As she sat down on the side of the stairs, she started sobbing quietly to herself, covering her face by sobbing into her knees and crossing her arms around them. She heard footsteps approaching her and quickly she tried to wipe her tears away. The man went passed her and then turned around to look at her; it was Lovino.

"What's wrong? You're face looks terrible."

Seychelles unsure of what to say just stayed quiet. "Are you sure nothing's wrong?"

"Yes, I'm sure. It's nothing."

Lovino sighed and then stared up at the stairs above them, sighing, he stared back at her and took out a handkerchief, "You have a runny nose. Take this."

Taking the handkerchief. The girl wiped her eyes and then her nose, "Thanks, Lovino."

The Italian nodded and then looked around them; no one else was around, "Do you have some time right now?"

Seychelles nodded and the Italian took her hand leading her to the kitchen, which was below the deck and the captain's quarters. Right before her was a bunch of potatoes. "Help me peel them."

"Isn't this what Feliciano does though?"

"I figured I'd help him out a bit. So I'm here, now help." He said grabbing two stools for them to sit on. As Seychelles sat down and picked up a potato, she was handed a knife, and started peeling slowly; she had never peeled a potato with a knife before. There was silence between the two as they peeled until Lovino broke the silence, "Did you have a fight with the Captain or something?"

Seychelles felt her heart ache as she heard the question, "I wouldn't really call it an argument. He was just teasing me again."

She looked up at Lovino who was staring at her sympathetically, "Do you think Captain Francis is a heartless man?"

"Not really, but I think he is a womanizer. After stopping at that one port, I've realized he seems like a philanderer…" Seychelles paused and looked down attempting to peel the potato without cutting herself, "I mean, when I think about it, it feels like there are going to be woman problems at every port we dock at."

"The captain isn't sleeping around just because he enjoys it, you know."

Seychelles looked up, confused as the Italian continued, "Captain Francis only gets involved with women who are in unfortunate circumstances. Like women who have lost their parents, or women who have to raise a family because the father of their children ran off. When the captain goes to these ports he gives these women coins and jewels to help them."

Shocked from hearing this Seychelles paused from her peeling; was he really such a kind man? He always just appeared to sleeping around. She then sighed; she didn't fit into that category at all. Embarrassed that she had just thought of that she shook her head trying to shake the thought away.

"What's wrong?" Lovino asked, looking at her and then back down at the potato he was peeling.

"Nothing. Hey, Lovino?"

"Yes?"

"What does the leader of all pirates do?"

Lovino paused and then appeared to be thinking, "The leader of all pirates is kind of like the guardian of the ocean."

"How so?"

"You know the navy?"

"Yes, what about them?"

"Well, pirates and the navy have had a conflict for a while now. You've realized there are different kinds of pirates right?"

Seychelles nodded, this crew of pirates were very different than the one's she had met in the salon back home.

"Having a captain like ours as leader, who is strong, brave, and chivalrous keeps the other pirates from doing whatever they wish."

"Ah… Okay." Nodding at this thought, the girl sighed; the captain was chivalrous she supposed, he always helped those in need.

"Having a leader of pirates helps keep conflict away between pirates and the navy as well."

"That seems like such a burdensome and serious job though!" She blurted out, and Lovino shrugged, "Well, he's done well."

Seychelles nodded and then sighed again as she remembered what had happened between she and the captain; none of this had solved anything.

"What's wrong now?"

"Nothing. It's just that the captain always treats me like a child. I'm tired of it."

Lovino stared at the girl and then sighed, "Well, from what I've seen, you are special to the captain…"

"How so?"

"He's never allowed a female in his quarters. He's allowed women to see the ship while it's on the dock but when they ask to see his quarters he always says no. So for you to be staying in his quarters says something."

Seychelles nodded, "I guess so…"

"I don't think the captain's treating you lightly either, so don't think too much about it."

Nodding again, Lovino sighed at the girl and then placed the potato he had just finished peeling in the pile that was done. He stood up and appeared to be leaving; Seychelles was shocked, "Where are you going?"

"I'm done with my amount of peeling."

"Eh? So I have to finish the rest by myself?" She was appalled as the Italian nodded.

"I listened to you and gave you information, okay? You owe me, so just finish peeling."

Seychelles sighed and then pouted, "Fine. I hope you know you're really mean though."

The Italian chuckled, "I know. Now start peeling. I'll see you tomorrow." As he left, Seychelles sighed and started peeling the potatoes.

Was she really special to him? She felt like he treated her like a child or even like a daughter but no father she knew would touch their daughter in the way he touched her. She sighed continuing to peel the potatoes, it was tempting to just leave the potatoes and go to bed, but she felt obligated to finish since Lovino had helped her with her problem.

After what felt like two hours of constant peeling, Seychelles finally finished and put the last potato down; she was exhausted and tired. As she stood up, she heard the sound of something moving. Looking around the girl saw nothing, "Lovino is that you?"

