Chapter 1

AN - Simpson survived Pellews bullet and was taken aboard the Inde (Hood made him do it) and Simpson has been behaving…more or less…ever since. But what happens when Archie returns from Spain?

AN2 - This story, although it is supernatural and has some awesome comedy, is, for the most part, an angst overdose. It deals with Simpson and Archie's relationship in the past, and the same will appear in this story. This chapter is the worst in a big way, and deals with Archie's first time (working on the theory he's been aboard the Justinian since he was 11. This means…yep, you got it…pedophilia.) The story will not get descriptive, but it will be sad, it will be distressing, and it will deal with one of our most well loved characters dealing with fits, if/coms, PRS, and more. Any of the above turn your stomach, you may wish to consider reading something else. If you are in doubt, skip this chapter and go onto the next one, the story starts there. This just sets the scene.

AN3 - Yes, I am genuinely shameless enough to try this whole thing again. Don't hate me.

Enjoy!

"Archie?" The voice sluiced through the fog surrounding his mind, and a strong, warm hand on his shoulder soothed and terrified Archie all at once. Someone was here, that was good. but also, that meant that someone knew, and that was very, very bad.

"Archie?" The voice came again, a little harsher, more desperate.

Archie opened his eyes after a moment, and his gaze met that of the man who had been so kind to him earlier, showing him where to store his dunnage and introducing him to all of the men aboard the ship.

"Jack?" Archie croaked, and the man kneeling beside him smiled.

"Yes, lad." He replied. "It's only me. What happened?"

Archie shivered involuntarily, and told Jack after a moment "A fit."

Jack looked puzzled.

"A what?"

"A fit," Archie repeated. "I have them sometimes."

Jack saw the fear in Archie's face and came to his own conclusions.

"Does the Captain know of these fits?" He asked.

Archie shook his head violently. "No," he almost cried. "And he must not find out, either. If they did, I…" Archie trailed of and looked around the room as though checking that no one else was listening. "I'd be thrown over the side of the ship!" He whispered eventually.

Jack smiled a little, in reassurance, Archie guessed.

"It's all right, boy." Jack promised. "I'll keep your secret. I'll even trust you with mine, if you like."

Archie looked up at Simpson a moment. An exchange? Yes, thought Archie. That would make it so that he could not tell my secret for fear of me telling his.

"All right," Archie accepted. "Tell me."

Jack paused a moment, as though searching for the words, and said eventually "come with me."

Archie pulled himself to his feet and followed Jack out of the Midshipman's berth and down, into the belly of the ship.

"You see," the older man explained on the way, "It's not the sort of secret you can tell. It's more the sort you have to show."

Archie nodded and continued to follow Simpson down into the hold.

Eventually, they reached an empty room and closed the door behind them. They were far enough from the others here that no one could overhear then, not even if they shouted their conversation, and they would hear anyone coming long before they got there.

"What's the secret then?" Archie asked excitedly, his boyish face lit with innocent enthusiasm.

Jack paused for a moment.

"Archie, do you know what a Sodomite is?" He asked.

Archie nodded, and replied "It's a man who likes other men instead of women." He announced proudly.

Simpson nodded.

"Anything else you know?"

Archie screwed his face up a moment in concentration, and said "Well, people say it's bad, because men are only supposed to love women, but people also say that parents are supposed to love their children and that doesn't always happen either. I think that love should be okay, no matter who it's between."

Simpson smiled a little, a wicked smirk the spread across his face.

This'll be easier than I thought.

"So I can trust you not to tell anyone that I'm like that?" Simpson asked.

Archie looked at the man for a moment, and smiled.

"I won't tell." He vowed.

"No matter what?"

"No matter what."

"Archie?" The voice sluiced through the fog surrounding his mind, and a strong, warm hand on his shoulder soothed and terrified Archie all at once.

Someone was here.

"Archie?" The voice came again, a little harsher, more desperate.

God no, not again.

Archie opened his eyes

"Horatio?"

Archie saw his friend leant above him and smiled slightly as he realized it had been only a dream. Well, not a dream as such. Dreams are things that do not happen.

"You were upset enough to wake me," Horatio told his friend as he took a step backwards to allow his friend to stand. "You were shouting in your sleep."

Archie's face paled.

"I was?" Horatio nodded. "What was I saying?"

Horatio shrugged. "Nonsense, mostly. Nothing revealing." He assured his friend.

Archie sighed and sat back for a moment. It had been a long time since a memory had taken that much out of him…he felt more like he was recovering from a fit than just an unnaturally sharp memory, and he realized with a sad smile how accurate that may well be. It is entirely possible he had a fit during the night, and that was the shouting that woke Horatio. He knew from Clayton long ago that his dreams and fits often fed from each other, and there were times when even his by standing friend could not tell the difference between the two.

"Archie?" Horatio asked after a long moment. "Are you all right?"

Archie snapped out of his haze of thoughts and nodded sadly.

"I'm fine, Horatio." He lied. "Just hungry."

Horatio nodded, accepting the obvious lie, and excused himself to the en suite bathroom to change into his uniform for the day, leaving Archie to do the same.

Rising shakily to his feet and snatching his own uniform, Archie tried to ignore how badly he was shaking.

"I'm fine," he repeated to himself. "I'm fine…"

Turning to drop his nightshirt into the corner of the room, he caught his naked torso in the mirror. Apparently unmarred from the front, but the faint curl of an old scar shone in the light around one side of his ribs.

Archie paused as if he had never seen that scar before. It was almost as though the mark was mocking his assertion that he was fine.

Even his own body knew it was a lie.

END NOTES - Well, there you go. I'm gonna try and get my next one done tonight (which means it'll get posted when this one does) or over the weekend (which means it gets posted on Monday). Either way, you won't have to wait long.