They don't know what's happening. They never really know what's happening, are kept in the hold with the only outside contact being the crewman who brings them food, but this time is different. There's a commotion. Shouting, men stomping across the deck. Gunfire, the ship rocking violently as cannons are fired. A real battle going on, and for the first time there's hope. Just a glimmer, just the tiniest candles flame worth... but it's there, and she clings to it with the desperation of one who'd begun to worry of a fate far worse than death.

The girls she's with stay back when the noise dies down and things seem to calm. At least they knew what to expect from their captors by now. A new set of men brings a new set of rules. But Imogene - Imogene thinks of her Alex. She thinks of the adventures he'd had, and of the feirsome lady pirate she's heard so much about, and she's determined to be strong for him.

She steps forward when the door to their prison opens and a hulking figure pauses a moment, sillouetted in the sunlight. And she doesn't back down when his footsteps sound awful heavy down the stairs. Or when more men appear, trailing behind him.

In fact, she throws back her shoulders, holds her chin high, and proudly declares, if with a touch of stuttering, "My name is, is Imogene Caroline Ellsworth. My, my mother is the Dowager Dutchess, Lady Marion Ellsworth, and though I can't know where it is your allegences lie, you...you certainly bear the look of a pirate, sir, so just, just listen. We've money. It's, it's quite a fortune my father left us behind, if you can return us to saftey you would be repaid in whatever sum you would need to consider it quite worth the trouble."

He doesn't respond immediately, and she's shaking with apprehension, but she takes the moment to get a look at him. He's not particularly tall. But he is big, with broad shoulders and large arms crossed over a barrel chest. He's young, though, she thinks, maybe, beneath the full orange beard he's sporting.

His eyes, though. Big, lovely green eyes, and they are hard and a little calculating maybe, but she sees no malice, nothing dark behind them. Not like she did with their original captors.

After a long, tense moment, he heaves a sigh and blows out a breath, and turns half way to address the men behind him. "Take her to the Cap'n."

One of the men gestures for her to come, and she does. He doesn't lay a hand on her, and is silent as he leads her above decks. And he's patient as she pauses, squinting into the sunlight, and then dares to stand a moment longer and breath in the clear, crisp air.

She has to swollow hard to stop the contents of her stomach from ending up on the deck before her when she dares to look around. The battle had been on the fiercer side. Many of her captors are now quite dead.

"Miss?" The man she's meant to be following prompts, but only after a good minute or two has passed.

She nods, and continues to follow him, catching her first glimpse of the ship belonging to her potential rescuers. It's a lovely triple-masted galleon, with an interesting figurehead - a woman, wearing a crown crooked atop her head and weilding a sword.

They've set up a plank to connect the two ships. She walks it slow and careful, wobbling a little when she jumps down onto the deck of the other ship. The sea, beautiful though it is, has always made her nervous, possibly because learning to swim was not part of the sort of training a lady receives.

"Easy, Miss." The pirate who'd escorted her over murmurs, hovering close at her side now. Just in case she takes a tumble, it seems. He still hasn't laid a hand on her.

"Oh, what is it now, then? Bad enough that son of a sea-snake was just this close to..." It's a womans voice. Lowered, made a little gruffer than Imogene's used to from another woman, but it is a womans voice. But it cuts off as it's owner comes into view and catches sight of Imogene. "By my goddess." She breaths, the tough demeanor slipping for a fraction of a moment. "Get the Captain, now."

Imogene's only half paying attention, because she finds herself rather more preoccupied by the fact there's a woman standing before her wearing men's clothing and snapping out orders that are actually being followed. The next few moments don't stick out much in her mind. The crew gather around, eyeing her up, and then there's the distinct sound of someone walking across the deck with an odd gait. And just as she thought things couldn't get any more strange, the men move aside to let someone else through. Another woman, rather tall, with braids in her hair, tattoos on her shoulders, and...

And a wooden peg in place of her leg.

"Well." The woman crosses her arms, eyeing Imogene up. "He didn't do you justice at all, you ask me. Ever seen such a delicate little English lily, boys?"

