees was a strong motivator. She built the fire as big as she could dare and was huddled near the blaze when Maura returned.
Instinctively, Jane raised her pistol at the sound of someone approaching. "Maura?!"
"Yes," Maura said softly, the fiery glow spreading onto her face, "the river isn't too far. I was able to fill a couple canteens."
"You had canteens?" Jane frowned, gesturing for Maura to join her by the fireside.
"And a blanket," Maura smiled, taking it from one of the saddle bags.
"Why?" Jane chuckled, pulling Maura close and wrapping the blanket around them.
"Well," Maura smirked, "I had hoped we could have a picnic, but then you showed up early. And we… got distracted …"
"Is that what you were doing?" Jane laughed, wrapping her arms around Maura's back and swaying slightly as she looked down at Maura's beautiful smile. For a moment Jane forgot about everything that had happened that evening. All she could think about was how she finally had Maura close to her.
"I had hoped we could spend some time alone, yes." Maura nodded, looking up into dark, coffee-colored eyes. That smile still made her heart race.
Jane sighed, placing her forehead onto Maura's, "I've missed you so much."
Maura closed her eyes, sighing through her nose. "I've missed you too."
They stood there quietly for a long time, neither wanting to pull away. Finally, Jane kissed Maura's forehead, then whispered, "We should get some rest. We'll have to figure out how to get to the others in the morning."
The brunette sat down next to the fire, tugging Maura's hand to join her. The ground was cold, but Jane had spread the saddle blanket for them to sit on. It might smell bad, but it was better than the dampened earth. Maura joined her, wrapping the small picnic blanket around them. Instinctively, Jane pulled Maura to her front, wrapping her arms around her and curling against her back.
"Jane, you'll be too cold," Maura complained as Jane tried to tuck the blanket tighter around her. "We can't afford either of us getting hypothermia."
"Nonsense," Jane laughed, tucking her nose into Maura's neck. "I've got this hot thing here to keep me warm."
"Jane!" Maura yelped as the brunette squeezed her ass. She hit her hand away. "I'm being serious."
"Sorry, babe," Jane whispered, kissing Maura's neck apologetically. "I've just missed you."
Suddenly, Maura sat up excitedly, "That's it!"
"What?"
"Take off your clothes." Maura said, undoing her dress.
"Woah," Jane smirked, "Someone's a bit excited."
"No," Maura shook her head as if it were obvious. "We need to share our body heat."
So, there Jane was, naked except for her underwear, pressed chest-to-chest with her girlfriend, huddled under a single blanket and two dirty dresses. If it hadn't been for the bitterly cold wind at her back, she wouldn't have been able to resist the feel of Maura's deliciously soft skin and the smell of her soft, golden hair. And though the taste of Maura's lips on hers was oh so sweet, all she managed to do was pull her closer as she shivered.
"I've missed being this close to you…" Maura whispered. "Listening to you breathe as you fall asleep."
"Wow," Jane laughed, "Creepy."
"Jane." Maura complained.
Jane smiled, tucking the hair behind Maura's ear, "I've missed you too."
Maura tugged Jane closer, pressing a soft kiss to her lips. She then pressed her forehead against Jane's with a sorrowful sigh. After a moment's hesitation, she whispered, "You were right…"
"Maura," Jane chuckled, "I was only joking about it being creepy."
"No," Maura shook her head, "not about that. About my anxiety around Doyle."
Jane was quiet, not sure what to say.
"I just—" Maura tried. She didn't look Jane in the eyes. She held Jane's shoulders as if for strength. Finally, she took a breath and admitted, "I worry that I have more in common with him than I'd like—"
"Maura," Jane said firmly, "you are nothing like him."
"There's something to be said about biology—" Maura started.
Jane interrupted her, grasping her shoulders firmly, forcing her to look her in the eyes. "You are nothing like him. You are brilliant, beautiful, and so kind—sometimes sickeningly so."
Maura smiled briefly, but then she said, her voice even softer, heartbroken, "There're things about me that you don't know Jane… things I don't understand myself… about my past."
"So, we'll figure them out."
"What if—" she faltered even as Jane tugged her closer, "what if I'm not the person you think I am?"
Jane held her close for a long while. Just as Maura started to worry that Jane was starting to have doubts, Jane pulled her chin up so she was forced to look into her eyes.
"Well, then I guess I get to fall in love with you all over ag—"
A loud crack made them both flinch. In a flash, Jane dived for her pistol.
"Who's out there?!" Jane demanded as she pointed her gun into the darkness. She cocked the pistol, "You better speak up before I blast your fucking head off!"
[To be continued]
