New York, 10th of June 2013

With a pounding head, a dehydrated feeling and a dryness in her throat, Katherine lay face down in her bed for a brief moment. She shouldn't have insisted on more drinks when Edward brought her home, he did advise against it but judging by her current state, she clearly had gotten her way. At least I'm not so piss drunk that I can't remember anything, she said to herself as she pulled the blanket over her head. Groaning and turning on her side, she noted that the curtains were still closed and for that was glad, she had always been adverse to bright light when she was hungover.

There were noises from outside her bedroom and the smell of burning. Slowly rising with her blanket wrapped around her, she stumbled out the door to investigate. She stuck her head out from around the corner, seeing Edward fiddling with things in the kitchen. As quick as a hungover person could, she pulled her head back moved herself from his view. Shit, shit, shit, shit, I have to talk to him. To her friends and her family, Katherine was known as a very friendly drunk, one who tended to spill her deepest darkest secrets to strangers quite happily when intoxicated. From what she remembered last night, the more she drank, the more she told him that she loved his face. She may have even gone so far as to caress his beard. Going red at the mere thought of her actions, Katherine scolded herself, no more getting drunk around pirates.

Summoning courage and dismissing her shame, Katherine strolled into the kitchen with a yawn. She decided upon two things in that moment - one being that she 'forgot' last night and the other being that she would try to act as she walked, casually. Edward, however, grinned wolfishly and made her feel unsettled, "Morning, lass. How's the hangover?"

"Laugh it up, pirate." She scrunched up her nose as she took a seat at the counter, "Why do I smell burning?"

"Interesting story, you see, I figured out this machine of yours. There were... some difficulties along the way but I figured it out. Very strange thing this is, I didn't think turning something would start a fire so quickly. I could have used this device in battle, it's much more useful than fire barrels."

"A stove is you new weapon of choice?" Katherine's head pounded even more when she started to laugh and yet she couldn't stop, "This is gold! I love how serious you are about this."

"Ah, yes, speaking of love. Tell me, Kat, do you still love my face as much as you did last night?" He smirked as he passed her a plate of burnt bacon and two slices of plain bread causing her laughter to cease as stared at the meal. It struck her that Edward now had leverage over her, for all times she made fun of him, he could now make fun of her. At least she had a proper answer to why the house smelt like fire, she thought as she kept her eyes on the nearly black pieces of bacon.

"What do you mean, 'do you still love my face as much as you did last night?', as you saw - I was hammered, I don't remember a thing from last night. Also, when did you start calling me Kat?"

Edward had been calling her Kat since last night, when she drunkenly told him to call her whatever he liked.

"Such a shame! What fun we had, we drank and shared stories, you told me you loved my face. Thank you, by the way. I believe I started calling you 'Kat' when you whispered in my ear 'to call you whatever you liked.'"

Katherine wanted to cringe but laughter escaped her lips instead when Edward's voice changed as he mimicked her. She leant on her hand and bit down on her lip as he turned around to get something from her refrigerator, staring at him as if he was a window and she was in a classroom. Edward had protected her last night, brought her home safely and put her to sleep without any ulterior motive. Now he had even tried to make breakfast. Katherine was twenty-three years old but perhaps her inner schoolgirl, which was normally completely dormant, was getting the worst of her. She would be lying if she didn't admit to liking him just the slightest bit.

"I don't remember doing that at all." She muttered.

Too tired to say anything more, silence filled the room shortly afterwards as Edward took a seat beside her. From the corner of her eye, Katherine could see Edward smirking as he ate. Taking a daring bite from the burnt bacon, she instantly recoiled as if hit. The crunch of the food in her mouth broke the silence between the two of them and she looked at Edward with wide eyes, reluctantly swallowing down the food. He laughed at her again and as he did so, she let her gaze fall upon him. He did have a comely face, she thought, one that he liked stuff with terrible food apparently.