The men around mutter a chorus of agreements. Imogene swallows, takes a breath, throws her shoulders back again. "My-my name..."

"Is Miss Imogene Ellsworth, daughter of a duke was it?" The woman comes forward to circle slowly around Imogene. "Didn't seem all that important seein' as he's years dead. Left you a lovely fortune, too, so I doubt your complainin' too much. You live in Virginia with your mum and are engaged to be married to a man named Alex Sparrow - who is, decidely, far below the standards you should be keeping, dearie, let me tell you. Anyway, did I miss anything?"

"Well, I, I mean, how did..." Imogene stutters, unable to form a thought.

"How do I know all this?" She's come to stand before Imogene now, is smirking rather mischeivous. "Have you any idea who I am?"

And so went the day that Imogene Ellsworth would forever remember as the day she first met Captain Peg Leg Turner.

...

The Captain begins throwing out orders to the men around her, who march off sharply to comply. "Get the rest of the girls over here.. Jo, you go on down with Slade so's they won't feel discomfort with him checking up on 'em.. Search the ship, see if there's anythin' left worth the taking.. Keep a sharp eye for men hiding out, but don't go looking for 'em either. Few more shots should sink her, they're my mother's problem from there."

It all seems to be going so fast. Imogene can hardly think, can hardly fathom all that's happening. It seems like ages must have passed before she can find her voice again, though it can't have been more than a few moments. "Captain." She gets out, and the woman in question whirls around to face her again. With so many questions bobbing about in her head, she doesn't worry about logic, just grasps on to the first thing she can manage to. "The others...who, who's Slade?"

"Ship's doctor. Used to be a surgeon in London."

"There's a girl down there, not much younger than I, she wouldn't stay quiet so they...they whipped her. T'was not long ago. She, she won't want for any man to take a look."

The Captain nods once. "I'll tell Jo. As for you, come with me."

...

"You are giving me quarters of my own?"

"You are the one what offered to pay."

There's more to it than that. Imogene can sense this, but doesn't have the courage to ask of it. "Where will the other girls be kept?" She looks around the small but relatively luxurious quarters. There's a bed situated against the far wall. A proper bed! She has to work to keep her composure.

"Below, in the hold." The Captain stays back in the doorway, watching Imogene. "Not to worry, we're only a day or so from Tortuga, we'll figure how best to get you all home from there."

"Tortuga." The name stops Imogene in her tracks. She whirls around to face the Captain, eyes wide.

The Captain's eyebrows raise. "You know of it?"

"I know..." Alex. Oh, the things he'd told her... Alex! If she is so far away, it must have been weeks, at least four of them! Oh, he must be worried so sick, and her mother too! She closes her eyes, breathes deep a moment. A lady never shows such panic, even when she feels it. "I know it means I am a very long way from home. I was not aware of how much time must have past, forgive me."

The Captain studies her a moment, nodding slow. "Not at all." She gestures to the bed. "I'll leave you to rest." She turns to go.

Imogene collapses onto the bed as soon as the other woman's back is turned, feeling just moments away from tears. "Captain."

The other woman freezes, facing Imogene again. "Yes, Miss?"

"I, uhm, I was wondering if, perhaps, I could be allowed down to see the other girls... I am not sure that I would rest so well here on my own."

Understanding lights the Captain's eyes. "Miss. Please know that no one on this ship will harm you. You're safe now. You are free to do as you wish, and if it will settle you some to be with the others then I'll certainly not stop you, but know that. You are safe now."

Imogene searches the Captain's eyes and notes all the same things she'd found in those of the man she'd first laid eyes on while still in the hold of her captor's ship. There's a hardness to them, danger hinted at, but no malice, not the same sort of darkness, and she feels some of the tension drain from her. "Thank you."

...

"Captain."

"Yes, Miss."

Imogene fidgets with her dress some, unable to make herself look at the other woman. "I suppose... did Alex write to you? About me, is that how you knew who I was?" She can't help it, the desperation in her voice. The plea behind her words. Tell me he did something in the way of rescuing me.

