Chapter 11:

Although the sun in London was bright, Pocahontas felt a slight chill as she followed her husband out of the carriage and in to the busy street.

"Will it be alright tied there?"

Pocahontas inquired, looking at the carriage and then back at John's face as he answered, "Yes, we have nothing worth stealing after all."

Pocahontas was about to remind him about the horses, but she closed her mouth and took her husband's arm. The two lovers walked arm in arm, Pocahontas gazing around at all the different shops, outdoor markets, diners, and many other buildings that the native princess couldn't make out.

"There is so much to see," Pocahontas said as John gazed at her.

"Where would you like to go love?"

John inquired, kissing his wife's cheek and patting her stomach, "you aren't to tired, are you?"

"No," Pocahontas replied as she smiled up at him.

The couple walked in companionable silence, as John spotted a cart full of flowers from England's countryside. Stopping at it, John raised his eyes and looked at the seller, "may I have a dozen of those please?"

After paying the man John took a flower and placed it in his love's hair, "I could make you a crown with them."

Pocahontas giggled and playfully snatched the wildflowers away from John's hand, inhaling the surprising sweet scent of them.

"Thank you," Pocahontas said as she held the flowers in one hand, and took John's arm in the other.

As John walked, he wove an arm around his wife's shoulders while they gazed around at the different places. John sighed as he remembered the happy moments of his childhood, when his father would take the whole family out for a day. Back when the world was simple, and before John could understand what was happening to his mother. However, as John got older, the young boy began noticing things about his parents, things that he would have never shared with them that he knew. Like the time when he was seven years old, and he had opened his parent's bedchamber door and had seen his mother washing. Her back had been to him, and the deep cuts, bruises, and scars sent shivers down the child's spine. He had shut the door before she could turn around and notice him. Or the time when his parents had thought he had been asleep, and his father had started lashing out at his mother. The young boy had squeezed his eyes shut, and listened to his mother's cries and pleas. Unconsciously, John inched closer to his wife, as he watched her look at some fabric that a woman was selling.

"Oh John, this is so beautiful," Pocahontas said, smiling as she held up a brown silky material.

"Would you like some?"

John offered, as he tried to once again burry the memories that had haunted him for years.

'Going home will do that to you.'

The captain thought as he fiercely shook his head and bought a role of the material. He would give her all that he had just to see the look of delight and love on her face.

"Thank you so much," Pocahontas wrapped her arms around him and hugged him as John saw the woman look disapproving of his wife's actions.

"Come," John said as he pulled away from her hold, "are you hungry, we could stop at a diner if you like."

"John we just had lunch," Pocahontas said as she looked up at the sky, "Is it really that late in the day?"

"Yes," John replied as the two of them left the woman's cart and began walking down the stone streets of London. John drove the carriage to a quaint little diner that surprisingly sat in the heart of London city. The native woman gazed around at all the simple paintings that lined the walls, and at the interesting carvings in the table that was given to them.

"John?"

"Hmmm?"

"I've never seen wood carved like this, they have all these letters and different shapes," Pocahontas stated, tracing her finger in the grooves.

"You are looking at the table, when I can not take my eyes off you."

Pocahontas blushed as he gently took her small hand and kissed it, "you look so radiant."

"John," Pocahontas giggled and smiled, "you have no shame sometimes."

"When it comes to you my darling then I am guilty as charged."

The couple shared a laugh before a woman wearing a clean blue dress came and took there orders, and Pocahontas asked for the same as her husband because she wasn't sure on what to try.

"Be brave my love," John laughed as his wife gave him a look.

The sun had long set when John and Pocahontas left the restaurant and once again walked arm in arm down the street. The native woman inched closer to her husband as the wind began to pick up speed and the night was getting much cooler.

"Are you alright?"

"Yes," Pocahontas answered her husband's question as they continued there walk, "I'd like to see as much of your homeland as possible."

"If you're feeling well enough, I could show you the bridge," John offered.

"Are those the things that cover the rivers?"

Pocahontas inquired, gazing up at her husband's blue eyes;

John laughed as he remembered there first meeting, "Yes my dear."

"You are right; you do have buildings that are as tall as trees."

John leaned over and kissed her cheek, as he smiled as he thought back to the day they had first met in the forest of Virginia. It was so far from his country, but Virginia had something that London did not, and she was walking beside him. The young captain would never ask her to give up all she knew to live in a place that he himself did not want to be.