With his mouth full, Edward pointed at her plate. "Are you going to eat that, lass?"

Shaking her head and pushing her plate towards him, she chuckled when he grabbed it swiftly and began wolfing down the food. Odd, routine demanded that they butt heads by now but this morning had been decent, almost natural and peaceful. It wasn't long before whatever peace they had was quickly disturbed by the loud sound of her phone vibrating, making Edward jump in his seat at the sudden sound. Katherine rose and ran to her charger in the lounge room, pulling her phone off and looking at the name lighting up her screen. She huffed, James McCreary, her boss with a superiority complex was calling.

"Katherine! You haven't been answering my calls, I thought something might have happened to you. I'm glad I could get you now, we need to touch base on a few things."

"Hi, James. Yes, I am so sorry about that." She looked at Edward staring at her and put her hand up, signalling for him to stay as she lowered her voice, "Things have been crazy as of lately."

"I imagine so, your article was due in a few days ago. I hadn't heard from you so I used Scott's instead. What's happening, Katherine? Things may be 'crazy' for you but it doesn't excuse laziness or slacking off."

Katherine rolled her eyes at the man's tone, finding herself getting angry with his words. She marched off to her bedroom, closing her door behind her and replied to the man. "My... boyfriend actually had a terrible accident, he was sailing with his friends during the storm and hurt himself. I've been tending to him since then, sorry that I didn't call - I was his emergency contact so I've been in and out of the hospital and looking after him."

"I'm sorry to hear that, Katherine. I really hate to be the bearer of more bad news but I can't keep someone on the payroll if they haven't been working as of recently. Unless you can get me a piece in a weeks' time, I'm afraid there will be consequences."

"Sir, I can get you a piece by then. I know I can, I promise."

He doubted her, "Are you sure, Katherine? Perhaps some time off is what you need."

"No, I can get you an article by then."

"Well, good. I would hate to see you go," Liar, she thought. "I'll see you at the office on Monday then."

Hitting the screen violently after she said her goodbyes, Katherine collapsed on her bed. There was no time to write an article, not with Edward around and not when they needed to solve this whole thing he brought with him. She couldn't lose her job though, not now, she needed it and the money it brought in. She had to write a new article, something that would get her enough recognition so she could quit and do what she loved in a better atmosphere. It may have been the hangover but Katherine wanted to cry, she wanted to pass all her troubles onto another person and she wanted normality.


Edward could hear the muffled words coming from Katherine's room, her house was so quite that he could even make out of her words. It was a different environment for him or at least, different from his recent lifestyle. He half expected to hear the growls of drunken men or the sining of shanties by his crew, he expected to see dancers calling out his name and his friends roaring with laughter at their table in the Old Avery Tavern. Edward had forgotten what it was like to live with a woman in a house. Of course, Katherine was different to Caroline. She was headstrong and angry but sweet and helpful at the same time. It was safe to say that the woman was an enigma, albeit a pretty one.

He could hear Katherine's voice rising and the annoyance in her tone. Quickly rising to see what was happening, he knocked at her door. There was a muffled response which he assumed was Katherine allowing him in. Edward chuckled at the woman before him, Katherine was sprawled out on her bed with her bed buried in her pillow. He stood at the end of her bed, crossing his arms and laughing at her. "Oh, no. What's happened, lass?"

"Nothing," She groaned as she got up and positioned herself at the end of her bed. She looked up at him, sitting like a child with her legs crossed. "My boss is being a prick, as usual. I had to hand in an article but since you've been here, I've been distracted. Now I have to get one in next week or else I'm fired."

His smile fell as he felt an anger rising within him, "Fired? Who is this man that means to shoot you?"

Katherine smiled sympathetically, "No, Edward. He'll take away my job and then we won't be able to eat like we do and we'll have to bathe in cold water. If I lose my job, I might even lose the house eventually. No one is going to shoot me."