"No."

That single word is enough to make her heart drop down to where her stomach ought to be. "O-oh." Tears well up without her permission. "For-forgive me, I..."

"He didn't write me, Miss Ellsworth," and there's a note of amusement in the Captain's voice now, "because he was already on a ship heading this way hisself by the time any letter would've got to me."

Eyes wide, Imogene's head snaps up. "You, you mean...?"

"He stayed at Tortuga only as a favor to me."

"He came for me." A hand snakes up to cover her mouth as tears well up again, and she only just keeps them at bay.

"Were I you, I'd be more surprised had he not come for me." The Captain snorts. "Hones'ly. You're all he talks about, you are."

A blush creeps up to color Imogene's cheeks, she can feel it. "O-oh. Really? All he talks about?"

"That, is how I knew of you." The Captain sends her a smile.

Imogene turns away so the Captain won't see the silly little smile that spreads her lips. Perhaps it had been foolish of her to worry, but she'd thought, to hear Alex speak of his past, that no thing could make him come back to it. The fact that he's done so just for her... Her heart feels as though it may burst out of her chest.

Oh, how she does love him.

...

The sun is setting by the time they reach Tortuga, but night has not yet fallen, and Imogene is immensely grateful for it. Even before she's left the ship, the sights presented by the raucous port are... Terrifying. Oh, she wishes she could be less the damsel, she tries to hold her head high, but her stomach feels as though it's flipped upside down and filled with butterflies.

"Where is my Alex?" She asks as the Captain coaxes her off the ship. "Are we going to see him now?"

"We're going to find safety here, first, and then I will bring him to you. Come, come."

Imogene follows, as she has little choice.

She doesn't just start sobbing. The tears start falling all at once. Her shoulders tremble and the rest of her shakes and she hugs herself, right there in the street and it wouldn't be quite so much a problem except they're in the middle of Tortuga.

"Oi. Easy now, easy." Emily throws an arm around the smaller girls shoulders, casting a wary glance at their surroundings as she tries to keep the girl moving. "Come on now, none of that, you've done so well up 'til now."

"I'm so-sorry. It's ju-just this place is...and I-I hate be-being on a ship...but I-I just wa-want to go home." The sobs are quiet, not a cry for attention. She's crying because she's tired and frustrated and frightened and she just can't stop.

Emily softens. A little love and care, that's what the girl needs, the gentle touch of a woman. Well, one who actually has a gentler touch, that is. "Come, come. Easy, dearie, breath. I'll take you to some friends of mine, they'll clean you right up and put you to bed with a cup of tea. You'll feel like a new woman come morning."

Imogene keeps crying, but manages to follow Emily, who takes her to the Good Goddess. The girls there are - well, in the same line of business as just about any girl working a tavern in Tortuga, but they're a softer hearted bunch. She knows they'll take good care of Imogene.

Thankfully, the Goddess isn't over busy on this particular night.

"Captain!" The girl that runs the place is the first to dart over, an eyebrow raising at the delicate little rich girl Emily's ushering in. "My, my. Now, this is a story I'd love to hear."

"Later." Emily replies, snappy. "She's far removed from home and feeling rather sick for it, please."

"Far removed. Sounds an understatement just to look at her."

Emily huffs, casting a wary glance around the tavern and lowering her voice as she goes on. "You know about the auction, aye?"

A pause as the inn's owner crosses her arms as if fighting off a chill. "Yeah."

"Those slave trading curs are extending their reach. Miss Imogene here is from Virginia; got snatched right up by a lot dressed as Marines and she's had a hell of a time of it since, so if you could..."

The owner sighs. "You're not bringing me any trouble along with her, are you?"

"None at all. Erm, least as far's I know." She reaches down to knock on her wooden leg. "I'll be on my way to fix any trouble she might've come with, matter of fact."

"Hm. You're paying damages if they come tearing through my place for her, but I suppose..."

Emily holds up her hands in concession. "Ta."

