Meanwhile, Jack Aubrey was not in the best of moods. After his confrontation with Miss Corin, Stephen had insisted he see to the nasty gash on Jack's head while Jack was anxious to make repairs and get underway. He was now determined to give chase to the Wilmington and did not appreciate the delay, however, Stephen had been quite insistent. So now he was sitting in Stephen's quarters as his friend stitched his head closed once more. He shifted in the chair, quite agitated and restless, receiving an irritated glare from Stephen who was having troubling stitching on a moving subject.
"Jack if you do not sit still I may accidentally poke an eye out." Stephen scolded.
Jack made an attempt to be still. "Now Stephen, I trust that you have steady hands and can tell the difference between my brow and my eye." He commented, wincing as the needle passed through once more.
Stephen merely looked at his patient over his glasses and went back to work. "I heard you and Miss Corin exchanged rather harsh words." He commented.
Jack glared up at his friend, causing Stephen to shift his work with an air of annoyance. "Yes well, I was shocked by her choice of words truth be told."
"I also was informed that you intend to set her ashore." Stephen said, his tone was disapproving as he continued with his stitches.
Jack sighed, "News travels fast does it not?"
"It does when it is shouted from the cabin." Stephen shot back calmly, without pausing in his work.
Jack knew right away that Stephen would not approve and he immediately began to form arguments in his mind when a knock came.
Stephen looked up, as Tom Pullings entered. "Mr. Pullings, what may I do for you?" He asked, continuing with his stitching.
"I'd like a word with the Captain, sir." He replied, removing his hat.
"Make it quick Mr. Pullings." Jack said sharply. He was not exactly pleased with Tom at the moment. He knew full well that Pullings had fallen for the girl, and that whatever her involvement, Mr. Pullings was blinded by his affections and completely missed it.
He hesitated for a moment. Now that he was here he had no idea what he should say. "Sir, I have come to speak on behalf of Miss Corin."
Jack tried to glare up at him, but Stephen firmly held his head in place and gave him a stern look. "Be still." He ordered under his breath, clearly irritated.
The Captain would have laughed at Stephen's annoyance had he not been irritated himself. "I imagined you might. And my answer is no."
"No?" Tom replied, blinking in surprise. "Sir! I haven't even inquired yet."
"Very well." Jack jerked his head out of Stephen's grip to look at his officer.
"I would like you to reconsidering setting Miss Corin ashore." He asked, cautiously, completely unsure of his words.
"No." Jack quickly replied.
"Will you please stop moving your head about?" Stephen begged, clearly growing more frustrated with his patient.
"Sir, please. Miss Corin had nothing to do with that ship." Tom said desperately.
"And how do you know this?" Jack asked. "How do you know she is not playing you as a fool Tom?" His voice had a harsh edge to it as he questioned the younger man.
"I trust her." Tom said simply. He knew it was a ridiculous thing to say in this argument, but he could find no other way to explain it.
"You-" Jack began, but cut off glancing up at the surgeon. "Stephen, will you excuse us for a moment?"
Stephen glared at Jack, he was in the middle of sewing up his head and he wanted him to leave? "There are only a few more stitches." He protested quite firmly.
"Very well. Be quick about it." Jack replied.
"Then hold your head still." Stephen shot back with annoyance, muttering as he finished his work. He then left quite unhappily asking to be found when they were quite through using his cabin.
Jack stood after Stephen left, pacing. "Tom, you love this woman, am I correct?" He suddenly asked.
Tom flushed slightly, knowing he must have been quite obvious. "Well, yes sir." He replied. "I do."
Jack sighed, feeling quite sorry for the man. "And what were your plans?" He asked. "I am assuming you had them."
"I hoped she would have passage back to England, where I would marry her, if she is willing." Tom admitted, he hated talking about these things to anyone, let alone his Captain, and he felt his face grow hot.
Jack pondered on this for a moment then shook his head. "You know I cannot allow her to stay."
"But sir!" Tom protested.
