Once again Sinbad found himself in front of Maeve's cabin door in the middle of the night. He touched the wood of the door with the palm of his hand, hoping that he would somehow get a sense of what was going on in that room. The grains of the wood felt rough under his hand, telling him nothing but that the door could use a good sanding.

As if on its own accord, the door opened under his hand. He just needed to see her, just for a second, he wouldn't even wake her-

"Hi," Maeve said to the dark figure in her doorway, barely outlined by the lantern in the hallway. "Couldn't sleep?"

Sinbad hesitated, he knew he shouldn't be here, her good name meant a lot to her but at the same time he needed her more than ever right now.

"You'd better come in and close the door, we've caused quite enough talk today, haven't we?" Maeve said, getting up out of bed to light the lantern in her room.

Sinbad did as she asked but then stood with his back against the door, just watching her as she stepped back into bed, pulling the covers over her to keep from getting cold. She lay down on her side, scooted all the way back into her bed so her back leaned against the wall. She rested her head upon one hand and patted her other on the space she had created for him.

He sat down where she had indicated but still no words poured forth.

On the other side of that same wall Bryn was sleeping peacefully when her door opened as well. Doubar woke her with a soft kiss and before she had all her wits together, scrambled by sleep and kisses, explained why he was there.

"Sinbad just went in Maeve's cabin," he said. Bryn blinked as Firouz, Rongar and even Ahmad tip-toed into her room. The four men all put cone-shaped devices against the wall and pressed their ear against them.

"But… You can't…" Bryn muttered, still trying to figure out what was going on.

"Don't worry love, got one for you as well," Doubar said, pressing one of the listening devices into her hand.

"They work on the bases of-" Firouz started an explanation on the inner-workings of his latest invention, but was quickly shushed by his friends who had other things in mind to listen to.

Maeve recognised that Sinbad had done a brave thing today in telling the whole world that he loved her but figured that the fear would not simply disappear just because he had faced it. She longed to set him at his ease, to be his touch-stone.

"I couldn't sleep either, it was a big day today…" she started. "I was thinking about home… We used to have dances there as well. I remember a dance in summer, not long after I flowered," she looked little embarrassed to say that but didn't know how to put it any other way. "They were playing a reel and I just kicked my shoes off and jumped in between the dancers and started dancing- if you could even call it that. I remember the feeling so clearly; I just let the music move me, I let the ground beneath me support me. I remember laughing. And afterwards there was the admiration. Suddenly boys I had been playing with all my life, men who had minded me as a child, they didn't look at me the same way anymore. I loved that feeling- like I had discovered a secret power, like I was finally completely alive. Of course as I grew older I learned the downsides but I never forgot that one pure moment of dancing all alone, completely open to the world. And then you were there and you took my hand and it felt like, from that one moment of dancing alone on, I had been looking for you. I love you Sinbad," Maeve said, her eyes shining with tears.

"Maeve," he said in a reverential whisper. He leaned forward, kissed the tears off of her cheeks, kissed her eyelids and her lips before leaning his forehead against hers. "I'm so afraid to lose you." His voice broke as he finally put into words what had been plaguing him.

Maeve didn't know what to say as her heart went out to him so she wrapped him in a tight embrace, trying to give him all the comfort she had to give. She couldn't give him empty promises- with the kind of lives they lead there was a very real chance of one of them dying before their time, or even just disappearing like she had done not too long ago. All she could do was be here now.

"Take your boots off," she said, withdrawing from the embrace to be able to look at him. Mostly he looked confused at her request, still he complied. A memory of the day made him smile: girlfriend beats captain. Seems she was right on that count.

She guided him down to lie beside her and covered the two of them with her blanket. As they lay face-to-face in the narrow cot, Sinbad couldn't help but touch her face, to run his hand over her neck, her shoulder, her arm. He entwined his fingers with hers and brought their joined hands up near their faces. She pressed a kiss against his knuckles. His message was perfectly clear: he was not going to lose her, not tonight, not while he was holding on to her.

"If anyone asks, you were having terrible nightmares," Sinbad said, winking at her.

Maeve giggled softly. "How about you having the terrible nightmares? You came to my room after all."

"Intuition," he just said.

Maeve settled in for a long, completely pointless argument. The tension had gone, having left them stronger than it had found them. Now they were free to just be their light-hearted selves.

"Men don't have intuition," Maeve goaded him.

"Sailors do and sailors are men," Sinbad countered, his smile growing.

"Well that was unexpected," Firouz pointed out as he withdrew from his hearing-aid.

"We shouldn't listen in on them," Bryn said a little lamely, considering she had just been doing just that- she blamed her sleep-addled brain.

"If that is what having a wife is all about I think I'll pass!" Young Ahmad complained. "They just talked!"

"I'm impressed to be honest, I didn't think they had it in 'em to be so honest," Doubar said, ignoring the youngster.

"Sinbad didn't say much," Firouz said.

/But what he said mattered/ Rongar signed.

"They were so in tune with each other," Bryn sighed happily, catching Doubar's eye. "I really think they just might make it."

Doubar sat down next to her on her bed and put an arm around her to pull her close. "Matrimony or murder, it's going to be one or the other with those two." He said.

"Or both," Firouz helpfully pointed out.

/Going to bed/ Rongar signed.

"Good idea," Firouz agreed. "Ahmad, Doubar, are you coming?"

Ahmad followed Rongar out the door, leaving just Firouz looking expectantly at Doubar. "That depends, you have a feeling you're going to have any more of those nightmares tonight?" He waggled his eyebrows at Bryn.

Bryn was not amused that her nightmares were now some kind of random excuse to sleep in another's bed so she just pointed at the corner of the room.

Doubar followed her pointed finger and saw Dermott glowering down at him.

Doubar took the hint. "See you in the morning love," he said, kissing her quickly before getting up and following Firouz out of her room.