The owner darts over to wrap a motherly arm about Imogene's shoulders. "Alright, sweetheart. Come over by the fire, take a breath. There's a good girl. " She calls for one of the barmaids. "Get some tea brewing and bring me a bowl of that stew, my goddess the girls a bag of bones."

Emily makes as if to slip out... "Cap-captain." But a tiny, quivering voice gives her pause. Brows furrowed, she turns back around just in time to be met with a pair of pale, thin arms pulling her into a tight embrace. "Thank you." Imogene breathes.

Emily clears her throat and brings a hesitant, awkward arm up to wrap around the smaller girls delicate frame. "S'nothing, dearie." She softens a bit, pulling away to wipe the tears off Imogene's cheeks. "Just, no more of that. You're safe now, gettin' you home's the easy part."

Imogene nods and breathes, wiping at her own cheeks now. "Oh, I must seem so silly to you. I wish - I wish I could be more like you."

Emily snakes a hand up to rub the back of her neck. "Ah. Well, it might interest you to know there's been a time or two I wished I could be more like you."

Curiosity flitters across her pretty face. "Really?"

Unsure of why she'd let that slip, Emily goes on a little more gruff. "I'd best go see how Alex is faring, you just go get some rest Miss Ellsworth." And with that, she beats a hasty retreat.

"...you mean to tell me you left my fiancée, the daughter of a dowager duchess, under care of a lot of Tortugan whores?" He near growls.

"That 'lot of Tortugan whores' is certain to give her the best care she'll recieve this far removed from home." Emily replies, snappy.

"How would you know what sort of care they'll give her? Gods above."

"I know just as well as you'd know what sort of good care Ruby would offer." Emily replies, haughty, and doesn't bother elaborating. "The point being, she's safe, just like I promised, now did you get done what I asked or not?"

He's staring at her now, probably with that expression that is somewhere between disgust and thorough bewilderment - a perfect imitation of his father's. "What you asked - erm, right, yes, but 'old on, just what did you mean there about knowing...?"

Hand on her hip, Emily is obiously supressing a smirk. "Is that any of your business? Hones'ly. What I asked, Alex, come on, they'll soon realize their ships not coming in, we've no time to lose."

He tears his eyes away, uncomfortable. "I sent our little friend scurryin' off to report to the rest, followed him just like you suggested. There's only half a dozen of them, not including him."

"Just seven? Almost too easy, that."

"Seems most of the work was left to the crew of that ship you sunk. No reason they needed many here."

"Well, s'your call then. I can take you to your lass, or you can stay and help me round 'em up."

He thinks of his exchange with Riley days passed. He thinks of Mrs. Ellsworth, showering him with gifts of finer clothing and insisting he meet with those men her husband had done business with. He thinks of what he's slowly becoming on account of his Imogene and this isn't like what he'd tried to do for Emily. What he's building with Imogene feels right. But...

But it has been quite a while since he'd seen any action of this sort, too.

"Six men. There were at least twice as many Spaniards that time we were on our way to the Fountain of Youth."

A grin spreads her lips. (Oh, he thinks. Oh, don't grin at me like that, you minx. I'm to be a married man.) "At least three times as many. Or what about the time we spent the night in that fort over that old goat and the apples you tried to steal..."

"Ha! That place was swarmin' with redcoats, it was!"

"And every one of 'em on our tail all the way back down to the docks!" There's genuine laughter in her voice.

"Not before you beat the one with the sword you'd stolen, I'd bet 'e never recovered 'is pride from that one!"

"Makes six men sound like a walk in the park." She's smirking at him now, mischief in her eyes. "Bet you n' I could take 'em, just the two of us."

His smile fades. "Well... I don't know about..."

"I can work m'magic if it goes south." She winks, sashaying passed him and out the door of the storage room they'd commandeered. "But if you don't think you can manage that any longer, bein' the fancy, pampered gen'leman you are now..."

"Pampered..." Indignant, he stalks after her. "My arse. You're on."

She just grins.