She continued to hear the sound, but no actual speaking response. Listening carefully she found that the noise was coming from the pantry. Was it a person who had come on board the ship secretly? Picking up a bigger knife, the girl mustered up the courage to open the pantry door. Inside, she found two large rats scurrying across the floor. Shrieking as she saw them leave the pantry and enter the kitchen where she was, she jumped on one of the stools in fear that they would come near her. She could hear them squeaking and they scared her. Seychelles quickly jumped down from the stool and opened the door to leave the kitchen. Thankfully the rats didn't follow her and she closed the door after herself just as fast as she had opened it. Her heart was pounding and she could feel the adrenaline rushing to her brain.

Running up the stairs she found herself on the deck; it was pitch black outside besides for the stars in the sky. She took a deep breath trying to calm herself down; should she wake Lovino up and tell him about the rats? Perhaps she shouldn't she thought and looked down to find that she still had the large kitchen knife in her right hand. As she was about to go down the stairs to put the knife back despite her fear of rats, she heard her name being called; it was the captain. She turned around to find him staring at her wide-eyed as he quickly approached her; she could smell the alcohol on him and she wanted to quickly turn the other way and run.

"What are you doing?" He exclaimed, horrified.

"I'm going back downstairs. Why?"

"Don't do it. Don't kill yourself…"

Seychelles looked at the man confused at what he was saying and then realized what he was looking at, "Captain, you're mis-"

"I'm sorry." He continued; his face was flustered and Seychelles wondered if the man had been drinking more than usual.

"For what?"

"For treating you like a child… I won't tease you anymore, okay? So please put the knife down. Please don't hurt yourself!"

"Captain, please," Seychelles sighed exasperated and tired, "you're really misunderstanding the situation!"

"No, I'm not! You're doing this because of your feelings for me, right?"

"Captain, please stop. Just list-"

"I'm sorry, I should have taken your feelings more seriously! I promise you, I'll give up women from my life except for you! I'll even give up alcohol!"

"Captain!" She screamed, frustrated at the man more than anything else for not listening, "You're really misunderstanding the situation! I ran up here with a knife because there are rats downstairs in the kitchen and I thought it was someone who had snuck on board the ship!"

"Eh?" Francis paused confused and then covered half his face with his hand in embarrassment, "Rats, you say? Here, at least put the knife down. I don't feel comfortable with you holding it."

Seychelles nodded at the man, placing the knife down, he sighed in relief and then started to laugh, "Why am I not surprised you're scared of rats!"

Putting her hands on her hips, she frowned at the man, "Well I thought someone had snuck on board, as I said before!"

"Well, thankfully what snuck on board was just rats so you needn't worry. Thank you for being brave, Sesel, but honestly," he sucked in a deep breath of air and then exhaled, "call one of us next time that happens… All right?"

Seychelles nodded. The tall blonde Frenchman picked up the knife from the floor and then went downstairs to put the knife away. Seychelles heard the man come back up the stairs and then turned to find him close to her, he had put his hand around her waist, and was moving them toward his quarters again; it felt like the time was later than midnight, and she was exhausted. She chuckled as they went inside the room, "So, are you really going to give up women and alcohol?"

Francis's eyes widened in shock, "I only said that because I thought you were trying to kill yourself, if I had known it was just a rat problem, I wouldn't have said that!"

"It's not my fault that you said that without listening to what I had to say. So, are you going to give them up?"

Frustrated and trying to find a way around his promise, he sighed defeated by his own words, and the girl grinned. He frowned and looked at her, "Can I at least drink still?"

Seychelles sighed, feeling bad for him, "I suppose so."

Grinning from ear to ear, the Frenchman smiled and then sat down at the desk again picking up a glass and filling it up again to drink. Seychelles sighed, deciding it was best that she just go to sleep, and went to the chest to pick up her nightshirt and changed. As she climbed into the bed she looked up to find the captain staring at her. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing… Why?"

"You're staring again…" She said propping herself up with one arm to look at him. He sighed and stood up from the desk and started to undress, and Seychelles closed her eyes and turned the opposite direction so she wouldn't see anything. She felt the man climb into the bed next to her and heard and felt the movement of the sheets as they went back over both of them. Seychelles shivered as she felt the cool wave of air hit her body from the sheets being removed and then placed back on.

Feeling a hand pull her closer to the middle of the bed, she sighed and turned around to face the chest of the Frenchman. She felt the man move his hand from her back to her waist and then to her thigh, and grabbing her thigh, he pulled it closer to him so that one of her legs was on top of his. Seychelles was shocked since he never did this to her, in fact the only reason her legs were usually on top of his was because she would move into that position in her sleep. Looking up at the man, she saw him smile gently at her, "Go to sleep, Sesel… Everything will be alright."

Seychelles closed her eyes as she was told, and slowly dozed off.

Well, sorry it has taken so long. I hope you enjoyed this chapter... Please continue to read!