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Thanks to Stephenie Meyer who owns all things Twilight. I'm just here for the free food.

I hadn't seen such a beautiful day on the sea in a long time. Was it because of the sun? Or the salty wind? No. It was because Bella Swan was leaning against the banister next to me enjoying the day just as much as I was.

It was right after sunrise that I saw her coming up on deck and she didn't look to steady. We had set sail the day before with the tide and the first night had gone well; a good omen for the upcoming journey. I was just finishing up with my first duties of the morning and I quickly ran over and around the supplies and equipment lying all over the deck to her side.

"Is everything alright?" I quickly asked when I saw the look on her face. She was a shade closer to green than the pure and perfect white she had been yesterday.

"I will be fine as soon as I can get a breath of fresh air and some sunshine on my skin. I'm afraid I don't have my...what don't I have?"

"Sea legs?" She seemed to be getting less coherent and I saw a look I had seen many times before. I gently took her around her waist and as soon as I did she began to double over. I easily lifted her tiny frame up as she went completely weak. I took her over to the side of the ship. I set her down quickly and just in time for her to lean over the banister and empty her stomach. I held her waist with one arm and grabbed a mostly clean rag out of my pocket with the other hand. When she stood up I handed her the rag to wipe her mouth and directed her to a good spot to sit down.

"Sea legs. That's it; I guess I forgot to pack mine. Haha." She weakly laughed at herself.
"Don't move, just sit here and breathe. I'm just going to go grab a pint of water for you."

"I don't think I could move if I had too."

When I returned she greedily drank all of the water I gave her and then just sat there for a minute with her face towards the sun. I couldn't help chuckling to myself a little. She was not at all embarrassed by what had happened. Most ladies were mortified when they were seasick and treated me like I had somehow caused it. I cautiously took a seat just a few feet away from her.

"Where are you from? I can see that you are not English by birth. How did you come to get on this ship? How long have you been a sailor?" Wow, she had a lot of questions. I hardly knew how to react. I wasn't used to someone showing this must interest in me.

"You are very perceptive."

"That doesn't answer my questions."

"Well, how about a proper introduction first?" I realized she didn't even know my name yet. So far all of our encounters had been less than ideal. When I pointed out our lack of social graces she immediately flushed and looked down.

"I'm so sorry, I'm Bella Swan of London, and I am pleased to meet you."

"I am Michael Newton of Southhamptonshire, England by way of Cherbourgh, France and Virginia." She stared at me with wide brown eyes and I could see a gleam of understanding hit her followed by confusion and a mix of...interest? She was obviously working through something in her mind and I would just love to have been able to see what she was guessing about my past and all the places I have been. What she said next was unexpected but not surprising.

"I think your friend over there is upset. She won't stop staring at me." I whipped my head around and saw Jessica standing at the stern with two pints of ale in one hand and a small loaf of bread in the other. We usually had a mid-morning meal together on the deck after our chores and she was obviously upset by the presence of Bella. I was beginning to become very annoyed with her ever present - presence. She was like a thick fog that surrounds you and makes it hard to see the stars or the water around you; she lays rocky little islands all around and you never know when you might run headlong into one. Jessica gave me a scowl, turned on her heels and walked away. I would have to be careful not to step on her toes too much if the next few months were going to be at all bearable.

"She is Jessica - the kitchen maid, her father is also on the ship and we have pretty much been raised here as sister and brother." I wanted to make that clear; there was nothing between us other than that.

"How interesting, to be raised on ship. The captain's name is Newton..." She was making the connection.

"He is my father." Bella turned to look at me straight on. The sun was now fully over the horizon and directly behind her head. Her hair was mostly loose and the light streaming through made her look like a goddess from the sea come to take me to heaven. I was in awe of her beauty and completely smitten.

"How?" How could I explain that my life was an ever-present reminder of my father's loneliness, failure, and self-loathing? I didn't want to explain something so ugly to a creature so delicate. I could feel the wind picking up and I knew we would need to adjust the sails. I saw Mr. Stanley come around the starboard side of the ship. I quickly scooted away from Bella; I didn't want to appear that I was consorting with the passengers. It was against the rules; well, against my father's rules.

"Miss Swan, what are you doing above decks so early? Is this boy bothering you?" Mr. Stanley came over and roughly lifted me to my feet by the back of my shirt and collar.

"No, no, he was quite helpful. I've had a rough spell of seasickness and he attended to me quite graciously. Thank you Michael." Bella looked to Mr. Stanley and then back to me and could immediately comprehend the awkwardness of the situation. "Mr. Stanley, would you please accompany me back to my quarters? My father will be looking for me." With that she took his arm and walked away. As enraptured as I was by her presence I was glad to be free for the moment to think. I quickly climbed the mast and was scurrying around the rigging. I knew this. I knew every knot on this ship, every seam in the sails, and every joint in the planks. What I didn't know was kindness and friendship and I think that is what I had just encountered. My heart felt like it would burst. As I reached the top of the mast I hooked my foot around a rope and pushed off swinging over the port side of the ship. I felt free and it was up here that I felt like my heart had room to burst forth from chest. In 17 years I had never had a mother, a father, or true friend. This small conversation with Bella had twisted and squeezed my heart into a place I didn't know existed in my body.

xxx

There was about an hour of sunlight left when I found Bella on the deck again. She was right at the bow of the ship leaning into the wind as it carried us further and further west. I couldn't understand how she was so brave on this ship considering she had been so ill just this morning. I walked up behind her tentatively and said, "Hello Miss Swan." She quickly turned to see who was behind her, she had been deep in thought and I could see that I had broken her concentration.