She likes the women here. Truly. They are a little rough. Hot tempered and they curse like the sailors they...entertain, and drink like them too, and don't have patience enough to let Imogene continue sobbing so. But they are honest, and loving in their own way. They draw her a bath to clean her up and give her tea and a watery stew that is all meat and potatoes but it is heavenly for all that she's not been given much beyond stale bread for some time.

She waits for Alex, waits and waits, but neither he nor Captain Peg show up.

"Alright there Miss, now don't you start with the tears again." The tavern's owner scolds when Imogene expresses worry. "Cap'n Peg's a clever girl, I'm sure you're man's safe with her."

"For-forgive me." Imogene's stuttering again as she tries to hold back the tears that just won't stay away. "I just - I wanted it so, to be married. And then..." She stares down at her hands in her lap. "I thought, sitting in the hold with those other girls... I thought the worst. I thought we were dead, all of us, one way or the other and..." She wipes at her eyes, but the tears well up again.

The tavern's owner just sighs. "Try to get some rest, Miss."

Imogene does. She tucks herself into bed and closes her eyes and thinks of Alex, fantasizes that he'll kiss her when they are at last reunited. Properly kiss her, on her lips, a thing which he has not yet done. She knows him well enough to know this will not happen. But it helps her to dream it up, and soon she is sound asleep.

...

"Imogene... Time to wake up, darling." He murmurs into her ear, and she feels his lips brush against her temple, feather light.

Her eyes flutter open, and she gasps softly as he takes up so much of her view.

He graces her with a half smile, his hand coming up to run through her hair. It's not the fevered kiss she'd hoped for, but this is a bolder move than she's yet received from him too, so she'll take it. "Good morning, Miss Ellsworth." He says with playful formality.

"Good morning, Mister Sparrow." She replies in kind, sitting up in bed. She takes his hand in both of her own and brings it to her lips. A tear slides down her cheek. "Oh...oh Alex."

"Are you alright?" He asks, then goes on hastily. "Well, I mean... Emily said she'd had you looked over, but I never 'alf trusted that old surgeon Ana brought on so long ago."

She's only half listening. Her brows furrow, and she reaches out to brush her fingers against his arm, pulling back the torn sleeve of his shirt. "I am fine, but my love, it appears that you are not! What has happened, where've you been?"

His expression goes blank as he blinks at her, then lifts his arm to look at it himself. "Oh."

"Oh." She doesn't understand him. "Alex, you are bleeding." She works her way around him to get out of bed and cross the room, heedless of the fact she's wearing only her thin shift. "I'll fetch one of the girls, I'm sure they'll be happy to..."

He grasps her arm, grip gentle but firm. "You're not goin' anywhere like that." Emphasizing the point, even he is not look directly at her, and his cheeks have gone red as an apple. "I'm alright, just, please... make yourself presentable. I'll be just outside."

She sighs in minute annoyance even as a blush colors her cheeks as well. Could they not be working past all of this by now? They are to be married, after all. "Alex, please, I suspect there won't be many awake and about by now, the owner's quarters are just down the hall and..."

"Imogene." He says, voice lower and more firm in a way that startles her. "You will not leave this room until you are properly clothed."

She pulls away from him as though burned. She almost feels as though she has been, though this is silly. He is to be her husband and a good wife always does what is asked of her. Nodding once, eyes cast downward and hands clasped before her, her response is a submissive murmur. "Alright."

He leaves her to it.

"I could fix you right up with a bit of magic." Jo offers as she inspects the cut. "Cuts not too deep, it wouldn't take long." He's the one came to her, but thinking back on his conversation with his fiancée, he's too preoccupied to listen. Jo clears her throat and sends a tiny, calloused fist sailing foward to give the arm that isn't inured a playful punch. "Or, since you're so grateful, I could be nice n' slow about fixing you up the regular way."

He rubs his shoulder, startled - mainly just that she'd hit him at all. "Oi!"

She only rolls her eyes, and situates the stitching and bandages. "Not that I should be too inclined to care, but what's put you in such a mood? Everything I've said's gone in one ear and out the other."

