"How much longer until two?" Emil asked, for the third time in the last twenty minutes.
Jo bit her tongue and held back a sigh. "Still about one and a half hours. Uncle Fritz will be back then. What else do you want to do?" The girls hadn't wanted to play soldiers for long, and the boys got bored with fairies because they hadn't enough hair to braid. Wrapping curtain skirts around their waists had barely occupied them for long enough to finish braiding Minnie's hair. Jo was running out of ideas for the four restless children.
"Pirates!" Kitty sat up. "Let's play pirates!"
Emil brightened up at once. "Ja!"
"Alright," Jo stood up and brushed off her skirts. "Who is the captain?"
"Me me!"
"I'm the oldest," Franz protested. "Shouldn't it be me?"
"If we're talking oldest, then technically I'd be captain," Jo pointed out.
"I shall be captain, and since you are so good with numbers you are my navigator," Emil proposed. Franz agreed to that. "And the enemy ship will be manned by the girls."
"No! I want to be the parrot." Minnie crossed her arms.
"And I don't want to play swords," Kitty admitted.
Franz thought that over and came up with another compromise. "Well, someone could man the cannon," he pointed to the couch strewn with throw pillows. "And Minnie will be a very smart bird." Kitty climbed onto the couch and began to stack the 'cannonballs' in preparation.
"Then who will we fight?" Emil complained. "We can't just sail the ship and nothing else."
"Hm..." Jo tapped her foot. "Four against one doesn't seem fair."
"Our bird doesn't fight," Franz assured her.
"Three against one? I suppose I could manage that." Jo picked up one of the broken broom handles the boys had found deep in a closet and now used as swords. "I am the captain of the enemy ship!"
"And you want to steal our cargo!" Franz took up a sword of his own and brandished it in a manner he thought quite impressive.
"Wait," Emil said, "Miss Jo's dress will get in the way."
Jo shrugged. "I really can't wear anything else. I shall have to deal with my skirts."
"Can't you wear pants, like us?"
"...That is a loaded question. It's not... commonplace for women to wear pants. It might scandalize some of the older folks here if they knew. Besides, I have a pair of pants that used to be Laurie's but I have nothing to wear them with." She certainly hadn't packed any of the shirts from the attic, moth-eaten as they were now. Besides, she really shouldn't. She was just starting to become better acquainted with many of the folks here, to risk being looked down upon...
"I know," Franz ran from the parlor, and Jo could hear him rummaging around the den of a room they shared with their uncle. He came back with one of Friedrich's shirts held triumphantly over his head. "There we go! Now you can be a proper pirate."
Jo's first instinct was to turn him down. What if someone else did see this dress-up game? They likely wouldn't be very pleased. But... it brought her back to those days in the attic when she could wear anything. She could be Rodrigo, or the murderous countess, or a wood spirit.
"Alright. I will. But you must promise not to tell anyone, or they shall laugh at me..."
As Friedrich ascended the stairs, he heard laughter coming from the room. "Man down!" yelled Jo. "I got you!"
He grinned, standing in the doorway now and quietly pushing the door wider to witness the dramatic scene. A pillow was hurled across the room, and Emil ducked to avoid it. "Kitty, you have to get Miss Jo, not me!"
"Sorry," Kitty said from her perch on the couch. "My aim was off."
"It's fine. We will avenge our fallen brother!" With that heroic declaration, Emil leaped over Franz, who lay on the floor pretending to be dead, and charged.
His broom handle met another with a loud clack, and Jo laughed. The pieces of wood swished through the air at frightening speeds. Friedrich pushed the door open a little wider to see the fight better, and raised his eyebrows. His neighbor was wearing a pair of black pants that seemed to fit her well except for being a tad short on her long legs. And with them, a shirt that was too big for her, but the overly big sleeves seemed to fit the occasion. Her hair was falling out of its pins somewhat. If he just pulled off the ribbon, it would cascade down her back. Jo was slowly but surely backing her opponent into the wall, until she had her sword leveled at his throat.
"Any last words?"
"I did not know you fenced, Mees Marsch," Friedrich said. Jo whirled around in shock, her eyes going wide. Her face immediately started burning red.
"Mr. Bhaer, I- this isn't what it looks like."
"It looks like a swordfight."
"That you're about to lose!" cried Emil, taking the opportunity to strike his opponent right between the ribs.
"Oh!" Miss Jo gasped, clutching the 'stab wound' in such a realistic way that Friedrich took several steps forward out of concern. "Alas! My story ends here, in such a tragical way! Beaten by a foe I severely underestimated; Pride cometh before the fall!" She crumpled to the ground dramatically, with some pathetic coughs as finishing touches. Her eyes closed, and it was over.
"We win!" Emil cheered, helping Franz up. Minnie squawked, flapping her arms. Franz handed her a cracker.
"Ah, the game is pirates, I see," Mr. Bhaer held out a hand to Jo to help her up. "Four against one doesn't seem fair."
"Our parrot doesn't fight," Franz said. "She is a peaceful bird and we give her crackers."
"I almost won that," Jo said, hesitantly taking Friedrich's hand. Her smile faltered. "I'm sorry, sir."
"Sorry for what?" he pulled her up and clasped both of her hands in his. He glanced down and his brow furrowed. "Is that my shirt?"
Jo looked more flustered than he had ever seen her. She couldn't quite meet his gaze. "Yes. I'm sorry. I know it's dreadful-"
"It's alright." He privately very much enjoyed the sight for reasons he couldn't quite pin down. It confused him. "I imagine you needed something to go with the pants."
"Really? You don't think it's awful to be wearing these? My Aunt March would strangle me if she knew I still did this." Jo prattled on nervously, unsure of how to get herself to stop.
"You look wonderful. And thank you much for keeping the boys busy while I was gone, you are... how do you say?"
Jo shrugged. She very much wanted to know what the word was, but the English translation would not come to his mind.
"It was my pleasure," Jo said. Her usual smile returned to her face. "I will give this back, I should change," Jo said, realizing how long she had been standing there, clasping his hands. She tried to turn fast enough to hide her flushed face but failed. "I should change," she said again, feeling a little sad that the game was over.
"You may keep that shirt for the next time if you would like," the professor suggested.
"Really? Thank you! I will give it back eventually. When Emil moves away from his pirate phase."
"Sounds like a plan."
It occurred to him when she had gone home to her sisters and the Laurence boy that she had never given it back to him. He didn't mind all that much. A foolish part of him thought it might keep her from forgetting about him too quickly.
"I see thou hast stolen another, Professorin?" Jo felt her husband wrap his arms around her from behind. His sleepy voice rumbled in her ear. "When does this end? If thou steal away all of my shirts what am I to wear?"
"Perhaps that's the point," she smiled, reaching back to run her fingers through his curls.
"There are easier ways to see thine own husband, ask and thou shall receive."
"Fine, I'll give most of them back."
"Most?"
"Well, Emil isn't past pirates yet, is he? So that one is still mine."
Friedrich sighed, pressing a kiss to the back of her neck. "I suppose thou art right, a promise is a promise. Now, will my wife come back to bed with me?"
"Only if I get to steal this one," Jo tugged lightly on the collar of the shirt he was wearing. "Just for a half hour though."
"Deal."