He held up a hand, silencing the lieutenant. "We do not know for certain that she is not involved with the Wilmington. I know you trust her, but she could very well be a clever agent. If she is indeed with the Wilmington, then surely they will have means to collect her."
"And if she is not?" Tom asked. "You are willing to leave an innocent woman alone on a foreign shore?"
The Captain glared, he did not like being questioned, and he also knew in his heart that Tom had a point. "An innocent woman would not have used such harsh and insulting words as Miss Corin has done, Mr. Pullings."
"You are condemning her for words she used out of exhaustion and frustration, sir?" Tom asked, feeling slightly more confident. "She knows she was wrong for being so vulgar, and she asked me to apologize for her." He licked his lips, desperate to come up with a solution and to persuade the Captain. "Sir, surely we can reach a compromise. If we leave her ashore I fear for her safety, and I-" He stopped himself suddenly.
Jack raised an eyebrow, "And you will never see her again?" He finished Tom's sentence. He watched the poor man suffer as he paced the room. Tom looked like his world was coming to an end. Suddenly Jack laughed, an unpredicted sound, which made the poor man jump out of his skin. "Lord, what a woman does to a man, eh Tom?" He asked chuckling. "There was a time when you wouldn't dream of questioning me."
Tom looked quite uneasy, but managed a weak smile. "I fear I have not been quite myself since I met her, sir."
"Yes. Which is why I know you are sincere in how you feel towards her." Jack replied, clapping the man on the shoulder. "But I cannot have her aboard while we attempt to take the Wilmington. Unless, you would rather me have her in irons below?"
Tom shook his head, "No sir. But perhaps there is a compromise?" He paused, giving himself time to reach a reasonable conclusion. "Perhaps we put her ashore until we take the Wilmington prize, and then return to collect her, and if needed to make repairs and gather supplies?"
Jack considered this offer carefully. It did make sense, and he knew if he abandoned Miss Corin he would eventually feel quite guilty. Particularly since his first lieutenant loved her so, and for Tom, who was often painfully shy and uneasy of such things, catching the favor of a woman was a rather meaningful event, and to part him from Miss Corin without much chance of seeing her again would be terribly cruel. He finally nodded, "Very well Mr. Pullings. That is a reasonable request." He replied. He also knew that once they captured the Wilmington he could find out for sure if Miss Corin was with them or not.
Tom practically beamed with relief. "Thank you, sir." He replied quickly.
Jack could not help but smile, shaking his hand. "Tom, I do hope all goes well for you and Miss Corin." He said sincerely. "And I am happy for you."
"Thank you, sir." He said again, paying his respects before quickly turning to leave. He was in high spirits once again and despite the fact that the Surprise was in need of repairs from a rather bad pounding, things could not look brighter.
Meanwhile, the Doctor returned to his cabin to find the Captain also in a surprisingly good mood. "Well, I trust you have come to an accord with Mr. Pullings?" Stephen asked, having passed a very pleased looking Tom just moments before.
Jack nodded, "Yes, we have come to an arrangement. Lord, Stephen, I do hope my suspicions about Miss Corin are wrong for Tom's sake." He said. "It would most certainly break the man's heart if she were playing him false."
Stephen, who knew a fair amount about the subject of heartache from his relationship with Diana, nodded in agreement. "I daresay it would."
Jack then shrugged off the unhappy thoughts as quickly as they came. "Well! Stephen! It has been an eventful day! Shall we play tomorrow evening? I daresay Miss Corin will not protest to spending a few hours or so on deck with Mr. Pullings, and we have not played in such a long while I am growing to miss it."
Stephen nodded in agreement. "I heartily agree with you for tomorrow evening, tonight I am rather exhausted and doubt I could keep my eyes open long enough to lift a bow." He said. "But tell me brother, what agreement did you and Mr. Pullings decide upon? I take it that Miss Corin is no longer going to be set ashore."
"She is, but only for a time. The Wilmington cannot have gotten far ahead of us with the damage we caused her; therefore, we are going after her. Until we take her prize Miss Corin is to wait on land." Jack explained.
"Ah." Stephen nodded, "Which will surely give you the chance to find out for sure if Miss Corin is the spy you believe she is."