He huffs, grumbling about women and their gossip...and pirates and their gossip...and worst of all, women pirates and their gossip. "Imogene and I..."

"Had a spat?"

"I was... a little 'arsh on her, is all. She doesn't understand the way of things 'ere and... and then Peg leaves 'er with a lot of sleezy Tortugan tavern girls."

"You used to rather enjoy the company of those sleezy tavern girls, mind." Is Jo's snappy response.

"Tha-that." He stutters in his indignance. Stutters, like the whelp they all think he's become. He's beginning to worry they aren't too far off. "Was a long time ago." He finishes, a little more subdued. "And I'll thank you to take care you don't mention that in front of my fiancée."

"Does she not know? About what you were?"

"Well, yes. I told 'er. I mean, she knows all the important bits, she just...there are some things I didn't elaborate on. For quite obvious reasons."

"Mm. Quite."

"Jo." His hand darts up to take hold of her wrist in an iron grip. "Not a word. Not a word to 'er about that. If I find you speaking of it with her even remotely close enough to 'ear..."

Jaw clenched and eyes hard, Jo glares down at his hand. "Is that a threat?"

Is it? He's staring down at his hand too, trying to decide who Jo is talking to. Because just at the moment he feels more like Alex-the-pirate's-son than he does like the man Imogene Ellsworth agreed to marry and that is worrying. "No." He says after a moment, letting go of Jo's hand. "No, not a threat. A request from an old friend. Please."

Silence. Jaw still clenched, lips a thin line, she goes back to fixing up his arm, and says nothing for several long moments. Finally, as she ties a bit of cloth over the wound and seems to be satisfied with her work, she speaks. "The girl is possibly the sweetest, most delicate thing I ever laid eyes on, so for her sake she'll not hear a word of what I think of you. But you'd best be warned, Alex. Peg's got that kinder streak in her, won't let go of it even when it tends to find her trouble. But not everyone is so forgiving. You'll find few out here still willing to call you 'friend'."

He doesn't know how to answer. She leaves him to his thoughts, and all he can think of or feel is the urge deep within him to take his bride-to-be and run from this place where he no longer belongs.

...

"You remember Cap'n Kristoff, alls the pair of you have to do is lay low at the Goddess 'til 'e shows up."

"Do you not 'ave a way to contact 'im?"

"Ask Jo, she might."

"And that's it? You mean to just leave us with no guarantees of when he'll be here or..."

She senses it in his voice, rounds on him all at once. "If there's something you'd like to say to me, then say it."

He has the curteousy, at least, to lower his voice. "I - over'eard you and Rily talking the other night."

She raises her eyebrows, nonplussed.

He goes on. "The way you spoke of your plans for us, the girls... why do I get the feelin' you don't know whether Captain Kristoff will show up at all?"

"Of course he'll -"

"Emily." He snaps, feeling his patience wear thinner and thinner. "Please."

She scowls, glances around, meets his eyes and huffs. "Last we heard of him he was going home to take care of his mum or sister or somebody, I don't bloody know. Home, being somewhere up North I presume. Jo n' him, they had some big row, real shoutin match, she was too angry to be bothered to ask how she might contact him."

"And you," he snorts, incredulous, "you were going to leave us 'ere anyway."

"I figured you'd still be clever enough, at the least, to find yourself another way home."

"You're dispicable. Is there nothing left of the girl I once knew?"

"You wanted to keep a peice of her around, you should've stayed and fought for it." She snaps back, her words dripping with venom. A moment passes in silence. He knows not how to respond, and she quickly composes herself again. "Me, I just want to keep breathing, and the chances of that become immensely slimmer if I put in at a place like Port Royal." She spins around and begins to stalk off...

"Alright then, pirate." He calls after her, cold and calculating now. "Let's make a deal."

It gives her pause. She wants to just walk away, but he knows she won't, and sure enough, she's turning to face him again. "Ah. Sure you can still play the game? You'd best be, love, because I've only got better at it."

