Chapter Three

The next night, Olivia found herself seated at the Captain's table for dinner, along with many other officers. Mr. Pullings had explained to her earlier that since she was in his charge, she would eat with him, so whenever he ate with the Captain, she did as well. Olivia secretly wondered where all these rules came from and if there was a book somewhere that she could read that listed them all in an index so she could look them up. It would certainly make her life easier, not to mention give her something to do.

She was pleasantly surprised however, as the meal went on, to find that they were quite a jolly group. Even the Captain was laughing, which made him seem a lot less intimidating than when he was "interrogating" her earlier. Olivia was not usually timid or afraid of people, but Captain Jack Aubrey definitely had managed to make her feel about the size of a pin. Tonight however, he was quite pleasant, inquiring after her health and even smiling as he greeted her. They all made noble attempts to include her in the conversation, however, she would skillfully redirect the conversation back away from her whenever questioned. The last thing she wanted was to let something slip in front of a group of people, so she preferred to sit and listen to the friendly conversation around her. She was seated between Tom, of course, and a man named Mr. Howard, who apparently led the marines. Olivia had felt she did a good job of cover her surprise at the fact that there were soldiers abroad who were not sailors, and was prepared when she finally met Howard. It was Captain Howard who brought the conversation back to Olivia once more, asking her a particularly tricky question.

"Miss Corin, if you do not mind my inquiring, your people, were they English?" He asked. It was an honest enough question, considering in that time it would not have been surprising if Olivia was the first generation born in America. However, Olivia's background was very mixed on her father's side, and very Hungarian on her mother's.

Genealogy flew through her head. "Well..." She replied slowly, stalling for time. "My family has lived in America a while. And our name has changed over the years." Well, that was true, or at least she thought it was true. She was afraid if she said yes they'd ask where in England and she'd be doomed.

"But surely you have some idea my dear?" The Doctor pressed.

Olivia fought the urge to give him an evil glare and a kick, and attempted a weak smile, "Well, my Mother's family is easier, they were Hungarian all of them. My Father's family was German, Irish, Swedish, oh and there's some French in there I believe, English probably, and I think I read Austrian somewhere, among many things." She rambled away, attempting to explain, feeling quite uncomfortable and well aware she had probably named off more generations than she should, but never being any good with math, had no idea just how many years that would take. She cleared her throat and smiled, "If I were a dog I'd be a terrible mutt I'm afraid."

They all laughed, and the Captain smiled kindly, "Well, Miss Corin, mutts can be quite noble and loyal as well as any pure breed creature." He said, exchanged a brief look with the Doctor, who smiled appreciatively.

"And have the most marvelous voices." Added Mr. Allen. "Forgive me Miss, but your voice was quite lovely the other morning."

Olivia felt her face grow hot as once again all eyes fell on her. "You heard me?"

"The whole ship did my dear." Stephen said with a smile.

"Perhaps we may trouble you for a song?" Mr. Mowett asked.

"A song?" Olivia felt her mind go blank. She had no idea what on earth she would sing. Of course she knew plenty of songs, but at the moment they seemed to all fly out of her head. However, she did not think it would be polite to refuse. "Of course." She said with a smile. They continued to stare at her, expectantly and her eyes widened. "Now?"

"Well, why not while we are waiting for Killick to bring in the pudding!" Captain Aubrey raised his voice so Killick could hear him.

"Which it will be ready when ready." Came the faint grumble from the back, bringing a smile to the faces of those at the table.

"Well... if you insist." Olivia said, slowly rising. She was surprised that all the men rose from their seats slightly as she stood. "Oh! I was just standing, better for breath support you know?"

"Ah." Stephen said as they sat. "Of course."

Songs flashed through Olivia's head. She had no idea what to sing. Finally, she settled for a piece she'd worked on in voice last semester. The Chasons Boheme, a Bizet piece she believed, from Carmen. She had no idea what had been composed by 1806 and what hadn't, and while she was sure this was not composed yet, at least she was sure knew the words.

"Keep in mind gentlemen, I've not warmed up at all. It may sound terrible." She told them with a smile, gathering herself and remembering the notes so she would not be off pitch. She began to sing, as usual when she sung in another language, in this case French, she blocked out the audience and focused on the words. It was a fast song, which sped up as it went along, and also got higher. She was particularly proud when she managed to hold out a rather high note for a decent amount of time, which was pretty good considering she had not properly warmed up. When she finished, her audience applauded appreciatively. TomPullings, she noted with amusement, was staring at her as if he'd never heard anyone sing before, his mouth hanging slightly open.

"That was lovely my dear." Stephen said. "Wherever did you learn to sing so beautifully?"

"In Philadelphia I assume?" The Captain raised an eyebrow that marked his suspicion.

Olivia stared blankly a moment until she remembered her lie earlier. "Oh! Yes. I've received much vocal training there." She said quickly to cover her momentary lapse.

Tom was still staring at her and she felt her face beginning to go hot. She did not think anyone had ever looked at her so oddly before in her life.

"And what did you think Tom?" The Captain asked, noticing the younger man's mouth hanging open, and watching him with amused disapproval.

Tom snapped out of it suddenly, and stumbled over his words. "Oh! You are quite lovely, I mean, your voice, it was loud- beautiful!" He turned a deep shade of crimson. "Thank you, Miss Corin." He said, looking down at his plate, as if he wished he could sink through his seat and disappear at that very moment.

