Chapter Eighteen

Styles smiled, pleased with her reaction. Emma spun on her heel and stomped off towards the bottles on the apothecary table until she found the one she wanted. She poured the yellow liquid into a glass and turned back to Styles. Styles jumped off the table when he saw what she carried.

"Bleedin' Christ!"

"For your apparent flatulence problem, Styles. Doctors orders." she held up the glass threateningly.

"Never this side of hell!" Styles ran for the door.

"Oh yes you will!" Emma ordered chasing him. He would have easily outrun her if Lieutenant Bracegirdle hadn't been walking past the door at that precise moment. Styles knocked the plump older man over, toppling himself and Emma as well who fell on her bottom next to the shocked lieutenant. The glass of castor oil, though considerably less full was still clutched in her hand. Just enough left to still make her point. Styles began to sit up and Emma acted fast. Climbing onto his chest she pinched his nose shut so that he'd have to open his mouth to breath.

"Drink, you overstuffed meat head!" Emma ordered.

"You crazy whore!" Styles shouted nasally. As he spoke, Emma dropped the contents into his mouth. He gagged and sputtered, grey eyes blazing.

"Mrs. Hornblower! What is the meaning of this?" Lieutenant Bracegirdle asked getting to his feet. Emma ignored him and clamped a hand over Styles' mouth, forcing him to swallow.

"There. That'll teach you!" Emma burst in satisfaction. The element of surprise wearing off, Styles was now easily able to push her off his chest. Emma gave a startled gasp as he pushed her backwards, lace and petticoats flying up into her face. Styles got to his feet, trying to spit out the foul taste from his tongue but to no avail.

"Be very glad you're a lass, Mrs. Hornblower." Styles seethed stalking off. She raised her eyes to see that most of the crew had stopped working to watch the spectacle. Emma 's eyes widened in horror as they laughed and whistled at her. Her brief feeling of victory was crushed under the weight of mortification.

"Mrs. Hornblower! Would you care to explain yourself?" Bracegirdle asked dusting off his trousers.

"I beg your pardon, lieutenant. Just some difficulty with a patient, Sir." she explained, her cheeks burning with the weight of the stares above her.

"Indeed. I must say that is one of the most novel approaches to medical care I have ever seen."

"Yes, Sir." Emma said, clenching her fingers behind her back.

"See to it that you employ more traditional methods in the future and we'll say no more about it." he said looking sternly at her.

"Thank you, Sir." Emma said tonelessly.

"Dismissed, Mrs. Hornblower." He continued to wipe the dirt off his uniform as he walked away.

Dismissed indeed, Emma thought near tears as she walked across the lower deck to the stairs that led to the cabins. As soon as Styles told the captain what had happened, the man would send her packing for sure.

"Styles can be a bit of a cross to bear, Mrs H. If you'll pardon my saying." Matthews said, meeting her at the top of the stairs.

"No need, Mr Matthews. I'm in whole hearted agreement. However that does not excuse my behavior and I suppose I shall be justly punished for it." Emma said, fighting back a sob. "You've been most kind and I thank you, Sir. I only regret that we did not get to know each other better." She turned away from the older man, embarrassed at the tears spilling from her eyes. He followed her down the stairs and handed her a handkerchief.

"Oh I wouldn't worry about that, Mrs. H. I wouldn't count on you going anywhere just yet." Matthews assured her.

"As soon as Styles tells the captain what I did, I'm certain he'll send me on my way once we hit port. My father always warned me about my dreadful temper and now it has gotten me into trouble yet again. I should have held my tongue and ignored Mr. Style's atrocious behavior."

"Oh to be sure, you gave the lads an afternoon's entertainment they won't likely forget in a hurry. But I don't think you need to worry about the captain finding out. Styles will be the last one to tell him. A matter of pride, you understand? " Matthews explained. Emma blew her nose, sniffled and shook her head. "Tackled by a lass not even half his size? Aye, he'll shut up about that. You mark my words." Matthews assured her with a small smile.

Feeling slightly better, Emma made her way to her husband's cabin. It would greatly improve her mood if she could have a friendly face for her next patient. She found one, though not the one she'd been looking for, standing in front of the door.

"Archie, is Horatio inside?" Emma asked. His blue eyes widened nervously when he saw her and he visibly stiffened.

"Emma, how goes your medical perusal of our crew?" He asked, taking a step in front of her when she reached for the doorknob. Emma looked up at him questioningly. A noise from the other side of the door caught her attention.

"What is happening in there?" Emma asked when the first sound was punctuated by a shuffling about and what sounded like furniture being dropped or moved.

"It's Clayton." Archie replied quickly. "He's deeply in his cups and we've locked him in until he sobers up so the captain won't see him." Archie's explanation was followed by another loud banging noise from the other side.

"Good gracious. Is Horatio in there with him?"

Archie nodded. "He's helping the poor man. We'd best leave him to it."

"Oh. Alright. How about you then, Archie?"

"How about me, what?" Archie asked blankly.

"For my next patient? I promise I won't remove anything vital." she joked but the humor was apparently lost on Archie's who's eyes shifted warily.

"It's not a good time right now. Perhaps later?"

"But you don't seem to be required for anything right now, are you? I could use a friendly face after that God awful........Styles." Emma said. He grimaced sympathetically.

"Did it go very badly?"

"Quite." she nodded. "So will you come?" Archie looked like a cornered rat before a huge feline.

"I....I would, truly.....but...It's only...." more banging and shuffling from inside. "I need to stay and block the way in case Clayton comes out. Perhaps you could try Captain Pellew?" Archie offered. Emma's face fell.

"He wouldn't welcome my presence at the moment."

"I know he's not keen on the idea of a woman among his crew but he's a fair-"

"I nearly broke his nose." Emma cut in sadly. Archie stared at her in surprise.

"What? How?"

"I'd rather not go into it at the moment as I've embarrassed myself by weeping once already and have no wish to do it again....Hmm.... maybe I could talk Matthews into it. He seems to not hate me as much as the rest of the crew." Emma said.

"There you are." Archie agreed eagerly.

Authors Notes:

Camreyn: Thank you so much for your continuing feedback. You're a peach! (big hug) I'm so glad you're enjoying the humor in this story. Lord knows that there will be plenty of heartbreak coming so I hope I can balance it with some good laughs so you all don't run out of kleenex. Simpson is a real slimy character. He really couldn't give a hoot about Emma except as a way to grate on Horatio and takes great pleasure in threatening her. As afraid of Simpson as Emma is, she stands up to him out of necessity. She has to, if she wants to stay with her husband. Same thing with Styles.

An-Cat-Gaelige: I'm so happy you're enjoying the story! Thanks for your kind words. Sorry it's been so long between updates, I've just come off an exhausting ten day work shift with only one day off but I will be off this weekend so yay me! I'll get more chapterswritten over the next few days. Ihope ya'll enjoy this one and chapter nineteen.