Jack smiled at his friend. "I take it you do not believe she is an agent?"
Stephen paused for a moment, "Well, I have my doubts she could be a spy, my dear. Have you noticed when nervous she tends to fidget quite terribly and will ramble? Surely if she were up to something her tongue would have slipped? However, you are right that she seems to be holding information back. The question is: is that information endangering this ship?" Stephen then added as an after thought, "And I am happy to hear you do not plan to completely abandon her. Spending time with Miss Corin in sick-berth has given me the impression that she is a thoughtful and kind creature in her way, and is some small assistance to me."
Jack shook his head, "No, I do not believe in hindsight that I could have marooned her, my conscience dictates otherwise. Besides," He added with a smile. "Poor Tom might have jumped ship for her and then where would we have been?"
A/N: I know, I know, I don't give many details about the battle and the plans to take the Wilmington, but I haven't so much as seen an ocean in four years and I do not have a vast knowledge of nautical... stuff.... which is why I go for Olivia's point of view in battles because she wouldn't know what the heck was going on either!! Also I know Jack is slightly out of character in that I'm sure he would never leave a woman alone on some island.... but hey! It has to be like that for my freakin plot so that's the way it is! And the plan is to come back so... whatever. This is how I get my plot (with a million holes) to work. A million apologies for my crappiness! And the shortness of this chapter, but this story certainly doesn't break up into chapters well and I wasn't planning on posting it when I wrote it..... so... sorry.... But I'm updating relatively fast! So a little chapters better than nothing eh?
Fawks: Haha! Wow I made you laugh that hard eh? Neat! I'm glad I amused you :-) I updated! (points) See? Hope you enjoyed the short little chapter! Thanks for reviewing!
Mascara Rain: Haha I should be a writer eh? Thanks, I'm flattered. Actually I'm going to be a history teacher... so you can wait in line to come to my class..... right.... Anyway, Killick using an electric oven can't be any worse than ME using the oven. I have the baking skills of a turnip. Phish is awesome I agree, and it's very sad that they are no more. I have friends who drove up to Vermont for their last tour deally (yeah I'm not THAT committed... and I had to work... and the tickets were WAY out of my price range... anyway) and had to park their car on the interstate and walk 17 miles to get there. They are WAY more committed to Phish than I am to.... ANYTHING. And you must think I'm really odd now but that's okay! Have you heard of String Cheese Incident or Big Wu? Kellar Williams? Haha okay I can name off random bands all night... The Beatles are great too. You have good taste in music. Congratulations. As always m'dear, thanks for the lovely review!
Lily Knotwise: I wrote more! Look! (points at screen) Because you told me to. I'm very easily bossed around. Okay not really... anyway! Thanks for the review! That last chapter was very fluffy... as will be the next chapter just to warn you.... So heads up!! (throws cotton into the air in anticipation of posting the next chapter)
CAJUNpIPPENpIRATE: LOL that IS very weird. I just picked a random port city! Haha. And I have been to Wilmington a million years ago for a softball tournament. I can't even remember how long ago that was... that's how long ago it was. Haha and the place I stayed really did have good bagels... wherever that was.... Man that had to have been at LEAST eight or nine years ago... I'm old (nods). Anyway, yes, you live in a cool city. I enjoyed it because I'm a history major (I wasn't at the time but I was a freakish history maniac child) so I went to all those old house deallies with my mom. Oh! And I bought the Hunchback of Notre Dame at Wal-Mart. Or I think it was Wal-Mart.... It was a Wal-Martish store... whatever. Haha that's all I remember. I don't remember the softball I remember the bagels! And free food is always fun. (nods) I think you should write whatever you feel like it and don't worry about what picky people may say! A Blakeney/OC could be fun. It's up to you really. Haha whatever floats your boat (groans at horrible pun). Hope you enjoyed the chapter and thanks for telling me where you live! Yay Wilmington! Haha oh yeah, and yeah I know the ship's name should be in italics, but when I transfer things into it takes out my italics and then I'd have to hunt in the little editing deally for every freakin mention of the ship and put it in italics and I'm lazy and that takes way too long. I write, proof once when I do my spacing... and that's it... because I'm lazy and it'd make my posts fewer and farther between. Haha but yay you for knowing that! You know your stuff! Thanks for the review!