"Oh John," Pocahontas breathed as the couple finally made it to London Bridge that covered the fast flowing Thames river.

"It's beautiful," Pocahontas said as she looked down at the rapidly moving water.

"Can you swim in it?"

Pocahontas asked then added, "I wouldn't think so, and I would think the water would move so fast that someone would get swept under."

"Yes Pocahontas," John said, "you're right about the Thames."

"The what?"

"This river is called the Thames," John replied, gathering his wife close to him in the chilly air, "Would you like to be heading back now?"

"No," his wife answered, leaning in closer to her husband while her dark eyes never left the surface of the water.

"My people say that when you look in the river, you are seeing a window in to your spirit, you are seeing into yourself."

"Oh really?"

John questioned as he looked at the murky water, "That belief does make sense, I used to sit and think by the river when I was a little boy."

Pocahontas smiled as John tilted her face in his hand and slowly drew her face closer to his own, "The only thing that I wish to look at is you."

The lovers were just about to kiss when they heard screaming from not far off. Pocahontas jerked away from her husband, both there heads snapping up in surprise at the sound of a woman screaming.

"Please help, help!"

The Indian woman turned quickly from her husband and began to follow the young woman's voice when John grabbed her arm from behind, "Pocahontas, you can't go off trying to help people you do not know," came his firm voice.

"John it's clear that someone is in trouble," Pocahontas said as she tried to get out of her husband's grip.

"The person could have a weapon, Pocahontas don't do this!"

John called after her as she wrenched herself out of his grasp and began running towards the voices. John easily caught up to his wife as the two of them looked down at the ground, and then they looked up to see a man running away from the scene.

"Shouldn't we get help?"

"No one will help me," the woman said as she raised her head up from the stone street, her dark hair concealing her face.

"We will," Pocahontas replied as she carefully knelt and took the woman's hand with in her own, "Are you able to stand?"

"Yes," she replied as she pushed her hair out of her dirt streaked face and with Pocahontas's help, was able to stand on her feet.

"John, what do we do?"

Pocahontas inquired of her husband, as he looked in to Gabriela's face.

"John?"

It was Gabriela's soft voice that made him snap out of it, "I was robbed, I had paid for something and I was walking back home when he grabbed me…"

Gabriela's dark brown eyes filled with tears, "He took the gold you had given me."

"Gold?"

Pocahontas inquired, looking at her husband as he shifted uncomfortably under his wife's questioning look, "You gave her gold?"

Turning back to Gabriela Pocahontas stuck out her hand, "My name is Pocahontas, and this is my husband John Smith."

"I know your husband," Gabriela stated.

"How do you know him?"

"We can take you home," John cut in to the conversation, "If you could tell me where it is."

"Yes, I think that's a good idea," Pocahontas said, "and perhaps you can put a cool cloth on your face where there seems to be a bruise starting."

Gabriela nodded as Pocahontas took her husband's arm, and the three of them walked in silence back towards the carriage.

"Are you sure you're alright?"

Pocahontas inquired as John once again got in the front in order to drive the horses;

"Yes, Po…"

"Pocahontas," the Indian princes repeated her name more slowly, "what is your name?"

"My name is Gabriela," the Spanish woman replied as John kept his eyes focused on the road.

"Did the man take anything else from you?"

Pocahontas asked, "Perhaps we can try and help get the things replaced…"

"Nothing else."

"John, if you could make a left on this street and go up a few paces you will see a boardinghouse sign," Gabriela said as Pocahontas yawned and leaned back against the carriage's seat.

"I see that you are with child," Gabriela commented softly, "I have a daughter that is going to be three years of age soon."

"Oh," Pocahontas smiled, "What is her name?"

"Esperanza," Gabriela replied; as Pocahontas covered her mouth as she yawned again.

"I apologize this expectancy makes me tired sometimes," she said as she gave a small smile, "I am sure your husband is very happy with his daughter."

Pocahontas's innocent statement made Gabriela want to burst in to tears; but she simply nodded her head as Pocahontas kept talking.

"What do you do as a job if you have no husband?"

John glanced back from his seat in the front as he eyed Gabriela, "how much farther?"

"It is not long," the young woman answered as she looked out the tiny window.

