Author's note: Hello, everyone, and thank you once again for reading my story and for leaving me so many nice reviews! You rock! Seriously!

Yesterday I finally wrote the ending of this story, so I'll be updating more frequently now...I'm not so sure about the next chapter though - I'm not going to tell you what it's about, but I'll tell you this much, I've never written anything like that so far, that's why I'm a little insecure about it (I've got to read it again before I'll post it and possibly re-write some passages) hence the shortness of this chapter. I hope you'll enjoy it nevertheless - Classic fluffiness :-) but don't get used to it, okay?

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She didn't know how she had managed to survive this day, being so close to him and not being able to touch him or tell him how much she had missed him. Maybe she could risk talking to him now, that virtually the whole ship lay asleep. Josephine silently got to her feet and crept over to the place were James lay sleeping. Her eyes fell on his face first and she could see the glint of his eyes in the dark. Apparently he wasn't ablt to sleep either.

Josephine just stood there for awhile frozen in place, then simply pointed upwards with her index finger, signalling him she would meet him on deck. She saw him nod in the darkness, then she quickly turned to go.

The young woman hesitantly stepped out on deck, which appeared to be completely deserted. She wanted to make absolutely sure nobody would overlook their meeting, so she made a point out of checking thoroughly. The feeling of anticipation that had been building up over past week increased her nervousness and when she saw in climb the stairs that let up on deck, it felt like her heart would stop.

He walked up to her, a shy half smile on his face and stopped when he was only a step away from her. They just stood there momentarily, taking in each others sight. She looked a little rougher around the edges than last time he had seen her. The childlike softness that her features had exhibited had vanished, this was the face of a woman. A woman who knew what hard work meant and how to stand on her own to feet. Her gaze was no longer evasive. She could look you straight in the eye without feeling shy, without having to hide who she was. She bore herself upright, with her chin held high.

"You've changed," he said simply as he traced her cheek with the back of his hand.

Josephine tilted her head a little to the left, savouring the feeling of his caress. Her features softened, melting back into an expression he was familiar with. "Now what am I to read into this?" she asked with a gentle smile on her lips.

"You must excuse my ineptness with words. What I intend to say was…," he laughed softly at his own inability of expressing himself. "You're beautiful."

"Why thank you," her voice was low, very sensual and seemed to penetrate him to the bone. Josephine approached him with a Cheshire-cat like grin on her face. Her boldness baffled him and he made a step back. His retreat was stopped by the railing against his back.

He was not used to women making such bold advances, much less did he expect her that behaviour from her in particular. She had shed the shyness she had initially shown in her behaviour towards him, which made him wonder just how much about her had changed.

"Josephine, what are you doing?" he spluttered nervously. She had come so close he could feel her body press against his, which did not exactly enhance his capability of expressing himself. It did however inspire a sudden rush of indecent thoughts.

"James," she looked at him innocently from underneath her lashes, "You said you didn't have your way with words, so would you please refrain from using them now?"

Somehow Josephine's teasing words and her sudden proximity triggered a response that came as surprising to him as was to her. He abruptly pulled her closer, now purely running on instinct. She let out tiny yelp of surprise, the smile on her face, however, remained in place the entire time. When they kissed there was a passion…an intensity she hadn't believed him capable of showing. Her capability of forming coherent thoughts immediately vanished when he deepened the kiss.

The taste of him…the feeling of his stubble that rubbed against her smooth skin…her breath accelerated and her heart started racing. A sudden feeling of ecstasy, a pleasant dizziness overpowered her, but she didn't care. More, just more… if only she could get more of this.. She pulled him closer and buried her head in the crook of his neck as he kissed her throat. Is this lust? Is this sin? If it was she didn't care. No cares…just those wonderful feelings his touch inspired in her. She wanted them never to end…everything else could vanish in oblivion…oblivion…sweet oblivion.

He ran his hands through her hair, then they trailed down to the back of her neck. Somehow he knew just where to touch her, how to make her skin tingle with just one caress. She didn't care that his hands were rough, she didn't care that they were situation was momentarily less than dire, as long as he kissed her.

When their lips finally separated they just stood there in each other's embrace, basking in the aftermath of their kiss. Her knees felt wobbly and she was glad she could lean on him for support. When she looked around she believed to perceive everything as through a haze. The lights were dimmed, the contours less sharp. As if the world was covered by a veil.

"You have no idea how much I've missed you," she said and was surprised to find her voice didn't sound like hers at all. It had a husky quality to it and was lower than she remembered.

"Darling," she liked the way this endearment sounded from his lips, "I missed you, too….more than I can tell," he stroked the back of her head.

"This is all so very strange," Josephine's voice was barely above a whisper, "…so very strange. The oddest time, the oddest place…it's like the darkest place a fairy tale could go, but perhaps we are lucky, since they usually end well."

"We can only hope it will," the glum tone in his voice made her look at him.

"You have to believe in it, want it, because if you don't…" her voice faded away. All she that she could cling to was the hope that someday they would have all those simple things that fate momentarily deprived them of – the time to get to know each other more thoroughly, the opportunity to discover whether he truly was the man she believed and wished him to be. But what sense would be in all of this if he didn't share her hopes, if he didn't at least believe that their story could possibly have a happy ending?

"Josephine…," the way he pronounced her name sounded almost like a sigh. It made her stiffen in his embrace. She disentangled herself and looked had him with a frown. "You have to understand….the things I wanted the most, I never got," James tried to explain.

"Perhaps you just did not want them enough," she looked at him with her chin raised stubbornly. He wasn't fooled by her façade. It didn't escape his notice, however much she tried to hide it from him, that underneath her determined exterior there was a lot of frailty.

"That can clearly not be the case this time," he admitted softly. He could see the astonished look in her eyes. Maybe he had been to frank. Maybe his words had taken her by surprise and maybe he had made a fool of himself. After all this was almost a confession of love. Almost…he had never told any woman – apart from his late mother, of course – that he loved her. He was not a person that said one thing and meant the other, which naturally didn't make him a popular guest at dinner parties. He was civil, but his civility didn't not include adulation. Since the need to confess his love to anyone had never overcome him, those words never needed to be uttered. Almost…almost a confession of love…the word repeated in his head. Not quite so far away from the actual thing…

Josephine was not taken aback, quite the contrary. She stretched out her hand to caress his cheek, but in mid movement she froze. For the fraction of a second a lifetime of etiquette resurfaced from her conscious, but it quickly submerged again, when she looked in his eyes. Reason had no saying in this. What she felt could not be controlled or corrected by any rules. There was nothing theoretical about it, it was very real. Her fingers lowered on his skin. It felt unusually warm under her hand or maybe it was her hand that was cold. A wistful smile delineated on her face, " I'm just afraid how much I want this. I'm afraid of what I might do to have it," her voice was barely above a whisper, almost drowned out by the discreet sound of the waves, but yet he managed to hear every single syllable with absolute clarity.