MusicBoxDancer: Okay... so there was SOME mention of what happened with the battle. Both ships got beat up and now the Surprise is chasing the Wilmington... yeah I'm so descriptive... Anyway, your welcome for Maturin and there was more Maturin in this chapter. Like I said I've completely written this story already and so I can tell you where Maturin will be and won't be... he's in there a few more times... a little in the next chapter.... Then no Maturin for a while... then finally some more Maturin.... Yeah that's descriptive too but I can't tell you more because I can't give away the story! Thanks for the review m'dear! Sorry about the lack of Maturin :-)
Jingerjinx: Haha I'm glad your cat enjoyed it. And you seeing ??!! and not "" is REALLY freaking me out! Because I'm not seeing it!!! I'm seeing normal ""!!! I SWEAR I wrote it with normal "" so I have no idea why you keep seeing otherwise. Is anyone else having this problem?? Because this is freaking me out!!! AHHHHH!!!!! Haha thanks for the review... even if it's freaking me out.....
British-luver: Haha I'm glad you enjoyed the cursing. That was very easy to write... all I had to do was look out my dorm room window at the construction and the cursing just came right out! Hehe! And I recall me writing that amused my roommate a great deal. Haha and I'm sure Olivia wanted to do more in the cabin but Mr. Pullings is a gentleman hehe... silly guy. You motivated me again! Hope you enjoyed this chapter m'dear! Thanks for the wonderful review! Oh! Haha and my name is Stephanie too... haha that amused me for some reason! Happy reading :-)
Sarah: Sorry I haven't emailed you back yet... haha I just thought of that and was like.. oh yeah... I'm kind of scatter brained until I get to school and get settled in.. this being at home for so long thing is really kind of throwing me off! Anyway, haha I'm glad you liked the chapter! Don't get in trouble reading it during class because then I'll feel bad! Here's an update so you can stop running around going crazy for five seconds and then if you feel the need... commence to run around crazy again until the next chapter. Thanks as always for the review and toddles m'dear!
Sillytigerlily: Haha like rabbits! Okay your review cracked me up! I can just see a whole island full of little Pullingses running around... hehehehe.... Okay so that's not what happens but that's a funny funny mental image right there! Haha I'll admit I sound an awful lot like Olivia when I'm away at school... and I slip up at home on occasion and get in SO much trouble if I swear in front of my mom. And getting a deathglare from mom is NOT fun no matter how old I am! I updated! So you can't finish the story for me :-P but feel free to imagine Olivia and Tom in that grass hut with their many many little Pullingses all you want ;-) Thanks for the review m'dear!
Narlita Firedance: Haha thanks for the kind review. I'm glad you enjoyed the random Castaway reference. Haha Wilson the volleyball was my favorite character in that movie! I wrote more. Haha hope you are pleased! Again, thanks!
TheMusingFit: LOL I forgive you... mainly because I'm bad at reviewing other people's stuff... but I've been trying to review more lately so I'm hoping to redeem myself. Haha yeah Tom's pretty cool about the future thing. I found that amusing when I wrote it. "Oh you're from the future? That's nice dear." And it'd fun to injure him constantly... because I am very evil. Haha awww... I'm sure if Tom met you he'd break an arm or leg! Glad you're enjoying and thanks for the review! Toddles!!
Wow guys! That was a large amount of reviews in a short period of time! Haha I was in shock! You can ask my Dad when I nearly fell out of the computer chair with my "Whoa! Look at all those emails!" Keep reviewing if you please! Hehe I enjoy hearing from you! And if you're following this and not reviewing... well I can't really shame you because I do the same thing a lot of the time, but I CAN beg you to review! Haha it can even be just one word! Like "Crap." or "Good." or "Meh." Until next chapter! Happy Reading!