"I work in a tavern," Gabriela answered Pocahontas's question as she turned to her; "It helps with things I need for my child."

"What do you do in a tavern? I thought only men…"

"I do a job that no respectable lady does," Gabriela stated, "I am a prostitute."

The horses gave a sudden whinny as John jerked on the rains and turned to meet Gabriela's eyes, "I do not want my wife hearing about a woman like you."

Pocahontas gasped at her husband's harsh words as Gabriela flinched, "I am sorry."

"John, why would you speak to her that way? I don't know what a prostitute is anyways."

"I am nothing more than a whore Pocahontas," Gabriela cried as John whipped around and began driving again.

"A whore," it was more to herself as Pocahontas leaned against the side of the wooden carriage, the pieces falling in to place.

'Your husband gave her gold.'

'He went out and would not tell you where he had been.'

'I am nothing more than a whore Pocahontas…'

All these thoughts coursed throughout the native's mind as she shut her eyes to try and stop the tears from falling.

"We are here," John's voice snapped her out of her state as anger flared with in her being.

'How dare him!'

The voice screamed in her head as Pocahontas politely said goodbye to Gabriela as she exited the carriage. In the back seat, Pocahontas clenched her fists as John drove down the walkway.

"Do you want to go home now? I'm feeling a bit tired so I'm sure you must be as well."

John stated, not knowing how to break the awkward silence between him and his wife.

"I'm sure you are," Pocahontas snapped; but John didn't seem to notice as he kept the horses at a fast pace. The rest of the drive was silent as the man drove throughout the streets, keeping his blue eyes on the path in front of him. In the back, Pocahontas dug her nails in the palms of her hands, squeezing her eyes closed so he wouldn't see her cry.

'How can he betray me like this?'

She thought as John's voice called her out of her musings and she felt the cold air on her face.

"Come my love," John gently commanded as he took her hand and helped her down from the seat.

"Your love?"

Pocahontas snapped, snatching her hand from her husband's grip and taking a few steps back, "how dare you call me that!"

"Pocahontas, I can explain," John began but she hurriedly cut him off.

"Explain what John? How could you bed her and then come home and make love to me?"

At this question a look of shock and then realization crossed John's face, "Pocahontas I did not lay with her."

"You liar!"

Pocahontas yelled, uncaring of the tears of hurt and anger that were now streaming down her face, "Why did you give her gold if you did not sleep with her?"

"I had to give her something," John said, then realized how wrong it sounded, "That's not what I meant; she needed the gold…"

John didn't get to finish his explanation as Pocahontas slapped him hard across his face and whirled around and ran towards the house. John called after her; but she didn't listen as she pulled open the door and stormed in to the house. The young captain gingerly touched his cheek as he dropped his hand and slowly began to follow his wife. Sighing, the man more quietly opened the door and slipped inside.

"John?"

Alice's soft voice floated to her son's ears as he took off his boots in the hallway;

"What is the matter with Pocahontas? She was sobbing when she came in; she is up in your room if you wish to speak with her."

"She won't want to talk to me," John replied as he sighed once again.

"Why not?"

"It's a long story mother, it's a huge misunderstanding."

"Come," Alice invited, "sit down and we can talk about it."

John hadn't really spoken with his mother since he had arrived, and so he gladly smiled and joined her. John told the basic story, with out mentioning Gabriela's name. When he was finished, Alice briefly hugged her son.

"Sometimes, we do what we think is best and it doesn't turn out like how we want it to," Alice said, "Give her time to settle down, she is pregnant."

"What if she doesn't believe me?"

"Alice!"

Mother and son jumped at the sound of George's shout from up the stairs;

"Have faith my son," Alice said as she kissed his cheek and left the room.

'Faith.'

John thought as he yawned and walked upstairs to the room he was sharing with his wife. He quietly opened the door and slipped in, shutting it behind him after doing so. A small frown formed on his face as he gazed at his sleeping beloved, her cheeks tearstained and on the pillow. John dressed for bed and lay beside Pocahontas, gently stroking her dark hair. He laid his head next to her own as he drifted in to a restless slumber.

..-..--..---…---End Of Chapter 11...--..--..--..--.-.-

A/N: I hope you all liked this chapter, Please RR and tell me what you think! Ideas, suggestions, and thoughts and comments are always welcomed! I hope you all enjoyed it, thank you so much for reviewing; they really mean a lot!