Olivia merely smiled, "It was nothing." She said, returning to her seat next to Pullings, who was still refusing to meet her eye.

Surprisingly, it was Killick who saved poor Tom, bringing in the pudding with his usual air of annoyance.

"There, Killick, there." The Captain directed with a nod.

He set it down before Olivia, who was not quite sure how to react. It did not look exactly appetizing, but she hated to be rude, so she smiled and looked at the Captain.

"As our guest, you may have the first helping, Miss Corin." He told her.

She swallowed, deciding against pleading full, and took a small serving onto her plate. "Thank you, sir." She said, hoping she sounded happier than she felt.

The Captain gave her a small smile and nodded, he seemed to be enjoying the curious look upon her face. "Mr. Pullings, if you will?"

Tom, who had been avoiding everyone's eyes, looked up as if he had been lost in thought and now had no idea what was happening. He looked at his Captain, then at the pudding, and then finally reacted. "Oh! Of course sir!" He went to pick up the plate, unfortunately, at the same time Olivia had been reaching for her wine glass and their hands collided.

Tom, who had just lifted the pudding plate, jumped at the touch of her hand, and the pudding went flying through the air with amazing speed, and oddly enough seemed to stay together as a solid form. Now, since Tom seemed to be having no luck whatsoever these days, it landed in the worse possible place, the Captain's lap, splattering upon impact and covering him completely.

Everyone at the table was silent, all except for Killick who immediately cursed rather loudly and muttered something about impossible stains. Olivia was about to laugh until she saw the horrified look upon Tom's face, as if he just walked up and kicked the Pope five times and spat upon him. Tom was white as a sheet, frozen, as if unsure what exactly to do. The Captain even looked rather surprised at the food now decorating his uniform.

Finally, it was Dr. Maturin who found his voice. "Well, Mr. Pullings, I am assuming the pudding was lighter than usual?" He said, the amusement in his tone clearly evident, for which Olivia was thankful that she was not the only one who found this amusing.

The Captain slowly took his finger and ran it across his sleeve, gathering the pudding on his index finger. He then put it in his mouth, cleaning it of the substance. "Delicious." He declared. "My compliments, Killick."

Olivia could no longer contain herself and snickered, which started the others to laugh as well. Mr. Allen was banging the table with mirth, and the rest seemed equally amused. All except of course for Tom, who was apologizing to the Captain as if he had just shot him rather than pour pudding down his front, and turning probably his darkest shade of red yet. Olivia decided silently that she ought to count how many times a day the man turned red, and rate the hues.

"Well, would anyone like mine then? I certainly do not need it all." She offered the men with a laugh, and then turned to the Captain with a smirk. "Except for you of course, you sir, have plenty."

The Captain laughed, "Indeed." He agreed. "Have no fear though, Tom." He assured him. "I have had far worse."

The evening was quickly ended. The Captain could hardly sit around in clothes coated in pudding, and Killick was quick to attempt to clean them, grumbling all the way about careless men with starry eyes for silly girls, and poor Tom Pullings retired to his hammock for some sleep before his watch. Although he could find no sleep as the thoughts tormented him. Why did he make such a fool of himself around Olivia Corin? So far he had managed to trip and fall, hit his head rather badly, stare impolitely with his mouth hanging open like a fish, stumble clumsily over his words, and spill pudding all over the Captain. He wondered what was next with dread. What was it about her that turned him into such an incompetent idiot? Perhaps she was some sort of witch who cast a spell on him. He knew that was preposterous, although, she did appear most mysteriously out of nowhere and had little or strange answers to many of the questions asked of her. She was by far the most unusual woman he had ever met, and somehow she managed to fill his thoughts. He could not get his mind off her, and before he had gotten a chance for any sleep, the bell tolled and it was time for his watch. With a sigh he rose from his hammock, he would have to find a way to deal with Olivia Corin, but he had absolutely no idea how.

A/N: (points and laughs at Tom) Haha he's acting like an idiot. The song I picked for Olivia is off an opera CD I have and love. I just copied what was listed so if it's wrong... shoot them not me. I had help with this scene many many months ago when I was plotting this monstrousity of a story meant to torture poor Pullings, so props to the Captain as usual, Elessar King, if you ain't read her stories yet go do it now! Or I'll.... I'll.... well I can't do anything but you should read them! She can write battle scenes!

Jack: Haha you got puddinged by a Pullings (points and laughs) Poor Tom. He does have issues. Of course YOU have issues too.... well so do I, at least your wife isn't a ho..... I think everyone on the ship has issues.... except Mowett perhaps, but he's Sam!

Nautical weasal: Wow. Thanks a bunch. I'm not overly wordy? Haha we'll see if you say the same thing after I post a chapter that I confused myself on. Thanks for the review and hope you enjoyed the update m'dear!

Angel of the Night Watchers: Hey, I just reviewed your companion story hehe! Yay good job! Anyway, Tom/Olivia you ask??? Hm......... well what do YOU think? Hehe..... he does seem to be FALLING for her doesn't he? Hehe oooh bad pun... JACK! LOOK! I'm turning into YOU!!! Sorry... shouldn't put messages to other people in other peoples review replies.... can't help it though. As always m'dear thank you for reading, and for saying such nice things about my story in your companion story, and for doing a great job with Erchirion. Expect an update soon as I've got 80 pages on this one done already! Toodles!