Ahhh... another chapter done. This story has definitely changed from what my first ideas were but I think evolving is good for a story.

If there's anything you would like me to put in the story, please tell me so. I always respect the wishes of my loyal reviewers.

Which reminds me, I love all of you so MUCH!! I probably would've completely given up this story after the first chapter if it wasn't for you guys! I know there aren't that my HH fans out there and especially the numbers have diminished because of all the HA slash that's on this site. Oh well. I have nothing against that, but I thought Horatio should be straight in at least one story.

Anyway, I don't own Horatio Hornblower. CS Forrester does. Although I wouldn't mind getting my hands on Ioan.

HEEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHE

His eyes felt so...heavy. He had never known such exhaustion. His body felt as though he would fall through the very floor. The weight of his own head surpassed all reasoning. Not that in his state he could reason very well. Thoughts came in spurts but the pain...the pain was continuous. He noticed that it had subsided into a dull throb that seemed to ring throughout his body. 'Should I dare open my eyes?' What would he see? A Frog doctor stitching him up before the execution? The brig, a place reserved for criminals and prisoners of war? 'What should be my fate if I were to open my eyes?'

Horatio decided that he would think about that later. First, he would open his eyes and then he would deal with the consequences of that action when they came. But as his senses became alerted to his wakefulness, he heard humming.

This was not something he was prepared for. The pure shock of hearing humming when he should be hearing something like a death march or a dirge alarmed Horatio so much that his eyes flew open. The pain this caused momentarily blinded him but when he gathered the strength to lift his eyelids once more, Horatio saw none other than Archie sitting by his hammock, staring at nothing and humming.

Horatio licked his dry, parched lips to say something but found that the words stuck fast in his throat. A soft moan was all that emerged.

"Horatio? Oh thank God. Do you want something to eat? Or drink? Oh I'm so happy you're awake!" A flustered Archie opened the door to the cabin Horatio occupied and grabbed someone and pulled them inside.

The dizzying and painful sensation of sitting straight up in what was to be the second shock since Horatio woke up subsided quickly. The girl rushed to his side as he stared at her, too stunned to say anything.

"You need to rest. You've been bleeding fairly heavily. That wound isn't fully healed yet."

"What?" Confused, Horatio accepted her ministrations as she covered him with another blanket and held a glass of water up to his lips.

"Oh, I'm so sorry sir. Please forgive me, I forgot to introduce Miss Cunningham."

"Abigail, Mr. Kennedy, will do just fine. Now, Mr. Hornblower, is there anything that I can do for you?"

Horatio's head buzzed with a million questions. "Who are you and what are you doing here?"

"Well, I can see you're a blunt fellow. To put it simply, my name is Abigail Cunningham. I'm English, no worries there, and the Frogs burned my father's ship on which I was traveling. So when you kind chaps blew a hole in the ship, I knew I'd found my passage home. Although I didn't expect to be staring at a bloody hole in that captain of this fine vessel."

"She's a woman and she saved your life, Horatio." As always, Archie was more than glad to help. The whole situation would have seemed laughable to him, except it had been quite unnerving to see his friend so pale and covered in blood.

Horatio closed his eyes to gather his thoughts. So I was shot, and this girl took care of me. So I'm not dead. And I still have a ship. And I also have a woman on board. This wasn't so much of a problem when the Duchess was on board, but her? Oh well, I guess I am in some kind of debt to her.

"Miss Cunningham, I thank you for your services and I will do all in my power to return you to England as soon as possible."

"Oh but I don't want to go home."

"You don't? Forgive me, I believed you said that this was your passage home? Did I misunderstand?" Horatio had no idea what she was talking about and it only made his head spin more.

"Well, eventually I want to go home. But first I want to go wherever this ship is going." Abigail said all this with a smile on her face. 'By God, he is handsome though' she thought.

"Miss, this ship is en route to England."

Abigail looked a little bewildered. "But, don't ships go to places like the Indies and round the Cape of Good Hope and travel to Brazil?"

"Well, yes, sometimes. But I'm only temporarily the captain of The Indefatigable. The appointed captain is currently guiding another ship back to England as well. We are to meet him there." Horatio was utterly confused by this woman. She seemed truly upset that she was going back to England after her ordeal. Why would Miss Cunningham want to sail the seven seas? Only God knows.

During this time, Archie had been trying not to laugh out loud. This situation that Horatio found himself in was hysterical, not to mention quite ridiculous. During Horatio's period of unconsciousness, he had been able to talk to this Miss Cunningham and had found herself to be quite a remarkable young woman. She talked about her sheltered life with much disdain and yet knew all the treatments for Mr. Hornblower's acquired injuries and seemed to know a great deal about ships, weather and the oceans.

He asked her once how she knew about all such things, for it seemed unnatural to him that a girl of her position in life would know nothing more than how to sew. She had looked at him squarely and said, "Mr. Kennedy, my position in life requires me to be studious. The reading given to me was quite boring and so I chose my own. I would much rather know about the working of a ship such as this than how my manners at the dinner table affect the Queen of England's governmental authority."

He was quite impressed. Archie knew she would be nothing like the Duchess.