Although he was glad that she would be safe, Edward felt a pang of guilt as he sat down beside her on the bed. He didn't intend on having such a profound effect on her life, he merely wanted her help and then to begone. He felt angry with himself for not realising sooner that his goals would take time to achieve, he was stuck with Katherine until then and couldn't have her being upset or not wanting to help him. A part of him even hated the thought of her living in such a state, he didn't want her to be unhappy. No, he didn't want that nor did he want to be see as a burden to her, he had to rectify everything.

"This is my fault..."

"Don't be stupid" To his surprise, Edward felt a nudge at his shoulder and turned to face Katherine with a confused look upon his face. She smiled warmly at him, "It isn't your fault. I admit to being slack and lazy, having you around has been... Interesting. Interesting and distracting."

Chuckling at her response, a smile tugged at his lips. "You've been quite interesting yourself, lass."

"Me? No. I'm ordinary, you're... You're a pirate from another century, another world. You become a great man and your life, your life is quite the story. Edward, you're... something else. I've never met a person like you before, not from my world, at least and knowing what I know, I can tell you that I am not interesting. Not when I'm sitting next to you."

His face softened, "What happens in my life that makes me so interesting?"

Edward swore that he saw a flash of sadness in her eyes, a quick glimmer that revealed nothing and everything at the same time. Katherine offered him a small smile and gave his hand a squeeze, "Lots of things, Edward but I think we can talk about that another day."

When he did speak, his voice was riddled with confusion but it was softer tone, "How is it that you know everything about me and I know nothing about you?"

A soft laugh was what escaped her lips, "I don't know but I guess it's only fair that you get to find out as much as I did. What do you want to know about me?"

Edward felt the bed shift as she moved back towards the head of the bed, resting with her back against a pillow and patting the other side of the bed. In another world perhaps he would have done more than just sit beside her but the woman was a curious subject, someone who knew all about his life and was willing to share hers with him. She was the only person he knew in this world and yet he didn't know her at all. As he moved beside her, Edward sat as she did before with his legs crossed and turned to face her.

"Let's start from the beginning then, shall we? Your name would be nice, I know you can't just be Katherine."

"Of course, I'm Katherine Elizabeth Vane. A pleasure to make your acquaintance, Mr. Kenway."

"Vane?" He barked with laughter, "Any relation to Charles? I don't suppose that's why you're so angry all the time?"

She hit his arm lightly and laughed, "No! At least, I don't think I'm related to him."

"Alright. Where's your family?"

"My parents don't actually live that far away, my brother is currently in Chicago though. But yeah, we're all around, New York born and raised. Love them all the death."

"No partner? What about that man of yours?" He smirked.

She grinned, "Actually, I made him up because I thought you might be some strange serial killer. I was wrong. You're not too bad."

"Strange?" He chuckled, "At least I'm not like the Captain Sparrow. Have you seen him? I don't know whether I want to shake his hand or smash a bottle on his head."

Katherine started laughing hysterically, "When did you see Pirates of the Caribbean? How good is it?"

"Yesterday and I'll admit, it was quite decent." He smiled at her proudly, "You know, I am a pirate of the Caribbean myself. Well, not now but I was."

For the rest of the morning and a good part of the day, the two of them sat there on the bed talking and laughing and getting to know each other better. Edward enjoyed Katherine's company, she reminded him of his home. She was angry like Vane, drunk like Rackham, wild like Thatch, wise like Hornigold and a good person like Kidd. In truth, spending time with her like this made him feel as if he hadn't fallen into another world. It made him feel like he was where he belonged and whether or not it was because of the similarities she shared with his friends or because he was starting to care for the woman, he did not know. What he did know was that he was glad that of all the people to find him, it was Katherine.


A/N: Thank you for all the lovely lovely reviews, follows and favourites - Your support is absolutely amazing! We've been absolutely terrible with replying to reviews (Level 100 Procrastinators right here) but know that we appreciate every one of them immensely! You guys are the best! x