"Good Evening Mr. Newton." That seemed strange; I don't believe I had ever been referred to as Mister.

"It's not yet Twilight Miss Swan."

"It will be soon enough. It comes quickly at sea and only lasts for a moment." She was staring right into my eyes. As though she could reach into my body, take out my soul and inspect every part of it. I considered what would be there for her to see and it was very plain, boring. She turned back to look over the sea. I glanced over my shoulder to see if anyone noticed us up here then I stepped closer to her. I could smell her on the wind as it sailed past her hair.

"How has your first full day at sea been? We are making excellent time and if the weather is with us we should arrive to Plymouth before autumn sets in."

"Well, I have been a bit queasy, but since this morning no more, um, incidents." She seemed proud of herself for this accomplishment and her slight, shy, smile drew me in and I was proud too. I barely knew her yet I felt like I could tell her anything. "So Michael," Had my name always sounded like that? Like a musical instrument? "we never got to finish our conversation from this morning."

"True. How about a deal, I'll answer a question if you will answer a question?" I fully expected her to slap me, or turn away angry and leave me alone on the deck. How dare I ask her for anything? I am common and she is royal, I should be laying out a velvet carpet for her dainty feet, plucking a thousand geese for the softest down bed where she could lay her head, fattening the sweetest young calf for her to eat the sweetest meats. But she didn't, she looked up into my face.

"Agreed. Only if I get to go first - Why is the captain's son scrubbing the deck and coiling ropes?"

"Fair enough. My father and I don't talk much, he doesn't like to see me or be close. I remind him too much of my mother and he says that my skin, well, I frighten the passengers."

"I'm not frightened. Where is your mother is she on the ship as well?"

"That's two questions, now it's my turn. Why in all of God's beautiful creations would you leave a civilized nation to go scrape your living out in the colonies?" She sighed and looked back over the water. I could tell this was a difficult topic for her and I hoped that I hadn't upset her. "I am sorry, I had no right to ask that."

"No, no, I want to tell you Michael. My mother was not as, responsible, as one would like. She could never sit still and life as a pastor's wife and a mother never suited her. She left a note for my father saying that she loved us and that she had to leave and we should consider her dead. The shame was awful, but the pain, my father was so tortured. He was a broken man. Nothing like that had ever happened to anyone we knew of. That was two years ago. About two months ago, he decided we needed a change and met with some men from the Virginia charter company. He quickly signed on to be a pastor in the colonies to try and keep the people there godly so they could prosper and bring profit to the company. So here we are now, sailing to a land I've never seen before and I'll never see the only home I've ever known, ever again." I could see the weight this was on her and she seemed to stoop under it. If there was anyway I could lift that weight, I prayed that I would be able to lift that burden from her heart.

"Hurit."

"What?" Bella looked confused. She broke the blank stare she had over the water and looked back up at me. I slipped my hand around hers and gently ran her fingers along the outside ridges of the banister on the bow. In it I had carved my mother's true name so that it would always be above the French name painted on the side of the ship.

"Hurit was my mother's name. She was an Algonquin princess. She and my father met when he sailed to Virginia to take people and supplies to Jamestown. She, along with others, helped them survive those first few months. She and my father fell in love, or something like it. They married in Jamestown and she came back to England with him. She was pregnant before they had even left. By the time they got to England she was getting pretty far along in the pregnancy. My father was not a captain yet and he only had a small room above a shop in the streets just beyond the shipyards. He won't speak of her much so I don't really know much, except that she died in childbirth and he was left with me, and no wife. He was also a broken man. He couldn't stay in England so he took me and the little money he had been able to save and moved to Cherbourg France. He left me with an old woman most of the time and worked his way up in the shipping business there. He was driven. He didn't care about anything but succeeding. He eventually bought this ship when I was about 5 and it has been all I have ever known since. Hurit means beauty in my mother's language, so my father named the ship after her in French. La Belle, much like you, Bella." I looked at her and she had tears in her eyes. I had upset her and I was immediately angry with myself. "I am so sorry for upsetting you, I shouldn't have… I'm sorry."

"How could you be sorry? I am not upset at you; I am upset for you. We don't get to choose our parents or the circumstances of our lives. All we can do is cling to the small parts we can control and do the best we can with the rest." The resolve in her voice was surprising. She was saying this to herself as much as she was saying it to me. Here we were, two misfits in completely different ways finding common ground in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean.

In case anyone cares, I was litening to Regina Spektor "Hotel Song" on repeat. Please review, review, review, I would love to see what you are all thinking. People all over the world are reading this funny little story now and I would love to know what you all think of my first attempt at writing.