"Oh, I can." He replies, firm and confident. "Tell me, what makes it worth it? Money?"

"Told you, I've already got plenty." She tries to wave him off.

He snorts. "Judging by the fact I've not seen you truly sober once since our first meeting, I'd be surprised if you 'aven't drunk 'alf of that already."

She doesn't grace that with a response. "It's the noose I'm risking, Alex."

"Look, Imogene and I, we know a woman there. She's wealthy like Imogene and well liked in the town. Enough that I think I can ensure safety for everyone on the Queen just by having a talk with her."

"Yes, yes, I know Ms. Norry, sitting up on that hill pretty as a peacock, and if it were only me she could promise a lot of things. But I've made a name for my little ship out here, there are some things even she can't breeze over."

Alex is growing outright exasperated, enough so that he glosses right over most of what she'd just said. "What then?"

A thoughtful expression takes over her pretty face, as if she's just realized something. He can almost see the wheels turning in her head as she finally answers. "Tell me, love. Just how well do you know the lovely Ms. Norrington?"

"Where's Joshy?"

The question comes so out of the blue it actually takes her a moment to form an answer. "It took you this long to notice his absence?"

They're down in the galley, playing cards with her battered deck of them and trying to ensure any serious subjects are skirted around. The reasons why neither of them seem to be able to sleep, for instance.

He glances up at her. "I 'ad a 'ost of other things on my mind, thank you very much."

She shrugs. "Home - at Shipwreck. With Papa."

His eyebrows raise. "Home."

"Well. S'what he calls it now, anyway."

They play in silence for a few moments, but Alex is preoccupied now. Debating with himself, perhaps. She waits patiently, and finally he speaks again. "Why?"

"Well, he's spent enough time there by now..."

"No, not why does he call it 'ome, I mean...why isn't 'e with you? For that matter, why isn't your papa?"

"S'a longer story than you realize."

He sets his cards down. "And neither of us can sleep, else we wouldn't be down here now, so I'd say we've got the time."

The events surrounding it all are so closely connected that Emily finds herself trailing an absent hand up to toy with the blue gem braided into her hair. "Because Papa is Captain now."

Alex's brows furrow. "You're not making any sense."

"I'm making perfect sense." She replies positively. "If you'd bothered to learn the way of things you'd understand just fine."

He studies her, crossing his arms. "So. Explain, then."

"Papa is Captain now. I'm not sure how to... you know what your grandfather was?"

"Keeper of the Code is the only official title. I think." He pauses, wracking his brain. "But I've always had the sense his job is a little more complicated... was." Realization dawns on his face. "You said 'was'."

"Well. S'what I'm trying to tell you. Papa is Captain now."

He blinks at her, eyes wide. "Oh. Oh."

She nods. "Now you've got it. Your grandfather..." She hesitates, softening a fraction. "He took ill. Very ill, and real quick. He had to find someone strong enough to replace him."

"So he picked your papa?"

She blows out a breath. "Well, yours refused and I mus' admit..." She snatches up the bottle that's been left mostly untouched. "Mine's fitting the bill surprising well."

Another pause as he studies her. "So...my grandfather..."

She gives him a look that says it all, and he slumps back in his chair. "Oh. I-I wasn't so close to him, but..."

She sets the bottle down in front of him, half as a way to guage just how low his mood has dropped. She remains patiently silent when he takes it and drinks.

He stares at the bottle. "With the way I left... I am sorry, you know. I mean...not that I left. But for - for the rest. I never even bothered with a letter."

"He wasn't angry." She replies, relatively gentle now. "Your papa, Ana, even my father all expressed some sort of disappointment or anger but Teague, he jus' told me fate had other plans." Silence again. Emily reaches out to cover his hand laying on the table. "He went peaceful like, sleepin' one night. That ol' maid of his jus' found 'im one morning."

Alex opens his mouth, but no words come. He meets her eyes, though, and nods and she pats his hand and leaves him to his thoughts.

Not sure if I'm spelling fiance right..

:)